As the countdown floating before his eyes reached zero, Kitano Makoto opened his eyes.
The first thing he saw was a girl sitting across from him.
Makoto didn’t consider himself some hopeless pervert.
At worst, he was a little repressed.
Even when pretty girls walked around in revealing summer clothes, he could still keep his zipper firmly shut.
But the girl in front of him was different.
Blue twin-tails draped over her shoulders, framing features so delicate she looked like a doll.
Even while sitting quietly, she carried the calm elegance of a refined young lady, yet the cheap clothes she wore gave her an oddly fragile, almost broken air.
‘Isn’t that Customer Service Saki-chan?
How did she end up doing missions in the Main God Space too?’ “Ah, youth.
You’ve already landed in hell, yet you still have time to think about girls.” An elderly voice sounded beside him.
Makoto turned and saw an old man with a cane seated at the head of the long table, carrying himself like some retired company president.
The old man nodded to him.
“Just wait for now.
Your Talent will awaken during this period.
Once everyone else is awake, I’ll explain everything.” Makoto swept his gaze around the table.
There were seven people in total.
Aside from Togawa Sakiko, the old man, and Makoto himself, there was a muscular Westerner and a little boy who looked only eleven or twelve.
The final two sat close together, holding hands as though they were a couple.
While Makoto tried to make sense of the situation, a cold synthetic voice sounded in his ears.
[You have entered a Mission World for the first time.
Drawing your Talent…] [Draw complete.
Congratulations.
You have obtained the SSS-rank Talent, Making Fake Become Real: When someone believes one of your lies, that lie will materialize into reality.] [Detailed Talent rules: The manifestation effect is limited by three factors—the listener’s Fate Value, how strongly the listener believes you, and the limits of what you and the listener understand.] [An ordinary human has a Fate Value of 1, while characters within Mission Worlds can possess up to 100.
If listeners with a combined Fate Value of 100 believe your lie with 100% certainty, the lie will become 100% real.] [The final manifested effect cannot exceed the listener’s limits of understanding.] [Talent draw complete.
May you live a little longer.] Makoto lightly clenched his teeth, forcing himself to keep a perfectly neutral expression as he finished reading the explanation.
The old man at the head of the table was watching him from the corner of his eye, clearly trying to judge the quality of Makoto’s Talent from any change in his expression.
Makoto immediately made up his mind.
He absolutely could not reveal the exact nature of his Talent.
An ability like this would inevitably make the others wary of him.
This was the Main God Space.
There probably weren’t many genuinely good people here.
As he considered that, Sakiko woke up.
Her reaction was far stronger than Makoto’s.
She abruptly stood and looked around in panic, instinctively wrapping her arms around herself.
“Where is this?
Who are all of you?!” The old man couldn’t even be bothered to answer.
Every newcomer reacted like this after waking up for the first time.
If he explained everything separately to each person, he’d exhaust himself.
Makoto looked toward Sakiko, and his eyes immediately lit up.
A number had appeared directly above her head.
45.
‘Is that number her Fate Value?’ His gaze swept across everyone else.
Sure enough, numbers were floating above all their heads.
The old man had a 3, while everyone else had a 1.
That lined up almost perfectly with what the system had just told him.
That left one obvious question: why was Sakiko the exception?
The answer wasn’t difficult to guess.
Sakiko was both a participant in this mission and one of the main characters of the world she came from.
If her life hadn’t been plagued by so much misfortune, her Fate Value would probably have been far higher than 45.
Once Makoto realized that, he decided it would be worth getting closer to her.
“Be patient.
The system should explain everything to you soon.
If you’re here, that means you accepted its invitation too, right?” Makoto had clean-cut features and a bright, easygoing voice.
Children around his apartment complex had always liked him, which was also why he’d rushed to save a child without even stopping to think.
That same air made it easy for strangers to develop a favorable impression of him.
Sakiko bit her lip, then quietly nodded and sat back down.
Almost immediately, she received the system notification as well.
A few seconds later, her shoulders began trembling slightly and her eyes lost focus.
Makoto couldn’t tell whether she was frightened or excited.
The others woke up one after another.
The Westerner turned out to be a heavily muscled man who immediately began shouting the moment he opened his eyes.
The little boy was frightened into sobbing, only to receive a string of curses from the muscular man.
Makoto couldn’t stand watching any longer.
He beckoned the boy over, had him sit beside him, and gently patted his shoulder to calm him down.
Sakiko noticed the entire exchange, and her impression of Makoto improved a little more.
The couple were the last to wake.
Only then did the old man speak.
“Since everyone’s awake, I’m only going to explain this once.” “Welcome to hell.
Inside the Mission Worlds, the only thing you can do is struggle to stay alive, scrape some rewards from the hands of devils, then return to the real world and continue living your lives.” “There are ten minutes until the mission begins.
You have three minutes to process the situation.
After that, we’ll spend five minutes introducing ourselves and our Talents.
I’ll use the final two minutes to explain the mission.” The muscular Westerner crossed his arms and demanded, “And why the hell are you the one giving orders?” “Because I’m a veteran who’s survived three missions, and I’ve been assigned as the captain responsible for leading you newcomers this time.
Is that answer good enough?” The old man calmly pulled a revolver from his sleeve.
At the sight of the dark muzzle, the Westerner immediately raised both hands in surrender.
His posture was remarkably textbook, suggesting he’d had plenty of experience with America’s famously “friendly” police enforcement.
Makoto, meanwhile, focused on the number above the old man’s head.
‘Three Fate points for three completed missions…
Am I looking at a coincidence, or is there a connection?’ Three minutes passed quickly.
The old man pointed toward the couple.
“We’ll start with you two.
Give us your names and Talents.” The woman spoke first, her voice sharp and aggressive.
“I’m Li Huizhen.
My Talent is C-rank Cash Bullet.
I can use money as ammunition.
The larger the denomination, the stronger the shot.
I don’t know exactly how powerful it is yet.” The man beside her wore silver-framed glasses and had a mild, scholarly appearance, though his eyes carried the exhaustion of someone who had been crushed under too much pressure.
“I’m Park Jeong-ho, her boyfriend.
My Talent is D-rank Blood Money.
I can exchange stamina, energy, and…
blood for whatever currency is used in the world we’re currently in.” The muscular Westerner crossed one leg over the other, his body covered in thick, bulging muscles.
“Jack Kovacs.
Just call me Jack.
My Talent is D-rank Ironhide Muscles.
Any attack I take gets distributed across all the muscles in my body.
As long as my muscles still have strength left, the attack is nullified.” Makoto couldn’t help giving him another look.
‘It’s only D-rank, but why does that sound like some kind of rule-based ability?’ Wait…
A suspicion suddenly formed in Makoto’s mind.
That Talent probably had a serious catch.
The old man nodded before looking toward the little boy.
“What about you, kid?” Author’s Note: A new story in the traditional infinite-flow style.
Hope everyone enjoys it.