The Council of Demi had all raised exclamation points. Some of them had more than one.
“Fu fu fu, well, during the course of your duties, you probably will be farming, and even doing some hero-type things. You’ll need to do things within your sphere of influence to acquire experience and gain control of your powers. If they were just all unlocked from the start, you wouldn’t have any idea what to do with them,” Hollyhope explained, sounding quite sensible. “But don’t worry too much about it. You’ll probably want to do most of it anyway. It’s all to have a wonderful country life! Don’t you think all of that sounds fun?” she asked encouragingly.
“But why?” Demi asked, still confounded. “Is this something that just happens sometimes? Random people get summoned to random worlds and become goddesses?” she asked incredulously.
“Ehee hee~” Hollyhope laughed. “Of course not! This is absolutely a special circumstance. I actually thought about a lot of different possibilities before I landed on this one,” she assured her. “But this is definitely the best plan I came up with. And of course I didn’t choose you at random,” she chided with a smile. “I needed someone with a very high compatibility with the role. That’s not very common, you know!” she lectured, raising one of her fingers and closing one eye. “They also needed to have sufficient capacity to take on the position of administrator. Not everybody can become the Goddess of Life! After I thought about it, rather than spending a really long time searching for a candidate, and then maybe getting someone with a bad personality accidentally, the best idea was to bring over another ‘me’ from a different realm. I can always trust myself, after all,” she declared with an officious nod. “And you were the ‘me’ with the most experience, so that’s why I chose you,” she explained.
“Another ‘me’?” Demi asked in confusion. “What does that even mean?”
“Well, you’re the ‘me’ of your world,” Hollyhope answered, as if this ought to be obvious. “That’s why we look so similar. In the same way, you could say that I’m the ‘you’ of this world.”
Demi’s head was spinning. “You mean to say that we actually look almost identical? You didn’t just take on a familiar form to make me feel more comfortable?”
“No,” Hollyhope said, waving one of her hands like a fish tail. “That would be super weird. We do actually look alike.”
“And we don’t just look alike?” Demi pressed, leaning her cheek into her hand. “We actually are alike?”
“Ara ara ara ara,” trilled out Hollyhope. “Don’t you think so?” the goddess asked, adopting a mirrored pose.
Ara ara ara ara, when she puts it that way... Demi wavered.
But then she squinched her eyes closed tightly for a moment, collecting herself. When she opened them again she began waving her own hands. “Look, I think you may have gotten confused,” she said. “I might be named ‘Demeter,’ but I’m not actually Earth’s Goddess of Life. I’m just an ordinary girl.”
That wasn’t strictly true. Demi was an aristocrat and beyond that, she was the heir to her family’s title as well as to their seat in the Curia of Lords. Provided she survived to take her seat, she would one day be one of the most powerful people in the world, with absolute dominion over her territory.
All of that made her not very much like an ordinary girl at all. And yet, with reference to being a goddess, this still felt very relevant to point out.
But Hollyhope seemed utterly unperturbed.
“You’re definitely the ‘me’ of your world,” Hollyhope insisted. “I checked your parameters before summoning you, and now that you’re here, your parameters have adjusted according to the rules of this world.”
As if in illustration, she drew her fingers across the air, and letters and numbers glimmered into reality.
Ahh, Demi thought nostalgically. The fabled status screen.
Then she gave herself a mental shake and began reading the information on the screen.
It listed some very normal things, like her name and age, but under species, it listed “divine being” and beyond that, her title was listed as “Harvest Goddess from Another World.”
She had no idea how to explain that.
Hollyhope moved her fingers again and brought up her own status screen so Demi could compare them. Her age appeared to be some sort of mathematical expression and did not make much sense to Demi. But her species was also “divine being,” and her title was listed as “Harvest Goddess,” and under that, “Goddess of Life.”
“Once you raise your divine rank a little, I’m sure you’ll also gain the title ‘Goddess of Life from another world.’” Hollyhope assured her, as if this might be at the forefront of Demi’s concerns. “Until then, there are plenty of things you can do as the Harvest Goddess. You can have a wholesome, laid-back country life, filled with the joys of nature!”
Still trying to deal with this new information, Demi stuffed a whole petit four in her mouth and looked at her own status screen again.
She was level one, as might be expected, and while she wasn’t entirely sure about the meaning of her current stats (most especially when compared to Hollyhope’s, which, like her age, were somewhat inscrutable), every single one had an infinity symbol listed after the number.
“What exactly does that mean?” asked Demi. Am I going to have insanely overpowered goddess abilities? she wondered to herself.
“Ehee hee~” Hollyhope laughed. “That’s your potential. Since you’re a goddess, you have infinite potential within your sphere of influence. It means you can grow as strong as you want, so long as you work hard to level up. You might even become stronger than me someday!” she said with a flash of her hands. It was a sweet little cheer. “You can gain experience doing anything that you can somehow relate to being the Harvest Goddess. If you believe that it’s connected in your heart, it will work naturally and you’ll gain lots and lots of experience!” Hollyhope advised, this time moving both of her index fingers in unison to trace the shape of two endless circles.
“So it doesn’t actually have to be related to being the Harvest Goddess?” Demi asked, her eyebrows raised. “I just have to believe that it’s connected?”
“So long as you can justify it to yourself, it will count,” Hollyhope assured her with a wink so charming that it generated a sound effect.
Demi’s eyes widened and she shook her head slightly. “That’s some system you’ve got there.”
“Ehee hee~” laughed Hollyhope. “The most effective goddesses know to use their systems in the most effective ways!”
That seems like a very cute admission of gaming the system, Demi thought dryly to herself. No wonder she’s got such crazy stats.
“So what exactly should I do?” Demi asked. “I’m touched that you have so much confidence in me, but if I’m the most qualified candidate among all of the other... ‘me’s, then that’s honestly a little concerning. I mean, I do love animals, and I’ve helped in the gardens at the country house, but I’m definitely not a farm girl.”
Suddenly it was if Demi was struck by a clear, electric bolt of inspiration. She sat up straight and gripped the book in her lap before beginning to flutter her hands rapidly.
“Books!” she cried in excitement. “Do you have any books about farming? Or ranching? Or other Harvest-Goddess-related activities?!”
Demi had an unfailing faith that books could solve all of her problems.
Hollyhope beamed. “I have lots of books about farming and ranching and Harvest-Goddess-related things!” she said. “I even wrote some of them myself! And I prepared a whoooooooole set of tutorials for you. Don’t worry. You’ll definitely do fine! It’s in your nature to be a Harvest Goddess, after all.”
Demi smiled weakly in response. “I can’t say I understand where your optimism is coming from, but I suppose if anyone knows about being a Harvest Goddess, then it’s you.”
By this point they had completely finished the well-appointed tea, and Hollyhope yawned, covering her mouth with her hand.
“Oh I am sorry,” she apologized, this time authentically rubbing at her eyes with her small fists. “I’m just very, very tired. Summoning you here must have taken more out of me than I expected.” She yawned again and then she fluttered her hands. “Well, it all turned out fine in the end. You’re here and I’m sure you’re very excited to begin your wonderful vacation as a Harvest Goddess.”
“I suppose,” Demi said hesitantly, looking at the books that crowded the wholesome little cottage. “Once I’ve had a little time to do some research and become accustomed to the idea— Wait, wait, wait—” Demi began in alarm as Hollyhope twinkled into a very sweet nightgown, complete with a little twin tailed cap on her head.
“Don’t worry,” Hollyhope assured her again as she yawned. “I know you’ll do a great job! I believe in you! I’m sending you to one of my favorite places to get started. Just plant some crops, cuddle some animals, and do all of the other things that farmers do and you’ll be off to a perfect start! I know you’ll love it! And don’t worry, I’m sending along a holy beast to assist you!”
“But—”
“Oh, and take it easy! Don’t try and take on too much at once. I often have that problem!” came the last bit of cheerful advice from the fading voice of the goddess.
Before Demi could even get another protestation out, she was no longer in the quaint little cottage. She did not think she could be anywhere remotely near it.
The fledgling Harvest Goddess had come to the earth.