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

No, why are you talking about being Gaia's partner or whatever? You were just insulting me as an old lady, and now you're saying I'm your partner? What's with this nonsensical talk?

*sighs softly* I look at the Baal who seems unaware of what he's saying.

This guy who wants to become the king of the gods, why is he picking a fight with the situation where he needs to convince the other gods? Especially with these children who easily get distracted when it involves me.

Because of that, the children have completely frozen up. Even Shamash, who was somewhat close to Baal.

"Ga...ia?"

It was Shamash's puzzled remark that broke the frozen atmosphere.

"What is Gaia?"

"Maybe it's one of the newly born gods?"

"Hmm..."

Ah, that's right! Gaia is a name that Baal himself gave, so the children don't know what it means!

Good! If I just let it slide like this, I might be able to get through this somehow!

But just as I'm thinking that, Baal opens his mouth.

"Gaia is none other than-"

"Since this guy is the god of the sky, he must have named the vast land of this world as Gaia. Probably he wants to give birth to a new goddess of the earth..."

I quickly cut off Baal's words before he can say anything.

"No, that's not it!"

"Come to think of it, this world didn't have a proper name for the huge continent. Why don't we use the name Pangaea, which means 'all land', since that fits the image of the sky and earth coming together?"

My clumsy excuse seems to have worked, as the children don't make any objections.

Phew. I thought it was completely ruined, but it seems to have worked out.

"But if it's the goddess of the earth, there's already one here, right?"

Ifrit says with a mischievous smile, looking at Sagarmatha.

"I don't like this brat."

"Too bad! Brat! The highest mountain doesn't like you!"

"The one I desire as a partner is not-"

"Alright, that's enough. I have a lot to discuss, so we can't waste time with idle chatter."

I cut off Baal's words again, tilting his head back. If he were to say that Gaia is my title right now, the situation would escalate again, and my ambitious plan to make him the king of the gods would be completely ruined from the start.

Somehow, I need to steer the situation forward!

"Anyway, I've been thinking of making this guy the king of the gods. I'm curious to hear your opinions on that."

"Hmm... Do you need our opinion? Or are you hoping we'll lend our support to this guy?"

Calmly, I respond to Shamash's words.

"I'm not asking for your support. I just want you to evaluate whether this guy is fit to be the king of the gods."

If I just brought in any newly born god and made them the king of the gods, these children would probably respect my opinion and listen.

But I can't do that.

The position of the king of the gods is a weighty one, and it cannot be decided so lightly.

A king of the gods chosen so carelessly will surely cause problems later on.

It would be right to persuade these children to acknowledge the king of the gods.

"An evaluation?"

"Yes. If you children evaluate and acknowledge him, then he can be considered a being worthy of being the king of the gods."

My children, born from natural phenomena.

Children who have existed even before other new gods were born.

In simple terms, they can be called the first generation of gods.

Compared to other gods, they possess overwhelming power and the ability to freely manipulate natural phenomena.

If the acknowledgment of these children is secured, the acknowledgment of other gods will naturally follow.

"Hmm... An evaluation... But we don't know that much about that child."

Sylphid said with a slightly sullen expression.

"I've had some interaction with him, so I can talk about him to some extent, but if you ask me whether he is worthy of being the king of the gods... Hmm, I'm not sure."

"Yeah, I don't know."

The words of Shamash and Sagarmatha. Hmm. It was certainly a bit early to ask for an evaluation when they know nothing.

"Then, how about we do this?"

In that situation, Thetis spoke up.

"We don't know that child, and Mom wants to make him the king of the gods, right?"

"That's right."

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"Then, how about we give him a test to see if we can acknowledge him?"

A test?

"No, it's more like a trial, really. If he solves the trial well, it would be like acknowledging him."

Hmm... What is this, something like the trials of Heracles?

"Certainly, doing it that way might make things easier."

"Well, to become the king of the gods, he should be able to solve any kind of problem, right?"

The other children also began to agree with Thetis' words. Certainly, this would be better for progressing the matter than just demanding acknowledgment outright.

I might have been too hasty in pushing this forward. Un.

It was probably because Baal suddenly started talking about Gaia as his partner, which flustered me.

"So, what happens now?"

Baal, who had stuck close to my side, asked in a small voice.

"These children will give you a test, and if you solve it, the children will acknowledge you."

"A test? Hmm, how troublesome..."

"But if you solve it, you can become the king of the gods, so isn't it worth trying?"

Baal thought for a moment, then nodded slightly.

"Okay, I'll give it a try."

Good. Baal has gained a bit of willingness, and now it's up to the children to decide what kind of test to give.

"Then let's adjourn for now. We need to think a bit more about the test."

"I agree."

"It's been a while since we've all gathered, so I want to eat Mom's delicious food!"

"I've been craving some fresh, crisp vegetables."

"Wait, is it okay for the god of plants to eat vegetables?"

"The elves have been eating too much meat, so I'm a bit tired of it. We need to fix their picky eating habits..."

Delicious food, huh. Come to think of it, the children who have lost their dragon bodies have rarely gathered like this.

"Alright, since it's been a while, let's make it a proper meal."

I'll have them try various dishes that they can't experience in this world!

As a way to ask them to look after Baal, who aspires to become the king of the gods!

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

A few days after feeding the children and Baal a hearty meal,

the children came to me, each having created a test of their own.

For some reason, the children had a self-assured look, as if competing to see who could create the more difficult test.

Hmm, not good. If the test is too difficult, Baal might just give up.

"Oh, and Mom should also set a test!"

"What? Me too?"

"Yes! We all agreed that it wouldn't be fair if only we set the tests!"

What? I haven't prepared anything at all? Suddenly asking me to set a test? That's too sudden!

"Of course, since we thought Mom hadn't prepared anything, we've been discussing and coming up with our own tests!"

At Shamash's words, the other children also nodded. Don't tell me to not prepare anything!

"The test set in Mom's name! It should be a test befitting the Goddess of Life, Mom!"

Hmm, I have a bad feeling about this.

"It's the trial of the sacred flame! While passing the other tests, no life must be harmed!"

The sacred flame... the sacred flame... Ugh, my head...

No, more importantly, the sacred flame? If there are tests from the children that require killing something, isn't that contradictory? Is it okay to set such tests?

"Ah, of course we carefully selected the tests to match that. We didn't include any tests that require killing something."

"Un. In that case, it should be fine... Hmm..."

No, no.

If there are no conditions set on the lives that cannot be killed, then just stepping on a bug while walking could result in disqualification from the test.

This needs to be fixed.

"Let's set conditions on the lives that cannot be killed."

"Conditions?"

I nodded slightly and said:

"Let's limit it to humans and other subrace. Animals and monsters can be killed."

"What about beastmen? They're half human, half animal."

"Beastmen are also considered a subrace."

That's discrimination against beastmen, Sylphid.