Retire by dying — this was…… wasn’t it just another way of saying to accept her fate and die as destined?
“If you’re trying to play word games with me right now, I’m not the least bit pleased.”
Hyakin’s eyes flashed sharper than a wild beast’s. This time, he looked as though he was searching for a vital spot to sink his teeth into — ready to deliver a fatal blow to the God who had been toying with him.
Though the Chief God was a spiritual entity, that gaze made him instinctively cover the important parts of his manifested human form.
— I, it’s not a game.
“Then how can you tell me to retire by dying?”
Ptooey!
After hundreds upon hundreds of prayers, Hyakin was thoroughly exhausted, worn down, and on edge.
Hyakin crossed his arms and cocked one hip out, glaring at the God with open insolence, and the God let out a resigned sigh.
— As I mentioned before, your original fate cannot be changed.
“What?!”
— However, in its place, there is room for me to intervene in the life that comes after.
A pause.
Hyakin, who had been about to lunge at the God again like a rabid dog, stopped mid-motion and muttered.
“The life…… that comes after?”
Even Hyakin hadn’t thought that far ahead, and he hesitated for a moment.
Could I…… be reincarnated again?
My life doesn’t have to end with a miserable death as “Hyakin”?
At those words, the tiniest sliver of hope sprouted somewhere inside Hyakin’s chest.
His expression brightened, and he went a step further — brazenly trying to squeeze even more of a concession out of the God.
“Come on, if you’re already going to retire me, couldn’t you do something about the dying part too……”
— Are your ears clogged? Or is your memory just that poor? I told you, that part is beyond my power to change.
“You ■■■■, you’re telling me to just sit there and take it — getting hit by a high-ranking demon’s attack and dying in a bloody pulp while I use this scrawny little body to shield my companions? And you still call yourself a God?”
— ……Stop cursing. Let me finish.
“You’d have to be saying something reasonable. I said I wanted to retire, not that I wanted to die——”
It was just as Hyakin was working himself up to unleash every last bit of his temper.
An extraordinary proposal slipped from the Chief God’s lips.
— If you accept the fate that has been set for you and die for your companions as the natural order dictates, I will gladly reincarnate you as the idle youngest child of a wealthy family.
“……!!!”
— What do you say?
Hyakin’s pupils trembled violently at those words.
That’s something he can’t possibly refuse, heh heh.
The Chief God was a being with thoughts and plans of his own.
He was, quite literally, utterly fed up with the hundreds upon hundreds of Hyakin’s prayers-turned-vicious-complaints that had been crashing over him like relentless waves.
I could ignore run-of-the-mill things! But this……!
The human most closely connected to the Chief God was the Saint — chosen directly by the Chief God himself.
Which meant it was simply unavoidable that the Saint’s voice was amplified like a megaphone, drilling into the Chief God’s eardrums without a moment’s rest.
Even without a physical body, a spiritual entity was not immune to mental stress.
Worn down by the endless protest, the Chief God had gone searching for a compromise that would lure Hyakin in, and upon reading the desires buried deep within him, he had crafted this proposal.
I want to spend money lavishly and still have more than enough left over. I want to live as a wealthy layabout.
I want to be the beloved youngest child of a family that doesn’t make me suffer.
I want a decent social standing. If I had that, I wouldn’t have been dragged here like this……
Every human being had surely dreamed of it at least once — being a “wealthy layabout.”
The Chief God recognized this, and decided to make full and active use of it as his bargaining chip with Hyakin.
There is no room whatsoever to adjust the present life.
So — aim for the next life, and turn the heart of this unprecedented, utterly unhinged Saint around!
The Chief God’s plan was precisely on target.
“W, wait…… just a moment.”
Yes! Got him!
“Ju…… just give me a little time to think.”
Hyakin asked the Chief God in a tone that had become noticeably more respectful. Sensing that Hyakin’s heart was swaying like a reed in the wind, the God rejoiced inwardly and decided to land one final blow.
— And if you do this for me, your family will flourish without facing any threat whatsoever, and you will belong to a warm, loving household where you are deeply cherished.
“……!”
— Furthermore, in your next life, you will be able to enjoy the peaceful, uneventful existence you have always wanted. You will live a life that has absolutely nothing to do with grand things like being a hero.
“I love you, God!”
Hyakin immediately prostrated himself before the God.
“But while you’re at it, could I maybe ask for one more little service — could you make it so I don’t feel any pain when I die? It’s really too cruel, humanly speaking, for me to have to feel every bit of being turned into ground meat.”
And then he tried to squeeze just a little bit more out of the deal.
The God, inwardly marveling at such thorough calculation, slowly nodded his head in agreement.
— On that day, I will bestow a special blessing upon you. That way, even in the moment of death, you will be able to go without pain — refreshed, and looking forward to the life to come.
“Well, of course I’ll do it then! This life has been absolutely terrible anyway.”
— ……
Even though things had worked out well, watching this child — the spitting image of the First Saint — look so overjoyed made the Chief God’s heart ache just a little.
“Isn’t there a contract or something? A notary? I need something concrete like this to feel satisfied.”
Unaware of the God’s feelings, this child of God was already cheerfully issuing warnings not to break his promise.
The God, having achieved a kind of enlightened resignation, used his power to produce a contract on the spot.
— Here, take it.
“Let me see……. Clean. No fraudulent clauses. Your signature is already on it, so I just need to fill in mine.”
Hyakin hummed cheerfully to himself and signed the contract with a finger he had pricked for blood.
The contract then blazed with light and dissolved into the air.
[[A sacred contract is formed here, and it shall be upheld without fail.]]
The dissolved golden contract became light and seeped into the hearts and souls of both the God and Hyakin.
It’s warm……
A sudden wave of drowsiness washed over him, and his eyelids drooped shut on their own. Hyakin flailed in surprise, and the Chief God gently took his hand.
— It’s all right. It’s all over now, so rest easy. It is simply time for you to wake from the dream.
After that, Hyakin’s eyes snapped open in reality.
“Hah——!”
This time, since he hadn’t screamed, there was no unfortunate business of waking the other heroes or the worshippers.
That wasn’t…… just some random dream, right?
Anxious that the contract might have been nothing but an empty dream, Hyakin carefully lifted his clothing and looked down at his chest where the contract had been absorbed.
This……
Right over where his heart lay, the symbol of the Chief God — the one he had so despised — was shining brightly, like a stigma.
It wasn’t just a dream!
He wanted to scream with joy, but afraid that ruffling Ciel — who valued his sleep above all else — might somehow cause a problem with the contract, he shoved his face into his pillow and let out a silent, thrashing cry of triumph.
Even though I couldn’t escape this insane place alive……. I still found a way out somehow!
Wahoo!
Hyakin praised himself for not giving up and stubbornly pouring his prayers into the statue, and for the first time, he had a truly peaceful night’s sleep in his quarters.
No longer did the Chief God appear in his dreams — nor Tom, nor Sara, whom he had so dearly missed.
All that unfolded was an imagination brimming with hope and excitement for the new life to come.
* * *
“……Hasn’t the Saint been acting very strange lately?”
“You noticed too? I’ve been thinking the same thing, honestly.”
“He’s not squawking at the statue and making a racket with those prayers of his anymore…… He smiles pleasantly and shows up to every hero training session without fail — it’s gotten to the point where it’s actually unsettling.”
A peculiar rumor had been quietly spreading among the worshippers of the Papal Palace.
The rumor was that Hyakin — the Saint — had lost his mind out of resentment toward a God who refused to listen to him.
“What if he really has gone mad…… I mean, what if something is genuinely wrong with his head?”
“Maybe a demon got close to him. There’s no other way to explain such a sudden change in behavior.”
“But the barrier around the Papal Palace has never once been broken by a demon…… Though you never know, maybe the Saint had a late change of heart——”
“That seems impossible.”
“Given his past behavior, I would sooner expect the sky to split in two than believe that.”
Among the worshippers, an anxiety of a different nature from before was spreading like a contagion.
All because of Hyakin, whose face had bloomed like a spring flower from a certain point onward.
“Hm hm~ hm hm hm~”
No one knew.
The fact that Hyakin had made a deal with the Chief God — and that was why he had become so well-behaved……
Heh heh. I’ve been promised that in my next life, I’ll be born as a wealthy layabout.
No one knew at all.
