As I rested in the back of the car, I wasn't surprised to hear my phone ring.
I'd just left the vicinity of the baron's manor a few minutes ago and by now, the pictures and videos taken of myself and the bishop must've already circuited around the side of the internet that was still awake at this ti.
"Bell! What were you thinking?!" scread the voice on the other side.
"Hello, Mom," I responded as I pulled the phone a little bit away from my ear in fear that my eardrum was going to burst.
"Hey, baby," she cald down her voice to reciprocate my greeting. Then imdiately after, her scolding mother's voice returned, "Just because we allow you kids to have this much freedom doesn't an you should be using it to do such reckless activities! Think! Think before you do! Don't be so impetuous!"
"But I wasn't Mother. I was a hundred percent confident that I was going to beat the baron," which was a slightly exaggerated lie. "I had done my research on him beforehand," I explained myself.
"No Bell, not the baron. I don't care about that. I'm extrely proud of you for dealing with a scum like him and... I trust in your ability to pick your battles. Don't worry. That's not at all what I'm angry about," she corrected .
I could hear her take a deep breath, even stepping away from the phone a bit before returning to the call.
"What I'm mad about Bell is the fact that you involved the church," she inford .
"I needed their help though. The baron had tens of thousands of devoted fanatics whom he placed all over the city," I said, trying to justify my action.
"If you need help with their number, why didn't you just ask or your father for help? We would've provided you with more than enough n to take over the entire city if you wanted," she said.
Because the main character doesn't ask his parents for help in battle. That's one of the unspoken rules.
Also, I wanted to garner the favor of the church because I had plans for them later.
"I'm... I'm confused," I told her. "Aren't the church good people who help out others in need and deal with evil?"
"Yes. In their own confused way, they are good-natured humans. But they're also obsessed with anything holy and related to heaven," she said.
This was information that I already knew.
Where was she going with this?
"Bell, don't you get what I'm saying by now?" she asked.
"No," I responded, shaking my head even to prove my point although she couldn't see it.
"...Your new little sister," she sighed. "You just placed her in a worse predicant than she was already in prior."
Was that all she was worried about?
"But I already took that into account when I contacted them. Isn't her angel traits completely unnoticeable as long as she keeps them dormant?" I asked, confused about why she was overreacting.
"Even if the increased risk is small, it's still an increase," she groaned. "The stress of keeping her identity hidden is already hard enough without the church interested in us. Now you've practically placed our family on their radar."
I really felt like she was overreacting over nothing. It wasn't like the church was going to go out of its way to harass and the Agnus family just because I did them a big favor by returning the gem that they had lost.
They had no reason to suspect that we were harboring a real angel in our ho.
If anything, they would treat favorably and be less likely to harass .
In the background, I could hear Father walking up to Mother. He told her, "Honey, calm down. The two of you can finish this discussion later when he gets ho."
"Bartholow," she called him by his full legal governnt na. "I'm calm. Who says I'm not calm right now? Why are you taking his side? Shouldn't you also be helping scold this son of ours for putting our daughter in danger?"
"Honey, no. I'm not taking anyone's side. I'm just saying that we need to remain true to our family's rules. Any argunt or conflict, we deal with them in a peaceful, civil, communicative, and respectful manner."
"Are you implying that I'm not being civil right now?" she asked and I could hear one of her feet stomping on the floor.
"Okay, you're putting words into my mouth and you know I don't like that," he replied calmly.
"Hmph," was the last thing I heard co out of my mother's mouth before her footsteps quickly dissipated into the background.
"Thank you, Father," I said.
"Count yourself lucky that I'm feeling especially rejuvenated today or else I would've let you suffer her wrath all by yourself," he said as he let out a quiet chuckle, not wanting Mother to hear it.
I could hear him walking sowhere taking the phone with him.
"Are you in the backyard right now?" I asked.
"Yes," he answered.
That was his favorite spot in the mansion after all.
"You account for everything before you went through with it," said Father. "That I know you did. But you must understand your mother's perspective. She's with that little girl all day and although it hasn't been that long, she sees her as if it was her biological daughter."
"I... I know," I said, feeling more tired from listening to Mother yelling in my ear than I was by the end of the battle with the baron.
"Let's put this conversation away for now. Can I ask you sothing else instead?" he asked .
"Sure but I don't know if I'll be able to answer it," I responded truthfully.
"That's alright. Just the fact you're willing to hear your pops out is more than plenty," he said.
The question he wanted to ask was, "Why did you have to take on the baron on your own? Why couldn't I lend you a hand?"
As I warned him, I wouldn't be able to answer this question. Well, I couldn't tell him the full story but I could give a vague answer that sowhat applied.
"It's because of an oath that I made," I answered.
This answer could've applied to both the promise I made to the shitty god about redeeming Bell Agnus but it could also apply to the literal oath I made to defeat the baron which granted code usages after claiming my victory.
He humd under his breath, clearly wanting to ask what this oath was but held back.
The two of us spoke for a few more minutes before hanging up the call as Father wanted to give ti to rest and relax my mind and body after what I'd just been through.
Falling asleep, I woke up to a bunch of texts from a plethora of people. So had their nas saved while others were numbers I didn't recognize.
"How did they get my number? Did soone leak it?" I wondered as I began going over so of the texts that were sent to .
Diana texted one word, "Okay?"
It was from a few hours ago but as soon as I responded with, "Yes," she imdiately texted back, "Good."
Then was the text from my cousins and uncles, aunts, etc.
Most of them were texts of concern while the younger family mbers were telling how badass I looked with blood all over as I spoke to the baron while still holding onto the katana I had used to slay the corrupted baron.
I spent another half a dozen minutes or so going through the texts before closing them.
I wanted to check to news.
The first thing I checked was to see if people had all the information about the baron's wrongdoing but seeing as most of the people were still speculating and were only speaking about the cages when referring to his cris, it seed to that Maya hadn't released her article yet.
I watched a few videos, so of them praising like a hero while others called a vigilante who deserved to be arrested.
People's opinions are bound to be polarizing when you murdered soone even if the person you killed was a heinous villain.
Speaking of opinions, I looked up at the ceiling of the car, ignoring the fact that one of my shadows was in the car with , driving it.
"What was your opinion on my battle?" I asked. "Don't you think it was much better than having the main character just one-shot everyone?"
It was radio silence for a minute before the shitty god finally responded, "Yes. That... was... very... entertaining."
He was spacing out his words and sounded a little salty that I had produced a better storyline regarding Baron Gerald Giggador than he did.
That was one of the reasons why having an OP main character isn't always entertaining. Everything is dealt with in a few paragraphs.
"But what will you do Bell, when you're in the sa shoes as my main character? What happens to the entertainnt and tension you so desperately crave to exist in my story when you're too powerful for the enemies to harm?" asked the shitty god.
"You think I haven't already asked myself this question?" I asked him, making sure he could tell by my facial expression that I was offended by his assumption.
"Oh really. Have you? Then tell , Bell Agnus. What are you going to do when you're too overpowered?" he asked .
I couldn't see him but I could imagine him asking with sass and his arms on his hip.
"Rember the reset artifact that you introduced in one of the last arcs?"
"...Surely you don't plan on using that on yourself," said the shitty god, a little flabbergasted by the ntion of it. "It's a gag artifact. It was ant as a joke. You know that right?"
"I do."
"And you still plan on using it?" he asked.
"Yep," I responded.
"I... I can sort of see the long-term use of the artifact but the gamble is way too much, don't you think? Especially with how quickly the enemies will rise in power," he said almost as if cautioning to change my mind.
"I like my odds," I told him with a smile.
The shitty god went radio silence once again after that and a little later, I could sense that he had left and was no longer observing .
"One man's trash is another man's treasure," I comnted as I looked out of the window.
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