Chapter 17: The Only Thing Granted
Chapter 017: The Only Thing Granted
"Although it's been ten days since we've last met, but compared to before, you're practically another person."
Looking at Shien who was still gazing dumbly at her, the beautiful goddess so spoke in a way that was unclear if she was praising or teasing him.
The charming voice that seemed like it could sing a song remembered for ages entered Shien's ears. He was struck dumb for an unknown amount of time.
However, the reason for that was absolutely not because Shien was entranced by the beautiful goddess.
Shien just couldn't find the proper words.
It couldn't be helped.
"...... Why am I here again?"
It can't be that he died again, could it?
As Shien thought that, the goddess smiled as if she saw into Shien's thoughts.
"Don't overthink it. You didn't return here because you died." The goddess said so, "You can check for yourself. This time, you were summoned by me with your body."
As the goddess said, Shien finally realized that truth.
Indeed, it's different from the last time he was summoned here. This time, Shien didn't appear as just a spirit, but rather along with his body. His feet were also firmly planted on the ground unlike the last time, where he was floating in midair.
In other words...
"So I got summoned while I'm alive this time?"
Shien looked at the goddess before him.
"Indeed." The goddess nodded, "I saw that you've finally left the forest of demonic beasts, entered a human town, and became an adventurer. Since you finally settled down in this world, I summoned you here to say hi."
What a selfish motive. Shien really wanted to say something like, if she was looking that much to him entering a human town and properly settle down, then don't go tossing him into a forest full of demonic beasts at the start.
These thoughts once more brought the goddess's reply.
"If I didn't toss you into the forest at the start, then you wouldn't have been able to level up, nor would you have been able to learn so many skills you know?" The goddess spoke with a vague smile, "If you didn't experience your uniqueness for yourself, then how could you have discovered so quickly just how much you as a Hero exceeds normal people?"
Shien's face fell at that explanation.
That is to say, for the sake of letting him understand his differences from other people, this goddess purposefully tossed him into a forest full of demonic beasts rather than a human town?
That woman. Was she not afraid that he might have gotten eaten by a demonic beast?
Just as that thought rose to his mind, the goddess's reply immediately descended.
"Of course not." The goddess confidently spoke, "With the protection of the Holy Sword, you'd probably be fine even if I tossed you into the Demon World, never mind a forest where demonic beasts only got up to level 50 at the highest."
Hearing that, Shien finally couldn't hold himself back anymore.
"I say, miss goddess, you're not reading my mind are you? Why do you know everything I'm thinking?" Shien objected, "Also, don't act like it had nothing to do with you. That's something you made, isn't it?"
Be it the Holy Sword or the various skills, aren't all of those things that the goddess granted him?
It must be said. Originally, Shien was a person who couldn't be more normal.
Just as Shien thought so, the goddess corrected him.
"No, that's where you're wrong." The goddess said, "Be it the Holy Sword or the skills, those are all yours from the start. All I did was awaken them."
With those words, Shien stopped.
"Mine?"
Shien had a hard time responding.
Seeing that, the goddess begun explaining.
"The thing known as the Holy Sword is a power born from the concept of "Hero". It is a special feature that only you otherworlders summoned with the identity of Hero possess."
The goddess explained with her lyrical, moving voice.
"Just like how there are people in Omnipotlin who could awaken skills that were just for them, that is, unique skills, you Heroes from another world also have unique skills of your own. Plus, you have another specialty beyond those of Omnipotlin. Once you're summoned to this world as a Hero, then you'll naturally awaken your own Holy Sword and unique skill. All I did was speed things up and directly awakened your Holy Sword and Unique skill, that's all."
If not for that, then why even summon Heroes from another world in the first place?
If she could freely grant the powerful Holy Sword and unique skill to others, then there' not need for her to summon otherworlders to defeat the Demon King in the first place. She could just chose a Hero from her own world.
"In the end, since I as a god need to ask others for aid to defeat the Demon King, then that proves that I at least couldn't do it myself, right?" The goddess clearly stated, "If I could freely grant others such a powerful Holy Sword and unique skill, then I might as well go defeat the Demon King myself. What would I need a Hero for then?"
Such a logical explanation nearly struck Shien dumb once more.
But, thinking on it, that seems pretty reasonable, right?
"In your world, there seems to be settings where gods can't freely affect the human world, so even when they see the Demon King destroying the world, they could only just watch and at most give humanity some help to let them defeat the Demon King on their own, right? The goddess spoke as if it was something funny, "Unfortunately, this isn't like the worlds in the myths and legends you know of. Although there are a number of similarities, this is still reality, so there's bound to be differences."
What kind of differences?
"For example, in this world, the gods and demons have been hated enemies for thousands of years. They've been warring for a long long time."
The goddess honestly revealed.
"To us, the Demon King is our greatest foe. If we could destroy them with our own powers, then we would have done so a long long time ago. There's not way we'd have rules about not interfering with humanity. Rather, the gods often interfers with humanity and are affecting the human world a great deal.
Thus, in this world, for the lives of the human world, gods are objects of faith, but they're not untouchable, but are real existences.
"You already know about blessings right?" The goddess pointed out, "Blessings are the most common type of interference that we gods do to the lives of the human world. You too have my own blessing. That is the only thing I've granted you."
Besides the blessing that was granted by the goddess, everything else was Shien's own power.
Be it the Holy Sword or the unique skill, they were all things inherent to Shien himself. They had almost nothing to do with the goddess before him.
In other words...
"Nearly all of your abnormalities came from yourself. They had nothing to do with me. If I were to put it using a phrase form your world, that would be, don't go tossing the blame on me."
Shien had no response to the goddess's words.
Seeing how Shien was, the goddess smiled.
"We have some time anyways, so let's chat a little about this world."
With that, the goddess waved her hand and summoned up a table and some tea.