Chapter 19 - 【Tales of the Gods #1】The Holy Goddess Laintorlie and the Evil God Baharia
【Tales of the Gods #1】The Holy Goddess Laintorlie and the Evil God Baharia
* * *
“Then, then! To the safe departure of our young hero from the village! And may his journey forth be blessed with fortune…”
“Cheers!!”
In an endless white space, a man and a woman clink their mugs together, guzzling down the golden liquor poured within.
The silent space is filled with the sound of them swallowing.
“Phew~! Ahh, this beer, to put it modestly, is just the best! I wonder when it’ll start being made in Ardyst!?”
The golden-haired beauty who spoke cheerfully with a lovely voice is Laintorlie.
She is one of the gods who manage and oversee the world of Ardyst, known as the Holy Goddess.
“The God of Alcohol and the God of Gourmet are also on it, so within a few hundred years… That’s what they say. I’m truly looking forward to the day this delicious liquor is offered as a tribute!”
Baharia, the beautiful man with twisted, swirling horns growing from above his ears, watches Laintorlie with narrowed eyes as he speaks.
He is also one of the gods managing and overseeing the world of Ardyst, known as the Evil God.
“Hey, hey, Baharin! What do you think of today’s feast? I made it from scratch, inspired by Earth’s cuisine!”
In front of them, on the dining table, various colorful dishes steam enticingly.
“As for the appearance, I’d say it passes. As for the taste, I wouldn’t know.”
“Come on~! Stop being so cold! Here, ahhh…”
“Ahhh…”
The Holy Goddess Laintorlie picks up a piece of fried chicken (or something similar) and pushes it into the Evil God Baharia’s mouth.
Baharia chews the fried chicken (or something similar) silently.
With a satisfying crunch, the thin batter breaks, releasing a flood of juice (of some sort) and umami.
His mouth becomes an ocean.
An ocean of meat juice.
Baharia’s taste buds drown in the sea of umami…
“Hehe! How is it? Is it good?”
“…Didn’t you taste it yourself?”
“Don’t be mean! I want to know what Baharin thinks!”
“…Well, it’s good. Everything Lain makes is always delicious.”
“In what way? How so?”
“…It’s hard to put it into words.”
With that, Baharia pulls Laintorlie close and steals a kiss from her lips.
“It tastes… like this.”
“Oh, you!”
Laintorlie leans into Baharia.
The number of kisses increases, once, twice, and more.
The Holy Goddess and the Evil God.
Though it is not known to all living beings, in the world of Ardyst, these two deities are husband and wife.
It has been about 20,000 years since they were united, and they are still very much in love.
They are so in love that even eating fried chicken and then kissing doesn’t bother them in the slightest.
Originally, their role as gods in this world is “to shake the world.”
They are to cause disturbances that do not break the world, breaking stagnation and advancing the world. Though they were given the opposing positions of holy and evil by the Creator God, their tasks are the same.
It might have been inevitable that their relationship deepened as they both managed the world.
* * *
“Now, now! Now that we’re full, shall we start the reflection meeting?”
Laintorlie suggested this as the table was cleared of food.
“That’s right… Well, there were some accidents, but overall, the scenario is proceeding smoothly, isn’t it? My reincarnated Caro did well too.”
Indeed, the demon girl Caro, who had infiltrated the hero Torch’s village as a spy for the Demon Lord’s army, was a reincarnated individual bestowed with the 【Protection of the Evil God】.
Unlike Torch, she has not regained the memories of her previous life. This will become an important factor in the progression of the scenario.
“Yeah, Caro did really well, didn’t she? It was a coincidence, but her being proficient in ice magic, which is the opposite of Torch’s fire attribute, was a nice touch. Torch is such an honest kid, too. We made his cause of death in his previous life the typical getting hit by a truck, but the last hero started doubting us from there! It was really troublesome~”
The fact that they are reincarnated individuals purchased at an auction is not disclosed to them.
This is to avoid unnecessary backlash.
Therefore, a suitable cause of death and memories of dying are fabricated and made to be believed.
Hero Torch, it seems, was very honest even in his previous life, making this manipulation quite easy.
“For me, I have no complaints about the main cast… The problem is, the setup we prepared ended in failure!”
“Ah, you mean the ‘Holy Beast’?”
“Yes, yes! The ‘Holy Beast’! ‘The Wise Owl Forluowl’! I had given it wisdom and strength to grow, intending it to be a mentor figure to guide the hero, but…”
“It was dead before we knew it.”
“Right! I was about to bestow an oracle for its time to appear, and then there was no response at all! I was like, ‘Eeeehhh!?’. Even though it wasn’t a combat type…”
“Well, any creature can die if it’s careless. It must have been caught off guard in its sleep.”
This “Wise Owl Forluowl,” by the way, lived in the great tree of Kaliva in the Naso Forest, near Fenoben Village.
“It was supposed to be a forest without dangerous creatures… I wonder what got it? A monster, maybe? If something ate the ‘Holy Beast,’ it would gain some power, right?”
“A bit, yes. Fenoben Village is no more, and there are no nearby human settlements left, so it wouldn’t be a problem if a slightly stronger monster were to emerge.”
“Right now, we’re focusing on recording, attaching a camera to Torch-kun for close-ups, so we can’t always monitor everything. But this is something we need to reflect on… Because of this, we had to assign ‘Golden Arcus,’ who was supposed to be a spot-on help character, as a mentor instead. His speech is oddly elongated and lacks tightness, that old man.”
“Let’s take this opportunity to identify the parts of the scenario that must be changed and reorganize them. …Well, don’t be too down, Lain. Hiccups are part of the charm of isekai broadcasts, aren’t they?”
“…Yeah, you’re right! This is also the thrill of isekai broadcasts!”
Thus, the meeting between the two deities continued.
Without giving much thought to the being that had eaten the “Holy Beast.”
Unaware that it was an entity hosting a soul discarded from the auction site.
Oblivious to the existence of Emi, the “Reincarnated Extra,” who would become the biggest irregularity for their scenario… no, for the world of Ardyst.