Chapter 149: Birth of the Goddess of Light!

“I’m hoome.”

Having delivered the golem to Lady Idola, I returned to the town inn where everyone was waiting, together with the golem operated by Lady Idola.

Eh? Wouldn’t it take time to return to town?

It’s okay, because I placed a teleportation marker near this town.

With this, we can move anytime using the teleportation gate from the mansion in the Royal Capital.

“Welcome back, Big Bro.”

“Oh my? Who is that?”

Liliera tilts her head looking at Lady Idola‘s golem.

Ah, everyone was watching the golem making process with deep interest at first, but they got bored halfway and went out for monster extermination and town strolling.

Only Mina watched until the latest, but she ran out saying, “No good, if I keep watching this, I feel like I’ll become useless in many ways!”

“Ah, this person is A…”

There, Lady Idola interrupts my words and steps forward.

“I am Dora. A rookie adventurer, but I had a little connection with Rex, and through that connection, I was invited to the adventure.”

“With Rex…?”

Hearing Lady Idola‘s explanation, Liliera looks at me with a reproachful gaze.

“Did you do something again by any chance?”

“Eh? What do you mean by ‘again’!?”

“Well, if you say ‘again’, I guess so.”

What do you mean ‘I guess so’, Mina!?

“Wait, A… Dora, what on earth…”

What is her intention? As I tried to ask that, Lady Idola whispers to me.

“Since this body is for incognito use, let’s keep it a secret until everyone notices. It’s a good opportunity to test if even acquaintances won’t realize it’s me.”

“Well, if that’s the case…”

Hmm, but if anything, it looks like she’s enjoying seeing how long it takes for them to find out.

I had a prankster acquaintance in my previous life too, so I can somewhat tell from the atmosphere.

But well, compared to the pranks of my acquaintance from my previous life, it’s completely harmless, so I guess I can leave it alone.

“So, I’d like to take Dora along for this monster subjugation too, is that okay?”

“Calling her without honorifics…”

“Eh?”

“No, it’s nothing.”

What is it? I feel like Liliera‘s gaze is oddly sharp… hah, could she be wary of the newly joined Lady Idola‘s ability!?

That’s right, Liliera is an A-rank adventurer. She must have seen through Dora being an amateur in combat from the behavior of Princess Idola, who has never fought before.

“I’m fine with it! Nice to meet you, Dora!”

“Well, if Rex invited her, I have no complaints either.”

Jairo and the others seem fine. Liliera is…

“I don’t particularly have any complaints if Rex says he wants to do that.”

Hmm, what is it? I feel like Liliera‘s words are somewhat harsh…

But well, if everyone has no problem, then it’s fine!

“Then let’s go, everyone!”

” ” ” “Oh-!” ” ” “

　◆

“Huh? Strange.”

We arrived at the Rotten Earth using flight magic, but I felt a sense of incongruity at the sight.

“What’s wrong, Rex?”

Lady Idola, held in my arms, tilts her head and asks.

Yeah, Lady Idola can’t fly, so I’m flying while holding her.

Lady Idola‘s golem body is equipped with a flight function just in case, but that also requires practice, so I decided to carry her this time.

I’ll have to teach Lady Idola how to fly eventually.

“It feels like the Rotten Earth is expanding…”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah, it’s not my imagination. The land I purified the other day is being eroded again. The disappearance of the holes dug to unearth the Giant Poison Centipedes buried in the purified earth is proof of that.”

“Now that you mention it, they certainly are gone.”

Hmm, I heard the Rotten Earth erodes land, but this is more than expected.

There are villages nearby too, so it would be better to purify this a bit.

“Everyone, about today’s monster subjugation, I’m thinking of changing the plan a bit and hunting monsters while purifying the Rotten Earth.”

“Isn’t that fine, stopping the expansion of the Forbidden Zone was recommended in the Demon Beast Forest too, right?”

Liliera, who had the Demon Beast Forest as her stage of activity, seems to have guessed my intention.

“Thank you, Liliera.”

“It’s fine.”

“We’re fine with it too! If Big Bro thought we should do that, there must be a proper meaning to it, right?”

“You should think for yourself a little too.”

“I leave such difficult talk to you!”

“Haa…”

Mina has it tough too.

“I have no objections either. I’m a newcomer, so I will follow Rex‘s instructions.”

“Thank you, everyone. Then first, I’m thinking of splitting the party into two. And we’ll split into two groups and purify the Rotten Earth.”

“Eh? Wait a minute, we can’t use purification magic, you know!? If anyone could use such magic, it would be Norb, but he isn’t here this time…”

“Ah, it’s okay. Dora can use purification magic.”

“Eh!?”

There, Lady Idola looks at me with an expression of surprise saying ‘Me!?’.

“It’s okay, just like FLAME INFERNO, if you shout the name of the spell, it will activate on its own.”

I whisper to Lady Idola that she can use purification magic.

“I-Is that so?”

“Yes, it will activate if you chant HIGH AREA PURIFICATION.”

“U-Understood.”

“Then about the team division, me and…”

“Me.”

Liliera raises her hand.

“Jairo and the others are originally a party, and their roles are vanguard and rearguard. Considering coordination, it’s better to be with those you are used to.”

“But wouldn’t the combat power be unbalanced between us and Big Bro’s group?”

“That’s where Mofumofu comes in. If this child is included as a set, the balance won’t be that bad, right?”

“Kyu?”

Held by Liliera, Mofumofu tilts his head asking ‘Do you need me?’.

“Oh my, is Mofumofu-chan coming with us?”

“Kyu? Kyuu!”

Called by Lady Idola, Mofumofu happily jumps towards Lady Idola.

Does he know it’s Lady Idola inside despite it being a golem body?

“2 versus 4, the balance is certainly kept. What about communication when wrapping up?”

“Ah, then I’ll hand over this communication magic item. People possessing the same item can communicate with each other.”

“You casually brought out a magic item.”

“Well, it only connects over a short distance, though.”

“Even so, it’s considerable…”

Now, preparations are complete, so shall we start the purification operation!

“But I’m a little nervous.”

Lady Idola seems a bit nervous about her full-scale adventure.

“It’s okay! Since we are here, even if you mess up a little, we’ll cover for you!”

“Right right, even this guy messes up often despite becoming C-rank.”

“Sh-Shut up!”

“Fufu, you two are very good friends.”

” “W-We’re not particularly good friends or anything!” “

Haha, it seems Jairo and Mina became good friends with her immediately.

“But be careful. This place is called the Rotten Earth, and it’s a super dangerous place swarming with poisonous monsters.”

“Oh my, is that so!?”

“Yeah. But well, if we’re here, there’s no need to be scared…”

“Ah!?”

There, Mina raises her voice.

“What’s wrong, Mina?”

“Umm you see… is it really okay to bring this girl along? If I recall, a Forbidden Zone is a place where only the high-rank adventurers themselves are allowed to enter, right…? Besides, look, rank-wise we are also…”

” ” “Ah!” ” “

“Eh?”

Come to think of it, that was the case.

This place is technically supposed to be too dangerous for low-rank adventurers to enter.

Though from the feeling of actually fighting, I thought it wasn’t that big a deal as long as poison countermeasures were taken properly.

“Liliera, do you know what rank or above is required to enter the Rotten Earth?”

“Umm, A-rank if I recall. Since there’s a danger of poisonous monsters inhabiting the Rotten Earth going outside, they apparently made it A-rank hoping for as many as possible to be hunted. But the Adventurer’s Guild documents said it’s desirable to be S-rank if heading deep inside.”

A-rank huh. Then Liliera is okay.

“Hey Mina, we were…”

“C-rank.”

Right, according to the Adventurer’s Guild rules, Jairo and the others are not permitted to enter the Rotten Earth.

“U-Umm, could it be I’m not allowed to participate?”

Lady Idola is perplexed wondering if she’s not allowed to tag along, but that worry is unnecessary. Because there’s a proper countermeasure!

“It’s okay, what everyone is not allowed to enter is inside the Rotten Earth. But if we use purification magic to return it to the original earth, that is outside the Rotten Earth!”

” ” ” “An outrageous extreme argument came out.” ” ” “

Eh? Isn’t this how territory problems are solved?

In the life before my previous one, territory problems between nations were often solved like this?

There were Kings who casually said, “The border between my country and your country is beyond this mountain and over here, right?”, and when the other party nodded, they would move the whole mountain with magic and say, “Then this place is our territory!”.

In terrible cases, there were even people who messed with the coastline.

　◆Mina◆

“Then shall we start from around here?”

Having parted with Rex and the others, we moved to a suitable place and decided to purify the Rotten Earth… but is it really okay to leave it to this girl Dora?

“Then, can I ask you, Dora?”

“Y-Yes. Leave it to me!”

Hmm, this girl Rex brought along, she really seems like an amateur.

We were also amateurs a little while ago, but we received combat training properly from my grandfather and the old men at the village Adventurer’s Guild, and we became able to fight decently by hunting.

But I don’t feel such familiarity with outdoor activities from this girl.

Could it be she accepted an incognito escort for some young lady from a good family somewhere?

If it’s Rex, who is S-rank, it’s not an impossible story, but if that’s the case, he wouldn’t bring her to such a dangerous place.

…Or rather, thinking about it carefully, this place really was a dangerous place.

“Th-Then here I go! HIGH AREA PURIFICATION!”

Then, suddenly Dora‘s body shone dazzlingly.

“Kyaa!?”

“Uwa!?”

Huh? Wait a minute! I didn’t feel the pooling magic power before activation just now!?

Moreover, without an incantation!? Could it be this girl is also Rex‘s apprentice!?

No, even then there should be a movement of magic power before activation.

That means, could this girl be…!?

While I was thinking such things, the light gradually subsided.

And when my vision returned, the entire surface of poisonous swamp had transformed into ordinary earth you could find anywhere.

Well, it’s questionable if earth with monsters half-growing out of the ground can be called ordinary, though.

“Oh my, it really became ordinary ground!”

And the person who did it is normally surprised herself.

“Hey, is this…”

“Yeah, probably Rex‘s doing… Probably that person’s body is that golem.”

Otherwise, she wouldn’t be able to use such great magic without pooling magic power.

“Does that mean!? The inside is possibly Ido…”

“Shh, since that body is an incognito golem, you mustn’t say that name. Since Rex didn’t say anything, it means keep quiet.”

I cover Jairo‘s mouth as he tried to shout in surprise.

“I-I see. By the way, what should I do about my way of speaking? Is polite speech better after all?”

“She’s incognito for now, and since Rex was interacting with her normally, isn’t normal fine? That golem’s appearance isn’t much different from ours, and conversing in awkward polite speech would raise suspicion.”

“I-I see. Then that’s a relief!”

If anything, it seems Jairo was more concerned about his way of speaking than the fact that the inside of Dora was Lady Idola.

Well, Lady Idola would probably appreciate not having to be treated with strange consideration.

“How was it, you two~?”

Lady Idola speaks to us.

“Yeah! That was amazing, Dora!”

“Yes, I was surprised.”

Really, I was surprised.

◆Certain Farmers ◆

“W-We saw somethin’ outrageous…”

We are folks from Irunaga Village.

Since our village is close to the Rotten Earth, we regularly come to keep watch on how close the expanding swamp has gotten to the village every year.

If the swamp gets too close to the village, dangerous monsters will leave the swamp and attack the village, ya see.

And we gotta abandon the village before it sinks into the swamp.

Determining the timing for that is also the job of us watchers.

Even so, nobody wants to do such a dangerous job. We pushed it onto each other sayin’ “I don’t wanna”, “I don’t wanna either”, and as a result, we ended up takin’ turns to come watch.

It was depressing as hell to come see the accursed swamp gettin’ closer to the village little by little, but this time only was different.

When we came to see the swamp, some young kids bringin’ a white, round creature approached the swamp.

We knew right away they were adventurers ’cause they were wearin’ swords and armor, but we tried to stop ’em immediately.

After all, the monsters in that swamp are outrageously strong, and the officials said only those who got special permission are allowed to enter.

But those kids didn’t look like such amazin’ people at all.

We thought they surely came without knowin’ that and tried to stop ’em, but unexpectedly, one of ’em suddenly started shinin’ like the sun.

We were surprised and closed our eyes, but when we opened ’em, somethin’ outrageous had happened.

Surprisingly, the Rotten Earth had vanished, and the land had become normal ground.

We were dumbfounded wonderin’ what on earth happened.

Furthermore, it didn’t end there; those kids started exterminatin’ the monsters of the Rotten Earth with a momentum like mowin’ weeds.

Moreover, even the white round creature that was with ’em was defeatin’ monsters many times its own size.

Then, when they exterminated all the monsters, they headed toward the depths of the Rotten Earth, and just when we thought there was another flash of light, the swamp had become normal ground.

I just don’t know what’s what anymore…

“Hey, could it be, that person is a Goddess?”

While we were dumbfounded, Yozack, who came with us, started sayin’ somethin’ stupid.

“What stupid things are you sayin’, Yozack. There’s no way that’s possible.”

“But man, shinin’ with a flash like that and returnin’ that poisonous swamp to normal soil, that ain’t somethin’ a normal human can do.”

I look at the other fellas who came with us, but perhaps they also took Yozack’s words seriously, their eyes were glued to that shinin’ girl.

“No way, but still…”

Thinkin’ normally, a Goddess is impossible. But even the great monks of the church can’t do this.

The monks said they could suppress the speed of the swamp expandin’, but they couldn’t return the swamp to normal, ya see.

“Then is she really… a Goddess?”

“She defeated those scary monsters so lightly and returned the hateful swamp to normal, ya know? What else can those folks be but a Goddess?”

“Th-Then, do those folks intend to return this swamp to normal?”

“That must be it! The Goddess came to save us who are in trouble!”

“Surely that white creature is a Divine Beast servin’ the Goddess!”

“That bo… no, those folks must be Divine Messengers servin’ the Goddess too!?”

“Goddess…”

“Goddess!!”

” ” ” “Goddess!!” ” ” “

Before we knew it, we were prostratin’ ourselves deeply toward the Goddess and her folks.

Oh Goddess, please save us!

◆ Mina ◆

“Achoo!”

While we were exterminating monsters, Lady Idola suddenly sneezed.

“Oh? A cold, Dora?”

“My nose suddenly felt itchy somehow.”

Or rather, can you catch a cold even though it’s a golem body?

“Hahaha, could it be someone is rumorin’ about Dora?”

“I wonder who on earth is rumoring?”

We were having such silly talk, but I never expected that a few days later, an outrageous rumor that a shining Goddess descended upon the Rotten Earth would start circulating…