“You want to learn [Dimensional Transfer]?”
I brought the talk up during breakfast to Karen-neesan, who's eating the toast with a *mogu mogu*, and Morohneesan, who already finished and is drinking the after-meal red tea.
“And why would you… Oh, it's that, isn't it. The talk from earlier?”
“Yup. Being able to use [Dimensional Transfer] would make it a lot easier to travel between both worlds, after all.”
It's troublesome to have to transfer from Babylon for every little thing, after all; being able to use that would make my range of actions broader too. I've been shying away from it since I was told it would make me closer to the G.o.ds, but having come this far it doesn't matter anymore.
“Well, we aren't opposed to teaching you that, at least. We're here as your support in any case.”
“U—n… It's just, there actually isn't much to teach-no yo?”
“Eh? What does that mean?”
I raised my eyebrows to the reply of Karen-neesan who had finished eating her toast.
“Since [Dimensional Transfer] is the same as normal transfer magic in the end, it isn't hard as long as you can grasp that feeling-no yo. Touykun just need to go around some worlds with us, and you would be able to get the knack for it-no yo.”
Go around some worlds… She means worlds aside from this one, right?
“And which one of you would be the teacher?”
“I will do it since Morohchan has training with the knight order-no yo. I'm tentatively the representative for Touykun's support group, you know? Well, you'd probably remember it in a day-no yo.”
Karen-neesan then stood up after drinking her red tea. Is it really something that can be grasped in a day…? I'd like to be excused from anything too spartan, but I can't really say that in this situation.
We then moved ourselves to the courtyard.
“First, circulate divinity throughout your body-no yo. Then, with the feeling of lightly wrapping it around your body, let it bleed out slightly-no yo. Don't let it turn into a state of 'Divinity Release' -no yo? You're just supposed to let it flow gently on your body-no yo.”
I did what I was told and let my divinity circulate in my body before slightly spreading it in the surroundings. If it's this much, I don't have any problems controlling it. I've improved, haven't I.
“Un, that's ok-nano yo. We'll be doing [Dimensional Transfer] while you're like that, so make sure you're maintaining your consciousness-no yo.”
After Karen-neesan said that and grasped my hand, I suddenly felt a sensation as if my body is being pulled upwards with a *Gyuun* sort of feeling.
Just as I was feeling the sensation of flying upwards as if it's a reverse bungee, all of a sudden this time there was a heavy sensation pressing down on me, as if my body weight's been multiplied several times. Honestly, it feels terrible…
“Ugh…”
“Alright, we've arriv~ed.”
When I looked around after hearing the stretched-out voice of Karen-neesan, we were standing in an empty plain where red rocks were rolling around, under a rust-colored sky. Looks like Mars from those SF movies I watched before. (TL: Science Fiction. Real talk, if you don't know this, I don't know what to say to you.) There's nothing before my eyes except the sand flying around. It's a world where there's only the never-ending red earth before me, or so it seems.
“Is this another world?”
“Just so. It may be hard to understand, but it's a world at almost the same level as yours-no yo. Well, there isn't a lot of people in this one.”
When I asked her for an explanation, it turned out that a world war once happened in this world. The air turned toxic, and the earth turned into a place human cannot live on; as such, the survivors built underground cities, and are making a living there somehow.
In fact, the very place we're standing in currently is toxic enough that a normal human would have his or her lung decay instantly and die. What kind of horrifying poison is that…?
“Well, it isn't a rare occurrence for a species on top of the food chain to fall down-no yo. Look there.”
Upon looking in the direction nee-san pointed at, there was a small frog-like organism moving about between the red rocks with its six legs. Even in this kind of environment, there are living beings that have adapted and survived, huh…
“The ground above might be ruled by that species next-nano yo.”
On Earth too, there was the extinction of the dinosaurs around 66 million years ago. There were many hypothesized reasons, from meteor strike, rise in sea level, descent theory (TL: nani even is this… The raw is 下降説 which transliterates to that, but I have no idea what that's supposed to mean. I'm keeping it in for the moment.), volcano eruptions, deadly diseases, pole s.h.i.+fting, to even attacks by aliens. The extinction itself is something commonly seen in all the worlds, it would seem.
Our world is currently being invaded by the Phrase, too.
“Alright, let's go to the next one-no yo~”
When nee-san took my hands again, I was once again a.s.saulted by that sensation that felt like the rising and falling when you're in an elevator, except several times worse. Uu, feels horrible…
When that terrible feeling is finally lifted, before my eyes was no longer the barren landscape from before, but a gra.s.sy plain where a pleasant breeze was blowing. Clouds are adrift in the sky, and there's a mountain in the distance. Quite a difference from the last world.
“It's a normal world this time, huh.”
“The standard for 'normal' changes depending on the person-no yo. By the way, this world doesn't have any animals in it-no yo.”
“Eh?”
Just like Karen-neesan said, I can't spot a single bird in the sky, or a single bug or animal on the plains. A world consisting entirely of plants, huh…
But then what about pollination? Don't they need bugs for that? The earth too, won't having earthworms at least be helpful…
When Karen-neesan plucked a piece of the gra.s.s growing at our feet, another identical gra.s.s instantly sprouted up in its place. What is this… I tried pulling out a piece too, and another piece of gra.s.s replaced it without pause, returning the patch to exactly the same as before. I don't understand how this works…
“Alright, let's keep on going-no yo~”
“Already!?”
Without hearing the explanation for this world, nee-san grabbed my hands while I was still surprised and transferred yet again.
After that, we went around various other worlds. I don't remember exactly how many worlds we went to, but I've somehow grasped the feeling for [Dimensional Transfer] at least.
The same as 【Teleport】, I first strengthen my image of the starting point, then seek out the target world I'm trying to go to.
The worlds are positioned like steps on a spiral staircase, according to the metaphor I heard; imagining it that way, it's the feeling that if you know where you stand, you then become able to grasp the position of the worlds located up or down several steps, and to the right or to the left as well.
Plus, if I've been there at least once I become able to jump easily with a feeling similar to that of using 【Gate】, so I wouldn't get lost.
“Well then, try going back to the original world this time-no yo. Even if you get lost, I would go and get you, so try hard-no yo.”
Having been told that by Karen-neesan, I closed my eyes, and tried to grasp the location of our world by imagining it. I think it's somewhere around here…
I resolved myself and initiated the transfer. While enduring the terrible sensation that I've gotten used to somewhat, the place I arrived in seems to be an ordinary countryside road. There are the continuous mountains in the distance, the clouds flowing high in the sky, and the gentle gra.s.sy plain.
A horse-drawn carriage slowly pa.s.sed by with a *gata gata* sound. I can see a big tree in the distance. Wait, isn't this place…
I walked over to the root of the huge tree by the side of the road. Yeah, this really is the spot.
The place where I first opened my eyes in this world. Where everything had begun for me. Which means that this is near the town of Leaflet, huh. While I was touching the tree trunk while feeling the nostalgia, nee-san transferred in close by.
“If you had made it back to the castle in one go it would've been full marks-no yo. Well, you did get the world right so I'll give you 70 points-no yo.”
Pretty harsh. While smiling bitterly, I asked nee-san about something that had been on my mind.
“… And can I go back to the world I came from with this [Dimensional Transfer]?”
“The world Touykun was in is a bit far so it might be difficult now-nano yo. Once you get used to it, though, it's not impossible-no yo. Although I won't recommend it…”
Well, that's true. If a person who's dead shows up all of a sudden there's definitely gonna be problems. The most I can do is probably to become invisible and peek at it, I suppose. Although I do want to return sometime, it's not now.
And besides, my world is already this place now.
“Can I bring others along with me for [Dimensional Transfer]?”
“You can-no yo. Just that, there are worlds like that one we went to with its toxic atmosphere as well, so it's best if you don't bring people to worlds you yourself hasn't gone to before-no yo.”
True, without the use of divinity like us, there are worlds where one can die instantly just by being there after all. Come to think of it, how's Ende dealing with that, I wonder?
In his case, I guess he checks the situation of the world from outside the world barrier first before transferring in? That reminds me, I haven't seen him around recently. Wonder if he's alright… Well, he isn't the type who'd die so easily.
“That reminds me, when I fought with the subordinate G.o.d last time, was the 'Spirit Realm' that we were moved to also another world?”
“To be exact, it's a small sub-world that is attached to each world-nano yo. In terms that Touykun would understand, it's like a satellite? If the main world is destroyed, the sub-world would be too-no yo.”
I see. So the spirits would be gone together huh. Eh, wait a second…
“Then what happens in our case? Doesn't the Reverse World have its own Spirit Realm? Would they become mixed together when the two worlds eventually converge?”
“If the worlds are originally far away that could happen, but in this case, since the two worlds are neighbors, they tentatively have the same Spirit Realm-nano yo. However, when the two worlds are joined together, we don't know how the spirits around the world would react-no yo. At worst, we could be dealing with things like rising sea levels, changing land ma.s.ses and extreme weather-no yo.”
“… Nonono. You said that like it's some light thing but that's important isn't it onee-san!? Tell me that first!! Why'd u kept silent on it!?”
When I retorted to Karen-neesan, she solidified in place with a blank expression. After blinking 2, 3 times, she let her tongue out a little bit while sending a wink my way.
“… Tehe~♪”
“h.e.l.lo, is this World G.o.d-sama? There's a G.o.ddess here who isn't doing her job as support properly and is only binge eating sweets, and I'd like to request a personnel change…”
“Unyaaaaaaaa~!!! I taught you [Dimensional Transfer]-no yo! I'm not slacking-no yo! I just forgot about it this time-no yoo!”
(TL: last -no yo is intentionally dragged out in the raw.) Karen-neesan came clinging onto me who's faking a call to the World G.o.d-sama. Good grief, she actually forgot something like this… That was dangerous. If the new world had sunk below the seas just like that, I wouldn't have the guts to meet with Kami-sama.
“And, how can we deal with it?”
“Ah… Give a heads-up to the spirits beforehand so they aren't as shocked? Or rather, just make them your subordinates and it would be fine-nano yo. Touykun is a G.o.d's dependent after all.”
Oh, right. That spirit of sand I met in Sandora also said something similar, didn't she. That the power of the G.o.ds is absolute to the spirits, or something like that.
“Well, Touykun is not an official G.o.d yet, so there would be spirits who would not be subordinated that easily, but it's still possible-no yo.”
“Subordinating the spirits… How do I do that?”
“There's a lot of methods-no yo.”
1. Persuasion.
Talk it out with them and make them your subordinates-no yo. A peaceful solution. Love and Peace-nano yo. (TL: the “love and peace” bit was in English.)
2. Beat them down.
Teach them who's the boss through their bodies-no yo. Power is justice. Search and Destroy-nano yo. (TL: again, English. Questionable usage here…)
“… The end.”
“Isn't there only two options!? What about the 'a lot' you said!? The range is way too small!”
Either you talk or you give a beatdown… What's with this solution!?
“3. Threaten them by grasping their weakness…”
“Eh…”
“Well, if you use method 3, they wouldn't be truly obedient to you and it's suspicious whether they can move well when you want them to-no yo. As a metaphor, think of yourself as a newly appointed boss of a company-nano yo. There would be employees who would follow you, and others who would not think highly of you and ignore you. If you have the time and leisure, you can always talk with them one-on-one to solve the problems-no yo. But if you don't—”
“Method 2…”
Search and Destroy? Nono, that kind of company would go under, okay. It's going past being a black corporation and turning into a blood corporation instead. That's a terrible metaphor…
“Why're you hesitating now anyway… You used a similar method to subdue the Divine Beasts, Kohaku-chan and the others, didn't you?”
No, well… Are they the same?
“If the spirit is obedient then leave them be, and if it's rebellious then show them the difference in strength and they'll acknowledge you-no yo. Most spirits are simple-minded and honest at heart, after all.”
Really? Won't I be hated instead? I wouldn't want to be called something like a “Spirit Hunter” … Would it really go like one of those old teenage dramas where the two sides have a fistfight at a riverbank in the sunset, and reach mutual understanding? Sounds fishy to me…
“… For now, I just need to go to the Spirit Realm and talk with them, right?”
“Well, that's right-nano yo. Just tell them 'I'm the one who's slated to become the manager of this world. It might be troublesome, but please become my subordinates' or something similar-no yo. After that, the spirits would be split between the ones that go 'Please take care of us' and the ones that go 'Don't joke with me, I won't acknowledge you', I guess. Then you just have to Destroy the rebellious ones.” (TL: “Destroy” in English.)
No, why would I kill them? Nee-san, you just wanted to say that, didn't you.
Well, I did hear that spirits can't die and will revive by themselves sooner or later, so I guess I don't need to go easy on them?
I really wish it would go towards a peaceful direction… Love and Peace, or something. However, based on my past experiences, things like this always go in a direction I don't want it to…
… Search and Destroy?
