Chapter 52 – Canir

Sophia had found out that the person who mocked them in the Forsaken Maze dungeon a while back was actually the highest god of this world. To make matters even worse, it was the very same guy who brought her to this world and seriously messed with her personality. While it was mostly a good thing, the side effects were huge for the girl. Letting out her frustration and anger, she punched the statue of the god Canir with all her might, but something unexpected happened afterward. As it shattered into pieces, the entire place was bathed in pure white light.

"W-Where is Sophia!?" Maya was the first to notice that the girl was also gone after the light disappeared.

"O-Oh..." Fen had no idea what to say because he was about as confused as her. "It's fine... probably. Uh, is it?" He wasn't sure. "She'll come back, I think? I hope..." The wolf really wasn't helpful.

"Tell me what is going on! Right now!" She knew that he was hiding something and demanded to be informed about it.

"O-Okay-" Fen felt slightly intimidated by the cat-girl and started to talk after giving in to the intense pressure she was giving off. "Sophia-, she told you that she met a powerful individual that gave her those boosts and messed with her personality, right?"

"Yes?"

"The person she met was-, it was Canir."

"What?!" She did not see that one coming.

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While Maya was busy panicking, Sophia found herself in an all too familiar, pure white room again. "Hmm, I hadn't expected that." While she was surprised, her voice sounded calm.

"Welcome back~." A casual and unreliable-looking guy in his early twenties suddenly appeared in front of her. The slob-version of Canir lightly greeted the girl.

"Y-You!" Almost trembling in anger after seeing him and being ticked off by his casual way of speaking, Sophia wasted no time and instinctively closed the distance between them in an instant. Her fist connected with his face, and a loud and satisfying smacking sound echoed through the all-white place before the benevolent high-god was sent flying with tremendous speed from the impact. Only his afterimage remained in front of the girl for a second. "Haaa~" She sighed while she was shaking and blowing on her hand that had turned red and bruised after the strong urge to hit Canir was satisfied. "Ouch! That guy's face sure is hard... "

"Wow, that hurt! I'm so happy that my regeneration is almost instantaneous." The perfectly fine-looking god reappeared before her after a couple of seconds.

"Almost instantaneous, huh? That's enough for me!" Seeing her chance, Sophia raised her fist once more and closed in for the kill.

"H-Hold your horses, girl!" Actually being scared, Canir jumped backward. "T-That punch seriously hurt, okay? That would've killed almost anyone but me, you know?!"

"Yeah, but I'm going for you, so-" She readied her fist again.

"S-Stop already! L-Let's talk this out, okay?!" The high-god of life was begging for his very own one.

"Urgh, fine..." Reluctantly, Sophia took a step back.

"Man, you sure have anger issues, girl."

She sent him flying again, after all. Only this time, she used at least twice as much power. "Just whose fault do you think that is?!" Having vented her anger now, she sat down on the white floor and waited for him to appear again because it seemed like it would take a while. She couldn't even see how far the overseer flew.

"Alright, I don't want that to happen again. I wanted you to be frank with me and ignore who I am. That's why I took that into consideration when adjusting you. It's more enjoyable to talk that way, but-" With much more distance between them than before, Canir came back after a couple of minutes. "Well, whatever~. It appears that I have to apologize for something?"

"Something?! Very many things!" There were multiple things she wanted to complain about. "But first... Benevolent god of life? Really?"

"I am benevolent!" He sounded serious, but after looking at Sophia's glare, he stopped. "Okay... I'm not the one who came up with it. The residents of this world did that."

"Ah, that makes sense." She could live with that. "Going on, what was that stunt with the forsaken Maze dungeon, or whatever it was called?! If you were just bored, destroy it once you're done with it!"

"You splendidly took care of that for me, didn't you?"

"Of course... you were watching. Still ever the creep."

"H-Hey! I only watch when you fight or destroy something, okay?! The interesting stuff! I have delicacy, you know?"

"You have not." She didn't buy it. "Well, if it's just when I'm doing stuff like that, it might be tolerable..." She didn't like the thought of being watched when she makes a fool of herself ever so often.

"Yeah, the other scenes were too embarrassing to watch, so I stopped doing that."

"Y-You!" She was about to pummel him once again, but the god himself jumped back in reflex. "Haa... whatever..." She gave up and got to her main topic. "What have you done to me?! You said you were going to boost stuff like my confidence and the likes. I am grateful for this chance... But you clearly overdid it!"

"Y-Yeah..." He rubbed his jaw and rapidly shook his face. "Yikes, way too strong. As for the other things, meh. Okay, you've gotten a bit, let's say, too frank from time to time, and your anger's not where it should be, but other than that, I don't think I overdid it. By much, at least." He corrected himself a little. "You're just starting to get a feel for it. Give it some more time and look for the right stimuli to get used to it. You've only been there for some months. You have all the time in the world, after all."

"I-I see." It seems the group was right with their theories about Sophia's boosts. "Ah, speaking of which, is it really true that I'm more or less won't die of old age... or age in the first place because of my totally not overpowered magic power?"

"Ahh, yep, that happened. I forgot about that when I gave you magic power. Sorry~." Canir didn't sound apologetic whatsoever, though.

"Well, I don't particularly mind anymore. Thankfully, I'm not alone with that." She was lucky to have Fen and Maya, who are in a similar predicament, with her. "Say is there anything you didn't mess-, alter or boost?"

"Hmm..."

"Hey!"

"Well, I mostly left anything relationship-related untouched. The positive kind, I mean. If someone makes you, for example angry, you know what happens."

"Yeah... Wait, what does that mean?"

"Let's say, initial curiosity aside, because of a certain idiot's charm on girls." He made sure Sophia didn't hear the last part. "When someone spends time with you and gets interested, it's their own decision. Your boosts didn't help them to want to be with you."

"T-That's good."

"Similarly, if someone falls for you. It's 100% of their own volition. No matter how quick it seems." It was a very specific explanation for some reason.

"Haha, if something like that would happen." She didn't even try to imagine something so impossible.

"Hmm..." He stared at her for a while, thinking whether the boosts he gave her might actually be too little instead. "Should I up that part some more? Yeah, might be for the best." He mumbled something before addressing her again. "Whatever, the same goes for you, girl. Any interest you show in someone, it's not altered whatsoever. Only how you deal with it might be improved. If you like someone, go for it without caring about your boosts. They didn't decide anything for you."

"T-That's reassuring. Thank you. For that, at least."

"Sure thing~."

"Okay, going on! Say, what's up with this world's humans?" She had enough of the other topic and came to one of her main problems. "I've only met a handful of them, but I already got so angry at them that they put me on a wanted list."

"..." The moment he heard the word human, Canir turned his head away.

"Oi!"

"Yes... No, feel free to wipe them out. Unfortunately, that ship has long since sailed..." The god of the world had said something very dangerous just now, having given up on humanity.

"S-Seriously?!" She couldn't believe it.

"l-, I have no idea what's gone wrong with them... I mean, the humans of your old world weren't perfect, far from it, but they were overall a somewhat decent bunch. Most of the time. This world? Nope. Maybe one in like a million is not terrible... If they grew up alone in a forest or something like that."

"W-Why did you bring me to this world, then?"

"You never said anything about wanting to meet humans, did you? All you mentioned was about finding girls."

"Really now?" She obviously didn't mention humans as it was a matter of course for her.

"A cat is fine, too, isn't it?"

"Wha-" Sophia raised her hand, indicating she wanted to say something, but she was speechless. Actually, there were many things she wanted to say, retort, and do, including punching him again. Still, his answer was too much for the girl. It didn't help that he was right in a way, even though Maya wasn't a full cat by any means.

"Anyway~," He was pretty proud of himself for that. "While the humans are like that, the other races are mostly good ones, in my opinion. "Isn't that right, miss self-proclaimed demon?"

"T-That's not self-proclaimed! Others assumed it, and I just, uhh, missed correcting them... But, yes, you're right, the beastfolk is really nice."

"Indeed, they're a good bunch. You should also visit some actual demons when you have a chance to go to their continent. You're going to like it there."

"Hmm? Okay, I'll keep that in mind for the future."

"So, aside from those minor issues, how do you like the life in your new world, Sophia?"

"I wouldn't call them minor." She couldn't agree with him there. "It's interesting...? I've finally made some friends, outstanding friends, and the world itself is cool, but I think I have to get fully used to my boosts to give you a full review. Overall, I'm really enjoying it, though."

"That's good. By the way, if you ever want to meet up again, find one of my shrines. Ah, but simply touching my statue there and pouring some magic power into them is enough. No need to blow it into smithereens."

"But I can, right?" She thought it was a worthwhile mission to free the world of these statues.

"Please don't."

"Right, I can just punch the real one when I come here. Actually, can I punch you right now again? Somehow, I really want to!" Sophia had already formed a fist.

"I think it's time for you to leave. Because I didn't summon you today, time wasn't stopped, and your comrades are probably worrying already." He ran away.

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"A-Ah-" Before Sophia had the chance to punch him, or even react, her vision turned white. A moment later, she found herself inside the shrine again. There, she spotted the other two and lightly waved. "Hey there~. Wow, that sure was refreshing."

"S-Sophiaaaa!" With tears in her eyes, Maya sprinted towards her the moment the girl came back and tightly hugged her. "Y-You idiot!"

"Welcome back." Fen wasn't as emotional, but he still looked relieved about her return.

"Ahaha... Yeah, I made a little side trip and met up with an old... acquaintance."

"D-Do you mean Canir...?" Maya still wasn't letting go of Sophia while she asked. "Y-You really met a god just now?! The most powerful, even?"

"Sorry." The wolf apologized. "I had to tell her something in this situation."

"No, it's fine." She wasn't angry.

"So, how did it go?" Fen was a little curious.

"Ohoho! I punched him! I punched him real good. Twice!" She looked incredibly satisfied as she smiled at him.

"Y-You punched... Canir... the god?!" The cat-girl was sure she misheard just now.

"Yep~."

"You idiooot!" Maya started to pummel Sophia's back with her fists while she still had her arms wrapped around her. "What did I tell you about being reckless?!"

"B-But, he deserved it! Ah! I forgot to ask him why he dropped me into a place full of slimes! That deserves another smacking! As if bringing the already confused me to this world with all these messed-up stats wasn't enough!"

"E-Eh...?" That shock was enough for the cat-girl to finally let go of her. "W-What was that? Brought you to this world... D-Does that mean you're actually the daughter of a god?!" The cat-girl made yet another terrible misunderstanding as only half of the other's sentence had reached her brain.

"I-I did say that out loud, huh...? Wait, what?!" Sophia only then noticed what Maya had said.

"I thought you were a princess of the demonfolk, daughter of the current demon lord..."

"H-Huh?! Ehh…? When did that happen?" This kind of backstory was news to the alleged princess, and she turned to Fen with a questioning expression.

"Don't ask me. I have no idea what she's talking about." Unfortunately, the wolf had no answer for her, either.

"Haa... It's a little early, and I'm not sure if I want to, but I guess it's time?" Sophia looked at the confused and somewhat frightened cat-girl and made her choice. "Maya, there's something I need to tell you." She finally decided to talk about the full, real backstory of hers.