Private Information

In front of me, the Goddess narrowed her eyes, studying me carefully. "Aileen…? That's… an interesting name…" Yoko said, after thinking for a while. "You seem to know me, but I don't know you. A Divine I've never seen… You must be a new Low God, am I wrong?"

Yes, you are. Not even close. Without even waiting for an answer, she sighed. She raised her hand to her forehead, pinching the bridge of her nose. Closing her eyes, she was obviously having a headache. "I'm already busy enough dealing with the other bastard… And now there is another Divine intruding on my territory…" She muttered.

Another? There is a second one?

"Seriously, what are the others doing? They're becoming negligent with the rules we fixed…" Yoko opened her eyes, looking at me. "Child, who is the fool who created you without telling you about the rules? Who is your parent? Is it Naia? It must be her… That woman sure loves her children… She creates a new one every few centuries…"

"It wasn't her. My parent is an elf called Azariah," I responded casually.

"An elf…?" She repeated, raising an eyebrow. "Oh well, enough with the jokes. I'm not in the mood. Look there, since you obviously didn't know about the rules, I'll let it go this time. But you need to leave. You're on my territory here, so unless you want to start a war, you can't stay."

"Eh? You're kicking me out? How mean… After everything I've done for you… That's not how you treat your mother…"

Yoko frowned. She looked at me with her eyes full of incomprehension, clearly not understanding my point.

"Mother…? What are you talking about?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You see I created you. I'm the one who gave you life, so technically, that makes me your mom, right?" I answered with a small grin.

For a few moments, she just looked at me, without saying anything. She tried to comprehend what she just heard, but her eyes were telling me that she thought I was crazy. Eventually, a weak smile played on her lips.

"Good one, child. But I don't have a Parent. Is this about your name?" She asked. "I thought it sounded familiar… Aileen, the so-called Goddess of All Creations, right?"

"Oh! So you know! Well, that makes things easier." I exclaimed.

Hearing my answer, Yoko sighed heavily.

"I know it's a ridiculous myth some of us invented trying to come up with a good explanation for the World's creation." She said with an irritated tone. "The Goddess of Light invented light, the God of Darkness invented darkness… But who created the Goddess of Light and the God of Darkness? Since we don't know the answer, let's blame it all on one supreme being. Seems a little easy, don't you think?"

"Eh? So you don't believe in it…"

"Of course not. The World's creation? Don't know, don't care. But I'm certainly not believing some crap about a fictional Goddess who never manifested herself for the past millenniums."

Well… She has a point.

"Leave now, child." She ordered, slowly losing her patience. "As a fellow Divine, I've received you with enough hospitality. But you abuse of it and start talking nonsense. Even out of respect for my colleagues, I will not hesitate to erase you right now if you keep going. Do not test my patience. Besides, I've been busy enough dealing with another trouble recently, and I don't need a second intruder. I'm serious."

"I know you are. Yoko, you're a pretty honest person, you don't tell lies."

"So you've heard about this. Your Parent tells you about me but doesn't even bother to warn you about not intruding my territory?"

"Well, yeah, I do know a lot about you. You're a Kumiho, your name means 'Beautiful child,' but ironically, a variant of it also means 'Wicked child.' You're deceitful, impatient, stubborn, and tactless, but you also have a strong pride, and you keep your promises. Those tails are your pride, and if anyone dared to insult them, that would be enough of a reason for you to rip them apart," I explained casually with a bright smile.

As I spoke, Yoko quietly listened. The more I said, the more her eyes widened. She was clearly not expecting me – who is supposed to be a new Low God – to know this much. However, she quickly regained her composure.

"Oooooh…? That's a lot of very private information you have about me…" She said, as a grin appeared on her face. "Who told you about this? I don't think even the other Divinities know this much."

I smiled mischievously. "Well, I even know all your secrets~!"

For maybe a split second, her grin disappeared as I saw her eyes twitch a little. But she did not react any further.

"… Nice try. But I don't have any secret."

"Really?" I felt my lips stretch wider. "Well, despite your personality, you actually love fluffy and cute things."

Yoko's face didn't change. She had the same stoic expression with a grim line on her mouth. However, her fluffy ears kept twitching, and her tails started to sway more violently behind her back. Yup, she's definitely annoyed. But since she didn't say anything, I continued.

"Not enough? You can't swim, and you hate water. You can't stand the sight of dogs or anything similar. Cooking is one of your hobbies, and you love sweet things. Especially ch—"

"STOP! That's enough...! Don't say anymore…" She finally interrupted me, unable to hear any more of her little secrets being unveiled one by one. "I… I don't understand… How? I've never told anyone about these…"

She grabbed her head in her arms, probably trying to come up with a good explanation. Biting her lips, she stayed in that position for about two minutes. After that, she let out a heavy sigh and regained her composure. She looked up at me.

"I was wrong… I'm not sure of how you got a hand on this much information, but you know too much…. Way too much." She smiled. "Sorry, after all, I guess I can't let you leave alive~!"

… Huh? What did she say? She can't be planning to…

"… Y-Yoko…? Wait…" I spoke.

But before I could finish, a huge pillar of fire suddenly erupted in front of me. Instinctively, I jumped backward, barely evading the surprise attack.

That was dangerous! Such strong magic… even if it's me, it looks like it might hurt a little.

I turned my gaze to Yoko. Since she didn't chant any incantation, if she hadn't warned me, I wouldn't have seen the attack coming. Crap… I had forgotten about this… She's a Goddess too, she doesn't need any incantations. This is bad. If she wants to fight, I'm going to have some serious troubles. Without any chants, I can't predict anything. I won't be able to tell what kind of magic she'll use nor when she was going to use it.

Before I could think of anything, Yoko launched her second attack.

This time, it was a fireball. A huge fireball. It definitely couldn't compare to the one my Aunt created a few years ago. It wasn't just about the size. Yoko's fireball was not only bigger than an elephant, but I could also feel an abnormal amount of mana in it, craving for destruction. When she aimed it at me, once again, I barely managed to evade the attack by throwing myself to the side. The fireball transformed everything on its way to charcoal.