The scenery was different from what I'd seen before falling asleep, but it felt familiar — and as I was thinking that,
"Tenma's awake!!!"
Sure enough, the noisy ones started making a racket, and in no time the place was in an uproar.
"So this time... it's about that woman, right?"
When I asked that,
"Right. Let's start with that conversation first."
The Creator Gods, who had been clamoring before my eyes, suddenly straightened up with serious expressions,
"Thanks to you, Tenma, we were spared the worst-case scenario. Thank you for saving that world."
and all of them bowed their heads to me together.
"Well, I mean, it was a hassle, but if I hadn't defeated her, it would've been far too inconvenient for me as well."
"Even so. If you had lost, one of us would have had to intervene and annihilate her. In that case, the intervening god would have ceased to exist along with her, and the damage to that world would have been enormous."
I gathered that they didn't know exactly what would happen, but apparently it could range from the world becoming uninhabitable, to — short of that — a reduction in the human population due to some kind of fallout, with civilization regressing by hundreds or even thousands of years, and in the worst case, the world itself could be destroyed.
"So, I'm sorry about this, but we need to take the 'Demi-god's power' and 'Authorities' away from you, Tenma."
Apparently there was a chance that, through some accident, the Demi-god power I possessed could exert a negative influence on the world — or, though unlikely, that I could be consumed by the power and go mad, becoming a second former God of Death.
I wanted to flatly deny that I would be consumed by the power, but the effect of becoming a Demi-god could potentially cause my thought processes to diverge from those of a normal human in the future, and above all, being told there was a precedent of the former God of Death going mad, I couldn't completely rule it out. In any case, even if they took the power away, apparently not all of the abilities I'd gained upon becoming a Demi-god would be stripped — as for power that had integrated at the soul level, even the gods themselves could do nothing about it.
Apparently, while I would be weaker than before, from a human perspective I wouldn't even be considered "off the charts" anymore. To put it simply, I'd be roughly equivalent in power to an "Ancient Dragon"... or so the Creator Gods said, adding that with enough effort, "you might just barely be able to take one down." However, their benchmark for "Ancient Dragon" was apparently Behemoth (Hii-chan), so even after losing my Demi-god status, the difference was just going from the strongest creature in the world (excluding the Creator Gods) to the first or second strongest. Besides, while my growth would be slower than before, I'd still keep growing, so apparently aiming for number one in the world wasn't out of the question if I put in the effort.
"I don't plan on competing with Hii-chan, so it's fine even if I'm not number one."
That woman nearly killed me several times in our fight, and she was the biggest threat I'd ever faced in my life — now that I'd defeated her, as long as I had enough power to protect myself and the people around me, I wasn't all that hung up on raw strength. Well, I'd probably keep up my self-training so my body wouldn't get sluggish, but I wasn't going to actively push to get stronger... probably.
"That's probably for the best. Just defeating her alone is going to let the whole world know just how powerful you are, Tenma — and if you went and dealt with Behemoth on top of that, it would throw all sorts of things in that world out of balance."
The balance the God of Creation was talking about might tilt in my favor, but I had a feeling it was far more likely to tip the other way — so I decided it was better not to bring it up again. It wasn't like I was on bad terms with Hii-chan. If anything, considering my relationship with Namitaro and Bon, I'd say we were on friendly terms.
"So, how do we go about removing a demigod's power? Please don't pick anything too painful."
When I said that, the God of Creation replied:
"Oh, don't worry — there's no pain at all... You just need to sleep for a little while, and it'll be taken care of in that time. Specifically, about two to three years."
"I'm out!"
Being restrained for that long would almost certainly get me flagged as dead, and more importantly, I wouldn't be there for my child's birth.
"It'll be fine! This space flows differently from the world you live in, and I'm preparing a special room within it — so even if you sleep for two to three years in there, in reality only about two to three hours will have passed! ...There's some margin of error, though."
The God of Creation planted an ominous flag at the end there, but apparently even that margin of error, worst case, only extended to about a day (it had already been tested by the gods, with all the male gods present doing it together, apparently).
"That's fine then... But if something goes wrong and it looks like it's going to take longer, wake me up! Promise me, okay?!"
As I was saying this and about to be led to the special room the God of Creation had mentioned—
"One more thing — when Tenma wakes up next time, he'll find himself back where he started. And the next time we meet will be when Tenma becomes one of us."
Something hugely important was dropped just like that, casual as anything.
"Huh?"
Being told something like that out of nowhere made no sense to me, and the instant I turned around to ask for a proper explanation, the God of Creation went "Oof!" and vanished from sight.
"You knew it was important, so you should've decided to explain things in order from the beginning!"
It was the God of War who had sent the God of Creation flying. That strike seemed to carry enough force that even that woman would've had a hole punched through her, but knowing the God of Creation, he'd probably come back after a while as though nothing had happened.
"Tenma, I need to talk to you about that, so let's sit down and chat, okay?"
Following the Goddess of Love's guidance, I took the seat that had been prepared for me, and one by one, the other gods took their seats — all except the God of Creation.
"You see, when the God of Creation said we need to 'take the power away,' it's because it might be dangerous for us to interfere any further."
"As long as you remained human, everything would have been fine as it was... but there's no precedent for a reincarnator becoming a demigod, even for a short time~..."
"So, after a majority vote, it was decided that we should take every precaution... Though personally, I argued that it would be better to continue treating him as usual to detect any changes in Tenma immediately—rather than let a valuable test subject escape, so to speak."
The God of Magic said this, sounding terribly disappointed after the explanations from the Goddess of Love and the Goddess of Earth. The God of Beasts and the God of Destruction, seated on either side of him, immediately leaned in to deliver a sharp retort, cutting him off.
"Well, you can ignore all that. I also think there's merit to noticing any changes in Tenma quickly, but since we don't know what might happen, we must avoid the risk that the world could be destroyed."
The God of Destruction explained that while he understood what the God of Magic was getting at, he ultimately sided with the majority for the same reason—they had to avoid the possibility of irreversible consequences... Or rather, it seemed everyone besides the God of Magic formed the majority.
"It's a shame we won't get to see Tenma, but... it's wrong for us to put the world in danger for our own selfish reasons, even if it's only a possibility."
"Still, a human lifespan is just a few decades... For Tenma, perhaps another hundred years? That's really not much of a burden for the likes of us."
The God of War also sounded regrettable, though for a different reason than the God of Magic, whereas the Goddess of Life was completely nonchalant. Or rather... wait, was I going to live for nearly another hundred years? In the worst case—no, there's a high chance I'd outlive the next child I have...
I was feeling pretty down since the one who had so casually let slip that remark about my lifespan happened to be the Goddess of Life, but...
"I think Tenma's lifespan is probably not that long. When I created Tenma's body, I based it on his previous life's physique, so even after reinforcement, it shouldn't be more than twice as long as his original body."
The God of Death said this, which was somewhat reassuring... but then,
"Wait, my lifespan in my previous life was only around sixty years!?"
This time, a different kind of shocking information came to light.
"Tenma's previous life had a very low luck stat... which also affected his body. Don't sweat it."
Well, it was only about his lifespan in his previous life, so I had to accept that it didn't apply to me now... but even so, talking about one's own lifespan felt a bit strange.
"So that's why I don't think Tenma's lifespan is as long as the Goddess of Life says. Even accounting for the reinforcement during reincarnation and the extension from his Magic Power, it will be longer than the average human, but it shouldn't deviate dramatically from the human range. Besides, the children of reincarnators tend to inherit a longer lifespan from their parents, so unless there's an accident or illness, things should proceed in the expected order."
Even with the Goddess of Life, it seemed she couldn't know the exact lifespan.
She could get a rough idea, apparently, but that was based purely on intuition from her experience as the Goddess of Life. Since the Goddess of Life was rather haphazard, it was said that the God of Death, who held a similar role concerning life, was more reliable.
"Speaking of which, he returned rather casually. The God of Creation..."
Just as I'd thought, the God of Creation came back completely unharmed despite being hit with such tremendous force, prepared his own chair properly, and then joined the conversation.
"Tenma's stats are far beyond human levels, but his body is still human, so his lifespan won't deviate from the human range unless something extraordinary happens."
As for the rest, it apparently meant things like modifying one's body at the cellular level or forcibly extending one's lifespan through drugs, and furthermore,
"It shouldn't apply to Tenma, but... just like him, if someone becomes a Lich, their lifespan extends too,"
—the God of Creation casually dropped this utterly non-joking remark, which immediately put the other gods on edge. I couldn't tell whether that hostility was directed at the God of Creation himself or whether they were watching to see how I'd react, but if the gods really decided to act on it, I—nothing more than a demi-god—would be obliterated without a single speck left behind... probably.
"Get back and immediately stop saying ridiculous things!"
"Gah!"
"There's a time when it's okay to joke and a time when it's not!"
"Ugh!"
"That's way too far for a joke!"
"Guah!"
"...Hmph!"
"Blargh!"
The instant the word "Lich" came out of his mouth, the God of War, the God of Destruction, the God of Skills, and the God of Beasts launched a rapid-fire barrage of attacks, sending the God of Creation flying off to who-knows-where once again. This combination of attacks was something even I, now a demi-god, might not have been able to withstand.
I thought that this time, the God of Creation wouldn't be able to return for a good while... but he came back after roughly the same amount of time as before. Of course, he had clearly taken serious damage this time—his footing was quite unsteady.
After that, the conversation drifted from trivial matters to lighthearted gossip, then to progressively juicier revelations about the gods, which inevitably spiraled into a brawl. It was even more chaotic than usual, and time passed amid the mayhem.
"V-very soon, we need to take Tenma to the specially prepared room!"
The God of Creation had been getting carried away and saying far too many things, so the other gods took turns beating him up. He stumbled over to my side in a panic, frantically shouting that.
It was probably partly an excuse to escape from the other gods, but it did seem like the schedule had run longer than planned, since the other gods simply watched without trying to stop him as he grabbed me and dragged me away. Having confirmed that no one was going to stop him, the God of Creation pulled me by the arm, led me out of the usual room, and set off down a corridor so long that the end wasn't even visible.
The other gods followed us, which gave me the chance to say individual farewells to each of them before we reached the specially prepared room. And once a god had finished saying goodbye, they took turns shoving the God of Creation in the back—with just enough force that he wouldn't actually stop walking.
(I might not get to see this kind of chaos for a while... actually, no—I'll be stuck with all of them after I die, so I suppose I'll be needing regular breaks.)
Just as I was thinking this, the God of Creation suddenly stopped, and I nearly collided with him.
"This is the specially prepared room I mentioned. Once you enter, you won't be able to leave, so only Tenma should go in. When you enter, there's a bed in the center — just lie down on it, and the next time you wake up, you'll be lying in the place you started from."
So saying, the God of Creation opened the door to the room, but as far as I could see from outside, it was a spartan room with nothing but a single bed in the center. Nothing about it seemed particularly unusual, but judging by the reactions of the other gods aside from the God of Creation, this was indeed the special room he'd described.
"Well then— wait, you just walked right in without any hesitation."
I went in since he said it was the right room, but once inside, it seemed no different from an ordinary room. Except—
"You really can't get out, huh."
I tried stepping back outside just to test it, but even though the door was wide open, something like an invisible wall blocked me — I couldn't even stick a fingertip outside the room.
"I won't be able to hear you once I close this door, so is there anything you'd like to ask before that?"
"Not really... oh, actually — what's going to happen with Nataro?"
"Nataro held a divine seat in his previous life too, so I think he can continue interacting with you as before, but just to be thorough, we decided he shouldn't see you until after you die."
Because of me, I've gone and caused trouble for Nataro too... Just as I was thinking that—
"He said something like, 'That means I get Tenma all to myself during that time!' So you'd better remember that for next time! ...Could you pass that along?"
He didn't seem too bothered, so it sounded like we'd be able to meet up again without any awkwardness.
"Well then, Tenma. Until we meet again — live a good life."
"Yeah... thanks, all of you, for giving me the chance to live in this world."
With that, I closed the door immediately. If I'd kept looking at the gods' faces any longer, I definitely would have started crying. That said, given that the God of Creation and the God of War were already sobbing loudly and several other gods looked like they were about to start, it probably wouldn't have been too embarrassing.
There wasn't much else to do, so I lay down on the bed right away. I figured it would take a while to fall asleep since I was still emotionally worked up, but I closed my eyes anyway, and then—
"No way..."
The next instant, the stone wall I'd built was right in front of me.
The drowsiness and fatigue I'd felt before going to bed had vanished completely, so I stepped out of the safe zone and found that the morning sun was just rising.
In terms of sensation, it felt like no more than a single blink had passed since I closed my eyes in that special room. The God of Creation had said the margin of error was at most about a day, but that was based on tests with the gods — there was no telling how it would work for me. It was entirely possible that the timing could be wildly off in my case.
Given the current situation, at least half a day had passed since I fell asleep in this world, and in the worst case it could have been several days. I needed to get to Seigen as fast as possible.
Fortunately, I had apparently recovered my condition thanks to having spent what amounted to several years sleeping among the gods. And while my power was weaker than when I had fought that woman as a demigod, it was considerably stronger than before I'd become one. In fact, I was confident I could easily defeat a lich like the one I'd taken down before my battle with that woman.
At this rate, I'd reach Seigen faster than I'd expected.
I moved around lightly to check my body's condition, then took off toward Seigen once more.
I flew with the same sensation as before becoming a demigod, but my speed was clearly different. To be specific, I was moving at nearly twice the velocity I'd had before the transformation.
I wasn't quite at the speed I'd managed during my time as a demigod, but even so, I reached the vicinity of Seigen in about three hours.
Along the way, I took out every zombie I came across with magic, but none of them were gathered in large enough numbers to call a swarm. The biggest groups I found consisted of four or five at most, and I only ran into two or three of those.
The reason I'd encountered so few zombies compared to before was probably because that woman had absorbed most of them from the direction of the Great Old Forest, picking them off one after another.
As for how many enemies remained inside Seigen, the wyverns had been defeated in passing during my fight with the woman, and more importantly, they'd all been caught in her self-destruction attack, so they should be completely gone. Even the skeletons and rot-flesh golems would need decades to march from the deepest level of the dungeon to the surface at their current pace. There had also been monsters and zombies that had gathered from elsewhere, but Shiromaru's parents had been taking them out, and those remaining would have been caught in the woman's self-destruction as well, so even if any survived, their numbers should be drastically reduced.
Even if some remained, the most dangerous among them would probably just be ogres, so unless they came in overwhelming numbers, Seigen's surviving forces should be able to handle it. And even if things were tough, with no way of knowing the situation at the Royal Capital, I just hoped they could hold their ground on their own for a while.
With those thoughts, I entered Seigen — but combat operations already seemed to be over. The surviving adventurers were at the center of a cleanup effort, breaking down the remains of defeated monsters. Some of the adventurers and civilians among them had suffered serious injuries, so maybe it had turned into a race to claim the spoils.
So it was that I flew through streets filled with a kind of energy utterly at odds with a city in the middle of a war, heading toward the spot where I'd parted ways with the old men. That was when I spotted something unusual — piles of materials stacked into mountains. Two mountains, no less.
"Are those the old men over there... along with Master Gants and the Guild Chief?"
The old men were talking with serious expressions, but even as they spoke, Master Gants' apprentices were stacking monster materials. Looking more carefully, I saw that adventurers were lining up to hand over materials to the apprentices.
"Grandpa!"
If I had the time, I would have wanted an explanation of this situation right here and now, but I was pressed for time, so it could wait.
"We're all loaded up! Sorry about this, Tenma, but we'll need you to carry us!"
The old man clearly understood that already, because the moment he said those words, he ducked into the Dimension Bag.
I grabbed the Dimension Bag containing the old men and took off at full speed toward the Royal Capital. Master Gants and several adventurers were watching me go and waving, which told me that while the kingdom was technically still at war, the fighting here in Seigen was essentially over.
"Grandpa, I can see the Royal Capital! It doesn't look like the city has become a battlefield, but I'm going to charge straight for the estate at this speed!"
It took about half a day to reach the Royal Capital. If we hadn't taken any breaks along the way — and by breaks, I mean Shiromaru running in my place for a stretch — we probably could have made it a bit sooner. But arriving at the Royal Capital and immediately plunging into combat was a real possibility, so we needed to discuss our plan of action first.
During that discussion, we confirmed that the woman had been thoroughly defeated (I glossed over anything related to the Demigod and the Gods), and we checked on the status of the old men's injuries. Grandpa and Jin had almost completely healed, but apparently Din-san's eyesight had deteriorated somewhat. We also decided on how to move if a battle broke out in the Royal Capital. After that, I also heard about the mountain of materials we'd seen in Seigen... Apparently, those were slated to be delivered to the Ootori household and the Royal Family.
Seigen was under the direct jurisdiction of the Royal Family, so it made sense that we had to hand over materials corresponding to the number of Monsters we'd defeated there. As for why the Ootori household also got a share, it was because most of the Monster corpses scattered around Seigen had been defeated either as collateral damage while I was fighting the woman, or by Shiromaru's parents and their group. They had jumped out alongside me, so they were counted as my Familiars. Everything else had been taken down by the old men or my Golems. The Guild explained that they couldn't simply ignore the Ootori household's share. For the record, they added that if someone skimmed materials from a fighter who had been going toe-to-toe with a creature like that, and retaliation followed, it would be an ugly sight (though personally, I had no intention of retaliating — but among adventurers, getting your kill poached and then retaliating was apparently quite common, and in such cases, the poacher was considered to be in the wrong).
As for why even civilians had been participating in the disassembly work, the arrangement was that if you handed over a portion of the Monster you helped disassemble, you could take the rest home. This served the dual purpose of preventing epidemics caused by rotting Monster corpses piling up in the streets, and providing at least some relief to those who had suffered damages.
The reason Master Gants's apprentices had been handing out materials was that the adventurers who brought materials to be delivered were mostly those who operated out of Seigen. The Guild staff recorded "who brought how much material," though the system was rather crude, which meant fraud could run rampant. However, they were deliberately turning a blind eye to that. Push it too far and eventually the scheme would collapse, and more importantly, other adventurers working nearby would surely notice. The same applied to civilians. So their official stance was that they'd step in if things became blatantly excessive, but up to a certain degree, they'd let it slide given the circumstances.
As for the materials the Ootori household would receive this time, after first getting approval from the Royal Family, they were to be donated to Seigen.
Grandpa had apologized for deciding that on his own, but under the circumstances, if the Ootori household had taken materials for themselves, there were bound to be people who would harbor resentment even if we were technically in the right. Besides, we hadn't originally planned on getting any materials at all, so Grandpa's decision was perfectly acceptable to me... That said, the fact that he had casually designated only the Wyvern materials as belonging to the Royal Family was a shrewd move, I had to admit.
Upon charging into the Royal Capital, I quickly confirmed that the area had never become a battlefield and breathed a sigh of relief. But as the estate came into view, something about the scene felt off. The courtyard was packed with burly figures.
I realized almost immediately that they were soldiers from the south, but there were fewer of them than I would have expected for a southern army, and the number of injured was concerning. On top of that, for some reason, it wasn't just the southern soldiers — even among the acquaintances who had evacuated here, there was a strange tension running through the air.
Maybe the tension was because the southern soldiers kept them on edge, not knowing when fighting might resume, I thought as I landed in the courtyard. At first, everyone tensed up at my sudden appearance from the sky, but once they realized it was me, they all rushed over at once. However—
"Tenma!"
A voice rang out as Hanako pushed through the crowd toward me... and lifted me onto her shoulders. The motion sent the Dimension Bag flying, and Grandpa, who had been about to climb out of it, tumbled onto the ground.
"Hey— Hanako!?"
I tried to protest her baffling behavior, but—
"Tenma, Primera has gone into labor! We need to go, now!"
she blurted, and I was so shocked I fell silent as she carried me straight into the estate.