Chapter 409
The commotions in the world of the gods are more frequent than others might think.
Among them, the most exceptional trouble is banishment to the lower world.
The reactions of the main god candidates of Kefeli, Akm, Meter, and Goldos's generation who witnessed this varied. No, it's more accurate to say it was split in two.
"......"
Kefeli was silent, gripping the edge of the game board, sending a gaze colder than absolute zero that seemed ready to shatter the board at any moment.
"No matter how much you glare, reality won't change.""Yes, this is all a matter of luck.""That's right. Uh... don't be too disheartened. If it's the southern apostle, he'll manage somehow.""Frankly, I can tell you're actually pleased, so that sounds insincere."
The reason was singular: the Goddess of Light, Ryna, and the Goddess of Earth, July had been cast down to the southern continent.After causing so much trouble, they were dropped on the same continent as her own apostle; it wasn't unreasonable to sense malice.
The three who sent apostles to the east, west, and north breathed a sigh of relief.No matter how much their power and memories were sealed, having gods nearby was not conducive to peace of mind.
However, now that they had fallen to the lower world, they could no longer intervene.It seemed the matter was settled, with Pufful and Kefeli taking the brunt of it.
"What will you do, Senpai?""Nothing can be done. We can only pray they don't come near.""You're the ones being prayed *to* though.""I don't know."
Seeing no point in dwelling on what was over, Kefeli took a deep breath and lay down on the sofa Gulfoa had made.
"She's really irritated, isn't she?"
With that momentum, she began summoning one otherworldly book after another from her surroundings, starting a binge-reading spree.Using divine power directly, she could finish reading a book in an instant.
However, that would be a soulless act of mere information input.
That wouldn't soothe this raging heart.
Ignoring Akm's words, the first book Kefeli picked up was a story set in a world called the "Samurai Country," featuring a silver-haired, hot-headed samurai protagonist dealing with an alien invasion—a tale mixing slapstick comedy and seriousness.
"That... normally you'd read that while laughing, right?""Is that so? I haven't read it, so I don't knowuu."
Meter, who read widely in that genre, whispered to the other gods, keeping their distance to avoid provoking the expressionless Kefeli who was reading something that should be funny.
"This truly is 'let sleeping gods lie,' isn't it?""Shh, if we make noise and she takes our manga too, that would be unbearable."
Even in this state, the gods had no means of contacting the lower world besides oracles.All they could do was watch quietly. To ease even a little of the frustration, Kefeli, who had no choice but to immerse herself in manga, read on silently.
Doing so, a rare, quiet time descended upon this space.
Although everyone was, among other things, managing the lower world, so it was hard to call them idle, a quiet time arriving was still a rare occurrence.
Kefeli also savored that precious quiet while devouring books.
The one she happened to pick up this time had strong comedic elements, which was good for stimulating the emotion of laughter.
Thinking it was just right for a change of pace, she was about to continue reading when...
Footsteps sounded, climbing the stairs.
In unison, the reading gods froze.
"Another challenger who cleared a trial?""That would be reasonable to think... but, this presence..."
Last time, it was their junior Pufful who joined the main god competition battle. They all thought perhaps another latecomer had arrived, but the presence they felt was familiar.
"You've changed this place quite a bit.""Lord Andros."
The god who appeared was Andros, the God of Time, renowned as the previous main god's right-hand man.With white hair, a white beard, and the appearance of an elder, yet his back was straight and his eyes sharp.
When the previous main god abdicated, this god also relinquished his position and now lived a life no different from an ordinary god.
"What business brings you here? That you would come..."Meter was the first to respond to this god's appearance. This god had clearly stated he would not participate in the main god competition.
A god who normally shouldn't appear here, he narrowed his eyes for a moment at the changed appearance of the garden with its shelves of books and increased furniture, but as a retiree, he had no intention of pointing it out and disturbing the place.
"I came as a messenger.""...What do you mean? Do you understand, East?""No, I haven't the faintest idea."
Rather, being the one causing trouble, the question was whether he should really say it or not. Akm and Goldos had no idea why Andros had come.
"Goddess of Wisdom, Kefeli.""......"
And the target of the messenger was Kefeli, who had been in a bad mood until just moments ago.
"Petitions are piling up like a mountain, asking you to open your books to the other gods.""Denied."
The serious atmosphere instantly relaxed as Andros declared something seriously unserious.
"Don't say that. From gods who peeked into this space, complaints come from morning till night, wanting new stimulation, asking to somehow open the books to general access."
Could this be called exuding pathos? Because he was involved in the administration of the previous generation of top gods, such matters came his way.
"'Peeked,' huh... sigh, there really are a lot of idle gods.""Well, I did feel the gaze a few times.""Indeed, being this open, it would be more troublesome to eliminate the eyes of surveillance."
They had thought it would come eventually.The gods truly had too much time on their hands.
If a god possessed something that could, even for a short while, alleviate that eternal nuisance, it was also divine to desire it.
"That can't be the only reason. You lot always ignore the words of the rabble. Who asked you?"
When Meter, with a look of disbelief, asked with her eyes why he had taken on such a big task, he stated the official reason. Kefeli sensed it wasn't a lie, but it wasn't the main point either. Narrowing her eyes slightly, she posed a question to Andros, who averted his gaze gently.
"...My grandchild asked me to.""......"
He revealed the truth.No matter how much he was the previous main god's aide, he had retired, had a family, and created blood relations.
"You came here for that? Are you okay? You really shouldn't be able to come here normally...""He probably has an excuse prepared. Otherwise, the gatekeepers below would have stopped him."
Akm interjected, saying it was no good for a doting grandfather to come because his beloved grandchild asked. Goldos pointed out that even being a relative of someone powerful, he normally shouldn't be able to come.
"I've properly taken care of the procedures. The pretext for coming here is to deliver this to those present."
Sighing at the criticism about not coming for private reasons, Andros took out a single box, showing that he hadn't come solely for private reasons.
"While direct interference with the world is not permitted, it was decided we should increase what we *can* do."
A desperate measure devised by gods who thought about what they could do without interfering.
"What's this?""No, I recognize it.""Ah, I've seen this in manga.""...This is...""It's a gacha."
A gacha machine handcrafted by the gods.A retro-looking box where you insert a coin, turn a crank, and a prize comes out.Kefeli knew of it through knowledge.
When she looked at Andros with a gaze questioning why such a thing was prepared, he began setting up something like a board in this aerial garden.
"This is a measure to increase the number of oracles, isn't it?"
After finishing setting up the item labeled "Request Board" and "Nameplate," Andros turned around and relayed the information, causing a shockwave.
"We can increase them?!""The conditions for conveying them remain unchanged, but it was judged that providing a means to increase them poses no problem."
While grateful for relief measures at this timing when they felt constrained by the limit on oracles, it wasn't something they would receive for free.
"Requests from gods will be posted on this board. By fulfilling those requests, you will receive these coins."
By fulfilling requests from gods and using the rewards to turn the gacha, the number of possible oracles can increase.
Requests are posted on documents automatically.However, to avoid bulkiness, magical processing is applied, and a search function is included, making finding requests themselves easy.
"Since the requester pays the reward, if you grant their wish and turn the gacha, the number of oracles increases.""Is that all for the tutorial explanation?"
The problem lay elsewhere.If simply turning the gacha increased oracle chances, it would be an unbelievably lenient ruling.
However, a gacha is not such a bundle of goodwill.You don't know what will come out.It's an item that could be said to be brimming with malice.
"Answer. What are the odds of increasing the number of oracles?""...One in a thousand."
And that malice was, as expected, present.When Kefeli pierced him with a sharp gaze as if to say lies wouldn't be tolerated, Andros averted his eyes again.
"What else is insideuu?""Goods provided by the gods can be obtained.""What are the contents? Surely, receiving trash would be troubling, you see.""There are things like legendary swords.""Those are unusable, aren't they? We can't fight now."
The probability of getting the most desired item: one in a thousand.As a gacha, it was hopeless, but there was still room to consider if it was worth pulling.At the very least, they hoped the other items were good, but while there seemed to be no trash, there were likely many useless items.
"The problem is the request content. If it's all requests to lend southern books, wouldn't we be at a disadvantage?""That part is handled fairly. There are tasks other gods can accomplish properly.""My eyes must be tired, for I see a request saying 'Document Transcription'.""I see one saying 'Please apologize in my place because my affair was discovered'.""There's also a frivolous one saying 'I want to make a photo album of myself'.""Love consultation, is it? I might accept this oneuu."
Attention focused on the crucial method of gathering the necessary funds to turn the gacha, but the content, as befitting gods, consisted of nothing but uniquely individualistic items.
"Hey, are you joking? There's an idiot here requesting to borrow my books 'for eternity'."
Sensible ones were few.Even for Kefeli, who seemed able to earn the most, the request contents were full of those intent on borrowing permanently, so she had no desire to accept.
"And what is this 'GC'?""It's short for 'Gacha Coin'. It's set so that three coins allow one pull.""The creation of my photo album costs nine GC, but...""The loan of my books costs one coin?!"
Concentrating their doubtful gazes on Andros, they questioned if this was really made with any meaningful purpose.
"There must be proper ones too! The love consultation from the Goddess of Love is a good example!""That just means the others aren't proper!""Search and you'll find some!"
Even the unflappable Andros couldn't withstand the accusatory stares and inadvertently faltered.
"Besides, we can't leave this place. The number of requests we can accept is smaller."
It was like a game released without any debugging.Andros received complaints from the five, saying they should have polished it a bit more before implementation.
"Figure that out yourselves! I was just told to deliver it!"
In the end, Andros chose to leave the instruction manual behind and depart, and they all saw him off.
Left behind was the firmly installed, unremovable gacha box.
The gods were left to wonder if there would ever be a future where they used this.