Five days had passed since entering the Abyss Goblin World.
Converting the time, roughly one hour in the real world equated to one day here.
During these five days, after sealing off the goblin nests, Luo Shu—accompanied by Mai Sakurajima and Ai Hoshino, with Sword Maiden as their guide—arrived at this world's metropolis, Water Town, and swiftly took control of the Supreme God's church.
With Sword Maiden's endorsement and Luo Shu's Demigod strength, the Supreme God's church stood no chance of resistance, immediately accepting him as the Supreme God's incarnation.
Under divine decree, the search for Familia candidates was naturally straightforward.
But while the task was simple, the people they found left Luo Shu utterly speechless.
The golden-haired, blue-eyed nun—the original female lead—was brought over from the Earth Mother Goddess's temple.
Well, she was currently three years old, recently adopted by the temple, and had just called him 'dada.'
The brave little girl, who would grow up to resemble Haruhi Suzumiya in appearance, was orphaned just last year and taken in by the village monastery. She couldn't even speak yet, only babbling incoherently.
The poised and beautiful receptionist from the original story, now just ten years old, came from a well-off family and had been living a normal student life at the temple school until days ago. Suddenly facing a deity, she was naturally too timid to utter a word.
The only one among these Familia candidates who could remotely be called a young woman was the green-haired, green-eyed elf archer, whose physique could rival steel.
Yet, even as the eldest, the elf archer trembled with fear.
Though she'd been adventuring for a while now, that experience did little to prepare her for standing before an actual god.
'Is the Adventurers' Guild trying to get me killed? They absolutely are, aren't they?!'
'Those bastards never mentioned this 6.4 million gold mission involved a heretic like me meeting a god in person!!!'
Kneeling on one knee, the elf archer glared at the black-haired young man seated atop the golden throne in the Supreme Temple, surrounded by paladins and guardian nuns, his expression aloof as he surveyed everything. She was this close to cursing the Adventurers' Guild's ancestors eighteen generations back.
They'd said it was just escorting a group of divinely chosen kids, hadn't they?
She'd assumed delivering them to the rumoured Sword Maiden, beloved by the Supreme God, would mark the end of the job. So what was this about an audience with the god himself?
Since when did the Supreme God descend in person?
Was the Demon King about to destroy the world or something?
Just as the elf archer's heart threatened to leap out of her chest, a calm voice rang out from the throne atop the three-tiered dais:
"Look up."
Hastily obeying, the elf archer raised her head and met Luo Shu's gaze.
When she noticed Luo Shu gazing at her, the elf archer immediately lowered her head, terrified that her earlier glance might be deemed sacrilegious enough for the surrounding temple knights to punish her—even though Luo Shu himself had requested that look. Her fear remained unshaken.
Luo Shu didn't seem to blame her for the panicked reaction, speaking plainly instead:
"From now on, you will live within the Supreme God's temple."
Without any explanation, he directly issued his command to the elf archer and the group of children below.
Having lived in this world for five days, Luo Shu had gained some understanding of its customs. In this realm ruled by religion and nobility, as a deity, he didn't need to justify his actions—he only needed to give orders, and these 'believers' would obediently comply, even if the commands were absurd or life-threatening.
Honestly, their submissiveness was so extreme that it reminded him of the common folk from the Abyss Warring States World.
No, compared to the servility shown to nobles in Kikyo's era, where yokai ran rampant, the people here were even more submissive to religious figures. Perhaps it was because the clergy of this world could genuinely manifest divine miracles?
After ordering the knights to escort the children away, Luo Shu rose and walked straight to the inner sanctum, ignoring the nuns trailing behind him.
There, he found Ai Hoshino dressed in a white priest robe, cinched at the waist with an ornate golden belt, looking every bit the part of a sacred priestess. Compared to her modern idol persona, this priestly attire gave Ai an air of forbidden allure.
Beside her, Mai Sakurajima, also in priestly garb, offered a completely different impression—holy, noble, and elegant, like the devout shrine maidens who served the gods. Except that few of those ascetic, plain-living priestesses could match Mai's beauty.
Once Luo Shu entered the inner sanctum, the accompanying nuns discreetly withdrew, leaving the space to the god and his divine consorts.
In such a setting, Luo Shu naturally relaxed, shedding his aloof divine persona and adopting a more human demeanour as he sat by a stone table, casually picking up an apple from the fruit tray and taking a bite.
Seeing him like this, Mai smiled, clearly aware of his weariness from playing god, and asked lightly:
"You've met the Familia candidates we gathered?"
Luo Shu chewed a mouthful of fruit before replying:
"I have, but honestly, things didn't go as I expected."
Hearing this, Ai Hoshino walked up to Luo Shu and began massaging his shoulders with a lively grace.
Under the guidance of the nuns here, she seemed to have picked up some massage techniques, performing them with such skill that it looked almost professional:
"Could it be that those Familia candidates are unwilling?"
Luo Shu took a bite of his apple and replied in a strange tone:
"No, it's just that they're all too young. Aside from one or two exceptions, the youngest is probably... around 3 years old?"
"3 years old?!" Ai's eyes widened in disbelief.
Beside them, Mai Sakurajima also wore a peculiar expression:
"Now I understand why you had that look on your face earlier. Three years old... that's far too young."
"Exactly!" Luo Shu sighed, unable to hold back his complaint. "Even with the time ratio here being 1:24 compared to the real world, we'd still have to wait at least five months before these little ones could be of any use... Hmm, though that doesn't actually sound too long."
Ai immediately panicked at his words, gripping his shoulders in distress:
"But we can't seriously live here for ten years, can we?"
"Even with magic and miracles and all sorts of convenient things... a world without burgers, without cola, without even flushing toilets—living here for ten years would drive me insane!!"
By the end, she was tugging at her own hair, looking utterly frazzled:
"And after ten years, am I supposed to debut as an idol again while holding a child?"
Hearing this, Luo Shu couldn't help but glance at Ai before lowering his head and speaking calmly:
"Actually, the blockade on the real-world side has mostly been dismantled by Origami."
"As long as they set up the Emergency Escape Device over there and we prepare properly, we should be able to return directly."
Though normal entry and exit from the Abyss world required locating a passageway, the SDS, equipped with Emergency Escape Devices, could artificially create a one-time channel to escape the Abyss.
So as long as there was no blockade, leaving the Abyss world wasn't particularly difficult.
"Eh? Seriously?!" Ai froze in shock—wait, they could already go back?
Luo Shu glanced at her teasingly:
"Of course, if you'd prefer to stay here and have a child before returning, I personally have no objections."
Ai's face instantly flushed red. Without thinking, she snatched the apple from Luo Shu's hand and took a fierce bite, glaring at him as if she were gnawing on his flesh instead of the fruit.
Seeing this, Luo Shu couldn't help but laugh:
"You know I already took a bite of that apple, right?"
"Shut up!" Ai huffed, taking another aggressive bite before muttering, "It's not like I haven't had your spit before."
Mai covered her face with a sigh. "You two, could you at least remember I'm here before flirting like this?"
Luo Shu nodded understandingly, then grinned.
"Oh, so Mai, do you want to join in? I can eat another apple for you to steal."
Mai sighed in exasperation.
"Now I understand why you've been so exhausted playing god these past few days."
Though she knew Luo Shu was dissatisfied with the role, especially given his frustration with the blindly devout and ignorant followers.
But given Luo Shu's penchant for teasing them, his personality wasn't suited to playing the role of those lofty, dignified deities.
Just as Mai Sakurajima was musing about Luo Shu's 'hardships', the voice of a nun, amplified by magic, came through the temple doors:
"Your Eminence, Sword Maiden requests an audience."
Hearing this, Luo Shu couldn't help but smile at Ai Hoshino and Mai Sakurajima:
"Maiden is back? Seems we really won't be staying here much longer."
At this thought, Luo Shu sighed inwardly:
With Sword Maiden returning from her mission to gather 'power systems', there probably weren't many matters left in the goblin world requiring his personal attention.
Perhaps he might even get to enjoy Kisara's home-cooked dinner later.