Chapter 2422 - Mynoghra 15

Chapter 14: And so Begins the Game of the Gods

A man was on his knees in the middle of the empty wastelands.

"Oh man, that was scaaaaaaaaaryyyyyyy!!!" he cried.

His face was taut and twitching, giving away how stressed he felt. Or rather, it was clear he'd just escaped from an incredibly undesirable and uncomfortable situation.

He looked around sixteen to eighteen years old, wore a black Japanese-style high school uniform, and had an ornate katana sheathed at his waist. The young man was clearly not from this world.

He couldn't stop thinking about the conversation he'd just escaped from and shouted "Seriously, scaaaryyyyyy!" at the dusty ground for the second time before finally regaining some semblance of calm and unsteadily pushing himself off the dirt.

Remembering the events that had led to him defeating the Demon Lord and becoming an interloper had him cursing his god for putting him in such an awkward situation.

"What the hell was that whole bit about 'I want you to go and rescue a sweet and beautiful pair of young ladies whose lives are in danger!' They weren't in danger AT ALL! Going only made them angry! Stupid screw-up god!" he vented up at the skies.

The way he stomped his feet as he ranted was quite like a clown putting on a comedy act. But he'd made some remarks that couldn't be overlooked, and they caused the person who was listening in to widen their eyes with surprise.

Yes, God was real.

God was the being who'd sent the man to this world.

God was the being who'd granted him his powers.

God was the being with a specific objective.

God was the being who had introduced themself as a patron.

The mysterious being the young man had met had introduced themself as God and gave him a second chance at life to resolve some sort of screw-up they'd committed.

His memories of his past life ended abruptly when two bright lights came blaring down at him. Before he even had a chance to process that he'd probably died, God told him the facts and granted him a second life and tremendous power as an apology.

Ever since that encounter in that world of endless white, he'd been reluctantly obeying God's orders. Most of God's requests were inconsistent and aimless things like "Defeat some random monsters that appeared in the distance however you like" and "Try running at full speed." It was as if the young man were a new toy a child had gotten their hands on for the first time and wasn't quite sure how to play with it yet.

Of course, he still had free will, so he could've run away whenever he wanted. But he reluctantly played along because he had a certain level of respect for the being who'd given him a second life, and he was genuinely concerned about the lack of civilization in the deserted lands he found himself in. It could also be said that he felt he owed God a debt of gratitude too.

And it's then that God finally gave me my first meaningfulsounding quest, the young man thought.

It was none other than the being who self-identified as God who'd asked him to defeat the Demon Lord. It beseeched him, saying that it was very important he do this, and fast. But look at the mess it got him into when he actually followed through with the request.

Apparently, he was a completely unwanted and unneeded third party to that battle, and the three pretty girls he'd encountered treated him with disdain and looks that could kill. His old self probably would've apologized profusely with a strained smile, his knees knocking together the whole time. In that regard, he felt momentarily grateful to God for strengthening his mental fortitude but quickly shook his head.

I wouldn't have been in that sucky position if that screw-up of a god hadn't given me bad instructions! he lamented. Everything I did backfired.

"Welp, I guess I was sorta at fault too. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't hoping for the typical development to unfold when I rescued a cute girl…and that's why I leaped before I looked."

He was an avid reader and connoisseur of anime, manga, and movies. Of all the media he'd consumed, isekai was the most popular genre, which always revolved around being summoned or reincarnated into another world.

Most isekai stories follow the same formula: the protagonist gets to live a second life in another world, where they overcome hardship and go on great adventures to rise up and leave their mark on their new world. The protagonist of those stories is almost always accompanied by a harem of beautiful girls and women. Some of the most popular series crossed his mind when he'd received God's request, and he thought he might get to live out his greatest fantasies…but it wasn't to be.

"But it's all that worthless God's fault for putting the idea in my head by saying, 'The girls you rescue will fall in love with you at first sight and won't be able to keep their pretty hands off you!' Dang it! He totally had me fooled! In all of my past life, I never once received as wilting of a look as those three girls gave me just now. This seriously sucks!"

At any rate, reality seemed to have been a bit harsh on him. The cute girls he was supposed to rescue didn't need any rescuing and actually looked like they were going to kill him for butting in. The girls of this world seemed to be significantly stronger than in the books he loved. Then again, he still felt like he'd been tricked into earning their ire…

"I'm pissed!" he shouted as he remembered God was the source of his miserable experience. "Heeeey! Crappy God! Get your butt out here! Show yourself and clearly explain things! I can't accept this crappy outcome, you big fat loser!" he shouted some more.

There was no response, as if his words never reached their intended target. This was what happened every single time God didn't want to deal with him. The young man angrily stomped his feet some more as he thought about how flippant God was.

"Maaaaster!"

It was during his tantrum that someone appeared in the middle of the Uncharted Territory's otherwise empty wastelands.

"Hm? Oh, it's you, ■■■."

"Yes, indeedy! It's your lovely slave, ■■■."

This girl was the first person he'd met in this world. She seemed to be a slave girl God had scrounged up from somewhere for him, and she obeyed his every order as if she were a baby chick following its parent around. The young man was plenty dissatisfied with God, but he let a lot of things slide because of this girl. When all was said and done, he was just like any other man: extraordinarily weak when it came to a cute girl who worshipped him.

"Oh yeah, you've been hiding all this time, right? You're not hurt anywhere, are you?"

"I'm just dandy. I was protected by God's mysterious superpowers!"

"Did that dumb perv say anything? Wait, you weren't violated, were you?!"

"Um, I do have a message for you. It goes something like 'My bad, tehe ♪.'"

"Next time I see 'em, they're done for…"

The girl wryly smiled as she nodded along with the man. Either she sympathized with his anger or was equally fed up with God's goas-you-please attitude.

"Well…I am grateful for the cheat powers I got outta this. Ahh, man, guess reality doesn't play out like a novel, does it?"

"Cheeeeet powerzzz? What's that, master? Oh no! Look ou—"

There was a quiet chhk sound. By the time the girl realized that was the sound of the katana being returned to its sheath, the Hill Giant that had been hungrily looking at them from behind a boulder fell to the ground in two halves.

"Oh, it's all good. Don't ya worry. He's already done for."

The whole thing happened faster than the eye could see. The threat was eliminated before the girl could inform her master about the Hill Giant hiding behind the boulder behind him. He'd casually unleashed a slash attack at such a godly speed that it could be considered an Ultimate Attack, a Special Move, or even a Super Move.

"O-Oh my gosh! That was sic, master! You're so amazing!"

"Haha. That was nothing. Overpowered cheat's gonna do what overpowered cheats do."

He bashfully scratched his cheek at her excessive praise. Meanwhile, the girl was so excited by the glimpse she caught of her master's infinite power that she hopped up and down. Watching her absolutely adorable and innocent reaction helped to quell the man's simmering rage until he didn't care anymore. He had a lot of grief he wanted to take out on God, but just being with this girl was enough to appease him.

He wordlessly looked beyond the horizon. There were no signs of life as far as the eye could see in the wastelands, only rocks and boulders. But even if he didn't have anywhere specific to go, he still needed to keep moving. He had no reason to stay put, after all.

"Okay…where to?"

"To the north seems good to me, master?" the slave girl given to him by God suggested with a soft smile.

The young man didn't have any particular direction he felt inclined to go in, and the God who should be giving him instructions seemed to be avoiding any kind of contact with them. Since he didn't care where he went, he decided to go with her suggestion.

"Good idea… Shall we do that, then?"

"Yes! I will go wherever you do, master!"

As long as he moved, he should eventually end up somewhere. And even if he didn't, God would contact him when something came up. After all…he and God had a shared goal.

"Uggh, next time I see that crappy jokester of a God, I'm gonna put 'em through a ten-thousand-hour-long lecture… I mean, me?

Save the world? Is that even possible?"

"If it's you, master, then anything's possible! You're oh so very strooong, after all!"

The girl didn't miss a beat when it came to praising him.

He patted her beautiful black hair as he thought her expectations were a little too heavy for him.

"I always thought I wanted to become like an overpowered protagonist from anime and light novels, but actually becoming one is a lot harder than it looks…"

The slave girl merely flashed a carefree grin in response to her master's comment. There was no doubt in their minds that he would triumph and excel. Although they had no basis for thinking that way, his strength just seemed that infinite…

"But it's worth giving it a shot, anyway!"

"Absolutely, my master!"

And so the young man went forth. His deal with God was to fill the world with the light of justice. To control all the sky, all the sea, and all the earth, and drive out evil from this world. For that was what the Jokester God wanted from the young man who'd transmigrated to this world.

◇◇◇

AT the same time the Holy Kingdom of Qualia, an empire blessed by the Holy God Arlos, found itself victimized by the whims of an evil Witch, the likes of which even the Saints struggled to keep at bay…the second biggest holy empire in Idoragya, El-Nah Alliance of Elementals, also found its existence threatened like never before.

"Report! Several unidentified figures were spotted coming from the front!"

"Got it! Elemental Warriors, get in position to intercept an attack in front of Etroqual! Keep your eyes peeled!"

A man who seemed to be the commanding officer gave orders to the warriors based on the runner's report.

They were inside an extensive wooden fortress built within the Elven Forest, where the air was cool and pure, and the atmosphere had a certain kind of sacredness to it. The fortress was as tall as any castle's ramparts, and the number of Elemental Warriors stationed there seemed greater than the number of stars in the sky. The Elven Elemental Seals engraved everywhere shined a faint light to increase the strength of the fortress, and the materialized Greater Elementals patrolled the area like a swarm of sparkling fireflies.

This giant fortress that suddenly appeared in the forest depths was known as the Elves' Absolute Defense Site Etroqual. Every fortress is built with holding off enemies in mind. There was no way they'd constructed something of this scale for the fun of it. Etroqual was currently under enemy attack, as if to prove the point of this fortress' existence.

"The Vixens are here!!" one of the Elven Warriors shouted as he kept close watch over the front of the fortress with his bow drawn.

What had appeared from the woods was a group of beautiful women. Nay, their beauty was far too great to simply describe as beautiful. Their entrancing looks were so out of this world that it enthralled even the Elf men, who were surrounded by beautiful women daily. Something about the scent coming from their deliciously curvaceous bodies beguiled and tantalized the men despite knowing they were lusting after the enemy.

But the Elemental Warriors knew these sultry vixens were scarier than any monster. They had very distinct features that separated them from Humanoids: goat horns, bat wings, and serpentine tails unlike any that existed in this world.

They were a creature known as Succubus.

"One, two, three… Ah-aaah…♡!" the devilish woman leading the pack let out a pleased moan. "Whatever is a girl to do with sooooo many virile gentlemen?! I can't stop drooling…♡!"

Just hearing her utter those words caused the young Elves, who'd sortied from the fortress to intercept the vixens, to blush and grab their swelling nether regions.

A Greater Succubus can seduce a man with just the sound of her titillating voice.

That legend, which had been disregarded as nonsense, showed what it was really capable of the moment it became a reality.

"Still, this is the first time I've been welcomed by soooo many cuties ♡! Just how many dicks are there? It's turning me on just thinking about it ♡!"

The woman at the front stood out the most. She wore clothes that accentuated her curves and placed her hands in positions that invited naughty thoughts. She clearly didn't doubt her attractiveness for a second. She also wore distinctly different accessories from the others, which made her outfit even fancier.

From all appearances, she was the group's leader.

"Queen, it's not very classy to count the number of men by their dicks."

"Queen, pleeeeeease wipe up your drool before it dirties my shoes… Hngh."

A tall and short woman stepped forward on either side of the woman who was lusting after the Elf Warriors. They both appeared to be Succubus too.

The leader let out a sexy laugh in response to their nagging and flashed a sensual smile that would down any man.

She was the Queen Succubus, Vagia. This woman, known as the strongest of all the Succubus, was the root cause of the great cataclysm afflicting El-Nah and the subject of a strict order from the Tetrarchy Council to keep her contained at Etroqual.

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"You vile Succubus skank! Cease your sleazy games at once!" angrily bellowed Zais Tethroy, the commander of Etroqual and a promising candidate to become a future clan chief.

The Elves were in a more precarious situation than any of them ever imagined possible. They had spent too long trying to ascertain the status of their fellow clansmen that they'd failed to prevent the Succubus invasion from encroaching further into their territory. The Tetrarchy Council continued to reject any attempt to request aid from the Holy Kingdom of Qualia out of misplaced pride and consideration for their ally's equally precarious circumstances.

They had lost a great many clansmen as a result. Nay, their clansmen had been charmed to the other side. That terribly crude reality that seemed to exist solely to drag the proud and holy Elves through the mud infuriated Zais.

But no matter how angry the proud and noble Elves may be, their enemy certainly wasn't on the same wavelength.

"How could you call this a game, honeybun♡? We're just enjoying every minute of what it means to be alive♡!"

Queen Vagia struck a pose with a triumphant grin as if she were proud of her comeback. As she did, her outer garment exploded with a magical popping sound, revealing her voluptuous mounds. She was stripping…for no reason at all.

"Queen, you don't need to strip piece by piece."

"Queen, your b-boobies are showing! Hngh…"

Even Succubus seemed to have their own form of propriety, as the two attendants candidly scolded their queen. But the Succubus in question didn't listen to a word of it. Succubus were infamous for not listening to what anyone had to say, and Vagia was the queen of that too.

"Shameless trollop! Put some clothes on!"

Naturally, Zais had to make his disapproval known. Sure, he was shocked to see her clothes just pop off like that, but the greater issue was that he didn't know where to look. Odds were that he wouldn't be able to concentrate during the holy war about to take place.

Zais was a man like any other. Because he was a man, he wasn't confident he could keep his thoughts from wandering to more…tempting places. Such was the pathetic nature of the male sex.

"Oh no. You want me to cover up the girls? Could it be my knockers aren't as much of a knock-out as I thought? I'm in shock, boo♡!"

"No, I'm not saying they aren't alluring, but— That's not what matters here!"

"The twins and I are soooo relieved to hear that! Would you like to cop a feel? C'mon, just a little poke? They're begging for some attention♡!"

"Silence, you devilish minx! We aren't discussing your bosom right now!"

Zais was baffled by why he had to shout so much just to get his enemy to put some clothes on, but then he came back to his senses. He couldn't let her suck him into her pace. He'd be walking right into the palm of her hand if he continued to converse with her. That's how it happened to all his clansmen, too. Before they knew it, they were so charmed by her that they agreed with everything she said.

Even Zais was starting to find his affections growing for Vagia and her charming personality.

"Witch Vagia, Queen of Indecency… I will put a stop to your reign of vulgarity here and now! I, Zais Tethroy, shall save my clansmen from your wicked clutches per the way of the Elemental Laws set forth by the Tetrarchy Council!"

With his words, the Elemental Seals engraved into Etroqual behind him shined all the brighter. All the Elementals in the area gathered within the building like they were returning to their nest, and their brilliant glow eventually turned into a ray of light that shone down on Zais's body.

Words weren't needed between enemies who needed only to destroy each other.

Zais was implying that with his actions.

"You are bearing witness to a large-scale Elemental Rite known throughout the Elf clans. Not even a Witch like you can survive against this power that gathers all the Elementals and Magic in the area into me!"

"Tehehe. It's definitely given you a boost. I see, I see. So, you want to communicate with our bodies♡? I'm totes down for that, sugar cakes♡! Come at me, boy. This Succubus Queen Vagia will thoroughly, enjoyably measure your male prowess!"

Zais wielded his spear. Engraved with Elemental Seals, it received supplementary Magic Power from Etroqual and thrummed with swelling energy. The Elemental Warriors waiting behind Zais also brandished their weapons, and the Archers on top of the ramparts drew their bows.

"Come have your way with me, Elf boys."

"Mr. Elf…p-please be gentle with me."

"Ehehehe♡! Come have a good time with this busty lady♡!"

"Elementals! Grant us victory! Let us conquer these women, brave Elemental Warriors!"

"Ooooooh yeah!!!!" the Elemental Warriors bellowed in unison.

Zais became a ray of light and unleashed a strike backed by the full might of the Elementals at Vagia. The forest quivered from the shockwaves, sending birds flying from the trees. The overflowing force shook the ground, and the hammer of light undisputedly came down on the Witch. Every Elf felt certain of the future chief's victory, and even the Succubus stared on in shock.

But only Zais…

"…What the?!"

Only Zais…understood that his mighty thrust was prevented by something soft and jiggly.

"Suck my ultimate Boob Slap!"

"Hurrrrgh!!" Zais cried out as the impact from her Boob Slap sent him tumbling to the ground. His cheek swelled bright red, indicating how much more deadly the attack was than its namesake.

But Zais didn't give a hoot about that. There was something far more shocking to him than his aching cheek.

"Wh-What in the Saints just happened?! What did you—"

Zais staggered to his feet with the assistance of the Elf standing where he'd rolled to. Meanwhile, Vagia was still standing as relaxed as ever in front of him, without even a scratch where he'd thrust his full might into her beautiful bosom.

"Did you know: men can't win against boobs… It's a sad, sad fact♡!"

"Stop your mockery! We're talking about the divine protection granted by the Elementals! About the Elemental Rites! A strike that housed the power of every Elemental living in Etroqual! This can't be! You can't be standing there unscathed! You just can't!" Zais fumed with confusion. What he knew to be conventional wisdom was turned on its head just like that.

As he felt his convictions crumbling around him, Zais was dominated by a feeling akin to despair as he racked his brain for how he could possibly kill this Witch now.

Vagia quietly opened her plump lips as she watched him. "Erotic Succubus Official Correspondence Vol.14."

"…Huh? What was that?"

Zais couldn't resist asking her about it. This obviously wasn't the time or place for such dialogue, but she'd brought it up so randomly, it was hard to ignore. He also understood he hadn't a bloody clue what her words meant. What exactly was she trying to tell him?

As the man with enough talent to become a future clan chief was too dumbfounded to do much of anything, Vagia continued to speak.

"'The Succubus Queen is over level 90. Her attack strength is comparable to the latest aircraft carrier strike group, and not even a tactical nuke can breach her defense…' That's just an excerpt from page 56♡!"

"Ehr-kraft? Tak-tuh-kl nook? What in the Elven Forest is that?

What are you blathering about?!"

She'd revealed her combat abilities to be on a ridiculous level for any individual to possess, but her words were lost on Zais. This was another world. There was no way he could know about the weapons of mass destruction that rampaged in a world that ran on yet another set of rules.

Queen Vagia maintained her relaxed pose with her chest exposed and a smug grin on her pretty face. Her two attendants seemed to take pity on the overwhelmed Elf since they tried to put it into words he could understand.

"We are far more powerful than your wildest dreams, Elf boy."

"Mr. Elf, our races are on totally different levels, hngh."

Known as Noble Succubus, the two attendants calmly assessed their difference in strength and simply stated the facts. On the ground around them were the Elemental Warriors who'd charged in to attack with Zais. All of them had earned the position of Elemental Warrior through assiduous training and rigorous rituals. El-Nah's elites, who could fight on par with Qualia's Paladins, had been bested with ease even when they fought as a group.

This surreal fact drove home the gravity of the situation for Zais more than words could.

"Well, that about sums it up, hon♡! When I first saw this setting, I totes thought that the devs were morons for inserting it into an eroge! But porn-logic is surprisingly handy♡!"

Vagia was talking about where she was from and just what kind of being she was, but there wasn't a single person among the Elves who could possibly understand her. She told them because she knew they wouldn't understand.

"Especially since we've been summoned to such a dangerous world♡!"

Everyone started to laugh without knowing why. The bewitching laughter coming from the Succubi gradually gained momentum and spread through the Elves as it encircled them. Panic spread through the Elves as they sensed this lewd chorus that seduces even the most chaste of men was ringing in their defeat.

But no one, not one, ran away.

After all, they had all already been smitten beyond self-control by this group of unrealistically beautiful women.

"But that has nothing to do with you boys now. It has nothing to do with us right now either♡!"

Queen Vagia ushered forward the Succubi waiting behind her with a snap of her fingers. They were all smiling the way someone drunk on anticipation might as they eagerly waited for the queen to let the debauchery commence.

The wait was over as the merciless queen declared the start of the feast devoted to every pleasure in the known world.

"Ladies, it's dinner time! Show these Elves a good time that'd put even the most niche and fetish-filled adult video to shame!"

"Yaaaaaaaaaaaay!!"

The Elves hastily fled as they regained their self-control. But the Succubus captured one after the other with their extraordinary strength. It goes without saying what'd happened to those who got caught.

The two attending Noble Succubus turned toward Queen Vagia as they watched sexual intercourse take place all over the forest out of the corners of their eyes.

"Queen, what do you plan to do next?"

"Do about what, mm?"

"Queen, we're talking about the enemies from other gamesssss… Ugh, why'd they all have to come from such serious and violent games? We're bound to lose since we came from such a silly erotic game."

"If we lose, then we get to have loser sex as punishment. Doesn't that sound delicious in its own way♡?

The petite Noble Succubus turned bright red and started fidgeting until she finally muttered "I could be down for that…" and said no more on the subject. The taller Noble Succubus gave her head a light shake at her partner's very Succubus-like reaction, sighed, and then looked up at the sky like there was no use fighting it.

Put into the best of moods by their pleasing reactions, Vagia smiled.

"Hatred, killing, war…all of it is uselessly useless♡. It's useless, meaningless, worthless, and unproductive♡. Sex's where it's really at. Sex, I say! Everything can be solved if we forget all our worries and just make sweet, sweet love♡! We came here to make that a reality…"

Even her roaring laughter had enough Magic Power imbued in it to ensnare any man. Every fiber of her being existed to enslave men. Vagia was created for that purpose and lived every moment for it.

Vagia had no objective. She had no dreams or aspirations to work toward. She simply did whatever she and her god felt like doing.

The ultimate desire can be refined into either the greatest of accomplishments or the worst of nightmares. Sometimes it is simply a matter of having the right opportunity and the correct mindset to succeed.

Queen Vagia smiled a smile capable of charming all life to their naughty downfall.

"M'kay, as Chaste Witch Queen Vagia, I suppose I'll commence conquering the world as my beloved God of Excess desires…♡" New threats were undeniably pervading the world.

◇◇◇

A world completely closed off by snow. The earth was frozen, the town was frozen, and even the people had turned into frozen popsicles.

On this day, the Witch and Saint had their twenty-second encounter in the middle of ground zero of the Northern Witch Disturbance.

"Hiya, hiya. Nice to meet ya, good to see ya. How ya been, Sainty?"

"You always open up with the same line, Erakino."

"Hmmmmm? Really? Welp. Not that I'd know that anyway♪!" How many times had they had this same conversation?

Saint Soalina leveled Erakino with a glowering look, never letting her guard down for a moment despite her mounting frustration over the Witch's desire to open every encounter like they were meeting for the first time.

"I will uncover your secret this time," Soalina flatly declared as she readied her Holy Staff.

Further discussion was crass—no, it was dangerous.

Saint Soalina had a strong advantage over Witch Erakino.

The primary ability Soalina knew Erakino used was called Slurp, which allowed her to turn people into accommodating dolls. Similar to Zombies, these dolls were stronger than when they were alive and couldn't be stopped unless you bashed in their heads.

Meanwhile, Soalina's ability, Blooming Burials, was an Arte that allowed her to summon large-scale flames to cover an entire area. Wielding this Miracle Arte just once allowed her to return the Horde of Slurped to dust. If you exclude the mental anguish it caused her, Soalina was the best suited of all the Saints to put a stop to this Witch's ability.

This was why Erakino could never defeat Soalina. Because she'd never win, Saint Soalina faced Witch Erakino with the absolute highest degree of vigilance.

Erakino had been killed a total of…twenty-one times so far.

"Shucks, we should do somethin' to commemorate our twentysecond battle, Sainty! I'd sure as hell like to beat ya soon!"

Soalina was unquestionably killing Erakino. She'd done everything from incinerating her corpse to applying Holy Seals to it. Why, she'd even gotten into the habit of late of deliberately bringing the corpse back to base with her to dissect it and pickle the choppedup pieces in vats of holy salt…

And yet, no matter what Soalina did, Erakino always revived and showed herself again with supposedly no memory of what had transpired. Clearly some sort of black magic was at play here, and that fact always kept Soalina on her toes.

And more than any other factor…

"Are you leery because I defeated the last Sainty and her little dog too??"

Witch Erakino had gotten the better of the Veiled Saint. Although she'd somehow survived the fight, she was bedridden until further notice. Word had it that another Saint had rushed to heal her, but the power struggle peculiar to Qualia had a way of hampering things, leaving Soalina without solid details.

Soalina didn't know why the Veiled Saint, who should've had the upper hand in the battle against the Witch, had lost. They were always one step behind their enemies—that fact, coupled with the lives lost, slowly gnawed away at Soalina.

But…

"Whatever wicked Artes you use does not change my duty to destroy evil in God's name."

Soalina was a Saint. If there was even one soul left in need of saving, then what was there to hesitate over? If saving that life required her to wade through hell, then so be it. Because she had to save lives…

"Now that's dry! You're about as dry and rigid as drywall, Sainty! How 'bout adding a lil' more flexibility into your life? You'll thank me for it later!" Erakino slowly raised her hand as she threw out that casual advice.

The battle was about to begin. A battle that always ended faster than it began.

Erakino always activated something that was nullified by God's Divine Protection, and then Soalina would pierce the Witch's heart with her Holy Staff. The last few battles were essentially played out like fixed matches and always ended the same way.

But things were a little different on this day of the twentysecond match.

"Sorry, but even I'm gonna blow a gasket if I don't win soon… So that's why—"

An uncharacteristically serious look crossed Erakino's face. She seemed determined and a little impatient, hinting that there was more behind her than just clowning around.

Meanwhile, Soalina made a fatal mistake on this day. She had placed too much confidence in believing that God's Divine Protection would protect her from EVERYTHING. The thing was, it had, in fact, protected her from the invisible malice Erakino unleashed twentyone times. Each time she was exposed to the Witch's attack, its power vanished before it could harm Soalina.

That's probably why…

"—I'm gonna roll the dice again today, 'kay?"

Maybe that was why she missed the signs—the omen.

"Again with that nonsense? The result won't change, no matter what evil tricks you try—"

Clatter-clatter-CLANG! Something rang out.

[Erakino rolls 1d100=100 for Slurp Rolled: Critical

]

"…Ah…"

The twenty-second match ended just like that.

A surprised gasp slipped past Soalina's lips, and that was it for her.

Before either of them really registered what had happened, the strength went out of the Holy Kingdom of Qualia's ultimate weapon, and the light of will was extinguished from her eyes, proving that Erakino's skill had captured her soul.

"U-Uh… Did I just roll a Critical?"

Erakino was stupefied for a long moment after that. Disbelief colored her face as she tottered over to Soalina, who stood there unmoving, and waved her hand in front of the Saint's vacant eyes. Finally convinced of her win, she trembled as she hung her head…and then…

"BOOOOYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! Your girl Erakino pulled it ooooooofff!!"

…She shouted loud enough for her voice to travel across the frozen land and thrust her fist into the sky.

"Hot dang, it took twenty-two different character sheets, but I've finally made it! After changing my stats and info so many times it made my head hurt, I can finally reign as an overpowered character!"

Erakino skipped and twirled all around Soalina with such excitement, she looked just like a cute little girl and not some nasty creature who'd plunged a great many people into the pits of misery greater than death.

The blizzard intensified, but this one spot seemed as cheery as a spring day due to Witch Erakino and Witch Erakino alone.

"Master! Master! Are you watching, Master?! I did it! Your girl

Erakino did it! Praise me! Praise me!"

Something strange started to happen then. Erakino began talking to something. Her gaze went to the sky. Obviously, nothing actually existed where she was looking. It seemed more like she was using some sort of skill to speak with someone somewhere else. She called that someone…Master.

"Yuppity yup yup! Roger dodger! You've gotta point there!

Maybe we need to verify it? That's just like you, Master! Huh? WWait, whaaaaaaaaaat?! Hold up, hold up! That's hecka rude of you to become infatuated with Sainty here when you've got such a cutie patootie PC like me!" Erakino carped at the sky.

Her face was flushed red with excitement, and although she was criticizing someone, she couldn't stop her lips from twitching into a gleeful smile. From all appearances, she was close to whoever it was she was talking to, and that person was evidently of higher status than her. Their conversation seemed to be a discussion about their next strategy, which hinted at the high likelihood of Erakino belonging to some sort of group. "So? What's next, Master?" The discussion continued.

The Witch ignored Saint Soalina, who stood there in vapid silence, as she received orders from some entity. She kept nodding her head in a showy way, like someone taking a conference call, until something in the conversation finally piqued her interest enough to slap her hands together.

"Oooh? That's right! That's totally right, Master! We got a quest from God! Aye, aye, sir! Aye, Aye…my Game Master~♪!"

And then Erakino swept into a girly curtsy directed toward the being she trusted more than anything else in the universe.

"Hehehe~♪! Mynoghra…eh? Now we're talking!"

When Erakino raised her bowed head, her expression shifted from girly to that of a Witch. She had received her next orders. She was off to a good start with this character build, and lady luck seemed to be on her side this time around. That's why she had to choose her path now, or else this would be it for her.

"Let's do this, me! It's time to step up my game! Lil' Erakino here is gonna charge forward however the die roll and the Dice God directs moi!"

Erakino spread her arms out and jumped for the fun of it. As if responding to her resolve, everyone who'd been Slurped and lost their minds crept out of the shadows in droves and followed behind her and Saint Soalina like a merry parade of zombies.

Witch Erakino had a dream. A dream she wanted to come true so badly she was willing to sacrifice anything to get it. She wasn't going to lose until she had her way.

"It's world conquest time, Slurpies! Yippee ki-yaaaaaaaaaaaay!!"

Erakino set course toward the south for the person she called Master, for the deal she'd struck with the Dice God, and to conquer the world…

◇◇◇

AROUND the time Brave Questers' Demon Lord was defeated, and that series of chaotic events had come to a close, Takuto exhaled a sigh of relief that the worst possible situation hadn't come about. He'd been using his authority as an Eternal Nations' Commander to watch the entire exchange between Atou and the Elfuur Sisters.

"Haaaa… It's finally over, huh?"

His long-suffering sigh seemed to last a whole minute.

Takuto was currently somewhere a little unusual for him. He'd been watching and giving orders from an uninhabited residential corner of the city. This spot allowed him to hide apart from the citizens, so he'd be better suited to respond to an enemy invasion.

"I'm beat…"

He heaved another weary sigh. He'd already ordered Atou to return home. As long as they didn't run into any trouble along the way, she should be back soon with the Elfuur Sisters. Elder Moltar and the rest of the troops dispatched to Dragontan had also changed course to return to where Takuto was waiting.

He had a bazillion things to think about and do, but he had a little time to himself right now.

What's the most effective way to use this time? Takuto raised his head, which ached with mental exhaustion, and suddenly realized there were several guards around him. They were a division of the Warriors. They were sticking close at hand to protect their king and even lay down their lives if it meant Takuto's survival.

"Leave me," Takuto quietly ordered the men who were still on edge.

"Yes, sire! But how can we do that…"

The Warriors on guard duty grew uneasy. The king's orders were absolute, but they were justified in floundering over whether they should obey a request when they were unsure the danger was really gone. Naturally, Takuto understood that much. He nevertheless gave the same order again.

"Leave me."

"P-Pardon us!"

The Warriors hastily retired from the treehouse.

Maybe Takuto was just feeling overly self-conscious for letting them see him in this pathetic state. He felt guilty for ordering them in a stronger tone than intended. After confirming the guards had scuttled far enough away, the blood draining from their faces at his harsh tone, Takuto flopped down on the floor with his arms and legs spread out.

"How lame was that…"

I'm about as lame as they come. Haa. This is what I get for underestimating my enemy and overestimating myself! My own miscalculations led to this miserable situation, and here I am, making another stupid mistake by sending my guards away.

What am I gonna do if there's an enemy out there with the ability to hide within my territory without me being able to detect them with my Commander skills? What kind of national leader isolates themselves from their people during a crisis? Are you even considering the drop in morale you're causing your troops and people?

Takuto felt like the rational side of himself was blaming him for his poor decision-making, which only served to plunge him deeper into the black pits of depression.

Just how dependent are you going to be? Huh?

Feelings of remorse bubbled up within him like a can of soda that had been shaken too hard. He felt the optimistic dream he'd harbored when he first came to this world, his dream of creating an empire where everyone could live out each day in blissful peace, crumbling around him like a castle of sand being swept away by the waves.

"Isla…"

Her name slipped sadly from his lips.

I wanted to talk with you more. I didn't know you as well as Atou, but we still spent so much time together playing Eternal Nations. I really wanted to get to know you for real in this world. I just never got around to it…

What did she think of me? Now I'll never get the chance to ask her.

Takuto wondered if anything could be done for her as he reeled from the shock of her absence leaving him more hurt than the damage to his forces had.

Resummoning a Hero unit was virtually impossible. It wasn't entirely impossible, but the available option was more of a remedial measure than anything else. Several conditions needed to be met to resummon a defeated Hero, and those conditions couldn't be met as long as Atou and the other unsummoned Hero units were still a part of the empire.

In other words…Takuto would never be able to meet the entity known as Isla, Queen of Bugs again using Eternal Nations' built-in mechanics.

"…Maria…Caria…"

He had forever stripped the twins of their second mother through his actions. That fact became a heavy shackle that weighed Takuto down. He knew all too well how much the Elfuur Sisters adored Isla. He also knew painfully well how they'd lost their first mother and their hearts in the process.

The conversation he had with them that day when they told him with sorrowful eyes that they should have died instead of their mother repeated endlessly in his head and imposed a stamp of incompetence on him for betraying their trust in him.

That which has been lost will never come back no matter how hard you fight for it.

The entity known as Takuto Ira was the undeniable loser at this moment.

"DAMN IT ALL!"

Whether it was out of anger at himself or to distract from his misery, Takuto jumped up like he couldn't take his emotions a moment longer and slammed his fist into the floor. He'd hoped feeling physical pain would take away from his emotional anguish.

He'd always hated pain, but he wanted to punish himself right now.

Unfortunately…

"What the?"

A crisp cracking sound echoed loudly through the room. The fist he'd expected to hit something hard sank through the floor. At first, he wondered "Did the floor melt?" but quickly realized that was wrong. The treehouse's floor, constructed with recently cut lumber, had cracked open where Takuto punched it.

"Whoa! Stop!"

Takuto shouted with surprise at the destroyed floorboard, but his shock didn't end there. Apparently, his single punch had unluckily cracked through one of the support pillars under the floor, and the building started to collapse in a chain of collapses marked by the sound of shattering and exploding wood fragments.

"Oh my god! Whoa!

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

The Dark Elves built their dwellings high in the trees. What naturally came after their collapse was a thrill ride straight down to the hard ground. Each treehouse was built about one hundred feet up in the trees. The human body isn't built strong enough to survive that kind of impact.

Takuto felt his body float in the air for a second before his view flipped backward. He prepared himself to die for a second time as he squeezed his eyes shut, and a dull impact struck him all over.

"Ow, ow, ow… Wait, what?"

When he opened his eyes again, the scenery wasn't much different from before.

"Huh, it doesn't hurt."

He poked his head out of the pile of wood used to build the collapsed treehouse and restlessly looked around him. When he craned his neck back, he saw the treehouses built by the Dark Elves looming above.

…The oddest thing was, he was completely fine after falling from way up there. The fact he was still alive and didn't hurt anywhere proved it.

"..."

Takuto quietly pushed himself to his feet, a skeptical look on his face. He walked away to avoid running into anyone as he confirmed the Dark Elf guards were rushing to his location with his Commander skill.

He continued to walk for a while, turning his head this way and that to take in his surroundings. He eventually made his way to a tree that was the perfect size just outside the city and patted its trunk.

It was an ordinary giant tree common to this forest. If he had to find something different about it, it'd be that it was about one size larger than the rest of the trees and looked awfully creepy with the effects added from Mynoghra's Cursed Terrain. It was toward that tree that…Takuto casually waved his hand.

The giant tree snapped in half with a dull tremor.

"Why…?"

He felt like someone had answered his query somewhere.

"…I see. Is that how it is? Is that how it's always been?"

Takuto took one glance at the other trees being knocked down with the one he'd snapped like a twig, then plopped down on the ground, crossed his legs, and closed his eyes in quasi-meditation.

He delved deep within himself and confirmed the infinite possibilities possessed by the entity known as Takuto Ira and the presence of a power suitable to the King of Ruin.

Something answered his unasked question. Something that was there from the very beginning. It was just calmly waiting for the time he'd use its power.

"Haha… I could have won from the very beginning? I had it in me all along? Things could have been different from the start…" Takuto's eyes flew open, and he let out a dry laugh as he raised his hand to his face. Everything seemed so ridiculous now, especially his own asinine stupidity. He'd reached the limit of his patience.

Something pivotal to the entity known as Takuto Ira snapped.

◇◇◇

A strangely tense atmosphere hung over the Council Room within Mynoghra's Palace. Gathered around the table were the Hero Atou, the Elfuur Sisters, Elder Moltar, and the rest of the empiremanagement council members. In addition to the usual attendees, several civil officials and various lieutenant commanders in charge of separate Warrior corps were in attendance. And…the person who sat quietly in the innermost part of the chamber was Takuto Ira, the Commander of Mynoghra and the King of Ruin.

"All right, King Takuto, please pass judgment on the Elfuur Sisters for violating orders. I advise you hand down appropriate punishment for the crime of disobeying your sovereign authority," Atou solemnly stated the agenda for the meeting and asked Takuto to make a call.

The Elfuur Sisters in question were pensively standing near the wall, their somber attitude not unlike a convict on death row awaiting decapitation. The sisters were well aware of the magnitude of their crimes. They had charged head-first into the battlefield as their emotions dictated, when they should've returned to the imperial capital and defended Mynoghra.

Those who have power must protect their weaker allies. It was none other than their dear mother who taught them that important life lesson…and they'd done the exact opposite the moment they had power. That was why the twins were willing to accept any punishment—even if it was death most painful.

"Mmmm… There will be no punishment. They aren't guilty."

Takuto's blunt decision wasn't even close to what they'd imagined he might say, and not just the twins either, but everyone present wasn't expecting him to make that call.

"I object, King Takuto!" Atou quickly interjected. "You won't be able to keep a disciplined nation if you show lenience! Think of all the misunderstandings that will arise by needlessly forgiving the crimes of tergiversators during a national emergency!"

Punishing crimes is necessary for the continued existence of any nation. Of course, that punishment can be lessened based on extenuating circumstances or the kindness of a ruler. However, the people of this world had never heard of an acquittal before—they didn't even know the concept. Minimal punishment, whatever that may be, was necessary to keep up formalities.

As everyone in the chamber stared in disbelief at Takuto, he shrugged, held up his hand, and changed the topic as if to say the matter was closed.

"During a national emergency, huh? I'm the one who needs to apologize to everyone on that subject."

Atou and a good portion of the council members gawked at him. Just before Atou could jump from her seat to stop him from uttering those forbidden words—

"I'm truly sorry. It was a situation invited by my carelessness and pride."

—the king acknowledged his mistakes and apologized to his vassals.

"P-Please say nothing more! The king should never apologize!

Never!"

"That's right! It's all due to our incompetence! Our carelessness invited this misfortune!"

The Dark Elves loudly objected on the spot.

That was the one thing they could never allow. That was the one thing he should have never done.

The king is an absolute being. His subordinates lay down their lives believing in his absoluteness. Thus, the king can never be wrong. He can never acknowledge his mistakes. Only mortals make mistakes, not kings. People do not follow a king who is on their level—who has become mortal. The heavy responsibility of leading a nation is too great to fall on any mortal, after all.

They needed him to take back what he just said no matter what.

Atou slumped back in her chair like the life had been sucked out of her. The disorder in the room was already beyond her ability to get under control, and she failed to come up with a solution no matter how she thought about it.

And their king was only just getting started dropping bombshells on them, too.

"And I swear to you on this day that I will bring Isla back."

"D-Do you really mean it?"

"…You can bring her back to life?"

The twins' eyes lit up. They'd been watching the conversation unfold with bemused curiosity since they didn't understand what it meant for the king to apologize to his people, but it was a different story when it came to their mother. Both girls had been trying to cope with the foreboding they felt inside but forgot all about it when Takuto mentioned Isla. Takuto even nodded affirmatively to their questions.

"P-Please wait just a moment, King Takuto! How do you plan to do that?! It's absolutely impossible to revive a Hero under our…current circumstances!"

Atou was confused. She trusted Takuto, but she couldn't even begin to guess where he was going with this. Just as she'd informed the twins before, there was no way to revive the Hero Isla. Takuto wasn't the kind of person to make promises he couldn't keep.

Has he gone mad? Atou wondered to her horror. If he had, they were beyond screwed…

But the truth surpassed anything they could possibly imagine.

"The civilization invited to heaven will live forever with ultimate happiness and unlimited peace," Takuto recited in a booming, resonant voice.

Atou jerked her head up at those familiar words.

"There they will not experience hardship or pain, the dead will revive, loved ones will be reunited, and all will share in their happiness together. EXTOL YOUR VICTORY! Celebrate the joy of reaching another dimension. The gates to the Land of the Gods have opened, and you have ascended to an eternal existence with God's love."

Takuto quietly rose and threw his arms out, as if welcoming them. "That's what's promised in an Ascension Victory. If this world runs based off Eternal Nations' system, then I will secure that victory. I will bring back all that has been lost."

Takuto had recited the lines that always played after achieving the victory known as Ascension Victory. It was a very different kind of victory type unique even within Eternal Nations, which could only be achieved after fulfilling multiple conditions.

The big problem was that…fulfilling those conditions was extremely difficult. An Ascension Victory was so ridiculously difficult to get that no player ever actively went after it more than a round or two. There was just the occasional player looking for a new challenge or who was lured in to try it for themselves after seeing a video playthrough. In fact, even Takuto had tried his hand at it a few times but always lost interest and went for a Peace Victory or a Domination Victory.

"The conditions for an Ascension Victory are too strict. I fear other empires will interfere the moment you try to set up a Royal Prerogative, which is the prerequisite step…" Atou pointed out in a trembling voice. She was the only person who understood what he was talking about.

Reviving Isla should be possible with this victory condition. Atou didn't know what kind of world the Heavens were, but it was where all the dead went to be resurrected…

"Interference from the other empires?" Takuto restated. "Yeah, that's likely."

"It won't just be the forces of good either—we'll be making an enemy of the whole world. Including Phon'kaven…"

The dialogue continued between king and confidant. The Dark Elves didn't understand a word of it. They knew that their king occasionally spoke of things outside their realm of knowledge, and they assumed this was also a subject meant only for the gods.

But even they felt an overwhelming pressure within his words…and they could sense their king was speaking of a future rife with difficulty… After all, this was a path even a Hero considered too difficult.

What logic led their king to pick this thorny path?

While everyone worried, Takuto made another lightheartedsounding declaration.

"It'll be fine."

"How?! How can you claim that it will be fine, King Takuto?!" Atou compelled him to answer her.

"Because I'll kill everyone who gets in our way."

Atou was momentarily paralyzed with fear. The Dark Elves experienced what it felt like to be scared to death but still live, their souls tormented by terror with every breath.

At this point, everyone in the room finally understood what was going on with Takuto. He wasn't confused by anything. He wasn't rambling on about an impossible future in a manic state because his mind had broken under the onslaught of problems they'd been facing as of late.

It was none of those things but something worse. Takuto Ira was furious. His fury ran so deep he simply appeared to be manic and talkative on the surface.

No one knew what the source of his rage was. What they did know was that their souls were held in a vice by the anger Takuto was showing them for the first time, because while he was the King of Ruin, he'd never gotten angry at anyone before and always seemed friendly.

Thick, visceral pressure weighed down on everyone in the room like it had an invisible, crushing mass behind it. Cold sweat drenched them from head to toe, and their mouths were so dry, not even a breathy exhalation escaped their lips when they tried to speak.

Something that filled even Atou, the evilest of them all, with bone-chilling dread was sitting there in front of them.

"Listen up. The way to do it is simple."

It was impossible to know how he perceived Atou's inability to talk back, but Takuto eloquently spoke for himself.

Ascension changes the very world itself. All hostile forces are modified per the victor's designs, and sometimes they even disappear from the face of the planet. Thus, an empire aiming for an Ascension Victory essentially declares itself the enemy of the world. Even allies will become enemies. The only way to avoid fighting an ally is to annex or vassalize them.

Would you still make that choice knowing you must be prepared to destroy everything you have built up? Anger was the determining factor that led to Eternal Nations' top player coming to the simplest conclusion.

"…We'll start by conquering the world."

Unspeakable terror filled the hearts of every man and woman who heard his unimpeachable decree.

"Achieving each of the Ascension Victory's conditions and then maintaining them is hard stuff, after all. So we'll wipe every potential obstacle off the map before we get started."

Cultivate all the land, bring down the skies, drink the oceans, destroy all living things, and then enjoy a leisurely ascension—that was pretty much what Takuto was suggesting.

They were no longer looking at a pacifist Commander. Nay, there was never a pacifist within him in the first place…

"I can think of so many things I can and should do. Things have never been this clear for me before." BLAM! CLANG!

Atou jumped with alarm at a sudden loud sound. She scanned the room, searching for the idiot who'd dared interrupt such a tense moment. The clanging continued to come from just behind Takuto.

"…?"

The rattling and clanging sounds of many things piling up on top of each other grew louder. Takuto was using Emergency Production. This was a phenomenon that all members of the empiremanagement council had witnessed at least once. But they didn't recognize a single item that he'd produced this time. From the hard, metallic sounds, they could tell the items were hard, but they still wouldn't know what they were even if they put their collective knowledge together.

The only exception to this was Atou.

When Atou realized the tiny round bronze object that rolled under her feet was a bullet, she gasped.

Handguns, machineguns, rifles, explosives—weapons from the world he'd lived in before were being produced behind Takuto. In that old world, human life wasn't valued much in some areas. Frighteningly enough, tools made just to take those lives were also available for a surprisingly cheap price. So cheap, in fact, you could purchase one for little more than the price of slightly high-quality wine.

Takuto picked up a nifty pistol from the pile of weapons and turned it over in his hand like he was observing its quality.

Emergency Production can produce any kind of item as long as you have the appropriate amount of Mana. It has a standard cost across all items and does not take the actual value of the item into consideration. He fiendishly used and abused that rule to produce the items from the Land of the Gods—aka Earth.

"You might all have to help me out even more than before now."

He compared the paper materials he'd produced without realizing it with the pistols and nodded. As he expected, he was able to produce Earth weapons at a much lower Mana cost than other items. He also knew how to get back the Mana he'd just spent.

All the misery from the course of events leading up to this moment whispered to Takuto to take revenge on this world that rubbed his face in his defeat.

"I'll be straight with you: the journey ahead won't be easy. But…I know you can do it! I'm aware of how hard you've been working but be sure to listen to me from now on too, okay?!" Takuto insisted with childlike innocence.

His vassals could only tremble and hang their heads before the terrifying pressure emitted by the king's words.

"Now then, let's get to conquering the world!"

If history books were to later write about the decisive moment the world headed toward ruin, this would be it.

The arrival of the end was nearing with every passing event.

Somewhere, the Nameless God was laughing loudly.

Volume 3: End

>

-x-X-x-

Side Story: The Flesh Tree

DURING the days when Mynoghra was still at peace, right around the time Isla was summoned, and several days before Atou deployed to Dragontan, Mynoghra was constantly running into and fixing empire-management problems. Issues were bound to occur once they integrated Dark Elves as real live citizens into their empire and started forming a system of government that wasn't depicted in the actual game.

It goes without saying that the Dark Elves were far from incompetent. They had already established a system where they'd voluntarily resolve any issues within their ability. But they naturally still ran into problems outside their authority to solve alone. It was solely Atou's responsibility to be consulted on such small yet important matters.

Yet another such problem seemed to have sprung up again today.

Someone called out to Atou as she inspected the city and took in its growing prosperity.

"Excuse me, Lady Atou. May I have a moment of your time?"

"Yes, what is it?"

"I would like to consult you about the Flesh Trees…" Emle said.

Emle was the council member who'd single-handedly undertaken all matters related to Domestic Affairs. Her scope of work was as broad and varied as they come, and she was even taking on problems that shouldn't normally fall to her. She was bound to surpass her limits soon, but so far, she was putting her all into her work without a single complaint, which said a lot about how skilled she was and how much Mynoghra was still in its infancy.

With a satisfied smile on her face, Atou happily made time to listen to such a hard worker, hoping she could offer whatever assistance she could.

"It's King Takuto's wish to make our empire even bigger and better and to lead his people to happiness, so I am more than happy to avail myself to you," she said.

"Thank you very much. Then…I hate to ask this of you so soon, but I think it will be faster if you see the problem for yourself…"

"Oh? What in the world could possibly require me to see it to understand the problem?"

A problem that was faster explained by showing than telling had to have something to do with the terrain or buildings. If Emle just wanted normal management advice, explaining the statistics and details would be faster, and entreaties from the citizens would also come across better with words alone.

Seeing the disconcerted look on Emle's face had Atou tilting her head and wondering if that big of an issue had crept into the current construction projects since she'd last checked…

Emle led her to the food silo and production facility unique to Mynoghra that took the place of a Granary, known as the Flesh Tree Nursery area.

"So…how big is this supposed to get?"

Emle started things right off by asking about what had been concerning her.

At her question, Atou craned her neck way back to look up and up at the Flesh Trees towering over her. The corners of her lips started to twitch.

I-It's already too big…!

Indeed, the Flesh Trees were far too big. They had massively mutated and outgrown the size she knew them to be. They'd already grown to twice the size of a normal fruit tree and flaunted an even more overwhelming presence than before. As far as Atou knew, the Flesh Tree wasn't supposed to grow so big. At the very least, the visuals from the game never depicted it as anywhere near this size.

"Er, since when did it end up like this?" she asked.

"From the beginning, I think? I also thought it wouldn't grow any bigger once it reached the size of a typical fruit tree, but it hasn't stopped growing…"

Emle gave Atou a pleading, confused look. Atou wanted to shout that she felt the exact same way.

Just how big is it going to grow?

Atou clearly saw new growth and branches extending out of the top of the trees with her superhuman vision. Apparently, they were going to grow bigger yet. At this point, only the Flesh Tree itself knew how big it'd end up.

I honestly don't know the answer… But showing any concern about the matter will only harm the Heroes' reputation!!

"Hehe," Atou chuckled in a desperate attempt to show she knew all. "How big do you think it will get?"

Internally, she was sweating bullets because her bluff would crumble if Emle insisted on an answer. Fortunately, luck was on her side. Emle looked impressed by her seemingly thoughtful response and started acting like she was yet again awed by one of Mynoghra's great Heroes.

"I-I couldn't possibly guess! It would be imprudent of a puny Dark Elf such as I to dare assume I could possibly know anything about a plant from the Land of the Gods!!"

Victory is mine! Atou did a little celebratory dance on the inside as she became convinced of her success. All that was left was for her to put the final touches on it.

"There's no need to demean yourself so. Every single Dark Elf is one of our precious citizens after all…"

Emle was further moved by such an obvious line. Atou felt a little guilty for deceiving the awfully innocent Dark Elf woman, but she couldn't stop now that she'd come this far.

"Hehehe. Let's just say the answer to this question is a secret. It will be quite the treat for you to see how truly amazing His Majesty's plants are with your own eyes."

"Of course! That makes perfect sense! Thank you so much for going out of your way to tell me, Lady Atou!"

"You're very welcome. Please let me know if you need anything else. Oh, and please continue to monitor the situation."

And that was how Atou succeeded in perfectly deflecting the situation. Still, the issue at hand was an incredibly troubling one. Once Atou parted ways with Emle and was confident she was out of sight, she made a mad dash for the Palace.

◇◇◇

"KING TAKUTOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

There was only one way for Atou to handle problems that she felt were too much for her: go and whine about it to Takuto, her king and the person she trusted most.

Atou burst into the Palace like a child in the middle of a tantrum and threw herself at Takuto with tears glistening in her crimson eyes.

"King Takuto! Something is making the Flesh Trees grow like skyscrapers! Just how big are they going to get?!" she whined at him.

She looked like she was in a real pickle this time. Even Takuto, who usually felt a little exasperated by her antics, sympathized with her completely on this occasion.

"Yeah, I saw it too… Wonder how it'll turn out?"

Takuto Ira could see all the same things his vassals did. Atou, his

Hero, was no exception, and he'd witnessed her conversation with Emle through their shared vision. In all honesty, Takuto was as in the dark about it as Atou was. This was a first for him, and he'd just assumed the trees would grow to be the same size as any other fruit tree.

Takuto racked his brain. The Flesh Trees didn't have any flavor text that mentioned them growing to insane sizes. The Eterpedia only explained how it grew a Mystery Meat-like fruit that tasted like human flesh and said nothing about its ecology as a plant. So it was just as much of a mystery to him.

It didn't help that Eternal Nations could get pretty vague when it came to its flavor text, and this world seemed to be taking its own liberties with the details too. He'd spotted plenty of changes thus far, none quite as amusing as the jovial personalities given to the Brain Eaters. If his theory was right, then the giant Flesh Tree problem could have stemmed from this world filling in more of the vaguer details again.

"Maybe it took to the soil?" he ventured.

It wasn't the most educated guess, but it still fit the situation.

After all, they did put down roots in the curious terrain of the Accursed Lands. The land was unproductive and swamped with abnormally huge trees. Perhaps some sort of synergy with that particular environment led to the Flesh Tree's monstrous growth.

Maybe the Flesh Tree is all pumped-up trying to meet the demand for Food and wants to put the rival trees around it to shame…? I'm not sure if something that crazy is actually possible, but I'm not willing to dismiss the idea when it's already a freakish tree that produces oddly shaped fruit and beautifully green leaves within Cursed

Terrain…

Takuto looked down at Atou, burying her face in his chest, her mood a thousand times better than when she'd entered the room, and their eyes met.

"Why don't we call for the others?" Takuto said to deflect from his bashfulness as he gently removed her from his chest.

◇◇◇

"I'LL be honest with you: the Flesh Trees have grown bigger than expected."

Takuto's strategy was to bluntly tell them the truth. Rather than making things more difficult to solve by dancing around the matter, he thought it was smarter to tackle the problem with everyone's collective knowledge.

Mynoghra had a mountain of problems to deal with as it was. Now was an especially critical time to strengthen their ties with Phon'kaven and acquire whatever benefits they could from the relationship. Takuto didn't want to waste time on such a trivial matter.

His decision directly resulted in Atou being drilled by Emle's incredulous gaze, but Atou herself had already let the whole incident go. To her, Takuto came first in every way, so she didn't care if her reputation suffered a blow due to one of his decisions.

At any rate, the more pressing matter was the Flesh Tree.

After answering the king's summons to come to the Flesh Tree Nursery, everyone who'd gathered before the freakish trees in question pulled a face at Takuto's confession.

"Could it be…you all noticed the problem before now?"

The Dark Elves each jerked back at his question. They couldn't ignore a query put forth by their king. Elder Moltar, the wisest of the Dark Elves, answered him with diffidence.

"I must admit I thought they were mighty impressive trees…"

The towering Flesh Trees almost seemed to be flaunting themselves in a way that suggested they were saying, "Eat me! Eat me!" Takuto wasn't sure if it was okay to humanize them so much, but they seemed motivated enough to outgrow the trees around them. Ultimately, that meant Mynoghra would soon be home to a strange tree that produced Mystery Meat Fruit that tasted like human flesh and would be large enough to build a house into. And not just one, but a nursery's worth of them…

Everyone there had vaguely considered the possibility of that happening. Major problems in big organizations are often caused by such situations. Multiple people notice a small issue but leave it in favor of their daily workload and higher priority concerns, letting it grow into an unmanageable problem. Not only were the Dark Elves guilty of that, but even Mynoghra's illustrious Heroes ignored it until it was too late.

"Th-That's a valid question. I may or may not have wondered if it was always supposed to be so big…"

Mynoghra's second highly regarded Hero, Isla, Queen of Bugs, answered Takuto's question next. It was hard to guess what she was thinking from her buggy compound eyes, but she clearly felt guilty when she turned her face away from him as she answered with an unusually shifty voice.

Takuto wanted to shout "Et tu, Brute?!" but he didn't think the reference to Julius Caesar would mean anything to anyone there, and he also didn't have the courage to try, so he quietly muttered "I see" instead.

When it came down to it, everyone in the council had turned a blind eye to the issue. Mynoghra's council members were busy enough as it was. Even Takuto had only just given it attention because of the report he'd received from Emle through Atou. If not for that, he most likely would've left it be even if he'd noticed the odd changes himself.

The trees were left to sprout up like overly eager skyscrapers because everyone had chosen not to deal with them. They were equally responsible.

"Practically speaking, what will the food production rate become if it grows as big as the other giant trees in this forest?" Takuto glanced at Elder Moltar and asked him to speculate about the future output.

Now wasn't the time to be looking for who they could shift the blame onto. Of course, in order to prevent such a thing from happening again, Takuto would need to implement the Japanese business practice of HORENSO, which stands for report, communicate, and consult. But before he could start creating the backbone to keeping a healthy flow of information going within his empire's infrastructure, he needed to do something about these incorrigibly motivated trees.

The current yield was already more than sufficient for the Dark

Elves to survive. They were actually suffering from a surplus of Food, which had already led to talks of implementing a new process to dry the Mystery Meat into knock-off jerky.

It's better to have too much Food than to have too little. But having too much still comes with its own share of problems.

Elder Moltar immediately understood what Takuto was concerned about.

"I'm afraid the news isn't good," he said. "If we go by my rough estimate, I imagine the supply will be so great that our storehouses will be bursting at the seams even after every citizen has eaten their full three times a day. Speaking conservatively, we can expect at least several times the current output…but I fear it may be more like ten times the amount…"

Things are worse than I imagined, Takuto thought, his hands getting clammy with the thought of having to deal with such excess. Even if they built more food Silos, they would be back to square one when those filled up. It would be highly unproductive to get into an endless game of chicken trying to construct a Silo every time one filled up.

They couldn't just discard the excess supply either. The fruit produced by the Flesh Tree—known commonly as Mystery Meat—

replicated human flesh to an eerily realistic degree. The fleshy fruit undeniably had muscle tissue, blood vessels, and even fat. Moreover, the fruit's juices were blood. Real blood. An outbreak of the plague was unavoidable if they haphazardly discarded it.

The citizens of Mynoghra were evil-aligned, so they were relatively resistant to plagues and poisons, but they weren't immune. A decrease in public hygiene would increase the spread of disease and reduce the number of healthy workers.

If that wasn't bad enough, there was no limit to the Mystery

Meat produced by the Flesh Trees. Spoiled meat would eventually overflow from their landfills and bury all of Mynoghra under its rot. Heck, they might even be responsible for drowning the world in Mystery Meat.

Takuto had experienced almost every kind of Game Over possible, but this would go down in history as the most humiliating and absurd. That settled it. This problem needed to be nipped in the bud before it was too late…

Isla raised one of her raptorial forearms and asked, "Won't soil exhaustion and nutrient depletion happen long before that? We don't want the whole ecosystem to collapse on us…"

The law of conservation of energy and the law of conservation of mass are always at play in the natural world. Plants absorb nutrients from the earth and through photosynthesis to grow and bear fruit. Planting the same type of crop repeatedly in the same area will drain the land of the nutrients needed for its growth, making the land less fertile over time.

Even the most common crops are susceptible to this, so it wasn't hard to imagine what would happen with a nursery of Flesh Trees eagerly outgrowing the ginormous trees native to the Accursed Lands.

As one of Mynoghra's Heroes, Isla had access to some of Takuto's knowledge from modern Earth, just as Atou did. That, coupled with her own common sense, made her worry about Mynoghra's land becoming tired and infertile. Except she was forgetting one thing…their common sense didn't align with the common sense of this world and the system that governed it.

"This land never had any nutrients to deplete from the start."

"It's certainly easy to forget the difficulties we had trying to grow anything before the Flesh Trees…"

Takuto and Elder Moltar's remarks instantly assuaged Isla's concerns.

The Flesh Trees were pumping out Mystery Meat without abiding by the laws of conservation. At this point, their production was more within the realm of alchemy than the laws of nature. The problem was becoming more difficult to control by the minute.

"Does that mean there's no need to consider soil exhaustion?" Atou asked. "Then that leaves us with the more pressing concern of how to deal with the excess food—or rather, the Mystery Meat

Surplus…"

"Exactly, Lady Atou. We'll have a real problem on our hands if we don't do something soon…" Elder Moltar said.

Everyone thought that soil exhaustion would've been easier to deal with but felt it was a tad problematic to voice that opinion aloud. So they racked their brains to find a solution to the bizarre problem that was now threatening Mynoghra's future.

"How about thinning them out in moderation, master?" Isla was the first to offer a suggestion, perhaps to make up for her earlier comment being off the mark. "Pruning the trees and properly handling fruit crop load management is just as important as anything else."

Under any other circumstance, her solution would've been right on the mark as it drew from common knowledge of how to manage fruit trees. But common sense ran into yet another roadblock here.

"No, that won't— Actually, Isla, try cutting off that branch." "As you command, my master…"

This was a case where showing would be faster than telling. With that in mind, Takuto gave Isla the order, and she swung one of her giant sickle arms at the branch as he commanded. The branch of the nearest unfortunate Flesh Tree was instantly severed by the overwhelming force and sharp cutting edge of her forearm.

"GYAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!"

A deafening scream promptly echoed throughout the city from the pruned Flesh Tree. After informing all the panicking Dark Elves that there was no need for concern through his Commander skill, Takuto forced an indescribably tired smile. Not even he had expected its scream to be so…brain-rattling and grisly.

"See, the Flesh Trees…cry out bloody murder when you try to uproot or prune them like this."

"Are they related to mandrakes or something…?"

Sadly, the Flesh Trees let out a shriek capable of bursting eardrums whenever anyone tried to cut them down or pull them out of the ground. Takuto had literally just learned this fact when he looked them up in the Eterpedia for any hint on how to dispose of them. He cradled his head in his hand after realizing the entry had additional flavor text added since he'd last checked it.

He was willing to overlook the Flesh Tree's idiosyncrasies since it made for an interesting plant creature, but he was concerned Eternal Nations' flavor text could be added to. All of Takuto's strategies were formed based on his experience playing Eternal Nations and from the information he gleaned from its Eterpedia entries. It'd be unbearable if his carefully calculated strategies were rendered useless by newly added random details.

There should be a limit to even the most nightmarish of Nightmare Modes.

It wouldn't be as simple as just revising his strategies when the time came, because he'd never know when it'd introduce an empiretoppling problem. At least it didn't seem as dire as it could be when his first real problem of that sort revolved around overly motivated

Flesh Trees…

Then again, it shouldn't have really come as that big of a shock when this seemed to be the trend. This world didn't seem to be applying Eternal Nations' settings exactly how they were in the game as much as altering and adapting them in one way or another to fit. A perfect example of this was the goods he could produce with Emergency Production. A lot of those items couldn't be found within Eternal Nations, so that was a case of the world adapting things in their favor.

Viewing everything as the same as the game will only come back to bite me. Takuto was starting to vaguely realize that fact, and yet there was still this optimistic side of him that thought everything would work out in the end.

"So, to summarize, our only option here is to figure out what to do with this Mystery Meat that tastes like human flesh rather than how to dispose of the eager tree that pumps it out like there's no tomorrow…?" Atou muttered, exhausted.

This was where the council identified the list of problems they had to contend with:

First, the Flesh Trees were hell-bent on growing as big and tall as possible. At a minimum, they were bound to grow as large as the native towering trees of the Accursed Land. There was even a chance they would outgrow their neighbors.

Second, pruning and cutting down the trees was out of the question. The Flesh Trees would torment Mynoghra's citizens with their wailing shrieks with every snip or cut of their limbs.

Third, they needed to properly consume the Mystery Meat. Not just dispose of it but consume it. With its production rates, it'd eventually outdo whatever disposal method.

"Is this some kind of punishment?"

Takuto felt it was hopeless after he reread the list. He tasted the despair of someone who had to waste their precious time on something so trivial yet unignorable when they already had a mountain of more important things to do.

If worse came to worst, he could always use Eternal Nations' strategy game mechanics to forcefully deconstruct the Flesh Trees, which counted as a facility, but doing so would give him the opposite problem of having no Food and causing Mynoghra's citizens to starve to death.

"Anyone have any suggestions?"

Takuto was open to any ideas at this point. They say that three heads are better than one—the chances of a surprisingly useful plan being suggested would increase with more people brainstorming. He was desperate for a solution if possible, but he'd even settle for an ingenious idea to help them maintain the status quo.

"How about using it for trade with Phon'kaven, master?" Isla proposed.

"That would be perfect if we could make it work, Isla…" Atou answered on Takuto's behalf.

That was a great idea. A marvelous one, in fact.

The only GLARING drawback was that the Mystery Meat had this annoying trait that made you think you were consuming human flesh when you ate it. And in this instance, the people of Phon'kaven rather unfortunately didn't have a habit of eating human flesh… So that idea was out. Way out.

"How about moving up the production of Mynoghra's unique race, the Homunculus?" Elder Moltar suggested. "We could encourage them to reproduce like rabbits…"

"Unfortunately, the Flesh Tree's productivity increases with the size of the city," Atou answered. "In other words, it's highly likely they will ramp up their output to match our growing population…"

The Flesh Tree's bonuses worked in conjunction with the city's size. This was what made it such an effective facility until the end of the game, but that only added to their real-life plight now.

"Master, why don't you try increasing the number of Larva I spawn?" Isla suggested, then continued the second half of her proposal in a private telepathic message. "I also believe it should be possible to exchange unnecessary Food once you build a Market."

Why didn't I think of that?! Takuto inwardly gave his knee a good slap at that epiphany.

"I completely overlooked that option."

Isla's proposal was the first light to illuminate what seemed like impossible darkness for them. They would only be postponing the inevitable, but there were plenty of uses for Isla's Larva, which could serve as labor units. Once they filled enough labor slots, they could then be swapped over to combat units, making them a mighty force to contend with indeed. And, of course, Food would be consumed in proportion to their numbers.

Bringing up the Market was about as inspired of an idea as they came.

Among the buildings that can be built within Eternal Nations is one called a Market. It mainly boosts the productivity of Mana, which is equivalent to Currency in the game, and gives trade bonuses, while also unlocking the Trade system.

Trade allows the player to buy and sell Materials, Food, Strategic Resources, and the like based on Mana. Moreover, the Trade system is unique because the value doesn't fluctuate based on the buying and selling of goods, and there's no upper limit to the trading volume.

If this unrealistic limitlessness could be used in this world the same way it worked in the game, then the range of strategies available to him would be expanded at once with the various supplies and Mana he could buy with his Food surplus. Then the incorrigible Mystery Meat production machines would instantly turn into his golden goose.

Of course, it was nothing more than wishful thinking until he could verify if it worked, so he'd keep it just between him and Isla for now. But their potential would explode if it did work. It was definitely a plan worth adopting.

"Why don't we go with Isla's plan for now?"

Everyone nodded firmly along with Takuto's suggestion. They all had a feeling they wouldn't be able to come up with anything better even if they wasted more time on it.

"Discussion about what measures we need to take in the future are on hold until further notice."

"A wise decision, Your Majesty," Elder Moltar said. "New ideas might spring up with time."

There are several ways to find a solution to a problem. One such way is to temporarily shelve the problem and reconsider it at a later point once the situation becomes clearer and the organization is more capable of handling it. At first glance, that might seem like neglecting the problem or procrastinating, but it's the most effective method when there are no measures to be taken at the current stage or a stopgap measure to apply.

Continued monitoring and management would be necessary, but this wasn't the wrong decision for Mynoghra at this point.

"I agree. We don't know how big they will actually grow until we see it for ourselves."

Atou was absolutely right about that. Their concerns might've been for naught if the trees didn't grow that big…or they could shoot up to ten times bigger than expected. Either way, they needed to closely scrutinize the data before taking concrete measures.

"Plus, aren't the Flesh Trees strictly grown and managed within the nursery? Then they shouldn't spread as long as we don't artificially plant their seeds elsewhere."

"Then that means we just need to properly manage the trees within this controlled area," Elder Moltar summarized.

"And if we do that, the problem shouldn't grow out of control. As for handling the Mystery Meat, we might have a surplus right now, but demand will catch up if the number of cities under

Mynoghra's control increases."

"Oh yeah! I didn't think about that."

Takuto slapped his hands together. The Flesh Trees may have a fast growth rate, but they only grew vertically. There was a limit to how thick they could grow, and their numbers wouldn't increase without Mynoghra planting more. The situation would only improve if they could withstand the current problems it presented.

"It looks like we'll be spared from the worst-case scenario."

The whole council sighed in unison with relief over there being a solution. As much as Mynoghra was an empire full of supernatural phenomena, it was ridiculous for a mere building—a plant, in fact— to bring about a national crisis that threatened its future existence.

Takuto shook his head, shrugged his shoulders, then walked up to a Flesh Tree and said "Don't cause me too much trouble, you hear?" as he patted its trunk.

His comment was met with a downpour of Mystery Meat.

"…E-Even if it's just a plant, it's still a member of Mynoghra!

There's no way it'd intentionally try to cause trouble for King

Takuto!!"

"L-Little Atou is absolutely right! I'm sure even this sapling will put its heart and soul into serving our master's wishes!!"

The two Heroes tried their best to appease their king, but Takuto only felt like things were going to get worse from here. He was only just getting started bringing elements from Mynoghra into this world. There were plenty more crazy loyal creatures like the LongLegged Bugs and the Brain Eaters and even more wacky buildings than the Flesh Trees for him to put into play. And then there were the rest of the Heroes, each missing a few more screws than the last.

That jack-in-the-box filled with gunpowder and live coals was just waiting for him to let it pop open. In any event, stimulating days were ahead of him.

Unsure of how he felt about that, Takuto finished off that awfully exhausting day's worth of work.

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