After a brief instant of astonishment, tears began gushing out from her eyes in huge drops.
“It was just, I’ve only been doing admin work in the celestial realm the entire time, and, and it’s my first time descending to the mortal realm, and I was just so worried......” Wordlessly, Silvia moved to sit beside the bawling goddess.
“It must have been so hard for you. But it’s all right now. We’re here with you. You can rely on us as much as you want.”
“Madam...... uwaaaaan!” Emalia buried her face in Silvia’s bountiful breasts.
Silvia kindly patted her head the entire time as she cried her eyes out.
When she had calmed down enough, Shouzou asked her about all the various paperwork regarding him taking leave from work and about his daughters taking a leave of absence from their schools.
In response, he was told that all relevant coordination, which also included disclosure of information to the Japanese government, was being handled by Emalia’s superiors.
Shouzou took a sip of tea.
“So, do you have any clue as to what caused the issue?”
The longer that took, the longer their return to their previous world would take. Consequently, it was of utmost importance.
“We are not entirely without a clue. The current hypothesis is that a massive magic source interfered with the transmigration system’s functions. We had never detected this source previously, so it must have been very skillfully concealed. And it just so happened that this very significant magic source was present in the Onigawara residence. That’s all we know at the moment.”
Hm? Shouzou tilted his head.
“A powerful magic source......?”
“Indeed. One so significant that it ranks as goddess class...... and a Grade 1 goddess level, at that. We find it hard to believe that such a magic source actually exists in the mortal realm, but still...... Ah, by the way, I am a Grade 7 goddess. I’m really sorry for being such a small potato......”
Shouzou looked up at the ceiling for the third time.
Then he brought his gaze back down to shoot a glance at his wife who was, at the moment, still next to Emalia.
“Silvia, could it be......” He couldn’t manage to say the rest, but their many years together enabled his wife to catch on to what he wanted to say.
“Yes. It appears that I was the cause.”
“Eh?” Emalia let out a stupid-sounding voice.
Silvia became visibly dejected.
Shouzou immediately comforted his wife.
“None of the responsibility lies with you. Not including something so significant when testing a system on a scale large enough to actually affect society just ‘because it’s beyond expectations’? That can only be an excuse.”
“Thank you, honey......”
“Eh? Eh? Um, wait, what? What are you two talking about......?”
Seeing Emalia’s look of utter confusion, Silvia placed a hand on her shoulder.
Then she told her straight.
“I am a goddess. A Grade 1 goddess.”
Emalia stared at her dazedly for a brief moment, then—
“EHHHHHHHHHHHH?!” A really loud shout reverberated throughout the house.
★
The stunningly beautiful girl that he met on that rainy summer night, Silvia.
That night, after being pushed down by her, they encountered success on the first try. She became pregnant with Yuna, their eldest daughter.
It was one of those so-called “shotgun weddings.”
While insisting on declaring herself a “goddess,” Silvia said, “Now that I have formed a relationship with someone in the mortal realm, I cannot return to the celestial realm anymore. You will be taking responsibility for me, yes?”
Though it sort of sounded like a threat, as someone who had absolutely zero luck with women so far, there wasn’t a single reason for Shouzou to say no.
Or rather, he welcomed it very much. It wasn’t even an exaggeration to call it the jackpot, an overwhelming victory.
But “goddess”? “Celestial realm”? Was that some kind of secret lingo? When he had just met her, Shouzou hadn’t the faintest idea what it meant, but—
Emalia asked back in a quivering voice.
“In other words, Madam is a goddess? Like me? Like...... a ‘goddess’ goddess......?”
“That’s what I said.”
“And she’s a Grade 1 goddess, much higher rank than me......?”
“That’s what I said as well.”
“No, no, no, no! Why is a Grade 1 goddess a homemaker in a place like this?!”
“‘A place like this’? That’s rude of you.”
“Hah?! No, sorry, that was a slip of the tongue. I’m very sorry......” Emalia shrunk into herself in dejection, but almost immediately started, then her head shot up as if she had just realized something.
What a busy girl she was.
“More like, why is the master so calm about it? She’s a goddess! A Grade 1 goddess! The wife that has been beside you for all these years! Why aren’t you surprised?!”
“I don’t really get the whole goddess ranking system, but the fact that my wife is ‘a goddess’ is something that I’ve known for ages.” Naturally, at the start, he didn’t actually believe that she was a real goddess.
—“Strictly speaking, I’m not supposed to do this in the mortal realm. But just for you.”
However, after seeing her create fire out of thin air and fly around the sky for a bit, he had no choice but to believe.
“Even if that’s the case, how can you accept it so easily?!”
“What reason could I have to reject it?”
Normally, Silvia was just a typical stunning beauty. Even after their marriage, she was a sociable homemaker who got along well with all their neighbors. Her being a goddess or not was a trivial matter for Shouzou.
“What is with this married couple......cough cough. I beg your pardon. In other words, could it be that my support is actually not needed at all in this situation?”
“It’s true that even though I’m retired, my magic capacity and yours is still three digits apart. If we fought, it would end within the blink of an eye,” said Silvia.
“Please stop scaring me......”
“However, since I formed a relationship with someone in the mortal realm, my ties with the celestial realm have been completely cut. This is why we will need Emalia-san to serve as the go-between.”
“Th-That’s right, I suppose. That’s all I’m needed for, it seems......” The light almost faded completely from Emalia’s eyes.
It seemed like she had already suffered rather significant damage, but the conversation was not over yet.
“So would I be correct in understanding that the cause is now identified?”
“Heh? Ah, yes. May I report it to my superiors?”
Silvia placed a hand on her cheek and sighed.
“There’s no helping it, I suppose. But now that this has happened, I can use my magic again without worry.”
“Ahh, since you’ve been taking precautions so far to hide your real identity.”
“Ha ha ha” went the intimate couple as they laughed together jovially.
“It’s forbidden to use magic in a mortal realm!”
“But my ties with the celestial realm have been completely cut, and my powers have already been restricted. The situation being what it is, I won’t take no for an answer, all right?” Emalia thought she saw a jet-black aura rising up behind Silvia’s gentle smile. She shivered like a kitten abandoned in the heart of winter.
Can I go back already......
“So then, Emalia-san.”
“Yessir?!”
“Stop being frightened at everything. So anyways, where will you be staying from now on?”
“Eh? Ahh, umm...... I was planning on setting up a tent right beside this house.” The realization that the unavailability of support in the form of local currency—which meant that staying in an inn would be beyond her means—left Emalia’s shoulders slumped in despondency.
At that moment, the voice of a goddess with an outstretched hand reached her ears.
“How would you like to stay in this guest room?”
“May I really?!” She shot a quick glance at Shouzou, who was “hmming” with arms crossed.
“We can’t in good conscience allow a young lady to stay outdoors.”
“Thank you so very much! I’ll go bring my tent in right now!”
““You’re going to set it up in here?!””
“I’m sorry, I was just so flustered...... I’m going to bring a futon then.”
“We have a futon for guests, so just use that.”
“I am very much obliged, again and again......”
After a while, Shouzou patted his chest in relief. For the moment, the cause had been identified. So at the earliest, they might get to go back to their original world in a year’s time.
They’d ended up accepting Emalia as a lodger, but having an older sister-like presence of a similar age (in terms of appearance) to their eldest daughter Yuna might give the kids some sense of reassurance.
“Ah, I’d forgotten!” shouted Emalia. She looked down at the ground uncomfortably.
They had finally managed to end things on a more positive note, yet now it seemed she still had bad news to convey.
“What is it?”
“It really does pain me to say this, but......” Emalia closed her eyes tightly. “Normally, during the transmigration process, a special ability or power is bestowed upon the target. After all, ‘Freely and cheerfully enjoy your second chance at life’ is the approach that our bureau takes. However, this time, because the target of the transfer was the house, everyone was treated as bound accessories, which meant that......”
“None of us get a special ability?”
“I am really, truly, very sorry!” Emalia shuffled backward and dove into a dogeza again.
Despite her various unreliable aspects, Shouzou found himself in appreciation of, at the very least, how polished her dogeza was.
“We have no need for special abilities or anything like that.” Just being able to live normal lives was more than enough. That was what Shouzou truly believed from the bottom of his heart.
However, Emalia once again dribbled out even more bad news.
“Truthfully speaking, there are things called ‘magic beasts’ that live in this world......”
“‘Magic beasts’......? I take it that you’re not talking about bears or wolves or beasts of that sort?”
“W-Well, it’s a wide range, from things of that level, to things of cataclysmic levels that can wipe out entire cities by themselves...... like dragons, for example......”
“Why is it that time and time again, you offer such important information only at the very end?”
“I’m really, really sorry...... Oh, but! If a barrier is set up using magic, then there would be no need to fear them. Since it affects the safety of all of you, I have been granted special permission to use my powers for this.” Emalia blew out a breath and delivered her previous words with full confidence.