Volume 2 – The World Sneered
“Ouch……”
After falling down, Mary stood back up while rubbing her buttocks.
“What is this place……?”
She was in a square room surrounded by blue crystals in all directions.
She knew that she had fallen down here from above, but she saw nothing but the ceiling when she looked up.
There were no decorations in the room, and there was a plate which looked like a door ahead of her.
She was about to approach it, but-
“Whoops. Wow, so this is what it looks like inside.”
Digi showed up in the room.
Mary reflexively swung at her with her blade when she heard Digi’s voice.
“Ooh!? Gotta keep my guard up, eh!?”
“It’s very sick of you to lock me in a place like this.”
“I don’t know what this place is either.”
“Please stop lying!”
“I’m not lying. I mean it, really. I think this is a part of the ruins of Munbe.”
“Investigations of these ruins should be finished already. A building like this in such a flawless condition would have been reported on already!”
“I know, but here we are, right? My sword opened the door that no one could open before.”
Digi brandished her silver-colored sword.
Its edge could unconditionally cut through everything in existence.
“This is some crazy coincidence. Yeah, seriously, I aimed at your feet with this sword, but it ended up causing some miracle. Even Emperor was surprised, you know.”
“Stop saying stuff that makes no sense!”
“I’m confused too. But, y’know, it really happened. The image of a woman who called herself Emperor appeared before me after you fell into the hole. She told me to enter.”
“……? Are you serious?”
“How about you go on by yourself if you don’t believe me? Personally, I want to get out of here, even if we have to work together to do so.”
Work together – the words were unbelievable coming out of Digi’s mouth.
Since she was wearing a mask and any changes in facial expression could not be seen, it was impossible for Mary to tell if she was really telling the truth or not.
But, Mary did not feel any hostility from her right now.
“……Okay, then let’s agree not to attack each other as long as we’re in here.”
“Oh, I’m surprised you’re being so agreeable. Okay. Let’s kill each other when we’re outside. Well, let’s go!”
“Please walk in front of me.”
“I don’t wanna be killed from behind.”
“Same here. Just go ahead, please.”
Digi grumbled, ‘Yeah, yeah’, and stood in front of the door.
The door automatically slid open by itself.
The two were speechless before the scene revealed behind it.
It was a school.
Mary and Digi did not know this place, but they could tell that it was a school.
“……What’s going on here?”
“Don’t ask me! The arcana user of Emperor is the one showing this to us, right? Don’t you have any idea what this is?”
“……”
“Emperor is one of the untraceable arcanas. We think that it’s highly possible that a homunculus possesses it, but-”
“Not anymore, no.”
Digi went through the door without looking back.
“Ah, please wait”
Mary hurriedly followed after her.
The two stepped into the school, and the door disappeared after becoming transparent.
“Yeah, this place really does look like a school……”
“I never went to school, so I wouldn’t know. Are the best schools in the royal capital this beautiful too?”
“They are beautiful, but I’ve never seen chairs or desks made with such materials.”
“Hmmh…… Oh, someone’s in here.”
The classroom’s door opened as a bell rang.
A man wearing a suit, who seemed to be a teacher, seemed strangely happy.
Figures of students also started emerging at the same time.
There were around 30 teen boys and girls, and they all turned their gazes towards the teacher.
“I have some good news for you all today. Two students from our class will be chosen to become the next Gods to help create the next world!”
The teacher’s words caused a commotion among the students, and they started clapping.
The teacher seemed proud, despite not being the one chosen.
“I’ll make the announcement right now. First, Hermes Cerny!”
All eyes gathered on the girl and the clapping got even louder.
She had wavy shoulder length blonde hair, and her skin had a healthy tan, probably from exercising outside every day.
She stood up and excitedly raised her hand; she seemed to have a cheerful personality.
When the cheers settled down, the teacher announced the other name.
“And, Manny Claudi!”
Rather than shouts of joy, this caused a commotion.
The students clapped after a short delay.
The girl named Manny awkwardly hung her head down.
Her black and long bangs hid her eyes, and her facial expression was completely hidden.
In contrast to Hermes, she did not seem to have a sociable personality.
“Man, I didn’t expect two names to be chosen from my class. Cerny, Claudi, I’m so proud of you two! Please go to the special classroom for a briefing after this.”
Hermes left the classroom while the other students showered her in cheers.
Manny also followed after her and left the classroom with reserved slow steps.
Then, the ‘door’ opened.
The classroom and everyone in it seemed to be nothing but projected reflections, and disappeared like they were never there.
What appeared instead was another blue room, the same as the first one. A ground. And a ceiling.
Mary frowned her eyebrows in confusion.
“What was that……? What did we just watch?”
“I don’t know, is what I would like to say, but – that gloomy girl is the girl who showed up above ground earlier and called herself Emperor.”
“Arcana? I thought they were humans……”
“We’ll have to keep moving to understand. Yes, I feel like I know why the arcana was hiding this place.”
“……Because it would expose something important?”
“If that really is the God who created this world, it destroys all our current mythology. Such massive disappointment might cause someone to want to destroy the world.”
“So my father learned about this…… and that’s why he lost hope in this artificial world? No, but he should have already known that the world was created by arcana.”
“Let’s go. We’ll learn soon enough.”
Digi moved through the door.
Mary jogged and followed after her.
The scene changed.
This time, they were in the corridor outside the classroom.
The actual room also seemed to be long and narrow, which made it feel more realistic.
“Manny, hand!”
Hermes showed Manny the palm of her hand after they left the classroom.
Manny slowly touched it with her fingertips.
“That’s not how you do it!”
“……Sorry.”
“C’mon! We’re celebrating!”
“Mhm……”
Finally, Manny and Hermes did a high five and the sound echoed through the corridor.
Hermes then smiled happily from the bottom of her heart as she showed her teeth, and crossed her arms.
Manny seemed embarrassed, but since this was not the first time, she continued walking down the corridor.
“I was worried about being alone, so I’m glad you’re with me, Manny.”
“Me too…… Mhm, I’m glad you’re here, Hermes.”
“Gods, huh? I didn’t think I could become one when I first enrolled here. Thanks for helping me study.”
“Studying isn’t enough to be chosen. Hermes, you’re the one…… who made me a more positive person than I used to be.”
“It’s no big deal. I just taught you that a smile suits you better.”
A kind smile appeared on Hermes’s face as she looked at Manny.
Manny blushed, but still looked at Hermes in the eyes.
At first glance, there was a sense of distance between the two, but they also seemed to be connected by a strong bond.
The door opened.
The intention of these ruins was still unclear, but that would be revealed as Mary and Digi progressed ahead.
This time, without exchanging any words, Digi and Mary headed for the next room.
◇◇◇
There were already a dozen or so students gathered in the classroom Hermes and Manny went to.
Everyone in the classroom were students.
The ratio of boys and girls were about equal, and most of them seemed to be the same age.
The two lined up and sat down at the center of the classroom.
A female teacher entered right away.
The woman, holding a large quantity of documents, rushed over to two students.
A friendly looking untidy girl, and a girl with glasses who seemed serious.
The two took the documents, and handed them out to the other students after the teacher instructed them to do so.
Manny looked at the cover, which said, ‘God Manual – Beginner Edition’.
Then, Hermes looked at her face.
The two looked at each other.
Hermes smiled impishly, and Manny blushed after averting her eyes.
Then, the teacher started explaining after the documents were handed out to everyone.
“Looks like you all have them now. Okay, let’s begin. First, I would like to congratulate everyone. All of you enrolled in this school with the dream of becoming a God. But this dream will only come true for the top students. The 20 students gathered here today are the ones who passed through that narrow gate!”
The reactions varied as she praised the students.
Some of the students had sparkling eyes thinking about their bright future, some seemed to be sulking, and some of them had pale faces.
“Every year, the first thing we do is announce the students’ names as Gods…… but this year’s world creation will be conducted on a massive scale. There are a lot of people involved, so it was difficult to come up with a theme for the names, but these are what we went with.”
The teacher took out an oblong box from under the teacher’s platform.
Since they were about to hear their own names, all the students focused their gazes on the teacher.
“Tarot cards – the great arcana. Cool, isn’t it?”
The students reacted slowly.
They still felt strange about being given different names in the first place.
Then, Hermes suddenly raised her hand.
“Yes, yes! Teacher, may I ask a question!?”
“Go ahead, Miss. Hermes.”
“There are more than 20 tarot cards, right? I don’t think there’s enough of us here!”
“The rest are replacements. It’s not uncommon for children to retire during world creation, so we’ve secured extra personnel in advance. We’ve also thought about what happens if we do not need replacements, so don’t worry.”
“So, does that mean you’re going to assign 20 of those to all of us as you see fit?”
“That’s right. It can take over a week to decide the names. I mean, you will have these names for hundreds of millions of years. We’ll have to do a lottery if it takes too long, so let’s just assign them in a nice and friendly manner.”
That was their first task as Gods.
After that, the teacher explained the details of the ‘world creation’ process.
Midway through it, they moved to a special room in a different building and the teacher continued the explanation while looking at the actual tools.
These spherical buildings were called cradles, and they were lined up in large numbers like insect cocoons on the grounds outside the school.
The entrances would be sealed when a world was complete, and they would never open again.
The chosen ones would enter inside, abandoning their humanities, and manage the world as a God.
Just as life staked itself to create the next generation, this world’s humanity had the mission to create the next generation’s world.
It was an ‘instinct’ instilled in humanity a long time ago by a supernatural being called the Will of the Stars.
As such, sleeping in a cradle was an honor above all else, and all humans lived with the goal of becoming a God.
Though…… there were also some who called these coffins.
The images flew away after the rough explanation.
The next scene seemed to be the meeting where they decided the names.
The teacher was not here any more, only the students were.
The teacher’s threat seemed to have worked as the meeting progressed smoothly.
The students were given fitting names for their images; the girl who approached the teacher first was chosen to be Justice, a boy with glasses was chosen to be Judgment, and so on.
But it was not so when it came to the last ones.
However, the remaining ones did not care much about their names anyhow, so there were no complaints.
Time flew again when the meeting ended.
This time, they were in the room used by Manny and Hermes.
It seemed to be the dormitory of the school where the two lived in the same room.
It was already completely dark outside, and there were no sounds coming from the other rooms – it seemed to be late at night.
The two were completely exhausted, and were laying on the same bed despite there being two beds in the room.
The lights were out, and Hermes spoke as the two looked up at the ceiling.
“So the day when we were chosen to be Gods is finally over…… Well, Empress, what do you think about today?”
She called Manny by her arcana name in a joking manner.
This was the God name given to Manny.
But she did not seem to be very pleased by it, and clung to Hermes’s chest with a dissatisfied pout on her face.
“Oh?”
“……I don’t like it.”
“What’s wrong, Manny?”
“I’m Manny.”
“Yeah, but our teacher will get angry if I use that name outside. ‘You need to accept that you’re a God!’, she’ll say.”
“Then…… will you call me by my name when it’s just the two of us?”
“Manny…… Mhm, okay. I’m not used to the name Magician either, actually. That’s not really my character.”
“Our names contrast our personalities, don’t they?”
“You think so too? I didn’t think much about it, but maybe we should have picked more carefully.”
“I’m fine with it…… as long as you call me Manny.”
“Ugh, I’m almost worried about how clingy you are with me, you know.”
Hermes put both hands on Manny’s cheeks and started rubbing them.
Manny seemed happy to be touched and smiled.
The images momentarily cut off there.
The door opened again.
“……Ugh.”
Digi sighed.
“That’s the person who became Magician, right?”
“Maybe. Someone created these images, so we don’t know if they’re true or not. If I was the one making them, I would make it look as good as possible.”
“A building like this definitely can’t be made with current technology, though. If God created this building to leave a memory of when they used to be human, then-”
“Stupid, isn’t it?”
“You mean them?”
“I mean, it’s obvious they can’t be happy after becoming Gods. People who abandon their own happiness for the sake of others are all idiots.”
“That’s not true.”
Mary remembered Francis as she denied Digi’s remark, who quickly moved her face closer to Mary’s, and said:
“Are you really happy that you survived, then?”
“……”
“Wouldn’t you have preferred it if Francis was alive instead?”
“Well……”
“I’m not trying to blame you. But I’m just telling the truth. It’s fine to help others, but it’s not right if you sacrifice yourself. When you’re left behind, you always live with heartbreak and suffer for the rest of your life.”
She poke with joy, and vainfully.
Digi continued spitting out biting words.
“Those who remain behind are left in despair. They come up with extreme answers. You know what I’m talking about, don’t you? Their heart is bound by the dead, and they run off into the day after tomorrow as they leave their own will behind. I call people like that buffoons!”
Digi spoke in a very expressive way as she moved her body around with emotion, almost like she was putting on a show.
Perhaps the biggest buffoon here was her instead.
Mary snapped at her, not intending to lose.
“I did not leave my own will behind, it’s by my own will that I desire revenge! Rather, my heart will forever be bound in the moment of my sister’s death if I do not fulfill this desire!”
“How gullible.”
“What!?”
“People like you don’t change even if they take their revenge.”
Digi seemed to know the answer as she spoke confidently.
“Think about it. You regret your sister’s death so much that you don’t mind killing your own father. If you love Francis that much, there is no way you can escape from those shackles.”
The suffering of loss was proportional to love.
The strong emotions held by Mary far surpassed those of normal sisters.
Hatred, anger, these were all reactions from how much she loved Francis.
“You cannot run forever. The pain of her dying to save you will constantly stab into your heart, and even if you take your revenge, even if you smile and pretend to be happy, the only future that awaits you is one where your heart will keep hurting deep down! Ahahahaha!”
Her scornful laughter was so impressive that it could be put in a textbook.
Digi seemed to be having a lot of fun instigating Mary’s anger.
Which was precisely why Mary felt her anger suddenly subside.
It was so blatant that Mary understood it was of no use to go along with this.
“……I’m just glad you’re having fun, let’s go.”
Mary passed by Digi and went through the door.
Digi realized her own blunder.
“Ah, did I go too far? Sorry. It’s just that I can’t hurt you physically, so I’m trying to hurt your spirit.”
She certainly did not seem regretful as she followed Mary.