Ch.249Side Story: Synchronization – 1

“Are both of you ready?”

“Yes! I’m ready! I’m super excited!”

“…..”

“Nova, what about you?”

“C-can’t you tell just by looking! And don’t casually call a god by name!”

The Demon God snapped angrily. Anyone could see he was fidgeting with excitement, but I deliberately provoked him by making him say it out loud.

I didn’t need to do this with the Celestial God—the one I had called Goddess. I didn’t want to either. The Demon God was still being prickly, so teasing him a little was fine.

“Yeah, yeah. I got it. Looking at you, I can tell.”

“Eek…”

When I casually dropped the honorifics and spoke informally, the Demon God stomped his feet. I wonder if he realizes that acting childish like that only makes me want to treat him more casually.

“Beatrice?”

“I-I’m ready too.”

Beatrice seemed extremely nervous now that what I had mentioned in passing was about to become reality. It was the first time I’d seen her stutter like that.

“I’m back, Master. Erestica says she’s not coming. She asked me to tell you she’s sorry, but she needs to rest today. She mentioned she’d also look after those who are bedridden while she’s at it.”

“She’s not coming? Why?”

“I wouldn’t know. She didn’t tell me the reason.”

“Really? That’s surprising. I remember she was perfectly fine just yesterday.”

I doubt that her fine appearance yesterday was just a front. I nodded in understanding, and Nika smiled with a meaningful look. Seems like there really is something going on, though she has no intention of telling me what it is.

If she doesn’t want to tell me, I won’t pry. Neither of them has the personality to hide something that would harm me. They must have their reasons.

“Alright, I understand. Good work, Nika.”

“It’s nothing, Master! Just give me orders anytime!”

Nika, who had returned from being a maid of House Crate to the guild leader of Eternal Guild, bowed respectfully. Beatrice was watching Nika’s enthusiastic demeanor with a strange expression.

“What’s wrong?”

“This is the first time I’ve seen Yustera act so enthusiastically. It would be nice if she showed this much dedication to her maid duties, not just matters related to the young master.”

“A-ahem! Shall we depart now?”

“Ah, wait a moment. There’s something I need to do before we go.”

I cast a spell on the Celestial God and Demon God. Their hair changed from blue and gray to red and black, and their eyes from yellow and gray to blue and gold.

Their features still resembled Leona and Latina, but with the dramatic change in hair and eye color, any resemblance to the two was completely unnoticeable. The Celestial God tilted her head curiously.

“Do we need to change our appearance to go to Earth?”

“Not exactly. It’s just that the goddess looks like someone who’s quite famous on Earth. If you went out looking like that, it would cause quite a commotion.”

Given Eternal Guild’s status and reputation, saying it would cause a commotion is neither an exaggeration nor a bluff.

Latina would be fine. She had been sleeping under tight security for seven years, so hardly anyone knew her.

But Leona? The moment she appeared outside in her original form, there would be a flood of media reports and rumors about a hidden daughter suddenly appearing. And I, the man accompanying them, would be labeled as the father.

I wanted no part in such unnecessary controversy.

“Hahaha… I suppose that’s true.”

Leona laughed awkwardly, as if she had anticipated this.

“The dimensional gate is ready, Master.”

A blue circle spinning clockwise appeared beside Nika. The Celestial God and Demon God gazed at the world beyond the gate with sparkling eyes. It made sense, as the interior design would be completely different from here.

The two goddesses, who had been marveling at how low the mana concentration was, turned around when they heard Leona’s voice.

“Have a good trip, Goddess.”

“Yes, I’ll be back soon!”

“Have a good trip, Demon God.”

“…Yeah. I’ll be back.”

Despite being corrected multiple times, Latina stubbornly called her “Demon God” rather than “Demon God-nim,” and the Demon God seemed to have half given up.

Latina is just as stubborn in her own way. Though in this case, it’s probably more because I simply call her “Demon God” rather than out of stubbornness.

“This is the place the young master mentioned… Hyah?! Young master?!”

I approached Beatrice as she was muttering in front of the dimensional gate and lightly touched her cheek. She jumped in surprise and turned to look at me.

“What are you doing, not going in?”

“I-I was just looking around a bit. How could I possibly enter before you, young master?”

“I don’t mind. Oh, right. In that world, you’re not allowed to call me ‘young master.’ I almost forgot.”

“What…? Then what should I call you?”

“Just call me Mira.”

“…..”

At those words, Beatrice froze as if her system had shut down. Her lips moved, trying to say something, but she seemed unable to. I gently pushed her back and crossed through the dimensional gate.

The Celestial God, who had been exchanging farewells with Leona, came through next, followed by the Demon God, who had awkwardly waved goodbye to Latina. Nika was the last to enter.

Leona and Latina decided to stay behind. They said they needed time to talk alone about “that incident.”

They’re definitely talking about having sex on the beach.

“How is it? This is normal enough, right?”

As soon as the dimensional gate closed, Nika, who had changed her appearance, winked at me.

“It’s too much.”

“What?! I’m wearing the exact same clothes as the head maid, so why?!”

“Why are you bringing me into this, Yustera?!”

Beatrice exclaimed with a flustered face. The two were wearing tight-fitting dark blue jeans that showed off their curves, paired with light beige sweaters that clung to their bodies.

For Beatrice, who had always worn loose-fitting maid uniforms with ankle-length skirts, this outfit probably felt as revealing as a swimsuit.

“W-why are you looking at me like that… young master…”

Her voice grew smaller, almost inaudible. I smiled and patted her head.

“Because it suits you so well. You look pretty.”

“P-pretty, you say…”

Beatrice’s eyes spun. While I could understand her embarrassment over the swimsuit due to its exposure, this was the first time I’d seen her so purely embarrassed like this.

I grinned and complimented her several more times, telling her how pretty she looked. Beatrice crouched down, looking like she might die of embarrassment. The Demon God clicked her tongue as she watched us.

“…You didn’t compliment me.”

And there was Nika with a sullen expression. She was wearing the same outfit, but while I had told her it was too much, Beatrice had received compliments, which seemed to make her pout as much as her chest stuck out.

“For you, it’s more sexy than pretty. How can you walk around in public wearing such sexy clothes? That’s why I said it’s too much. Too sexy.”

“Really?”

Her sullen expression vanished instantly, replaced by a happy smile.

“Of course.”

That was the honest truth. Frankly, Beatrice looked sexy too, but not to the extent of Nika, who seemed to need an R-rating despite not showing any skin.

“Ahem, well, I guess I have no choice. I’ll add a perception distortion spell too. Since you put it that way, Master.”

Nika, true to her succubus nature, seemed very satisfied with my words. She placed her hands on her cheeks and squirmed, not knowing what to do with herself.

“You two are having fun, I see.”

“Y-you shouldn’t say such mean things, sister.”

We decided to show them around Seoul by walking rather than focusing on tourist attractions. What the three were curious about wasn’t tourist spots but what the world of Earth looked like.

Although many things had changed with the establishment of concepts like Hunters, Gates, and mana, it was still fundamentally a modern world. It was completely different from the medieval Renaissance-style world that Laura had created in her novel.

That alone was enough to provide excellent sightseeing for the three.

The two goddesses, in particular, showed curiosity about everything. As a result, I had to work hard to cast sound-blocking spells at appropriate moments to prevent the Celestial God and Demon God from appearing like children lacking common sense.

“H-human! What is this?”

“That’s called a car.”

“Then what’s this, human?”

“Want me to buy you one? Want to try it?”

“I-I never said I wanted to eat it! And why do you keep talking informally to me?!”

“I would like to try it!”

The Goddess suddenly interjected. The Demon God looked aghast.

“You traitor!”

“I want to eat it, but you don’t, sister?”

“Ugh… that’s…”

“You really don’t want it? Then I’ll just buy one for the Goddess.”

“…I’ll eat it.”

In the end, the Demon God surrendered and followed her sister, holding a crepe in each hand, munching away as she walked. Seeing the happiness seeping into her expression, I thought about teasing her again but decided against it.

Beatrice took delicate bites of her crepe, covering her mouth with her hand as she chewed and evaluated the taste.

“So this is what you called a crepe. It’s similar to what we have in our world.”

“That’s right. They’re similar.”

Of course, the reason for that is because Laura designed the world setting. She couldn’t have created entirely new desserts. If she could, she’d be a dessert master rather than a web novelist.

Nika kept licking the whipped cream with her tongue, insisting she had a perception interference spell on her, so I ignored her.

“Should we find somewhere to sit and rest soon? We need to have lunch too.”

“Yes. That sounds good. If we walk a little further from here… huh?”

Nika, who was walking ahead, stopped. In the distance, several Hunters were gathered, murmuring among themselves. I focused my hearing. Judging by the sounds of “Are you okay?” something seemed to have happened.

“Looks like someone went berserk beyond their limits after receiving a buff, without considering the backlash.”

“They’ll handle it. Let’s go.”

I was going to report it if things looked like they might go wrong, but I decided to let it go when I saw a Hunter with healing abilities approaching—someone must have already called for help.

Hunters with healing abilities are rare, and those with kind enough hearts to heal a collapsed stranger for free are even rarer. Healers were just as precious here as anywhere else.

“What’s happening? It’s not working!”

“Huh? That’s strange, this shouldn’t be happening…”

I stopped again when I heard that the healing wasn’t working.

I checked the badge on the healer’s arm. B-rank. A fairly high-ranking Hunter. The fact that a Hunter of that caliber’s healing ability wasn’t working began to cause a stir among the onlookers.

“Ugh, ugh… AAAAARGH!”

The screams grew louder. So did the commotion. The flustered healer quickly made a decision.

“This is beyond what I can handle. I’ll make some calls, but you should see an A-rank healer or a doctor.”

“O-okay. Let’s get him to a hospital, quickly!”

“Yeah, let’s—”

Just as the companions were about to lift the collapsed Hunter onto their shoulders…

—CRASH!

“KYAAAAA!”

“What the hell is that?!”

The collapsed Hunter swung his arm and sent his companion flying at least ten meters away, crashing into a car. Cough! Blood-tinged coughs spilled from his mouth.

The healer instinctively backed away, while another Hunter stepped in front to protect him. People who had gathered to see what was happening dispersed like the receding tide.

“Um… Master? The situation seems to be taking a strange turn?”

“Indeed.”

What followed was a one-sided massacre. Despite the intervention of a nearby B-rank party, they were all utterly destroyed by a single Hunter who was supposedly only a low C-rank.

It was literally a bloodbath. They were beaten so badly that the phrase “they survived because they’re Hunters” couldn’t be more accurate. I handed my portion of crepe to Nika.

“Hold this. You can have a bite if you want.”

“Are you going to step in yourself? I could—”

“It’s fine. I think I know what that is.”

I remembered seeing similar symptoms before.

In the deepest part of the underground chamber in the Imperial Palace, along with the Sword Saint.