Chapter 86
Chapter 86
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 86
Chapter Title: God of Light and Order☆ (2)
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A plump, giant chick was shouting in the middle of the school courtyard.
Its feathers were a lush, fluffy yellow.
Except for its small beak, which curved down just a tiny bit…
No matter how you looked at it, it was nothing but a giant chick.
The Nameless Hawk looked up at the sky and cried out mournfully.
“Chirp—! It is so, so cold here! Chirp—!”
“…”
“…”
“…”
“…”
“Chirp—! To awaken in such a remote place instead of the promised land—! Chirp—!”
We looked at each other, exchanging glances.
And we attempted a silent conversation with our eyes, one far more evolved than before.
Alvitt turned to me, sending a message with her eyes.
-What should we do, Senior? It looks weak. Should we try talking to it?
-Ahaha—☆
“…”
I watched the giant chick in silence, lost in old memories.
‘Bringing back that damn egg and nest was harder than any other mission…’
The insignificant chick’s name was The Nameless Hawk.
Ironically, ‘nameless’ was its name—a contradictory being.
It was a guide-type character who appeared when the main story began to steer toward the conflict with Ratatoskr,
brought in ‘by chance’ by the in-game Clara.
…And it was an avian ally who played a key role in the final boss battle.
[Hey everyone—☆ Look at this~☆ I found it hatched from an egg in an empty dungeon—!]
[Chirp—! O Hero, take me to the promised land—! Chirp—!]
[Senior!! What in the world did you bring back—?!]
But despite being a key character, there were no hints about its appearance.
It was ridiculously weak until the final boss battle, and to make matters worse, its egg and nest were left in a dungeon… so if a larval Chaos Insect had shown up, it would have died an absurd death.
‘When I decided to follow the original story, this was the most troublesome part… Even if I got everything else right, I had to ‘somehow’ find the chick at the right time.’
So, in that one aspect, I gave up on following the original story exactly… and started searching for the presumed location of the chick’s egg.
There were two pieces of information I could surmise.
A dungeon within a range that the weakest character, Clara, could have stumbled upon by chance.
A dungeon in such an unexpected location that the chick’s egg and nest would be left unattended.
“…”
Relying on those two clues, I spent a year searching empty dungeons. I even went into basements and caves, considering the possibility of it being in an unusual spot.
‘The amount of information was ridiculously small, and what little there was felt like a treasure hunt or an ‘it’s just there’ kind of situation.’
The original game, *Yggdrasil Gate*, was a mobile game, so naturally, its UI and geographical information were crude. There was a reason why, aside from a few dungeons with known locations, players either ignored them or searched by instinct.
So all I could do was ride Red Hare around,
and meticulously search every empty dungeon I came across.
It was an ordeal, having to search every place within Clara's madwoman-like range of activity.
‘I couldn’t have done it if I hadn’t kept thinking of Frida and the future of the Academy City…’
And so, after a year… I finally succeeded in finding its nest and egg.
And I sealed it securely next to the underground warehouse of Central Prism Academy.
‘It started chirping inside the egg after I stashed it in the basement… and it's finally woken up now.’
A tale of hardship that couldn't be heard without tears.
In this world, only Hilde knew the truth.
‘Though she seemed to understand it as some kind of prophecy or revelation, rather than a story about a game.’
Even Hilde, who had waited a year for me,
nodded and comforted me after hearing the story.
-Sob…☆ That's why I was so sad that day, I ate bread—☆
-I see. ‘Lara eats bread when she’s sad.’…
-Huh? Why are you writing that down?
-A personal habit. But… uh… Lara. Why do you eat bread when you’re sad…? I can’t quite grasp the causal relationship. Don’t you think it would be more efficient to solve the problem?
Anyway, recalling the hardships of that year after so long,
a sense of injustice welled up from deep within my heart.
So I felt like playing a tiny, petty prank
on the creature that had finally awakened.
I grinned and sent a message with my eyes to Alvitt, who was looking my way.
-Doesn't that look like some tasty bird meat—☆ How about we just gobble it up?
-Huh…? That bird is clearly talking. I think eating a sentient being is a bit…
At that, Lotha, who caught my message, perked up her orange cat ears, her eyes sparkling. She sent a message back, mouthing the words as she did.
-It doesn’t look like a Chaos Insect or an Apostle of Ratatoskr… If it’s a new species, wouldn’t it be great for research?
-Besides, its yellow feathers are quite lovely. What if we plucked them and made a blanket?
-Ugh, it probably smells gamey.
-That is a prejudice of yours, Comrade Lotha. With a secret technique passed down from my adoptive father, I shall craft you some comfortable bedding.
-Better yet, let’s call Senior Freyja and send it to the anatomy lab at Public Vana Boarding School!
A research subject and an interior design material.
The chick’s fate was about to be decided.
-W-Well… maybe we should at least hear it out…
-Ahaha—☆ This is all about intimidation from the start, so how about we threaten to eat it if it gets out of line~? Wouldn’t it spill its identity on its own then?
My juniors caught my message and exchanged glances.
“…”
“…”
“…”
*Nod—!*
Instead of talking to The Nameless Hawk, we decided to nonchalantly start preparing dinner.
We brought out a large pot,
filled it with water from the ether water supply,
and began to boil it over a large bonfire that had appeared out of nowhere.
*Clatter—*
*Clatter—*
*Bubble, bubble…*
At that, The Nameless Hawk started screaming in a voice like a boy who would sit in the back of the classroom. It covered its bird chest with its large but flimsy wings.
“Chirp—! S-Stop that! Don’t you look at me with those eyes! Chirp—!”
“…”
“…”
“…”
“…”
“Chirp—! Why are you cooking outdoors and glancing over here! I have surveyed this place and confirmed that there is a separate area for preparing food! Chirp—!”
“…”
“…”
“…”
“…”
“Chirp—! You plan to eat me, don’t you! Like savages! You plan to put me in that wicked, filthy cauldron! In a broth made from diced pumpkin and turnips, with fragrant spices, and boil me until I’m perfectly savory—! Chirp—!”
“…”
“…”
“…”
“…”
“Please, say something—! Chirp—! I, the ‘God of Order,’ have a mission to fight the ‘Dragon of Chaos’ and usher in an age of order…! I cannot let this resurrected body of mine be pathetically wasted as a stir-fried stew…!”
The Nameless Hawk seemed to recall something and hastily started waddling over. Because it was so big, the ground shook lightly with each hop.
“Th-That’s right…! Chirp! You girls there! I sense a most excellent and sublime… ‘destiny of a hero’ from you! Chirp—! Please, help me defeat the ‘Dragon’… and help me return this world to an age of order—!”
Alvitt’s jaw dropped at those grandiose words, and she blurted out a reply.
“A h-hero? Us?”
“That is correct!”
“…Why?”
“Because that is your [Destiny]!”
“Heeh…”
Then, Kara spoke up in a particularly cynical tone.
“Isn’t that a common scam tactic? I’ve heard that flattering the other person is the first step of a con. My adoptive father got into a lot of trouble for trusting people like that.”
“Ah… oh dear. I made such a mistake.”
“Chirp—! As if I, a god, would ever deceive you—!”
The chick continued its world-building spoilers and persuasion after that.
“…”
“…”
But its arguments were losing credibility as they veered into increasingly metaphysical and theological discourse.
“Sigh.”
“Hoo.”
Alvitt, who was in the middle of peeling an onion, turned her head away indifferently,
and Kara, who was splitting firewood with an axe beside her, shrugged her shoulders.
Seeing the two of them disbelieving its words, The Nameless Hawk thumped its chest.
“…”
Lotha, who was stirring the large pot with a ladle, twitched her orange cat ears once and fell into deep thought.
“Hmm—☆”
I was washing vegetables at the water faucet,
and I glanced at The Nameless Hawk, still muttering beside me.
‘Well, I’ve teased it enough… time to move the story along.’
I casually approached The Nameless Hawk.
At that, all three of my juniors tilted their heads at me.
“Senior?”
“Comrade Senior?”
“…Senior?”
“Chirp—! You’re finally listening! Thank you, young lady!”
The Nameless Hawk looked at me with eyes full of hope.
‘But how did it convince them it was a god in the original story?’
I think it did something crazy.
It’s been over two years, so I couldn’t remember clearly.
Ironically, while I remembered the tactics and strategies I used to grind every day,
the detailed parts of the story were becoming fuzzy.
‘Well… if Alvitt believed it, it must have been a relatively common-sense method.’
Trusting in the chick’s common sense, I stood before it with a confident smile.
“Heehee—☆ Did you think this was our first time seeing a Beast God?”
“What…? Of course it is! Chirp! The two gods are dead, and the only Beast Gods left in this land are the Dragon and the Hawk—!”
“Heehee…☆”
This guy.
It doesn’t know what The Prophet did after that.
“Ahaha, that’s hilarious—♪ Then how about you prove to me, the most senior student of Central Prism Academy, that you are the ‘God of Order’—☆”
“Oh, as expected of the one with the [Saintess]’s destiny! You speak my language! To take the lead and seek to see the center of this world! Chirp—!”
Huh?
What did you say?
But before I could ask again…
the creature opened its massive beak wide and brought it toward me.
“Witness the center of the World Tree… the vacant throne of God, the Well of Fate—!”
“…What?”
*CRUUUUNCH—!*
‘Uh, wait a minute…!’
With a wet, warm sensation,
the startled cries of my juniors echoed faintly in the distance.
“Senior?!”
“You bastard!!”
“Senior—!!”
In the middle of being swallowed up to my waist.
I was bewildered as a vast darkness, not the creature’s throat, enveloped my vision.
A strange, dark space where stars twinkled as if in the cosmos.
‘…Oh, my god.’
The scene that appeared before my eyes, as I was swallowed up to my waist like the heroine of some lewd comic, was…
“…”
…outer space.
There were three familiar chairs there.
A pink-haired girl who had been lying across the three chairs as if they were a bench was startled to see me.
“Oh my…?”
“…It’s been a while, Urðr.”
“Oh, long time no see—☆”
“…”
“…”
“…”
“…S-So, why are you here—☆ Ah?! Don’t tell me, did you already overcome another brush with death~♪ You’re such a rascal, you know—☆”
“N-No, that’s not it. Um, how should I put this…”
“…”
Urðr tilted her head and asked me.
“Why are you sticking out halfway from a hole that just appeared in mid-air…?”
“…”
Good question…
Why am I like this?
I’d like to know that myself.