Game Opportunity in Reality Episode 115
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Game Opportunity in Reality Episode 115
29. Goddess Sepia (2)
Despite two Dukes standing before her, the maid showed an insolent attitude, and rather than getting angry, Duke Francis looked baffled.
I understand.
What madman other than me would act like that in front of the Dukes of the Bringham Empire?
I have the reason and status to do so, but she had never seen them before in her life, and no matter how you looked at her, she was just a maid.
Nobles wouldn't be doing maid work in a Ducal house, not a royal one.
In other words, she was a commoner.
"What are you looking at?"
And at the maid's following words, Duke Francis had to experience culture shock.
This felt less like a maid and more like a street thug.
At the maid's unimaginable remark, Duke Francis wore a stunned expression, and everyone around fell silent.
"Heh!"
Then, Duke Francis's subordinates, barely managing to collect themselves, trembled violently as if they were about to explode at any moment.
But then.
-Thud!
"Agh!"
Arcia, who had been quietly watching, kicked the maid in the backside.
With an Aura Master's kick, the maid flew two meters into the air from her spot and crashed straight into the ground.
"What do you think you're doing!?"
The maid shouted in indignation.
In response, Arcia poked her forehead with her finger and pointed out.
"Watch your tone."
"Wh-why should I... have to..."
"Because you might die."
At her question, Arcia acted as if it were the most obvious thing, hooking her finger onto the choker around the maid's neck.
Startled, the maid shut her mouth tight.
I gave Duke Francis an apologetic look and offered an apology.
"I apologize. She's a bit lacking in the head. Arcia has already punished her, so would you be willing to let this slide?"
Why wouldn't he be?
The maid's true identity was the 'Bug' wearing Isabella's shell.
On Earth, the internet is sometimes called an emotional trash can.
Because people hide behind anonymity and pour out all kinds of filthy talk.
And Rondel was no different.
The Bug grew up in the Hollywood System, which was Rondel's equivalent of the internet.
Just as environment matters for children, she, exposed to an online space filled with more anger than joy, grew into a rather ill-mannered being.
"Ah, she certainly does seem lacking in intelligence. Did you bring her to the holy grounds just for image-making? Claiming to be a noble active in employing the disabled?"
"Haha, something like that."
"You really do know how to use your head."
So, to control the Bug, we've put a dog collar on her and are holding the leash to tame the creature.
A leash tied to her very life, that is.
I looked at the Bug and spoke.
"Today is an important day, so stay sharp."
"...Yes, Your Highness."
When she hesitated, Arcia pointed at the dog collar no, the choker around her neck.
At that, she obediently bowed her head again.
Of course, with a face that made it clear she was utterly annoyed.
I shook my head and turned my gaze forward.
If the Bug caused trouble, Arcia would step in and stop her just like before.
"Who do you think will become the Saintess?"
"I believe it will be Lady Ibril, whom I am sponsoring."
Duke Francis was he now treating me as a companion?
He asked lightly as if it were only natural.
But after hearing my answer, he nodded readily.
"Ibril Barnet, that's quite likely. You did very well with the storytelling."
"You seem unusually generous with praise today?"
"I'm just stating facts. On the other hand, we were too arrogant."
Unexpected?
I hadn't thought he would admit it so readily.
Normally, he'd be the type to boast, 'No matter how hard you lot try, you can never surpass us.'
Why was he acting like this all of a sudden?
"Ah, they're going up."
At my questioning gaze, he gestured with his chin toward the front.
Then, the Saintess and Holy Son came into view, holding the staff of the Sepia church an inverted triangle with a circle overlaid on it clad in the most resplendent pure-white robes, stepping onto the 'Path of the Goddess.'
The robes were gorgeous, but so voluminous that it looked precarious, as if they might trip on the hems and fall.
Following the Saintess and Holy Son, 14 Saintess candidates and 11 Holy Son candidates stepped forward.
No matter how I looked at it, that massive structure resembled nothing but an Aztec sacrificial altar, and it had a whopping 333 steps...
"W-Why?"
"No!"
Even though the path was long, more than half of the Saintess and Holy Son candidates failed to ascend the steps.
Laments poured out from all around as those who sensed the elimination of the candidates they supported or cheered for began to grieve.
But the ones most shocked would surely be the candidates themselves who had been rejected by the Goddess.
Those who collapsed on the spot could only leave the venue with the support of priests.
Honestly, the Holy Son side didn't concern me, so I tuned it out and focused on the five Saintess candidates who had ascended the Path of the Goddess.
Out of 14 Saintess candidates, a full 9 were eliminated in one fell swoop.
"The expected ones remain."
"Indeed."
The five candidates following the Saintess were exactly who everyone had predicted.
Ibril Barnet, whom I sponsor.
Evelyn Francis, daughter of the Duke of Francis.
Grace Hielven, granddaughter of the Elf Queen, a pillar of the Elysian Coalition.
Judy Esther, sponsored by my own sect, the Riverdale Ducal House.
And Princess Sia Rin, representing the East with her active performance.
It was a fair selection, one that the Goddess had actively acknowledged through the results of the contest.
"Congratulations. You've cleared the first hurdle."
The odds had gone from 14:1 down to 5:1.
Now it was truly worth looking forward to.
So I offered my congratulations to the Duke of Francis.
But he shook his head.
"I don't think congratulations are in order."
"Pardon?"
Unable to understand what he meant, I furrowed my brow.
But then.
-Murmur. Murmur.
The murmuring around us swelled as if a candidate had been eliminated.
Curious about what was happening, I looked up at the Path of the Goddess again and saw that Evelyn Francis, who had been climbing the steps, had stopped.
As an Aura Expert and High Knight, there was no way she needed to catch her breath from climbing stairs.
"No way?"
A single possibility flashed through my mind, and I looked at the Duke of Francis. He rose from his seat with an utterly composed expression.
"I shall yield the position of Saintess."
"What."
As my shocked expression froze, Evelyn Francis turned around and began descending the steps.
The meaning was singular.
'The Francis Ducal House is forfeiting?'
She was giving up the position of Saintess.
It was good that another candidate had dropped out, but it was a baffling situation.
Only then did I belatedly understand why the Duke of Francis had been so friendly and had spoken of the contest as if it were someone else's story.
'I can only call it impressive in a different sense.'
Honestly, everyone had expected Evelyn to be able to ascend the Path of the Goddess.
But whether she could surpass the remaining candidates to become the Saintess that naturally raised a question mark.
'Personally, if Ibril, Esther, and Grace are the first tier, then the remaining Francis princess and Sia Princess are the second tier.'
The Duke of Francis probably thought the same as I did.
Of course, the final decision rested with the Goddess, so predictions could be overturned, but the Duke of Francis chose honor over clinging to a slim chance.
The Francis princess was one of the final five who had ascended the Goddess's path.
Now she would be recorded as someone who willingly yielded the position of Saintess to the other candidates.
The difference between yielding and being eliminated is vast.
'Others would have charged in even with just a 1% chance.'
Indeed, those who hadn't made the top five had participated holding that very hope.
In that sense, the choice of the Duke of Francis and his daughter could only be described as being on a different scale.
For the first time, the Duke of Francis walking toward his daughter looked admirable.
Shortly after, the Duke of Francis left the venue with his daughter Evelyn, without looking back.
Since it was no longer their affair, they were cutting ties with it.
"Hah, well..."
Those who had caught onto the Duke of Francis's reasoning reacted with a mix of admiration and bewilderment.
I seated Arcia in the now-empty spot left by the Duke of Francis.
"Ibril seemed to stumble for a moment due to the Francis princess's showmanship?"
"She appears to have no injuries."
There had been a brief incident, but soon everyone's gaze turned to those who had reached the top of the altar.
Holographic broadcast devices floating here and there showed live feeds, but with Myriad Mirror, I didn't need to rely on the broadcasts I observed the situation directly with my own eyes.
Then the Saintess, the Holy Son, and each of the candidates began praying toward the church's symbol erected on the platform.
Every single one of their movements was exceedingly reverent.
-Dum! Dum! Dum!
As they bowed once, twice, three times in time with the drumbeats, a white light formed above the altar at the top of the Path of the Goddess, growing larger with each bow.
-Flash!
"Ooh."
When the tenth bow was completed, that light burst outward in every direction, creating a scene like snow scattering through the air.
But what followed was something strange.
-Gogogogogogo!
"W-what is this energy?"
I had to break out in a cold sweat from the overwhelming presence beginning to press down from above the venue, far more than from the scattering specks of light.
'Surely not... a descent?'
A frog before a snake?
No, that comparison wasn't even close.
It felt like being a hatchling sea turtle taking its first step into the vast ocean.
I felt immensity and holiness, along with a boundless terror that one could never dare to challenge.
Truly, a god.
The very presence itself was on another level.
It seemed I wasn't the only one feeling this Arcia swallowed hard and grabbed my arm.
-BOOM!
A moment later.
With a sound effect like an old door creaking open in empty air, the clouds parted and a door opened in the sky.
What appeared next was a colossal black door reminiscent of an abyss, and contrasting with it, a woman of small stature.
-Flash!
As she approached the altar, the light specks scattering like snowflakes in the sky transformed into pure white feathers.
At first, I'd thought of the contest as just another event.
A global festival that repeated every fifty years, nothing more.
But the moment I witnessed the goddess's descent, I instinctively knew this was nowhere near that simple.
"Ahhh..."
"G-good heavens."
"The great goddess in person."
The woman's appearance was anything but ordinary.
Her garments, moving organically as if draped across the cosmos itself, held stars within them, and her entire body was made of translucent golden glass.
Hers was a figure that drew nothing but involuntary admiration.
At Sepia's arrival, the priests shed tears one and all, and ordinary people could not lift their heads in reverence.
'I never heard anything about this.'
I'd thought being chosen by the goddess was just a matter of simple communication, but a descent...
I wondered if this was normal, so I looked at the Saintess and the Holy Son and they too were visibly flustered, hastily bowing their heads.
'The Saintess and the Holy Son are flustered?'
That meant this wasn't a foretold situation.
Which meant someone whoever they were had caught the goddess's attention.
[I shall choose.]
The goddess conveyed her intention to everyone in a tone utterly without excess.
At that, the Saintess and the Holy Son rose from their seats and withdrew to either side of the candidates.
For they were now the ones who would step aside.
The goddess took in each candidate's appearance, one by one.
"Hm?"
But was it an illusion that, in the process, I felt her eyes meet mine?
Then, having decided the next Saintess and Holy Son, the goddess's body, floating about five meters above the altar, began to slowly rise higher.
[Boy, Nam Jihad. Girl, Ibril.]
A declaration of utter simplicity.
With those final words, the goddess vanished into the darkness of the abyssal door that had opened in the sky.
[As the world's chaos shows no sign of ceasing, beware the fall of the black star.]
With that final line whose meaning was unclear yet somehow ominous the door in the sky disappeared.
-Shhhhhh.
At the same time, the goddess's presence receded, and everyone stood frozen in place, as if a storm had just swept through.
"My god, what on earth is happening?"
"A goddess's descent?"
Everyone reacted as if they couldn't believe what they'd seen.
I and Arcia were no different.
"W-what the f*ck. The outside world is terrifying."
Even Bug, an artificial intelligence still lacking in so many ways, expressed its feelings violently.
"But Ibril did get chosen, right?"
"Yes, unless I misheard."
Ibril being selected as the Saintess I'm so happy.
But I couldn't express that joy honestly.
All because of the goddess who had just left the mortal world in ruin.