Chapter 6 Episode 17: God of Fishing and Ports, Part 2
It terrifies me? What does that mean? I can’t make heads or tails of this...
“You’ve been scarred by every injustice wrought against you. You do dream of living peacefully with other people, in a village, for example; it definitely makes you feel happy. But surely you know that it’s easier said than done. Reality won’t coddle you like that. You know how frail your happiness is—ready to crumble at the slightest shove. You know that humans are greedy, that they fear those who are different and try to hammer down the nails that stick out. You long for a pastoral, idyllic life, and yet you still can’t just let your guard down for a second. You may not be aware of it, but you are painfully conscious of reality, much more so than ordinary humans. In a sense, it’s practically abnormal. You’re like a cat amongst the pigeons... Guess you could say that’s the duality of man.”
“Then what am I supposed to do about it?” I blurted out.
Serel’s eyes widened, and then he floated away from me with a cackle. “Beats me. But if I were you, I’d consider being a little freer.”
Freer?
“That’s right. Be true to your feelings, your desires. You want to be a part of a group so badly that you hold yourself back, especially in combat. You always like to make your familiars the centerpiece of the situation, but you do that partly in order to hide your full potential. And you know why, don’t you? To be frank, you’ve been extremely talented in combat since your previous life. If you can unlock your full potential, you’d be as good as an A-rank adventurer. Start racking up accomplishments, and you could go for S-rank in due time. You’re crazy powerful, considering your age. Then, there’s the talent in magic the other gods bestowed upon you. It may be underwhelming now, but you’d start to learn more powerful spells with practice, and, combined with your Earthly knowledge, you could develop more complex magic. With your familiars backing you up, you’d be able to overcome anything. Exceptional individuals are expected to maintain an immaculate display of morals, likable attitude, and free labor. Show any sign to the contrary, and you’ll be marked Public Enemy Number One before you realize it. Praise will quickly make way for criticism and insults.”
The prospects for my future aside, I understood what he was trying to say.
“But really, I don’t think that stuff matters to you at all.”
“Why not...?”
Serel snickered. “Didn’t I explain already? Humans are a part of nature, where survival of the fittest is law. Humans grew massive influence in the world with their reproductive abilities and cleverness. Once they grew in numbers enough, they started creating their own values and rules to protect their group from outside threats. People who go against those rules have no place in human society... But that’s it. If you were to, say, live all alone in a forest for three years, those rules wouldn’t apply to you. With as many monsters about, there are plenty of dangerous locations for humans outside of their habitat. That’s why there’s plenty of undeveloped land and neutral territory unoccupied by any country. Why don’t you find a place you’d want to live, where you could make your own rules and live however you pleased? You may find yourself attacked by wild monsters and human forces around you, but again, survival of the fittest. You could fight or flee, whichever suits you best. What’s more, I think you could totally live free in human society. Killing anyone you don’t like, or who gets in your way, for example. You’d be prosecuted for those ‘crimes,’ but all it means at the end of the day is that you had the strength to do the deed, and they didn’t have the strength to protect themself,” Serelipta casually declared.
It seemed like he truly believed in everything he said. The distinctively gentle demeanor he had first displayed had faded away.
“Are you showing your true colors?” I asked.
“Maybe? I wasn’t putting on an act or anything, though. I start to ramble when I get excited... You snapped out of it, didn’t you? When?”
“I would have believed some negative emotions when we were talking about my past, but not those PTSD-like symptoms. And I felt all hazy until...you started encouraging me to be more free. As soon as I guessed that it was some sort of attack on my mind, the fog cleared.”
“I thought it might have been then. For the record, it wasn’t an attack but an influence to magnify your emotions. Then, I used my powers to try and tranquilize you. I turned it up quite a bit because I heard you had crazy resistance. Imagine my shock when you responded to me like nothing happened. Actually, you sound like you’ve resisted it completely... Nullified it, perhaps? It wasn’t supposed to go like this... But I guess...”
As Serelipta mumbled on to himself, I began to brace myself. I didn’t want to make an enemy out of a god, but—
A colder chill than I had ever felt shot through me. Reflex took control of my body before I could, but even then, I was too slow. Serelipta had vanished, reappearing behind me. Now the water around me seemed heavy as cement and I couldn’t move a muscle.
Losing my cool now wouldn’t do me any favors. As calmly as I could, I asked, “What’s the meaning of this?”
“We’re kind of in an awkward spot for me to say this, but I don’t want you to get the wrong idea about me. I really just want to get to know you. You can be frank with me, really. Actually, I only applied my first power so I could hear your honest thoughts.”
“I would have preferred that you led with that, instead of resorting to your divine powers. Now I’m not sure how truthful I can be with you.”
“Right. I didn’t intend things to get this far. Completely unexpected... Do you realize what you’ve just done?”
“Just that I felt a revolting sensation, and I moved on instinct. Judging by my pose, I guess I tried to attack you.” My right arm had been extended in a straight line out to the fingertips, through the spot where the god had been floating a minute ago.
“You chose an attack with the least water resistance... If I were a lesser god, you would have pierced my torso. And you deflected my powers again... I tried to unravel you down to the deepest core of your soul, much stronger than when we were talking. Really, what is your deal? Humans shouldn’t be able to fight off divine powers... Your resistance is way too strong.”
“Like I said, I have no idea. How could a human understand what a god doesn’t?”
“True... No point asking you, apparently. I’m going to have to look into you a little harder. Don’t worry, I’m not going to kill you.”
The next instance, something other than water engulfed me, nausea and disgust whirling through my body. My mind rejected comprehension as something relentlessly invaded, scouring for something inside me.
Fragments of unintelligible ramblings came from behind me: “Look...this...reason...that’s...bad taste...Earth...god... Even I can play dirty...”
Just as I tried to scream and demand an explanation, my vision went dark. Then, I felt a violent tumbling sensation, like I’d been thrown into a washing machine...until I eventually stopped.
Was I set free? Was I dead? The world was pitch black around me, and I couldn’t lift a finger. On the other hand, I wasn’t in pain any more. I wondered if I had blacked out from the experience, but it didn’t seem like my time was up in the divine realm... Where was I? The divine realm was mostly a white void, except for objects materialized by the gods. Did the dark void mean I was in the opposite of the divine realm? Hell? No way... Even though I couldn’t see or move, I felt a mysterious sense of ease. All I could do was think, so I kept guessing where I was.
Soon, I noticed a sound above me: thunk, thunk, thunk... The rhythmic sound began to approach me, and I could feel the vibration. It sounded like someone digging a hole. Was I buried in the ground?
Before long, the sound came right next to my head, and my vision turned to white.
“Whoa! You all right, laddie?!”
“Wh-Who are you?” I tilted my head back as much as I could to find a kindly middle-aged man wearing a straw hat and holding a hoe; he must have used to dig me out.
“Not yer lucky day, is it?” he said. “I’ll get’cha outta there in a jiffy. Hold on, now.” With his bare hands, he swiftly but carefully brushed away the dirt covering my upper body like he was digging out a yam, before grabbing me under the arms and yanking me out of the ground like a radish.
“Thanks, you’re a lifesaver.”
“Long as yer all right. So, ya feeling sick at all? Hurt anywhere?”
“I’m all right, thank you.”
“What do you think you’re doing?”
“Wha— Wilieris?!”
I turned to the shouting behind me to see a large pond, on the shore of which stood Wilieris, the goddess of the earth. I almost didn’t recognize her with her wrathful expression... Following her gaze, I saw Serelipta huddling his knees, sitting on the surface of the lake. While I couldn’t hear what they were saying, they were definitely engaged in conversation.
“Ay-yi-yi, wot a mess. Wouldn’t wanna stick me nose into that thar discussion. How’s about we jes’ sit around and keep a low profile fer now, eh?”
“Excuse me, but are you Grimp? The god of agriculture on perpetual honeymoon with Wilieris?”
“Oh, so ya do know me. Yer a sharp one, b’y. Ain’t ya that Ryoma kid wot came over ‘ere from Earth the other day? Me wife’s been yappin’ a lot about ya.”
“Thank you again for saving me. If you don’t mind me asking, how did I get here? I can’t remember what happened.”
“Well, as I’m sure ya know, we was on our billion-an’-somethin’th honeymoon when we ran into Serelipta’s little barrier thar. Now, given ‘ow we don’t see that every day, we go and cop a squiz, and we see ‘im givin’ ya a roight hidin’... So me wife, well...” Grimp seemed hesitant to discuss, so I didn’t press for details, but Wilieris had apparently broken the barrier rather forcefully, capturing Serelipta and I. She commenced her obviously very stern talking-to while Grimp was left to excavate me.
“Them two always been gettin’ along like cats ‘n’ dogs anyhoo...”
“So I see.”
“When the world got built, they was quarrelin’ over how much land or sea ta put in ‘er. Ever since then, they’ve always had choice words fer each other. Not th’ nice kind.”
“Quite the rivalry they’ve got...” I was watching the quarreling deities when Serelipta turned in my direction, finally noticing me.
“Ryoma!”
“Will you listen to me?!” cried Wilieris. “What am I going to do with him... Are you all right, Ryoma? Allow me to apologize for the actions of this maniacal god. I see he’s physically harmed you, on top of insulting you. Please forgive us.”
“Um... There’s no need for that,” I said. Wilieris held no blame in this.
“But...”
“Yeah, Wilieris. There’s no need to apologize,” Serelipta joined in.
“Shut up, Serelipta! You heard him, Ryoma. This pathetic excuse for a god not only won’t apologize, he doesn’t even think he did anything wrong.”
Yep. That much was obvious from my interaction with him so far. “I just have a feeling, after speaking with him, that Serelipta’s one of those... ‘Might makes right’ kind of—”
Serelipta beamed, and began approaching me. “Exactly! I knew you’d understand me, Ryoma. That’s exactly it, the universal truth among all creatures! You look fine already, and you’re talking with me. I thought you just might share my philosophy and/or understand me, and I wasn’t wrong! Most humans even complain about my appearance—”
“Shaddap ya face.” Grimp held down Serelipta before he could reach me.
“Thank you,” I said. “By his logic, Serelipta, a god, is a higher being than me. There’s nothing a lowly human could say to change his mind.”
“But...”
“That’s enough. Ryoma ‘ere’s right. What’s the b’y supposed t’ do, anyhoo? No point puttin’ him in th’ hot seat,” Grimp interjected, putting himself between me and Wilieris. Psychologically speaking, this was very helpful.
“Yes... You’re right. I’m sorry. I’ll report this incident to all of the other gods. Gain, Kiriluel, and Fernobelia should devise an appropriate punishment for him.”
“Ugh, not them again...”
“I will be assisting them, of course. Your actions today were in clear violation of our rules,” Wilieris said.
I was certainly happy to hear that the matter would be settled among the gods. While Serelipta was visibly annoyed by the prospect of more scolding, he didn’t try to deny that he had broken their rules.
“Thank you,” I said. “Once that is done, as far as I’m concerned, it’s water under the bridge.”
“Because I’m the god of ports? Hmm. You do need to work on your humor, Ryoma.”
Speak for yourself, dammit! And Wilieris is standing right there!
“Uh... Looks like things are about to get complicated, so I’m going to bounce! Oh, Ryoma!”
“What now...?” I couldn’t even bother to conjure any animosity towards him.
“Let me give you a fun tidbit about those mud slimes you’ve been looking for. You know the forests around the village you’re staying in? Use mud magic to stir up the soil. Mud slimes hide with their synchronized skill, so you can’t find them by sight. Move the mud they’re hiding under, and they’ll get spooked and show themselves.”
“O-Okay. That’ll be useful.” For real, that was a great tip.
“See you, Ryoma. I’m hoping you’ll be truly happy, some day. Life’s about to get really hectic for you, so be ready, but do enjoy your peaceful days in the little village until then. And if you really feel like you can’t go on with life anymore... You know where to find me,” Serelipta said, with a suddenly somber tone and expression. His baggy and droopy eyes pierced me, daring anyone to mock him. “Bye!” he said, reverting to his same expression and sinking down into the lake.
“What was that about?” I asked after he completely vanished.
“Strange. He’s usually completely self-centered and inconsiderate. I haven’t seen him speak so sincerely in a few millennia.”
“Does that— Oops, looks like I’m out of time.” The familiar particles of light began floating around me. “I’ll get going too. Thank you for helping me out of that mess.”
“I hope we can talk longer next time. And...” Wilieris’s expression hardened. “I found out from Serelipta what he told you, Ryoma. I can’t ask you to forget about it now that you’ve heard it. So, allow me to give you a few words of my own... Your life belongs to you. Life is long, filled with trials and tribulations. You can take your time at each turn. Choose your own path. How you want to travel. How you want to live. You have the right and freedom to do so. Please, never forget that.”
“Thank you...”
“Oh, there’s somethin’ I wanted t’ tell ya.” Grimp tore through the heavy air.
I recognized that he was a very considerate god, in contrast to Serelipta.
“Li’l wisdom when it comes t’ growin’ crops,” he explained. “All yer doin’ is strong-arming the buggers with fertilizer and magic.”
“I understand. I would like to learn proper farming methods when I have the time.”
“Good call, b’y. Yer sure ta get better harvests that way. I’ll tell ya more next time.”
“Thank you for the advice. I’ll see you both!” After a flash of light, I returned to the now-darkened plaza. “Phew...”
Apparently, gods could be all sorts of different characters... I had prayed because the lord of the land was coming tomorrow, but I hadn’t gained anything in that regard. On the other hand, I made it back safe and sound. I decided to go home and get to bed as soon as possible.
I left the shrine and started my way home. As I walked through the icy breeze, Serelipta’s warning resurfaced in my mind.
Life’s about to get really hectic for you, so be ready, but do enjoy your peaceful days in the little village until then. And if you really feel like you can’t go on with life anymore... You know where to find me.
It almost sounded like a prophecy. I would be in Gimul pretty soon, and I had heard that crime had gone up... What made him give such a solemn admonition?
Well, whatever. “Your life belongs to you.” True to Wilieris’s encouragement, I’ll continue living in this world. Even if everything Serelipta had said about me was true, I was going to pursue my own happiness here. Lucky for me, I had plenty of time.
Most importantly...
“I’m back!”
“Hello, Ryoma.”
“Dinner’s almost ready.”
“There you are!”
“Would you mind having a few drinks with dad, Ryoma?”
“Something happened today, but he’s going too fast for us to keep up.”
“In that case, I’ll gladly join in.”
No matter what the future held, there was no doubt that I was happy here and now.
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