Coming-of-Age Ceremony
“Fortuna, this is…”
“Yeah. Sprout’s started turning it into a world.”
The suspicion he’d been nursing proved right on the mark.
Jun’s eyes went wide as he peered carefully into the subspace.
A vast spherical space large enough to hold two houses. All sorts of items drifting leisurely inside. And finally, right in the very center, Sprout sitting there all alone.
Aside from Sprout, everything else was only a faint outline—but the mere fact that he could identify their shapes with his own eyes felt strange and wondrous to Jun.
Because not a single ray of light existed inside the subspace.
The darkness that filled it would never allow such a thing.
“Only those who can become the origin of a world can drive out the darkness of the void. In the entire universe, the only beings capable of that are gods and divine beasts.”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah. I’m only explaining this now. Weren’t you curious all this time?”
“Uh… not really. I just figured that was how it was.”
At Jun’s answer, Fortuna stopped peering into the subspace and turned to stare at him with an incredulous look.
“What? Why? What’s with that face?”
Jun felt wronged.
Thanks to his radar, the inside of the subspace was perfectly clear to him, so he’d never had any reason to wonder about the darkness within.
“Ah, no. If it’s our Jun, yeah… that tracks.”
“The way you say that is kinda rude.”
“Ahem! Anyway, our Jun is ridiculously lucky. Maybe it’s because of who’s stuck to his side?”
Fortuna clung to him with a smug, triumphant expression.
Jun pushed her face away with one hand and asked,
“You mean getting Sprout is what makes me lucky?”
“Yep! Even gods can’t easily obtain a divine beast. That’s why gods without one either invade other worlds or become the origin of a world themselves.”
Fortuna added that the gods currently invading this world of Lumen belonged to the former category, while Earth’s god belonged to the latter.
“Sprout’s origin is one of those other worlds currently invading this place, right? Why would that world’s god bother invading here instead of just planting and raising Sprout?”
“Impatience, maybe? Normally a world with its own universe is considered a complete world, but growing one that far takes a considerable amount of time. Stabilizing the world’s ecosystem is hard work too.”
“Are there downsides to becoming the origin of a world yourself, like Earth’s god did?”
“There are. All your spirit and power get concentrated on maintaining the world, so you can’t move freely and it’s hard to work miracles. That’s why the existence of a god on Earth is so unclear, and why there’s no mana.”
“How did someone like that manage to form a contract?”
“The moment the invasion began, Father went over with a contract in hand. They were on friendly terms, so he used to visit often.”
Hearing her explanation, Jun recalled the tablet he’d used at the time of his reincarnation.
He’d thought the talk about enjoying entertainment on Earth’s side was just a joke to ease the tension—but apparently it had been real.
Come to think of it, web novels and webtoons were full of stories where a writer who was secretly a god, or a friend of one, dragged someone off to another world. Maybe that was actually happening?
No, of course it is. Reincarnation exists, so why wouldn’t that?
It was so absurd he let out a snort of laughter.
The Earth of his previous life had apparently been a far more fantastical place than he’d ever imagined.
“Jun?”
“Just having a silly thought for a second. More importantly—is this warm breeze also Sprout’s power?”
Inside the subspace, not only light but air and warmth had been nonexistent as well.
In every way, it had been the worst possible space for any living thing to survive.
“Yep! Creating an environment living things can survive in is one of a World Tree’s roles and functions.”
“So does that mean we can go inside the subspace now?”
“Probably not yet. At least half the subspace will need to be covered in land before that’s possible. Right, Sprout?”
Swish-swish.
When Fortuna sought confirmation, Sprout—who had been fretting over the possibility of Jun coming inside—hurriedly shook its leaves.
It seemed to mean she was right.
“When do you think it’ll be possible?”
Growing impatient, Jun finally couldn’t hold back the question.
The benefits of having his own land he could move to anytime, anywhere had already started stacking up in his mind.
It definitely wasn’t because he wanted a secret base. Really.
“As long as there’s enough divine power and mana, it’ll happen soon. I’ve told you over and over—once a divine beast germinates, it grows like crazy.”
“Really? Then right now is… too much. I’ll give it later.”
The cores that had heated up during his physical remodeling still hadn’t fully cooled.
Left with no choice, only Fortuna filled the subspace with divine power before closing it and bidding Sprout farewell for now.
After that, they ate breakfast, then spent an hour polishing weapon techniques as a form of post-meal exercise. By the time they finished, the clock hands pointed to nine.
Only then did Jun leave the cabin with Fortuna and head for the church.
Having already finished his physical training and hating to waste time, he used Teleport and Blink without restraint.
His identity had already been exposed to the enemy, so there was nothing left to hide.
Barely a few minutes after leaving the cabin, Jun and Fortuna arrived at the entrance to Primuni Village.
“I hope the Coming-of-Age Ceremony gets here soon.”
“Why? Your son’s still a long way off from his own.”
“Obviously so I can hear the song the kids will sing at the ceremony. That kid’s going to be in this one, after all.”
“Ah, that one. Yeah, I’m looking forward to it too.”
The militia members leaning casually against the village gate, chatting away without noticing his approach.
Whatever they were anticipating, both men’s eyes had gone dreamy and unfocused.
For some reason—really, for no particular reason—Jun’s mood soured, and he poured that feeling straight into a pointed cough.
“Ahem!”
“Wh-Who goes there!”
“Identify yourself!”
Startled out of their wits, the guards hastily leveled their spears at him and tried to sound fierce.
Jun was currently wrapped tightly in a magic robe, so his identity couldn’t be confirmed by appearance alone.
“It’s me. Jun.”
“Ah, Jun. Don’t scare us like that.”
“I walked normally from the front of the village. You two were just too busy chatting to notice.”
“Ahem. Keep this between us—don’t tell the captain.”
“Fine, just put the spears away already. Someone’s going to think I’m a criminal.”
At his complaint, the militia members apologized and quickly lowered their weapons.
Jun was about to walk straight between them.
But one of the guards stretched out an arm and stopped him—the same Militia Member A who had just been wishing the Coming-of-Age Ceremony would hurry up.
“What are you doing?”
“What do you think? Identity check. Come on, take the hood off.”
Militia Member A’s face turned sly.
Jun stared at him for a moment, then slowly reached toward his robe.
Just as Militia Member A’s gaze locked onto Jun’s face—
Whack!
“Aaagh!”
The hard toe of Jun’s shoe slammed into the man’s shin in the blink of an eye.
Militia Member A screamed and crumpled to the ground.
“Does it hurt a lot?”
“That’s… a stupid question…”
The anger that had surged up with the pain vanished in an instant.
Militia Member A looked up in a daze at the face gazing down at him.
A jawline so elegant it looked like a master craftsman had poured his soul into carving it.
Lips so lovely they drew the eye and made one want to bite them.
A high, straight nose that only enhanced the harmony of the face without breaking its proportions.
Eyes that looked both catlike and prim, yet somehow as gentle as a puppy’s.
A beauty that ten out of ten—no, a hundred out of a hundred—people would unanimously acknowledge stood right before him.
“Does it really hurt?”
The beauty’s face clouded. His heart plummeted.
“I-I’m fine!”
“D-Don’t worry about it! This guy’s tougher than anyone else in the village!”
Militia Member A scrambled to his feet and declared himself unharmed.
Militia Member B, equally entranced by Jun’s looks, made a show of tapping the same shin with the butt of his spear.
“Haha—ugh! Ha—ugh! Shit.”
“Shit?”
“Ah, it’s nothing. Haha—ugh!”
Even as his leg trembled from the pain, Militia Member A forced a smiling face.
“Alright, that’s enough.”
Any more and the man might actually get seriously hurt, so Jun decided to let it go there.
The bruise would turn a deep purple and throb for days—plenty of payment for the behavior and for the privilege of looking at that face.
“You’ve confirmed my face, so you won’t stop me anymore, right?”
“Th-That is…”
“W-We still need to check your belongings…”
“…You won’t stop me, right?”
“Of course not!”
“Please, go right ahead!”
When Jun scowled, the two militia members straightened up and obediently cleared the way.
As Jun passed between them, he started to pull his hood back up… then turned around.
“Ah, mister. About that injury—”
“I (this idiot) just tripped while goofing around!”
Only after they got their story straight did he cover his head again.
A sigh of regret rose behind him, but he ignored it and kept walking.
A little later, Fortuna—who had been snickering for a long while as if she’d just watched a hilarious comedy skit, hidden in his collar—tugged at his clothes and said,
“Jun. Why don’t you just admit it already?”
“Admit what?”
“That you’re a devilishly charming man.”
“…Shut up.”
Bonk!
“Acong!”
Having lightly punished the culprit responsible for this whole situation, Jun looked toward the church that was gradually coming into view and thought,
Somehow, he had a terrible feeling that something extremely unpleasant was about to happen.
“Jun! Let’s put you in a dress!”
A short while later, that premonition proved exactly right.