The Contract and Rebirth

To be honest, I suppose I had been quite bored. During my school years my parents showed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠no interest in me whatsoever. School, classes, cram school, sleep, then school again. That was the sum total of my twelve years as a teenager. No trips, no part-time jobs, nothing. The days simply flowed past without incident. Adulthood was no different. I never went to university, so my life became commute, work, leave the office, games, sleep, and repeat. After I quit my job it turned into wake up, games, sleep, wake up, games. Twenty-seven years in which nothing ever changed. A rigid life, if you want to call it that. A boring one, too. And because that was the only life I had ever known, the appearance of a crow with rubies for eyes—Malphas—managed to spark something in me.

“A contract?”

“That’s right. I can grant you anything you desire.”

“You know that line’s basically taboo for our generation, right?”

“Heh heh heh. Worry not. I have no intention of asking you to become a magical girl.”

Who else but the President of Deceivers would sound so smooth? Conversation with Malphas was never dull.

“So you’re saying you’ll turn me into something like a god?”

“Correct. In exchange, you become our slave.”

“Hmm… that part’s pretty shit.”

“Try looking at it another way.”

“Another way?”

“Indeed. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠After all, the era you humans call ‘modern’ is one in which people live as livestock.”

“Malphas, what kind of bullshit is that?”

“Bullshit? How disappointing. I am a Great Demon. I speak only profound truths that pierce straight through to the heart of things.”

“Which is why your nickname is President of Deceivers, Your Excellency?”

“Hah! I speak only the truth; it is you humans who are too dull to understand it correctly.”

Flap. Flap. Even though I knew the indignant flapping and outraged cawing were pure theatrics, I didn’t find it unpleasant. Who had ever spoken to me so freely, without any pretense? Because of that, I was willing to let myself be fooled even if Malphas was secretly plotting to turn my soul into a glass egg and force me through a gender-bender transformation into a magical girl. At the very least, it sounded more interesting than what I had now.

We spent a while cackling like idiots, but inside I gradually grew calm. This kind of joking around would soon come to an end.

“Then…”

“No, it’s fine. Let’s do it. I accept the contract.”

“Oh? You agreed more readily than I expected.”

“Well… if you promise me one thing, I don’t see why not.”

“Very well. A deal must be fair. Speak.”

“An interesting life.”

“Hm?”

“Since the contract will make me a god—or your slave—make sure the life I live isn’t boring. Make it fun.”

“Good. That is actually the very favor we wished to ask of you.”

The terms were accepted. Malphas’s ruby eyes flashed, and crimson letters floated up ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠before me. To summarize, they said that Malphas and the Lemegeton would transform me into a god—in other words, an Immortal. In return, I would become their slave and offer up most of the status I acquired from then on. I would never be able to ascend to Transcendent. There were also various minor clauses regarding the authorities and personal sub-world I would obtain. It wasn’t a bad contract at all.

‘Live an ordinary human life and die’ versus ‘become a slave but also a god.’ There was no comparison. Choosing the latter was obvious. Without hesitation I reached out and touched the crimson letters. They immediately coalesced into chains that wrapped around my neck.

“Contract established.”

Rumble.

The moment Malphas declared it, the world shook. The space around me collapsed, the sky split open… and opened… and then—

Ah.

Grief and laughter poured down like rain. Screams danced. Torn chunks of flesh played a sweet melody. The unclean white spiciness set my lungs on fire. The sacred black sourness wrung tears from my brain. My nails walked away on their own while my fingers unraveled. Bones sang. Muscles painted the world before my eyes. It hurt. It was agony. It was joy. It was pleasure.

“Ah, haha, ugh, ha, heuk…”

I couldn’t tell whether I was crying, laughing, or simply babbling in madness. Whatever it was tore out of my mouth and looked back at what I had been. Ugly. Pathetic. I wanted to remake it. So ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I reached out. I erased it. I died. No—I killed myself. The sensation was far stranger than I had imagined.

Only then did I see the being beyond the wide-open sky. It was so enormous it rejected comprehension. Merely looking at it felt blasphemous. Yet it was also majestic. Sacred. I realized this was Malphas—the true form of the entity I had been casually trading jokes with. From beyond came a sound I could not identify. It might have been pleasant laughter, or it might have been the sneer one gives something utterly beneath notice.

Malphas drew closer. The overwhelming presence crushed me.

Tap.

My consciousness snapped.

“Ugh!”

When I came to after letting out that pathetic groan, I found myself alone in a pure-white space that looked like it could drive a man insane. I soon realized this was the personal sub-world I would now possess. A world with nothing created in it yet. My own domain that I would cultivate from now on. Information on how to shape this world flooded into my mind. And that was only the beginning. Every piece of knowledge an Immortal needed surged over me like a tidal wave: how to use the authorities I possessed, the choices available to me, how to build divine status and how to wield it.

“Faith is born amidst events.”

I murmured the single phrase that cut through the chaos of information swirling in my head. This must be what Malphas wanted from me. Create incidents, produce status, and offer that status in service to the Transcendents. It wasn’t a difficult concept.

“Usually people grow their own world or invade another one…”

The knowledge in my head presented two methods. Either continuously generate status within my own world, or invade another world and plunder the accumulated status there. The problem was that neither option was particularly attractive for me. Cultivating a world took far too much time, and even if I succeeded, I would have to hand over most of the status produced. On top of that, I would never know when I might be invaded myself. As for invading others—that was out of the question. I had become an Immortal, but my power wasn’t all that different from when I was human. Unlike those who had earned immortal status on their own, I had neither the strength nor the forces required to invade another world.

What was I supposed to do?

“Having trouble coming up with a plan?”

Just as I began pondering my future strategy, a familiar voice spoke as if it had been waiting. A two-headed crow, even larger than the one I had seen on Earth, was circling above my head.

“What are you worrying about? You belong to us now.”

The crow—Malphas—descended in front of me, every jewel on his body sparkling, and spoke as though the matter were trivial.

“Is there some method—”

Could I speak to him the same way as before? Remembering the colossal being I had witnessed before losing consciousness, the words stuck in my throat. My hesitation must have been amusing. Malphas’s right head burst into loud, cawing laughter while the left head quietly chuckled.

“It doesn’t matter,” the right head said arrogantly.

“Etiquette is nothing but a facade. Speak comfortably,” the left head added in a polite yet clearly condescending tone.

If that was how they felt, I saw no reason to hold back.

“All right. So what’s the method?”

“Simple. We will protect your sub-world.”

“You need only do what we tell you to do.”

The left head spoke gently; the right head, of course, spoke with haughty arrogance.

“Have you checked what authorities you possess?”

At the left head’s words, my authorities finally came to mind. I had two: Character Making and System. The one Malphas was referring to was obviously Character Making. It was an authority that let me expend some of my status to create an ‘avatar’ and link my consciousness to it.

“Wait… you can’t mean—”

“That is exactly what we mean. We will insert your avatar into the games we are running.”

The right head’s blunt declaration left my mind momentarily blank. My authority wasn’t that convenient. If the avatar I linked my consciousness to died, I would suffer considerable damage. Inside my own sub-world I could sever the connection at will, but if I died in another world my consciousness would literally evaporate. I possessed immortal status, so I wouldn’t be annihilated, but I would be left in a state worse than death—a complete vegetable. And Malphas, who had granted me the authority, surely knew that.

“Hold on—!”

“Hah. Didn’t you say you wanted an interesting life?”

“The times when you only get one chance are the most thrilling, after all.”

Seeing the two heads speak so nonchalantly, I could only laugh bitterly. They had clearly decided there was no longer any need to maintain appearances in front of me and were going all out.

“No, even so, sending me out to conquer worlds with an avatar? If the world’s owner finds out, they’ll try to kill me.”

“Ah, so that was what you were worried about?”

“Well, it’s understandable if you didn’t know.”

Both heads nodded at the same time as if they understood, but it was obvious they had known all along and were deliberately teasing me. The soft chuckling coming from both sides made it clear.

“There’s no need to worry about that. We were planning to send you as the joker in the games we run anyway.”

“You enjoy games yourself, don’t you? You know those mid-bosses that appear halfway through, or enemies that become allies. That kind of variable is exactly what we want.”

Ah. If that was the case… It still meant risking my life, but the danger was considerably reduced. It wasn’t an unacceptable level, so I nodded.

“Still, you’re basically broke right now, so we’ll give you a little help.”

“The status I possess… No, let’s call it Points from now on.”

What the hell? A real-time patch?

“With your system you should be able to obtain whatever you need through the ‘shop,’ so prepare thoroughly before you set out.”

“Once you’re ready, we will send you to your destination through the ‘Main Mission.’”

Having said everything they wanted to say, Malphas vanished from sight, spiraling away into a vortex like something out of a ninja manga. Left alone once more, I mulled over the conversation that had just taken place and eventually let out a small laugh.

“Isn’t this just a web-novel protagonist cliché?”

It wasn’t as if there was zero risk to my life. But precisely because of that, the experiences waiting for me felt more vivid, and that wasn’t so bad. No—in fact, it was good. Why had I contracted with Malphas in the first place? Because I had been bored. Because I was sick of a life with no change. Even if I was a slave who had to do whatever they ordered, so what? They were vast, and I was a tiny human. Their restrictions were so large and wide that to me they might as well be infinite freedom. From now on, everything would depend on how I acted. What kind of life I would lead, what kind of experiences I would have—it was all up to me.

“It begins now.”

So I declared it in the empty space and activated my authority.