I hesitate, even though itâs from the person Iâve been waiting for. The one who runs the mysterious game. Probably, or rather, most likelyâŠâŠa god of another world. The pressure of talking to such a person is overwhelming. But there was no time for hesitation. I decided to answer the call.
âHello?â
âOh, Yoshio? Itâs me, me, me.â
Youâre still as light-hearted as ever. Iâm a little less nervous because of it.
âYes, I know.â
âSo, youâve got a lot to say.â
âThereâs a lot ofâŠâŠâ
How did Carol come to Japan? Why am I here? What is the purpose of this game called âVillage of Destinyâ? Who is the management?
âIâll give you a quick rundown first, and you can ask questions later. First of all, let me make an apology from the management. As I explained before, the game youâre playing is still in the testing period, and there are some bugs and specification errors.â
Itâs common knowledge in games these days that there are bugs during the test play period. Itâs so far from reality that I almost forgot that this was a game set during a test period.
âSo, Iâve been working hard to deal with the bug, or rather the hole, to prevent that from happening.â
â Hole?â
I was told that I could ask questions later, but I couldnât help but speak up.
âYeah, a hole. Well, in order to explain it, Iâll have to tell you aboutâŠâŠ.Iâm sure youâve noticed this by now, but âVillage of Destinyâ is a game where you play as a god by connecting that world to Earth.â
I had expected this, but the management made it clear to me. Everything I had imagined up until now had been replaced by reality, and the escape route of âwhat ifâ had been closed.
âThe world youâre in right now is a little higher than Earth. Think of it as having two tanks, one for the other world and one for the earth. And the other world is higher than the Earthâs tank.â
As I pictured the scene in my mind, I took out my notepad where I wrote down the rules of the village and drew a simple picture.
âOnce upon a time, there was a war between the evil gods and the main gods, and a crack appeared in the world. That is, there was a little hole in the tank.â
I added a small hole to the picture of the otherworldly tank. Water spills out of the hole and trickles down to the Earth tank.
âThe gods tried to plug the hole, but even though it was easy to destroy, it was surprisingly difficult to repair. The hole was small enough that the more powerful gods and demons were not swept away, but the less powerful followers were sucked into the hole and swept into the next tank.â
âYou think thatâs you, the management, and the followers?â
âBingo!â
Management = God. Iâve been prepared for this so farâŠâŠbut you canât tell me not to be surprised by the existence of God.
âItâs not a physical hole; itâs more like a mystical crack in space.â
Why did he suddenly talked like a high school girl?
âThis world is above Earth, so water can only flow from top to bottom, right? Thatâs why Godâs power flowed unilaterally to Earth.â
âWell, some kind of invisible mystical powerâŠâŠlike the aura of God flowed into Earth.â
âYes, thatâs it. Godâs aura.â
Apparently, the management isnât very good at explaining things.
âI wanted to go back to my original world, but it was difficult to climb up the waterfall of divine aura that kept flowing down. And on top of that, most of my followers lost their powers when I crashed.â
He seems to like the divine aura that Iâve aptly expressed and uses it a lot.
âIâm not going to go back, but Iâm going to get together with my followers and somehow live on Earth. Iâm not going to go back, but Iâm going to get together with my followers and somehow make a living on Earth. Well, I used what little God power I had left to tamper with the memory of the landowner, and took over the land and buildings where the God aura was flowing down, and started a game company.â
ââŠâŠwhy a game?â
âThe first thing we need to do is to bathe in this flowing divine aura to maintain our existence. We can leave for a little while, though. Thatâs why I couldnât leave this place in Hokkaido where the divine aura flows, so I looked for a job where I could make money without moving, and I happened to find a small game company in this building I bought.â
I wonder what happened to the people from the game company who were involved. Iâd like to know, but Iâd rather not.
âWe are gods, and if we lose faith, we will cease to exist. Thatâs why we used the game as a way to earn money while keeping our followers.â
I understand the logic, but it takes time to accept and come to terms with it.
âWhy did Carol and I went to this world if you, the gods, couldnât go back?â
âHumans are dwarfed by gods, you know. It is possible to send two people and one animal against the current. We can easily send tributes from the other world, by the way, because the power is flowing from there to here. It is easy to send things from the top of the waterfall to the bottom, but it is quite difficult to send things from the bottom of the waterfall to the top of the waterfall.â
The mystery of the system for receiving tributes from other worlds has been revealed. Based on the story, it was pretty much impossible to send us over here.
âSo, I understand Carol, but why me?â
âThatâs my way of thanking you. You protected her as a believer, and you kept the Bible. I really appreciate it.â
âWell, no, itâs natural to help the villagers.â
I was quite shocked because I never expected to be thanked by God.
âAnd thereâs one more reason whyâŠâŠ.Itâs a good thing that youâre not the only one. So, if the main gods find out about this one, weâre going to be scoldedâŠâŠâ
âPerhaps, you transferred me to another world to make me keep the secret.â
âIâm not sure what youâre talking about.â
Thatâs a bit of a slippery slope. Iâd like to know if heâs always been this way or if heâs been inspired since he came to Japan.
âIâm sure youâre aware of that. So I asked them to take refuge there until the discussion was over.â
So thatâs what it was. Iâve been transferred to another world out of concern for my safety.
âOne more question. Why did the Evil One wanted the Bible so badly?â
âWhat do you think, Yoshio?â
He returned my question with a question.
âThey wanted to weaken the Lord Godâs side by taking the Bible. Or did they want to misuse the BibleâŠ..?â
I thought about it during my trip to Hokkaido and after I came here, but thatâs all I could come up with.
âYouâre missing a lot. In the first place, the Bible is the source of power that our followers have left in the world. It is because of it that we can connect to the other world from faraway Japan and use miracles.â
It was such an important thing. I picked up the Bible and looked at it intently.
âHave you ever seen a post like this on a game forum? There is only one player per squire. Well, itâs true, and each squire has left one copy of his or her alter ego, the Bible, in the world. When the village is destroyed and there are no villagers leftâŠâŠthat is, the game is over; the Bible is moved to a new village where there are followers. So even if the village is destroyed, the new village will choose a new player and the game will continue.â
So, there was a player who was my predecessor. I have no way of knowing what kind of person he was, but if it were possible, I would like to meet him.
âBut if the Bible is in Japan, and the Evil Gods take it and seal it up, God will never be able to exercise his power again. On the contrary, his existence will fade away, and eventually people will forget him and he will disappear.â
I swallowed my spit when I heard the cold voice that sent a chill down my spine at the end. It made sense why the evil side would want it, even if they had to pay a lot of money for it.
âWell, thereâs a lot more to this game that I canât talk about, and Iâm blurting out the details, but thatâs a trade secret. However, the actions of the evil gods this time are clearly against the rules. We also negotiated directly with the evil gods, telling them not to mess with Yoshio-kun at all. It took us a while, but we got their approval, so donât worry. God will not lie to you.â
Iâm happy to hear that, but I have a question to begin with.
âUm, can you guys from the Lord God side talk to the Evil God side?â
âYes, we can, because we work in the same building, and we co-developed this game. The specifications are similar, right?â
âŠâŠReally? I thought I wouldnât be surprised anymore after learning so much about the various backstories, but this is the biggest surprise of the day.
âOh, that was a surprise? I told you that we need to be bathed in divine aura to maintain our existence. Itâs the same for the Evil Godâs followers. In other words, theyâre stuck here, just like us. We wanted to do something on our own, but the evil gods are better at brainwashingâŠâŠpeople and altering their memories.â
Thatâs a outrageous thing to say. In order to survive, the Lord God and the Evil Godâs followers teamed up to develop a gameâŠâŠ.It seems that both the Lord God and the Evil God were originally from the same faction, so itâs not so strange, is it? Itâs like having rival companies in a building. Itâs not impossible when I think about it.
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âIâm sorry, but Iâve got to go, so Iâve got two things to tell you. The first is that the two players on the evil godâs side who did this and that with Yoshio-kun in Hokkaido are targeting that village, so be careful. It seems that the idiot who was seducing the players, a follower of the Evil God, resents you and ordered them to attack. Youâd better assume that they know about your miracle and get ready to fight.â
By two players, I assume you mean Habata and the all-black, mature businessman. When itâs two against one, the upcoming âTemptation of the Evil Godâ doesnât seem to be a fair game.
âAnd hereâs another suggestion. You can choose to stay in the village or return to JapanâŠâŠ.â
ââŠâŠWhat?â
A dumbfounded voice spilled out of my mouth. I thought there would be no more surprises, but at the last minute he dropped an oversized bomb on me.