Tsuyokute New Saga (LN)

Volume 7 Chapter 9

Kyle and his friends were in utter disbelief. And as you would expect, having a goddess herself in front of them. It also explained why Leyla was so sparse with her words. Nobody would have believed her if she told them about this. But met with this individual in front of them, their bodies understood right away that they were dealing with a goddess. Only Shildonia and Leyla were rather calm, but the others were frozen stiff.

“Kyle-chan…and your allies, I see.”

Mera looked at each of them, nodding to herself, only stopping when she spotted Urza. In that moment, the chains binding Kyle were undone and he immediately stepped between the two. He really shouldn’t have taken Urza with him. He regretted his actions, but Mera was admiring this more than anything.

“It’s fine. I won’t do anything rash. Especially not just because she’s an elf. I’m good friends with Moona, and I don’t want her getting angry at me,” she said, dropping the name of the protective goddess of the elves.

“Um…”

“Ah, don’t worry about being rude or whatnot. I tried to be friendly and open as a goddess. Also, they tend to call me Holiness and whatnot, but I much prefer Mera. Though, you’re free to do as you please.”

Kyle wasn’t sure how to even address her, but Mera remained casual. In fact, she spoke with a jesting tone.

“…Anyway, you shouldn’t stand around like this. Have a seat. I prepared this room for us to have an easier conversation,” Mera said and sat down on a nearby chair.

But of course, Kyle and his friends were unsure if they were really allowed to sit down in the presence of a goddess. Yet, Leyla felt no hesitation to take her up on the offer, and so did Shildonia. With these two, the others felt it was a lot easier to follow. The chair was as comfortable as it looked, and yet the others were clearly uncomfortable as they kept repositioning themselves.

“That said, I’m glad you were as surprised as you were. This is the reaction I expect from people we just drag in here.” Mera gleefully watched the reactions of Kyle and his party.

She seemed to be enjoying this.

“Anyway, I’m happy you came here. I’m sure you have a lot of doubts, but let me give you an explanation about myself. It’s a bit hard to explain in words, but the beings you see as gods don’t really have…any strict physical body. I would say we mostly are just a personified mind.”

“So you are…like the spirits?” Kyle pointed out that this explanation sounded close like the spirits he knew, and that made it easier to imagine.

“Fundamentally, we are much different, but I guess it’s comparable in a way. Anyway, us being on the ground like this causes problems. Harm toward our surroundings, loss of self…so when we want to intervene with the world below, borrowing a physical body would work best,” Mera spoke that far and then stood up from her seat.

She faintly jumped as she looked at her—at Sakira’s body.

“In the end, this body just feels the most comfortable for me. The other body just makes me feel so…tense.”

“Who is…the other?”

“I think you call them the Holy Ruler.”

The Holy Ruler—another name for the King of Sura, and yet Mera treated them like a child.

“Oh yeah, I’m sorry about this girl. Can’t she just open up a bit more, I wonder…” Mera sat back down again, tightly tapping herself on the chest.

“So the reason Princess Sakira came to see me yesterday…?”

“Yes. Because I urged her to come meet you. She’s probably the number two person I’m quite interested in, right after you, Kyle-chan.” Mera spoke like she was praising her child, speaking of Sakira. “She’s polite, well-willing, clever, and just a wonderful child. But, she can be a bit too reserved for her own good, which leaves her struggling to talk with other people. Pair that with her position, and so she’s really lacking experience with people. Humans get old quite quickly, right? She’s already 27, yet she never had a lover, let alone normal friends. That’s why I tried to get you two together,” she said something rather absurd with a tone like it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary.

Lieze, Urza, and even Minagi all had their own reactions about this, but they obviously couldn’t bring it up in front of a goddess.

“G-Get us two together…?”

“Absolutely. I gave her an [Oracle] that you should start out as friends and then get to know each other.”

[Oracle] not just referred to a person, but also a warning or message from the gods. Most of the time, this didn’t happen for hundreds of years, and only when it revolved humanity as a whole…and yet she used it for something so ridiculous.

“So…that’s why.”

Kyle remembered Sakira’s attitude. And asking Sakira to suddenly get along with him was rather ridiculous to ask for. However, an order from the gods themselves was not something she could disregard, so that’s why she went out of her way to chase after Kyle.

“But you managed to do the bare minimum of a conversation with her, right? Aren’t you closer now?”

“Y-Yes…Thanks for your…help…?”

Normally, this would be the point where he voiced his opinion, but since Mera didn’t intend any ill-will, Kyle decided to let bygones be bygones.

“Oh, that reminds me. I have to talk about the reason I called you here in the first place, Kyle-chan.” Mera remembered her main agenda and fixed her posture, so Kyle and his friends were forced to lean forward themselves.

“…If I told you the world would fall to ruin in just a few years? It might be hard to believe, but it’s the truth. I’ve seen it happen, so I’m sure of it.”

Kyle’s heart skipped a beat. Meanwhile, Mera put one finger on her lip and continued her explanation.

“Let’s take things in order. This has to do with the flow of time. Put it in an example that you will understand, the flow of time is like a river. It continues from the past to the future, and let alone you humans, even the gods ride on his river.”

This explanation was almost the same as the one Kyle’s mother Seraia used, so Kyle felt a sense of deja vu.

“At the same time, not even the gods can change this flow of time. But they can look at it…and where it goes.”

Kyle understood the meaning behind her words and froze up.

“So…you can see the future?”

“Yes. And not just vaguely like a prophecy or foresight. I could clearly see what’s going to happen from now on,” she said, sounding awfully proud. “But back to the batter at hand…In about two years, an all-out attack by the demons will begin. Their forces will bring humanfolk to the brink of extinction. And you humans ended up calling it…the [Great Invasion].”

“Humanfolk will…be destroyed?”

Someone in the room said in awe.

“No, hold on…please. So the demons’ forces will attack us…under the orders of the Demon Lord?” Seran couldn’t stop himself from commenting.

Knowing the Demon Lord, he could not believe that Luiza would attack.

“Yes. Although it will be a different Demon Lord from the one you have met. They’re going to switch eventually.”

Once again, she explained it like it was nothing out of the ordinary. It wasn’t anything they could easily accept, but a goddess was telling them. If anybody would be trustworthy, it would be her.

“Then again, I can’t see that far into the future. I only learned about this several years ago, but imagine my surprise.” Mera raised both her hands to emphasize her shock.

“…”

However, Kyle and the others didn’t show the reaction she expected, so she grumbled to herself like a child. Then again, who could blame them? They had just met a goddess in the flesh, so learning about the end of the world was already way beyond their scope. Mera understood this, so she quickly continued.

“So, I had my dear children receive another [Oracle]. That the world is marching toward its doom, that is.”

She must be referring to the followers of the Mera cult with this.

“And it seems like my dear kids decided to evacuate.”

“Evacuate…?”

“Yes. They seemingly judged that trying to fight such fate is futile. Hence, they gathered as much as they could, getting as many people together as possible, and evacuated to a location they hoped the demons wouldn’t reach.”

It was an act in hopes of being saved from the tragedy, and yet Kyle had no intention of blaming them…That said, he had a doubt.

“Couldn’t you have made this public?”

“Hm…I don’t like to say this, but the Mera cult and its followers don’t exactly have the best public evaluation, right? Do you think they would believe any of their words?”

It sounded self-deprecating, but it was just that convincing. As a cult that shunned any races that weren’t human, following the religion was banned in most countries. Even if they tried to warn humanfolk of the impending doom, who would trust them? That is why they chose this option and ran away while they could.

“So that’s why the Mera cult has been rather docile over the past few years…” Minagi grumbled as the gears clicked.

But other than them gathering money from time to time, they would still plot attacks against non-humans (most likely instigated by Cordi), which didn’t help their image. However, they had been less active the past few years, and that was most likely because they were prioritizing their safety. Some of the aggressive followers were hunting for unicorns and their horns, known to have excessive regenerative ability, so this must have been part of the evacuation plans.

“What do you think about them, Kyle-chan? Do you think they’re wrong? Do you think they’re right?” Mera asked Kyle with a dismissive look.

“I…don’t know.”

Prioritizing yourself over others is a natural instinct for any race, so trying to protect the few from this impending doom may have been the obvious choice. And as the obvious choice, there is no right or wrong.

“Um, can I ask a question?”

“No problem. Ask whatever you’d like.” Mera said with a gleeful smile.

“So…if you exist, Mera-sama…does that mean the other gods…do…also…well…” Kyle regretted asking that question mid-way.

All because Kyle could see Mera’s smile disappear, taken over by an expression of rage. She was furious. He knew this wasn’t directed at them, but it still sent shivers down his spine. Why did he have to ask that? His colleagues were giving him death stares.

“Yes. And they know…They all know! All those other gods!” Mera stood up from the chair, howling at the ceiling.

In days ancient past, this could bring about the end of the world. Thunder, lighting, typhoons, earthquakes, volcanos, but this wasn’t it. He knew that this was not something people could just go and fix.

“Especially…that foolish sister of mine…!”

And thus, Mera’s anger reached its peak. Naturally, with sister, she was referring to her younger sister the Goddess of Earth Cairys. It was even written in the divine legends that they were on incredibly bad terms. And witnessing this was plenty of proof.

“Goddess of Earth, my ass. She may be kind, and thinking of the world, but in the end, she’s just watching! It’s always like this! She may be speaking the truth, but she’s so stubborn! She’s got a nasty personality. Nothing like in the legends you hear all the time,” Mera stomped around in anger in the small room, not showing any signs of calming down. “But I…am different. I love my little humans so much, that I parted ways with the other gods and am now trying to negotiate with you,” she proudly declared, which made Kyle thank her inside his mind.

Compared to the other gods, she was definitely different.

“Those stone-headed bastards…Humanity will fall to ruin, and yet they put themselves on shelves…above the skies and just let it happen. What are they thinking?”

Even after that, her anger showed no signs of subsiding, as she began hissing at the other gods, too. Eventually, she started revealing how those gods actually acted, to the point that if any faithful believer heard her words, they might actually just have hanged themselves. As for Kyle and his friends, all they could do was pray for it to be over soon…although they didn’t know who to pray for in that case.

Eventually, either she got tired of it or exhausted, Mera went back to her usual demeanor and went back to the topic at hand like it never happened.

“…So, I like children who work hard and try hard.”

It seemed like the Goddess Mera had quite the temper, as her anger had subsided completely, and she continued gleefully.

“Don’t you think it’s wonderful for people to continue improving themselves, working toward a goal?”

“Yes. I have to agree.”

Kyle reacted purely on instinct when Mera asked for his opinion, but what else could he have said?

“Yeah, that’s right…And so, in order to save the world, I decided to call you here, Kyle-chan! Because you’re the most hard-working out of all!” Mera said with a gentle look, so much so that Kyle could do anything he wanted and she would still forgive him.