POV: Koyama Kosuke
“Haa…Ha…!”
With great impatience, I slid my key card in and opened the door.
Hurry, hurry! I have to make a report to [that person] right away! Argh, these remaining 6 doors are slowing me down too much!
But I had installed this much security out of love for that person. I mustn’t rush to get rid of it, I told myself.
Our Society of the Sage had just performed large-scale dungeon overflow operations in various schools. Much like we had planned, we had successfully instilled onto non-Awakened Ones the dangers of incorrect Awakening training methods while also making Awakened Ones harbor some disappointment and resentment toward such foolish non-Awakened people.
Schools being the center points of the damages was, of course, crucial to our plans. Whenever children die, everyone around paid attention to the tragedy. It was also more likely for the memories of the tragedy to linger in people’s minds.
This move should net our organization more funds and more believers. And more Awakened Ones on our side. Utilizing those resources should bring the return of aristocracy…of the samurai system to this nation.
…at least, that was what had been said to the stupid people that made up our top brass.
The real goal of our operation was something else. To lure out the one who possessed the [Fruit of the Gods]. To achieve that, I was more than willing to go to these lengths. And fortunately, our efforts bore fruit.
“Your Majesty! It is I, Kosuke! I have urgent news to report!!”
<<—very well, enter>>
“E-exchuse me!”
In my impatience, I opened the door as soon as I heard the reply. Worse, I stuttered too. I was so embarrassed that I turned red all the way to my ears, but the mere sight of my ‘goddess’ instantly made me smile.
“Calm down, Kosuke. We have the luxury of time at the moment. So, let us speak unhurriedly.”
“O-of course!”
Despite the eyepatch covering one of her eyes, she was still the greatest beauty in this whole world. And with a smile on the goddess’s face, I couldn’t help but be excited as I delivered my report.
“At last, at long last, we’ve confirmed it! Ito Kurumi does indeed possess the [Fruit of the Gods] you desire!”
“—Hoh”
The goddess’s luscious red lips curved upward, but it was quite unlike the smile she had earlier.
She had a mature air that was almost clashing with her girlish features. Moreover, she also had an allure that would make even the finest courtesans seem nothing more than some country girls.
Ahh…ah…my beloved, my goddess…! The woman who shall one day become my wife…!
“It would seem getting hold of that thing called Status was worth our while. For thanks to that, we were able to easily narrow down the candidates.”
“Indeed! It is exactly as you say!!”
On the day the world changed, on the day the world Returned to the Age Myths, Awakened Ones became able to accurately understand their powers.
Anyone could obviously look at their own body and quickly get a sense of how their muscles and such had developed. However, could anyone really know what they could and couldn’t do with that simple a method? The answer to that was no.
Despite that, everyone including mages didn’t even question why they had the ability to tell what their potentials were. Everyone accepted it as a matter of fact. It was beyond mankind to tamper with the ley lines all over the world to make everyone be able to see their Status. So, in this world too full of absurdities, everyone just arbitrarily deemed that such an ability was par for the course.
Fools, the lot of them, thinking the workings of a god could be just another natural phenomenon. But not I! For I was the chosen one to be under direct tutelage of my goddess.
“It would seem that my guess was right, that the person who possessed would undoubtedly. And even if they tried to conceal the fruit, there would still be traces of their attempts to hide it.”
“Indeed…! I am at awe of your deep wisdom…!”
Our organization used hypnosis via magic so that relevant government employees all over the country would give us the Status data that Awakened Ones had submitted to their city halls. From that data, we narrowed down our candidates to those who held outstanding power and had a Unique Superpower that was some form of healing. After some investigation and narrowing those candidates further, we planned to induce an overflow to happen on the dungeons near the remaining candidates.
If those remaining candidates didn’t make use of their Unique Superpowers because they simply ran away or something, we would then just try again. If by the second or third attempt they still haven’t revealed what their Unique Superpowers actually were, we would then take on a more direct approach. Luckily, we only had to do one round. Or no, it wasn’t luck, but fate instead!
“Thank you, Kosuke…this is all thanks to your efforts”
“Oh no, no! Please…!”
I could tell that my nose was flaring up.
But…that’s right, I did it. The plan was thought up by the goddess, to be sure, but I was the one to mobilize my subordinates and actually carried out that plan. I believe I’ve earned the right to receive a reward.
“Y-your Majesty…!”
“Fufuu…come, Kosuke”
Leaning back on the crimson-colored sofa, she extended her smooth and bare foot toward me. The hem of her antiquated clothing parted as she did so, exposing through a narrow gap her beautiful skin. At the sight of which, I gulped down hard. At the same time, I slowly, carefully touched her foot.
It was soft. Warm. And had the scent of flowers. Completely lost in a trance, I extended my tongue toward her toes.
* * *
POV: Togo Miyokichi (Saionji Yasuo)
I was so sleepy.
I was forcing my hazy mind to think and dragging my leaden legs around.
My public persona was serving as someone within a prefectural Dungeon Countermeasure Department. Meanwhile, my hidden persona was that of someone in Public Security, currently designated to keep an eye on matters with Awakened Ones.
If it was only the workload of my public persona, I could maybe sneak in some winks due to efficiency and legal issues, but there was also my hidden persona’s workload and I couldn’t simply ignore those. As such, I had only been able to sleep for about 1 hour in the last 3 days.
Considering how taxing my workloads were even before this chaos, I would say I was holding up pretty well. Energy drinks were truly the pinnacle of human knowledge and innovation. And as creatures who could make such a miraculous item, humans were truly to be feared.
But at some point or another, my public persona’s workload had reached a good stopping point, so I decided to hop into my car, get home, and sleep. However, my work phone rang all of a sudden. The timing was so comical that I almost laughed out loud, but I forced myself to switch gears instead.
“This is Togo. What’s the matter?”
<<We’ve verified the information we got from the janitor we arrested in relation to the Disaster of the 12 Labyrinths. Furthermore, an Awakened One we’ve borrowed from the Tokyo Metropolitan PD has repelled an assassination attempt by another Awakened One. We weren’t able to arrest the perp, but they were injured and left behind some DNA. We’re checking the database now for any match.>>
“Good work…was anybody hurt?”
<<…a cop guarding the jail died in duty.>>
“…I see. Let’s offer up a prayer for that officer’s soul.”
After two seconds of silent prayer, I opened my eyes again. For at least this moment, all my drowsiness was gone.
“Submit a written report about it later. With all that we have, we should be able to make our higher ups act.”
<<But would that really be the wise move? The other party is a religious organization with plenty of powerful Awakened Ones. Both politically and militarily, they’re quite the difficult opponent to take on.>>
“Even so, we’ll take them on. We have to.”
The way things were, Japan would be destroyed from within. Above all else, we must prevent that outcome. The country was currently on thin ice that could collapse at any given moment. There were some calls for that ice to collapse sooner…but if it was going collapse no matter what, I would rather it be done in a more agreeable manner and by better people.
While this was purely speculation on my part…Koyama Kosuke didn’t strike me as someone who thought about Japan’s future. His actions were extremely shortsighted. And while most of his organization’s top brass could be described as eccentrics themselves, he was something far worse. If he could just think things through a bit, then I was sure he would have done things in a different manner.
Again, this was purely speculation, but I believed there was someone controlling him behind the scenes. And that someone was…probably the one to be truly insane.
But even without any proof for that, one thing was clear to me: I mustn’t let Koyama Kosuke and the Society of the Sage sink Japan.
“I’ll find a way to get us to the point where we can finally put handcuffs on them, somehow.”
<<…very well. Our lives are in your hands.>>
“Yeah, thanks for trusting me.”
The moment the call ended, all my sleepiness returned to me.
…as uncool as it was of me, I couldn’t drive myself home in this state. An accident was just bound to happen. So, I took my phone out, set a timer for 15 minutes, took a nap.
Ahh, I need to…talk with Kyotaro too…I need to discuss his and his friends’ mental…health. And what to do about their schooling…the school that guy made…I guess we’ll have to use it ahead of schedule…and actually, above all…I need to investigate that guy himself…even if just to prove I’m worrying over nothing…
With my eyes still closed, I reached for the lighter in my breast pocket.
As the promised we made on that day, the dreams we talked about that day came to mind—
* * *
POV: A certain secretary
“Alright, then let’s proceed like that”
I placed down a cup of coffee onto Minister Arikawa’s desk just as he finished up a call and set down the phone on the same desk.
“Thanks. I was just craving for some caffeine.”
“No, thank you for your hard work.”
As I watched him gracefully drink his coffee, I sighed internally. After all, even now he was acting all nonchalant, complete with that suspicious smile of his. Despite acting so calm and at peace, this person hadn’t returned home for 3 days. No matter how much we tell him to rest properly, he just kept on working and taking only naps while seated.
“…what’s the update on Representative Shimoyama?”
“They don’t seem aware of the investigation on the Society of the Sage. No, I suppose it’s more accurate to say that they are aware but they don’t know that we’ve obtained material evidence against them?”
“I see…”
This country was resting on thin ice.
And how could it not when there were various problems plaguing it?
Like the unprecedented calamities known as dungeons; the superhumans called Awakened Ones; the foreign spies that despite being thrown into disarray by Minister Arikawa once, have already recovered and operating again; not to mention the politicians that supported them.
And on top of all those, there were also the savage acts committed by the Society of the Sage. Without us realizing it, some members of parliament were even collaborating with them in exchange for votes.
But let me say it plain: this country was already beyond saving. It could be done in by a foreign power physically invading us or bringing about our economic ruin. Or it could be by attacks of monsters. Or by Awakened Ones in the country running wild. Any of those scenarios could happen, and it could happen anytime, even tomorrow.
Even foreign countries were not safe. But it was precisely because they were also facing similar problems that those foreign powers were desperate. And against an opponent willing to give their all, we needed someone also willing to give their all in stopping the enemy.
Yes, the one to stop the enemy before it could breach our last lines of defense was the man before me.
The Arikawa household was a family of politicians through the ages. It was such a prestigious family that for a time, Minister Arikawa’s grandfather had served as the prime minister and his father had served as the Chief Cabinet Secretary.
As for myself, I had been in their family’s employ since his father’s generation. Which was why I couldn’t help but shed tears of joy on his growth and achievements. Before, he lived in the shadows of his grandfather and father, but now he was fighting against demons, monster, evil spirits, and all manner of enemies. All to protect this country.
And he did so calmly and with a smile. No sign of his hardships could be seen.
What a splendid man he grew up to be…
His father often said that a politician who couldn’t enact their will through silent, inconspicuous pressure was worse than a tyrant. And it would seem this was the result of an upbringing based on that philosophy.
“Oh, it’s that late already…sorry but I’ll be heading home for now. Mainly to shower, then I’ll need to go somewhere else.”
“Understood. I’ll have the car ready.”
“Thanks. Oh, but not the government car. Call for my chauffeur at home, I’ll be using my private car.”
“…certainly.”
…yes, no matter how much pain and hardships he was going through, he would never let it show on his face.
I was aware he would be getting flowers somewhere along the way, so I chose to get those for him now. Even if it was just in the car ride to his destination, I wanted him to be able to get a little bit of shut-eye.
I stood up from my chair, straightened up my suit, and, just as Minister Arikawa gallantly passed by, I bowed. Looking at him from behind, I could not sense any sign of fatigue from him. If anything, he was oozing with this sense of composure. It was like I was looking at something beyond human.
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