Full Clearing Another World under a Goddess with Zero Believers (LN) - Volume 6 - Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Makoto Takatsuki Prepares for Battle

“Phew, we beat her.” I sighed in relief.

Sciulli...a high-rank demon and the Undead King’s aide... She had been a horrifying opponent. I’d panicked when she’d attacked out of nowhere. She had seemed weaker than when Lucy’s mom had fought her though, so we’d managed somehow. This was becoming a daily occurrence.

“We got her, Princess,” I repeated.

Thanks to using Synchro with Furiae, I’d managed to summon Undyne as well. I needed to thank her for that.

As I turned around to look at Furiae...she squeaked, wearing a terrified look.

Huh? Uh? Why? I thought.

“M-M-M-M...My knight!” she stammered. “What was that spell?! When did you learn something so horrific? And you made an offering to Eir?! Which goddess do you even follow?!”

“Wha?” What’d made her ask that? I was well and truly devoted to Noah.

Ah, but the sacrifice was something Eir taught me. Maybe that’s where the misunderstanding came from...?

“Princess, it was—”

“Y-You’re just like that Highland lot—tricking me to take advantage! Just like that demon! Just like her!”

“I’m not.” With a rueful grin, I walked toward her.

“Stay away!” she snapped. “You virgin bastard! You’re after my body!”

“Hey!”

Why’d you say that?! Also, how’d you know?! Was it Lucy?! Sasa?! Well, really, it could’ve been either of them... That was the kind of thing that seemed like it’d come up in girl talk anyway.

“Calm down, Princess. Just...calm down for now,” I soothed, waving my arms placatingly at her.

Gradually, she went back to normal, though she still glared at me silently with half-closed eyes. She was like a stray cat.

“Well, whatever. Hmph! Well done, my knight.”

There we go—back to normal.

“So,” she continued. “About that magic...”

“Ah, well—”

Just as I started to try and explain Eir’s modification of the dagger, a voice interrupted. “Oh, Lucy’s boyfriend. Cheating on her?”

Furiae and I whirled in shock. The Crimson Witch... Had she teleported?

“I sensed some miasma, but it vanished. Do you know anything?”

“Ah, well, Sciulli was actually still alive,” I answered.

“Hrmm! Really? Where’d she go?!”

“We killed her.”

“Oh, you did...?” She looked interested all of a sudden, humming as she inspected me. It felt like I was a mouse sitting in front of a hawk. Suddenly, she touched my cheek. Her hand was kinda warm.

“What a strange boy you are... Lucy seems rather taken, so I’m even more interested.” There was a noise in my ears. The...elementals, probably? “How’d you defeat a high-rank demon?”

Her eyes were lit in red, and orange light was spreading through her hair.

Simultaneously, I could smell alcohol. Was she drunk?

“It was thanks to Eir,” I told her.

“Would you mind showing me?” she asked excitedly.

She wanted me to show her...the sacrificial technique?

“Y-You can’t, my knight!” Furiae panicked, moving to stop us.

It was fine, though—I couldn’t do it right now anyway.

“Unfortunately, it’ll take a bit more time until I’m able to do it again. I just used it, after all.”

“Aww, that’s a shame,” Rosalie trilled. Her eyes went back to being blue and her hair was only blonde once again. Then, she looked away from me and toward Furiae. “Oh...you’re an interesting one too. Isn’t that right, priestess?”

Furiae stiffened.

“Um! Rosalie, the princess here is—”

“Don’t worry. The moon priestess is on humanity’s side this time, not the demons’, right?”

“O-Of course I am!” Furiae exclaimed firmly.

Rosalie smiled at her before giggling. “My Lucy’s got such interesting friends. That lamia friend of hers has a strange power about her as well.”

Ah...she knows it all. She probably has Appraisal as well.

“Damn, though. Sciulli managed to slip away? I must be losing my touch...” Rosalie remarked with a stretch. “Oh! Who do you like second best? Lucy’s in the lead, right?”

“Uh? Um...well...”

This conversation was all over the place.

“Perhaps that beautiful priestess at your side? Maybe that lamia, Aya? Or maybe it’s that haughty blonde in the armor or the blue-haired little one?”

That last one there is a boy, Rosalie, I thought.

“I never thought Lucy’d be bringing a boyfriend home. I take my eyes off her for a second and she’s grown up so much. Hurry up and give me grandkids!”

I fell silent. The topic had truly been rocketing all over the place.

Yup...she’s drunk all right. She was acting just like Mary back home in the Macallan guild.

“Well, see ya,” she said suddenly, apparently having finished what she’d come for. She hoisted a hand up in the air. At the same time, I started hearing a whooshing noise, and magic circles spread around her.

Then—she was gone.

“A chantless teleportation...even while drunk?”

“She vanished...” Furiae murmured.

The Crimson Witch had arrived, said her piece, then gone.

“Shall we head back?” I asked Furiae.

“Right...we should.”

We made our way to the village chief’s house. Rosalie...wasn’t there. I explained our encounter with Sciulli to the chief and Maximillian.

“What?!” exclaimed the chief. “She was still alive?!”

“It is good to see you safe, Sir Makoto.”

The two of them looked grave.

“Rosalie’s magic had weakened her some,” I explained.

“I should have been with you,” Lucy said.

“Yeah,” added Sasa. “We’re glad you’re safe, though.”

The pair both had worried faces. I felt kind of bad.

“Though, if that saint rank magic could not fully destroy the demon...then we are facing a hard battle,” noted Florna, the Priestess of Wood. She looked uneasy as she brought in some tea.

“Has Freya said anything?” I asked her.

“Just...to be careful... She doesn’t give much guidance like that.”

Hmm, I see.

I turned to Janet. “Can we get any reinforcements from Highland?” If the goddess Freya wasn’t offering help, then the neighbors were our next best bet.

“I have asked for aid, but...something is interfering with the march, so the reinforcements are delayed.” Janet’s voice was harsh.

“Interfering with the march?” I wondered. There were people that would go against Highland?

“It’s the Snake Sect,” Furiae stated, absently biting an apple-like fruit.

“How do you know?” asked Lucy.

“Fate Magic,” she answered. “I’ve got an idea at least.”

That was convenient.

“Fuu, you should have told Janet,” Sasa remarked.

“Well...it likely wouldn’t have made any difference. The sect is constantly trying to work against the country.”

“That’s right...” I agreed. They were a damn pain. “I guess we’ll have to rely on Lucy’s mom. After all, she’s Springrogue’s strongest fighter.”

I had no idea where she’d gone, though. I hadn’t seen her anywhere.

“Mama... Well, she drank too much and went off to the moon.”

“To the moon? Not just moongazing?”

“Yeah, she’s constantly using Teleport to do it,” Lucy explained.

“W-Wow...” It was that easy? For her, at least, it seemed so.

“I hope she’ll be all right,” one of Lucy’s sisters commented. “Last time she said she was ‘off for a walk,’ she was gone for a year...”

Everyone apart from Rosalie’s family looked toward the elf in shock.

“W-Well, that likely won’t be the case this time. Even she should understand the situation we’re in,” the chief said as a trail of sweat trickled down his face.

Everyone was silent. Seriously, what was with this atmosphere? Worrying wouldn’t really help us, so we ended up dispersing to get some sleep and recover our stamina. I collapsed into the guest room bed that the chief had given us. The prince was breathing softly in the next bed over, and I looked toward him.

Yeah, he really does just look like a beautiful girl, I thought. It was no surprise Rosalie had made the mistake.

“Nrow, nrow.”

“Oh, is this where you went?”

Twi had come crawling out from under the bed. I gazed up at the thatched ceiling as I felt the tuft of her tail brush against my cheek. There was a small lamp lit on a pillar.

Tomorrow, we would be heading for the Demon Lord’s Grave, and we still didn’t know the full lineup of enemies waiting for us.

Let’s get some rest... I decided, closing my eyes.

◇

I dreamed that night. It must have been because of the uncertainty in my heart. However, things were different than normal.

“Noah...? What are you doing?” I asked.

The area went on forever, a boundless divine realm. Within this space was my goddess, the topmost “beauty” in the heavens. But...she had a sour look on her face...

And a whip in her hands.

Floating at her side...

“U-Uh...what’s with the getup...?”

Well, floating at her side was Eir. Tied up in midair...in tortoise-shell bondage...

Uh? What?

“Hi, Mako☆” Eir smiled.

Where the hell do I even begin?!

“Uhmm... Noah... Eir...? What are you both doing?”

Eir was tied in ropes and swinging slightly in the air. Noah’s mouth was drawn up in a pout, and she had a whip in her hand.

What in the...?

“Noah’s such a meanie!”

“Don’t try it with me!” Noah shouted. “She tricked us!”

Tricked us?

While Noah yelled, she cracked the whip on Eir. It didn’t seem to hurt her much.

“Oww☆ Violence is wrong, Noah.”

I had no clue what was going on.

“Show me my dagger,” Noah said.

“Here...” I said, handing it over with a sigh.

“I knew it... You used it to defeat that demon, right? I thought you used sacrifice magic...but it got caught up in Eir’s trap.”

“Huh?”

I looked at Eir in surprise. She just stuck her tongue out, unworried.

“You caught me,” she giggled.

“You’re shameless! Listen, Makoto—the magic on this dagger offers things to Eir. You risked your life to destroy that demon, but Eir got 99% of her soul and only that last percent went to your lifespan.”

“A 99% commission fee?” I asked. That was...pretty steep.

“She’s making you into her pawn!”

“But he couldn’t have defeated such an ancient undead demon with normal magic, right?” Eir pointed out. “I think you can credit my support for that.”

“99% is still a rip-off, though! Makoto’s my disciple! The way you’ve set it up, it’s more like he’s working for you!”

That made sense—Eir had decided to put me to use. I’d had no idea.

“Well, it doesn’t matter, does it?” I said.

Both of them let out noises of confusion.

“You don’t mind?” Noah asked with a blank look.

I looked at the water goddess before speaking. “Eir’s help was what saved Furiae and me.”

Her joking face split into a shady-looking grin. “How open-minded, Mako.”

“Umm, I appreciate the view, but that getup’s a joke.”

“Oh?”

Eir was currently bound up in ropes. She usually wore a fairly loose, flowing dress. That dress was currently pulled tight by the ropes, so the curves of her body it usually hid were now obvious. Her shapely chest and taut waist, along with her wide childbearing hips, were all on display.

There wasn’t a single fault with her figure. That’s Eir, all right. It was certainly a pleasant sight.

“Maaakoootooo?” Noah loomed closer.

“Meep! I-I didn’t see anything!”

“You did!”

Well, she was right in front of me...

“Eir! Get down from there already!” commanded Noah.

“You’re the one that tied me up,” she countered, slipping from the bindings. Then, she turned to me. “Are you all right leaving things like this, then?”

“I don’t mind. Even though it was only one percent of Sciulli’s soul, I still got more lifespan, so I’ll just keep it up.” It cut out the middleman, but I was sure the technique would be useful in the battles to come since it could destroy the undead as well. The only thing was...

The goddesses are all liars, huh?

I sighed.

“That’s so rude, Mako.”

“Wait! I haven’t tricked you!” Noah pleaded.

“You hid being a wicked deity,” I pointed out.

“Gurk.” Noah looked away.

“Also, Eir—I’m sure there are other strong people out there. Do you really have to mess with the one and only disciple Noah has?”

“Right! I’ve only got the one disciple! What’ll you do if something happens to him while he’s fighting the demon lord?!” Noah demanded angrily.

Eir put a finger to her cheek before looking meaningfully at me. “But Mako is Roses’s strongest fighter right now.”

Noah and I looked blankly at her.

“He...is?”

“That’s a joke, right?”

“I’m not lying. After all, Leonardo’s young and doesn’t have much experience. The knights are all specialized in defense rather than offense. Most of the strong fighters are adventurers, so they’re not really Roses’s fighters.” Eir sighed in apparent dismay.

“Eir...build up your country’s strength,” Noah told her.

“Do we really not have that much of a pool...?” I asked. Our country’s weakness was being driven home once again.

“I’m the goddess of love and peace! I don’t like those berserkers,” Eir said with a cute pose.

We’re about to fight a war, though...

It felt like she didn’t really realize that.

“That’s why I want you to keep it up, Mako☆!”

“Right...”

She definitely took it easy.

Will you accept Eir’s revelation?

▶ Yes

No

I stared tiredly at the RPG Player selection floating in front of me.

“Okay, Eir. I’ll prevent the demon lord’s resurrection with Springrogue’s hero and priestess.” We’d probably have Lucy’s mom as well. We would pull through.

Noah sighed. “You’ve got to think these promises through.”

Yeah...I did have something I needed to say.

“Eir. The Sacrificial Magic: Offering was incredible. The effect...and the visuals as well.” I could remember the cute angels devouring the demon woman.

“Right?” she giggled. “It earned you more lifespan, didn’t it?”

“Hmm, let’s have a look,” Noah commented. She was already holding my Soul Book. Well, whatever.

“Oh, fifteen years? You got another ten years.”

“That’s right. I only had five left after the suicide magic. So that came from the technique Eir taught me, huh? But, how does it work...?” I’d gotten another ten years just by using it once. Building my lifespan up before...well, it had taken months of battling just to get a year’s worth.

Eir let out a little snort and gave me a sidelong look. “Sacrificial Magic: Offering is a miracle that offers the sacrifice’s soul to me. The one that carries out the sacrifice gets a one percent kickback. This time, that made up ten years of lifespan,” she explained smugly.

“Hmph, how uncivilized,” Noah commented, folding her arms.

Oh, so Sciulli’s soul got turned into lifespan for me... I’d essentially eaten my enemy’s soul. That was pretty sinful. It was basically like something a devil would do, wasn’t it?

“Uh-buh-buh, Mako. The corrupted demon soul gets purified and becomes the foundation for a new world. That’s a god’s love, salvation. Capiche?”

I let out a halting sigh.

Eir really was easygoing.

Before I knew it, she was right up close and had her arms wrapped around my neck. “Know what, Mako? Now you’ve got a technique to get more lifespan—if you convert, you might even get Water Magic (Saint Rank).”

“E-Eir?”

“Moron!” Noah yelled, snapping the whip on her head.

Eir giggled. “Your anima’s sealed, so that isn’t going to work.”

“Grr! Just get away from him!” snapped Noah.

“I’m playing, just playing,” Eir said, moving away.

That’d been a shock.

“Once I get my power back I’m going to kick you over the horizon!”

“Oh, scary, scary,” teased Eir. “I think Althena’s the only one that could win if you get your anima back. I’ll just run away. Far, far away.”

“Hmph, she’d lose too!”

Noah sounded confident. There was something more important there, though.

“Noah, you’re one of the stronger goddesses?” I asked.

The two stopped their arguing to look my way.

“Well, yeah,” replied Eir. “Noah’s way older, after all.”

“Still, the seal means I’m the weakest,” Noah added.

So she was a strong goddess to begin with, I thought. I hadn’t expected that. Actually, she might know what I wanted as well.

“Noah, can you teach me the Elemental Unity and Elemental Summons skills?” These were Lucy’s mom’s special moves. I really wanted to learn them. I’d missed my chance to ask Rosalie, but Noah was the best person to ask about the elementals.

“Hmm? You already use the first one,” she said.

“What?” That definitely wasn’t the answer I’d been expecting.

“You put the elementals inside my dagger and made a mana blade before, right? That’s Elemental Unity. Rosalie just uses her own body for it.”

“Ah, I see.”

Then, if I did the same—

Eir interrupted my train of thought. “Your stats probably aren’t high enough.”

“Eir’s right,” Noah agreed. “You’d probably just break if you tried to imitate her.”

“I...see...” I’d wanted to try it out. Still, when two goddesses tell you not to do something, it was probably better to listen.

“What about the summons, then?” I asked. Being able to summon elementals anywhere would be so helpful.

“Well, she said, ‘Elemental Summons’ aloud, but she was really just using Teleport to pull elementals to her.”

“Teleport?” I asked. That was a pretty high-level skill. “I...can’t do that.” If I could, then I wouldn’t have had all these issues to begin with.

So...that was a dead end as well. A shame. I slumped over.

“Hm?” Eir reached around me, whispering into my ear as she hugged me from behind. “Mako, you want strong skills?”

C-Calm Mind!

“I’m not converting,” I told her after a moment.

“I’m ready and waiting,” she replied.

“Eir!” Noah yelled. She launched a kick right out of Kamen Rider at Eir. Her skirt fluttered up, showing her thighs. But...somehow...it didn’t show her underwear? That was the miracle here.

“Oh, right. Mako, I need to warn you about using sacrificial magic on the demon lord.”

“Eir, Noah’s still got her foot on your head...” I pointed out. What the hell kind of sight was this?

“Will the sacrifice work on Bifrons?” Noah asked. She was talking normally while still holding the kicking position.

“Mostly. You can’t use Throw like you did this time, though. You’ll need to directly stab him and then activate it. Against a demon lord, anything else won’t work.”

“A direct stab...” So I needed to be within a meter of the Undead King. That was a pretty big ask. “I’ll do what I can, then.”

If I couldn’t manage it, I’d just leave things to Rosalie.

“Take care, Makoto.”

“Good luck, Mako!”

The two goddesses saw me off as I felt my consciousness growing distant.

Watching them like this just makes them look like good friends...

The Titanea and Sacred Deities were supposed to be at odds. Were the goddesses different? As those thoughts went through my head, I gradually lost consciousness.

◇

I awoke in a guest room in the home of Canaan’s chief. I could see the ceiling in the dim light. There was another person in the room.

“Mmm... Makoto... That tickles...” Prince Leonardo murmured in his sleep next to me. I should probably let him rest some more.

I washed my face with water magic and threw on a shirt before offering my prayers to Noah. The sky was fairly cloudy. I would’ve preferred rain, but this, at least, was better than a clear sky. There were a fair number of water elementals around.

“Morning, Lucy, Sasa,” I said to the two that had woken before me. They snapped around to face me.

“Takatsuki! It’s awful!”

“Argh! Why is mama so selfish?!”

The two of them were panicking. Actually, it wasn’t just the two of them—everyone in the room had grave looks on their faces.

“Ah, Hero of Roses, you’re awake. Look at this, if you would...” The chief flashed a sheet of paper at me.

A note...?

On it, a single sentence was scrawled:

I’m gonna go to the Demon Lord’s Grave and sort out the demons! —Rosalie

I... Come on, Rosalie.