NOVEL NEXT Chapter 4: Meeting God (2/3)
"T-then and I apologize for asking this after what you did for me, but can you send me back to my world? You must be god if you can recreate my body…"
Ren asked of the goddess before him.
Even though she was not obvious, the more he heard the melodious voice speaking with him, the more he understood its nature, and finally could say with confidence that she was a female.
A goddess.
And while it was true that he was an otaku in the true sense of the word, however, he was not a trash person to forget his family and pursue his own selfish desires for some wishes to get powerful.
Even if he didn't take into fact if she 'will' fulfill them.
For him, his family came first. As such he wanted to go back to his family.
This time he was determined to repay their efforts on him all this time, and he vowed to himself to make sure they had everything they ever dreamed of. Even that little child, his sister, he would spoil her so much, that he might end up called as a siscon. He didn't care…
"W-what?"
As if reading his thoughts, the cloud below him moved on itself and started to change directions around him, bringing him a sense of warmness like never before.
Soon, it subsided, and now he found himself floating on top of a pair of palms crossed, and right above him was the vague body of a female goddess wearing a robe that changed colors to match the space surrounding them.
This was probably the goddess materializing to hold him near her chest in her hands.
『In this space, the time relevant to the outside would seem like it isn't moving. As such even after thousands of years had passed in here since you came, the time outside hasn't moved by much…』The goddess replied in a gentle voice. She didn't explain though, that this space was in fact just her room, that no one else could enter.
Her entire world and activities were boring from the repetitiveness.
Ren chatting with her was a novelty. The only beings who even had the right to chat with her could be counted on one hand, and they were boring to her… meanwhile chatting with a mortal wasn't.
She had heard before that other lower gods granted wishes and helped stranded souls of mortals and sent them with missions to many worlds.
This was why she was giving Ren so much leeway and chatting with him.
Why not try the same as them, since Ren appeared to be quite a special soul if him showing up here meant anything?
From the perspective of Ren, the goddess had just spoken so his eyes brightened at her words.
He understood this as if the time on earth hadn't changed by much since he died.
'Then, if she grants my wish I can be back with my family like nothing-'
『But… I cannot send you back to your world, unfortunately…』
'N-nothing had happened…' He was still thinking happily and hopefully when the goddess spoke up and shattered his dreams.
His mouth opened and closed as he tried to speak something in return, but the goddess continued on.
『It is not that I don't want to help you, my child. But every soul has a calling place. You may say it has a fate awaiting it. And right now, yours does not lie in the world you wish to go to. Even with my whole power, I cannot go against the way of nature. In the first place, you shouldn't have reached this place at all, your soul should have instinctively reached your destined reincarnation place and then you would be reborn without your previous life memories.』
The sound had a tinge of regret, but it nonetheless comforted Ren's fragile heart.
It was true that she can't send him back to earth. If it was up to her she would indeed do so.
But his soul had a pull toward a certain world. Why? she didn't know. It was as the world desired and she wouldn't disagree.
After all, even as strong as she was, she was still birthed from the worlds.
『There will come a time when you would be able to visit your world back, and I'll help you at that time. But for now, you must head into the next dwelling place for your soul. I will do my best to help you become stronger faster so you may reach your goals rapidly.』The goddess as if she couldn't bear to see him down like that further explained and promised him.
Ren who was down with his shoulders sagged heard her words.
He understood what she meant. Since he had died, his soul was refusing to go back to earth or something similar.
He could also infer from her words that a place was already waiting for him to go to. It was just a matter of, if the goddess would indeed send him, not that he cared right now.
But now hearing her say that in the future he might be able to come back to earth, his mind started working overtime to think.
After a while, he raised his eyes and looked at the goddess with determination.
Being in the embrace of this goddess was a heavenly feeling for Ren.
Not just his thoughts, every cell of his body felt that way. But still, he struggled to move for a while from such an ecstatic feeling and then did something unexpected.
He bowed at the waist down to the goddess. Eliciting a surprised sound from her.
『Hoh?』
"I don't want to go to this new world. I also don't need to get stronger with your help. In exchange… In exchange, please use everything you were going to do for me to help my family have the best life possible on earth and to make sure they stay safe while still alive."
The goddess was quite strong.
Thus, reading the soul of the mortal before her was quite easy. She had done so the moment he had shown up in her room very long ago.
She knew how he was as a person.
How he was a pervert who enjoyed various genres of animes and novels, how he dreamed of becoming strong and multiple girls like him, but also that he was not a bad or disgusting person.
But, she also saw that he was selfish and only moved for his self-interests. And even if he occasionally did a good deed, all of that was in fact calculated.
So, while she knew he was not a bad person, she also knew he was not a good person.
But then right before he died, she saw how he overcame his shortcomings to save his sister.
That was what had given her the initial impression of him and she started to very vaguely feel interested.
Such a thing shouldn't be interesting for her, but she was bored for a long while now.
Seeing him now, that small impression was increasing.
『If you do not reach the world you now belong to, your soul will slowly start to dissipate, and the pain resulting from that will be comparable to spending your afterlife in hell. While you're here such a thing will not happen, but even I can't keep you here forever. If I did, the earlier happenings would be the least of your worries. Think carefully, my child.』
*******************
Read advanced chapters ahead of the public release:
https://www.patreon.com/ThighsSeeker