Side Story 4 – A Certain Group of Heroes’ Manual Labour

On the second floor of the Evil God Temple, a group of six men and women were gathered before a certain room.
The group comprised three men, and three women, and was in a sense the group that was least fitting to be here.

“Umm, is this the place?”

“Yes. In accordance to Sacred Goddess-sama’s esteemed words, I believe there is no mistake.”

“But still, this place, ey? Why’d Sacred Goddess-sama tell us to come to a place like the Evil God Temple, anyways?”

“Beats me. Having said that though, if it’s to get Arc’s Holy Sword back, of course we had to go.”

“I need my Holy Spear back too, after all.”

“I as well. Without my Holy Bow in hand, I really can’t be said to be fit for the title Hero.”

They were Hero of the Holy Sword, Arc’s party; Hero of the Holy Spear, Lionel; and Hero of the Holy Bow, Orlaine; a total of six members. However, ever since they failed to capture the “Holy Land of the Evil God” and had their weapons stolen from them, their titles now felt a little ironic.
Holy Weapons that served as both the symbols of the Heroes and the source of their powers──weapons blessed by Light God Sophia that chose their owners. Instead of wielders choosing their weapons, it was the weapons themselves that chose and acknowledged the wielders as their owners.
And those acknowledged by these weapons became existences chosen by Light God Sophia, and gained the title of Hero. Arc, Lionel and Orlaine as well had become Heroes in this way.
Because of that, they were Heroes only because of their Holy Weapons, and therefore it was because they were heroes that they ought to be holding their Holy Weapons. Just as Orlaine had said, having their weapons stolen was a fatal defeat for a Hero, and even if they were verbally abused, there was nothing they could say in return.

“It won’t return even when I call for it… Just what on earth has happened to my Holy Bow?”

“Yeah, usually when we call for them they immediately come back, ey?”

In reply to Orlaine’s anxious words, the blue haired Lionel agreed.
The Holy Weapons were the ones who chose the owners, and on top of absolutely nobody else being capable of using them, even if they weren’t in hand, they would immediately fly towards the owner once called for.
Knowing this, when the Heroes had failed the dungeon and woken up without them, they had tried calling for the weapons countless times. However, the Holy Weapons would not return.
When it came to Orlaine, until Arc and the others had stopped her, she called for the Holy Bow again and again until her light purple hair was a mess and her eyes were filled with tears, but there wasn’t any effect.

“I’m sure it’ll be fine. Sacred Goddess-sama told me that I would be able to recover my Holy Sword if I came here. In that case, the Holy Sword should be safe.”

“It would be good if that was true…”

The blonde haired Arc tried to cheer her up, but Orlaine hung her head, perhaps still worried. To begin with, as a frail girl chosen by the Holy Bow to be a Hero, she had strained herself to fulfil her duties. She was probably emotionally unstable due to the shock of losing the crucial Holy Bow.

“It’s fine. I haven’t broken the Holy Sword, the Holy Spear, or the Holy Bow either.”

While the Heroes were talking, a voice called out from behind them.
Thinking that they hadn’t noticed somebody enter the room because they were too focused on themselves, the party turned around in surprise.
And standing there was a black-haired girl clad in a jet black dress decorated with rose designs.

The moment they saw the girl’s black eyes, a shudder ran through them all.
The blood dramatically left them, and they had goosebumps all over their bodies. Their throats felt parched, and their teeth chattered. Around the time their limbs began to tremble of their own accord, their whole bodies started letting out a cold sweat, as though finally remembering to do so.

It was impossible to beat this girl… Even if they had their Holy Weapons, it was impossible to beat this girl.

Up until that moment, the strongest foe they had ever met was the one currently on standby deep below on the 30th floor, but from this girl standing in front of them they could feel a power even greater than the despair-inducing Imperial Death.

Their instincts, emotions and intellect… the fear experienced by all of these seemed to crush for an instant the pure and strong hearts of these Heroes. But this was certainly not because they were weak of spirit. Had they been so, they would have immediately escaped the moment they met her eyes. The very fact that they still remained there was a testament to their strength.
And how they responded was by dropping on the spot, getting on their hands and knees, and pressing their head against the floor. It was the pose of ultimate apology, passed down in the legends of the Heroes──the dogeza.

“…Ah-, sorry.”

Because the people around her had gotten used to averting their own eyes, the girl had half-forgotten about her own mystic eyes and she reflexively muttered an apology in front of the resulting dogeza festival.

◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

The girl――Anri, told them to get up while avoiding her eyes, as well as the gist of her mystic eyes. It was only a while after her first appearance that they were able to have a conversation.
There was a small upset when Anri named herself as a relative of the Evil God, but after showing her adventurer card and having them confirm that she was a human, they didn’t ask anything more.
Normally a relative of the Evil God wasn’t something that the Heroes could overlook, but because she was somebody they met at the place that the Light God had told them to visit, the fact that they couldn’t do anything careless was one of the reasons they didn’t inquire further.
The second reason was that there was something even more important to them in her earlier words.

“Then, you have the Holy Sword right now!?”

“The Holy Spear too?”

“And the Holy Bow!?”

Hearing Anri mention the locations of the Holy Weapons, the Heroes reflexively let out cries of surprise.

“Please, return them to us!”

Arc held Anri’s hand in his two, and desperately appealed to her. Normally in a situation like this the two would be looking at each other in the eyes, but because they were making sure not to do so, it looked terrible comical from the side.
The one who had been most shaken due to the loss of their Holy Weapon was Orlaine, but inside, it was Arc that was most anxious. And a big part of that was because unlike Orlaine and Lionel who did their work solo, Arc worked in a party. In the end, it was nothing more than a personal problem for Orlaine and Lionel, but to Arc it was causing inconvenience to his party members, so it couldn’t be helped.

“I’m fine with giving them back, but there will be conditions.”

“Oi, oi, whaddya mean conditions?”

Zio showed his dissatisfaction towards Anri’s words.
From his point of view, the mission of the Heroes was to protect the Human Race, so just the thought of being uncooperative was unthinkable, but that had nothing to do with Anri.

“…Please tell me them. If there’s anything I can do, I will!”

“…I will too!”

“Can’t be helped. Pisses me off, but just say it.”

The Heroes resolved themselves with tragic expressions, and Anri simply informed them of the condition.

*imouto*

“Help me build my house.”

“Hah?”

*imouto*

The six of them were wondering if they had heard wrong, but Anri’s reply didn’t change.
After asking for the third time, the Heroes finally understood that she was serious, and Anri gave them a simple explanation of the situation.
In order for Anri to move out of the temple that she was living in, she needed her house to be built, so in return for the Holy Weapons that she received from the Evil God, she wanted them to help her with the construction.

“So uh, basically construction work? Soz, but I’ve never done that before. Don’t think I’ll be much help, yanno?”

“I have professionals hired as well. Just helping with the heavy lifting and other simple work is enough.”

Lionel voiced his doubts, but Anri expected such a question, and replied with a nod.

“Heroes as labourers, huh…”

“The image is a little…”

“No, that doesn’t matter! It’s not like we’re doing anything bad, so if that’s all we have to do it’s still cheap.”

Frey and Widdi showed their disapproval, but Arc replied as though shaking off the thought. He had been deeply anxious about what kind of job the Evil God’s relative would demand from him, so the construction work was quite the anticlimax.
To a person like him who wanted to help those who needed it, he felt like it was something he would be fine with helping with even without the deal with the Holy Sword.

“Well, can’t be helped, ey? If it’s just manual labour, I think I can do it too, after all.”

“Eh? Wait, Zio. It’s to get back my Holy Sword, so it’s enough that only I work, right?”

“What are you being so distant for. Either way, we aren’t gunna be working until you get the Holy Sword back, so it’d be better to get it back quickly, right?”

“Well, it’s like Zio says. Widdi and I wouldn’t be too useful for manual labour, but there should be other stuff we can help out with. Right, Widdi?”

“Of course. We’ll help out as well! We won’t let you work alone, Arc-sama.”

“Everyone…”

Seeing Arc’s party reaffirm their bonds, Orlaine and Lionel looked a little envious as they looked on.
Also, because of the sudden addition to her workers, Anri was mentally pumping her fist in victory.

“Well, that’s how it is. I’m fine with it.”

“I am as well. Even if I look like this, I do work out, so I can do physical work as well!”

Both Lional and Orlaine agreed, and the six of them agreed to help Anri build her house.

“Thanks. The personnel involved in building the house are gathered in that room over there, so just follow their instructions. The planning stage should be just about finished.”

“Yeah, got it.”

At this point, they all realised why they had been sent here.
After watching Anri leave, the six of them fired themselves up, and opened the door before them.

*imouto*

*imouto*

*imouto*

*imouto*

And then closed it.

*imouto*

*imouto*

“Oi, what the hell was that battlefield!?”

Zio let out anxious words after catching a glimpse of what was beyond the door.
Indeed; it was a battlefield.
A number of people were gathered around a model mansion in the middle of the room, and vehemently arguing, while a mountain of discarded blueprints lay to the side.
When they saw the workers frantically run about as angry roars flew about the room, for some reason the six of them saw themselves overlapped with it, and chills ran down their spines.

And that image became a reality.
The door that they had closed on reflex was opened with a bang, and from inside the room came a blonde young man in a luxurious priests’ gown.

“You must be the workers that Anri-sama spoke of! Huhuhu, we have been waiting for you!”

The blonde man had handsome looks, but the dark bags under his eyes put it to waste. Probably on a high from pulling multiple all-nighters fuelled on enthusiasm alone, the man continued to talk happily as the dumbfounded six looked on.

“We were just starting to run short of workers! Quickly, quickly! Please come inside!”

With those words, the young man──Pope Harvin, took their rears at a speed invisible even to the veteran Heroes, and began pushing the six of them into the room.

“Hey-, hang on!?”

“S-, Stop it!”

“Hii!?”

“T-, This isn’t a joke, you know!?”

“N-, No way, oi…”

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!?”

Having finally understood that it was no simple construction work, the six of them tried to escape in a panic, but the Pope paid no heed to the pitiful sacrifices, and forcefully pushed them in the room before closing the door.

*imouto*

Also, while Anri had no idea, the plans had at some point upgraded from “house” to “palace” and although the time the six of them needed to work had risen in proportion, it was already too late.

---

<Previous Chapter | Imouto | Next Chapter>

Here’s your chapter, sigfig.

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Side Story 3 – A Certain Owner and Pet’s Walk

In the middle of my third-person challenge.

---

Monster──a term used to refer to living beings that possess above a certain amount of mana.
However, strictly speaking, this definition was not accurate. The first reason was that humans and demons possessed mana but were not included as monsters. The second is that golems, undead, and other non-living creatures were generally included as monsters as well.
All feared beings that cause harm to humans and demons were being labelled as “monsters” – this was probably the best way to describe the situation.

However, even if they were feared beings that cause harm, although a few monsters did pose a threat by appearing near towns or villages, average people were generally unrelated to the majority of them.
Golems and undead only appeared in specific locations like dungeons or ruins, and the other particularly powerful monsters tended to live in locations far from civilisation, rarely leaving. Of course, it wasn’t the case that these monsters were avoiding settlements, but rather that settlements were built in places far from the territories of these monsters.

With the exception of some adventurers, the beings that come to mind upon hearing the term “monster” were goblins, kobolds, or an orc at best, and from the point of view of normal people who lived their whole lives in town, even these monsters were rarely seen, and only heard of.
To such people, particularly powerful monsters were creatures that existed solely in folktales, legends, and fairy tales.
Of course, these people understood as well that such creatures did exist in the world.
However, these creatures would almost never appear in the personal “worlds” that they each lived in, and were as good as non-existent.

*imouto*

Because of this…

*imouto*

“I-, I-, IT-, IT’S A DRAGONNNNNNNN!?”

“RUN! RUUUUUUUUUUN!!”

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!”

*imouto*

if a dragon were to appear in the skies above them, it was natural that panic would ensue.

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It all began earlier that morning.

After breakfast time, Light God Sophia witnessed a strange spectacle during her continued stay at the Evil God Temple.
It was the figure of the Evil God Anri making food. Well, that much was fine.
Tena had left with the human Anri, so seeing the Evil God preparing food was not so strange in itself. To begin with, it wasn’t that she couldn’t cook due to a lack of technical skills, but rather that she couldn’t hold a kitchen knife due to the curse. Now that she had overcome the curse, there was nothing to stop her from cooking.
Being “able to cook” and “able to cook well” are entirely different matters, but for the sake of her honour, let us speak no further on the matter.

Having established this, what was strange was not the cooking in itself, but the food that Anri was cooking──apparently sandwiches──and the fact that she then put them into a basket.
To begin with, they had already eaten breakfast, so what she was cooking was for lunch. Cooking food for lunch despite only having finished breakfast, and then placing the food into a basket.
The only thing imaginable was…

“Umm… Anri? Preparing your food like that, are you intending on going someplace?”

So asked Sophia, whilst believing it was impossible.
It couldn’t be helped that she found it unbelievable. After all, as far as Sophia knew, the black-haired, expressionless newcomer god in front of her was somebody who never went outside even once a year. A complete hikikomori.
With such a person doing something that could only be seen as preparation for going outside, the abnormality of the situation needn’t even be said.

“Mn, I’m going to go out a bit. I’ll be back before evening. I’ve made you sandwiches for lunch, so eat them later.”

Hearing that, she followed Anri’s gaze and found other sandwiches sitting on a plate. They numbered about two people’s worth. Probably made for both Sophia and Anbaal.
It was the case with Anri as well, but both Sophia and Anbaal were divines and thus relied on faith instead of food for sustenance.
To the two of them, eating food was nothing more than enjoyment, but needless to mention Anri who had naturally grown used to a human’s habits, even Sophia and Anbaal almost always ate three meals a day while they were staying in the Temple.

“Well thank you for that, but just where are you going?”

“I haven’t decided yet. Just going for a walk, after all.”

“I see.”

Anri replied that she was just going out without any goal in mind, but since it was healthier to go on a walk than to continue holing up in the temple, Sophia showed her agreement too.
As an Evil God that threw all creatures in the land into an abyss of fear, there was probably no greater nuisance than wandering about on a whim, but Sophia believed that Anri was used to her eyes and aura by now, and would probably make do somehow.

That this was an incredibly naive thought was something that she only realised after hearing Anri’s next line. And by then, it was too late.

*imouto*

*imouto*

“Well, I’m off now. Time for Vnee’s walk.”

*imouto*

*imouto*

“…Hah? W-, Wait, stop right there!?”

Sophia froze due to the unexpected words, and faster than she could recover and call out to stop, Anri had touched the sandwich basket as well as another basket many times larger, before teleporting away.

*imouto*

“By ‘walk’… she meant Black Dragon Vardneel… instead?”

Sophia’s mutter resounded through the empty room.

*imouto*

“…She plans on letting that Black Dragon out?”

Still in a daze, Sophia continued to mutter, but nobody was there to reply.

And like that, due to the Human Race’s supposed guardian deity missing the chance to stop the tragedy, the world’s most powerful and wicked pet was released into the open.

◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

A massive body of over 20 metres danced through the air as though splitting the clear blue sky in two.
The beats of its wings were powerful, and the explosive propulsive force gave rise to incredible speeds.
Although it was still fine due to the fact that he was high up in the end, had he been flying close to the surface, the wind pressure alone would probably have blown everything away.

Black Dragon Vardneel.
The most wicked dragon, said to bring calamity to the world, was enjoying the skies for the first time in a while.
Even since he had been summoned as a boss for the dungeon, he hadn’t been allowed outside even once, and basically spent his time imprisoned in the small, cramped room. That probably made his sense of liberation even greater.

“GUOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHH!!!”

The roar that he let out in his joy sounded like a joyful song of freedom.
However, as for whether or not he was truly free, of course the answer was that he wasn’t.
The master that he feared the most in the world was present on his back, so it was actually a far cry from freedom.

When he had first been summoned he had cowered at her aura, and because of the terror he lay belly up in submission, but after, he grew closer day by day due to the training, and by now he had stopped running up the wall when he saw her.
Even so, if you had to ask if his fear had completely disappeared, then the answer would be no.
The instinctual terror that he felt due to his master’s aura was not so simply removed.
Although he was not particularly intelligent, he knew by instinct just how dangerous it would be to anger the master on his back.
Because of that, although he was rejoicing his freedom, he was careful to fly so that the feeling of riding his back was comfortable.

*imouto*

But despite his consideration due to fear, to put it simply, it was completely useless.

“S-, So cold…”

The black-robed girl on his back shivered while desperately clinging to his back.
No matter how careful he was being to avoid accidentally shaking her, given the altitude and speed, the feeling of riding his back was already as bad as it could get.
And naturally so, because while the high altitude alone meant that the temperature was quite low, on top of that, she was being exposed to the intense wind pressure from his flying speed.
As divines had high stamina she was able to bear it, but had she been a human it wouldn’t have been strange for her to have frozen to death.
In addition, unlike a horse’s back, the wide back of the dragon made it impossible to straddle, so she could do nothing but cling to the scales and the moment her hand slipped, she would be falling headfirst to the ground.

“I-, I should have just called this off…”

Even if she regretted the walk now, it was much too late.
She had envisioned a pleasant trip through the sky, but the reality was harsh. The path to become a dragon rider was severe.
Also, although she had enough power to easily solve the cold and wind issues, sadly, Anri was still inexperienced as a divine, and the idea of using an Authority in this situation hadn’t quite occurred to her.

“Let’s hurry up and find a plain somewhere to land on.”

The plan was to find a wide plain somewhere and treat herself to lunch.
She had prepared her own portion of sandwiches, and she had the Black Dragon’s lunch in the larger basket as well… Although she actually held neither of them, and stored them in her item box though.
However, at present she hadn’t even the slightest care about lunch, and just wanting to land somewhere was all she could think of.
As a result, no matter what kind of uproar was happening below her, she hadn’t the composure to notice.
And right this very moment, the fact that the people of a town were in a huge panic due to a dragon sighting, was something she had no way of knowing.

“Ah…”

With the wind blowing in her eyes it was hard to see, but the moment that she saw a wide plain in her limit vision, Anri thanked God for the help. Despite the fact that she was a divine herself.
Tapping on the back of the Black Dragon she was clinging to, she gave him instructions on where to land.

“Over there. Land over there.”

“Guru?”

The Black Dragon with low intelligence naturally couldn’t understand her words, but even so, he seemed to understand Anri’s intention, and after turning towards the grass plains, he lowered his altitude and speed to begin landing.
Now that they were heading towards the ground and the wind and cold were receding, Anri let out a relieved sigh.

*imouto*

*imouto*

That she would have to suffer the same ordeal to get home was something she only realised after finishing up her sandwiches.

*imouto*

*imouto*

And taking the chance to mention it, the fact that more suffering was waiting for her in the form of Sophia’s lecturing, was something she hadn’t expected at the time.

---

<Previous Chapter | Imouto | Next Chapter>

Side Story 2 – A Certain Scripture’s Pandemic

I decided to try writing a third-person story this time.

---

“So this is the problem book.”

In a room in a certain country, a number of people gazed down upon a book with black bindings that lay atop a desk.

“Yes, Your Majesty. You must take care never to touch it with your hands.”

“I know.”

The one referred to as Your Majesty was the king of that nation, and the people gathered in the room were also important leaders within the country.
Just the fact that so many people were gathered in this room was in and of itself a sign of the extraordinary circumstances behind it.

“The Black Scripture, huh. It seems that they’ve spread quite the troublesome thing.”

Their gazes were focused on the book called the Black Scripture.
Although, the term ‘Black Scripture’ did not refer to only the book in front of them.

“Just the ones we have been able to identify alone indicate that over a hundred of them have been brought into the country. If we include those unaccounted for, it is likely that they number a few hundred…”

The one who gave the report was the skilled man who was supervisor to the Court Mages of this nation, as well as the Chief of Magical Research.
As he spoke, he turned the cover of the Black Scripture.

“O-, Oi!? Are you fine with touching that!?”

The leaders in the room panicked at the Chief’s actions, but the Chief replied in a resigned voice,

“I have already touched it once, so…”

Now that he had mentioned it, they noticed that for a while now, the Chief had been limping as if to protect his right foot. And now that they had realised this, they all looked at him in pity.

“Please look at this.”

Behind the flipped cover were the warnings of the book.
According to the warnings, the book was a cursed item, and misfortune would befall those who had received this book. If they desired to avoid the misfortune, it was required that they transcribe the contents of the book, and hand it to another person, and unless they did so the misfortune would continue eternally. Furthermore, the curse would manifest in the transcribed copy as well.

The Black Scripture… A book written by the Evil God that was truly most wicked and foul. At that very moment it was making its terror known in countries where it had been propagated further.

*imouto*

“In order to avoid the misfortune, one must transcribe the book, huh. Then it is natural that it has spread this far.”

“Yes.”

Naturally, in order to avoid the misfortune, those who had accepted the book would transcribe a copy and try to push it onto others. To not do so was the same as being tormented by the misfortune for eternity, and was not something anybody would accept. Even if they prohibited this, it would merely lead to a revolt.

“Is it impossible to dispel the curse?”

“It was impossible even for the Archbishops of the Church of Sacred Light. The curse that it contains is far too powerful.”

Having said that though, in contrast to the fiendishness of its propagation mechanism, the misfortunes were light enough to be called an anti-climax, and this gap had caused the researchers much puzzlement. The misfortune that a receiver suffered was randomised, and although the misfortunes differed, none of them were beyond the level of simple harassment. Even the limp on the chief was due to the curse of continually stubbing the little toe of his foot against shelves, and was not a particularly grave injury.
However, it was also difficult to say that this was something that a person could ignore.
Even the Chief had originally not planned to spread the harm to anyone else, but after stubbing his toe three times, he yielded, and pushed a copy onto the Vice-Chief. Because of that, at present, the Vice-Chief’s loyalty towards the Chief had dropped considerably.

“Can it not be stopped?”

“That would likely be difficult. However, there is a way to guide the damage in a more preferable direction.”

“It cannot be helped. At this rate, there is no option but to reduce the harm within our own country.”

It was difficult to stop the book from being pushed onto somebody else. However, it was not impossible to determine who the book was pushed onto. If they guided the harm outside the nation, the country would be saved for now, even without solving the root problem.

“It is likely that this will worsen relations with the neighbouring countries, but…”

“Of course, we will not disclose such a thing publicly. Hand them over to merchants leaving the country and the like, and have them independently carry them outside our borders.”

“I see. Then it will also be necessary to prevent them being taken into our borders from other nations.”

“Indeed. Prepare the arrangements urgently.”

“Yes, Your Majesty. Understood.”

With the King’s order, the leaders all began to act.
With this, the damage to the nation could probably be abated.
Of course, the countries that had the books forced upon them would in turn force them on another, and so each nation would suffer the harm one by one. The result was that the nation unfortunate enough to suffer it last would have nowhere to force it onto, and would be forced to push it around within its own borders.

“Considering the state of the other countries, it’s clear who the final nation will be, huh.”

“Your Majesty? Did you say something?”

“Haha, I was simply thinking that it may be time to reconsider our association with the Theocracy.”

Considering the flow from the country that produced this, the closer one was the earlier one would suffer, and the further away one was, the later it would come. In that case, it was not difficult to imagine that the nation with the greatest antagonism with the country of origin would be the eventual target of this curse.
As for which nation in particular, that much was already common knowledge.

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While around the world, the Black Scripture was being treated as an object of fear, there was one country alone that instead saw it with affection.
The Holy Anri Thearchy; a newly established nation formed by a gathering of those who worshipped Evil God Anri. At present it was only a small nation that would be better called a town, but with each passing day, its influence grew.

To the Thearchy, the Black Scripture said to be written by Evil God Anri was truly a “scripture”. Every person in the country had a copy, and it was a virtue to proactively transcribe them and proselytise in other countries. Of course, because the normal citizens of the Thearchy had no export route, the copies would be gathered together in the Thearchy, and sent beyond the borders all at once.
Additionally, although the people of the Thearchy also suffered the curse at first, it was thought of as a trial from God.

And in this Thearchy, two buildings linked to the Temple had been newly established.

The first was the Orphanage; an institution for sheltering children who had lost their parents. Other nations had their own measures for orphans as well, but they were undeniably lacking, and so children with no place to go appeared no matter the nation. Gathering such children within the Orphanage, providing them enough food and a warm bed, and finally thoroughly educating them was the role of this institution.
Together with things like writing and arithmetic, the children gathered in the Orphanage were also taught from a young age the splendour of the deity worshipped by the Thearchy, Evil God Anri (although she was not recognised as “Evil” God within the Thearchy).
With strong piety towards Evil God Anri, as well as a vigorous education, they were also possible future elites for the Thearchy.

The other institution was a building created for the sake of transcribing the Black Scripture. The desks, chairs, paper, and pens required for transcription were lined up neatly inside the building, and at the back were people on standby who turned the pages into books.
This building was also the gathering place for transcribed scriptures, and gathered not only copies from within the institute, but copies from all across the country.
The books stored in the Transcription Hall were gathered and counted, and each month the number of copies was announced on a board.
The one who splendidly managed first place would be publicly commended by the Pope himself, but up until now that had never happened even once. The reason was simple – first place was being monopolised by a certain man.

“Hmm, I’m in good shape today, aren’t I.”

Unwilling to hand over the position of first place was none other than the Pope himself. As long as the position of first was being taken by him, nobody else would be commended. Even at this very moment he was sitting in first place, and transcribing copies in the Transcription Hall, but shockingly, this man was transcribing a different copy with each hand.
Normally the transcription process would be carried out while silently reading the original on the side, but when it came to this man, he had already memorised every word of the Black Scripture, and wrote from memory. In order to fulfil the act of ‘transcribing’, he did in fact have a copy there, but he was not looking inside.
Even ignoring the fact that he had learnt the contents by heart, he was writing with both hands at the same time. Such a feat could be called nothing but skilled, but as a result, he boasted a transcription speed of over twice the average person’s.
As long as there was nobody else who could replicate this feat, the seat of first place would stay with him alone.
Although there was the concern of who was governing the nation if he was doing nothing but transcribing, but it was because he was properly fulfilling those duties as well that made this so difficult to comment on.

“Pope-samaa, I finishedd one~”

“Me tooo~”

“Me tooo~”

“My, how splendid. Anri-sama is surely delighted.”

Boys and girls were sitting by the Pope and transcribing as well, proudly announcing their achievements to him.
With this heartwarming scene before him, the Pope gave a gentle smile and praised the children.

“Yayyy~”

“I’ll go write one moree~”

“I might get first place!”

“Huhu, try your best.”

In addition, separate to the adult rankings was a children’s ranking that was properly functioning. Centred around the children of the Orphanage, they transcribed as a part of their upbringing. It was a ground-breaking arrangement that had them learn the teachings of the scriptures, while practising their reading and writing as well.
The contents of the scriptures were morals regarding how to live properly as a person, so it was nothing unsuitable for a child’s upbringing.
The amount of sweets given out were dependent on the rankings, so all the children assertively competed in transcribing of their own accord.

“Huhuhu, building the Transcription Hall was truly the right answer. With this, the proselytising will surely advance even further.”

---

In addition, had all the nations worked together and used death row prisoners as sacrifices, they might have been able to solve the issue surprisingly simply.

---

<Previous Chapter | Imouto | Next Chapter>

Side Story 1 – A Certain Religion’s Fall

“The founding of a nation that worships the Evil God, you say…?”

“Heavens…”

The meeting between the higher echelons of the Luxiria Theocracy grew stormy.
The cause was that the cultists that they had sent the Order of the Sacred Light to subjugate the other day had declared the establishment of a country.
However, given how obvious it was that the meeting would grow wild after this announcement, the situation could hardly be called surprising.

There was a square desk in the conference room, and sitting around the north, south, east and west sides were the top brass of the Theocracy.
On the north side, furthest from the entrance, sat the members from the Papal Board, who controlled the affairs of the Theocracy, a Cardinal and two Archbishops.
On the east side sat the members from the Magisterium, who governed the dogma of the Church of Sacred Light, a Cardinal and two Archbishops.
On the west side sat the members from the Eparchia, who governed the parishes including matters of foreign diplomacy, a Cardinal and two Archbishops.
Finally, on the south side sat members from the Presbyterium, who governed the training of priests and the like, a Cardinal and two Archbishops.
And then behind the Papal Board, in the most prestigious seat, furthest back, sat the incumbent Pope.
Together, these thirteen people composed the higher echelons of the Luxiria Theocracy, as well as the top brass of the Human Race’s greatest religion, the Church of Sacred Light.

Each one had their own attendants standing behind them, and I too was one of them; somebody allowed to be here as the attendant to one of the Archbishops from the Presbyterium. However, in my case, the one who originally should have been here had “by chance” fallen ill, so I was actually here as a replacement.

“ABSOLUTE NONSENSE! Who would acknowledge something like that!”

“To begin with, even the very existence of the Evil God is questionable!”

The ones who screamed were the members of the Magisterium.
From the eyes of they who governed the dogma of our Church, the “Establishment of the Evil God Nation” was understandably difficult to accept.
But what did they mean by the existence of the “Evil God” being questionable? …Or so I might have wondered in the past.
To begin with, the concept of the “Evil God” was something loudly insisted by those of the Magisterium, so doubting the existence of the Evil God was at odds with the claim they made themselves.
But if you knew the circumstances of what happened behind-the-scenes, the meaning of their words would be immediately clear.

*imouto*

──To think that the insistence of the Church regarding the existence of the “Evil God” was based on falsehoods…

*imouto*

An imaginary enemy woven into the dogma to agitate the fear of the believers, and thereby increase their dependence on the Church… Was their aim──although the ones who implemented this were their predecessors from generations ago──something along these lines?
Of course, to the high level members gathered here, that much was common sense, and as a result they couldn’t simply accept the fact that the “Evil God” truly existed.

“There was a report regarding the sighting of the true Evil God from the Forteran Army in their spearhead of the Order of Sacred Light, but…”

“Ridiculous. Likely an excuse created by the cowards who fled after mistaking something else for it. There is no worth in trusting impious people who tried to haggle their contribution to the Church.”

Among them, the youngest member, an Archbishop──though already in the prime of life──gave the report from Fortera, but the Cardinal of the Eparchia ignored it as nonsense.
Having said that, that Archbishop himself didn’t seem to actually believe it, and showed no sign of displeasure at having his remark repudiated.

“Well, at this point, whether the Evil God is an impostor, or the real thing is not of importance, for what we ought to do has not changed in the slightest.”

“Exactly as you say. Just the words ‘country of Evil God worshippers’ is the same as declaring hostility against us… no, against all of the Human Race.”

Hearing the statement from Cardinal of the Presbyterium, the Cardinal of the Papal Board agreed. And it seems that this was the same amongst all the members gathered here.
Of course, including the Pope sitting at the back.

“As servants who serve Sacred Goddess-sama, we cannot accept such a declaration. Obvious though it may be, there appear to be no objections.”

The aged Pope rose from his seat, and made his declaration as he overlooked the gathering of leaders.

“Then, Your Eminence…”

“Declare our rejection of the announcement under my name. Further, call for the agreement of the other nations.”

“As you wish.”

The Cardinal of the Papal Board accepted the edict from the Pope, and so ended the meeting.

◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

“What is Fortera thinking!?”

Hearing Fortera’s reaction to the Pope’s earlier proclamation, an urgent, special meeting was called.
To begin with, this kind of meeting was supposed to only be held at a certain time, once per year, and calling for a second meeting in such little time was extremely unusual.
However, considering the circumstances, it could be said that calling a meeting was natural.
Not only had the Kingdom of Fortera had rejected the Theocracy’s appeal and declared neutrality towards the Evil God Nation’s declaration, but they brought attention to the dishonesty of the Church’s upper echelons──in other words, the people in this room, and furthermore showed their hostility by declaring the formation of a new sect.
It was not the case that nobody had ever opposed the headquarters of the Church, Luxiria, but an entire nation taking a position of hostility had never been seen before in history.
Of course, were this simply a rejection of the Church of Sacred Light, then they would have antagonised the other nations who had the Church as their state faith, and ostracised themselves.
However, they rejected not the Church of Sacred Light itself, but complained about the corruption of the current leaders, and formed a new sect based around devotions to the teachings──the Origin Faction.
Such an action was far more dangerous to the people in this room than simple opposition.

“The Origin Faction…? Rejecting our dogma? What nonsense.”

“It is likely mostly out of revenge for our earlier deployment of the Order.”

The Cardinal of the Magisterium openly frowned at the report. The report was the same as disgracing the Magisterium, so it was understandable.
The Cardinal of the Eparchia seemed unhappy as well, but that was due to another reason.

“And so, what was the impact on the other nations?”

“We tried to suppress the news, but it spread quite far. Too openly suppressing it would be liable to have the opposite effect, so we cannot help but act cautiously.”

“I suppose that cannot be helped either… EEI! So irritating!”

What the members of the Eparchia were agonising over was the information control of the announcement by the Kingdom of Fortera regarding the dishonesty of the higher-ups of the Church. From rampant bribery and abuse of power, to even the forgery of dogma – the many years of dishonesty were all made public at once, and the Eparchia were completely busy with suppressing the distrust from the believers.
Of course, had this all been unfounded rumours, doing so would not have been so difficult. However, given that it was tacitly understood amongst the other countries that this was at least half-true, controlling the information was not an easy task.
The Luxiria Theocracy with its small population and land held an advantage over the other nations due to having the absolute authority of being the home to the headquarters of the Church of Sacred Light. Putting things another way, with this advantage becoming unstable, they were liable to lose their superiority in an instant.

“For now, I suppose there is nothing we can do but urge the other nations not to join the faction created by Fortera.”

“Indeed. Let us have the churches in the other nations manoeuvre. Directly dealing with the Kingdom of Fortera will need to be postponed, but I do not suppose we have a choice. If the sect spreads, it will become unmanageable, after all.”

Authority gives rise to rights, and rights give rise to authorities. With the old roots they have formed in various countries, manoeuvring with their connections should prove to be quite effective.
Of course, Fortera understands this as well, and will likely move to suppress it. I suspect that a fierce power struggle will begin behind the scenes.
However, when it comes to the number of personnel they can mobilise, I cannot help but say that the Theocracy has the advantage.
As long as there is no major incident to overturn this situation, it will be difficult for the Kingdom of Fortera to gain the advantage.

It is because they understand this, that the people gathered here were unhappy, but relatively calm.

◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

“It-, It cannot be… Why would Sacred Goddess-sama…?”

One day, a little while after the previous meeting, the situation suddenly changed.
An unprecedented situation where Sacred Goddess Sophia made a revelation to all of the Human Race, and in merely one night, the situation in all the nations took a complete change.
The contents of the revelation included the existence of the Dark God, previously unknown to the Human Race; the “Evil God”, who was different to the one known by the Human Race; and the fact that the Human Race needed to conquer a dungeon in order for her to win the 3-way power struggle between the gods.
Had the revelation been received only by a small minority then it may have been tidied away as lies, but now that the entire Human Race had received the revelation, nobody in this room had the power to make them believe it was false.

And at the same time, this also spelt a major dilemma for the Luxiria Theocracy.
By the hand of none the very Sacred Goddess that they worshipped, in part thought it might have been, their dogma was denied. What’s more, the part that was denied coincided with Fortera’s claims.
If one part of Fortera’s claims were confirmed, then it would naturally make people suspect that the rest of the claims were true as well. The rest of the claims… in other words, the claims regarding the corruption of the upper echelons of the Church of Sacred Light. It’s very likely that all of the Sacred Goddess’s followers believe that Fortera’s claims were correct.

“This is bad. At this rate…”

“We must urgently come up with some countermeasure.”

“But even if you say that, what are we to do. In this situation, taking a firm measure against Fortera would likely backfire on us. Manouevring against the problem country has been forbidden as well.”

“That…”

Hearing the Cardinal of the Papal Board say that, the others in the room fell silent as well. Just as he said, making some declaration about mobilising the Order of Sacred Light would instead heighten suspicion towards them.
Even the option of diverting dissatisfaction towards the “Evil God Nation” had been prohibited by none other than the Sacred Goddess herself.

“It cannot be helped. It seems that we have no choice but to admit to our mistakes in the dogma in regards to the Forteran claims about the Evil God.”

While the room was wrapped in silence, a voice called out from behind the members of the Papal Board.

“But, Your Eminence…”

“Now that Sacred Goddess-sama has affirmed Fortera’s claims, we cannot firmly object. Of course, we will deny the other claims, and must endeavour to abate the damage even a little.”

It was this moment that the Church of Sacred Light, that had thus far ruled humanity from the background, was forced to compromise, as well as the moment that they acknowledged a small, but substantial defeat.
I am sure that the Kingdom of Fortera will not let this chance go, and will use this critical moment to persecute them.

The winter had come for the Luxiria Theocracy, that had held its influence for a long, long time.

◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

“And that concludes the report.”

“Well done. Hu hu hu, the Sacred Goddess’ relevation has given us an advantage. While they are embroiled in their factional disputes, let us plan the strengthening of our nation, for it is the will of Anri-sama.”

“By your will.”

“Now then, the coming days shall be busy. We must not let up on our missionary work either. And the construction of that must go ahead.”

---

<Previous Chapter | Imouto | Next Chapter>

1. Yes, the buttons are a lie.
2. Click it for the fullsize image. It’s larger than the cover pic.
3. The text is basically all a rehash
4. The new text is too small, but that’s the only way it would fit.
5. Have you supported an author today? Buy it here.

Thank you as always for your support.
This is Kitaseno Yunaki.

It’s a bit sudden, but I’ve been passed the Character Baton from Amano Hazama-sensei of 『The Simple Job of Being Destroyed By the Hero』 fame.
It’s my first time being invited in this way, so there was the problem of “To begin with, what on earth is a Character Baton?”, but since he went out of the way to nominate me, I decided to do it.

It seems that the other authors interview their main characters, but I’m not suited for that kind of role, so I’ll stick to narrating, and entrust the interviewing to Miss Leonora.

“Hah? O-, Oi… Wait a moment!?”

Leonora was shocked by the sudden mission, but she was too late, and Kitaseno Yunaki had already disappeared like mist. In exchange, she could hear a voice from goodness knows where.

“Wha-!? You’ve already begun the narration!? Youuuu, it’s only at times like these that you work fast! …Well, whatever. Anri, you there?”

“You call?”

Leonora called out, and Anri suddenly appeared from somewhere.

“Umu, I’m reluctant, but since I was already entrusted with this, there is no choice. I am going to begin the interview.”

“So bothersome…”

“I AM GO ING TO BE GIN!”

“Roger.”

Anri had responded sluggishly, but seeing Leonora smile with veins appearing on her forehead, Anri reluctantly accepted the interview.

1. Introductions

“Ahem! Well then, I suppose we should begin with your introduction.”

Pulling herself back together, Leonora asked the first question. Anri gave a nod in reply, and began to introduce herself.

“My name is Anri, 17 years old. I’m female, and I’m 158cm tall. Weight is a secret. Bloodtype AB.”

“What about your three sizes?”

“(¯¯¯-¯¯¯) Chudon.”

Leonora looked at Anri’s breast as she asked in teasing, but Anri paid her back with a darkness bullet. She added on a cute sounding “chudon” sound effect, but there was actually enough power to crush a boulder, so it was really not a laughing matter.
The darkness bullet flew towards Leonora’s chest, and after frantically dodging, she somehow managed to avoid it.

“Uwah!? A-, Are you trying to kill me!”

“Big tit girls are the target(teki).”

“Who’s a 『target(teki)』! At least say 『enemy(teki)』!”

2. Your preferred type

“Honestly… I knew this was going to be a difficult job from the start. Next is your preferred type, I guess.”

Leonora angrily remarked in a huff, but changing gears, she moved onto the next question.

“My preferred type?”

“Well, I suppose in this case it refers to your preference in the opposite sex. I haven’t heard any love gossip about you at all but… how is that?”

At Leonora’s act, Anri folded her arms and thought for a little.

“…Rugged, older gentlemen?” (shibui)

“Oh? How unexpected. Is there anybody in particular like that?”

Hearing the answer that Anri came to, Leonora smiled and asked in great interest. However, her question would lead to an unexpected disturbance.

“Ojisama I guess.”

In that moment, Leonora’s smile cramped. The reason being that there was only one person that Anri referred to as “Ojisama”.

“Huh? Wai-, Wait a moment! By Ojisama, you can’t mean…”

3. Things you like about yourself

“Oi, don’t just casually move onto the next question! The earlier topic was more important, right!”

Leonora tried to question Anri after her bombshell announcement, but tragically, it was time for the next question.

“Next question.”

“Tsk, it can’t be helped. I’ll have you tell me about this in detail later, you know. The next question is what you like about yourself.”

“Everything but eyes and aura.” (me to kehai igai)

Time taken to respond: 0.5 seconds

“T-, That sure was immediate…”

“It’s important after all.”

4. Things you’d like to change about yourself

“Eyes and aura.”

“Again with an immediate answer… Or rather, if you don’t let me ask you the question, I’ll lose my standing.”

At last, the time taken to respond had gone beyond zero, and ended up in the negatives. It wasn’t even an interview anymore.

“You should have known what my answer was the moment it became this question.”

“Well, that’s true, but…”

“Just how much hardship have I faced because of these eyes?”

Saying that, Anri pointed at them.
And here, Leonora made a mistake. Leonora had developed an anti-mystic eye physical skill and lately she basically avoided Anri’s gaze unconciously, but since Anri didn’t normally point at her own eyes, Leonora reflexively looked at them.

In the next moment, Leonora bent her knees with flowing movements, and putting her hands together, she glued her forehead to the ground. In a word, the dogeza.

“Ah-, sorry.”

5. Name the next nominee

“I went through a horrible time again…”

“I’m sorry, I said.”

Leonora’s dogeza had already become standard.

“Well, I’m sad to say that I’m used to it already, though. Well? Who’s going to do it next?”

“I’ll pass it to the Narou Contest participant Emoto Mashimesa 『A Scandinavian Noble and His Raptor Wife’s Life as Hunters in the Land of Snow』”

“Fumu, I see. Emoto-sensei who won a gold prize in the third Narou contest, and whose book was recently published, right? Well then, Emoto-sensei, I’ve heard that it is fine to ignore these, but if possible, please continue to pass the baton.”

“We’re counting on you.”

‘my pace’ means ‘doing things your own way, at your own pace, without heed to what other people think’. Often used to describe really carefree (and maybe airheaded) people, or sometimes people who basically don’t sweat the details and do whatever.

---

Chapter 20 – The Regular Anri

“I… want to live as a human.”

To begin with, what I wanted was to live in peace. I had already come to terms with turning into a divine, but if I was told that I could take back my life as a human, as I thought, I really did want it.
From what I heard, it was just a temporary thing and I would eventually become a divine, but I can just think of it as a bit of time to have fun before the real thing.
If I can spend time with Tena, Lili and Leonora, then there isn’t any reason to choose otherwise.

“I see. Well then, I’ll separate you, so stand over there.”

I obeyed his words, and stood up from the round table, moving a little distance away.

“Well then, here we go.”

Together with his words, I closed my eyes in preparation for the shock. But there wasn’t any shock like I expected, and instead I felt something leave from all around my entire body.

“Okay, done.”

Opening my eyes at his words, in front of me stood a person who was my spitting image.
No, rather than saying that, I suppose it might be better to call them the other me.
I opened my mouth to say something to the 『me』 who I had pushed the position and responsibilities of a god onto, but before I could, something strange happened.

O-, Oww… For some reason my limbs had a dull pain.

“For some reason it hurts.”

“I wonder if it’s growth pains. When you turned into a divine you stopped growing, but now you’re getting a whole year’s worth.”

When I muttered, the Evil God explained it to me.
It’s true that I didn’t grow while I was a divine, but I was a whole year older in that time. Normally I should have grown a little. If I suddenly made up for it all at once, it wouldn’t be strange for it to hurt.
It’s not a sharp pain, but a dull one.

“Are you okay, Tena?”

Tena who had become an apostle was the same in that she stopped growing. No, since I was closer to fully-grown, it should have hurt for her even more. Getting worried about her, I called out to her, and she answered while enduring the pain.

“Y-, Yes… My limbs and chest hurt, but I can bear with this much.”

Chest? Now that I looked closer, Tena certainly was holding her chest in pain. Why? Even though I didn’t feel anything at all…
I found everyone giving me a lukewarm and slightly pitiful look, so for now I decided to hold my chest as well… The gazes became even more lukewarm. Why.

◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

It still hurt, but it was feeling a lot better, so I decided to continue our first encounter.
I looked again at the 『Me as a God』 standing before my eyes. Her face, stature and clothing were the spitting image of me, but she really did seem to have a different sort of presence somehow. The girl in front of me was a purer divine, so I suppose that was natural though.

“I’ve ended up pushing everything onto you, but…”

“Don’t worry about it. In the end, your memories and feelings will end up back with me. Go enjoy your life as a human.”

Both of us were me, so a fight might have been inevitable, but hearing 『Me as a God』 say that made the guilt ease up a little.

“Got it. Anyway, there’s something I’d like to discuss…”

“?”

The 『Me as a God』 looked blankly at me. I wondered if this was how I looked to everyone else, and started feeling a little embarrassed.

“Give me money.”

“…………………”

This was probably the first time I’ve been stared at by myself, huh.
But I need to properly explain myself. When I was a divine, eating was nothing but a hobby, and I didn’t need to pay money for clothes or shelter either, but now that I was a human again, I wouldn’t be able to live without it.
The 『Me as a God』 would probably continue to live in the temple, but if I was going to enjoy my lifetime as a human, then I couldn’t just stay holed up in the temple forever. Because of that, whether I was buying my own home, or staying at an inn, money was needed.
Whether our fortune right now belonged to the 『Me as a God』 or the 『Me as a Human』 was difficult to say, but the money earned by the 『Me as a God』 was greater, so I’d be at a disadvantage if I didn’t take action right now. I needed to win this negotiation right here. She opened her mouth.

“7:3”

“Who gets the 7?”

“Me of course.”

“That’s way too unbalanced. To begin with, you don’t even need that much money as a god. 5:5”

“That’s taking too much. It was money earned as the Evil God. 6:4”

The battle of negotiation continued for a while, but mn, as expected of 『me』. She was a tough foe.
In the end, it was agreed that I would be taking 4/10 of our fortune, and in exchange I also got the Holy Sword, Holy Spear, and Holy Bow.
Having said that though, now that the match with Sophia and Anbaal was over, I’d be giving them back to the Heroes with conditions attached. I gained the right to giving the Heroes conditions──orders──you could say.

“You truly are a…”

“Well, she’s the one with tha 『Greed』 Authority after all.”

“Anri-sama…”

“…………………”

“Ahahaha, you really are funny.”

While we were absorbed in negotiating, the people around us gave incredibly astonished stares.
Incidentally, Leonora was falling into a dogeza as usual, while Lili still hid behind Tena. Now that there were two people with mystic eyes here, apparently it became difficult to avoid.

◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

“There are two Anri-samas!? Have my prayers borne fruit?”

“Calm down.”

And what the heck were you praying for.

No matter where I decided to live, as long as I looked just like the 『Me as a God』, various problems would occur if I didn’t meet the Pope first, so I went to meet him, but the very moment that he saw there were two of us he went as said that.
Well, I say ‘meet’, but in a sense we already knew each other, so it was mainly telling him the circumstances, but it felt like I was going to be exhausted from the very beginning.

“I see. I understand the situation now. In other words, the 『Anri-sama as a God』 will continue to bless the temple with her presence, while the 『Anri-sama as a Human』 will be living in the worldly realm.”

“Worldly r-…

In the sense of separating the world that the humans lived in from the world of the gods, it wasn’t an incorrect expression, but I’m not sure how to feel about using ‘worldly realm’ to describe a place that’s just a floor below this one.

“Now then, where will you be living? If necessary, I could prepare a room on the 3rd floor, but…”

I sank into thought for a while.
Living in the temple wasn’t an option. If I did so, then nothing would change. Having said that though, as a person who looks just like the Evil God, the risk of living in this town would be high in various ways. Even if I took it as a ‘as long as nobody finds out, there’s no problems’ issue, it would probably be better to be safe than sorry.
I suppose the best idea might be to build an estate or something a little distance from town.
Thankfully I had the money needed, as well as the workers.

“I’ll build an estate outside of town and live there. Could I trouble you to prepare the architects, and a place for me to stay until the construction is finished?”

“Understood. I shall immediately make the preparations. Please use the room on the 3rd floor until the construction is complete.”

Having said that, the Pope hurriedly left the audience room and left.

“Now then, guess it’s about time to leave.”

“Got it. If anything comes up, contact me.”

I’ve got my luggage after all, and I’ve got the 40% of the money too. I’m all ready to depart. Well, though I say depart, until the estate is finished I’ll still be staying in a room in the temple or in an inn in this town though.
If it was just for that long, then I get the feeling that it wouldn’t matter even if I just stayed here, but I think it would be best to make the distinction after all. It wouldn’t be good to prolong things and stay here.
Also, in regards to the Holy Sword, the Holy Spear, and the Holy Bow, for a while we dealt with their rampage by keeping them in a sealed room, but thinking about it, it would just be fine if I chucked it into my item box, or so I realised. Well, I’m leaving with them now so it’s too late to matter though.

I left the room, and called out to the three waiting for me.

“Tena, Lili, Leonora… Are you ready to leave?”

“Yes, everything is fine.”

“Yes.”

“Yeah, I’m fine too.”

These three were going to leave the temple with me. But since Leonora was originally in this country as a point of contact with the Demon Race Nation, rather than living with us, the plan was to go back and forth between the estate and the temple.

Having left the audience room, I took the stairs down from the 4th floor, and headed into the 3rd floor.
This was a floor open to the followers, so up until now I basically never stepped foot here. I thought about the chaos that would occur if the god they worshipped casually descended, so I opted not to come here, but now that I was a human again, there probably wasn’t any problem.
The only follower who had met me directly was the Pop, so it’s impossible that they all knew exactly what I looked like. There might have been people who saw me when I became a divine, but it was a year ago and they saw me from afar too, so there shouldn’t be any problems there either.

“Speaking of which, are you still carrying that doll?”

“Well, it’s because you wouldn’t take it away from me… Can’t you do so already?”

Leonora had been carrying the doll ever since. It was already something normal in everyone’s minds, so I secretly felt that it might be fine to continue like this.
Also, even if she told me to take it away──

“It’s impossible. I can’t take it off you anymore.”

“Hah!? What do you mean?”

“The only one who can remove it is the 『Me as a God』. Now that I’m a  human again, I can’t take it off you.”

Right. The only reason I overcame the curse was because I became a divine. Now that I was a human again, I couldn’t do anything about the doll anymore.
Mn? Just now I feel like I overlooked something really important.

“Wait, then does that mean I have to stay like this forever?”

“If it was the 『Me as a God』 then they could probably take it off you, but we only just left the temple, so I won’t go back there for now. It suits you, so why not just stay that way?”

“Please spare me…”

Leonora’s shoulders drooped, crestfallen. But well, if I feel like it, I’ll contact the 『Me as a God』 and have her take it away. If I feel like it, that is.

*imouto*

While we were chatting, we made it as far as the large doors of the 3rd floor entrance. What lay beyond here was in a sense the first step into a new life.
With a little expectation and anxiety in my heart, I opened the doors.
Beyond the doors was a large room, and a few people moving about. They heard the sound of the door open, and in reflex, they stopped what they were doing to look our way.
I unconsciously winced at having lots of gazes on me, but since I was a human again meaning they weren’t particularly focused on me, I pulled myself together.

*imouto*

*imouto*

*imouto*

──But in the next instant, everybody in the room fell into dogeza together.

Why? Or so I wondered, but an idea immediately came to me, and I checked my status in a panic.

“Status.”

*imouto*

Name: Anri
Race:   Human Race [OLD]
Sex:      Female
Age:     18
Job:      Mage [OLD]
Level:  1
Title:    Evil Person of Fearful Trembling, Dungeon Master, Weirdo
Mana:  3031504
Skills:
– Evil God Aura (Lv.5)
– Mystic Eyes of Wicked Authority (Lv.5)
– Divine Enchantment (Lv.7)
– Abnormal Status Resistance (Lv.6)
– Darkness Magic (Lv.6)
– Item Box (Lv.4)
– Dungeon Create (Lv.7)
Equipment:
– Fan of Calamity
– Dress of the Black Death Rose
– Babydoll of Depravity
– Scanties of the Succubus
– Pumps of Darkness
Kin:
– Tena [OLD]

*imouto*

So the skills really did just get left behind…
I thought that these unsuitable Evil God skills that were planted in me to turn me into a divine would disappear as well, but I just returned to how I was before I became a divine.
Or rather, thinking about it, Tena is my kin, so it made sense that I would still have my divine enchantment. I should have noticed earlier.
But more importantly, the return of my titles was really half-assed.
『Evil God of Fearful Trembling(戦慄の邪神)』 turned into
『Evil Person of Fearful Trembling(戦慄の邪人)』, and
『Odd God(変神; henjin)』 turned into
『Weirdo(変人; henjin)』.
Didn’t they do nothing but replace 『God(神)』 with 『Human(人)』?
Or rather, who the hell are you calling 『Weirdo』.

Still irritated, I struck at the status screen with the fan in my hand, but of course it just passed through, and the words didn’t change.
At that moment, I suddenly noticed that I had a fan in hand, and started to get a bad feeling.

I placed the fan down, and picked up a paper-knife from atop a nearby desk.
…And in the very next moment, the fan leapt up from the ground, and knocked the paper-knife from my hand.

Aah, I knew it…
It seems that because I returned to being a human, the curse that I should have conquered went back to how it was before. Am I going to return to the lifestyle of wearing nothing but the one outfit again?

“Anri, what’s wrong?”

Seeing me troubled, Leonora still with doll in hand, spoke to me in worry.
Right, so that was what I felt was out-of-place. If I couldn’t undo the curse on the doll, then of course the same thing would happen with my equipment.
Is this my punishment for saying that Leonora should hold onto the doll for a while?
Curses are like chickens; they always come home to roost. This was a pretty weird curse though.

*imouto*

I spent a while after that with my head in my arms, but in the end there was nothing I could do about it, and decided to just think of it as going back to what was normal before.
More importantly was the issue of what to do with the people around me still in dogeza.

Normal people would just run away when they see my eyes, so did the fact that they were in dogeza mean that they were more emotionally strong than average? Or could it be that because they spent all that time in this country that they got used to the power of the Evil God?
Either way, given that floors 1 to 3 were open to the public, and the 3rd floor was the top floor among then, these people were probably important members of the Thearchy. If it was them, then I had thought that it might be fine to tell them about the 『Me as a God』 issue that I just explained to the Pope, but since there were a lot of people here, I couldn’t say for sure that there wouldn’t be rumours spread.
In that case, there was one answer…

“Strategic retreat.”

The ancient Chinese had the 36 Strategems, and the best of them all was the retreat. While everybody is still facing down in their dogeza, we’ll fake it and pretend that it wasn’t us. It’s not too late to play it off as their imagination …I wish.
Thankfully this was still inside the dungeon, so I could use teleport. I had really actually wanted to physically take the first step into my new life, but it couldn’t be helped.
Having concluded as such, I activated the teleport circle, and together with the three of them, I immediately moved to the temple entrance.

Thankfully we teleported somewhere out of sight, so the worry about being surrounded by people all of a sudden ended without a problem.

“D-, Don’t just suddenly teleport us.”

“That surprised me.”

“Uu…”

Leonora, Tena and Lili complained to me about being suddenly teleported, but it couldn’t be helped in that situation. I paid them no heed, and had a peek through the temple entrance. It wasn’t as though there was nobody around at all, but there weren’t too many people. If we walked out now, we wouldn’t be noticed.

“Let’s go.”

“Honestly…”

“Yes.”

“Understood.”

With Leonora, Lili and Tena, I passed through the temple door.

*imouto*

*imouto*

It was just about noon, and the high sun shone down brightly on our surroundings.
It was warm, but there was a cool wind blowing, so it didn’t feel too bad.
Breathing in the first fresh air in a while felt incredibly refreshing.

*imouto*

…Huh? Could it be that this was the very first time I’ve been outside since becoming a divine a year ago?
No, no, that kind of thing can’t be… can’t be… actually, it might be.

*imouto*

Shuddering at the realisation that I’d become a hikikomori, I suddenly noticed something odd in sight, and turned my attention to it.
There was some kind of construction going on next to the temple, and it looked like some kind of huge building was being built. But it looked somehow different to normal buildings. It wasn’t all that wide, but the height was about half of the temple’s. What’s more, since they were in the middle of construction, it seemed like it was going to be even taller.

“Tena, do you know what that is?”

Amongst the four of us, the one most knowledgable of the Thearchy’s situation was Tena, so I decided to try asking her. Tena tilted her head at my question, looked towards the construction site from just now, and then nodded before replying.

“Eh? Aah, that construction job over there? Mr. Pope said that he was erecting a statue of you, Anri-sama.”

He seriously went ahead with that!?
If that thing gets built I won’t be able to hide my ties to the 『Me as a God』 no matter how hard I try.
No, but, the only one who really knows my face is the Pope, and if the workers haven’t seen me, the statue shouldn’t look all too alike…

“I heard that Mr. Pope designed the blueprints himself, you know? I had the chance to see it as well, but the drawings were splendid and looked exactly like you, Anri-sama! That person is quite good with drawing too, isn’t he.”

“Yeah, that drawing certainly was amazing.”

Don’t suddenly display your talents in needless areas.
I want them to stop this very moment, but from what I can see, the Evil God Statue has advanced too far to call it off already.
A plan as large as that was basically a national project already, and if I called it off halfway, I wouldn’t be able to avoid affecting various parts of the Thearchy.

“I heard that the completed statue is planned to be as tall as the temple. I’m sure that there is a good chance it will be visible even from the neighbouring Kingdom.”

I’ve decided. Before the statue is complete, I’m going to get as far away from it as possible. And then I’m going to live in hiding.

*imouto*

*imouto*

*imouto*

*imouto*

*imouto*

*imouto*

I thought that this time for sure, I would be living a normal life as a human, but it seems that I really am destined for drama.

*imouto*

Even so, even back when I turned into an Evil God, I tried my best in order to smile together with everyone.

*imouto*

So that’s why now that I’m a human again, there’s no reason that I can’t try my best as well.

*imouto*

One day, when I return to the other me, so that I can tell her that I lived my life to the fullest,

*imouto*

I’ll continue to walk ahead, not as the Evil God, but as the regular Anri.

*imouto*

*imouto*

*imouto*

*imouto*

*imouto*

“Speaking of which, Anri, what is that?”

“The original Black Scripture. I accidentally brought it with me.”

◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

<Former Evil God, Anri>

She erected an estate on the border between the Kingdom of Fortera and the Holy Anri Thearchy, and lived there together with Tena and Lili.
Additionally, those that knew of the estate referred to it as the “Black Rose Mansion”, but because the plans were left to the Pope, it ended up as an outrageously large palace.
Although some troubling issues would occur from time to time, on the whole, she was able to spend the life peacefully as she desired.
In addition, she had kept with her the authority as Dungeon Master when the two were separated, so the 『Anri as a God』 was troubled, but she had not yet noticed.
Because the Evil God Statue made her face widely known, recently she had taken to wearing a mask.

“Why does it feel like people are staring at me?”

*imouto*

<Former Apostle, Tena>

She served Anri after she returned to being a human, and continued to look after her everyday needs.
Although she had always been hesitant at meeting the family that sold her to the slave merchants, she succeeded in bringing herself to meet with them, and they reconciled.
A while after she had begun living at the Black Rose Mansion, she met a single young man by chance, and ended up involved in the turmoil that followed.

“Anri-sama, I’ve made some tea.”

*imouto*

<Former Slave, Lili>

She lived together with Anri in the estate.
Lately, she had begun to imitate her sister-figure, Tena, and started to learn housework.
Perhaps because she was used to them, she could now look at Anri’s mystic eyes without running away.

“Anri-sama, Tena-oneechan, the food is ready.”

*imouto*

<Magic Flame Princess, Leonora>

With the achievement of establishing diplomatic relations with the Holy Anri Thearchy, she inherited the throne of the Demon King at a young age.
She became the mediator for the two nations, and was adored by even the humans, who were originally the enemy.
In addition, due to the fact that she was forced to continue holding the doll and was unable to part from it, she gained alias such as “Doll Princess” and “The Truth Is, the Doll Is Her Real Body” etc.

“I told you that was wrong, didn’t I!?”

*imouto*

<Pope Harvin>

As usual, today he was also merrily spreading the religion.
He was extremely delighted by the completed giant Evil God Statue.
Lately he had been planning to mass produce small-scale Evil God statues to distribute amongst the followers.

“Hu hu hu, it seems that the Grassroots Anri-sama Plan is progressing just fine.”

*imouto*

<Hero of the Holy Sword, Arc>
<Guardian Sword, Zio>
<Magic Flame, Frey>
<Fresh Breeze, Widdi>

In order to retrieve the Holy Sword from Anri, they were worked to the bone on the construction of the estate.
Additionally, Arc was still in Anri’s grasp, the party members were wrapped up as well
Since Arc had lost interest in the Demon King subjugation, they came to a standstill.

“I-, I can’t stand any more construction work…”

“Agreed, Frey.”

“She seeeriously worked us to the bone, huh?”

“She was an amazing person, wasn’t she…”

*imouto*

<Hero of the Holy Spear, Lionel>
<Hero of the Holy Bow, Orlaine>

Together with Arc, Anri made them help with the construction work in exchange for their Holy Spear and Bow.
While labouring together, a love between them… did not bud at all, and it was just more of Lionel’s one-sided approaches.

“Heyy, how ’bout you go out with me already?”

“Just give it up already, Lionel.”

*imouto*

<Demon King, Eligor Romariel>

Passing the throne of Demon King to his daughter, Leonora, he lived as he liked as an adventurer.
He continued to challenged the “Holy Land of the Evil God” dungeon.
It seems that he was actually quite frustrated about failing to capture the dungeon.

“Mu, I thought that today would work out for sure, but…”

*imouto*

<Violent Gale Knight, Renarve>
<Bloodfrost General, Vikuto>

As members of the Four Heavenly Kings, they served the new Demon King, Leonora.

“I wonder if His Majesty the Preceding King is doing well.”

“It would not be strange for anything to happen to that personage.”

*imouto*

<Adamantite Earth Demon, Ijido>

With his bald patch healed, he returned to work.

“I’m not fucken bald!”

*imouto*

*imouto*

<Evil God Anri>

On the top floor of the Evil God Temple, she continued to administrate the world.
On occasion, she would observe her human self.

“That mask, so cool…”

*imouto*

<Light God Sophia>
<Dark God Anbaal>
Even after the end of the match, for some reason they continued to live in the Evil God Temple.
Their intentions were unknown, but thanks to that, Evil God Anri’s loneliness was lessened.

“I will not speak badly of you, so please stop your spying at once.”

“Seriously. Damn nasty hobby.”

*imouto*

<Black Dragon Vardneel>
He learnt “come”.

“Gurururu…”

*imouto*

<Armour of the Evil God, Anril Armour>
Unit 1 continued to work hard as the 20th floor boss.
The newly summoned Unit 2 was working hard as the guard-armour of the Black Rose Mansion.
Also, unlike Unit 1, Unit 2 was made with a female’s armour as a base.

“……………………”

“……………………”

*imouto*

<The Emperor Who Transcends Death, Imperial Death>

Because of the lack of invaders on the 30th floor, normally he served as Evil God Anri’s aide on the top floor of the Evil God Temple.
Due to Tena’s absence and the resultant lack of anybody to do the housework, the residents of the top floor were about to fall into a crisis in various meanings, but because of his existence as a being with hundreds of years experience, the crisis was averted.
The cooking for the three Gods who ate despite the lack of need were prepared by him as well.
Due to Tena’s absence, the only ones left who could pilot the Anril Armour were Evil God Anri and himself, but in exchange, they came up with the idea of piloting the armour while riding atop Black Dragon Vardneel; the final form, Anril Deathrider. In addition, it goes without saying that he was stronger just by himself.

“I offer my Lord my eternal loyalty.”

*imouto*

<Evil God (?)>

Today as well, he was floating about in the “Interval”.
On occasion he would suddenly appear in the Evil God Temple, cause trouble for Evil God Anri and the others, and then get kicked out.

“Now then, what should I play with next?”

---

And with the above chapter concludes the Evil God Average main story.
After this, I intend in submitting side stories with breaks between each, but Anri’s story ends here.
Thank you for your various opinions along the way, but I truly believe that I made it this far due to the support of all the readers.
For reading this, and for your support, thank you very much.

Also, I intend on reporting on my activities, but for now I will make a small announcement below.

◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

A world governed by a Light God, a Dark God, and a slightly ‘my pace’ Evil God.

The religion that boasted the most power in the world, the Church of Sacred Light, had suddenly lost its influence.

The panicking upper echelons of the church decided to perform the Hero Summoning Ritual, as a sign of their revival.

However, due to the intervention of an even more ‘my pace’ Evil God, the summoned young man was granted a troublesome skill.

Followed about by turmoil, the young man met a certain girl, and together they opposed the absurdity of the world.

*imouto*

Set in the world of “Evil God Average” comes a new story. Coming So…metime or Other.

---

First of all, thank you for reading my translations. As always, your enthusiasm for the story and interesting comments give me the impetus to continue translating.

Second of all, my apologies for the delay on the final chapter. It was longer than expected, and I was unable to complete it last night.

Third, Evil God Average came out in Japan today. You can purchase it here,

http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/NEOBK-1855809

and if you have money to spare, please, please buy a copy to support Kitaseno-sensei. It really isn’t all that expensive, and is basically a family pizza meal, or about 3 subway footlongs.

Kitaseno-sensei worked hard to keep the story amusing, and they’re continuing to write even now, so please just spare a little snack money or beer money and buy a copy. It comes with pictures, and you can keep it on your shelf to pretend you’re all international and cultured. It’s a conversation starter too!

Imagine this; your friend comes over, and goes, “Whoa! You can read Japanese?” and with a proud smile, you throw out your chest and reply; “Nope. I bought for the pictures.”

Finally, the spin-off came out today. Naturally I have picked it up. Because it takes place 1~2 years after the conclusion of Evil God Average, the first thing is to translate the Book of God side stories, as they almost all take place after this chapter.

---

<Previous Chapter | Imouto | Next Chapter>

I know that writing ‘a kin’ sounds really weird, but please bear with me. Trying to decide on how to translate 眷属 was like the biggest headache ever, since it has connotations of ‘kin’, ‘retainer’, ‘subordinate god’ or ‘messenger’ in terms of a god, ‘offspring vampire’ in terms of a vampire… it’s just hard, you know?

---

Chapter 19 – The Evil God’s Temptation

When I came to, I was in a pitch dark place with not a single source of light.
Being a place that I had memory of, I checked my clothes in a fluster. …Thank goodness, I’m still wearing them.

The sound of clapping reached my ears, and when I turned that way, there stood the person I expected.
A boy with long black hair… The Evil God that sent me into this world.

“Yo, ‘s been a while.”

With his usual mocking smile, the Evil God spoke to me.

“What do you want?”

“So cold. Even though it’s our touching reunion.”

This isn’t a joke. At the very least, I’m not touched in the slightest. Thinking about it, all of the hardships I went through this year were mostly because of the Evil God in front of me. Truly a god of misfortune.
Being called into this place with this kind of timing gives me nothing but a bad feeling about this.

“Well whatever. The reason I called you here today was just as my earlier applause indicated – I wanted to offer my gratitude and reward for your achievements so far.”

“Gratitude and reward?”

Hearing these unexpected words, I accidentally asked him again. And what does he mean by achievements so far?

“First is my gratitude. It was terribly fun watching you do things. It was just a whim of an idea, but I’m really glad I sent you into this world.”

Jerk.
I had faintly noticed it, but it seems that I really am a toy to this Evil God.

“To begin with, why did you even send me there?”

“If you’re asking why I sent a servant in, then it was to make use of the floating faith to create a kin. As for why it was you, well, you seemed like you’d be interesting.”

“In other words, the fact that I joined the Divine Race was all predetermined?”

“Nah, you’re wrong. It’s true that I made it easier for you, but even I didn’t know if you would become one or not. I was actually pretty surprised you know? To think that you’d become a divine that quickly. Even I didn’t expect it.”

Hearing his reply, I felt a little relieved. If all my actions so far were just dancing on the palm of his hand, honestly speaking, it would have been a major shock.

“And, what would you have done if I hadn’t become a divine?”

“Nothing really? If that time came, then I was gunna think about it then. If you became one then great, I thought, but it’s not like I absolutely needed you to become one.”

I got treated pretty casually, but I’m not particularly angry.

“Is there some merit to creating kin?”

I have Tena and Imperial Death as kin, but they’re useful because they’re my allies. To the Evil God in front of me, I may be his kin, but I don’t intend on serving him, and I don’t intend on doing anything for him either.
Just what kind of merit would there be in creating a kin like me?

“The number of your kin and their quality is like a status symbol, you know. It’s better to have more than less, better to have divines than apostles, and better to have chief gods than stray gods. There’s more value that way. In that sense, given that you have the hegemony in this world, you’re pretty valuable.”

“Have the hegemony?”

Was he talking about the match with Sophia and Anbaal? I lost though.

“Well, there were some developments far beyond expectations, but in the end you gained a lot of 『Authorities』, so it’s fine to say you have the hegemony in this world. What’s important is the result, not the process, so I don’t care who you guys decided won and lost.”

It’s true that because I lost the match and had a lot of work pushed onto me, I had the most 『Authorities』 of us three gods.

“And so, since I saw you working so hard, I thought that I’d give you a little reward.”

“Like I said, reward?”

“Yep. So anyway, about the reward in question… if you want, I can turn you back into a human, and teleport you to Earth.”

*imouto*

───────!?

*imouto*

Hearing these completely unexpected words, I caught my breath.
I can turn back into a human? And not just that, I can go back to my original world?

“Not a bad offer, right? Either way, it’d normally be an impossible reward. If you don’t take it now, there won’t be a second time, okay?”

The Evil God spoke as though pressing me for an answer, but my mind was in so much chaos that I couldn’t really comprehend his words. I tried desperately to calm myself down, and voiced my doubt.

“Even though your objective was to create a kin, is it okay for you to turn me back into a human?”

From our conversation just now, his goal was to create high quality kin, and I achieved that by turning into a divine. But now he was saying that he would turn me back into a human as a reward, and I could only see it as putting the cart before the horse.

“I say turning you back into a human, but strictly speaking it’s splitting your 『Divine Self』 and your 『Human Self』 I guess. Just leaving the 『Divine You』 is plenty as my kin.”

I have no idea how he’d even do something like that, but looking at how casually he said it, he probably really can.
I’ll be able to return to being a human…?

“If the 『Divine You』 stays in this world as my kin, I don’t really need the 『Human You』. Like I said earlier, if you want, I’ll teleport you to Earth.”

Not only returning to being a human, but I’ll even be able to return to my old world…
Up until now, I tried not to really think about it, but the moment I heard his words, it brought up the memories of my family and friends in my old world, and immediately the feelings of nostalgia and longing──

“However, it’ll be a one-way transfer of course. After I teleport you to Earth, I won’t accept you wanting to come back here.”

It felt like cold water had been poured over me.
Wait, that’s…

“Of course, I can’t teleport anybody other than you to Earth. If you choose Earth, then you’ll be saying goodbye to the people here.”

If I return to my old world, then I won’t ever be able to see Tena, Leonora or Lili again. If I cross over to another world, you could call that much obvious, but that reality stabbed deeply into my heart.
My friends and family in my old world, or the people that I met in this world? If I chose one, I had to abandon the other.

I closed my eyes and in my mind I weighed the two on a scale.
The people I spent many months and years with in my old world, and the people I had a short, but meaningful time with in this world.
It was painful to choose either one, and I couldn’t come to a decision.

*imouto*

…That’s how it should have been.
But despite that, the scales in my heart tipped with unnatural ease in one direction.

*imouto*

It really is strange.
Even a while ago when I heard that I could go back to my old world, mysteriously the nostalgia didn’t gush out.
Something was weird. Something important and defining was wrong.

Right. I can’t just eat up this Evil God’s words. That was the mistake I made last time too.
I still don’t know if he intentionally misinterpreted my words, but everything began when he granted my wish in a warped way.
This time it was his suggestion, but there was plenty of risk that he meant something different than what I thought.

Now that I was calm, I thought back on the conversation thus far, and checked to see if there was anything weird.

“Now then, which world will you pick? Earth, or thi──”

“Why?”

“Eh?”

Discovering what was wrong, I cut off his words.

“Why did you not say──

*imouto*

──『return you to your old world』, and say 『teleport you to Earth』 instead?”

“…”

The constant mocking smile from the Evil God’s face disappeared, and he turned expressionless.

Thinking about it, from the moment that we met, he never once mentioned taking me from somewhere else.
I had naturally thought that I had been taken right after the last memories of 『my old world』, so I hadn’t particularly noticed.

Also, I was supposed to have been suddenly taken away from my friends and family, and then sent to another world, so normally you’d expect that I’d want to return, but for some reason I never had that feeling, and even when I heard that I would be able to meet them, I didn’t feel any longing.

And there was one more thing. Right now, I was wearing clothes. Even though last time I was naked. I can’t imagine that the Evil God in front of me was the type who would go out of his way to strip me, so that naturally brings up the question of why I was naked the first time.

*imouto*

*imouto*

“Tell me one thing? Is the 『me』 in 『my old world』 doing well?”

*imouto*

*imouto*

“…………………Huhu, AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

When I questioned him, the expressionless Evil God suddenly roared with laughter.

“Ahahaha, I’m beat. It’s my loss. Good job noticing, hey? Even though plenty of the humans I’d met so far couldn’t accept it even if they noticed the possibility.”

Aah, his words just verified everything.
I wasn’t born in 『my old world』…

“Yeah, you’re a flesh and memory copy of a girl born in the 『old world』 that you call 『Earth』, and you were something that I created. It’s easier to create kin who end up as divines that way, you see. Incidentally, the girl that was your original is living life normally and doing just fine.”

The reason I was naked last time was because I was literally “naked as the day I was born”. It wasn’t that I was taken there, but that I was born there, so of course I had no clothes.

“In other words, even if I went to my 『old world』 …or rather, even if I went to Earth…”

“There wouldn’t be anywhere that you belonged, and nobody would be waiting for you either.”

My original on Earth was already there, so of course. Even if I went there, at best I’d just be treated as a doppelganger.

“If I hadn’t noticed and chose to 『teleport to Earth』, what would you have done?”

“I wouldn’t have cared, and would’ve 『teleported you to Earth』 just as you wanted.”

That was so close… I almost got trapped by an option that would turn out terribly no matter what.

“Why did you try and trap me like that?”

I asked the Evil God as I glared at him. Even if I glared at him, naturally the effect of my mystic eyes weren’t even a gentle breeze to him.

“Guess you could call it the final test before your reward.”

“Reward…”

Is that thing still valid? But since I only just avoided that nasty trap, I can’t help but look at him with suspicious eyes.

“No, no, this time I’m serious.”

His level of credibility was already zero, but for now I decided to hear him out first before choosing, so I prompted him to continue.

“Having said that though, the reward is the same as before. The second half is gone though.”

What I heard earlier was “change me back to human, and teleport me to Earth”. If the second half was gone, then did he mean that he would grant me just “returning to a human”?

“Of course, it’s a reward so I won’t force you. I’ll give you the choice, so you can choose whatever you want.”

Certainly, it was a reward worth considering.
When I first became a divine it didn’t really feel real, and I tried not to think about it, but over the last year the difference between 『god』 and 『human』 has been getting big. Leaving the Apostle Race Tena aside, Leonora and Lili are both going to age, and eventually die, but only us two are going to be left behind.
If I said that I didn’t want to spend time together with everyone as a human, then it would be a lie.

But because of what happened just now, I couldn’t just simply nod either.

“Doesn’t it have any demerits?”

Leaving aside differences in interpretation aside, if I asked him questions he would answer, and up until now he had never lied before. I proactively questioned him to see if there was anything out of place in order to pick the better option.

“Demerits? Let’s see… Mn?”

The Evil God looked like he was thinking, but he seemed to notice something, because he turned his gaze to my side. I was lured by his reaction too, so I turned to face that way but in the darkness I didn’t see anyt… no, wait, just as I noticed a streak of light running vertically, a strong light suddenly shone in from there.
Getting a bad feeling, I reflexively moved my body away from the line of light.
And when I did, in the very next instant, a beam of light shot in from it, flying past me far into the distance.

“Anri! Are you all right!?”

“I thought I was going to die…”

Where the line of light used to be was a hole from which Sophia charged in with sword in hand. Honestly, I don’t even know what would have happened to me if I hadn’t evaded it.

“Ain’t ya doin’ just fine?”

“I almost got blown away.”

It’s true that I don’t have a single scratch though.
I replied to Anbaal who appeared next, but it seemed that he didn’t know what I was talking about.

“Anri-sama, are you all right!?”

“Are you okay!? …!?”

“Hii!?”

Next, Tena, Leonora, and Lili jumped into that dark space as well, but the moment they met eyes with the Evil God, Leonora immediately fell into a dogeza, and Lili hide behind Tena and clung to her. But well, if they can’t deal with my eyes, then it can’t be helped that they can’t deal with his.

“Though I am late, I hastened to your side. Please command me as you will.”

Last to appear was Imperial Death, clad in a jet black robe, and standing between the Evil God and I. His scythe was already in hand, and he was prepared for battle.

*imouto*

*imouto*

It seems that everybody ran here worried for me but… things were basically over already.

◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

“Although you were pretty close, to think that you even chased her in here.”

For now I calmed everybody down, and we sat around a table the Evil God prepared to continue the conversation.
After explaining what happened so far to everyone, the Evil God let out that line.

“We had Anri’s kin Tena, so we were able to find this place by following the master-servant bond. After that was just a bet on whether or not we could open a hole though.”

“I handed my power over to that overly serious woman, and with two gods’ worth, we finally got in here.”

I’m glad that they did that much to reach me, but I wished that they would remember that following the link meant that I was at the other end of the hole.

“Leaving her friend and kin over there aside, to think that you two would go that far to save her.”

“Of course. It would be troubling for us without her.”

“We finally got a person to push- …to entrust the work to after all. If she suddenly disappeared, we’d be troubled, yanno.”

When they jumped in they seemed seriously worried for me, but although that wasn’t the only reason, let’s leave that all aside. I’m a little shy.

“About the thing earlier, if I turn back into a human, what’s going to happen to Tena and him as my kin?”

Tena turned into my kin from when I gave her the divine protection, but when I turned into a divine she turned into an apostle with me.
Imperial Death became my kin when I gave him my divine protection as the No Life King, but at the time he wasn’t this outstanding. I think he broke through the barrier when I turned into a divine too.
Both of them were affected my by change into a divine. In that case, what would happen if I returned to being a human?

“Your kin will end up choosing either the 『Divine You』 or the 『Human You』. If they picked the 『Divine You』, they stay as they are. If they pick the 『Human you』, they’ll probably return to from before you became a divine.”

“If I choose the 『Human Me』, will I lose my connection with the 『Divine Me』? What about the other way around?”

“They won’t be directly related, but it won’t change the fact that the 『Human You』 is a part of the 『Divine You』. Once your life as a human ends, your soul will unify with the 『Divine You』. In that sense, no matter which you pick, there won’t be much of a difference in a hundred years.”

In other words, it’s the difference between whether we continue to live as divine and apostle, or whether we live a lifetime as a human first?
From a glance there didn’t seem to be any demerits, but since he had zero credibility, I decided to ask the observers.

“Was everything he said true, Sophia?”

“I have never seen a precedent, but I believe the theory is correct. Normally becoming a human from a divine would be impossible, but as somebody who turned into a divine from a human, and who still retains their flesh body, you are an exception. If I were to add another comment, the 『Divine You』 separated from the 『Human You』 would become a purer existence as a divine. We don’t understand kin as being a status symbol, but having a purer kin should be more valuable for him.”

Hearing that and turning to the Evil God, he immediately averted his eyes.
It seems that he purposefully avoided mentioning the merits for himself, but if it was just that much, you couldn’t call it a demerit for me, so I guess it didn’t matter?

“If I choose to return to being a human, what will you two do?”

“I…”

I asked Tena and Imperial Death. Tena seemed at a loss as to how to reply. I wanted to live with her, but I thought that it was something she should decide on herself.

“I think I really will choose the 『Human Anri-sama』　after all. I think that I would be useful in helping her with her everyday needs after all.”

“I see. What about you?”

After hearing Tena’s reply, I turned to Imperial Death next.

“I shall serve the 『Anri-sama as a God』. As an undead to begin with, I feel it would be better than serving by the side of the 『Anri-sama as a Human』.”

He replied unwaveringly. To begin with, he was somebody who worshipped the Evil God, so it was probably an obvious choice.

*imouto*

*imouto*

*imouto*

“Now then, guess that’s settled. It’s about to time to ask you what you’ve chosen. Are you going to live as a 『God』, or as a 『Human』?”

After hearing the wishes of my kin, I was asked for an answer by the Evil God.

“I…”

---

Next up, the final chapter.

Also, it will not be a multi-choice ending. There is only one route.

---

TL: Odd God, or 『変神』 is read as ‘henjin’ – it sounds exactly the same as for the word 変人 (weirdo), so it’s basically the same as calling her a weirdo.

---

<Previous Chapter | Imouto | Next Chapter>

Chapter 18 – Conclusion

The mixed party achieved the record of reaching the lowest floor yet, but the last stronghold and 30th floor boss──Imperial Death, defeated them and they failed.
Also, because they were defeated within the dungeon, there was no reason to exempt them from the rule of taking their weapons and items even if they were the Heroes and Demon King, so the Holy Sword, Holy Spear, Holy Bow and Demon Sword were properly collected. Of course, the other items and gold were as well.

And that moment could be said to be the moment that it became impossible for them to conquer the dungeon.

The source of the Heroes’ strength were the Holy Weapons that held Sophia’s blessing, and now that they had been taken away, the Heroes lost most of their strength.
As for Ojisama, it wasn’t as though he was that dependent on his weapon, but as you’d expect, there was a huge difference in fighting strength once he didn’t have the Demon Sword.
With their blessed weapons gone, they had already lost the power needed to conquer the dungeon.

*imouto*

And like that, it spelt the end to the match.

*imouto*

Incidentally, since Sophia and Anbaal demanded the weapons, I was just keeping a hold of them temporarily, and it was decided that I would return them after the match.
Now that I had collected them, they were mine, so I could have ignored the two, but apparently now that the Holy Weapons had Sophia’s blessings they had the function of flying back to the owner when they called for it, and there was nothing more dangerous than weapons flying about the dungeon.
For now I had a hold of them, and tossed them into a room locked from the outside, but from the sounds inside the room you could tell that they were rampaging about. The Heroes were probably continuing to call for them without giving up.
I personally want to return these troubling weapons as soon as possible. Considering the situation, I wouldn’t be able to sell them after all, and I couldn’t use them as dungeon drops either.
The Demon Sword didn’t have that function and so it was behaving, but if I was returning the Holy Weapons, it wouldn’t be fair not to return the Demon Sword. And what’s more, apparently the Demon Sword was passed down each generation, and would one day be passed down to Leonora, so as a friend I felt that I ought to return it.
But well, I really don’t have any obligation to give them back, so it should be fine if I demand some compensation, right?

◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

In only thirty minutes, it would be a whole year since the match began.
In order to check up on the 『Proof of Capture』 that I placed on the 31st floor, we all gathered there.

“The 『Proof of Capture』 is…”

“Don’t tell me it’s that?”

Seeing the 『Proof of Capture』, both Tena and Leonora’s expressions cramped. Speaking of which, Sophia and Anbaal already knew, but I never told these two.
There was a round-table-shaped pedestal in the middle of the room, and on top of it was an eerie patchwork doll.
This was the 『Proof of Capture』 that I left here, and was the proxy I used when Leonora first came here; the cursed Tena doll.

Also, since I became a member of the Divine Race myself, I conquered the cursed equipment problem, but that didn’t mean that the curse on the doll itself was gone. Because of that, if anyone but myself or my kin Tena touched it, the doll would be their present – curse and all. Or at least that was my plan.
It’s not like I was thinking something treacherous like “Conquer my dungeon huh? Curse you!” or anything. It was a nuisance though, so I did hope that somebody would take it away though.

“There is only a little time left, isn’t there.”

“Tsk.”

“Hii!?”

Although it basically spelt their defeat when the Heroes and Ojisama lost their weapons, Sophia and Anbaal never declared defeat. But at this point, as you’d expect they had no choice but to give up on victory. Sophia seemed discouraged, but Anbaal was clearly in a bad mood.
Because Anbaal was being too obvious with his irritation, Lili got scared and hid behind my back.

“No invaders are ever going to reach here in time, so I suppose your match is set, huh.”

“Congratulations, Anri-sama.”

Hearing Leonora and Tena congratulate me, my victory finally felt real. In order to pick up the 『Proof of Capture』 as a victory trophy, I headed… or at least I tried to head towards the pedestal, but I stacked it.
Having lost my balance and begun to fall, I looked back and saw that Lili was standing on top of my dress hem. Apparently when she hid behind me in fear of Anbaal, she stood on my dress by accident. Unlike the robe that I used to wear, the dress was pretty long, and if I wasn’t careful, it could get stepped on.
As though being pulled from behind, while I was falling I reflexively reached out to grab the table in front of me, and somehow managed to avoid falling right to the ground.

“Are you all right, Anri-sama!?”

“I-, I’m sorry…”

Tena hurried over to help me up. And Lili… you don’t have to apologise, so please get off my dress.

“Oioi, the hell ya doin’?”

“Well, it seems that you managed to avoid falling.”

Anbaal and Sophia called out to me in astonishment.

“The hem is longer than your old clothing, so if you aren’t careful it’ll be dangerous, you know. Also, you sent the doll flying all this way.”

It happened in an instant so I didn’t realise, but when I grabbed at the table earlier, apparently the cursed Tena doll had been sent flying by Leonora’s feet.
Saying that, she bent over and picked up the doll.

*imouto*

*imouto*

“……………………Ah.”

Seeing that, Tena let out a sound. Everybody in the room heard that, and following Tena’s gaze, we moved our eyes to Leonora.

“……………………Ah.”

“……………………Ah.”

“……………………Ah.”

“……………………Ah.”

Everybody let out the exact same, stupid voice.

“Eh? ……………………Ah.”

Leonora was perplexed by everybody’s gaze suddenly turning to her, but she followed our gazes to what was in her hand, and after realising what it was, she let out the same sound.

“”””””AAAHHHHHH!?””””””

In the midst of this room filled with cries, the teleportation magic activated, and Leonora disappeared.

*imouto*

*imouto*

Leonora, you idiot…

*imouto*

*imouto*

◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

“I can’t accept this.”

Moving to the round table in the office, that was the first thing I said.

“The winner is whoever has their patroned race touch the 『Proof of Capture』 first, ain’t it? There ain’t any basis for you to complain.”

It’s true that since Leonora is a demon, it’s Anbaal’s win based on the rules. But I can’t accept an accident like that overturning the outcome of the match. To begin with, it all began when he scared Lili.

“What do you think, Sophia?”

“Let’s see. It is true that it was a sloppy way to decide things, but according to the rules, I do not think we can help but acknowledge Anbaal’s victory.”

From her point of view, no matter whose victory it was, she would still be the loser, so I suppose it can’t be helped that she wasn’t interested in changing the rules.
I knew myself that my opinion was at a disadvantage. But, it was a little… no, it was very frustrating.

“A-, Anri… I was wrong, so can’t you forgive me already?”

“No. Continue your seiza.”

A voice called to me from the corner of the room, but I replied a little coldly. It was Leonora, and a little while ago I had her sit in seiza to reflect on her actions.
It was partially my fault as well for having the doll fall from the table, which is why I don’t intend to scold her all that harshly, but even so a large part of it was her carelessness, so I wanted her to reflect.

“Then leaving the seiza aside, could you at least take away this doll…?”

“No. Hold onto it for a while.”

On top of Leonora’s lap as she sat in seiza was the cursed Tena doll. Originally the curse of the doll made it so that once you threw it away, it would suddenly come back to you at some point, but perhaps the curse began stronger while I left it alone, because now it leveled up, and would quickly toddle back to you when you let go of it. Thanks to that, Leonora couldn’t get rid of it even if she wanted, and had been holding it the whole time.

“Well, you can settle things with her however you like. But no matter how it happened, win’s a win, yanno. Know when ta give up.”

“………………Fine.”

At Anbaal’s reminder, I reluctantly accepted my defeat. It was frustrating though.

*imouto*

*imouto*

“And so, guess I better hand out the 『Authories』, ey.”

Saying that, Anbaal sat down at the round table, and a countless number of letters appeared around him. Next, the same thing happened around Sophia.

“These are the 『Sub-Authories』 we have. There ain’t anything new we oughta add to them, so we’ll just be handing over a fraction of the ones we already have to ya.”

“Specifically, what fraction will we be handing over?”

“Let’s see… How ’bout 2/5ths.”

Each of them separated 2/5ths of their 『Sub-Authorities』, and our ratio became 6:6:8, Sophia:Anbaal:myself.

“Then I’m the only one with more. Unfair.”

“As long as it is to an extent that there is no disruption to the balance, there should be no problem.”

It’s true that we had the match because they wanted a little less, so I didn’t intend to complain about the distribution being unfair.
What I was complaining about was that only I was getting more.
The one who won the match was Anbaal, so it should have been fine if he just increased both Sophia and mine, so I couldn’t accept that he targetted only me.

“Why is it just me?”

“You’re the newbie, so dontcha need experience. I’m giving ya work outta the goodness of my heart, so be grateful.”

I glared at him, but Anbaal ignored me with a nonchalant expression.
Or rather, that’s definitely a lie. There’s definitely no mistake that this was revenge for the hardships he had with the dungeon capture.
But it was in the rules that the winner would be deciding the ratios, so since it wasn’t large enough that it destroyed the balance, even if it was frustrating I wouldn’t change a thing even if I made a fuss.

“Well then, how ’bout we go from my Deadly Sin Types. Lessee, I’ll give ya 『Gluttony』, 『Greed』, 『Lust』 and 『Envy』.”

Hah? By Deadly Sins is that the Seven Deadly Sins? So they had the same concept in this world too?
But still, the selection he handed me sure was cruel. I’d better protest.

“I’m not that big of an eater.”

“If a divine who doesn’t even need food eats three meals a day, ain’t that gluttonous enough?”

Being told that, I couldn’t even go “Guu…” in frustration, but lately haven’t you and Sophia been eating three meals too…?

“Then about 『Greed』…”

“No, no matter how ya look at it, it suits you perfectly, right?”

…………Well, I did take an entrance fee, so I guess that can’t be helped.
But the last two definitely do not fit me.

“『Lust』 and 『Envy』 don’t match me.”

“To begin with, it just helps if you have a reference, so it doesn’t even really matter, yanno?”

That’s way too different from what you said earlier.
Or rather, if the Deadly Sins are the same as the Seven Deadly Sins, the only ones left are 『Sloth』, 『Pride』 and 『Wrath』 …He definitely kept those because he thought they were cool, that guy.
Also, that’s not following the ratio. If you say 2/5ths then don’t hand me over half.

“Well then, I shall hand you some from my Virtue Types. I will give you 『Moderation』, 『Thrift』 and 『Endurance』.”

Whoa, whoa, it’s weird once you mix it in with the Deadly Sins. You can’t have both 『Gluttony』 and 『Moderation』 after all.
Also that means she left behind 『Diligence』, 『Chastity』, 『Compassion』, 『Humility』; all the good sounding ones for herself.
While I was in blank amazement at how unreasonable it was, the letters floating around Sophia and Anbaal flew towards me.
Do not want. Do not want, I said.

“Well then, next are the Living Being Types, huh…”

Wait, please wait. At this rate, something outrageous is going too…

◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

A few hours later, ignoring me as I lay burn out over the table, Sophia and Anbaal left the room with satisfied expression after completing pushing 『Authorities』 onto me.

“Um, Anri-sama… Are you all right?”

“I’m… not.”

Raising my head in bother, I looked at the words floating around me. They were completely random. Governing over such a hodgepodge of 『Authorities』, I don’t even know if I can be called the Evil God anymore.
In the end, Anbaal said “Since you made this whole bloody mess, this suits ya just fine.” and left the word 『Chaos』 in front of me, so I was completely angry.

*imouto*

『Gained title “Odd God”.』

*imouto*

I heard the 『System』’s voice for the first time in a while, but 『Odd God』? What the heck is 『Odd God』.
You’re supposed at least make it “Chaos God”, right!?

*imouto*

How on earth am I supposed to get rid of this irritation.

“Ummm… C-, Can I stop with the seiza soon?”

And while I was thinking that, what reached my ears was the voice of Leonora, who had been sitting in seiza for the entire time. It seems that the numbness in her legs had just about reached the limit, and just stirring a little would send incredible stimulation down her legs, so she was stuck frozen solid unable to move.
Speaking of which, the reason this happened was half her fault, wasn’t it.

Finding a place to point my sword, I smiled darkly inside, before reaching my fingers out to her legs.

---

There are two chapters left until the main story is finished.

---

TL: Odd God, or 『変神』 is read as ‘henjin’ – it sounds exactly the same as for the word 変人 (weirdo), so it’s basically the same as calling her a weirdo.

---

<Previous Chapter | Imouto | Next Chapter>