All right, so, hear me out—don't you think the best kind of games are the ones where you actually get to keep exploring the world after defeating the final boss?
In an overwhelming majority of games, the credits started to roll pretty much right after you beat the final boss. Then you'd end up back on the title screen. While you could start another run, the only thing you'd get to see was the world as it was while the final boss was still out there.
Every time I played a game like that, I was a little disappointed.
It's not that I didn't get why the developers made them that way. Creating a whole other set of lines for every NPC to fit the new status quo sounded like a ton of extra work. Still, I couldn't help but be curious about the future of the world I'd spent hours saving. When nothing was waiting beyond that struggle—other than some sort of time loop where you could only redo everything from the start with the final boss alive and kicking—it left a bad taste in my mouth. It made me feel like the protagonist's efforts to bring peace hadn't amounted to anything.
Is it only me? Once I've kicked the final boss's butt, you should let me experience peace instead of bringing back the bastard! Yeah, I have strong feelings about this!
Anyway, my point was that I'd finally reached that ideal state here, in Fiori! Hooray for post-bullshit worlds!In a not-so-distant past, I'd spent my days pretending to be the saint. Now I was finally free to lounge around all day! I still had my public image to worry about, so I couldn't exactly come out and say I was a dude inside all along. Besides, my true character wasn't all that lovable, so I'd kept a saintly persona to a certain extent.
Thankfully, I lived like a hermit now, so I didn't have to do much acting—I barely came across anyone, after all.
Speaking of my days as the saint, I used to wear a white dress created especially for the role. Now, I wore...a different white dress! Not much had changed since I still only wore one piece of clothing, but it was still worth mentioning. Sadly, I wasn't the king of the pirates yet.
Anyway, I'd designed my new dress with my knowledge of the modern world in mind, so it looked a lot like the ones girls in Japan used to wear.
What is it? You're wondering, "Aren't you embarrassed to wear a girly dress, even though you're a man?" Well, I mean...I was kind of embarrassed at first, but I've been doing this whole saint-in-a-dress thing for over ten years, sooo...
I didn't really think much of it anymore. People get used to anything, truly. Besides, in this world, even men wore fluttering, dress-like tunics without any pants underneath. In some cases, they were so short that they reminded me of miniskirts.
All this to say that a long dress like the one I was currently wearing wasn't really anything to be embarrassed about.
Even though everyone and their grandma knew that I was a fake, the people had somehow taken to calling me Great Saint. I expected that the leading cause behind the nickname being popularized was the royals. It would've been difficult for them to simply admit to messing up, and that was the way they'd found a way to mitigate the issue...probably.
I personally thought that they'd be better off focusing on the real saints. According to the theory, only one saint should exist at any given time, but there'd been so many exceptions happening in this generation that there were three of them at the moment: Alfrea, the first saint; Alexia, the previous saint; and Eterna, the rightful saint of this generation. Needless to say, I didn't count myself.
Speaking of Alfrea, I was currently exploring ruins at her request. She'd kept saying that there was a place she wanted to investigate, and that she needed me to come with her, so I'd ended up tagging along.
The ruins were pretty much piles of stones stacked up. They totally reminded me of the inside of kofun—ancient Japanese tombs I'd seen on TV in my previous life. Alfrea and I—accompanied by a bunch of soldiers surrounding us, just in case—were walking along the narrow corridors that made up the interior of the structure. I got why the knights had insisted on accompanying us, but I wished they would've waited outside—it was incredibly cramped, and I struggled to take every step.
"Lady Alfrea, where are we?" I asked eventually.
"I'm not sure either, actually," she answered. "I came once with my mother when I was a child. According to her, this is the place where everything began. I don't really get what she'd meant, but..."
"This is my first time hearing about it."
"Th-That's not my fault, okay?! It's just that I'd...kind of forgotten about this place until last month. But it's been a thousand years, so I couldn't help it! You should praise me for remembering at all!"
The place where everything began... The name alone made it sound super-duper important, and I could already see the flags pop up like mushrooms all around us. Alfrea had never mentioned these ruins before. Well, with Eve's grudge out of the way for good, there was a pretty good chance it wasn't much of a priority anymore.
"Anyway, when it came back to me, I figured that taking a look couldn't hurt, so I sent a letter to Fuguten. They answered that there was something strange in the deepest part of the ruins. Intriguing, right? That's why I asked you to come with me. If anything happens, I know I can count on you," Alfrea said.
"Something strange..." I repeated.
What were we going to find there?
Eve said that this was the place where everything began, right? Maybe there's a historically significant artifact or something! I thought as we moved forward.
I would never have guessed what we actually found, though.
It was a rift. A rift in space and time.
And no, I didn't mean that as some sort of metaphor—there was quite literally a crack opening up space itself right in front of us. Around it, a crystal was keeping it sealed. It looked exactly like the one Eve had used to seal Alfrea—the space there was frozen. That likely meant that Eve herself had sealed it, but...what the hell was it?
"This is indeed...very strange," I said. "Lady Alfrea, could you confirm that this is a magic seal?"
"It definitely is. It's the exact same spell as the one my mother used on me. But to what end...? Also, this seal's starting to break."
This spell froze space itself, so it shouldn't have been possible for it to break naturally. Under normal circumstances, only a similar power—dark magic, that is—could weaken or break such a seal. I doubted that anyone had done that, yet Alfrea was right—this seal was definitely on the verge of breaking. That told me that the rift itself was pretty damn dangerous.
"E-Ellize, can you also sense...this? It's giving me the chills... I don't want to stay here any longer. Can we go home?"
"Yes, I can also tell that this crystal is brimming with negative emotions."
Dark emotions seemed to be seeping through the rift into our world. It was all very ominous.
To be perfectly honest, my own soul was just as rotten and dark as whatever was coming out of that rift, so I wasn't all that fazed. I felt at home, in a way.
I could see why the people from this world would hate it, though. If Alfrea had come here without me, she most likely would have passed out from the shock. The people of this world—especially the saints—were just too pure. They were weak to such dark urges, so they could easily be tainted. In fact, that was exactly what had happened to all the previous saints except Alfrea. None of them had been able to withstand that darkness for more than five years.
I, on the other hand, was perfectly fine. Noble emotions were the biggest danger to my personal integrity, but I was in my element in a room full of negative ones. I was constantly taking in the mana around me, so I was filtering a lot of the bad vibes in the room.
Anyhow, Alfrea was right to want to leave. This place was like poison to her soul. I could only imagine how difficult staying put was for her.
The knights also seemed to be having a tough time. They most likely had no idea what was causing their discomfort, but their irritation was plain to see. Some of 'em are making funny faces, ha ha.
"Lady Alfrea, please leave at once with the knights. I'll investigate this crystal and its contents myself."
"I...will take you up on that. Be careful, Ellize."
Rather than arguing, Alfrea left immediately. The knights showed a little more hesitation, but Alfrea encouraged them to follow her—she knew how strong I was. Eventually they did, leaving me alone in the ruins. It wasn't like I even needed escorts in the first place. As far as I was concerned, a thousand guards just meant a thousand hindrances to take care of.
"Now then..."
Just to be safe, I deployed the sturdiest barrier I could around myself. I didn't think anyone could hurt me when I put all of my strength into defending myself. In fact, I could jump into a raging volcano, be hit by a thunderbolt, or dive into the depths of the sea without sustaining a single scratch.
What in the world was that rift? It was definitely something bad since so many negative emotions were continuously seeping out of it, but I couldn't figure out why it felt so familiar to me.
I felt like I was standing in front of my parents' house. How come?
Standing there staring at the crystal all day wouldn't give me any answers, so I decided to step closer and inspect it.
I carefully brushed the tip of my finger against it.
"Huh?"
My vision turned white.
It's so bright...
What had happened? Was I under attack? It wasn't gonna work, though. I was basically invincible!
Huh? Hang on...? My barrier is eroding?!
Was that because of some sort of space magic? Either way, it was bad news!
I kept reinforcing my barrier from the inside to replace it while I waited for the light to vanish. After about ten seconds, it disappeared, and I opened my eyes.
For some reason, I found myself standing inside a modern apartment. The room was so neat that it didn't look like anyone actually lived there, though. Still, the layout felt familiar to me. I hurriedly checked the position of the toilets and the bathroom to confirm. Sure enough, I realized that I knew this apartment.
I rushed out and finally got the confirmation I was waiting for.
This was my old apartment, which could only mean one thing...
I'm in Japan?!
Image here:
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I could hear cars and trains around and every single person I saw had far better skin—and hygiene—than virtually anyone but the heroines in Fiori. I was also assaulted by the impure air you could only breathe in gigantic cities!
Yep, that's Tokyo. The (former) fake saint is in Japan, baby! The fake-saint-in-Tokyo arc is coming! No, seriously, what the hell's going on? How did I end up in Tokyo? I was in Fiori five minutes ago, wasn't I? This makes no sense!
Well, it wasn't like I'd never ended up in Japan magically before. Until I defeated the "witch," my consciousness often found its way there to join the other me. However, that was only because the missing part of my soul had still been there after failing to transmigrate. It was a bug caused by the simultaneous existence of Fudou Niito and Ellize—my two selves. Now that the two pieces of my soul had fully merged together, it made no sense for me to end up here. I never would've thought I'd see Japan again. Besides...it felt oddly real, and I could feel the air against my skin...
No way...
It wasn't just my spirit that had made the trip this time, it was my entire body!
Just to test my theory, I laid my hand flat against a window after I'd returned to my apartment. Sure enough, I felt the texture of the glass very distinctively. I opened it and felt the wind against my skin. That confirmed it—I'd been transported to Japan with my physical body.
What do I do now?
Thankfully, it seemed like I wouldn't have to worry about the possibility of being unable to go home. I looked around my room, and I could somehow perceive the same spatio-temporal rift I'd seen in Fiori.
I'll check first to be safe.
Sure enough, I was able to go back and forth between the two worlds. Touching the cracked rift was all it took.
I quickly exited the ruins, explained the situation to Alfrea, and returned to Japan.
This time, I'd brought a few things with me to experiment. I discovered that as long as I enveloped them in my barrier, I could bring both living things and inanimate objects along without any issues. However, crossing the rift was incredibly taxing, and I was pretty sure no one else but me could create a barrier sturdy enough to survive the trip. A regular person would end up smashed to smithereens. Maybe ghosts and spirits could make it, though. Who knows?
Anyhow, I'd secured a way home. With that worry out of the way, I could enjoy myself! I'd finally found my way back to Japan, so going back to my little forest without doing anything would be a huge waste!
I hoped to speak to Yamoto Tamaki-san, Kuon no Sanka's scenarist if I could.
More than anything, though, I wanted to eat till I burst! I'd done a lot to improve my quality of life in Fiori, but—while I had much better meals nowadays compared to when I first transmigrated—the food was still a far cry from what you could find in Japan. There wasn't much variation, and the condiments and spices available didn't allow for refined dishes. And I was getting super tired of having potatoes every day!
Whenever I really couldn't take it anymore, I took it upon myself to cook. I was a lazy guy at heart, though—what I truly wanted was to enjoy great food without having to lift a finger. I wanted others to do the hard part for me while I relaxed and ate.
Anyway, point was that I wanted nothing more than to rush to a convenience store to buy pastries or to a family restaurant so I could lounge while getting endless free refills.
The sad part was that I had no money...or an ID or bank account, for that matter.
Uh-oh. I'm stuck, aren't I?
In Fiori, I could've crafted weapons, armor, or even farming tools with my magic and sold them to get a bit of cash, but Japan didn't work that way. Randomly selling goods in the streets with no permit was very much illegal. Unauthorized business is bad, kids! What should I do? I thought about bringing forth precious metals and selling them to specialized shops, but... Yeah, no, they'll want to check my ID.The same went for gold and jewels. Nowadays, even secondhand bookstores checked your ID when you tried to sell them books. In fact, you needed an ID for virtually everything. There probably were a couple of old privately owned bookstores that wouldn't bother with the brass tacks, but I didn't have books with me. Even if I did, I doubted I'd earn enough to do much anyway.
This is a pain. I have no clue how to make money!
I had some decent savings as Fudou Niito, but I'd given everything to my family before passing away. Well, I'd probably get arrested if I tried using Niito's account with my current looks anyway. I had a feeling no one would believe me if I justified it by saying I was his reincarnation.
I guess my only option was to look for a part-time job that paid in cash and didn't require an ID... But if working was the cost to fill my tummy, I'd just give up and go home.
Gimme a break! Why do I have to work?! I don't wanna! Nope! Not doing it!
And so, after ruling part-time jobs out, I'd ended up creating precious metals and selling them.
How did I manage that without an ID, you ask? Easy! I used my prophetic powers to look for a specialized shop with complacent employees and headed there.
The guy I talked to was incredibly shady, and he may or may not have looked like some sort of ex-convict, but whatever. I was thankful he let me sell my stuff and that was it. We don't judge a book by its cover in this house.
I now had around two hundred thousand yen in my hands. I couldn't buy anything too fancy, but it was more than enough to enjoy regular restaurants.
I picked up a simple three-hundred-yen wallet at a 100-yen shop to store my money. For some reason, such products—ones that cost more than a hundred yen—had become super common at 100-yen shops in recent years.
Anyway, now I had a (cheap) wallet and (some) cash, so it was time to live it up!
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