369 – S7. Omela’s Fixer – 0

“Sorry for the wait, your session is here!”

“W-What is it now!”

CRASH!

Suddenly, a mad wizard appeared, shattering the window. Finn, startled, flung the peanut butter toast he was eating and scrambled to his feet.

*Thwack*. By some arcane law, the jam-smeared side landed down.

“Heh heh… You have no idea how long I’ve waited for this moment.”

“Seriously, why again?! Why are you here *again*!”

*Shhh Shhh Shhh!*

The two of them entered a standoff, the table positioned between them. As the dark-haired freak shuffled closer, Finn pivoted in the opposite direction, maintaining the distance.

Reacting almost instinctively, his mind nevertheless swirled in chaos. Finn knew him. He *knew* who that man was! And he knew that getting tangled up with him meant trouble was sure to follow!

A walking disaster, the pinnacle of illusion magic, and the mastermind who’d forcibly elevated Finn to the position of ‘Hero’. The ‘Mad Wizard’.

Why was he here this time? To foist another job on him, like before? Or to heap even more responsibilities he couldn’t handle?

Observing Finn’s wary expression, the Mad Wizard chuckled.

“You summoned me, did you not?”

“Huh?!”

“You require power, or so I heard, you even requested it yourself. I rushed here upon receiving the news. Leave it to me, Hero Finn; I shall grant you even the ability to double jump.”

“T-That, well, I did, but I meant I said it to Bennet!”

Yes. He had requested it.

After the incident with the shard of the Evil Dragon, Finn had been thinking. What if, that shard hadn’t had a failsafe? Something terribly awful might have befallen the Little Pope.

Until now, he’d thought they were safe enough, what with so many paladins, priests, and Shadow Hero Bennet. But look, they’d been thoroughly breached by a mere *shard* of an Evil Dragon.

‘Evil Gods’— the enemy faced by the Holy City and the Church of the Goddess — were… that dangerous.

Therefore, even a insignificant adventurer like himself needed to grow stronger, if only to be of some help.

He couldn’t just leave it to others and merely pray. Even if the light he could produce was only that of a firefly, compared to the brilliant geniuses of myth.

If that effort could buy even a single second to protect the Little Pope.

After being tormented by those damned ex-cardinals his whole life, Aida was finally learning what normal happiness felt like. He couldn’t allow the shadow of misfortune to loom over the Little Pope’s future *again*.

So… he *had* asked Bennet for a way to grow stronger faster. But for the Mad Wizard to appear here?

“Bravo.”

The Mad Wizard burst into enthusiastic applause, deeply moved. He had fully comprehended Finn’s inner thoughts, interpreting every subtle change in his expression. What a commendable young man.

His red eyes gleaming, he declared,

“You have the potential to become strong. Of course, Hero Finn, your aptitude is ranked E. Your constitution is lacking, and you don’t possess any particularly sharp instincts. Without breaking through the Pupae, you will inevitably… fall behind those with natural gifts.”

“……….Ugh.”

“What we need is a short-term power boost. So, there’s the plan to awaken a myth through soul-crushing pain and trials, but… you don’t actually need that. Because you’re a hero. You can use the hero’s power.”

“……I don’t have a holy sword, and I don’t wield divine power. What power could be contained in a mere title of ‘hero’?”

The mad mage snapped his fingers, answering immediately.

“Why, it’s the 35 free perks the Goddess bestowed upon you.”

“…………?”

[Proposal: Accept the role of Benefactor and receive 35 free perks.]

Right, Finn had received free perks from the Goddess before. But those perks were all trivial and mundane things, or things with complicated explanations or tricky controls, or functions whose meaning he couldn’t grasp.

Of those functions, he was effectively using only two. The daily weather forecast service from the Goddess, and the power to tell the growth percentage of crops just by looking at them.

With this ability, he could pick only the clear days to go stargazing with the Pope.

The mad mage chuckled upon hearing this.

“Perks are, a combination of functions. The weather forecast alone requires a monstrous amount of processing power, and the authority to know the growth of crops demands keen insight.”

“I suppose it’s true when you put it like that.”

“Then, what if you could extract only the necessary parts from those perks and use them in combat? I can make that happen. It’s a simple thing.”

“Wait, just a moment. That’s……”

It was like disassembling the cuckoo clock the Goddess had gifted him, piece by piece, and then assembling it into a crossbow to go around shooting people.

……Wouldn’t I get divine punishment?

The mad mage answered that concern with the following:

“Hahaha! Then the Goddess should have made it so it couldn’t be disassembled. You’re making good and economical use of a gift, so if the Goddess has any conscience, she’ll leave you be. I noticed it while hacking last time too, the structure is surprisingly flimsy—Ack!”

Clang!

A pot, unnaturally falling from the cupboard, struck the mad mage squarely on the crown. The blow was imbued with divine power, the sound refreshingly clear.

The mad mage clutched his head in the face of the stern divine punishment and groaned for three minutes.

—

The Goddess’s pot attack was, in effect, permission. While Hero-Ping disassembled and reassembled his “free perks,” there was no recall of authority or divine power obliteration flying his way.

Maybe she just felt like hitting him for being a bit annoying.

Perhaps it was a sign of affection, he mused. She must be pleased that he was proceeding with a plan to soundly thrash the Black Dragon, the Goddess’s nemesis.

Anyway.

Since Hero-Ping hadn’t even achieved the elements of Fullness-Tuning-Breakthrough, gauging the myth’s awakening would take longer than expected. So that was out.

As he had said before, he judged that the best thing to do was to educate him on how to economically use the authority the Goddess had bestowed. So, let’s think a bit more concretely.

The Goddess resembled a mechanical device, so her authority was also composed of small modules. He had to teach Hero-Ping to become familiar with these modules and create synergy through application.

However, her authority was closer to modern times than fantasy. Rather than the technique of moving and firing mana this way and that, it required computer-like thinking.

I realized I could find a cyberpunk edge right here.

Mechanical power built from tiny functions—wasn’t that the same as add-on modules attached to the body, implants, cyberware, gears, things of that nature?

Through a cyberpunk world, I intended to give Yongsa-ping a proper tutorial. This would even help him understand the structure of the Goddess.

“So… I’ll be experiencing another world, you say.”

“Precisely! And quite safely, I assure you. Even if you meet death there, you won’t truly die. You’ll return here, just like Bennet did.”

“…”

“That world is one where science has advanced to an incredible degree, a place where money, rather than blood, seems to flow coldly through people’s veins. But… it is there that you will learn to wield the Goddess’s power to its fullest extent.”

Yongsa-ping looked tense upon hearing my words. He seemed a bit hesitant. Well, from the perspective of someone entering a session, it would be no different from leaving for a faraway, unknown land.

He stared at the floor in silence for a long while, and after much thought, finally asked,

“If I go there, will I truly become stronger?”

“Yes. The ‘Favor’ the Goddess bestowed upon you is more potent than you realize. If you become proficient in wielding that power… you’ll even be a match for an Allegory Awakened One.”

“…Then, I’ll do it.”

The young man’s eyes shone with a sense of duty, a determination to fulfill his mission. I smiled in satisfaction. With this, Yongsa-ping’s participation in the session was decided.

It’s a joyful thing to properly introduce yourself to a good person. Only now, I can finally remember his name correctly.

Let’s not delay any further. There’s no need to take Yongsa-ping to my lab at the Academy. I’ve already packed the necessary data packs, and more importantly, I have Dragonheart, don’t I!

My pretty thing.

I draw the magic circle and pour in mana. Then, I reassemble the prepared data, creating a city of neon-lit greed. People walking within the city, too.

Though the lights are so dazzling, the fog in the heart does not lift. This is because the raucous neon may bedazzle the eyelids, but it does not penetrate beyond the window of the heart.

…

Alright, Ping.

I invite you to Omelas, a virtual metropolis set in the year 2120.

—

Flicker.

You are.

You have never been surrounded by such brilliant lights in your life. Red, blue, yellow, a kaleidoscopic array of colors shifting and swirling. And this space was filled with deafening noise.

Thump. Thump. Thump. Loud music beating louder than your own heart, people shaking their bodies madly, the clinking of glasses, bursts of laughter.

“…W-What? What is this?!”

You couldn’t help but be flustered. Suddenly, without warning, you open your eyes to this place.

Calmly surveying your surroundings only makes you feel dizzier. Men and women alike are practically naked. Skintight miniskirts, sheer mesh tops that leave nothing to the imagination, worn as if they were actual clothing.

This, this was even more scandalous than Saint Tara’s heyday attire. You frantically search for a place to rest your eyes, but everywhere you look, a visual shock awaits.

It was the *Harmony Club*, third largest establishment of its kind in all of Omelas.

“Gotta… gotta get out!”

*Gotta* get out. Reason and instinct agreed on that much. You moved. Trying your best not to brush against anyone, but it wasn’t easy.

Inevitably, you felt a multitude of touches all over. Nothing for it. There were just so many people.

“S-sorry. Sorry, ladies….”

Your muttering elicited giggles from the women. The sound made your face flush and your head spin.

“Oh my, is this your first time, oppa? How cute.”

“Have a drink. Even the cheap stuff. Though some of it’s got methanol, you might lose your sight by tomorrow. But hey, you can always get cybernetic eyes, right? Hmm?”

You drifted through the throng.

You didn’t even know where the exit was, or how to get out. Just the thought of needing to move forward, and so you walked.

Then, a blue window appeared in your vision.

[TUTORIAL: Use the Beginner Situation Analysis Module to Exit the *Harmony Club*]

How do I even use that?

The thought barely formed before the instructions played in your mind. An odd, unfamiliar sensation. Like flipping a switch inside your own head.

*Click*.

[Situation Analysis Module Activated].

*Whirr*. In an instant, the surrounding area was scanned, the outlines of people glowing in different colors. And arrows marking their trajectories.

Dizzying. Too much information. You tried to calmly utilize the data… but it felt like learning swordsmanship for the first time. What were you even supposed to *do*? Your head throbbed.

Just then.

A woman in bizarre attire grabbed your hand and pulled you along. An outfit consisting of skin-tight black leather, fishnet stockings, and rabbit ears. What the world called a bunny girl.

In this strange land, you followed the rabbit, barely… stumbling out onto the emergency staircase at the club’s rear entrance.

*Clang*. The door swung open, and cool air washed over you. You leaned against the metal railing of the third-floor staircase, gasping for breath.

“…Hah… whew….”

“I got the feeling you were panicking, so I pulled you out. Was it unwanted meddling?”

“N-no. No, it wasn’t. Thank you. You saved me.”

From the name tag on her chest, you learned her name was ‘Mary’. The bunny girl Mary gave you a word of advice.

“If you can’t handle it, don’t come to places like this. Acting so clueless, you’ll get stripped of everything you own and sold off, got it?”

“Y-yes… yes….”

The bunny girl chuckled and headed back inside the club.

You took a deep breath of fresh air, trying to calm your swirling thoughts. This world, this truly *was* another world. You knew it in your bones.

The city’s panorama now imprinted on his irises. As bright as if all the stars in the sky had been plucked and embroidered upon the earth as decoration.

What was he to do here? He pondered that distant question for a moment.

*Grumble.*

“⋯⋯⋯⋯.”

His stomach’s polite suggestion hammered home the answer.

What else but survive?

—

And so, two weeks passed.

Finn found himself stiffed on wages after dishwashing gigs, chased by the police for panhandling in the streets, and learning the practicalities of the ‘Goddess Module,’ bit by bit.

He’d even figured out the ‘clear condition’.

[Amount Needed for Return: 1,000,000 Credits]

“⋯⋯A paid service, is it now?”

Presumably, running around trying to earn money would naturally entangle him in incidents. It felt like the intention of some crazed magician, trying to raise his Goddess Module proficiency.

Eventually, he found himself renting a room in the motel of a woman called ‘Drunken Mama’. How he’d landed such luck in a city boasting such outrageous rent, well…

“Thief! Thief! Somebody help me!”

“⋯⋯⋯⋯!!”

He helped her when she was being robbed of all her belongings by a thug, and through that connection, he managed to secure a very cheap room.

Now, he was starting to get a sense of what this city, Omelas, was about. He was settling in. A place where you could do anything if you had the money. A place crawling with sons-of-b*tches. Yet still, a place where people lived.

This world had plenty of bad sides, but it also had its good ones. Especially the sheer abundance of entertainment.

With just a little spending money, you could purchase magazines of every… persuasion. Finn kept a ‘Bunny Girl Special September Issue’ carefully hidden under his bed.

He debated what sort of job to take on, eventually settling on being a fixer. A grand-sounding title for essentially being an errand boy. Find lost cats, that sort of thing.

Living alone was comfortably free. He’d had to give up so much of his life back when he was living with the Little Pope.

But sometimes… no, quite often, he missed the Little Pope. Was he doing alright? What if he came looking for him? Or, conversely, what if he forgot about him?

Should he start taking on jobs that could earn him a lot of money?

He was pondering this, smoking a cheap cigarette in his motel room while watching some tawdry variety show on TV when…

Knock, knock, knock. Someone was at the door. Assuming it was just another of the usual annoying sorts, Finn frowned as he opened it.

“I’m not buying any newspapers. I won’t subscribe, I’m not interested in drugs, and what else──”

“Finn, I’ve missed you! Wow, you’ve grown a lot of stubble.”

“⋯⋯Your Holiness?!”

Standing beyond the doorway was the Little Pope.

Even before the questions – why he was here, how he’d found him – blossomed, a single thought bloomed in Fin’s brain: his appearance. The cigarette in his hand. The salacious TV show currently blazing on screen.

It had to be hidden.

He couldn’t let the kid see him like this.

“Just, five minutes, no, one minute, please wait…!”

Fin started cleaning his apartment faster than he ever had in his life.