Chapter 274 (Self Edited) – Hearing a Conflicting Matter by Chance
Three pairs of footsteps echoed where the silence spread. The sound continued as they stepped forward, and surely, groaning mixed in.
However, it didn’t mean a bad thing.
“Hmm… it was certainly delicious. I feel that the meals in the Academy are more delicious than the one cooked by the head chef who works for the royal castle… this is regrettable.” (Hildegard)
Hildegard’s eyebrows were raised to create wrinkles, but at the same time, her mouth was loosened. Her face expressed what was in the mind, which she didn’t want to admit but she had to.
Anyhow…
“There’s no relationship between meals and that, so shouldn’t you just praise honestly.” (Soma)
“Hmm… Surely, that’s true. Well, let’s just say that it was delicious!” (Hildegard)
“Aren’t you guys being rude to me? Dear me, it’s troubling…” (Satya)
While shrugging their shoulders at Satya, who said such words that didn’t display that it wasn’t a troubling situation, Soma and Hildegard continued walking. They were on their way to his room after leaving the dining room.
As it could be understood from the conversation, Hildegard eventually decided to have lunch there as well. Soma wasn’t cold-hearted enough to tell her not to after she made a round trip with all her might without taking a break. Satya was actually cold-hearted enough to react normally after sending Hildegard away.
Hildegard even shouted ‘You, are you an Ogre!?’, and then, she said ‘Satya, you’re God, isn’t it?’. However, while saying such a thing, Hildegard’s meal came out normally, so she wondered how serious it was including the words ‘she’ told Soma.
“Well, by the way, is it alright to learn when I return?” (Soma)
“Hmm, well, I wonder about that. There should be some spare time to do that, but I don’t think I can do it too much.” (Satya)
“Hmm… to begin with, you said it’s fine, but what do you mean by that?” (Hildegard)
It was a natural question to ask. In fact, Soma was wondering, but when he looked at ‘her’, ‘she’ smiled as if there was nothing but a self-proclaimed cause.
“I’m God, right? I’m directly connected to the world. So, if I’m not sure what the world is trying to do, I can’t guess. After all, I can’t go into more details.” (Satya)
“Hmm? Why not?” (Soma)
“Trying to know more deeply means that my thoughts can be easily seen. If you lose me, I can’t do it because my right as an administrator will completely disappear. The plan will almost certainly change, so it does more harm than good.” (Satya)
“Hmm? It doesn’t hurt you, right? You don’t need that right as an administrator as the world is dying, isn’t it?” (Hildegard)
Soma gave a nod as he also agreed with that sentiment. The existence that was going to commit suicide from now on needed someone who would take care of itself.
According to their conversation, Satya also died when the world died. If that was the case, there should be no such an idea.
“No, the world isn’t about to die in a normal way. It dies so that it doesn’t affect other worlds, and it needs some legitimate means. And if you don’t manage the world properly until that point, it can affect others. There’s no change what I need to do until the end.” (Satya)
“Hmm… it’s a lot of trouble.” (Soma)
“Well, thanks to that, I can still live like this.” (Satya)
“Hmm? With the way you are saying it, it seems that you’re trying to get in its way… no, I can’t confirm about that yet.” (Hildegard)
“I was the one who got helped when you defeat the Evil God. So, to a certain extent, yes, I’m trying to in its way. I’m telling you various things because of countermeasures.” (Satya)
‘She’ sounded like a human being when he heard the story, but it might simply be that Satya was saying in that way so that it would be easy for them to understand.
The world was a super-high-dimensional being above God. Neither thoughts nor values could be measured by humans.
“For the time being, I can only tell that there’s still time before the world begins to move in earnest. Now, the world is in the preparatory stage.” (Satya)
“Then, you think it would be good to counter it now, but… if that’s possible, you would say so.” (Hildegard)
“Well. I’ll explain why I can’t do it, but the biggest reason is that I don’t have any clues, I think? Even if I know it’s trying to commit suicide, I can’t stop it without knowing how to do it. Rather than looking for something you don’t know you might find in dark clouds, you should be prepared when the time comes.” (Satya)
While saying that, Soma and Hildegard returned to the room where they met Satya earlier.
By the way, the place where Soma and Hildegard were was at the shrine. It was located in the center of the Holy City, and the room was in the innermost part of it. It was the place where the currently manifesting God lived.
Soma suddenly remembered as he stepped casually into the place where any Holy God believer would tremble with excitement.
“By the way, Eleonora hasn’t returned, isn’t she?” (Soma)
“Aah. Well, she’s busy. Under such circumstances, more Devils have appeared in the city, and I think it’s going to be tough by now, you know?” (Satya)
“Hmm… Well, it’s natural when considering that she is the Lord of this place.” (Soma)
“That reminds me, you know that the Devil has appeared as a matter of course. Well, it’s only natural considering the timing when it appeared.” (Hildegard)
“Well, this is my place. If I don’t understand that much, I can’t talk about it.” (Satya)
Perhaps, that wasn’t the only reason, but ‘she’ wouldn’t answer it anyway. If ‘she’ answered when asked, ‘she’ would have talked about it from the beginning.
With that in mind, he sat down in a suitable place. Hildegard sat down in the same way, and Satya, who confirmed it, cleared ‘her’ throat, opened ‘her’ mouth with a slightly different tone.
“Well, I’m back here anyway, so let’s start learning right now. As I said earlier, even if I have time, I can’t afford too much.” (Satya)
“Hmm, that’s fine, but where do you start first.” (Soma)
“Alright. Well, as expected, it would be our enemy.” (Satya)
“Enemy… in other words, isn’t the Devil?” (Hildegard)
“That’s right, but strictly speaking, it’s something before that.” (Satya)
“Before that?” (Soma)
“Yes. The first question is why did the Devil appear frequently?” (Satya)
It was said that the Devil appeared once every 100 years in the previous life.
However, the Devil of this world, which was the same kind as that, appeared about once a month according to ‘her’. It had been a year or two since its appearance, but it was probably too frequent.
“Hmm… by the way, isn’t it the very existence of the Devil known in this world to begin with? If that’s the case, it seems possible that it was originally more frequent than in that world…” (Soma)
“Well, your reasoning is correct. It has hardly appeared especially in the last 500 years.” (Satya)
“500 years ago… I think it has something to do with the Evil God.” (Hildegard)
“That’s also the correct answer. So, the story goes a little back and forth here… I think I’ve said that I’ve defeated the Evil God several times, but I’m sure I haven’t said that I’ve destroyed it.” (Satya)
“Hmm… that might be true. Does that mean that the Evil God isn’t actually dead?” (Soma)
“I wonder if that’s true in the truest sense. To be exact, it wasn’t completely destroyed. You must know the proof.” (Satya)
“…The fragment of the Evil God’s power, isn’t it?” (Hildegard)
Indeed, the fact that power was alive didn’t mean that it was completely destroyed. He had some doubts about that, but…
“That’s what you mean by not destroying it completely, right?” (Soma)
“That’s right. If it had been completely destroyed, this world would have been destroyed as it was. As I said before, she was still a God when she was defeated, but to completely destroy her means that half of her authority would be lost.” (Satya)
“…That’s certainly not the case. So, what happened?” (Hildegard)
“That’s also a correct argument. It was a fragment of power that you saw. We crushed ‘her’ soul and sealed it in pieces. And I had decided to take out ‘her’ authorities little by little. It’s only possible if the other side is unconscious and its power is divided.” (Satya)
“Is that why you were sleeping?” (Soma)
That was just something that came into his mind, but it looked like he was right on the spot. The answer was correct, and Satya smiled at him.
“You’re good at guessing as always. Well, I was sleeping because I ran out of power with the sealing or something similar, and that was also the reason. I already had a lot of authorities. If I don’t handle it carefully, there would be a rebound for having all that, and it will not work.” (Satya)
“Hmm… in other words, does this mean it’s over?” (Soma)
“No, it’s not over yet. The reason I kept you waiting for five days was to wait for Hildegard. Plus, it’s true that I usually sleep. It’s almost over, but… well, I do have a question for you both. What do you think will happen when its authority is taken out of it?” (Satya)
“What will happen is… Aah, I see. In other words, that fragment of power was in a state after all the authorities had been taken out.” (Soma)
“Yes, I only realized this later… so we scattered the fragments all over the world. I thought it might be a big deal if they were close to each other since they would interfere by some chance. Apparently, the fragment acted like a kind of lid.” (Satya)
In other words, it seems that the reason why the Devil didn’t appear was that. The Devil couldn’t appear because of the powerful force of the lid.
“However, just five years ago, one of them was destroyed.
“…Is that the reason why the Devil has come out frequently?” (Hildegard)
“No, that’s not it, you know? Its power was suppressed, so it just returned to its original state when the fragment disappeared. The problem is… even though the power is suppressed, it could also be used as an intermediary to summon the Devil, something like that.” (Satya)
“…Do you mean that time?” (Soma)
“Yes. It seems that the world has recognized it. You see, the best method to try is to scatter it around.” (Satya)
“Is that the thing that I failed to destroy…?” (Soma)
It seemed that there were more connections that he expected. He intended to do that from the beginning, but apparently, he had to do something about it.
“I guess you have to deal with your problems, huh…” (Soma)
“Well, you’re not really responsible for that. I think it was only a matter of time before the world realized that. Besides, that is not the real problem. Again, it’s just an experiment by the world that the Devil is appearing more often right now.” (Satya)
“I see… it means that the production of the real thing is about to begin.” (Hildegard)
“Is it manifested by using an unbroken fragment of power? To summon the Devil by using an unbroken fragment is…” (Soma)
“Yes, there will be some pretty powerful high rank Devils. Even so, since they are weak now, they can’t maintain their existence unless they possess people, but they certainly prefer to do that.” (Satya)
At that time, It was the same power that Soma couldn’t destroy even when he used his full power. If the world used it as an intermediary, there must be a fairly powerful existence.
“Are you the only one who sealed it? Then, shouldn’t you just go to that place and eliminate the fragments of power now? Perhaps, it’s possible for me to do it.” (Soma)
“I wish you could do that, but… I don’t know the exact location. If by chance… I will not abuse that power when it was reduced and divided. I used my power to seal it, but I didn’t go to the scene. It was still possible if I just took out the authority.” (Satya)
“Hmm… I see, and that is…” (Soma)
“It backfired splendidly…” (Hildegard)
It might not be enough to blame ‘her’. Hildegard seemed to know that, and she didn’t say anything to blame… but she might endure from saying it. Satya opened her mouth to say something, but it was the continuation of the story that eventually came out of her mouth.
“…Anyhow, there are four fragments of power left. Therefore, you can think that almost four powerful Devils will come out. The Devil that appears will use the power with the intention of destroying the world.” (Satya)
“Hmm… to be honest, I don’t think I will lose if it comes directly. You must have called out to me because you thought so too.” (Soma)
“Well. But… that’s only if it comes directly to you.” (Satya)
“The Devil is basically cunning…” (Hildegard)
“Yes. Although I think it can manifest by itself, it’s best not to think that will actually happen. My reason is they should make a collaborator. I judge that it will be possible for them to disguise themselves as someone who has power by giving information that is convenient for the collaborator.” (Satya)
“That’s possible…” (Soma)
At least, Soma wouldn’t deny that idea.
He knew that Devil was cunning because it was a well known story. He didn’t know what they were like in this world, but… as far as Satya’s situation was concerned, that characteristic didn’t seem to change. In other words, it wasn’t just about being careful with the Devil.
Although he had only heard the surface, it seemed that the matter was more troublesome than he expected. With that in mind, Soma let out a breath.