Jashin ni Tensei Shitara Haika no Maou-gun ga Sassoku Metsubou Shisou Nandaga, Dousureba Indaro ka

5, Evil God, Karma, and a Celestial Visit (A-side)

I break off from Drake's group and enjoy a stroll in the sky above the forest in the Demon Lands.

Just because I'm his Evil God doesn't mean we have to be together 24/7. Our relationship might sour if we were. But more than anything, this stroll in the sky is more fun than I could have imagined!

Still, world domination…

Like the Romance of the Three Kingdoms and the Ambition of Nobunaga, I'd really like to see someone conquer the world just once.

It's every boy's fantasy.

That Demon Lord Drake seems like an ambitious guy, so I can tag along and get a front row seat to the real thing. It's amazing.

At first, I thought I'd have a hard time making progress reincarnating as an Evil God, but it's going surprisingly well.

While I was thinking about all that, I found what I was looking for.

In the sky, there was a door.

A door to the Celestial Realm. It wasn’t actually a door to any specific place, but a 'Door to Anywhere'. 

It's apparently designed to not be visible to normal living things.

Before connecting I think, 'This world's Celestial Realm'. This is a key point to make sure I don't open the door to the Great Beyond.

It was one of the very few pieces of information the Old Lady in the Great Beyond told me before I reincarnated.

When it comes to being an Evil God, you can't get clothes or food unless they're given as offerings. When offerings are given, there needs to be a place for them to go, therefore you need to visit the Celestial Realm periodically. Of course, there are also Gods who live self-sufficiently and rarely leave the Celestial Realm.

Anyway, I can't just keep running around in the UNIQLO sweater and jeans I died in, so I need to check my other options.

"Now then, hello there?"

When I opened the door, there was the Celestial Realm.

It's hard to call it by its other name, the Divine Domain.

There's a building like the Grand Shrine in Ise, and next to it is a Parthenon-like temple, and an impressive San Pietro church structure beside a Mayan Pyramid of the Sun. A Taoist temple built in the midst of a Buddhist monastery...and there's a bunch of other buildings from other places I'm not familiar with.

Surrounding the huge sacred area is a shopping district with side streets and overhangs all lined up together. Anyway, it's a huge disorderly mess.

There's a big clamour going on. Seeing a stranger wandering around is quite a spectacle for the Gods.

"Pardon me, is this your first time in the Divine Domain?"

While I was spaced out staring at the scenery, a semi-transparent ghost-like figure called out to me.

"Ah, yes. I was just reincarnated today."

"I see, I see. I thought that might be the case myself. You looked like a new God after all. Welcome to the Divine Domain. We're happy to have you here."

"Ah, thank you so much..."

The semi-transparent guy was the gatekeeper, and informed me that all new Gods need to be registered at the public office, so I head there to get it over with. I'd feel stupid carrying a bunch of store-bought goods with me to public office, so I’ll save that for later.

But anyway, I wonder why the gatekeeper was semi-transparent?

Even though I was just reincarnated, I still had a proper body.

 ○

"That's because he’s a God with no believers."

Asking the lady behind the reception desk at the office shed some light on the subject.

If a God doesn't have any believers, and you use up all the karma you have left, you end up like that.

With the dead silence that followed, it was obvious there were no Gods besides me here.

There hadn't been a trend of new Gods here lately.

If this world was a bit younger, it might have been different.

"Has it always been like that?"

"Always. And it will be so until this world ends...which the gatekeeper says will come in about 5.6 billion years."

"That's a little..."

That's a long-ass time.

For the gatekeeper with a forced smile to have to keep at this for 5.6 billion more years, this was probably worse than hell.

"Other than the gatekeeper, the Mushroom God shares a similar fate living quietly in his designated forest. His so-called kindred are the same.”

"Kindred. In that case, what do they do about Karma?"

"They work on behalf of a kindred God and earn a wage. The Forest God has kindred he entrusts to manage his affairs."

"Ooh......sounds pretty rough."

"They have those they can rely on, but you are still a new God with only a single believer, so be careful."

"Ah."

She's right.

The only believer I have is Drake.

And he only has a mere 200 soldiers.

He's the Demon Lord so he must be strong, but I can't help feeling a little anxious.

I just lit the flame of world domination a little bit ago, but if it fails it'll be horrendous.

“Um, Hirano Bonta-san, I've finished processing your registration. You'll start from 'Lower Junior First Rank'."

"'Lower Junior First Rank'?"

"Yes, it is your God rank."

Ah, as I thought.

I had guessed that even Gods might have some kind of ranking system.

It's incredibly annoying.

You climb your way up a step at a time, collecting new titles and whatnot...is probably what they mean by that.

"Now for the explanation of ranks..."

"Ah, no thanks. Not interested."

"Eh, are you certain?"

"Yeah, if I run into something I don't understand, I'll come back."

"O-okay..."

The lady was clearly surprised.

Having to listen to an explanation I have zero interest in would be a pain, so I saved us both the hassle.

What I really wanna know is where to get some clothes so I can get back to Drake as quick as possible.

"Rather than that..."

"Rather than that?"

"I want to know what shops around here sell clothes that are easy to move around in."