Endless Path : Infinite Cosmos

Meeting expectations, another month had gone by without any appearance from the elusive Betty. This indicated that her creator was either being extra cautious, taking measures to avoid leaving any evidence whatsoever, or, as was far more likely, they were involved with something going on behind the scenes.

At this point, it was all but guaranteed that their enemies were hidden away within a sub texture as none of the probes they had sent to observe the various Bounded Fields on the Surface had noticed any abnormalities. Though it was possible they had ventured inside one of them without notice, the fact two months had passed without a single sign of them indicated this was not the case.

Without any leads, other than the ones Sherlock fabricated using his unique combination of Skills and Innates, the Empire had no choice but to focus on more pertinent issues. They couldn't keep waiting around for the enemy to attack so, in preparation for whatever would be thrown at them, Vahn had been making use of the Throne of Heroes to a borderline gross extent.

With the exceptions of Sir Agravain and Sir Kay, all of the former Knights of the Round Table had now been summoned. Vahn had taken into consideration the fact he would be establishing the European Supercolony first so, with the majority of Heroic Spirits being more powerful within their homeland, it was a good opportunity to get things out of the way. As a result, they learned that Sir Agravain and Sir Kay were 'technically' both still alive but, considering Add possessed a fraction of the latter's spirit, this wasn't particularly a surprise.

Following the summoning of the Knights of the Round Table, Vahn figured he might as well go for 'complete sets', much like a collector of various goods. He would need a phenomenally powerful force to contend against the Gods and police the entire planet so, with Astolfo already existing as a central figure within the Empire, Vahn opted to summon the Paladins of Charlemagne, sans the infamous Emperor himself.

Though Vahn had been tempted to summon Charlemagne, Astolfo and the then-summoned Roland had convinced him otherwise. According to them, Charlemagne was a benevolent ruler but, as could be expected for someone of his era, he had been a principal follower of the Roman Catholic Church. He had even been christened as the Holy Roman Emperor by the Pope, giving him the 'divine right' to rule over the known world.

In other words, Charlemagne was a religious zealot of the highest order and, while many had called him just, history had always been written by the victors of conquests. Since even Roland, the leader of the Paladins of Charlemagne, was against summoning his former lord, Vahn knew better than to give in to his curiosity. This was only emphasized even more when he summoned the sibling duo of Bradamante and Rinaldo, cousins of Roland and Astolfo. The former had been someone ardently loyal to Charlemange but, given a choice in the matter, she would rather he be left to rest.

By the time Vahn had summoned half of the Twelve Paladins, any thoughts he had of summoning Charlemagne had been swept aside. The last thing he needed was a religious zealot to unify the scattered followers of the Roman Catholic Church, reviving the functionally pointless organization despite the proven existence of Alaya.

Charlemagne was a man who had received everything from 'God' so, upon being summoned into the present, it was all but guaranteed that he would turn against the Empire that had, for all intents and purposes, destroyed the Roman Catholic Church. This would make things difficult for the former Paladins so, rather than sew discord in his own Empire, Vahn decided to simply avoid summoning him. The fact Charlemagne had Skills like [God's Resolution], [Holy King], [Great Emperor Privilege], and [Ceremonial Reformation] further cemented this idea...

---

As could be expected from summoning large groups of related people, there was a bit of drama within the Empire but, as this just made things livelier, Vahn didn't particularly mind. Truthfully, he was just glad that people like Bradamante weren't pining to gain access to the Inner Sanctum. In fact, she seemed to have a particular fondness for her cousin, Astolfo, so Vahn had been able to see the pink-haired Knight running all over the island in order to escape the rather violent twin-tailed tsundere.

Other than moments like that, the only real drama had been a result of the former divide between the Knights of the Round Table but, as the present had nothing to do with events from more than fifteen hundred years ago, things settled down pretty quickly. It helped that Gareth had been one of the first to be summoned as it was her death, combined with Artoria's handling of things, that caused the original split. Though Gaheris couldn't completely forgive Lancelot for what he had done, the fact Gawain and Gareth had forgiven the former Knight of the Lake went a long way towards rebuilding trust between them...

In truth, most of the actual drama within the Empire was related to Vahn and the Inner Sanctum so, for reasons he couldn't quite put into words, it was nice to see other people experiencing a bit of drama. It always made for pleasant conversation while they were all drinking together and, though it was impossible to completely bridge the divide between them, Vahn felt closer to his male companions when they had troubles of their own to talk about. It had become increasingly more difficult to talk about his own so it meant a lot that they trusted him enough to bare their hearts to him, at least while intoxicated...

It was no secret that, while his position was enviable, none of the men who knew of Vahn's affairs would ever willingly trade places with him. The only two people who could truly empathize with him were Ozymandias and Alexander but, whilst they had both harbored harems of more than a hundred people, the difference in status had ensured things never became an issue. Alexander, in particular, could go months or years at a time without even caring about some of the women in his harem so, while the number eclipsed Vahn's, the effort they put in was incomparable.

To make matters even worse, Vahn's harem had become increasingly more convoluted with the passage of time. At times, it even felt like there were no real restrictions limiting its growth as, a few weeks after he first had sex with Illya, Iris, too, had shared his bed. Just recently, he had even made love to Nero, an affair that had lasted nearly thirty hours due to her sheer unwillingness to 'admit defeat'. Now, the only real harem candidates he had yet to do the deed with were Jeanne, Okita, Medea, Semiramis, and, for entirely different reasons, Medusa.

Vahn still held some small hope that girls like Jeanne and Okita would find love elsewhere but, as he never really did anything to push them away, it was, truthfully, only a matter of time. The same could be said for Medea but, as she had become very close with Medusa, there was little chance of her taking the initiative before her friend. Vahn was pretty sure they had even made a promise with each other to that extent so, once Medusa was finally ready to advance their relationship, it was all but guaranteed that Medea would follow suit.

Now, the only thing Vahn could really hope for was that Mash, Zoë, and Juliet wouldn't fall for his 'charms'. If they followed the example of Astrid, that would be for the best as, much like he had towards Tina, Vahn felt extremely awkward having basically reared them as his surrogate children, only for them to fall in love with him as a result. He wanted them to be happy and, while he would do his best to help them find that happiness, it would be healthier if they found it outside of his bed-chamber.

Fortunately, Mash had been getting along exceptionally well with Richard and, though it was more than a little troubling, Sakura had privately told him about her crush on Galahad. This hadn't exactly come as a surprise but, knowing she had enough trust in him to openly admit her feelings, Vahn felt both gratified and fretful at the same time. Ultimately, however, the former won out, so, after a very long heart-to-heart conversation, Vahn basically told Sakura that she was free to love, so long as she took the necessary considerations, chiefly her age, into account.

Though he would never allow his children to be in a toxic or exploitative relationship, Vahn had already made the decision to never interfere with their love lives. Even if they made a mistake, this was part of the growing process and, so long as it wasn't associated with a tragedy, he wouldn't even punish the men or women that had broken his children's' hearts. After all, he wasn't exactly a paragon of virtue when it came to relationships so, to prevent needless rebellion, Vahn tried to be as understanding as possible when it came to his children's problems. He would rather they come to him seeking advice and counsel rather than try to keep something a secret as, after the incident with 'future' Tina, Vahn had learned a very hard lesson about communication...

In the grand scheme of things, it wasn't an exaggeration to say that he, and many of his children, would live forever. Any number of things could happen in that time so, rather than drive a wedge between them in the first few decades of their life, Vahn wanted to establish himself as someone they could trust when things didn't go their way. He would never proactively spoil them but, when it came to the things they needed, he would always be there to provide for them. This was one of his most important duties as a father and, though it was more painful than he imagined, Vahn was able to bear the peculiar heartbreak associated with having your children grow up, a supportive smile on his face throughout...

Soon enough, this would become a very important skill to possess as, with Isanna and Naavi both having already matured, there was a very real chance he would be tested in the near future. After all, Isanna was a troublingly promiscuous girl and, now that her appearance was almost the same as her mother, it was all but guaranteed 'something' would happen. She even floated around in her raiment most of the time now and, though her pseudo-Divinity related to Love had actually decreased from 95% to 88%, Vahn had the distinct impression this was due to the nature of the Divinity changing.

If things continued to develop as they were, it wasn't hard to imagine Isanna and Daiki becoming lovers in the near future. Both Isanna and Naavi were drawn to him far more than was normal for siblings but, unlike her 'older' sister, Naavi was very level-headed. As for Daiki, he was troubled by his doting older sisters but, despite his lamentations, he couldn't be away from them for very long without falling into a state bordering on depression.

Ishtar and Ereshkigal weren't particularly worried about their daughters ending up with Daiki, as it was 'very' common for related Gods to become lovers, but, as could be expected, Rin was more than a little troubled by the notion. Though she was one of the mothers of all three children, Daiki, in particular, was her baby. She knew there wasn't actually a genetic relation between her son and the two Vanir but, considering they were formed in the same womb, it still felt wrong.

What really weighed heavily on Rin's heart and mind was how Isanna and Naavi looked almost identical to Ishtar and Ereshkigal, despite the fact they weren't even five years old. She had even mistaken Isanna for Ishtar once when she saw the former floating around with Daiki contentedly sleeping with his face in her bosom. It was only when Isanna called her Mama that Rin realized it wasn't actually Ishtar, something that caused her a few restless nights after the fact.

When it came down to it, the thing that really frightened Rin was the fact that her son was basically growing up with his path pre-determined. Though he got along decently with everyone, the love he shared with his two sisters was abnormally strong, far beyond even that of close kin. While this wouldn't have been much of an issue if they developed at the same rate, the fact the two Vanir already looked like young women was terrifying to her...

It had taken a considerable amount of effort for Vahn to assuage Rin's concerns over the matter, helped in large part by Ishtar, Ereshkigal, and Artoria. Together, they had been able to convince her that the most important thing was for them to be tolerant and patient parents. If she started to try and distance Daiki from his sisters, that would only cause all three of them to resent her so, the only thing she could really do was try and guide all three of them to the best of her ability.

Since most of Isanna's more troublesome aspects had been reigned in by Vahn, his words had a lot of weight when it came to convincing Rin to be patient. Children, even those born with limited-omniscience, simply didn't know better when it came to such things. They needed their parents to guide them with patience and understanding, not disgust and intolerance. Since Rin truly loved all three of them, it would only end in tragedy if she tried to intervene forcibly. Not only would her heart suffer in the process but, as a result of her actions, Daiki, Isanna, and Naavi may even come to hate her.

Hate was a very powerful motivator and, with the amount of power Isanna already possessed, the last thing they needed was for her to become rebellious. As things stood, she was actually a very obedient and responsible girl, despite her troublemaking tendencies. Though she did butt heads with Mordred on a number of occasions, she rarely used even a fraction of her power, knowing, on a fundamental level, it was wrong to do so. This was an idea that had been instilled into her at a very young age and, after considerable guidance from Vahn, Isanna would likely continue using her power responsibly into the distant future.

When it came to power scaling on the levels of Gods, authority and respect were two of the most important aspects of maintaining order. With this in mind, Rin was encouraged to become one of the people Isanna genuinely respected, not the primary source for any antagonistic feelings she would develop over time. It would take a considerable amount of effort but, with ardent support from Vahn, Ishtar, and Ereshkigal, the three people Isanna respected most, it wasn't impossible...

(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'Gotta collect 'em all...!','Vahn, God of Drama...','Poor Rin. It can't be easy being a mortal trying to raise god-like children...')

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