CHAPTER 1
Invasion
The day after Seiya started training with Cerceus and Adenela, it occurs to me that I forgot to thank Ishtar, so I quickly head to her room. After knocking, I open the door and immediately bow.
“I’m so sorry I didn’t come to thank you sooner, Great Goddess Ishtar!”
“Oh, it’s no trouble at all.”
Just as I expected, she doesn’t hold it against me. She sweetly smiles at me while sitting in her wooden chair, knitting.
“Allowing the Hero to be summoned with his memories intact was the least I could do. The rest is up to you and Seiya Ryuuguuin.”
“Thank you so very much!”
After I convey just how grateful I am from the bottom of my heart, Ishtar stops knitting and looks at me.
“I really wish I could help you more, but when I think about Ixphoria…my head gets cloudy, and I cannot see into the future. The Demon Lord of Gaeabrande possessed evil powers that got in the way of my power of precognition, but it appears this Demon Lord’s powers exceed even that.”
Ishtar’s expression then slightly tenses.
“After defeating the Hero, the Demon Lord destroyed the world and received a blessing from a dark dimension. The Demon Lord—and indeed all monsters that live in Ixphoria—has possibly gained powers that far exceed the creatures of other parallel words. In addition, you will not be able to use your healing powers during this mission. It is easy to imagine just how difficult this will be. However—”
“I have Seiya by my side, so I’ll be okay!” I suddenly declare.
The Great Goddess’s troubled expression becomes a warm smile, and she laughs.
“Yes, you will be. After overcoming a past rife with regret, Seiya Ryuuguuin has become not only physically strong but mentally strong as well. His level of raw talent is certainly unique. But he does have a weakness. His growth speed is both an advantage and a disadvantage. Before long, his attributes will reach their limit just as they did in Gaeabrande. Even then, I know he will overcome this obstacle and save Ixphoria. I believe in him just as you do.”
Ishtar gives me a gracious smile.
“Ixphoria is an SS-ranked world now, Rista. You are free to let Seiya Ryuuguuin train in the unified spirit world until he is ready to depart.”
After another deep bow, I retire from the Great Goddess’s room.
Thanks to my talk with Ishtar, I was able to look to the future with unclouded vision. Seiya might have gotten nicer, but I can’t keep doting on him every second of the day. I won’t be able to use my healing abilities this time around, so I need to find another way I can help. I want to be able to help the man I love, and that feeling is eating away at me.
While Seiya trains, I decide to go have a chat with Aria so that I can learn more about Ixphoria. It may be a world forgotten to me, but the memories are probably vividly carved in her mind. I feel bad asking her about the world she failed to save, but this is something I have to know if I want to make things right.
Aria seems hesitant to speak at first, but she slowly opens up.
“Rista, even now, I sometimes wonder what’s going on in Ixphoria, so I peer into the crystal ball…”
She tells me that what she sees in the crystal ball is frightening. The world rests in the palm of the Demon Lord’s hand. Entire continents have fallen under control of the demons. Humans have become little more than slaves or toys…or food.
“Great Goddess Ishtar exploited an opening in the Demon Lord’s magic and was able to create a starting point for you in a town known as Galvano. This town essentially creates and produces obedient slaves, but that’s exactly why it’s a relatively decent place for humans to live. At the very least, they won’t be used as toys or food…”
“So that’s our starting point, huh?”
I nod while taking notes. Before I realize it, Aria is smiling broadly at me.
“You’re really taking this seriously. I was a little worried at first, but it looks like you’re going to be okay.”
“Yeah, I just want to make myself useful so I can help Seiya.”
Aria places a finger on her chin and ponders for a few moments until she gently claps her hands together as if she’s had an epiphany.
“That’s it! Rista! I’ll teach you the special ability Appraise! You can use it to check the condition of items and equipment!”
“‘Appraise’? D-do I really need an ability like that…?”
“Ixphoria is ruled by the Demon Lord. Unlike other parallel worlds, there are almost no item or weapon shops run by humans. You will need to take care of getting items and weapons yourself, so you definitely need to learn Appraise!”
I was worried I wouldn’t be able to learn it, but it actually wasn’t that hard once I got the hang of it. You basically just need to look at objects the same way you look at people when you use Scan. I ended up mastering it in two days.
I use Appraise on the flowerpot in Aria’s room to test it out.
Vase: a container for holding flowers. This vase appears to be made out of a ceramic material rare in the spirit world. Can be sold at a high price.
Those words suddenly appear in my head.
Wow! This is kind of fun! It reminds me of those video games people play in Seiya’s world!
“You can adjust the writing style and customize Appraise to your liking.”
Ha-ha-ha! I wonder what Seiya’s going to say when he sees this!
I skip all the way to the Summoning Chamber after leaving Aria’s room. When I throw open the door, Seiya is glistening with sweat while trading wooden-sword blows with Adenela. Meanwhile, Cerceus is at his side, passed out due to exhaustion.
“Oh, Rista.”
Seiya glances at me and stops sparring.
“Ah! I’m so sorry! I interrupted your training session!”
“I don’t mind if it’s you, Rista.”
He’s sooo sweet!
“Seiya! Aria taught me the special ability Appraise! I can see how effective items and weapons are now!”
“That’ll come in handy. Use it well.”
His praise makes it feel like all the hard work I put into learning it was worth it! It feels so good, I might melt.
That’s when I suddenly get an idea.
Wh-what if I use Appraise on Seiya?
I secretly use Appraise while reciting, “Show me what I want to know most about Seiya.” Then I see the following information appear before my very eyes:
|
|
-Your love rating with Seiya: |
90 points |
-Seiya thinks you’re: |
a very important person in his life. |
-A tidbit of advice: |
Keep doing what you’re doing, and you’ll be crossing the finish line in no time! Good luck! |
RISTA’S LOVE APPRAISALWhooooooa! This Appraise ability is amaaaziiing! Ninety points? That means we’re basically joined at the hip! And I’ll be crossing the finish line in no time?! Is that my subconscious giving me advice?! I—I don’t really know what’s going on, but this Appraise ability is…AMAAAAAAZING!
Noticing me staring at him, Seiya curiously tilts his head.
“Hmm? Something wrong?”
“O-oh…! No! Nothing! Oh-ho-ho-ho!”
“Did you want to see my status or something?”
“Oh, yeah. I really want to, but…”
Seiya was extremely against the idea of me seeing his stats last time in fear of the information being leaked, so he persistently used the ability Fake Out to hide his attributes, but…
“It’s fine. I’ll show you.”
Yeah baby!! I wanna see it all!! The finish line is in sight, and there’s no turning back!
I use Scan and catch a glimpse of Seiya’s status without Fake Out.
SEIYA RYUUGUUIN |
||||
LV: 51 | ||||
HP: 145,683 |
MP: 25,622 | |||
ATK: 72,888 |
DEF: 67,693 |
SPD: 65,007 |
MAG: 28,765 |
GRW: 669 |
Resistance: Fire, Wind, Water, Lightning, Ice, Earth, Holy, Dark, Poison, Paralysis, Sleep, Curse, Instant Death, Status Ailments |
||||
Special Abilities: Fire Magic (LV: MAX), Explosion Magic (LV: 8), Magic Sword (LV: 9), EXP Boost (LV: 15), Scan (LV: 18), Fake Out (LV: 20), Synthesis (LV: 7) |
||||
Skills: Hellfire, Maximum Inferno, Phoenix Drive, Phoenix Thrust, Eternal Sword |
||||
Personality: Overly Cautious |
||||
“I—I can’t believe what I’m seeing!”
His attack power is already over 70,000, and his HP is almost 150,000! He’s already strong enough to take on a C-ranked world. I’m sure SS-ranked worlds are hard, but I feel like he’s ready. However, as if reading my mind, Seiya shakes his head.
“This isn’t enough. At the very least, I need to be at the level I was when I defeated the Great Mother of Dragons.”
“Y-you mean max level?!”
“Yeah. The problem is what to do after that, though. If I don’t surpass this limit, then I’m going to hit a wall in Ixphoria just like I did last time.”
Seiya seems to have the same worries as Ishtar. Obviously, he’ll have to hit his limit before he can even think about surpassing it. I’m guessing that’s why Seiya wants to reach the max level as soon as possible.
“By the way, I still haven’t learned Flight, Atomic Split Slash, or Wind Blade, even though I learned those on a lower level before. What’s going on?”
“Special abilities and skills change depending on the principles of the parallel world. It looks like Flight can’t be learned in Ixphoria. It also looks like the magic system is more fragmented than Gaeabrande. It appears you’ll only be able to use fire magic this time.”
“That’s going to make things difficult.”
“I know. I guess that’s one of the things that makes this an SS-ranked world. But it isn’t all bad. It looks like you’ll be able to learn skills and abilities in Ixphoria that you weren’t able to learn in Gaeabrande.”
Seiya and Adenela resume training after our conversation. Unlike Cerceus, Adenela is tough. She doesn’t even seem tired as she fiercely crosses swords with Seiya. Watching them battle was making me feel impatient all over again. I wanted to do something for Seiya. I wanted to help out with more than just this Appraise ability.
That’s it!
The idea suddenly hit me. I should adjust the gate’s location to put Seiya in the best possible starting position. Since it’s my first time going to this world as a goddess—a low-level one at that—I probably won’t be able to make any fine adjustments without actually creating a gate. I make sure I’m away from the others as I begin to chant the spell to materialize the gate to Ixphoria. That’s when Seiya suddenly looks over at me.
“Rista, what are you doing? I’m still not prepared.”
“Oh, this? I’m just making some adjustments! Even though we’re starting in a relatively safe town, I want to make sure the gate is in the safest area possible.”
“I appreciate the thought, but…are you sure a monster isn’t going to suddenly leap out from that door?”
“Don’t worry! There’s a powerful force field around the gate! It’ll be fine!”
However…
Creeeeeeeeeak…
The gate suddenly starts to creak open on its own.
…Huh?
I stare in a daze, instead of surprise, at the door opening on its own. Standing behind it is a humanoid beast with the face of a wolf. Its muscular body is covered in silver fur. It steps into the room very naturally as if it was nothing out of the ordinary.
“Greetings, goddess of another dimension. And farewell.”
Only when I hear the deep voice speak in a human tongue do I realize that my life is in danger. But by that point, the werewolf’s sharp claws are already on the verge of piercing my throat.