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By the Grace of the Gods (LN) - Volume 11 - Chapter 4




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Chapter 7, Episode 24: Serelipta’s Punishment and Ryoma’s Calling

“Oh?”

After coming to the church, praying in the chapel, and opening my eyes upon sensing that I had been beamed up to the divine realm, I found all nine of the gods before me. Usually, I would be greeted by two or three on a good day. I wondered if something had happened.

“Hello, welcome.”

“Wilieris, Grimp. Thanks for helping out the other day.”

“T’warn’t nuthin,’ b’y.”

“Even we couldn’t condone what Serelipta did the other day. All of us congregated, and made sure to administer appropriate punishment.”

“Oh... That’s why you’re all here. I see Serelipta’s here too...”

I wasn’t sure what to say or if I should have dared until this point, but Serelipta was sprawled out on the pearly white ground, if one could call it that, of the divine realm.

“Help me, Ryoma...” he said, apparently conscious but immobile.

Just as I was wondering what punishment he had faced, Wilieris groaned. “Don’t pay him or his dramatics any mind.”

“Is he all right?”

Fernobelia, the god of magic, answered me. “Serelipta’s punishment is the temporary confinement of his powers. We left him with the bare minimum to manage his share of the world and took away the rest. That doesn’t make him ill or in pain, though. He’s only flopped out like a worm because he’s weak... The first time you two met, you were in a giant sphere of water, right?”

“Yes, we were.”

“He always kept that ball of water around him before we cut off his powers. It was an environment that gave him the most comfort and power as the god of water. A sort of barrier. While the water creates a powerful effect even from the perspective of us gods, he can’t achieve his full potential without it.”

“Ah.” Invincibility with a clause.

“You could put it like that. Some of us didn’t think curbing his powers was enough of a punishment. So, we decided to keep him weakened and put him through the same military training the ‘elite warriors’ go through in the human realm. Chalked up all the pain from the training regime as part of his punishment. He’s just sore from head to toe. Unlike humans, physical training has absolutely no benefit for us.”

Such rigorous training, knowing there’s nothing to gain from it... I certainly wouldn’t have wanted to do that, and Serelipta was not physically strong, to say the least.

“When Serelipta first left his ball of water, he cried uncle after walking on his feet for three minutes.”

“Aren’t you a bit too frail?” I turned to Serelipta.

“I don’t need to walk in water, and I can go anywhere by controlling the current. Without buoyancy, my body feels so heavy... Who’s the moron that invented gravity, anyway?”

The other gods glared at him, especially Gain. “Ryoma,” he said. “He’s well enough to complain, so no need to concern yourself with his well-being. And I’m the one who made gravity, by the way. I am right here, Serelipta.”

“Help...me...Ryoma...” The god in question came dramatically crawling up.

“What do you expect me to do about the rules of the gods?” I asked.

“Well... You could testify or something, you know, as the, quote, unquote, ‘victim.’”

“I’m not exactly hung up over it or anything...”

“Ryoma, that groveling worm may technically be a god, but that doesn’t mean you need to try and appease him.”

“I’m not appeasing him, Wilieris. I did feel unsafe at the time, but I felt more sick and confused than angry. Like he said, I don’t think he wanted to kill me. Looking back on it, if Serelipta wanted me dead, there wouldn’t have been a thing I could have done. I came out all right, and if he already served a punishment you guys thought was fair, I don’t want to demand any more.”

“You really mean it.”

“Well, I did lose a lot of respect for him.”

I didn’t think Serelipta even had ill intent, knowing the kind of god he was. The road to hell is paved with good intentions, as they say. I’d made plenty of mistakes in my previous life; there were times when I meant well but ended up causing more trouble for others, and vice versa. No sense dwelling on it.

“Hm-hmm! I knew it! You really are the best!”

“That smug attitude of yours makes it really dubious that you’re feeling any remorse!”

“Calm down, Wilieris.”


“Ryoma’s got a point. I don’t wanna put wind in his sails any more ’n the rest o’ ya’s, but lettin’ ’im git under our skin ain’t gonna do us any good.”

“Grimp, Tekun... Understood. I was the one who asked, and Ryoma declared our handling sufficient. Let’s drop the subject.”

I wondered if Serelipta and Wilieris were as incompatible as they seemed, or if they only bickered from the eons they’d spent together. In any case, Wilieris had plenty to say about it. With the council of two gods and out of respect for my input, Wilieris seemed to back down.

Serelipta, meanwhile, was clinging onto me with a smile as if to say, Don’t worry, Ryoma. Since you smoothed things over, I’ll keep my mouth shut for now. He looked so feminine that I had to remind myself he was a male god.

“Get off!”

“Wait, let me lean on you, please. I really can’t stand up.”

He did feel weak enough that I could easily push him off if I wanted to. That made me think of fish that live deep under the sea. Apparently, they have very few bones because softer tissue can withstand the water pressure better. An angler fish, for example... I couldn’t quite put my finger on it...

“What am I, a blobfish?!” Serelipta protested, but I thought “fish out of water” would be an accurate description. Just as that thought crossed my mind, the rest of the gods burst out laughing. Apparently, they had been reading my mind.

“My apologies,” Gain said. “We wanted to know your honest feelings when it came to Serelipta.”

“I don’t mind. You know you can all read my thoughts.” Knowing I couldn’t lie to them had always allowed me to be honest with the gods. With their permission, I had stopped being formal with my language, even. I felt like I could talk to them naturally, without the fear of being misunderstood. It would depend on the person, of course, but having someone read your mind could certainly have its benefits... I felt like I’d thought about this before. Déjà vu, perhaps?

“That would make things easier.”

“Then, let’s wrap this up. I want to hear from you, Ryoma,” Lulutia said, breaking her silence for the first time since I arrived.

With a clap of his hands, Kufo summoned a large and expensive-looking wooden table, aligned with enough floor chairs for everyone. Once everyone was seated, I began explaining what happened after I returned to Gimul.

“You’re handling those delinquent adventurers well.”

“They’re calling you Boss and everything.”

As it turned out, the gods were also interested in the new dynamic I had with them.

“I wish they wouldn’t... I’m not that old. Heck, I’m not old at all.”

“Why not? They’re not making fun of you. It just means you have enough guts and strength that they can rely on you.”

“I’m happy if they see me as someone they can trust... But in my last life, I was often mistaken for someone in that line of work. I’ve been questioned on the street and whatnot by the police, so I still have a bit of a bad taste in my mouth about it...”

“I get it. But that might be your calling,” Kiriluel said.

“Really?”

I suppose anything would sound more believable coming from a god’s lips. When I looked around me for confirmation—or maybe just denial—the gods just chuckled. What the hell’s that all about?

“Any managerial position requires skill or experience. No matter what your role as an adventurer is, you gotta be able to hold your own in combat.”

“And you’re a caring person, Ryoma. It means a lot that you can take care of people so naturally.”

“Your experience as a boss in your previous life is serving you well, however you felt about your position. Making mistakes is an important way to gain experience, and that makes a big difference.”

I had to agree with Tekun, Lulutia, and Gain.

“I think you’ll do even better with people working for you who have leadership and charisma. Caring as you are, those aren’t your strong suits,” Serelipta said, his face flat on the table.

I had to agree with that too. I had a system working exactly like that. Carme was running the laundry shop for me, and my other departments were delegated to other people who knew what they were doing, many of them sent from the duke. My job had gotten incredibly easier, leaving me plenty of time for studies and experimentation. Compared to my career on Earth, things were going unbelievably well. The results showed how I thought that this style far better suited me. At the very least, I should have had a much healthier work—life balance.

“You should have picked a better career in your previous life. Even if you couldn’t be your own boss, things might have turned out differently if you chose a job that needed your caring nature. Like a school teacher.”

“Some of my old coworkers told me that.” Like I should have been a PE teacher, or in charge of student conduct. Either way, they had pictured me with the stereotypical look of wearing a tracksuit and carrying a bamboo sword. The conversation always ended with them teasing me that I’d be a great principal for a kindergarten, based on a character in the popular anime.

“You’d be good at taking care of kids too.”

“Get out of my memories. How do you know all this?”

“Unlike the other gods, I always look into your mind when we’re talking. And I read deep into your soul one time, remember? I’m aware of most things you know. It’s me, Ryoma, what did you expect?”

I felt a flash of rage at his brazenness, but I ignored him to not give him the satisfaction.

“In any case, I figured out that a job with more responsibility and freedom is best suited for me.”

The gods all agreed. I would carry the gods’ advice with me as I continue with my work.



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