Even a Scoundrel Gets Tired

46 – Encounter (4)

Not long after I began this damned cycle of reincarnation.

That is… in the life following my death by freezing as a slave.

A time when I both resented God terribly and yearned for Him desperately.

I wandered through every church in the vicinity,

confessing my sins and seeking out prayer rooms.

The nuns dragged me out after I fasted and prayed for three days straight,

and a pastor left after I recited even the most trivial of sins.

I felt bad for them, but at that time I was desperate.

I repeated prayers thousands, tens of thousands of times,

and even made expensive donations, thinking my faith was lacking.

But as if mocking my efforts, reincarnation continued,

and so I thought my prayers were not being heard.

So I stopped praying.

When I needed God, there was nothing but other things by my side.

Demons, humans, animals, nature, everything except God was by my side.

But now?

A god stands before me.

“…Should I…pray…?”

[…Huh?]

“…?”

Two women stare at me, having overheard my accidental soliloquy.

I feign readjusting my collar, desperate to shake off their gazes.

“Anyway…where’s that b*tch?”

[T-that…b*tch…?]

“Luna.”

Hearing the name, her lips pursed inward as if refusing to answer.

Seeing this, I forcibly pry apart the goddess’s lips, pulling her closer.

“Answer me.”

[Mmmph…]

“…I still don’t care for you…”

My words slow, the pressure on her lips increases.

Her soft lips begin to compress, pressed tight.

“But the fact I’m letting you off this easily…is because there’s someone more pressing than you.”

[Mmph…uh…mmph.]

“Don’t even think about stopping me.

Just because you’re that b*tch’s sister doesn’t mean you can protect her without consequence…I might just kill you.”

[….!]

Her expression held unveiled confusion, asking how I knew.

Conversely, my face wore an obvious sneer, designed to mock her.

“Your name is Solar, the sun, and she is Luna.”

[….]

“And the story goes that the sun is the moon’s sister.

I’d wager that’s common knowledge by now.”

[….]

“I’ll ask one last time, where is that b*tch?”

I release her lips, leaving them swollen and red. She avoids my gaze as she gently touches her lips.

[…I don’t…know, either.]

“…What?!”

[I…I really don’t!!]

I furrow my brow, wondering if I misheard, and repeat my question.

A frightened voice gives the same answer.

[…Gods…we have something called the Law of Causality…]

“…”

[I can’t fully explain the Law of Causality…but if we expend too much of it, we will cease to exist.]

“…”

[And… she, having spent far too many causes and effects, has fallen into a long slumber.

All for the sake of summoning you, only you, to this world.]

That a being akin to a god would undergo something like obliteration just to call me here…

I begin to question whether I should accept this gratefully.

[And to resurrect through your body, she will now try to take you…]

“….”

[Th-this… hand… what is this?]

My palm was suddenly right there in front of her face, and

She looked at my hand, then raised her gaze directly to my face.

What is it, she asks.

Isn’t it obvious?

“Hand it over.”

[Y-yes?]

“I’ve been offering prayers to the divine until now.

Even when people around me told me to stop, to go easy, I didn’t.”

[Th-that’s diff…]

“So, isn’t it your turn to give something?”

Hearing my words, she made a noise, ah…uh…, something incomprehensible, and

Looked at me again, as if trying to refute something.

“You haven’t given me anything so far.”

[…]

“You even deliberately ignored my circumstances, knowing full well what they were.

All for your own benefit.”

[…]

“And the cause of what happened to me is also your sister.”

Finishing my sentence, I looked at her with an expression that said, *Isn’t that right?*,

She lowered her head again, and I heard a small voice muttering about what I wanted.

A smirk tugged at my lips as I continued my answer.

“Anything is fine, just something that will help me become stronger.”

[Huh…yes?]

“I want to become strong enough to kill that b*tch.

And to become strong quickly, I need your help, that much is true.”

[…]

“So, hand it over.”

But, as expected, she seemed to be refusing.

Who would gladly step up to help someone kill their family?

Even if a person has committed heinous crimes,

There are many people who would protect even such a family member.

But here, I was the one holding all the cards.

“I’ll set a condition.”

[…]

“If you help me now, I won’t kill her. Not in any event.”

[….!]

“Is… is that true?”

The moment I finished speaking, not only the goddess who had been bowing her head, but even Mikael beside her, lifted his face. In their eyes, a single hope seemed to bloom, and the goddess especially had the corners of her lips tilting ever so slightly upward.

“Knowing my nature, you understand that I will inevitably kill her someday.”

[…]

“Even if this cycle repeats countless times, I will never abandon the idea of killing her.”

[…]

“Therefore, choose.”

Whether to select a plan that definitively saves her. Or to gamble with your sister’s life on something uncertain.

As I suspected, she seemed deeply shaken. No matter how grave her own transgressions, surely a human willing to unhesitatingly cut and damage the flesh of a god couldn’t be in their right mind. At the same time, the thought, *Could this man truly do it?* was likely dominating her thoughts.

Finally, the goddess, after much deliberation, opened her mouth.

[Her transgression is one I cannot excuse, either…]

“The promise stands.”

[..Understood.]

As soon as she finished speaking, she created something in her hand. Blue, green, and white intertwined and distorted, and soon a thin, equilateral triangle panel was formed in her hand.

Another is made.

Assembled.

Merged.

This process continued for some time, and before long, the triangular panel in her hand had become an icosahedron.

As the faintly blue icosahedron was brought to my chest, it slowly entered my body. Like a drop of water meeting a river, becoming one, an utterly natural phenomenon occurred, and soon after, my head began to throb intensely.

“Agh… Ugh… This is…!”

[Ca… Calm yourself… You’re only adapting.]

As she said, after a little while, the maddening headache began to subside, but ignoring the lingering throb, I asked her about the identity of this thing.

[Uh… well… in your world, you call this a… status window, right?]

“….?”

[Strictly speaking… it’s a little different, though…]

‘Status window…?’

As if recognizing my inner thoughts, a window appeared, highlighting the goddess before me.

Just like those that appeared so often in the fantasy novels I used to read.

≪Jenison≫

Race: Human

Title: Scapegoat of ■■’s Resurrection

HP: 52(38+14)

Strength: 46(40+6)

Intelligence: 87(67+21)

Appearance: 71

Mana: 67(60+7)

Traits: Alchemist’s Blessing, Creator’s Grasp, ＃@◎#■..

“…What is this?”

[It’ll show you the strength of humans, quantified into numbers.]

“…”

[A-are you not… pleased?]

Pleased…?

To be honest, no, I wasn’t.

Couldn’t I have gotten a special weapon that I could use right away,

or the ability to wield the magic of the gods themselves?

My discontent must have been written all over my face because the goddess started fidgeting.

[I-I’m sorry… but if I help you any more, the laws of causality…]

“…It’s that dangerous, even with just this?”

[If you were someone from our world, it wouldn’t be a problem… but you’re from a completely different dimension, so…

even I can’t easily interfere…]

That, I could accept.

Actually, I’d been wondering why she hadn’t restrained me for my rudeness.

Even if she was doing it out of guilt,

it was strange that even Michael hadn’t stopped me, but it seemed there was a reason.

Thinking that she had done her best to help in her own way,

I started to ask my next question.

“…These unreadable characters─”

Before I could finish my sentence, my body started to become transparent.

Probably because the mana I’d put in the Holy Grail was almost gone.

Even as consciousness fled, I could still make out the shape of the Goddess’s mouth, mouthing words before me.

It was the same shape I’d seen before coming here.

‘May… happiness be yours.’

*

“–ss you!”

“–re you alright?”

Blinding light assaulted my eyes as I opened them anew.

And before me, three faces swam into focus.

The Saintess and her Holy Knights.

“She seems to have awakened, Saintess.”

“…You didn’t…commit any impropriety, did you?”

To be asked if I’d insulted the Goddess upon waking – truly,

a greeting befitting the Saintess.

When I said it was more or less fine, she rose from her seat with a sigh, as if it were somehow disappointing,

and the Holy Knights followed suit.

“Ah… and you will have to visit the Order before long.”

“…?”

“The Pontiff wishes to meet you, because of the mark branded upon your brow.”

The Pontiff, ruler of the Order, upholder of divine mandate.

He was often rumored to be a fox with a black heart, even from long ago.

Of course, few with their wits about them would dare voice such a thing aloud,

but such was the common knowledge whispered through the world.

The fact that such a person desired an audience made me suspect

his intentions were far from virtuous, until the Saintess stopped at the door and spoke again.

“…But you really didn’t commit any impropriety, did you?”

“….”

“…Why aren’t you answering?”

“….”

“You, come over here for a moment.”

It seemed some time would yet pass before my body fully healed.