Copy Skills with Affinity!

Chapter 193

Wrapping Up (2)

The ‘Storyteller’ basically had rather light footsteps.

The demonkind, by nature, didn’t really care much about what others were doing with their lives.

Aside from their ultimate goal of reviving the God of Devouring they served, they generally held the stance that anything was fine as long as it didn’t interfere, no matter where or what someone was doing.

The fact that they could casually face the very target that posed the greatest obstacle to that goal was, in itself, a clear reflection of that mindset.

“……Hey, gloomy bastard.”

Inside the dark room, Elisha, who had been sitting there first, spoke like that when she saw Bailey trudging into the room.

“Long time no see, noisy one.”

Bailey shot back immediately without losing ground, and Elisha let out a scoff at that.

“We’re not exactly the kind to want to see each other’s faces for long, so let’s finish this quickly. You saw it, right?”

“……I did.”

At Bailey’s immediate remark, Elisha answered curtly.

They both probably knew exactly who was being referred to.

“He revived a god. It wasn’t a completely dead god, but still……”

“……It was undeniably a miracle.”

The God of Love and Intercourse was a god that Urgan had forcibly placed into a vegetative state before its divinity was taken by Wornil.

Of course, during the transmission of myths, it had been mistakenly known as having died entirely, but regardless, it was a god that could never be summoned through any normal means.

And yet, something like that—

Had been summoned using a human as a vessel.

That meant that man could demonstrate an extraordinarily special ability when it came to ‘gods.’

Which meant—

“Whether it’s our god, or yours.”

Bailey spoke with a faint smile.

“I think we’ll be able to receive help.”

“Isn’t that why both you and I have been buttering him up all this time?”

At Elisha’s sighing remark, Bailey silently acknowledged it.

“……Let’s settle this. No need to drag it out.”

It was clearly a statement filled with certainty that something would soon happen to Aiden.

▣

“……Hmm.”

I let out a small hum as I brushed my hair back.

Anyway, things seemed to have worked out pretty well overall.

I rescued Rania, and I also succeeded in assigning Cretin the role of being a vessel for a god.

‘Feels like it might even be reusable…….’

It felt like I could call Aria into that vessel again without much difficulty.

Of course, considering that after being summoned once, she couldn’t even properly control the body and ended up bedridden, it did seem that calling such a being into a human body came with significant risks.

‘Then, what’s left to do…….’

Pulling down a god that existed in another plane—the Pantheon—into this world.

If something like that were possible……

“…….”

Noel, Katya, and Rania—

It meant all of them could potentially do something similar.

I’d have to think about how exactly that could be done, though.

“……Even after meeting you again, I never get tired of it.”

Meyer said that with a scoff.

Well, it wasn’t strange. Seeing me casually shrug off getting chopped up into minced meat after dying would make anyone react like that……

“How do you end up as minced meat every time and still keep thinking about something else?”

“……At this point, it feels like I’d be losing out if I didn’t do this.”

“…….”

Leaving Meyer, who was holding his forehead like he didn’t even want to respond, I turned my head around and spoke.

“……Where are Sir Teresa and His Holiness?”

It had been a while since I came here, but neither of them were anywhere to be seen.

Before, they at least came out to greet me, but lately it felt like I never saw them at all……

“Ah, about that—”

“—We’re right here!”

Meyer tried to explain, but before he could finish, Teresa suddenly burst up from below, tearing through the floor.

As always, her golden hair, like it had been gathered from gold dust, fluttered as she beamed brightly, giving off a feeling like meeting the sun……

I had heard she was staying in the deeper consciousness beneath mine, and seeing her tear through the floor like that really made it feel true.

“Oh, you’re here?”

Seeing even Abigail the Third standing beside her gave me a sense of familiarity as well.

“……But why are the two of you coming out together?”

“Oh, because it’s fun.”

“Pardon?”

“This one—do you remember why she holed herself up down here?”

At Abigail pointing at Teresa, I tilted my head and answered.

“Wasn’t it because she was researching some kind of technique?”

I distinctly remembered hearing that around the time I returned after resolving things in the Holy Crown Kingdom.

“Right. And because of that, I got a bit interested too.”

“……I see?”

Just how incredible was the technique she was researching that she shut herself in like that without doing anything else? And Abigail too?

As I tilted my head in thought, Abigail grinned.

……And suddenly, seeing that expression made a chill run down my spine. I couldn’t recall a single time in life when this person made that kind of expression and things didn’t turn grim afterward.

“You know, we can see everything you’ve been up to.”

“Pardon?”

“Even if we’re inside the Mental World, all information about you gets transmitted to us.”

“…….”

“So just gathering together and watching that alone makes time fly by. It’s fun.”

Hmm.

It felt like a bunch of elders gathering in the main room, watching TV together and laughing heartily.

In fact, there wasn’t really anyone among them who could even be called young—

“You’ve got that look like you’re thinking something rude, even though I don’t know what it is.”

……I guess what increases with age is perceptiveness.

As I thought that and rubbed the corner of my mouth, Abigail the Third, who had been glaring at me for a moment, let out a deep sigh and continued.

Anyway, judging by her tone, she seemed willing to let it slide for now, considering what she was about to say.

“So while watching all that, we gradually started adding onto this one’s research.”

As she said that and lightly patted Teresa’s shoulder, Teresa smiled brightly and made a V sign with both hands toward me.

……Seeing that somehow made me twice as uneasy.

“What exactly have you been researching……?”

“Originally, we focused on the fact that there’s some kind of special connection between you and the gods.”

“I see.”

“So we started with the idea that maybe there was a technique to make powerful use of that connection—”

Smack.

The Pontiff formed a hand blade and struck it onto her other palm.

As if she had just thought of something far more interesting than that.

“But then I realized there was no need for that.”

“……Pardon?”

What on earth had she been talking about this whole time?

As I asked in confusion again, she snickered and continued.

“No, think about it. Every god that has appeared before you has shown strong favor toward you. Right?”

“That’s……true, I guess?”

“And whether you admit it or not, you have an innate talent for charming women. Right?”

“…….”

“Look at you staying quiet only on this one. Shameless bastard.”

“……What are you trying to say?”

“If you combine those two things, you can actually obtain quite efficient ‘blessings’ much more easily than you’d think.”

More precisely,

She was talking about a method to perform what I did to Cretin—‘manifesting a god’—but in a much easier way.

“You’re being targeted by Wornil. You know that, right?”

“I’ve already run into it a few times, so yeah, I know well.”

“I’m saying we’ve come up with a pretty good countermeasure for that.”

“…….”

……Indeed.

To oppose something that had been sealed even in the Pantheon because it was feared for its power, it seemed impossible unless I summoned multiple gods at once.

The destructive power when a god manifested had already been proven when it easily defeated the Harvester, who had been Wornil’s subordinate.

“……Then how am I supposed to do that?”

It was nothing but good news that they had already completed the research before I even had to figure anything out myself.

Still, the way she kept grinning as if something amusing was about to happen made me extremely uneasy.

“Ah, I don’t think I even need to explain that.”

“……Pardon?”

“It looks like there’s already an opportunity nearby to test it for the first time.”

“…………Pardon?”

“You’ll probably wake up soon.”

“No, could you at least expl—”

As I kept throwing out flustered questions, Abigail grinned and continued.

“I told you at the start. Even if we’re inside the Mental World, we’re quite sensitive to what you’re going through.”

That was true.

But why bring that up all of a sudden?

“Even if you’re asleep, we can, if we try, see your ‘external situation.’”

Still chuckling, Abigail finished her words to my still-dazed self.

“You’re in big trouble.”

She declared it like a verdict.

And before I could even respond—

My consciousness was abruptly pulled outward.

“………….”

I could hear birds chirping.

As my sense of time slowly recovered, I saw a room in the early dawn, long after the moon had risen.

It was the lodging assigned to me by the Tribal Alliance. Dim and quiet.

But judging by the physical sensations returning after my sense of time—

It was heavy.

Something was pressing down on my body from above.

“…….”

Was I having sleep paralysis? What the hell was this?

As I barely managed to lift my neck and look upward—

Noel was right in front of me.

“…….”

She was sitting squarely on top of my stomach, straddling me as I lay asleep.

Thanks to my eyes having long since adjusted to darkness, I could clearly tell that her face was flushed red even in the dim room.

“……?”

I checked quietly to see if she had been drinking, but there were no signs of it at all.

“……?!”

Which left me with a far more chilling conclusion.

Right now, Noel—

In a completely sober state—

Had snuck into my room while I was asleep, sat on top of me, and woken me up.

Why?

Why on earth?

What was she trying to do?

“……Sir?”

I forced out a strained voice.

Of course, we had met alone late at night before, but even considering that—

Something about Noel’s demeanor was extremely unusual.

“…………Sir?”

Once again, I barely managed to squeeze out her name.

How should I put it—

A long time ago, when I first met Noel—

It felt like that same oppressive presence was returning.

“Aiden.”

Just hearing her voice made my body tense up.

“Y-Yes……?”

“Shall we?”

“…….”

What exactly she meant—

Was something I didn’t even want to ask out loud.