On a Godless Planet:Volume2B Chapter 39
Chapter 39: Panic![edit]
–That is a path found in myth.
●
“Huh!? What is the meaning of this, Neptune!?”
“It means I’ve had enough of the lies, Demeter.”
What was true and what was a lie? To start with…
“Shinto Negotiator, you are correct. When Salacia was given a real manifestation, the human data material left with the DC was incorporated into her divine data material. And, as you had guessed, that is what turned her into a water monster.”
“Hey! You!”
Neptune ignored that. And…
“Then what is this about lies?”
Neptune began to respond even as Demeter took a step toward him, but Athena tackled her to restrain her. And…
“She and I wanted this.”
●
That’s right, thought Neptune. Maybe I was wrong about everything.
He was glad he could get this off his chest and that he had come across people it was worth telling to.
“It all comes down to Roman and Greek mythology,” he said. “Greek mythology volunteered to terraform the next planet. But they were rejected because they are also the inspectors. So instead they recommended a mythology much like them and linked to them: our Roman mythology.”
“Wouldn’t that cause a lot of friction? And I thought the terraformers for the next planet had yet to be chosen.”
Exactly right.
“But we are a weak mythology, so the DC’s other mythologies and the mythologies brought in to give their opinions reached a conclusion: they would only allow Roman mythology to do the terraforming if we stopped using Greek mythology as our prototype.”
But…
“Doing that would weaken us further and increase the odds of a failed terraforming. If we failed or were delayed, it would be Greek mythology’s responsibility for recommending us. And even if that didn’t happen, they could not directly support us and laying the groundwork for indirect support would wear them out. So…”
“Greek mythology put together a plan and arrived at a conclusion: they would recommend us for the terraforming and give us the power of a released manifestation. That way we could achieve independence and then ally ourselves with them.”
A breath.
“Greece decided the time was right and we tried to follow along.”
“And that’s when you did it?”
“Yes,” confirmed Neptune. “Kido there created the foundation of the human data material, so Greece used her authority to retrieve the material and we used it knowing what it meant. Meaning…”
“Neptune! Do you know what you’re saying!?”
“I do. You tried to show us real respect.”
●
“Listen. The Roman people once learned from Greece and used that knowledge to develop Rome. The Roman gods and the Greek gods are the same. We were once ignorant countryside gods, but we wanted the Greek gods’ help to move beyond that.”
“Hey!”
Neptune shouted back at the voice trying to stop him.
“Demeter! I remember what you once said after seeing our land!”
She had said…
“ ‘Is there no war in this land? What a nice place.’ ‘You can probably grow a lot more than we can, so I hope you become truly great gods’ ”
A breath.
“You said that! So we laughed and promised we would! Because we knew doing so was the only way to repay you for helping us!”
But…
“But look at us now…”
●
Neptune saw the Norse knowledge god turn his way. She brushed a hand through her hair like she wanted to say something and then…
“I’m not sure how to put this…but Rome did become powerful after that, didn’t it? Wasn’t that enough?”
“This is…about our silly pride.”
Yes.
“We never did surpass Greek mythology and we ended up as something like the failed child of Greek mythology.”
“That isn’t-!”
“I am so sorry we couldn’t live up to your expectations. If only we had become the great, peaceful gods you wanted us to be…”
That’s right.
“Then maybe Rome wouldn’t have fallen.”
“Aren’t the humans of Rome to blame for that one?”
Perhaps so. But from the gods’ perspective…
“If only we had been more powerful. We should have been. Yes, because we gave our word as gods.”
So…
“We wanted to achieve the released manifestation that the Greek gods never did. By repaying them that way, we could then ally ourselves as equals.”
Listen.
“We are not victims of Greek mythology. We tried to join them and failed.”
That is the truth.
●
“You idiot.”
Demeter rubbed her niece’s head while the girl clung to her hip. The indecent swimsuit was still a questionable choice, but she understood what the girl was thinking.
“Well, the cat’s out of the bag now. You could have played the victim and used me as the villain to get along with them, you know?”
“Doing so would have been ungrateful. After seeing you playing the villain this whole time, I realized what I had to do,” softly replied Neptune. “If our mistake must be punished, then we will accept the punishment together, Demeter. Our mythologies are bound together in that way. We can’t let just one or the other benefit.”
So…
“If we ever do meet again-”
“Craaaaaash!!”
The idiot suddenly rushed in from the side and Neptune vanished.
●
Demeter saw a large splash in the river while the idiot spoke in front of her. He stuck his lips out toward the river as he did so.
“Quit being so depressing, Mr. Vomit! You’re stuck in the past! It’s 1990, the SFC is out, and Mega Drive lovers are arguing about it! Rastan Saga II just came out! You expect me to know what you’re talking about when it’s all about stuff from thousands of years ago!?”
The idiot used a series of short hops to approach their negotiator.
“Hey! Temanko!”
“Yes, what do you want?”
The human crouched down, held his hands up, and hopped around a few times.
“Huhhhhh!? ‘Neptune’ is missing!? Do you know when ‘Neptune’ disappeared, Temanko?”
Hey.
“Yes. ‘Neptune’ has been absent since we began the terraforming today.”
Hey!
“That long ago, huh!?”
Hey!!
“Sumeragi-kun!” said the goddess with a smile.
“Who is this ‘Neptune’, anyway?”
●
“Was there someone like that around here?”
“I certainly do not remember anyone by that name.”
“The scary part is that you might actually not remember.”
“Who is this Neptune person?”
“Sounding pretty wooden, knowledge god.”
While all this was going on, the monotheistic god summed it up.
“I oooonly remember a Mr. Voooomit!”
●
“Enough of that!”
Athena got up and responded to her aunt.
“Aunt, you need to prepare yourself.”
“For what!?”
“For the fact that the myths were created by humans.”
Her aunt froze in place.
“You mean…?”
“I know you do some reckless, wild, and cruel things! But I also know you do them with our affiliated mythologies in mind and that you do them because it is your responsibility as one of the oldest Olympus gods and as perhaps Europe’s original mother earth goddess!”
“Did you really have to say that first part?”
Hm? But it’s all true? Whatever. Athena knew what she had to say here.
“But the time for you to frantically smooth things over and keep up appearances has ended. Because…”
At that point, a splash came from the river.
And the human shouted.
“Ohh!? Where’d you go, Mr. Vomit? On a trip!?”
“Wh-what is with you people!?”
Demeter sighed at that exchange. And then the negotiator spoke up.
“I had wondered why I was sent on my own to handle this job, but now I understand. If Omokane-senpai and the others were here, what happened here would have to be treated as fact. Because their positions carry that kind of responsibility. But I am inexperienced, which gives me another option.”
Yes.
“As I am inexperienced, I will follow the human’s judgment. What about you, Demeter?”
Athena’s aunt fell silent.
She sighed again, sighed again but even deeper this time, and then turned toward the others. The soaked god there was an old friend with whom she had once discussed their dreams for Europe’s future, but now he was engaged in a silly exchange with the human. So…
“What’s this?” she said slowly. “You’re already starting on the next myth, aren’t you?”
●
Tenma-san bowed toward the Olympus inspector and closed her spell.
The ether library crumbled away, the white lights scattered, and I…
“Um, Kido-san? I have a question.”
“What is it?”
“Well, didn’t you say you went back home and got after the Olympus gods?”
“I did say that. Because it is true.”
“Until I heard the details here, I thought the Olympus gods had used Mr. and Mrs. V for their own ends and that you were angry they had used the material you made for that.”
But…
“You knew everything we learned just now, didn’t you?”
“Well, yes, I knew. What about it? Either way, revealing the truth involves you in this political problem, so I decided not to tell you.”
I thought she had been right to not tell us. Because if Sumeragi-kun hadn’t pretended Mr. V wasn’t here…
“We would have been forced to choose between siding with Olympus or not. And if we overlooked their crime, it would be our crime. But if we didn’t overlook it, we would be seen as anti-Olympus or anti-DC, which would have been a pain.”
“I am glad that didn’t happen.”
So was I. But I still had a question.
“If you knew the truth, Kido-san, why did you get after the Olympus gods? Were you angry they had turned Salacia-san into a water monster?”
Kido-san thought on my question for a moment.
That moment lasted a few seconds.
It was enough time for everyone to turn her way, so she took a half step my way.
“Um…Douhai-san? Can I say something?”
“Yes, of course.”
“Well,” said Kido-san, blushing a bit and sounding uncertain. “The material I made was for Izumi alone. So I couldn’t believe they would use it for this, even if I knew Salacia fairly well.”
“Um, Kido-senpai.”
Kuwajiri-san raised her hand.
“Sumeragi’s base form was updated recently, right? Under your authority. That update introduced an error that allowed the idiot to undergo a banana sex change, but am I correct in assuming that was not, in fact, a response to his Spelunker mode from the other day?”
“So because they used Sumeragi-kun’s material, you updated it so their version was outdated?”
“No, um.”
“…”
“And that’s what caused so much damage to the Olympus gods?”
“Well, um, but…”
Kido-san spoke with a hand on her cheek.
“But…what else could I do?”
That meant it had been an impulsive act on her part. I didn’t let the others’ glares get to me as I exchanged a firm handshake with her.
●
It’s over, thought Eshita.
They still had to deal with Salacia, but that could wait until tomorrow. The Olympus inspectors weren’t going to make any more unreasonable demands and the Shinto side’s authority here had been recognized.
She could hear a tremor in the distance, but…
“Am I hearing stones?”
“It could be a side effect of the earlier battle. Divine pressure attacks struck the exposed bedrock here several times.”
“Um, what about the river spirits?”
<River, ver. River, ver.>
“They won’t tell us much with how disturbed the river’s current is.”
“Hey, calm down already. …I bet going inside that micro bikini would calm you down.”
“Speaking of, get me some other clothing, Balancer!”
I’d hate to be an idiot like them, thought Eshita from the bottom of her heart. She walked to the camp storage area and pulled a bag of Karamucho from the bottom of the cardboard box. And she turned toward the figure standing next to her.
“Today was a busy day and we’ve still got…fireworks I think? But having some fun before getting to sleep probably would be best.”
“–––––?”
“…”
“Helllllllllllllllllllllllllllp! It’s the water monster!!”
●
Oh, what was I doing? I thought.
I wasn’t sure. I knew I wanted something and I could smell it, so I had split off a portion of myself. Part of me came here and found nothing but sensed danger, so as cramped as it was, I hid in this chilly space.
Then the rest of me probably panicked and came to rescue me when I didn’t return.
That wasn’t the best plan, so I emerged to find…
“Water monsterrrrrrrrrr!!”
No. Not her.
“Eh?”
Yes, that’s it.
You.
I need you. But…
“…?”
What was I supposed to do with him? I didn’t know. Or had I forgotten? No, I had gotten dumber when I split off from the rest of me. But…
“Salacia!!”
●
“Oh.” I woke up.
That’s right. I am Salacia.
“–––––”
Where was I? No, I am Salacia. But why was I here?
“Oh, boy! Am I in trouble!?”
“Sumeragi-kun!”
No. Stop that. Don’t intrude.
“–––––”
You. I know you.
I wanted you.
So you are inside me.
●
“Sumeragi-kun!”
I rushed over to Sumeragi-kun.
He was less than 10m away. But the water monster…
“––––!”
She was rushing across the riverside, which was still damp from the previous battle. Meanwhile…
“Okay! Sorry about this!”
Shifu-san had already made a jump while shoving her hands into her hair. At some point, that hair had turned black.
“I can’t use my harvest stuff on the riverside, so take this: Gudjarn!”
She raised iron swords in both hands. After turning them to attack with the flat side, she swung them down.
“Spatula strike!”
She forcefully smashed them down onto the water monster.
●
“That the Japanese word for spatula is ‘hera’ is funny from an Olympus point of view, but if it were up to me, an attack with a flat surface would be called an iron strike.”
“Aunt! Aunt! Please try to focus!”
●
“Phew,” sighed Shifu.
Her twin attacks had felt just like hitting nothing but water. The water monster splashed around, becoming indistinguishable from the dampness on the riverside.
“I doubt I can actually defeat her, but destroying her once buys us some time until she can recover.”
Her color returned to normal and the swords in her hands vanished in a flash of ether light.
She had protected Sumeragi-chan, but…
“Thanks! I never imagined she’d be in the cooler!”
“Did you say in the cooler?”
Shifu looked over and saw the food cooler flipped over near Eshita-chan’s cardboard box. It was empty.
“I’m glad we already ate everything.”
“I’m not entirely sure if that’s a good thing or not.”
The empty container could hold 54 liters. But…
“That is not enough volume to contain the entire water monster!”
“Sumeragi-kun!”
Senpai-chan shouted over at Sumeragi-chan, who…
“Yikes!”
A watery hand extended from the river’s surface and dragged him toward the river.
“Is the rest of her there!?”
●
Kidou-san yelled. She made the hand gestures to activate a spell toward Sumeragi-kun as he was dragged toward the river with horrific force.
“Human! Are you prepared to roll back!?”
“No!”
“After him!”
“Okay! Tooru!”
“Wait! Something isn’t right!”
A few conflicting decisions were made. And I…
“Sumeragi-kun!”
“I’m fine!”
“Fine? How are you fine!?”
“Because,” he said, even as he sank into the water and out of view. “This water monster has big boobs! Not as big as yours, but big enough!”
“Sumeragi-kuuuuun!?”
Just as I shouted that, I heard something else.
A long, unpleasant sound seemed to drop from the sky. It blared on and on incessantly.
“A siren!? B-but what for!?”
Tenma-san had an immediate answer.
“It is a dam discharge alert from upstream! That is probably the cause of the tremors we’ve been feeling!”
●
I detected the scent of water.
I followed after Izumo, running upstream, but then I stopped.
“This is…”
Dangerous, I realized.
A powerful wind was blowing downstream through this valley river.
Despite the late hour, birds were crying and flying in the distance. I also heard the running feet and cries of other animals.
Something was coming.
“It’s a debris flow! That discharge alert is from the Ogouchi Dam at the exit of Lake Okutama, but based on the circumstances, I would guess the water monster destroyed the dam.”
I knew what that would cause.
“Debris flows generally move at 40km/h. But depending on the terrain, they can reach speeds of 140km/h. And if this was arranged by the water monster…”
“It will be faster than 140km/h, won’t it? How far away is this dam?”
“5.5km. 140km/h is approximately 39m/s, so it will reach here in 141 seconds.”
If it had begun with that earlier tremor, then it was about time.
“Um, what about Sumeragi-kun!?”
“If the water monster has him, he should be safe. As a water spirit, she can protect him even in the debris flow. But…”
This felt strange to me.
“That water monster just now wasn’t trying to kill him like the previous ones were.”
Why was that? But the debris flow arrived before I could consider the question.
A darkness like a more concentrated form of the night’s shadows passed through the valley up ahead. All the riverside stones were swept up, it roared through the forest on the opposite bank, and it crashed into the bedrock wall, tearing away pieces of it.
“My Protection won’t last long against this!”
The physical fighters would be able to reach a safe height in time, so the Norse couple and the Mesopotamian couple would be fine. However…
“I’m sorry, Kido-senpai, but I could use some help.”
“Everyone, get behind me.”
Izumi was probably safe. I had no reason to believe that, but I was still confident of it as I held my hand out in front of me.
Toward the incoming debris.
“We can use this to hurry up to the Ogouchi Dam. That must be where the water monster was headed.”
Then the impact arrived.
But I kept my hand out front and extended a finger.
“Let me through.”
The debris-filled water split straight down the middle.
Interlude[edit]
“Passing through a debris flow is yet another incredible Auth Spell.”
“Um, yes. A weakling like me could never! Because I’m too weak!!”
“Hey, could you keep it down back there?”
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