The Voice Only Gods Can Hear
After the voice echoing in my ear faded, I turned up the volume on my smartphone again.
<…Can Kim Jian Assistant Manager hear it?>
I caught the intent behind Turea's question. He'd just said that hearing a spirit's voice was a privilege granted only to ancient gods.
But I was an ordinary human. A late-20s guy from South Korea, plain as day except for working in another dimension.
"Kim Jian Assistant… what the hell's wrong with that guy's eyes."
"What's wrong with my eyes?"
"They were giving off some weird glow."
"……."
I stroked the body of the spirit slumped over the desk, having squeezed out its last bit of strength. My eyes had started hurting at the exact same moment Eco had used its ability earlier.
"What happened…."
Were my eyes damaged somehow? Something was on the tip of my tongue, something important I'd forgotten. What was it? No, I didn't have time to dwell on that now. I had to share what I'd just heard with Elama and Turea. If it was true, it could turn this crisis around completely.
"…You might find it hard to believe, but let me tell you everything I heard, word for word."
To the two men staring at me with grim expressions, I recited the conversation between the two voices that had sounded like hallucinations.
"……."
And a moment later, even though we'd gotten a lead on solving everything, Elama was glaring at me with an even graver look.
"Putting your words together with Representative Turea's opinion, this Eco wind spirit here…."
"Cue?"
"…replayed the air vibrations it recorded in its body like a phonograph record, and you heard it."
"That seems to be what happened."
"A spirit's voice reached the ears of a human like you, not a goddess president or a major shareholder god."
"Is that the important part right now?"
"…No."
He said no, but Elama's face screamed he couldn't accept it. I probably looked the same to him.
<The bishop beat me to it and took the World Tree as collateral. It's my fault for not realizing sooner. I knew he frequented illegal gambling dens, but I never imagined he'd borrow from loan sharks and try to sell off the World Tree….>
Turea pressed his forehead, his face blank with shock at how much deeper Zailini the bishop's corruption ran than he'd imagined. But unlike before, a glint of hope shone in his eyes.
The bishop was the one who'd preached every day that the World Tree was the source of life itself. For him to try selling off his entire race's treasure to pay off his personal debts? Unacceptable. Absolutely not.
The rage toward Zailini wasn't Turea's alone. Elama and I felt every ounce of it as we watched him speak through the screen.
"Representative, you asked us for a 130 billion Gulden loan."
I continued, stroking Eco perched on the back of my hand.
"So your cornered people can get another chance at prosperity. You've worked hard for it. You've shouldered the sin of carving up the proud tree that's sustained the elves for thousands of years—the source of life itself—and endured the finger-pointing from your own kin."
<……. >
"You're cutting down the World Tree, shaping its pieces, and preparing to display it in the homes of non-elves."
I nodded, accepting the fierce resolve burning in his eyes.
The Job Authority dwelling within me, the conclusion of Goddess Judgment, had been right.
"Very well. If that's what you want—"
To Elama and the section chiefs, I might just look like a first-year assistant manager nobody. But if I was the only one who could lay the foundation for a reversal in this worst-case scenario…
"The Dimensional Credit Vault will join your dedication."
"We'll do everything in our power to keep the World Tree's elves and spirits from vanishing into the dustbin of history."
Whatever fate had brought me here, if I could use what I had properly to end this…
"We'll lend you the 130 billion Gulden, no question."
Gladly. I'd fulfill my duty as a banker.
We huddled for another ten minutes or so on the video call, brainstorming ideas. There was only one way to resolve this mess, and it was ridiculously simple: play the conversation Eco recorded for the elder elves loyal to the bishop.
Once they knew he'd secretly pledged the World Tree as collateral for his personal debts, they couldn't keep up the armed protests.
But one problem remained.
Right. Only fellow spirits or gods could hear a spirit's tiny voice. Unless we could summon the major shareholders from Olympus right now, turning the tables was impossible.
"Isn't there some way? Like cranking the volume way up?"
<If that were possible, it would be great.>
As we racked our brains for a solution, Turea finally spoke up hesitantly.
<There is one way. It's a gamble, so no guarantee it'll work…>
The solution he hesitantly proposed was…
"—Me? You're saying me?"
…Why dump this on me out of nowhere? This was a total gamble!
<Then, Assistant Manager Kim Jian. I leave it to you.>
"No no, hold on! How am I supposed to do that? I'm just a regular guy! Hey?! Representative? Representaaative!!! Don't hang up, hear me out!!"
<Best of luck!!>
—Click.
"Hey!!!!!!"
Why push something like that on me of all people?!?!
"……."
"Give it up. If you just do as you're told, everyone's happy."
"…Yeah, okay."
I didn't even have the energy to argue. Fine, I'd do it. No idea why, but since I could hear the spirit's voice, maybe it'd work somehow.
—Smack!
As that thought crossed my mind, Elama whacked the back of my head hard.
"You always pick the worst things to say as a banker."
"Ow, I'll sue you for assault…."
I glanced at Elama's face while whining, and he looked way scarier than I'd imagined.
"…Branch Manager?"
"……."
Oh boy, this was bad.
"Who the hell do you think you are, speaking for the bank? You the president now? Cocky little shit."
"…Sorry."
Thinking it over, yeah, it was my bad, so I bowed my head right away. I knew I'd gotten carried away and said some cringey stuff. But did he have to chew me out like this? Considering Elama's temper, it was a miracle he hadn't hit me before the call ended.
"Cueee…."
Meanwhile, Eco was nuzzling my sleeve with a much calmer expression than before. Was it worried watching me get scolded? It had eavesdropped and relayed the info, and despite looking like a hamster, it seemed pretty smart. If it hadn't burned itself out dragging its body all the way here, we'd have been done for against the bishop.
"Never promise a loan in front of a client again. Major rules violation."
"Got it."
"Anyway… once this is over, you're in for it."
Elama said that, then spun on his heel and strode out of the branch manager's office.
"Where are you going?"
"HQ."
"Straight to Dimension 33?"
"The president's coming on her private jet. Turea's idea was half-baked, so I need some backup."
"From the president?"
"Seems like she has a hunch. She took off at dawn without even a report from us."
"……."
It clicked now. I'd never met her, but our president was a goddess too, one of the few major shareholders living in Dimension 12's Olympus. A super heavyweight banker who'd led the guD faction since the old days. No clue how she knew about this and was flying in on a private jet, but for now, I'd follow Elama's lead.
"Get ready to head out and stay put till I get back. I'll contact Turea."
Elama shrugged on his jacket, checked the time, and called a taxi app. Then he left the bank without looking back.
Pluto, Isaac, and the two section chiefs appeared from the staff passageway right after.
"Hm? A spirit?"
Pluto suddenly shoved her face right up to mine and tickled Eco's body on my palm with her finger. An expression I'd never seen. Pluto was smiling.
"Cuekyut…?!"
"Why so scared? I'm not like that."
"Kyut."
"Well, half true."
Eco huddled up but rubbed its face against Pluto's finger like it was honored. Then it locked eyes with her.
"Heh."
"……?"
Why was she grinning like that?
"Good luck out there, Assistant Manager."
"Uh, yeah, I'll be back…."
She sauntered back to the counter with a smug look, spawning clones to occupy her usual three seats. But why the casual speech again? Non-regular peon… No. Stop that bad thought.
"Hoo."
Leaning back in the taxi's rear seat, Elama gazed quietly out the window and sighed. Normally, he'd drive himself. But he'd pulled an all-nighter brainstorming ways to corner Zailini the bishop. Couldn't risk a traffic accident on the big day. He honestly wanted to catch some shut-eye before meeting the president at the airport, but the scene from earlier kept replaying in his head.
"Who knew that kid would be the key…."
Piecing together the info, the outline of the incident was coming into focus. Specifically, not about the World Tree collateral loan, but the unnatural circumstances of Kim Jian's hiring.
"No wonder."
Now he got it. Why the president had special-hired a human from an undeveloped dimension she'd never even met.
"So that's it."
Kim Jian hadn't understood the wind spirit's language, but he'd heard its voice—something no one else could.
"How the hell did he awaken such a ridiculous Job Authority…."
An impossible feat unless you were a spirit or the god who created them. For him to pull it off, even imperfectly…
"He was the vessel."
The president had finally found it. The hiding place of a fragment she'd lost eons ago, so far back it made his head spin.