“So you’re saying that there is a different Gollem that is the same type as the one standing there?”
“Yes, it appears that two golden crowns exist at once. And one of those is on the side of the wicked devout,” I answered the question posed by the emperor of Gardio at the world summit.
What set all of this off was a major incident that occurred in a small fishing village in Gardio. According to the sole survivor, a fisherman of the village, a small gold-winged Gollem suddenly appeared above the village and began completely erasing those who lived there. He had witnessed it all after being flung from his boat and left floating along in the waves. What he reported sounded just like our Gold, and so we ended up holding an international conference to explain.
“All crowns discovered to this point have been unique. We have found no sign of replicas or twin units. Do you have any evidence to the contrary?”
“I don’t know if I can call it evidence, but...” I trailed off as I projected footage taken from one of Val Albus’s unmanned drones of the wicked devout’s gold crown into the air. Next to him was the man with the plague mask, so that should serve as proof that it wasn’t on our side.
This doesn’t prove it’s not our Gold, though...
“We can’t tell the difference between the Gollem in the footage and the one standing here with this alone...” Mismede’s Beastking was moving his gaze between the gold crown in the footage and Gold who had been summoned together with me. I was right to think it wouldn’t be enough.
“If they’re the same type, then that means they must be the same unit, no?”
“But that isn’t really evidence.”
“Looking closely, their eyes appear to be a different color...”
“Really?”
Representatives from the other countries began raising their doubts as well. If I couldn’t supply footage of the two present at once, there was no way to prove that they were different.
“Where were you at the time Mariu was attacked, Gold?” I asked.
“At that time, I was planting flowers with my master in the courtyard.”
And that meant that he had an alibi.
“But you can use teleportation magic, can you not?”
“Right, this also isn’t proof.”
The emperor of Refreese and the king of Belfast were smirking at me as they refuted my argument.
Oh, you assholes! You totally know what you’re doing!
The only choices left to me were to somehow bring both gold crowns to them or to capture footage of them both present at once.
If you wanted to get someone to believe you were a twin, the only choice you had to prove that to them was to either show them your twin directly or show a picture with both of you in it. Or you could also just show your family registry, I supposed.
But even if I was able to prove that another gold crown really did exist, how could I prove that it wasn’t our Gold that attacked Mariu?
“Cease with your tomfoolery, both of you. I can’t say it’s very nice of you.”
“Ha ha ha, sorry, sorry. We don’t often get the chance to see Touya cornered, so we got a little carried away.”
“Indeed. Naturally, we don’t actually suspect you.”
The two apologized easily when the pope of Ramissh scolded them with a sigh.
“Well, I doubt you would do such a thing either,” the emperor of Gardio made clear. I was thankful; building up trust really was important for moments like this.
“I did think you were being framed. Doing such a thing would bring no merit to Brunhild, after all.”
“There is nothing to be gained by annihilating a small village. If you wanted to kidnap someone, you would be craftier about it. You’re good at it, after all.”
I was glad they trusted me, but I really wanted to object to the idea that I was good at kidnappings.
I won’t deny that I am, though!
“Now that we’ve established the Gollem that attacked Mariu was on the side of the wicked devout, what was their objective?”
“Is it not a plot to cast curses on them to turn them into their own soldiers, as they’ve been thus far?”
“What a loathsome bunch! Sneaking around and attacking in our blind spots!”
Most of the countries of this world had fallen victim to the wicked devout’s attacks in some manner. The only one completely free from any such incidents had been Brunhild, which was devoid of a neighboring ocean. Maybe Gandhilis as well, given it had such a rocky coastline and there were very few villages and towns within its borders.
Though they did have part of the Gigantes they’d discovered underground stolen from them, so I guess you could consider them a victim... That was my fault for underestimating the enemy, though.
“Are preparations to take down the wicked devout complete yet?” the mikado of Eashen, Shirahime, asked.
“Almost. If we give them the chance to escape, we’ll be back to square one, so we’re being extra careful to make sure we take them down in one fell swoop.”
“Very good. Haste makes waste, after all. When you strike, you must be fully prepared so you can beat them into submission.”
And that was exactly what we planned to do. We needed to completely eradicate the wicked god’s remains if we wanted to send our children back to the future safely. At least I’d somewhat managed to clear their suspicions surrounding Gold. Not entirely, but enough that he was deemed acquitted for now.
I really needed to make sure Gold was present in the face-off against their gold crown so I could prove for absolute certain that there was an identical unit. I was glad they trusted me, but that didn’t mean they trusted Gold.
After the conference, we had our usual small banquet in the name of furthering friendships, and then we were back to business as usual. I couldn’t help but let out a sigh at the documents piled on top of my office desk. When I glanced out the window, I saw Sue, Steph, and the now-released Gold happily watering the flowers in the garden.
So lucky... I wanna play with the kids too...
This was the duty of a king, though. I couldn’t skimp out on the work. If I worked hard enough, I could maybe put aside some time to play with them in the evening.
Hours into my desperate fight with my papers, when the end was finally in sight, I received a phone call.
From God Almighty? This is unusual.
“Hello?”
“Touya, is that you? Do you think you could come pay me a visit once you get a moment? There’s something I wish to discuss with you.”
As in, go to the Divine Realm? Did something happen?
Given that I was nearing the end of my work, I decided it wouldn’t be a big deal to take a short break, and so I teleported to the Divine Realm with [Gate]. Now in that familiar small tatami space surrounded by the familiar sea of clouds, not just God Almighty, but also Grandma Tokie was sitting around that familiar low table.
“You were called here too, Grandma Tokie?”
“Not quite. In fact, I was the one who told him he should call you here. Do have a seat.”
I did as she said and sat myself down on one of the zabuton cushions. The fact that she called me here instead of coming to me directly must have meant that she wanted God Almighty to be present for our discussion.
“You are correct, dear. This is something that violates the rules of our realm, so it isn’t something I can freely talk about with my own judgment.”
I see, I see. Wait, don’t just read my mind like that!
In other words, some incident had happened that was related to the gods. But why would that result in a lowly god like me getting involved?
“So, uh, what happened, exactly?”
“Y-Yes, well, you see, we...may have made a little mistake that will result in causing you trouble once again. I truly am sorry.”
Grandma Tokie was suddenly apologizing to me now? Was there something new I had to deal with now? My hands were already plenty full dealing with the wicked devout.
“What is this all about? Stop beating around the bush and just tell me.”
“Mngh... I suppose I should. You see...a fallen god has descended to your world. I have no words to express how sorry I am to have not realized until now. I cannot defend myself against any accusations of negligence.”
A fallen god? Not a wicked one? What’s the difference?
“Wicked gods are simply false gods born from the accumulation of negative emotions of the surface realm within sacred treasures or objects imbued with divinity. Though it should, of course, be noted that the specific wicked god that you defeated had fused with a servile god,” God Almighty explained.
Grandma Tokie continued the explanation, guilt clear on her face.
“Fallen gods, on the other hand, are very much gods who have fallen to depravity. They are gods who have had their divine status abolished and are now exiled from the Divine Realm. Under normal circumstances, they would be eternally imprisoned in the frozen hell of Cocytus, which I monitor.”
Cocytus? Is that like a divine prison for gods or something?
“This fallen god in particular gave one last desperate struggle right as we were about to seal him away. The god of destruction should have completely eliminated him then, but...”
The god of destruction can just eliminate a god like that?! Please never let me face him!
“What we failed to notice was that just before he could be completely annihilated, he split off a small part of himself. That is what managed to escape. That fragment is now...”
“Now in this world?”
God Almighty nodded.
“A freshly materialized fragment has no will of its own. It was most likely mindlessly searching for sources of divinity. A fallen god cannot enter the Divine Realm, so it was instead attracted to your world, which is currently the next greatest source of divinity.”