A deathly silence spread through the villa's main hall.
Godolphin Arabian sat on the sofa with her hands folded neatly together, her long hair cascading over her shoulders in a soft blue-to-green gradient.
An aura of warmth and boundless benevolence poured from her without end, proving to every top-class horse girl in front of her that she wasn't bluffing.
There was no doubt about it.
Sitting before them right now was the progenitor of horse girls, one of the Three Goddesses: Godolphin Arabian.
"Aww, don't be so stiff," Godolphin said, tilting her head as if the tension around her amused her. One fingertip tapped her chin, her tone lazy as her big eyes half-lidded. "If we're talking generations, you really should be calling me your great, great, great… great-grandmother."
"But in this era, calling me Big Sis Godolphin is fine too, you know."
"..."
The horse girls exchanged glances.
Back when the AI Three Goddesses appeared through the Satono family's VR tech, everyone knew those "goddesses" were just artificial intelligence. They respected them, sure, but they also understood they weren't the real thing.
This Godolphin was different.
This was the genuine article. The real Three Goddesses' body.
…
A little later, in the living room of Chasing Light Villa, Godolphin Arabian sat on one side with a bright, contented smile.
Across from her, Kuroha and the horse girls of Chasing Light sat in a straight, attentive line.
The blue-haired goddess looked at how clearly the two sides were separated, and felt no displeasure at all. If anything, her smile deepened.
It had been so long since people could truly see her, truly take her seriously.
How long had it been?
Godolphin mused happily.
About… two hundred years, maybe.
"…So yes. She's the real Three Goddesses. For the time being, she'll probably be living with you," Kuroha said, finally finishing the explanation.
Aside from Godolphin's earlier claim, half-joking and half-maddening, about "becoming a god," there wasn't much else worth hiding.
When Kuroha's words fell, the air in the hall turned strange again.
Sitting on the far edge of the sofa, the only horse girl who didn't belong to Chasing Light, Mr. C.B. scratched her head, her gaze flicking back and forth between the blue-haired goddess and Kuroha.
Even someone as wild and carefree as her felt, for once, that prickling sense of reality bending into something too surreal.
"Living with one of the Three Goddesses…" Mr. C.B. smiled. "Yeah, figures. Kuroha's place is always the most fun."
"And I bet Rudolf has no idea about this, huh?"
Something mischievous flashed across the legendary horse girl's face as the thought struck her.
Godolphin chuckled softly. "From today on, Godolphin will be staying here. My wisdom will be with you as you grow. May happiness surround you."
"I only hope you won't find me a nuisance."
"H-how could we possibly…" McQueen replied, drawing her knees together primly as she blinked.
The prestigious Mejiro family had always been closely tied to the Three Goddesses.
Raised on the goddesses' legends since childhood, the Mejiro heiress looked unusually nervous right now.
Meanwhile, Oguri Cap, who had been out of the loop this entire time, suddenly raised her hand and asked with sincere seriousness, "Um, Godolphin… Goddess?"
"What is it?" Godolphin asked with a gentle smile.
"Weren't you flying just now?" Oguri asked, belatedly realizing what had felt off.
"..."
No one answered.
She was a goddess. Flying was kind of the baseline.
Godolphin replied, "I can fly. I'm an individual formed from Yu-kun's power, not my true body."
Her true body could fly too, of course.
"But since I'm staying here now, I probably won't be flying under normal circumstances."
"Then…" Oguri thought for a moment, then asked, "If you're not your true body, do you still eat? I mean, do you have a favorite flavor?"
Oguri's appetite was a black hole in human form.
But there was something sweet about her, too. Aside from eating and running, the third thing she loved most was sharing what she thought was delicious with the people she cared about.
And the moment she'd seen Godolphin, an inexplicable sense of closeness had washed over her.
Even though it was their first meeting, Oguri felt naturally affectionate toward the horse girl progenitor.
Godolphin blinked, then broke into a bright, open laugh, her vivid green eyes curving into crescent moons.
"Of course I eat! Even if this isn't my true body, I have a physical form now, so naturally I want to experience modern food."
She sniffed lightly, playful as a cat. "I could smell it the moment I stepped into the entryway. It smells amazing."
"That should be Ardan-chan, March-chan, and Maruzensky-chan's heartfelt cooking, right?"
Being praised by a goddess by name made Mejiro Ardan and Fujimasa March flush a faint pink.
Only Maruzensky tilted her head.
As a horse girl from Central Tracen Academy's "ancient" era, being called "Maruzensky-chan" was, frankly, a strange feeling.
But the person saying it was her own ancestor.
When she put it that way, she could accept it.
Beside her, Ardan lowered her eyes, embarrassed by the compliment. After exchanging a glance with Kuroha, she rose with her usual elegance and spoke.
"In that case, please have a taste. It's only a simple home-cooked meal, but I hope you won't mind."
"That sounds wonderful," Godolphin said, resting her cheek against her palm. "But Ardan-chan, don't call me anything so formal. Just call me Big Sis Godolphin."
"…All right, Big Sis Godolphin," Ardan said after a brief hesitation.
After Kuroha headed into the kitchen as well to lend a hand, Chasing Light welcomed the goddess's first meal under their roof.
…
Over the Atlantic Ocean, high above the clouds, two faint points of red and yellow light blinked in the hazy sky.
"I'm going to have fun for a while at Central Tracen Academy in the Far East. If you two get bored, come find me over there."
The yellow light relayed the message with an exhausted tone, reading a communication sent by a companion.
Godolphin hadn't hidden her whereabouts at all. She'd simply pinned her location on the world map.
"That Godolphin. She ran off to play again," the yellow light muttered.
"Heehee." The red light spun a circle around the yellow one, giggling. "So what? It's been four or five years since we went down to the lower world."
"Let it be our leisure time."
"…Our mission…" The yellow light sounded like a goddess rubbing her temples with a sigh. "Fine. We'll search a little longer. If we still don't find anything, we'll head to Godolphin's place."
"Okay, okay," the red light replied cheerfully.
As the two lights vanished once more, the matter of the Three Goddesses descending to the lower world finally, slowly, came to a close.
And after the buzz around Oguri's triumphant expedition return gradually faded…
At Central Tracen Academy, the most anticipated annual finale of the Twinkle Series, the Arima Kinen, drew closer and closer amid a steadily boiling atmosphere.
(End of Chapter)
[Get +30 Extra Chapters On — P@tr3on "Zaelum"]
[Every 300 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter Drop]
[Thanks for Reading!]