“You made it here.”
Ys and I eventually find ourselves in what appears to be a wooden-like hall after following a straight path through the shrine, which is admittedly farther than the top of Amenoyama. Here, we recognize a majestic figure in its center who is dressed in a kimono and is sitting cross-legged with a smoking pipe in his mouth.
Despite this being the first time I have witnessed this figure, the presence he exudes confirms my belief.
“Susanoo is my name. As you are aware, I am one of the top three Gods of Japoterasu and the God that oversees the Security Organization. However, for you who have abandoned your faith in God in favor of that lizard, which is not a God affiliated with this city, it might not be of much significance. Oh, please take a seat over there if you want to.”
[Ys of the Ice Basilisk is who I am. It is an honor to meet you. Susanoo-dono.]
“I go by the name Whiteice Akira. Thank you for inviting me here today. Excuse me.”
I occupy the position indicated by Susanoo, and Ys climbs on top of my head, making the two of us face-to-face with Susanoo.
“Even so, you said your name is Akira, but you’re much more of a beauty than I expected. Are you really a human being?”
“My contract with Ys only resulted in this appearance, not by my own will.”
“Is that so? Oh, compared to my wife, Kushinada, you are nowhere near as good as her, so I’m not going to lay a hand on you. Hahaha.”
“…”
Susanoo laughs aloud with his obvious fondness for his wife.
It is a relief to not have to worry about that aspect since I, for one, would vociferously oppose being touched by a man, regardless of whether he was a God.
“So, why did you call me—no, Ys here—and what did you have in mind?”
“You’re so impatient, you know that? Well, it’s fine; rambling on and on isn’t really my style. Let’s get this over with.”
Susanoo removes the smoking pipe from his lips, exhales once, then dramatically changes his demeanor to one of solemnity—a look befitting for the title of a God.
He then points to Ys with the tip of his pipe.
“Your name is Ys huh. From your name and power, I would assume that you belong to Graecian, but why are you here in Japoterasu? On top of that, you’ve turned one of our people into your own priestess. Depending on the situation, I may have to retaliate accordingly.”
“…”
[I’m fully prepared for everything. However, I would appreciate it if you would at least listen to what I have to say.]
“Speak.”
In response to Susanoo’s words, Ys begins to compose her words with a mystical expression on her face.
But still, Graecian? Um, is there a city-state with a name like that? At any rate, from the flow of the conversation, Ys’ original affiliation was with that place, right?
[First of all, about Graecian… it was wiped out on the day before Akira and I met.]
“Was that due to a conflict between countries?”
[No, it was annihilated by that woman who is called ‘Military,’ the master of the ‘Maze’…”
Ys then recounts how the city she belonged to was utterly obliterated by a simultaneous outbreak of monsters from both inside and outside the city.
“What about Himuro no Yumiru? And the humans of Graecian.”
[Himuro no Yumiru was exterminated in the process of making a breakthrough for me and others who were entrusted with the task of relaying the crisis to the rest of the city. As for the Graecian humans, I don’t know, but since all faith had already ceased to reach me when I signed the contract with Akira, it is likely they…]
“I see… Just to be clear, is there any way to contact the other Graecian Gods who belonged to Graecian?”
[There is no none. The breakthrough was very faint, and those who escaped with me were attacked one after another… If they were fortunate, they might have reached a city somewhere like me…]
“I see. This is something I’m going to have to take seriously.”
While the story of Ys and Susanoo goes on without a hitch, I can’t help but feel that I’m being left behind…
Anyway, I understand that Ys belonged to a place called Graecian, and that Graecian God by the name of Himuro no Yumiru was vanquished, causing Graecian to perish whereas Ys managed to escape with her life
“So, Ys. What led you to make a contract with the priestess there? That’s a different story.”
[With regard to the situation involving Akira, we formed a contract after meeting in the ‘Maze’ since his contract with the God of Japoterasu was about to break.]
“Contract was broken? What do you mean?”
Susanoo casts a startled look at my face in response to Ys’ words.
Is it really that strange for the contract to be broken? If I recall correctly, most of the guys in Japoterasu who commit serious crimes like murder or robbery have their contracts terminated, so it doesn’t seem like such a strange thing…
Well, since you seem to be interested in hearing about it, I’ll just tell you what happened then.
Therefore, I mention the story to Susanoo…
“That’s impossible. The Gods in my circle are magnanimous, for better or for worse. Even if someone were to verbally abuse a God, they might withdraw temporarily, but they would never sever the contract, especially if the person is in the ‘Maze’. We need them to return alive, whether we’re reprimanding or consoling them.”
Everything is denied by him.
But the contract had been terminated, that’s for sure, right?
Thanks to that, I completely lost my faith and all that.
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“Anyone who can mess with other people’s faith without their permission and still operate in the ‘Maze’ without any problems… Tsk, I’ll have to verify this through my sister later. I can think of one God that fits the bill.”
“Huh?”
[Hmm?]
I feel awful for Susanoo, who is evidently in a bad mood and contacting somewhere with a peculiar machine, but Ys and I are left speechless since we are unable to follow the dialogue.
For now, the fact that he says he counted them as God probably means that someone else is a God, too.
“Anyway, please recount that conversation with my sister when she comes. And also about ‘Military’ fellow you guys met.”
“That’s fine with me, but…”
[Hmm?]
The conversation is progressing too fast for me to grasp it.
Well, I will simply tell her all of the information that I and Ys are aware of.
“She’s here…”
“Ngh?”
[Oh?]
By this point, a door is heard moving, and both Ys and I turn towards the direction where the sound is originating from.
Even so, that’s Susanoo’s sister huh… even if it’s not, she must be a prominent figure, right?
If so, she is a formidable figure. I won’t be blinded by her light either, will it?[i]
And while I am pondering this, the door opens…
“What is it, Susanoo-chan? Right now, I’m busy running a boss marathon with Fermio-chan[ii]…”
On the other side of the door, a woman whose beauty is out of this world emerges in a shabby potato jersey and shaggy hair that ruins her features.
“Go get yourself cleaned up right now!”
“Hebuu!?”
The woman is immediately sent into the air by Susanoo’s dropkick to the abdomen and into a distance that she cannot see from my vantage point.
“Ys. Akira. Hold on a second.”
“Y-Yes!?”
[I-I understand!?]
The bloodlust that Susanoo is bearing seems to make both of us cower all over our bodies, yet he still walks to the end of the passageway where the woman has been blown away, despite the fact that he is undoubtedly not directing it at us.
“ーーーーー！！”
“ーーーーー！？”
“Ys.”
[What is it?]
“We didn’t see or hear anything. Let’s keep it that way.”
[Right. I concur that’d be a wise decision..]
Eventually, a voice that sounds like Susanoo and a woman’s can be heard from the end of the passageway… yeah. We should just say we have no idea what’s going on.
That woman we just saw is probably her sister, a childhood friend who lives nearby, or something like that. Yeah. Let’s assume that.
Please let it be that way, mainly to maintain me, Ys and Susanoo-sama mentally stable.
——————
A/N:
As you can see from the fact that Akira naturally added “Sama” at the end, only Susanoo-sama will continue to have “Sama” in the future.
The other Gods will be… I guess it will depend on when they meet in person.
Also, I know there are many of you who have a bad feeling about the woman at the end, but that feeling is probably not wrong.
Please be prepared (in many ways).
T/N:
[i] This is referring to Amaterasu’s power as she is the god of sun
[ii] Fermio is a character from the author’s second Outer World Story series