Ch.106Black Dragon and Explosive Dragon – 7

‘A Goddess.’

I had known about the existence of gods for a while. After all, the concept of divine power exists, and Laura had mentioned setting up the Demon God as a counterpart to the Goddess of Light.

It’s just that my impression of goddesses wasn’t particularly positive.

Wasn’t she the one who merely bestowed power and then practically abandoned her church, allowing the Starlight Order to fall into corruption? That alone was enough to tank her image in my eyes.

But if it was just a simple request for conversation, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to accept. I quietly gripped the holy sword.

Leona was beaming with joy, seemingly delighted that the goddess had taken an interest in me as well.

—Can you hear me…?

A surprisingly pure and delicate voice flowed into my mind. It was quite unexpected. I had thought it would be more authoritative or cold, or perhaps steeped in a sense of superiority.

The fact that she used polite speech was surprising too, and with a bit of exaggeration, her voice sounded like someone on the verge of death from illness. Yet it didn’t come across as weak—indeed, she was a goddess after all.

“Yes. I can hear you, Goddess.”

—Ah… I’m glad. I’m truly happy to meet you, even if only through voice. I’ve been watching you from here many times.

Strangely, I could feel the emotions carried in her voice flowing directly into my mind. The emotion in her words just now was pure joy.

I should probably be suspicious that this sensation itself might be manipulated, but if I start doubting everything one by one, there would be no end to it. Still, there’s no harm in being skeptical until her purpose and intentions become clear.

—Oh. I should introduce myself first. I am the Goddess of Light. I have no other name, so you may call me whatever you wish.

“I understand, Goddess. May I ask why you wanted to speak with me?”

—What? Could we… could we talk just a little longer? We still have plenty of time… please.

Her voice became slightly urgent. She seemed a bit anxious. I wondered why. There was no reason for her to be anxious about our conversation ending here.

“We don’t have that much time. There’s someone I need to bring before the dragon we just defeated dies.”

I realized I should contact them. I handed the communication magic tool I was holding to Leona. She nodded and scurried off somewhere.

—I… I see… Alright. I’ll keep it brief.

Her voice became slightly dejected. She seemed to have noticed the discomfort in my tone.

She read me correctly. I truly don’t think highly of her.

—Could you perhaps help me?

“No.”

—Eh? What?

She apparently hadn’t expected me to refuse before even hearing what she had to say. I could feel her extreme bewilderment in the voice echoing in my head.

“I don’t have particularly good feelings toward you, Goddess. You merely bestowed power without any oversight, allowing your followers to openly commit all sorts of evil. If you had shown even a little interest in the mortal realm, you would have withdrawn divine power from those who had fallen by human standards.”

—…

“And it wasn’t just bad deeds by human standards. Did you know that the entire Starlight Order was enthralled and corrupted by a succubus? From what I can tell, you didn’t. They all continued using divine power just fine even after being enthralled. If this isn’t evidence of your disinterest in the mortal realm, are you perhaps suggesting you’re allied with the demon race?”

—That’s not true! How could you say I’m allied with the demon race? That’s too cruel!

The goddess, who had been quietly listening to me, protested as if shouting. She seemed unable to tolerate the suggestion that she was allied with demons.

“Then you should have acted before things got to this point. At least from my perspective, Goddess, you seemed to have no interest in the mortal realm whatsoever. Or perhaps you thought it didn’t matter what happened to humans as long as faith kept coming in. Please correct me if I’m wrong. But if either of those two reasons is why you abandoned your church, I see no reason to accept your request.”

The holy sword fell silent. I had said all I needed to say. The next move was up to the goddess.

‘How will she respond?’

If she reacts with indignation, turning the tables on me, then I’ll have nothing more to do with her. If she apologizes sincerely, I might reconsider depending on her reason for neglecting the mortal realm all this time.

Or I could just have a word with Laura for creating such a setting for the goddess. After all, the main framework of this world was born from Laura’s hands.

It might be foolish to expect a positive response after speaking to her so confrontationally, but if we’re being fair, she doesn’t have much ground to stand on either. The moment she allowed her church to become so corrupt, things were already beyond repair.

—You’re… right about everything.

And with that, the goddess readily admitted it.

‘Perhaps she’s not as stubborn as I thought?’

As a deity, she could have taken being criticized by a human as an insult. I mentally adjusted my evaluation of her slightly upward.

—B-but I had no choice. I also—

Suddenly, the voice in my head cut off. I was puzzled as it had stopped mid-sentence, but then it resumed.

—I sincerely apologize for the matter in question, Mira Crate.

Unlike before, the tone was now extremely curt and businesslike.

The overall voice was the same, but the manner of speech had completely changed. If the voices hadn’t sounded alike, I would have thought it was a different person entirely. My first thought was: what’s going on?

—I understand your doubts. However, it was unavoidable. I had implanted a part of myself in the holy sword, and thus could only observe the mortal realm through it. I truly did not know what was happening on earth. The sword had not chosen a hero for quite some time, and until today, the part of me residing in the sword had not awakened.

“You implanted part of yourself in the holy sword?”

—However, since you say the church has fallen into corruption, I will withdraw all my power that has taken root on earth, except for that granted to the hero. Mira Crate, you should help the hero chosen by the holy sword distribute power to new believers. That is the most I can do for you.

The holy sword shone brightly. I was dumbfounded. Could divine power be withdrawn so easily?

—My request for your help is not one that should cause you displeasure. You need only assist the hero in dealing with the Demon God. Unlike me with my limited power, the Demon God’s strength continues to grow, and it will eventually become powerful enough to suppress even my power.

Dealing with the Demon God was something I would have to do eventually anyway. If that was what she wanted to ask, accepting wouldn’t have changed much.

But was such a setting in the original novel? Or perhaps, like the existence of the Demon God, this was another setting that wasn’t explicitly introduced by Laura but was added arbitrarily as fiction turned into reality.

—That is all I have to say. I look forward to meeting you again someday, Mira Crate.

“Wait. Why did your manner of speech suddenly change?”

—…

No answer came. The voice echoing in my head had disappeared. Although I had conversed with the goddess, I felt like I had more questions than before.

‘Is this also a consequence of me changing the plot?’

As far as I know, the goddess in the original work only told the hero to kill the Demon King, never mentioning the Demon God.

But now she’s explicitly telling me to kill the Demon God, not the Demon King, so I wonder if this is another ripple effect caused by my presence.

“I contacted the Chairman. He said he’ll fly here as fast as possible. Huh? Why do you look like that?”

Leona, who was returning the magic tool, tilted her head curiously.

“You heard the goddess’s voice too, right?”

“Of course I did.”

“Can you describe how the goddess spoke?”

“How she spoke? Um… it was just really delicate but also instantly recognizable as a goddess, you know? It’s hard to explain. That’s the feeling I got. She was super kind, and the moment you heard her, you just knew: this is the goddess!”

It seemed she had heard the first manner of speech. Apparently, the goddess hadn’t shown that other side to Leona.

‘Should I ask Laura about this?’

Though she didn’t appear in the main story, Laura might have set up the goddess as having a dual personality or a twin. After all, myths where gods are twins or have siblings who each rule different domains are relatively common.

For now, I kept my doubts to myself and waited for the Chairman to arrive. Not long after, a considerably large dragon could be seen flying from the direction of the Empire.

The Chairman was also quite large, though not as massive as Mahrvat. With a deep rumble, the dragon landed. The enormous body gradually transformed into a human shape.

“Mahrvat.”

The Chairman, finally taking the form I recognized, growled as he looked at the dragon writhing on the ground.

I gestured to Leona. Understanding my meaning, she retreated to a distance, and I followed. The Chairman approached right up to Mahrvat and conversed with him for quite some time.

—!!!!!!

Whatever was said, Mahrvat became enraged and attempted to rise. His front legs pressed against the ground as he tried to gather strength, but ultimately he collapsed again, unable to stand.

Step by step, very slowly, the Chairman approached Mahrvat’s chest and stopped right in front of the reverse scale. His fingers, firmly gripping something, pierced through the reverse scale and delved inside.

The Chairman stood like that for a very long time. After what seemed like an eternity, Mahrvat’s body began to disappear like smoke. It was such a surreal sight that I almost wondered if the dragon itself had been an illusion.

When Mahrvat’s massive form had completely vanished, only a red crystal remained. The Chairman approached us, holding the red crystal.

“It is done. Thank you… thank you so much. With this, that child will also find peace.”

The Chairman bowed to us with tears in his eyes.

“He was going to die anyway. But what is that…?”

“It’s part of the Dragon Heart. He no longer needs it. Take it. It’s yours. Use it however you wish.”

In the original work, the hero also extracted part of the Dragon Heart after defeating Mahrvat. If I remember correctly, its effects were quite remarkable, but what were they exactly?

Leona, who had received the Dragon Heart somewhat bewilderedly, thought for a moment and then held it out to me.

“Here. Take it, Mira.”

“Why?”

“I didn’t really do anything. You did everything, Mira. So just take this too. Hearing the Chairman’s thanks is enough for me.”

“Enough, nothing. Just keep it. You did your part too.”

The fact that I was able to finish him off in one blow was thanks to Leona awakening the holy sword. I overpowered Leona and tucked the Dragon Heart inside her uniform.

“That’s so mean. Forcing it open and shoving something so big inside when I said no.”

“Stop saying weird things.”

I thought she’d been quiet lately, but it seems her true nature hasn’t changed. Leona grinned mischievously while pretending to cry with her eyes, and the Chairman who was watching us turned red.

Wait, is someone his age actually embarrassed by this?

“Mira!”

As we returned to the academy, leaving behind the Chairman who still had work to do, Rosaria came running urgently. She was wearing a regular school uniform rather than her usual celestial robe woven from starlight.

The uniform didn’t seem to fit her properly, with all the buttons on the chest undone.

“Something terrible has happened! The divine power—”

“Leona. Could I borrow the holy sword for a moment?”

“Sure. Here.”

Leona, momentarily confused, reflexively handed me the holy sword. Gripping it, I lightly tapped Rosaria’s shoulder with the flat side as she was making a fuss. Immediately, a radiance burst forth from her.

“…What is this?”

“What do you think?”

Rosaria, who had been causing an uproar about the disappearance of divine power, looked dumbfounded. I returned the sword to Leona with a slight smile.

“It’s time for you to become a true saint.”

“Ugh.”

Rosaria grimaced in disgust.