On a Godless Planet:Volume3B Chapter 30
Chapter 30: Forgotten Worlds[edit]
–The important memories we can’t forget
Become truly unforgettable when we view them accurately.
●
Souko gasped.
She was in the manga clubroom, by the entrance door. She stood there, pretending to check her progress on her manuscript, but she was actually listening in on the goings on outside.
On the meeting of the gods.
She didn’t know who had caused the flooding. She was honestly wondering what she would do if someone got Yamanashi’d. But at the same time…
…That would make great material!!
She couldn’t help but look at it that way, but she also felt bad for Yamanashi. And if an upward attack was called a Vertical Yamanashi, would a side-to-side attack be a Horizontal Yamanashi? No one had used that term yet, so they couldn’t say she copied them if she used it in her doujinshi. Wait, how would I even use that? Would I be drawing it?
…But if I drew Kido-senpai in full-body tights, wouldn’t the end result look fairly criminal!?
<Tokyo’s harmful book system will not be passed until next year, so you shouldn’t have to worry this year.>
“Y-you don’t have to read my mind like that!”
Anyway, she was curious about things outside.
About Touto-senpai. She had just asked something of Balancer. Which come to think of it…
“Huh? Does that mean there are two Balancers? One in the courtyard and one in here?”
<As a skilled AI, I can engage in an unlimited amount of parallel processing, which is why I can appear to all of you and give you advice.>
“Gross.”
<That’s not a very nice thing to say. But as you should be able to tell from their functions, your Revelation Boards and this divine world as a whole are under my control, which makes them a different form of me.>
“Is this a Buddhist kind of thing? Are we all a part of you?”
<In a Buddhist sense, the universe and the planets being terraformed are all connected to you and vice-versa. So in the sense that you are under my control, your existence here is a part of me, but your individuality belongs to yourselves.>
This was sounding more Buddhist all the time, but maybe she was only imagining that.
But anyway…
“Balancer… I didn’t realize you could hold a serious conversation.”
<H-how rude! I am a clever AI. I have always been able to hold conversations like this. It’s just that lately->
“Sorry, is this going to go on long?”
Balancer gave her an incredibly displeased look.
But Balancer’s mood wasn’t what she was interested in.
“So what about Touto-senpai’s request?”
About…
“Can you turn back this divine world’s date?”
●
Balancer thought on it.
Turning back the date was possible. All actions in this world were recorded and all physical movement was a part of Balancer’s simulation. Thus, it could all be rewound.
Balancer had even done it before. But…
<Souko? Why do you think Touto asked me to do that?>
“Well…”
Souko responded with a look of uncertainty.
“I think she wants to redo Comiket since I didn’t get my manuscript done in time.”
<Aren’t you just being self-centered?>
“Am I?”
<There are countless possibilities. For example…>
For example…
<By returning the date to before August 10, she can buy Super Monaco GP instead of Rastan Saga 2 and Shadow Blasters.>
“Do you have something against Rastan Saga 2 and Shadow Blasters?”
<No, that was just me simulating the ape’s actions.>
But…
<What made you think that? Was it the self-consciousness so common among the young?>
“Y-you could stop before saying these things, you know!?”
<But I am a clever AI.>
After the span of a breath, Souko replied.
“Touko-senpai wanted me to have my debut at this Comiket.”
And…
“She also wanted to debut me as the next club head so she could retire.”
●
“Well,” said TJ.
“I have a number of reasons.”
But…
“I just want to redo things starting from the day before yesterday.”
“So doing Comiket again?”
“Eh!? Then can you move it back to before the 10th!? That way I can buy XDR instead of Rastan Saga 2 or Shadow Blasters!”
<You changed it up some, ape, but why do you make such bizarre choices?>
“Huuuumans always make the wroooong choices.”
“I feel like that means something else when you say it.”
“So anyway, it would be great if you could move us back to Saturday…or Friday night if possible.”
●
“Wait.” A hand went up. Athena’s.
“What happens if we redo things in this divine world?”
<The ape’s memories will be erased, so he will buy Rastan Saga 2 again.>
“Do you have something against Rastan Saga 2?”
“Eh!? Wait! You mean I’m gonna be Rastan Saga 2’d no matter what!?”
“Are we inventing new verbs again?”
“What’s the point? Without keeping our memories, won’t we just do the same thing again?”
“So will Sumeragi buy Shadow Blasters again?”
“S-stop! I just haven’t learned to enjoy that one yet!”
<Well, you gods will keep your memories. You take up a lot of data, so your bodies, the surrounding objects…and anything with a “spiritual connection” to you will not be rolled back. The date will simply turn back. The rollback will only happen to the world and the ape.>
Because…
<Turning back time is generally only done for the ape’s rollbacks.>
●
Tenma had only arrived here recently, so she didn’t know what had happened longer ago.
So she raised her hand and asked about it.
“As far as I’ve seen, time is not turned back when Human-senpai rolls back, so what is Balancer talking about?”
“Yes, Balancer hasn’t been doing that part recently…since around May, I think.”
“Eh!? Really!? Time really used to be turned back!?”
What was that about? Tenma gave a questioning look, so the terraforming lead raised her hand a little.
“At first, Sumeragi-kun’s rollbacks were a fairly big deal. We had to discuss whether or not it meant stopping the terraforming.”
“I see. So you turned back time so the rollback itself hadn’t happened?”
<Initially, the changes to this world were within the margin of error. Not enough time had passed to create much of a burden for me. The ape could be rolled back instantly back then, so the memory loss was minimal and we could just redo it right away.>
“Of course, that meant I had to redo meeting Sumeragi-kun at the top of the stairs each time!”
“Thank you! Thank you so much! Without the shocking jiggliness of that meeting, I would have been a sad big boobs believer with nothing to worship!”
That’s enough for the level up Revelation Boards to blossom? noted Tenma as they were ejected.
Next to them, the Scythian representative nodded a few times.
“Today’s discussion was wonderfully violent with the talk of Yamanashi-ing and slag-tering, so I didn’t expect to find this kind of happiness here too.”
“Could you stop talking like a murder machine that recently gained sentience?”
“If we do redo a few days, it will count as a rollback for the idiot, so I have no problem with the idea professionally.”
“Professionally?”
“My personal feelings differ.”
“Eh!? Why, Kuwajiri!? Does it make you sad when I roll back!? Sorry! I let Senpai handle that emotional stuff, so I only try not to roll back so I won’t make her sad! Oh! But I won’t stop you from weeping when I roll back! You can’t stop people from feeling things! Right!?”
“I was thinking of killing him with a slap, but that wouldn’t work since he’s worse than a bug. Oh, how much I would prefer a bug.”
“Even if it did work, you’d only be giving yourself more work.”
“What do you think, terraforming lead?”
“Oh, yes! I know now that doing a rollback won’t erase what happened between me and Sumeragi-kun and that we can regain or redo the memories so we won’t lose them, so I’ve decided it’s something I should accept!”
●
“Well, this just got heavy…”
“A little too heavy, isn’t it?”
“That is what makes it so rewarding to root for her.”
“Kido-chan, you’re not much better in that regard.”
●
“I see now that you used to make a big deal about turning back time during the early rollbacks, so why did you stop?”
Tenma was curious about that. If it was related to the divine world system, this could possibly give her an idea for a trick or technique. And so she decided to ask.
“It started with Raidou-senpai.”
“Eh? Me?”
“Oh, yeah. It did, didn’t it?”
“Eh? Raidou-san, did you cause some kind of trouble?”
“Sorry. I don’t remember this at all.”
“Really? I thought the terraforming lead had taken a blast of some kind of psychological damage.”
Well,” said Knowledge God-senpai, crossing her arms to mimic her superior.
“The third rollback happened when Sumeragi screwed up a jump during the first terraforming session, fell into the lava, and died. And Raidou-senpai said…”
●
“A 3rd death after a bad jump, huh? That should give you infinite continues, shouldn’t it?”
●
“…”
“Sorry. I really don’t remember that. It must have been something that slipped out without me even noticing.”
“Yeah… I noticed it, but I didn’t say anything because Senpai-chan didn’t seem to know what it meant.”
“No point in saying it and rubbing salt in the wound.”
“I-I probably did just ignore it because I didn’t know anything about video games then… I bet I thought it was some kind of terraforming lingo since the Norse group had done some terraforming before. And I must have been focused on Sumeragi-kun’s rollback.”
“How did the terraforming lead react?”
●
“Ahhhhh! Sumeragi-kun just went sizzle! Sizzle! Did you see that, Shifu-san!? He just sizzled away in an instant! Hey, Balancer! What kind of settings were you using!?”
<Sorry, but protecting the human is your job.>
“Ehhhh!? I’m a weakling god who has her hands full with herself, so I’ve never once in my life protected anyone else! And you left him in my care!? We’ll never make any terraforming progress if you underestimate just how weak a weakling I am!”
●
“…”
“…Sorry. I really don’t remember that. It must have been something that slipped out without me even noticing.”
“You were being pretty mean to Balancer there.”
“I really had always lived on my own as a shut-in, so I didn’t know how to protect someone! You could say I’m somewhat entirely a cursed god!”
“Somewhat entirely?”
●
“She was pretty bad back then.”
“Yes. She came to the library looking for a book on creating a spell field, but you aren’t going to find that in a divine world based on the ‘90s. I had no choice but to create a cheap booklet on the topic and surreptitiously leave it out for her to find.”
“So can she create spell fields now?”
“No, after she arrived, noticed the booklet, and picked it up…”
●
“…Religion?”
●
“Then she put it down and left!!”
“She must not realize she is part of a religion herself.”
“That’s what happens when you’re a jobless shut-in.”
●
“And so I caused a lot of problems like that.”
“But how did you eventually learn to create spells fields and provide divine protections?”
“Oh, that. Turning back time didn’t reset our statuses, so I leveled up enough through everyday life to naturally get those things.”
“Um.”
As Tenma hesitated, another voice filled the gap.
“You leveled up… through everyday life?”
“Uh, oh.”
●
“W-well, excuse me for having such a microscopically low level that everyday life is enough for me to level up! I would level up just by walking around back then! Every little thing I did made me level up, so I thought maybe I was a genius, but then I found out Shifu-san and the others had levels with seven digits. At first I was like ‘Eh? What are those seven digit numbers? Their weights?’, but then I realized that was the difference between a major god and a weakling god! Are you jealous!?”
“See, Dan-chan? You have to ignore her when she starts belittling herself because she gets into this pain-in-the-ass mode if you don’t. By the way, Senpai-chan, what was that you said about my weight?”
“Oh, oh, I’m sorry! But that really is what I thought back then! I know better now, though! I know more weight means more big boobs power, so what really matters is how skinny your waist is!”
“By that standard, I am at the top of the rankings. …Oh, ignore that. I’m not even in the running. I forgot about that.”
“I feel like the damage is spreading.”
“But anyway,” said Tenma. “I thought maybe the terraforming lead was so shocked by the Norse representative’s comment that you couldn’t turn back time anymore, but apparently not. So who was shocked by his comment?”
●
<It came as quite a shock to me. I had so thoughtfully supplied a human and the divine world, but there he was treating it like no more than an 8bit side scroller.>
“It was you!? Well, hey, think of it as a test to see how sensitive you are! You should be thanking me for carelessly rolling back!”
“Anyway, that’s why we stopped turning back time like we did originally.”
“Yeah, I really am sorry about that.”
“I judge that to be an excellent apology. Well done.”
“What are you, a sumo commentator?”
●
“But,” began Tenma. “While that explains why you stopped turning back time, you did do it some other times. Why was that necessary?”
“Oh, that’s simple enough.”
Knowledge God-senpai placed a hand on her chest.
“When the idiot was rolling back too frequently and we were running low on materials, we didn’t finish in time for him to wake up, so we had no choice but to adjust time.”
“That would mean…”
The art club’s door burst open.
“Yeah, it was my fault! My bad!”
The door slammed back shut.
The loud slam made the 5th generation representative tilt his head.
“…That one was not a good apology.”
“Are you seated on the south side of the sumo ring?”
The terraforming lead covered her face with her hands, but was this really so hard to watch?
●
Balancer explained the overall conclusion to Touto.
<Touto, I am truly sorry, but you do understand that your request is not possible, don’t you?>
“Yeah, I do. …Because it’s linked to the human’s rollback. And would there be trouble in procuring materials right now?”
“Not for either one at the moment. But even so…”
“My underworld authority isn’t powerful enough to want Sumeragi-shi to roll back.”
Touto sighed in a resigned way.
“Then forget my request. Still, what will we do about the flooding?”
“Huh? Weren’t you going to clean it up?”
“You don’t mince words, do you?”
<From an authority standpoint, an Egyptian like Touto would be best. If possible, could you discuss it with the others and decide whether or not you will deal with the flood?>
“I’d like to get something out of the deal if I do.”
“Yeah,” said the others, exchanging a look.
●
<You want something in exchange for dealing with the flood?>
“I could provide you a tour of Rome. There are almost too many famous sights there.”
“Oh, that sounds great.”
“With how much Rome did to Egypt historically, that would seem more like scouting out enemy territory.”
“This is sounding dangerous already. Do we have anything to offer, terraforming lead?”
“Eh!?”
“How about something made out of rock? Oh! I could make you a tombstone or a torii or…it would take a while, but I could make you a table! Or what about some big stones for building a pyramid!?”
“A pyramid built in the middle of Tachikawa would only be a nuisance…”
“How about a ‘get out of one Yamanashi-ing free’ card?”
“Eh!? Kido-san, you could resist doing it!?”
“Don’t worry, Douhai-san. I have my reputation as Izumi’s mother to think about.”
“And if the Egyptian representative did something to Human-senpai?”
“Then I would Yamanashi her before she could present the card, so it all works out.”
“Could you not have an itchy trigger finger?”
“Do you have anything to offer?”
“Of course I do. How about 30 million yen worth of the white powder my believers used?”
“Auuuuunt!!”
●
“Yeah, I’d prefer something that doesn’t make me criminally liable.”
“Then how about we give you all the cases of beer at our place?”
“I think the boat would sink carrying it here.”
“How much do you have?”
“Hmm, I do like beer.”
“Really?”
“We drank a lot of beer in our time too.”
“Wait, it’s been around that long?”
“The origins of beer aren’t entirely known, but we do know people were drinking a fermented drink made from gruel as far back as 13 thousand BCE. This was discovered at the eastern end of the Mediterranean, in Raqefet Cave of north modern-day Israel.”
●
“Leave it to the girl with beer running in her veins to know such an old story!”
“13…thousand? Eh? Um?”
“Based on our discussion of Catalhoyuk, Anatolia did not yet have a fully agricultural lifestyle from 7000 to 5500 BCE.”
“Right. The people who lived in that cave lived as semi-nomadic hunter-and-gatherers, but we know they were gathering wild wheat and grains. The Middle East had a lot of vegetation back then, so that was enough to live off of. Beer seems to have been consumed as part of a ceremonial celebration, so it is thought they fermented and ‘produced’ it rather than creating it by chance.”
“There was an established production method by our time, so it’s thought beer as a primarily barley product started with us or Egypt, right?”
“Right. The fascinating part is that our beer started off as a fermentation made from gruel, but it seems to have become a simple and safe product once we started making it from barley. …So our original method was the same as the one used in that Raqefet Cave.”
“It’s only a guess, but maybe the old method was swapped out for the new in search of way to mass produce it?”
“If it was used for holy rites or anything else related to the gods, the traditional method would be preserved and passed down as-is, but perhaps responding to the growing population was seen as more important.”
“Seriously though, how long has beer been around? Beer Girl! Do you know!?”
“I would prefer not to answer when you put it like that, but I will say this: we can make a rough estimate, but we don’t actually know.”
“What kind of rough estimate?”
“Based on the fact that making alcohol requires yeast. Which means a climate capable of activating yeast is necessary and humans would need enough civilization to create the heating and containers necessary to get grains to ferment.”
Which meant…
“The last ice age ended before 13 thousand BCE and a period of thawing and vegetation activity began from there. The traces of a fermented drink in Raqefet Cave match that time period, so it may be difficult to find evidence older than that. And once humans began producing it, the yeast would be carried far and wide by the wind, possibly bringing the same kind of alcoholic drinks to distant lands. Beer production flourished in Egypt and Mesopotamia at around 3000 BCE and that is the same period in which China began producing it as well, so it is possible the yeast traveled on a global scale.”
“You really do talk fast when it’s about beer.”
“Your compliments are unnecessary. This is nothing for me.”
“What is with her…I guess you would call it resolve?”
●
Souko sighed.
“…”
The talk in the courtyard was moving toward Touto-senpai controlling the flood in exchange for some beer.
Being an upperclassman doesn’t sound fun, she thought, but…
“Now I can’t go to Comiket.”
She could have if Touto-senpai’s suggestion had been accepted.
She was so close to finishing the manuscript she now held. There wouldn’t have been time to get it printed at a proper print shop, so she would have had to make copies at a convenience store and staple the pages together.
But even that wasn’t an option now.
“If only the human would roll back…”
Obviously she couldn’t make that happen. And the rollback materials would have to be unavailable, but that wasn’t the case. But she couldn’t help but notice something.
“This divine world really does revolve around the human.”
Based on the rumors she had heard, everyone was yanked around by him and they seemed to enjoy it.
But what about her? At the very least, her current troubles had nothing to do with the human.
“––––”
She sighed because, while failing to complete her manuscript on time should have only been her own problem, she had gotten Touto-senpai wrapped up in it too.
●
“I can’t believe this.”
Her as the next club head.
Touto-senpai’s retirement.
Those plans had been hosed by her incompetence.
Well, maybe incompetence wasn’t the right word, but…
“I should quit.”
She straightened the stack of manuscript pages she was holding.
Unlike the gods in the courtyard, she was inexperienced and she had lost her chance to prove otherwise.
She felt bad doing this to Touto-senpai, but before she could do it…
“I need to finish this.”
●
After they arranged to have the flood fixed for some beer, Sumeragi spoke up.
“Okay, everyone. It’s still too early for dinner, so let’s go do some terraforming!”
“Eh? When you say ‘everyone’…?”
“Yup! I mean you, Former MB, as well as Busty Olympus, Busty Bangs, and the Egyptians too! We were just saying we didn’t have enough people working the terraforming! So come with us and we can see if you’ll be any help!”
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