He Saves Gods as a Man

Introduction

It's been two months since I had become Sakura's caretaker.

"Uncle Aaron! Look at what I found!"

Sakura ran up to me with a seashell in her hand.

"So pretty!"

I knelt down in front of her and took the shell.

"Whoa, nice find! I found one myself too, actually."

Sakura bounced up and down on the sand.

"Can I see? I want to see!"

I fished out a beautiful purple glowing shell which made rainbow colors in the sunlight. Sakura's eyes shone, as she leaned in to see.

"Wooooow! It's so pretty..."

Sakura then looked back at her seashell, and made a disappointed look, as if she realized I had just one upped her.

"Do you want it?" I asked.

Sakura gave me puppy dog eyes, as I chuckled, placing the seashell in her hands.

"But I didn't give you anything in return."

"Nope. You don't have to."

"Is this an offering? I thought you said demanding offerings is selfish."

I shook my head.

"Nope. This is different. This is what we mortals call a gift. To give something precious from one person to another without expecting anything in return. This is something we do for people we care about and want to see happy."

I put a hand on Sakura's head.

"I wanna see you happy."

Sakura's face bubbled.

"I see! Then... then..."

The reincarnated child goddess threw her arms around my waist.

"I want to see you happy too, Uncle Aaron!"

I smiled, as Sakura pulled away.

"I want to play in the water!"

"Saki-chan! Don't run too far away from us!" Tokiko said, as she took her hand.

I sighed, leaning back, and created a hand sign.

Constructum: Gunsmith's Table

A small bench opened up before me, as pieces of equipment appeared on the surface.

"Working hard, I see." Absalom rumbled, as he sat next to me on the sand.

"Well. This next mission Master Jun has assigned me is going to be a huge handful. He himself told me to get ready. Hence why I went back to the Sanctum to learn the Constructum spell."

Absalom watched as Tokiko and Sakura played in the water, splashing at each other and laughing.

"What is Avara to you, Aaron?"

I scratched my head.

"I'm kind of her caretaker. But I guess... seeing her as a daughter feels weird. Considering I'm eighteen. But, I'm the one responsible for raising her right. So maybe a big brother? Why do you ask?"

Absalom sipped from his beer.

"Because Sakura has left an impact on you. You've become mellowed out."

"Don't say that. You're gonna make me feel old."

"It isn't a bad thing. I like this version of you more."

"Why, is it because I grief you less nowadays when I'm busy taking care of Saki?"

"No. It just seems that since caring for her, a more genuine side of you has emerged. The personality you had before seemed rather... forced."

"What do you mean?"

"It seems to me, that the personality you had before seemed... grafted. With a hint of guilt. Anyway, it isn't my right to say. I am an Auxiliary and you are an Outer. Oh, Tokiko is calling out to me, it was a nice chat, Aaron."

Absalom waved at me, as he met up with his daughter.

I stared at the pieces of equipment on the table. I picked up a stock and opened it up, tweaking with the internals.

My personality...

Was the effect of the influence Jessie Lane had on me. A troublemaker.

But did Absalom have a point? Maybe the way I was acting, was it more out of guilt? Was the Aaron Hope before just a front?

I looked out at the horizon.

When Sakura wanted to go out, I had taken her to the beach. Jessie always liked going to the beach.

I couldn't tell if this was out of the fact that I had never gotten over her death, but yes. It seemed almost like Jessie's personality had been forced upon my old self.

Who was I really?

I put together my new weapon, which took up the entire Gunsmith bench. A homing missile launcher, with the mechanism provided by Master Jun, and the concept coming from my wild imagination.

I called it the Apex Launcher. I had a missile launcher configuration equipped on my Ironsight Sniper, but that was mostly a quick swap utility in case I didn't have the time to summon anything else through my Convocatio spell. But the Ironsight Missile Configuration had limits, made obvious when I fought Bishamonten. Just redirecting it off course was enough to destroy the surroundings.

And when damage is put out on the surroundings, that meant inefficiency.

Enemies adapt. They change. And if you can't keep up, you'll be left in the dust.

But that's the thing about technology. Technology has the potential to keep up with a changing world. Because the crux of tech is to be able to adapt and evolve.

Two months may not have been a lot of time, but my arsenal had changed quite a bit since my battle against the Inner Shadow.