My Third Life Is in the Future World! After Being Betrayed and Losing His Memory, the Former Hero Begins Sweet School Days in a World with a 1:50 Male-to-Female Ratio - 35

Chapter 35: I Know That a Goddess Exists in This World

ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー

Freya had to go back because she still had class. As for me, I took a shower in the LR and relaxed on the bed. Room service was free too, so the LR was a perfect place for any guy.

Although, maybe because I was originally just a regular citizen… Lately, I’ve been eating nothing but beef bowls and hamburgers. Maybe I should rest a little… I was lying down on the bed and starting to doze off when my phone rang loudly.

It was considered bad manners for women to contact men. Because of that rule, my phone hardly ever rang. So if it did…Something must’ve happened.

With that thought, I answered the call.

“I need to talk to you about Reira… Please come to the lab. I’ll send a car right away.”

“Did something happen to Reira-san?”

“I’ll explain the details later…”

With that, the call ended. I had no choice. I waited for the car and headed to the lab. Just what in the world had happened?

◆◆◆

As soon as I arrived at the lab, I was led to a room that looked like a hospital room. Lying on the bed was… An old woman. She was so thin and frail she could be mistaken for a mummy.

Thin tubes connected her body to machines, and she was barely alive. At least, that was how it looked to me.

But this wasn’t just any old woman. She looked like something out of a nightmare… A yamanba or Datsueba. She was grotesque beyond words.

“……”

The old woman stared blankly at the ceiling, seemingly unconscious.

“Ce…re…s.”

She softly called my name.

That outfit… No way…

“It can’t be…She’s…”

The female researcher standing beside me spoke.

“Yes. This is Reira.”

This is… Reira-san!? 

There was no trace of the Reira-san that I knew in this old woman.

“How did this happen? Is it some kind of illness?”

“Well, setting that aside… Do you still want this Reira? You don’t need her anymore, right?”

She spoke of her like an object.

“What do you mean, ‘want’? She’s my partner and more importantly, she’s a human being. ‘Want’? Really?”

“Ah, yes, Reira is certainly ‘like a human.’ She does have human rights, and yes, she’s a human… But she’s also artificially made. Simply put, she’s a chimera created from the genes of beautiful women and girls. In a sense, she’s something similar to, but different from, a human.”

Artificially created… is that what she is? But… So what?

“And?”

“She’s disgusting now, right? We were thinking of discarding her, but since she’s your ‘partner,’ we can’t just throw her out. You don’t need this junk of a woman, do you? A grotesque monster of an old hag. I’ll prepare the paperwork to dissolve the partnership. Just sign it…”

“Ugh… Ce…re…s.”

“Shut up, you monster.”

With that, the researcher kicked Reira-san’s bed. True. Reira-san now looked like an old woman and with the way they were talking, it might mean there was no cure for her.

But still… I didn’t want to abandon her.

“No. I won’t dissolve our partnership.”

“What? Do you still want this? She’s clearly a grotesque old woman! There are tons of better women out there! You don’t need her!”

‘Don’t need’… Just what do you think people are?

“It’s my decision to make, isn’t it?”

“I see… But even with life support, she only has a few days left… You’re only extending her life for a few more days. Well then, take good care of that grotesque piece of junk… Farewell, Ugly Reir. You’re scheduled for disposal in just a few days.”

With those bitter words, the researcher left the room.

“……”

Reira-san’s eyes welled up with tears, and she didn’t speak anymore. Her beautiful black hair, her lovely skin—everything was gone. She only looked like a white-haired old woman now.

Even so… I didn’t want to abandon her. I didn’t want to choose to leave her.

But… What should I do? A way to cure Reira-san in this state… I knew one. Words like a spell floated into my mind…

“Oh light… With your radiant life force, redeem death and heal wounds… Perfect Heal.”

Nothing happened. Of course not. That spell only existed in my delusions. And even in those delusions, I couldn’t use it. The one who could use that spell wasn’t me. It was the saintess, Meryl—the one who killed me.

If I couldn’t use it in my dreams, there was no way I could use it in reality. Even modern medicine had already given up on her. There was probably nothing more I could do.

Someone… Please help us.

“Goddess… Please… Please save Reira-san.”

“Haa… haa… Ce…res… There is no such thing as a god.”

Reira-san barely managed to speak. In a world where science had advanced to this point, maybe there really was no more faith.

But for me… I believed in something. A woman too beautiful to exist in this world, the goddess from my fantasies.

『Will you save my world?』

『Hero Ceres.』

She smiled at me, shyly. A goddess warm like the sun. A noble, beautiful goddess from my delusions. I couldn’t use magic, but I still had a portion of the hero’s power.

Then surely… That goddess—Ishtar-sama—actually existed.

“Reira… The god you know might not exist. Maybe there’s no Buddha, no Christ, no Zeus. But I know… I know that a goddess exists.”

“I… See…”

Reira looked like she could die at any moment.

“The most noble and beautiful goddess… Ishtar-sama! Please… please save Reira——!”

I shouted.

If it’s Ishtar-sama, I know she can do something.

There were cameras, so the researchers were probably watching. But I didn’t have time to care about that. A voice came from the speaker.

“Ceres… What are you shouting about? Everyone knows gods are just delusions. They don’t exist.”

“I’m a person from the past… In the era I lived, there was faith. And I have a goddess I truly believe in. Please, don’t interfere!”

“Fine. Then pray all you want if it’ll make you feel better.”

The voice from the speaker went silent.

“…I’m… Sorry…”

Reira apologized to me for some reason.

“Ishtar-sama, Ishtar-sama… Please… Please save her!”

“I am the goddess from another world… I’m here to grant the wish of the hero who saved the world~!”

Was it a hallucination? I thought I heard Ishtar-sama’s song.

“Eh… Ishtar-sama!?”

“It’s been a while! Hero Ceres, I’m sorry about how things ended after you defeated the Demon Lord and saved the world. Sending you to this world was my way of making it up to you. But you never received the reward you deserved for saving my world. The royal family didn’t give it to you—so I will.”

“Goddess Ishtar-sama, then please, save Reira!”

Ishtar-sama pulled out a staff from nowhere.

“Hero Ceres, you must be the one to do it! I, the Goddess Ishtar, shall bend the laws of this world… I will connect you to all forces—’Holy,’ ‘Light,’ ‘Dark,’ ‘Wind,’ ‘Fire,’ ‘Water,’ and ‘Earth.’ I will rewrite the ‘Saintess’ job into ‘Saint,’ and bestow it upon you together with ‘Sage.’ Now, Hero Ceres… Receive it! Raise your hand!”

“Yes… Ah! My body, it’s heating up…!”

I felt my body burning and power surging through me. This was just like when I became a ‘Hero’ back then…

“Haa, haa… with this, I bestow upon you the reward for saving my world and defeating the Demon Lord! Now, Ceres—you can do it! The ultimate spell that heals all if they’re not dead…”

“Yes! ‘Oh light! With your radiant life force, redeem death and heal wounds… Perfect Heal!'”

Reira, who had changed so drastically into an old woman, began to rejuvenate before my eyes. Her missing eye, her leg—all regenerated.

“Ceres, I… I…”

“You’re back to normal. No. You’re more beautiful than ever, Reira…”

“Ah! Ah! It’s true… I’m really back to normal! Ceres-sama, Goddess-sama, thank you… Thank you so much!”

“Ishtar-sama, truly, thank you so much!”

“Think nothing of it! This is your reward for saving my world… W-wait, please wait—ah, I’m sorry! I won’t do it again!”

“”Ishtar-sama!?””

“Ahem! I can no longer interfere with this world… Eek! Please forgive me… Sorry! I can’t come here again! Ahh! Anyway… I’m glad, Ceres! My Hero, please continue to… Ahh, I’ll make up for it, so for now… Live strong!”

“Yes!”

“Well then… Ceres… At least let me say goodbye!!!… Farewell.”

For some reason, Ishtar-sama disappeared with a pained smile on her face.

ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー