Vol 2 Chapter 19.1 – Epilogue: “They Say Once One Problem Passes, Another Comes… But in Reality, It’s Two, Three, and Then Some”

I had a dream for the first time in a while.

Not a normal dream you have in bed, though…

《Hey. It’s been a while, my friend.》

A dream where the Reincarnation God shows up.

“Judging by the timing… is this a work update?”

《Something like that, yeah. Honestly—Earth’s gods are just a pack of idiots. It’s a real headache.》

Just like I thought, he was going to tell me how things wrapped up with Earth’s gods.

Well, I did cause a mess too, so… yeah.

《Anyway, to get to the conclusion: Earth is being managed and operated with zero issues. The gods you eliminated were all useless ones who did nothing but create extra work with their constant meddling, so if anything, things have gotten more comfortable now that the nuisance is gone.》

“Oof.”

So the ones who were messing with me really were a gathering of pure morons.

《Think of them like a kind of collective consciousness. If you compare them to a single human being—there’s no such thing as someone who can stubbornly act with only one consistent awareness all the time. Human consciousness has all kinds of variety. In the same way, Earth’s gods were originally a single will that split into countless fragments—serious ones and lazy ones, hard workers and slackers, strict ones and easygoing ones, that sort of thing.》

“So this time, it’s just that the idiots who got tempted by entertainment happened to gather, and the ones doing their job seriously were the ones left behind.”

《Only temporarily, though. Even if a huge number of idiots were purged this time, as long as Earth’s gods have that side to them, it’s only a matter of time before a whole new swarm of idiots pops up again.》

“Whether you’re a god or a human… your nature doesn’t change that easily.”

《Of course. If you could change that easily, you wouldn’t need gods in the first place.》

“…Coming from a god, that’s weirdly convincing.”

So because people can’t change that easily, you need a troublesome existence like a god in the first place… is that it?

《I wanted to warn you about this in advance, but the scale got too big. There wasn’t any room for me to intervene. Stomping into other worlds’ divine affairs is against the rules, after all.》

“Wasn’t it against the rules for Earth’s gods to interfere with this world?”

《That part… They exploited a loophole, I guess—or rather, they did something stupid that nobody normal would do. Their plan this time was to use reincarnators they’d already sent in once, right on that gray-zone edge, and then send power down the same “route” a second time. But obviously, gods themselves can’t directly interfere on the ground. At best, they can nudge a reincarnator’s consciousness here and there.》

“They were already out of control the moment they showed up.”

《It was probably meant as countermeasures against your God-Slaying Weapon 【Lucifer, King of Pride】 too, but from my point of view, it was nothing but a sloppy, improvisational plan.》

“It put me through a lot, but I got a lot out of it too.”

《About that—just so you know, their god-slaying weapons are mainly meant to support you. Yours is still the one in the higher position. Their role is to protect you while mass-producing god-slaying bullets for you. Their god-slaying weapons can’t reap a god’s soul, after all.》

“So I’m the only one who can actually finish a god off.”

《That’s right.》

Yumeba and Serina can injure a god, usurp divine power, and create god-slaying bullets… but apparently, I’m the only one who can use those bullets to reap a god’s soul.

“By the way, now that I think about it…”

《Hm?》

“This isn’t a recording this time.”

《Well… it’s not exactly something I should be doing, but sometimes I feel like coming to see my friend in person and… you know. Having you listen to things.》

“Ahh…”

And sure enough, I ended up listening to the Reincarnation God complain nonstop.

He must’ve been bottling up more frustration than I expected, because he kept going until morning—right up until I woke up still hugging naked Yumeba in bed.

Thanks to that, I didn’t feel like I slept much at all.

◇◇◇

On the surface, Serina didn’t become a huge problem.

Even if Serina’s position changed, I’m not going to accept any woman other than Yumeba, and Serina probably doesn’t expect our relationship to change overnight either.

The problem is that Lio II—now known as Rina II—got taken by Serina.

Along with the massive number of spell engravings carved into it, of course.

I don’t know how she’s doing it, but it seems Serina can also pour mana into Rina II, and if that’s true, then even if it requires that one-step buffer of “through Rina II,” Serina can use most of the magic I can use.

If Serina really inherited House Kairinin’s blood strongly, she has an enormous mana pool and absurd recovery, so she can basically cast all she wants.

And on top of that, she’s someone with a mysterious technique—she analyzed Lio II and then “magically remodeled” it.

Honestly, I feel like if I asked Serina normally, she’d tell me all about that mysterious technique without hesitation, but Yumeba put a stop to it, so it’s still a mystery.

Thanks to all that, Serina got a ridiculous power-up from this whole incident, and now she’s strong enough to match me and Yumeba.

As far as magic goes, she still doesn’t have the same instant impact I do, and even with Rina II, she’s not exactly sturdy enough to serve as a frontliner.

Which means Yumeba is the frontline, Serina is midline, and I’m the backline.

In a way it’s an ideal party setup, but the three of us teaming up properly is probably going to be rare.

Yumeba would hate it, for one.

And as for Serina… apparently she’s planning to transplant the altered version of “my” consciousness inside Rina II into the other Emilio.

Her idea is that if it’s Rina II’s consciousness—outside Yumeba’s “target range”—then it shouldn’t be a problem, so she can move that consciousness over and enjoy a pretend lover game.

But that “alteration” happened because my consciousness that was inside Lio II mixed with Serina’s consciousness, so half of it should be Serina, shouldn’t it…? Is that okay?

If it’s “neither” of us after mixing, then maybe it’s fine?

Anyway, setting Serina aside.

~♪

Right now, I’m sitting cross-legged on the floor of my room, and Yumeba is pressed up against me, sitting on me like I’m a floor chair.

Naturally, that means Yumeba has her back to me, but even so, I can tell how pleased she is as if it’s in my hands.

When I hug Yumeba from behind, I end up burying my face in her silky hair—the texture feels amazing, and she smells so good.

And if I wrap both arms around her to hold her in place, her breasts settle right where they should, so I can cup them and knead them gently with both hands.

“Mmph♡”

Yumeba doesn’t accept me anytime and anywhere, but if the time and place are right, she accepts me most of the time.

Specifically: if we’re alone in our room, it’s usually an easy yes.

Of course, the mood matters too, and even if I’m touching her almost every night, it’s not like Yumeba has lost her sense of embarrassment.

In fact, even now, her nape is red from embarrassment, and her ears are bright red too.

Even so, Yumeba letting herself relax into me while I keep touching her… I honestly think she’s the best.

“Lio…”

“Hm?”

“You really like my breasts… don’t you?”

“I love Yumeba the most in the world, and I love Yumeba’s breasts.”

“Mm♪”

Sometimes she sets traps, and that’s her one flaw.

If I’d simply answered “Yeah, I like them,” there’s a very high chance I would’ve gotten a cold, “So you only like my breasts?” in return.

It was a trap where I had to declare that I love Yumeba first, and only then confirm that I love Yumeba’s breasts.

But once you clear the trap, it’s all-you-can-touch afterward.

I kept slowly, thoroughly massaging Yumeba’s breasts until she got worked up and couldn’t hold back anymore, and once she couldn’t take it anymore, we moved to the bed and… well. Had some fun.

Yukina-san says that women of House Saionji have a high chance of getting pregnant at eighteen, so now that winter has passed and Yumeba and I are seventeen, we have one more year of time where it’s just the two of us enjoying ourselves like this.

Of course, I get that after she gets pregnant we’ll spend way more time together than we do now—but even so, this time right now matters too.

“Yumeba…”

“~♡”

In the afterglow, in bed, I whispered words of love into Yumeba’s ear, and while Yumeba happily clung to me, I found myself thinking about all that.

◇◆◇

As if it’s the most natural thing in the world, the most natural thing happens.

Just like Earth has Earth’s gods, this world has its own gods as well.

Of course, this world’s gods are the ones managing and operating this world, so there’s no way they’d find it amusing when Earth’s gods stick their noses in where they don’t belong.

But the bigger problem is that a massive foreign object called a Demon Lord has been born into this world.

And not just one—three, if you count major and minor ones together.

《Foreign objects must be eliminated.》

《But we do not possess the power to eliminate the Demon Lord.》

《If we misstep, we will end up like them.》

《…Do we observe?》

《That is one option… but it is too weak.》

《Then shall we summon a Hero from another world again?》

《That could be entertaining.》

Unlike Earth’s gods—who were like a swarm of random nobodies—this world has only seven gods.

If their overall power is on par with Earth’s gods and the Reincarnation God, then they’re extremely powerful gods by any standard.

《Then, we will summon a Hero to slay the Demon Lord once more.》

And so, to defeat the Demon Lord—Emilio—a Hero was summoned from another world.