The Death Mage Who Doesn’t Want a Fourth Time

Side Chapter 69: Those with connections to the gods

It was not only those in the physical world who were relieved that things were resolved peacefully and Asagi Minami had been convinced to back down for now.

In Rodcorte’s Divine Realm, Endou Kouya, Machida Aran, and Shimada Izumi were working frantically to keep the circle of transmigration system working.

“I’m glad things worked out,” Kouya said in relief.

“You can say that again. We can’t negotiate for Asagi from up here, and it’s only at times like these when he doesn’t use ‘Familiar Spirit Descent’ to summon us,” Aran sighed.

“Though even if he did, we have no idea if he’d even listen to us,” said Izumi.

The three of them had been watching Asagi, Tendou, and Shouko, praying that things would end peacefully. After all, watching was all they were able to do.

They were familiar spirits, not gods, so they could not choose to send Divine Messages on their own. Thus, it was impossible for them to send messages to Asagi, Tendou, and Shouko.

If Asagi and the others were to use ‘Familiar Spirit Descent,’ it was possible for the familiar spirits to descend upon them and communicate their thoughts. But because Asagi and the others were staying in Orbaume, where a significant incident had only just recently taken place, there had been no opportunity for that.

With that being the case, one might think that Rodcorte should have done something about Asagi before being rendered incapable of action by Alda. But if such a thing were possible to begin with, Tendou and Shouko would have brought him back under control long ago. Things had only reached this point because nothing could be done about Asagi.

Things had, however, turned out peacefully in the end.

“I have nothing but gratitude for Mari and Vandalieu. If Asagi was killed, he would probably have turned into a spirit and become guided by Vandalieu… I doubt Vandalieu would have broken Asagi’s soul just for being annoying, but I could imagine him putting him in some Golem somewhere and leaving him for thousands of years at a time,” said Kouya.

Asagi had done nothing but complain about Vandalieu’s actions, but if he were to be killed and turn into a spirit, there was no way to escape the effects of Vandalieu’s guidance. After all, he considered Vandalieu to be one of his own companions. Even if Vandalieu refused to accept it, but that was inconsequential for the guidance itself. Asagi would likely have become guided very easily in this scenario.

Rodcorte was currently incapable of doing anything, so he couldn’t retrieve souls from the mortal world, either. There was still a possibility that Asagi’s soul would return to the circle of transmigration system the moment he died, but the chances of that happening were incredibly slim.

But as for what Vandalieu would think of Asagi’s spirit… one would not need to try very hard to imagine it.

“What about Alda’s familiar spirits?” asked Aran.

“Who knows. We can’t see what they’re doing from here, but I don’t hear any commotion from them, so I think things are fine,” said Izumi.

Alda had stationed familiar spirits to keep an eye on Aran and the others. They were currently standing at the equivalent to the entrance of the Divine Realm, watching vigilantly to ensure that they didn’t attempt to persuade Asagi and the others to cooperate with Vandalieu.

Ironically, Alda, who was an enemy of Vandalieu, viewed Asagi as one of Vandalieu’s allies. Or to be more precise, he believed that they were close enough that they would cooperate with one another if the situation called for it.

“Seeing him like that, I don’t know what he’ll do in the future, but… at the very least, he should stay quiet until things have been settled,” said Kouya.

“Now then, our immediate worries are over, so I suppose we should get on with our work,” said Izumi.

Relieved, the three of them returned to their work.

On the Lavelta Archipelago, where the ‘Noah’ Mao and the ‘Super Sense’ Gotouda were, nothing changed as time passed – even with the defeat of the resurrected Guduranis at Vandalieu’s hands, the Amid Empire becoming the Holy Nation of Amid, and the Boundary Mountain Range being moved.

The Lavelta Archipelago was so far from the Bahn Gaia continent that it took a month-long voyage by ship to reach, and such ships did not travel between the two so frequently. In another month, a ship’s sailors and captain might sit in a pub and share tales of how Guduranis was resurrected by some villain called ‘Dark Avalon,’ but was eventually defeated. Information exchanges between merchants would spread the news as well. And that would likely cause some commotion.

In a month and a half, the news that the Boundary Mountain Range had been moved would arrive… causing great commotion at the Commerce Guild, once they learned that the Farzon Duchy had become evne more isolated.

With that said, to the residents of the Lavelta Archipelago who were not directly involved in commerce, events that occurred on the Bahn Gaia continent were events that happened in some far-away world. Those involved in commerce might be troubled and worried over whether such events would have negative effects on their business, and the families of the sailors might worry about whether their husbands and sons would be able to come home safely. But that was all.

“I have to say, it’s a great day for doing business. Ah, I’m going to pop into the Commerce Guild, so keep an eye on the store,” said Mao.

“You got it, Boss,” said Gotouda.

Ever since Gotouda began working in Mao’s store as a live-in employee, people had considered it to be unusual – a store run by a Dwarf owner and an Elf employee.

The fact that both of them were former adventurers was another reason they had drawn attention.

It would be another half-month before they learned about what had happened on the Bahn Gaia continent. Both of them had stepped away from the adventuring profession, so there was no need to use the ‘Familiar Spirit Descent’ Skill, and Aran and the others had felt no need to inform them. In fact, some time ago, Aran and the others had deemed it risky to conduct information exchanges too frequently. 𝑅𝘼ℕ∅ᛒÊṦ

Some potential heroes from the Lavelta Archipelago had boarded ships and departed for the Bahn Gaia continent, but Mao and Gotouda were unaware of this.

Hero candidates kept the fact that they had received divine protections a secret from everyone other than their own party members, and there were plenty of adventurers who left the island to travel to the Bahn Gaia continent or other islands in the archipelago. Mao and Gotouda had not noticed the hero candidates among these adventurers.

Even if they knew, they probably wouldn’t have been able to stop them.

Meanwhile, Alda, the God of Law and Fate, was aware that these two reincarnated individuals were on this island. But he had decided to leave them be for now – or rather, he did not have the spare resources to go after them, nor did he see any point in doing so.

The two of them were not cooperating with Vandalieu, nor were they hostile towards him. They did not worship any gods belonging to Alda’s forces.

Even if Alda were to send Eileek a Divine Message to send assassins after them – or even the opposite, attempt to recruit them – they were on an island far from the Bahn Gaia continent, and the journey would require time.

And there were few assassins who would be capable of killing Gotouda, who possessed the ‘Super Sense’ cheat-like ability. Even if they did succeed in the assassination, the two of them were not allied with Vandalieu, so it would have no impact on Vandalieu’s fighting forces. If the assassins were to fail, it would only reduce the strength of Alda’s own side.

In fact, killing the two would be dangerous – the familiar spirits in Rodcorte’s Divine Realm, who were currently operating the circle of transmigration system, might revolt in response.

Even if they were successfully recruited, all that would be gained was two C-class adventurers. They possessed cheat-like abilities, but even taking them into account, the problem was that Alda had no idea what the two of them were thinking. Rather than try to add them to his pool of available pawns, Alda had decided that it would be better to focus efforts into nurturing the potential heroes who would listen to his orders.

He also believed that Vandalieu didn’t have the free time to think about Mao and Gotouda… though to be more accurate, he simply had no interest in them.

Among his companions were Sam and Cuatro, who both possessed transportation capabilities that surpassed Mao’s ‘Noah,’ and because Vandalieu himself was able to improve his own senses using fragments of the Demon King, Gotouda’s ‘Super Sense’ ability was one that was far from necessary for him to have on his side.

If the two of them were to join Alda’s forces, he would have to face them as enemies, but since they were staying put on this island, that wasn’t necessary.

It was likely that in the future, he would eventually visit the island on which Mao and Gotouda lived in order to reestablish the rights of the members of Vida’s races who lived there and to spread the worship of Vida. If nothing drastic had occurred, this might have happened not too long from now. But things had changed with the movements made by the Holy Nation of Amid and the Farzon Duchy.

Even then, Vandalieu might have made an earlier visit to this island if the members of Vida’s races living there were experiencing extreme persecution, but that wasn’t the case.

In summary, it was low on Vandalieu’s list of priorities.

And so, these two reincarnated individuals remained uninvolved in the battle that would decide the future of this world, just as they desired.

Meanwhile, in the Holy Nation of Amid and the Farzon Duchy, miracles performed by gods were occurring day after day.

“A Dungeon has appeared! It’s a Dungeon of the God of Soldiers this time!” an adventurer said.

“The heroes who received the divine protection of the God of Soldiers are already heading there to conquer it. Should we go, too?” asked one of his party members.

“Nah, let the guys who have the divine protections go first. That Dungeon’s purpose is to train those blessed heroes, after all,” said another.

Fitun, the God of Thunderclouds, had once created his own Dungeon of Trials in order to train the hastily-made heroes that he had made his heroic spirits possess. In the same way, the gods of Alda’s forces were creating entrances to their own Dungeons of Trials out in the world.

This was strengthening their potential heroes even further.

It was normally forbidden to create Dungeons of Trials within the world. Doing so required the consumption of power, and if the monsters from these Dungeons went rampant, the world, which already produced enormous numbers of monsters, would be filled with even more.

And once the Dungeons’ purpose had been served, removing them would require the gods to use even more power.

And Dungeons of Trials were only meaningful because only a small handful of chosen individuals were able to attempt to conquer them. If anyone was able to walk in to make an attempt, they would be no different from an ordinary Dungeon that was more difficult than normal.

Even so, a single Dungeon of Trials made this way might be acceptable, but the gods of Alda’s forces were doing this one after another. The mystical perception of these Dungeons held by the people of the Holy Nation of Amid, who were passionate in their religious worship, had quickly begun to fade.

The people understood that this was a time of emergency, to the point that the gods had no choice but to carry out such acts, but only the chosen few were supposed to be allowed to attempt these trials. With these Dungeons popping up one after another, the people did not have a particular interest in any specific Dungeon of Trials.

The gods of Alda’s forces had sensed this. But even so, they believed that it couldn’t be helped, as this was a time of emergency. Because they were on the verge of a battle that would decide whether the world would continue to exist.

Indeed, these gods’ were fixed in their belief that defeating Vandalieu would mean that the world would be saved. Defeating Vandalieu would return Botin, Peria, Ricklent, and Zuruwarn’s sanity;  it would bring about Vida’s ruin once and for all to cast her down from her position as a goddess; it would make the world head in a better direction. They believed that this was the right thing to do.

Although they were independent gods, they had been devout followers of Alda’s religion when they were mortals. They were those who had always revered and believed in Alda, the God of Law and Fate, as the chief of the gods.

Even after becoming gods themselves, they continued to revere and believe in Alda.

If one thought about it rationally, they would realize that even if Vandalieu were defeated, the rift between Alda and the other great gods would only grow wider. It certainly would not shrink.

By repeating the events that had taken place a hundred thousand years ago, what would change? Not a single one of them had even stopped to ask themselves that question.

To begin with, the chances of Alda’s forces defeating Vandalieu and his allies were not particularly great – even if they concentrated all of their forces and fought with the willingness to allow the world’s surviving population to drop below a few thousand if necessary.

And even if they defeated Vandalieu, it would not directly erase the Devil’s Nests that were spreading across the world. And given that Alda had impaled Rodcorte with his Stakes of Law, destroying Vida’s circle of transmigration system would not solve the problems with his system.

Destroying Vida’s system would only result in the souls that were already a part of that system having nowhere to go. Rodcorte would then have to retrieve those souls.

The original plan had been for Rodcorte’s circle of transmigration system to take in souls that did not possess Ranks among the souls in Vida’s circle of transmigration system.

But Rodcorte was currently unable to act, having been impaled by stakes. Even if Alda were to free him after defeating Vandalieu, there was no guarantee that Rodcorte would honor a promise with Alda, the one who had riddled him with stakes.

If Rodcorte went back on that promise, Alda would also have to go back on the declaration that he had made through Eileek – that Vida’s races were to be accepted, and that the teachings of Alda’s peaceful faction were correct.

Even if Alda were victorious in the battle against Vandalieu, such an action would cause no small amount of suspicion and distrust for Alda in the surviving population.

But the subordinate gods who remained in Alda’s forces didn’t realize this and didn’t think about it. After all, gods like Bashas and Elk, who were able to realize and think about these things, had already left or distanced themselves from Alda’s faction.

The gods that remained were those who were incapable of realizing these things, or those who simply supported Alda blindly.

“Everything is for the sake of justice. Our children, our lambs, walk down the path that we light for you,” they murmured.

Alda, the God of Law and Fate himself, hadn’t realized these things either. Like his subordinate gods, he was pouring all of his efforts into defeating Vandalieu.

Duke Gerald Birgitt had said that Duke Farzon and his allies believed that they were fighting a holy war. But the same was true for Alda and the many subordinate gods that served him.

And now, Alda had been driven into a corner.

“We lost Edgar, but Heinz and his companions are growing stronger than they were before. The bond between Heinz and Bellwood is strengthening particularly well, improving the effects of ‘Heroic God Descent’ and lengthening its maximum duration. It is concerning that it is Bellwood who is adjusting himself to match Heinz, rather than the other way around, but…” Alda murmured to himself. “The potential heroes are also growing stronger at a remarkable rate. Those we chose before, and the newly-chosen ones, too.”

The Five-colored Blades were becoming more powerful, as were the potential heroes.

However, Alda believed that it was not enough – though it was only natural to think so.

Still, there were few other things that could be done. Alda was so hard-pressed that he had even considered using the dark method that had once been employed by Fitun, the God of Thunderclouds, using Hajime Inui’s ‘Marionette’ ability… turning his own worshipers into disabled puppets and having his heroic spirits use them as temporary bodies. But he had given up on this, deciding that using his believers this way would be difficult in numerous ways.

A large part of why Fitun had been able to employ this evil method was because he had been able to take over the body of a reincarnated individual and use it as a vessel. Gods normally needed to expend tremendous amounts of power to interfere with the physical world, and without Hajime, Fitun would not have been able to turn so many worshipers into disabled puppets. And although it went without saying, turning people into disabled puppets without causing any damage on their bodies, including their brains, would be exceedingly difficult.

Such puppets would need to have their memories and personalities destroyed, but if damage was caused to their sensory organs, such as their eyes or ears, or anything that affected their motor function, the heroic spirits wouldn’t be able to fight at full strength even if they were able to take over these bodies.

And most importantly, if Alda’s worshipers were to discover that he was doing such a thing, their faith in him would be shaken.

“Eileek is doing well in that regard, but… even so, it is not enough,” Alda murmured.

He turned to face the sealed fragments of Guduranis’s soul. He had retrieved the fragments that had been kept in Rodcorte’s Divine Realm, so the entirety of Guduranis’s soul was now in front of him, with the exception of the part that had been devoured by Vandalieu.

“If I use this, it would become a great weapon against Vandalieu. But at the same time, if I do not ensure that Guduranis is devoured by Vandalieu, it would cause a great calamity. And yet, if Vandalieu does devour Guduranis, it would only serve to strengthen him.”

Alda was set on his belief that if Vandalieu was not defeated, this world would never be saved… it would never return to what he believed was its correct, ideal form.

But at the same time, he understood the dangers of resurrecting Guduranis.

“But at this rate, there is no hope of defeating Vandalieu. With that being the case… I have no choice but to think of how to use this.”

After much deliberation, Alda reached out to the fragments of Guduranis’s soul.

Meanwhile, Pope Eileek Marme, the most powerful man in the Holy Nation of Amid, was devoted to the holy mission given to him by the gods. He was currently conversing with loyal disciples of the gods.

“Is the reincarnation ceremony progressing well?” Eileek asked.

“Yes, your holiness. Without issues,” said another disciple.

“There are no problems with the candidate selection?”

“Of course not, your holiness,” answered another disciple.

These disciples were true clergymen, and they were so fiercely loyal that they would give up their lives without hesitation… If the gods were to demand it, they would gladly give up even the lives of their own parents, siblings, lovers, wives, and children.

“Just to be sure, there truly are no problems with the candidate selections, then?” Eileek pressed. “We do not have the authority to loosen the requirements in order to secure the needed numbers. Doing so would go against the will of the gods.”

“Of course not, your holiness,” the disciple said again.

Their loyalty was precisely why they were very strict in conducting their holy mission. They prioritized the will of the gods rather than their own, so they did not make any decisions on their own.

“Many of those who meet the criteria were wiped out by the Storm of Tyranny under Schneider’s lead, but there are still sufficient numbers.”

“There is no need to loosen the requirements. If necessary, we intended to offer up our own bodies, but…”

“Ordinarily, this would be lamentable, but this must also be the orders of the gods.”

And so, the chosen candidates, who were bound to one another by chains, were thoroughly broken by the disciples and forced to undergo ‘reincarnation.’

There were also zealous worshipers on the opposing side.

A large, muscular man with a face like a boulder kneeled before a beautiful woman with a dark air about her, his eyes cast respectfully at the ground.

“Bashas-sama! Congratulations on your arrival in this world!”

The man’s name was Arthur. Despite his frightening appearance, he was a young man with a pure, benevolent heart.

“Th-thank you, Arthur. T-to think that you would be so overjoyed, I-I’m so happy…!” said the beautiful woman, the goddess Arthur worshiped – Bashas, the Goddess of Rain Clouds.

Thanks to Mari, Bashas had gained a physical body to use as a vessel, and she had descended upon it with a portion of her soul.

Anyone who looked at her could immediately sense an atmosphere around her that made it clear that she was no ordinary person… they would be able to sense her divine power. She was able to turn a sunny sky into rainy weather at will, and her enemies and the enemies of her disciples would likely come under the assault of evil omens.

But right now, she was just an ordinary beautiful woman.

“I-it’s the first time someone has been so happy for me, really. Thank you for having faith in someone like me!” she said, with tears in her eyes.

She was a goddess who was worshiped not only for omens about the weather, but for flood disasters as well. Her worshipers had declined in numbers in the past several centuries, and her self-esteem was low.

“How can you say such things! It is only because you bestowed your divine protection upon me that I was able to become the person I am today, Bashas-sama! It is thanks to you that I, my younger sister, and my best friend were able to create wonderful new friends and use our strength for the people of this world!”

“We are very grateful!” said his younger sister Kalinia and his childhood friend Borzofoy in unison.

They, too, were grateful to Bashas. It was Bashas who had recommended them to Zelzeria, the Goddess of Dark Nights, and Hamul, the God of Shadows, and this had led to them receiving divine protections from these gods.

“M-me too!” said Miriam.

She had met Arthur and the others and become their companion by coincidence; she was just as grateful to Bashas as well, but…

“Ah! Miriam, it is me who should be grateful to you! Thank you for accepting these children of mine. The fact that you visited the village in which they lived must have been fate. As the Goddess of Rain Clouds… for all eternity, as long as I continue to exist… I will always love you,” Bashas said.

There was a raging, violent, whirling presence about Bashas, and although her eyes were gleaming, they were dark and opaque, making it impossible to see into their depths. Miriam’s reputation among goddesses was soaring to tremendous heights.

“Y-yes, Goddess!” Miriam said, barely able to respond as Bashas embraced her and stared fixatedly into her eyes.

She had thought that she had become used to such experiences by being around Vandalieu, but the presence of a real goddess was different. Or perhaps Vandalieu, despite everything, was actually holding back in various ways? And was a goddess’s love supposed to make her feel so much pressure?

With such thoughts going through her mind, Miriam became certain of one thing – Bashas was of the same kind as Arthur and the others.

With that being the case, she briefly wondered if Zelzeria and Hamul were similar to Kalinia and Borzofoy, but she quickly realized that this was probably not the case.

“So, to speak of my future plans, I wish to join you in–” Bashas began.

Miriam closed her eyes, expecting Bashas to say that she wanted to join her in battle.

“Singing and dancing,” Bashes finished. “Would that be alright?”

“Of course! … Wait, what?” Miriam said, bewildered, but it was too late – she had already firmly nodded her head.