A single man stood alone in an empty space. His bone-tired face and streaks
of white visible in his hair made his age seem to be in his late forties or fifties.
But contrary to his appearance from the neck up...
Underneath what was probably his sleepwear of a plain T-shirt and loose
shorts, his vigorous body was bursting with well-built muscles indicative of how
much training it had gone through.
"Hmm...? Where... am I?"
The man blinked around and muttered, wondering if he had gotten blackout
drunk in a store somewhere — when three people appeared before him,
seemingly out of nowhere.
"Awake now?"
"Can you think clearly yet?"
"We'd be grateful if you could respond."
"Yes, I'm fine. The suddenness of everything surprised me, so I was slow to
respond. My name is Takebayashi Ryoma."
"It's fine, it's fine. There's no need for any formalities. Come, have some tea."
An old man with a long beard smiled gently at Ryoma's conditioned reflex to
introduce himself and waved his hand across the ground.
A coffee table appeared out of thin air, along with enough cushions and
teacups for everyone present.
"Now, why don't you sit down first?"
"Okay, thank you."
Out of the three people who appeared, just one of them was a woman.
The young woman smiled cheerfully at Ryoma as she urged him into a seat,
which Ryoma accepted with a word of thanks.
The others sat down in a similar fashion: the elderly man to Ryoma's front,
the woman to his right, and the remaining boy to his left.
With the four of them seated along all sides of the coffee table, they began to
drink their tea. After one sip, Ryoma opened his mouth.
"Pardon me, but I have a few things I'd like to ask about, if you don't mind
answering?"
"Of course. That's what we're here for, after all. However, I have a pretty
good idea of what your questions may be. Would you listen to us speak first?
Some of your questions should be answered that way."
"I understand, please go ahead."
Seeing Ryoma bow his head, the elderly man nodded once before launching
into a frank explanation of the situation.
"We are what humans refer to as 'gods.' I am Gain the Creator, and the
woman to your right is the Goddess of Love, Lulutia. The boy to your left is the
God of Life, Kufo. We live in a world different from your Earth. And I must
regretfully inform you that last night, you took your last breath while you were
sleeping. We brought your soul here after your death. Here, as in heaven."
"I see, so that's what happened."
Ryoma nodded in acceptance, bringing his tea to his mouth for another sip.
The three gods were baffled by the reaction.
Especially bewildered was the god with the appearance of a young boy, Kufo.
"Wait, that's all?! Shouldn't you be more like, 'No way!' or like, 'Why did I
die?!' or something like that?"
"Those who have come here before you were a little more shaken up..."
"I am surprised, and I do think it sounds a little unrealistic. But if this was a
dream, then I'd wake up eventually, if this was real, then humans indeed die
eventually. After all, the work at my company was rather relentless... I've seen
many coworkers and new recruits quit, owing to the damage to their health, so
I figured I would die early too. If anything, it's a miracle my body has held out to
the age of 39 going on 40. Plus, reading stories like this is a hobby of mine... I
love it. I don't have any family or relatives, so this is a much better option than
just turning into ash."
Ryoma spoke with earnest contentment, but the confusion on the gods' faces
did not fade.
"R-Really? Should humans think that way? Are you sure you haven't reached
some kind of enlightenment?"
"I don't think hobbies have anything to do with this. There have been several
people with the same hobbies as you, but they were rather ecstatic. They
wouldn't listen at all, so it was quite a handful... though I suppose I should be
grateful they weren't pessimistic about it all."
"Well, I suppose we've been saved the trouble of convincing you, then... That
leaves far fewer topics to go through. Was there anything you wanted to ask?"
Ryoma thought for a moment before slowly opening his mouth.
"In that case... How did I die?"
"Hmm? You want to start there?"
"Yes. I don't consider it a surprise that I died, I just don't have any memory of
dying."
"Well, I suppose you wouldn't remember a death like that."
"Your death was caused by a brain hemorrhage from head trauma."
"Huh...?! As far as I remember, I was just trying to sleep in my room."
"Yes, you did fall asleep. But during your sleep, you sneezed numerous
times."
"Four times, to be exact. Each time you sneezed, your pillow shifted; until the
last sneeze caused your head to hit the floor. Your futon was a cheap and flimsy
thing, so it didn't act as much of a cushion..."
"The impact wasn't enough to wake you up, but it was enough to cause a
vessel in your brain to burst. The bleeding continued through to dawn, when
your brain succumbed to the extra pressure."
After hearing that, Ryoma looked down and processed the thoughts in his
head. Then his expression suddenly soured as he squeezed out his words.
"That's bullshit... How could I die such a pathetic death?"
"""???"""
"I've taken beer bottles from my drunk boss and metal pipes from
delinquents to the head before and turned out fine. I can't even count how
many times I've taken punches to the head from my father during training. So
why the hell did a stupid sneeze finally do me in...?!"
It was as though Ryoma had forgotten everyone around him as he started to
reveal his intense emotions — but the gods watched on as though they had
expected this.
"Ah, there it is."
"Unfazed by his own death and our existence, yet shaken by something like
this. What an odd child."
"It looks like he held some pride in the strength of his body. His father
forcefully drilled martial arts lessons into him from a young age, and he
continued to train himself as part of his daily routine until he died. Kufo,
Lulutia..."
"Yes?"
"Is there a problem?"
"I don't know if it's a problem, but there's something about him I'm
interested in. Could you assist me until he calms down?"
Gain's expression was much more serious than when he had been talking to
Ryoma. The other two gods sensed what he was thinking and started talking in
words that couldn't be heard by humans, all while keeping an eye on Ryoma,
who was clutching his head in gloom and tuned out from his surroundings.
"Phew... Oh, oops. I'm sorry, I was lost in my own little world."
Some time later.
Once Ryoma had regained some of his composure, he lifted his head to find
the gods drinking their tea just like before.
"It's fine, we're usually pretty free and the other world is in a fairly good place
right now, so there's plenty of time. And it isn't an odd sight to see people
losing their composure here. Human souls are meant to be paired with a body,
after all. Even if we use our divine powers to maintain that, the instability
makes it easy for emotions to run wild. It's no surprise for us, so you don't need
to worry about it either."
"The perception of time is a little vague in the divine realm, and souls can't
feel hunger or thirst. It wouldn't be unusual for four years to pass before
someone calmed down enough to talk."
"Four years?!"
Ryoma didn't hide his surprise at the words of Kufo, the god that looked like a
young boy. But that was a regular occurrence for the gods.
"It depends on whether the person snaps out of it themselves or if we need to
intervene to calm them. But we typically leave them alone for a while, because
they don't listen when they zone out of reality like that. And it's more
troublesome to have them be wary of us, so we can't act rashly. There are some
people that break down at every point of our conversation. Four years can pass
easily while waiting for them to calm down. That's why you don't need to worry
about it, Ryoma. If anything, we should resume our conversation now that
you've calmed. Is that all right?"
"Yes, I understand."
Gain nodded once at Ryoma's response.
"Good. Now, as for why we called you here... Perhaps you'd understand if I
described it like this? It's the trope."
"I see, so I'm going to another world. Is it a transfer? Or am I being
reincarnated, since I'm dead already?"
"You really are quick on the uptake..."
Ryoma listened to Lulutia's explanation, paying no mind to the slight
astonishment in her expression and tone.
"It'll technically be a transfer. You'll be using a body we created in our world,
so you won't have parents or relatives."
"Your body on the other side will be fairly young, so you can consider it a
reincarnation. If you have any requests about your appearance, we can alter it
to a degree too."
"Exactly how old will this body be?"
"Roughly ten years of age. At that age, it should be believable enough that
you wandered into a forest and survived out of luck. You won't be suspected as
much as a child, so you can head to the town and begin your life there. Of
course, we'll protect you as much as we can. Your social status will be that of an
orphaned commoner, but we've selected a kingdom with a more open-minded
society to send you to. It shouldn't hinder your daily life."
"Thank you very much. Please make sure my appearance on the other side is
somewhat normal. Incidentally, what should I be doing once I reach the other
world? Do I have some kind of mission?"
"Hmm... You technically do, but it ends the moment you go to the world.
That's why practically, you don't. If I had to say, then your mission is the act of
going to our world itself."
"Our goal is to send the magical energy of Earth to our magically depleted
world by sending you to our world."
While Ryoma accepted this explanation, he had a new question to ask.
"You can't send magical energy alone?"
"Indeed. To put it simply, there's a wall between our two worlds. Magical
energy normally cannot cross that wall. But if we open a hole with our power,
we can transfer magic through it. However, this is an extremely difficult task,
even for us gods. Maintaining the hole requires power, which we run out of
before transferring the necessary amount of energy. That's where you come in!
You won't be conscious for this part, but we use our divine power to push your
soul into the wall and use you as a prop to keep the hole open for a short
amount of time. During that time, we transfer the magical energy from Earth."
"Our world has developed the use of magic, so running out of magical energy
would cause many problems. Not only would the people relying on magic to live
suffer, but monsters that feed on magical energy would go extinct, removing
them from the food chain and destroying the balance of nature. On the other
hand, Earth has magical energy that it doesn't use, and there are no monsters
either. It won't cause a problem if it runs out, so we've been taking it for
ourselves."
"I see... If there isn't a particular reason for the depletion of energy, is it just
being caused by the consumption outpacing the production?"
"That's correct. There are many reasons for it, but humans are the main
cause. I understand that magic is useful and has developed out of exhaustive
research, but its consumption keeps going up..."
"It's a little difficult to keep the consumption of magical energy under control.
Furthermore, using too much of the magic inside your body can make you
unwell. It's much easier to gather the surrounding energy to use magic instead,
but seeing the reliance on such an irresponsible method is saddening."
While the gods complained about the use of magic and humans, Ryoma was
off feeling excited on his own.
"Umm... Would I be able to use it too? Magic, that is."
"You can."
"Yes."
"Sure you will."
"Really?! Oh, pardon my rudeness."
"It's fine, it's fine. Magic, was it? You'll be transferring into a body just like the
humans over there. Naturally, since the humans can use magic, you will be able
to as well with some training."
"Also, like we mentioned earlier, you'll be under the protection of our divine
power while crossing worlds, so we can bestow a bit of power on you too. Even
if you have no talent, we can raise your base stats to a level where you can
enjoy using magic too. It gets a little more difficult if you want the strongest
power in the world, though."
While Ryoma was a little embarrassed at how they were looking at him like an
adorable child, he was still happy at the prospects of being able to use magic.
"In that case, the power we'll bestow upon you will be magic-related. First,
we'll make sure you can use all of the elemental magics."
"Umm... Wouldn't that attract attention?"
The three gods grinned at Ryoma's question.
"Everyone who comes here always says that! Especially the ones who read
light novels."
"It's considered rare in our world, but it's not something people will fuss
over."
"Really?"
"Yup. Some people are born with it, and others can learn to use all the
elemental magics with the right training. There are probably ten to twenty
people among the kingdom's knights that can do so. However, because there
are so many elements to use, training them all evenly would result in less time
to practice, making each one hard to master. Between magicians that can use
every element to a limited degree and magicians that have mastered a single
element, the latter one is more valued."
"Jack of all trades, master of none, huh."
"Indeed."
"That's why nothing bad will come out of it, so it'd be perfect for someone
who wants to enjoy using magic like you, Ryoma."
"...I see. Then please give me all the elements."
"Got it. There's still some power left, so what would you like for the rest?"
After that, Ryoma and the gods continued to talk about powers until they
were satisfied.
"...All right, that should be all that we can fit. Everything ended up magicrelated, though. Are you sure? Carrying over the martial arts you learned in
your previous life won't be a problem, but this many types of magic means you
won't be able to use strong magic right away, you know?"
"As long as it won't hinder my ability to live, please do everything as we
discussed."
"Okay. If you haven't changed your mind, then that's for the best. Now we
come to the last step."
Gain accepted Ryoma's firm determination and pulled out a wooden board,
parchment, and quill out of seemingly nowhere.
The parchment listed all the details of their discussion until now, along with
an empty space for a name to be signed at the bottom right.
"To think I'd be signing contracts even after death..."
"Oh, is this not to your liking?"
"I wouldn't say that. It was just a little unexpected."
"Well, the contract isn't actually necessary."
"Huh?"
Lulutia and Kufo's response to his meaningless remark made Ryoma pause in
reaching for the quill.
"This is just a final check. It's for you to confirm that we've fulfilled our duty in
explaining our circumstances and the situation you will be placed in. By signing
it, you'll be confirming your willing participation. That's why you can confirm
verbally as well."
"Really?"
"We change it up based on the person we're dealing with. A verbal
agreement is easier than a contract for the younger kids."
Hearing that response, Ryoma focused on the contents of the contract and
signed it once he finished reading it.
The next moment, his body was engulfed in a faint light.
"Huh?!"
"Don't worry. This is just proof the process has started; it won't harm you."
"Unfortunately, that's the rule. After all the explanations and decisions are
made, there isn't much time until you're sent to the other side."
"I wonder why it's always the nasty ones that always stay the longest, while
the likeable ones depart on their journey so soon..."
Those words made Ryoma realize the time had come to say their goodbyes.
"I see. That is rather regretful. I am forever in your debt."
"Don't worry about it. It's your life, live it how you please. We'll send you to
the safest forest possible, so rest assured."
"We'll always be watching over you. This is a goodbye, so you can say what
you want, too, you know?"
"You don't have to be so polite in your speech either."
"Why don't you show your true self, since this will be the last time we'll
meet?"
"Yes... Yeah, you're right. Thanks. I guess you could tell I was putting on airs,
huh?"
"We're gods, after all. Of course we'd notice. Not to mention how different
your tone was when you had your breakdown."
"You should have just spoken to us like that from the start!"
"I don't think I could suddenly speak casually to a god..."
"It gets uncomfortable when it goes too far, but you're fine, Ryoma. I have a
magnanimous heart. Since I am a goddess, after all."
"I see."
"Do you have any plans for when you get to the other side?"
"If there's anything you're worried about, let them out now."
"We'll hear you out!"
Ryoma tried to ponder in thought, but his words came out without much of a
pause.
"...It's about my personal relations. I lived for 39 years, but I wasn't very good
at socializing with people. Even if I go to another world, I'm still me. I don't
think going to another world will change that. Honestly, I'm so tired of
socializing, I considered living as a recluse..."
"If that's what you want to do, go for it. That's also a way of life."
"At the same time, it feels like a waste not to explore a whole new world.
What to do..."
"Why don't you live in isolation for a while, then set off on a journey once you
feel like it?"
Ryoma wondered if that was really okay.
"Either way, you'll be arriving at a forest first, since it'd cause a huge fuss if
we suddenly transferred you to the middle of town. You can live in that forest
for a while, then head to the town later. You wanted to experiment with magic
anyway, didn't you?"
"Ah... That's true."
"Take your time. You seem to be trying to do all of the options available to
you, but you can just take them one at a time at your own pace. It doesn't
matter if you can't do all of them."
"You've died once already, you know? This will really be a rebirth for you,
completely different to your previous life. You should live how you want to.
Especially since you'll be a child on the other side, you know? You don't have to
think about anything other than staying safe and having fun. The powers we
bestowed upon you will be your strength, so enjoy your magic practice, too. Ah,
you won't be able to use everything as soon as you arrive, but you should pick
up things quickly with your Earth knowledge, so there's no need to rush, okay?
You should prioritize control."
"Indeed, that would be for the best. You should be able to handle any bandits
as well; on the slim chance you encounter them."
"...So I should take it easy and do what I want, huh? In that case, I'll stay in
the forest for a while. I feel a lot better now, thanks."
"If you do head into town, stop by the church from time to time. You won't be
able to see us, but if you obtain the oracle skill, you'll be able to converse with
us for short periods of time. The higher your level, the longer and more often
we can talk for."
"Got it, if I head into town I'll make sure to drop by. I don't know when that
will be, but I promise to visit the church for sure."
"Yup, we'll be waiting. You'll have to put up with our idle chatter again."
"We do have lots of time to spare, hohoho."
Just as Gain chuckled, particles of light wrapped around Ryoma's body.
"...Looks like it's time."
The light gradually grew stronger, obstructing Ryoma's vision.
"It seems the preparations are done."
"It's time."
"Stay healthy and have fun, okay?"
"Yeah, I will... Thank you so, so very much!"
"Yup! Now, here goes! Open the path to the new world!"
"We grant you our blessings!"
"Let there be light on your journey!"
"""Enjoy your new life!"""
Immediately after that, Ryoma was swallowed by a blinding light.
Once that light faded, both Ryoma and the gods were gone.