Prologue: I Lived Long and Prospered, or So It Was Told

“Doo-do-do-doo! Congratulations! You’ve been granted the privilege of being reincarnated in another world! This is an extremely rare opportunity. So rare, in fact, that it’s like winning the lottery! That’s right, you just hit the jackpot! Are you happy? You must be happy! All right, I’ve decided that you’re happy, so let’s get this show on the road! Party poppers, at the ready!”

“Huh?”

The young girl appeared out of nowhere. She had blond hair and wore a simple tunic. Her excessively upbeat entrance was accompanied by the equally sudden appearance of a massive crowd of similarly blond-haired, tunic-donning ladies that stretched for as far as the eye could see. Spreading from each of their backs was a pair of white wings. In their hands, they each held a gadget that resembled a slightly larger version of those confetti poppers used at parties. They also seemed to share the same look of discontent. Nevertheless, moving in perfect unison, the endless ranks of ladies all brought their poppers before their chests.

“Fire!”

At the young girl’s command, they pulled the cords. An uncountably vast number of party poppers roared all at once, creating a deafening rumble that shook the very ground they stood on. The overwhelming display sent Renya Kunugi reeling and he fell on his behind.

“Discard poppers! Band members, take out your instruments! Clappers and chorus members, at the ready!”

Despite the deep scowls on the ladies’ faces, the young girl continued to issue orders with undiminished enthusiasm. Half of the countless winged blondes brought out various musical instruments from nowhere in particular and readied them. Half of the remaining ladies got ready to clap, while the other half clasped their hands before their chest and prepared to sing. Alarms went off inside Renya’s head.

This is not good…

The poppers that had just gone off were loud enough. This time, it was an orchestra, complete with chorus and clapping. If they all sounded at once, ruptured eardrums would be the least of Renya’s concerns; it might just blow the sanity straight out of his head. Therefore, he decided that he had to do something to stop that from happening, and he had to do it now.

“A Song of Celebration, on my mark! Ready… and… GAH!”

From his position on the ground, Renya shot to his feet and dashed toward the orchestra’s conductor. Without the slightest hint of mercy or hesitation, he took aim at the cheerful young girl who seemed to be having the time of her life and threw all his weight behind a front kick. The girl, not expecting to be attacked, took his kick right in the face and was forced to perform an elaborate sequence of backflips through the air.

Then, hindsight struck. It occurred to Renya that the countless ladies who surrounded him on all sides were obeying the girl’s orders. In other words, it could be said that the girl was their commander, and they were her troops. Surely, they would not stand idly by after he just attacked their commander. He looked around him, but found that not a single one of them budged. He wondered if these were perhaps the kind of people who could not move unless ordered to, but soon dismissed the idea after seeing a number of them grin and give him the thumbs up. Some even quietly waved their hands at him. The ladies were, apparently, very reluctant followers.

“Wh-What was that for?!”

The girl, who was sprawled on the ground after her tumble, got up on her feet and loudly protested her treatment. During her previously supine position, her clothes had been left in a state of significant disarray. Her choice of dress — a tunic — meant that a number of things, none of which were publicly decent, had been in full view from where Renya stood. He was, however, in no mood to mention that.

“To shut you up! Your party poppers were already loud enough! What did you think was going to happen if you got this many people to sing and play all at the same time? Are you trying to blow out my eardrums?!”

“So you decided to kick a little girl in the face?!”

“I’m against age discrimination!”

“But I’m a girl!”

“Gender equality, then!”

Renya thrust his chest out confidently, which precipitated a round of hushed murmurs and the odd bout of applause.

“Did I just hear applause?!” cried the girl incredulously. She glared angrily at the mob of ladies. As if on cue, they all averted their gazes in a distinctly “wasn’t me” fashion. Squaring her shoulders, the young girl turned to face Renya, who was watching their back-and-forth with a baffled look.

“Ugh… Maybe I picked the wrong person,” said the girl.

“What are you talking about? And where is this place, even?” asked Renya as he looked around. There was nothing but winged people as far as he could see. Turning his gaze upward, he found not a blue sky, but rather an empty space glowing faintly of white light that stretched endlessly into the distance.

“This is the land of God!” announced the girl proudly as she puffed out her poorly-endowed chest.

“Uh huh,” replied Renya flatly.

“Renya Kunugi, you have passed away!”

“Sure.”

“And what a way to go! At the age of 94, you have truly lived long and prospered! Great job with the whole dying peacefully thing and all! Nothing beats good health and wellbeing, does it?”

Despite the certainty of her tone, Renya did not believe a word of what she said. If she was telling the truth, that would mean he had already lived through a whole 94 years of life, and at the end of which had died not through accident or disease, but purely of old age. He had absolutely no recollection of this.

“Of course, it’s a pain to deal with wrinkly old grandpas, so I just reinitialized all your settings in that regard and set your mental state to around eighteen years old.”

In a most casual manner, the girl proceeded to divulge more details. Renya felt a flash of anger at what he heard.

“Hey, you…”

“I mean, you could argue there’s some “gap moe” trope about a loli-shota-looking kid who talks like an old geezer, but honestly, it’s just plain creepy. Like, seriously, just stop daydreaming about loli grandmas and shota grandpas.”

“Hey, cut it out!”

Realizing that it would be a bad idea to let the girl ramble on, Renya tried to cut her off. However, the girl paid him no mind.

“But I digress. Let us leave the topic of niche fetishes in the proverbial trash can for now.”

“Then why’d you even bring it up in the first place?”

Renya’s quip fell on deaf ears.

“All right, back on topic. As I was saying, you have been granted the privilege of being reincarnated in another world.”

“No thanks.”

The girl had barely finished speaking before Renya butted in with his answer. The girl froze, seemingly at a loss for words. Paying her no heed, Renya continued.

“I’m not really interested. It also sounds like a lot of trouble. Plus, it’s so obvious that all these over-the-top theatrical shenanigans are smoke and mirrors and you’re trying to hide something.”

“I-I have not the slightest idea what you’re talking about!”

With the girl clearly flustered, as evidenced by her wavering voice and shifty eyes, Renya went in for the finishing blow.

“You told me I lived long and prospered, right? In that case, I clearly died with no regrets. I guess I can’t say for sure since I don’t remember, but I assume all that’s left is getting shipped off to either Heaven or Hell and having all my memories erased, right? I’d rather not go to Hell, though.”

“Th-That’s right! If you say no, then you’ll get sent to Hell!” said the girl with the most obvious I-came-up-with-that-just-now look on her face.

“What am I guilty of, then?” asked Renya.

“Guilty of?! U-Um, well, you know… Uh, murder! That’s right! You’re guilty of murder!”

“That’s strange. I seem to recall being told I passed away peacefully after a nice, long life. Did I die without ever being caught for my crime?”

The girl’s expression stiffened. Her cheeks trembled a little.

“Um… You died in prison!”

“Wow, I must have committed a crime pretty late in life, then. Or maybe I killed a whole lot of people? Still, to think that I just sat in prison until I finally got too old and croaked… Must have been quite the body count in the end. How many was it?”

“Erm… O-Oh, it’s that! Um, you know! All men sustain their own lives by taking the lives of other creatures! In other words, you have sinned!”

“So, you’re telling me there is no Heaven? That the whole world is but Hell eternal? Man, religious people are going to lose their minds.”

“W-Well, there’s always vegetarianism…”

“Ah, I take it you’re one of those people who think the concept of ‘life’ doesn’t apply to plants, then? Or perhaps you believe some lives are worth more than others? Whales are smart, so it’s wrong to eat them, but cows and pigs are A-okay. A dolphin can be your friend, but never a chicken. Is that the kind of person you are?”

Even as Renya rattled off question after question, he knew that his verbal offensive was on shaky ground. While it seemed like he had the momentum, he realized that if his opponent truly had any intention of retaliating, she could easily just ignore his rambling and force the issue. To someone like her, the value of a life probably rounded to zero.

“I’m so sorry. If you’ll give me a chance to apologize, I’ll start over and explain properly, so please listen to what I have to say.”

If the girl was aware of Renya’s concerns, she did not show it, because she proceeded to drop to her knees and humbly prostrate herself before him. There was another stir in the crowd, more noticeable than before, followed by a round of applause.

“Damn it, people! Why do you always clap whenever something bad happens to me?!”

Leaping to her feet, she glowered at the ladies surrounding her, but found no one willing to meet her gaze. With her teeth bared, she continued to throw menacing glances at her followers until Renya got her attention with a quick cough.

“I’ll listen,” said Renya, “provided that you give me a proper explanation. Whether or not I actually go along with your plan, though, is still up in the air.”

“Hnnngh, fine. Firstly, I am that which you people refer to as God. The concept, the being, whatever. It’s me. Next would be these perverted ladies standing all around you. They’re what you would normally call ‘angels.’ They’re perverts, by the way. Did I mention that? Yes? Good.”

Her comment prompted a round of booing. She silenced it with a glare.

“You are all perverts! Are you gonna try to deny it? Who went around making babies with humans? Whose yuri exploits got so out of hand that they actually tried out a virgin birth? Who was it, huh?”

In response, a number of ladies put on innocent expressions and looked off in some other direction.

“I swear, the only thing you people are good for is complaining…” grumbled the girl.

“Whatever. Keep explaining,” said Renya.

“Huh? No quip? No witty jab at me?” asked the girl in surprise.

“Nah. How you introduce yourself is your choice, after all. You’re God, right? So, which god? The Jesus one? The Buddha one? Or the eye for an eye one?”

“Please. Don’t liken me to their lot. They’re the result of people’s overactive imaginations,” said the girl with an irritated grimace. “I, on the other hand, am simply me. No more, no less. I created all, I guide all, and I rule over all.”

“Wow, I think I’m about to pass out from amazement. So, why’d the creator of all things decide to grace Random Creation A with her godly presence?”

Renya’s sarcastic tone did not go unnoticed, earning him a scowl from the girl.

“You don’t believe me, do you? Fine, whatever. To answer your question though, I do of course have a very good reason for appearing before you. You see, I have a favor to ask of you.”

“What’s that got to do with being reincarnated into another world?”

In a complete attitude reversal, the girl looked up at Renya with an almost jarringly meek expression and said, “Actually, that is my favor. You see, there’s a particular world I’d like you to go to.”

“And why exactly does it have to be me?” asked Renya. It was, in his opinion, the obvious follow-up question. Reasons were important, after all. It wasn’t like he was the protagonist of one of those cheesy “you are the chosen one” scenarios.

“Because you are the chosen one!”

“All right, that’s it.”

“I lied. I’m so sorry. Please don’t hit me.”

Seeing Renya’s dark glare and the threatening gesture he made with his fist, the girl immediately backtracked and began apologizing profusely, lowering her head again and again. This was met with another round of applause from the crowd.

“Damn it, what is it with you people? Do you have a problem with me or something?” screamed the girl at her onlookers, the majority of whom nodded deeply in affirmation.

They did, Renya figured, have a problem with her. In fact, judging by their reactions, it seemed like they had built up a fairly sizeable repository of such problems. The sight caused the girl to fall to her knees, her expression defeated.

“Okay, just… just go away please. I can’t handle you people anymore. I’ll explain the rest myself. It’ll be faster that way. And it might let me keep a little bit of my sanity.”

Slightly surprised by how little it took to make God herself throw in the towel, Renya watched the ladies around him wave and smile at him. Slowly, they disappeared without a trace. It was a peculiar sight — one that made him question whether or not this was even reality. After all, having people literally vanish into thin air before one’s eyes tended to make them doubt such things. Just then, he noticed a row of words appearing out of the corner of his eye.

《 Notification: You gained the blessing of the angels. 》

Renya raised an eyebrow, wondering what the message meant. However, seeing that the girl had somehow managed to get back on her feet, he redirected his attention towards her.

“Okay, so, uh,” said the girl. “What I said wasn’t entirely a lie. I mean, the part about being the chosen one was, but the rest of it was sort of true. You can’t just pick some random person off the street, hurl them across the boundary of a world, and expect them to continue to exist in the new one. It doesn’t work like that.”

“In other words, I happen to be someone who can withstand crossing that boundary?”

“That’s right. Other conditions included being reasonably well-built, in good health, ideologically sound without any deviant beliefs, and free of any lingering regrets in the original world. You happened to meet all my criteria.”

Renya considered pointing out that “lived long and prospered” and “lingering regrets” were fundamentally contradictory, but ultimately decided to keep quiet.

“Are you sure I’m ideologically okay?” asked Renya. He was about to mention how he just sent God flying with a kick, but the girl stopped him with a shake of her head.

“While I certainly didn’t anticipate you jamming your foot into my face, it’s not really a problem either. There’s no shortage of atheists out there, and the fact that I look like a little girl didn’t seem to arouse you in any way when you kicked me. Plus, it’s not a bad thing to support gender equality.”

“For future reference, you mind telling me what kind of beliefs are not okay?”

“In short, rape, pillage, and burn, I suppose,” said the girl, who proceeded to laugh in a stereotypical villain-like fashion. Had she spiked her hair and painted her face white, it would have been a pretty good impression of a certain musician who claimed to be a demon.

“So, what exactly do you want me to do after I cross over into the other world?”

“Huh? Nothing, really,” said the girl with a blank look.

Renya drove his fist into her head. There was a dull thud. She wordlessly crumpled into a squat with her hands covering the point of impact.

“Dead people aren’t your toys. Don’t bother us for no good reason.”

“Judging from your tone, you seem to have come to terms with being dead surprisingly quickly.”

“I’d been alive for almost a century. That’s plenty. I don’t remember a damn thing about it, but if I had to guess, I’d say I had enough.”

“I admit that it’s pretty harsh to ask someone who just got done with the whole thing to embark on another journey of life, but please bear with me. There’s a favor I’d like to ask of you.”

“Didn’t you just say there was nothing for me to do?” demanded Renya.

From her hunched position on the ground, the girl looked up and was just about to nod when she noticed Renya’s tightly-curled fist. She shuffled backward a few steps before continuing.

“I don’t need you to do anything once you’re there, but I do need you to go! The point is in getting you across, okay? Good? Please don’t hit me.”

“I demand an explanation.”

“The reason is that the world I’m trying to get you to go to has a Resource deficiency.”

The girl’s terse explanation went straight over Renya’s head, but he gave her a look that urged her to keep talking.

“There’s not much else to say about the reason. I mean, that’s all there is to it… Uh, let’s see here,” murmured the girl. She scrunched up her face into a frown, as though contemplating something. Then, she threw her arms outwards. As if on cue, a semi-transparent window opened up right in front of Renya’s eyes. He stared at it in surprise. The girl quickly flicked her hand, and the window then displayed a map.

Renya was certain he had never seen a map like it before. He did not know the scale, so there was no way for him to tell how big anything was, but the landmass he saw was roughly in the shape of a four-leafed clover. Each of the leaves were positioned neatly in the cardinal directions.

“So can I assume that the top is north?”

“No worries. This map was drawn with the common knowledge of your world in mind, so you can safely assume the top of the map is north.”

“I see. I don’t think I’ve ever seen somewhere that looked like this on a map. What is this place?”

“The people who live there refer this land as the Eldorean continent. It’s the only landmass in this world that I want you to live in. To give you some sense of scale… you see how it’s shaped like a four-leafed clover? Assume one of those leaves is more or less the size of Eurasia.”

“Wait, what?”

Renya did a double take and looked at the map more seriously. Assuming the girl was telling the truth, this continent must be gigantic. It would have a horizontal distance the equivalent of two Eurasias put side by side.

“That’s insane!”

“Well, them’s the facts, so take it or leave it, I guess.”

“How big is the planet, then?! With a continent that big, it could probably fit a bunch of Earths inside!”

“Oh, it’s not a planet.”

“What?”

The girl opened a separate window and showed it to Renya. Displayed in vivid colors was a blanket of mist and a colossal waterfall the size of which dwarfed anything he had ever seen.

“Do you see it?” asked the girl. “So, how things work in this world is that all of the water and land — the world itself, essentially — sits on top of a big round tub and all along its edge are waterfalls, past which is a deep plunge into nothingness.”

The girl finished up her explanation with a perfectly serious expression. For five whole minutes, Renya remained speechless. Then, after the bewilderment wore off, he yelled:

“Are you freaking kidding me?! How backward do you have to be to believe that about the world? That’s from, like, the Dark Ages!”

“Such a belief would certainly be primitive on Earth. Not to mention entirely wrong. In this world, however, it’s reality. So, if you kept going in the same direction, you wouldn’t eventually end up where you started. You’d just fall off the edge into oblivion.”

“Is the one who created this world stupid or something?” muttered Renya. It was his honest opinion. The girl, however, protested loudly.

“Who’re you calling stupid? I’m standing right here, you know? Me! God! Don’t call me stupid!”

“You are stupid! Look at the ocean and how it’s literally falling off the edge of the world! How’s all that water getting replenished?!”

“From the streams and rivers that flow across the continent, obviously!”

“How the crap does the water cycle work, then?! Does it even exist?!”

“What do you think, dumbass? Of course not! You think everyone goes around recycling their planet’s water like you?”

“Isn’t that why there’s a Resource deficiency, then? Because of this shoddy system you’ve got going?” asked Renya. Being called a dumbass by the girl caused his temper to flare, but he managed to catch himself before resorting to more violent forms of retaliation. He could have shut her up with a good smack to the noggin, but somehow, that felt like admitting defeat. Instead, he opted for a pointed remark. The girl visibly paled.

“Since the water isn’t being recycled,” continued Renya, “you must be wasting energy somewhere to create more water, right? I mean, just look at how much water is pouring over the side. Even if some of it evaporated and floated back to land, you still have to replace it sooner or later. Otherwise, wouldn’t this whole world just shrivel up?”

“Th-Th-That’s… That’s totally not true. Nope. No siree…”

“Hey, kid, look at me when you talk.”

“I-I mean it! Seriously! That’s really not it! I’ll admit that it’s wasting some energy, but that’s got nothing to do with the problem at hand! I swear to God!”

Aren’t you God, damn it?

Renya forced down the urge to take a swipe at the girl. In return, he continued to glare coldly at her. Her gaze darted left and right, trying desperately not to make eye contact.

“Well?”

“Moving on with the explanation. As you can see, the Eldorean continent is divided into five sections,” said the girl, who pretended to not hear Renya and changed the topic. He could have forced the issue, but saw no benefit in interrogating her any further, so he went along with the act.

“North, south, east, west… and the center, huh?”

“That’s right. To the east are the humans, and west are the elves. North and south are occupied by the mixed races and the dragons, respectively.”

“And the center?”

“The demons.”

As the girl spoke, the map changed to display the continent in five different colors.

“Okay, so, I’ll spare you the details, but basically, life is pretty harsh in this world. It’s not an easy environment for anyone to survive in. In fact, they’re fighting wars all over the place,” said the girl, a sense of exasperation seeping into her tone. Renya proceeded to ask the obvious question.

“And why exactly is it like that?”

“Probably because the people living there haven’t realized what’s going on yet. There are five Administrators in this world, and to kill time, they’re fighting turf wars—”

“Make! Them! Stop!”

“Ack, wait, not the throat! Stop strangling me! And you’re not even going for my windpipe! What’s with this pinpoint focus on my carotids?! Stop it! I’m gonna pass out!”

After desperately struggling against the hand grasping her throat, the girl broke free and rushed to distance herself from Renya, who had no intention of letting her go. With a slow but menacing pace — the kind that suggested if he did not like her answer, he might just skip the strangling entirely and break her neck — he advanced toward her. Renya figured that there was a big difference between the two, as the former involved asphyxiation, whereas the latter was a traumatic and fatal spinal injury.

“As if! You think I’ll just watch while you people fight wars for fun?”

“I completely understand why you’re upset, but I also can’t do a thing about it!” shouted the girl as she backed away step by step. Her expression, however, was desperately earnest.

“Aren’t you supposed to be God?”

“I handed off my administrative privilege. I can take it back by force, but there’ll be severe consequences for the world. Specifically…” The girl took a break from fleeing and, her hands still placed defensively around her neck, paused to think. “If you’re okay with sinking eighty percent of the continent, then I can fix this right now.”

“Absolutely not.”

“Too bad, then. In that case, there’s nothing I can do. Unless, of course, the Administrators decide to give me back my administrative privileges,” said the girl.

Hearing the tone of finality in her voice, Renya stopped chasing her around.

“And that would be why,” she continued, “the reincarnation system is breaking down in this world.”

“What do you mean?”

After taking a moment to confirm that Renya had indeed stopped moving, the girl turned to face him and continued her explanation.

“It’s not much of a problem for the souls that died of disease or old age, but consider a battlefield. Being killed normally there might still be okay, but what about the ones who were cut to shreds? Or got munched on by a dragon? Or had their homes raided by a bunch of orcs or goblins or bandits who indulged in various eighteen-plus activities at their expense and took multiple thrusts down there before taking a final sharp one up here? Do you think those souls would want to go back to the same environment?”

“That’s definitely not happening.”

“Right? That’s why there’s been an increase in the number of souls who refuse to go back to their original world.”

There was an air of profound fatigue about the girl. It made even Renya feel a little sorry for her, and he was the one trying to strangle her a few moments ago.

“I’ve tried persuading the Administrators, you know? And tempting the souls who refused with a nice benefits package if they changed their mind. I’ve tried all sorts of things, but the lack of results is pretty frustrating.”

“Huh. So you have been trying.”

“I sure have. But without any results to show for it, there’s not much I can say if the denizens of this world decide to blame me. Even if they tried to strangle me, I’d have no choice but to just take it.”

It occurred to Renya that since he lived in a different world, it was okay for her to resist his attempt to strangle her. Nodding to himself in comprehension, he motioned for her to continue.

“So, thanks to the increase in souls who either transmigrated to a different world or just decided to fold and retire from reincarnation, this world is facing an imminent Resource deficiency.”

“Is there even any point to saving a world like this? Why not just let it implode?” asked Renya, who considered his proposal quite reasonable. In an environment where Administrators weren’t even bothering to do their jobs properly and the population just kept dropping, decline leading to destruction seemed inevitable. The girl, however, shook her head.

“The thought had crossed my mind, but after considering how many lives would be lost in the process, I decided I couldn’t just throw the baby out with the bathwater,” she replied. After that, she muttered something about remaking and angels and everyone dying from overwork.

“What about moving everyone to a different world?”

“I lack the capacity. First of all, most souls aren’t even aware that they get reincarnated. There are only a small number of souls who reach a high enough level to even refuse.”

Normally, souls who had reached a certain degree of quality would consume some amount of a world’s Resources and be reincarnated in the same world. That was how a world maintained its total Resources. When they opted to transmigrate to a different world, the Resources consumed in that process would not be restored in the original world, causing the total amount to continuously fall. Furthermore, the average souls would never know any of this and had no choice but to keep walking down this path that would gradually lead to their destruction.

“Well, that’s a real downer of a story,” said Renya.

“Tell me about it,” replied the girl. “I’d love to be able to convince the Administrators to get their act together and point this world toward a better direction, but that’s going to take time, as well. That’s why I need your help.”

“So, you want me to go to this world carrying a bunch of Resources and buy you some time.”

“If I could send the Resources through by themselves, I’d have done it already, but it’s sort of like how you can’t send an attachment without the email. Currently, I can’t move any Resources over without attaching it to someone’s soul.”

“Isn’t there something like a file sharing program?”

“That would be worth making if there’s someone on the receiving end. Unfortunately, the Administrators don’t seem realize this is happening, so they’re stopping me from interfering…”

In other words, she could send the file, but there was no point if nobody was there to receive it. The thought brought a wry smile to the girl’s face. According to her, if the Administrators realized their own world was on the verge of destruction, they might change their stance. However, since they were not aware, they saw her requests as nothing more than unnecessary meddling.

“Did you try to explain the situation to them?”

“They told me it was nonsense and refused to hear another word.”

“This is clearly a case of choosing the wrong people for the job.”

“You’re absolutely right. I have no one to blame but myself.”

Renya watched as the girl hung her head. He sighed. If he didn’t know, he wouldn’t have cared, but now that he did know, it felt a little wrong to play the “not my problem” card. Despite his desire to avoid being burdened with a load of trouble, he made up his mind.

“All right. I’ll help you.”

“I’m terribly sorry for dragging you into this mess, but I’m glad you said yes. Please accept my sincerest gratitude, Renya,” the girl said with a deep bow. In the back of his mind, Renya noted that it was times like these when he really wished she did not have the appearance of a young girl. He wasn’t doing anything inappropriate, but having a young girl lower her head at him like that made him feel like he was.

“Okay, enough with the bowing already. You can get up,” urged Renya, whose voice sounded just a little flustered. He figured, however, that this was inevitable. In response, the girl bowed even more deeply before slowly getting back up.

“My deepest apologies for the trouble, but thank you. If you said no, I would have had to look for another suitable candidate,” said the girl, then she added, “Which would have been such a pain…”

This piqued Renya’s curiosity.

“By the way, what are the chances of finding a suitable candidate?”

“One in five billion six hundred and thirty million.”

Renya let out another sigh at the number. Statistically, that meant there was only one person on Earth who fit the bill. It was, he thought, quite the stroke of misfortune for him.

“So, how exactly is it going to work when you send me to this world? I assume I won’t have to start over from being born, right?” He made sure to emphasize the latter part of his sentence. While it was an odd worry considering all his memories were gone, he still felt some resistance at reliving his life from the toddler years. In fact, if he had to do the whole baby thing with his current mental faculties intact, he might actually die from embarrassment.

“If I tried to drop you into the reincarnation system, they might use their administrative privileges to bounce you back, so I’ll be using my power to force you into the world. That means you won’t be getting reborn. I’ll have it set so that if you die over there, you’ll automatically come back here. Once that happens, I’ll honor your wishes for your next reincarnation. You’ll be free to choose for yourself.”

Knowing that he would not have to remain indefinitely at his destination was a relief for Renya. After all, it didn’t sound like a world he would enjoy a long stay in.

“As for issues with family registers and your identity and such, if anyone asks, just tell them you’re a Wanderer. It’ll make sense to them.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“There are actually a fair number of people in this world who drifted in from other worlds. The world itself is unstable, so it’s not uncommon to see rifts to other worlds pop open randomly from time to time.”

“So much for the conditions. Didn’t you have to meet a bunch of them before crossing a boundary?”

“One’s crossing a boundary and the other’s falling down a hole. They’re not the same,” replied the girl. The window she was showing Renya disappeared after she flicked at it with her finger. Then, she opened up a different window.

“Now, then. Once I send you over, I’ll need you to live there for a couple of decades. To prepare you for this endeavor, I, God, shall bestow upon you my blessing.”

The way she emphasized the word “God” made Renya clap his hands together, as though suddenly remembering something.

“Oh, right. Now that you mention it, you’re God, aren’t you?”

“Yes-I-am! And don’t you forget it! That’s the most important part!”

“Well, you can’t blame me, can you? I mean, look at yourself. You’re like the least God-looking thing around.”

The girl pouted in response. Seeing the sullen look on her face, Renya became slightly worried that he said something he should not have.

“So much for appealing to your instincts to protect the weak. That was the whole reason I went with the look-I’m-a-delicate-snowflake appearance, too…”

“Seriously? This is all calculated?” asked Renya incredulously. He could not help but feel his gaze toward her growing colder.

“What else was I supposed to do?” yelled the girl, her fists clenched tightly at her sides. “You can take the high road and preach all you want, but in the end, all that matters to humans for their first impression are looks. When a cute guy puts his arm around a lady’s shoulder, it rarely becomes a problem, but if some creepy otaku did that, it’s suddenly sexual harassment and indecent assault and police sirens are going off all over the place. Isn’t that how reality works, huh?”

“It is, but— Ugh, forget it! More importantly, what about the blessing? Weren’t you going to give me something?!” Something told Renya it was a very bad idea to let the girl continue her rant, so he quickly cut her off. It proved effective, as the girl relaxed and clapped her hands together.

“Oh, right. First, allow me to grant you your first blessing: Wakasa.”

“…You mean the place with the nuclear generators?”

“…Not that Wakasa. You’re heading to an alternate world, for God’s sake. What’s the point in gifting you a chunk of Japan?”

Despite his generous lead-in, the girl barely made an effort at a witty comeback. He was actually hoping for her to play the straight man for once, considering she had been spewing no small amount of bile at people for the past while, but his attempt did not pay off. His offer to trade roles was met with much indifference.

“I meant the other Wakasa, the Japanese word for youth! I’m saying I’ll take your decrepit 94-year-old body and use my power to dial it back to a perky eighteen.”

“Isn’t the 94-year-old body better for me? That way, I’ll die almost immediately and get sent back here for reincarnation.” From Renya’s perspective, he had nothing to do there once he dropped off the Resources, so he had no reason to live a long life. While the idea was indeed impressively efficient, the sheer jaded nature of it left the girl speechless, her mouth hanging open in shock.

“It’s not like I have anything to do there, right?” he said.

“W-Well, I guess that’s true… But we’re talking an alternate world here! Swords and shields! Robes and wizard hats! A world filled with riches and adventure! You can probably have your own harem there if you try hard enough! What’s with the degenerate attitude, you old fart?”

“Well, attitudes aside, I am old…”

He was, after all, 94 years old. Upon being reminded of this fact, the girl found herself at a loss for words.

“Huh? Oh, uh… Hm…” She rapidly stroked the window she just opened with her fingers, her face a mask of deep thought. The semi-transparent nature of the window made it hard to read, and Renya could not make out its contents from where he stood. After poking at the display for a little while, the girl seemed to find what she was looking for. Her expression lit up and she turned toward him.

“Renya, here’s something you might want to know. That world actually has many delicious foods that didn’t exist in your original world.”

“Oh?” Renya soon caught on to the girl’s intention. Presumably, she was trying to dig out some information that would motivate him, or at least make him want to stay alive. Despite remembering little of his previous life, the words “delicious foods” had an irresistible pull. He figured he was probably a foodie in his previous life.

“Of course, while there are things that are both cheap and tasty, there are also wonderful delicacies that’ll cost you an arm and a leg. Tasting all of them will require a large amount of money. Making a large amount of money is impossible for a 94-year-old geezer,” proclaimed the girl with her hands folded firmly into fists.

“Fair point. I’ll take you up on it. Going in a young body is fine, then. Now, how about you tell me the honest reason? Hiding things from me won’t do you any favors.”

“After I attach the Resources to your soul, it’ll probably take a few decades for them to disperse. I can’t just drop you there and be done with it. Dead bodies don’t disperse Resources. That’s why I’d really appreciate it if you lived for as long as possible. That’s the whole of it, honest. God’s honor.”

At Renya’s urging, the girl parted with the truth surprisingly quickly. Apparently, she really did realize that it did no good to hide things from him.

“This isn’t much of a blessing, then, is it? More like a necessary protocol.”

“Hnnngh… Normally, as soon as I tell them they get to be young again, they’re all, like, ‘Omigosh thank you my lord’ and stuff, and then I have them dancing in the palm of my hand…” The girl, with the most innocent downcast gaze and watery eyes, muttered some terribly wicked words.

“If you’re going to call it a blessing, give me a real gift. Stuff to keep me alive and disperse Resources are more like necessary expenses, right?”

“Hmph, what kind of blessing do you want, then?” asked the girl, completely abandoning the effort of thinking and throwing the question to Renya instead. “Let’s just say my blessing will be ‘The right to be granted that which you, Renya, deem necessary.’”

“Money.”

His sudden reply startled the girl and she drew back in shock.

“Also, an impenetrable home base that’s guaranteed to be safe and unbelievably overpowered fighting skills.”

“Please, no… Think about the balance… oh, the poor balance. It’d be so broken, the world would probably collapse from that first.”

The girl managed to chain her startled lurch into a full prostration. It was honestly an impressive sequence. She then proceeded to rub her forehead against the ground. The display was so pitiful that even Renya felt guilty.

“They would have been nice to have, but I guess I can’t expect that much.”

“It’s not impossible for me to make you a ludicrously large mountain of rare metals, but it’d cause a breakdown of the global currency system. I can give you enough power to flatten a country on your own, but nothing good can come of that. The impenetrable home base, I can also make, but the secondary activities that are possible upon settling down there…”

“Okay, I get it. It was just a thought, so you can get up already,” said Renya to the girl who had nearly curled up into a ball. He supposed she felt ashamed at being made to eat her words so soon. “Well, since I get to be young again, it’d be nice to stay healthy.”

Judging that spending any more time in their current situation would only make things more awkward, he quickly rattled off whatever came to mind, trying to give priority to the simpler ones first.

“R-Right. Good health. Check.”

“Plus, I’m apparently pretty fond of eating and drinking, so I need a stomach and liver that can take plenty of abuse.”

“I see. Alcohol resistance and a voracious appetite.”

“I also need to make money, so I’ll want some sort of ability for doing that. You said this was a sword-and-magic world, right? I assume the fastest way is through more dangerous work?”

“Indeed. I’ll just add a few things here and there for fighting prowess…”

The girl listened intently as Renya spoke. She also pulled out a notepad from somewhere and was frantically taking notes on what he said. He took a moment to acknowledge the mismatch in what he was witnessing. For someone who could materialize windows from thin air, her notetaking was jarringly analog.

“I also want to try making something,” he continued. “I don’t know why, but the thought of being a blacksmith — a swordsmith, specifically — appeals to me.”

“Mmhm. Oh, speaking of which, I do believe you used to be a ranked kendo practitioner.”

“Is that so? Wait, you erased those kinds of memories, too?”

“The skills are probably still with you, though. As muscle memory.”

“Let’s see… If there’s magic in the world, I’d like to be able to use it. I won’t ask to wield every form of magic available, but I’d prefer to at least excel in one type.”

“I see, I see. By the way, which do you think is more important: damage or attack speed?”

“Attack speed, obviously. Is there a point to this question?”

The way Renya saw it, “devastating if it hits” was the same as “useless if it doesn’t.”

“Certainly. It’s for reference.”

“Also, I don’t expect to be the strongest man alive right off the bat, but try to make it so training pays off a lot for me. And I think that’s about it.”

“Hmm, I see. Oh, do you have any requests regarding your physical appearance?”

The question caught Renya off guard. He gave the girl a questioning look. She continued unperturbed.

“Your original body, having met its end in its original world, has been cremated and is now lying in a grave somewhere. When I send you to the other world, I’ll have to fabricate a new body for you to inhabit.”

“Oh, I see.”

“For this, there’s a little bit more leeway, so I can be more accommodating of your demands. A dashing Casanova whose gaze alone can cause the ladies to swoon? A luscious beauty before whom lies countless men fallen to the ground in unmoving prostration after a single look? Whatever you want, feel free to hit me with it.”

“I can swap genders?”

“It’s a new body, after all. I’ll be making it from scratch, so either way is fine.”

Renya had the distinct notion that he was male. The framework of his memories had been reset, so he could not say for sure. Even from his name, however, he doubted he was female. With that in mind, he pondered his options. It was, honestly, not rocket science. The question was simple: did he want to thrust or be thrust upon? Simple, but most certainly crucial. After a moment, he made up his mind.

“Male, please. As long as I’m not ugly. The kind of normal person you can find anywhere.”

“Understood. An average physical appearance that neither offends nor charms.”

After scribbling all the way down to the bottom of the page, the girl ripped it from the pad, scrunched it up into a ball, and placed it on her hand. She puckered her tiny lips and blew a small breath at the paper ball. It burst into flames in her hand and soon turned to ash.

Renya watched it happen, wondering what she was doing with the note she spent so much effort writing. Just then, he saw a message appear out of the corner of his eye. It was the same kind as when the angels disappeared.

《 Notification: You gained “Healthy Body,” “Super Regen,” “Alcohol Resistance,” “Voracious Appetite,” “Blacksmith,” “Sword Mastery,” “Physical Mastery,” “Magecraft Mastery (Aptitude: Wind),” “Quickcast,” “High-Speed Recharge,” “Simulcast,” “Limit Break Leveling,” “Appraisal,” “Foreign World Language.” 》

“What the heck is this?”

“Uh, you can think of those as skills you get in video games— Oh, I suppose a 94-year-old wouldn’t have played games.”

“Actually, I sort of get it.”

Thanks to his memory wipe, he could not recall whether he took up playing games in his senior years to keep himself from getting bored, but got the gist of what the girl was trying to say.

“Really? I guess I don’t have to explain, then. In any case, I’ve given you the skills that you asked for. Please try out each of your skills and learn how to use them. Aside from the skills, I’ll also provide you with a hotline to me that you can use once per day. I can’t promise I’ll answer everything, though. Just keep that in mind, please. To use it, just visualize it in your head.”

“I see. Okay, when are you going to send me there?”

“Anytime. We can get going as soon as you’re ready,” answered the girl. A faint orb of light, elliptical in shape and as tall as a person, appeared beside her. Renya figured it was probably the gate that led to his otherworldly destination.

“Well, I guess I’m off. How long do you think until we meet again?”

“If things go awry, immediately. Normally, it should be a few decades later. If things go well, it’s possible we might never meet again.”

“Are you telling me there’s a way to gain immortality? Huh. Well, if I like what I see there, maybe I’ll try looking for it.”

“I cannot answer that. I do think it’s worth looking around, though.”

With a resigned smile, Renya gave the girl a look that said, “Seriously? That might as well have been a yes.” He turned around and, waving casually back at her, walked toward the gate.

“All right. See you, then.”

“Please allow me to apologize once again for dragging you into this. I wish you well, and hope that your new life will be a good one.”

As he stepped through the gate, Renya saw the girl give a quick bow. A line of words appeared in his view.

《 Notification: You gained the blessing of the Creator. 》

Thus did Renya Kunugi, who neither wanted nor wished for any of this, take his first step toward a brand new world and his new life.