Chapter 353: Reason for Transfer

I noticed that my surroundings were full of bookshelves after I took a detailed look.

The space was full of books as though I was in some empire’s library.

“ … Welcome, Ichinojo-san. Please come over here.”

I thought I heard Pionia for an instant.

But Pionia would not call me Ichinojo.

I turned and walked toward the direction of that voice – – to a desk buried under books.

Behind that desk was a girl – – Goddess Tet-sama who turned the pages of a book before throwing it to a bookshelf.

There was the old man who pulled books out with a sword drawing stance and now there’s a goddess who returns books to their shelves by tossing them. Was there no custom to treat books well in this world?

The books looked quite precious. It would be difficult to sell once it is damaged.

“ … The books here are not for sale so you don’t have to worry.”

Tet-sama said softly.

“I apologize for my impudence.”

I forgot that they could read my inner thoughts.

Tet-sama placed a bookmark into the book and closed it before turning to look up at my face.

“Nice to meet you, Ichinojo-san.”

“I am honored to meet you.”

Should I kneel?

After I had that thought, Tet-sama, without any change in her expression,

“ … You can remain as you are now. Perhaps I should serve tea instead?”

And she replied with a question.

I was slightly interested in tea made by a Goddess but won’t that be too impudent?

Since my inner thoughts were being read anyway, I decided to not hold back.

“I will gratefully accept.”

“ … I see.”

Tet-sama replied and clapped her hand twice.

Upon doing so, the reading materials atop the desk disappeared.

And then, a girl appeared out of nowhere and placed a teacup filled with black tea in it on the desk. There was no saucer.

“ … Go ahead.”

“Thank you very much.”

Even though it was presented in a teacup, the content was iced tea.

I took a sip and found that it resembled the commercial Morning Tea brand. It was something my household always had.

“ … I chose a flavor that Ichinojo-san is familiar with. I don’t drink tea so I don’t know how it should taste.”

“I see … I am grateful for your consideration.”

Although I was looking forward to the tastes of a Goddess … oop, my inner thoughts are being red.

I like this taste. Yup, I’m glad I came here even if it was just for this.

Miri liked this tea as well so she had a ton of it inside her item bag but it was not a number that won’t be finished in a lifetime so I didn’t drink it.

I have a tea plantation in My World so maybe I’ll make my own tea next time.

Pionia would probably know the method of making it.

“ … Yes, Pionia knows the method to make black tea.”

Tet-sama said as she drank the tea.

Shit, I was thinking of idiotic things while in the middle of tea appreciation.

“Er-erm Tet-sama, why did you call me here?”

“ … To apologize.”

Apologize?

Tet-sama wished to apologize to me? Did she do something that would require doing so?

Perhaps Miri was taken by Daijiro-san because of Tet-sama?

Or was there something else?

“ … It is very difficult to say.”

Tet-sama stared at my face and said.

I had a feeling … that she was going to tell me something huge.

I held my breath and waited for Tet-sama to continue.

“Your name was recorded as Ichinojo instead of Ichinosuke because of my error. I was not aware of the true name system.”

It was far below my expectations and she apologized for something that didn’t bother me at all.

I was sure it was Torerul-sama’s sloppy work so it was unexpected but it was a little late now.

Almost everyone who knows me in this world remembers my name as Ichinojo. The only person who recognizes and refers to me as Ichinosuke would be Minerva-sama who calls me Suke-kun.

Whereas Jofre and Elize call me by ‘Jo’ which has no relation to my real name at all so even if I asked them to choose between Ichinosuke and Ichinojo, they would probably go with Ichinojo.

I felt apologetic to my parents who named me but I had already passed away in Japan and have transmigrated to become a resident of this world.

“You’ve probably read my inner thoughts so there’s no need to explain further but I am no longer bothered by the issue with my name. But, if possible, could you tell me how it happened?”

“ … I am able to summon people from Japan to this world. The condition is that it must be someone that is about to die in that world. I summon a person on the verge of death, heal them and call them to this world.”

“ … Eh?”

Wait a minute, I felt that she just said something extremely important.

“I’m not dead? I heard from Koshmar-sama that I was trampled on by horses and died.”

“You are not dead. Immediately before dying, I collect your cells, living traces, everything and treat you in the Goddess space and you become a transmigrator – – in Otherworld you are called a Lost Person. As a Lost Person, you are bestowed divine blessings and given the freedom to live.”

In other words, I can take it that … I would have died if she didn’t do anything so I’m grateful.

Now that I think about it, the goddess said that I would be transferring to another world.

They never used the word ‘reincarnation’.

I see. I didn’t die.

“Why hide that fact …”

“To make the Lost People give up on returning to Japan. This world is different from your world. A Japanese person’s status – – their physical ability would be equivalent to a Jobless in this world. It would be troublesome if a person gains strength here and returns to Japan.”

That was true. With my ability – – if I chose to use it for evil purposes, I could get away with anything. Even with just the Home Return spell, I could utilize the alibi trick to commit any crime I want.

“But if there is a way to return to our original world, isn’t it possible to … return the person to the status directly after they were transmigrated and before they changed job … or rather, before they received their divine blessing?”

“ … That can’t be done. In the first place, Lost People are summoned to this world destined to maintain the normal functioning of this world.”

“Destined?”

“ … Or it might be more accurate to say … fated. Spirit, magic, job, Goddess, as well as demon origin and miasma. This world with all kinds of elements jumbled together is terribly unbalanced – – for example, take a spinning top. It would fall over if it stops spinning. But the only way a top can continue spinning is if there is external energy. We Goddesses are also part of this world’s system. We are unable to input stimuli into this world. We transfer Japanese people to this world to cause external stimuli.”

Balance of the world … I won’t be able to understand it even if I’m told.

Just as I was in the middle of that thought.

Tet-sama collapsed on the spot.

“Tet-sama!?”

“ … I’m tired of talking.”

Eh? Tet-sama?

“ … I hate talking. I have work to do so can I leave the rest to you?”

“Leave to whom?”

“Wait.”

Tet-sama didn’t reply any further and pressed a button.

I heard an electronic ‘ding-dong’ sound.

It was one of those buttons used to call the waitress in family restaurants.

I wanted to ask Tet-sama but she no longer wished to explain matters herself or perhaps she likes reading as the desk was once again filled with reading materials and she was engrossed in reading a book.

Just who did she call?

Was it the homunculus-like girl that brought the tea over just now?

I continued sitting while waiting for somebody to come.

As expected, it was the homunculus-like girl just now who came over pushing a trolley.

“I apologize for the wait. Dear guest. Sorry for the late introduction. I am Alpha, a homunculus created by Tet-sama.”

She said and bowed.

“Don’t worry, Tet-sama is like that now so I’m grateful that you will explain matters to me.”

“I am sorry. I am unable to explain such matters.”

“Eh? Then who will be explaining things to me?”

“The personage there.”

In the direction that Alpha-san was looking it – – sitting there hugging her knees – –

“It’s been a long time, Suke-kun.”

Minerva-sama.

“I feel that it wasn’t that long ago … erm, do you want to die today as well?”

I was lost as to how to greet her and ended up saying something outrageous.

“No, today I have work to do so I will die after I finish my work.”

She staggered to her feet. The trolley started moving once she stood up and Minerva-sama looked like she was about to fall over but Alpha-san supported her and led her to sit on the chair that Tet-sama was sitting on up until just now.

“Minerva-sama will be continuing the explanation that Tet-sama was giving?”

“Yes. Because I was requested to do so.”

Minerva-sama drank the slightly lukewarm tea.

“Alpha-chan, can I have desserts to go with tea?”

“Yes. Are you okay with the usual?”

“Yes.”

Alpha bowed reverently and disappeared.

The trolley was still there.

“Tet-sama is not very good with speaking. And she is actually shy. She felt that she had troubled Suke-kun so she tried her best to talk but it looks like it tired her out.”

“ … Minerva, don’t talk about unnecessary matters.”

“Sorry, Tet-sama.”

Minerva-sama apologized.

It seemed like there exist superior and subordinate relationships among the Goddesses and Tet-sama was above Minerva-sama.

“Now then, I shall begin the explanation.”

Minerva-sama put on a serious expression.

I held my breath.

“The desserts are still not here?”

I lost all my tension in an instant.

In the end, Minerva-sama made me wait until the desserts arrived.

“I apologize for the wait. Please enjoy.”

A plate was placed in front of Minerva-sama.

And on that plate was – –

“Curry senbei?”

There were 10 yellow rice crackers lined up on the plate.

Alpha placed the plate and disappeared before I noticed it.

“Yup, would Suke-kun like some?”

“ … I’ll have one then.”

It had the same soft senbei texture and the spice flavor spread in my mouth. The curry powder that sticks on your fingertips.

Yup, it’s a curry senbei.

There’s Miri who drinks curry-flavored lemonade, Libra-sama who mixes spices in extremely small units, and Minerva-sama who eats curry senbei with tea, there were plenty of people who love curry. Although I was one of them too.

“Does Suke-kun know about Goddess Methias-sama?”

“Yes, I heard her name a couple of times.”

She was called the Goddess of Fate.

The seventh goddess that supposedly doesn’t exist.

“Goddess Methias-sama is not only the Goddess of Fate but Goddess of Future and Knowledge as well. Goddess Methias-sama, who is capable of seeing the far future, prophesized the end of the world one day.”

“ … The end of the world.”

On Earth, there were tons of theories on world extinction such as the great king of terror predicted by Nostradamus or the Mayan calendar but it was terrifying to hear a prophecy coming from a real Goddess.

“Yes. Methias-sama’s prophecies are absolute. And the Goddesses are incapable of changing anything. After all, the Goddesses are part of this world.”

“So that connects to the conversation just now.”

“Yes, if it can’t be altered with powers from within, then we can just inject power from outside. Tet-sama made the example of a spinning top, right?”

Minerva-sama confirmed with me and took out a spinning top.

Rather than the traditional spinning top with a wound-up string, it was one of those simple tops that you spin with your fingers.

Minerva-sama deftly twisted the top – – and failed to make it spin.

“Eh? It won’t spin.”

It didn’t spin even after a few tries.

Perhaps she was slipping because of the curry senbei powder on her fingertips.

Minerva-sama pressed the button that Tet-sama used just now.

Alpha came over, spun the top and left. Although it would be better if she could just remain here.

“Yup, Ichino-kun. Try making it spin by adding external force.”

“All right.”

I nodded and flicked the top with my finger.

When I did that, the top accelerated for a moment before losing balance and toppling over.

“Ah.”

“Yes, so there is a trick to adding force. Not any force will work. That’s the reason why the people who are transmigrated – – the one in a 100 million, is carefully selected. And originally it was only Methias-sama who would select those people. She had been summoning Lost People to this world since before 3000 years ago. And in order to manage the Lost People, the concept of the Goddesses was born.”

“Wait a minute, the Goddesses were born? What does that mean?”

“It’s an extremely simple matter. Dying and transferring to another world – – only Goddesses can achieve such feats, right? It saved a lot of time from explaining unnecessary things. And then, Methias-sama bestowed the power to the Goddesses to grant divine blessing to the transmigrated Japanese people. After all, if the transmigrated Japanese people died easily, the influence on the world would be weak. It would be better if the transmigrated Japanese people lived as long as possible.”

That was probably why the transmigrated people were limited to within their 10s to 20s.

Transferring a baby or child would result in their quick death and if the aim was to influence the world for a long time, transferring an elderly person would defeat the purpose.

“Also, the divine blessing also has the meaning of apology. By the way, even among the Goddesses only Tet-sama, me and Koshmar-sama knows about this. I believe Setolance-sama has slightly perceived it. And among humans only Daijiro-san and Kaguya-chan realized it.”

So Miri noticed the Goddess secret too.

“So that’s the story. For now, by calling transmigrators from Japan, the deadline for the demise of the world was shifted greatly. Originally this world should have met its end a thousand years ago.”

“That’s … great. Eh? If the world is not going to end anymore, there won’t be any need to summon more transmigrators?”

“I said shifted. The end of the world did not disappear. Then, five hundred years ago. Methias-sama, who was supposed to see the future and decide on the transmigrators, suddenly hid herself. Nobody knows where she is. And by following the books and materials left behind by Metias-sama on selecting transmigrators, Tet-sama picked up the task and made the decisions. She only decides on the location and time when transmigrators would arrive and wouldn’t know who would actually arrive so when Kaguya-chan was transported over, both Koshmar-sama and Torerul gave big sighs.”

It was clearly becoming incredible information.

But why were they telling this to me?

“We are explaining to Suke-kun because it was written in the documents left behind by Metias-sama to do so. We passed Suke-kun the Nectar for the same reason. Hey, Suke-kun. Do you know why I want to die?”

“I’m completely clueless on that.”

“I must pass Nectar to Suke-kun. Otherwise, the world would perish. In other words, if I die, the world would perish. I am very pitiful for losing the right to death which everyone should have equal rights to. Isn’t it natural that I want to die … I want to die.”

Won’t she die if the end of the world comes? I thought to myself but it would be troubling if she welcomes the end of the world so I kept silent.

I was worried if she read my inner thoughts though.

“Don’t worry. As long as Tet-sama orders me, I will not die.”

“Tet-sama?”

“Tet-sama was my master when I was human.”

“Human? Eh? Minerva-sama was once human?”

“Yes. Tet-sama and I were both originally humans that were offered as a sacrifice to God.”

Sacrifice!?

Also, God? Not Goddess but God?

“ … Innocent girls who have not known man are sacrificed to God.”

Tet-sama muttered.

“I don’t know about God either but we Goddesses were all originally sacrifices offered to God. And then we became one part of the system that manages this world.”

Innocent girls who have not known man sacrificed to God. That was the true identity of the Goddesses.

If the Goddess Church ever finds out, won’t it be chaos?

… Hn?

“Eh? Wait a minute, innocent girls?”

“ … Suke-kun, you were thinking about Koshmar, right?”

“Ah, sorry. You read my thoughts?”

“I could tell even without reading them.”

Minerva-sama said as she stood up and pressed her right index finger to my forehead.

Was she angry?

“A present to Suke-kun. With this, the Goddesses will no longer be able to read Suke-kun’s inner thoughts.”

“ … Eh?”

They won’t be able to read my thoughts?

Was it true?

So they won’t be able to tell if I think that Minerva-sama should quit provoking Miri by calling her Kaguya-chan or that it is irritating to hear her say that she wants to die every time?

“Suke-kun’s thoughts appear on your expression just like how it appears on Haru-chan’s tail so I can tell that you are thinking something rude but just not the exact thoughts.”

“ … I see … erm, Minerva-sama.”

“What? You want to thank me?”

“Your finger smells very strongly of curry.”

“I was eating curry senbei after all.”

Minerva-sama said and took another curry senbei to eat while drinking tea.

I would prefer it if she wiped her finger before touching my forehead.

I applied Clean on my face.

“Don’t say anything you learned here to anybody. That was a measure to deal with that.”

“But with this measure, won’t it tell the other Goddesses that I have information that can’t be told to them?”

“That’s right. If you are asked, you can tell them that Suke-kun’s inner thoughts were droning on when I was concentrating on eating curry senbei so I put you on mute setting. In actual fact, I have done the same to many other transmigrated people.”

“ … You’ve done it multiple times?”

I see, so Koshmar-sama won’t be angry even if I think about her as an orc when I am in front of her. I can be relieved but it feels somewhat lonely too.

“Now then, this is the main topic.”

“Eh? That was not the main topic?”

“Yup. The main topic is regarding Kaguya-chan.”

“About Miri!?”

I didn’t expect Miri’s name to come up there.

“The talk on the world system and true identity of the Goddesses all have to do with Kaguya-chan. Kaguya-chan possesses the ability to see into the future. Just like Methias-sama. To avoid the end of the world, we wish to make Kaguya-chan, known as the Demon Lord, into the seventh Goddess. By becoming a Goddess, Kaguya-chan’s ability to look into the future will ascend and she will be able to perform the same task as Methias-sama. But we could not do so.”

The fact that she referred to her as the Demon Lord meant that the Kaguya-chan that Minerva-sama was talking about was the Demon Lord Famiris‧Raritei.

“ … Because she was not a pure innocent girl … or a virgin?”

Minerva-sama nodded.

“That’s why we made a proposal to Kaguya-chan. Reincarnation – – to be reincarnated into a new life but retain her memories and abilities. Naturally, even with that proposal, Kaguya-chan did not agree.”

That was to be expected. She had responsibilities as the Demon Lord and even if she would retain her memories and abilities, reincarnation still meant that she would have to die once.

“But that day, Kaguya-chan accepted reincarnation. I doubted my ears because it was so sudden but I cast the spell to allow Kaguya-chan to reincarnate. But it failed. Kaguya-chan’s soul that was supposed to be born into a new life in Otherworld suddenly disappeared. And I could not find it. I didn’t expect her to flee to Japan and even put up a barrier to prevent Goddess from spying on her. Koshmar was shocked when she found Kaguya-chan when Suke-kun mentioned that you have a younger sister. And she was flustered. We could not interfere with that world. Although we were surprised when Kaguya-chan said herself that she would come to this world.”

Although the Goddesses carried out Famiris‧Raritei’s reincarnation, they did not know why she was reborn as Japanese.

“Then, Minerva-sama wants to make Miri into a Goddess?”

“Yes. And have convinced her slightly. Methias-sama tweaked the Jobless job in various ways because – – it was for Suke-kun’s sake.”

Minerva-sama said and took the final piece of curry senbei.

“ – – !? Methias-sama tweaked the Jobless job!?”

“I didn’t know at first. But when Suke-kun obtained the Hikikomori skill and could create a world in the same location as the Goddess space, I was convinced. After all, that world was originally meant to be assigned to Kaguya-chan when she becomes a Goddess.”

“ … Minerva, that’s enough.”

Tet-sama announced the end when Minerva-sama finished eating the last curry senbei.

“Yup, then Suke-kun should return. Don’t say anything about what you saw and heard here.”

“Eh? Please wait a minute – -”

So in the end what’s the situation with the end of the world?

What was Daijiro-san’s reason for abducting Miri?

What does it mean by My World was meant for Miri?

There were a ton of things I wanted to ask.

I raised my voice – –

“I still have questions – -”

I raised my hand – – but only Tet-sama’s Goddess statue was there.

It seemed that my consciousness had returned to the Otherworld.