Shin swore on his life he wasn't saying this because Junko was powerful and he wanted to get close to a powerhouse — well, he genuinely didn't mind benefiting from that connection either, but. In any case, Junko had been a benefactor both to him and to Kaguya, and as an upstanding young man who knew how to repay a debt, he absolutely had to do something about it.
[Spreading Witch Factors (Great Witch)]: ???
[Spreading Witch Factors (Great Witch)]: Shaya. Who exactly did you just say you wanted to look after in your old age? Say that again for me.
As far as the Great Witch was concerned, this had gone well beyond ordinary teenage rebellion. This required a firm hand.
[Spreading Witch Factors (Great Witch)]: How lovely. Seems the Witch's Island isn't big enough to contain your all-encompassing filial piety.
[Spreading Witch Factors (Great Witch)]: You know what, go right ahead — go claim every auntie in this group as a mother, and then you won't need to bother coming back to the Witch's Island at all. You can just spend the rest of your days doing your filial rounds through all their worlds.
But where the Great Witch's sarcasm landed like a guillotine, the others in the group took an entirely different turn.
[Lord of the Lands Between]: …You know, Great Witch, thinking about it from another angle — recognising one mother is one thing, and recognising a whole group of mothers is also one thing.
The stone-sealed consciousness deep within the Erdtree appeared to be genuinely considering the Great Witch's suggestion.
[Lord of the Lands Between]: This child Shaya — we've all watched him come out from that little island into the world. He's a fine child, and his character and integrity are well-known to us all.
[Lord of the Lands Between]: Since he's willing to be filial — our shattered Lands Between happen to be in need of a "King" who could pacify the chaos and inherit the Elden Ring. Perhaps he and this mother's daughters Ranni or Malenia could—
[Spreading Witch Factors (Great Witch)]: Lady Marika, you—
Before the Great Witch could finish typing, Morgan had already chimed in.
[Queen of Britain]: I agree with Lady Marika's sentiment.
She was currently in the royal palace of Britain, and her gaze had swept across the livestream — specifically past Melusine, who kept stealing glances at the young man.
[Queen of Britain]: My kingdom's only heir is an innocent and somewhat unreliable daughter. What it truly lacks is a crown prince who could keep all parties in check.
[Queen of Britain]: Since the Great Witch mentioned that a match is temporarily off the table, what about making Shaya my adopted son? I believe my daughter would welcome an elder brother — and given the way Lancelot is looking at him…
[Definitely Not a God]: I also think this could work.
The shattered-consciousness girl-queen considered for a moment before making her statement:
[Definitely Not a God]: Though he carries foreign bloodlines, his kindness and sincerity toward humanity are qualities I recognise. If he is willing, I would not mind keeping a position beside the golden throne for him — as a guide for humanity.
[Aspiring to Become the Perfect Human Being]: What on earth.
It says "What on earth" but it means nothing, Shin — reject it, hurry up and reject it!
In the mansion on Witch's Island, the Great Witch stared at the stream of incoming "adoption applications," and at the conspicuously ambiguous replies from Shin speaking in his main account—
Something like panic was rising in her.
This was what? She'd raised a perfectly good piece of cabbage for sixteen years, and not only had the pig already gotten into the garden — now they were even trying to dig up the roots?
The Great Witch suddenly felt a crisis closing in. Devoted sons belong to the strong — she had decided: she was going to study each of these group members and devise a targeted spell for every single one of them. Even this "Junko" woman was no exception.
Meanwhile, at the very real top of the pavilion in Heian-kyo—
In the face of Shin's earth-shaking "old-age-care application," Junko did not look offended.
She simply looked at him — quietly, steadily — and in those crimson eyes that could see through all ten thousand worlds, a ripple called gentleness spread slowly outward.
"…"
She murmured softly.
"Heh. Being this mother's adopted son — this is your responsibility, after all."
Junko stepped forward.
She raised her bare hand, a flicker of crimson foxfire dancing at her fingertip.
"Since the child has this intention, this mother had better leave something — as proof of your filial devotion."
The words had barely settled—
That thread of foxfire plunged without warning into Shin's chest.
"Urgh!"
Shin let out a sharp grunt. A searing heat that felt like it could burn away his very thoughts erupted inside him.
That was the essence of "purification" — a supreme divine nature, sharing a fragment of its core with him, placing her own wager on his future.
[Supreme Soul detected. [Spirit Shrine's Divine Palace] has automatically activated!]
Shin clenched his teeth. Being purified and smelted like this — it was like ore being thrown into the highest-temperature furnace to have its impurities driven out.
But the system notification came with it, and he felt something inside him merging with the essence Junko had granted.
In the depths of the [Spirit Shrine], in one of those seven towering palace-silhouettes — the one that had been lit — a true sovereign had arrived to claim her seat.
That thread of foxfire drove straight into his heart.
The heart — the mother of the body's entire qi and blood flow, and the dwelling of the Five Elements' fire.
BOOM——!
In the space of a breath, a sound like the creation of the world rumbled through Shin's inner ear.
Above the seven connected palace-silhouettes of the Spirit Shrine, the first great city — radiating amber-gold light from every surface — surged into full, solid existence at the rhythm of his heartbeat.
Carved above its gates, in ancient divine script:
[摇光 — Yaoguang].
The Seventh Star of the Northern Dipper. The star of Pojun. Master of slaughter and of rebirth — the ultimate fire.
Shin opened his eyes again. The world he saw was entirely different.
He could see every thread of spiritual energy drifting through the air. He could see the void beyond the Moon's shattered barrier gradually returning to stillness.
But on the terrace before him, there was no one.
Only a voice, faint as the last note of a song, drifting in the wind — carrying a lightness he had never heard in it before:
[You having this intention is already enough, my child.]
[When you have crossed the trials that fate has marked out for you — this mother will find you again.]
Junko was gone.
Gone without a trace — as if the woman who had made the entire Lunar Capital tremble had never set foot in the mortal world at all.
"…She's left?"
Melusine finally dared to let her body relax, the dragon's instinct that had coiled tight inside her since Junko's arrival slowly unwinding. Even she, who counted herself among the strongest in existence, still had a thread of genuine lingering unease in her dragon pupils.
She looked at Shin and noted, with her keen perception, that the young man seemed to have grown stronger again.
"Lady Lancelot, thank you for everything this time."
Shin steadied his breathing and turned to the white-haired loli dragon girl, offering her a genuine smile:
"Though things got a bit messy along the way, the outcome is satisfactory. When you go back, tell Lady Morgan — tell Her Majesty — that I'm counting the favour she did my mother as something I personally owe her."
Melusine looked at the young man with an expression that was layered with unspoken things. Her gaze lingered on him for just a moment longer than necessary, and then she gave a small, ambiguous laugh.
"Heh heh. I'll relay it faithfully."
"I look forward to the next time we run a mission together, young man~"
Without waiting for Shin to say another word, the Last Dragon became a silver streak of light and vanished into the white glow of the chat group's return transit.
Now, the only ones left on the terrace were Shin — and the loli Kaguya, who had gone slightly deflated, tugging at the hem of her junihitoe with an expression of quiet suffering.
"My dear… do you think less of me now — looking like this?"
Kaguya tilted her head back to look at him, those crimson eyes full of quiet anxiety.
The grand "predatory wife's grand re-entrance" she'd planned had turned into a distinctly father-daughter vibe instead. Who could endure that?
Shin let out a small laugh, crouched down to her level, and ruffled her cascade of black hair without a care in the world.
"Not even slightly."
Small was good, actually — his Great Witch at home wasn't any bigger anyway. Ahem. Pretend he didn't say that.
He pulled up the return menu and confirmed.
Heian-kyo — all its absurdity and grandeur, and the cracked, fractured moon hanging in the sky — began peeling away from his vision piece by piece.
Witch's Island. Second floor of the mansion.
The moonlight was still the same. The faint smell of old ink still lingered in the library air.
Thud.
Accompanied by the sound of something solid landing, Shin appeared on the carpet.
Still held in his arms was Kaguya-hime — arms wrapped around his neck, pressed close against him, now well and truly with "no home to return to."
"Phew… Finally home."
The tension in Shin's chest loosened. This mission had been nothing short of harrowing from beginning to end — and yet it had also been genuinely eye-opening.
But before he could even draw a proper breath, a voice sounded in his ear — a young woman's laugh, cool and edged:
"My, my, Shaya. Finally deigned to come back, have we?"
Shin's whole body stiffened. Mechanically, he turned his head.
There, in the air behind him, the Great Witch was reclining sideways on a sofa she'd apparently levitated, one foot crossed elegantly over the other, the tip of her white-silk-wrapped toes pointing toward him.
Her lovely pale blue eyes were radiating a glow considerably more dangerous than Junko's had been:
"Barely two days away, and look at you — you've already managed to collect this many people…"
"Your mother is starting to regret lifting that house arrest, Shaya. If you go out a few more times at this rate, I won't have enough room in this mansion for everyone."
The floating Great Witch drew steadily closer. Her eyes glittered with that particular dangerous light:
"And this person hiding behind you — aren't you going to introduce her to me?"
Shin glanced to the side.
The loli Kaguya was standing just behind him. Even having shrunk down to roughly the Great Witch's height, her presence was absolutely not reduced in kind.
Kaguya revealed an exquisitely polished smile, and said something that brought the room's temperature crashing to absolute zero:
"So this must be my dear's future mother-in-law. A little younger than I imagined — though I suppose it doesn't make much difference."
"It's a pleasure to meet you, mother-in-law. I am my dear's newly-wedded wife. I look forward to your guidance~"
Inside the mansion — the temperature plummeted.
Shin watched the Great Witch's expression undergo a transformation in real time.
First came an unfinished sentence aimed at Kaguya —
Then she wheeled sharply to face Shin, and the famously pale complexion of the Witch bloodline developed something almost unprecedented: the barest, most unmistakable flush.
"S…"
"S… H… A… Y… A…!"
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