After a brief spell of confusion, BB, clearly not feeling offended, calmly said it was fine.
"Anyway, let's get this ship running again first."
Raising her pointer and flashing an adorable smile, BB continued:
"Originally, all of you, this ship included, were forbidden existences to Mooncell. The moment you arrived here, you should have lost consciousness and been temporarily frozen together with the vessel, pending further processing."
With a light wave of the pointer in her hand, the Storm Border's engines resumed operation. Once the power supply returned to normal, light filled the ship again, and everyone had to squint against the sudden brightness.
"Everyone, head back to your rooms and get some rest. We'll hold a full meeting shortly to explain the current situation."
Shiomi immediately made the suggestion.
"A few of us staying here will be enough."
With the bridge so crowded, it really was inconvenient, so most of the group left and returned to their rooms to rest.
Only those especially close to Shiomi remained, along with Romani, Sion, and the Da Vincis.
Even Nemo went off to rest.
They had just come through a brush with death, and now that the tension had finally eased, exhaustion naturally began to catch up with them.
Even the ones who stayed behind were a little worn out. Each found a place to sit and waited for the explanation to begin.
Caren and Sakura gathered around BB, tentatively feeling her face. BB only responded with a sweet, well-behaved smile, acting like an obedient little sister.
She even started explaining why she called Shiomi "Dad."
"That girl..." Touko said, handing Shiomi a cup of hot coffee. "She's from back then..."
"Yeah." Shiomi smiled. "Caught you off guard, didn't it?"
"Compared to what we're probably about to learn, this is nothing," Touko said, adjusting her glasses. "Besides, you, Morgan, Scáthach, and Artoria all know BB, don't you?"
"It's a long story," Artoria said, shaking her head. "By all rights, it should have followed the rules of imaginary number phenomena and been completely forgotten."
"So it was classified as an imaginary number phenomenon..." Touko said, sounding mildly surprised.
Skadi, who had been listening to them, tugged lightly at Shiomi's sleeve, a little displeased.
"Tenkei, what exactly is Mooncell?"
"You mean the Norse gods don't know about it?" Shiomi asked, genuinely surprised. "Could it be that only Odin and the moon god Máni knew..."
"At least, I didn't," Skadi said.
Shiomi was just about to explain when he heard Sion discussing the very same question with Romani and the Da Vincis nearby.
"Mooncell..." Romani said. "It's an ancient relic that existed inside the Moon even before humanity was born. Even Solomon, with that clairvoyance that saw both past and future, only knew that something like it existed on the inner side of the Moon. It's said that not even the gods ever reached its interior..."
"That's not quite accurate," BB said. "To be precise, all chief gods across the various mythologies know about Mooncell, and they can access it as well. It's just that the gods have no need for Mooncell's power, and at the same time, they all judged that humanity, still in its infancy, was not yet ready to come into contact with it. Their reasoning may have differed, but they all arrived at the same conclusion."
"At least, that's how it is in Proper Human History, where events were compiled," Shiomi said. "As for how things worked in each Lostbelt, there's no way to know."
"That isn't something you need to worry about." BB sat properly in her chair. "Everyone here should already know."
"Know what?" Olga Marie asked, stunned.
Morgan raised a hand in indication.
"What BB means is the reason for my husband's birth, his true past, and the fact that he is now a god... mainly those matters."
One after another, the others nodded.
After all, Shiomi had never tried to hide it. Once a human had obtained such immense power, there was no way to conceal it forever.
Rather than keep trying to bury it, it was better to be open about it.
"Then the rest becomes easy to explain," BB said. "Put simply, Mooncell has always watched over Father's journey as its observer and guide. It monitored his path, evaluated that journey, and judged whether he possessed the qualities needed to save the world."
"So... that's how it was," Sakura said blankly.
"Well, even if I call it guidance, in reality Mooncell simply created me, an upper-level AI, and had me carry it out," BB said. "As for the result, it's obvious now."
"Father becoming a god matched Mooncell's judgment," Caren said.
"That's basically it." BB lightly hopped down from her chair. "He traveled across the Bleached Earth and cut away six Lostbelts. In destroying those six worlds, he also saved many others. That compassion, a compassion that even surpassed event pruning, was exactly what was needed."
"But Earth is now being subjected to that mistaken Human Order Preservation through Chaldeas, following Father's... no, Marisbury's plan. We don't have time to waste on the Moon. We have to get back to Earth as soon as possible!"
Olga Marie urgently voiced her wish to BB.
"Please don't worry. The flow of time inside Mooncell has been temporarily set to one tenth of normal, so there's no need to rush," BB said. "Besides, even if you returned now, you'd only repeat the same failure."
Those words left Olga Marie with no choice but to slump back into her seat.
"Without a way to oppose Chaldeas, there is no stopping the Human Order Compilation that has already begun," Scáthach said. "My beloved disciple chose Mooncell not only because it is safe enough, but because there is likely a method here as well."
Mooncell, or rather, the Moon itself, was a boundless Holy Grail.
And if Mooncell, which had not yet been opened to humanity, was now allowing Shiomi in, then the answer was perfectly clear.
There was one and only one person qualified to obtain the right to use it: Shiomi, who had become a god and yet still stood firmly on humanity's side, wielding that power from a human standpoint and making the right choice.
"As expected of Master Scáthach. You're absolutely right," BB said. "So even with the slower flow of time, Father needs to prepare himself and come with me to the central core, where he will face Mooncell's heart directly."
"Only me?" Shiomi had already prepared himself mentally for that. "Morgan can't go?"
"Mother is naturally an exception. She has already become one half of the Unity God, an existence that shares Father's qualifications," BB said. "As for the others... the Queen of the Land of Shadows, the wielder of the sacred sword of the stars, the last goddess of the North, one of the peaks of modern human Magi, and the last descendant of Animusphere. If they aren't afraid of what they may see, they may come as well."
Shiomi's fingers twitched for a brief instant.
The names BB had chosen felt almost deliberately pointed.
Those titles were only there to sound impressive. The real reason was that every one of them shared an especially close bond with Shiomi.
Still, he waited for their answers.