Chereads / Another World With My Smartphone / Chapter 94 - The Sovereign Rises

Chapter 94 - The Sovereign Rises

"Welcome back, Master Touya. Welcome back, madams."

"Ping!"

"Pong!"

"Pang!"

Shirogane bowed lightly, and the three Gollems by his side followed suit.

Seemed like they were learning well.

We'd come back to the Reverse World to see if the massive Phrase invasion in

Sandora ended up having any effect on this side.

The regular Phrase were seeking the Sovereign Core, so there'd be no reason

for them to come to the Reverse World, but the metal devils were different. I

was concerned that a large number of those types might've come out into this

world, so I decided to investigate.

I did a search on my map for them, but no hits came up. Thankfully it seemed

like my fears were for naught.

"Hey, Touya! Do you think he was including me when he said madams just

now, huh? Huh?!"

"Absolutely not. He just meant to say madams and you."

"You mean madams and mistress, right?" I rolled my eyes as Doctor Babylon

grinned at me.

I'd brought five people with me this time. Babylon, Yumina, Lu, Linze, and

Leen.

Sue, Elze, Yae, Sakura, and Hilde had things to take care of so they passed.

Sue was with family, Elze, Yae, and Hilde were training with the knight order,

and Sakura was helping her mother at the school.

I only came to check if any of the Mutated Constructs had come in, so frankly I

didn't have anything else to do in the Reverse World. But Leen and Linze said

they wanted to read for a while in the library, and Doc Babylon said she wanted

to check out a city since she didn't get to leave the house last time.

I figured that it'd be a waste to just pop in and go straight back, so I decided

to take her around. Yumina and Lu decided they'd tag along, too.

"Alright, let's go to the Theocracy's capital, then."

"We can eat while we're there, too."

"Sounds good..." I opened up a [Gate] to the capital and brought us to a back

alley near the main street.

We walked out to see the regular hustle and bustle.

I picked up a newspaper and we all headed toward the cafe we dined at the

last time.

It was already mid-afternoon, so there were a few vacant spots. I ordered a

few snacks, as well as a drink from their menu called "kophee." Judging from

the scent... It was just coffee.

As I picked at my food, I scanned the newspaper in front of me. If Leen were

with us, she'd have absolutely told me off for having poor table manners.

"Newspapers are definitely useful, huh... Maybe we can introduce a printing

press to Brunhild."

"The world doesn't have much in the way of long-distance communication

technology right now. We could mass produce stuff using Babylon, but we don't

want it to open up the floodgates for stuff like propaganda or fake news. It'd be

handy, but we don't need to make all the social developments. Let's just wait

and see if they manage it themselves." I shrugged my shoulders and took a sip

of my kophee before passing the paper to the Doctor. Yep, that's coffee. It's a

little bitter, though... Needs sugar.

"Oho?" Doctor Babylon made a weird noise as her eyes fixed on a certain part

of the paper. Her eyes narrowed as she dug around in her pocket, produced a

small lens, and looked through it to inspect the news. You just carry around a

magnifying glass? "What is it?"

"Well... Look at this article." I read the headline she was pointing at. It said,

"Pirate Ship Drifts Ashore At Barköl Harbor."

"Huh...? Let's see... Unidentified ship, assumed to be pirate, drifted in at

Barköl harbor... The entire crew of thirty-four men has been apprehended...

What about it?"

"Look at the photo of the wrecked ship. Right here. Look at the emblem on

the sails. It's tattered, but don't you get it yet?" Hm? Emblem? I borrowed Doc

Babylon's magnifying glass and looked closer at the black-and-white image. It

was certainly a wreck of a ship, alright.

I looked carefully and realized what I was looking at. An emblem of a unicorn,

a shield, and stars. I was completely floored. "That's the Refreese National

Emblem!" I stared down at the image in absolute shock. It couldn't be... And yet

it was. The ship that had gone missing a while back. The McClane. I skimmed my

eyes over the rest of the article and found that the ship had crashed into the

harbor and washed ashore, and the crewmen had all been apprehended under

the orders of the man who ruled Barköl. They couldn't speak the language of

this world, so they had no way of defending themselves.

"But why would a Refreese ship be in this world?"

"I have no idea... God said that people could drift between worlds now and

then, but this is ridiculous..." I shrugged my shoulders as I answered Lu, but my

mind was abuzz. Is this just a coincidence? Or is this related to the weird stuff

lately?

"Well, we can't just leave them alone. Let's go help them out."

"Hold on a second. What do you plan on doing afterward, hm? Return them

home?"

"Well, obviously, I... Oh... Oh."

"Use your head. If you rescue them like that, you'll have to explain the

Reverse World to them. Not just the crewmen, but also the Refreese

government, and then the other world leaders too! I don't think the world is

ready for that yet." She had a point. I couldn't expect the other world leaders to

accept this matter as nonchalantly as my fiancees did. Well, there was a chance

they'd understand due to the Phrase, but it was still a bad idea.

"There should be a spell from the Dark school that hypnotizes people, right?"

"You mean [Hypnosis], right? We could definitely use that to alter their

memories, yeah."

There were a lot of ancient Dark spells that could manipulate people

mentally. I could use those spells to manipulate memories, confuse people,

send them into frenzies, consume them with lust, make them lose their sanity,

or even just turn them downright braindead. Frankly, those spells scared me.

I didn't really want to use spells like that against anyone who wasn't a really

horrific villain, but I had no real choice in this situation. Plus, they'd been

thrown into jail in a foreign land with no knowledge of what their captors were

even saying, they'd probably be happy to lose memories like that.

I'd read up on [Hypnosis] in the Babylon Library before, so I was sure I knew

how to use it.

"Alright, let's go save them. Seems like that harbor is in the Panaches

Kingdom." I used my map to check where the place was, taking care not to

project the hologram since we were in a public space.

"It seems to cover the territories of Palouf and Lihnea in our world... Palnea

island." Yumina muttered to herself as she looked over the map. She wasn't

wrong, it was basically identical, just flipped.

It was quite a bit away from Allent, though.

"I'll fly over there, okay? You guys sit tight while I do that."

"Alright. Please take care."

I could've used [Teleport], but I was still a bit scarred from the last time. I

decided not to be lazy, since it'd only take about thirty minutes.

I headed into a back alley and cast [Invisible], then shot off into the sky with

[Fly]. I applied [Accel] for good measure and rocketed away like a missile.

After a while, I had a good view of the sea below me. Soon enough I saw the

coastline of Palnea island, or rather, the Panaches Kingdom.

I landed in the harbor, which was found in the south-east, and immediately

opened up a [Gate] to the back alley near the cafe I'd left behind. Then I got the

girls and headed back through the portal.

"There are a lot of ships here... Some of them look strange." Lu looked around

the harbor with curious eyes.

There were plenty of docked ships without any sails. Are they steampowered? Or maybe magic? I looked over to the pier and saw several men and

Gollems hauling cargo. Wait...That ship has arms. Is it a Gollem itself? I walked

along the harbor and saw several fresh fish for sale. The pungent smell of raw

fish hit me right in the nose, but it wasn't too bad. Seemed like they were

keeping the fish cool with ice generated by Gollems.

As I continued walking, we reached a place filled with the tasty scent of grilled

fish. Steel yourself, Touya... No getting distracted... Oh... Is that steamed sea

snail...?

"Touya, look!" Yumina pointed toward a crashed ship on the shoreline. I could

see the tattered sail hanging from the snapped mast. It bore Refreese's

emblem, there was no doubt about it.

We got close enough to see the nameplate engraved on the side of the ship.

Sure enough, it said McClane.

"Well, guess there's no denying it now." The ship managed to just barely

survive, much like the man it shared a name with.

I hailed a nearby sailor and asked him about how the ship came to be claimed

by the local authorities.

He said that about four days prior, the ship made landfall after a harsh storm.

There were thirty-four survivors aboard, and the rest were apparently dead.

The officials in the area tried to ask them questions about how they got there,

but neither party could speak with one another, so the inquest went nowhere.

They tried to hand over a map so the crew could point out where they were

from, but for some reason, the men tried to flip the map upside down, and they

just got stressed about it. The crews were also scared by the sight of the

Gollems. Some of the crew buckled under their own stress and started to raise a

fuss, so ultimately all the men were subdued and put into prison.

They found weapons and cannons aboard the ship, so it was suggested that

they were part of a pirate band that had been causing trouble in the area.

Welp... They're part of the navy, so the weapons make sense...

"Kind of ironic that they originally set off to take out the pirates, only to be

branded as pirates..." I felt a little sad for them, in all honesty.

Their fate hadn't yet been decided, but if they were found guilty of piracy

they'd surely be executed. I needed to hurry up and get them out.

The prison they'd been put in was a small building next to the harbor security

dorm.

It was still midday, but that didn't mean much to my magic. We headed

toward the building. It was made of something that looked like concrete and

had a fairly dull design to it.

There was only a single guard at the entrance, probably because it was the

afternoon.

There were all kinds of people walking up and down the street, and any

commotion would attract attention from nearby. That was probably the reason

for such short staff. Either way, we were lucky for it.

"[Invisible]."

We walked to a quiet area nearby, and I made everyone invisible. We walked

right past the guard and made our way into the entryway. There was a staircase

ahead that led to a jail area.

There were three cells in total, with roughly ten men in each. The men looked

powerless and miserable like the fight was completely gone from them. Some

were even sobbing.

I used [Silence] in a small radius to prevent the guard upstairs from hearing

us. That would prevent even a large commotion from being noticed.

I then undid my spell. The crewmen, who saw the appearance of sudden

invaders, instinctively cowered away from us.

"Is your captain here?"

"Y-You can speak our language?!"

"I can. I also know you guys were hunting pirates outside of Refreese." The

men looked shocked as a scruffy, red-bearded man pushed his way forward and

spoke to us.

"You can call me Simmons. I'm second-in-command. We lost our captain

when he fell overboard."

"What happened to you exactly? Please tell me all you can." Simmons looked

down with a mournful face as he began to recount what happened.

"I... I don't know... On that day we were headed to the pirate hideouts with

the others. But all of a sudden, this weird mist set in around us at all sides. It

was strange... Way too strange. The weather was fine until it suddenly

changed... The mist got deeper and deeper... And swirled around us, and I

swear it started glowing a dark gold. The golden mist swallowed us all up, and

we lost all sense of direction... Our compass just broke, it didn't work at all. We

couldn't navigate by the sun or stars, either. Then when the mist vanished, we

got caught in a storm. We held on for dear life, and some of us didn't make it...

When the storm ended, we washed ashore right here. We celebrated, cause we

thought we were saved... But we weren't. These strangers didn't understand us,

and we didn't understand them. They didn't even know the country we were

from. They have all these weird ships, and these strange iron animals I've never

seen before. Hey, tell me! Where are we? What are those iron animals? Why

was the map backwa—"

"Tempt, o Dark! Implanted Falsehood: [Hypnosis]." I'd heard enough and

triggered my spell before Simmons finished.

A purple mist began to spread through the air, clouding the eyes of all the

men in the jail.

"Listen to me. You were separated from the Refreese fleet and attacked by

sea monsters. You got out of it, but your ship was wrecked in a storm and

washed up on an uncharted island. The stress of your starvation and extreme

conditions caused you to see weird hallucinations. That's what those weird

ships and iron animals were. They were just wild visions. Just dreams."

"...Just... Dreams..." The crewmen just stared back with vacant eyes. I hoped

that'd be enough.

Lu asked me if that was morally justifiable treatment, but I thought it was

probably better for their long-term mental health to convince them that their

trauma wasn't real. Plus they had met with a storm, so the story was still kinda

true.

In the end, their trip to the Reverse World would just be a bad dream.

I opened up the cells and then opened up a portal to Drakliff island. Yumina

and the others guided the men through.

They walked slowly and unsteadily, like zombies.

Once the girls were through the [Gate], I left the prison through the entrance

I'd come out of. I walked up to the McClane's wreck and stashed it in my

[Storage], then immediately left for Drakliff island before anyone noticed.

I was sure that a vanishing shipwreck would definitely attract prying eyes

before long.

I wanted to get those men back to the regular world as soon as possible, it

wouldn't be good for them to keep them in that state.

All of a sudden, my smartphone started to vibrate. It was an incoming call...

And the one calling was none other than God Almighty.

"Uhh... 'Sup?"

"Ah, hello there, Touya. Seems like you found a little bit of trouble, hm?"

"Yeah, I'll say... Were you watching?"

"Indeed. There was something I wanted to tell you, you see. It is related to

the issue you have been facing recently... Would you mind paying me a little

visit?" I wondered what God Almighty wanted from me so bad that I had to go

up there and see him. I said I'd visit him when I had a chance, then ended the

call.

Hmm... Did a problem happen in the other world or something? I wonder what

the issue is...

Oh, crap. Can't spend too much time thinking about it. I got people to

relocate.

I sighed quietly as I walked to the Dimensional Disruptor Mk. II and fired it up.

◇ ◇ ◇

We brought the McClane crew back to the regular world, and dumped off the

shipwreck on a shoreline not far from Refreese, along with the men themselves.

They woke up a small amount of time later and saw the coastline over the

stretch of water. They immediately started swimming toward land and made it

without any trouble. There was a small road nearby that led toward a fishing

town, so I felt they'd be safe from there.

They'd stick to the script I gave them via the [Hypnosis] spell, so I was sure

it'd be fine.

"Guess we can take it easy now."

"I'm glad they're safe." We kept an eye on the men from the shadows to

ensure they got to the village safely. The villagers clothed and fed them, then

the men recounted their story. It seemed like the whole story with the Reverse

World had been rendered as a mere hazy dream.

I opened up a [Gate] and we all headed back to Brunhild.

I still had no idea how the McClane sailed to the other side, though...

There were examples of people being spirited away in this world, much like

my own... But I wondered if them going to the Reverse World was really just a

random coincidence.

On the subject of being spirited away, I remembered that I needed to spirit

myself away to meet God Almighty. I figured I could probably ask him more

about what happened.

I told Yumina and the others that I was heading out for a while, then headed

to the kitchen to pick up some pudding, cake, dorayaki, and other treats as a

gift for the old man. Crea wasn't in, so I was basically sneaking treats from the

kitchen without permission... I made a mental note to apologize if she was mad

about it later.

"Alright, I'm off."

"Give him my regards, you know?" Karen was in the kitchen eating some cake,

so I told her where I was going. I had a feeling I'd be blamed for the cake she'd

taken, too...

I fired up a [Gate] to the Divine Realm, and immediately stepped out to see

God Almighty in his regular room, seated on his cushion.

"Good day, Touya."

"Hey, it's been a while. Here, I brought you some snacks."

"Oh, thank you so much." God Almighty took the little box of desserts and put

the pudding and cake into his mini-fridge, and then placed the plate of dorayaki

in the middle of the table alongside some fresh tea.

"So what was it you wanted to tell me?"

"Well... I do wonder where I should start... I think I should explain to you how

I... Or rather, how we gods are placed as patrons of worlds." God Almighty

started to mutter a bit as he stroked his beard.

"As I am sure you know, the number of worlds that we gods survey is

immeasurable. But what we manage when we oversee these worlds are not

necessarily the worlds on a micro level. We, for example, cannot interfere with

civilizations that may develop there, even if the civilization was headed on a

path of death and destruction. In the end, death and destruction is just as

natural as life, after all. The worlds that head toward such a fate are typically

dealt with by the god of destruction, that is his job you see. It works in tandem

with mine. I typically birth new worlds once he eliminates one." Huh... This god

of destruction guy sounds pretty casual, contrary to his scary name...

"Now, it is not just ruined worlds that the god of destruction watches... There

are also deviant worlds. For example, a world in which a wicked god has

managed to gestate, and all preventative measures have fallen through..."

"W-Wait a second... You can't mean..."

"Fret not. The world you live in right now is not yet classed as a deviant world.

The wicked god has yet to descend and cause chaos there. But... I am afraid to

say that it is on the cusp of such a status." Wait... Does he mean that if the

wicked god starts mobilizing, then the whole world could get annihilated by the

gods? "And that is not the sole problem... The wicked god birthed from events

in your world has been spawning familiars and causing trouble in the space

between worlds. Look here, if you could." God Almighty raised his right hand

toward the small table, and suddenly a 3D hologram of the world I lived in was

projected atop it.

He then raised his left hand, and a 3D map of the Reverse World appeared

next to it. The two worlds were symmetrically lined up as if there was a mirror

between the two maps. I also couldn't believe it had taken me this time to

realize it, but both of the worlds appeared to be completely flat.

"This was the state of the two worlds in relation to each other about half a

year ago. However..."

The two worlds gradually began to grow closer and closer, until there was a

slight overlap on the two maps.

"This is how the two worlds look in relation to each other right now. The

wicked god and its spawn are attempting to fuse these worlds. Or rather... They

may have already succeeded to an extent."

"What?!" I knew that the Mutated Constructs and the McClane appearing in

the Reverse World had to mean something... But I had no idea something as

insane as this was even possible. "Why would the wicked god do that?"

"By merging the two worlds together, they would become a single world. Or

rather, a new world entirely, one that was not born from me. That would

separate it from my influence entirely. I am sure the servile god who died to the

beast originally planned something like this, and they are merely continuing it."

"That's crazy!" I had no idea what the implications of that even were. "Now...

These deviant worlds are typically dealt with by the god of destruction after a

collective divine consensus. If we were to leave it be, it would be possible for it

to generate negative effects and start influencing other worlds, after all. That

certainly would not be something we want." God Almighty's eyes pierced right

through me, causing me to instinctively gulp in fear.

"And that is why... We have reached a consensus. We will have you handle

this situation, Touya."

"Excuse me?!"

Hold up! How's that the consensus you came to?!

"Please handle the disturbance between these two worlds as best you can. If

you can achieve this, then by my authority as the god of worlds, I will formally

recognize you as a fully-fledged God. A High God."

"Whaaaat?!" But that's higher ranked than Karen, Moroha, and the others!

Can you even do that?! "In all honesty... I expect these two worlds to remain

connected. We do not have a god in place to be patron of this new joined

world. It will certainly become a new world, one that would cause me no end of

hassle to reclassify. That is why I wish for you to become its patron in my stead,

Touya."

"What? There's just no way I can do that! I'd be a fake god at best!"

"You are no fake, my boy... No pale imitation. It is not a difficult task, either.

All you need to do is ensure that the god of destruction has no reason to move

in on your world. It will be your territory."

Isn't that exactly what's happening right now while it's your territory?! Is this

really okay?!

"It is not as if you would ascend to such a status immediately, anyway. You

will be more than permitted to spend time down there in order to continue

your training period."

"For how long, exactly?"

"Let me see... Roughly two or three-thousand years should do."

That's extremely goddamn long, what the hell! I'm pretty sure the God Co. Ltd

would be guilty of an overly long training term for new employees if it was a real

company! So... Hold on, let me get this straight. I'm the new hire at this place...

And I'm spending two or three thousand years in training, and then on the first

day of my job, I'll be promoted to management?! This is a messed up command

structure, old man!

"Did you already decide this?"

"Not at all. It is quite fine if you say no, of course. You can take the path of

working up the ladder from the lowest ranks. But that would leave your world

in my hands, and I am quite sure it would become a deviant world before long...

If it was determined as potentially harmful to other worlds, then we would have

no choice but to annihilate it. It would be quite the waste if you went to all the

trouble of dealing with the wicked god only for that to happen."

"...I don't really have an option here, do I..."

"You will have to forgive me. I had planned on a method that wouldn't cause

as much of a fuss, but it is still rather messy..."

"No, I get it. Even if I didn't do anything, the god of destruction would destroy

the world and the wicked god alike, right? I'm just glad I might have a chance to

fix this mess... Plus I kind of want to give that thing what's coming to it, since it's

been causing trouble for everyone." I shrugged and chugged my now-lukewarm

tea. This was indeed troubling, but I knew it was inevitable. I didn't exactly think

I was management material, but I had a feeling two or three thousand years of

training might help.

All I had to do was beat the snot outta that wicked god.

"I am glad you accepted these terms, Touya. I would be rather sad if that

world came to ruin, too." God Almighty sighed and slowly drank his tea. I

wondered if he'd developed a little bit of a soft spot for the people of that

world after spending some time there.

"So if that world was judged worthy of destruction... What would happen to

me and the others?"

"You and your dependents, those girls closest to you, would be picked up and

evacuated to a safer world. Then everything would be obliterated by the god of

destruction, reduced to mere dust."

His response was honestly harrowing. Everyone in my country, all the world

leaders, everyone I knew... They'd be gone forever. I didn't even want to

consider such an option.

Whether it was the Phrase or the wicked god, the god of destruction would've

been tasked with taking care of it eventually. The only thing that made a

difference was the fact that I lived in that world. That's why I had to do my best.

I steeled myself and firmly resolved to work as hard as I could.

And that immediately went right out the window when I got home. I found

myself frantically rolling left and right on my bed in a panic. The responsibility

was way too much after actually thinking about it.

"Me? Managing a world? What the hell? How can I do that when I suck at

managing this country?" I continued to thrash and grumble as I squeezed a

pillow to my chest. Guh... I'm worrying way too much... I need to take care of

that wicked god... Auuugh...

"But... Guh... Gaaah!!" I felt like the receptionist at a business suddenly being

given a task way out of his depth. Why would you trust the receptionist with

something like that?!

Urgh... Usually, I could just ask a trusted higher-up to help me, but...

"No way that'd work... The only person out of that lot who's even vaguely

reliable is uncle Kousuke..." Ugh... A love life gossip, a battle junkie, a hunting

enthusiast, a music maniac, and a tiny drunk are my only alternatives...

Kousuke's not exactly good at anything except agriculture, either...

It was true that they were lower-tier, specialized gods... It wasn't exactly their

fault they only had one focus, but still...

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah... Just grumbling about some annoying stuff..." I heard a voice,

prompting me to sit upright on the bed. It was Yumina, wearing her pajamas.

She looked really cute in them.

"What brings you here...?"

"You seemed stressed earlier... You didn't eat much at dinnertime and

seemed distracted. I wanted to see if you were okay."

"Oh...Sorry for worrying you." Geez, I really am useless. How can someone like

me manage a whole world if I can't even keep my fiancee from being worried?

Ugh... I gotta stop dwelling on this, this sucks.

"So? Did something happen? Can't you tell me?"

"Well... It's just..." I'd already told Yumina and the others about my divinity,

and I figured that since they were my dependents on a divine level, they had a

right to know about what was troubling me.

I told Yumina exactly what happened between me and God Almighty up

there. I tried to word it delicately, hoping she wouldn't be too scared about the

idea of the world being destroyed.

"I see... So that's what you're upset about?"

"Mhm... I have to do the work of a real god all of a sudden... I mean... It'll still

be a while before I actually have to do it, but knowing it's there is kinda scary." I

laughed bitterly. I honestly felt a little pitiful showing this side of me, but it

wasn't like I could hide it.

"It's going to be okay. You can do this, Touya."

"I appreciate your support, but I'm still uneasy..."

"It'll be okay. I know it will be. This world and the other one are going to be

fine. It's you, Touya. I know you'll pull through." I looked up, finding her

mismatched eyes staring right back at me. I really wondered where that level of

confidence came from... Honestly, though... I was happy she thought so highly

of me.

"Plus you're not alone, silly. So don't carry this burden on your shoulders

alone. We'll all work with each other, okay? We'll make it through. I promise.

There are all kinds of people who'd be willing to help you!"

Yumina let out an innocent smile and closed her eyes. Her kindness pierced

right through me, prompting an instinctive response to lunge forward and pull

her close in a big hug.

"I'm sorry for worrying you. You're right... I have all of you. We'll face any

challenge together... I'm sorry I have to ask this of you, but I'll be counting on

you, okay?"

"Mhm..." Yumina hugged me back just as tightly. I was so thankful that I'd

met her, and all the others.

They were irreplaceable. Not just them, everyone I'd met so far on this crazy

journey in another world... They were precious and kind. I had to protect the

world

for

the sake of the people living in it. Real feelings of courage began to well up within me.

"No fair... How come Yumina gets to do that...?"

"Shh, Sue! Don't blow our cover!" Wait, what was that?! I suddenly looked

across the room. I then realized the abnormalities in the space around me.

There were a few distended curtains, an open closet with misplaced clothes,

my chair wasn't pushed in all the way under my desk, and I could see a foot

poking out from behind my bookcase.

"How long have you guys been there?!"

"Since you were rolling around on the bed..."

"That's since the beginning!" Elze and the others came out from their hiding

spots with guilty faces. Even Paula was there.

Was I really so out of it that I didn't notice they were hiding in my room while I

was having my meltdown?! "Why were you guys hiding to begin with?"

"Well... We ended up having a talk about who would come to comfort you..."

"Yumina-dono is very talented at rock-paper-scissors, she is." Seemed like

they were doing silly things again. I was about to sigh when Sue came bounding

toward me.

"Listen up, Touya! It's not just about you! We're here too, you big dummy!

We're the strongest family in the world, right? No way we could lose to that

Destruction guy!"

...The god of destruction isn't our enemy, Sue... I sighed and smiled. The fact

they felt that way made me happy. Sue then jumped up and hugged me like

Yumina did, and then grinned mischievously. Just as I wondered what she was

up to, she kissed me on the cheek.

"H-Hey! Don't you dare try to get one up on us, little missy!"

"Th-That's right! Just because you're the youngest doesn't mean you can get

one over us!"

"...I won't lose..." Elze and Linze started walking toward me, but Sakura

nimbly slipped between them and kissed me on the other cheek before they

could even get close.

"Whaaaat?!" Screamed all the girls in unison. That prompted a stampede, as

all of them came charging toward me. G-Girls, please! I'm flattered but you

can't all kiss me at the same time! Augh! W-Wait, is someone trying to undo my

belt buckle?! What the... Paula?! What are you doing?! Quit that! I ended up

under a dogpile of fiancees, but I was happy. I knew that together, we could

overcome anything.

◇ ◇ ◇

I was glad that I was resolved to do something, but that meant I had to put

some action behind my words.

The elimination of the Phrase and the mutants would carry on as usual for the

time being... But I wanted to see if I could mitigate the inevitable panic when

the Reverse World and the actual world fused together.

Though... Expecting people not to panic when their entire world becomes

twice as big and connected to another land with an entirely different culture

would be a bit much.

I was sure there'd be mass confusion on both sides.

That's why I knew what I wanted to do next.

"You wanna learn how to traverse different worlds?" I brought up the subject

during breakfast, while Karen was hungrily chowing down her toast, and

Moroha was gulping down her morning tea.

"Why would you wanna... Oh, because of what we talked about earlier?"

"Yeah. Being able to use that ability would make it a lot easier to switch

between the two worlds." I didn't want to have to go to Babylon every time I

wanted to make a trip to the Reverse World. Frankly, I'd been shying away from

learning that ability since I didn't want to lose any more of my humanity, but it

seemed like becoming a god was inevitable at this point.

"Well... We'd be fine teaching you that, yeah. We're here to help you out and

stuff, so don't worry."

"Umm... The only issue is that there isn't really anything to teach, you know?"

"What do you mean?" Karen, who had now finished her toast, said something

that surprised me.

"Using the ability to travel across worlds is basically the same as regular

transportation magic, you know? It'd be fine if you can grasp that, and you

already can. All you gotta do is come with me through a few worlds to get a feel

for it, and you should be set, you know?" Through a few worlds...? Does she

mean worlds other than this one and the Reverse world? "So which one of you

will show me?"

"I just said so, you know? Go around with me. Moroha is gonna be training

with the knights today. I'm fine with it, you know? I think it'll take you about a

day to get the fundamentals down." Karen drank her tea down then stood up. Is

that really something I can get down in a day? I'd rather be spared from

anything too brutal or taxing...

The two of us went out to the courtyard.

"Okay! Channel that divinity of yours through your whole body, you know?

When you feel it envelop you, you gotta let it seep out through your pores, you

know? Don't activate a full Apotheosis, just let it gently smother you all over the

place." I did as she instructed and let my own divinity flow through me, I spread

it out a little. I was surprised by how well I could control it, even to such a fine

degree. It seemed like I'd improved without realizing.

"Mm... That's good! So make sure you focus, you know? We'll try jumping

worlds now." Karen reached out and grabbed my hand, and I suddenly felt a

lurching sensation as my body felt as if it was moving upward.

I felt as if I was being pulled upward by a bungee cord, but the sensation was

suddenly cut short by a pressing force of gravity. My body felt like it weighed six

times as much... It was terrible!

"Guh..."

"Woo! We did it!"

Karen grinned, prompting me to look at my surroundings. We stood across a

vast, rocky plain. There were rocks rolling around in the wind here and there,

and the sky itself was a rusty red.

It was like the depiction of Mars from this one sci-fi movie I saw as a kid. I

couldn't totally recall the title. There was nothing around but a dust bowl. I just saw redrock sand dry sands.

"...This is another world?"

"That's right. It's hard to explain, but this world is about as old and developed

as the one we just came from, you know? It just has fewer people..." I asked her

to explain further, and she told me that this world was fairly advanced, but a

world war broke out. The resulting carnage turned the air and ground toxic, and

the very planet became inhospitable to human life. The survivors were living in

underground domes, apparently.

Karen then went on to explain that if we weren't using our divinity, then the

toxins in the air would've rotted our lungs and caused us to shrivel up and die. It

was quite harrowing, all in all.

"Well, it isn't too rare for apex predators to have that role stripped from

them, you know? Look over there." Karen pointed over in a direction and I saw

a tiny, six-legged frog-like creature scuttling around the rocks. It had adapted

and was getting around just fine, it seemed.

"That species might end up taking this world over someday, you know?" She

had a point. There was the Cretaceous—Paleogene extinction event sixty-six

million years ago on Earth. There were a lot of proposed theories as to why that

ended up happening. There was the theory that it was a meteorite, rising sea

levels, natural decline of the species, volcanic eruptions, pathogens, a shifting of

the poles, and some even believed aliens did it. It looked like that kind of thing

happened everywhere.

I wondered if the Phrase counted as an extinction event in action.

"Alright! On to the next, you know?" My hyperactive older sister grabbed my

hand again, and the bungee-jump sensation overtook my body once more. It

was horrible...

When the feeling subsided, I opened my eyes to see a beautiful grassy plain

spreading out before me. A gentle breeze carried a sweet scent in the air.

Clouds drifted through the skies, and there were even a few peaceful looking

mountains in the distance. It was a far cry from the last world I'd experienced.

"Guess it's an ordinary world this time..."

"The concept of the ordinary is fundamentally subjective, you know? This

world doesn't have a single animal in it, actually."

"Wait, what?" When Karen said that, I did notice how quiet things were.

There wasn't a single bird in the sky, nor did I see any insects or rodents

scampering about in the grass. This world was a world of plants.

Wait, then how does pollination work? Don't they need bugs for that at least?

What about the soil? Don't earthworms help enrich it and stuff...?

As I mused to myself, Karen bent down and pulled out a tuft of grass. Almost

immediately, an identical tuft shot out of the ground and replaced it. What... I

stared in disbelief and repeated her motion, pulling out a handful of grasp

myself. Just like before, the empty patch was immediately filled out. I had no

idea how that worked.

It seemed like applying my standards of sense to a foreign world was

pointless. It wasn't like it had to abide by the rules I knew.

"Alright, let's gooo!"

"Already?!" Karen didn't even bother explaining what was up with the grassy

world. Instead, she grabbed my hand and we went shooting off.

After that, we passed through countless realities. I didn't even know how

many we went through by the end of it, but it helped me grasp just how to

move through dimensions.

It was kind of like [Teleport], I had to develop a strong visualization of what I

was aiming for, and then seek out the world I wanted.

A metaphor used once was that the worlds were positioned kind of like steps

on a staircase. If you know which step you're on, then you should be able to

take steps up, down, or even diagonally.

Plus, any world I'd been to before would be easily revisited similarly to how I

used [Gate].

"So, time to try it yourself, you know? Head back home! If you get lost, I'll find

you." I closed my eyes and tried to visualize the position of my home in the vast

universe. Uhh... I think it's around... Here, maybe?

I triggered the jump. I'd gotten used to the bungee-like sensation, but it still

made me feel queasy. I opened my eyes and found myself near a small road in

the countryside. There were mountains in the distance, clouds in the sky, and a

field nearby.

A horse-drawn carriage went by, making a clattering sound as it did. I also saw

a large tree somewhere in the distance. It was then that I realized I recognized

this place.

I walked over to the trunk of the tree and placed my hand on it. It was exactly

where I thought I was.

This was the place where I first opened my eyes in this world. This was where

it all began.

That meant the carriage was probably headed to Reflet. As I took in the

nostalgic feeling surrounding the place, my sister warped in not too far away.

"If you had landed back at the castle I would've given you an A+ grade! But...

You made it back to the right world, you know? So you get a B-." ... Geez. I

thought about something that made me grimace for a half-second, then asked

Karen a question.

"...Would I be able to use this power to return to the world I was born in?"

"Umm... That world is pretty far down the chain, you know? It'd probably be

hard to reach it as you are now. But you could when you get used to it. I just

wouldn't suggest it..." Yeah... Fair enough. If I showed up there after being dead

for this long, that would cause issues.

Guess I could turn invisible and take a look around, though... I decided that I'd

definitely go back there someday, that day just wasn't coming any time soon.

As far as I was concerned, the world I stood in was my world. I didn't need any

other.

"Can I take others with me to other worlds like this?"

"You can do that, you know? Just be careful... That toxic world we went to

would've killed any of your fiancees, so don't jump to worlds you don't know!"

That would've been bad. Without the divinity that we gods had, there was a

chance I could've taken someone to a world where they would've just instantly

died. That got me wondering how Ende dealt with that issue. He probably had

the luxury of scoping out a world in the space between dimensions before

actually going inside. Come to think of it, I haven't heard from Ende... Wonder if

he's okay. Then again, he's not the kind of guy who'd die easily or anything.

"Actually that reminds me... That spirit world you took me to that one time,

was that another world?"

"Not exactly, you know? It's more like an add-on to existing worlds. Kind of

like a satellite that exists in its own bubble? If the main world was destroyed,

the spirit realm that corresponded to it would also vanish, you know?"

That made sense. So the spirits would disappear along with the world... That

got me wondering something else. "Wait, then... Doesn't the Reverse World

have its own spirit realm? Wouldn't it get mixed with ours when the two worlds

collide?"

"If the worlds were too far apart to start with then that would be possible,

you know? But the Reverse world is a neighbor to this one, so they share the

same spirit realm. But I don't really know how the spirits will react when the

two worlds become one. There could be cases like extreme climate change,

rising sea levels, or even displacement of landmasses, you know?"

"Wait a sec! Wait a sec! Don't just talk about something so serious in a casual

tone! Why didn't you tell me that sooner?!" After my sudden outburst, Karen

responded by staring at me blankly. Then she blinked once or twice, stuck out

her tongue, and threw me a wink.

"...Oopsie!"

"Hello, God Almighty? There's a goddess down here who isn't doing a very

good job at helping me! All she does is eat dessert, I'd like to swap her out for a

better model."

"No waaaaaay!! Don't be mean, you know? I taught you how to move across

worlds, you know?! I just forgot one teeny thiiiiiing!" I started faking a call to

the old man, so Karen started whining and grabbing on to my side. Geez... That

isn't a teeny thing at all! If the new world ends up falling to ruin due to the

spirits freaking out, it'd make me look like an idiot!

"So how do we deal with it?"

"Umm... You could warn the spirits in advance so they aren't surprised when

it happens? Or you could just make them your servants, you know? You have

divinity and all."

That was right. The Sand Spirit I met in Sandora said something to that effect.

That spirits were subservient to the power of the gods.

"Well, you aren't exactly a full god yet or anything, you know? There'll be

some spirits that would take more convincing than others."

"So... how do I go about making spirits obey me?"

"There are countless methods, you know?

"Method 1! Persuasion!

"You gotta talk it out with the spirits and make them see your side of things,

you know? It's a good, calm way out! Love and peace, you know?

"Method 2! Beat the crap outta them!

"Show them that they can't hope to match up to a god! Bully them into

submission, you know? Might makes right! Search and destroy, you know?

And that's it."

"That's two methods! You said there were countless ones! Gaaah!"

So I have to talk or use force? This ain't right!

"Method three... Blackmail..."

"What..."

"Figure out their weakness, you know? That won't really make them

obedient, though. They'll probably resist you and be upset. You gotta think

about it like you're the new boss at a company, you know? Some employees

will listen, while others will be more difficult. If you have the time, you can talk

to them one by one and solve their issues, but if you don't have time, then..."

"Then it's method two..."

I need to take the search and destroy route? No way, any company doing that

would go under! That'd be past shady dealings and going straight into criminal

activity. I can't do this! This metaphor doesn't even really work!

"What's the problem with method two? Didn't you use that exact method to

subdue Kohaku and the others?"

... Wasn't that different? No... I guess it wasn't, huh.

"If the spirit ends up being agreeable, then you can just leave them alone, you

know? If the spirit is less agreeable, then just overpower it and it'll obey. Spirits

are pretty honest like that." Really? They won't hate me? I don't exactly want to

be known as a spirit bully or anything. Is it really gonna be like an old TV drama

where the two people disagreeing have a fistfight then come to a heartfelt

understanding? I don't buy it.

"For now all I need to do is go to the spirit realm, right?"

"That's right, you know? When you approach the spirit, tell them that you're

the upcoming patron of this world and that they should listen to you even if it's

a little annoying, you know? After that, the spirits will probably divide into two

groups, the ones who say "Sure!" and the ones who say "Heck no!" Then you

just need to destroy the latter group, you know?" ...Destroy? I don't wanna kill

them! Sis, please don't be so overdramatic.

Well, I do remember hearing that spirits couldn't strictly die and would

eventually come back, so... I guess I don't need to hold back? I'd rather this went

peacefully, though... The whole peace and love thing sounds nice.

But I'm pretty used to things not going how I want them to, so...

Guess it's time for some old-fashioned searching and destroying.

◇ ◇ ◇

"Grooowraaauuugh!"

The giant Minotaur-like spirit staggered backward after I landed a solid punch

on his snout.

He was either a spirit of copper or zinc, I couldn't remember. After I'd landed

in the spirit realm and done exactly as Karen told me, they did just about what

Karen expected. They split into two camps that either liked me or hated me.

The ones that liked me were all like "Okay! We'll work with you!" while the

ones that didn't like me were all like "Grr! Why would we obey someone like

you, huh?!"

And that's how I came to be having a (fist-based) conversation with the

rebellious spirits.

I activated my Apotheosis so I wouldn't get worn out, but they were

surprisingly resilient. For example, this copper or zinc guy that I'd just beaten

was a specific type of metal, and if you went up the chain of command he and

his cohorts were dependents of the Stone Spirit.

I figured that if I could just get the Stone Spirit to join my side, then everyone

in his family tree would be on my side as well.

But I was wrong. Even though I'd converted him to my side, they still fought

back.

They just came up to me yelling stuff like "It doesn't matter if you convinced

stone-bro! We're more than enough for a puny god like you!", and then when I

beat one of them they were just like "Huh? Think you're hot shit cause you beat

the Tin Spirit?! He was the weakest one of us!" It was annoying as heck.

"Woohoo! He did it! Mister Touya does it again!"

"Ahaha, rough 'em up! Kick their butts! You're so amazing, darling!"

"Serves you right, you big meanie! Show him who's boss, tough guy!" The

spirits who had already pledged allegiance to me cheered loudly as they

celebrated my upper hand. For whatever reason, most of the spirits that joined

me identified as female, while the ones that went against me identified as male.

Thanks to that distinction, I felt like I just pissed off the guy ones even more...

I didn't exactly feel good punching them out, either way.

There were a few female spirits among the rebellious ones, too. But they

were more like rowdy delinquent girls... But still, spirit or not, I found it hard to

hit girls, so I did end up pulling a few punches here and there.

And then after I beat them, for whatever reason or other, those defeated girls

joined my crew and started cheering for me too.

"Oooh, lord Touyaaa! Go and win!"

"Do your best, sweetie!"

"Mm! I just wanna eat you up!" There were a few weird male spirits that I'd

defeated and converted, as well... They were cheering for me... I didn't exactly

want to be their friend, though.

"Come at me next, child!" Another shirtless, musclebound spirit came

charging at me. He wore a turban and had Arabian-esque pants on.

"Stormy! You better not fight against Touya!"

"Ghh... Enough outta you! Even if you feel that way, Wind, I can't just accept

him as my boss!" The Wind Spirit, clad in light green, frowned at her

subordinate and berated him a little more. It seemed he was the Storm Spirit.

He was supposed to listen to the Wind Spirit, but he just wasn't having it.

"Take this!" The Storm Spirit turned his legs into a swirling vortex as he

charged toward me. His fist was sparking with lightning as he raised it,

preparing to knock me down. But I simply raised Brunhild and shot him in the

head with a divine bullet.

"Ow!" Given that something so powerful only made him say ow, that was a

testament to how resilient spirits could be. The bullet was still just hardened

rubber, but the divinity I'd clad it in would've been enough to obliterate most

things.

Either way, his momentum was damaged, allowing me to punch him hard in

the side. I'd enhanced it with [Power Rise], too.

"Guuuuh!!" He flew backward and smacked into the Zinc Spirit that I'd

defeated earlier.

What a pain all these spirits were. They were so single-minded that I was glad

a good chunk of them had just joined my side off the bat.

"Woohoo! You're the best, Touya! Hey, Stormy! You're all thunder and no

lightning! Give up already!"

The Wind Spirit went after the Storm Spirit and started slapping him about.

Hey now... He's part of your family, right? Be nicer! You're making the poor guy

cry!

There was a hierarchy in the spirit realm, apparently, with the pillar spirits

standing at the top. They could be considered the representatives of all the

other spirits.

Apparently, the Wind Spirit was one of these pillar spirits, but I had difficulty

seeing her as something important. She was about as nonchalant as Karen was.

"Did you think something weird about me just now, you know?"

"I didn't." Karen was watching me fight, and she seemed sharp as ever. I just

pretended like she was wrong, didn't have time to deal with her hassle.

Among the other pillar spirits, there was the Water Spirit, the Light Spirit, and

the Earth Spirit. They'd all sided with me.

Interestingly enough, another of the pillar spirits was here. The Dark Spirit.

The very same one I'd fought back in Ramissh.

She had revived and assumed her true form. She claimed to have not been in

her right mind back during our last encounter.

The funniest thing about it to me was that she, who was once a monstrous

beast with several appendages, now took the form of a young girl with black

hair and black eyes.

She wore a black one-piece dress and shyly waved over toward me as she sat

next to the Light Spirit. Her hair was in a short bob, and she almost looked like

she was sitting with her older sister. The Light Spirit had curly, golden hair and a

bright smile.

The Dark Spirit that I had fought back in Ramissh had taken that form after

being contaminated with thousands of years of negative human emotions.

To be honest I felt kind of guilty knowing that I'd so mercilessly beaten

someone who seemed so innocent now. But even though I did that, she

harbored no ill will toward me.

It was possible that when a spirit died and rebirthed itself, the new one didn't

have any memories of its old life. But I dared not ask her.

Even so, seeing her innocently waving at me just made my heart ache. I'm

really sorry... Please forgive me. I didn't know you were such a sweetheart!

"Each and every one of you weaklings is a disappointment! Let me handle

this!" A female spirit stepped forward. She had blazing red hair and quite literal

sparks of fire in her eyes. She wore similar clothing to the Wind Spirit, but it was

cut shorter for ease of movement.

"That's the Fire Spirit, you know?"

"Oh? A pillar spirit?"

"A pillar spirit."

Karen was pretty blunt about it. Interesting... The Fire Spirit, eh? Does that

mean all the pillar spirits are women?

"Pillar spirits... Or rather, all spirits, go through a several-thousand-year life

cycle. In the end, they revive themselves and are reborn. They can become a

man or a woman, or even an animal, or something like a dragon, you know? It's

just a coincidence that most of this generation identifies as female. Their

personalities and emotions change based on the form they take, as well. That's

how they can get the most varied life experience, you know?" Huh... It's kinda

hard to fight against a girl, though... But I think this one's the last female

enemy.

"Get a load of this!"

The Fire Spirit charged toward me, a loud sound ringing out with each step

she took. She was generating explosions beneath her feet, intensifying her own

speed with each inch closer to me. Does she have dynamite in her soles or

something?! Geez!

"Haaah!"

She raised her hands and called forth several balls of fire. She cared not for

her surroundings, reducing it all to a raging sea of flames. I was worried about

the cheering spirits behind me, but the Water Spirit had already erected a

protective barrier for them.

I flew into the sky of the spirit realm and dodged each of her shots. I didn't

need to cast [Fly] when my Apotheosis was active.

"Don't think you can run...!" Suddenly, several pillars of flame came billowing

up into the air. They then split apart and completely surrounded me,

attempting to trap me in a pincer movement.

I quickly turned Brunhild into blade mode and slashed ahead, sending a wave

of divinity to disperse the fire.

"How?!"

"How about I get a turn to attack, huh?!" The maximum speed I could reach

during my Apotheosis was far faster than [Accel] and [Boost] combined. If I

actually used this kind of power back down in the mortal realm, then I'd

probably end up collapsing right away and going unconscious for a while... But

the spirit realm was closer to the divine realm, so I wasn't drained as fast.

I moved toward the Fire Spirit in the blink of an eye. I grabbed both of her

hands with one of mine, restraining her fully. I then took care not to injure her

too badly before sweeping her leg out from under her, then I slammed her body

into the ground.

"What?!" I pointed Brunhild's blade right at her chest. It was over.

"I... I lost..." I pulled up the Fire Spirit by the hand because she'd admitted I

was the victor. For some reason, her face was reddish around the cheeks. I

wondered if she was ok.

"Y-You're plenty strong, huh..."

"Hm? I guess so, yeah. I train against a sword demon every day." Even though

I trained with Moroha daily, I didn't think I was even close to matching up to her

ability. She was the god of swords, though... So in terms of technique, I was

completely screwed by default. But I felt like in terms of general battle ability

she was way above me, too.

"Alright. Who's next? You guys still want a piece of me?" I threw a few

inflammatory comments toward the other rebellious spirits. I figured riling

them up would make more of them attack me at once. I wanted it to be over

already.

"W-Well... G-Good luck in your fights...! U-Umm... I'll be cheering for you...

Gosh..."

"Hm? Oh, sure." The Fire Spirit emitted a few deep red flames for some

reason and shuffled off awkwardly. I didn't know what was up with her.

She was completely red-faced up to her ears, and she was emitting a few

reddish flames from her head. I wondered if she had a fever or something... It

wouldn't be unusual for the Fire Spirit to have a high body temperature, but she

didn't feel all that heated when I touched her arm.

Karen simply stared at me and looked frustrated for some reason. She let out

a sigh and started muttering.

"...It might be because of your divinity stemming from the highest tier of

godhood, but you really are a natural ladykiller... I fear for the future, you

know?"

"What are you talking about? I'm not a killer..."

What does she mean? I try to avoid fatalities whenever I can!

I sighed quietly and turned back to the other spirits, before suddenly realizing

that they were directing raw killing intent in my direction. Wait, what?! Did my

insult just now work or something?

"You piece of shit...! You took away our precious fire!"

"I-I'm so jealous! What the hell?! I'm so damn jealous! First, you run off with

Dark, and now you want Fire to yourself, too?!"

"Today I will kill a god!"

"Even if you took away the flame of our Fire Spirit, the embers of envy in my

soul are heating up!" Huh? What...? Why are they crying? Wait... Why are their

tears red?! Spirits are so damn weird!

"Death to the enemy!"

"Chaaaarge!" The remaining spirits all cried out in rage, and what sounded

like misery, before charging toward me. Why are you crying?! What did I do?! A

short while later, the spirits were scattered across the battlefield. They were

completely defeated.

For some reason, I felt guilty... It was almost like I was the villain here for

whatever reason.

"Hgh... I have no regrets... Even if I knew we'd lose, I still had to stand and

fight for what was right..."

"The embers of my envy will never fade... Someday we'll get that bastard...

Someday..."

"Ahh... Th-The Dark Spirit is such a hottie... Unf..." A few of them were

muttering things I really preferred to just ignore.

The Light Spirit stepped forward from the crowd and looked over to me. She

raised her hand into the air and began speaking loudly.

"We, the pillar spirits declare our recognition of the celestial spirit king,

Mochizuki Touya. It is our hope that he will guide us well into the future." The

Water, Earth, Fire, Wind, and Dark Spirits raised their hands into the air and

joined the spirit of light in their pledge.

And with that, the issue with the spirits was resolved. It ended up getting

pretty rowdy, but it was all over now.

Even so, I couldn't help but wonder if there wasn't a better way...

◇ ◇ ◇

"So what's the deal with Ancient Spirit Magic, exactly?" I sat around in the

glimmering spirit realm and asked the pillar spirits a question.

We were having a small tea party. I'd pulled a table and chairs out of

[Storage], along with some tea and snacks.

It was kind of a weird sensation, since the spirit realm didn't actually have a

ground or anything, so we were floating but not at the same time. It was even

weirder because the Storm Spirit I'd beaten up earlier had totally rolled around

as if hitting the ground when I knocked him over. I didn't understand the rules

at all.

"You know? That whole Ancient Spirit Magic thing?" Belfast's court magician,

Charlotte, was researching that if I recalled correctly. I hadn't gone to visit her

in a while, though.

"That is magic forged through contracts. We lend our powers to those who

bind a contract with us. But the proper way to form those contracts is no longer

around in the mortal realm. It would appear that our language, the Ancient

Spirit Script, has also been lost."

"There were times when our spiritual dependents could be called out by

mistake, but none of the people down there actually understood enough to see

what they were messing with. In the end, they just kept asking for power, and

nobody managed to form a proper contract." The Fire and Light Spirits

answered my question.

It seemed that that to contract with a spirit, you needed to form a mutual

arrangement. You were borrowing power from them, after all. Which meant

you had to see them as equals.

It was different from summoning a beast, as well. Spirits were allowed to

break the contract if they were unsatisfied. If they were asked to do something

they didn't want to do, they were also allowed to refuse.

If summoned beasts were like employees or laborers, then spirits were more

like friends. If you treated your friends like workers, then they'd obviously get

fed up with you and leave.

Then again, if you kept pushing your employees they'd probably get upset

with you as well.

"So I guess I should start spreading a more spirit-friendly agenda, huh? I guess

I should talk about how spirits are equal to humanity."

"Actually it might be troubling if we were contracted and then relied on too

much. We wouldn't want our contractors becoming too familiar with us,

either." The Earth spirit folded her arms.

Spirits were basically personifications of natural elements. Since the olden

days, people have revered mountains, worshiped the seas, feared foul winds,

and thanked the earth for its bounty. That was why spirits were indispensable

to the gods and went on to form the worlds they were assigned to.

"Well, putting you guys aside for a minute, Spirit magic should be usable by

contracting with your dependents, right?"

"That's right. Take one of mine, for example, a Salamander. If you formed a

contract with one, then you'd be able to use Fire Spirit magic."

The Fire Spirit shrugged as she ate a cookie. It seemed like the magic's power

depended entirely on the skill of the contractor.

Normal magic required you to have an aptitude in that particular element.

The elements of fire, water, light, earth, wind, dark, and null. If you didn't have

an aptitude for one, you wouldn't be able to use magic.

However, Spirit magic could actually be used by anyone that managed to

contract for it. But there were also some prerequisites to being able to forge a

contract, so I couldn't exactly say if it was easier or not.

This probably sounded obvious, but someone with an aptitude for Water

magic was more likely to get along with a water-related spirit. It wasn't too hard

to realize why the use of Spirit magic fell into decline over time, given that kind

of preferential treatment.

If someone was capable of using Water magic and had to choose between

using their own or asking a spirit to lend them their power to do something

similar... It's obvious that most people would just use their own Water spells.

But Spirit magic had its own perks. For example, no matter how big the scale

of the spell, it had minimal impact on the caster's own mana reserves.

That was pretty obvious, though. The one who actually used the magic was

the spirit being summoned. All the summoner had to do was use enough magic

to call the spirit.

So even a little child with a small amount of magic could potentially cast

devastating spells by becoming friends with a more powerful spirit.

That was why it was important to manage the world's understanding of spirits

and their nature.

The pillar spirits all agreed that my proposal of spreading Spirit magic

throughout the world again was fine. Obviously, the details of contracting

would be up to the individual spirits. It's not like they had to do anything they

didn't want to do. That's what separated this from a mere summoning ritual.

The spirits and the contractors were on equal footing.

Some of the rebellious spirits got angry at the idea, and declared that "We'll

never contract with anyone married, or anyone with a girlfriend! I'm not

lending my power to any Chads, they have it good as it is!" Frankly, they were

weirding me out, so I just let them stew in it. They had freedom of choice at the

end of the day.

I didn't really understand them, or why they were making paper masks with

the word "Envy" written on them, but I just decided to leave it be.

"The main issue is most people can't see spirits, I guess."

"Once a spirit gets recognized, then we'll always be visible. Fairies should be

able to see us pretty easily, too. There are also humans out there with a rare

birth condition that gives them spirit sight!"

The Wind Spirit had a point, the fairies would definitely be able to master

Spirit magic pretty easily. They were practically pros at regular magic anyway.

I decided to go find Charlotte and talk to her about it. She knew the most

about Spirit magic out of anyone that I knew.