Epilogue: Pact between Goddess and Believer
I dreamed of the goddess's space.
Figures she'd call me here, I thought.
I turned and saw her sitting on the floor with her knees up. Despite the length, or lack thereof, of the skirt she was wearing, her panties were...still not actually visible. Her absolute territory was as impregnable as ever.
"What're you doing?"
Even as I walked up to her, she wouldn't meet my eyes. "Goddess?"
"Makoto, are you going to stop being my believer?" "I haven't even said anything yet," I protested.
"That crap the white girl came out with is bothering you, though, isn't it?"
The white...did she mean the White Grandsage?
"Were you allied with the Great Demon Lord a thousand years ago?" I asked.
"Maybe..." she answered after a pause, her face all closed off. Guess she was sulking.
"I haven't said anything about leaving."
My elemental magic was a gift skill given to me by her. I needed to be able to use it, so it was a matter of life and death.
"Even if you leave, you'll keep the skill," she told me. "Oh? I will?"
"Gods aren't so narrow-minded that we'll take back what we've given."
Huh, they're not?
"So?" she prompted. "Are you leaving?" "Seriously, why are you so focused on—"
"I mean...you're suspicious of me, aren't you?" Well, she could read minds after all. Still...
"I thought you were shifty to begin with."
After all, she hadn't introduced herself, and she'd hidden her identity as one of the wicked deities. Our current conversation was going nowhere, though. I needed to dig deeper into this.
"Why was my predecessor the demon lord's ally?" "There were lots of reasons."
So she didn't want to tell me at all? Her hesitancy aside, this was actually something I needed to know.
"Goddess, what is it that you want? Tell me, please."
There was a long pause as she looked at me in shock. "Requests usually go the other way around—why's a believer asking what his goddess wants?"
Silence was all that could be heard for a while, and I just looked vaguely toward the side of her face. Every time I saw her she was indescribably peerless. Ah, that got a smile.
She gave a sigh and then seemed to surrender before slowly beginning to speak.
"I first came into being after the Titans lost in Titanomachy. They were all imprisoned in Tartarus and I was alone... For a while, I lived with the Titanea, but the Sacred Deities soon challenged them as
well, and succeeded in killing or sealing them all away... After that, I was alone for fifteen million years. I tried all I could to free the survivors, but I ended up sealed in the Seafloor Temple... There's nothing else I can do on my own...but I still want to save my family..."
Helping the Titans... That was her true wish. I didn't think that any human could reach the place where they were sealed, though.
Besides, there was something else... The Grandsage had mentioned something that the goddess's story didn't explain.
"Why did your disciple kill heroes a thousand years ago?" I asked.
"It was the Daemons. They were beings allied with the Great Demon Lord, but they said that if we killed heroes, they'd aid in freeing the Titans."
D-Daemons? I'd never heard the word before, so I guess that was another group to add to my knowledge of this world.
"Daemons were gods that created the demons and monsters. They fought with the Sacred Deities. They didn't keep their vow to us, though..." the goddess said sadly.
"So I don't need to kill heroes this time?" "Do you think you even could?"
I thought back to Sakurai taking out those blight dragons with a single blow apiece... Yeah, with my stats, killing heroes ain't
happening. I'd have to hard pass on fighting my classmates as well.
"The situations now and back then are entirely different," Noah
stated. "In the past, the Great Demon Lord reigned over the lands with demons and humanity was hopeless. The faith in the Sacred Deities weakened with that hope, so I thought that allying with the Daemons would work better."
"Right... I see."
"Don't you think I regret it?! You're obliged to become some goddess's believer the moment you're born on these lands! I can't get any believers like that!" she cried out, her voice getting hoarse. "So I saw my chance when you turned up from another world. After all, Japan is secular!"
Well, there're a fair few Buddhists, but close enough, I guess...
"But my classmates were all scouted by the Sacred Deities as well," I pointed out.
"And you were the only one left. On top of that, I hadn't even considered that my charm magic might not have any effect on a human..."
She sure was the scheming sort.
"What do you mean by scheming? All goddesses give their believers pleasant dreams to keep them in the fold," she insisted.
"Do they now...?"
To be honest, that wasn't something I particularly wanted to hear.
"So, what do you want to do?" I asked, pulling the conversation back on track.
"The strength of the Sacred Deities comes from their faith. The more faith their believers give them, the stronger they are, and the stronger their rule over this world becomes. Conversely, if their
believers lose hope, their faith drops and their strength weakens." So, something that would cause humanity to despair. Like, say...
"The Great Demon Lord's resurrection?" That was apparently something still a few years away.
"Right." The goddess nodded.
"I'm not exactly eager to be his underling though, you know?" I said. I wouldn't want to follow the Great Demon Lord, but challenging him was also something I'd rather not do.
"I know. I don't trust the Daemons and their demons either."
Was that true, Goddess? Well, whatever. I could choose for myself who to ally with, after all.
"Bang on the money, the white girl's actually right," Noah said. "The Great Demon Lord would see all of humanity treated as less than
slaves, and a thousand years ago, things were indeed awful." I sighed.
I wished Sakurai good luck with that; we'd definitely need everyone working together.
"That was a lot to take in all at once..." I commented, putting my hand on my chin and sorting out my thoughts. "So I'd like to summarize it all. There are three things I need to do, then. First, I need to do something about the Great Demon Lord's return in the next few years. Second, I need to weaken the faith in the Sacred Deities and also weaken them. Third, if I manage all that, then maybe we can save the Titans. Is that about right, Goddess?"
Could I do that? It all sounded crazy difficult. I definitely would have refused her if she'd brought this up right after I'd left the temple.
"I wouldn't ask my only believer for something ridiculous like that," she answered. "Mainly, I just want you to be able to live your life as you want." Then, with a cutesy face, she added, "After all, the whole reason I told you to come to Labyrinthos was with the noble
intention of letting you reunite with your friend."
Noble intention, sure...
"What! It was!"
"You hide way too much." Also, the truth had eventually come out.
Hearing that, she began to weep and cry.
Right, here's the crocodile tears. I'd managed to learn how to tell the difference recently.
"Stop! You keep seeing through me!" she insisted. "B-But, this is a chance. For the entirety of the past thousand years, faith in the Sacred Deities has been getting stronger and stronger. The Daemons hate that, and so they're trying to start attacks in earnest with demons. We might be able to take advantage of that to progress our own goals."
"By 'take advantage of that,' what exactly do you mean?"
"That you take the limelight rather than the Sacred Deities' hero," she answered. "If you do, then people will start thinking that those goddesses can't be relied upon...and they might decide that your goddess is better."
"Would that even work?" I was uneasy about this plan, and she could probably read it in my thoughts.
"Well, I won't force it—you should do as you please."
Hmm, so I've got a choice?
There was one last thing the Grandsage had said that was on my mind, though.
"So my predecessor... Apparently, he went crazy?"
"W-Well, that makes it sound malicious. He just fell for my charms and went a bit weird! He was always super happy though!"
Happy? Really? I wondered if he'd gotten properly captured by her charm magic. That was like falling to corruption and being the only one pleased about it.
"Besides, Charm doesn't work on you, so it doesn't matter, right?"
"I mean, it doesn't work, no..." But was that really the issue? I guess gods and humans had completely different value systems, so I'd probably never fully understand.
"So then, what will you do?" the goddess asked, looking right at me.
Will you accept the invitation from Wicked Deity Noah and overturn the World System?
Yes No
Seriously, RPG Player? This...was maybe the hardest decision I'd ever had to make.
I looked at Noah again. She was a divine-looking, beautiful, adorable girl.
So she's been fighting the Sacred Deities all alone this entire time...?
She'd been alone since the time of myth... Honestly, I couldn't even imagine it. I suppose the loneliness would've been thousands of times worse than how I'd felt during my training in the year or so
that I'd been here. And I couldn't forget that she was the one who'd called to me once I'd left the Water Temple.
Ulterior motive or not.
Noah was the reason I had survived fighting the griffin. Noah was the one that had given me elemental magic. Noah had led me to meet Sasa and Sakurai again.
She's done nothing but give to me...
And I hadn't given anything back yet. One had to reciprocate favors, or they would simply be ungrateful.
"Makoto, what will you do?"
She rested her chin in her hand and stared at me with her beautiful eyes.
I saw the RPG Player selection screen again.
The Sacred Deities ruled this world, so I'd be going against them. And unlike my mad predecessor from a thousand years ago, I would also have to face the Daemons.
I was the only believer of a wicked deity in this world, so, in other words...
I was the world's enemy...
The difficulty level's gotten really unbalanced here. Enough so that I snorted, thinking about what a rage game this world would make.
That's fine, though.
I didn't really hesitate; I knew what I should pick. After all, I always played games on hard mode.
It's more fun like that, right?
"Let's grant your wish together," I said, kneeling in front of Noah and meeting her eyes.
Her gorgeous gaze wavered, and I felt like I'd fall into it.
Maybe...maybe I've been affected by charm magic the entire time.
"Thanks, Makoto."
Her smile was blinding.
And thus, I officially started aiming to overthrow the world with Noah, and, with full understanding, truly became the believer of a wicked deity.