After encountering Father God, I became the god who protects the Sky Orb and the Sea Orb.
That said, I still need to study as a god, and the Sky Orb is stable.
The Sea Orb, having only existed for about 100 years, is currently living under the protection of the gods, so my intervention isn’t necessary.
Therefore, I was told that I could live my life as usual.
Although I’ll need to study using the texts they’ll occasionally send me.
My current position is that of a subordinate god to Father God.
The world will eventually be destroyed, but until that time comes, I will remain a subordinate, a so-called probationary period.
After that, if my growth, abilities, and achievements are recognized, I will be granted the right to create a pocket world, just like Father God and the others.
I don’t know how many tens of thousands of years it will take until the world is destroyed, but it’s quite a long probationary period.
Well, that sounds interesting enough, so I don’t mind.
Rather, there’s something I want to ask about right now.
“And then, Ms. Athena?”
“Me?”
“Yes, you. I’d like to ask you, a Dragonian, to also protect them.”
“Them? You mean the Dragonians on this island?”
“Yes, that’s right. The Dragonians’ ecology is the same as the Sky Orb’s, and since there’s the Sky Tree Labyrinth, all of them have evolved to High Class, and a few to the Elder Class above that. However, they only know this island.”
High Class and Elder Class, huh.
Well, it’s true that being able to enter the Sky Tree Labyrinth at any time would make it easier to level up and evolve.
But being naive about the outside world is unavoidable.
Given that the Sea Orb itself is a young star and the sea is vast, it’s probably not easy for them to travel to continents and islands inhabited by humans either.
“It might be fine for now, but eventually, humans might come to this island as well. If they are good-natured, that’s fine, but unfortunately, not everyone is. There will be fools who try to deceive and enslave the Dragonians of this island.”
That will undoubtedly happen.
“From such malicious intent, I want you to protect them. Of course, I understand that constant protection is impossible. So, just caring about them is enough; I want you to be their support.”
If that’s the case, we have no objections, but it’s a proposal that Athena, as one of their own race, should take the lead so the Dragonians can feel more at ease.
After all, Athena is a Demi-Alexandrite Dragonian and has reached level 32.
With some effort, it’s not impossible for her to evolve into an Arch-Dragonian before humans reach this island.
Ah, informing the Sea Orb through some means that such a protector exists might be a good idea.
“Understood. As I am also the daughter of the Holy Mother Dragon, I will accept this duty.”
“Yes, thank you. I’ll tell them later.”
Athena has agreed to protect the Dragonians, but protecting the Dragonians also leads to protecting the Sky Tree, and I have no intention of allowing them to be exposed to malice.
Therefore, we will also thoroughly support Athena.
“Well then, that’s all I have to say. Next, I will take questions from you.”
Oh, here they come.
Let’s get straight to what I want to ask.
“Then, without hesitation. The Dragonian who guided us here earlier was writing in Japanese, and even using kanji. Why is that? Furthermore, everyone could read it without any problems, and I don’t understand the reason for that either.”
“That matter. It’s simple. Both the Sky Orb and the Sea Orb are based on the Japanese language. This is largely due to the fact that I am originally from Japan.”
A shocking truth was revealed here.
Apparently, Father God was originally Japanese.
He’s from Japan in a different world than ours, but it turns out that Earth has many imitations, and the Earth where we and Father God lived is one of them.
In fact, it seems that Engraving Magic did not exist in the Earth where Father God lived.
I wonder why someone from such a world became a god, but I’ll ask about that later.
If he’s originally Japanese, I can understand creating a world based on Japanese.
But don’t different worlds have their own unique languages?
“Unique languages, you say. It might be surprising, but they are quite rare. After all, even gods were originally human. So, it’s easier and more efficient to use the language they are familiar with. I suspect you might be thinking that because it’s a different world, you should have an automatic translation working to communicate immediately, and that you’ve felt that way before?”
“Exactly!”
Mako had thought so until she came up with it, and I had never doubted it.
“Language auto-translation is indeed happening. The languages vary slightly by region, and in some worlds, the language changes completely depending on the country. Of course, there are gods who approve of this, but there are reasons for it. A famous example is Earth, where humans angered the gods and their languages were confused.”
Ah, yes, I remember hearing about such myths or legends.
The Tower of Babel, was it?
“But like me, I believe that having different languages causes many inconveniences and problems. Therefore, I have set up an auto-translation function.”
Regional differences means dialects.
Indeed, Japan had them, and I recall other countries’ languages having only that level of difference.
So, if there’s inconvenience in communication, Father God didn’t approve of it and is using auto-translation.
Okay, I understand about languages. What about writing?
“Writing? That’s simple as well; I’ve always used Japanese. Including kanji, of course. Yamato and Mako, you both probably thought that the written characters would be automatically translated into a readable form for whoever was looking at them, so you didn’t investigate it in detail, did you?”
Yes, that’s exactly right.
I had always thought so without any doubt.
But in reality, the characters we wrote were purely Japanese, and conversely, the characters we saw were also in Japanese.
There was even kanji, and I had gotten so used to it that I never thought to question it.
“Well, it’s also subject to auto-translation, though not as much as language, so that might have played a part.”
“What do you mean?”
“Even when referring to the same thing, there can be multiple meanings, right? Therefore, the written characters are also displayed in a way that is easy for the reader to understand. So, depending on the person, it might be displayed in hiragana, katakana, or perhaps even the alphabet instead of kanji.”
In the end, the language of the Sky Orb and the Sea Orb is based on Japanese, but the auto-translation function is used in a way that depends on how it sounds and how it’s read by the individual.
So, even if it’s kanji I’ve never seen before, it gets translated and I can read it.
I understand, but my head is starting to spin.
“I sometimes stand at the podium, but I never noticed it until now…”
“Well, teaching writing wasn’t Mako’s job. But I’m really surprised that the language we use is predominantly Japanese.”
“Japanese has many characters and words to learn, but once you get used to it, its expressive power is high. Therefore, gods who were formerly Japanese, like myself, usually base their worlds on Japanese. Ah, since kanji has the meaning of characters from the Han country, I call only these ‘form characters’.”
I suppose the naming of kanji is unavoidable.
Even if you say “Han country,” the meaning will definitely not be conveyed.
So, pictographs, abbreviated to “kei-ji”?
“Are you satisfied? Perhaps in the distant future, you might use it too, so it wouldn’t hurt to remember it.”
Ah, yes, that kind of future was also indicated.
Well, as for language, I’m satisfied for now.
“Yes. Are there any other questions?”
There are, but the shock from the language and writing was so great that I feel like I’ve forgotten something.
“Then, from me. You mentioned that we would be responsible for protecting the Sky Orb and eventually the Sea Orb, but when exactly should this begin, and how should we proceed?”
“For the protection of the Sky Orb, you can continue as before. World protection primarily involves eliminating threats from outside the world. It’s embarrassing to admit, but there are many envious beings in the world of gods. Furthermore, the fact that humans defeated and annihilated Abysia has spread, and the creation of the Sea Orb was possible due to that achievement. Therefore, I actually have many enemies.”
What?! Seriously?
So, the meaning of protection is protection from gods who interfere from outside the world?
“It’s rare for a god to do something like Abysia. In fact, he was just acting without thinking of the consequences. There are rules even when interfering with a world.”
It might be surprising, but it seems that acts of interference from outside a world are treated as trials for that world.
Since one is interfering with another’s world, applications are strictly reviewed and permission is rarely granted. However, once permission is granted, they can interfere openly, without hesitation. The god who interferes can no longer interfere if they meet the conditions they set. However, meeting those conditions requires the will and actions of the people living in that world, which is considerably difficult. So, you want us to protect the world from such gods?
“Yes. We gods can provide minimal assistance, but we cannot descend to the surface, and direct help is difficult. In particular, the issue with the disadvantages during evolution where we couldn’t do anything at all. This was actually one of the trials, and the conditions for clearing it were extremely strict.”
What, that was a trial?!
Considering the disadvantages during evolution, the first thing that comes to mind is the problem of metals and clothes being damaged by magic power.
I had already evolved by the time I arrived at the Sky Orb, so I had major problems with my weapon then.
That’s why I cooperated with Ed to develop an alloy, but I never imagined it was divine harassment disguised as a trial…
“Actually, it is. You probably have wondered about it too, but the criteria were ambiguous, weren’t they?”
“That’s true. Weapons and armor are easy to understand because they are used in combat, but everyday items, even those made of low-rank materials, could often be used without any problems.”
“And materials of P-rank or higher could be used without issue even by us Grand Class evolvers. Normally, one would think that Grand Class evolvers would require M-rank or A-rank materials, or they would quickly degrade.”
Indeed, I had questioned that at the time.
However, what I remembered more strongly was the relief that it didn’t cause major problems, not just for everyday use but even in combat.
“It was a trial imposed later, and after someone layered worlds. Various issues occurred. We also added new evolution stages as countermeasures, but it didn’t go smoothly. However, because Mako created formulas related to metal materials, we have managed to maintain the current state by using them.”
“I-is that so?”
“Yes. Furthermore, the existence of Hihishirokane and Sky-blue Iron was unexpected not only for us but also for the god who imposed the trial. And if they can be used without problems even by the highest rank, the possibility of passing the trial increases. Since the trial’s content and clear conditions cannot be changed after the fact, they were quite desperate.”
It’s true that the alloy’s performance is high, and Hihishirokane and Sky-blue Iron have amazing capabilities, so it’s a happy ending… but that can’t be right.
“Incidentally, the condition for clearing that trial is for a human from the Sky Orb to become a god. So, as it was successfully cleared, we plan to eliminate it in the next update.”
That’s great news.
Well, there will be some confusion, but considering that most alloys, except for a few, have already become commonplace, I don’t think it will last long.
Still, the condition for clearing it was for a human from the Sky Orb to become a god?
Isn’t that an almost impossible condition?
Well, me, or rather Prim and the others in this case, at once gave birth to more than ten gods, so the trial was successfully cleared. Moreover, those gods can no longer interfere. Most importantly, because the trial, which was virtually impossible to clear, was sneaked in amidst the chaos with Abysia, they received quite a severe penalty.
Frankly, serves them right.
“However, there are still trials, so I want you to deal with the so-called ‘Immanent Gods’ who exist locally. This is a common method among us.”
I see. Even if they are gods, they live on the surface, so they are not much different from the inhabitants of that world.
So, by dealing with them, there should be no complaints, right?
“Of course, that alone isn’t enough, and we can’t rely on it forever, so we are thinking of various things. Whether they can be realized is another matter, but we cannot deal with the situation without thinking.”
That’s true.
If multiple interventions were to happen simultaneously, it would be no laughing matter to deal with them.
“Indeed. Currently, a promising idea is to relax the conditions for bestowing Divine Successor Magic. You can already use all of it, but ordinary people can only use one, or at most three. There are many easy-to-use magic spells, and the Sea Orb has been created. So, I think relaxing the conditions is a viable option.”
Ah, that’s certainly viable.
The timing for bestowing Divine Successor Magic is at the Divine Successor Ritual after one year of age and during evolution.
However, since many people don’t evolve, many can only use one Divine Successor Magic spell.
If they could use two, wouldn’t that make a big difference?
“Well, it’s about 100 years until the Sea Orb leaves my protection, so I’ll try to think of something by then. If you also thought about it, I would be happy.”
That sounds interesting.
I’ll think about it later then.
We talked a bit more after that, but what was truly shocking were the stories about language and guardianship.
As for language, I have no choice but to accept it. As for guardianship, it’s something I need to do from now on, so I asked about it earnestly and in detail.
Apparently, the Sea Orb, as Father God said, will not be interfered with for another 100 years.
This is because, according to the rules of the divine world, interference is forbidden for 200 years from creation, or rather, from the birth of humanity.
However, the Sky Orb, although it is the core of the Sea Orb, has existed for several hundred years since its creation, so that restriction doesn’t apply, and there are still gods who are coveting it.
These gods are considered to be the same as beings like demons or demon gods on Earth. Occasionally, gods like Abysia descend to the surface without permission.
Even if they have no physical form, they can directly entice people, so annihilating such beings is also part of the guardian’s role.
The troublesome ones are gods who descend with a physical form after going through the proper procedures. However, precisely because they have followed the proper procedures, there are restrictions that prevent direct means from being taken.
Until now, gods including Father God had dealt with them, but since the Sea Orb has only just been created, the priority has naturally shifted to it.
That’s why we were chosen, along with others who could conquer the Sky Tree Labyrinth.
I don’t know what choice those people will make, but that’s their business.
I chose to become a guardian.
Therefore, from now on, I will continue to protect the Sky Orb, and eventually the Sea Orb.
Of course, not alone, but with my beloved wives.
Helios Orb Chronicle – The End –
