“Where are we?” I asked.

After announcing that she was finally going to help me, Netori had grabbed my arm and the pair of us teleported. Looking around, we appeared to be at the bottom of some hill. I realized there was a large gate at the base, with stairs leading up. The hill was covered with long trees, making it impossible to see what was at the top of the hill. However, I had a vague impression of this place. It was the shrine grandpa had owned!

I had seen this place once before. At the time, I didn’t know mom had once been a shrine maiden. At that point, the shrine had already been torn down, and my parents had merely driven by the hill to show me where they met. I had thought that it was some kind of scary forest challenge or something. It was only now that I saw the familiar gate that I had put it all together.

As I realized this, Netori put her hand gently on the pillar of the gate, almost hesitantly. “This is the shrine of Harem. You already know about our history, right? Although he has no shrines, Harem exists in the hearts of all men. That’s why… I haven’t touched a man since Harem!”

My eyebrows rose. I didn’t want to be disbelieving, but I knew Netori’s mischievous and sexual nature, so to find out that she had never had sex was a shock. That’s right, if she hadn’t had sex since Harem, then that means she hadn’t had sex since her split into Netori, Netorare, and Netorase. While I wasn’t sure the state of the other girls, that would make the current Netori a virgin!

She continued as she shook her head and turned to me. “I just couldn’t stomach it for the longest time. It took a great deal, both physically and mentally, to finally come down to earth once again and try to move on and re-establish myself. My sisters have had their plans, but for me, I think it was hardest since his abandonment went against my true nature.

“Hmph… although this is Harem’s shrine, they always called it the shrine of the unknown god. I never understood why.”

She looked up at the sign across the top of the gate, although the characters had faded to the point that they were unreadable.

“Because the shrine wasn’t intended for that man,” I responded.

She frowned, turning to me. “What are you saying?”

“Perhaps this shrine was built to worship a god that embodied Harem, but can you truly say Harem embodies Harem?”

Her expression darkened and I could feel slight anger as she spoke in a shaky voice. “No, he doesn’t.”

“If he doesn’t embody Harem, then he isn’t Harem.”

Her eyebrows jumped up. “That’s impossible. He can’t be anything other than what he is.”

“Unless what he is… is a lie,” I muttered under my breath before shaking my head and speaking louder. “A god is a reflection of the mortal world, and the mortal world is a reflection of the god. If those two are out of sync, and the god doesn’t rise to match, doesn’t that create an opportunity?”

She cocked her head with interest, crossing her arms. “What do you mean, opportunity?”

“The mortal plane gives worship, but the heavens don’t answer. At this point, a god is born.” I explained cautiously. “Except, that a god can’t be born, because there is a false idol!”

Netori gasped, her hand rising to her mouth. This was clearly something she had never considered, but since the day Harem revealed his true identity as Procreation, I had thought about it all too much. This also proved to me that Netori didn’t know Harem’s true nature. She should know everything that NTR did, so NTR must not have known about Procreation either. He had hijacked the name of Harem. He was a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

Procreation had many shrines. He gained all the worship of fertility gods, and on top of that managed to steal the strength of NTR, harem, and marriage as well. This was how he was able to grow so powerful. However, there was still a hole in the story. One could say it was the most important part. That was his motive! Why did Procreation pretend to be Harem? His disguise had seemingly been flawless, only a few things, like the existence of the unnamed shrine, gave him away.

Even now, I felt it easier to see him as Harem than Procreation. One reason is that when I thought about going up against him, the god of Harem felt manageable, while the god of Procreation was only a step under a creation god. With a pillar of life, and not something I could topple. If I did manage to stop Harem, it’d be the same as wiping out the human race. If I did that, there would be no more Marriage, NTR, or me for that matter.

“What can be done about it?” Netori’s original shock fell to bitterness. “The current Harem is too powerful a god to defy.”

“Unless…”

“Unless?”

“Unless you find someone to replace him.”

She gave me a look filled with disbelief. She had been willing to follow my train of thought thus far, but even I thought that trying to defy him was impossible, and I understood the depth of his power.

“Y-you can’t kill him,” Netori said, looking awkward.

“Did I say kill? I’m not talking about reincarnation. I’m talking about raising someone… a mortal and making them into a god. Raise them from birth, teach them about forming a real harem, one based on NTR, give them the tools necessary to grow…”

“Turn a mortal into a god?” Her eyes widened again. “The… the chances of that… it’s astronomically small. One would say this would be a waste of time.”

“It’s not.”

“How do you know?” She demanded, and then her eyes flickered. “Who are you?”

“That…” I looked away from her prying eyes. “I’m just someone who knows… I’m a mortal trying to become a god, after all, right?”

“Ah! That’s right!” Her eyes widened.

She had completely forgotten that such a mortal was taking a step into becoming a god right in front of her, but once again, her excitement was doused as quickly as it rose.

“What?”

“It may be possible to turn a mortal to a god, like with you, but doing that, and having that person grow to the point they can take on Harem… those are two different concepts entirely!”

I lowered my head, nodding slightly. “Maybe… maybe he could do it… if he had the time.”

This entire conversation was becoming extremely surreal for me. Of course, I was aware of everything I was saying. I was basically convincing Netori to do what she already did! The reason Netori went on this mission, the reason she had me conceived, and chose me as her Champion, and started the NTR Crush game… these ideas had come from me in the first place! I didn’t want to think about the temporal implications of that. If I ever met the god of time once I got up there, I might consider asking him. I had a feeling though he was far outside my pay grade, even if I reached Procreations level.

“Time…” She repeated, looking like she was deep in thought.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t be more convincing. Part of the problem is that I didn’t even know how I was going to do it myself. I was still working on the becoming a god part. As for finding a way to push Harem aside and make him give up the name so that I could take the mantle, I had no clue how to do that. I had already decided killing him was impossible, although if I did kill him and he reincarnated, that’d be for the best. The new Procreation would have a new mind, and he’ll likely drop his obsession with the Harem title. Either way, I was confident by the time he grew up, I’d already be settled in the position and untouchable. As for keeping NTR by my side, if I couldn’t manage that, then what was I doing here at all?

As I considered these thoughts, I noticed that Netori was watching me now. Her eyes watched me intensely. In the past, I always felt like she could see through my very being. It wasn’t that exaggerated this time, but she still left me blushing a bit.

“What is it?”

“Hakaru, thank you.”

“Hmm? I’m just saying my thoughts out loud.”

“No… it’s more than that…” She reached out and touched my arm, but then she suddenly blushed, turning away. “Ahem… I mean…”

“Netori…”

“Don’t look at me like that. I’m not worth… such a look.” She responded, her cheeks continuing to redden. “I’m just a cheating slut.”

“No…” I shook my head. “You’re more than that too.”

Her body shook slightly as I reached out to touch her. However, as my hand went to grab hers, she slipped away, just like smoke. That was the Netori I was used to. I looked at my hand and chuckled to myself wryly.

“So… are we going to fuck or what?”

I turned around in surprise to see Netori standing there, opening up her robe. I jumped as she pulled it open, showing her beautiful naked body.

“Wh-wh-what is this?” I cried out, throwing my hands up.

I knew we had a moment, but when she slipped away, that was her shutting her heart off to me. Now, she was suddenly getting naked. This was the more casual Netori. I could tell deep down that while she was willing to have sex, she had wrapped her heart in a barrier. Of course, I was ecstatic. If we had sex, it was a chance to reach her heart once again, but I was confused.

“Don’t think anything alarming about this!” Netori pouted. “I’m just keeping up with the bargain!”

“B-bargain?’

“I’m supposed to help you become a god, right?”

“Weren’t I supposed to sleep with some fallen god?” I let out a cry. “Are you the fallen god?”

“No! Dummy…” She huffed. “You’ll need to still seduce them if you want to reach godhood. But, I said you needed a kind of protection, and I can give you that protection.”

“Through sex?” I asked.

“This is the virgin body of an avatar. Taking my body will have a protective effect, allowing you to withstand them, and give you a chance to seduce them. That’s all I can offer. Afterward, it’s up to you and fate if you become a god. Furthermore, if I give you my virginity along with a bit of my divinity, we can assure your ascension.”

“I see…”

“You should be glad that I’m doing this! By giving you my body, I will greatly weaken myself on the mortal plane. I will no longer be able to possess this mortal body, and I’ll have to return to the heavenly plane and go into hibernation, or I may end up trapped here. Since you have helped me gain a few followers, I’ll be able to recover in ten years or so, but it’s a great sacrifice on my part!”

“Ah… I’m sorry…”

“You don’t need to say sorry.” She responded, her voice growing very quiet. “All you need to say is ‘yes’.”

Of course, I hadn’t forgotten that she was in the body of my mother. Not only was she suggesting that I take her virginity, but also my mother’s! I actually didn’t know what that would do. It left me feeling very complicated. However, my mother was a teenage beauty and separated enough from her that it was more like banging a sister than a mother. That was considerably better. Well, not really, but I had already made my decision a long time from now, and I wasn’t turning back.

“Yes.”