Chapter 3:
A Company of Gods and My Work
“GOOD MORNING!”
“Good morning!” Carol echoed.
“Morning, guys,” one of the gods yawned.
We paused our cleaning as the gods made their way up the stairs to the third floor and their jobs. We greeted them cheerfully. Carol, who was wearing a huge smile and her own pair of coveralls, gave an even-more-enthusiastic greeting than I did. The gods couldn’t help but smile at her as they passed.
I’d been surprised they managed to get me coveralls, let alone ones small enough for her. She looked more like she was cosplaying than working, but she was so adorable that it hardly mattered.
I’d been assigned the task of cleaner at Isekai Connection’s building. It had been Sewatari’s idea—I would stay and work here until Carol was able to return to the other world. I’d been worried she was going to ask me to help develop the game, but this was perfect. I’d used up more than half my savings to get us to Hokkaido. At this rate, I wouldn’t have anything to spend on The Village of Fate once I got back home.
They asked me to clean the bathrooms, the elevator hall, the stairs, and the main hallway. Apart from that, I did odd jobs, like taking out the garbage. I’d planned to work alone, but Carol insisted on helping me and wouldn’t take no for an answer. As for Destiny, it was curled up in front of the heater in the third-floor office. Just like any old lizard, it disliked the cold. Hokkaido was way rougher on it than where we came from. Any motivation it might have had to work was immediately sapped by the air temperature. I was worried it would be a bother, but it seemed wildly popular with the staff—or gods—and was having a wonderful time relaxing and eating candy.
“Yoshio, should I wipe down the stairs?” asked Carol.
“Yeah, good idea. I’ll use the vacuum cleaner—uh, this thing here—to suck up the dirt, so could you use that mop to clean up behind me?”
“Okay!”
I put a sign at the bottom of the stairs that read “cleaning in progress,” and turned on the vacuum. You were generally supposed to start cleaning at the highest floor and make your way down, but the fourth floor and the stairs up to it were off limits. The elevator had a fourth floor button, but nothing happened when I pressed it. When I mentioned it to Sewatari, she said it was top secret. I was curious, but I also wasn’t brave enough to try and poke around in divine affairs, so I left it alone. The fourth-floor stairs were cordoned off with those ropes that acted like shrine talismans, and it was so dim you couldn’t make out the landing, even in daylight. The effect was frightening, like the darkness was waiting to swallow up anything that dared approach it. Looking at it made me shiver.
I turned back to Carol, and we began to clean. When we were done with the third-floor stairs, we moved to the elevator hall on the second floor. While the second-floor hallway was also on my list of places to clean, I was warned to keep my guard up. This floor held a deep, dark secret of its own.
“Oh, you the new cleaner who’s workin’ here all of a sudden?” a voice called from behind us as I waited for Carol to finish with the mop.
I turned to face a shady-looking man with a shaved head, sunglasses, and a striped suit. He had to be over six feet tall, making him even more intimidating. He reminded me of a villain in a TV drama.
“That’s me. Nice to meet you.”
“Keep up the good work. Make it nice an’ clean fer us.”
His accent wasn’t one I expected to hear up in Hokkaido, but I figured he had to be a god, too—I mean, everyone who worked here was, apart from the travel agents on the first floor. Although he sure seemed to have a lot of free time.
“What’sa matter? Something on my face?”
“Oh, no. I’m not—”
“Your head’s all shiny! Why are your glasses colored?” It was, of course, Carol asking the impolite questions, not me. I quickly jumped in to cover her mouth, but it was too late. I felt the man’s glare through his sunglasses. Carol took no notice, staring at the god’s head in wonder.
“D-don’t ask things like that, Carol. I’m very sorry, sir.”
“No worries at all. I think she’s got potential. Want some candy?” The man gave her an unnerving smile and offered her a sweet from his pocket.
Maybe my initial impression was overblown, but I still felt we should be cautious. I knew who he was. The third-floor workers were minor gods, but everyone on the second floor was allied with the corrupted gods.
I knew a little about the feud between the two groups from my villagers’ conversations. A group of gods known as the sacred eight ruled all the others. One day, the strongest among them led a rebellion of minor gods. He didn’t like the direction the other seven were taking the world.
The weaker gods each picked a stronger god to ally with, and the battle raged on for over a year, eventually culminating in the defeat of the rebel god, whereupon he was sealed underground. That was the main corrupted god. The only corrupted god, in fact.
When I first heard the story, I was surprised by the lopsided lore. Since there were seven major gods, I expected the other side to balance out, but it really was just one versus seven. The corrupted god had several minor gods in his cadre, but the power differential between minor and major gods was enormous.
In other words, that one corrupted god had to be incredibly powerful.
Despite this man’s rough appearance, he seemed kind. I started to doubt my initial assessment.
“You wary ’cause I’m a corrupted god?”
A chill ran down my spine. Could he read my mind? No, Sewatari said she put a stop to that.
“Yer way too easy to read. Anyone’d know you’re nervous right now by lookin’ at yer face.”
Really?
I touched my face curiously, only to look down and find Carol nodding at me. I always thought I was good at keeping a lid on my emotions, but apparently not.
“D’you even know the difference ’tween the corrupted god an’ the major gods?”
The difference? Not really. I only knew the story the villagers told, and the pieces I put together in my run-ins with corrupted minor gods. “Only that there was a big war.”
“Thought so. Thing is, the war got started ’cause of a difference in values.”
“A difference in values?”