Chapter 13 — Even If It Is a Cliché, This Is When a Goddess Should Appear!
“Honestly, seeing another apologize to you on their hands and knees is truly a heartwarming sensation!”
Hanakawa looked down at Shigeto, who was on his hands and knees. Leaning back in his chair with his arms crossed, the teen’s posture screamed arrogance.
They were in a private house. No one was living there at the moment, so Shigeto had made it into a sort of home base.
“I’m sorry about everything before. I apologize. Please help me save Rei.”
Of the three classmates who had brought him to this continent, Shigeto Mitadera was kneeling before him, Akinobu Marufuji had been killed by Rena, and Rei Kushima had been taken captive by her. Hanakawa had suffered tremendously at the hands of those three. Now that he was free of them, he felt no obligation to help them in the slightest. While he wasn’t sure he could call his life right now “happy,” it felt like a waste to go out of his way to ruin the measure of peace he had obtained.
“Hmm. I feel somehow that you lack sincerity. Even on your hands and knees, your pride still irritates me. Despite having lowered your head, you are still looking down on me, are you not?”
“You bastard...”
“See? It takes almost nothing to strip the facade away. You still despise me, so you are probably thinking something like, ‘Why do I have to bow my head to this guy? I even apologized on my hands and knees, so be thankful and cooperate!’ Your true feelings are positively leaking out of you.”
“Urgh...” Shigeto was at a loss for words, suggesting that Hanakawa was exactly right.
“I have not forgotten the things you did to me. Remember when you made me charge a group of enemies naked? Or when you made me search for items within the feces of a dragon? Those were all for nothing, weren’t they?”
“I mean...I’m sorry... That was wrong of us.”
“I must say, I am not fond of this attitude of, ‘I already apologized, so hurry up and forgive me!’ Do you intend to tell me I am narrow-minded for refusing to forgive you?”
“I just saved you earlier!”
“Oh? You think that makes us even? My, what a flimsy apology.”
“Cut it out already. Stop acting all arrogant just because I’m trying to be humble.”
“All you have is that Book of Prophecy, correct? That useless hint book? You have no combat power like Sir Ragna or Sir Marufuji did. No matter how frightening a face you try to present, it is not intimidating in the least.”
Shigeto’s abilities couldn’t be used directly for combat, but by using the information in his Book of Prophecy, he could efficiently collect all sorts of items. He had powerful weapons and armor that an ordinary person could never obtain. Using those, he had a considerable amount of combat ability. Under normal circumstances, Hanakawa wouldn’t stand a chance against him. But he wasn’t the least bit frightened by him now.
“Or will you attempt violence against me once again? I don’t even particularly mind. But the quest it would generate would be an issue for you, wouldn’t it?”
Abby, one of the Four Heavenly Kings, had all of the Empire of Ent under observation. Of course, she couldn’t see the fine details of everything that happened. She could only pick up on events that met a certain threshold of significance. Once she did, a quest would be created and adventurers would be dispatched to resolve the situation. As the court jester serving the emperor directly, Hanakawa was under observation as well. Although she wasn’t monitoring his every action, if he were to die, she would undoubtedly notice. That same observation network was used to determine if Hanakawa had left the capital or not as well.
“You must be fully aware of how dangerous it is to associate with me,” Hanakawa continued, “so for you to come to me regardless must mean you are terribly desperate, no?”
“Please... I won’t ask you to do anything to jeopardize your position, so—”
“Hmm, I wonder about that.”
Seeing Sir Mitadera beg like this is truly gratifying... But cooperate with him?
Rei was under Rena’s supervision. If Hanakawa assisted in rescuing her, that would put his position in jeopardy. If he wanted to maintain his current place, he should avoid getting involved.
That said, I have no idea how long the Sage’s whims will remain in my favor...
If he were dismissed from his role as court jester, he had plenty of enemies who would jump at the chance to kill him. He had gotten far too carried away with his freedom. Building up a cooperative relationship with Shigeto might not be a bad way of acquiring some insurance.
However, that cooperation could be what results in my dismissal.
Hanakawa was pulled from his thoughts by a crunching noise.
“Uh, what? ‘Crunch’?”
Someone had stepped on the back of Shigeto’s head. The crunching sound seemed to be the sound of the bones in his face being smashed.
Hanakawa looked up to find the owner of the foot. A beautiful young girl wearing a puffy, ill-fitting dress was pressing Shigeto’s face into the floor.
“If he’s bothering you, you can hurt him as much as you want,” she said. “By all means, I’ll do it for you.” Without waiting for a response, she continued to stomp on the back of Shigeto’s head.
“Wait! Please, wait!” Hanakawa tried to stop her. “Where did you—err, more importantly, who are you?!”
The girl’s foot stopped mid-air. “I am Navi, the unreliable hint book you mentioned earlier, now taking the form of a person.”
“Th-That’s not fair, Sir Mitadera! How are you so lucky as to have your Gift personified as a beautiful young female partner?!”
“I doubt he’s in a state to answer anymore, so asking him won’t get you very far.”
“Fine! I’ll listen to what you have to say! Please stop!” Hanakawa begged her. Bewildered by the sudden outbreak of violence, he couldn’t say anything else.
◇ ◇ ◇
Hanakawa, Shigeto, and Navi sat at a table. Hanakawa had healed Shigeto’s injuries so that he could talk again.
“That was going too far...” Shigeto grumbled.
“The prophecy said that this was the best way to get Hanakawa to listen. And look, he’s listening now, isn’t he?” Navi didn’t seem the least bit bothered by his complaints.
“I said I would listen, but whether I assist or not depends on the details,” Hanakawa clarified.
“Yeah, that’s fine.”
“You’ve already been helping us, in a way,” Navi added.
“What do you mean?”
“Rena, one of the Four Heavenly Kings, has moved out of the palace. That was because of your incessant sexual harassment, wasn’t it?”
“Oh! I’m pretty good, aren’t I?”
“What kind of harassment would make one of the leaders of the empire run away?” Shigeto mumbled, astonished.
“The security at the palace is strict, so as long as Rei was being held there, we wouldn’t have been able to do anything before,” Navi explained. “But now there is a chance we can save her.”
“I see. So I suppose you should be thankful to me, Sir Mitadera!”
“You want me to thank you for sexually harassing people?”
“Quite so!”
Shigeto made a bitter face. “Thank you... You really helped us...”
“Your tone sounds rather insincere, but that is fine.”
“So,” Navi continued, “we would be thankful if you could keep it up.” She pulled out a slip of paper. Unfolded, it was large enough to cover the whole table.
“What is this?”
“These are the bases of Luna, Rena, and Abby.” It was a map of the entire capital. Symbols and letters were written across it in various places.
“Ohh! I was in quite some trouble, not knowing where they had gone! Is this the power of prophecy?”
“Yes. I can create as much paper as I need and transfer any data onto it.”
“That is quite impressive.”
“I’ll give this to you. We want you to cooperate, but we won’t ask you to do anything dangerous. We just want you to keep doing what you have been doing so far.”
“In what way?”
“We want you to continue harassing the female leaders of the empire.”
“I see. And you will make use of that chaos.”
“What kind of sexual harassment are you going to do that’s going to cause ‘chaos’?” Shigeto interjected again.
“But would it not be sufficient to merely bother Miss Rena?”
“We don’t want them to know that Rena is our target.”
“I see, so you wish them to believe I am doing no more than making my usual passes at them!”
So far, it didn’t seem like anything all that dangerous. If he had been asked to contact Rei, or get her out himself, or set things up so that they could break into Rena’s mansion, it would have been another matter, but all they wanted was for him to continue behaving as he had been.
“Very well! Even if they are leaders of an evil empire, earning such displeasure from beautiful ladies like that is somewhat unpleasant, but if it is for Sir Mitadera’s and Miss Rei’s sake, then it shall be done!”
“Man, you really are awful when no one is holding you back,” Shigeto muttered. “I’m not sure it’s okay to leave a guy like you on the loose.”
Hanakawa folded up the map and put it in his pocket. “However, you came to this country to defeat the Sage, did you not? That seems impossible now, so what do you plan to do next?” Saving Rei was fine, but he was curious about what they’d do after accomplishing that.
“Well...”
“We’ll still take him down,” Navi said confidently, despite Shigeto’s hesitation, surprising him as well.
“I-Is that so? I believe you would be better off fleeing once Miss Rei has been emancipated!”
“What? Are you serious?” Shigeto cried. “He killed Ragna instantly. There’s no way we could beat him!”
“And if we run, where exactly are we supposed to go in this world that’s ruled over by Sages?” asked Navi.
“When I said I wanted to save Rei, you said I would be better off running away!”
“I meant that you should retreat and make preparations. What would running away forever accomplish?”
“Hold on! You’re supposed to be a Book of Prophecy. Don’t try to decide my goals for me!” Having lost the will to fight the Sages, Shigeto’s voice was tinged with anger.
“My apologies. But as a Book of Prophecy, I have a natural instinct to lead my owner towards their final objective.”
“Please, Miss Navi,” Hanakawa cut in. “No matter what you say, defeating Lord Yoshifumi is entirely impossible. Even I thought to keep an eye open for any openings he might show, but there has been nothing I can do against him.”
“Even if there was an opening, what would you be able to do?” Shigeto replied.
“This isn’t just about Yoshifumi,” insisted Navi. “We could defeat all the other Sages too. What we need to accomplish that is the World Sword Omega Blade.”
“Ah, you did mention something edgy like that before,” Hanakawa remarked. “If I recall, that is the reason we came to this nation in the first place. Do you really believe you can defeat a Sage with one or two of those swords?”
“Yes. That is why it exists. If we can get a hold of it, we should be able to manage.”
“I suppose we were indeed gathering materials for it. Do you mean to say you have collected everything you need?”
“Those were materials to strengthen the blade. The sword won’t show its true strength right when we first get it.”
It didn’t seem like she intended to share any further information.
◇ ◇ ◇
Hanakawa returned to the palace. He now knew where the other leaders’ homes were outside the palace, but a lot had happened today, so he was fairly tired. If he was going to do anything, he would have to start tomorrow.
Returning to his room, he lay down on his bed. Closing his eyes, he immediately began to feel sleepy.
“Hm? What is this?” The next thing he knew, he was in an empty white space. “Is this a dream? Did I truly fall asleep so quickly?”
“I am Malnarilna.” A bearded old man was standing in front of him.
“What? Who is that?”
“I am God.”
“Ha ha, so it’s finally that time, then? The time to bestow upon me new powers as I am sent to another world... Except I’ve already been suffering in another world for quite some time now!”
“What are you angry about?” Surprised by Hanakawa’s sudden outburst, the old man calling himself Malnarilna cocked his head in confusion.
“At any rate, a bearded old man is no good for a god! Even if it is a cliché, this is when a goddess should appear!”
“Oh, really? You don’t like the old guy?”
“I see, so you want a goddess.” Suddenly, Malnarilna spoke with the voice of a child. And then he split in two.
“Really, ever since we took the name Malnarilna, everyone assumed we looked like this. No one’s complained about it before!”
“Did you know we were goddesses already?” The old man vanished, replaced with two cute young girls who looked like twins.
“Uhhh...what?”
“I’m Malna!”
“I’m Rilna!”
“The two of us together are Malnarilna! Yay!”
They clapped their hands together, perfectly in sync.
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