In a Different World with a Smartphone (LN) - Volume 14 - Chapter 3

Chapter III: The Sovereign Rises 

“Welcome back, Master Touya. Welcome back, madams.” 
“Ping!” 
“Pong!” 
“Pang!” 
Shirogane bowed lightly, and the three Gollems by his side followed suit. Seemed like they were learning well. 
We’d come back to the Reverse World to see if the massive Phrase invasion in Sandora ended up having any effect on this side. 
The regular Phrase were seeking the Sovereign Core, so there’d be no reason for them to come to the Reverse World, but the metal devils were different. I was concerned that a large number of those types might’ve come out into this world, so I decided to investigate. 
I did a search on my map for them, but no hits came up. Thankfully it seemed like my fears were for naught. 
“Hey, Touya! Do you think he was including me when he said madams just now, huh? Huh?!” 
“Absolutely not. He just meant to say madams and you.” 
“You mean madams and mistress, right?” I rolled my eyes as Doctor Babylon grinned at me. 
I’d brought five people with me this time. Babylon, Yumina, Lu, Linze, and Leen. 
Sue, Elze, Yae, Sakura, and Hilde had things to take care of so they passed. Sue was with family, Elze, Yae, and Hilde were training with the knight order, and Sakura was helping her mother at the school. 
I only came to check if any of the Mutated Constructs had come in, so frankly I didn’t have anything else to do in the Reverse World. But Leen and Linze said they wanted to read for a while in the library, and Doc Babylon said she wanted to check out a city since she didn’t get to leave the house last time. 
I figured that it’d be a waste to just pop in and go straight back, so I decided to take her around. Yumina and Lu decided they’d tag along, too. 
“Alright, let’s go to the Theocracy’s capital, then.” 
“We can eat while we’re there, too.” 
“Sounds good...” I opened up a [Gate] to the capital and brought us to a back alley near the main street. 
We walked out to see the regular hustle and bustle. 
I picked up a newspaper and we all headed toward the cafe we dined at the last time. 
It was already mid-afternoon, so there were a few vacant spots. I ordered a few snacks, as well as a drink from their menu called “kophee.” Judging from the scent... It was just coffee. 
As I picked at my food, I scanned the newspaper in front of me. If Leen were with us, she’d have absolutely told me off for having poor table manners. 
“Newspapers are definitely useful, huh... Maybe we can introduce a printing press to Brunhild.” 
“The world doesn’t have much in the way of long-distance communication technology right now. We could mass produce stuff using Babylon, but we don’t want it to open up the floodgates for stuff like propaganda or fake news. It’d be handy, but we don’t need to make all the social developments. Let’s just wait and see if they manage it themselves.” I shrugged my shoulders and took a sip of my kophee before passing the paper to the Doctor. Yep, that’s coffee. It’s a little bitter, though... Needs sugar. 
“Oho?” Doctor Babylon made a weird noise as her eyes fixed on a certain part of the paper. Her eyes narrowed as she dug around in her pocket, produced a small lens, and looked through it to inspect the news. You just carry around a magnifying glass? “What is it?” 
“Well... Look at this article.” I read the headline she was pointing at. It said, “Pirate Ship Drifts Ashore At Barköl Harbor.” 
“Huh...? Let’s see... Unidentified ship, assumed to be pirate, drifted in at Barköl harbor... The entire crew of thirty-four men has been apprehended... What about it?” 
“Look at the photo of the wrecked ship. Right here. Look at the emblem on the sails. It’s tattered, but don’t you get it yet?” Hm? Emblem? I borrowed Doc Babylon’s magnifying glass and looked closer at the black-and-white image. It was certainly a wreck of a ship, alright. 
I looked carefully and realized what I was looking at. An emblem of a unicorn, a shield, and stars. I was completely floored. “That’s the Refreese National Emblem!” I stared down at the image in absolute shock. It couldn’t be... And yet it was. The ship that had gone missing a while back. The McClane. I skimmed my eyes over the rest of the article and found that the ship had crashed into the harbor and washed ashore, and the crewmen had all been apprehended under the orders of the man who ruled Barköl. They couldn’t speak the language of this world, so they had no way of defending themselves. 
“But why would a Refreese ship be in this world?” 
“I have no idea... God said that people could drift between worlds now and then, but this is ridiculous...” I shrugged my shoulders as I answered Lu, but my mind was abuzz. Is this just a coincidence? Or is this related to the weird stuff lately? 
“Well, we can’t just leave them alone. Let’s go help them out.” 
“Hold on a second. What do you plan on doing afterward, hm? Return them home?” 
“Well, obviously, I... Oh... Oh.” 
“Use your head. If you rescue them like that, you’ll have to explain the Reverse World to them. Not just the crewmen, but also the Refreese government, and then the other world leaders too! I don’t think the world is ready for that yet.” She had a point. I couldn’t expect the other world leaders to accept this matter as nonchalantly as my fiancees did. Well, there was a chance they’d understand due to the Phrase, but it was still a bad idea. 
“There should be a spell from the Dark school that hypnotizes people, right?” 
“You mean [Hypnosis], right? We could definitely use that to alter their memories, yeah.” 
There were a lot of ancient Dark spells that could manipulate people mentally. I could use those spells to manipulate memories, confuse people, send them into frenzies, consume them with lust, make them lose their sanity, or even just turn them downright braindead. Frankly, those spells scared me. 
I didn’t really want to use spells like that against anyone who wasn’t a really horrific villain, but I had no real choice in this situation. Plus, they’d been thrown into jail in a foreign land with no knowledge of what their captors were even saying, they’d probably be happy to lose memories like that. 
I’d read up on [Hypnosis] in the Babylon Library before, so I was sure I knew how to use it. 
“Alright, let’s go save them. Seems like that harbor is in the Panaches Kingdom.” I used my map to check where the place was, taking care not to project the hologram since we were in a public space. 
“It seems to cover the territories of Palouf and Lihnea in our world... Palnea island.” Yumina muttered to herself as she looked over the map. She wasn’t wrong, it was basically identical, just flipped. 
It was quite a bit away from Allent, though. 
“I’ll fly over there, okay? You guys sit tight while I do that.” 
“Alright. Please take care.” 
I could’ve used [Teleport], but I was still a bit scarred from the last time. I decided not to be lazy, since it’d only take about thirty minutes. 
I headed into a back alley and cast [Invisible], then shot off into the sky with [Fly]. I applied [Accel] for good measure and rocketed away like a missile. 
After a while, I had a good view of the sea below me. Soon enough I saw the coastline of Palnea island, or rather, the Panaches Kingdom. 
I landed in the harbor, which was found in the south-east, and immediately opened up a [Gate] to the back alley near the cafe I’d left behind. Then I got the girls and headed back through the portal. 
“There are a lot of ships here... Some of them look strange.” Lu looked around the harbor with curious eyes. 
There were plenty of docked ships without any sails. Are they steam-powered? Or maybe magic? I looked over to the pier and saw several men and Gollems hauling cargo. Wait...That ship has arms. Is it a Gollem itself? I walked along the harbor and saw several fresh fish for sale. The pungent smell of raw fish hit me right in the nose, but it wasn’t too bad. Seemed like they were keeping the fish cool with ice generated by Gollems. 
As I continued walking, we reached a place filled with the tasty scent of grilled fish. Steel yourself, Touya... No getting distracted... Oh... Is that steamed sea snail...? 
“Touya, look!” Yumina pointed toward a crashed ship on the shoreline. I could see the tattered sail hanging from the snapped mast. It bore Refreese’s emblem, there was no doubt about it. 
We got close enough to see the nameplate engraved on the side of the ship. Sure enough, it said McClane. 
“Well, guess there’s no denying it now.” The ship managed to just barely survive, much like the man it shared a name with. 
I hailed a nearby sailor and asked him about how the ship came to be claimed by the local authorities. 
He said that about four days prior, the ship made landfall after a harsh storm. There were thirty-four survivors aboard, and the rest were apparently dead. 
The officials in the area tried to ask them questions about how they got there, but neither party could speak with one another, so the inquest went nowhere. 
They tried to hand over a map so the crew could point out where they were from, but for some reason, the men tried to flip the map upside down, and they just got stressed about it. The crews were also scared by the sight of the Gollems. Some of the crew buckled under their own stress and started to raise a fuss, so ultimately all the men were subdued and put into prison. 
They found weapons and cannons aboard the ship, so it was suggested that they were part of a pirate band that had been causing trouble in the area. Welp... They’re part of the navy, so the weapons make sense... 
“Kind of ironic that they originally set off to take out the pirates, only to be branded as pirates...” I felt a little sad for them, in all honesty. 
Their fate hadn’t yet been decided, but if they were found guilty of piracy they’d surely be executed. I needed to hurry up and get them out. 
The prison they’d been put in was a small building next to the harbor security dorm. 
It was still midday, but that didn’t mean much to my magic. We headed toward the building. It was made of something that looked like concrete and had a fairly dull design to it. 
There was only a single guard at the entrance, probably because it was the afternoon. 
There were all kinds of people walking up and down the street, and any commotion would attract attention from nearby. That was probably the reason for such short staff. Either way, we were lucky for it. 
“[Invisible].” 
We walked to a quiet area nearby, and I made everyone invisible. We walked right past the guard and made our way into the entryway. There was a staircase ahead that led to a jail area. 
There were three cells in total, with roughly ten men in each. The men looked powerless and miserable like the fight was completely gone from them. Some were even sobbing. 
I used [Silence] in a small radius to prevent the guard upstairs from hearing us. That would prevent even a large commotion from being noticed. 
I then undid my spell. The crewmen, who saw the appearance of sudden invaders, instinctively cowered away from us. 
“Is your captain here?” 
“Y-You can speak our language?!” 
“I can. I also know you guys were hunting pirates outside of Refreese.” The men looked shocked as a scruffy, red-bearded man pushed his way forward and spoke to us. 
“You can call me Simmons. I’m second-in-command. We lost our captain when he fell overboard.” 
“What happened to you exactly? Please tell me all you can.” Simmons looked down with a mournful face as he began to recount what happened. 
“I... I don’t know... On that day we were headed to the pirate hideouts with the others. But all of a sudden, this weird mist set in around us at all sides. It was strange... Way too strange. The weather was fine until it suddenly changed... The mist got deeper and deeper... And swirled around us, and I swear it started glowing a dark gold. The golden mist swallowed us all up, and we lost all sense of direction... Our compass just broke, it didn’t work at all. We couldn’t navigate by the sun or stars, either. Then when the mist vanished, we got caught in a storm. We held on for dear life, and some of us didn’t make it... When the storm ended, we washed ashore right here. We celebrated, cause we thought we were saved... But we weren’t. These strangers didn’t understand us, and we didn’t understand them. They didn’t even know the country we were from. They have all these weird ships, and these strange iron animals I’ve never seen before. Hey, tell me! Where are we? What are those iron animals? Why was the map backwa—” 
“Tempt, o Dark! Implanted Falsehood: [Hypnosis].” I’d heard enough and triggered my spell before Simmons finished. 
A purple mist began to spread through the air, clouding the eyes of all the men in the jail. 
“Listen to me. You were separated from the Refreese fleet and attacked by sea monsters. You got out of it, but your ship was wrecked in a storm and washed up on an uncharted island. The stress of your starvation and extreme conditions caused you to see weird hallucinations. That’s what those weird ships and iron animals were. They were just wild visions. Just dreams.” 
“...Just... Dreams...” The crewmen just stared back with vacant eyes. I hoped that’d be enough. 
Lu asked me if that was morally justifiable treatment, but I thought it was probably better for their long-term mental health to convince them that their trauma wasn’t real. Plus they had met with a storm, so the story was still kinda true. 
In the end, their trip to the Reverse World would just be a bad dream. 
I opened up the cells and then opened up a portal to Drakliff island. Yumina and the others guided the men through. 
They walked slowly and unsteadily, like zombies. 
Once the girls were through the [Gate], I left the prison through the entrance I’d come out of. I walked up to the McClane’s wreck and stashed it in my [Storage], then immediately left for Drakliff island before anyone noticed. 
I was sure that a vanishing shipwreck would definitely attract prying eyes before long. 
I wanted to get those men back to the regular world as soon as possible, it wouldn’t be good for them to keep them in that state. 
All of a sudden, my smartphone started to vibrate. It was an incoming call... And the one calling was none other than God Almighty. 
“Uhh... ‘Sup?” 
“Ah, hello there, Touya. Seems like you found a little bit of trouble, hm?” 
“Yeah, I’ll say... Were you watching?” 
“Indeed. There was something I wanted to tell you, you see. It is related to the issue you have been facing recently... Would you mind paying me a little visit?” I wondered what God Almighty wanted from me so bad that I had to go up there and see him. I said I’d visit him when I had a chance, then ended the call. 
Hmm... Did a problem happen in the other world or something? I wonder what the issue is... 
Oh, crap. Can’t spend too much time thinking about it. I got people to relocate. 
I sighed quietly as I walked to the Dimensional Disruptor Mk. II and fired it up. 
 
We brought the McClane crew back to the regular world, and dumped off the shipwreck on a shoreline not far from Refreese, along with the men themselves. 
They woke up a small amount of time later and saw the coastline over the stretch of water. They immediately started swimming toward land and made it without any trouble. There was a small road nearby that led toward a fishing town, so I felt they’d be safe from there. 
They’d stick to the script I gave them via the [Hypnosis] spell, so I was sure it’d be fine. 
“Guess we can take it easy now.” 
“I’m glad they’re safe.” We kept an eye on the men from the shadows to ensure they got to the village safely. The villagers clothed and fed them, then the men recounted their story. It seemed like the whole story with the Reverse World had been rendered as a mere hazy dream. 
I opened up a [Gate] and we all headed back to Brunhild. 
I still had no idea how the McClane sailed to the other side, though... 
There were examples of people being spirited away in this world, much like my own... But I wondered if them going to the Reverse World was really just a random coincidence. 
On the subject of being spirited away, I remembered that I needed to spirit myself away to meet God Almighty. I figured I could probably ask him more about what happened. 
I told Yumina and the others that I was heading out for a while, then headed to the kitchen to pick up some pudding, cake, dorayaki, and other treats as a gift for the old man. Crea wasn’t in, so I was basically sneaking treats from the kitchen without permission... I made a mental note to apologize if she was mad about it later. 
“Alright, I’m off.” 
“Give him my regards, you know?” Karen was in the kitchen eating some cake, so I told her where I was going. I had a feeling I’d be blamed for the cake she’d taken, too... 
I fired up a [Gate] to the Divine Realm, and immediately stepped out to see God Almighty in his regular room, seated on his cushion. 
“Good day, Touya.” 
“Hey, it’s been a while. Here, I brought you some snacks.” 
“Oh, thank you so much.” God Almighty took the little box of desserts and put the pudding and cake into his mini-fridge, and then placed the plate of dorayaki in the middle of the table alongside some fresh tea. 
“So what was it you wanted to tell me?” 
“Well... I do wonder where I should start... I think I should explain to you how I... Or rather, how we gods are placed as patrons of worlds.” God Almighty started to mutter a bit as he stroked his beard. 
“As I am sure you know, the number of worlds that we gods survey is immeasurable. But what we manage when we oversee these worlds are not necessarily the worlds on a micro level. We, for example, cannot interfere with civilizations that may develop there, even if the civilization was headed on a path of death and destruction. In the end, death and destruction is just as natural as life, after all. The worlds that head toward such a fate are typically dealt with by the god of destruction, that is his job you see. It works in tandem with mine. I typically birth new worlds once he eliminates one.” Huh... This god of destruction guy sounds pretty casual, contrary to his scary name... 
“Now, it is not just ruined worlds that the god of destruction watches... There are also deviant worlds. For example, a world in which a wicked god has managed to gestate, and all preventative measures have fallen through...” 
“W-Wait a second... You can’t mean...” 
“Fret not. The world you live in right now is not yet classed as a deviant world. The wicked god has yet to descend and cause chaos there. But... I am afraid to say that it is on the cusp of such a status.” Wait... Does he mean that if the wicked god starts mobilizing, then the whole world could get annihilated by the gods? “And that is not the sole problem... The wicked god birthed from events in your world has been spawning familiars and causing trouble in the space between worlds. Look here, if you could.” God Almighty raised his right hand toward the small table, and suddenly a 3D hologram of the world I lived in was projected atop it. 
He then raised his left hand, and a 3D map of the Reverse World appeared next to it. The two worlds were symmetrically lined up as if there was a mirror between the two maps. I also couldn’t believe it had taken me this time to realize it, but both of the worlds appeared to be completely flat. 
“This was the state of the two worlds in relation to each other about half a year ago. However...” 
The two worlds gradually began to grow closer and closer, until there was a slight overlap on the two maps. 
“This is how the two worlds look in relation to each other right now. The wicked god and its spawn are attempting to fuse these worlds. Or rather... They may have already succeeded to an extent.” 
“What?!” I knew that the Mutated Constructs and the McClane appearing in the Reverse World had to mean something... But I had no idea something as insane as this was even possible. “Why would the wicked god do that?” 
“By merging the two worlds together, they would become a single world. Or rather, a new world entirely, one that was not born from me. That would separate it from my influence entirely. I am sure the servile god who died to the beast originally planned something like this, and they are merely continuing it.” 
“That’s crazy!” I had no idea what the implications of that even were. “Now... These deviant worlds are typically dealt with by the god of destruction after a collective divine consensus. If we were to leave it be, it would be possible for it to generate negative effects and start influencing other worlds, after all. That certainly would not be something we want.” God Almighty’s eyes pierced right through me, causing me to instinctively gulp in fear. 
“And that is why... We have reached a consensus. We will have you handle this situation, Touya.” 
“Excuse me?!” 
Hold up! How’s that the consensus you came to?! 
“Please handle the disturbance between these two worlds as best you can. If you can achieve this, then by my authority as the god of worlds, I will formally recognize you as a fully-fledged God. A High God.” 
“Whaaaat?!” But that’s higher ranked than Karen, Moroha, and the others! Can you even do that?! “In all honesty... I expect these two worlds to remain connected. We do not have a god in place to be patron of this new joined world. It will certainly become a new world, one that would cause me no end of hassle to reclassify. That is why I wish for you to become its patron in my stead, Touya.” 
“What? There’s just no way I can do that! I’d be a fake god at best!” 
“You are no fake, my boy... No pale imitation. It is not a difficult task, either. All you need to do is ensure that the god of destruction has no reason to move in on your world. It will be your territory.” 
Isn’t that exactly what’s happening right now while it’s your territory?! Is this really okay?! 
“It is not as if you would ascend to such a status immediately, anyway. You will be more than permitted to spend time down there in order to continue your training period.” 
“For how long, exactly?” 
“Let me see... Roughly two or three-thousand years should do.” 
That’s extremely goddamn long, what the hell! I’m pretty sure the God Co. Ltd would be guilty of an overly long training term for new employees if it was a real company! So... Hold on, let me get this straight. I’m the new hire at this place... And I’m spending two or three thousand years in training, and then on the first day of my job, I’ll be promoted to management?! This is a messed up command structure, old man! 
“Did you already decide this?” 
“Not at all. It is quite fine if you say no, of course. You can take the path of working up the ladder from the lowest ranks. But that would leave your world in my hands, and I am quite sure it would become a deviant world before long... If it was determined as potentially harmful to other worlds, then we would have no choice but to annihilate it. It would be quite the waste if you went to all the trouble of dealing with the wicked god only for that to happen.” 
“...I don’t really have an option here, do I...” 
“You will have to forgive me. I had planned on a method that wouldn’t cause as much of a fuss, but it is still rather messy...” 
“No, I get it. Even if I didn’t do anything, the god of destruction would destroy the world and the wicked god alike, right? I’m just glad I might have a chance to fix this mess... Plus I kind of want to give that thing what’s coming to it, since it’s been causing trouble for everyone.” I shrugged and chugged my now-lukewarm tea. This was indeed troubling, but I knew it was inevitable. I didn’t exactly think I was management material, but I had a feeling two or three thousand years of training might help. 
All I had to do was beat the snot outta that wicked god. 
“I am glad you accepted these terms, Touya. I would be rather sad if that world came to ruin, too.” God Almighty sighed and slowly drank his tea. I wondered if he’d developed a little bit of a soft spot for the people of that world after spending some time there. 
“So if that world was judged worthy of destruction... What would happen to me and the others?” 
“You and your dependents, those girls closest to you, would be picked up and evacuated to a safer world. Then everything would be obliterated by the god of destruction, reduced to mere dust.” 
His response was honestly harrowing. Everyone in my country, all the world leaders, everyone I knew... They’d be gone forever. I didn’t even want to consider such an option. 
Whether it was the Phrase or the wicked god, the god of destruction would’ve been tasked with taking care of it eventually. The only thing that made a difference was the fact that I lived in that world. That’s why I had to do my best. 
I steeled myself and firmly resolved to work as hard as I could. 
And that immediately went right out the window when I got home. I found myself frantically rolling left and right on my bed in a panic. The responsibility was way too much after actually thinking about it. 
“Me? Managing a world? What the hell? How can I do that when I suck at managing this country?” I continued to thrash and grumble as I squeezed a pillow to my chest. Guh... I’m worrying way too much... I need to take care of that wicked god... Auuugh... 
“But... Guh... Gaaah!!” I felt like the receptionist at a business suddenly being given a task way out of his depth. Why would you trust the receptionist with something like that?! 
Urgh... Usually, I could just ask a trusted higher-up to help me, but... 
“No way that’d work... The only person out of that lot who’s even vaguely reliable is uncle Kousuke...” Ugh... A love life gossip, a battle junkie, a hunting enthusiast, a music maniac, and a tiny drunk are my only alternatives... Kousuke’s not exactly good at anything except agriculture, either... 
It was true that they were lower-tier, specialized gods... It wasn’t exactly their fault they only had one focus, but still... 
“Are you okay?” 
“Yeah... Just grumbling about some annoying stuff...” I heard a voice, prompting me to sit upright on the bed. It was Yumina, wearing her pajamas. She looked really cute in them. 
“What brings you here...?” 
“You seemed stressed earlier... You didn’t eat much at dinnertime and seemed distracted. I wanted to see if you were okay.” 
“Oh...Sorry for worrying you.” Geez, I really am useless. How can someone like me manage a whole world if I can’t even keep my fiancee from being worried? Ugh... I gotta stop dwelling on this, this sucks. 
“So? Did something happen? Can’t you tell me?” 
“Well... It’s just...” I’d already told Yumina and the others about my divinity, and I figured that since they were my dependents on a divine level, they had a right to know about what was troubling me. 
I told Yumina exactly what happened between me and God Almighty up there. I tried to word it delicately, hoping she wouldn’t be too scared about the idea of the world being destroyed. 
“I see... So that’s what you’re upset about?” 
“Mhm... I have to do the work of a real god all of a sudden... I mean... It’ll still be a while before I actually have to do it, but knowing it’s there is kinda scary.” I laughed bitterly. I honestly felt a little pitiful showing this side of me, but it wasn’t like I could hide it. 
“It’s going to be okay. You can do this, Touya.” 
“I appreciate your support, but I’m still uneasy...” 
“It’ll be okay. I know it will be. This world and the other one are going to be fine. It’s you, Touya. I know you’ll pull through.” I looked up, finding her mismatched eyes staring right back at me. I really wondered where that level of confidence came from... Honestly, though... I was happy she thought so highly of me. 
“Plus you’re not alone, silly. So don’t carry this burden on your shoulders alone. We’ll all work with each other, okay? We’ll make it through. I promise. There are all kinds of people who’d be willing to help you!” 
Yumina let out an innocent smile and closed her eyes. Her kindness pierced right through me, prompting an instinctive response to lunge forward and pull her close in a big hug. 
“I’m sorry for worrying you. You’re right... I have all of you. We’ll face any challenge together... I’m sorry I have to ask this of you, but I’ll be counting on you, okay?” 
“Mhm...” Yumina hugged me back just as tightly. I was so thankful that I’d met her, and all the others. 
They were irreplaceable. Not just them, everyone I’d met so far on this crazy journey in another world... They were precious and kind. I had to protect the world for the sake of the people living in it. Real feelings of courage began to well up within me. 

“No fair... How come Yumina gets to do that...?” 
“Shh, Sue! Don’t blow our cover!” Wait, what was that?! I suddenly looked across the room. I then realized the abnormalities in the space around me. 
There were a few distended curtains, an open closet with misplaced clothes, my chair wasn’t pushed in all the way under my desk, and I could see a foot poking out from behind my bookcase. 
“How long have you guys been there?!” 
“Since you were rolling around on the bed...” 
“That’s since the beginning!” Elze and the others came out from their hiding spots with guilty faces. Even Paula was there. 
Was I really so out of it that I didn’t notice they were hiding in my room while I was having my meltdown?! “Why were you guys hiding to begin with?” 
“Well... We ended up having a talk about who would come to comfort you...” 
“Yumina-dono is very talented at rock-paper-scissors, she is.” Seemed like they were doing silly things again. I was about to sigh when Sue came bounding toward me. 
“Listen up, Touya! It’s not just about you! We’re here too, you big dummy! We’re the strongest family in the world, right? No way we could lose to that Destruction guy!” 
...The god of destruction isn’t our enemy, Sue... I sighed and smiled. The fact they felt that way made me happy. Sue then jumped up and hugged me like Yumina did, and then grinned mischievously. Just as I wondered what she was up to, she kissed me on the cheek. 
“H-Hey! Don’t you dare try to get one up on us, little missy!” 
“Th-That’s right! Just because you’re the youngest doesn’t mean you can get one over us!” 
“...I won’t lose...” Elze and Linze started walking toward me, but Sakura nimbly slipped between them and kissed me on the other cheek before they could even get close. 
“Whaaaat?!” Screamed all the girls in unison. That prompted a stampede, as all of them came charging toward me. G-Girls, please! I’m flattered but you can’t all kiss me at the same time! Augh! W-Wait, is someone trying to undo my belt buckle?! What the... Paula?! What are you doing?! Quit that! I ended up under a dogpile of fiancees, but I was happy. I knew that together, we could overcome anything. 
 
I was glad that I was resolved to do something, but that meant I had to put some action behind my words. 
The elimination of the Phrase and the mutants would carry on as usual for the time being... But I wanted to see if I could mitigate the inevitable panic when the Reverse World and the actual world fused together. 
Though... Expecting people not to panic when their entire world becomes twice as big and connected to another land with an entirely different culture would be a bit much. 
I was sure there’d be mass confusion on both sides. 
That’s why I knew what I wanted to do next. 
“You wanna learn how to traverse different worlds?” I brought up the subject during breakfast, while Karen was hungrily chowing down her toast, and Moroha was gulping down her morning tea. 
“Why would you wanna... Oh, because of what we talked about earlier?” 
“Yeah. Being able to use that ability would make it a lot easier to switch between the two worlds.” I didn’t want to have to go to Babylon every time I wanted to make a trip to the Reverse World. Frankly, I’d been shying away from learning that ability since I didn’t want to lose any more of my humanity, but it seemed like becoming a god was inevitable at this point. 
“Well... We’d be fine teaching you that, yeah. We’re here to help you out and stuff, so don’t worry.” 
“Umm... The only issue is that there isn’t really anything to teach, you know?” 
“What do you mean?” Karen, who had now finished her toast, said something that surprised me. 
“Using the ability to travel across worlds is basically the same as regular transportation magic, you know? It’d be fine if you can grasp that, and you already can. All you gotta do is come with me through a few worlds to get a feel for it, and you should be set, you know?” Through a few worlds...? Does she mean worlds other than this one and the Reverse world? “So which one of you will show me?” 
“I just said so, you know? Go around with me. Moroha is gonna be training with the knights today. I’m fine with it, you know? I think it’ll take you about a day to get the fundamentals down.” Karen drank her tea down then stood up. Is that really something I can get down in a day? I’d rather be spared from anything too brutal or taxing... 
The two of us went out to the courtyard. 
“Okay! Channel that divinity of yours through your whole body, you know? When you feel it envelop you, you gotta let it seep out through your pores, you know? Don’t activate a full Apotheosis, just let it gently smother you all over the place.” I did as she instructed and let my own divinity flow through me, I spread it out a little. I was surprised by how well I could control it, even to such a fine degree. It seemed like I’d improved without realizing. 
“Mm... That’s good! So make sure you focus, you know? We’ll try jumping worlds now.” Karen reached out and grabbed my hand, and I suddenly felt a lurching sensation as my body felt as if it was moving upward. 
I felt as if I was being pulled upward by a bungee cord, but the sensation was suddenly cut short by a pressing force of gravity. My body felt like it weighed six times as much... It was terrible! 
“Guh...” 
“Woo! We did it!” 
Karen grinned, prompting me to look at my surroundings. We stood across a vast, rocky plain. There were rocks rolling around in the wind here and there, and the sky itself was a rusty red. 
It was like the depiction of Mars from this one sci-fi movie I saw as a kid. I couldn’t totally recall the title. There was nothing around but a dustbowl. I just saw red rocks and dry sands. 

“...This is another world?” 
“That’s right. It’s hard to explain, but this world is about as old and developed as the one we just came from, you know? It just has fewer people...” I asked her to explain further, and she told me that this world was fairly advanced, but a world war broke out. The resulting carnage turned the air and ground toxic, and the very planet became inhospitable to human life. The survivors were living in underground domes, apparently. 
Karen then went on to explain that if we weren’t using our divinity, then the toxins in the air would’ve rotted our lungs and caused us to shrivel up and die. It was quite harrowing, all in all. 
“Well, it isn’t too rare for apex predators to have that role stripped from them, you know? Look over there.” Karen pointed over in a direction and I saw a tiny, six-legged frog-like creature scuttling around the rocks. It had adapted and was getting around just fine, it seemed. 
“That species might end up taking this world over someday, you know?” She had a point. There was the Cretaceous—Paleogene extinction event sixty-six million years ago on Earth. There were a lot of proposed theories as to why that ended up happening. There was the theory that it was a meteorite, rising sea levels, natural decline of the species, volcanic eruptions, pathogens, a shifting of the poles, and some even believed aliens did it. It looked like that kind of thing happened everywhere. 
I wondered if the Phrase counted as an extinction event in action. 
“Alright! On to the next, you know?” My hyperactive older sister grabbed my hand again, and the bungee-jump sensation overtook my body once more. It was horrible... 
When the feeling subsided, I opened my eyes to see a beautiful grassy plain spreading out before me. A gentle breeze carried a sweet scent in the air. Clouds drifted through the skies, and there were even a few peaceful looking mountains in the distance. It was a far cry from the last world I’d experienced. 
“Guess it’s an ordinary world this time...” 
“The concept of the ordinary is fundamentally subjective, you know? This world doesn’t have a single animal in it, actually.” 
“Wait, what?” When Karen said that, I did notice how quiet things were. There wasn’t a single bird in the sky, nor did I see any insects or rodents scampering about in the grass. This world was a world of plants. 
Wait, then how does pollination work? Don’t they need bugs for that at least? What about the soil? Don’t earthworms help enrich it and stuff...? 
As I mused to myself, Karen bent down and pulled out a tuft of grass. Almost immediately, an identical tuft shot out of the ground and replaced it. What... I stared in disbelief and repeated her motion, pulling out a handful of grasp myself. Just like before, the empty patch was immediately filled out. I had no idea how that worked. 
It seemed like applying my standards of sense to a foreign world was pointless. It wasn’t like it had to abide by the rules I knew. 
“Alright, let’s gooo!” 
“Already?!” Karen didn’t even bother explaining what was up with the grassy world. Instead, she grabbed my hand and we went shooting off. 
After that, we passed through countless realities. I didn’t even know how many we went through by the end of it, but it helped me grasp just how to move through dimensions. 
It was kind of like [Teleport], I had to develop a strong visualization of what I was aiming for, and then seek out the world I wanted. 
A metaphor used once was that the worlds were positioned kind of like steps on a staircase. If you know which step you’re on, then you should be able to take steps up, down, or even diagonally. 
Plus, any world I’d been to before would be easily revisited similarly to how I used [Gate]. 
“So, time to try it yourself, you know? Head back home! If you get lost, I’ll find you.” I closed my eyes and tried to visualize the position of my home in the vast universe. Uhh... I think it’s around... Here, maybe? 
I triggered the jump. I’d gotten used to the bungee-like sensation, but it still made me feel queasy. I opened my eyes and found myself near a small road in the countryside. There were mountains in the distance, clouds in the sky, and a field nearby. 
A horse-drawn carriage went by, making a clattering sound as it did. I also saw a large tree somewhere in the distance. It was then that I realized I recognized this place. 
I walked over to the trunk of the tree and placed my hand on it. It was exactly where I thought I was. 
This was the place where I first opened my eyes in this world. This was where it all began. 
That meant the carriage was probably headed to Reflet. As I took in the nostalgic feeling surrounding the place, my sister warped in not too far away. 
“If you had landed back at the castle I would’ve given you an A+ grade! But... You made it back to the right world, you know? So you get a B-.” ... Geez. I thought about something that made me grimace for a half-second, then asked Karen a question. 
“...Would I be able to use this power to return to the world I was born in?” 
“Umm... That world is pretty far down the chain, you know? It’d probably be hard to reach it as you are now. But you could when you get used to it. I just wouldn’t suggest it...” Yeah... Fair enough. If I showed up there after being dead for this long, that would cause issues. 
Guess I could turn invisible and take a look around, though... I decided that I’d definitely go back there someday, that day just wasn’t coming any time soon. 
As far as I was concerned, the world I stood in was my world. I didn’t need any other. 
“Can I take others with me to other worlds like this?” 
“You can do that, you know? Just be careful... That toxic world we went to would’ve killed any of your fiancees, so don’t jump to worlds you don’t know!” That would’ve been bad. Without the divinity that we gods had, there was a chance I could’ve taken someone to a world where they would’ve just instantly died. That got me wondering how Ende dealt with that issue. He probably had the luxury of scoping out a world in the space between dimensions before actually going inside. Come to think of it, I haven’t heard from Ende... Wonder if he’s okay. Then again, he’s not the kind of guy who’d die easily or anything. 
“Actually that reminds me... That spirit world you took me to that one time, was that another world?” 
“Not exactly, you know? It’s more like an add-on to existing worlds. Kind of like a satellite that exists in its own bubble? If the main world was destroyed, the spirit realm that corresponded to it would also vanish, you know?” 
That made sense. So the spirits would disappear along with the world... That got me wondering something else. “Wait, then... Doesn’t the Reverse World have its own spirit realm? Wouldn’t it get mixed with ours when the two worlds collide?” 
“If the worlds were too far apart to start with then that would be possible, you know? But the Reverse world is a neighbor to this one, so they share the same spirit realm. But I don’t really know how the spirits will react when the two worlds become one. There could be cases like extreme climate change, rising sea levels, or even displacement of landmasses, you know?” 
“Wait a sec! Wait a sec! Don’t just talk about something so serious in a casual tone! Why didn’t you tell me that sooner?!” After my sudden outburst, Karen responded by staring at me blankly. Then she blinked once or twice, stuck out her tongue, and threw me a wink. 
“...Oopsie!” 
“Hello, God Almighty? There’s a goddess down here who isn’t doing a very good job at helping me! All she does is eat dessert, I’d like to swap her out for a better model.” 
“No waaaaaay!! Don’t be mean, you know? I taught you how to move across worlds, you know?! I just forgot one teeny thiiiiiing!” I started faking a call to the old man, so Karen started whining and grabbing on to my side. Geez... That isn’t a teeny thing at all! If the new world ends up falling to ruin due to the spirits freaking out, it’d make me look like an idiot! 
“So how do we deal with it?” 
“Umm... You could warn the spirits in advance so they aren’t surprised when it happens? Or you could just make them your servants, you know? You have divinity and all.” 
That was right. The Sand Spirit I met in Sandora said something to that effect. That spirits were subservient to the power of the gods. 
“Well, you aren’t exactly a full god yet or anything, you know? There’ll be some spirits that would take more convincing than others.” 
“So... how do I go about making spirits obey me?” 
“There are countless methods, you know? 
“Method 1! Persuasion! 
“You gotta talk it out with the spirits and make them see your side of things, you know? It’s a good, calm way out! Love and peace, you know? 
“Method 2! Beat the crap outta them! 
“Show them that they can’t hope to match up to a god! Bully them into submission, you know? Might makes right! Search and destroy, you know? 
And that’s it.” 
“That’s two methods! You said there were countless ones! Gaaah!” 
So I have to talk or use force? This ain’t right! 
“Method three... Blackmail...” 
“What...” 
“Figure out their weakness, you know? That won’t really make them obedient, though. They’ll probably resist you and be upset. You gotta think about it like you’re the new boss at a company, you know? Some employees will listen, while others will be more difficult. If you have the time, you can talk to them one by one and solve their issues, but if you don’t have time, then...” 
“Then it’s method two...” 
I need to take the search and destroy route? No way, any company doing that would go under! That’d be past shady dealings and going straight into criminal activity. I can’t do this! This metaphor doesn’t even really work! 
“What’s the problem with method two? Didn’t you use that exact method to subdue Kohaku and the others?” 
... Wasn’t that different? No... I guess it wasn’t, huh. 
“If the spirit ends up being agreeable, then you can just leave them alone, you know? If the spirit is less agreeable, then just overpower it and it’ll obey. Spirits are pretty honest like that.” Really? They won’t hate me? I don’t exactly want to be known as a spirit bully or anything. Is it really gonna be like an old TV drama where the two people disagreeing have a fistfight then come to a heartfelt understanding? I don’t buy it. 
“For now all I need to do is go to the spirit realm, right?” 
“That’s right, you know? When you approach the spirit, tell them that you’re the upcoming patron of this world and that they should listen to you even if it’s a little annoying, you know? After that, the spirits will probably divide into two groups, the ones who say “Sure!” and the ones who say “Heck no!” Then you just need to destroy the latter group, you know?” ...Destroy? I don’t wanna kill them! Sis, please don’t be so overdramatic. 
Well, I do remember hearing that spirits couldn’t strictly die and would eventually come back, so... I guess I don’t need to hold back? I’d rather this went peacefully, though... The whole peace and love thing sounds nice. 
But I’m pretty used to things not going how I want them to, so... 
Guess it’s time for some old-fashioned searching and destroying. 
 
“Grooowraaauuugh!” 
The giant Minotaur-like spirit staggered backward after I landed a solid punch on his snout. 
He was either a spirit of copper or zinc, I couldn’t remember. After I’d landed in the spirit realm and done exactly as Karen told me, they did just about what Karen expected. They split into two camps that either liked me or hated me. The ones that liked me were all like “Okay! We’ll work with you!” while the ones that didn’t like me were all like “Grr! Why would we obey someone like you, huh?!” 
And that’s how I came to be having a (fist-based) conversation with the rebellious spirits. 
I activated my Apotheosis so I wouldn’t get worn out, but they were surprisingly resilient. For example, this copper or zinc guy that I’d just beaten was a specific type of metal, and if you went up the chain of command he and his cohorts were dependents of the Stone Spirit. 
I figured that if I could just get the Stone Spirit to join my side, then everyone in his family tree would be on my side as well. 
But I was wrong. Even though I’d converted him to my side, they still fought back. 
They just came up to me yelling stuff like “It doesn’t matter if you convinced stone-bro! We’re more than enough for a puny god like you!”, and then when I beat one of them they were just like “Huh? Think you’re hot shit cause you beat the Tin Spirit?! He was the weakest one of us!” It was annoying as heck. 
“Woohoo! He did it! Mister Touya does it again!” 
“Ahaha, rough ’em up! Kick their butts! You’re so amazing, darling!” 
“Serves you right, you big meanie! Show him who’s boss, tough guy!” The spirits who had already pledged allegiance to me cheered loudly as they celebrated my upper hand. For whatever reason, most of the spirits that joined me identified as female, while the ones that went against me identified as male. 
Thanks to that distinction, I felt like I just pissed off the guy ones even more... I didn’t exactly feel good punching them out, either way. 
There were a few female spirits among the rebellious ones, too. But they were more like rowdy delinquent girls... But still, spirit or not, I found it hard to hit girls, so I did end up pulling a few punches here and there. 
And then after I beat them, for whatever reason or other, those defeated girls joined my crew and started cheering for me too. 
“Oooh, lord Touyaaa! Go and win!” 
“Do your best, sweetie!” 
“Mm! I just wanna eat you up!” There were a few weird male spirits that I’d defeated and converted, as well... They were cheering for me... I didn’t exactly want to be their friend, though. 
“Come at me next, child!” Another shirtless, musclebound spirit came charging at me. He wore a turban and had Arabian-esque pants on. 
“Stormy! You better not fight against Touya!” 
“Ghh... Enough outta you! Even if you feel that way, Wind, I can’t just accept him as my boss!” The Wind Spirit, clad in light green, frowned at her subordinate and berated him a little more. It seemed he was the Storm Spirit. He was supposed to listen to the Wind Spirit, but he just wasn’t having it. 
“Take this!” The Storm Spirit turned his legs into a swirling vortex as he charged toward me. His fist was sparking with lightning as he raised it, preparing to knock me down. But I simply raised Brunhild and shot him in the head with a divine bullet. 
“Ow!” Given that something so powerful only made him say ow, that was a testament to how resilient spirits could be. The bullet was still just hardened rubber, but the divinity I’d clad it in would’ve been enough to obliterate most things. 
Either way, his momentum was damaged, allowing me to punch him hard in the side. I’d enhanced it with [Power Rise], too. 
“Guuuuh!!” He flew backward and smacked into the Zinc Spirit that I’d defeated earlier. 
What a pain all these spirits were. They were so single-minded that I was glad a good chunk of them had just joined my side off the bat. 
“Woohoo! You’re the best, Touya! Hey, Stormy! You’re all thunder and no lightning! Give up already!” 
The Wind Spirit went after the Storm Spirit and started slapping him about. Hey now... He’s part of your family, right? Be nicer! You’re making the poor guy cry! 
There was a hierarchy in the spirit realm, apparently, with the pillar spirits standing at the top. They could be considered the representatives of all the other spirits. 
Apparently, the Wind Spirit was one of these pillar spirits, but I had difficulty seeing her as something important. She was about as nonchalant as Karen was. 
“Did you think something weird about me just now, you know?” 
“I didn’t.” Karen was watching me fight, and she seemed sharp as ever. I just pretended like she was wrong, didn’t have time to deal with her hassle. 
Among the other pillar spirits, there was the Water Spirit, the Light Spirit, and the Earth Spirit. They’d all sided with me. 
Interestingly enough, another of the pillar spirits was here. The Dark Spirit. The very same one I’d fought back in Ramissh. 
She had revived and assumed her true form. She claimed to have not been in her right mind back during our last encounter. 
The funniest thing about it to me was that she, who was once a monstrous beast with several appendages, now took the form of a young girl with black hair and black eyes. 
She wore a black one-piece dress and shyly waved over toward me as she sat next to the Light Spirit. Her hair was in a short bob, and she almost looked like she was sitting with her older sister. The Light Spirit had curly, golden hair and a bright smile. 
The Dark Spirit that I had fought back in Ramissh had taken that form after being contaminated with thousands of years of negative human emotions. 
To be honest I felt kind of guilty knowing that I’d so mercilessly beaten someone who seemed so innocent now. But even though I did that, she harbored no ill will toward me. 
It was possible that when a spirit died and rebirthed itself, the new one didn’t have any memories of its old life. But I dared not ask her. 
Even so, seeing her innocently waving at me just made my heart ache. I’m really sorry... Please forgive me. I didn’t know you were such a sweetheart! 
“Each and every one of you weaklings is a disappointment! Let me handle this!” A female spirit stepped forward. She had blazing red hair and quite literal sparks of fire in her eyes. She wore similar clothing to the Wind Spirit, but it was cut shorter for ease of movement. 
“That’s the Fire Spirit, you know?” 
“Oh? A pillar spirit?” 
“A pillar spirit.” 
Karen was pretty blunt about it. Interesting... The Fire Spirit, eh? Does that mean all the pillar spirits are women? 
“Pillar spirits... Or rather, all spirits, go through a several-thousand-year life cycle. In the end, they revive themselves and are reborn. They can become a man or a woman, or even an animal, or something like a dragon, you know? It’s just a coincidence that most of this generation identifies as female. Their personalities and emotions change based on the form they take, as well. That’s how they can get the most varied life experience, you know?” Huh... It’s kinda hard to fight against a girl, though... But I think this one’s the last female enemy. 
“Get a load of this!” 
The Fire Spirit charged toward me, a loud sound ringing out with each step she took. She was generating explosions beneath her feet, intensifying her own speed with each inch closer to me. Does she have dynamite in her soles or something?! Geez! 
“Haaah!” 
She raised her hands and called forth several balls of fire. She cared not for her surroundings, reducing it all to a raging sea of flames. I was worried about the cheering spirits behind me, but the Water Spirit had already erected a protective barrier for them. 
I flew into the sky of the spirit realm and dodged each of her shots. I didn’t need to cast [Fly] when my Apotheosis was active. 
“Don’t think you can run...!” Suddenly, several pillars of flame came billowing up into the air. They then split apart and completely surrounded me, attempting to trap me in a pincer movement. 
I quickly turned Brunhild into blade mode and slashed ahead, sending a wave of divinity to disperse the fire. 
“How?!” 
“How about I get a turn to attack, huh?!” The maximum speed I could reach during my Apotheosis was far faster than [Accel] and [Boost] combined. If I actually used this kind of power back down in the mortal realm, then I’d probably end up collapsing right away and going unconscious for a while... But the spirit realm was closer to the divine realm, so I wasn’t drained as fast. 
I moved toward the Fire Spirit in the blink of an eye. I grabbed both of her hands with one of mine, restraining her fully. I then took care not to injure her too badly before sweeping her leg out from under her, then I slammed her body into the ground. 
“What?!” I pointed Brunhild’s blade right at her chest. It was over. 
“I... I lost...” I pulled up the Fire Spirit by the hand because she’d admitted I was the victor. For some reason, her face was reddish around the cheeks. I wondered if she was ok. 
“Y-You’re plenty strong, huh...” 
“Hm? I guess so, yeah. I train against a sword demon every day.” Even though I trained with Moroha daily, I didn’t think I was even close to matching up to her ability. She was the god of swords, though... So in terms of technique, I was completely screwed by default. But I felt like in terms of general battle ability she was way above me, too. 
“Alright. Who’s next? You guys still want a piece of me?” I threw a few inflammatory comments toward the other rebellious spirits. I figured riling them up would make more of them attack me at once. I wanted it to be over already. 
“W-Well... G-Good luck in your fights...! U-Umm... I’ll be cheering for you... Gosh...” 
“Hm? Oh, sure.” The Fire Spirit emitted a few deep red flames for some reason and shuffled off awkwardly. I didn’t know what was up with her. 
She was completely red-faced up to her ears, and she was emitting a few reddish flames from her head. I wondered if she had a fever or something... It wouldn’t be unusual for the Fire Spirit to have a high body temperature, but she didn’t feel all that heated when I touched her arm. 
Karen simply stared at me and looked frustrated for some reason. She let out a sigh and started muttering. 
“...It might be because of your divinity stemming from the highest tier of godhood, but you really are a natural ladykiller... I fear for the future, you know?” 
“What are you talking about? I’m not a killer...” 
What does she mean? I try to avoid fatalities whenever I can! 
I sighed quietly and turned back to the other spirits, before suddenly realizing that they were directing raw killing intent in my direction. Wait, what?! Did my insult just now work or something? 
“You piece of shit...! You took away our precious fire!” 
“I-I’m so jealous! What the hell?! I’m so damn jealous! First, you run off with Dark, and now you want Fire to yourself, too?!” 
“Today I will kill a god!” 
“Even if you took away the flame of our Fire Spirit, the embers of envy in my soul are heating up!” Huh? What...? Why are they crying? Wait... Why are their tears red?! Spirits are so damn weird! 
“Death to the enemy!” 
“Chaaaarge!” The remaining spirits all cried out in rage, and what sounded like misery, before charging toward me. Why are you crying?! What did I do?! A short while later, the spirits were scattered across the battlefield. They were completely defeated. 
For some reason, I felt guilty... It was almost like I was the villain here for whatever reason. 
“Hgh... I have no regrets... Even if I knew we’d lose, I still had to stand and fight for what was right...” 
“The embers of my envy will never fade... Someday we’ll get that bastard... Someday...” 
“Ahh... Th-The Dark Spirit is such a hottie... Unf...” A few of them were muttering things I really preferred to just ignore. 
The Light Spirit stepped forward from the crowd and looked over to me. She raised her hand into the air and began speaking loudly. 
“We, the pillar spirits declare our recognition of the celestial spirit king, Mochizuki Touya. It is our hope that he will guide us well into the future.” The Water, Earth, Fire, Wind, and Dark Spirits raised their hands into the air and joined the spirit of light in their pledge. 
And with that, the issue with the spirits was resolved. It ended up getting pretty rowdy, but it was all over now. 
Even so, I couldn’t help but wonder if there wasn’t a better way... 
 
“So what’s the deal with Ancient Spirit Magic, exactly?” I sat around in the glimmering spirit realm and asked the pillar spirits a question. 
We were having a small tea party. I’d pulled a table and chairs out of [Storage], along with some tea and snacks. 
It was kind of a weird sensation, since the spirit realm didn’t actually have a ground or anything, so we were floating but not at the same time. It was even weirder because the Storm Spirit I’d beaten up earlier had totally rolled around as if hitting the ground when I knocked him over. I didn’t understand the rules at all. 
“You know? That whole Ancient Spirit Magic thing?” Belfast’s court magician, Charlotte, was researching that if I recalled correctly. I hadn’t gone to visit her in a while, though. 
“That is magic forged through contracts. We lend our powers to those who bind a contract with us. But the proper way to form those contracts is no longer around in the mortal realm. It would appear that our language, the Ancient Spirit Script, has also been lost.” 
“There were times when our spiritual dependents could be called out by mistake, but none of the people down there actually understood enough to see what they were messing with. In the end, they just kept asking for power, and nobody managed to form a proper contract.” The Fire and Light Spirits answered my question. 
It seemed that that to contract with a spirit, you needed to form a mutual arrangement. You were borrowing power from them, after all. Which meant you had to see them as equals. 
It was different from summoning a beast, as well. Spirits were allowed to break the contract if they were unsatisfied. If they were asked to do something they didn’t want to do, they were also allowed to refuse. 
If summoned beasts were like employees or laborers, then spirits were more like friends. If you treated your friends like workers, then they’d obviously get fed up with you and leave. 
Then again, if you kept pushing your employees they’d probably get upset with you as well. 
“So I guess I should start spreading a more spirit-friendly agenda, huh? I guess I should talk about how spirits are equal to humanity.” 
“Actually it might be troubling if we were contracted and then relied on too much. We wouldn’t want our contractors becoming too familiar with us, either.” The Earth spirit folded her arms. 
Spirits were basically personifications of natural elements. Since the olden days, people have revered mountains, worshiped the seas, feared foul winds, and thanked the earth for its bounty. That was why spirits were indispensable to the gods and went on to form the worlds they were assigned to. 
“Well, putting you guys aside for a minute, Spirit magic should be usable by contracting with your dependents, right?” 
“That’s right. Take one of mine, for example, a Salamander. If you formed a contract with one, then you’d be able to use Fire Spirit magic.” 
The Fire Spirit shrugged as she ate a cookie. It seemed like the magic’s power depended entirely on the skill of the contractor. 
Normal magic required you to have an aptitude in that particular element. The elements of fire, water, light, earth, wind, dark, and null. If you didn’t have an aptitude for one, you wouldn’t be able to use magic. 
However, Spirit magic could actually be used by anyone that managed to contract for it. But there were also some prerequisites to being able to forge a contract, so I couldn’t exactly say if it was easier or not. 
This probably sounded obvious, but someone with an aptitude for Water magic was more likely to get along with a water-related spirit. It wasn’t too hard to realize why the use of Spirit magic fell into decline over time, given that kind of preferential treatment. 
If someone was capable of using Water magic and had to choose between using their own or asking a spirit to lend them their power to do something similar... It’s obvious that most people would just use their own Water spells. 
But Spirit magic had its own perks. For example, no matter how big the scale of the spell, it had minimal impact on the caster’s own mana reserves. 
That was pretty obvious, though. The one who actually used the magic was the spirit being summoned. All the summoner had to do was use enough magic to call the spirit. 
So even a little child with a small amount of magic could potentially cast devastating spells by becoming friends with a more powerful spirit. 
That was why it was important to manage the world’s understanding of spirits and their nature. 
The pillar spirits all agreed that my proposal of spreading Spirit magic throughout the world again was fine. Obviously, the details of contracting would be up to the individual spirits. It’s not like they had to do anything they didn’t want to do. That’s what separated this from a mere summoning ritual. The spirits and the contractors were on equal footing. 
Some of the rebellious spirits got angry at the idea, and declared that “We’ll never contract with anyone married, or anyone with a girlfriend! I’m not lending my power to any Chads, they have it good as it is!” Frankly, they were weirding me out, so I just let them stew in it. They had freedom of choice at the end of the day. 
I didn’t really understand them, or why they were making paper masks with the word “Envy” written on them, but I just decided to leave it be. 
“The main issue is most people can’t see spirits, I guess.” 
“Once a spirit gets recognized, then we’ll always be visible. Fairies should be able to see us pretty easily, too. There are also humans out there with a rare birth condition that gives them spirit sight!” 
The Wind Spirit had a point, the fairies would definitely be able to master Spirit magic pretty easily. They were practically pros at regular magic anyway. 
I decided to go find Charlotte and talk to her about it. She knew the most about Spirit magic out of anyone that I knew. 
 
“...Wh-What was that?” I was in Belfast’s magical research division, talking to Charlotte. What I’d just asked her caused her to stare in disbelief and drop some of her papers on the floor. 
“Like I said, would you like me to show you how to use Spirit magic?” 
“H-Huh? What? P-Please slow down... Spirit magic? Touya... Er, Grand Duke... Are you telling me you can use it?” 
“Yeah, look at this.” I called out a spirit from the wind family, Sylph. She was a tiny girl about the size of a pixie. I brought her out specifically so that Charlotte could easily get a grasp of what a spirit was like. 

“Why is this happening?! Why can you use it all of a sudden?! I dedicated my life to studying it and... And you just show up and use it?!” 
“...A-Ah... Sorry...” The genius woman in front of me immediately broke down like a child. It seemed my casual way of doing it was a little insensitive. 
Charlotte’s assistants came over to calm her down. Her assistants seemed to be wearing copies of the translation glasses I’d given to Charlotte forever ago. 
After a while, Charlotte stopped bawling and regained her composure. She started asking me questions while staring at the Sylph. 
“It’s a spirit... A real one... You know, when I was a little girl I actually saw a spirit once. That’s why I wanted to research Spirit magic to begin with! I’m a little sad it’s through your power and not mine, but I’m really happy to see another after so long...” 
That was interesting. I never knew why Charlotte had started her studying to begin with. 
“I’ve made an agreement with the elemental pillar spirits, the ones that are far higher in rank than this little one. We’d like to spread Spirit magic across the world again. Would you help us, Charlotte?!” 
“I’ll help! I’ll help! I’llhelpI’llhelpI’llhelp!!!” 
Charlotte leaned in close and started flailing madly. Easy there, Charlotte! Your words are breaking apart. 
The other researchers calmed her down again and I started to write the fundamentals of Spirit magic down on a nearby blackboard. I almost felt like a school teacher. 
“So, there are pillar spirits, then specialized spirits under each of those, and then a tier below that are the dependents, creatures within an elemental family. Pillar spirits pretty much never make contracts with humans, so Spirit magic is usually achieved by contracting with a specialized spirit or an elemental dependent... I’ll call those ones lesser spirits. Anyway, you need to form a contract with a lesser spirit or a specialized spirit to use Spirit magic.” Charlotte and the others jotted down my words into their notebooks. 
“The most important thing to remember when contracting with a spirit is that they are not summoned beasts. You are to stand on equal footing with them, and treat them that way. Ultimately, what’ll count when it comes to being a good contractor or not, is your capacity to see spirits as potential friends.” I was the celestial spirit king now, so I didn’t need to worry about forging any contracts individually, all spirits naturally obeyed me. 
It would also be impossible to use Spirit magic against me, as no spirit would dare try to harm me. 
...Well, I did have my doubts about that point. Those crying guys came to mind, for one. But it was better not to worry about it. 
“Spirits typically cannot be noticed or seen, but they’re in the world around us. If you want to speak with spirits, then you need to be versed in spirit tongue. If you try speaking in that language, then they should reveal their form to you.” 
“Oh! Is that the same as Ancient Spirit Script?” 
“It’s similar, but not quite the same. Ancient Spirit Script was like a derivative language made in ancient times. The proper meaning of the words probably wouldn’t get through to the spirits if you tried speaking that language.” The pillar spirits and most of the specialized spirits did speak the common tongue, however. 
I took out a book from [Storage]. The title was “True Spirit Tongue.” It was an instructional linguistic manual I’d made in Babylon’s workshop, with the help of a few spirits. 
“If you read this, you should be able to have a conversation with a spirit. I’ll let you have it.” 
“A-Are you sure that’s okay?” 
“It’s just fine. In exchange, I’d like you guys to make a public effort toward getting people friendly with spirits. It’s important that humanity and spiritkind get along, things are going to happen in the future that makes it a necessity.” When the worlds combined, the spirits would find their jobs stretched, and there’d be trouble. Natural disasters and ecological changes were highly likely to happen. 
As the celestial spirit king, I’d granted some of my divine power to the spirits in order to strengthen them for the time being. But that wouldn’t last too long into the future, so the people of both worlds needed to form lasting bonds with the spirits in order to increase their power. 
That’s what Karen told me, at least. It wouldn’t be super relevant for a while, but it was important to plant the seeds. 
But if I was going to manage the new world that this place would eventually become, I had to get it handled. 
Spirit magic definitely wasn’t used in the Reverse World, either. So it was likely that the art was completely lost over there, too. 
There were surely spirits doing stuff over there as well, but their contact with humans seemed to be minimal. That’s why I decided to focus on cultivating the relationship in just this world for now. 
“So, shall we test out whether you can form a contract? Charlotte, what magic schools did you have an aptitude for, again?” 
“Um... I have five. Everything except dark and null.” Five was pretty impressive... Leen had six, and she was a fairy. Charlotte was clearly an exemplary human, it seemed she wasn’t the court magician for no reason. 
“It’s your first time, so you’ll probably call on a Lesser Water or Wind Spirit. The spirits of the wind family are all naturally curious, and the water family is made up of gentle and calm spirits, so they’re the easiest to contract with.” 
“Okay... I’ll try to call out a Lesser Water Spirit, then.” We went outside and walked toward the fountain in the courtyard. 
Calling a spirit for the first time required the proper medium. In the case of a Lesser Water Spirit, all you really needed was a body of water. 
Charlotte took out the book I’d given her and started reading out the passage about water summoning. 
After she spoke, the water from the fountain stopped flowing, coming together in mid-air to take the form of a Lesser Water Spirit. She was an Undine. As small as the Sylph, except she had a mermaid tail instead of legs. 
Charlotte was completely flustered at the sight, leading the Undine to just stare at her. 
“Hey, don’t forget the contract.” 
“A-A-Ah, yes! U-Uhm...!” Charlotte shakily flipped through the pages and began to awkwardly speak the spirit tongue. 
If one were to translate it into common, it would be something along the lines of “Oh spirit, I’d love it if we could become closer. I would love to become your friend. Please take a chance on my humble self.” Or something like that. 
Contracting with a spirit was more about what was felt than what was said, really. Even if Charlotte had said it fluently, if she didn’t mean it then her feelings wouldn’t impact the spirit at all. In a way that was similar to humans, you could typically tell when someone really meant something. 
The Undine floated in the air for a little bit before swimming forward, smiling, and touching Charlotte’s hand. 
She then swam through the air, completing a few laps around Charlotte before landing on top of her hand again and vanishing in a flash of light. 
The flash gave way to a tiny blue crystal in Charlotte’s hand. 
“Um... Grand Duke? What’s this?” 
“Good work. You formed the contract, she likes you. This is a spiritual stone. It’s basically the proof of your contract. If you ever need her, hold the stone in your hand and call out for her.” 
“O-Okay!” Charlotte closed her eyes and held the spiritual stone close to her bosom. As if reacting to the silent call, the Undine jumped out of the fountain and began to swim circles around Charlotte again. 
“It’ll be tougher to call her out somewhere without much water because she needs a certain amount to manifest her form. But you should be able to manage so long as you have a cup’s worth or so. What she can do for you depends on how much your friendship progresses.” 
“O-Okay! I’ll do my best!” Charlotte giggled as she played around with the Undine. Her research assistants then attempted their own contracts, calling forth another Undine and a Sylph. 
“Those spiritual stones should be kept on hand, though. Don’t lose them. You can probably attach them to a ring or a pendant, just try not to damage the stones when you do that.” They weren’t really listening, they were just playing around happily with their spirits. I guess it was understandable, though. They’d basically fulfilled a lifelong dream. 
“What’s all this, then?” The king of Belfast came out into the courtyard. Queen Yuel trailed behind him, carrying little Prince Yamato in her arms. 
I told them that I’d taught Charlotte and the others how to use Spirit magic, prompting stares of disbelief. Then they just shook their heads, sighed, and said nothing about me could really surprise them at this point. 
I had planned on giving out copies of the book to other countries as well. 
Charlotte and the others left with their spirits, seemingly excited to go and play back in the lab. I was pleased for them. 
“Wow... Yamato sure got bigger!” I looked over at the infant in Yuel’s arms, prompting his father to give a broad grin. 
“That’s right, my boy! He’s a happy, healthy lad! Check out these photos I took earlier, here! Take a look!” 
The king took out his smartphone and started cycling through an entire album of baby pictures. He... certainly seemed enthusiastic. I was almost getting Xenoahs Overlord vibes. 
I could understand his excitement since he seemed like he’d always wanted a son, but I wondered if he planned on keeping photographic evidence of every day of Yamato’s life. 
...I wonder if I’ll be that kind of dad. Hopefully, I learn from these old coots and don’t make the same mista— Hhgh...! 
...What the... What was that feeling just now...? Did it come from the queen? No... It’s coming from Yamato? 
I felt something strange emanating from the little prince, like a pulsing heartbeat. I asked if I could carry him for a moment. His magic power was fairly standard... He seemed healthy... But something about him felt wrong all of a sudden. 
The cooing baby rolled around in my arms, happily playing. I decided to channel some of my divinity into my eyes and use my divine sight to see if that would help identify what was throwing me off. When I did... I saw something that made my blood run cold. 
My entire body shook, and I handed the prince back to his mother. 
“Something wrong, Touya? You look a little frazzled.” 
“Huh? Oh... N-Nothing... I was just... Just a bit scared since I didn’t want to drop him.” 
“Pfft, don’t be ridiculous my lad! How are you gonna cope when you and Yumina have a baby, eh? You better get used to it now before it bites you in the butt later!” The king laughed out loud, but I couldn’t force myself to join in. I was torn on whether or not to tell him what I had just discovered. 
My divine sight had revealed something. A physical abnormality inside the prince’s heart. I... I couldn’t deny what I had seen. A Phrase Core. 
Within that boy’s body was the entity that an entire species had been hunting. An entity that caused untold bloodshed across countless worlds. Prince Yamato was an unwitting host, being fed on by the Sovereign Phrase. 
 
“No way...” 
I told Yumina and my other fiancees about the situation with Prince Yamato. I didn’t have enough courage to tell the king and queen of Belfast. 
After she heard me out, Yumina simply slumped down on my bed. Her face was pale. 
“...Is... Is there nothing we can do?” 
“Well... We could do something. Since I used divinity to see it, I could probably use [Apport] in my Apotheosis form to pull it out of him. It’s possible that might cause some internal bleeding, but if we had recovery magic ready immediately, he’d be okay... There’s just one problem.” The girls looked at me expectantly. This was a serious issue, so I decided to just say it. 
“The moment I take that core out of Yamato’s body, an army of Phrase will likely emerge in the vicinity. At the very least, that’s what I expect. That’s why we’d have to do it somewhere where we could mitigate the damage... Like the ruins of Yulong.” The Sovereign was hiding itself using Prince Yamato’s heartbeat. If that cover was removed, then every Phrase across all reality would immediately be able to zero in on the Sovereign’s signature. They’d end up crashing against the world barrier, and would probably draw some mutants in for good measure. 
“Can we not destroy the core the moment it is removed, can we not?” 
“I doubt it could be destroyed so easily. And frankly, I want to avoid destroying it. That would cause us major trouble.” Ende would become our enemy if I did that. He wouldn’t ever forgive me for murdering the person he loved. 
I wouldn’t be surprised if he ended up killing Yumina and the others, one by one, to give me a taste of his grief. That’s what I’d do in his situation at least. 
There was also that one female Dominant Construct, Ney. She was loyal to the Sovereign, so she’d definitely try to avenge her. Well, we were enemies to begin with so nothing much would actually change there. 
“Then what do we do?! We can’t just keep the core inside Yamato!” 
“Please calm down, Yumina. I have an idea... Look at this spell, first.” I reached out my hand and pointed it toward the table in my room. Then, I triggered a spell I’d learned from one of the books that Palerius had left behind. 
“[Prison].” 
A blue-hued white cube suddenly surrounded the table and began shrinking. It kept on reducing in size until it was around three centimeters in diameter. 
“This is my Null spell, [Prison]. It can seal anything inside it regardless of whether it’s living or dead. It’s like a Space-time spell coupled with a sealing spell, basically. The power of this prison is also charged with my divinity, meaning that nothing could get in from the outside. Not unless it was a god at least. It also makes it the perfect safety bunker.” It was different from storage in that it still occupied physical space, and could trap living beings inside. 
The tiny die-sized cube was partially see-through, so everyone could plainly see the tiny table trapped within. 
I was capable of altering the size of the prison, and everything inside it would shrink proportionally. It was basically an inescapable jail or an impenetrable shelter. 
I could even tweak it so only certain things could pass through. For example, I could prevent the flow of air through the space, forcing the person to choke to death inside, or I could allow it so cooked meals and water could pass through, so anyone I kept trapped would be fed and watered. I could even tweak it so only one sex could pass through. Blocking all males from entering and making it a female-only space, for example. 
The only trade-off to this tweaking was that the larger the prison, the weaker the effect it had. 
“[Release].” 
The moment I said that, the die shattered to bits and vanished, causing the table to reappear where it was, in its complete original size. 
“There are different methods you can set to open the prison, too. If we take the Sovereign Core and put it in here when we get it out, we should be okay.” Everyone sighed in relief. Even Yumina seemed appeased by this answer. 
Using my new spell, we’d be able to make sure Prince Yamato was okay. 
But the real question would be what to do with the core when we had it. 
If the Phrase were after it, there was always the option of just handing it over to them and hoping they’d retreat. 
But it wasn’t like the Mutated Constructs would leave if we did that. They were completely following the wicked god, after all. In the worst case scenario, the wicked god’s group would steal away the core from the Phrase after I handed it over to them. I really didn’t want to make a situation where the wicked god grew any stronger. 
There was always the option of just handing it over to Ende. After that, he’d take the core with him to another world, and the Phrase would follow. That would ensure they’d leave this world alone, but the wicked god would still be an issue. 
Plus, I wasn’t too keen on the idea of just forcing the issue away on to another world. 
“That’s not something a future world patron should be doing...” I sighed quietly and decided that using [Prison] on the core and figuring it out later was the best course of action. 
I needed to speak with the king of Belfast, and his wife. I could hardly do anything to their little boy without warning them beforehand. I didn’t really want to admit it, but there was a tiny chance something could go wrong in the extraction... I didn’t want to risk anything without them knowing. 
I let out a small sigh. I really didn’t know what to tell them... 
“What do you mean?! Does this mean the Phrase were trying to kill my son this entire time?!” 
“Not exactly, no. The Phrase have no idea that their target is inside him. But once they are aware, they’d definitely target him.” If I had to make a guess of it, it was a case of bad timing. The Sovereign’s previous host must have died around the same time Prince Yamato was born. According to Ende, the new host was typically selected as random, so this was all just a terrible coincidence. 
Queen Yuel was visibly shaken, she held her infant close. Just to be sure, I’d cast [Prison] around the room we were in, in order to prevent any outsiders from listening to this sensitive information. The only people in here were Yumina, myself, Yamato, and their parents. As far as I knew, the only thing other than myself capable of breaking down the [Prison] would be the wicked god itself. 
“Father, please calm yourself. Touya can remove the core from Yamato. We just came here because we obviously couldn’t do such a thing without your consent. Please understand.” 
“I-Is that truly the case? Then... You can save my boy?” 
“Well, to be honest, even if we left the core inside of him he’d grow up healthy and happy. There’s nothing indicating that the Sovereign has any negative effects on him. But it would be better to remove it. Even so, I can’t guarantee that he won’t be completely unharmed by the procedure... Is that still okay?” He was still a baby, so his parents had final say. I didn’t even want to consider the worst case scenario, but I felt like they deserved my honesty. 
The king of Belfast stared into my eyes, and slowly he spoke. 
“...Very well. We ask that you do it. Little Yamato is in your hands, Touya.” 
“Very well... In that case...” I disabled the barrier around us and opened a portal to a barren wasteland in the middle of Yulong. This might’ve been seen as an overreaction, but I didn’t want to take any chances. If the Sovereign’s signal was released in Belfast, that could have spelled disaster for the entire nation. 
I then activated [Prison] once more, sealing the five of us inside. The protections around the box would hopefully prevent the Phrase from immediately noticing the Sovereign. 
“I’m gonna do it, then.” I channeled my divine sight and looked toward the sleeping prince. I clearly saw it, hidden in a tiny corner of the boy’s heart. It was a tiny, regular icosahedron, about the size of a cherry. Alright... That should be exactly where it is... Now or never... 
“[Apport].” 
The tiny crystal then appeared in my right hand. I quickly used my left hand to apply Healing magic to the baby, while using my divine sight to check the inside of his body for any abnormalities. There weren’t any. I decided to cast [Recovery] as well, just to be safe. 
I let out a sigh as relief washed over me. The baby just cooed and babbled as if nothing had happened. 
“Okay, it’s fine now. I got it out.” 
“You did?! Amazing! You hear that, Yamato?” The king ran toward his son and gently grabbed the little guy by the hands, running his fingers over them. He looked like he was on the verge of tears. Queen Yuel and Yumina also had teary eyes. I was glad everything went okay. 
Whew, that was actually way easier than I thought. Guess I got worried about nothing! 
Now all I had to do was handle the Sovereign Core, and everything would be fine. 
“Wh... What?!” 
Or so I thought. When I opened up my closed palm to look at the crystal, it was transforming... Or rather, growing. 
Crystal structures began to spread out from the core like icy outcroppings, rapidly expanding. I threw it to the ground before it took hold of my hand. 
“Touya... What is happening?!” 
“I think the Sovereign is waking up?! Either way, this is bad news!” I couldn’t release the [Prison] or the Phrase would immediately discover our location. 
I had no other option. I changed the settings of the box to remove Yuel, Yumina, Yamato, and the king from it, then warped them back to Belfast through a portal. I stayed alone just outside the box, watching the crystal structure continue to grow inside. 
The crystal lump in front of me was already the size of a small child, and it wasn’t slowing down. Gradually I could see nuance in its form, and it began to take the shape of a humanoid body. 
It was a female, with soft curves. Crystal material wrapped around her and took the form of a regal dress. She had long hair that draped down past her shoulders. 
The transformation was almost complete. What was standing in front of me was a feminine Dominant Construct. She looked about my age. The dress she wore sparkled as a dull white-blue light emanated from her body. 
I’d seen a few Dominant Constructs so far, but none of them had nearly as much elegance and poise as this one. She was the very picture of royal grace. 
Her eyes, an icy blue, slowly opened up. 
She blinked once or twice, then stared at me. Eventually, she seemed to register me as another lifeform and opened her mouth. 
Her mouth moved, but I heard nothing. That was my fault, though. The [Prison] I’d erected was soundproof. 
The Sovereign noticed that I hadn’t reacted to her words, so she just tilted her head, and then shrugged. She didn’t seem hostile, at least. 
“...If I remember right, Ende said she isn’t much of a fighter.” I worked up my resolve and took a step inside. 
As I got closer, I couldn’t help but notice the girl was a little nervous as well. She fidgeted with her hands before trying to speak again. 
@#......@$n/?o?#h@jimem@?sh?i?t?e? 
What? What is she saying...? Oh, right... She does come from another world entirely. Ney and Gila used words like that one, if I recall... 
I could use the [Translation] spell to give her knowledge of my language, but that required physical contact. 
I didn’t know if the Phrase understood the cultural importance of a handshake, but I held my arm out anyway. 
She seemed wary of me, so I smiled to show her I wasn’t hostile. That might’ve worried her more, given my smile was kinda forced. 
Somehow my gesture worked because she reached out and grabbed my hand with both of hers. Her hand was cold, but definitely soft. 
“[Translation].” 
I quickly activated my translation magic, passing my own magic power through her hands, creating a neural link that should’ve triggered a shared recognition. 
“Can you understand me now?” 
“Hm?! I... Yes. Yes, I can.” The Sovereign, with a shocked expression on her face, slowly began to talk. I was glad that the spell worked. 
“I’m Mochizuki Touya. I am a grand duke, and I rule over one of the countries in this world.” 
“...Oh... Then I do beg your forgiveness. It seems an introduction is in order on my part. My name is Melle. I am the Sovereign Phrase, former world leader of Phrasia, a far-off Crystal Planet.” 
There was no doubt about it. She was the one they were looking for, standing right in front of me. 
The Sovereign. 
 
“How’d it go?” 
“No good. She didn’t react to me at all, she’s just despondent.” The Phrase Sovereign, Melle, was currently in Babylon. She was living inside the Rampart castle. 
This might’ve seemed a little rash, but we were currently keeping her confined. Her castle room was closed off by a [Prison], preventing her from leaving, and preventing the Phrase from detecting her. 
The [Prison] was imbued with my own divinity so it wouldn’t fade away even if I went to the Reverse World. It was basically a shelter with no entry or exit points for anyone I didn’t want to have them. 
I wasn’t really worried about her escaping, though. I was more worried about her mental health. 
After I met her, I told Melle the whole story of her people up until that point. 
I told her about how a faction that didn’t follow the new Sovereign splintered off from Phrasia, composed of the individuals she’d left behind to govern the place. About how they’d also gained the ability to cross through worlds. 
About how they had committed genocide on countless worlds, all in the pursuit of either claiming Melle’s power or to bring her home. 
About how Ende and Lycee had been crossing worlds along with her, keeping a secret eye on her. 
And about how, after arriving in this world, the Phrase known as Yula gained a new power, and used it to corrupt members of his own species to a new goal. 
When I finished my story, I noticed that Melle looked utterly horrified, and it seemed the psychological toll on her was far too great. She became despondent due to shock. 
She was a Phrase, so it wasn’t like she’d die if she didn’t eat or drink, but seeing her in that state made me think I’d said too much, too harshly. Nah, scratch that. I’d absolutely said too much, too harshly. 

“Where are you, Ende... It’d be really nice if this was one of those moments you’d pop up out of nowhere like you usually do...” Ende wasn’t showing up on any of the maps when I used my searching magic, he was probably in the gap between worlds or something. 
It wasn’t like all of this was Melle’s fault, but it was true that it originated from her actions. I didn’t want to tell her that this was her burden to shoulder alone, or that she needed to pay me reparations for the grief she caused, but it was still undeniable that countless people had been murdered by the Phrase. 
To be honest, though, the ones that were directly responsible for this mess were the stalkers that had been trailing her this whole time. 
If it were possible, I’d want her to persuade the Phrase to leave this world alone, along with other worlds too. She’d completely revived from the Sovereign Core, so it wasn’t impossible. 
But if she continued to sit there, depressed and unresponsive, it didn’t seem like a likely course of action... 
“Touya... What do you plan to do with her?” Yumina frowned gently. I’d told the king and queen of Belfast that I’d successfully sealed away the Sovereign. That wasn’t exactly a lie, to be fair. 
“What do you think, Yumina? The Phrase race is our enemy, right? Should I kill her? Should I seal her away somewhere forever?” I asked her a question that had a bit of a harsh tone to it, but I didn’t want to seem like I hadn’t been thinking about the hard stuff. I needed to figure out what to do with Melle. 
I valued Yumina’s insight, too. 
“I... I think I understand how she might be feeling. I fell in love with someone from another world, as well. I think in her case... She was desperate. Desperate not to be separated from her beloved. She became so engrossed in being with him that she failed to see the bigger picture. She lost sight of what it would do to her people. I think that while the situation is tragic right now, it’s not like we can’t fix it.” 
Yumina reached out and grabbed my hand as she spoke. I looked at her face, and she softly smiled. Her mismatched eyes stared back up into mine. 
“She came here on a path that caused chaos in its wake, that much is true. But you can help her, Touya... I’d like to see you try.” 
“Alright. I’ll try my best, then.” 
“Please do, Touya... It goes without saying that we’ll support you, too.” I smiled at Yumina, but couldn’t help but think she’d seen right through me. She really did have me wrapped around her little finger. Part of me worried I wouldn’t be wearing the proverbial household pants much in the future. Well... It wasn’t like I didn’t already know that. 
I wondered if I’d make a good god if I couldn’t even make a call as simple as that without help. 
“Oh, also... If you see Ende, please give him a stern talking to at the very least. A man can’t just leave his beloved alone to suffer like this... That’s no good at all! Actually, hit him for me.” 
“...I don’t know if it’s as simple as him just bailing on her.” Yumina’s reaction was understandable from her perspective, but it wasn’t really fair. It wasn’t like Ende knew she was here, and that was partially my fault. 
That being said, I was a little annoyed at him for other reasons, so maybe smacking him around a bit would help me work through some stress. 
Either way, Melle was in the care of Liora for the time being. 
I’d used [Program] and my own divinity to create special restraints and instructed Liora to use them to hold Melle back if she attempted to commit suicide. But I hoped it wouldn’t come to that. 
There wasn’t much more we could do with her for the time being, at any rate. I just had to hope she’d get better in the future. 
My business with the spirits was concluded, too. If the two worlds ended up coming together, which they likely would, then there wouldn’t be any major environmental issues. 
There were still a couple of issues, so I headed out to the farmland to speak with uncle Kousuke. Of all the gods in Brunhild, I trusted his words the most. 
It wasn’t like the other gods weren’t trustworthy, but he was the most down to earth. 
“Well, it ain’t like the worlds’re gonna overlap on each other or somethin’. They’ll just be connected an’ right next to each other. Probably accessible by the sea.” Kousuke took off his garden gloves and laid them down neatly as he spoke. He set them side by side as if to demonstrate a point. 
I see... So none of the landmasses will actually touch, they’ll just be in parallel, and accessible to everyone. 
“If it wasn’t fer that wicked god feller, it’d just be brushed off as suddenly discoverin’ a new continent... Well, I guess it’d be hard to explain why the landmass was an exact mirror image.” 
“So... You think it might not be as confusing and catastrophic as it could be?” 
“Sure... But that’d only be if there weren’t a wicked god about. See... Once the merge goes ahead an’ happens, the world ain’t gonna be under the old man’s protection no more. The wicked god an’ its ilk are gonna be able to pour through without much stoppin’ them.” There’d be a mass attack from the Mutated Constructs. At the very least we’d be able to use Melle to keep the regular Phrase at bay. 
The Mutated Constructs made themselves stronger by absorbing the regular ones, so it’d be better to have them clear out as soon as possible. 
“Well, I wouldn’t worry much if I were you, son. If you think yer gonna shoulder this all alone, that’s the only thing that’d be yer downfall. Think about it. You planted plenty of seeds in this world. Seeds of hope an’ trust. Now they’ve grown up, an’ will bear fruit. The wicked god won’t have an easy time fightin’ you, I’m sure.” I was happy to hear that from Kousuke. He was pretty wise and worldly, but I guess he was a down-to-earth kind of god. I wished that the annoying drunk and the chatty love goddess had more of his insight. 
“Still... I am a teeny bit worried. Y’think the folks in that there Reverse World can defend themselves from the Phrase and the other ones? Those Gollems good enough at fightin’?” 
“Well, there are some Gollems that can defeat them, I think. I’m not sure overall, though...” 
I hadn’t really thought about it. The crowns and certain other Gollems would be able to beat Mutated Constructs, but if an Upper Construct somehow got into the mix, I wasn’t sure if they’d be able to win. With that in mind, I decided to head to the Reverse World and see if I could arrange more allies. 
In terms of Reverse World allies, I had the Red Cats... And there was also Elluka, the Gollem Technologist. There was also her Gollem companion, Fenrir. 
She was apparently a one-in-a-million genius in that world... At least that’s what I’d been told. I had some serious reservations about how good she actually was when I remembered how silly she looked with those thick glasses, messy hair, and tattered clothing. 
“Didja think’ve somethin’?” 
“I think so, yeah.” 
“Then get yer ass goin’. No rush, but sittin’ around won’t fix anythin’ either. Crops ain’t gonna grow without gettin’ watered.” 
He was right. I decided to go to the Reverse World and try to explain the situation to Elluka. She probably knew about Gollems with the right kind of power we needed, anyway. 
“Alright, I’m heading off.” 
“See ya when I see ya. Good bounty to you.” 
Uncle Kousuke took up his sickle and headed back to work. I was about to engage my divinity and travel to the Reverse World, but I stopped myself. I decided to quickly head back to the castle and tell my fiancees where I was going. I didn’t want them to worry, after all... I’d been doing that too much. 
Still, it was possible that they’d ask me to take them with me...