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Chapter 4 — I Can Almost Physically Feel Their Hatred for Us!

“Gerhardt! What happened?!” The girl was shaking Gerhardt’s body. Of course, he gave no response.

“It’s kind of annoying that more people are showing up while we’re stuck here,” Yogiri commented.

“More importantly, where did she come from?” Tomochika asked.

“We’ve met plenty of people who just appeared out of thin air, haven’t we?”

The ground around them had been carved into an island ten meters across. Though they were trapped there, other people were starting to show up.

“This girl is a god, right?” Tomochika asked, turning to Mokomoko.

Indeed, she has a divine quality about her, though the definition of “god” is fairly broad.

“I always thought gods would be more vague and indistinct beings, but all the gods we’ve seen so far look like humans, don’t they?”

Once again, there are gods of all kinds. There are those who appear as animals, those who have indeterminate forms, those who have no form, and those who are absurdly large. However, those who interact with humans often have human forms. Some are born from humans, others from the thoughts and feelings of humanity. Still others simply take an interest in humanity and thus change themselves to match our expectations. There are as many such reasons as there are gods.

“Uhh...are you sure we should be talking so casually? Don’t you think she’ll attack us?”

“She probably considers us to be less than garbage and doesn’t even notice we’re here.”

Tomochika seemed worried, but the girl had yet to show an interest in anything but Gerhardt. However, it was possible she would realize Yogiri was the one who had killed him sooner or later.

“I don’t expect you to lose or anything, but at this rate more enemies will start showing up...”

“Honestly, I feel kind of stuck. There’s nothing we can do if we get trapped here. Getting out will be difficult with just the two of us. It would be nice if we had some other people with us,” Yogiri replied. He could kill or destroy obstacles in their path, but there wasn’t anything he could do about a hole in the ground.

“This world... It’s a reflection of your grief and despair, isn’t it, Gerhardt?! This won’t do! This place doesn’t suit you!”

As the girl screamed, the world began to transform again. The hellish scenery was bathed in light. The dark sky became a brilliant blue, and the rugged landscape turned flat and even. The red earth was blanketed in grass and flowers, and gentle music began to fill the air. The crevice keeping Yogiri and Tomochika trapped closed, freeing them.

“Problem solved, I guess?”

“Is it?” Tomochika asked. “The plants don’t seem to be infected by the Seyla, but we still don’t know what’s up with the continent around us.”

“True. I guess we still don’t have any idea of where to go. But for now, we should probably get away from her, right?”

“Good idea!”

They slowly put some distance between themselves and the girl still clinging to Gerhardt. As expected, she paid them no mind, doing nothing but wailing over his body. However, Yogiri figured it wouldn’t be that easy to escape. He didn’t have any proof, but he suspected there was going to be more to it.

“Now, now, now. I can’t let you just get away with this.”

“There’s another one!” Tomochika exclaimed as an old man appeared in front of them, tall, thin, and wearing a white robe. His long, white hair and beard gave him a stereotypically elderly look.

Yogiri and Tomochika stopped, deciding it was best not to ignore him.

“Mokomoko, is he a god too?”

I am attempting to hide myself as best I can, so I would appreciate it if you did not speak to me at the moment. One wrong move and his divinity could force me to move on to the next life.

Yogiri had thought he seemed more god-like than the girl before, and apparently, his first impression was correct. “I feel like I’m repeating myself, but we’re looking for our friends, so we don’t have time to stick around and talk with you.”

“Gerhardt was my beloved child. I simply cannot let you walk away unpunished.”

“This all started because he attacked me out of nowhere.”

“Hm. True. But even among humans, you understand that one cannot bring harm upon royalty and escape the consequences, yes? Even if the royal is the one at fault. As ordinary peasants, your type should quietly accept your deaths.”

In undeveloped societies, the authority of the king was absolute, and if he decided that white was now black, that’s just how it would be. However, that was only true if those of lower social standing had no means of fighting back. This didn’t apply to Yogiri, of course. He had no reason to let someone kill him.

“I guess there’s no way we’re going to come to an understanding here, but at least you’re willing to talk.”

“To a degree, I suppose. I was once a human like you, after all. Some faint sense of human emotion still lingers within me.” He appeared to be a god born from humanity, like Mokomoko had described earlier. He looked like some kind of hermit to Yogiri.

“Does that girl back there not have those emotions? She didn’t notice us.”

“I suppose not. It is similar to how you would fail to notice ants walking around your feet.”

“Ants? I feel like that’s going too far. We’re not so small that she wouldn’t be able to see us.”

“Gods like us perceive based on the weight of your being. Your being is so light that without paying careful attention, we would fail to notice you. I spend a great deal of time thinking about ants like you, so you could consider me something of an entomologist.”

If what this old guy was saying was true, then the gods Yogiri had met so far had all been those who took an interest in humans.

“Can I ask who you are and what’s going on here?” Yogiri replied.

“Very well. If you wish for conversation as your final gift, I do not mind.”

“By ‘final gift,’ do you mean you’re going to kill us?”

“As unfortunate as it is for you, I am afraid it must be done. That cannot be argued with.”

“But not yet, right? It’ll be a problem if you try to kill us in the middle of our conversation.”

“I said I would give you the gift of a conversation, so of course I will not interrupt it. I will wait for our discussion to come to an end. That said, I will not appreciate it if you extend the conversation at length just to spare your own lives, so if it becomes too long, I will have to cut it short.”

“Okay, then. Who was that Gerhardt guy?” Yogiri began. “Shouldn’t he be an ant like the rest of us?”

“Perhaps from your perspective he looks similar to you, but from ours he is a being on an entirely different level. If you are like ants, he is something more akin to a kitten. Anyone would be sad to see their pet kitten die, don’t you think?”

“Yeah, that makes sense, I guess.”


“Huh? You’re accepting that explanation?” said Tomochika.

“I wouldn’t say I accept it, but it makes sense if that’s how they feel about it.”

“Hmm. He did seem to be really strong, but he didn’t look all that different... Wait, where did they all come from?!” Tomochika blurted out in surprise, turning around to look at Gerhardt.

Yogiri turned to look as well and saw a number of people standing around the fallen man. Including the girl who had appeared first, there were now eleven of them. Most looked human, but there was also a skeleton and some bipedal animal types among them. They must have all been different kinds of gods.

“He seems way too popular for being a kitten!”

“This world is within the Battlesong field. The class granted to him by the System was ‘The Strongest Warrior Raised by the Gods.’ Thanks to that, all sorts of gods came to dabble in his affairs.”

“Isn’t that kind of strange for a class?!”

“Who knows? He was born with it, but I cannot say I understand the causal relationship there. In any case, he was as a beloved child to us, so we granted him skills, authority, and divine instruments that surpassed the System itself. We raised him like true royalty.”

“Don’t you think it’s weird someone like him could die?”

“Hmm. From my perspective, I must say things like this happen. I cannot say it is impossible for a kitten to be killed by ants, and this is hardly the first time he has died.” This old man must have been so casual with them because he thought Gerhardt could be brought back to life.

“If you can revive him, then there’s no problem leaving us alone, right?” Though Yogiri knew there was no chance Gerhardt could be brought back to life, he was just trying to get through the current situation.

“No, that will not do at all. If our adorable kitten was slain by fleas, the first order of business should be to exterminate them, don’t you think? There is no meaning to bringing him back to life if he will die again immediately after.”

“Why do I feel like going from ant to flea is a demotion?” Tomochika complained.

“Hey, aren’t you worried that I might have some kind of power? I killed someone incredibly strong, right?”

“My, my. At first glance, you appear to be a powerless human. You do seem possessed by some kind of spirit, but it does not seem that potent.”

Despite being clearly noticed, Mokomoko remained silent. However, it seemed the old man couldn’t see anything else in them. Even being a god, he couldn’t recognize Yogiri’s special abilities. It seemed all of the gods they had met in this world were the same way, with none of them realizing who Yogiri was. The sole exception was Kouryu, who seemed to know something about him.

“In that case, I’m hardly a suspect. And if I’m just an ordinary human, there’s no point killing me, right?”

“You may be unrelated, but we cannot be too careful. When exterminating pests, you do not aim at one individual species of insect at a time, do you?”

It seemed this old man was just like all the other gods they had met. He was absolutely sure that mere humans couldn’t hope to harm him. Even if he believed Yogiri had been able to kill Gerhardt, he had no doubt that whatever it was would fail to harm him.

“Now then, is that all you wished to ask? I have other matters to take care of as well.”

Suddenly, they were surrounded. The twelve gods had formed a circle around them.

“Whoa...I can almost physically feel their hatred for us!” Tomochika exclaimed.

Despite being gods, they didn’t seem to be especially detached from the human experience. Their emotions were clear on their faces. Though it seemed like they could attack at any moment, they weren’t about to break the old man’s promise.

“Is there anything you wanted to ask, Dannoura?” Yogiri offered.

“Huh? Me? Uhh, not especially. I don’t know what I could even ask them.”

“I figured as much. Oh, actually, where did you guys come from? Were you in this world somewhere?”

“No, we were outside of it,” the old man answered.

“And you can come and go as you please?”

“Quite easily.”

“Can you take us to another world, then?”

“That would be impossible. This world is rather minuscule, so bringing things out of it is a pain.”

“Oh. I thought if you were gods you could do whatever you wanted.” If they could move between worlds, Yogiri thought they might be able to take him and Tomochika back home, but apparently not. Then again, even if they could take them out of this world, there was no guarantee they would send them to the right place if he tried to force them. He couldn’t ask someone he didn’t trust to teleport him.

“Last question. How do you plan on killing us?”

“I am only here out of a sense of obligation, but the others are quite furious at you. I imagine you will be repeatedly killed and returned to life so that you might suffer for all time.”

“So the same as Gerhardt, then. Okay, that’s all.”

“In that case, my friends, let us make this first come, first served.”

At the old man’s declaration, killing intent exploded outwards from the gods. From Yogiri’s perspective, it was like everything had gone pitch black. A moment later, it had dissipated. The gods encircling them had all collapsed, lying motionless on the ground.

“Were they really gods? They all seemed pretty stupid.” Yogiri couldn’t help but feel exasperated by how easily the strangers had waltzed into their own deaths.

“I feel it’s pretty dangerous to think this way, but despite how strong they were, they died just as easily as everyone else, didn’t they? Not that I wanted a proper fight or anything.” Tomochika was starting to seem pretty worn out by it as well.

Indeed. I can understand why you would think that, but they truly did possess immense power. I have ignored it until now, but...just who are you, young man?

“You ask that now?!” Tomochika shouted.

“I don’t really know myself. I’ve had this power since I was born.”

“Well, it looks like all our enemies are dead, so what do we do now?” Tomochika asked. “Without Scott here, we can’t get through the barrier.” They needed points to get through, so they had hoped to get some from Scott.

“I guess we’ll have to go look for him,” Yogiri said.

“We didn’t move anywhere, did we?” Tomochika asked.

Yogiri looked around. The world had gone back to normal. The only difference was that the infected grass was still missing. It must have moved somewhere else to escape the world being overwritten.

“Oh, maybe that Gerhardt guy had points?” Tomochika suggested. “He used some to get through the barrier, so maybe he has leftovers.”

“Okay, let’s try searching him.”

They turned back to investigate Gerhardt’s body.



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