The Day We Meet Again (1)

The Gloria Continent, which the Demon King had long coveted, had seen ten heroes emerge like shooting stars over the ages. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say their endings were the shooting stars themselves. The records of their deeds only ever covered the journey up to the moment they sealed the Demon King away. Just what in the world had happened to all of them?

The ancient tomes detailed the grueling trials they faced while sealing the Demon King, how they had acted, and what threats they had overcome. Yet not a single line remained about how they had lived afterward or how they had met their final days. Once the common enemy known as the Demon King had vanished and the threat had receded, had the heroes and their companions been exploited and then discarded? Had the nobles grown anxious that something unfavorable might arise from them and erased every trace of their existence? Or had it simply been a capricious whim, a decision that no one wanted to record their later journeys anymore?

To me, who had only encountered these events through dusty texts from centuries past, there was no way to know. Maybe they all ended up like this? If they experienced something so bizarre that no one would believe the records even if they were left behind—

It was possible the historians had dismissed their stories as nothing more than lighthearted jokes told once the tension had finally eased. The reason we could never learn what became of them was because, after sealing the Demon King, most soldiers had witnessed a mysterious blue light. Our party and the companions who traveled with us had never seen it.

It was satisfying to have wrung the life out of that wretched woman, but watching the soldiers lament the once-in-a-lifetime experience they had missed made me curse inwardly until my stomach twisted. The only reason our party had been able to witness that light was decades after we had slain the Demon King, when we finally reached the Demon King Castle and I began my incantation. The exact moment I spoke with the Earth Mother.

If the heroes of old had also been given the chance to converse with the Earth Mother within that light, perhaps the absence of any record of their final fates was because the Earth Mother had done something beyond ordinary human comprehension.

It’s blinding.

It felt as though the light was urging me not to keep my eyes closed any longer. Even with my eyelids shut, sunlight relentlessly hammered against them. Unable to endure it, I slowly cracked my eyes open, and the scene before me had completely changed.

The Demon King Castle, which should have been filled with ominous blood-red magic circles, instead greeted me with warm, welcoming sunlight I hadn’t seen in ages. The room was bright, clean, and furnished with elegant, antique pieces. I looked around carefully, but this was not a place I had ever stayed before. A room decorated with frills and layers of lace—how often would a man have reason to linger in such a space? Moreover, having had no connection to women throughout my life, I had never once entered anyone else’s room unless it was for official business.

Did I really get younger? Why does my body feel so heavy? My shoulders feel even stiffer than before…?

It must be the muscles. If the Earth Mother had done her job properly, she would surely have returned me as a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠boy in his teens or twenties. I had no doubt about that. If only she had reincarnated me with a handsome face—

Every time someone called me a virgin, I had pretended not to care, but how many tears of blood had I shed inside? I spotted a mirror leaning precariously against the wall and approached it, trying to suppress the fluttering in my chest. Even a face as sculpted as a statue would have been too much for me; I had only hoped for something reasonably attractive.

But it would have been better not to look at all.

“Huk?”

The woman reflected in the mirror, who possessed quite a voluptuous figure, stared back with wide, round eyes at the unfamiliar sight. The burdensome black ribbon and the white robes elegantly embroidered with understated black thread were unmistakably the priestess garments I had seen every time I visited the temple for recovery.

I asked to be made younger… I asked to be able to use divine power… but I don’t remember ever asking to be turned into a woman?

Over the hundred-plus years I had lived as a man, it wasn’t that I had never felt interest in women. But that interest had never once taken the form of a desire to become one myself.

Something had gone terribly wrong.

—This is a huge problem.

The Earth Mother, who had been silent until now, suddenly rang inside my head as if she had been waiting for the perfect moment.

She isn’t wrong, but…

Still, weren’t there other ways?

The Earth Mother, who had been quiet all this time, now seemed to have been pondering how best to torment me. Her voice shook violently inside my skull. A Saintess, of all things. She really knew how to make things complicated. She was just like that hero who used to deliberately step on traps. In the end, she was only doing what was convenient for herself—

“Haa.”

The sigh that escaped me was small, but the exaggerated movement of my ample chest felt utterly alien. The sensation of the soft flesh bouncing upward before settling heavily back down was worse than I had imagined. How had things come to this?

My waist was so slender it looked like it would snap if struck by even a small twig. My hair was impossibly long and burdensome. In the mirror, it danced softly with every movement I made. After fidgeting for a while, the woman in the reflection—whose complexion had grown haggard—grabbed her hair and collapsed to the floor as if the ground had swallowed her.

The woman clenched her fists tightly around her locks until her face turned deathly pale, as though every blood vessel might burst at any moment. She possessed the kind of voluptuous yet delicate beauty that would make most men fall for her at first sight.

—Wait, even my own thoughts are inconsistent. Ahem. Voluptuous. Bouncy. Soft—

“Ugh.”

In any case, the woman in the mirror moved exactly as I did. Even when I shook my head in denial, the motion was quickly hidden by the curtain of hair. I didn’t want to look anymore. No matter how much I tried to deny reality and insist this couldn’t be happening, I knew the reflection was my current self.

Now I finally understand…

The Earth Mother—

She was the worst of the worst.

No thank you.

If knowing everything allowed you to change the future, how much easier would the world be to live in? I had nodded countless times, trying to accept it, but I still couldn’t bring myself to acknowledge this.

The anger boiling up inside me quickly found a target. I knew this would be my final act of defiance. I knew it was already too late to turn back.

“Didn’t you think telling me this would happen was more important than saying I wouldn’t be able to use magic!?”

I spat the words out like a lament toward the Earth Mother, who probably wasn’t even listening, but it did nothing to clear the frustration in my chest. Having spent my entire life suppressing every word I wanted to say, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I couldn’t even raise my voice properly.

I’ve never even dated a woman in my whole life!!

“How can you even say that?! Aaaah?!”

In my surge of emotion, the words burst straight out of my mouth. The voice that came out was so high and loud that I flinched at the scream-like sound, clapping both hands over my mouth and looking around frantically. The Earth Mother’s teasing laughter shook inside my head.

When I clamped my mouth shut in silent protest at how ridiculous this was, she apparently grew tired of waiting and rang inside my head again.

Most of the words were incomprehensible, but I could grasp one crucial thing. There was pure mischief mixed into the Earth Mother’s tone. And she was clearly enjoying herself by teasing someone as powerless as me.

“Sigh.”

It was my own fault for not explaining things properly. Yes. I never imagined she would be this kind of goddess—

The people who believed she was kind-hearted, magnanimous, and bestowed infinite love upon all living beings suddenly seemed pitiful. —Including myself, which made it so heartbreaking I could cry tears of blood.

“Aigoo. Haa… Even at this age, I still didn’t know. …I’ve been scammed.”

My heart must have climbed all the way up to my head; I could feel the pulse throbbing in my skull. I wanted to vent my anger even if it meant spitting blood, but dizziness overwhelmed me. I collapsed heavily onto the bed, eventually lying flat on my back and pouring out every curse I could think of inside my mind.

Whether the vicious Earth Mother heard them or not, I didn’t care. While I spewed every filthy word I couldn’t bring myself to say out loud, I wondered if she even realized what she had done. The Earth Mother, who had remained completely silent, made me wish she would at least offer some excuse.

How much time had passed? I had exhausted myself from raging alone and no longer had the energy to stay angry. With no one else to turn to, I reluctantly asked the only being I could rely on, however unwillingly.

Where are the others? Did they all end up like me?

So I had to start by finding the others. I had thought we would begin together.

This is going to be a headache.

As if…

There was no way I could be happy about an experience like this.

“This is pure malice.”

Threats like that should come from ordinary humans or demons so I could at least brush them off. Did she even understand how terrifying it was when someone of her caliber made such threats?

If you get any more bored, the Demon King might resurrect again…

…?

No way… Surely not.

“What?”

Her shy, playful tone didn’t change the meaning of her words one bit.

“No, no! You can’t mean the Demon King…”

This is insane. She calls herself a goddess? Really?