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Chapter 1 - Hero

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TL: Kazue Kurosaki

ED: Kazue Kurosaki

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My existence becomes distant. It feels like my soul is gone. It’s the usual sensation, even though I wasn’t using a VR machine.

I slowly woke up.

It was a familiar scene. I was in a white room that made me feel uncomfortable. This is the sixth time I’ve seen this place. It’s the starting point of Irulande.

I was inside a huge transparent cylindrical container. The container was filled with a solution, and I could feel its warm sticky texture with my skin.

“Nice to meet you, drifting soul. I am a goddess!”

A familiar face, the first character you meet in the game. A girl with a neutral face and peach colored hair.

“Do you understand what I’m saying? I’ve given you the common sense and language of this world. Now, let me hear your voice, your first words in this world!”

The self-proclaimed goddess says with a look of genuine joy.

I open my mouth. The solution flows into my mouth, but strangely enough I can breathe.

“Hello, world.”

I decided to always say this at the beginning. I also know what reply to expect.

The goddess always replies by giving blessings to the new life.

“You always say that. You should say something different once in a while.”

But I was wrong. The response was completely different from the game.

“Fufu, surprised? It was just a game until now, but from here on it’s different. Now, wake up. Wake up and look at the new reality, the new life you chose.”

The container broke, and I was tossed out along with the solution.

◆　◆　◆

“Humm, shall I call you Souji? Or should I call you Karando, since that’s the name you used in the game?”

Souji is my real name. Karando is the name I used for my game character.

“Souji is fine. I don’t want to think of this as separate from reality anymore.”

“O-kay, got it.”

The goddess said “memo, memo” and then wrote my name on a parchment with a quill pen.

“Now, what do you want to ask me first?”

“Well, to start off, I want to know if it’s true that this really isn’t a game anymore.”

“Un, it’s true. This is no game. In your world’s terms, I think you’d call this a parallel world?”

“I see.”

“You’re quick to agree.”

“Well, I was brought to this place without a VR machine. I have no choice but to believe. Besides, I want it to be true.”

Yeah, in the end it doesn’t matter, because I came to Irulande.

“Hmm, yeah. Anything else? I only have 4 minutes and 30 seconds left, but I think I can answer most of your questions in that time.”

“What’s with that? The time limit.”

“Gods have a limit to how much power they can use and how much they can interfere with people. It took a lot of power to bring you here. I only have 4 minutes and 10 seconds left. When I finish my conversation with you, I’ll have used up my power and go dormant. The period of dormancy is about 6 years.”

The goddess smiles cheerfully, as if that’s nothing.

I was about to ask for more details, but I decided not to. I have more important things to ask about.

“First of all, if this place is real, then what was the Irulande I was seeing so far?”

“It was a game. However, it was a simulation of this world created by me. You have experienced the future of this world through the game. I’m the Goddess of Fate and Future, so I’m pretty good at this kind of thing.”

When I heard that, I was strangely convinced.

Irulande was clearly over-spec, and despite the government’s efforts to regulate it, they couldn’t even trace the communications between the players over the internet within the game.

“Why did you make this game?”

“That’s because we need a hero to save this world.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Well well, let’s calm down. Shall I take it step by step?”

The goddess looked at me with kind eyes, as if saying it couldn’t be helped.

“The rule is that we gods can’t interfere too much with the world. We can’t create heroes out of nothing. That’s why I first created a body with the potential to become a hero. That’s the empty homunculus. It’s against the rules to create a soul, so I started with just flesh. I used my power to the limit to create the best homunculus, and then went dormant for six years. It’s somewhat nostalgic.”

The goddess caressed the homunculus = me lovingly.

“That’s strange. I know this because I used it a lot in the game, but this homunculus isn’t strong at all. If you don’t develop properly, it’ll lose to some random thugs.”

“Un, that’s right. I can’t create anything that deviates from how a normal human should be. I can only make vessels on about the same level of strength as a human. But that would be pointless, so I gave up on making it strong and instead focused on giving it the ultimate talents. That way, the chances of becoming a hero increases.”

“Certainly, the homunculus is very talented.”

“Right? But then, the next problem arose. If it doesn’t develop well, this body won’t be able to make the best use of its power. Talent is just talent. The soul is what makes this child shine. I wondered what to do about it.”

I understand that. Even when Irulande had 200,000 people playing, there were plenty of people who couldn’t succeed with this homunculus.

“Then I thought I’d have people try it out and see what happens. In your world, there’s this wonderful concept called a game. Tens of thousands of you guys accepted my selection test without any discomfort just by calling it a game. That’s why I had people of your world take part in the simulation of this world under the guise of a game. I used up all my power and went dormant for another six years. When I woke up, I looked at the results and chose you. You can use the homunculus I created the best.”

What a grand story.

In order to create the homunculus with the best talents and find a soul that matches it, she disguised it as a game and let everyone experience the future of this world. And, after choosing a soul from among hundreds of thousands of people, she drags it into this world.

“There was an interesting byproduct though, the magic that was created. Yes, it should be about 300 years before we reach that same level in this world. I’m sure it’ll be quite helpful. When I disguised it as a game, I listened to the opinions of the great magicians of this world and created a system for exchanging information and developing magic. I told them it would surely be interesting, so I went through a lot of trouble to do it. I really feel it when I see your magic, I’m glad I took their advice.”

“About that magic, I can’t access the database anymore.”

Usually, I’d open the menu and access the database and download the magic, but I can’t do that anymore.

I could visualize the environment for magic development, but I can’t do anything if I don’t have the data.

As it is, the countless spells created by the players can’t be used.

“Don’t worry about that. All the magic created in the database you speak of, all the data exchanged, it’s all in there with you.”

The goddess taps my head.

“Remember, you should know this.”

“Ah, aaaaah!”

At that moment, the information comes flooding in, one after the other.

All the spells developed by the game players, accumulated strategy information, all the information brought from real life and registered in the game was running through my head.

“After a while, this body will organize the information on its own and create an index.”

The goddess sipped on her tea with a carefree smile while I was getting drunk on information.

I forcefully twist my information filled mind. There’s still something I have to ask.

“Are my experiences from the game correct?”

“It’s hard to say if it’s right or wrong. After all, that was the result of the calculations made after taking in all the information of the world. Of course, there may be points that are wrong.”

“Lastly, why do you need a hero? What am I supposed to do?”

“We need a hero because destruction is coming. I can’t tell you the details of the destruction, remember the rule about restricting gods’ interference? Even the game I let you experience had the element of destruction left out. I can’t tell you what you should do, that’s also because of the gods’ interference limit. If I had to say, I’d say I want you to be strong, stronger than anyone else. That’s all I ask.”

When the goddess finished, she stood up.

“It’s almost time. I’m going to sleep. I hope you find happiness in this world. In many ways, you are my son. Also, the money is in the usual place. Goodnight.”

She kissed me on the cheek and smiled… and then she disappeared.

“You just said whatever you wanted and disappeared.”

I touch my cheek. I could still feel her lips there.

I feel motivated.

I have the body of an extremely talented person and the wisdom of hundreds of thousands of people from the real world.

I’m sure I’ll be able to overcome whatever destruction comes.