"Huh?"
The Demon King's voice came out flat, as if she genuinely hadn't expected to be turned down.
Well, yeah.
She'd given off totally open-to-it vibes back in the Great Ello Dungeon, but when I actually asked, it was a hard no.
Like acing the interview and finding out you failed when the results come out.
"W-Why?"
Well, y'know?
See, now that I've become a god, I don't need to be hung up on this planet anymore.
The whole reason I was killing myself trying to become an administrator was because this planet was about to go bust.
If I didn't do something, the whole thing would go belly-up, so I aimed to become an administrator in a position where I could actually do something about it.
But now that I've actually become a god, I've realized I don't need to be so attached to this rock.
If I put my mind to it, I can use spatial magic and leave this planet whenever I want.
Yeah, I really can.
With the dimensional magic I had before, that wasn't possible, but that was within the limited framework of Skills.
Just like the previous Hero and Demon King did, if I develop the teleportation magic further, I could cross dimensions and go back to Earth.
It'd take a fair number of days to complete that formula, but at the very least, it'd be done before this planet collapses.
Thinking about it that way, there's no need to go through the trouble of putting my body on the line to stop this planet from going down.
I have my feelings about the people here, but if everything just collapses, at least I'll feel cleansed.
The vampire kid and the other reincarnators—sure, I'm a little concerned, but I'm under no obligation to go out of my way to save them.
Maybe it's an effect of the apotheosis?
My anger toward the people on this planet has gone way down.
I think most of that anger originally flowed in from the Demon King's soul right in front of me.
Because I've fully digested and drunk every last drop of it through becoming a god, I can now make judgments without any distracting thoughts.
I've returned to a state closer to the original me—the one from the moment I was born.
That said, it's not like I have zero anger left.
I still feel grossed out.
But it's less as a party involved and more like what you feel toward a villain in a movie.
Anger at a villain on the other side of a screen.
That's the extent of the emotion.
I've stirred up a whole lot of trouble up until now, sorry about that, but I'm leaving this planet cool and collected!
『Spider's Train of Thought, Part 4: I've Become a God, and I'm Gonna Leave This Planet to Live Free』
Yes.
Feeling all "see ya, wouldn't wanna be ya."
"You should reconsider that."
And yet, Gyurigyuri is dead serious while giving me that advice.
Why?
"Planets are almost always managed by gods. This planet was originally managed by dragons. But they abandoned it. Right now, management of this planet is nominally handled by D. Being under the jurisdiction of the supreme god D means other gods won't meddle, but once you leave this planet, that protection disappears. If an unaffiliated god tries to migrate to a planet where intelligent beings live, the local god will repel them. That's how it always ends."
What?
So planets each have their own administrator, and if you intrude without permission, you get attacked?
『For the record, Earth is under my jurisdiction.』
Oh, is that so?
Then the easiest thing would be to let me live on Earth.
『Indeed. You're more than welcome to come back to Earth, but there are two conditions.』
Ugh, I've got a bad feeling about this.
『The first is to become one of my kin.』
Nope. Hard pass!
No way, no how.
Becoming the kin of someone this awful would guarantee me suffering worse than death.
『I'll have you know, becoming my kin is actually an extraordinarily generous offer.』
Is it?
I glance at Gyurigyuri with a hint of suspicion.
"Being D's kin—that alone guarantees your safety, at the very least. Doing something to D's kin is the same as declaring yourself an enemy of D. Unless someone is spectacularly suicidal, no fool would lay a hand on D's kin. That's just how powerful D's influence is in the world of gods."
Seriously?
『Furthermore, as long as you follow certain rules, you're free to do pretty much whatever you like. You will, however, have to obey the occasional command I give you.』
Hmm.
When put that way, it's not such a bad deal, is it?
『The second is to cooperate with the Demon King over there.』
Hm?
『I want to see this story through to the end. So this is less of a request and more of an opening command.』
Ah.
So that's how it is.
What should I do~ If I accept D's offer, the perk is having D as my backer.
According to Gyurigyuri, that's apparently a really, really big deal.
The downside is that I'd have to serve under D, a supremely troublesome existence.
Even without hearing Gyurigyuri spell it out, D literally built the System and everything—D's standing as a god is obviously far above mine.
Honestly, I don't stand a chance.
My whole philosophy up until now has been to run like hell from anyone I can't beat, but I'm not confident I can outrun this one.
So maybe I should just jump in headfirst?
But still, D is D...
"Spider, if you'll cooperate with me, I'll treat you to all the delicious food you can eat!"
Yep.
Yep.
Yep.
Yes, I'd love to!
Geez, lead with that condition from the start, would ya?
I'll work super hard for you.
Maximum motivation, right here.
Delicious food.
Hehehehe.
"Is this... really okay?"
『It's not okay. This is a major problem.』