Ch.43Three Together (5)

I recalled my memories.

I definitely fell from a cliff.

“I called you here.”

Footsteps approaching.

A foreign god was approaching through the dark energy.

With seventy-four tentacles trailing behind, its appearance could only be described as monstrous.

“You’re in a suspended state right now. Well, not dead, but close.”

The foreign god muttered incomprehensible sounds while laughing.

The floor was slippery, and looking down, I saw heaps of blue-tinged threads piled up.

The more I looked, the more bizarre and eerie the space became.

I wanted to leave as quickly as possible, but that would be impossible without the foreign god’s permission.

The foreign god, now right in front of me, lifted its chin and spoke.

“I gave you two quests. One was to become the best, and the other was to eliminate someone who was being arrogant.”

A clear voice echoed through the space.

“You somehow managed one of them because your acceptance skills are good.”

“I knew it would work out.”

“No, that’s what we call luck. Kid.”

The foreign god grinned. A grotesque smile.

“But the second request was different. You hit your own head with the calipers. I was expecting you to smash someone else’s head.”

She frowned her ‘face’ and spoke softly.

“Human, I thought you would break the school rules.”

At some point, I realized two things.

First, my attitude had been too passive all along.

Foreign gods always act one step ahead of humans. To stop them in advance, I needed to move faster, on an unpredictable path.

Contacting a graduate school professor when I’d just become a high school student?

That’s entirely possible, isn’t it?

Among foreign gods, it wouldn’t even be surprising.

I need to move more dramatically. I need to attempt things that can’t be done as a student.

The second realization was that there was a trick to the quest given by the foreign god.

The ‘Calipers of Wisdom’ was an item given by the foreign god.

In other words, if someone else touched it, they could go insane.

Especially students without constellations could die from just one touch.

“Why didn’t you hit another student?”

“…I’d be expelled.”

“So you hit your own head instead?”

“I was just as arrogant.”

Thinking I had one less worry after being accepted to Stellarium was itself arrogant.

As a human, I must struggle.

Yes, the protagonist must be going through hell right now. I can’t just sit here like this.

“You were arrogant too, so you fixed your own mindset… Interesting story. Amusing. Very amusing.”

Glowing tentacles slither before my eyes.

Then one of those tentacles extended a thick book toward me.

“This is your reward for amusing me. Take it.”

[Sage’s Manual (Lv.10)]

There it is. The quest reward.

The Sage’s Manual, a unique item that reveals what will happen in the future.

At level 10, it should contain most of the important content.

However, just as I was about to open it, I couldn’t help but hesitate.

Will the future change if I read this?

“What’s wrong? I said open it.”

If it’s about the future, I already know.

Destruction.

There’s no need to read it.

I threw the book back without even opening it.

“What are you doing?”

I couldn’t see the foreign god’s face, but she was clearly frowning.

A fear grips me that if I say the wrong thing, my head might be crushed.

Here’s one of my life principles:

Never cower, no matter what.

“I don’t need it.”

I answered confidently.

“You don’t need it?”

“Yeah.”

“Knowing the future is a good thing. Whether through regression, prophecy, or this way. If you know, you have time to prepare. Are you ignoring my goodwill?”

“It’s not goodwill, is it?”

It’s a quest reward.

“Clever one.”

The foreign god clicked her tongue.

There was a subtle change in her tone. To be precise, it was an excited voice.

She asked.

“What do you want?”

“A solution.”

“Trying to live an easy life, huh?”

“I have no interest in paths I won’t take. I’m going to change the future.”

“How impudent. Do you know who you’re standing before?”

“I know. A foreign god. A being far superior to us, residing in the 7th dimension.”

“And yet you still talk back.”

Whoosh! Eight pairs of tentacles wrapped around my body.

I couldn’t move at all.

Cartesia approached me slowly as I was tightly bound.

She tapped around my abdomen and smiled coldly.

“What do you think would happen if I applied force here?”

“Pregnancy?”

“Correct.”

Foreign gods truly are foreign. To think of impregnating a man—that’s no ordinary madness.

But on the other hand, I’m also curious.

“…Genetically, what happens when a child is born between a human and a foreign god?”

“……”

“No, really. I’m just curious.”

The moment I said it, I wondered what nonsense I was spouting.

Slither.

The tentacles loosened.

“You’re insane.”

For a brief moment, I saw the foreign god’s expression.

It was too beautiful to be called monstrous, and it had a human form.

It was strange. A foreign god who views humans as insects, yet mimics the appearance of a person.

I saw the corners of the woman’s lips rise.

“Interesting. It was worth making you my host.”

She continued.

“I’ll ask you once more. Are you really not going to take the Sage’s Manual?”

“Yeah.”

“Then what do you want?”

“A bomb.”

A big, beautiful bomb that will blow all your heads off and make this universe peaceful.

“Your theory, the recipe you established. As much as you know, if possible.”

“You’re a greedy one.”

Cartesia began to laugh longer than ever before.

That laughter was too pure to be called noise, and on the other hand, it also had a melancholic tinge.

“You want all my research results? I’ve never seen someone who dares to negotiate with a foreign god!”

“……”

“…Alright, fine.”

Thud. Something touched my feet.

It was a new book.

“Take it.”

This time, I picked up the book without hesitation.

It’s a hardcover book with nothing written in it. Every page I turned was completely blank.

“This is my masterpiece that I completed over a long time. Like my child… though still incomplete.”

Soon, a title was engraved on the cover of the hardcover, and a status window forcibly opened.

“You fill in the rest. It would be interesting to watch that too.”

Requesting a scoop of her own thesis.

She’s really not in her right mind—

***

Foreign god Cartesia, seated on a throne at the zero point where a black hole was condensed, was laughing meaninglessly.

– Useless half-breed.

– Shame of our race.

– Stay locked away in the periphery for your entire life.

Crunch, she bit her tentacle.

A white polyhedron of unequal faces reflects chaotically through space. The temperature of the black hole increases rapidly.

She was angry.

– Homo sapiens, what will change by being curious about such a low-level race?

– Cartesia, you’re doing something unnecessary right now.

– Just like a half-breed.

Cartesia’s eyes burned hotly.

“Beings worse than humans……”

The humans you despise.

The humans you torment.

Let’s see you all get a taste of your own medicine at the hands of those pathetic humans.

***

[You have been awarded 25,000 Pron for defeating the S-class monster, Renaniai.]

[With your existing rewards and acquired Pron, you can now access the following thesis.]

[7-Dimension Quantum Gravitation Aether Field Theory, Cartesia, from Sgr A* (Incomplete)]

I opened my eyes in a dark, gloomy cave.

The first thing I saw was the status window, and the second was a smoldering campfire.

I definitely lost consciousness while drowning, but it seems Rustila took good care of me afterward.

Both my shoulders felt heavy.

Following the dripping sound of water, I turned my head to find Rustila sleeping while leaning on my left arm.

She had wrapped her arm around mine like intertwined vines and was off in dreamland.

Even her sleeping face is pretty. She truly is beautiful.

No, this isn’t the time to be admiring.

I shook my left arm.

“Hwaht…!”

Rustila woke up with a shrill sound like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.

After rubbing her eyes a few times and confirming my face, her eyes widened.

“Eidel! You’re awake…! Ugh…!”

A groan. Was she hurt somewhere?

That thought soon vanished.

Rustila was half-naked. The scars on her shoulders where the divine backing resided were clearly visible.

It was fortunate she was covering her upper body with her school uniform jacket; otherwise, it would have been extremely embarrassing.

I closed my eyes and lifted my head.

Miss Rustila, who had been clinging to Eidel, quickly moved away and gathered her clothes. I couldn’t see, but I could tell from the rustling sounds.

“…Are you awake?”

“Yes.”

“Are you feeling alright?”

“I’m fine.”

My head was splitting from being hit with the calipers, but not enough to make me wail.

But something felt strange.

Even though Rustila had moved away from my left arm, my body still felt heavy.

I mechanically turned my gaze.

Zernya was attached to me.

“Ah……”

Rustila let out a long sound.

Asking Rustila to remove her was impossible as the girl had completely frozen up like an overripe persimmon.

Just as I was about to place my hand on Zernya’s shoulder—

Slap!

“…Don’t touch me.”

Zernya, who had opened her eyes at some point, pushed my hand away.

I had no choice but to look upward again.

She was just in her dress shirt.

“Why are you clinging to me when you’re telling me not to touch you?”

“…? Oh.”

Only then did Zernya hurriedly move away.

While the rustling sounds continued, I recited the national anthem four times.

Rustle, rustle.

“Damn it, why won’t this go in…”

This Zernya, being a chapter boss, has a no-joke phase 2.

After the silent war ended, the three nations of A-Ru-Je entered a lull.

We all sat in a circle around the campfire, staring blankly at the flames.

Whoosh.

Rain was pouring down furiously.

It’s awkward. In this sudden game of avoiding eye contact, the three of us are just watching each other.

Since it’s come to this, I have no choice.

[Gravitational Bomb Development Theory and Recipe (Incomplete)]

I might as well read the thesis.