【Tales of the Gods #3】Water Goddess Weelow

Pirororororo...... Pirororororo......

The sun shining brilliantly.

A gleaming white sandy beach.

Gentle waves, ebbing and flowing.

This was a beautiful coastline recreated within the Divine Realm.

Water Goddess Weelow's personal area...... commonly known as her “divine domain,” essentially her own private room.

Pirororororo...... Pirororororo......

An electronic sound, entirely out of place on such a beach, echoed throughout the area.

“Mm, mmm~~~~...... fwaah......”

Water Goddess Weelow, who had been dozing off while drifting among the waves, was finally roused by that electronic sound.

“Nn, what, what, whaaat~~...... Geez, is it morning already~~?”

Weelow sat up on the surface of the sea.

She was the Water Goddess, so manipulating water was second nature to her.

Even though it was a recreation, and even though she was on the ocean, she could behave as if she were standing on solid ground.

Pirororororo...... Pirororororo......

“Aaaah~~~...... Geez, SO LOUD!”

For a while, Weelow just sat cross-legged on the sea, spacing out, but the racket of the electronic sound had apparently pushed her past her limit.

She slapped her cheeks pan pan with both hands (she was made of water, so it actually went picha picha) and psyched herself up.

“......Alrighty! Fully awake, whoo~~~!!”

After forcing herself into full party mode, she got moving.

Her destination was the divine tool emitting the electronic sound.

It sat on the rocky shore, and to look at, it was a water mirror made from a big black rock with a round hollow carved out of it.

It looked like nothing more than a rock with a little handiwork done to it, but in truth it was a state-of-the-art device packed with the technology of the gods, and it was the culprit behind that shrill electronic sound so at odds with its looks.

“Now then, now then, did some kinda trouble crop up or what?...... Wait, haaah~~~!?”

Looking at the string of characters floating on the water mirror, Weelow let out an involuntary scream.

“Magic power disturbance around Zahan, risk of disaster if left unattended, possibility of spread to other regions, urgent countermeasures required, 1 month since onset......!?”

Weelow held her head in her hands.

“Why'd a problem have to pop up now, of all times, when I was sleeping like a log after a party!”

Yes, she was fresh off a party.

With her good friends the Wind God and the Fire God, she had spent about 10 years straight drinking, eating, dancing, singing...... partying without a wink of sleep.

So if she overslept 2 or 3 months before she knew it, it couldn't be helped. It was force majeure.

“I mean, like~~~, there's a Guardian Sacred Beast over there, right? What's that kid even doing, seriously. Umm~......”

Weelow put a hand to her cheek, thinking.

Then she stopped moving entirely, and 3 hours went by.

“......Ah! Right, right, white snake-chan! Jarnayaharma! What what, you mean that kid died? Isn't that, like, seriously bad?”

After all, she hadn't seen this Guardian Sacred Beast even once since giving him wisdom and power some 200 years ago.

It took some time just to remember the name.

“Anyway, I've just gotta go check out the scene myself, right! Alrighty, build avatar, set activity period, let's just say 1 week for now!...... Oh-kaaay! Ready! Well then, guess I'll pop out for a bit! Let's go! Whoo~~~!”

Sweeping her negative feelings, the hassle, the annoyance, off to who knows where on a wave of hype pumped up to the max, Weelow dove into the water mirror!

This cutting-edge device of the gods, ‘Super Water Mirror-chan ver.821’, was packed with all kinds of features, from simple interference on the ground to anomaly detection and sending oracles, and with it, even transferring to the lower world through an avatar was a snap!

Normally, a god's descent to the lower world was regulated, but descent through an avatar was permitted to a certain extent.

And because Weelow could make her avatars out of water, they took hardly any preparation at all.

That was why she could descend to the lower world far more often than the other gods. She was a hands-on goddess.

◇ ◇ ◇

Elsewhere, deep in the mountains of Zahan.

Out of a spring welling up near Jarnayaharma's altar, Weelow, inhabiting an avatar shaped from water, came bursting forth.

“YAHOOOOOI! I have descended!!”

Through the quiet mountains rang a voice far too hyped for the place.

“Hm, hm, hm!? What's that!? An altar!? Could it be, Jarnayaharma's!? My my, look at that kid, going and getting all important! Mommy's so proud~! Just kidding! Who're you calling Mommy!”

Weelow had been making a noisy fuss like that, but she fell silent when she saw what was lying near the altar.

It was the bones and skin of an enormous snake.

Though the size was different, the pure white scales gleaming in the sunlight were certainly those of the white snake she had appointed as the Guardian Sacred Beast.

“Honestly, I wonder what got him...... A human adventurer? If so, they wouldn't have left the scales behind, so maybe a monster or something? Well, anyway.”

Floating lightly, Weelow approached the carcass and bowed her head.

“......200 years, you've done well.”

With those words, Weelow stroked Jarnayaharma's skull, split in 2, and the carcass turned into a beautifully shining liquid and sank into the earth.

“Flow, flow on, O soul. Turn, turn, turn the cycle of reincarnation. May the stagnation be washed away, and may you find a pure next life......”

Now then, having mourned Jarnayaharma, Weelow immediately set about solving the problem.

That said, for her, the Water Goddess, it was a simple task.

She immersed herself in a nearby spring and, from there, began to regulate the flow of magic power carried by the water veins in the surrounding area.

Regulate the water veins, regulate the flow of magic power, and thereby contribute to the stability of the world.

That was Water Goddess Weelow's “water management.”

“......Oh-kaaay! Excess magic power leakage, distortion, pollution, all cleared up, whoo~~~!!”

The problem caused by Jarnayaharma's disappearance was solved in just 3 minutes.

No matter how flighty her attitude, she was a goddess. Her power was immeasurable.

“Mmm~~~~~...... But, y'know, this thing here. Maybe it needs a bit of a tune-up?”

During the 3 minutes it took to solve the problem, she had discovered another issue.

Namely, that the magic power circulating around Zahan tended to stagnate more than in other regions.

This was a structural problem that would occur whether a Guardian Sacred Beast was there or not.

“I mean, everything's been running on a spell formula from 200 years ago~~...... So, sure, all kinds of distortions are gonna pop up~~......”

Weelow put a hand to her cheek, thinking.

After 2 hours of deep thought, she made up her mind about something, clapped her hands pan (she was made of water, so it actually went picha), and got to work.

“......Alrighty! If it's come to this, I'm going all out! Building a new system! A spell formula that keeps everything running smoothly even when I'm not around! Zahan is the test case. If it works, I'll use it for other regions too! For starters...... Hup!”

Dancing, Weelow snapped her fingers pachin (she was made of water, so it actually went pichan), and the whole area was covered in a pure white mist, even thicker than when Jarnayaharma was alive.

This mist was a barrier.

With this barrier blocking the intrusion of all living things, Weelow could immerse herself in her work without having to worry about unnecessary distractions.

“Aaaah~~~...... There's no way this'll be done in a week. Gotta plan the schedule out in years. Let's see...... Ah, I've got drinks booked with the Thunder God! Yikes...... Eh, whatever. It's the Thunder God.”

Chattering to herself, Water Goddess Weelow sank into the spring.

She planned to spend the next week thoroughly surveying the whole area and working out a timeline, then make an avatar that could run for the long haul and start the work in earnest.

Once she was gone, all that remained was a mist so deep that nothing could be seen through it, and silence.

It's short, but this concludes Arc 4.

This was the episode for boosting Emi-chan's base abilities.

Thank you for your continued support.