Chapter 39 – The Myth

 

Weiss first started explaining that, a long time ago, the gods lived in the heavens, watching over and cherishing the beings that lived on the earth. And sometimes, they played with them as well.

Then, Weiss said, (So, the problem with the gods, was that they were totally helpless.

(There was one time that a god had a drinking competition with a human, but once the god got drunk, it accidentally slaughtered all nearby humans.

(There was also a time where the humans begged for rain, which ended up creating a deluge.

(And there was also someone who wished for the power to turn everything they touched into sugar, but as humans can’t survive on this kind of diet, the person died after a while.)

(But if they were so strong, then how come the old gods were defeated…?) I asked him.

(Well, indeed, the humans could never hope to defeat us. It was impossible, so… In their desperation, they opened a portal to a different world, begging the being that came from it to save them.

(And that’s how that rotten sage, Asklasua, appeared. He is definitely what you’d call a ‘true villain’.

(The first thing he did, was to drive the king of the country that summoned him mad, making him think that he had summoned a demon, as he executed the king’s loyal retainers one after the other.

(Then, Asklasua killed the king off as well, and faked all of his actions as if they were the king’s doing, including the king’s own death… He said that the king had killed his retainers and eventually suicided due to an evil possession by the gods.

(With this, he told the humans that he could not forgive the gods who toyed around with human hearts, and convoked them all to fight with him… With those lies, the rotten sage was able to unite the human race into warring against the gods.

(The war lasted a long time… 10, 20, 100 years? My memory is foggy on that end, but it definitely took quite a while… We’d normally be able to simply drop a meteor on the world, or cause a gigantic earthquake to simply end it all, but that rotten sage spread Philosopher Stone all over the world, so our power was severely limited.

(And as such, the war went on… While we were in a stalemate with the humans on the battlefront, the rotten sage sneaked his poisonous words on the hearts of weakened humans… A dying warrior; a village girl who lost her parents; a kid who was persecuted due to having a god as a father… He brought each of them to ruin, and enjoyed their fall with glee.

(Until eventually, he came to the war’s front by himself. All alone. It was an opportunity we couldn’t pass on. This could all be ended if the rotten sage was defeated, so all gods gathered there and attacked him.

(… But that was a mistake. The gods were annihilated by a single spell of that rotten sage.

(It was ridiculous. He could have ended the war whenever he wanted, but he instead let people suffer the strains of the war for decades.

(Even the incredibly smart great me cannot understand what goes on in that crazy man’s head.

(In any case, due to that event, all gods were deprived of their ranks and became spirits.) Weiss told us.

So, basically… The humans who couldn’t endure the destruction caused by the gods decided to summon a savior from another world… Only, that savior was much worse than the gods, and because of him, humans and gods fought for a long time, until the man himself decided to end said war.

But then… (Does this mean that you were a god, Weiss?) I decided to ask.

(Indeed! I was a fluffy round one!) He proudly stated.

I’m not sure why he is proud of it, but I decided to tell him, “That’s amazing!” since I thought this comment would make him happy.

(Of course! I’ll show my real form to you in your dreams someday, so look forward to it.) Weiss said in a cheerful mood, (In any case, let’s get back to the story.

(So, spirits actually existed back when we were deities, like… Alty, do you remember that redheaded guy that you helped out before? His soul was about to leave his body for good, so… What do you think would happen if you had left it alone?

(That soul who had lost both its body and memory, would become a vague existence that floated around the world while blending in with other souls… That’s what spirits originally were.

(And when the rotten sage defeated the gods, something similar happened. High-rank deities like me could still maintain their memories and have a clear conscience of their own existence, but lower deities had much more miserable fates.

(They ended up losing their consciousness, mixing up with other spirits, and even forgetting that they were deities… To me, that’s a fate worse than disappearance.

(That’s why, Alty, that rotten sage is the enemy of the gods, and of course, my enemy.

(So, thank you. It was awesome to see you kicking his face. I think I might have even fallen in love with you.

(Once I become a god again, I’ll gladly marry you… It’s a joke, Kajero! A joke!)

Kajero’s facial expression doesn’t really move, so I don’t think there is a way for him to express anger, but… Weiss certainly seemed to react to Kajero’s stare just now. I wonder if they can understand each other due to being old acquaintances?

Well, let’s not mind that and focus on the matter at hand, (What did the Sage want in the first place, Weiss? He did a lot of horrible things, putting the humans on war against the gods, turning gods into spirits, trying to deceive me and countless others… But I just can’t understand why.) I asked him.

(As I said earlier though, even though the great me is incredibly smart, I cannot understand that rotten sage’s goals… Do you have any ideas, Kajero?) Weiss replied.

(Well, the young lady told us that Asklasua has brought countless ‘Altirea Wisp’ to ruin in many different worlds, perhaps there is a key to understanding his actions there?) Kajero stated.

(Maybe he fell in love with Altirea in some of the worlds and kept on trying to hit during all this time!?) Weiss laughed out loud as he said that, (In any case, since you defeated the rotten sage now, he should no longer bring any other ‘Altirea Wisp’ to ruin in any other world.

(Hey, Alty, that was really amazing, you know? Not even us, the gods, could beat that guy, but you did it!)

Well, that was certainly quite the ridiculous achievement now that I think about it… It probably only happened because I wasn’t aware that I was dealing with ‘The Sage’. Had I known, I would have given up while thinking that there would be no way I could defeat the legendary ‘hero’.

And as battles on the inner world depend primarily on one’s mental state, I could defeat him because I thought of him not as the ‘Legendary Sage Asklasua’, but as ‘The Scammer Priest, Asksu’… It’s weird to think that arrogance was not the cause of my defeat, but of my victory.

That is… Unless I didn’t actually win? The sage’s last words echoed in my head… ‘It may be a bit cliched, but I’ll truly be happy if you can succeed without your skills.’

The ridiculous curse that he left me with. The thing that he gave me so that I wouldn’t forget him… A curse that removed my powers as the ‘Doll Princess’.

A cliched ending… Where the villain in their final moments take away something that is very precious to the hero… Because of something like this, I can’t even move a doll’s thumb anymore, nor can I call for spirits.

I lost my doll magic… Luckily enough, I can still use short-distance telepathy, and Cactus, Kajero, Weiss and Walf still seem to be loyal to me.

But what about the children at the Wisp territory? Tomorrow was the day that one of them would come bring their regular report, but… What if something went wrong?

I never submitted them with magical power, so things should hopefully be alright, but… I can’t help feeling uneasy about this.