There was a slight mishap at the end, but the dinner and drinking party concluded without issue.
After finishing the cleanup and returning to my room, I had nothing left to do…
but it was still a bit too early for sleep, as I’d barely drank any alcohol, and I wasn’t feeling sleepy yet.
“Oh, right.” [Ryouma]
I still had a lot of the alcohol I’d planned to drink at the party, so maybe I should share some with the gods?
With that thought, I pulled a book out of my item box.
When I poured mana into it, white light filled my world.
Functioning exactly like a church’s chapel, this book could allow me to travel back and forth the divine realm without discomfort.
Before long, a low dining table appeared within that pure white space, and Willieris and Grimp was there seated just ahead.
“Good evening. Is it just the two of you today?” [Ryouma]
“Welcome. The others are currently out.” [Willieris]
“Here, you should take a seat first.” [Grimp]
Prompted by Grimp, I sat down at the table, and a vessel holding tea and baked goods appeared as naturally as if it had been there from the start.
“Thank you for welcoming me so warmly despite the sudden visit.” [Ryouma]
“You can drop by more casually, actually. Fernoberia specifically made that divine artifact just for you, after all.” [Willieris]
“It’s designed so that you can’t come when it’s inconvenient for us, so you don’t need to mind your manners so much. Anyway, what brings you here today? Did something happen?” [Grimp]
“Right.” [Ryouma]
I took out the sake I made with the goblins and explained to them my reason for coming.
I took out some snacks too, and before long, we naturally found ourselves drinking together.
“I don’t know if it’ll suit your tastes, but there’s enough for everyone… Well, depending on how much Tekun drinks, it might not be enough.” [Ryouma]
“This is good.” [Grimp]
“It really is.” [Willieris]
“I’m glad you like it.
I did worry that you might not like it since it does kind of feel like I’m handing over leftovers.” [Ryouma]
“It’s fine. It’s fine. And this product of yours might still be a bit rough around the edges, but it’s a mighty fine liquor in its own right. I cant ell just how much ingenuity and effort has gone into it. The passion of the goblins has seeped right into its spirit. To have the opportunity to drink such a thing is a privilege in its own right.” [Grimp]
“Really?” [Ryouma]
“We receive many offerings throughout the year, but we rarely have the opportunity to enjoy them personally.
Unfortunately, the divide between the physical and the divine realm is simply too strong, and while there are exceptions, the cost is too great merely to accept a few offerings.
So, to enjoy such offerings, all we can do is use our power to replicate the taste and texture.
In this way, we are able to at least receive the feelings of our followers.” [Willieris]
“Yes, so as long as it’s filled with feelings, anything is great.” [Grimp]
I see… In that case, perhaps I’ll bring some every now and then.
They always take good care of me, and the goblins will keep making alcohol, so I might as well.
Besides, sake has always been something offered to the gods, so offering them to the gods might provide an unexpected boon when I use them for my warlock rituals.
As I thought that to myself, Willieris laughed.
“Of course, we would be delighted to receive your sake, but there’s no need to exhaust yourself.
And while it might help with the visualization, I doubt the results will be all that impressive.
Still, you seem to have gotten quite used to curses in this short amount of time, haven’t you?” [Willieris]
“I’ve managed to learn the basics for now, including miasma purification and the fundamentals of curses.
The person teaching is me very good, and curses themselves seem to suit me. Right now, I’m a bit stuck on reproducing a certain lost magic, though.” [Ryouma]
“Ah, that’s to be expected. That wasn’t made to be used by the humans of this era, after all.” [Grimp]
Grimp casually said while pleasantly laughing amidst the cups of sake.
“Of this era? Does that mean ancient humans and humans today are different?” [Ryouma]
“Ah, where should I start to make it easy to understand…” [Grimp]
“If you’re going to explain, it would be best to start with the prerequisites.” [Willieris]
The two deities spoke among themselves, then after a brief pause, Grimp said.
“First of all, there is indeed a difference between humans today and the humans from the time of that magic. As for what exactly is different, it’s ‘the amount of mana that they can hold’. Humans back then also had mana, but the amount was overwhelmingly small compared to the humans now.” [Grimp]
“Are you familiar with ‘mana particles’, Ryouma?” [Willieris]
“I remember seeing it a few times in a magic book I read before… Something about mana particles being ‘the smallest unit of mana,’ and the mana dwelling in our bodies is a collection of mana particles.” [Ryouma]
“Exactly. Please think of mana as a clump of gathered mana particles. And the humans from the time when that particular magic was used were fundamentally incapable of housing vast amounts of mana particles that modern humans do today.” [Willieris]
“! Could it be… mana excess syndrome?” [Ryouma]
“Yes. The humans of the past in this world were closer to the people of your home world, and magic was something that only the priests used by gathering mana through the rituals that they performed.” [Willieris]
Apparently, humans and gods were much closer back then than today, and they could provide them various forms of assistance through miracles.
So magic was born through the rituals that humanity performed in search of these miracles.
In modern terms, the rituals were akin to submitting an application to receive permission to use a miracle.
“I get that you’re trying to make it easy for me to understand, but you sure make it sound so casual.” [Ryouma]
“Because it was. For us.” [Willieris]
“Although the price of interfering in the mundane world is typically too great, this cost can be thwarted to an extent by using humans as intermediaries.
The impact was significant regardless, so we established a set of criteria to meet to indicate when we could allow a miracle.
We taught those criteria to a chosen few within a group of humans, then set up a system where they would apply for them when a situations arose that the humans couldn’t handle.
Eventually, that became the prototype for the current Creation Faith.
And this is also one of the reasons why humanity’s constitution changed overtime.” [Grimp]
So, the prototype of the Creation Sect came to be, and matters regarding rituals came to be strictly managed.
Consequently, those who yearned to study the miracles as part theology, and those who hated the precepts yet sought to use them for their own selfish desires appeared as well.
Information gradually leaked and spread to the outside, and it didn’t take long for people to appear who attempted to reproduce the miracles on their own.
The proper methods established by the gods included warnings about handling mana particles, but because the information was originally fragmented, or because people deemed safety procedures unnecessary and skipped them… Many accidents occurred.
Apparently, flora, fauna, and humans alike mutated due to being bathed in vast amounts of mana.
“I remember there was once an incident where the mushrooms ‘monsterified’ from the scavenger’s fertilizer. So, the same thing happens to humans too?” [Ryouma]
“The bodies of humans today possess two powers. One is ‘the function to safely store mana’ and the other is ‘the function to expel excessive mana,’ so in the absence of extreme circumstances, excess mana should only result in a sickness; however, the humans once upon a time were not the same.
Many generations have passed since then, but the humans of old gradually mutated and diverged into various races, becoming capable of manipulating magic on their own and developing a resistance to mana.” [Willieris]
“Is that how the elves, dwarves, and beastkin came to be born?” [Ryouma]
“That’s right, but those are just a few. In fact, one evolutionary branch is deeply related to you, Ryouma. The goblins. Yes, they too had diverged from humanity.” [Grimp]
“Wait, the goblins used to be human? On Earth, there were theories that they were fairies, though.” [Ryouma]
Asking out of sheer surprise, Grimp made a grim face, drained his cup, and spoke while pouring the next.
The changes brought about by monsterification varied, and it wasn’t rare for the mutations to give humans an appearance far removed from the baseline.
People who developed peculiar physical characteristics, and the descendants who inherited them, came to be called the “Demon Race”, and they were persecuted as enemies of the gods, their lives constantly at peril.
Conflicts broke out, gradually escalating until nations fell into ruin, and that being that would be called the ancestor of goblins was born.
“I figured you’d understand since you’re getting them to make this fancy liquor.
Goblins are dead honest about their desires and pleasures, you know?
But they don’t really care about unpleasant things like foul odors or filth, and they forget about stuff like quickly too.” [Grimp]
“That’s true.” [Ryouma]
According to Grimp, the goblins were “a race that achieved an evolution specialized for survival and the continuation of their species in spite of a ruined era.”
“With nations so ruined that a normal life was impossible, there was simply no way for the persecuted humans to be treated well.
In such a life where you don’t know when you might be attacked and driven from your home, perhaps becoming so insensitive that one could no longer understand the filth that had accumulated on oneself might have been a form of mercy.
So, they lost reason and intellect, but in exchange, they became that much unbreakable.
However, with just that, they would have easily been killed by the smarter ones.
So, their bodies too gradually changed to accommodate a stronger vitality than the baseliners, making them harder to kill via injury or disease, able to eat even spoiled food, to an extent, without ruining their stomachs, and reproducing quickly.” [Grimp]
“At first glance, you might be tempted to say that the goblins are a devolution of the human race, but it was truly a splendid adaptation to their environment, and to prove that, they are still alive. In fact, they’re such an exceptional race that there was even once an era when goblins were the most numerous and prosperous in the world.” [Grimp]
Just how long ago was this story from?
But when I think about what might happen should Earth’s civilization collapse, I feel like I can somewhat understand.
What would happen if modern Japanese people—surrounded by convenient electronics in a country with well-developed infrastructure, where safe food and sanitary living are guaranteed—were to be suddenly dropped into an environment that was survival of the fittest?
Evacuation life during a large-scale disaster is already highly stressful, and even with modern shelters as is, problems still occurred.
One can only imagine the psychological burden of losing even that.
I doubt it would be simple enough for just anyone to endure.
Just how many people could remain physically and mentally healthy despite a full collapse?
To change the subject a bit, even at my company, the earnest new employees who noticed the little things… the type who were sensitive to the atmosphere around them, were the ones whose mental health deteriorated the fastest.
In order to keep your mind healthy and live happily, being insensitive might actually be advantageous.
Besides, wasn’t the genetic difference between humans and chimpanzees actually only around 1%?
When you look at it from that perspective, perhaps it’s not so strange that the goblins of this world and the modern humans share the same ancestors.
“Anyway, I suppose that’s enough talk about history.
To get back on topic, that lost magic for dispelling curses, Ryouma, is a magic that uses mana particles, originally used by humans who possessed almost no mana.
Long story short, the density is completely different from the mana modern humans use.” [Grimp]
“The method is correct, but the mana you’re using is getting in the way of absorbing the mana particles. It’s kind of like boulders tumbling down a hill, knocking away the pebbles that were rolling down alongside them.” [Willieris]
“…No wonder it felt like the magic was activating, yet the effects subpar.” [Ryouma]
Indeed, no matter how much moonlight we gathered to gather mana particles, it was meaningless if our own mana just threw away those very particles we put to so much effort to gather.
On top of that, it’s unlikely that we were using our own mana at 100% efficiency too, so the lack of effect relative to the mana consumed checks out.
“I can only say this now that I understand the situation, but if that was the cause, maybe I should have prioritized finding a way to communicate with Cormi first.” [Ryouma]
“In terms of efficiency, that would definitely be faster. Since he’s a fairy, his ability to sense mana is incomparable to a human’s.
Being able to absorb mana from nature means he can manipulate mana particles. He’s the perfect person to ask for advice.” [Grimp]
“Part of the reason we explained the mechanics of the spell like this is because you would have figured it out immediately when you asked him.
The inspection tour ends in two days, and you’ll be going to see him right after that, won’t you?” [Willieris]
I will. And I’ll definitely tell Cormi stories about my trip. In the process, the conversation will naturally shift from the inspection tour to the lost magic. In other words, even if I hadn’t asked here, I would have found out in a few days anyway.
“But there’s no need to hurry. We have a responsibility to dispel curses too, after all.” [Grimp]
“And studying curses will be beneficial for you too.” [Willieris]
As they said that, the time to return came, and my body was gradually enveloped in a pale light.
“Time sure flies when you’re having fun.” [Grimp]
“It really does. But I’ll be sure come back again soon.” [Ryouma]
“Everyone will be delighted if you do.
Oh, right, one more thing as thanks for the delicious alcohol and food.
Regarding your new subordinate, Eleanora—I recommend you give her plenty of work to do once you return to town.
It can’t be helped during the inspection tour, but right now she has too little to do and is being bored out of her mind.” [Willieris]
“Got it. I was planning on having her work in earnest once we got back to town anyway, so I won’t hold back in assigning her paperwork.” [Ryouma]
“Please do.” [Willieris]
“Take care.” [Grimp]
As the two gods bid me goodbye, my vision was momentarily obscured by light, and just like it was back in the chapel, in the next moment, i was back in my room at our lodging.
I’d only intended to share some things, but surprisingly, I came back with some unexpected harvest.
I got to hear some interesting stories, too.
Truly, effort won’t betray you.
So, let’s keep doing our best. Today, and tomorrow too.
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