【Tales of the Gods 14】 The Death God, Alogoros, and the Underworld Goddess, Asava
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This is an extra side story.
On a night a few days after the tumultuous ‘Dawn Day’…
…Under a cloudy sky, not a single star visible…
…A figure in a black robe was rustling through the grass on Mihabyushira Hill, searching for sothing.
With no starlight and only a faint glow from the magic lamps in the royal capital spread out below…
…That figure didn’t seem to be hindered in their search… and continued to rustle through the grass.
They seem to be looking for sothing.
“Haaaah…”
After searching for over six hours…
…The figure finally seed to have given up, plopped down on the adow, and sighed.
It was a man’s voice.
And then, he stretched.
Looking up at the sky.
And as he did, the hood of his black robe fell back, revealing his face, which had been hidden in the shadows.
It’s fortunate that no citizen of the royal capital witnessed that scene.
Because that man’s face…
…Was a skull… with no flesh or skin.
In this world of Ardyst, undead don’t exist, with very few exceptions.
And yet, this man is clearly… a moving skeleton.
What is going on?
Just who is this man?
The answer…
…Was imdiately revealed by a woman’s voice that suddenly echoed around the skeletal man.
“H-Hey!? I’m not slacking off, Underworld Goddess Asava-sama!”
The skeletal man hurriedly jumped to his feet and stood at attention!
“Hiee… You don’t trust …”
“Uu… I have nothing to say…”
“Hiiih!? I’ll work, I’ll work, I’ll do my job! So please spare from thaaatーーー!”
…Yes, the na of this skeletal man who hurriedly started rustling through the grass again… is the Death God, Alogoros.
He’s one of the lower-ranking gods, under the Underworld Goddess, Asava, responsible for collecting the souls of the dead in this world of Ardyst.
This suspicious-looking skeletal figure is a temporary vessel for him to operate in the mortal realm, and his true form is that of an ordinary man in his 30s.
And his current job is to manage and operate the ‘Soul Recovery System’.
In the Divine Realm these days, even the collection of souls is fully automated.
The job of a Death God… has changed quite a bit.
‘You have to work for souls’ is a saying from the distant past… Now, a Death God’s job is more like a systems engineer, not a salesman.
Now, the reason why Alogoros, who’s essentially in a technical position, ca down to the mortal realm, even with his superior’s supervision…
Is…
“Oh…?”
…Because of a fragnt of blood-red tal… that he finally found.
“…He’s… already gone. Only a remnant… can be felt. He escaped… or rather, this feeling… it’s more likely… that he’s been annihilated.”
The Death God, Alogoros… was searching for… the Great Evil Spirit, Engee Albitt.
* * *
A few days ago, an abnormality was detected in the ‘Soul Recovery System’.
For a short period of ti, the system stopped functioning properly around the Ashgo Kingdom’s royal capital.
Asava, the Underworld Goddess, noticing that, kicked Alogoros, who was sleeping in his room, awake, and they hurried to understand the situation and investigate the cause.
And what they discovered was… the revival of the Great Evil Spirit, Engee Albitt.
This Great Evil Spirit, although not very well-known among humans, is a calamity that has been plaguing the gods for many years.
His intent to harm the world and the gods is clear, and although he’s not that powerful, he’s cunning, and despite being pursued by the Sealing God and the Punishnt God for many years, they haven’t been able to catch him, a troubleso fellow.
Half the reason Asava and Alogoros created the Soul Recovery System was to capture Engee.
That Engee Albitt revived, and then imdiately disappeared.
Because evil spirits are transford souls of the dead, their search falls under Asava and the others’ jurisdiction.
That’s why Alogoros pulled out his dusty vessel from the back of his closet and ca down to the mortal realm himself.
After all, due to various circumstances, he had already lost his apostle.
“Anyway, to conclude… for now…”
Alogoros, rolling the red tal fragnt… a fragnt of ‘Soul Devourer’… on his leather glove, said.
“It doesn’t seem like there are any more traces here. If we want to investigate further, it would be more efficient to do it magically from the Divine Realm… Speaking of which, didn’t the patron deity of this country see what happened that day? What was he doing?”
“Haaaah… well, I was sleeping in my room too. I can’t complain.”
Alogoros sighed, scratching his skull.
“So, Asava-sama, I’d like to return… This country feels… prickly, sohow… I’m getting a strong sense of being unwelco…”
“No, it’s not that… It’s not the usual kind of being disliked… It feels like I’m being intensely hated. It’s like… I’m being hated on the level of a terrorist who tried to commit mass murder. So please let go ho… it’s creepy.”
Asava was about to scold her subordinate for his cowardly remark, but she also agreed that further investigation on site was unnecessary.
So she gave him those instructions after thinking for a while.
“Understood.”
“…Yes, we shouldn’t let our guard down. We should continue to be vigilant. He’s a genius. And incredibly persistent. Just like he was… when he was alive…”
Alogoros was once… human.
He lived in the sa era as Engee Albitt… and was even a fairly well-known engineer.
Well-known enough for that arrogant Engee to rember his na.
He was caught up in the mass recruitnt that accompanied the ‘Day of Ruin’, caught the eye of the Underworld Goddess, Asava, and beca a Death God.
One a Death God, the other a Great Evil Spirit.
Alogoros and Engee… their positions have changed quite a bit.
“Hiee… Please spare from another lecture. I’ve already reflected enough on my sleeping in… “
“Ah, don’t worry about it… I want to get the report done right away…”
“Is it even drinkable anymore?”
While saying such things…
…The skeletal Alogoros crumbled into dust.
And, blown away by the night wind, he vanished from the mortal realm.
New arc begins in the !
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