“This child will be living in the new world, so her past memories will definitely get in the way anyways. The Underworld Country is already gone. It has already stopped existing since several centuries. Even if she carries the hatred of her destroyed land as she lives, it wouldn’t prove positive for her at all.” (Yorishiro)

“Yorishiro, what you are trying to say is…” (Haine)

“I will raise this child myself. I will have her walk a new life in Apollon City. This time for sure, I definitely won’t…make a mistake again.” (Yorishiro)

These are probably not the words of the current Yorishiro, but the words of the queen that lived in the past Underworld country, Izanami.

The resolve that only Gods would be able to bring out with their shared past souls.

“Were you able to…take off the weight on your shoulders?” (Haine)

I couldn’t not ask Yorishiro this.

She was deeply regretting the fact that she raised the Underworld Country and ended up destroying it.

Has the return of this girl…the hero Doraha, served as an acquittal for Yorishiro?

“It is the contrary, Haine-san. With this, I have finally been able to carry the weight on my shoulders. By carrying this child’s life on my shoulders, by walking together with her, in the time she is able to enjoy the new life in this world, I will finally be able to atone for it…… Haine-san.” (Yorishiro)

“Yes?” (Haine)

“Can you please live together with me? Together with the both of us?” (Yorishiro)

“Uh.” (Haine)

This sounds like a widow with a child asking for my hand in marriage.

“…Fine.” (Haine)

“Eh?” (Yorishiro)

“Fine. If you are okay with me, I will do what I can to help you and that child.” (Haine)

“I am so happy!” (Yorishiro)

From there on, Yorishiro smiled happily, and Doraha, who still didn’t understand what was going on herself, had a spaced-out expression.

Karen-san was watching this exchange of us a step behind with a puzzled expression.

• 86: To the country of the living

And like this, we finished doing what we had to do at the Underworld Country.

Now that it is over, I feel like everything was dancing in the palm of Yorishiro’s hand, but well, if that managed to clear her clouded heart, that’s fine.

Next is how we are going to return from this underground that had its stairs crumble with the fight against the shadow.

But it seems that won’t be a problem at all.

Because we can fly with the use of the dark matter I control, it was easy to return to the entrance while carrying Karen-san, Yorishiro, and the new member, Doraha.

That’s why, right now, we are in the middle of regretting having to leave this historical ruins.

Now that I look at it again, it is an incredibly beautiful place.

An ancient city that stands silently in the darkness. No sounds, just silence. Is it dead or just sleeping? It could be said to be a mystical sight.

“Beautiful…” (Karen)

Karen-san also held the same impression.

Right now Karen-san and I are alone, and we were looking at the Underworld Country from a slightly elevated location.

Yorishiro stayed to watch over Doraha, but it seems like it was because she was being considerate of Karen-san.

In this journey, there hasn’t been a single time where Karen-san has been alone with me.

“…But the ones who destroyed this land were…our ancestors.” (Karen)

“Yeah.” (Haine)

We have also told Karen-san the contents of the monument that Doraha left behind before she was consumed by the ‘shadow’. Along with my own interpretation of it.

The foreign enemies that attacked the Underworld Country were sent by the four Base Element Gods. The humans, that were given power by the four Base Elements in order to destroy the Underworld Country, later created their own community, and the respective churches were formed.

“Then, our Light Church as well is—” (Karen)

‘A part of the instigators of this destruction’, is what she was about to say, but I interrupt her.

“I don’t think that’s the case.” (Haine)

“Eh?”

My biggest basis for this is that the queen Izanami of the Underworld Country was the incarnation of the Light Goddess Inflation.

She is not so crazy as to order her own country to be destroyed.

But there’s no way I would be able to prove this basis of mine to Karen-san, so I have to bring out a different explanation.

“…Uhm, you see, in the monument that Doraha left behind, four natural disasters were written there.” (Haine)

Locusts, plague, acid rain, and desertification.

“Each were respectively connected to wind, water, fire, and earth; there were no disasters that related to light. Isn’t that proof that the light church wasn’t related to the destruction of the Underworld Country?” (Haine)

“Isn’t that a bit difficult to take as proof?” (Karen)

“And there’s one other thing. When Doraha went mad and became the shadow, the invaders must have been quite scared, don’t you think? They were faced with unexpected resistance. Don’t you think quite a good amount of people of the Underworld Country were able to escape in that stalemate?” (Haine)

“Ah…” (Karen)

“And the people that managed to escape safely gathered together, and what was created was…” (Haine)

“The Light Church…is what you are trying to say?” (Karen)

That’s probably the case.

The queen Izanami had taken off her flesh body and returned to being the Light Goddess Inflation, and this time, protected the people and guided them as a God.

Different from the fire, water, earth, and wind; this was how the light church was formed.

“…You are incredible, Haine-san.” (Karen)

“Eh? What is?” (Haine)

“Because you know, there’s no proof at all that this is true, and yet, you are talking as if you are sure that is how it happened. It made me belief that this is also how it actually happened.” (Karen)

“Isn’t it okay to believe that?” (Haine)

“Right. Thinking that way, that girl…Doraha-san’s sacrifice by turning into a ‘shadow’ was not pointless. There were lives that were saved thanks to it. So Doraha-san saved a lot of lives -as a hero.” (Karen)

“Yeah, that’s how it is.” (Haine)

Right after Doraha was liberated from her ‘shadow’, I told Karen-san that that’s the name she introduced herself as.

It was actually Yorishiro who knew the name of Doraha in her past life as Izanami though.

“When I look at Haine-san and Yorishiro-sama, I sometimes feel something mysterious.” (Karen)

“Eh?”

“You know a lot of things; or more like, know way too much. It feels as if you two have something different from yourselves inside of you.” (Karen)

“Nah, that’s way too farfetched.” (Haine)

I hurriedly refute her words, but the voice of Karen-san sinks.

“That’s why it feels as if the two of you are connected. How envying.” (Karen)

“Eh?”

At that moment, the face of Karen-san suddenly approached my face, and without stopping at all, it made contact with me; lips and lips.

“This is…the reward this time.” (Karen)

“Eh?”

“The reward for saving us. I promised Yorishiro that I would give you something incredible after all.” (Karen)

After separating her lips from mine, Karen-san says this.

“I won’t lose heart. Even if Haine-san and Yorishiro-sama have a special connection between you both, I will create a connection with Haine-san that will not lose to it! Haine-san, please treasure us both, okay?” (Karen)

“Y-Yes!” (Haine)

My cheeks are probably bright red.

Karen-san also ruminated on what she had just done herself, and must have understood that she had done something big, she suddenly boiled bright red.

“I am g-going to take a look at Yorishiro-sama and Doraha-san!!” (Karen)

And then, she ran away while still embarrassed.

…The actions of Karen-san escalate with each passing day.

“At this rate…marriage will come by next month…” (Haine)

I said it jokingly, but it felt real and made me shiver.

Did Karen-san obtain something from this journey?

This journey was to search for a clue of the existence of the Dark God Entropy in the Underworld Country.

And in reality, the Underworld Country actually existed and we already learned that Entropy was worshipped by them, but further than that should still be a mystery for her.

In my side…I did gain something from it.

That is…the assurance that Gods are not necessary in this world.

I learned about the atrocities that were committed by the four Base Elements in the past when I was sleeping, and I also learned that they are useless for humans, on the contrary, they are actually harmful.

When I just came back to this world, I wasn’t really thinking much of it, but as I thought, I really do have to get moving.

Make a plan to completely sever the ties between this world and the Gods.