Dreams are the mind’s way of reconstructing data from the unconscious.
So, it wasn’t surprising that the fragmented bits of information I had absorbed from the Goddess manifested as a dream. It happened occasionally.
Just as how vague fears or predictions could take shape as prophetic dreams.
The disjointed pieces of data, lacking solid meaning, coalesced into a scene before me, borrowing the ambiguity of a dream’s logic. A mannequin-like figure, with its face and gender blurred, stood beneath the vast sky, speaking to someone.
Perhaps it was talking to itself.
I observed from a small distance, detached. Though its face was obscured, as if veiled by a mosaic, I could still sense the air of seriousness surrounding him.
As the sun sank below the horizon, a voice broke through with fervor.
The conversation was a jumble. It rambled on about how delicious a roll cake was, how annoying mosquitoes were, and plans for a summer trip to the beach. They were all topics completely irrelevant to the situation.
Since it was a dream, I thought that my mind was filling gaps with stray thoughts. So I just chose to skip through. This probably wasn’t what the dream was trying to show me.
So, I waited.It felt like an eternity—or maybe it was just an instant. Or maybe that instant was so boring that it felt like eternity. The flow of time was elusive because it was a dream.
A piercing phrase sliced through the chaotic noise. Finally.
“Kings must sever emotions as their duty.”
I had never thought of something like this, which meant it wasn’t my own; it was extracted from the Goddess.
It was a bold statement.
The speaker continued, declaring that anyone who sought to rule over others must forge an unshakable, iron will. It wasn’t just about being cold or ruthless.
The message was clear: a ruler must not waver, must not be swayed by emotions, and must remain eternally steadfast.
How many kings had led their nations into ruin, driven by fleeting passions or rash decisions? The king might have been the one to make the decision, but it was the people who bore the consequences.
Wars, bloodshed, anguish, and fury—all these catastrophes could be traced back to the fragile emotions of a single person.. How meaningless and sorrowful.
But if a king was supposed to be like that…
What about the king of kings—a god who ruled over both heaven and earth?
“Therefore, any being entrusted with humanity’s fate must be immune to the turmoil of emotions and become, inevitably, a god of machines.
The dream ended with this determined declaration.
===============================================================
Most of our immediate issues were resolved.
The boy had rescued his sister, and he even received a bag of silver coins. If no misfortune struck, he would be able to live a comfortable life.
As for us, we had accomplished our original goal: rooting out those who sought to revive the Queen and retrieving fragments of the 『Queen’s Information』 from the estate.
“⋯⋯It looks like some of it is missing.”
“Well, of course it is, some of it was vaporized by the Divine Power beam.”
Evil God-chan frowned as she inspected the liquid stored in the glass flask. If that beam hadn’t obliterated parts of it, we wouldn’t be dealing with a Succubus Queen—we would’ve had to face a Succubus God.
The concentrated column of divine power that had struck Elmest Estate caused a considerable stir. We were summoned to the feudal lord’s castle to provide an explanation.
The temporary overseer of Elmest Estate, a middle-aged man buried under a mountain of paperwork, greeted us with a pained expression that suggested his stomach had been punched—twice.
“What, exactly⋯⋯ happened?”
“Well,”
I talked about how we fought a Dark Wizard, and that the Goddess, moved by pity, had sent divine support fire⋯⋯ and carefully danced around the truth like that.
I wasn’t like I could tell him everything.
Not just because certain details needed to be kept secret, but because I doubted anyone would believe it. If I laid everything out, it just became a very weird story.
How could I explain that there was something strange in my head, and that it was in a hostile relationship with Goddess? How could I explain that I had forcibly extracted a fragment of it, then put it into a hologram, gave it physicality and made it into a separate entity.
That I had abandoned it, leading to the Archbishop—who believed in Goddess as much as he worshipped the Succubus Queen—consuming it? And that this chain of events provoked the Goddess into firing her divine beam⋯⋯
It was unbelievable and far too complex a topic to share lightly.
Instead, I decided to prepare a private report for Irid. I wouldn’t mention the “Thing,” but I would include the information I got from Goddess. He needed to know.
Speaking of the Goddess, my left arm was seriously in bad shape. It was understandable, since I had stuck it into a heat laser. Now, it was heavily bandaged and splinted.
Thank goodness Pain Endurance Hypnosis was self-castable; otherwise, I doubted I could sleep through the pain. Even so, the burns throbbed and stung.
Of course, I tried to heal it by inviting a Priest. Although the local branch of the Church of Goddess in Elmest was in ruins, I managed to find a Priestess at an orphanage outside the city.
“Divine Power doesn’t seem to work. It’s strange⋯⋯?”
“Oh no.”
It seemed that 『Divine Punishment』 also included a mechanism to block the use of Divine Power. It made sense—without it, someone could potentially survive the laser by healing themselves right in the middle of the attack.
As a result, I was stuck waiting for my left arm to heal naturally, unable to use it in the meantime. Thankfully, my fighting capability wasn’t affected since I didn’t rely on hand signs like other wizards. Still…
There was a problem though⋯⋯.
Yuna was furious. She wasn’t just mad.
Her face showed no emotion—neither joy nor sadness. She looked like a doll that had lost its emotions. Silent.
Yet, overlaid on this calm facade was another Yuna, one whose blazing eyes radiated resentment.
Normally, these two aspects of Yuna moved and spoke as one, perfectly aligned, like two sheets of paper stacked together. Most of the time, there was no need to distinguish between them.
But this time, like before when she was emotionally wounded, they were clearly separate—one side sad, and the other angry.
As the angry Yuna took over, fire seemed to spark in her eyes, and the atmosphere around her shifted a with sharp color.
“Why did you do that? I told you it was dangerous.”
I answered carefully.
“Well, I got greedy. I thought… maybe we could speed up resolving the issue with the ‘Thing’ by using the information we gathered. And, honestly, we did manage to obtain some crucial informa⋯⋯.”
“You said you trusted me. I’ve been doing everything I can for you—you know that. And yet, you took such a reckless risk⋯⋯one that could have gotten you killed. You acted on your own.”
“⋯⋯⋯⋯.”
It was true—I had made a split-second calculation. I had judged the odds of dying from the Goddess’s beam to be negligible.
But if I had stumbled into the beam’s path, or if the Goddess had increased the beam’s power or expanded its range, things might not have ended this well.
For Yuna, the fact that I had taken such a risk at all was a huge shock.
She had done everything to protect me, even pushing Bennett’s party into a pit of fire. She had broken countless rules to stay by my side, all for my sake.
And now, my actions had shaken her trust. The trust of my Archwizard.
She spoke as she lowered her large eyes a bit. The energy around her dimmed and turned blue and droopy. It was a bit depressing.
“Was it because I failed to extract the ‘Thing’? Because I ruined the session? Do you not trust me anymore?”
“⋯⋯It’s not like that, Tower Master.”
“Then why were you so desperate to get that information?”
“For us.”
Because I wanted to eliminate the one problem holding me back. I could accept my Malice, but not with the idea of being consumed by the ‘Thing.’
Because I didn’t want to look at her with evil eyes.
But instead of helping, my actions had only made her feel inadequate. She must have thought that if she had done better from the start⋯⋯ I wouldn’t have needed to take such risks.
“I should have done better.”
Yuna had tried her best. She had truly helped. It wasn’t perfect, but no one in this world was perfect. Demanding perfection from someone who had shown such kindness and effort would have just been shameless.
I couldn’t let her blame herself for her actions, especially if she was doing it for me. So.
I was about to say something to Yuna, but──
“⋯⋯I want to be alone for a moment, I’m sorry. For being mad all of a sudden.”
“Wait, Tower Master⋯⋯!”
Scatterrr.
Before I could grab her hand, she transformed into a butterfly and vanished into the air. My hand grasped only emptiness.
Did she still have⋯⋯ that Cthulhu session thing in mind?
What should I do?
Pink-Haired Lesbian, who had been silently observing with her arms crossed, spoke quietly.
“To sacrifice an arm for the sake of your goals. I can understand. But⋯⋯ when I was saw you getting hurt, it stung my heart.”
“⋯⋯Did I do something wrong?”
“No, this isn’t about right or wrong. You secured valuable information, good job. But shouldn’t you compensate us for the distress you caused? Try acting cute.”
“Not to you, Pink-Haired Lesbian. Especially since you have a record of charging at the Queen alone, so let’s call it even.”
I meant it as a joke, but my heart wasn’t in it. There was so much I wanted to say to Yuna—yet so little. I didn’t know what to say.
Why was it that my mind, which was so sharp when tricking others, was like this now all of a sudden?
⋯⋯⋯⋯.
Looks like I have yet another reason to visit Bennett, the love expert.
===============================================================
My love life was separate from my work. Each had its place.
The information I had gained by sacrificing my arm was invaluable, and I needed to ensure there were no loose ends. I started climbing the outer wall of the inn.
I wasn’t about to pull off some midnight heist or anything like that. It was because Evil God-chan was on the roof of the inn. She had a habit of climbing to high places as if she was a cat or something.
It reminded me of the time I found her perched lazily on a tree branch.
Using mana as an adhesive, I climbed up. When I reached the roof, I saw her sitting with her back to me. She was crouched like a frog, staring into the distant sky. Snapping my fingers, I signaled her to turn around.
She didn’t move a muscle and replied without looking back.
“Here for your evaluation?”
“Yes, I need to confirm if my theories about the Goddess are correct⋯⋯.”
“Go on, then. If you’re wrong, I’ll laugh in your face. I’ll even call you ‘Stupid Mima’ while I do it.”
Cheeky⋯⋯
Then, it was time for the Goddess analysis.
What was the Goddess?
She was the central figure of the Church of the Goddess, a faith that spanned the entire continent. She was the source of Divine Power—a force of immense might. While I didn’t know the Church’s doctrines in detail, the religion didn’t seem particularly violent or radical.
The Goddess despised the ‘Thing’ and opposed it so much that she unleashed overwhelming firepower to obliterate even a trace of its existence.
Her power was nothing short of divine, befitting her name.
Yet, the Goddess was strange. She made no distinction between good and evil, granted Divine Power to false believers, but still gave 『Divine Punishment』 to the Archbishop, while also stripping away Divine Power from Tara so quickly.
This part. This discrepancy was the most important part.
Even the corrupt and apostate Archbishop could still wield Divine Power.
But why had Tara—full of kindness—lost her Divine Power?
Tara’s power dwindled when she began questioning the Goddess. The more her doubts grew, the less Divine Power she received, until the flow was completely severed.
At first, I assumed there must be a profound reason for this. After all, we were dealing with a deity—a transcendent entity gazing down from the heavens.
But what if the explanation was absurdly simple?
What if she severed the supply of power purely because someone stopped worshiping her? No consideration for how the power was used—just an indifferent flick of a switch.
So detached.
As for the 『Divine Punishment』 directed at the Archbishop, maybe it wasn’t about delivering righteous judgment for his hubris and transgressions, but rather⋯⋯because he triggered something—a detection of the ‘Thing,’ a blacklisted anomaly.
If so, the Goddess didn’t seem like a sentient being at all.
She acted only when specific conditions were met. At times, her actions seemed almost foolish, yet they were consistent and unwavering. I knew what to call something like that.
An algorithm.
“The Goddess is an algorithm—a system. She doesn’t think or judge as a sentient being. She operates like a set of manuals, executing decisions mechanically and without emotion.”
“Correct, Mima.”
The World Stabilization Device—the Goddess.
Beneath the divine figure worshipped by countless followers lay a framework of intricate, interlocking gears.
Evil God-chan laughed.
“And⋯⋯?”
“⋯⋯⋯⋯.”
And.
Yes, I needed to take a step forward from here.
So far, there was no issue.
Whether a god was a scoundrel like Zeus, or a precisely written lawbook, it didn’t matter. In fact, a mechanical, rule-driven Goddess might even be preferable.
If her actions followed a set manual—if she granted and revoked Divine Power based on specific conditions—I would definitely be able to exploit the Goddess.
By testing repeatedly, I could uncover these conditions. I could manipulate the environment to align with them. While I wouldn’t have full control, I could still use the Goddess as a tool.
And yet, despite this happy news, the reason why I couldn’t bring myself to smile was⋯⋯.
[Wor■■ilization■vice Corruption Rate 24%⋯⋯]
Because of the fact that this vast machine was deteriorating.
And.
“⋯⋯It seems someone is exploiting the Goddess. So aggressively that they’ve damaged the system itself. Right?”
“Puhahaha! Exactly, The『 Hero』 should’ve been born already⋯⋯ and not in this this ridiculous Selection Tournament!”
Clearly, somewhere in this long history, someone had thought the same way I had.
===============================================================
Deep Within the Church.
In the innermost sanctum of the Church, bathed in the radiant light of the Goddess, lay a hall overflowing with excessive grandeur.
Like ants clustering around candy on the floor.
Elderly Cardinals crowded around a young pope, whispering incessantly.
“Your Holiness, the Hero Selection Ceremony is near. Many will gather at Trumpethall, but among them, there will surely be deceitful schemers.”
“Your Holiness, we need 『Regulation』. Let the Goddess oversee this Trumpethall so no scoundrels dares to act up.”
“Your Holiness,please entreat the Goddess for divine intervention⋯⋯.”
Succumbing to their pressure, the young Pope reached for the Divine Artifact that enabled direct communion with the Goddess. She was merciful, always granting the wishes of her faithful representative.
But this time, a red warning flashed.
[Warning: Proposed regulation conflicts with 247 existing regulations. Execute changes?]
At just six years old, the Pope could not comprehend the meaning of this Divine Language (神言).
“Please, hear my plea, Goddess. Oversee this Trumpethall──”
And so, he ended up inserting a new 『Regulation』 into the system⋯⋯.
***
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