プロローグ 交渉 (Part1)
"W-Why?" the beautiful woman asked me after she finished shouting.
"No, no one would go if they were told, 'You can't come back, it's a one-way ticket.' Just sit down for now. I understand your objective, but the details are too vague."
If there's anyone who would accept a one-way ticket without being told the objective and details, please tell me.
I'd rather that be reserved for people who are desperate in light novels, manga, or the real world.
Oh, people who jump into this kind of talk just hearing the objective without asking for details are easily deceived, so be careful.
"Y-You're right, we should get to know each other first. My apologies for the late introduction, I am Luna."
No, no one asked for your name.
"My measurements are B91 W58 H85, and on Earth, I'm called various names like Athena or Freya."
What incredible information just came out. Her three sizes became irrelevant with the latter part of her statement.
I see, so as expected, the gods passed down in the world are quite mixed up. That is, if I'm to take her words at face value.
"What, are you captivated by me? It can't be helped. I am called the Goddess of Beauty, after all."
"No, that doesn't matter. Tell me the details about the dungeon management and so on."
She was annoying, so I cut her off.
By the way, this self-proclaimed goddess Luna has semi-long golden hair cut evenly.
Her eyes are heterochromatic, one red and one blue. Is that what it's called, heterochromia iridum?
Her height is around 170 cm. I don't know the average for foreigners, but in Japan, she would be considered tall.
"...You're not very charming. Fine, it's going to be a bit long. Also, sending you to another world is a done deal. The outcome will be the same whether you listen or not."
"No, I'd like you to tell me in a concise, brief summary."
"No."
This woman...
After about an hour and a half, she finished her explanation. Seriously, at least prepare some materials.
So, to summarize concisely:
Objective: Maintain the balance (energy = magic power) of the other world, Arowlith, using dungeons.
Reason: Arowlith creates its environment by circulating magic power. The natural laws here remain the same, but a third set of laws, magic, has been added. Currently, Arowlith's magic power is too concentrated in specific areas. This means that with monsters and humanoids (apparently there are various conventional races), the environment of the entire planet is deteriorating, like global warming here.
If things continue as they are, civilizations that rely on magic power will collapse, and living beings whose life activities depend on magic power will die out. Though this is a matter of several millennia from now.
First Solution: From a divine perspective, they don't want to destroy the planet's civilization or creatures, so circulating magic power using dungeons will solve it! Let's create dungeons as feeding grounds and collect magic power. In other words, these dungeons are not only for intelligent life forms like heroes or demon lords in games, but also for wild monsters.
Result of the First Solution: "Huh, isn't that me?" I thought. But it wasn't. This first operation was entrusted to the locals, the intelligent life forms of Arowlith... However, Arowlith's civilization level is comparable to medieval Europe, and they managed dungeons according to their desires, quickly leading to the dungeon masters' defeat or the masters using their functions to conquer the world. Ultimately, circulation failed.
Second Solution: This is where I come in. In other words, it's no use entrusting management to idiots, so wouldn't it be better with smart people? But everyone in this world is generally stupid... That's right, let's bring someone from another world! That's how it apparently came to be.
And that's when I thought, "Why doesn't Luna (the goddess) just do it herself instead of using people one by one? Why bother entrusting it to a person...?" But Luna said:
"It might be fine temporarily, but a god cannot stay in one place until a planet ends. Even you, how many times have you moved from your birthplace already?"
I see, that makes sense. I had stopped caring due to the scale of the problem.
From our human perspective, if we were to keep a dog or cat, it would be impossible to constantly look after them until their lives ended without doing any work.
"What you call omniscient and omnipotent gods are just a handful. Moreover, they are all serious, so they restrain themselves and seclude themselves to avoid affecting the world."
Omniscient and omnipotent gods exist?!
"There are those who are put into the 'god' category depending on the world, but they're more like degraded versions... Honestly, here they're in the natural phenomenon category, and in Arowlith, they're in the monster or spirit category. Their limited functions are outstanding, but overall... they have personality flaws."
Ah, so it's the same everywhere, it seems. Like company management becoming world management.
"To be honest, the level of knowledge and education in Japan on Earth is higher than that of Arowlith's gods."
Oof... Arowlith's gods are terrible.
But I understood. Sending someone desperate from light novels, manga, or the real world wouldn't solve anything.
But I also have a question. Even if you send me, won't I only be able to act for about a hundred years or so?
"Oh, I forgot to mention, you'll become ageless. I'll make sure you don't get sick, but you will still die. Making someone immortal often leads to them going out of control. It's a hassle for us to go out of our way to eliminate them."
Ah, I see. So even if I manage the dungeon and go out of control, they'll put a stopper on me.
"I mostly understand, but why can't I return here?"
"You, you know the situation of this world, don't you? What do you think would happen if Earth and the undeveloped, magic-filled Arowlith were connected?"
"Ah, Arowlith would be swallowed by Earth in an instant. But is magic really that weak?"
"No, magic is a field that can achieve things like what you call nuclear weapons here, or interstellar travel, which people on Earth will likely achieve in the future. But it's about the civilization level..."
"I see, you also said you wanted to maintain Arowlith's magic civilization. So you don't want Earth's civilization to mix with it."
"Exactly. Or rather, Earth would definitely finish analyzing magic first and incorporate it."
"But then, is it okay for me to go to Arowlith and transmit civilization?"
This is the most puzzling part. If they send me and make me ageless, Arowlith's civilization will surely be influenced by Earth's Japanese civilization.