The Afterlife!

Out of nowhere, a voice spoke to me in a pure white room.

"Welcome to the afterlife. Unfortunately, your life has come to an end."

I looked around and saw an office desk, a chair, and a beautiful woman sitting on it. If I had to imagine what a goddess looked like, she would definitely fit the description.

She had a slim figure with ample breasts, long legs, and waist-long blue hair that was partially tied into a loop with a water-molecule-shaped clip. Her clothes were predominantly blue, with a vest, detached sleeves, thigh-high boots, an extremely short miniskirt, and a transparent underskirt completing her outfit.

I couldn't help but stare in awe at her beauty, even as her words sank in.

As I looked at the woman before me, I realized that the reason for my shock wasn't just her stunning beauty, but also the fact that she was none other than Aqua—the lovable yet stupid goddess from that anime I used to watch.

Without thinking, I blurted out, "Aqua!"

Aqua tilted her head and asked, "You know of me? I don't think I had any followers from the world you came from, or did I?"

I immediately regretted my outburst. What was I supposed to say now?

As I tried to gather my thoughts, the memories came flooding back. I had died, hit by a truck. Classic. Not going to lie, I was a little overwhelmed, but I could only let out a sigh. I knew where this was headed, and there was nothing I could do about it.

I was going to reincarnate in the Konosuba world.

Though, I still couldn't understand why I was here. Why was I in the heaven of a fictional world? As I pondered these questions in my head, I realized that, in the end, they were probably pointless.

After all, I was already dead, my body turned into mincemeat by truck-kun.

"Hey, hey, you there?"

"Sorry, Aqua-sama," I said, bowing deeply. "I was just mesmerized by your beauty. My grandpa was your biggest follower, and he told me all about you."

Aqua smiled, clearly pleased. "Of course! You know of me. After all, I am the Great Goddess Aqua. Hehe, praise me more!"

I knew her well enough to understand that all I needed to do was shower her with praise for a few minutes, and maybe I could earn an extra wish from her. "Yes, yes, Aqua-sama. Without a doubt, you are the best among all of the gods and goddesses!"

"Hehe, I know I am," Aqua said with a satisfied smile, standing up from her seat and pointing at me. "I would love to chat with you a little longer, but I have more souls to guide. I'll make this quick and let you in on a little secret."

As Aqua walked towards me, she leaned in close and covered her mouth before whispering, "Heaven isn't as great as you humans imagine...

My heart raced, being so close to a woman this beautiful, but I had to keep the act up and not get distracted.

Brothers, we must stay focused.

So, as Aqua went on to explain how boring heaven was, and I already knew what was coming next, I put on a look of shock and shouted, "No way!"

Satisfied with my reaction, Aqua stood up straight, flicked her silky smooth hair, and put her left hand on her waist. She pointed straight at my face with a smile. "You don't want to go to a boring place like Heaven, do you? Do you like games?"

I nodded hurriedly in response.

"Well, since I'm your favorite Goddess, I have good news for you. I will give you a chance to reincarnate into a different world like the game you play."

"You see, there is a Demon King in that world, and the people who died there were killed by the Demon King's army and were afraid, saying that they didn't want to die like that again."

"Therefore, almost all of the people who died rejected reincarnating in that world again. More specifically, that world will end if this continues since babies will cease to be born there. Hence, we'll solve that problem by sending the dead from other worlds over, right? That's how it is."

"And since we're sending people over, we should find people who have died young and still yearn to live and send them over with their original body and memories. It'll be meaningless if they were to die immediately after going over, so we'll grant a privilege to all of those going to that world, allowing them to take one thing they like. It may be a powerful ability, an exceptional talent, or a god-level weapon."

"What do you think? It might be another world, but you can live once more. For the people of that world, someone will appear who can fight immediately."

"Only one wish, tsk."

"Huh, what was that?"

"Nothing," I cleared my throat and added, "Can I take more than one of these privileges into this new world?"

Aqua shook her head, "I'm sorry, but I don't that's possible. It is against the rules."

Ah, shit, I didn't think I would need to bring this up.

"I knew it, grandma was right. Eris-sama is kinder," I said, speaking as if I was talking to myself but loud enough for Aqua to hear.

"What do you mean by that?!"

"Oh, it's nothing. It's just that my grandpa and grandma were followers of you and Eris-sama. They would always debate who was the better Goddess."

Aqua pouted her cheeks upon hearing my words. "Of course, I'm the better Goddess. Eris is a junior of mine. How could she be better than me? Fine, fine, you know what? You can take two privileges with you."

"Thank you so much, Aqua-sama! You're the best!" I exclaimed excitedly.

"I know, I know," Aqua said smugly, conjuring a catalog of cheats out of thin air and handing it to me.

My heart raced with excitement as I started browsing through the catalog.

[Excalibur, X-ray vision, Growth acceleration, Master swordsman, Elemental affinity...]

As I browsed over the abilities and equipment, there were so many options that I had no idea what to choose. It would take me days to decide. So, I sorted the abilities I liked into a pile and set aside the ones I didn't.

In the end, I chose [Super Magic] and [Abnormal mana].

"I've made my decision, Aqua-sama. I choose these two," I said, handing her the two cheats I had selected.

"I understand. Well then, please stand there and don't move out of the magic circle," Aqua replied, surprising me by actually doing her job for once.

A blue magic circle appeared beneath my feet, and I started floating slowly. I couldn't help but feel a surge of excitement - I was about to be transported to another world!

But at the same time, I felt like I was forgetting something important. What could it be?

Ah, whatever. I'll think about it later. Right now, I need to figure out what to do first. Should I go to the adventure guild or explore the city?

Meanwhile, lost in my thoughts, Aqua was delivering her scripted grand speech. "You'll be heading to another world now and will become one of the hero candidates to defeat the Demon King. You'll receive a gift from the gods the moment you defeat the Demon King.

"Hero, may you be victorious among the many hero candidates and be the one to defeat the Demon King! Well then, I bid you farewell!"