Chapter Gods’ Call Gods’ Games We Play Gods’ Games We Play Do you know that game, hide-and-seek? Sure you do. Everyone’s played it at least once in their lives. Some of the players hide, and then the player who’s “it” tries to find them. Simplicity itself. And do you know what? Countless gods in this world want to challenge people to games just like that. Let’s introduce one in particular… A rather easygoing, clumsy dragon god who, playing hide-and-seek one day long, long, long ago, hid at the bottom of the ocean and accidentally fell asleep for 3,000 years. When that deity awoke, bam! Our story began. The Layers belt in the Great Northern Cold-Wave Zone: a land of ice that never melts, home to towering walls of thick ice that bar the way of any adventurers bold enough to try to explore it. Somewhere in this land, the sound of a howling blizzard was peppered with shouts of surprise from the members of an exploratory team engaged in cutting into one of those ice walls. “We found something! It’s not a fossil!” “That’s impossible… This material is supposed to date back to the Ice Age!” The great chunk of ice extracted from the wall didn’t contain a dinosaur fossil or preserved mammoth… “It’s a person! A…girl?!” “Inform the Arcane Court immediately. Tell Court headquarters! …What could this mean? How can we have found a person in the Ice-Age layer?!” It was, indeed, a human who had been discovered in the ice—a young girl at that, still in her teens. “Maybe she’s from the ancient era of magical civilization.” “This is mind-boggling! It’s forty-six below in that ice! How could a human be so completely preserved?! Even a mammoth would have fossilized after three millennia!” “It’s more than that, Captain… I think she’s alive.” The girl lying there was very beautiful. Her bright vermilion hair shone almost as if it were on fire. Her face, which looked exactly like that of any ordinary modern person, had sweet, charming features. There was a faint blush in her cheeks, and her color was good, as though she were still living. She was also completely naked. There wasn’t a scrap of clothing on her. She was somewhat willowy, but her womanly curves were there for all to see. Perhaps she’d been wearing clothes once, but if so, the passage of 3,000 years and the utter cold had devoured the material. “You’re right…” One of the team members placed a spare parka over the girl. “I think she looks alive, too.” “That’s ridiculous! Need I remind you that this is a sample of the Great Northern Cold-Wave Zone from the Ice Age? Without protective gear, you’d freeze to death in half a min— uh?!” The captain practically jumped back; everyone else cried out in unison, “Wh-Whoa!”
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Researchers gasped as the vermilion-haired girl opened her eyes and abruptly sat up. She looked at each of the five team members in turn. “Oh! Darn. How long’s it been? A thousand years? Two thousand? I accidentally fell asleep there.” Telepathy: a god’s words transferred directly into the mind, from the girl to the researchers. “I don’t know how many millennia it’s been, but I’m sure your language systems and grammar aren’t the same as they used to be. But you should be able to understand me this way, right?” “I don’t believe it!” “Captain… I think the girl is—” “That’s right. I’m talking to you right now. Oh! You can just speak normally. I’ll understand it via telepathy. Huh! So this is what people wear these days.” The girl stood up, putting her arms in the sleeves of the parka with irrepressible curiosity. Then she yawned, right there in the middle of the forty-degree-below wind. “Phew… I guess it was a mistake to choose the bottom of the ocean as my hiding place. I thought it was a really clever idea, but I sure never imagined an ice age would hit while I was asleep.” “Who… What are you?” the captain asked, stepping forward, trembling despite his warm coat. “My name is Mishtran. I’m the captain of a research team charged with exploring remote regions. We’re associated with the Arcane Court, Ruin branch. We rescued you from the ice, and we’d like to know who you are.” “Me? I’m a former god.” The girl called herself a god. As if on cue, her hair billowed dramatically. “But hey, who cares about that? Play a game with me!” “…What?” “The gods’ games. You must still have them in this era, right?” She giggled happily, spreading her hands as if saying she couldn’t wait. “C’mon, let’s go!” And then the girl who called herself a god announced, as if to the entire world: “Bring me this era’s very best player!”