The God Hachiman of Rhozgelia
New Faces
There.
This little green necromancer is asleep.
I throw the book that I've been reading down to the floor, and a small gate opened, instantly transporting it back to my Grand Library. I walk slowly towards the tiny figure sleeping under the blanket, her green hair is all that's visible. After kneeling right in front of her and listening to her heartbeat and breathing, I summon a tiny familiar that's the size of my hand. It's basically a floating eyeball with white wings reminiscent to that of a dove's. I command it to stay at the corner of the ceiling, and immediately notify me if any intruders enter the room. After giving her one last look, I go into my ghostly form and fly back towards the tavern that we ate at this morning. I don't bother materializing my wings since I can fly just as fine without them.
It's a full moon tonight, or moons rather. Full Moons. Unlike my other world, this planet had two moons orbiting it. I don't exactly know how large this planet is compared to my former home, but it must be substantially bigger since our moons have tiny moons that orbit them as well. I slowly cleared the sky above with a wave of my hand, pushing back the clouds that hid the night sky, and revealing the two moons and countless stars.
I stopped in the alley behind, and revealed myself. Even though there weren't many people in the street, I would much rather stay safe than to spread a rumour about a stranger suddenly appearing in the air. The tavern only had few patrons, and when I made eye contact with the maids, they nodded at me. I proceed to go up to the second level to a private room where one was waiting for me, and ushered me inside.
The room served as a private quarters to those who wish to speak without being overheard by unwanted ears. So with the said, it had to be at least fancy and catered to the eyes of those few who could afford coming here. One of the maids bowed when I entered, although she was slightly surprised at my attire. I was still in my leather hunter's garb after all, being taken aback by it is expected.
She is pretty. Medium-length and wavy light brown hair that had curls at the tips, she was not wearing a transparent veil over the lower half of her face nor the hood and cloth on her head. She must be at the same age as the form that I am taking right now. The long and pure white robe that she is wearing had green vines with red and yellow floral designs.
She fidgets under my gaze and has an awkward smile. "S-Sir… Is there something wrong?"
I shake my head and cross my legs, eyeing the alcohol that is served on the table, and adjust my seating position on the soft couch that I am sitting on. Cheap wine…
"No. Nothing, I was expecting someone…older." I say.
It was for a very brief moment, but my eyes catch her own ones twitch in annoyance. "A-Ah, yes I get that quite frequently… But rest assured Sir, that as the most well-known information broker in this town, I will do my best to answer all of your questions." She says with pride and puffs out her chest.
"I see…well…" I take a quick look outside the window where the two moons were peeking at us, as if eavesdropping. "I have many things to ask, I was away for quite some time you see. To a place very far away… When I came back, everything was so different."
She tilts her head to the side. "Sir, if I may, where are you from?"
I give her a wink and put a finger to my mouth. "That is a secret."
"As you say… How about your name? Or do you want me to just address you as 'Sir' for tonight?" She asks and I give her a nod.
"What about you? What is your name?"
She smiles, and stands up while putting her right arm over her chest and bows. "My name is Sumiya Yuuko. My parents own some establishments here in Ludtz."
Sumiya…Yuuko… That is a pretty name.
The girl called Sumiya Yuuko sits down, quite satisfied at her own introduction.
"I see you, have a beautiful name." She blushes and nods at me. "Well, now that we have done the necessary formalities, do you mind if we begin?"
Sumiya Yuuko nods again, and places her hands on her lap. "Of course."
Now that I think about it. I feel out of place among the mercenaries and other adventurers here…
Not because of what I'm wearing, or that I have no visible weapon on me.
But because I am the only one who is bringing along a child.
Rushia holds my hand tighter and stands even closer to me. Many eyes are on her, curious as to why she's here. That reason alone is enough to make her feel uncomfortable and refuse to leave my side. After going on horseback for a few hours, we finally arrived some distance away from the abandoned fort that the escaped convicts used as their base. We are situated far enough where they can't spot us as the Captain of the Town Guard explained his plan.
There are more people here than I expected… A few groups of adventures in their teams or 'parties'. I sense a few magic casters among them, but nothing impressive.
Among them are several strange and peculiar ones.
A short girl with a wide oversized brimmed hat carrying a staff taller than her. She wore an eyepatch over her left eye. Earlier, I was curious as to what had happened to it, so I used my enhanced vision to see through it. Stupidly, her eye has no damage and is perfectly working fine. She is wearing it solely for the aesthetic appeal. What caught my attention was that her magical energy was focused PURELY on destruction magic. Literally only one spell.
She was accompanied by a blonde woman in armour and a very uninteresting average human who served as their leader.
I sensed something from their last member, something that I never expected to sense from anyone else aside from my siblings.
She is a goddess possessing Divinity over the waters. And a shameless one too, her skirt is ridiculously short, and she wears no undergarments. What a disgrace. What was even stranger was the fact that she is not possessing a vessel, she is in her pure form. She is cursed to walk in the mortal plane for something she had done in the past. I don't remember having a sister like this. Mother must have produced more Gods and Goddesses while I was gone… But her divine aura and essence is different.
My original and unrestrained form, as well as those of my sibling's, is pure energy. We have no bodies of our own, and only choose to be in one when in the presence of our followers and worshippers. If I were to reveal my form right now, these people would turn to dust.
She does not notice me.
Rushia pulls on my leather jerkin, and whispers to me in a low voice. "Nii? You've been staring at those people for a while." I ruffle her hair, and she smiles with delight.
"Oh, I thought they were strange. Especially the blue one."
She blinks and then cranes her head to their direction. I feel her eyes stay on the blue one, before eyeing the others with curiosity. "Nii, are they foreigners? They don't look like Rhozgelians with those clothes…"
"Yeah, I think so too." I nod with agreement to her. I have never seen those types before. They must be from the other continents across the sea. The war that tore this country apart, was mostly contained to this continent. She looks at them in wonder, especially at the blue one. It's understandable since Rhozgelian women don't reveal such a ridiculous amount of skin.
Without another word, she starts climbing on my back and sits on my shoulders. It earned amused-looks from the people around, especially the female adventurers. Rushia pulls on my hair and the tip of my ear. "Nii, why'd we have to ride those horses earlier? Why didn't we just fl-"
I raise my arms and instantly cover her mouth. I slowly moved farther to group and opened a telepathic link with her.
"Rushia, what did I tell you? I told you not to say that I can do stuff like that."
She makes a motion with her arm and reminds herself that we can communicate like this. "OKAY SORRY! I THOUGHT THAT IT WOULD BE COOL IF YOU SHOW OFF YOUR WINGS!"She screams back at me, not knowing how loud she sounded in my head.
"Try not to forget, okay?"
"OKAY! BUT IT WOULD'VE BEEN FASTER IF WE FLEW THOUGH!"
"Yes yes I know… Anyway, did you listen to the plan?"
I feel her shake her head, which causes me to sigh in exasperation."NOPE!"
"I see. Well just follow me and we'll be fine."
We talk for a few moments, while I hand her food from our bag. Hers is back at the inn where the owners are holding it for us. I am still silently opening gates and deactivating the glowing lights that they emit. She still has not asked as to why I can keep on taking food from my bag infinitely.
I sense a presence approach me. It was a tiny black feline creature, one that I have never seen before. The most interesting feature is its black bat-like wings and a red cross marking on its forehead. I peer into the depths of its mind and greet it, and it shrieked at me in surprise. To stop it from getting agitated further, I get a piece of meat from my Gate and throw it at the thing.
It smells it cautiously, before sitting down and starts eating comfortably.
"Chomusuke! Don't run off like that!" I hear a little girl's voice. It was the girl from earlier that belonged to the team of four. Her black cloak fluttering behind her as she runs towards us while holding her black staff. Her other three companions are following a small distance away.
Rushia stiffens at the newcomer, and I feel her body getting alert. She should really learn to calm down around strangers…
'Chomusuke', tells me that this girl is her master, and continues happily eating the meat while her wings flapped with delight.
The girl straightens up when she sees me, and put two and two together.
"I'm sorry. Did Chomusuke bother you Sir?" She says in a polite manner and looks at Rushia on my shoulders who is eating a large block of cheese without a care in the world.
"No, she did nothing of sort." I reply and face her properly instead of just turning to her.
I am a God but speaking to someone like that is disrespectful. She may be a foreigner in my domain, but that does not mean that I will treat her differently.
Before I could start speaking again, Rushia surprises me by beating me to it. "Nee-san, why are you wearing an eyepatch? Did you hurt your eye?"
The newcomer look at Rushia, and then starts laughing. "Fuahahahahahaha! Quite an observant one! Yes, I do wear this eyepatch! The reason is because it holds back my sealed power that could destroy the world!"
"Woah! Really?!" The little girl on my shoulders exclaims, before letting go and hopping back onto the ground. When she did so, her bright red eyes shone with childlike wonder. "That's cool!"
I arch a brow at her, and take another peek at her eye.
It holds nothing of sort.
Liar.
Behind her, the other three have finally caught up and are looking at us curiously. The very uninteresting and average-looking young man steps forward and hits the girl on the head with his hand.
"Megumin! Keep a leash on that stupid cat! If it runs off again, I swear I'm going to eat it!" He says in a loud voice. There was no malice in them, these four must be very close friends.
"Hey! Don't say that!" 'Megumin', fires back and bumps heads with him, "That's awful! Chomusuke is a part of our team!" To ease the tension, the tall blonde woman with a sword fastened at her hip puts calming hand on both of their heads.
"Now now, Kazuma, Megumin. The two of you should keep quiet, we might get kicked out by the Captain if the two of you make a ruckus." She says, which makes them stop and take a step from each other. "I understand that you're hungry, but-"
The boy called 'Kazuma', turns around and glares threateningly at the blue haired girl who is trying to sneak away. He proceeds to yank her scarf towards him, causing a yelp from her.
"If it hadn't been for this stupid Goddess, we wouldn't be starving right now!" He says and pushes a finger on her forehead. She has a guilty expression on her face while looking to the side and avoiding everyone's gaze.
"I-It's not my fault that those beasts ate our provisions! Blame them not me!" She says and kicks his leg, causing him to kneel from the pain.
"Yeah but you were the one who tied it loosely in the first place!" To get back at her, he takes her long scarf and uses it to choke her. The other two members start to pull them off of each other, while clouds of dust are being thrown in the air. Rushia uses her robe to cover her nose while petting Chomusuke.
Goodness, this group is such a mess. These two in particular are like rowdy siblings…
As if suddenly noticing us for the first time. They stop and look at us. I hold their gaze until they compose themselves more formally and 'Megumin' starts explaining what had happened. 'Kazuma' looks at Rushia, and then to me, he looks like he wants to say something.
"Is this little girl with you in carrying about this mission?"
I nod as Rushia comes back to my side and hides behind me. "Yes, is there a problem?"
He is taken aback by my response, I must have said it with too much of a warning undertone. "No. I'm just wondering why someone young like her is here…"
I shrug and look down to pat Rushia's head. "She is quite capable. Now then, you have not introduced yourselves yet…" I say.
He straightens his back, and the others do the same. "Oh yes! Sorry for the rudeness! My name is Satou Kazuma." He says and does a slight bow. He only has a short sword, and I do not sense much magic from him.
"I am Darkness. Pleased to meet you." The tall armoured blonde is the next one. I am not sure, but her speech pattern is similar to that from a noblewoman's. She seems to be more combat oriented, and I do a quick survey of her muscle density after peering past her first layer of armour. Hmph, this girl is stronger than she looks. She is also the oldest of the four.
"I am Megumin!" The short girls exclaims, and furls her cloak dramatically. "I am an Arch Wizard, foremost among the Crimson Demons!" Oh, an Arch Wizard. That explains her stupidly high offensive magic output. I look forward to seeing her in battle.
The lack of horns on her head says otherwise. But then again, these are foreigners. Their concept of 'Demons' must be different.
Lastly, the beautiful Goddess flings her hair and puts a hand on her hip. She looks quite lovely, the appeal that she has is undoubtedly coming from a Goddess. Mortals cannot sense it, only a fellow Divine can. The pink floating cloth on her neck possesses some Divinity as well, it must be a Divine Relic tied to her. My Presence Concealment casts a cloak over me Divine side, and is enhanced several hundred times, while being boosted by my other Self.
"I am Aqua." A long white staff appears on her hand, with the top having the likeness of a flower with pink petals. I felt power resonate from her words, she is definitely a genuine Goddess.
I give them a nod and pat Rushia's head, who is still clinging to me. "This is one here is Rushia. She might not look like it but she is an alchemist and can summon familiars at will."
"As for me…." I quickly start thinking of a temporary alias, but not just any name, something that is related to me, at least. I decide to choose a name to honour my home from beyond the stars. A name that I somehow know by heart, possibly by the foreign Divinity that I possess. I feel that it is a relevant and very powerful name, perhaps it is from a country who worshiped me or something similar to that.
"You may call me Genji…"
Another group of strangers stand before us… Rushia and I have been grouped together with Satou Kazuma's party. Two other groups are with us. The first one was a rather peculiar group. A Lizardman Priest, a High Elf Archer, a Dwarf Shaman and a Human Priestess led by a fellow clad in worn-out armour. He must be the leader because of the aura and demeanor that he gives off.
The Priestess in particular… I sense Mother's blessing. She must be an Acolyte of the revered Church that worships her. She has quite a following in every major city, even my treacherous siblings left her Temples and places of worship untouched. Thankfully, her own one in The Capital is inside mine, and is still in pristine condition. It was the first thing that I visited after I broke down.
Mother has been silent, and does not reply when I call out to her. That in itself is extremely worrying.
The last time that she was like that was during our First War with the Old Deus. They were the first beings that she created, but were violent and tore this world asunder.
That was where We came along. My siblings and I destroyed and absorbed them, and imprisoned the rest. I myself, broke Artosh piece by piece and made his power my own. I let a small part of him remain to humiliate him for all eternity. He is under a mountain, imprisoned in a Dragon's skull, surrounded by ice and fire and sealed with innumerable barriers made by Mother herself. As for my other captive, the Divine and Demonic Beast known as Hakumen-no-Mono, I tore his nine tails and scattered them across the continent. His head is in the middle of the desert in the east, whilst his main body was at the bottom of a great lake held in place by eight indestructible and massive pillars.
Ah, I went off topic…
"Satou Kazuma…"
He turns to me while munching on a piece of roasted chicken that I got from my bag earlier. He, as well as the other members of his team, were more than happy to receive some food from me. They questioned how I can pull an such an unbelievable amount from such a small bag, but giving them even more food made them keep silent.
"Oh, what is it, Genji-san?"
"Go talk to them and ask them if they know the plan. Make sure they know so we won't screw up later."
Satou Kazuma was about to protest, but was quickly taken by the arm by his companion Darkness. I am still convinced that she is a Noble, and knows not to be rude to someone who just helped them out. Rushia was still sitting on my shoulder, munching on a large piece of boiled potato when I left a portion of my consciousness to prepare something inside my mind.
Good grief… If my siblings were to hear of this, I will be the laughing stock of everyone for the next few centuries…
I hear a ping inside me and then her voice comes soon after.
"Nii, you're scary…"
I crane my head upwards, just enough to see her eye to eye. "What makes you say that Rushia?"
"I sensed tension in your mind when he was about to protest. I thought you were about to do something Nii."
"Hmm…" I put a hand under my chin and start thinking over her words. Satou Kazuma was speaking to the other group, accompanied by Darkness. "I see… Well, if I ever come close to that, do be a dear and remind me, okay?"
"OKAY~!" She says cheerfully, notwithstanding how incredibly loud she sounded in my mind at the last moment. Chomusuke is on top of her head yawning since her belly is quite full. The Goddess and the Arch Wizard is too my right, and I can sense how the sudden quiet made them feel awkward. From the corner of my eye, she turns and calls my attention.
"Um, excuse me, Genji-san…?"
I nod at her to continue after properly facing her. She stares into my eyes, and then into Rushia's. "This may sound strange, but are you a descendant of a Crimson Demon?"
Her question confuses me, and Rushia and I tilt our heads to the side at the same time. "What do you mean?"
"Hoh!" She says proudly, and makes a pose to emphasize her eyes. "Crimson Demons are very strong Mages! Stronger than the common rabble that you see among adventurers! Aside from that, our redeeming features are our hair black as night, and our bright crimson eyes!"
She steps forward, and stands on her tiptoes. "Your eyes are a beautiful shade of crimson! The best that I've seen! But, you are heterochromic. The left one is crimson, while the right one is gold."
I frown.
Blasted, I must have forgotten to maintain the colour and used the wrong one…
I shake my head and close my eyes, causing Rushia to yelp in surprise. She grabs my hair but it does not hurt in the slightest. Once I open my eyes again, and she immediately has a look of astonishment on her face. "You are quiet mistaken, both of my eyes are red, or crimson or whatever you might call them."
She takes a step back and points an accusing finger at me. "That's impossible! You were heterochromic, I'm sure of it! You used some form of magic to alter yourself!"
I poke Rushia's leg to get her attention. "Rushia? Am I heterochromic?"
"Hetero…huh?"
"It means one eye having a different colour from the other."
"No, your eyes were always red, Nii." She smiles after I give her a wink.
I smirk at the little Arch Wizard in front and put a hand on my hip. "See? Now with that matter settled, is it fine if I ask several questions?" She looks like she wanted to say more and narrows her eyes at me, but sighs and nods reluctantly. The Goddess behind her was listening in on our conversation.
"Where are you from? You lot don't look like natives in this land."
My query causes her to look to her other partner, and after nodding, turns back to me once more. "We come from across the sea. We are adventurers, but now we're like refugees…" She has a sullen expression on her face and says with a heavy heart.
The continents across the sea? My kin never bothered going beyond our continent…
"Oh? Is it fine to tell me what happened?"
She clenches her hand tighter around her staff and looks down. "The Demon Lord took over, many of us were no match… So once defeat was inevitable, we fled."
The Demons huh… They never gained a foothold here and retreated back underground. Perhaps their Demons are different from what we know? I have heard stories of a kind, very similar to the definition from my other world but I have never seen them.
"I see, well this land is in disarray as well. The central authority is gone, and much of the remaining cities after the war kept to themselves… No one knows where the ruling family is."
"I have heard that the God here disappeared many years ago, is that true?"
I am right in front of you…
"Yes. Hachiman-sama disappeared and The Capital was ravaged. But I had heard rumours that some weeks back, there was a brilliant white light that suddenly came into being in the direction of the city. It lasted for several days, before vanishing just as quickly. Many tried to go and see what had happened, but The Capital is already teeming with countless of wild beasts that only a platinum-ranked adventurer can handle. Drakes, Basilisks, Wyrms, Manticores, Slimes the size of houses… Many expeditions have been sent over almost two hundred years, none returned." I say, and she nodded and took in the new information.
Those creatures were attracted to me. I had only realized some time after I arrived when more and more started entering the city. After my disappearance and The Capital was abandoned, they went there because their natural environments were destroyed because of war. And also because they thought that I will protect them. I was gone but a residue from my influence still remained. I learned from the information broker, Sumiya Yuuko, that the white light that many saw even from Lutdz was, in fact, me. When I reentered this world, to me it was only several seconds before I manifested in my Temple. But to the other denizens it was several days.
"What about you Genji-san? Have you been there?"
I shake my head, and I feel Rushia do the same as well. "No I haven't. It's very far, perhaps a month and a half of travel at least."
The Goddess goes to Megumin's side to join in the conversation. "Anyway, what can you do? You already said that this little girl is an alchemist and can summon familiars, but what about you?" She gets an elbow from Megumin, saying that she sounded too rude. I raise my hand to tell them that it's fine.
"I have a few as well."
"She arches a brow at me. "What about a weapon? I don't see one on you."
"Ah, about that…" I clap my hands together, and slowly separated them. On my fingertips were extremely thin golden strings that glowed and hummed with power. "I don't need weapons when I have this."
To demonstrate, I point at a nearby boulder about thrice the size of me. I lazily waved my extended hand at it in a horizontal direction, while flexing my ring and pointer fingers. A second later, it collapsed in on itself as thousands upon thousands of tiny square-shaped pebbles rolled to our feet. The two girls, even Rushia and Chomusuke, were wide-eyed.
"W-Wow…"
"T-That was amazing… It went through like it was nothing."
Satou Kazuma, Darkness and the other group was walking towards us. "Oh looks like it's time to get a move on." I call their attention as they examined the pebbles that still glowed and sizzled from the heat. Megumin took one into her hand, but yelps and immediately let go of it since it was still very hot. It looks like she burned her hand and Aqua is currently tending to her.
"So don't worry about me. I can handle myself just fine."
"A cave…" I whisper under my breath. It's on the other side of the small clearing in the woods.
"It seems so." The tight-lipped man says beside me as we hid behind the bushes.
I smell the air and frown. "Not uncommon for brigands to make this their hideout, but I feel something wrong." He nods at my words and begins moving away some blades of grass on the ground.
"The Captain says that this is a cave system but much of is is unexplored and runs deep." I say and take whiff from the air again. The others were a small distance behind us, waiting for our signal. My companion is only referred to as "Goblin Slayer". He is armoured from head to toe, with his joints exposed and layered with leather and chainmail for protection and mobility. On his left arm was a small shield and a short sword on the same side but on his waist.
We decided to scout the place ourselves when the messenger from the main group failed to arrive on time. All of us were divided into several groups. Goblin Slayer is a very cautious individual. As we were on our way here, he would stop and check the ground for tracks, as well as the bushes and the low hanging branches above us.
"I thought the place was a fort? Why are we going inside a cave?"
He slowly shakes his head and shrugs. "Perhaps this is a secret entrance…" He replies and from his voice alone, he sounds confused as well.
I don't like this.
If I let my wings manifest right now, my feathers would be standing on its ends.
"The little one… Why did you bring someone like her here?"
The High Elf Archer and the Priestess were surprised that Rushia was coming with us. The two of them, and the three girls from Satou Kazuma's team, immediately declared that they would keep her safe. Wait until she starts summoning her familiars…I had taught her quite a few. I'm sure that they will be quick to change their minds.
"Well, she has nowhere else to go. I can't leave her to strangers back at the town now can I?" I show him my hand, and the glowing strings revealed themselves. "I am stronger than I look."
He nods. "Yes, you made it quite clear after your demonstration…" He says as I continue to forms different kinds of shapes using the strings and by summoning more.
I use life sense, and confirm that the entrance and several meters inside is decrepit of any living thing. It was a low-frequency spell, but the Goblin Slayer turns to me because of his proximity to the source.
"What was that? Was it you?"
I nod. "Yes. It's clear for us to go."
"..."
Slowly and cautiously, we walk together towards the entrance. The both of us were unfazed when bats flew past our faces. I smell the air again, and from the corner of my eye, the Goblin Slayer readies his torch, as well what seems to be a vial containing some liquid. I can see quite fine in the dark, and the path is clear until it starts turning.
"..."
"What is that stench?"
I hear him take a deep breath because of my enhanced hearing, if I focus enough, I can hear the beating of his heart. He is calm, as if something like this is an everyday occurrence.
"Goblins."
Congratulations to everyone who can name all the references XD