“Sit.”
-This place...?
“Can you not tell by looking? This is my room, of course.”
This place?
Since when did ordinary rooms have hammers and anvils lying around?
And what about all the weapons and armor scattered everywhere?
The only things that even supported the claim that this was a room were a bed, a table, and two chairs.
No matter how I tried to look at it, this was just a small forge.
“Why are you standing there gawking?”
Still, saying that to his face would be rather rude, wouldn't it?
Even if he was that damned senior of mine....
So I had no choice but to sit down quietly.
“I imagine you have plenty of questions. Ask me anything.”
That damned senior tossed out the question without much thought, but it plunged me into deep contemplation, like a frog struck dead by a carelessly thrown stone.
The ghost Dwarf before me was probably the person who knew the most about my current situation.
So after turning the matter over and over in my head, I moved my pen.
-What is this place?
It was an extremely broad question, but right now, it seemed the most appropriate one.
“Did the System not tell you something about it? This is the ‘Sacred Site of the Goddess of the Doomed.’”
-That's not what I was asking.
“Heh heh heh... Of course it was not.”
That damned senior smiled with an ominous chuckle.
“This is the Goddess's first Sacred Site. More specifically, the place where the Goddess ascended. It is also a sanctuary prepared for her Apostles.”
-A sanctuary...?
“Yes, a sanctuary. Just as the name ‘Goddess of the Doomed’ suggests, all of us Apostles were people driven to the edge of a cliff. This place is a sanctuary for such people.”
-In a place like this...?
Dust and cobwebs filled my view as I looked around.
Then there were all the hammers, anvils, and other junk lying about....
No matter how I thought about it, I couldn't imagine finding any peace in a place like this.
“Heh heh heh. Well, our cult is in a sorry state. That is only natural when it is made up of people on the verge of ruin.”
That's the sort of thing I'd rather you denied.
“Having lost even our Sacred Relic, all our cult can do is struggle to survive.”
The Sacred Relic.
According to the Damn Goddess, it was something I absolutely needed to recover my memories.
-Do you know where that Sacred Relic is?
“Hmm? Did the Goddess not tell you?”
At that moment, I felt sweat running down my back.
Of course, that was impossible. I didn't even have sweat glands or a back, only a spine. But an ominous feeling so intense that it seemed to constrict my very bones gripped me.
“Bastards from another cult stole the Sacred Relic. Well, given that this Sacred Site was already falling apart, I suppose it was only to be expected.”
That was unexpectedly detailed information from my senior.
I'd been prepared to search the entire Earth, but compared to that, robbing a single cult would be a piece of cake.
The lingering sense of foreboding bothered me, but I still needed more information.
-Which cult was it?
“Heh heh heh. How would I know? I do not even know how many years I have been bound to this territory. How could I know those bastards?”
Ah, so much for that. Still, at least I know a cult was involved....
“But they did say something. ‘For Olympos.’”
Hearing those words made my head throb.
No, it went beyond throbbing. It felt as though my entire body had started aching.
Olympos. How could I not know that word?
As far as I knew, there was only one cult that went around invoking Olympos.
An alliance of Constellations centered around those who had been worshipped as gods in ancient Greece.
That alliance, regarded as the strongest among all alliances of Constellations and now boasting countless followers, was the Olympos Cult.
And the leader of the Olympos Cult was the strongest Constellation, the God of Lightning, the King of the Gods, the Constellation of Jupiter.
Zeus.
And you're telling me I have to retrieve the Sacred Relic from the Olympos Cult to get my memories back?
Hahahaha!
The sheer scale of the problem had suddenly shot straight through the atmosphere, and I felt like I was losing my mind.
Zeus—no, most of the Constellations in the Olympos Cult—were greedy.
They would never forgive anyone for taking away the Sacred Relics, sacred implements, or divine artifacts that had fallen into their hands.
They didn't care even if the original owner came to reclaim them in person.
They had the power and ability to get away with it.
And I'm supposed to steal a Sacred Relic back from the Olympos Cult?
Searching every corner of Earth for the Sacred Relic would be a hundred, a thousand times easier!
Fuck! This is a fraudulent contract!
None of this was in the contract!
[The ‘Goddess of the Doomed’ says that no matter how much you protest, a contract made cannot be undone.]
“CLACK! CLACK!”
You damn Goddess!!!
Don't stay quiet until moments like this, only to show up, say something, and disappear!
Take responsibility!
If you made me your Apostle, shouldn't you, as a god, take responsibility for making me stronger?!
***
Haah. I don't even care anymore.
I just want to give up.
“Heh heh heh! What a masterpiece! Judging by your reaction, you seem to know the bastards who stole the Sacred Relic. Do not worry. I shall train you, so you will not die so easily.”
-Enough to survive a fight with a Constellation?
“No, that would be rather difficult.”
Then why say anything in the first place...?
I'm doomed....
I have to steal the Sacred Relic from the Olympos Cult?
And the only one who can help me is that Damn Goddess?
I'm done for. Really....
“Whatever the case, you have no other option, do you? Sitting around like that will not solve anything.”
That's... true enough.
Fraudulent or not, I'd already signed the contract.
It wasn't some trivial pinky promise between children, either. It was a contract between a Constellation and an Apostle.
Besides, as deeply dissatisfied as I was, the fact that I was alive right now was, when you got down to it, thanks to the Damn Goddess.
I had to rely on the Goddess even to find a way to recover my memories and learn who I was.
I owed her a personal debt, and I had no other choice. In the end, whether I liked it or not, I was destined to oppose the Olympos Cult.
In that case, rather than standing still and despairing without doing anything, I'd be better off moving forward, even if only by a centimeter.
-So what am I supposed to do?
“Train, of course. You may have defeated my Alpha-29481, but you are still far too weak. If you had not been lucky enough to enter the Domain, you would have lost. From now on, you will fight the Alphas I have created to develop your combat instincts.”
That damned senior spoke calmly, resting his chin on his hand.
But... I could see the corners of his mouth curling upward behind the hand covering it.
That damned senior clearly just wanted to torment me.
I wanted to punch that smug grin off his face, but my right hand was already writing down a question that had occurred to me first.
-By the way, what's the Domain?
“You came around so quickly that I thought you had experienced it before. Were you merely one of those naturally gifted bastards?”
What's he talking about? I asked what the Domain was, and now he's going off on something else....
“Huh... Those eyes on a skeleton. Fine, fine. I shall explain. Have you ever been so focused on something that it felt as though a great deal of time had passed, when in reality only a little had?”
-No.
At my reply, my senior's face twisted into a bizarre expression of disbelief.
Well, what do you want me to do about it?
Even if I'd had an experience like that, I wouldn't know because I don't have the memory of it.
All I remembered was basic common knowledge and a brief fragment from just before my death.
How could I possibly remember an experience like that?
“...Sigh. Then just listen.”
-Yes, sir.
“When a person concentrates on something, there are times when they experience time flowing more slowly. For instance, when an enemy's sword suddenly seems to move more slowly on the battlefield.”
-…….
“The Domain is a technique that takes that experience to its extreme.”
As he spoke, my senior tapped his temple a few times with his index finger.
“By ignoring every other piece of information conveyed by the senses and focusing solely on the enemy, you divide one second into a minute, then divide that minute into an hour and use it all.”
BANG—!
“That is the Domain.”
My senior suddenly slammed his hand down on the table as he said it.
His explanation had been long and drawn out, but I hadn't fallen asleep or anything.
Probably.
“Well, I call it a technique, but it is actually closer to a phenomenon. As far as I know, there is no being capable of entering the Domain at will. Not unless they are a Constellation who has attained divinity.”
“CLICK....”
“Anyway, because of the nature of the technique, it naturally consumes an enormous amount of mental energy and Stamina, so most people collapse from exhaustion after leaving the Domain.... Still, it is such an absurdly overpowered technique that, if someone enters the Domain during a battle, you could almost say that person is guaranteed to win.”
Hmm... So is it like ‘bullet time’ in games, where everything around the player slows down while the player alone moves quickly?
The slight difference would be that you can't activate it at will.
Then why did that old man appear right after I had activated the Domain and exhausted myself?
It could have been a coincidence, but I had a strong feeling that it wasn't.
Just remembering how my exhausted Stamina had recovered as soon as that old man appeared was enough to convince me that he and the Domain were connected somehow.
“Why have you suddenly grown so serious...? Ah, and you should learn to work a hammer from me as well.”
-Why hammering all of a sudden...?
It was an unexpected suggestion.
Considering how strong the wooden doll I'd defeated earlier had been, combat training alone was bound to be grueling enough. Did I really need to learn to use a hammer as well?
“Because of your arrows. Arrows are consumables, and as a skeleton, you would not be able to buy any.”
-But I can make arrows...?
Along with the note I'd written, I showed him another arrow growing out of my hand.
“Then do you intend to rely solely on those bone arrows that cannot even be reused? Especially when you cannot produce an unlimited number of them?”
It was frustrating, but he was right.
I'd spent quite a while worrying about that very problem a week ago.
But I don't want to learn from that damned senior!
It took only a moment to imagine him growing irritated and shouting at me.
‘This iron is flaking so badly that a bathhouse scrubber will mistake it for dead skin and come over to scrub it off!’
Hmm. Yes, I'd rather die than learn from that damned senior.
They say you should make the best of things, but if I learned from him, my lifespan would surely be cut in half before I could make a decent arrow.
...Though I'm not sure whether a skeleton can actually die of old age.
-It's fine. I can buy them from another blacksmith anyway.
I can always learn how to make arrows from some other blacksmith later.
I was about to refuse him with those words, but that damned senior had somehow approached me and suddenly placed a hand on my shoulder, pressing down firmly.
“You seem to be misunderstanding something. This is not a suggestion. It is a notice.”
?
“As I said earlier, it is my duty to help you grow stronger. And to fulfill that duty, I shall not be taking your opinions into consideration.”
My life as a skeleton, seriously.
This damned life never gives me a choice. It just keeps forcing things on me.
I grumbled about my misfortune to soothe my wounded feelings.
What could I do? Things had already turned out this way, so I had to console myself with the thought that I was simply getting all my future hardships out of the way now.
“Ah, and to the left after you come in through the entrance. Go upstairs and open the door directly ahead. There is a room there where you can rest.”
-But I'm a skeleton.
“Even if you do not sleep, you can still suffer mental fatigue, can you not? And do not open the door directly in front. It will not open anyway.”
Well, that's true. I'm extremely mentally exhausted, too.
As soon as that damned senior removed the hand pressing down on my shoulder, I followed his directions without another word and pulled open the left-hand door I hadn't checked earlier.
The first thing I saw upon entering was what looked like a dining hall large enough for countless people to eat together, with long tables and chairs.
I passed through that empty place, which held no meaning for a skeleton like me, and headed farther inside, until at last a great many beds came into view.
My staggering footsteps, as though I had become a zombie, finally came to an end.
I collapsed onto one of the beds.
“Then sleep well.”
Right. I should get a good night's sleep.
Of course, there's no way a skeleton like me can actually sleep, so I'll just shut off my vision....
...?
“CLACK! CLICK! CLACK, CLACK!!!”
“Is something wrong?”
Y-you scared me! Who are you?
“Ah, I seem to have startled you... I apologize.”
With those words, the blonde woman dressed in priestly robes bowed her head.
-Ah, n-no, it's all right.
I showed her the notebook in which I'd written that I was fine. She read it, then vanished without a trace.
For a moment, I wondered if she was a ghost, but that didn't seem to be the case....
I don't know.
I'll have to ask my senior tomorrow.
With that thought, I shut off my vision.