The Hollow God

Night in the village was filled with celebration after the black haired young man came down in the evening to inform them that both him and the golden crab divine were going to stay for good. The old chief instantly declared that this day every year was going to be a holiday as to praise the divines that chose their village.

The people were so happy they brought out food from all over the place along with barrels of booze from god knows where. Eventually even musicians joined in bringing out small instruments injecting even more life into the party. The burly man Val was surprisingly right at the front of the makeshift small stage and not only was he playing a small guitar but he even started to sing!

Malik's handsome clone quietly watched the people dancing and laughing with his violet eyes through a window together with a small crab clone that was sitting on his shoulders watching curiously. The house they were in had been given to them by the village chief once they told him that he and little gold would leave a clone behind in the village for convenience in case they needed to speak with them.

The old man told him it was a vacant house that was initially built for the future village head which was his son, but after he lost his wife and mother they decided to move back in with him leaving the large house empty.

As they went deeper into the night all of the parents eventually left with their children leaving only the young couples behind. Val was quick on his feet and noticing the change of the audience he turned his head before winking at the other musicians which quickly changed their tune. The music became slower and romantic, setting up the perfect mood for the young couples.

Seeing this change Malik smiled to himself. He had been single for two lifetimes now but seeing these young couples didn't make him jealous at all! Why, you ask? Well it wouldn't be long for him to have his own dance partner! And not only that but from her voice he was sure she was going to be a beauty! All he needed was a little patience!

Taking a small peak at the sleeping clone on his shoulder he grinned before turning back to the party however he quickly noticed something strange that wiped the grin off his face, an anomaly if you will. In the middle of the dancefloor there was a dumpling-like human moving about that stood out very obviously from all the young couples.

As his eyes landed on the figure which he quickly recognized him! Who was it if not fatty Ralfe! He was slow dancing with a very attractive girl around 18 years old that was constantly smiling as he whispered words into her ear showing her cute dimples .

'The hell?! H-How is this even possible?!' He was completely speechless. Could it be that this world's beauty standard is fatties?

After watching for a few more seconds to make sure he wasn't hallucinating, the handsome man turned his eyes away and left the window while murmuring a few words quietly to himself.

"I'm not jealous.. I'm not jealous at all.." He said while fighting the urge to plunge the village into darkness and ruin the party before turning away and leaving.

It was only deep into the night that the people finally started running out of steam. As the food ran out and the music stopped everyone headed home and just half an hour later the whole village was completely wrapped in darkness.

Malik however was still working in the study room that was in complete darkness, nighttime on the continent was practically daylight if he compared it to the seafloor after all. The room itself was pretty large and there were even a couple of shelves filled with books against the wooden wall none of which he could read. It wasn't too pretty but nevertheless he was still very happy with it. A powerful man needs a study room with a library to be truly complete after all.

Sitting in front of a desk he was constantly writing on a large parchment paper with a quill. Everything was in english of course since he still had yet to learn the local language. He would sit quietly for a few minutes going through his memories for novels, mangas, animes where the MC was in charge of building a city before putting ideas down on the paper.

The reason for this was that he had spoken with the chief before the party and they set up a meeting with all the important people to discuss the future of the village the next day, and what better place to get ideas from than from the novels, animes, and manga that were based exactly on what he was experiencing?.

The small crab clone had been watching curiously as he scribbled on the paper for a few minutes before dozing off on the corner of the desk. It had been created with a very small amount of mana with the sole purpose of being used for communication like a telephone so it couldn't interact too much before having to fall asleep to recharge.

It was only when the sun started to peak over the horizon that he finally stopped. Taking a last look at the parchment he nodded in satisfaction before rolling it up and getting up off his chair, not forgetting to put the small crab back on his shoulder before leaving the house.

Outside there was still no one awake probably due to the party but there was someone he just had to meet at this time.

Malik made his way through the village before stopping in front of a large wooden house that was almost as big as the one he was living in now before walking to the door and knocking lightly a few times with a smile on his face. After waiting for a few seconds he knocked a bit more just as lightly, it was almost as if he wasn't expecting the person to hear it at all.

Seeing there was no answer his smile became even wider and after he cleared his throat he shouted using his mana while controlling it to effect just this one house.

"HELLOOO?? ANYBODY HOME?!" The mana pulse was so loud it left the house shaking. He heard many things rattling and falling before hearing a loud thump along with the scream of a girl and a man.

Hearing the loud commotion he felt truly satisfied and calmly waited as the heavy footsteps finally reached the door. As it opened he found a fair skin fatty completely shirtless with huge bags under his eyes staring at him with an aggrieved expression

"Y-Your godliness what are you doin- I mean, what can I help you with?" The fatty asked doing his best to hide the irritation in his heart, but how could a divine being not see it? Though it had just made him even happier.

"Oh was I interrupting something? You see we used to live on the ocean floor so we don't really have a concept of time, though I did make sure it was bright out before coming and even knocked a few times." The handsome man said looking apologetically.

"Of course not! I was just going to get up anyways! Please come in!" Although he felt something was amiss, Ralfe put it to the back of his mind as he led the handsome man to the living room.

'Hmm, This holiness has been single for 2 lifetimes and this shameless fatty dares to show off in front of me? Hehehe' Malik thought to himself before sitting on a comfortable couch acting as if he hadn't noticed the light blue dress laying on the corner of the room. It was the dress that the cute dimpled girl that was dancing with the fatty was wearing yesterday!

"Good! You see, Edyta has given me and Mina 2 letters but we haven't been able to read it yet since we don't know the continent's language. Therefore I looked for you to read it out for me!" The handsome man said while taking out two small letters from the pockets of his black robes before handing it to the fatty.

Being slightly dazed from the lack of sleep Ralfe took a second to process the information before taking envelopes and sitting down on another couch facing the violet eyed man. He made sure to open it carefully so as to not damage the candle wax crest before taking out the letter and carefully reading through it.

Malik noticed that the fatties face was becoming more and more awake as he read and by the end a blush came back to his face and even his eye bags were gone!

'Magic stamina recovering words???'

As he was watching Raffles face curiously and wondering what magic could have such an effect when the fatty suddenly jumped up and said with a surprised and excited expression.

"This isn't just a letter! It's an invitation!! An invitation for the Century Tournament at Burning City a year from now!!!"