Chapter 67-69: The reason of their encounter

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Translator Note:

A new chapter of Tsuki ga Michi has been released, again!

So you know what will be published for the next scheduled chapter. Just a heads up :D!

And that’s how the alliance between the Light Church’s Founder and the light hero was formed.

I don’t even know if it’s fine anymore to call these two holy women.

“So she says! Haine-san!” (Karen)

Is what the hero that had been convinced by the Founder just a few moments ago said as she suddenly approached me.

“With this, everyone can be happy! Yorishiro-sama and I don’t have to get rejected by Haine-san! There’s nothing as great as this!” (Karen)

Ah, right.

Karen-san has the trait of not being concerned about the rules of society, and is more about wishing for the happiness of everyone, that’s why she became a hero -to protect the people.

Her basic stance as a hero is that when she is given a choice like: ‘sacrifice someone to save the world’, she would go: ‘I will save both!’.

This time also falls into that case…probably.

“Karen-san, I am looking forward to working with you-desu wa.” (Yorishiro)

“Yes! Let’s pair our strengths to protect the Church and the people!” (Karen)

Founder and Hero; the leader of the Church and the face of it. In other words, it is like the position of a captain and the ace, which means both of them are connected by a strong bond, but…of all things, the catalyst of it had to be…!

“Well then, Karen-san, do you want to join in on our date?” (Yorishiro)

“Eh? Is that okay? Even though you finally have the chance to be alone with Haine-san?” (Karen)

“As women that love Haine-san, trying to get ahead would be foul play. No matter the time and place, in sickness and in health, let’s have Haine-san love us together.” (Yorishiro)

“You have my respect, Yorishiro-sama! Ah, but I have some business to do…” (Karen)

“If it is okay, let us accompany you in that. It is okay to do that as a date, right?” (Yorishiro)

“You are kindness itself, Yorishiro-sama! It would help me a lot. To tell you the truth, I had something to consult with Yorishiro-sama and Haine-san!” (Karen)

The two women, that are completely in sync, had left me behind and were advancing at their own pace.

I was left there.

It felt as if a tornado had just passed. Noisy and boisterous.

Even though this is a library, even though this is the perfect spot for silence, we ended up making quite the noise.

When I look at the surroundings, just as I thought, the gazes of the people here and the librarian-san were directed at me.

Having their attention but still maintaining silence is painful in itself.

“…Uhm, I am truly sorry for the noise.” (Haine)

I apologize and lower my head.

But even without saying anything, the atmosphere in this place was clearly returning to me in words:

‘Guilty or Not Guilty?’

‘…GUILTY!’

“I am truly sorry for the disturbance!” (Haine)

‘That’s not the thing you should be apologizing for.’

Is what the atmosphere was telling me.

***

And so, I chased after the two as if running away and join up with them.

It looks like Karen-san really did have something to do.

“You don’t mind right, Haine-san?” (Yorishiro)

“Well, I don’t…” (Haine)

I gave my answer, but in this situation, I had no other choice for an answer anyways.

Well, even if we continued the date as it is, we have gone through all the date spots that Frost recommended, and even with that, it is still too soon to return, so we were about to run out of things to do anyways.

Let’s think of it as ‘just in time’.

“Karen-san, you came to the library because you had business there?” (Yorishiro)

“Of course. I have been going there lately, you know. There’s something I wanted to investigate after all. Ah, but uhm…!” (Karen)

“?”

Laying down the conversation, Karen-san begins to fidget.

“…..Don’t ignore what happened before, okay?” (Karen)

“‘What happened before’?” (Haine)

“The talk about me…loving Haine-san! I don’t mind you giving me an answer later, but leaving the confession itself as if it never happened would be incredibly troubling for me. I thoroughly used the female courage I normally don’t use after all!” (Karen)

She pinned it down!

It is true that it was pushed by the alliance between these two and the confession was washed away, but it was incredibly important for her.

But there’s a place for those kind of things, Karen-san.

In this incredibly public space that is the library, there’s quite the amount of onlookers.

If it wasn’t for that, I would have lost to the passion of Karen-san and would have hugged her right then and there, but with Yorishiro there as well, more the reason why I couldn’t.

Karen-san completely missed the concept of time and place, but she was still able to manage a confession in those circumstances.

I don’t know if this is the courage she has as a hero, or the thing she called the female courage.

“At any rate, until I hear an answer from Haine-san, I will be telling you ‘I love you’ everyday.” (Karen)

“That’s great. I will do that too.” (Yorishiro)

Even Yorishiro jumped on the wagon.

Please spare me.

“Well, returning to the topic, my objective in coming to the library. I wanted to hear the opinion of Yorishiro-sama and Haine-san, so this is truly good timing.” (Karen)

Yorishiro and I?

Just what does Karen-san want to ask?

“I was currently investigating about the Dark God Entropy.” (Karen)

• 68: The God hidden in the books

“Dark God Entropy…” (Haine)

Hearing that name, I was perplexed.

Because that God is the soul that’s inside of me after all.

“That’s right. Since the time Yorishiro-sama told me about that God, I tried investigating about a lot of things on my own. This library was the best source of information I had.” (Karen)

“There’s no other library as big as this no matter what part in this world you look at after all. If it’s to investigate something, this is certainly a great place to do it.” (Yorishiro)

Yorishiro adds.

In the Radona mountainous district where we had fought the fire cow Phalaris, I revealed for the first time my battle style with Dark Matter, and the questioning that came after was unavoidable.

Yorishiro appeared in good timing and revealed the existence of the sixth God of Creation, the Dark God Entropy.

In this world, aside from the Earth, Wind, Fire, Water, and Light element, there’s also the dark element that composes this world as well, and there are really rare times when the dark element is thick inside humans.

With that ‘setting’, we were able to convince Karen-san and Mirack about my Dark Matter.

The reality is different though. Since the soul inside of me is the Dark God Entropy himself after all.

“I have been bothered by it all this time. We have been worshipping the Gods of Creation for several centuries, and yet, I was now told that there’s actually not only five but six. Don’t you think this is an incredible revelation, Haine-san?” (Karen)

“Yeah…” (Haine)

It is hard for me to understand how she feels since I knew from the very beginning…

“But if that’s true, why is the Dark God not known like the other Gods? Why is he not being worshipped by anyone? The questions just keep popping up!” (Karen)

“And that’s why you were coming to the library, to investigate?” (Haine)

“Yes, and also…!” (Karen)

Karen-san fidgets for a moment, and then, as if having resolved herself, she says,

“It is the God that’s connected with the person I love, so I got even more interested in it…” (Karen)

Uwa.

Now that Karen-san has confessed once, she continuously keeps attacking without hesitation.

“I understand that feeling, Karen-san. You want to learn all about the person you love after all.” (Yorishiro)

“That’s right, Yorishiro-sama! And so, the information about this Dark God was brought to light by Yorishiro-sama, so I thought that maybe you knew more.” (Karen)

“Sorry.” (Yorishiro)

Yorishiro says this looking truly sorry.

“I don’t know more than what the Light Goddess-sama had enlightened me with her oracle.” (Yorishiro)

And so the Light Goddess herself says…

Yorishiro and I are keeping it a secret that we are the reincarnation of Gods.

It is obvious that we will be seen as megalomaniacs, and even if by some chance they were to believe us, it would only needlessly create disturbance in the world, and there’s absolutely no good points about it.

In the first place, I want to enjoy this world not as a God but as a human. Yorishiro probably thinks the same way.

That’s why, the God part inside of me is a secret that’s okay not being known.

“The oracle of the Light Goddess-sama must have been to let me know about the approach of the special existence that is Haine-san. She didn’t tell me much.” (Yorishiro)

And I am impressed at how easily Yorishiro can lie. It is probably a necessary skill to hide her true nature as a God though.

It is not the type that brings down people, so let’s consider it as white lie.

“The Gods wish for the people to think by themselves. That’s why, no matter what it is, they will only reveal a small part of it. Unveiling everything is the role of the people themselves.” (Yorishiro)

“I see… That’s true. The things you wish for have to be grasped with your own hands!” (Karen)

And Karen-san is a honest and good girl.

“And so, I have researched on my own. I dug out as many old books from this library as possible, and read them from beginning to end. And then, when I found information that might be related to Entropy-sama, I would transcribe it, and this is what I got!” (Karen)

*Don!!* is the sound that the notebook makes when it hits the table.

It is incredibly worn out.

“…Uhm, Karen-san, you learned about Entropy pretty recently, right?” (Haine)

Then, her investigation should have begun pretty recently, and yet, did she investigate so much that it ended up with her notebook getting this worn out?

“Well, even if I say that, there hasn’t been a single place that had a clear mention of Entropy-sama though. As expected of a hidden God that its existence has not been known at all until this present day. But…” (Karen)

Karen-san turns the front cover of the notebook.

At the first page, there’s cute writing that’s most likely from Karen-san herself.

“First, there was darkness; in there, Inflation creates light; Quasar filled the sky with air; next, Mantle creates earth; Coacervate filled the earth’s space with water; and at last, Nova melded it all into one with fire; and that’s how the world was created.” (Karen)

“That’s one passage of the Genesis.” (Haine)

“That’s right. But this part about ‘first, there was darkness’, isn’t it strange? There’s light, wind, earth, water, and wind; everything that the Gods made was clearly written there, and yet, darkness was empty right from the beginning. I didn’t find it strange before, but now that I read it, I do feel something’s off.” (Karen)

“…That’s true…” (Haine)

“This passage was probably rewritten, and before it was rewritten, this is what was there: ‘First, Entropy created darkness’.” (Karen)

Well, that’s actually how it is.

“There were also other descriptions that were of interest. In the especially old books of this library, there’s phrases like these appearing. ‘Two poles, four base elements’.” (Karen)

“Must be referring to the six Gods.” (Haine)

“That’s right! As expected of Haine-san!” (Karen)

Oops, should I have waited a bit more to give out that opinion?

“Based on the context throughout the book, these words should certainly be referring to the Gods of Creation, but there’s five Gods of Creation, and yet, it is written ‘two poles, four base elements’, in that case, 2 plus 4 makes 6. The numbers don’t match. But, if we count Entropy-sama in the math, it makes sense.” (Karen)

Karen-san really investigated well.

In the six Gods of Creation, there were clear categories: the light and dark poles; and the earth, fire, water, and wind base elements. These two categories had a strong difference in high and low, but I who was one of the poles was defeated and sealed, so it became hazy.

At any rate, I am impressed that Karen-san was able to investigate this much.

I was sealed at the Genesis of the world, so it is natural that no one knows about me from the very beginning.

That’s why, rather than saying the books have been rewritten, it is more like, it shouldn’t even exist to begin with. There’s no way there would be details of the Dark God written anywhere.

The most that can be achieved is to catch the scent of my possible existence.

“And so, I have one big reveal left for the last part.” (Karen)

“Huh?” (Haine)

“There’s apparently people that worshipped the Dark God Entropy in the past.” (Karen)

“Eeeh?!”

There’s no way that’s possible!

“I found a book that points out the place where they might have been living in. And its name is: The Dark Underworld Country.” (Karen)

• 69: Metropolis of Darkness

What is the meaning of this?!

There were humans that worshipped me, the Dark God Entropy?!

I didn’t know about any of this. The person himself not knowing that he was being worshipped…is that even possible?

“Karen-san, please speak about this in more detail.” (Yorishiro)

Being urged by Yorishiro, Karen-san continues.

“The Dark Underworld country seems to be the city that the people, who worship the Dark God Entropy, build. It wasn’t mentioned in any of the history or geography textbooks, but there was a poetry anthology of the long past that had mentioned this name.” (Karen)

Karen-san turns the pages of the notebook and a page filled with what’s most definitely the writing of her was shown to us.

Summarizing that poem, the evil people that worshipped the Dark God had been destroyed together with their city.

The poem described it as ‘the victory of justice and the defeat of evil’, and sung it highly, but it could be described as being childishly written. It was on the level that I would understand why it would be buried at the very corners of the library.

“A poem huh. Compared to a book, this has a low level of credibility.” (Haine)

“That’s true. As long as there’s not something backing it, there’s the possibility that this author wrote it based on its own fantasy. Also, I am a bit scared of this poem.” (Karen)

“Scared?” (Haine)

“This poem describes the Dark God as some sort of evil being that taints humans. If Entropy-sama really is such a bad God…I really wouldn’t like it.” (Karen)

Karen-san was making a truly sad face.

It was hard for me to say anything. As the person himself, I can’t say if Entropy is truly good or evil. And I don’t remember I did anything for this Dark land that was mentioned by this author.

There’s no way I would have been able to do anything, since I was sealed in that period of time.

In the text of the poem, the only thing that’s stated clearly is the name of the land, Underworld Country. I can’t see a single part that mentions the name of the Dark God Entropy.

‘Ruler of Darkness’, ‘the Avatar of Wickedness’; those were the only vague mentions there.

As expected, this is the portrayal of the author’s fantasy that matched with me by coincidence. It would be the most natural to accept this as just that, a coincidence…

“Then, let’s go confirm it.”

…Is the conclusion I reached to, but there was one person who said something outrageous.

“Yorishiro?” “Yorishiro-sama?!”

I was wondering why she had been silent, but she actually came and threw in an explosive statement again.

“Confirm it, where?!” (Karen)

“Of course, at the Dark Underworld country. The many questions you have will most likely have an answer when you go there.” (Yorishiro)

“But Yorishiro-sama…!” (Karen)

I stand on Karen-san’s side in this.

“The Underworld country is a mysterious city that we don’t even know if it existed or not! Even if it actually does, it would be just like the poem has written it to be, destroyed and in ruins already. In the first place, we don’t know where it is! Even if we tried to look for it, there’s no clues—” (Karen)

“If it’s about that, there’s no need to worry.” (Yorishiro)

Yorishiro takes out something from her pocket. A small magnetic needle…something like a compass.

“This is one of the secret treasures that have been passed down to the Founders of the Light Church, the ‘Needle of Guidance’.” (Yorishiro)

“‘Needle of Guidance’?!” (Karen)

“This needle is made from the same material as the holy sword Saint-George that was granted to you, Karen-san. If you pour light divine power into it with the image of what you are looking for in your mind, it will point at a certain direction.” (Yorishiro)

“Incredible! Then, if we pour divine power into this needle and imagine the Underworld country…!!” (Karen)

It will point at the direction the Underworld country is.

It sounds like an incredibly convenient item. Way too convenient.

“But, if what you are looking for is way too far, or your image is way too vague, it won’t point well at your destination. In order to search for it better, you would need to pour even more light divine power. To search for a place that you don’t know where in the whole world it is and have never seen before, Karen-san, even if you place all your divine power into it, it still wouldn’t be enough.” (Yorishiro)

“Ah…”

Reality isn’t that kind.

The path that had opened was immediately closed, and the face of Karen-san clouds.

“That’s why I will be going as well.” (Yorishiro)

“Yorishiro-sama?!” (Karen)

“If we pair your light divine power with mine, we would have enough to cover the whole world. Karen-san, in exchange of this sacred treasure and my divine power, in your search for the Dark Underworld country, can I also accompany you?” (Yorishiro)

“Of course! Thank you very much! Yorishiro-sama, how kind you are!” (Karen)

“Ufufu, we are already comrades in love, aren’t we. It is a given to help each other.” (Yorishiro)

The self-proclaimed comrades in love are holding hands and swinging them up and down

No, wait. Doesn’t that mean the hero and the Founder would be absent from the Light Church?

“Looks like you are uneasy about something, Haine-san.” (Yorishiro)

“Don’t read my mind.” (Haine)

“It is okay. For the sake of this kind of times, I work hard everyday in order to maintain the remaining work to zero. So, in my absence, I will just have the Cardinal work as if his life is at stake.” (Yorishiro)

“Please don’t sacrifice the life force of someone else!” (Haine)

“Those people don’t usually work anyways, so this serves just fine.” (Yorishiro)

A black Yorishiro came out.

“I am also fine. Just like the time when we went to Hydra Ville, as long as I have the flying machine, I can handle any situation in a timely manner! Okay, with this, things have been decided. Let’s go, Haine-san!” (Karen)

“Eh?” (Haine)

“Eh?” (Karen)

I look at Karen-san with a dumbfounded expression, and Karen-san looks back at me with a puzzled expression.

…….Well, yeah…I knew this would happen.

I have to go together with them. I am the hero’s assistant after all.

Also, as the reincarnation of the Dark God, this matter is suspicious. I don’t remember being worshipped, and yet, there’s supposedly a city of Dark God worshippers. If there really is a place like that, I want to properly confirm its identity.

And more importantly, I can’t leave these two, who have surpassed their ‘Haine-san love parameter’, alone!