“By the way, for this tutorial, your opponent will be none other than the false God of Destruction! Let’s get right to it, shall we?”
“Wait, what?”
And so, that’s how it all happened. As a result, the “God of Destruction,” the final boss I was supposed to take on, had been trounced just like that during the so-called “tutorial.”
Well, I say “just like that,” but actually, it was more like merciless, drawn-out torture. “Huh? You still don’t get it? Oh well, since it’s the tutorial, I guess I’ll have to show you over and over again until you understand!” the Goddess would say at the end of each session—despite the fact that I never said a word—before restoring the pitiful old man’s mind and body for yet another torture session. This cycle continued for seven days and seven nights in total.
Oh, she did allow me to deal the final blow, though. “Now, for the coup de grâce, try using your own power!” she’d said. “You only need to sever the connection between his mind and body, and you win! Easy, right?”
Once the deed was done, she spoke up once more, now taking a back seat as a voice in my mind. “O disciple of mine, thou hast brought the hammer of judgment down on that wayward charlatan! I thank thee for thy hard labor!”
“Hard labor?” I was pretty sure the Goddess had done all that “labor” herself. The poor final boss had already been at 1 HP and moaning, “Please...kill me already...” Finishing him had been so easy, it’d only taken sixty seconds. Surely my transfer here wasn’t just so the Goddess could cheat the system and beat this guy senseless...right?
“Uh, Goddess... Did you even need me for this?”
“Oh, yes. According to the rules, anyway.”
The rules, huh? I see. Well, if the rules said so, guess there’s no helping it. Come to think of it, if even gods have formalities they need to abide by, does that mean they answer to an even higher power? Now there’s a scary thought.
“Anyway, that felt fantastic, so I’m satisfied now. As promised, you’re free to do whatever from now on. Knock yourself out!”
“A-All right.”
“If you ever need to talk to me again, just pray at one of the churches. Well then, have fun! Noshi!”
“Noshi?” Like, the Japanese slang term for the “hand-waving” emoticon?
This one? (･ω･)ﾉｼ
Do people speak Japanese in this world?
...
Wait, that’s it?
Seriously?
She just up and left me here?
I looked around and realized I was in the middle of an abandoned ruin. Apparently, it was once called the Kingdom of Alchemy under the false God of Destruction’s rule, but thanks to the Goddess’s handiwork, it was now nothing more than a pile of rubble. More specifically, it was probably the work of “Meteor Shotgun,” a technique where she’d created upper and lower pockets of space to infinitely accelerate and then fling pieces of debris with the force of a blade capable of slicing through dimensions. She’d also created air terrariums, pockets of space that had instantaneously reduced entire sections of the kingdom to scorched earth, and other times she’d used a spell called “Reversi” to switch the upper and lower portions of a fixed space, flipping everything upside down and causing even more absurd carnage. But likely the most formidable and destructive spells had been “Black Hole,” which created a space of infinite holding, and “White Hole,” which instantaneously released everything stored in that space. Those two spells alone really did a number on the place.
They were all super powerful spells, each capable of laying an entire kingdom to waste on its own. Spatial magic is seriously terrifying. Hmm... Yeah, I can see how someone with this power could easily rise to god status.
“At any rate, it’s one thing for a kingdom to get destroyed overnight after invoking the wrath of the gods, but...”
An entire kingdom had fallen only because its ruler had posed as a goddess’s boyfriend (godfriend?). That’s a tough break. Right then and there, I swore in my heart that even if I did call myself a god someday, I would never use the name “God of Destruction,” no matter what.
“Now then, what should I do from here?”
With the false god already dead, my objective was complete, meaning I no longer had any goal to work toward. The Goddess had also said I was free to do whatever I wanted.
“Maybe I should look around for any survivors? Nah, maybe not... They might think I caused all this. Considering we were at it for seven whole days, there’s no way they wouldn’t have seen my face. Actually, I should get out of here before it becomes a problem.”
It’s not my fault! It was the Goddess who did all this, not me!
First, I teleported up into the sky. Then, after spotting a remote mountain in the distance, I teleported myself there. This should be far enough. I let out a sigh of relief.
Then I heard my stomach growl. Come to think of it, our fight had lasted seven days, yet I hadn’t had anything to eat ever since I’d arrived in this world. I’d kind of assumed this body would be fine without sustenance from that, but maybe that was only because it was the tutorial. Now that I was on my own, it seemed I was getting hungry.
A fruit that looked like a yellow apple caught my eye. I used spatial magic to bring it to me, then I took it in my hand.
“I wonder if this is edible?”
Suddenly, the Tome of General Knowledge that the Goddess had given me appeared out of thin air. Huh? I didn’t even summon it, and it just popped into existence on its own? That’s kind of freaky.
“Is it telling me to look it up? Does it recognize my voice? All right, guess I’ll try asking— Is this apple here edible?”
As if reacting to my voice, the book’s pages flipped madly until they reached an entry depicting the fruit. One word on the open page was flashing: “edible.” But there was no name listed. The fruit didn’t have a specific name, then?
“Ah, got it...I think. Well, at least now I know I can eat it.”
Apparently determining its service was no longer needed, the book vanished into space once more. I bit into the apple’s shiny skin and chewed. It was sweet, with a mouthfeel similar to sushi rice. Hmm— Well, it smelled good, but I couldn’t say I was a fan. So much for apples from the wilderness...I’ll take the selectively bred kind instead, thanks. Oh, it feels like my magic’s recovering with each bite, though. I certainly don’t mind that.
So this Tome of General Knowledge... It looks like I can make it appear at will to look up a bunch of stuff. Oh, right—I wonder if I can understand the language of this world? I’m guessing so, since I understood the Goddess and the old man’s pleas to spare his life.
“In that case, living a normal life here is going to be easy—especially with spatial magic at my disposal.” In fact, if I wanted, I could duplicate this apple over and over and never have to worry about finding food again. And while my MP might be limited now that the tutorial was over, it would recover on its own after resting. Looked like survival wouldn’t be an issue.
Still, as someone used to the facilities of modern Japan, I’d rather not live off the land if I can help it. I’d like to live somewhere more civilized.
Like somewhere with a toilet, for instance.
What does the general public’s idea of a toilet look like in this world, I wonder? Oh, the tome appeared again. Let’s see...a slime latrine? “Note: Slimes growing larger than a certain size are known to occasionally become hostile, so beware.” Yikes. Is there, like, a model more similar to a flush toilet that’d prevent the slime from splashing up on me? Hmm... “N/A,” it says. Guess that’s a no. If I want something like that, I’ll have to make it myself.
“Or maybe I could get someone like an artisan to make it for me,” I said aloud. “O all-knowing tome, any suggestions on what I should do from here on out?”
The book appeared, its pages flipping. “N/A,” huh? For a moment I’d gotten my hopes up, but it looked like I couldn’t count on it to be a conversation or discussion partner after all.
Oh. Actually, there might be no point in asking now, but what is my social standing like here, anyway? Will I be treated like an outsider?
“Hey, Mr. Tome of General Knowledge, what’s society here like?”
Apparently, population was determined based on poll tax, so while not as accurate as Japan’s, there was a census of sorts. I thanked the book, and it retreated into the void once more. Hmm... Well, with the former God of Destruction’s kingdom now in ruins, maybe I could just blend in among the chaos?
Come to think of it, citizenship aside, I didn’t even remember my name.
“Honestly... I even have to choose my name on my own? I guess I should’ve decided on that while the Goddess was giving me the tutorial.”
What was I called in my former life again? Well, considering I’m a different gender now, I guess I should change it anyway. As long as I have a male name I’ll consider myself a man, and that’d be problematic here. So for now, I’ll give myself a temporary female name. I can always change it later if I think of a better one. Let’s see... Karino, Kamei... Hmm, Karina? Yeah, that one’s not bad.
“Karina. All right, let’s go with that for the time being. You know, it fits my appearance better than I thought.” Upon saying the name a few more times, it felt like it suited me even more. Surely that wasn’t because the Goddess had just carelessly slapped together some template body plain enough to go with any name, was it? Well, I guessed that didn’t really matter.
“First off, I guess I’ll look for a town.”
Scratching my head in thought, I took my first steps toward a brand-new life.