Meddling The Omniverse

In the middle of an open outdoor cafe. Two goddesses were having tea.

"So that's the gist of it Aria. Due to Seth's packed schedule, I tagged along willy-nilly across his realm." Ristarte sighed.

"I think that's quite pleasant, visiting many of his wonderful places," Ariadoa replied.

"It… surprisingly is," She recalled.

Half a day had passed since Seiya entered the time chamber with Seth. 

Left behind with Seth's clone (finger), Ristarte found herself trailing wherever he went, more out of curiosity than necessity.

It didn't take long for her to grasp just how overwhelming Seth's responsibilities were. The sheer number of decisions and tasks he managed in hours was dizzying. If she had to keep up this pace for over a day, she'd likely collapse from exhaustion.

One moment, Seth was overseeing the final touches on his massive concert hall. The next, he was expanding factory lines for his industrial sector, orchestrating logistics with the ease of a master conductor. Then, barely taking a breath, he moved on to assess safety measures in his petting zoo, ensuring even the most reckless child—or a toxic idiot—couldn't accidentally unleash chaos.

Ristarte, while only a bystander, didn't feel entirely sidelined. In those places, they found ways to keep her involved and entertained. 

While Seth figured things out, she assisted by testing them out directly.

She enjoyed a front-row seat at rehearsals of spectacular musical acts, played around with high-tech warehouse mechs that made her feel like a titan, and cuddled creatures so adorable she could hardly believe they existed—all of which helped Seth assess the facilities he was examining.

These were just a few of the places they visited during this period. Seth became a CEO in each, and things went corporate, while Ristarte became a tourist and test bunny for all of them.

Even at this moment, when she is having a nice cup of tea with her friend Ariadoa, Seth as the businessman he is, is still delegating things nearby.

"Sir, are you sure about making a separate dining hall on top of our street food market?" 

The cafe where Ristarte and Ariaoda sipped their drinks was next to the street food market. In this case, one of Seth's employees referred to the floating platform above the food market. 

Accidentally hearing about it, she couldn't help but look up. 

That's the dining hall? A distorted space was really above them; it was semi-cloaked, making it illusory or even invisible to those who didn't focus.

"We added that hall because we were unsure. Only customer feedback could help us decide its viability for now." 

"And the instant teleportation between the dining hall and the two?"

"Can't you tell? It's obviously for convenience. Who would bother to use the escalators if we can instantly teleport them to their vacant tables? I'm just giving them more options here."

"But wouldn't the escalators add to the experience? You know the vibes?"

"Hmm, you got a point." Seth snapped his finger now at some points of the street there are dedicated 'escalators' to bring them to the hall above.

"Plus why don't we just add seats to the market and buffet halls? Don't that just help with the atmosphere?"

Seth became contemplative, "Hmm… well my original thought is that some people can't handle the rowdy customers dining near them. But then some liked the noise." He snapped his finger.

The previous floating platform of a dining hall was split in two, one still stayed at the top, while the other merged with the food market and buffet hall. Now dining tables are integrated next to them. But these dining areas seemed to exist separately.

"There, those tables can be seen around the place, but they exist from a separate space, now their annoying chatters, rowdy movements, and smelling foods won't pollute to those who want none of them. But if some want to, they can have it" After this, Seth and his employees went off to the distance.

"Hear that? That's him these past few hours. Manegery business boss and all."

Aria giggled, "Rista, I think he's doing a fabulous job."

Ristarte tilted her head.

"If he put this much attention on such simple matters, then his heart is in the right place. Only a good man would go that far with just dining allocation alone." Aria clarified.

"Oh… You can put it that way…" Ristarte became silent. 

"You just realized that side of him Rista?" Aria asked playfully.

"UH!? Can't we talk about something else?! You said you got invited here to help their research bases or something. How was it?"

"Very wonderful. They served me delicious drinks and snacks while I applied my power to their facilities," she answered with a smile.

From these words, something bugged her mind, "Hey, don't you find these employees too accommodating?"

"You mean their friendliness?"

"Yeah."

"Isn't that normal? This place is being built to become one of the top destinations for our organization. And looking at how they are doing this…" Aria glimpsed at his employees noting every word Seth was releasing, "They're trying their best to achieve that."

"Doesn't all this try-hardiness feel very off to you?"

"It does if you don't dig enough Ristarte. I asked them about this and their answer was because of the pay."

"You sure salaries could keep them this focused?"

"Well if you knew the numbers…" Ariadoa thought for a moment before she whispered to her friend.

"Oh… uh huh… really? I see…—HOLY SMOKES they're getting paid THAT MUCH!!! I should beg Seth to take me in!" Ristarte was flabbergasted and Ariadoa smiled at her excitement.

"Seems like you understood; they don't want to lose this amazing job here."

"Hold it! That's still not enough for his employees to be this dedicated!"

"What's this all about?"

"AAGH! Don't jump your work buddy like that!" Ristarte was startled.

"Sorry, my bad." Seth apologized but his face didn't show it. "So you're saying why my employees are this devoted, to the point of being eerie?"

"HAAH!? How did you?! Have you been listening to this conversation?!" she felt like her privacy was breached.

"Ristarte, this is my freaking realm, I have eyes and ears at every nook and cranny of this place. Didn't you see the surveillance room?" He stated matter of factly. "Plus no, I won't take you in, don't need more hands now. Maybe when the hospital's up and running would I consider you…" 

Then he turned towards another goddess, "Oh and forgive my rude behavior Goddess Ariadoa, I hope you don't mind this mistake of mine. And I will compensate you for that rudeness before." This time he hid nothing and his face showed it.

"Of course not. I know of the organization's privacy guarantee."

Seth nodded and proceeded, "Now why are my workers like this? first, the pay is good. And second, don't you remember my powers?"

"Seth you have lots of them, full control of your realm, able to produce anything inside of it, basically mastery of every known you know, and clairvoyance that could see the future…" Seth smiled when she said that.

Ristarte took a deep breath, "You used that future ability to sieve through your employees didn't you?"

Seth manifested a small bell and rang it. "Kicked out all the crappy ones and takes the good ones."

Ariadoa giggled, "Ain't it great that you got this on your own? Rista?"

Seth perked at the 'Rista' part, "Hmm… Rista, a pretty sweet nickname, can I call you that?"

"Whe?! What?!" When did we become that close?! She was exasperated, "When did it get to–you know what, sure! On the count we're saving a world together, for cooperative PURPOSES!" there's a small puff on her cheeks. 

"You know what, even though you're still him, the way you speak is still different than before."

"Can't blame me on that, i was only his finger anyway." he flicked his hooded head, but the hood didn't flick away.

"As his finger, are you still connected to the main Seth? Or you know what, what's he up to inside the time-wacky chamber?"

A holographic screen popped out of nowhere. All three watched as another Seth appeared on the screen, struggling to force a modern gun through a shimmering barrier. 

He pushed it forward, but the barrier resisted like a solid wall, stopping the gun cold. 

Frustrated, Seth switched tactics. He stepped halfway through the barrier, leaving only his arms—still holding the gun—on the outside. 

But as soon as he tried to pull the gun through, the barrier slammed down on it, holding it fast. 

The two goddesses couldn't help but chuckle at the almost slapstick quality of the scene unfolding before them, like something out of a cartoon.

"The other me is trying to bring modern weaponry into the world we're saving. As you can see, it's not going smoothly," Seth explained.

On the screen, Seth's projection abandoned the gun and hefted a massive, over-the-top laser cannon. This time, he tried something futuristic it looked like fiction, hoping that the weapon might bypass the world's laws by essentially glitching its rules and logic.

But the barrier still held firm.

"He was betting on the idea of 'science so advanced it became fantasy' shtick. But… it didn't work out," Seth sighed.

Next, the screen showed him pulling out a magical gun covered in runic inscriptions. The result was the same—the barrier pushed it back just like all the others.

"And… another failure."

Finally understanding the strictness of the barrier's rules, the other Seth on-screen pulled out a forge and crafting table.

"Now he's trying to create a gun inside the barrier," Seth narrated.

He set to work, heating an ingot and raising his hammer to strike. But as the hammer descended, it stopped inches from the metal, as if some invisible force was pushing it away.

"Too bad…" Seth added, just as the hammer came flying back, smacking his other self square in the forehead. "The world read his intentions, and it didn't budge."

"What about Seiya?" Rista asked.

Another screen appeared, and what they saw made their eyes go wide.

In a battlefield littered with demonic corpses, a lone bloodied hero stood tall. In front of him, thousands of demonic soldiers stood before him, and from behind, thousands more.

Small goblin-like creatures to giants two stories high all surrounded him. Any seasoned veterans would falter in the face of such numbers, yet all our blood-drenched heroes showed nothing but cold, calculated focus.

Amid the horde, a few figures at the back exuded an aura of strength well above the rest, observing Seiya not as a threat, but as a game.

"As you can see, Seiya wanted to practice under extreme scenarios, so he requested this one," Seth explained.

He highlighted the strongest ones, "These are gods and goddesses disguised as demon generals. Their powers have been handicapped, of course."

"Gods? Pretending to be demons?!" Ristarte gasped.

"Oh, Rista," Aria chimed in with a smile. "Didn't you hear about the hero raid event?"

"The what now!?"

Aria chuckled. "Just a few hours ago, a public event was announced for everyone here at this opening. Anyone with combat capabilities could compete against a powerful mystery hero like those in many epic fantasies. Though when it came to full confrontations, they'll be handicapped as demon generals or other limited roles, but the challenge and fun is still there."

Rista's eyes widened as she recalled Seth hinting about a 'special surprise training' for their hero. She just hadn't expected it to be this intense... or this popular.

Then, with a flash of understanding, she connected the dots. Seth's using our Seiya's live training exercise as crowd entertainment AND PROFIT!!! Wait, no profits yet, this is still a trial…

She couldn't help but sigh at the genius of it all. With this plan, he: promoted his realm, trained Seiya, and allowed Seth the time to do other things all at once. This is a literal killing of three birds with one stone.

"Next time, Seth, you got to let me know these things!!! Don't leave me in the dark," Rista huffed. "We're supposed to be partners in saving a helpless, vulnerable world with our Training-addict hero! Keeping me informed would be... highly appreciated." She struggled to find the right words, but Seth gave a slight shrug, barely lifting one shoulder, implying a reluctant agreement.

"Now that the surprise is out of the bag, just tell me what exactly are they competing for?" Rista inquired, sighing.

The hooded Seth rubbed his chin, "If I remember correctly, this one's about—" He was cut off as the demons on-screen rushed Seiya in a frenzy.

"—to see who can land the final blow on our hero," he finished, with a grin.