CH 1.6

Summoned by a Goddess

Part 6

Fireflies flitted in the darkness of the night.

The sun had set and night had fallen in the other world. There were no neon or electric lights like in a city, nothing could be seen, and a jet-black canopy descended… Eisuke’s expectations had been completely wrong.

“…The moon, isn’t it very close?”

The moon was clearly large and close, so close that even if he stretched out his hands, he could not reach its ends. Its light illuminated the seashore, sparkling as it met the starry sky. Thanks to it, even at night, you could see all around by the clear pale blue glow.

“If the scenery is so beautiful, it makes me wonder if global warming is really going on.”

“Of course not, this is not Earth.”

“Oh, right, haha, I forgot.”

All the women let out a collective sigh as Eisuke slapped his knee and laughed at Serika’s response.

Right now, the five of them, including Eisuke, were making a fire on the beach where he had landed after being summoned, and were about to spend the night there. Of course, Marielle and the others, who had fled the imperial capital, had nowhere to settle. Naturally, they had to stay out in the open.

But Eisuke didn’t seem to mind that, and happily contemplated the night scenery of the other world. …It should be added that it had been less than a day since he had arrived in this other world. Marielle frowned as she looked at Eisuke, who seemed to have become completely accustomed to this world.

“…Mr. Eisuke, would you like me to explain once more the harsh situation we find ourselves in?”

“Huh? I simply have to eliminate all the bad heroes, right?”

“Yes… no, something like that, but… just said like that it feels kind of incomplete…”

Marielle tilted her head somewhat frustrated. It was true that in the end she brought Eisuke into this world in the hopes that he would help her, but she felt he was ignoring too much of the context behind a lot of things. Rukino admonished him as well, holding her hand to her forehead.

“…Indeed, his power was tremendous. But there are many heroes in this world who are just as bad, if not worse, than the Hero you just met. You have underestimated the situation too much.”

“That I underestimated the situation? Ha, this is practically heaven!”

“There can’t possibly be such a dangerous heaven.”

Serika looked at Eisuke, who was getting excited about the existence of the Heroes threatening this world. Eisuke pointed a finger at Marielle with a wry smile.

“Don’t you know that being a Hero with cheats is all about romance? What other cheats can they have?”

“Roman… ce…?”

“I’m talking about the destruction beam. Being able to shoot a destruction beam is romance material.”

“There’s nothing romantic about an attack that’s aimed at you.”

“No, the destruction beam itself is romantic.”

“Yui! Why are you nodding? That destruction beam almost killed you, didn’t it?”

Marielle replied with a bitter smile as she saw how Yui, who was sitting in front of the fire in her gym clothes, agreed with Eisuke’s lighthearted comment.

“That’s… I’m sorry. I don’t understand.”

“Huh? Those cheat skills, you gave them to all the heroes, didn’t you? What don’t you understand?”

Eisuke raised an eyebrow questioningly. Marielle put her hands in front of her knees and began to speak softly.

“…To defeat the Demon King, we needed someone who could wield the divine power capable of destroying demons, that is, my power, the reincarnation of the Goddess. That power is the ‘Seed of Imagination’.”

“Seed of Imagination…?”

“Yes. When that seed sprouts, it can transform the imagination in the mind of the person in whom it was planted into something real. In the example above, Sir Ken awakened that kind of power because he had previously imagined in his mind that rays of light would come out of his hands.”

“Fuck.”

“So, he had eighth-grade syndrome.”

“It’s a power that makes the dreams of people with eighth grade syndrome come true. That’s why it’s so romantic. Marielle, why don’t you build a shrine in our world? You could make a fortune.”

“Shri, ne…?”

“My lady, continue. You will not be able to finish the conversation if you continue to be stopped by their interruptions.”

Marielle was puzzled by the answer that only the other three could understand, but regained her composure when Rukino, who was rubbing her temples, suggested.

“That Seed of Imagination was the only power that could defeat the Demon King, but there was no one in this world who could use it. Not everyone was so imaginative. That’s why we found people from your world who would be compatible with the Seed of Imagination and summoned them to this one.”

Eisuke clasped his hands behind his back in understanding.

“Well, imagination is largely cultivated by culture, you know. I don’t know about this world, but our country is full of rotten subcultures. Everyone at some point has thought about what it would be like if they got cheat skills. I’m sure there were a lot of compatible morons.”

“Are all boys like that? It’s disgusting, isn’t it stupid?”

“It’s not disgusting, and it’s not stupid. I bet you guys have at least once fantasized about blowing up a city full of Christmas spirit with a death ray, right? It’s the same thing.”

“No, not at all. What are you talking about?”

“Yes, I have. It happens to me every year.”

“Yui!? Haven’t you been nodding too much to what he says for a while now!?”

Serika couldn’t help but reply to Yui, who nodded again with a matter-of-fact tone. Eisuke chuckled and nodded to Marielle.

“But at this point, I can clearly see that your world has collapsed. You summoned these delusional people and made their fantasies come true, didn’t you? Of course they wouldn’t want to leave for good.”

“True, we were too naïve in our thinking… They readily accepted our request to defeat the Demon King. We assumed they were truly righteous heroes, capable of altruistic goodwill. I thought that, if they defeated the Demon King, they would naturally return my lady’s power and return to their world…”

Rukino groaned with regret. There is no such thing as altruistic goodwill, Eisuke thought to himself.

“Your greatest ally turned on you, betrayed you and became your worst enemy. So you decided to summon new allies to defeat those enemies.”

“Yes. I’ve given all my power to the Heroes, so I can’t give new powers…”

“It’s like algae that have run out of broth.”

“Don’t use seaweed as a metaphor for my lady!”

Marielle smiled at Eisuke’s mockery and continued.

“…So I searched for the existence of someone with a power that didn’t depend on me. …To be honest, I was about to give up. There was no way for ordinary people to transcend like that without having the power of a god. At that moment, when I was looking at your world in despair, that’s when I felt the three of you.”

All three swallowed saliva at the same time. Marielle smiled as if to affirm her amazement at that moment.

“I was very surprised when I discovered that you were using powers that were clearly not those of normal humans in my observations of the world. I’ve already asked Lady Yui and Lady Serika the same question, so this may be a bit repetitive, but… why do you have so much power?”

Marielle asked from the bottom of her heart, but Eisuke shrugged his shoulders in response.

“What do you want me to tell you, I don’t know either. I fought a lot, so I trained a lot too and then I found myself in this situation. That’s all I can say.”

“Well, we were just doing normal stuff too, but… being with this guy, it makes you doubt that he was just doing normal stuff…”

Marielle could only smile at Serika, who made a suspicious face as she spoke. Eisuke leaned towards her.

“But, to make a long story short, I can say this for sure…”

“Huh?”

Eisuke smiled at Marielle, who was puzzled.

“We’re your last hope, aren’t we?”

Marielle fell silent at Eisuke’s smile. Finally, she pursed her lips and then said earnestly as she exhaled.

“…Indeed. I escaped from the imperial capital and came here to meet you.”

Marielle took a deep breath and turned her serious gaze to Yui and Serika.

“I’m not sure what kind of Seeds of Imagination the Heroes will have germinated, so I don’t have a full understanding of the situation. Although Lady Yui and Lady Serika have powers superior to those of an average human, you are not used to fighting. That means you will be involved in many dangerous situations in the future.”

Finally, she cast a glance at Eisuke with her intense blue eyes.

“…And you, Mr. Eisuke. I understand that you are tremendously strong. It is very comforting that you have come. …However, Heroes can have even stronger abilities. They can still be dangerous. I believe you will have a particularly heavy burden to bear.” Pushing away her trembling tone with a deep breath, Marielle clenched her fists tightly. Then she stood up and bowed her head, deeply. “But still… I have no choice but to trust you! Please, lend me your help to send the Heroes back to their world!”

Marielle’s bow was so deep, so desperate, so tragic, that when Rukino looked at her out of the corner of her eye she bit her lip.

“…From me too, please. Now that the real ruler of this country has come so far to bow down, please give us a positive answer.” Rukino also stood up and bowed deeply beside Marielle.

The other three looked at each other and let out a small laugh. The answer was already decided, no matter what they said. The three responded in unison to Marielle, who bowed her head.

“Okay.”

“Sure.”

“Well, what do I say, I refuse.”

“…Eh?”

It was different. Eisuke was the only one who answered exactly the opposite. Marielle and Rukino were surprised and exclaimed. Serika rushed over to him.

“H-Hey, you!? Why!?”

“Didn’t you want to fight, Eisuke?”

Yui also asked Eisuke curiously. Eisuke snorted and crossed his arms behind his head.

“Yes, I do. I love the idea and I want to fight the stronger ones and kick their asses. But sending them back to their world? That’s too vague. If anything, that would be a pain in the ass.” Eisuke leaned forward. And then he said with a laugh, as if he was a bullying brat proposing a prank. “We’re going to crush all the heroes.” Eisuke pointed his finger arrogantly at Marielle. “I’ll give you a hand until you get your country back in full. It will be an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. I’m here for the cheater heroes. I will make sure that all the heroes who betrayed you are punished by me. I bet that will make you feel better later.”

He was too pompous, too sarcastic and… too confident in his smile. Eisuke made that clear.

Marielle continued to stare at his smile. She unconsciously felt a surge of excitement in her chest.

Marielle was convinced. After all, she had summoned an extraordinary person. …She knew she had summoned an amazing person, but she had also summoned the strongest ally she could ever hope to have.

“Hi… gu!”

“…Hmm?”

“U…Uwuuaah!”

Immediately, Marielle began to cry, shedding large tears. Eisuke was startled and panicked.

“Eh, wait, why are you crying!? You should be jumping for joy!”

“Aaaaah, you made a girl cry?”

“You should be more delicate, Eisuke.”

“N-Now it’s my fault!?”

“Look, look, that, that, how bad, how bad, we’ll charge him with the teacher.”

“I haven’t heard that in a while! It’s been almost 10 years since the last time!”

Marielle cried while Eisuke was completely shocked. Relief softened her heart, which had hardened after being betrayed by the Heroes.

…She could trust this person.

Until now, Marielle had been the one to ask the Heroes for help. …But with Eisuke it was the opposite. He reached out to her himself. He would not only fight for her. He understood Marielle’s pain and depression, and said he would fight for her to relieve her pent-up anger. Those words could only be spoken by a person who was going to sincerely support her. …There was no reason not to be happy.

Serika and Yui also smiled at Marielle, after teasing the desperate Eisuke a bit.

“I’ll tell you, even though we were summoned here before, we’re already dependent on him. But I can’t just give up my pride, can I?”

“…Even if I’m not as good as Eisuke, I can still help you. Please trust us too.”

“Ugh, guh… Th-Thank you, thank you so much…!”

Marielle expressed her gratitude to both of them in a voice mixed with sobs. Rukino gently held her slender shoulders.

“What a joy, isn’t it, my lady?”

“Auuu… Rukino too… Shankiuuuuuuu~~!”

“Wait, you’re crying in a way unbecoming of a lady of your status! …Guys, really thank you very much.”

Rukino said and bowed her head. Eisuke scratched his hair at her mature smile.

“…Don’t worry, you don’t have to thank me. It’s just that you and I have the same goal.”

“…Hey, where are you going?”

Serika asked as Eisuke spun on his heels and waved his hand in the air.

“I’m going to pee, to pee. Do you want to keep me company?”

“Stupid pervert, have some finesse!”

Eisuke waved his hand while Serika cursed behind his back.

“…What’s wrong with you, Yui?”

…Serika noticed that Yui was staring blankly at his back.

“…Me too…”

Yui just said that and followed Eisuke from behind. Serika, who was puzzled, couldn’t help but say:

“…Eh, are you going to accompany him?”

Of course it wasn’t that. But… then, when Yui stood up, did Serika seem to see that her cheeks were flushed…?