【Tales of the Gods #8】The Holy Goddess Laintorlie and the Evil God Baharia

““........................””

A white space that stretched on forever.

In that space, all by itself, sat a pale green sofa that looked soft and fluffy.

Seated on that sofa, a blonde beauty and a handsome man with twisted, spiraling horns growing from above his ears, that is, the Holy Goddess Laintorlie and the Evil God Baharia, were silently gazing at a thin panel set before them.

On that panel, images...... of Hero Torch Fenoben's exploits, recorded in advance and still unedited, were being shown.

““........................””

And as they watched those images, the 2 gods remained utterly silent.

......It hadn't been like this at first.

Having wrapped up work early and gotten together, the 2 gods had been happily watching the footage, nibbling on the mountain of croquettes (or something like them) Laintorlie had fried, and also flirting.

In the currently broadcasting 【The Story of the Red-Haired Hero】, a mishap had occurred, ‘the Incident Where Wise Owl Forowl, Who Was Supposed to Be Main Cast at the Very Start, Turned Out to Have Died’, but the story had been progressing steadily lately, and the view counts had begun to grow considerably.

The 2 gods did the Isekai Reincarnation Broadcast for fun in the first place, and now that the work was starting to get popular, the fiddly editing work and video checks were no hardship at all.

This one, this video review, was no different.

Happily, happily, the 2 gods had watched the footage together, feeding each other croquettes (or something like them).

They had been watching the images in a friendly atmosphere, discussing which scenes to cut to give the story better pacing.

But then.

Now, the 2 gods were silent.

Amidst a heavy atmosphere, they stared at the images with utterly expressionless faces.

“............”

Since the video had reached a good stopping point, Laintorlie pressed a button on the remote and turned off the power to the video panel.

Then she covered her face with both hands, hung her head and muttered.

“......Why, did it turn out like this......?”

Baharia gently stroked Laintorlie's head to comfort her, but his own expression was also stiff.

◇ ◇ ◇

Now, as for why these 2 gods were so disheartened, it was because the content of the footage they had just reviewed was completely different from the planned scenario.

“......Let's sort it out. Sort out, the information.”

With that remark from Baharia, this time's review meeting began.

“......Um, in the original scenario, this time was supposed to be ‘the town Hero-kun happens to stop by gets attacked by the Demon Lord's Army and takes heavy damage’, right?”

“Yeah, that's how it was in the ‘destiny confirmation’ beforehand. Since the Demon Lord's Army's main fighting force consisted of Dark Magic Wolves, the same ones that destroyed the hero's village, the hero was supposed to confront his emotional trauma alongside the monsters...... it was supposed to be a pretty heavy scenario.”

“And the villain this time...... Deogandai, was it? His strategy was supposed to work perfectly, and a lot of people were supposed to die, right?”

“That's right. But......”

It hadn't gone that way.

The Parasitic Mushrooms, the Mad Tadpoles, the Dark Magic Wolves and the Huge Red Boar at the east gate......

Every last one of the traps Deogandai had laid had fizzled, and the heroes had beaten Deogandai almost unscathed.

“The final fight with Deogandai...... that part itself was reasonably worth watching, though.”

“Driven into a corner, awakening after awakening...... I couldn't help but retort, ‘Wait, so you're the protagonist!!’......”

“To think that Deogandai, who I thought was just a mid-boss, would transform all the way to a 5th form......”

“What are we going to do for the final boss battle...... just how many times is he planning to transform......”

Deogandai had tried his best.

He had tried incredibly hard.

But a fight of 1 against a huge crowd was, understandably, too much for him, a mere middle-ranked commander.

He was hopelessly outnumbered.

“By the way, Deogandai was teleported somewhere before he was dealt the finishing blow. What was that about?”

“Ah, that............ Hmm, it seems his assistant, the girl, did a good job. It looks like she was monitoring the situation. Her summoning magic made it at the last possible moment, and she pulled him out in the nick of time.”

Baharia checked this by fiddling with a small terminal he took from his pocket.

“Then he's alive...... I wonder why they didn't rescue him sooner?”

“......Who knows. There might have been some circumstances. Even I don't know that much. Nor am I interested.”

Sighing, Baharia began to munch on the croquettes (or something like them), which had gone completely cold.

Even cold, they were still crisp.

The potato sweet, the coarse breadcrumbs fragrant.

Delicious.

“Anyway~...... what do we do, what do we do, what do we do, Baharin~~~! The fortress city of Liheid episode, do you think you can edit it well?”

With her eyes slightly tearing up, Laintorlie leaned against Baharia, who was sitting next to her.

Baharia gently wrapped his arm around Laintorlie's shoulder.

“Some unnaturalness might remain, but we'll just have to make it work somehow. There are no do-overs in life. So there are no retakes. That is how the Isekai Reincarnation Broadcast is.”

In a voice that was cold and a little curt...... but unmistakably kind, Baharia told Laintorlie.

“It's okay, leave it to me...... I'm the Evil God. Fudging, twisting, deceiving, I like to think I'm better at them than you, Lain...... though I lose to the Fraud Deity! Fufufu, it seems the time has come to test my editing skill, which was once called the best in the Divine Realm!”

“Baharin......!”

Laintorlie was already head over heels for the boldly smiling Baharia!

She couldn't help but hug him tightly.

Feeling Laintorlie's body heat, Baharia gently stroked her head.

Incidentally, both of their hands were quite greasy from the oil of the croquettes (or something like them), but neither of the 2 gods cared much.

Gods are easygoing.

◇ ◇ ◇

A while later.

While drinking tea, Laintorlie and Baharia began to go over where 【The Story of the Red-Haired Hero】 would go from here.

Fate, though it rarely happened, could change its shape drastically from the slightest trigger.

The problem with the fortress city of Liheid incident was that although fate had changed significantly and the scenario had broken, the 2 gods had failed to notice because they neglected to check.

If they had noticed that fate had been rewritten in advance, they could have developed the story using an alternative scenario by moving apostles behind the scenes or giving an oracle to Chiron.

This was a major point for reflection.

That was why they were reconsidering.

What kind of journey would Hero Torch Fenoben walk from here on?

The 2 gods had performed a “destiny confirmation” once again.

......And the result revealed a shocking fact!

““Tezonkania, no longer exists, anywhere......!!?””

In spite of themselves, their voices came out together.

On the video panel, which they had made display the results of the “destiny confirmation” through a special operation, appeared the future Hero Torch's party, at a loss on a prairie, unable to find what they were looking for!

“Wait! Why? Why is there no Tezonkania!?”

Laintorlie clutched her head in confusion.

Tezonkania was what Hero Torch's party was searching for.

The cure needed to pull the silver dragon Herensia back from the brink of her illness.

“......What's gone is gone. Since the turtle itself is gone, it can't be helped.”

Baharia, who said this calmly, had his brows knit too.

Tezonkania was a special ore that formed on the body of the mutated Tezonka Turtle, a giant turtle living on the Enokorogu Great Prairie, east of the demon realm of the Ranrananga Mountains.

The mutated Tezonka Turtle was a special individual, the only 1 whose existence had been confirmed so far; in other words, only that individual could produce Tezonkania.

And yet, that individual had, at some point, vanished.

No, rather than having vanished, to be more precise, it had probably been killed by something.

Baharia operated the video panel to show the current state of the world.

When he checked the edge of the spring that had been the mutated Tezonka Turtle's territory, only a brutally crushed shell remained there, sitting alone.

That was nothing other than proof that someone had broken through the mutated Tezonka Turtle's robust defense and hunted it to death.

“That turtle had lived a pretty long time, and it should have built up a lot of power, right......?”

“Yeah......”

“Something beat a turtle that ferocious, before the hero even arrived......? What on earth, could......?”

“Who knows......”

The 2 gods tilted their heads at the same time.

“......It's no use, let's switch gears, Lain. We have no time to spend on things we won't figure out no matter how much we think about them. What is the hero's party doing now?”

“Yeah...... um, ah, they've just departed from Liheid! They set off toward the Enokorogu Great Prairie while being seen off by everyone they met, like the margrave, the chief, and the adventurers!”

“The heroes have already obtained the information that Tezonkania is in the prairie, right?”

“Yeah. Tezonkania had been passed down as a legend in the village near the Great Prairie...... but there was a trio of old-guy adventurers from there in Liheid. Bearded ones. That came to light during the victory party, and that's how it stands now.”

“I see...... since things are already moving toward the Great Prairie, forcing an oracle on them here to change course would be unnatural, wouldn't it?”

“Hey, Baharin...... isn't the ore clinging to that leftover turtle shell Tezonkania too? We'd lose the boss battle, the giant turtle fight, but if we had them collect that......”

“No, that won't work. Tezonkania loses its power rapidly unless it is constantly bathed in that turtle's magic power. That can be prevented by keeping it in water after collection...... but it's too late. The ore currently on the shell cannot be called Tezonkania, and it has no power to save the silver dragon Herensia.”

““........................””

A heavy silence.

With the Tezonkania they were after gone, no matter how they struggled, the original scenario had fallen apart.

A new scenario, there was nothing for it but to prepare one.

“......Let's have Chiron learn 【Divine Covenant Magic】. A healing magic that borrows my...... a god's power.”

Laintorlie made up her mind and told Baharia so.

She raised her head and looked straight into the eyes of her beloved Evil God.

【Divine Covenant Magic】 was a special magic that only humans recognized by a god could use, activated by directly borrowing a god's power.

For example, 【Thousand Breads】, which a boy named Prough had used before, was also classed as 【Divine Covenant Magic】 that borrowed the power of the Harvest God.

“......But, is that okay? According to the plan, learning 【Divine Covenant Magic】 was supposed to be a story for much later. Won't the balance of power collapse?”

“It's okay. I'll put a limiter on it. Chiron can only use 【Divine Covenant Magic】 once for now. If she wants to use it more, she'll need way more training, or something like that!”

“Hmm...... But the hero's party has already set off for the Enokorogu Great Prairie. I can't see any causal link between heading to the Great Prairie and learning 【Divine Covenant Magic】, can you?”

“......Let's go with this scenario! ‘After much hardship, the hero's party finds the spring that is the mutated Tezonka Turtle's territory! But it is already too late; the crucial giant turtle is already dead, and only a bare shell remains!’”

“Hmm.”

“‘The hero's party despairs! But then, a miracle occurs!’”

“Hmm.”

“‘The heroes' gentle feelings for their friend, the silver dragon Herensia, the mysterious nature power of the Great Prairie, and also...... um, the giant turtle's grudge, or something along those lines, all mix together, and as a result, a mysterious light envelops Chiron!’”

“No, is there really a need to mix in the giant turtle's grudge there?”

“‘And as a result, Chiron learns 【Divine Covenant Magic】 with usage restrictions! All right, now we can save the silver dragon Herensia! The hero's party joyfully left the Enokorogu Great Prairie and headed toward Saikanedon's Tower! The end!’”

“Hmm......”

Hearing Laintorlie's plan, Baharia put his hand to his chin and thought.

“Will it, work out......”

Laintorlie suddenly threw her arms around Baharia and stole his lips!

Baharia's eyes widened in surprise!

And to that Evil God, the Holy Goddess said.

“Make it, work!!”

It was an impossible ask.

“......Got it. I'll make it, work!!”

But when Laintorlie asked him so cutely, Baharia couldn't refuse!

He took it on at once, without a second thought!

It was the weakness of a man in love!

Thus, the 2 gods' meeting continued.

The discussion went on and on.

But, still.

And yet.

The Holy Goddess and the Evil God were so preoccupied with making the immediate scenario consistent that they overlooked the most important thing.

What had defeated the mutated Tezonka Turtle?

Why had Deogandai's strategy ended in failure?

Or rather, that mysterious girl who had been chasing the Dark Magic Wolves...... just who on earth was she?

If only they had faced these questions, which in truth shared one root, more squarely back then.

That was what the 2 gods would one day come to bitterly regret.

And with this, Arc 9 is over.

This arc put an out-of-nowhere mid-boss named Deogandai at center stage, but did you enjoy it?

Since the previous arc took a slightly surreal turn, I aimed to make this arc fairly easy to follow, with developments you could see coming.

And these were comedy chapters, or rather gag chapters.

I would be happy if you could laugh even a little.

Since I fooled around quite a bit in this arc, I'm thinking of making the next arc a story with a different flavor.

I wonder if I can do it well.

Now, to all the readers, thank you so much for the bookmarks, rating stars, and comments!

I'm always, always very happy!

I'm a lucky person (sobbing).

This work probably isn't one that stands out much, but I intend to continue posting at my own pace in the future, so I would be grateful if you could stay with me.

I humbly ask for your continued support.