Chapter 76: Chapter 72: Summoned Hero

Yamamoto Ichiro was snapped out of his daydreaming by the sensation of falling, like his chair had suddenly been tipped, him still in it. The sudden, dreamlike sensation continued as he fell through the floor, then abruptly stopped. He was standing in a featureless blue void, empty save for himself and a tall demon man in front of him.

“Yamamoto Ichiro, I am the God of Space.” The man said. “And you have been summoned to aid another world.”

Ichiro blinked in shock. Upon second inspection, yes, this man did match the statues he had seen at temples, and it would certainly be a trifling task for such a being to teleport Ichiro from his school to...wherever this was.

“Why me?” He asked, his mouth moving before he had time to react. When he realized what he had done, he clapped his hands over his mouth and knelt respectfully. “My-my apologies, Your Holiness.” He said. “I did not intend any disrespect.”

The God of Space smiled and wave his hand, and Ichiro’s chair appeared next to him. “Please, sit.” The God of Space said. “And it is we who would like to apologize, for abducting you without warning.” He waited expectantly, expression indicating that he would not continue until Ichiro sat.

So, Ichiro sat, and the God of Space pulled out some sort of notebook. “As for why you in particular were chosen, the God of Heroes performed a search through your world, looking for youths with great talent. You were decided on because…”

The God of Space flipped through the notebook, before eventually settling on a page. “Because, quote, ‘you have a keen mind, strong sense of justice, and…care deeply about those around you.’ As such, you were trusted with this task.”

 If Ichiro didn’t know any better, he would have thought that the briefest alarmed expression crosses the God of Space’s face as he read the God of Heroes’ description of Ichiro, but it was a silly notion. “What would you have me do, Your Holiness?” He asked.

“Save the world.” The God of Space said. “The Lord of Monsters is approaching, and the people have lost faith in their Hero.”

Ichiro frowned. “So, their Hero isn’t dead, just…weak?”

The God of Space shook his head. “It is not such a simple matter. I will not ask you to cooperate with her, nor will I give you further information. This world is in a period of intense turmoil, and the truth is not quite as simple as it may appear. Our wish is for you to see the world for yourself, draw your conclusions, and take whatever actions you feel are necessary to guide the world back to its proper path.”

There was silence as Ichiro realized the full weight of his task. “And…if I draw the wrong conclusions?”

“Then the world will be in no worse a state than it is now. The only thing we require of you is to ensure the Lord of Monsters is defeated. Everything else is simply to improve the lives of the people of this world, and is optional.

“We understand we are asking much of you. This task is not simple, nor is it easy. To that end, we will be providing you assistance in the form of Blessings, the ability to contact a god of your choosing, and should you succeed in your task, a reward and the option to return to your home.” The God of Space paused, studying Ichiro’s face. “You have a question, I see. You may ask.”

“I already have a reward in mind and would like to know if it is feasible.” Ichiro said. Once the God of Space motioned for him to continue, he spoke up again. “I wish for a tool that can create portals between my world and this new one.” He said. “I don’t want to give up my family, and I know I won’t want to give up the bonds I make in this new world.”

Once again, it seemed that the briefest flash of worry went through the God of Space. “It is not a small thing that you ask. The systems of your worlds, though similar, have slight differences to them that make travel between them hard on people.” He paused, then sighed. “But such a thing is possible. Should you admirably perform your role, you will be given this tool.”

“Thank you, Your Holiness.” Ichiro said, bowing his head in respect. “I will do my utmost to meet your expectations.”

“I have no doubts you will.” The God of Space said. “Now, to list your boons. You do not have to worry about language; the entirety of this world speaks English, due to relatively recent near-extinction events demolishing other languages, so there is no need for a comprehension Blessing. You are, however, to be given a Blessing of Growth, increasing your experience gain by ten times while you are on this world, and a Blessing of Presence, which you use to emit an aura indicating that you are a Hero. This aura may open many doors for you, but be wary; many who learn of your identity may try to use you for their own purposes.

“For your next boon, we require a bit of background; the people of this world have a Job, which functions similarly to the Classes you are familiar with, with two major differences. The first is that, while these Jobs are individually more powerful than a similar Class, each person may only ever have one, and it is random, decided at birth. The second difference is a direct consequence of this; there is no distinction between personal level and Job level. If you would hit level one hundred, instead of advancing your Job or getting a new one, you instead advance your race, up to twice. As a catkin, you would become a cat sith, and then a cath palug. I understand these names have no meaning to you at the moment, but your chosen god will be able to give you more information after you enter the world.

“To adapt you to this system, we will be giving you the privilege of adapting your current Classes into Jobs, giving you a Heroic Job for each of the four Classes you possess. You will have all benefits of them active at once, and you will only have one unified level, as the people of this world do.

“And, finally, you will receive a patron god. Quite a few gods have expressed their interest in you, and you are to pick one of them. They will grant you their personal Blessing and the ability to contact them whenever; they are to be your guide to this new world, and will give you any information that would be considered common knowledge. Do not hesitate to ask for their aid, for your task is an important one, and failing because you did not know some common piece of knowledge would reflect poorly on us.”

The God of Space took out a stack of papers, which he handed to Ichiro. “These papers have been put together by their respective god, and contain information they think would be relevant to you. Read them carefully, and make your decision. No god will be angered if you do not pick them, so please do not let that affect your decision; choose the one you personally feel would be the best match for you.”

Ichiro nodded, accepting the papers. “Thank you, Your Holiness.” He said. “Do I have a time limit, or may I take as much time as I need?”

“As much as you please.” The God of Space confirmed. “This decision is not one to be rushed.”

Ichiro nodded, then began to look through the papers, carefully reading each. By and large they were the same; they contained a brief descriptor of the god’s Blessing, a bit about the god, usually including why they were interested in this matter, and some standards of behavior he must follow so as not to sully their name.

The very last one, however, stood out from the rest. The moment he turned to it, the title caught his attention.

“PICK ME!” It read in big, bold letters, surrounded by hearts and smiley faces. Right below was a photo of the goddess the paper belonged to, a person that Ichiro had never seen before.

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Intrigued, Ichiro continued to read. “Heya!” It read. “I’m the Goddess of Commerce, and I should be your number one pick here! I know what you’re thinking – the Goddess of Commerce won’t help me defeat the Lord of Monsters or right the world, so why should I pick her?

“Well, that’s where you’re wrong! I don’t have a flashy Blessing, but it’s definitely one that will serve you incredibly well! It allows you to ‘see the value’ of something and know how to give a good sales pitch for it, which sounds lame, but it’s really not! You see, there’s a lot more to something than monetary value, and this will tell you aaaaallllll of that! Need to know what something does? Well, here’s your answer! Super important person in disguise? They can’t hide from your eyes! Basically, it’s an identification ability on steroids! Unblockable, undetectable, and full of practical tips that tell you how things work! You can’t sell something if you don’t know exactly what it does, after all!

“Now, I can already hear you asking – why is such a cute goddess offering me such a great ability? Well, I just so happen to have some followers down here that are personally important to me, and I would be heartbroken if they were killed by the Lord of Monsters! I’m not asking you to be buddy-buddy with them or anything, they can be a bit…overzealous, but I’d like to be able to at least give them a fighting chance in the years to come.

“I’m not gonna restrict you in any way, even if you eventually come into conflict with any of my followers, though you do have to understand I won’t be as helpful as normal in those situations. I know, I know, I’m supposed to be entirely in your corner here, but everyone else is the same way, they’re just not honest about it like I am. So, pick me! And remember, I’m open to all sorts of…fun if you have the proper payment!”

Ichiro put the paper down carefully. It…well, he felt drawn to it. The ability seemed good for going into foreign lands, and while it didn’t provide tangible benefit in combat the way some others did, knowledge was power, and it had a plethora of uses outside of combat.

Even more than that, though, the goddess was personable, super cute, and was open to physical intimacy if he paid her right. He could already see them bonding over the course of his journey, growing close to each other before eventually she made an offer, to become his in exchange for some trivial price that was there just for the principle of the thing.

He wouldn’t force her into anything, of course, as much as he was open with his desires, he wasn’t about to do anything immoral, and he couldn’t force a goddess into doing stuff for him anyway. Even if a relationship didn’t pan out, the goddess seemed like the kind of person he could get along with, and that was important.

The one sticking point was her identity. He had at least heard of all the other gods that had offered to sponsor him, but he had never heard of a Goddess of Commerce. There was a God of Commerce, but he was different.

“Your Holiness, may I ask a question?” Ichiro said, looking up at the God of Space. When the God of Space nodded, Ichiro continued. “How does this Goddess of Commerce relate to the God of Commerce I know?”

“She is the same person.” The God of Space said. “As she would put it, she is “undergoing a rebranding”, and has taken on a new form. Over the next thousand years she will slowly be giving the news to her followers, so do not be alarmed. She is just as legitimate as the rest of the gods.”

Ichiro nodded, then put her paper in the pile he had made of potential candidates. Putting the rest to the side, he began to look over that pile again, carefully consider the gods in question, remove half of the remainder, and kept going until he had narrowed it down to one.

And, to his surprise, the Goddess of Commerce came out on top. The sheer wealth of information the Blessing would provide was phenomenal, its versatility unmatched. Admittedly, it had been a rather close race between her and the Goddess of Time, but…in the end, the Goddess of Commerce’s personality won out, and he chose her.

“Very well then.” The God of Space said. “I will bring her here, and after she is finished, we will send you back down to the mortal realm. Do you have any final questions before I take my leave?”

“No, Your Holiness.”

The God of Space gave Ichiro a nod, and then was gone, replaced with the Goddess of Commerce. “Hello!” She said cheerfully. “Glad to see you’ve picked me! Now…time is money, so let’s get this taken care of!”

She walked forward and placed a hand on Ichiro’s forehead. There was a moment of gravity, the impression of shadows lengthening despite there not being any shadows in the evenly lit plane, and then she pulled her hand away. “Done and done!” She said. “So, first things first, none of this “Your Holiness” business with me! Just call me Connie, okay?”

“Yes, Y – Connie.” Ichiro said obediently.

“Good! So, any questions for me before I send you down? I mean, we’ll have plenty of time to talk later, there’ll be this neat little window chat system I’ll explain to you once things have settled down, but it’s not face to face, you know?”

“R-right. Um, these followers you mentioned, who are they?”

“I’m not allowed to say.” Connie said. “But I’ll tell you this; I’ll be letting them know that you’re under my patronage, and to give you a visit if they’re in the same area. They can be a little overbearing at times, but they’re generally pretty good people, and…well, if you want to learn the truth of what’s happening in this world, they’re intimately involved with it.”

Ichiro frowned inwardly. “Can you at least tell them to let me know that they’re the followers you’re talking about?” He asked. “I would hate to let an opportunity slip by.”

Connie grinned. “I like the way you think. I’ll tell them, but I can’t make any promises as to their behavior. Just remember to be careful out there, okay?”

“I will. I think I’m ready now, how are we –”

There was that dreamlike sensation of falling again, and then Ichiro found himself in a grandiose hall.

“Summoned Hero!” A voice said. “We have come to seek your aid!”

As Ichiro stood, he couldn’t help but notice the corpses of dozens of people, magicians, if their clothes were any indicator, arrayed in a circle around him. This…was not going to be as easy as he had hoped, was it?