On A Godless Planet Volume 1 -B Chapter 27

A connecting connection

Raidou used the Bil-Ki Duo's defection announcement to determine whether or not they should continue the discussion here.

"Yeah, we can't really discuss that here. Let's get to Sumeragi's room."

That thought excited me a little bit.

…I-I get to go in Sumeragi-kun's room!?

It did make sense given the situation, but I still couldn't believe it. And it sounded like it might just be a sleepover tournament. Well, not a tournament. Not that it matters. Okay, maybe I was little fl.u.s.tered.

Kidou-san said she would pay the bill, so the Norse group mercilessly ordered an extra hamburger steak each.

But after we had paid and were considering stopping by a convenience store, Omokane-san called out to us. She paid her own bill after we did, but while walking out ahead of us…

"Take care, all of you. I have some business to attend to."

"Huh? Where are you going, Omokane-san?"

"I need to complete some work related to Bilgamesh-kun and Kidou En-kun's defection. The actual paperwork has already been submitted, but I must inform the other mythologies that it has indeed happened."

"Omokane-chaaan?"

"What is it, Shifu-kun?"

"How much did you know about what was going on with the Mesopotamians?"

"Well," she said. "I have an information shutout field, so I heard pretty much everything. You can get yourselves filled in at Sumeragi-kouhai's room."

"Oh, so that's how it is?"

What was this about? I honestly didn't know, so I asked.

"What is this about?"

"These 5th generationers have something they can't tell us."

"Yup. They're sworn to secrecy by some kind of contract."

"Eh? But didn't they just say they were defecting?"

"That is something new we have just agreed to, so they are free to tell us that. The secrecy is about something from before that. They made a contract with someone else about it."

"U-umm?"

This was sounding confusing.

But Raidou-san summed it up for me.

"They can't tell us about their actual objective or some plan that someone else is working on. A contract they made with that someone prevents them from doing so. Or maybe talking about it would allow them to be tracked."

What did that mean?

"They have a boss."

Raidou had more or less figured something out.

…There's something contradictory or out of place about their actions.

A lot of it came down to his group's misunderstanding. He knew what their biggest mistake had been.

"We were too worried about the delays in the terraforming here."

He felt bad when Senpai-san shrunk down, but that was the crux of the issue.

However, there was something he could not figure out. While thinking on it, he pointed east, toward Sumeragi's apartment, and began walking.

It was a summer knight and j.a.panese summers were humid, but not as bad as his home. Still, he would prefer it not to be so hot.

"Bilgamesh, do you mind if we make some guesses here?"

"Go ahead, but keep in mind that we can neither confirm nor deny anything."

"Then here's a yes-or-no question: Do you have those '80s-style sideburns because you got the wrong idea about the current fashion trends?"

"My hair is curly and does this naturally!"

He really is a nice guy, thought Raidou, while realizing he had been too careless in how he treated Sumeragi lately.

Anyway, he added while turning toward Kuwajiri who raised her hand and picked up her pace to keep up.

She was lit up by an orange streetlight. He had a feeling those orange ones had become more common recently.

"Let us suppose that this 5th Generation pair has a boss."

"I just about reacted to that."

"That careless side to you scares me at times like this."

"I could say the same about how you can do most anything without getting careless."

"Well, aren't you a cute couple."

"Oh, whoops." Kidou waved a hand dismissively and opened a Revelation Board. "I'll listen to some music, so go on ahead."

"I will," Kuwajiri continued speaking. "As Raidou-senpai said, there are two cases in which they would be obligated to keep a secret."

"So when would they be obligated to keep a secret? The first possibility is that they were ordered to do by their boss. That would mean the secret is related to their inspection duty. In other words, what the inspector will be doing in the Shinto-led divine world must be kept a secret. That one is simple enough. If we knew what the DC inspector wanted to inspect, we could work against that inspection. I can see why they would be asked to keep that a secret."

The idiot walked forward and raised a hand while nonchalantly staring at Senpai-san's jiggling chest as she walked next to him.

She must have thought no one would notice, but she was moving her head and down in time with the jiggling.

"Then isn't that the answer? They're the DC inspectors, so what other possibility is there?"

"Yes. If that were true, you would be right."

However…

"The other possibility is that they were not given any instructions by their boss."

"Huh?" I tilted my head and the rest of my body in front of Kuwajiri. "Is that even possible? Kuwajiri, are you all right? Are you sure you aren't making stuff up just to have more to say? Well, can you answer me that? C'mon, answer me! Answer me! Answer meuuuuuuuuu!"

"How did you turn that into a 'u' sound?"

"Oh, thanks! Thanks so much! I'm so glad someone actually responded! Everyone around here has started ignoring my jokes recently! Hey, Kuwajiri! You need to react to my jokes like Busty Girl here!"

"I wish we lived in a world where you could just die."

"But anyway," said Kuwajiri while walking behind me. "What if they were not given any instructions by their boss?"

I had a question about that.

"Is it even possible to be inspectors but not receive any instructions from their boss?"

"Oh," said Senpai. "It is. In certain circ.u.mstances."

"Yes! Of course it's possible! In certain circ.u.mstances! Yes! Senpai is right! Kuwajiri! It's possible for that to be the case!"

"Kuwajiri, was it? I'm pretty sure you're allowed to get mad in cases like this."

"No, I am choosing to view this as me guiding her to the correct answer with a clever trick."

"Is that so?"

"Heyyyyyyy! Stop turning the flirty couple against me just before they join us! Shouldn't you be telling them how great I am!? …Okay, Kuwajiri-kun, can you tell the cla.s.s some good things about Sumeragi-kun?"

"You can use her for shade when she is standing up."

"Too baaaad! It's night tiiiiime! Okay, let's get back on topic."

She gave me the nastiest look.

Kuwajiri had her concerns, but…

"I had a hunch when you mentioned defecting, but it seems I was right."

The Mesopotamian duo outranked her in divinity and school year.

But now was not the time to worry about that. The situation was probably underway even now. Because…

"They are not the DC's inspectors."

She said it.

"And if they are not the inspectors, then why would they be sworn to secrecy? That is simple enough: someone other than them - such as their boss - is the inspector. In that case, it does not matter if they do or do not have any direct connection to the inspection. The rules say they are not allowed to say anything about an inspector from within their own group."

…I had a feeling things were headed this way.

Kuwajiri-chan's a.n.a.lyses were never wrong. That meant her statement here was fact.

"That means the real inspector is someone else. Right, Balancer?"

That answer was all the confirmation they needed. So to speed things up after falling behind…

"Why are they defecting and why did they pick a fight with us?"

"The fight would have been to improve their standing here. Thinking back, they kind of dodged the issue of why they were fighting beforehand. They just said it was 'politics'."

But…

"They never said those politics were related to the inspection. So instead of the politics between the DC and Shinto, they were trying to establish their position within the Shinto force after they defected. It was that kind of political fight. That they should be able to talk about."

"Sounds like a reallll pain."

Yomoji-chan was right.

But that brought Shifu back to her previous question.

"Why are they defecting?"

Someone raised their hand

It was Kuwajiri-chan.

Shifu looked over and the girl immediately responded.

"I think their boss refused to reverse a decision regarding their mythology recreation. And that boss did so as a representative of the DC."

Bilgamesh felt relief.

He felt like everything they had done since coming here had gone well. Except that the human kept making strange noises.

…Come to think of it, Hato used to be human too, but I don't remember her ever being like this.

Did that mean it was only the current humans who were weird?

Regardless, the knowledge G.o.d called Kuwajiri was correct.

It came down to their mythology recreation.

As G.o.ds, G.o.ds had their authority, but they also had to do things in accordance with their mythology.

"We were born from mythology, so if we neglect our mythology, we will cease to be G.o.ds. It is not known what happens then since there is no precedent, but in the worst case, it could create a contradiction in our very existence as data ent.i.ties and we would be destroyed."

However…

"A lot of worlds and G.o.ds do not meet a pleasant end in their mythologies and they still want a happy life this time around, so we use interpretations as a form of politics to make the adjustments needed to get by."

But…

"But if that 5th Generation boss has become a representative of the DC, they're sure to tell the G.o.ds below them that no interpretations are allowed. They couldn't hold a strong political position against the other mythologies otherwise."

"In their mythology, Bilgamesh and Enkidu got along well enough that fan works about them became popular in later civilizations. And you can see they're basically husband and wife here."

But…

"They caused a bit of trouble with the G.o.ds, which led the G.o.ds to give Enkidu 'death' in Bilgamesh's place. Afterwards, Bilgamesh wandered the world in search of a way to reach the realm of the dead, but he had to give up and accept his own death as well. As you can see, their mythology has an unhappy ending."

Then what did this mean? Kuwajiri simply faced forward as she explained.

"To show their pride to the other mythologies, you were being forced to do Enkidu's 'death' without any interpretations, weren't you?"

Kuwajiri clearly stated the answer, but she also realized she had succ.u.mbed to her bad habit again.

…I have a tendency of blunting stating harsh truths.

Could she call it a love of knowledge above all else?

No, if she could tell it was a problem, then it could not be that.

She had all the knowledge she could want, yet she had trouble "understanding" things like this. Even she found herself to be a pain at times.

But if she was right about the reason the 5th Generation duo was here, there was something else she did not understand.

"I do not understand how this works as an actual conflict between mythologies. Raidou-senpai, what do you think is going to happen considering all of this, including the time at which they arrived?"

"Do you have to give me all the hard questions?"

Kuwajiri glared at him, but Raidou still answered.

He looked up to view the stars in the western sky.

The effects of their battle had vanished when the barrier was removed.

There were no repercussions outside of the actual result.

He spoke while viewing the sky that proved that.

"Since they're asking to defect, we can a.s.sume their boss isn't here yet. Besides, if this is their boss and an inspector, they must be a top-level G.o.d, on the level of a creator. Bringing a G.o.d like that from a virtual to a real manifestation would take a lot of preparation. Plus, given their divine protections and authority, the DC can't let one of their own leave without making adjustments first. So these two knew they had some time even if they were being tracked, which is why they challenged us to a duel."

But something still bothered him.

"That said, they're pretty major G.o.ds. Mesopotamian mythology is mostly virtual manifestations, so information on their real manifestation is sure to have leaked and reached their boss."

"But they're still keeping the secrets they need to keep."

Yes.

They were keeping those secrets so their location would not be found out. So…

"They managed to do a real manifestation and come here without their boss finding out."

That revealed something.

"They have an ally back home. And among the top levels, at that."

At that point, he noticed a contradiction there.

He and Shifu had just fought them.

It was not just the Shinto and Norse mythologies with real manifestations on this planet. Several other mythologies were using it too.

"So they thought the result of the battle would act as a deterrent against the other mythologies."

That meant everyone had to know they were here.

Yes.

That battle would normally have told everyone they were here and it would have spread from there.

Nevertheless, they were still keeping their secrets. Which meant…

"They are certain something will prevent information on that battle from leaving this planet."

"What could that be?"

"That would be me."

He heard a voice and turned around to see a G.o.d in casual clothing.

…That's a low divine rank.

"You're a former human, aren't you?"

"Yes," said the G.o.d who wore a white dress below a see-through blouse. "I am with those two. My name is Shamu Hatoko."

Scarecrow sighed in her home.

"I don't like the way this is headed."

She removed her coat within a large s.p.a.ce.

This was a student dorm. The three-story building was located near Sunakawa Station and she had rented out all of the first-floor rooms and removed the walls to remake it into a library.

Location-wise, she appreciated that she could board the city bus that stopped in front of the dorm and take it straight to a bus stop behind the school.

That was thanks to all the Shinto G.o.ds who lived in this area. For example, Tenma, who had been with her until earlier, lived in an apartment two buildings down and across the street.

Scarecrow had told Tenma "see you tomorrow" and asked her to do some bodyguard work, but she had found a familiar face in front of her own room. She thought it might be a visitor, but…

"See, these are my casual clothes."

This meant something had been going on behind the scenes earlier.

Scarecrow asked a question while keeping herself within the light of a streetlight.

"Why did you come to school in that indecent outfit, but wear casual clothes to someone's home?"

"Weren't you listening? I'm a temple prost.i.tute."

"Now, I will hear what you have to say. What do you want?"

"Omokane contacted me twice and, after some discussion, I chose to leave my people with you. The first time was when I borrowed a book from the library and the second was after regrouping with those two. For the second time, we got a little overexcited in the bathhouse and were practicing blowing bubbles until a certain combat freak I know destroyed the Shinto version of the bathhouse and the management G.o.d kicked us out. That was when I ran into her again."

"What?"

"Meeting her once wasn't enough to work everything out? Plus, I thought I hid Yatsui and Tenma when I sensed danger and you arrived in the library."

That woman had a bad habit of adlibbing things despite being a knowledge G.o.d and an on-site commander.

…She's clearly more of a trickster G.o.d, if you ask me.

But that led her to a.n.a.lyze things deeply enough to reach the truth.

And that was why she was the commander. However…

"I wish she wasn't so oblivious to the trouble she puts us through or the ways we try to help her out."

"Oh? But your decision worked out well for me. If I had managed to hold an actual discussion with Omokane in the library, we might have worked everything out there, but then that previous battle wouldn't have happened."

Shamhat smiled a little.

"The first time, she asked me to introduce those two first. She said they could fight duels to determine their position in the ranking. Shinto likes to keep things exciting, doesn't it? And I think it was that duel that allowed Bilgamesh and Ki to be accepted so readily, so it was good all around that your attempt to help Omokane did not pay off."

"My way of thinking doesn't mesh will with yours in general. In this case, my job is to keep an eye out so battles like that do not happen. …And one other thing."

"Yes?"

"I never said it is a problem that my attempts to help her 'do not pay off'. The problem is that she is oblivious to them."

"Is there a difference?"

"There is," she said. "My way is based on having a conscience."

"Sounds like both of us go through a lot for our boss."

"Since we are in agreement there, I will hear you out. You say the first meeting led to that duel, but what about the second one?"

"I can't believe this."

Scarecrow walked to her desk while feeling a little blue about still having work to do after taking a bath.

The study desk was a lot like a library counter. It faced the library that covered the entire first floor of the apartment. The refrigerator, sink, bath, kitchen, and bed were all in the "supply room" back behind the desk.

She used this room for work and as a place to leave her knowledge.

But before coming in here, she had received a lot of information from Shamhat at the entrance to her home.

Information leaks were dangerous things.

Contracts made with G.o.ds had to be kept. Mythologies and old stories were full of people losing something or suffering other dire consequences when they broke a promise with a G.o.d.

That was no different when the promises were made between G.o.ds. So she had wondered if this information leak would reach their "boss" based on the contract linking them, but…

"Remember during the day, when you said I must be a spy? Well, it's true. And that's why I have the authority to conceal it when I leak information. Otherwise, no one would trust me during our nighttime 'engagements', would they?"

In that case, thought Scarecrow. There had been a largescale battle in the western sky and Omokane had (as usual) only given bits and pieces of information over the Revelation Board, but…

"Are you keeping information on that duel from leaking out?"

"I haven't been with those two the entire time. The G.o.ds of each mythology gave me permission to use my authority while visiting your base within the school here. I am here as the vanguard, but I will not send the DC any information on you until some time has pa.s.sed. When a DC inspector is liable to show up here, that seems like a fairly useful deal for the other mythologies to make."

I see, thought Scarecrow as understanding reached her.

It was true she had not been contacted by any other mythologies despite the scope of that battle. And…

"Kunugi-san contacted our people, but I haven't heard anything from anyone since then. Are you also preventing any information from reaching us?"

"If I am keeping anything from leaking out, it only seemed to strike a nice balance if I also prevent anything from getting in."

"Wouldn't it strike a better balance to let information travel inwards?"

"For a political information manipulation authority, sure. But mine is a prost.i.tute's one. Prost.i.tutes look tight-lipped, but grow quite talkative in bed, so do you really think everyone is going to tell them their secrets?"

"This has been a learning experience for me."

"It's a surprisingly romantic authority, don't you think?"

"I was thinking it would lead to a lot of stress building up."

Shamhat smiled, but was she treating Scarecrow like a child? She decided it did not matter.

"Does that mean information on Bilgamesh and Enkidu has not leaked out even after that battle of theirs?"

"Yes, it does. This is my specialty, after all. But you know there is one thing I have trouble with, don't you?"

She did. Or she could figure it out, anyway. During the day, Shamhat had broken through her "guidance".

Which meant…

"You are good at manipulating 'internal' information, but you have trouble manipulating 'external' information, don't you?"

"Yes. I don't do the external stuff. That's why I needed a decent location back when I did it with Enkidu."

So…

"Look into it. The information was blocked, but I'm bad at detecting movements on the outside. With your 'guidance', you can tell when someone is coming, can't you? Then can you check and see if our boss has come here?"

How strange, thought Scarecrow. Isn't it a little soon for their boss to be arriving as a DC member?

"What is the meaning of this? Bilgamesh and Enkidu only just arrived independently. How could their boss have arrived so quickly?"

"It means they rushed straight here while brushing aside all the issues related to the internal power balance and taking a real manifestation."

"What G.o.d would be so reckless?"

"Oh? Don't you have a G.o.d like that? It's a pattern seen in every mythology, so you should have someone similar. Yes, Mesopotamia also has a high-level G.o.d who behaves wildly, like the rules do not apply to them."

Anyway, that was the conversation they had just held.

Shamhat had gone to regroup with the others, so Scarecrow had no choice but to take a seat and face the library.

She had to investigate.

She held both hands out in front of her, opened her mouth, and formed her Words.

When from the east, trap and send south.

When from the south, trap and send west.

When from the west, trap and send north.

When from the north, trap and send inward.

When from the outside, show the blossoms and send to me.

Those Words created an enclosure around her.

Countless Revelation Boards appeared on the bookcases. They changed angle in a stepped fashion, raced out, produced multiple layers, and surrounded the bookcase while linking together like pipes.

Over and over, light appeared on their surface and all the bookcases blossomed with ether flowers. It all became a box made of Revelation Boards and that became a flowerbed.

"Blossom and teach, Enclosure of Visions Past."

All of the flowers blossomed.

Ether flowers bloomed from the Revelation Board box connecting the bookcases and the feedback returned to her.

Revelation Boards appeared by her hands to display the search results.

…I use the "information" of books as a catalyst to access all the information within my reach. Then I only have to find the information that is facing us.

There it was.

"That must be it."

Just one of the flowerbed's blossoms was facing her way.

When she compared it to the feedback Revelation Boards by her hands, she indeed found the information there.

It said…

"The inspector!?"

The Mesopotamian "boss" was already in this divine world as an inspector.

Shifu received an emergency message from Scarecrow.

"Shifu-san!? The others are with you, right? Including Shamhat and the Mesopo-duo!?"

What kind of abbreviation is that? Shifu wondered. Then again, Kubiko-chan can be rather longwinded when she starts explaining stuff. We can stop Kukwajiri-chan because we outrank her, but Kubiko-chan's in our year, so that doesn't work. And I'm getting kinda longwinded myself here. So…

"Everyone's here. What is it?"

"Was I right?"

"This could hardly be worse, yes. …Anyway, where are you all headed now? And where is Yatsui?"

Is she panicking? Shifu wondered, but she made sure not to panic herself. The others noticed the exchange and turned around, but she gave them a rea.s.suring wave.

"We're headed to Sumeragi-chan's place. Wanna join us? As for Omokane-chan, I think she went off to do something earlier."

She heard Kubiko-chan mutter "it's always something with her", but she pretended not to hear it.

And after a pause for a breath, Kubiko-chan hurriedly continued.

"Sumeragi-kun's place, you said? Then you should come here instead! My place is closer!"

"Eh!? Scareko-senpai's place!? You're inviting us over!? For real!?"

"Eh!? W-wait just a second! Why are you inviting Sumeragi-kun over!? Regardless of your answer, I won't forgive you!"

"Regardless?"

It's nice how Yomoji-chan can all our craziness in stride.

Now, the others were being noisy, but Tooru suddenly spoke up.

"Is it the inspector?"

"Yes."

Some movement immediately followed.

There was a slight disturbance in En-chan's pace as she walked alongside Shifu.

She was clearly shaken. However…

"Is that even possible? If we're talking about a creator-level G.o.d from Mesopotamian mythology who was also involved in Sumer, then simply leaving the virtual group by taking a real manifestation would cause enough of a commotion in and of itself. I mean, even if the real manifestation is kept hidden, it greatly affects a mythology when a multi-authority G.o.d moves around. That's why they need time to make adjustments in advance. Isn't that why these two hurried here and had that duel with us?"

"Kuwajiri-san, Mesopotamian mythology has a trickster G.o.d who is on the same level as a creator G.o.d but who is not bound by any of that. Think of it like Susanoo for us."

"That is correct," said Shamhat. "Every mythology has a troublemaker like that."

"Yes. This 5th Generation can move freely and has the traits of a war G.o.d."

Who was that?

"Oh? You really are just walking around in the middle of the night out here, aren't you?"

They heard a voice.

It came from dead ahead where they saw a girl wearing an extra layer over a new-style uniform.

Her blonde hair fluttered in the night breeze with the black sky in the background.

"I am Es.h.i.ta Inana. I would be one of Bilgamesh and Enkidu's bosses. Yes, I am here for my job as an inspector and to bring those two back with me."

"Oh, it's only you."

"I had a feeling it was just you."

"Eh? Is that any way to treat me!?"