15-41. Divine Punishment (10), End
Satou's here. I love plain and simple foreign Hollywood movies. There are many things you can retort if you think hard about it, but I just can't get enough of the easy-to-understand series of hardships and the catharsis afterward. Happy End really is the best after all.
◇
"Phew, most of the tsunami have been taken care of now I think?"
I saved the two girls from the Sea King, eliminated the Dog-head familiars, an islet-sized size roc [Sky King], and a tyrannosaur-like creature clad in fire [Flame King], and then I flew about to the south sea and took care of the tsunamis.
I even had to eradicate a fleet of ancient undeads and ghosts on an emerging floating island in the middle of the way, it was troublesome.
How do I say this, the south seas are hellish.
A marker window popped up in my vision when I was grumbling.
--Red alert?
"Geh, this is bad!"
I get back to the solitary island palace with Unit Arrangement.
"Hikaru! Please take care of the rest of the Ganika Marquisdom."
"Un, I got it--"
After saying that to Hikaru who was standing by in the island palace, I teleported to the Weasel Empire with space magic.
Frankly, I don't want to let Hikaru go out but Arisa is in a dangerous situation right now.
Since Hikaru has blessing from her Patron God, [Ama no Mizuhana-hime] besides the one from God Parion, I believe she will be fine.
At the other side of the teleport gate, there are Arisa's half-melted Staff Warship doing emergency landing, the beast girls and the Weasel Emperor who's turned into a demon lord around the ship, and Hero Meiko who's spreading blue light around, looking dangerous.
Lyuryu and Lady Ringrande seem to be at the large airship in the distant.
I looked up at the sky and saw seven light orbs floating.
Since their indications show, [ＵＮＫＮＯＷＮ], they're probably either the Gods or the God's familiars.
The ring of light turns into a rich colored whirlpool.
--Crisis perception.
That one's dangerous.
I extend [Magic Hand] toward everyone it can reach.
While the crisis perception was striking my back, I somehow--got them.
--This is bad.
Something falls from the sky.
--Dangerous, dangerous, dangerous.
I hit the Unit Arrangement by a hair's breadth.
The moment right before the light falling from the sky touched us--it activated in time somehow.
◇
"Phew, I hadn't panicked in a long time."
After we moved to my personal desert space, I sighed a breath of relief.
--Oops, not yet!
Next, I teleport again to save Lyuryu and the others.
--ＬＹＵＲＹＵＲＹＵＵＵ.
Seeing me, the white dragon let out a voice of joy and jumped at me like Pochi.
--Geh.
Behind Lyuryu, beyond the crashed large airship, I saw a tsunami of white light coming.
It's probably the residual wave of the light that fell unto us.
"Oy, oy, this place is the halfway point to the neighboring city, far from the capital y'know--"
While muttering in astonishment, I caught Lyuryu and the large warship with [Magic Hand] and took them to the same place as earlier.
"Master! Please save the hero girl nodesu."
Pochi who found us jumped and asked me.
Certainly, the rampaging Hero Meiko who's leaking blue light from her mouth and eyes looks like she's on the verge of ruin.
I quickly bind Hero Meiko with shadow magic and hand over a Blood Elixir to Pochi.
"Try to let her drink this."
"Yes nanodesu!"
I hope this will cure her, but if that's not possible then I have to make her drink the forbidden [Nectar].
I can't leave the [Nectar] in other's hands since it has many problems.
However, I can't care for Hero Meiko more than this.
I need to do something about the tsunami of white light before Hero Meiko. If I leave that alone, the parishes and Dejima Island would be swallowed up.
Resolving the great disaster comes first before an acquaintance I met once.
"Arisa, strange."
I heard Tama shouting on top of the partially destroyed Staff Warship's cockpit.
I rush into the ship's cockpit with Flash Drive before I even think about it.
The preparation to use Unit Arrangement toward Dejima Island ended up being canceled, but at this time, that didn't reach my mind.
"Arisa! Are you alright!!"
"I'm fiNE."
Arisa replied with a strange accent with her head still covered in the helmet's visor.
Violet phosphoresce is leaking from the gaps of her golden armor.
--Demon lord.
That was added on Arisa's titles.
I activate Soul Seer, Magic Seer, Miasma Seer, Spirit Seer and hide Menu's indications to make the throughput even a bit more efficient.
The inside of my eyes feel painful, perhaps I'm overdoing it.
However, I don't care about that right now.
I see that magic power is leaking out from Arisa's cracked Soul Vessel, while miasma is widening that crack.
It's like some kind of purple thing is overflowing from the Vessel's crack.
--Calm down, Satou.
I frantically suppress my flustered heart.
"It's alright, Arisa. It's alright."
While murmuring as if I was convincing myself, I tore off the miasma and gently fixed the broken Soul Vessel to its original shape.
"Alright, just a bit more--"
I purged Arisa's golden armor with the Master Key.
"Don't look."
Arisa hides her lips with her hands and curls up in the cockpit's seat.
"Don't worry, I won't hate you just because your appearance changed a bit."
"Really?"
"Yeah, of course I am."
I murmur to ease Arisa and lift her head.
"Drink this. While your Soul Vessel still retains its shape."
"Un, okay."
I made Arisa drank the [Nectar].
Among my belongings, only this and Blood Elixir Rev. are capable of healing damage on a Soul Vessel.
However, the healing from Blood Elixir Rev. is only temporary.
When the Soul Vessel is damaged this much, the vessel probably won't ultimately be restored unless she drinks the [Nectar].
"--Ah, Master is entering me."
Arisa is Arisa even at a time like this.
Ignoring her nonsense, I keep watch of her Soul Vessel's restoration.
Before long, after what felt like an eternity, Arisa's Soul Vessel is restored.
"--Phew, good."
"I'm sorry."
I pat the apologizing Arisa's head.
Since it seems that she's reflected enough, I'll decide her punishment after I've heard the reason why she overdid it.
"Don't be that rash ever again okay?"
"Un, if anything happened, tell me everything about it--"
When we were staring at each other, another emergency was displayed on the AR reading.
Come to think of it, Dejima Island and the parishes were in trouble weren't they.
◇
"--Made it in time."
I the place closest to the Imperial Capital, Dejima Island that still have survivors, with Unit Arrangement
Lete City was about to be swallowed up by the tsunami of white light before my eyes.
I recalled the moment when the catear-kin reincarnated person was using her Unique Skill to try to delete my memory.
I've sheltered those girls with other reincarnated people, I should go see them when I have time.
"Now then, gotta do something about that."
I choose the advanced earth magic [Great Wall] on the Magic List.
"Guess it's more like a Nameless Mountain Range instead of Great Wall of China?"
A tall wall higher than mountains rise up on several hundreds kilometers long range.
It looks quite showy, but compared to the [<>], this magic is simpler and more cost efficient.
"Now then, let's briskly clean this up."
I connect the [Great Wall] while moving with Unit Arrangement.
My magic power was used up halfway through, but since I had several fully charged holy swords on hand, I got my refill from them.
"Who would have thought that it would almost reach the Ratkin territory at the northern side."
This disaster-grade tsunami of white light must be the real Divine Punishment.
Turning several cities into white salt was probably the Divine Punishment from the apostles and one God, while the white light earlier was probably the large-scale Divine Punishment from the seven Gods.
No wonder the conditions for the Divine Punishment changes depending on who you ask.
◇
"Fumu, these crater and the spiral-shaped grooves are terrible."
After confirming that it was safe with space magic's [Senrigan (Extra Clairvoyance)], I moved to the Weasel Empire using teleport magic.
It seems the Gods are satisfied after dropping the Divine Punishment, they've disappeared from the sky.
I put back the [Room of Truth] where the Troll demon lord was sealed from my protected sub-space to its original place.
Since I had put an absurdly strong barrier on the original place, I don't think they noticed it.
It seems that barrier has disappeared by the Gods' Divine Punishment.
It's probably not the barrier itself that disappeared, but the bedrock where the barrier was placed.
"Wonder what's that warped space?"
I saw a mirage-like phenomenon in the corner of my view.
Is it an evacuation capsule in the sub-space?
It's cracked, and a survivor--is there.
"It's a miracle that she survived."
I pull out the familiar face buried in salt.
--Uwaa.
Her lower body and one of her arms have become salt and fallen apart.
It's a miracle that vital parts like her head and heart are safe.
I moved to the research laboratory in the solitary island palace with Unit Arrangement while wrapping her in Fixture magic.
"Guess no need for cleaning and such."
While muttering that, I put Lady Liedill the temple knight inside a bio-tank for Nana.
"Although it's a different story for limb loss, I guess it's not possible to regenerate organs?"
Since the [Nectar] is too dangerous, I fill the bio-tank with Blood Elixir Rev.
Afterward, the self-regeneration mode of the Bio Tank should take care of the rest.
◇
"What should we do about the hero?"
"Right. I'll ask Echigoya Firm to nurse Hero Meiko and her cohorts. We can just deliver them to Saga Empire once they're able to move about."
Perhaps I should return Lady Ringrande to her parent's house, but for now it's probably better for her to stay in Echigoya Firm's guest room.
She's probably going to be fine since I've asked Sera to care for her.
Since Hero Meiko fell into critical condition while spewing blood when I let her drank the [Nectar] for some reason, I only gave her the Blood Elixir Rev. to return her from the rampaging state as the treatment.
I stripped off the blue lines on her skin with surgery and healed her with a high magic potion afterward.
--Later, after asking Beriunan and Burainan Clans who like to research things to investigate the line, I learned that its composition is similar to crystallized blue liquid.
Back then, when I put too much magic power into Liza's [Black Spear of Cricket], evolving it to [Magic Spear Douma], crystal lines that looked similar to magic liquid also appeared on the surface of the spear, it was probably a similar phenomenon.
"Does this mean the Divine Punishment is over now?"
"Un, probably. It seems the Stampedes in the labyrinths and many monster domains have also stopped."
I affirmed Hikaru's question.
I'm thinking of leaving the care for the stricken areas to each countries.
If they request Shiga King for assistances, I'm planning to release the preserved foods and medicinal supplies I've hoarded in large quantities.
◇
"Master, Pochi is a bad kid nanodesu."
When I was done with some works, Pochi entered my face with a serious face.
Liza and Tama are with her.
"Please give punishment to Pochi nodesu."
"Does Pochi understand what bad things she did?"
"Pochi left her post without telling Master nodesu."
It's true that she violated her order, but my responsibility is heavier for postponing things even though I was aware that something happened to Pochi.
Abstaining from nightlife for one month is too light, I should ask Hikaru to think up of something later.
Now then, putting aside my reflection, right now it's about Pochi.
"Why did you leave your post?"
"Pochi was called by a little girl nodesu."
I couldn't really understand from Pochi's explanation, but looking at the rough image from the Battle Recorder installed in the golden armor, it was a girl that looked similar to the little girl in painting.
"Did she give her name?"
"She didn't nodesu. But, she said Pochi was a 『True Hero』 nodesu."
Fumu, the ones who know that are only us--no, Pochi becoming a hero was recorded on a certain slate written by the [Troll Demon Lord].
Since the fact that Pochi defeated the rat demon lord was also written, authorized people of Weasel Empire should be aware about it even if they're not the Gods themselves.
But well, there's a good chance that it was God Parion.
On this continent, the only people capable of opening a gate from Seryuu City to the Weasel Empire's capital are me, Arisa and the high elves.
It'd be a different story if a reincarnated person with teleportation unique skill appeared in Shiga Kingdom but making an assumption about such an irregular situation like that is too conspiracy theory-like.
"And then?"
"The girl said that 『My hero is going to be killed by a bad demon lord, help』 nodesu."
I see, [My Hero] huh--chronologically speaking, it's unlikely for her to be the [Little girl in painting].
It's probably safe to regard that the [God Parion (Temp)] who set Pochi up is a different being than her.
Next, I listened to the things that happened in the Weasel Empire from Pochi.
"Then I will be announcing the punishment for Private Pochi."
"Aye."
Hearing me, Pochi straightened herself.
"The crime of leaving one's post and endangering one's self is not light."
"Aye."
"Therefore, 10 days of meals without meat should be proper."
Pochi's ears flopped down, she looked downward.
Liza and Tama who are next to her are looking pale like their blood run cold after hearing the severe punishment of [10 days of meals without meat].
"However--"
Pochi's ears twitch.
"--In light of Pochi's courage and kindness for rushing in to save the life of a girl in danger, the meals without meat is decreased by three days."
Pochi raises her head.
"Furthermore, appreciating your prudence of not thoughtlessly engaging the demon lords you encountered but instead properly judging as to whether they're evil or not, the meals without meat is decreased again by three days."
Pochi's ears returned to their positions.
"And, extolling your achievements of healing the injured Hero Meiko and Weasel Empire, and saving Lady Ringrande, the meals without meat is decreased again by three days."
This would probably turns up more to plus if this were the story of a super popular magic school, but completely giving a positive here is bad.
"That's why, the meal without meat is only for today. Be careful not to repeat what you did okay."
"Yes, nanodesu! Pochi wants to learn many more things nodesu!"
"Yup, you're great Pochi."
I'm glad that Pochi is interested in things other than battles, meals and her hobby, writing stories.
I pat Pochi's head hard.
"Tama will learn too~?"
Since Tama also came declaring and hugging me on the opposite side, I also praised her, "You're also great Tama."
Looks like Tama is already affected by Pochi.
◇
"--Master."
When I got back after finishing some business, Arisa was waiting in the dark office.
"Arisa, at least turn on the light while you're waiting."
"Welcome back. Were you at Aze's place?"
"Nah, I was just disciplining the troublesome guys who set Pochi up."
I told her that first while rebuking her.
After the beast girls left, I checked on Tactician Touya and found out he was at an unexpected place.
I ascertained the real identity of the [Majesty] guy when I invaded with Mana Camouflage on, so I threatened them by imitating the story of the Sword of Damocles.
They probably won't ever try to meddle with us again if they still have nerves.
"As expected of Master. You're quick--"
It's a meek tone that's unlike the usual Arisa.
"--I have something I need to talk to Master about."
I was a bit surprised at the fact Arisa spoke of falteringly--her memory was sealed and sighting the descended God was the trigger--but the content itself was within the range of the assumption I thought up after seeing the Weasel Emperor's state.
"The God who let Arisa reincarnated said that 『If you meet other Gods besides me, kill them』?"
"Un, that God said that they will attack anyone who's been given that God's power for sure if they find one, even though meeting one seldom ever happens."
That's strange.
I'm sure Gods have seen reincarnated people including Arisa for many times through the oracle Miko.
More importantly--.
"So the God who let you reincarnate was the 『Demon God』 after all?"
"I don't know. Judging from the circumstances, there's a high chance that's the case, but that God never directly said it."
That makes sense, from what she said earlier, her memory might have been sealed.
Would the trigger happen regardless of which Gods she encountered, or would it have to be God Zaikuon first, the discussion will change depending on that.
However, there's a high possibility that the Demon God who produces demons is sending reincarnated people to this world as the [Eggs] to mass produce demon lords.
I don't know why he didn't just embed the fragments in the people who live in this world though.
Good grief, the objective of Gods bringing forth reincarnated people is still unclear even now, it's depressing.
If we go by my deduction that has never been right with detective novels, it's "Reincarnated people will spread their knowledge, violate the God's Taboo, and then the Divine Punishment will befall them and the God who will nonchalantly appear will torment the reincarnated people who turn into demon lords" I guess?
--Nay.
It's full of holes if I think about it a bit more, and it's really inefficient.
"--By the way, have you seen your status after I healed you?"
"Un, I have."
Arisa answers with a serious tone.
"Don't forget to always equip the 『Thief God Harness』 when you're going out okay."
"Yes, dear."
I lightly whack Arisa's head.
"Owie."
She should be fine now if she can crack jokes.
After fighting God Zaikuon, Arisa has gotten several titles.
First, [Demon Lord] that I saw.
In addition, [One who Rebels], [One who Challenges God], for some reason [Hero], and--.
I look at Arisa's status displayed on the AR twice.
Looks like it's not a mistake after all.
Over there--[Satou's Familiar] has been added.
※ The next update is scheduled for 1/29
※ The decisive scene against the mastermind is planned for the next chapter.