"Hahaha! Oh, man, everyone looks so surprised because of Ed's loud shout!" Issei laughed out loud as he inspected the photo.

"Dammit, why do you always have to be the one to mess things up?" Eleanor complained.

"Look, I'm sorry, I really am!" I said with a regretful face, "I didn't know my voice would echo so loudly, it's because of this valley amplifying it!"

"Yeah, no worries." Cecily patted him on the back, "Though it is a shame that it turned out like that, it still got the background shot perfectly. It kind of adds personality to it, so I don't mind."

"Oh come on, you guys are acting like I can't just retake the shot anytime!" Issei smiled.

"Hm?" We turned to him, surprised, "Say that again?"

"Huh?" He furrowed his brows, "You DO know we can take as many shots as we want with this, now that battery life isn't an issue."

"For absolutely free?" I questioned.

"But won't it run out of paper?" Othelia inquired.

"I-It won't explode on us, will it?" Eleanor went pale for a moment, "T-That bright flash scared me half to death already, so I wouldn't want it to finish the job..."

"Guys." He smiled, "This thing here is my world's greatest invention since the wheel. It can take pictures, store all sorts of data digitally, tell the time accurately to the second on every part of the globe, calculate whatever you want, the list is endless!"

"...And all that for free?" I still remained skeptical.

"Well, you gotta pay like 500 bucks for it, but after that's it's yours to do with however you please." He elaborated, "Oh, and I didn't even mention the best part about it yet - The Internet!"

"The Internet?" Everyone including the Gods tilted their heads, "And that would be...?"

"If you have wifi and internet, you can connect to the World Wide Web, in other words - You can send information of any kind to whoever you want, wherever they may be! Best part is that it's instantaneous, so no more waiting months for a letter to arrive!"

Eh?! But if that existed in our world, it'd make the postal system obsolete then, no? There'd be ton of people out of a job, and that'd lead to worldwide protests! It'd be total anarchy, I tell you! Oh, the humanity...!

"That sounds... way too convenient for our lousy world." Cecily sighed, "Capitalism wouldn't allow for such a powerful device to be widespread. I could imagine some rich nobles using it, but even if it did exist here, I doubt any of us commonfolk would ever even see it in our lives like this."

"Yeah, but that's also why capitalism allowed it to prosper." He raised a point, "The people who manufacture these need money, so they'll sell it to everyone for a lot of money. Later on though, new technology might allow for more features, so they'd have to sell that new model for the same price as the previous one."

"Oh, I think I get it." Eleanor finished his explanation for him, "So basically, new model comes out and is expensive, whilst the older ones have to be sold for a bit less in comparison."

"Right, no company would be able to afford manufacturing them if only a small handful of rich people buy them." Issei nodded, "And this isn't even going over the people who resell their old used phones to people who can only afford those. It's really something everyone has at this point from a super early age, though I don't personally agree with parents gifting their toddlers an Iphone before they're even potty trained."

"That early?" Aru cocked her head back in disgust, "Those must be super lousy parents, then. Let's do our best, fellow mommy!" She nudged an annoyed Cecily.

"For the last time!" Both her and Prylos shouted back at her, "You're not a mother!"

"Aww, you guys are no fun..." She looked a bit dejected, "Fine, then I'm stealing your son instead! Let's go play in the snow, Cene!"

"Yaay!" Cene immediately let go of his mothers hand as he booked it into the snowy field behind them.

"O-Oi! Cene, get back here!" Cecily ran after them, "And you, brat! I dare you to try and steal my boy from m-!"

"Muahaha!" Aru showered her with snowballs as a great snow fortress Materialized from beneath her feet, "Too bad, mortal! We could have been a nasty duo, you and I, but you just had to blow it up! You, with your pride and your ego! Now perish!"

"Ugh, that is it!" Cecily pulled up her sleeves before setting up her own pile of snowballs, "I'm taking you down and getting Cene back if it's the last thing I do!"

"Those guys suddenly went off on their own again..." I made a difficult face.

"And you guys are gonna help me, right!?" Cecily turned to us, donning a face which I could only describe as demonic, "Right...?"

"H-Huh!?" Y-Yeah, of course, of course!" Everyone got scared shitless as they hastily ran to help hand her extra snowballs, "Time for a snowball fight!"

Well, I guess it's nice to have some fun while we're here. It's not exactly the type of thing I'd expect to do on such a mountain, but this place is large and open, so we don't have to worry about any nasty surprises coming our way.

"You aren't going to join them?" Prylos asked Issei as he watched from afar, steadily holding up his smartphone.

"No, I think I'm safer taking the pictures from here." He chuckled, "And what about you? I'm sure having a God on both sides would certainly even out the playing field."

"Then Allucius' side would be outnumbered, no?" Prylos chuckled, "Besides, it is unsightly for someone such as myself to-"

"Come on, Pry! Live a little!" Aru struck him right in the face from her snow fortress before highfiving Cene, only to duck just a split second before a snowball struck her face as well, "Oop! Haha, close one, close one! Your aim is getting better over the years, Pry! Mommy's boy is all grown up, now~!"

"Dammit, Allucius!" Prylos didn't even hesitate to drop all his pride and join our side as he made a snowball five times the normal size before aiming once more, "I'm gonna bury you in this snow for that!"

"Heee..." Issei smiled from afar as he took a few more pictures, "This'll look good in the family album, though I gotta wonder how I'm gonna print it without a printer..."

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***

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"Ugh, we're not reaching them!" Eleanor groaned, "They're getting higher and higher up so as to avoid getting hit, but it'd be super dangerous if one of them fell!"

"Well, I'm sure Aru won't let that happen." Othelia reassured her, "She loves Cene to death, and besides, couldn't she just save him with her powers?"

"That's not our biggest issue..." Cecily remarked as she looked up, "I have a feeling, call it a hunch, actually. I imagine this is something only a mother can feel, but right now there's this sneaking suspicion that Cene's not totally okay with this height either..."

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

"What makes you say that?" I turned to her as she lowered her fingers as if counting down from three.

"Wahhh~! Mommyy, get me down~!" Cene began to cry out for his mom the moment Cecily's count reached zero, "Awoo, pwease~! I wanna go doooownnn~!"

"Eh, suddenly you're scared?" Aru got a tad anxious as well, "T-That won't do, kid! A soldier mustn't be afraid of a little height! Right now we gotta focus on the enemies!"

"Nooo~! I wanna..." Cene began inching scarily close to the edge, "I wanna go to mommy~!"

"O-Oi, kid!" She grabbed him and pulled him back, away from the ledge, "You wanna get yourself killed or something!?"

"Aru, I think Cene's had enough." I shouted, "Let's stop for now."

"Yeah, wouldn't want him to piss his pants while he's clinging onto me." She chuckled, "Alright kiddo, let go for a bit so I can melt this place down."

"No!" He only clung to her more, "Awoo, I don't wanna wet go, I'll faww!"

"Ugh, no you won't, kid!" She tried pushing him off of her to no avail, "Dammit, I can't get us down if you keep clinging onto me, Cene! I gotta focus or I might mess up!"

"Cene, don't let go!" Cecily shouted something surprising.

"What the hell!?" Aru yelled back, "You want us to die or something, woman!?"

"No, of course not! I'm saying I'll climb up and get you two down!" She explained.

"Are you crazy?" I stopped her, "That thing's huge, and since it's snow, there's no guarantee it's stable enough to climb on. I'll do it."

"No you won't." Eleanor stopped me, "You're too heavy, the snow will definitely break off if you tried to scale it."

"You calling me fat?" I turned to her angrily, "Then by all means, you do it!"

"What!? Hell no, I can't climb for shi-"

"Language!" Othelia sighed, "Fine, I'll do it. I'm quite lightweight, and I've had my fair share of adventures to know how to climb up a high enough place."

"Now I'm gonna be the one to stop you." Issei ran up to oppose the idea, putting his phone in his pocket as he realized things were getting dangerous, "I'm just a tad heavier than you, so there's no reason to put you in such a dangerous situation. Let me."

"You guys better decide quick, dammit!" Aru whined from atop her self-made predicament, "I swear to myself, if this kid barfs all over me, I'm gonna lose it!"

"Dammit, and whose fault is this situation in the first place?!" I shouted.

Of course, can't even have a simple enjoyable day in the snow without shit like this happening... Well, I could probably catch them if Aru just slid herself off the tower, but what if I missed? Besides, I'm pretty sure they'd go splat regardless of if I caught them or not, since the difference between me and the floor isn't all that substantial anyways. Maybe meditate for their safety? I feel like Prylos wouldn't mind helping us in this situation if we did that, especially now that we've seen him make something incredible happen like he did with Issei's phone. But no, I'd feel horrible if they fell and died while we all just sat idly and prayed like a bunch of maniacs... Dammit, think...!"

"Crap, everyone run!" Eleanor suddenly shouted, "I-It's a...!"

"Holy fuck!" Issei hurriedly shoved his hand into his backpack, frantically searching for a gadget to use against the thing approaching us, "That thing's huge!"

"A bjorn, and it looks like it's running straight for us! I don't think my knives could penetrate its thick fur." Cecily turned to Prylos for help, "Mind lending us a hand?"

"Hm, I suppose..." Prylos shrugged before raising his hand at the beast, "Then-"

"Stop!" I jumped to lower his hand, "He's not an enemy!"

"Not an enemy?! Have you gone mad, brother!?" Eleanor cried out.

"Wewdiw!" Cene waved from atop the snowy fortress.

"Huh? No freaking way that guy calmed you down and not me!" Aru got a bit jealous of Weldyr, "Stupid bear... You should be hibernating out here, idiot."

"Edward!" Weldyr's thoughts jumped out of him as he ran straight towards the steep fortress, "Eas mihi relinquite!"

"Bene!" I nodded.

"You understand that thing!?" Issei was even more surprised than when he saw Weldyr running at us, "What's it say!?"

"Don't worry, he said to leave it to him!" I gave them a hearty thumbs up, "If bjorns are known for anything, it'd definitely be climbing!"

Just as I said, Weldyr hastily jumped up the tower, using his sharp claws on every paw to climb up without so much as breaking a sweat. It didn't even take him a minute to climb the entire 10 meter tall tower before his paws had reached Aru and Cene. Growling at them, they were a bit unnerved, but knew better than to be afraid. With a chuckle, I translated to everyone what he meant by that.

"He says to hop on, and hold on tight!" I smiled.

"Yeah, I know." Aru's hand was finally free to scratch her cheek as Cene happily jumped on Weldyr's back, "Damn, I don't know how to feel about you now, beast. On one hand, I'm glad you helped, but on the other hand I really hate how happier Cene is to see you than me."

"Grawr." Weldyr replied.

"Oi! What the hell do you mean by that, stupid bear!?" She raised her voice, "You know damn well it's not just because of your fur! Besides, it's smelly and feels like touching a wet dog!"

"Grawr."

"Okay, now that's taking it a bit far..." She slouched forward after his rather uncouth comment.

I don't feel like this conversation of theirs needs to be translated, really. It's basically just banter between two non-human beings fighting over the love of a toddler. Well, at least that's how it started out, then they got real nasty with the insults. Seriously, Weldyr, even I wouldn't go that far...

"Mommy!" Cene immediately ran for a heartwarming reunion hug with his mom, only to get a surprising reaction from her.

"Dammit, Cene!" She greeted him with a stern slap to the face, "Don't ever do something as dangerous as that again! You could've gotten yourself killed!"

"A-Ah." He stood there bewildered as the pain slowly began to kick in, "A-Aaaaah! Waaaahhh~!"

"Oi, that was a bit much, Cecily..." Issei gently approached them.

"He has to be properly disciplined!" She picked the crying Cene up as he thrashed in her arms a sobbing mess, "He might detest me for this now, but kids should grow up to learn what pulling reckless crap like this entails. Punishment and all."

"Still, maybe a slap was too much, don't you think?" I agreed with Issei's statement, "He'll just hate you when he grows up. I can vouch for that."

"If that's what it takes for him to smarten up, then so be it." She firmly held onto her beliefs, "So remember this pain, Cene! This is what happens when you cause everyone trouble!"

"Growl..." Weldyr shook his head as he awkwardly turned back around to leave the premises.

"Yeah, I wouldn't wanna see this sorry sight either." I agreed with Weldyr on this one, though I couldn't leave like he did.