Whether You Call Me a Guardian Dragon or Not, I’m Going to Sleep

To be honest, it would be impossible for Baal to win a race against Sylphid.

A pure speed contest without teleportation or the like, and using only their incarnate bodies... Only someone like me could possibly beat Sylphid.

Therefore,

"Are you really okay without me helping?"

"Yes! I'll try my best somehow!"

The boastful Baal. The result was clearly visible, but I did nothing.

And as expected,

"I won!!!"

I saw Sylphid cross the finish line she had set up at the western end of the world first.

It was a mismatch from the start, so there's nothing to be done.

"As I thought, there is no one who can beat me in a race! Ahaha!"

Sylphid's immature response towards the young god. As her parent, it's a little... embarrassing.

"But Mom! What happens now? Does that mean I become the king of the gods?"

"Who knows."

I sighed softly as I watched the playful Sylphid. In this situation...

There's no choice. I'll have to use some cheating.

I take a watch out from my pocket.

The race itself didn't take long, so a small adjustment should be enough.

I turn the hands of the watch back, and press the button on it.

Simultaneously, the world rewinds.

Everything except me goes backwards.

This world rewinds.

Rewinding a long time would negate everything done during that time, which I'm reluctant to do, but a brief rewind should be fine.

Thus, I return to the time when the race was about to start, at the eastern end of the continent, where Baal and Sylphid were about to depart.

While the other children are anticipating Sylphid's victory near the finish line, I quietly move, making sure the others don't notice me.

Now, let me set up a little trap to catch Sylphid here.

I snap my fingers lightly, and a table and chairs made of wood, along with various foods, appear instantly.

Just a brief moment. A trap to hold Sylphid.

Of course, this brief moment alone won't be enough to make Baal win, but I should be able to persuade Sylphid.

It may be considered cowardly, but making Baal the king of the gods is a somewhat pressing matter for me.

If Baal fails to become the king of the gods, that responsibility will undoubtedly fall on me, and my workload will pile up again.

I can't allow that.

I must stop it, even if it means cheating!

So, after preparing some freshly baked apple pies and carbonated lemonade, I waited for Sylphid to arrive.

"Ah! Mom! What's all this?"

Sylphid, who was running towards the goal, got caught in the trap I had prepared.

"I knew the outcome was decided, so I just wanted to have a little chat with you."

"Chat? Then I'll quickly go to the goal and come back!"

"No, let's do it like this for now."

"Huh? The goal is right in front of me?"

"You haven't crossed the goal yet, so we should talk now."

At my words, Sylphid sat down at the table with a slightly disgruntled expression.

I cut her a slice of apple pie and said,

"Do you know why I'm trying to make Baal the king of the gods?"

"Hmm. Not really. Isn't it because you like that guy?"

"That's not it."

I shook my head slightly, and Sylphid took a bite of the apple pie. The sound of the crust breaking can be heard.

"It's simply because I need it."

"The king of the gods?"

"Yes, the king of the gods."

I poured lemonade into a glass and handed it to Sylphid, saying,

"You must know that countless gods are being born all over the place right now, right?"

"Yes. That's why it's chaotic everywhere."

Uncontrolled gods were worse than wild animals, since they had some power but not enough to be properly managed.

Even though they seem to understand instinctively that human faith has created their existence, it's fortunate that they don't harm humans.

But there are plenty of gods who use methods to frighten humans, even if they don't kill them.

"The situation is that we need an entity to control those gods."

"Can't you just do it, Mom? I think you'd be better at it than that clumsy fledgling guy."

"Are you saying you want me to just keep working and not do anything else?"

At my words, Sylphid silently took a bite of the pie.

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"Even just for now, the amount of work I have to do is mountainous, and on top of that I'd have to manage the gods? Of course I could do it if I had to. But I'd have to give up a lot of other things."

"A lot of other things...?"

"Yes. For example... the brief moments I get to spend with you all."

Sylphid didn't say anything.

"The point is, I'm going to get even busier. To prevent that, I need a king of the gods. And the most promising candidate for that is that Baal."

I looked at Baal running in the distance.

He's still young and weak, but he possesses the heavens themselves, so he has great potential as a god.

"Then, why not entrust it to another god instead of him?"

"Entrust it? To whom?"

"If you gave it to one of us..."

Excluding Ifrit and Thetis who just stay in one place, and Yggdrasil and Sagarmatha, Shamash has already made a name for herself as the god of law, justice and light, so she might be able to do it.

But I don't want to dump even more work on Shamash, who's already doing a considerable amount.

That leaves Sylphid as the remaining candidate.

"If you end up having to do that, you'd have to give up other things, would that be okay?"

"Other things?"

I nodded slightly.

For the free-spirited Sylphid, having to take responsibility and do work would be... not an easy thing.

Especially managing the arrogant and unnecessarily powerful gods is... completely at odds with Sylphid, who is unbound by anything.

"Freedom."

"Freedom..."

"As the god of wind, you'd have to give up the freedom you have and work on managing the gods. Can you do that?"

At my words, Sylphid thought for a moment and then shook her head slightly.

She knows herself well, so the answer came out quickly.

"I can't do either, can I?"

"The best choice left is to entrust it to that child."

Sylphid tossed the remaining pie slice into her mouth and chewed it roughly.

"I don't like it, but... I really don't, but I have no choice."

"Yes, there's no choice."

If there had been a more trustworthy being to entrust it to... that would have been better.

But the other children were all already responsible for something, so there was no other option left.

"Alright, the talk is over, I'll go back to the goal area."

"Okay. Thanks for the delicious meal, Mom."

Sylphid then pretended to yawn.

"I'm a bit sleepy since I'm full. Since that little kid still has a long way to go, I'll take a short nap."

"Alright, go ahead."

Sylphid leaned against a nearby tree trunk and closed her eyes, and I returned to the goal area to watch the result.

As expected, the result was Baal's victory.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The rabbit laughed while looking at the invisible turtle.

"Haha! It's not even a match!"

The goal is right in front, but the turtle is invisible. He thought it would be a boring race, but the difference is this big.

The rabbit yawned a little, perhaps getting bored.

"I'll take a quick nap. The turtle won't be going anywhere even if I sleep."

The rabbit leaned against a tree stump near the goal and closed his eyes, soon snoring.

And the turtle. Step by step, the steadily advancing turtle found the sleeping rabbit with his loud snoring.

In an important race to decide the winner, sleeping... The turtle clicked his tongue softly and passed by the rabbit, continuing to walk steadily.

When the turtle reached the goal,

"Whoa! How long was I asleep?"

The rabbit woke up with a start and looked around.

And he saw the turtle crossing the goal.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Sylphid. Weren't you too careless?"

"Hmm. I'm ashamed. Just took a little nap."

Sylphid smiled sheepishly.

"Well, a win is a win. I didn't expect Sylphid to fall asleep there, but... Anyway, Baal's victory!"

"I definitely wouldn't lose if we raced again. But I have no choice but to accept the defeat."

Okay, that's two. There are four left, right? So far, it's going smoothly.

No need to take any lives or anything. If there's no trouble, it should go well.

"Then is it my turn next?"

The next in line, Yggdrasil, stepped up in front of Baal.

"My test is... I'd like you to fix the elves' picky eating."

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