Evade The Hero and Flee!

29. Stories of Others (3)

#5 Their Circumstances: The Circumstances of a Certain Villain

What did I just hear?

“What was that?”

“My younger sister made the wooden bat.”

No, this is nonsense again.  

“Why is a wooden bat a goddess?”

Were all gods fond of bats!

“Please don’t make all gods into perverts.” 

“That’s because the only god I’ve seen before my eyes is you.”

Although it is very bad to evaluate a group based on a single example, is the metal bat a normal guy?

I can’t help having prejudices.

Well, I can be more certain when I see the disciple, hero of the God of Nature and the saint, Shuttle.

All gods are perverts.

“Hmm… If my master thinks so, I can’t help it.”

I feel like many gods are wronged, but it’s not important so let’s move on.

“Why did the god who saved the world become a wooden bat?”

“That’s because the raw material for the wooden bat is a branch of the World Tree that my younger sister made with all her might.” 

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“It’s related. It’s less dangerous and easier to regain power when inhabiting something that’s practically a part of you.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes, it is.”

They say all living things have a homing instinct. 

Gods could have something similar.

“But there must have been things other than the wooden bat made from the World Tree?”

It’s a very rare item, but there are some things made from World Tree branches besides the bat.

Elven elders likely have at least one World Tree item.

And I know that countries who greatly aided the elves, like the Empire, were also given World Tree artifacts.

So why is it only the bat that the dwarves and I made that a god inhabits?

Could it be that the Black Anvil are an unbelievably significant race related to gods…!

“No, they’re just normal dwarves. It’s just that the item used when making the wooden bat was rare, that’s all. You know that, right, Master?”

“What?”

“After the world was created, and after my younger sister made the World Tree…”

The metal bat paused for a moment, then continued with a serious expression.

“The only being who has broken a branch of the World Tree since the world was created is the high elf who fell for you, Master. And you are the only one who has made something out of such fresh World Tree branches.”

“I see…”

“Think about it. If there was an extremely old house and a newly built house in the same condition, which would you live in, Master?”

“Obviously the newly built house.”

“Right? It’s the same for my younger sister. She wasn’t fully awake so she didn’t have a reason. She just followed her instincts and settled in a place where she could more easily recover herself.”

“Instead of going up to the Divine Realm?”

“My younger sister completely stripped me of my divinity and even my godhead in order to seal me, remember? Though thanks to that she became a respected god not only on the Human Continent but also on the Demon Continent, so she can quickly regain my divinity as long as she revives.”

“Then shouldn’t she be in the Divine Realm even more normally?”

“No. It’s difficult until she’s completely revived. That’s because my younger sister bet everything she had to stop me, so she’s still bound to me.”

Huh? Isn’t it the opposite?

“They say the Goddess of Benevolent and Devotion sealed the evil god. So shouldn’t the Goddess of Benevolent and Devotion be binding you?”

“You could think of it that way, but it changes depending on the balance of power. Right now I’m stronger, so my younger sister is bound to me.”

In other words, the wooden bat and metal bat aren’t in a situation where one side is unilaterally binding the other, but are tied together pulling against each other in a game of tug of war.  

So is the currently stronger side dragging the weaker side around?

“I understand, but wasn’t the reason you were sealed because you were weaker at the time?”

Given this guy’s personality, there’s no way she would have been sealed for her younger sister’s sake. 

Didn’t she say herself she’s the Goddess of Greed and Desire?

There’s no way someone so faithful to her own greed and desire would devote herself to her younger sister.

“That’s right, isn’t it?”

“Master… why do you think so little of me? I’m still the sister of the Goddess of Benevolent and Devotion!”

“I’m even more certain now. You clearly said the Creators made the gods with opposing concepts! If you’re the sister of the Goddess of Benevolent and Devotion, then you must lack benevolent and devotion!”

“I’ve been caught!”

Finally you’re being honest!

“To be frank, back then my power as an evil god and power as the Goddess of Greed and Desire were fighting each other, when my younger sister jumped in. Externally she was grabbing my hair and shaking me with everything she had, but internally my powers were clashing.” 

“Even gods fight by pulling hair?”

“It’s just an expression. Ah, but she really did grab me back then!”

For a god to be pulled by the hair, she must have been extremely angry! 

“It felt like she was super angry. Like I said earlier, it was the first and last time she was angry since the world was created. I didn’t know my younger sister of benevolent and devotion could get that angry. I really almost died!”

Honestly, it’s her just deserts. 

If there were any beings watching that fight, whether ten, a hundred, or a thousand, they would all cheer for the Goddess of Benevolent and Devotion!

“You too, Master?”

“Of course.”

As a resident living in this world, the world’s destruction is akin to my own death. 

There’s no way I’d cheer for the evil god trying to kill me.

“Master… Don’t you want to hear the full story?”

Seeing the metal bat blinking innocently, I nodded my head.

“Do you want to go to the volcano?”

“Hahaha! Where did I leave off? Ah right, the talk about the balance of power between me and my younger sister.”

I can see her brushing it off with a smile, but I’ve decided to just let it go.

“The reason I’m stronger now is partly because I was greatly damaged when my younger sister sealed me, but your help was also huge, Master.” 

“Me?”

“Yes. Every time you wield me, my essence grows stronger.”

What is this nonsense again?

It sounds like I make her stronger every time I wield the metal bat.

“You understood correctly. Every time you use me, I grow stronger, Master.”

“Why on earth does that happen?”

The metal bat closed her eyes for a moment to gather her thoughts.

“It’s complicated to explain, but since the master will get angry if I make it long, I’ll make it short.” 

“I see. Make it short then.”

The metal bat lightly with its tongue replied as I wished, short and simple.

“In short, my powers are in disarray because I was sealed by my younger sister, so inside me the concepts of evil, greed and desire are all jumbled together.”

“So?”

“So I’m in an in-between state, neither here nor there, so I can’t properly use my powers as a god, but I’m also somewhat disconnected from this world.”  

If I had existed fully as an evil god, the emotions of greed and desire may have disappeared from the world. The bat added this explanation.

“So I became a god of evil, and the embodiment of greed and desire!”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“You see, that’s why, even though master and the Black anvil clan worked hard carving wooden and metal bats, they failed.”

“What kind of nonsense is that?”

“In short, the master’s design was flawed. That pain brings healing. What kind of ridiculous weapon is that?”

“Huh?”

I heard an unexpected answer.

“It’s strange you didn’t think of it. Miracles are called miracles precisely because they don’t happen. So events that borrow the powers of gods are called miracles. The master’s weapons were the same. They were only possible because of the gods’ powers, not because the master’s plans were perfect.”

“That’s not possible…”

It was the most shocking thing I’d heard all day. 

The wooden and metal bats were merely the result of miracles. Then all my investments so far to mass produce wooden and metal bats!

“I was pouring water into a bottomless pot…”

“What, of all the things I told you, the waste of your money is most shocking?”

“Of course!”

Ancient stories are just that, ancient stories.

Except for archaeologists and history researchers, hearing about things that can’t be changed is useless to someone like me who joined an evil organization to make money. 

As the chief of the crab clan said, money is everything.

“I didn’t tell anyone this secret, only the master, and…”

It seemed disappointing that there was no point in telling me, but I don’t care.

“Well, simply put, it’s like this. The wooden bat inhabited by my sister has the goddess of benevolence and devotion, so it heals those who are suffering. As the name says, benevolence and devotion.

“And you?”

“I’m for fulfilling greed and desire of course. Does it look like I dislike hitting things?”

“Absolutely not.”

“Right. I really enjoy it. My opponent’s reactions when I hit and poke them! It’s exhilarating!” 

“Yes, you sadist. What does that have to do with healing?”

“When they die I get no reaction hitting them! When they’re unconscious there’s no fun reaction!”

“So you heal them?”

“Yes! To satisfy my greed and desire I make them recover forever! That was the purpose of the metal bat’s existence!”

And it seemed the more its greed and desire were satisfied, the stronger this guy became. 

“Right, it makes sense that my recovery was faster since I woke up first, but the difference was bigger thanks to the master.”

To think I helped an evil god gain power…

If the temples found out I’d immediately be at the top of the extermination list.

“Don’t worry! I’m already at the top as master’s follower!”

“I should be very worried!”

The only thing left is destroying evidence.

I have no choice but to throw this guy into Mt. Stelios’ volcano.

“I just got a very bad feeling… Master, don’t tell me…”

“Huh? No way. Why would I do anything like that?”

“I knew it…”

Even though I hid my feelings, she noticed. 

Spending a long time together was the poison.

“Master? You wouldn’t abandon this frail goddess, would you? Is that it?”

The metal bat looked up at me with teary eyes, a very delicate appearance.

“Yes.”

And the metal bat and a delicate appearance were completely incompatible.

“How cruel! Even though we’re partners of the soul!”

“I could pretend to think about it for a bit, but that overly pretentious act made me not want to at all.”

“It’s not an act, not even pretending!”

Staring blankly at the metal bat lamenting that a human could be so evil as to make a unilateral demand of a god, moreover an evil god, I gaze at it indifferently.

“It’s not a threat…”

That’s right.

I don’t have the personality to take on the danger of keeping around something as risky as an evil god.

It’s not that I’m staying with it despite knowing I’ll come to harm, it’s that I have no need for prudence.

“After all I’ve done for you…”

The feeling of betrayal flows in through our connected souls but doesn’t leave a single scratch on my heart.

After trying various things for about 10 minutes, the metal bat finally surrendered and waved the white flag.

“I lose! I lost! I’ll tell you how to deal with the Demon King!”

“You should have come out with that from the start.”

Nodding in satisfaction at its deeply sighing appearance, I nod my head.

The opponent is the evil god of evil.

Even with the threat of throwing him into Mt. Stelios’ volcano, she doesn’t try to run away but clings to me.

To increase her power? When entering the volcano would render her useless, is increasing her power important?

No.

That means, this guy needs me to move with me, or at worst, she may stab me in the back.

Isn’t that common in fiction? The scene where the guy you thought was an ally turns out to be the villain and stabs the protagonist in the back!

The moment the Demon King falls, she may gather all the fragments of evil to revive by stabbing me in the back.

So listen, metal bat, I do not trust you. Not one bit.

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