Prologue 1-2: Tetra Metra Retra

There was once a monster that wrought destruction upon the earth.

Its body was so large that it covered the land as far as the eye could see. With each step, it caused earthquakes. With each breath, it caused whirlwinds. And it is said that this monster tried to destroy the world for its own pleasure.

This soon brought down the wrath of God, and the monster was punished.

Its massive body that had covered the earth was banished below the surface, within the Hall of Sealing, so that it could never come out. Next to the Hall of Sealing, God made a temple and a village. Then he made guardians from the dirt to guard its door...

And now, in the present, the descendants of those guardians were facing a greater peril than they had ever known.

“Yes. The Hall of Sealing shook again. Yes, the walls collapsed a little more...”

“I see. Understood.”

Tetra Metra Retra, the daughter of the village chieftain, looked up at the statue of the goddess in the great hall of the temple as she listened to the statement from the villager she’d sent to check on the seal.

“Thank you for the report.” Tetra bowed to him.

He was supposed to leave after that, but it seemed there was something he wanted to ask.

“Um, well... Is the seal really going to be broken?”

“...” For a moment, her face took on a bitter expression, but it soon returned to a vague smile.

“It will be fine. After it was sealed away, the ‘Monster Who Defied God’ went on a rampage that was serious enough to put a crack in the Hall of Sealing, but it finally tired and relented. That’s what the stories say. I don’t want you to worry.”

“Yes, of course. Then we’re fine. Of course.” The villager bowed and left the room.

“...Whew.” Once she was sure she couldn’t hear his footsteps anymore, Tetra let out a slightly aggravated sigh.

“How could a legend that’s tens of thousands of years old make you feel better?” she whispered to no one in particular, then shook her head in resignation.

Tens of thousands of years ago, God had blessed the village with several miracles in order to make it possible for them to fulfill their duties with ease. That included the gift of eternal food and shelter.

But those miracles had, at the same time, robbed the people of their will to live. Without needing to work hard to survive, people grow lazy, no matter how strong a sense of duty they might have.

The guardians were now drained of all vitality and ambition whatsoever. Even with the whole village in danger, they showed no initiative of their own. Tetra had to give them orders just to get them to look at the seal.

If anything, Tetra was the one treated as an outlier for trying to act. But even she could do nothing about the Monster Who Defied God.

...No. More accurately, she was the one person in the village who knew how to do anything about it. And she’d only found out by using her position as the chieftain’s daughter to gather up all the fragments of legends in the village and research them.

“...” But she didn’t try to put it into practice.

She couldn’t. The method was far too cruel.

So what was there to do? She couldn’t ask the villagers.

She had to get help from outside.

...Why are you doing all this for villagers who won’t help you? she asked herself in weakness from the corner of her heart.

But she knew the answer. This village was her home, and she loved it.

She shook off her weakness and prepared to ascend to the surface.