Dungeon's Final Boss: Banished by My Boss, the Goddess, to Earth—So I'll Continue My Past Life - 104

Chapter 104: Sorcery

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Drinking alcohol without any snacks just didn’t sit right with me.

“Excuse me.”

I made a few things in the 【Box Workshop】 and set them out on the table. Cream cheese and smoked salmon on crackers, chocolate and then dried fruits and nuts.

“It’s just a rushed assortment, but feel free to have some…”

“Hmm.”

Looking over the items on the plate, Shelheim picked up a piece of chocolate. She popped it in her mouth, and tilted her glass back. She drank it down in gulps. The way she drank resembled how one would down beer or a highball.

“Hmm, it pairs well.”

“I’m glad to hear that.”

Hamashiro promptly refilled her now-empty glass. I understood why he poured so much. At first, I thought maybe he didn’t know how to drink alcohol properly because he was a monster, but that couldn’t be the case. 

As a politician constantly interacting with many people, there was no way Hamashiro didn’t know the basics of how to drink brandy or whiskey. The one who didn’t know was the goddess and Hamashiro was matching her way of drinking.

“So, you’re the one who recovered the cursed item, Jiro Hasegawa?”

“Yes, though it was just by chance.”

“Do you want it?”

“No, I don’t particularly need it.”

“Then hand it over. If you want a reward, I’ll prepare one.”

“A reward, huh?”

I took a sip of brandy to think. As the rich aroma drifted through my nose, I let my thoughts turn over.

Why would a goddess be interested in something like that?

While I thought, Shelheim reached for a cracker and again downed the brandy in one go. Wouldn’t it be better to give her something that comes in a plastic bottle sold by the liter instead of that fancy-looking bottle? What a waste.

“I’m not in need of money, so if you’re offering something else…”

“Oh? What do you want? My body? You’re a greedy one.”

“I never said that, did I?”

What is this goddess talking about?

“You live your daily life in that form, which means you were a human male before becoming a reincarnated unit, right? Then you must still have your sex drive. Well? Want to be the first human to sleep with a goddess?”

She placed her glass on the table, leaned her body toward me, then slid down to rest her head on my lap with a seductive smile. But it didn’t affect me in the slightest.

“I’ll have to decline. Besides, even in mythology, there are precedents of gods marrying humans, so you wouldn’t be the first anyway.”

“What a boring man.”

So she was joking. She immediately returned to a serious expression and sat back up. Then she drained her glass of brandy again.

“Then, what do you want?”

“Information. For example, what do the gods truly seek from these dungeons beyond just energy?”

“I told you before, I cannot answer that. Ask for something else.”

“Then what is your intention in creating a dungeon in Aomi Prefecture?”

Shelheim had created a dungeon in the form of the island nation called the Kingdom of Peschel, located on Earth. So, it wouldn’t be impossible for her to do the same thing again. Hamashiro was a dungeon monster, so then, there was a high possibility that the Aomi Prefecture could also be a dungeon since Hamashiro got elected so easily as a politician here. 

That was my hypothesis—and likely not wrong.

“To protect this country.”

“…What?”

“I can’t give details, but the dungeon project is a long-term initiative, even for the gods. We can’t have it fall apart so easily. That’s why we need a base from which we can act. That’s the purpose of the world-invasive type dungeon.”

“A world-invasive type dungeon?”

“Someone ruined the Kingdom of Peschel, which was one of my strategic moves. I’d rather not have the same thing happen again.”

“Thanks for the consideration.”

Still, that matter wasn’t of immediate concern to me. I shouldn’t ask shallow questions broadly right now. What I needed was a deep dive into one point.

“So, how exactly do you plan to go about this?”

“Did you know that this planet already had magic and sorcery before the dungeons appeared?”

“If you mean at the level of occult stuff or entertainment, sure.”

“Not that. I mean it truly exists. Although only a very limited number of people can use it.”

“Huh.”

“Those individuals actually grew stronger after the dungeons appeared. Most of those with that talent have become Awakened, but some haven’t gone public and instead remain hidden as more powerful sorcerers or mages.”

“And the cursed item I picked up is related to them?”

“That was one of several cursed objects created by a group of foreign sorcerers who wished for Japan’s downfall. The more of them that exist, the more troublesome it becomes. That’s why we’re retrieving them as soon as we find them. This time, it was difficult to acquire it through official channels, so we went through the backdoor. As a result, you got caught up in it.”

“I see. Then please direct my complaints to the god of fate.”

She glared at me, so I added that.

“No one can complain to the god of fate.”

“Is that so?”

“You think you can go against fate and come out unscathed? In stories, it’s just a bunch of wordplay. It looks like it works because the characters are having fun with it. But if you really go against fate…”

She suddenly grew passionate, then just as quickly fell silent and emptied her glass. Then she tossed a handful of nuts and dried fruits into her mouth and chewed them loudly, almost like she was trying to chew away her stress.

“Seems you have some bitter memories about the god of fate.”

“Shut up. Don’t talk.”

It looked like my random comment hit the mark. She glared at me again, so I quickly stuffed a cracker into my mouth to escape. Cream cheese and smoked salmon was definitely a winning combo.

“Japan has strong feng shui-based defenses, which is why it’s held up so far, but even that is reaching its limit. That’s one reason there are so many earthquakes, you know.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. In other words, I have to use Aomi Prefecture as a base to rebuild this country’s magical and sorcerous defenses. Got it?”

“Understood.”

Even if this whole story was a lie, there didn’t seem to be much else I could do. So I obediently took the cursed item—what they called a Cursed Resonator—from my item box.

“Will this do?”

“Yes, that’s the one.”

Shelheim grabbed it from the table with her left hand and crushed it in her grip. She licked off the soot-like residue that remained in her palm and rinsed her mouth with brandy.

Wait, did she just eat it as a snack?

“Well then, this settles that matter, Jiro Hasegawa.”

But Shelheim didn’t end the conversation there.

“Now that you know this much, you’ll help us, won’t you?”

“Depends on the reward.”

I answered without hesitation. This goddess had a way of catching people off guard in strange ways, so I had to stay strictly businesslike.

“You’re surprisingly well-grounded. Are you really one of those monsters Piroane created?”

“I had my fair share of hardship, thanks to her.”

“I see. So even bad leadership can result in growth. Maybe it’s because you’re a reincarnated unit?”

“Who knows? I couldn’t say anything for sure.”

Behind Shelheim, Hamashiro was making a face that screamed “Please stop!” Not out of camaraderie, I think, but still—I decided not to confirm it aloud.

“So, what will it be?”

“I can provide payment in cash or goods. But I can’t give information.”

“Understood. That’s acceptable.”

And with that, we shifted into business talk.

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