Chapter 208
Chapter 208
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 208
Chapter Title: Goddess Analysis -5
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Dreams are data reconstructions born from the subconscious.
So, it's no surprise that the scraps of information I gleaned from the Goddess manifest in the form of a dream. It happens often.
Just like vague anxieties and premonitions without clear outlines appear as prophetic dreams.
These fragmented bits of meaningless info borrowed the ambiguity of a dream to appear before my eyes. A mannequin-like figure, its face and gender indistinguishable, gazes up at the sky, conversing with someone.
Or maybe talking to itself.
I became an observer, watching from a step removed. Its face was mosaicked, unreadable, but the air of utter seriousness was palpable.
Staring at the dim sun, that someone unleashes a torrent of words.
The conversation's content is hazy. Things like "The roll cake was delicious," "I really hate mosquitoes," "Let's go to the beach this summer." Nothing that fits the scene.
It's a dream, so it's filling in the unknowns with my own imaginings. I let it slide. This isn't what the dream wants to show.
I waited patiently.
It felt like three days, or maybe just an instant. Perhaps that instant dragged on so tediously it seemed like three days. Dreams make time's flow impossible to grasp.
Then, a punchy line popped out. Finally.
"A king must surgically excise his emotions as a duty."
I'd never thought of that before, so this must be info ripped from the Goddess.
Quite the radical claim.
That someone says the one who would stand atop humanity's heads must possess a heart of unrusting iron. Not just ruthlessness.
It means not being swayed by emotions, remaining eternally unchanging.
How many kings have drowned the world in misery through fleeting emotions and irrational judgments? The king makes the wrong call, but the blame falls on all under heaven.
Wars, blood, flowing sorrow and rage—all tragedies sparked by one trivial feeling. How meaningless, how heartbreaking.
If even a king must be so...
What of the King of Kings, the god who surveys heaven and earth?
"Thus, the being who reigns over all humanity must, to prevent functional failure from emotions—above all—be a god of machinery."
The short dream ended with someone's vow.
Things wrapped up neatly for the most part.
The boy rescued his big sister. And he got a sack of silver coins, enough to live on comfortably ahead. As long as no more misfortunes strike, he'll live happily.
We achieved our original goal. We rooted out every last one scheming to "save the queen," and recovered all the "Queen's info" detected in the territory.
"...The amount seems a bit short."
"It got zapped by the divine beam, so of course it's less."
Evil God-chan frowned suspiciously at the liquid gathered in the glass flask, but if it hadn't evaporated after taking a goddess beam head-on, the Succubus Queen would've been a Succubus God instead.
The high-density divine pillar that crashed into Elmeister Territory became quite the issue. We got summoned to the lord's castle to explain the incident.
In the lord's office, a middle-aged man buried under mountains of paperwork—the temporary domain administrator dispatched to Elmeister—stared at us with a look like his stomach had two holes punched through it.
"W-What... happened...?"
"Well..."
I spun a tale about clashing with a black mage, and the Goddess took pity on us poor souls, providing covering fire...
Couldn't exactly tell the truth.
Sure, I wanted to keep secrets, but more than that, I doubted they'd believe it. Stringing it out would just sound insane.
Like, there's this weird thing in my head at odds with the Goddess. I peeled off a bit of the unwelcome intruder in my mind, turned it into a physical hologram object. Then sacrificed it.
Result? A corrupt priest worshiping the Succubus Queen while claiming the Goddess ate that info. So the Goddess fired a divine beam...
Utterly unbelievable, and not something to blab about lightly.
I'd send a separate incident report to Irid. I'd omit "that thing," but include the info gleaned from the Goddess—it felt necessary.
Speaking of the Goddess, my left arm took serious damage. Shoved the whole thing into a heat ray and got barbecued, naturally. Now it's wrapped in bandages and fixed in a cast.
Good thing I could self-hypnotize for pain reduction, or I'd have been sleepless. Still burns and aches like hell.
Of course, I tried summoning a priest for healing. Elmeister's Goddess Church branch was smashed, so manpower was scarce, but I found a priestess at an orphanage outside town.
"Divine power won't flow in. That's weird..."
"Ugh."
Looks like "Divine Punishment" included a divine power block. Makes sense—if it didn't, you could just self-heal through that light pillar, right?
So, left arm's out until natural recovery. I don't need hand seals like other mages, so combat power's intact, but...
Problems arose anyway...
Yuna was furious. Beyond pissed.
Her face showed no expression. No joy, no sorrow—just an emotionless doll. Serene.
Yet overlaid was a completely different visage. Eyes blazing with resentment toward me—another Yuna. The two merged and spoke.
The two Yunas usually spoke and acted identically, indistinguishable. Like two perfectly overlapping sheets of paper. No need to differentiate.
But last time and now, when Yuna's heart hurt, they clearly separated. The depressed one and the angry one—two people.
Yuna shifted between states, then the angry one spoke. Sparks flew from her pupils; the air rippled in sharp hues.
"Why did you do that? I said it was dangerous."
I replied cautiously.
"Well, greed got the better of me. Thought it'd accelerate removing 'that thing' if I seized the info this time. And I did get quite a bit..."
"You promised to trust me. You know I'm acting for you. Yet you took that risk... maybe even to the point of death. You tried to handle it alone."
"......"
To me, it was a split-second call with calculations. Risk of dying in the goddess ray seemed negligible. But.
A misstep pulling me into the beam, or the Goddess amping output/range for the kill—things could've ended worse.
Yuna seemed shocked I risked myself at all.
Yuna would shove Bennett's party into the fire pit before letting me get hurt. Breaking all rules to stick by me—for my sake.
That made my grand archmage feel even more wronged.
She lowered her large eyes slightly. The air tinted blue and sagged. The depressed one now.
"What if I fail extracting your 'that thing,' ruin the session... and you can't trust me anymore?"
"...No, Tower Master. It's not that."
"Then why go that far for info?"
"For us."
To escape my sole headache. I acknowledged my malignancy, but didn't want to be swallowed by "that thing."
Didn't want Yuna looking at me with evil eyes.
But my efforts apparently reflected her own inadequacies to her. If she'd done better from the start, no need for my risk... She thinks that.
"I should've done better."
Yuna tried. It helped. Not perfect, but who is? Demanding perfection from someone helping out of kindness? Shameless.
Can't let the woman moving for me tear herself down. So.
I tried to speak to Yuna—but
"...Need to be alone a bit. Sorry for snapping suddenly."
"Wait, Tower Master...!"
Whoosh.
Before I could grab her hand, she scattered like butterflies. My hand swiped empty air. That Cthulhu session thing... still bugging her?
What now.
Pingbalrez, who’d been listening arms crossed, said quietly.
"Sacrifice an arm for the goal? I agree. But... watching you get hurt aches the heart."
"...Did I mess up?"
"No, emotion aside. You got valuable info—well done. But compensate our shock. Try some aegyo."
"Not for you, Pingbalrez. You solo-deepthroated the queen, so we're even."
Joked back at the joke, but no mirth. So much and so little to say to Yuna. No clue what words fit.
Brain spins fine fooling others—why stall now.
......
One more reason to meet love expert Bennett.
My love front's the love front; work's work.
Info worth an arm—better tally it clean and tie off. I clambered up the inn's outer wall, inching along.
Not sudden theft. Evil God-chan was on the roof. Like a cat, she had a habit of climbing high.
Like lounging on that branch before.
Using mana like glue, I climbed. Evil God-chan's back in view. Sitting frog-like, gazing skyward. Flicked her finger—beckoning me.
No surprise, no glance back.
"Here for grading?"
"Yeah, to check if my Goddess theory holds..."
"Wrong? I'll laugh my ass off. Call you dummy mage too."
Brat...
Then, Goddess analysis time.
What is the Goddess?
The idol of the Goddess Church spread across the continent, source of mighty divine power. Don't know doctrines well, but no violent or radical tendencies.
Deep enmity with "that thing," investing excessive firepower to erase its traces.
A being worthy of the name god.
Yet bizarre. No good-evil distinction: grants power to outspoken faith, smites high priests with "Divine Punishment," stripped Tara's casually.
This part. Crucial point here.
The evil, apostate high priest could wield divine power.
Why was virtuous Tara stripped?
Tara's power failed after doubting the Goddess. Deeper doubt, less supply—down to zero.
I thought grand, special reason. She's a god gripping such power, great existence from the heavens.
But what if opposite—purely simple?
Simply, purely. Cut supply for lack of faith. No thought to what she did with it, or consequences—just flicked the switch.
Indifferently.
"Divine Punishment" on high priest? Not stern judgment on hubris... but recognizing blacklisted "that thing" data.
Thus, Goddess defies personhood.
Acts if conditions met. Seems dumb at glance, rock-solid at others. I know what that's called.
Algorithm.
"The Goddess is an algorithm, a system. Not a thinking, judging personality—but a collection of countless manuals. Executed mechanically, sans sentiment."
"Correct, Mimama."
Evil God-chan laughed.
"And...?"
"......"
And.
Yeah, one step further.
No issue so far.
God a Zeus-like playboy? Or meticulous law code? Fine. A mechanical Goddess like a device? Even better.
If following manuals, granting/retracting power by conditions. I can exploit her.
Repeat experiments, find if-statements. Shape environment to conditions. Not perfect control—but tool? Yes.
But why won't my lips curl at this good news...
This massive machine's signaling malfunctions.
And.
"...Looks like someone's exploiting the Goddess. Roughly enough to damage the system. Right?"
"Puhahaha! Yeah, the 'Hero' that should've been born ages ago... Instead of that laughable selection tournament!"
Through history's span, someone's bound to think like me.
Church depths.
The sanctuary where Goddess light pours endlessly, that lavishly holy hall.
Like ants swarming a dropped candy.
Old cardinals clung to the young Pope, whispering shamelessly.
"Your Holiness, the Hero selection looms. Many will flock to Trumpet Hall. Some cowards harbor ill intent."
"Your Holiness, we need 'Discipline.' May the Goddess oversee Trumpet Hall, preventing reckless acts by cowards."
"Your Holiness, beseech the Goddess..."
The young Pope yielded to pressure, touching the divine relic for direct communion. The merciful Goddess heeds sincere pleas from her proxy.
But the six-year-old Pope couldn't grasp the divine word's meaning.
"I beseech you, Goddess, this Trumpet Hall—"
Thus, a new "Discipline" was force-inserted...