Nurturing the Hero to Avoid Death

translator: mii

editors: sleepchaser, ASplashofMusic

I hear a tinkle, like a bell’s.

There it goes again.

These noises are rather faint, as if originating from somewhere in the distance.

And accompanying those sounds is a voice. An unfamiliar one.

“…sama.”

Pure and light to the ears. Also like a bell, but not quite the same.

“…Nao-sama.”

That voice seems to be calling for someone. I wonder who?

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“Osaka Nao-sama.”

Osaka… Nao?

All of a sudden, the haze in my mind finally clears. At that very instant, I remember.

That’s… my name.

It’s been so many years since someone called me by that name that I’ve almost forgotten it.

Somehow, I manage to open my heavy eyelids. Upon which, I’m greeted with a field of pure white.

Whichever direction I turn to, it’s all the same. Nothing but an endless landscape solely dominated by the color white.

Then before me, a little girl appears, slightly hovering above the ground.

“…Eh?”

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Most of her features are practically devoid of color, the only exception being her eyes that are as pink as cherry blossoms.

Sprouting from her back is a cute, small pair of wings, making her resemble a white bird.

With every gentle flap of her white wings, sparkles of light drift through the air.

Although she has those strange wings on her back, she appears to be an incredibly young girl. Maybe around two to three years old?

She doesn’t even reach my waist. Way below it. She’s much too young to be without a guardian.

“Umm, where are you from, little girl? Are you lost?”

“No, I’m not lost. I’m the Goddess.”

“Wow. You’re a goddess even though you’re this small? How amazing.”

I wonder who she is.

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I go along with her conversation for the time being, but should I also play along with her make-believe game as a goddess?

“It’s not a make-believe game, Osaka-sama. I am the Goddess Crouture.”

“Huh?! You can read my mind!?!” Then I pause. “Wait, Crouture…?”

I feel like I’ve heard that name before.

When did I…?

“Ah!” I remember now.

“G-Goddess?!”

“Yes.” The little girl nods with a smile, pale, chubby cheeks darkening into a faint pink.

“G-God… dess? Huh?! Seriously?! You’re not lying to me, are you?! Somehow, you’ve become extremely… small…”

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The mini-Goddess lets out a sigh, her tiny shoulders drooping in dejection. “This… can’t be helped. This child-like body is what you can call my ‘power-saving mode.'”

“Power-saving mode?”

“Yes. I have currently exhausted all my divine power. In the case of such a problem, I can assume a smaller form to minimize the consumption of my divine power. And this appearance of mine is exactly that.”

“I-is that so… Wait, what?! You said that you’ve exhausted all your divine power… What do you mean by that?”

“That means I went completely broke. Was shut down. But somehow, I’ve managed to recover a tiny portion of my power, though I’m still not in a position to relax and freely use it. I’ll refrain from doing anything power-draining that I can afford to not do. I have to conserve as much of my power as I can..”

“Woaah…”

So the Goddess has a power saving mode of her own.

Also, the part where she consumed all her power sounds similar to those times when my notebook laptop battery was about to die. I’d panic and rush to charge it, only to see the screen turn black before I did so. Then, with my heart pounding, I’d worry about whether my ongoing work was still there.

In the first place, I’m surprised that the Goddess knows computer terminology.

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But then again, she likes video games. The first world she created is even modeled after one. Maybe she also plays games on the computer.

…When I try to picture such a scene in my head, the image looks so surreal.

And if that’s really the case, that means the Goddess has more knowledge in that area than I do. I’m not sure if it is, though.

Then the mini-Goddess bows, a crease forming between her eyebrows. “A great amount of divine power is needed to call a soul from one world to another. After all, I’m moving something to a place where it isn’t supposed to reside. I have to modify the existing laws of that world in order for the transfer to succeed. For such bending of a world’s laws, the amount of divine power needed is already very, very immense!”

The mini-Goddess raises her fists straight up and starts hopping like a rabbit.

“O-oh…” said Lian.

“Those transmigration stories where God can move people easily to another world are too good to be true! The reality is that the law of equivalent exchange exists. Doing the same thing in real life requires a reasonable price! And for a low-ranked deity like me, accomplishing that task consumed all my divine power! It was very difficult!”

“I-is that so…?”

“That’s right! After sending your soul to a body in that world, my divine power was completely exhausted! I collapsed right after and lost consciousness!”

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“Hm…”

Seems like after our first meeting, the Goddess fainted.

“When I woke up, I found that five years have already passed! It was so shocking! I panicked; my face turned pale. I couldn’t stay calm for even a second, so I immediately set up a meeting with you!”

I can’t help but stare at the mini-Goddess in disbelief.

Don’t kid with me. There’s a limit to excuses.

“…Isn’t that too much? It’s five years, you know?”

There’s no way someone can sleep for that long, right?

Noticing my skeptical gaze, the mini-Goddess repeatedly swings her arms up and down in panic. “Y-you don’t believe me, do you?! But I’m telling the truth! The flow of time in the Lower World, Space, and Heaven is completely different from each other! A little nap in Heaven is already almost a year in the Lower World!”

“Huh?”

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Taking a nap lasts one year, you say?

“Seriously?”

“Seriously. It’s the truth. I swear by His name that I’m not lying!”

I hum.

“Time passes in Heaven, Space, and Lower World at different speeds… That’s really the truth… I’m serious…” says the mini Goddess, eyes moistening and lips curving downward. Her face even severely contorts, as if she’s about to cry..

…Stop it.

Doesn’t this look like I’m bullying a child to tears?!

Anyway, her actions… are more childish than in our first meeting five years ago, aren’t they?

I wonder. Did her personality change with her physical appearance?

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It’s not like I can ask her, though.

Even so, the Goddess before my eyes gazes up at me with teary eyes, tremors wracking her small body as she tries to suppress her sobs. There’s even snot running down from her nose.

I sigh. “Ahh, really… There, there. Please don’t cry. You’re the Goddess, right?” I say, wiping the Goddess’ face with the sleeve of my shirt.

I’m the one who wants to cry right now, okay?

“Then… you believe me now?”

“Yeah, well… I guess…”

In any case, if I say otherwise, this conversation won’t be going anywhere.

The Goddess nods, this time with a happy expression. “Thank you very much! I’ll continue to do my best to fully recover my divine power!”

“Hm… By the way, how do you recover your power?”

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“If I continuously fly around Heaven, bathing in His overflowing light, I will automatically accumulate divine power.”

“Bathing in light…”

Like solar power then?

How environmentally friendly. As expected of God.

“After all, if I don’t save enough divine power, I won’t be able to bring you back to your original world.”

To… my original world?

As I listen to the Goddess’ words, an unspeakable nostalgia fills my heart.

My original world.

The world where I lived as “Osaka Nao.”

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My life back then does feel nostalgic. But I don’t think I feel any sadness or desire to return.

It’s just pure nostalgia.

Even I’m amazed at how much I’ve grown to love my current world. In my heart, I let out a laugh.

I close my eyes. When I open them again, I lower my head to the mini-Goddess. “Goddess.”

“Yes. What is it?”

“Is… Is it okay for me to remain in your world?”

The mini-Goddess’ eyes widen. “Huh?”

“I want to remain in your world. Please, Goddess.”

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