"...And so, the war that had withered countless lives and left civilization stagnant finally came to an end. No race ever had to worry again about dying innocently in their sleep because of someone else's conflict, nor did they have to fear the earth beneath them cracking open at any moment, extinguishing all life."
"They could finally redirect the energy they once spent on war and survival toward other things. Like the candies we all love~, delicious food~, beautiful art~, more kinds of games... isn't that wonderful?"
With his eyes nearly squinted into slits from smiling, Tet spoke happily. He loved this world—in fact, he couldn't love it more. Unfortunately, his heartfelt sentiment was not met with matching joy, but rather—
"Waaaah! Waaaaaah! Sniff WAAAAAAH!!!"
Crying. A sudden explosion of children's weeping as soon as the story ended.
"Wh-what's wrong?! Isn't this a good thing?! Why are you crying?!"
Rarely showing a flustered side when dealing with these toddlers, Tet scrambled to dodge within the small space. His sharp eyes saw clearly that if he didn't move, these human hatchlings—whose noses and eyes were streaming—would leap onto him and smear all that... stuff... all over his clothes.
Even though his Old Zeus body maintained a self-purifying state that never attracted dirt, 'gross' was still 'gross,' okay?!
Jibril watched the farce with a look of disgust. While Tet was telling the story, the human children... and even that black-haired Ex-Machina... had sat in a circle around him in identical poses. Like little preschoolers in a row... Is this scrap metal insane too?
"B-but they still died! We'll never see them again!"
Tet was still in the thick of the noise. Even the Ex-Machina girl looked expressionless, yet the mechanical wheel at her temple was beeping with a mix of red and yellow lights. Tet had already taken to the air to avoid having messy things wiped on him.
"Ah~ since we've come to this point~ and it happens to be such a special day... do you see these petals above your heads?" Tet wore a mischievous grin. "Legend has it~ that these flowers were originally pure white, without a single speck of color. But after that man and that Elf performed that great feat, their spilled blood dripped from the sky onto these flowers, staining them all red..."
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!"
The crying intensified.
"Deception response protocol initiated: Error. According to database records, the Think-flower was originally an indigenous plant of the Elves. Aside from rare mutation individuals, red is the standard pigmentation."
"Conclusion: Tet is lying. Malicious intent detected."
The Ex-Machina girl sounded the alarm.
"Hey, hey, it was just a little joke. Why so serious?" Tet waved his hands quickly, laughing. "Isn't it interesting? Their reaction. Anyway, I'll leave this to you... an old friend has come to visit~. I have to go over."
"Thinking—Joke. Heart also enjoys jokes... this kind of joke?"
While reaching out to grab a child who wanted to follow Tet, the black-haired Ex-Machina tilted her head in thought. It was only... well, one could only hope she wouldn't be led astray by this malicious One True God.
"Yo~ out for a stroll?" Raising a hand in a friendly, familiar greeting, Tet arrived in front of Jibril.
"You truly are full of nonsense, aren't you? Is this how you've spent the last three thousand years? Tiring yourself out telling these boring stories everywhere?" Jibril crossed her arms, looking down at Tet with disdain. The pink-haired Flügel sneer, combined with her contemptuous expression, forced Tet to fly a bit higher to reach eye level.
Of course, if this Flügel chose to tilt her head back slightly and look at him from beneath her nose... there wasn't much he could do. Fortunately, Jibril hadn't gone that far yet.
"Mhm, I wouldn't call them 'my' boring stories. This story involves you too, doesn't it? You even make an appearance in—"
Whoosh!
A remarkably bold move!
Jibril, a mere Flügel, had launched a rebellious attack against the One True God! She even used it to cut him off mid-sentence—a grave act of lèse-majesté!
However, Tet remained smiling, showing no sign of anger at being offended. He didn't even bother dodging.
Well, that was normal. Setting aside the fact that as the One True God, he couldn't be harmed by such a minor attack, the more important reason was that in the current Disboard, war, violence, and direct harm were forbidden. This meant that if Jibril truly harbored murderous intent or a genuine desire to attack, the strike wouldn't have even manifested.
The fact that the attack appeared at all proved that deep down, Jibril felt no real malice or loathing toward him... interesting, isn't it?
In another world, they'd call this being Tsundere, right?
Definitely Tsundere.
The curve of his lips widened. Tet suddenly felt an itch—if he recorded the Flügel current appearance and showed it to that man when he returned, wouldn't it be incredibly entertaining?
In the world of us Old Zeuss, we only say "I'll collect this" after the fact. Before Tet realized it, he had habitually saved the footage of Jibril changing expressions from the last few seconds.
That's a lot of footage... it'll take that fellow quite a while to watch it all, the great One True God thought idly. Of course, he wouldn't tell Jibril what he'd just done.
"Ahem, stay cool, stay cool," Tet maintained his happy facade. "I can't say I've told it every year for the past three millennia. For the first few centuries, there was no need. After that, there were too many games to play... mhm, maybe once every few decades or centuries? Honestly, it's not frequent at all!"
"Even if what you say is riddled with errors? Or completely fabricated?" The mockery on Jibril face grew more pronounced. Unlike everyone else who felt reverence, she had never hidden her dislike and hostility toward the current One True God.