Chapter 439
Liberta's breakthrough of the high-difficulty trial.
It was a great feat that reverberated throughout the divine realm.
The mischievous antics of certain gods, thinking "this couldn't possibly be done," became an incredible spice, and now the divine realm is abuzz with the topic.
For Liberta, who broke through this trial, unreserved applause and God Fragments imbued with blessings were sent.
Up to this point, there's nothing strange about it—an ordinary story.
But what if this trial was mischief to pass the daily boredom, and fueled by a bit of curiosity, it turned into a craze?
"We are reflecting on our actions! But we have no regrets!"
"Oh? With such a flippant attitude, you nearly killed my apostle?"
For an ordinary resident of this world, this would become gossip among the gods, a topic to pass the time for a while, and then end.
But what if the target of their entertainment was an existence destined to decide the next generation of gods?
Three gods, tied up tightly with special rope, hanging upside down.
Above them, the Goddess of Wisdom looks down with a cold, stern gaze.
This is the Sky Garden.
A place for the next generation of gods to observe the lower world.
They are hanging from the edge of this garden.
The Festival God "Denden," the Hedonism God "Bababe," and the Trickster God "Clown" are desperately trying to escape, but bound by the特殊 rope, they cannot break free.
Normally, no one other than the next-generation gods can enter this space.
But this time, due to the nature of their offense, a lynching—not a trial—was permitted, and they were brought here.
There is a limit to getting carried away.
"Wow, the Southern one is completely furious."
"I can understand the feeling. If I were to be eliminated because of something like that..."
"Indeed, this time it was simply too much."
"Yes, too much."
There was no room for sympathy; the judgment was left in the hands of the Goddess of Wisdom.
The other gods remained完全旁观者, watching to see what conclusion would be reached.
"For you three, anything short of death is permitted. So I considered what would be the most painful punishment."
These three, who had fully devoted themselves to pleasure, might not reflect on a half-hearted punishment.
Banishment to the lower world was considered, but given these gods, they would probably just enjoy it, so that idea was dismissed.
In fact, even tied up and dangling, they made no attempt to hide their smirking expressions.
Their motto is to enjoy any situation, no matter how dire.
This raises the question of how exactly to punish them.
"I considered having you engage in digging holes and filling them back up for about a hundred million years, but I judged that would be ineffective on you."
"Eh, wouldn't that normally drive someone insane?"
This is where the Goddess of Wisdom's reputation shines.
She explored every conceivable method of torture, seeking the most effective among them.
At the first method she mentioned, Akm's mouth tightened.
Endlessly repeating a meaningless, monotonous task would drive anyone mad.
Judging that as ineffective says a lot.
"Next, I considered inflicting every possible pain. Tortures from all ages and nations. Fortunately, several gods offered to cooperate with that. But even that I rejected, because you would probably enjoy the pain."
"No, even for gods, enduring endless pain is harsh."
Next, she considered the simple, straightforward approach.
Inflicting continuous pain, carefully maintaining the threshold between life and death.
Just like humans, gods also detest pain.
However, that applies only to普通 gods; beings like the War God, while they感知 pain, do not experience it as suffering, making it less effective on them.
These three would even turn pain into pleasure.
Goldos looked at them as if they were bizarre creatures, his expression one of utter revulsion.
"I also considered making you work. Ah, having you单方面承担 all the miscellaneous tasks of every god. In fact, many put forward that希望."
"That would be helpful for me too."
"But you would probably finish that level of work with one hand tied behind your back, wouldn't you?"
While these gods are devoted to pleasure, they are also capable.
Using their abilities, they could easily handle all the miscellaneous tasks of the gods in their spare time.
Therefore, this punishment was judged to be the least effective.
The fundamental issue is that these three turn any and all phenomena into enjoyment.
Consequently, making them reflect is not just difficult—it must be judged as virtually impossible.
"Senpai, what are you going to do? Even the higher gods would find it hard to make these three reflect, you know?"
Pufful sighed in exasperation at the three smirking gods.
To her gaze, which seemed to ask if they weren't just too invincible, Kefeli grinned as if she had a plan.
"Ah, these guys enjoy anything. But think about it. They enjoy things because something is given to them."
A suspicious glint shone in Kefeli's eyes—a vow that she would absolutely not forgive them.
"That's true, but that means most punishments are useless, aren't they?"
In a way, they are the ultimate masochistic group.
Akm says there's nothing to be done against such beings.
"That's exactly why we need a reversal of thinking. There is one, isn't there? A perfectly fitting punishment. Something so absurd it borders on malicious intent. We'll make effective use of that."
"No way."
But Kefeli pointed, as if it were perfect, at the gacha box that no one had touched since its installation.
"Ah, it's been completely neglected, but now we have these three as our gofers. We'll put them to good use."
"W-W-W-W-W-W-W-W-W-W-W-W-W-WAIT A MINUTE!!!"
The requests, being from gods, were full of absurdities, which is why they had been ignored. But with a substitute available, the situation changes.
"Goddess of Wisdom, Kefeli! Are you okay with that?! Those requests were ones we carefully crafted and submitted to you!!"
"I don't care. They seemed nothing but frivolous. Besides, didn't I say? Anything short of death is permitted."
The Festival God Denden, sensing something dreadful, shouted and tried to stop her.
Because he had glimpsed the bundle of papers Kefeli was holding.
Kefeli's expression as she held that bundle seemed to have fallen to the dark side—a suspicious glint in her eyes, a smile suggesting she was scheming something interesting.
"Damn you!! 'Anything' doesn't mean anything!"
The Hedonism God Bababe, desperately arching his body to try and see above, recognized those papers.
"Oh?"
That's why they were desperately trying to stop her.
"They seem to have written some quite impressive things. Let's see... 'I want you to strip and do a belly dance for me'... I see."
She looked down at them with a gaze usually reserved for scum, showing them the first page as if to say, this is what I'm talking about.
Her eyes clearly said, what's so funny about this? As she read it aloud, Meter and Pufful's eyes also turned to looks usually reserved for insects.
A cold sweat ran down the faces of those who remembered writing such things.
"Hmm. Well then, I'll have Bababe perform this request somewhere where no one is watching, and I'll collect the payment."
"Wha—?!"
"Ah, don't worry. I'll make sure to secure a performance time, and I'll let the gods know the venue is hazardous. Maybe a few curious onlookers might show up."
"That's the toughest thing for a performer!! You mean no pay, right?!"
"If you're that energetic, you seem capable of many other things. I'm grateful. Thanks to you, it looks like I can spin the gacha."
One after another, she decided to have Bababe perform other vulgar requests unfit for a goddess.
Bababe's body is slender—not the kind where taking clothes off reveals something impressive; it's genuinely thin.
Who would want to see such a withered body dance? And as a result of complaints, all the requests made as jokes simply because they seemed interesting ended up falling on him.
"Next, Denden."
"Y-yes."
These three are the strongest when it comes to enjoying anything, but that前提 requires an audience—a third party.
If you make them act together, they can liven up the occasion and enjoy themselves.
Therefore, Goddess Kefeli thought, make them act alone, and furthermore, make them do it for no compensation.
"Ah, this is perfect. There was a request to make a photo album of the Western one. Hmm, does the Western one want to make it?"
"I absolutely refuse."
"N-no way."
"So he says. Then instead, you'll make your own photo album and sell them all. Let's see... ten thousand copies—no, I'll be generous. Sell one hundred thousand copies. Distributing them for free is prohibited. And until you finish that, doing anything else is prohibited. Ah, don't worry. I've asked the other gods who were also fooling around to handle your miscellaneous duties, so there's no hindrance to world management."
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!?"
She further restricted their actions, imposing impossible demands.
Denden, like a caterpillar in a cocoon, writhed and screamed.
His body, due to loving festivals and partying a bit too much—eating, drinking, and making merry—had a rather protruding belly.
Would any god actually buy a photo album exposing that body?
"Ah, don't worry. I have something for you too."
Wondering how long they could endure such hell, with a sadistic smile still on her face, she turned to the remaining god, the Trickster God Clown.
He flinched, then flashed a smarmy, ingratiating smile.
"I have a job just right for you."
"Hehehe. And what kind of job might that be?"
"Oh, just a request for a little workplace environment improvement."
Wary of what kind of request might come up, he was momentarily relieved to hear something that sounded normal, but then冷静に thought better of it.
Would the Goddess of Wisdom Kefeli, furious to this extent, let him off with such an easy-sounding request?
"It's a request from angels working in the harshest department managing souls after death. The workplace is dark, suffocating, communicating with superiors is life-threatening. They need a middle manager to brighten the place up."
Kefeli smiled a beautiful, brilliant smile, then opened her eyes—and the smile didn't reach them. She showed him the request form.
It was from the most severe, cold-hearted, rational god among all.
The one whose role is to sort and purify the souls of sinners, called Hell.
The God of the Underworld, the Judge God of Hell.
"U-um. You mean where Hury is, right?"
"No, it's where Godorume is."
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!?"
As a last resort, he asked if it was the "white" workplace managing the place where pure souls are sent, but Kefeli denied it with a smile that didn't reach her eyes.
His assignment was to the number one workplace gods least want to work at—so dreaded that even a trickster god screamed in genuine terror.
"ANYWHERE BUT THERE! ANYWHERE BUT THEEEERE!!"
"I told you, didn't I? I have permission to do anything short of killing you. Just do your best to work hard. If you're lucky, it might be over in about a thousand years."
With that, Kefeli deployed magic to cut the ropes suspending them one by one.
"STOOOOP IIIIIT!!!"
A teleportation circle opened directly below the screaming three.
"That gate is specially made by the God of Contracts. Passing through it will bind you to a contract. You cannot refuse, and you must fulfill your duties. If you don't want to, just refuse."
As if not hearing their desperate struggles and screams, Kefeli casually cut the ropes. Their resistance futile, the three were swallowed by the gate, bound by the contract, and the space fell silent.
"Well, now it's quiet. Time to get back to my reading."
Returning to her usual spot, Kefeli paid no mind to the stares of the other four gods, who looked as if they had witnessed something horrific, and began reading a story about a mysterious being and a girl who eat puzzles.