Chapter (424) Not the end but a continuation
“What do you mean, Tet-sama?”
Rarael asked.
“I realized as I took in miasma. The monster overflow from the dungeons this time was not due to the Demon Gods’ power in the first place. This is the world’s system from the beginning. It is a mechanism in which monsters would overflow from the dungeons when the concentration of miasma in the world exceeds a certain amount. This is to maintain the world.”
“Then why did Metias-sama and Minerva-sama lie?”
Metias answered when I asked.
“I wanted to see it. How far can humans withstand an absurd world? In the first place, the reason for Ichinojo-san’s transfer to this world is only as a stepping stone to set up for Miryuu-san’s conversion into a new Goddess. To be honest, apart from that, originally you would not have had any influence on this world.”
“I seem to have been told that quite often.”
I couldn’t feel angry even if that was said of me.
In fact, even when I was in Japan, the only status I could be proud of was that I was Miri’s brother.
“So I tried testing you. If you are given overwhelming power, how would you act? I meddled with the power of the Goddess a little, gave you two blessings, and gave you various powers with the Jobless job. I occasionally transferred you when you needed to train or gave a slight helping hand when you needed it but I didn’t limit all of your actions.”
Transfer and a helping hand?
I see, I knew it. The XXXX skill was meddling from Metias-sama who gave me the Jobless skills.
“Because of that, you acted to save the world splendidly and acquired the power to surpass us.”
“But anybody could do it with these circumstances? With the Growth Cheat and Jobless Cheat, if told that the world is in danger, it’s natural to fight … Did Metias-sama want anybody who would save the world as a matter of course?”
“Yes. From now on, the miasma in the world would thicken and in the far future, a day will come where the Goddesses would have to increase the status acquired from jobs to fight against the monsters strengthened by miasma and give more powerful blessings to the transferees that they invite to this world. But a powerful force is a double-edged sword. If a person gets drunk on the power and uses it for evil, that person will become the disaster of the world. Unfortunately, I do not have the power to see into the distant future anymore. So I decided to give it a try. If an ordinary young man is given a mighty power, what would he think and what would he do? I have been looking at you through Minerva’s eyes.”
So she had been watching me all this time.
Rarael and the others were listening and relaxed their combat posture.
“What would a person do when they can do whatever they wanted with the power that you call Growth Cheat? You showed me the answer to that. So I have hope for the future and this time, I will watch over the world not as a Goddess but as a Demon God. Thank you very much.”
“By the way, does the Hero know about this matter?”
“No. Only Minerva knows about this. I’ve caused her a lot of trouble.”
She said and gently stroked the head of the fainted Minerva.
I was about to be killed many times and Quince-san and Kanon were about to become Demon Gods so I could not be completely convinced with Metias’ words. However, it seemed that she truly acted for the sake of this world.
“But if this increase in the monsters’ powers is not due to the power of the Demon Gods, does that mean the world crisis will continue?”
“Don’t worry. This increase and decrease of miasma is a biorhythm and this peak will only last for another few days. The number of monsters should decrease after a few days. However, the fact remains that the miasma will increase. So, to suppress the occurrence of monsters as much as possible, I wish to talk with the Goddesses to create a new form of a dungeon.”
“A new form?”
“Yes. Ichinojo-san, when you destroyed the dungeon, you saw the black thread that repaired it.”
“Yes.”
“That black thread is a mass of miasma. In the first place, dungeons are created by a materialization of miasma. Miryuu-san there should already know this.”
Miri sighed when Metias-sama said that.
“Miri, you were listening?”
She was silent the entire time so I thought that she had fainted once again.
“Yeah. I kind of understand. I also knew that dungeons were made from miasma. I made use of that knowledge to create an artificial dungeon after all.”
“Really?”
“Yes. That island originally had very thick miasma and I used it as material. But it turned out to be an unsuccessful artificial dungeon that was far from the real thing.”
“No, that is pretty close to my ideal. But it must be a dungeon that requires an administrator. In fact, I thought of a new form of a dungeon after seeing that. Rather than a dungeon that purifies miasma, it only collects miasma - - collects miasma and grows. With such a dungeon, the Goddesses would not need to perform their purification task. After that, if we ask the humans to reduce their consumption of magic stones, the amount of miasma would decrease a little.”
“There would be a limit to a dungeon that just gathers miasma and continues to grow. If it went badly, the world might get engulfed by that dungeon.”
“Nevertheless, won’t it turn out all right?”
Koshmar-sama appeared and said that.
“Koshmar … You’ve caused quite a lot of trouble for me.”
“Sorry, Metias. I didn’t know that you had thought that far ahead.”
“No, I knew that I would be sealed at that time. I became a Demon God with that knowledge. It was my bad to have not talked to you.”
“But it is pitiful that you lost to humans, Metias. It was the right choice to give up the position of the Goddess to me.”
Torerul-sama appeared and said, with Setolance-sama and Libra-sama appearing behind her.
“Well, that strength was the real deal. If you’re not satisfied with the fight, how about having another bout with me?”
Setolance-sama commented and pointed her spear at me.
“There’s no way he hasn’t had enough fighting. The ground is already panicking from the two earthquakes.”
Libra-sama seemed to be a little angry.
Sh*t, did I overdo it?
I recalled the earthquake in Florence.
I only released my magic on the lowest floor of a deep dungeon once.
I wonder what kind of damages occurred after I released that same magic twice on the 20th floor here.
“Erm … were there any injuries?”
“Don’t worry, we used our powers to make it such that nobody was injured. Or rather, we had to follow up on your mess which delayed our arrival.”
I was relieved after I heard that.
Let’s charge the building repair costs to Metias-sama.
“And so, Koshmar. Does that mean you don’t care how the world turns out?”
Miri glared at Koshmar.
“Ah, I said that. We Goddesses have been doing our best to purify miasma all this time. But the miasma that are not purified grow into dungeons. And so what are Demon Gods for?”
The role of the Demon Gods?
“Demon Gods are an opposing existence to the Goddesses. If the Goddesses are responsible for collecting and purifying miasma in this world from Earth, the Demon Gods collect miasma from this world and send it to Earth. They would take a portion of the miasma that can’t be purified and send it to Earth after this. The people on Earth are not idiots and would notice the existence of miasma, which can be called dark matter from their perspective. They will research it and would understand that it is created from stress such as people’s anger and sadness. And when that happens, how will Earth react?”
“You won’t know until it happens.”
Setolance-sama looked attracted to the unknown in Libra-sama’s words.
In other words -
“Regarding the problem with miasma, we Goddesses decided to create a dungeon that grows to postpone coming to a decision. A perfect lazy solution that matches me.”
Torerul-sama said with a laugh. The Goddesses thanked us and took away Tet-sama, Metias-sama, and the unconscious Minerva-sama.
It seemed as though everything was settled and headed to an end but I wanted to think calmly.
“Doesn’t that mean nothing was resolved? If they postpone it and hope that it turns out well but it doesn’t? Will the same chaos as what happened this time occur once more?”
“Isn’t it fine, Onii. The ones to resolve it will not be the Goddesses or the Demon Gods. Everyone on Earth and Otherworld can solve it together. Onii did your best for the sake of people of the future, isn’t that enough? This is not the end. The story continues after this.”
“It is not the end but a continuation … so we postpone the issue?”
It did sound convincing when it was put that way.