I decide to connect the gate to the spirit world’s plaza this time. Leaving the evil, desolate lands of Ixphoria and entering a pure, holy world is breathtaking to say the least.
“We’re finally back!”
I stretch out while filling my lungs with the fresh air when…
“Rista!”
I turn in the direction of the familiar voice. Sitting at a garden table with an umbrella in the corner of the plaza is Aria, her eyes wide. She jumps out of her seat and comes rushing over.
“I was so worried!”
We haven’t been back to the spirit world for a week in Ixphoria time, which means it has been around two years in the spirit world. All of the deities in the spirit world, including me, are immortal, so the flow of time doesn’t really cross our minds. A few years is nothing to us. Even then, Aria is elated to see me, with tears welling in her eyes.
“I can’t see Ixphoria through the crystal ball anymore, and I heard the enemies had weapons with Chain Destruction… Anyway, I just couldn’t stop thinking about you two!”
“Thanks, Aria! But we’re fine!”
I put on a smile, but Aria looks back and forth between Seiya and me dubiously.
“Really? You look a mess.”
I lower my eyes and look at myself. My clothes are completely black with mud from living underground for so long. That’s when…
“Oh, you’re right. It’s hard to believe she’s a goddess.”
“Y-you smell t-terrible, Rista…”
I hear a few more familiar voices. When I look up, I see Cerceus and Adenela…both of whom are pinching their noses as if they’d planned this.
“I—I was living underground, so…!”
But they don’t listen to my excuses and begin staring at Seiya. He’s just as filthy as I am, and yet…
“Look at Seiya. What a badass.”
“Y-yeah, he’s s-so dreamy.”
“He looks even more refined than when he left…unlike Rista.”
“Hey!”
Why am I the only one who gets called smelly and dirty?! We were both living underground! Unbelievable!
Cerceus offers me a cup of steaming coffee to ease my nerves.
“Here, have a drink. It’s an espresso.”
That’s when I notice that Cerceus looks different. He’s dressed in a vest and is wearing a bow tie.
“Wh-what’s the getup for?”
“Oh, this? Actually, there’ve been a few changes while you two were gone! I finally opened my dream café! Welcome to Café du Cerceus! Please enjoy yourselves!”
“W-wow… Congratulations…”
As I look around, I notice a few more tables. It appears to be an open-air café. No wonder Aria and Adenela are hanging out in the plaza’s corner… Wait. Wasn’t Cerceus the Divine Blade? Why is he running a café now? I—I mean, as long as this is what he wants, then I guess it’s okay…
While sipping on my hot coffee, I am suddenly shown something that looks like a tree branch.
“This is my newest creation! They’re called churros, and they’re to die for!”
Uh… How about putting it on a plate and trying that again?! Under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t even think of touching it, but I’m starving. I basically swipe the churro out of his hand before sinking my teeth into it.
“H-how is it? You like it?”
“It’s amazing! It’s so, so good!”
“Really?!”
“Yeah! It’s even better than death worms!”
“Oh, wonderful! …Huh? ‘Death worms’? I don’t know what those are, but I doubt that’s a compliment!”
Cerceus seems puzzled, but he clears his throat to switch gears and offers Seiya a plate of churros.
“A-are you hungry? Please have a churro.”
But Seiya instantly turns him down with a frigid glare.
“I don’t need any of your death churros.”
“…! What do you mean ‘death’ churros?! They’re normal, delicious churros!”
Seiya ignores Cerceus’s cries and turns his gaze to Aria.
“Aria, I want to train with another deity, as we discussed before. Can I start now?”
“S-sure, I let them know quite a while ago, but…”
“Then let’s go.”
“S-Seiya?! Hold on! How about changing first?! You’re not even gonna take a bath?!”
“I can do that later.”
Seiya and Aria start to walk away, leaving Cerceus disappointed that Seiya didn’t eat his churros and Adenela disappointed that they couldn’t talk more.
“It wouldn’t kill us if we took a little break…”
I complain loud enough for Seiya to hear me, but naturally, he ignores me. With Aria in the lead, we climb up a smooth mountain slope, for we’re heading to the secluded celestial mountain of the unified spirit world. While it appears majestic from the view at the sanctuary, this is the first time I’ve ever actually climbed it. I hear deities who wish to train as hermits live here, but…
We walk over the small pebbles for a while until we can see a small log house at the foot of the mountain. Aria knocks on the door.
“Rasti, it’s me, Aria. I’m coming in.”
I follow Seiya and Aria into the cabin…and my knees almost give way…because there’s a cyclops inside!
“What?! Wh-why is there a monster in the spirit world?!”
But the moment the beast grabs a book off the top of the shelf, a bright light illuminates the room. The massive cyclops instantly shrinks until the light fades, revealing a little girl with a book in her hand. While she is robed in mature, kimono-like attire, she’s around the same age as Eich in Little Light. The little girl then explains things to me as I gawk.
“The bookshelf is really tall, and I couldn’t reach a book at the top, so I changed into a cyclops.”
Aria introduces her with a cheerful smile.
“This is the Goddess of Shape-Shifting, Rasti.”
“The Goddess of Shape-Shifting…?”
My eyes naturally drift in Seiya’s direction for answers, but he acts like I’ve terribly inconvenienced him as he explains.
“Ixphoria is overrun and ruled by monsters, so I was originally planning on mastering shape-shifting here before starting my journey, since I’d be able to freely get around if I turned into a monster. Too bad a certain someone ruined that plan.”
Seiya stares hard at me as I awkwardly stand in silence.
“I’m talking about you, Rista.”
“I—I know that! You don’t have to rub it in!”
In a desperate attempt to change the subject, I approach the young girl in front of us, bend at the knees, and smile.
“Um… Nice to meet you, Rasti! I’m Ristarte! You can call me Rista!”
The young girl then furrows her brow.
“Don’t talk down to me like that. I’m a higher-ranking goddess than you.”
“…Huh?”
“Rista! Rasti has been here for tens of thousands of years!”
“S-seriously?! I-I-I’m so sorry!”
How was I supposed to know?! She looks and sounds like she should be in day care!
“You smell, and you’re filthy. What are you, the Goddess of Filth?”
“N-no! I’m the Goddess of Healing!”
As I frantically try to explain…
“Out of the way, Goddess of Filth.”