Side story 11 – A Certain Evil God’s Sneer

『Candidate “Anri” has exceeded the required faith and fear levels.』
『Race has been changed from “Human Race” to “Divine Race”.』
『Job has been changed from “Mage” to “Administrator”.』
『Title has upgraded from “Child of the Evil God” to “Evil God of Fearful Trembling”.』
『Gained title “Third Administrator”.』
『Gained skill “Administration”.』

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“Ohh? Never thought that she’d bud this quickly.”

As he saw through the screen that the thing he sent just the other day had already become a member of the Divine Race, he laughed.

It was originally just a way to kill time. No, even now, it was still basically the case.
It had all started when he had noticed by chance some faith that was floating around in a low-ranked world based on stories. It was faith towards his type, so he had considered devouring it, but following an idea he came up with on a whim, he sent in a something that seemed suitable as a vessel, and decided to watch and see how things unfolded. If things went well, it would mean the birth of a new member of his kin, while if things failed, it wouldn’t be any real loss.

“It was pretty fun watching the process. Sending her in as a human was the right choice, huh.”

She might have gathered faith faster had she been sent in as an apostle, but he decided to just cram skills into her as a human and enjoy watching the show. Honestly speaking, he had crammed enough into her that it wouldn’t have been strange for her soul to collapse, but you could say it turned out well because she was good material.
When he had spotted that girl in a high ranking world, he had unconsciously sighed in wonder. It wasn’t often that you’d find a human with eyes close to his kind’s.

“Now that a new administrator has been born, the other divines probably won’t stay quiet. I’m really interested to see what happens next.”

There were originally two administrators in that world.
They would very soon know that a new administrator had been born. No, there was also the chance that they already knew. It was impossible to ignore a new administrator being born in the world they administrated, so it made sense that they would soon approach her somehow.
And because there were many cases where members of his type were hated by others, so to begin with there was definitely no way things would happen peacefully.
The world would probably be wrapped up in a power struggle between fellow divines.

“Aahh, I’m looking forward to it. So looking forward to it.”

Power struggle though it might be, in the end it was just something that would happen in a low-ranked world, so even if it was something that involved his kin, he didn’t plan on interfering.
Even if she was destroyed in defeat, that was just how it was. Just one favourite toy being broken.
It was all for his amusement, just simply killing time.
But it was also the truth that it seemed like things would be quite fun this time.
It was all thanks to the ‘beloved daughter'[thing] that he had sent in. It was just a random idea he had come up with, but once he gave it a go, it had turned out to be the right choice.

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“Aahh, I’m really glad that I created you.”

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As he saw through the screen his kin writhing around like a caterpillar as she had her legs poked by the people there, he laughed.

“If you manage to seize the power from the other two, maybe I’ll give you a reward.”

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TL: In Japanese, ‘laugh’ and one way of saying ‘sneer’ are the same. 笑う and 嗤う are both read as  ‘warau’, so in the second last line, I wrote ‘laughed’ to keep the repeat sounding good. In truth, it’s more like he laughed in ridicule. I made this decision because she obviously meant for the two lines to parallel each other. Had she wanted to strongly emphasise sneering, I think she would’ve used 嘲笑う(azawarau) or something.

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Side story 10 – A Certain Prince’s Despair

“You-! This is plain harassment!”

General Godwin struck the round table in the center of the conference room with his fist.

“I understand how you feel, but calm down, General. His Majesty is here.”

“F-, Forgive my rudeness!”

Chastised by the Prime Minister Lord Forgen, the angry General Godwin suddenly came back to his senses and apologised to my father in a fluster.

“It’s fine. I feel the same way.”

Not just my esteemed father; it was likely that nobody gathered here would blame the General’s words. The reason was because the people here all held the same feelings.
At present, the topic of discussion for the group called the Royalists Faction was that the Church of Sacred Light had declared an edict for the formation of the Order of the Sacred Light. It was an edict regarding the subjugation of a group of adherents of an Evil God cult that were gathered in a certain dungeon near our kingdom, Fortera. But no matter who looked at the situation, it was clearly an overreaction to form and mobilise the Order of Sacred Light just to subjugate a group of cultists not even numbering 1000.
The Church of Sacred Light claimed that it was because traces of a being that appeared to be the Evil God was witnessed in the dungeon in question, and the formation of the Order was necessary for the sake of its investigation, and if possible sealing or subjugation.

There was no lie more barefaced.
Because the higher-ups of each nation knew that the Evil God was a fictitious threat created by the Church, after all. The Church wasn’t seriously aiming for the subjugation of the Evil God either, and the other nations passed this suggestion knowing quite well that it was a lie.

“So it really was because of the proposal from the other day.”

“That seems to be the case. There are no other reasons.”

The Church of Sacred Light is the largest religion in the Human Territory, and is the official religion of all nations. Because of that, the money that each nation donates to the Church’s headquarters, the Luxiria Theocracy is no small amount. Of course, our Fortera is no exception.
However, because the crops and tax yields in our kingdom were anticipated to be lower than average this year, we declared that we would be reducing next year’s contribution to the Theocracy.
There was probably no doubt that it was correct to interpret this edict as revenge for the contribution announcement.

Although it was the formation of the ‘Order of Sacred Light’, in truth it was a coalition force of the knights and soldiers of various countries. With an edict from the Luxiria Theocracy, they expected participation from various countries, but because it was officially participation in order to fulfil their duties towards the Church of Sacred Light, there was no remuneration. If this was the invasion of the Demon Territory, then there would be de facto remuneration in the form of territory distribution, but because this time was the formation of the Order in order to solve a domestic issue, there would be no such thing.
Of course, our kingdom has no responsibility to give out remunerations for this. But despite this, if a domestic issue of ours is solved by the military of other nations, we’ll end up owing a debt, and would need to take this into account in future diplomatic exchanges.

“Revenge, and an example to the others, huh.”

“You could certainly interpret this as a show of force through the difference in military power.”

The other nations probably understand the Church’s purpose in this edict as well.
Not to mention that they’re sending this message as well: ‘If you report that you’ll be decreasing your donation, this is what will happen to you.’

“It’s too late to change the donation back, isn’t it.”

“Now that the formation of the Order has already been announced, it is probably impossible. And to begin with, the reason we reported a reduction was because we couldn’t pay it. You can’t use money that you don’t have.”

“…”

“…”

The meeting sank into silence.

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“So, what will you do? We received a strong suggestion that as one of the nations involved we should scout out the location and set up camp, but…”

“Making us do subordinate work on top of harassing us, huh? Just how much do they intend on messing with our kingdom.”

Both scouting and setting up camp formations are certainly important for an army, but it’s difficult to gain achievements for doing it. The more achievements another country gains, the larger the debt our kingdom will owe them, so this too was a form of harassment.
But this was a good chance as well.

“I shall lead the army and head for the battlefront.”

“Your Highness!?”

Hearing my declaration, the people sitting around the round table all turned their gazes to me.

“Hmm, and your intention?”

“Pretend to scout and set up camp, and just subjugate the enemy at the same time. We might be slandered for acting arbitrarily by the other nations and the Church, but this should be better than letting them gain large achievements and owing them a large debt. If we say that the young commander was anxious for merits, it shouldn’t seem unnatural.”

I answered my father’s question with my plan.
The other nations might be quite disgruntled because they had gone out of the way to prepare their armies, but as long as they hadn’t actually headed for battle, they probably wouldn’t be able to strongly demand anything from us.
The Church of Sacred Light probably won’t stay silent, but given that their official aim was the subjugation of the Evil God and cultists, they shouldn’t be able to openly criticise us.

“But there should be no need for you to take the blame, Your Highness.”

“As a member of the royal family, the other nations shouldn’t be able to strongly reproach me. If any other commander does it, they may demand punishment.”

Even if they can’t publicly condemn the Kingdom, it’s entirely possible that they would blame the commander personally for disobeying orders. Once you consider this, I can’t leave the role to the generals.
Perhaps because they understood my intentions, the Prime Minister and General reluctantly fell into silence.

“How is it, Your Majesty?”

“…Very well. I shall leave it to you.”

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Having set up camp in front of the dungeon in question, I gazed at the Evil God worshippers before me.
The enemy had also set up a military formation, but you could say that it was entirely crude. On top of the fact that they barely reached a thousand people, there were elderly people, as well as women and children mixed in, so they wouldn’t even put up a proper fight. It was obvious that they didn’t even have enough troops to set up an ambush, so I had faith that as long as I sent the soldiers forward, we would easily crush them.
Honestly speaking, it was strange that having come to this they still hadn’t run away and scattered, but was this also because of their disgusting piety?

Having thought that far, I accidentally let a wry smile slip.

“Your Highness?”

“No, it’s nothing.”

Finding my smile strange, General Godwin had questioned me, and I told him not to worry.

Disgusting piety, huh?
The fact that I can’t understand those who would worship something like the Evil God hadn’t changed, but after this incident, the piety that we the Forteran Royal Family had towards the Church of Sacred Light had fallen to rock bottom. Of course, there was no way we could reveal such thoughts to the citizens after all, and we certainly weren’t opposed to Sacred Goddess-sama, but at the very least, I had no intention of believing in the corrupted Church that was rampant with money-worshipping. Both as the prince, and as a person.
Between the believers of the Evil God who were risking their lives, and the people who secretly demanded money under the flag of the Sacred Light, just who was better? When I started wondering this, I found it so funny that I couldn’t help but smile.

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Lightly shaking my head, I switched gears.

──Both of them were the same.
If they threaten our kingdom, then they must be eliminated. This was my duty as a member of the Forteran Royal Family.

“Look at the formation of these evil bastards, General! What a pathetic formation.”

“Indeed.”

With the General by my side, I looked at the cultists in front of me before speaking in a loud enough voice that the knights and soldiers around us could hear.

“With an enemy more worthless than garbage, can’t we subjugate them on our own even without the Order’s main forces?”

“Indeed, however we were instructed to scout and set up formation.”

Reciting our lines exactly as planned, it felt like I had become a clown. However, that didn’t matter. What I wanted to become was a foolish and hot-blooded prince.

“We can end things if we attack now. There is no need for either scouting nor formations.”

“Your Highness, that is…”

But still, the General… can’t he do anything about that acting? Isn’t he speaking in monotone?

“That is of no concern! Sitting here while the cultists lie before us will incur the wrath of Sacred Goddess-sama! All troops, commence mar──!?”

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Just as I was about to give orders, at that moment, the sound of an explosion resounded around us. At the same time, something seemed to rise before our eyes.

“─────!?”

As I was speechless from the confusion at this incomprehensible scene, that made itself known.

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Everybody looked up dumbly at the scene.
In a place that had been a simple clearing until now, suddenly rose an ominous, yet somehow divine feeling temple.

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Were my eyes telling the truth…?
Wasn’t this almost a feat of God? It couldn’t be that the Evil God truly resided in this dungeon, could it?
But no, the Evil God was supposed to be an imaginary being concocted by the Church.
However, this scene was…

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Almost as though cornering us in our bewilderment, the abnormal scene continued.

Night suddenly fell around us, and the surroundings were filled with faint light.
I could feel that this series of abnormalities had caused chaos to spread through the soldiers.

The General and I tried to call our to sooth the soldiers, but sooner than we could, a staircase of darkness stretched down from the top floor of the temple to the ground.

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Neither I, nor the General, nor the soldiers nor the cultists did anything but turn our gazes to those stairs.
No, strictly speaking it wasn’t the stairs that we were watching, but the one descending them.

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At a glance, they seemed to be a girl.

With a relatively small figure with jet black hair and a jet black robe, they slowly descended the staircase with two girls in tow.
Everybody had forgotten how to speak, and held their breath as they looked up at that figure.

Finally, when that figure had reached a landing halfway down, we could see the face that had been invisible until now.
A face with features beautiful like a doll, and a turbid gaze that seemed not of this world… Glared at by those eyes, I felt goosebumps all across my body.
In the midst of this silence, devoid even of the sound of breathing, I unconsciously muttered,

“… … … … … …Evil God.”

In that moment, the word ‘Evil God’ seemed to spread like wildfire through the soldiers.

“RUNNN!”

The moment that somebody shouted that, our formation collapsed.
Both the soldiers and the knights ran away in chaos.
Given our positions, the General or I would normally have needed to stop that. But, we couldn’t.
And the reason was because both the General and I as well, had lost all thought of remaining there from the sheer terror.
Together with the soldiers, we turned our backs to that temple as we ran towards town as fast as we could.

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I thought that the Evil God was just some fictitious being fabricated by the Church.
I was sure that even this whole disturbance was just the theatrics of some fanatics.
But I was wrong!
If that wasn’t the Evil God, then what else could it be!

We were deceived!
It wasn’t that the Church of Sacred Light had created an imaginary enemy to fool the masses, but that they had pretended to the leaders of each country that a real enemy was imaginary.
And the reason was probably because that the Evil God was an inconvenient truth to the Church.
Could it be that even Sacred Goddess-sama’s esteemed power is no match for it?
But no, something like that can’t…

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As though ridiculing me for reaching a dead end in my thoughts, as I ran, a black flash appeared behind me.
For a moment, everybody stopped and turned their heads in that direction, but that flash flew off into the distance.
The soldiers around me felt relieved, but I instead had trembled in terror.
That light was most likely… an enormous mass of mana that the Evil God had fired as a joke.
It was good that it had been fired in a different direction, but had it been fired as us, or the town, or even the capital, then…

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While praying in my heart that the Evil God didn’t aim our way, I once again began my escape to town.

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With this, the side stories have reached the main story, but to tie the side stories in, there will be one more short story to go.

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Side story 09 – A Certain Founder’s Faith

When I was young, the world seemed filled with colour.

At the time, I had never doubted the flowery lifestyle I had been born into as a noble.
I wasn’t the eldest son so I couldn’t inherit the household, but because our family was high ranked I assumed that I would be wedded into some other family, and in fact that was what my father was thinking about.

In the Kingdom of Fortera, the nobility were split into three rough factions. The first was the Royalist Faction; a gathering of nobles that pledged their allegiance to the king and royal family. The second was the Feudal Lords Faction; a faction that pushed for the benefits of nobles, and occasionally opposed the Royalists Faction. Finally, was the Church Faction; a gathering of nobles with deep connections to the Church of Sacred Light, and took a neutral stand in the scuffle between the other two factions.
The power of the nation was roughly divided into 4 parts Feudal Lords, 3 parts Royalists, 2 parts Church, and 1 part for all the other factions, as well as those individualistic nobles that didn’t join any factions at all.

Because my family was a powerful family within the Church Faction, I had joined the Church of Sacred Light when I was young, and often met with people from the Church. When I was young I had just simply believed in what I was taught, and worshipped the Sacred Goddess, but as I grew older and came into contact with the Church more and more, I began to see reality.

Widespread bribery and debauchery, fat ministers who thought only about exploiting the believers; a vulgar situation unlike the public image.

By that time, I was old enough to know that there wasn’t any meaning in screaming ‘this is wrong’. The upper echelons who were foremost in this injustice would surely pay me no heed. The nobility in the Church Faction weren’t pious either, and were a group of nobles who wanted to use the Church’s backing to gain profits, and people who actually had faith were the minority. It was obvious that trying to expose this unfairness would just fall upon deaf ears.
Being afraid of isolation, I decided to keep my feelings locked in my heat. And before long, my faith had left me.

My colourful world had been a grey world painted in falsehoods.

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Now that I had found it bothersome to deal with nobility or the Church, although I kept up appearances, I would occasionally sneak out of my house. Having said that though, it wasn’t as though I had anywhere I wanted to go. I just wanted to see a world with colour, and so I spent my time walking around town dressed like a commoner. Unlike the world of nobles or the Church, the town still seemed filled with colour.
It was around this time that I hid my identity and registered as an adventurer. To begin with, as a noble of the Church Faction, I had been brought up in the use of a mace. Because of that, I immediately distinguished myself in the Guild. Before I knew it, I had made companions to do the requests with, and as I spent each day having fun, the colour came back to the world────up until my companions died from wounds during a request.

They were heavy wounds, but by no means were they heavy enough that they wouldn’t be saved. If they were carried into a church and received the healing of a cleric, they should have been able to live longer. The problem was that the bishops that could use high level healing magic were all occupied with the Noble Faction, and healing for just an adventurer was left for later. Once you excluded the bishops, the Church only had young clerics, and you couldn’t hope for proper healing from them.
Had I used my family name, I might have been able to give them priority, but at the same time it would mean exposing my background and it was clear that I wouldn’t be able to spend time with them like we had been. In order to save my companions, I had to cut my ties with them; because of this decision, I couldn’t come to a decision. By the time I had finally decided to expose myself, my companions had already stopped breathing.

The world once again returned to grey.
For my own conveniences, I had abandoned my companions. Because of that, I couldn’t live the way I had been anymore. I lamented and regretted, but my companions wouldn’t return.
I stopped showing up at the Guild, and spend my days drinking cheap liquor in a tavern.
One day, a man I knew from the bar invited me to a certain gathering. The group didn’t have a name, but having originally been close with the Church, I immediately realised who they were────a gathering of those who worshipped the god that the Church referred to as the Evil God. The past me would probably have scorned them and stayed away, but having half given up on myself, I participated in the gathering.

And then I came across my second, and final faith.

In the gathering, they talked about the injustice of the Church of Sacred Light, as well as the God that opposed the Sacred Goddess.
The former were things that I had always thought about, and kept hidden in my heart without talking to anyone about. Having found a place where people sympathised with me for the first time, I rejoiced.
As for the latter, although the Church of Sacred Light had spoken about that god as well, they taught that that God was an evil being that wished for the meaningless destruction of the world. No, I’m sure the truth was that the Church of Sacred Light simply couldn’t tell why they wanted to destroy the world.
When the people of the world fall into depravity, the true God will save them through destruction. To the depraved Church of Sacred Light, it’s obvious that such a god would be bad news for them. Because the Church, as well as the Sacred Goddess they worshipped concealed their depravity, they persecuted this god as the Evil God.

I had found a being truly worthy of my faith.
While secretly using the authority and assets of my family, as well as my connections with the Church that I shunned, I elevated myself within our Faith.

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There was a rumour that the god that we worshipped had descended to a certain dungeon. It was information I had obtained from the Church of Sacred Light, but because this was a matter of importance to them as well, it was hard to think that these were lies. If it turned out to be true, we needed to welcome God at all costs.
Having been recognised for my contributions to the cause, I had been left in charge of this area, and so I directed my fellow believers to Riemel where the dungeon was.

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Because the believers of the Sacred Light would get in the way if they found out, we decided to split up and head for the dungeon entrance, and meet up once it was time. Fortunately, there didn’t seem to be any adventurers visiting the dungeon at night, so there was nobody but us.
Because there was a large room on the 1st floor, we decided to hold the ritual there. The believers set up the fire, cauldron and altar whilst I meditated until the ritual began in order to heighten my concentration.

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After a while, all the believers had gathered, and the ritual began.
We burnt an incense that uplifted one’s mind, and heightened our concentration to call forth God. Because I was the one managing things I was wearing a priest’s outfit, but the other believers removed their bothersome clothes to cast off their ties to the world. There were also believers who lay with each other to offer that lust to our God.

Feeling the surge of piety and that everything was progressing smoothly, I walked to the middle of the room, and raised my right hand. The frenzied believers immediately went silent, but they were as feverish as ever… No, that feverish enthusiasm had increased.

“We now begin the ritual of offerings!”

Together with my shout, the believers all raised cries of joy.
They prepared a stone altar, and lay atop it the girl that had been bought as a sacrifice.

“Nnnnnn――――――!!”

It pained my heart to see the girl struggling in tears, but this too was for the sake of our faith. I believe that her soul will be retrieved by our God to serve as the cornerstone of the new world.

“O god of ours, please accept our humble offering.”

With those words, I brought down the raised dagger towards the girl’s heart.
I felt the feeling of cutting flesh that I had experienced in my adventurer days, together with a splash of fresh blood… That’s what should have happened, but the next thing that I felt was the sensation of stabbing at something hard, and the sparks that came with it.
The dagger than I had swung downwards had faintly marked the stone altar, and snapped at the tip. The girl that should have accepted the dagger with her body was nowhere to be seen.

What-, just what was going on!?
Where had the girl sacrifice gone?

Although I had fallen into confusion from the sudden events, I immediately realised what had happened.
The girl was tied up before me; she had no means to escape on her own, and there was no way I wouldn’t have noticed had somebody else rescued her.
If there was someone who could do such a thing, then it could only have been our God!

We had always been faithful until now, but the power of our faith was insufficient, and so we had never received a response from God.
However. However! This time, for the first time, God had shown a response to our ritual!
Aahh, the rumours were true! Our God had truly descended!

In my joy, I made an announcement to the believers.

“Have you all not seen it yourself!? Our God has accepted our humble offering.”

Perhaps my words had finally made them realise the situation because cheers of joy rang all around. Satisfied, I faced the direction that I believed our God was watching from, and waited for Their words.

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『…Untasty.』

However, the words that came to me were much too unexpected. What’s more, the voice was that of a female, still young. The sex of our God had never been recorded, but was She a goddess?
No, I can worry about that later. If She wasn’t satisfied, then as her faithful servants, we needed to apologise.

“Eh-? Ah-… Please excuse us! Umm, did it not suit your esteemed palate?”

『Humans, demons, unpalatable. Oxen, pigs, chickens, goats──animals recommended.』

Oohhh, God of ours. Are you asking us to go buy you meat from the butcher?

“U-, Understood! U-, Um… I am truly sorry to trouble you, but is there no mistake in that you are our God?”

I know quite well that it was insolence to ask such a thing, but I couldn’t help but do so. We had been granted the humble chance to exchange words with the god who had been silent thus far. This was something I needed to determine, even at the cost of my life.

『Indeed.』

“Oohhh! Receiving your words is the acme of honour!”

It was. It really was our God!
I could feel my body being filled with joy and emotion.

『Although it did not suit my palate, it is true that you have done me service with your offering. As such, I bestow this staff.』

Together with this unexpected praise appeared a single staff atop the altar.
A jet black staff that seemed to house all the darkness of the world; simple though it looked, it was a staff with a polished design, and even without touching it, I could feel an incredible power emanating from it.

“T-, This is!? T-, To think that I would be granted a divine weapon-!”

This overwhelming power was unmistakably a divine weapon.
I took the presented staff in hand, and trembled from joy.
Aahh, I was born all for this moment.

『Continue to be zealous in your faith.』

“Understood-!”

Of course. You needn’t even say it. My faith and devotion is all for your sake.
Raising the bestowed staff into the air, I turned towards the believers and shouted.

“As of this moment, I declare myself as the Founder of our Faith who will guide everyone on their path! This staff bestowed from God is the proof of my faith! Those who object, speak now!”

It was as good as declaring a supersession within the Faith, but even the previous leaders of the Faith could not deny the truth that I had been bestowed a divine weapon from God. No, rather, I would not allow them to deny it.
God told me to continue to endeavour in my faith; even if they were the “Former” Founder, I would not allow them to get in the way of my faith.

“As Founder Harvin, I declare that we will build upon this place a temple to worship our God!”

Now then, things are going to get busy from now on.

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Aahh, the colours of the world are brighter than ever!

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Later on, the “Former” Founder and leaders from various areas reproached me for naming myself Founder, but as proof that God had directly acknowledged my faith, nobody could stop me from becoming Founder any longer.
After all, apart from myself, nobody could hold the divine weapon, and even if I let it out of my hands, it would return to my side. There was no doubt that this was proof that I had been chosen.
Oohh, God of ours! I shall follow you to the end!
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TL: There’s a line that reads ‘中には信徒同士交わることでその陰気を神への供物とする者も居ます。‘ but I’m assuming 陰気(melancholy/gloom/Yin) here was a typo for 淫気(lust). Normally I’d say this for sure, but then this is an Evil God and everything, and there’s a tiny chance that I’m overlooking some cultural thing.

 

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Side story 06 – A Certain Mage’s Grief

“The Wicked Cave of the Robber?”

“Yes, it was in the Guild announcement. Apparently it’s a new dungeon, but the reward for the subjugation of the dungeon master was 30 gold coins.”

“Thirty gold coins!?”

While sitting around a table in the inn’s tavern, we reported to each other the results of the information gathering when we split up into two groups in town.
A capture request for a new dungeon? But still, for a newly formed dungeon, that’s quite a sum attached isn’t it. That’s probably just how dangerous they think the dungeon might be though.

“Apparently a bunch of parties have already challenged it, but didn’t make much progress. Not only are there a bunch of strong monsters wandering about, there’s even talk about it being filled with miasma.”

“Miasma? It’s annoying stuff, but as long as we have Widdi we should manage somehow.”

She’s young, but Widdi’s power as a cleric is greater than the average bishop. On a good day, she can even rival an archbishop, so a barrier put up by her should be able to hold out the miasma.

“Well? What are we gunna do?”

“Hmm. If everyone agrees, I was thinking that we’d challenge it. It’s a bit of a detour though.”

I thought a little bit about what Arc said. We’re the Hero Party, and on our way to the Demon King in the Demon Territory, we just stopped over here in Riemel for a little, so going to capture the dungeon would definitely be making a detour.
Having said that though, thinking about Arc and Widdi’s personalities, they probably won’t be able to leave this town alone after all, and in high level dungeons, you can get strong weapons and items as well. What’s more, although we’re not lacking in travelling money, it definitely never hurts to have more, so the reward is looking pretty good as well.

“Okay. Sounds good.”

“I’m in too.”

“I agree as well.”

After I agreed, Zio and Widdi followed, and with our unanimous decision, we were now headed to challenge the new dungeon.

*imouto*

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*imouto*

I had heard about how difficult the dungeon would be beforehand, but honestly speaking, I didn’t think it would be this hard. The miasma floating around was thick enough that I’m pretty sure we’d be in trouble without Widdi’s barrier, and the monsters prowling about were quite strong as well. On top of that, ever since we decided to take our break after the last barrier renewal, the monsters have been attacking more vigorously than ever, and sapped us of our stamina.

“Huuu, these monster attacks have been pretty crazy, haven’t they.”

“Isn’t it because we badmouthed the dungeon master and angered him?”

I grumbled in complaint while repulsing a monster for the Nth time, and Zio frivolously replied.

“It certainly does feel like they’re being sent here on purpose, huh.”

“…”

Arc agreed as well, but Widdi alone didn’t join in. Far from it, for some reason she was trembling with her head hanging.

“Widdi?”

“Oi, what’s wrong?”

“You okay?”

Seeing that something was up, we all called out to her, but Widdi just wouldn’t reply. But after a while, she finally gave her response with a bright red face and teary eyes.

“U-, Umm… I-, I need to use the bathroom…”

“…”

“…”

“…”

I chased the men away with an ‘ahem’.

*imouto*

*imouto*

High-ranked adventurers though we may be, we can’t beat biology. It’s been quite a while since we entered the dungeon, and Widdi was apparently at her limits too. After making sure we were far enough that the men couldn’t see, Widdi immediately squatted against the wall. The monsters wouldn’t care about our circumstances so there was no way to let Widdi go off on her own, so as a fellow woman, I went with her to stand guard.

It’s awkward, but there’s really nothing we can do. There aren’t any toilets in a dungeon after all, so it can’t be helped.

*imouto*

*imouto*

*imouto*

…Or so I thought, but apparently this dungeon just got weirder and weirder.
Once we went down a floor, the very first room had the entrances to a men’s and women’s toilet. They were even meticulous enough to leave a sign plate.

“Suspicious.”

“Def suspicious.”

“Pretty suspicious.”

“Whyy! Had it been on the last floor then I wouldn’t have had to do something so embarrassing…-!”

Widdi was groaning in complaint for a different reason than the rest of us, but thinking about it normally, this is as suspicious as it gets. It’s clearly unnatural to have a toilet in a dungeon. The chance of it being a trap are high. It’s high, but…

“Arc, could you check to see if it’s a trap?”

the truth is, I think I’ve just about hit my limit as well. If there are no traps, I’d like to use it. The divine protection on Arc’s Holy Sword can check for traps, so I had him check for any problems.

“Uu… To think that I’d use the blessing of the Holy Sword to check the safety of a toilet. Sacred Goddess Sophia-sama, please grant me your forgiveness…”

In the end, he apparently didn’t find any traps, so I gratefully used it.
Widdi was glaring at me hatefully, but I paid it no heed.

*imouto*

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*imouto*

When we reached the 10th floor, we hit a snag in a certain room. In the middle of that room was a large pedestal, and words were carved into it.

“『Thee who wouldst come in challenge before the throne of the undying one, arrange correctly the stars.』 huh? Just what the heck could it mean?”

“There are many undead in this dungeon, so I believe that the “Undying One” refers to the boss of this dungeon.”

Mn, that sounds right. I was thinking what Widdi said.

“I see. Then in other words, if we want to fight the dungeon master, then we have to “arrange correctly the skies”, huh? I wonder what “arrange correctly the skies” means.”

Geez, Arc sure is the same as ever. Even if you say ‘I see’, we still don’t know the important part.

“They probably mean the celestial bodies, huh? I think that’s what these marks on the pedestal represent.”

On the pedestal, apart from the words were three square holes, and some kind of marks carved inside them. A mark that was a circle with jagged teeth around them, a mark like a wide arc, and a jagged mark with five points.

“How are we supposed to arrange these marks? …They don’t bloody move.”

“Seems that putting mana into it doesn’t work either, huh.”

Zio stuck his right hand into one of the holes and tried to move it sideways, but it didn’t seem to budge at all. It doesn’t look like something you can solve with brute force. Having said that though, it doesn’t seem to be a magical contraption either.

“Arc-sama, has the guidance of the Holy Sword not given any clues?”

“Sorry, nothing really…”

“N-, No! I apologise for asking too much!”

Widdi had entrusted a gleam of hope with Arc’s Holy Sword, but apparently that wasn’t working either.
Seeing Arc reply apologetically, Widdi frantically apologised.

“Even the Holy Sword from Sacred Goddess-sama can’t do a thing? Seriously? It’s a pretty hard question, hey? As someone whose specialty is using my body, this kind of thing is a bit much for me.”

“Don’t say things like that, and think together with everyone!”

It’s a problem with Arc too, but Zio is the type to do things by force without being very good at thinking. Having said that, pushing all the thinking work to Widdi and I would be troubling.

After that, we tried things like cutting at the pedestal with the Holy Sword, or trying to move the pedestal itself, but even after trying various things, we weren’t any better off.

“It’s not good. I haven’t the tiniest idea how to get the dungeon master to come out. I thought this place would be a shallow dungeon, so we didn’t prepare enough. It’s frustrating, but let’s withdraw for now.”

“T-, To withdraw right before the dungeon master…-!”

Well, I guess it can’t be helped. We’ve reached a dead end after all, and just like Arc said, it’s also a fact that we weren’t prepared enough. Nobody imagined that a new dungeon would be this deep, so we only brought basic camping gear. It can’t be helped.

We decided to give up and head back for the surface.

*imouto*

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*imouto*

After that we decided to head back for Riemel to gather information, and a certain rumour reached our ears.
It was that the real Evil God was lurking in that dungeon.

“The Evil God? Honestly sounds like a fake, but…”

“But it’s also a fact that it wasn’t your average miasma in that dungeon.”

We realised after checking for ourselves, but the miasma in that dungeon wasn’t something normal. It was at a level where you could believe it if somebody said the Evil God was in there. What’s more, the monsters spawned were quite strong as well.

“What shall we do, Arc-sama?”

“…”

Widdi asked Arc, but he was at a loss for once, and sank into thought for a while.

“Honestly… it pains me to say it, but I don’t think we can beat the Evil God as we are.”

The Evil God is the being that’s said to create the Demon King, so there’s definitely no mistaking that he’s stronger than the Demon King. Right now we don’t know if we can defeat the Demon King, but at the very least, we don’t have much hope in defeating a being called a god.

“That’s true.”

“Yeah, pretty sure that’s too much.”

“It pains me to admit it as a follower of the Church of Sacred Light, but…”

Being a cleric, Widdi was making a bitter expression, but if we failed in vain here and became unable to defeat the Demon King, it would just be putting the cart before the horse. In the end, Arc’s duty as the Hero was just to defeat the Demon King, and we the Hero Party were there to support him in that role.

“For now, we’ll keep that dungeon in mind, and head to the Demon Territory first. If we safely defeat the Demon King, then at that time we’ll come back here and challenge it again.”

We all nodded back at Arc’s strong declaration.

“But still, despite all the work we did, all we got in the end was this weird stone slab? Geez, what a bloody waste of time.”

“Speaking of which, what on earth are these things?”

Speaking of which, we certainly did pick up this items on the 10th floor. There isn’t any mana coming from it, and it only looks like a normal stone slab.

“I don’t know either, but it was something found in the dungeon said to house the Evil God. It might actually hold some incredible power. There’s a chance that it’ll become our trump card in the fight against the Demon King.”

“That would be nice, but…”

Now then, now that we’re done with our detour, I guess tomorrow we’ll be beginning our journey towards the Demon King Castle.
I guess I’ll pray that we make it safely back to this town again.

---

 

Arc held the up Stone Slab of the Moon to the sky.
But nothing happened.

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TL: Today’s a weekend, so I’m busy with stuff around house as usual. Only managed to get one chapter out, and at… 3:43 AM.
This also marks the final re-translated chapter, so now there’s just 9 to 11 left, all new territory. Well, for you readers at least.

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Side story 05 – A Certain Guildmaster’s Melancholy

“Abnormalities in the Beginners Dungeon, you say?”

“Yes. There was a report from Lufree-san.”

When I skimmed through the report that made it to my office, I couldn’t help but tilt my head in wonder.
The Beginners Dungeon is a dungeon closeby to Riemel, and although the dungeon master was already subjugated. Because of that, the dungeon is now dormant, but not dead.
It was originally a shallow dungeon with only 3 floors after all, making the monsters all weak. Because of that it was left under the jurisdiction of the Riemel Branch of the Adventurers Guild as a training ground for beginners. Although dungeons without a dungeon master won’t grow anymore, as long as the dungeon core isn’t broken, it’ll continue to produce monsters and set traps, so it was a pretty effective training ground.

“The atmosphere and interior of the dungeon have changed, and the spawned monsters are stronger?”

In the past, the only monsters that spawned in the Beginners Dungeon were slimes and kobolds. But from what I can tell having read Lufree’s report, wraiths and black steel golems appear now. Lufree was close to becoming one of the leading adventurers, but he reported that he couldn’t match them at all.

“The revival of the dungeon master… No, it would probably be better to see this as the birth of a new dungeon master, wouldn’t it.”

Dungeon masters are born when the naturally occuring dungeon cores form a contract with a monster, animal, or perhaps human or demon. Dungeon masters steal the mana of prey killed within the dungeon, and use that mana to develop the dungeon. If left alone, they can grow infinitely. Because of that, dungeon masters become subjugation targets. Left alone it’s quite likely that they could swallow a town or city before you know it, after all.
The dungeon core in the Beginners Dungeon was presumably in good shape, so it’s probable that somebody or something came into contact with it and became the new dungeon master.
But what worries me is the fact that the spawned monsters are powerful, and that there’s an ominous aura coming from within the dungeon. Both of these factors point to the new dungeon master being a considerably powerful being. A powerful monster, or… a demon.

“Call in Vaif’s team.”

*imouto*

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*imouto*

“Pretty rare that you expressly call us over, ey, Guild Master?”

The next day, I went to meet the 4-man adventurer party that had responded to the request. They’re the top rankers of Riemel Town, and at present, they’re the highest ranking party that I can mobilise.

“I want to task you all with the investigation of this incident.”

After saying that, I handed Vaif the report from Lufree. After Vaif had a look through it, it was passed around the party.

“An abnormality in that Beginners Dungeon, …huh? And why did you go out of your way to call us?”

“Call it my intuition. I have a feeling that things will get complicated.”

“My, my. Your intuition’s always been pretty good, after all.”

Investigating the level of risk this “Former” Beginners Dungeon posed was of utmost priority. If Lufree who is basically a core adventurer wasn’t even a match for them, then unless it’s a fairly powerful team they won’t be able to determine how dangerous the dungeon is. That’s why I couldn’t be stingy.

“Please investigate with attention to details.”

“Understood. Leave it to us.”

*imouto*

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*imouto*

“So, this report was the result?”

“…It shames me to say it.”

After reading the report from Vaif, I spoke to Vaif who was in front of me. Unlike the time when I dispatched him, his party members weren’t present. It seems they were quite depressed with the results of their investigation.

“I wasn’t particularly criticising you. You fulfilled the objective of determining the dungeon’s risk, so it doesn’t matter that you failed the request.”

Only, the results are much harsher than expected. Not even in my dreams did I imagine that Riemel Branch’s top rankers would be beaten on the 2nd floor.
Powerful monsters, difficult to deal with traps, and what’s more…

“Miasma?”

“Yeah, a troublesome one that affects the mind. It’s impossible to go deeper without countermeasures.”

Miasma is an aura released by evil beings, and while some corrode the body like poisons, some are like this one and cause negative influences on the spirit. It’s known that when it comes to dungeons, the nature of the dungeon master will be spread throughout the dungeon. In general, dungeons with miasma are home to high-ranked dungeon masters, and this is particularly true for dungeons with miasma that affects the mind.
Clerics with lots of practice can form barriers, and items consecrated by the Church of Sacred Light can protect against the miasma to an extent, but it doesn’t change the fact that it’s a troublesome problem.

“But still, you did quite well in surviving a wipeout in the dungeon.”

“Well yeah, normally you’d be eaten by monsters and die on the spot after all. I did mention that in the report just in case, but…”

Apparently, after they fainted, only their items and weapons were taken, and before they knew it, they had been tossed into the dungeon entrance. This report was consistent with the one from Lufree the other day. Honsetly speaking, I don’t understand it. I do believe that it’s basically settled that there’s a new dungeon master in the “Former” Beginners Dungeon, but the purpose of a dungeon should be to kill prey inside and steal their mana. Knocking them out, stealing their weapons and items, and then returning them alive… This is the first case of its kind.

“Well? What are you gunna do?”

Even if we agonise over the dungeon master’s plan, it doesn’t seem like we’ll figure anything out. Just like Vaif said, it would probably be best to think about what we should do next. It’s likely that he personally wants to re-challenge the investigation that left him in humiliation though.

“Let’s see. I am thinking of spreading news of a request for countermeasures against a new dungeon. The reward should be about 30 gold coins.”

“30 gold coins!? …No, certainly that much might be necessary.”

Honestly speaking, it’s an extravagant sum for the subjugation of a completely new dungeon, but I don’t think this is too much. Despite being shocked, Vaif as well immediately agreed. As long as even Vaif’s team, top rankers in this branch, had trouble making progress, there isn’t any choice except to hope for manpower from elsewhere. With this much money, we can probably expect people from all across the country to challenge this dungeon.

“As long as we’re sending out a request, we need to think of a name for this dungeon, don’t we. It’s already a different dungeon to the Beginners Dungeon. Hmm, how about… “The Wicked Cave of the Robber”?”

“Fits it perfectly.”

In light of the fact that it releases a fiendish miasma, as well as the fact that its purpose can only be assumed to be stealing weapons and items from adventurers, this was the name we gave it.
Now then, while I send out the request, I’d better contact the Adventurers Guilds in other towns as well.
It seems things will get busy from now on.

*imouto*

*imouto*

*imouto*

*imouto*

That of all things, I would incur the wrath of the Evil God because of that name, was something that I hadn’t even imagined at that time.

 

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