Chapter 63: Kami no Pantsu (神のパンツ)

"The Hero's existence is an emergency law that I created after noticing the existence of the Demon King's Power."

In God's room, where God had taken on the form of a white-haired loli, God was currently playing Mario Kart with Alice while explaining the secrets of this world to Alice. She skillfully manipulated the Nintendo Switch controller in her hands while focusing her eyes on the massive OLED TV in the room.

"Law? So, the Hero has already become part of this world's natural cycle?" Although Alice was playing alongside this unreliable God, she placed most of her attention on their conversation. Meanwhile, her placement in the game constantly remained at second...to last. "Just like how all life will one day die, apples will fall to the ground, and one plus one equals two?"

"I see you're a reader of Index as well. Yes, you're correct. Those can be considered laws," God said as she sent an approving glance at Alice. Just like her appearance, this God liked playing games and reading comics and novels. She did not look like a serious God at all. "With the new law I created, the Hero's existence in this world has become something natural as you have stated, and the Hero exists to oppose the Demon King's Power."

Alice nodded. She roughly understood why her right hand had evaluated Aird's weapon quality as "Law" now. It was probably because the "weapon" had already touched upon the laws of this world.

However, items that she could wield as weapons and be rated as "Law" were probably incredibly rare in this world. She guessed that the Hero and Demon King were probably the only weapons she could wield as "Law" weapons.

"Since the law where "The Hero is the Demon King's Power's nemesis" exists, before the Demon King's Power is thoroughly eradicated, the Hero will never cease to exist. Of course, only people with firm and kind hearts and people who are willing to protect others as the Hero can become my chosen Hero," God said while racing past the finish line and securing first place.

Then, God continued, "However, the Hero chosen this time is a little…out of the norm, so to speak. I didn't think that she would infiltrate the demon realm to become a spy. Because of that, she never got the chance to touch the Hero's Sword, which, in turn, means that she never got the chance to awaken the Hero's power within her. If you hadn't brought the Hero's Sword to the demon realm with you, who knows when Aird would've awakened."

"Maybe this is fate."

When Alice recalled how she accidentally awakened the true Hero, she couldn't help but laugh.

"Don't bring up fate. It's too superstitious." As the biggest superstition, God couldn't help but click her tongue when she heard Alice's words. "Even Gods cannot control fate. If I knew how this world's fate would play out, I would've stopped this world's inhabitants from having nonsensical thoughts every day and removed all possibility for the Demon King's Power to come into being."

Alice nodded in agreement. If God could take control of fate, the Loli Goddess in front of her could've had a way to prevent the Demon King's Power from appearing altogether. Unfortunately, it would seem that even Gods lacked the power to control fate. However, Alice felt that this was a good thing. She did not hope for her fate to be set the moment she was born. An unknown fate would mean more possibilities. It would also give her more hope to work hard.

"Aird is too stubborn. She refuses to respond no matter what I say to her. If I wasn't directly transmitting my voice into her brain, I would've thought that she was deaf," God said, a gleeful smile appearing on her face when she saw Alice's race car coming in second to last. Her originally resentful voice also became much more joyful as she continued, "But no matter. Since she can't hear my voice and doesn't realize that she is the Hero, I will have you take on the Hero's responsibilities in the meantime!"

"Is that really fine?"

Alice revealed a bitter smile when she heard the Loli Goddess's words, not feeling particularly confident at taking on the task of being the Hero. After all, she knew better than anyone about her own strength. Although she could deceive people with her panties, she couldn't do it forever. If she had to grab a pair of panties whenever she entered a fight, she would get exposed sooner or later. Before she could return to Earth, she would have to stay in this world for a very long time. So, it'd be terrible if she suffered a social death.

"Don't worry. I created your body, so your talent in magic and physical combat isn't any weaker than the real Hero. So long as you start learning and training earnestly, you won't have to rely on panties to cast taboos in the future," God said as she patted her flat chest.

However, when Alice heard the Loli Goddess mentioning her strange ability, she couldn't help but want to dig a hole for herself. The other party was a God, after all. Even though the Loli Goddess didn't know the source of Alice's power, she had already discovered that Alice needed panties to exercise that power.

"Wait, did you just say that you created my body?" Although Alice felt embarrassed, she quickly noticed the crucial point in the Loli Goddess's words. "What about my original body?"

"Of course I destroyed—W-Wait! Don't pinch my face!!!" Before God could finish her words, Alice had already ruthlessly grabbed her cheeks and pulled on them. Although it didn't hurt since she was a God, it was still an uncomfortable experience. "Your body suffered irreparable damage when it crossed the world barrier! If I didn't make a new body for you, your original body wouldn't have lasted more than a month!"

"Is that so?"

Alice looked at the Loli Goddess skeptically. After listening to the Loli Goddess's words, she realized that while the other party might look like a grade-schooler, the Loli Goddess was a bona fide God. The Loli Goddess must be a loli baba who has lived for countless years. Her age might even be in the hundreds of millions or more.

"I'm telling the truth. You can check the history books if you don't believe me. If you look carefully, you'll notice that many of this world's modern creations have unknown origins," God said in a dissatisfied tone as she massaged her face. "There are many conspiracy theories on the internet saying that the inventors of these items have offended capitalists and got secretly dealt with. In reality, these investors are transmigrated Earthlings like you. However, these people would always succumb to the damage their bodies suffered when crossing the world barrier and pass away shortly after creating the design of a certain item."

Alright, then. It seems this Loli Goddess did save me.

Alice nodded, accepting the Loli Goddess's reasoning. She also finally understood why this world had so many things in common with Earth. Even though this world's magical technology had received ample development, she could still see many things that resembled the appearance and functionality of the electronic products found on Earth. She had originally found the uncanny resemblance strange, but the Loli Goddess's explanation immediately resolved her confusion.

"Anyway, I'll give you the right to use the Hero's Sword. From now on, you can also use the Hero's Sword in a true sense," God said as she glared at Alice. Then, she snorted and continued, "Apart from that, you can also take one thing from this room. Don't underestimate the things here. As I am a God, any one of the items I use can be regarded as a divine artifact."

"Is that so?"

Raising an eyebrow skeptically, Alice looked at the Nintendo Switch controller in her hands. The weapon information her right hand gave her contradicted the Loli Goddess's words.

…

[Weapon: Nintendo Switch Pro Controller]

[Quality: Not Bad]

[Effect: Control +5]

[Additional Effect: Game Console (Passive Skill. You can execute basic controls to the connected Nintendo Switch console.)]

…

"That's different. That's something I bought from Earth," God said, blushing when she noticed where Alice was looking at. Then, she hurriedly corrected herself and said, "Other than the Switch… Oh, you can't pick me, either. I cannot freely roam about the mortal world. It will make a mess of the world's laws. Apart from items from Earth and myself, you can pick anything in this room."

Hearing the Loli Goddess's words, Alice began looking around the room. However, she felt that there wasn't anything here she could use as a weapon. After all, it'd be strange if she brought out a sofa to fight. It'd be a strange sight no matter how she looked at it. Rather than a sofa, she'd rather fight with a pair of panties. In the case of the panties, she could at least hide them using a glove. Since that was the case…

After taking another look around and failing to find any easy-to-use weapons, Alice felt that she only had one option remaining.

"...W-What are you trying to do?"

God quickly noticed the gaze Alice directed to the lower half of her body and subconsciously shifted away on the sofa.