The Great Collapse

“So why did it turn out like this?”
Guinevere put her hand against her held like she was trying to suppress a headache and groaned.
She was currently in a corner of the Manesh palace, it was a room where Guinevere would normally handle documents with one hand and hold tea to drink with another.
The men and women relaxing in whatever posture they felt like with no regards to their honor on the cushions that were placed on the ground were the source of her suffering.

Ria, Carla, and Guinevere herself were fine. Even Serge and Irina weren’t unnatural in being there.
“Is there a problem?”
“A problem…”
It wasn’t a problem, but why was this place being used as a place for the discussion?
“The place with the most involved people is Ogress, after all.”
The people Ria looked over to were: Ars, Shifaka, Thor, Labyrinth, and the four God Dragons.
Be it the excessively awe-inspiring lineup or the fact that the Dragonslayer was sitting together with the God Dragons, as expected, not even Guinevere had the composure to laugh it off.
“Moving somewhere else sounds annoying.”
The person to say that as she was relaxing and lying down was Fire Dragon Ohma. Although the other Dragons were maintaining postures that protected their majesty, they still agreed with Ohma.
“We’re at a more light part of the conversation, so I think that some alcohol would be nice.”
The one to say that was, of all of them, Valis. It appears that Dragons being adept drinkers was true.
Ria instructed a court lady who was waiting on standby to have food and drinks prepared for them.
Their discussion in the meanwhile wasn’t truly light, however.
They spoke of things like what to do once they came into contact with Earth by means of the Great Collapse and how to process immigration. Normally, things like this were to be discussed by all of the continent’s rulers, but the people here were carefully selected with the intention of making it so that people with no knowledge concerning Earth would have a say in the discussion.

Ria, Serge, and Labyrinth had reincarnated from the Earth. Ars and Thor were summoned as Heroes. Shifaka was a representative as a human that had actually immigrated. Guinevere and Carla were representatives of the ‘locals’.
“For now, let’s give Japanese people top priority for immigration.”
Ria proposed something that came from her own ego, but no one opposed it. Ars raised the cup in his hand and Thor nodded. Labyrinth drank her juice, but she didn’t disagree either.
“Ah, I’m not trying to object, but I’ve been thinking about something for a while now.”
Serge raised his hand and gave a question.
“Why are reincarnators and Heroes only ever Japanese?”
“There were people that weren’t Japanese, too.”
The one to say that was someone who had until now remained quiet, Shifaka.
“It was like that on other continents, but it seemed to be that there were only Japanese people remaining when I looked on this continent as well.”
Regarding the reasoning for that, Ars spoke with a few speculations mixed in.
“This world is polytheistic, and on top of that, it has Dragons that are even stronger than Gods. Isn’t it that it won’t accept believers of Judaism or monotheistic religions?”
“Or maybe it won’t allow people that aren’t atheists?”
Thor offered a supplement. Both Buddhism and Hinduism appeared to have poor compatibilities with this world. It appeared that the majority of Japanese and atheists were easily accepted into the world.
“What about Communists then? I’d heard that you’d be treated like one of those on Earth if you said that you were an atheist.”
“Communists…”
Shifaka’s eyes looked distant. It was the same with Thor and Ars. Terrew clicked her tongue.
Just by seeing their reactions, Serge could understand somehow or another. [1]
Well, Communists did have a splendid ideal, at least.

“I think that we should accept poor immigrants from places like the United States first. In the beginning, their way of life will be agriculture and raising animals.”
Immigrants moving from the Demonlands would also support the immigrants from the Earth. It appeared that Ars had been thinking around those lines as well.
The discussion was basically only being done between the humans. The God Dragons were drinking out of glasses with alcohol in them, sometimes asking for opinions on various things.
There were many tricky problems on their agenda.
“What about the Imperial family…” [2]
The one to bring up this particularly complicated problem was Ria. Even Carla and Guinevere were unable to understand Japan’s governing system.
Moreover, even between Ria and the other former Japanese in the room, there was a generation gap. Ria had lived as a Japanese person for forty-two years and had knew many people who held the Imperial family in high esteem. Meanwhile, the four others only barely recognized it as the symbol of Japan through textbooks.
“There is the Imperial family to think of, but is having them continue governing a good idea?”
Ars spoke, yet no conclusion was reached.

“If we’re going to talk about them, what about the Mecca, Jerusalem, and the Vatican?”
The formerly Japanese people held different views about Serge’s question. Carla and Guinevere could easily understand the problem since it had to do with religion, but they couldn’t understand monotheism itself. They went out of the way to explain the general outline of what Judaism, Christianity, and Islam was, but Carla and Guinevere, two people who didn’t hold any hostility to demons, could only see the religious as breeding grounds for racial discrimination.
Well, there was also a problem for the ones doing the explanation…
“For there to be only one God… what an arrogant concept.”
Guinevere spoke.
Carla, someone who actually knew the power of a God, would be considered an atheist on Earth. Even though she held the bloodline of a God.
It wasn’t that she simply didn’t accept the existence of Gods. She was an atheist in the sense that she wouldn’t allow their meddling.
Even so, their discussion branched out into further dicey topics.

“Oh yeah, there aren’t any blacks in this world, huh?”
Once again, Serge brought something up.
It was true, almost everyone looked European. It seemed like a lot of people did look oriental in the southeast though.
“Ah, that. It’s because of discrimination.”
Ars spoke while scratching his head.”
“You know how there are dark elves among demons yeah? Well, they have dark skin. So they were lumped in together with demons, so they’re over in the Demonlands now. Most humans in the Demonlands are black nowadays.”
The heck? Even in a world like this, one where Ria had thought to be a bit better than Earth, there was still racial discrimination based on skin color.
“No matter the world, there’s going to be discrimination, won’t there…”
The noticeably young Serge muttered that and everyone nodded in agreement.

*

The meeting continued on and on for days.
Meanwhile, the God Dragons enjoyed themselves by getting drunk off of the alcohol… not…
Ars contacted the Demonlands with his phone, setting up the preparations for the acceptance of immigrants.
Tractors powered by mana. Lawnmowers powered by mana.
Steel factories powered by mana. Shipbuilding factories powered by mana.
Using mana left and right, Ars was bringing the Demonlands ever closer to the modern era. A few parts were even advancing beyond what science was at though.
“Could you make the internet?”
“I want to make the literacy rate be 100% first. There are still a mountainous tribes that don’t speak the common tongue yet.”
Ars took Serge’s request seriously and answered him.
“I also want a transportation network. I want to expand our rail network, and we also have to construct and maintain roads… it should be more or less manageable thorugh magic, though.”
The more he talked, the more they came to understand just how advanced the Demonlands were. It really was a great thing they didn’t have to fight them.

“Could I use one of those Machine Gods?”
“You probably could… but they’re pretty expensive to make. I’m using an orichalcum alloy for it anti-nuclear weapon armor, and there are only a few people who can manufacture its Magic Core. By the way, we have a lot of jets, too.”
“Oooh! A science victory!” [2][3]
They… probably had the war potential to fight against the entire world.
They’d even had the ability to purposely not damage Lemdria too much when they fought the country.

The meeting truly did continue for days. As various kings and rulers were contacted, new members appeared to join in.
Great Sage Alvis. Truthfully, he was the most plain-looking man among them.
But he was the Great Save of another continent and had managed it. Then, failing in its management, he had come to this continent with the few survivors in tow.
As someone who had migrated as an immigrant, his comments were definitely valuable. However, he would occasionally mix in his complaints. Rather, his complaints did nothing but become more common.
“Really, humans have to have existences better than themselves or they’ll just turn into impudent, arrogant things.”
He, who’d reached over for one of the wine glasses offered to him by the God Dragons, started talking about his past with a still gaze.
He talked about how the continent he’d lived on managed the Soul Cycle in a different way than using Millenniums.
And how even so, it wasn’t enough an ended up failing, causing him to bring the few remaining humans over to this continent on an ark.
According to him, if humans didn’t have existences like the God Dragons, they would wind up forgetting their reverence towards nature.
He continued prattling on about philosophical things as he slowly grew dead drunk.
… What exactly did he come here for, again?

*

The deadline Valis gave soon arrived.
On that day, it was a very typical morning with people doing their usual daily activities.
But the populace of each country was made to know of as much as possible through their representatives. What they could understand was next to nothing, though.
The God Dragons returned to their families, with humans, demi-humans, and demons all amassing their fighters and made tents the place where the Imperial Capital had once stood.

And in the center of it all was the Demon King… in a dogeza.
“I’m sorry…”
To say nothing of the humans and demi-humans, even the demons were looking at him with somewhat cold gazes. To say they were shocked would be an understatement.
“You… do you know what you’ve done!?”
The person to speak in such an angry voice was Shana. The former Hero was abused by one of his past comrades that had helped defeat the previous era’s Demon King together with him.
Among those resignated gazes, the only one who looked uneasy was Ferna.
“Seriously… you know what situation we’re all in…”
As for why even Ria was shocked, well, it’s because a certain matter came to light so close to go-time.

Ferna was pregnant.

The father was this here Demon King-sama.

Ferna’s fighting capability was considerably high even amongst those present. After all, she was a member of Black Cat, an organization that trained gifted children, since she was a child.
It was natural that there would be blame to place somewhere if something caused her to lose her ability to fight. And in the case of a pregnancy, that blame would mostly be held by the man.
“I have no face…”
There was no room for justification left to Ars, who continued with his dogeza earnestly. He himself probably knew that as well.
“No matter what we say, there’s no changing what happened. Let’s put her somewhere safe and have her give us support from the rear.”
A constructive opinion coming from Carla, Ars gave off a relieved feeling.
“The baby will be Shinji’s younger brother or sister, so let’s keep her in Manesh.”
Yes, Guinevere was there in that location, too.
Now that the mood had turned into something like a showdown between his former and current lovers, Ars pressed his head onto the ground even harder.

*

Since teleportation magic had adverse affects on pregnant women, Guinevere and Ferna would fly to Ogress.
Ars finally got up and looked at the various demon officers with upturned eyes.
Even while sighing the senior officers all arranged themselves before Ars.
Some people—like Asuka—were grumbled to themselves still, though.

“It’s almost time…”
Taking out his pocket watch, Shifaka muttered.
He was the only human among them that had experienced a Great Collapse. He looked up into the sky.

And then, the color of the sky shifted.
Blue. But not the blue a sky should be.
Like it had shaken dust off itself, it was a clear blue. Too clear.
“Ooh…”
People let out groans, as well as admiration. What stood out to them was another surface—another ground* occupying the majority of the sky.
It was something that Ria had seen countless times in photos, it was the Earth.
Their atmospheres fully connected with each other, she could even see the landmasses clearly.
“Where is Japan…”
Ria muttered. The globe rotated slowly, showing off its appearance.
A chain of green islands on the vast blue waters. Finding it, Ria clenched her fists.
Aah, it was still there.
Japan was still there.

The two planets so close that they would normally have crashed into each other due to gravity, they kept their distance, still rotating.
The Great Collapse had begun.