Volume 15 Side Story (1-3)

Side Story 1, City Planning?

The Six Marquises gathered at Wahid's side.

A survey that had been ongoing since the Six Marquises came under Crown's umbrella, had finally been completed.

A survey of the land of the 5th Floor.

Even if they were to increase the amount of farmland, as long as there was the threat of monsters, their crops would be quickly destroyed.

Therefore, it was necessary to survey the land beforehand and develop it in a way that it could be easily protected from monster attacks.

The Six Marquises have accumulated a lot of experience in this field.

All of them were gathered because they finally had the results after much careful examination.

It wasn't just the Six Marquises and Wahid here, there were also the main members of Crown and members of the government, like Alec.

It had been announced earlier that this would be an important discussion that would determine the future of the town on the 5th Floor.

There was a large table in the center of the room where they were gathered, and on that table was a map.

It wasn't just one map, but several maps that had been put together to create one big map.

The map had various things listed all over the place.

Inside, it contained detailed information about the area.

"Oh, I see. This is wonderful. I can't believe you were able to fill out so much detail in such a short period of time."

It was Alec who exclaimed in admiration.

The others nodded in agreement, as did Schmidt.

On the other hand, it was Gazeran who was tilting his head.

"Heeh. Is this really that important?"

Royce, one of the Six Marquises, replied with a wry smile.

"Oh, I'm sure it doesn't look like much to you, Gazeran, after all, you're an adventurer."

There was a reason why Gazeran was tilting his head.

"In the first place, most of the information written here was gathered by adventurers."

Collecting from natural resources, materials from monsters, and so on was part of their work.

For adventurers, obtaining such information was essential.

The higher their rank, the more they understood the importance of information.

That was why Gazeran tilted his head at Alec and Schmidt, who were impressed.

"I knew that adventurers had the raw information. Nonetheless, Iit astonishing that you can show it to us so clearly on a map."

Alec said.

Information on a map was classified as military information for a nation.

That was why accurate maps were rarely available to the public.

Not only that, but it would not be unusual for a country to arrest a person possessing a detailed map.

Only peddlers would normally use maps that have approximate routes written on them.

"I see."

Gazeran nodded in agreement.

No one had asked the stupid question of whether it was confidential here.

The only reason to keep map information secret in the first place was to warrant the caution of other countries.

In the Towers, where there was no reason to be wary of other countries, it would be more beneficial to make the map information public.

However, no one here was considered to release this information to be public at this point in time.

This was because the information would be changing day by day as large-scale development progressed in the future.

Even if the map was released to the public, the information would be outdated several days later.

So, it was decided that it would be better not to release the map to the public until things settled down.

"So? What was the status of the perimeter?"

Wahid asked the Six Marquises.

"Well, it's nothing short of wonderful. To put it bluntly, I can't think of a more ideal place to put a farm."

The level of monsters that appeared around the area was recorded so it was much easier to manage their threat.

"Does that mean that we can proceed with the development to a certain extent?"

"I suppose so."

"That's right, but what do you think, Alec?"

It was Alec who was next to be questioned.

Of course, he was being asked as part of his role as the head of the administration branch.

The administration was involved in the development of the city.

"To put it bluntly, I don't know what's going to happen to the city, to tell you the truth. Likely, the supply of buildings won't keep up with the influx of people."

The current town on the 5th Floor had more than 10,000 permanent residents alone.

Of course, this was aside from those who moved from town to town, such as adventurers.

Those who decided to settle in the city, that was to say, those who purchased a residence, were required to register at the government office.

The same applied to apartment complexes.

This made it easier to keep track of the number of permanent residents.

On the other hand, it was very difficult to keep track of the number of adventurers who stayed at places like inns.

Of course, the transfer gates were controlled by them, so it would be possible to strictly control the number of adventurers, but Kosuke believes that it would be better to spend more time on managing the influx rather than controlling it.

The others who heard this also agreed with him, without any objections.

The town in the 5th Floor would continue to grow in the future.

However, if the farmland was destroyed piece by piece to keep up with this growth, there would be no hope for a stable harvest.

"How about we divide the development area by direction?"

It was Dulles who was looking at the map.

"Hmm. What do you mean?"

"According to the map, this town is more to the northeast. Rather than expanding the farmland to the northeast, where there is no hope for future growth, I thought it would be better to expand it in the opposite direction?"

"You mean expand the town to the northeast?"

"No. We won't do that because expanding in one direction makes it hard to develop, but the town only needs to be a certain size… Unless you want to build a city where more than a million people live."

Everyone laughed at those words.

When the town reached a size where it could build a city of a million people, that's when it would be the most populous city in the world.

The first thing they needed to do was to be able to produce enough food to sustain such a large population.

For now, it was still a dream.

"Even though it's agricultural land, we can't just develop it vertically, can we?"

"We only need a certain amount of space to build a city. Why don't we avoid that and make farmland?"

"What do you mean exactly?"

"If we set a target population for the time being, we can have a rough idea of the area needed to be developed as a town, right? We can use areas that are not suitable for farmland development for that."

At Dulles' words, the people involved fell silent.

They were probably considering whether it was feasible.

However, after waiting for a while, no objections were raised.

"Well, it looks like that's the safest way to go."

Wahid interjected, and now they moved on to specifics.

"What's our first target? I think 100,000 is reasonable, don't you?"

It was Alec who said this.

This kind of talk was Alec's specialty.

"And that's assuming that there's adequate food supply?"

One of the Six Marquises said to him.

"Mm… What are your specifics?"

" Well, if the surveillance around the farmland is accurate, we'd be able to feed not one hundred thousand, but two hundred thousand with just the initial development?"

"You're going that far…"

Alec pondered the answer he hadn't expected.

"But with such a rapid increase, will production be able to keep up?"

Alec's question was answered by another Six Marquises.

"We'll probably have to supplement from Kennelsen until production is established here anyway."

" Will that be a problem?"

" I don't see it as a problem."

Another of the Six Marquises assured, and Alec didn't ask any more questions.

"Then the rest of the problem is the adventurers' problem."

Developing farmland would be meaningless if it couldn't be maintained.

In this world, securing farmland was synonymous with securing adventurers.

"That's not a problem. After all, the monsters around this place are at the right level for those who are struggling to grow in other towns. As long as they're paid at least as much as Kennelsen's surveillance work, we'll be able to attract people."

"Then it sounds like we're in good shape, if that's what you mean. Now, we just need to make sure there are no other loose ends?"

Alec confirmed, and everyone in the room agreed.

He didn't expect to be able to make all the decisions right there.

In just one day, they had already decided the direction they were headed for.

In that sense, they had already achieved a lot.

The direction of the future town of the 5th Floor was established based on the discussions of this day.

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Side Story 2, Pressing Issue

Kousuke returned to the Administration Floor with Haku, and Haku was positively accepted by the other members.

He said, "positively accepted" because Kousuke had been forced to explain many things and had many things squeezed out of him.

Since all faults were directed at Kousuke, Haku was left alone.

Kousuke was relieved from the bottom of his heart once the whole group forgave him.

As for the other members, they thought it was just a matter of adding one more person to the group, but Haku's origins became a problem.

After all, Haku had called Kousuke her father.

That was something that could not be ignored.

From what Kousuke told them, it made sense to some extent.

Unfortunately, Kousuke did not understand the subtle nuance of "to some extent".

This was typical of Kousuke, so the women left him alone.

However, due to Haku's presence, the women had some concerns.

Thus, there was a serious discussion taking place without Kousuke's presence.

The five representatives, Shrein, Sylvia, Collete, Peach, and Floria, decided that Sylvia was the best choice.

Aside from being qualified, Sylvia was the only one who could do it.

And what's more, she was capable of communicating with the Gods.

Sylvia was very nervous as she began to communicate with the Gods.

[Sylvia, what's wrong? You seem to be more tense than usual today.]

The other party was, as usual, Elisa Meir (Eris).

Eris noticed that Sylvia was acting differently as compared to how she usually was.

It was not as if they were face to face, but Sylvia was even more nervous, knowing that she was dealing with an absolute God right now.

[I have a question I wish to ask you.]

[What is it?]

Sylvia hesitated, before asking Eris.

[Is it a coincidence that we can't have children, or is it inevitable?]

This was the question that the women had raised.

Not much time had passed since they started doing it with Kousuke.

So, it was no surprise that they hadn't had any children yet.

However, there was a problem when dealing with Kousuke.

That is, Kousuke is a "living god ".

No one knew whether Gods and humans or demi-humans could have children together.

Since this was the first time a living god had appeared, there was no way to get an answer.

That was why Sylvia was on the scene, hoping for an answer from the God communicating with her.

As Sylvia waited nervously for the answer, Eris casually replied.

[You could say it was a coincidence, or you could say it was inevitable.]

But the answer was not what she wanted.

It was very vague.

[What do you mean?]

[I can't answer it directly for some reason, but… Yes. As a priestess of the church, you know the story of a child born to a God, don't you?]

Sylvia was puzzled by the far-fetched answer.

[Of course I know about that, but…?]

[You will get your answer from there.]

It was truly an oracle.

At the same time, it also meant that there was no need for further questions.

[I hope you will get the right answer.]

As if to indicate that was all she needed to know, the communication with Elisa Meir was cut off after those words.

Sylvia, who was left behind, let out a big sigh.

Although she didn't get a direct answer, she believed that she had gotten something significant enough to be a guideline.

Rather, she had not expected to receive such a direct answer.

As soon as possible, she decided to tell her friends what she had just heard.

All of them were waiting for the answer.

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"You're talking about the story of a child born to a God."

Hearing the story from Sylvia, Collete let out a huge sigh.

She did not sigh because she thought it was a story that indicated having a child with Kousuke was akin to grasping clouds.

Rather, she sighed because there were too many stories, and it would take too much effort to find the right one.

In the world of Earthgard, from folklore to mythology, stories of children being born between the union of Gods and humans or demi-humans are all over the place.

To begin with, it was said that the ancestors of each race originated from a certain God.

In a sense, it was safe to say that such stories have been handed down to each race.

"Aren't myths and stories involving Gods what the church is all about?"

Shrein turned the conversation to Sylvia.

Sylvia, on the other hand, had a difficult look on her face.

"That's probably the case. Originally at least. But since it involves the origins of that race, even the Church will not acknowledge it if it is opposed to their own beliefs."

If the God of a certain race was not acknowledged to exist by the Church, it involves the very foundation of that race.

The church could not give recognition to a God that may or may not exist.

However, there were some Gods who were involved in the creation of a race, whose existence has not been officially recognized by the Church.

In the first place, the Church only recognizes a handful of Gods.

"So you're saying that the church can't be relied on for this~?"

"I'm afraid that's how things are."

All of them groaned at Sylvia's answer, but only Floria had a different expression than the others.

It was as if she was trying to remember something.

Peach, who was just sitting across from her, noticed her expression.

"Floria-san, what's wrong~?"

"Mm…? No, I think I've met someone like that before, but I can't seem to remember."

She has been twisting her neck a lot since earlier, thinking about it, but she just could not remember.

"Is that about God's children~?"

"No, I wonder what it was about…?"

"Where is it~?"

"That too… No, I guess it should be in the castle, since that's about the only place I've been in the first place."

Peach was asking many questions, trying to somehow jog her memory, but Floria just couldn't remember.

"You can't even remember when it happened or anything~?"

"No, I don't know. I think it was probably when I was just a little girl."

When Shrein heard the word "little girl", she suggested an idea that had just occurred to her.

"Then why don't you ask someone who knows a lot about what happened to Floria when she was a child?"

"Hm? Someone who… Oh."

At Floria's words, they all thought of the same thing.

They decided to go see that person right away.

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Sylvia and Collete went to see Alec right away.

Even though he was the head of the administrative body, the two of them were able to meet him right away, as he was also the Tower's front administrator.

" I apologize, Alec. I really needed to ask you something right away."

" No, no problem. It's part of my job to help with the Tower's administrators in the first place."

Alec smiled, showing off his handsome face, but it didn't work on the two of them.

He immediately decided to get down to business.

"In the past, has Floria ever been involved in a conversation about a child of a God?"

"A child of God? Well, if that's what you're talking about, then the church is… No, wait, hold on?"

Alec quickly remembered that the Church was not interested in that kind of talk.

At the same time, he remembered something that had happened to Floria when she was a child.

"I recall there being once a visitor who came to the castle. That visitor went around collecting lores and published a book about it?"

They were both stunned to hear that.

"You mean something like that?"

"Ah. No, of course he wouldn't have come to the castle if he'd only published one book or something, but it seems that he'd spent his whole life compiling the lores that he'd collected. In the end, he must have published dozens of books."

That was another great discovery.

Just the fact that he continued to publish dozens of books based on the same subject was rare.

""What's that person's name?""

"Um, wait. I can't remember. And I'm certain that person died a few years later after he left the castle."

Alec's words made both of their shoulders slump.

"Why are you two looking for him?"

"What are you getting at?"

"Even if the author died, his books still exist, right? I'm pretty sure they're still in the castle."

"Oh, I see. The title! What's the title of his series?"

Alec turned his head, trying to somehow remember, as Collete rushed forward.

"I think… I believe it was titled [God and God's Children]."

After getting the title of the book from Alec, the two went on their way to Schmidt.

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Side Story 3, Circumstances of the Goddess

Kousuke was visiting the Garden of Everlasting Spring again.

This information quickly spread among the Goddesses in the divine realm.

To begin with, the divination skill of the Succubus clan had a high rate of accuracy.

Naturally, there were several Goddesses who specialized in divination as well.

Information spread from these Goddesses.

When the Three Great Divine Sisters received the news, it was after the rumor had already spread throughout the divine realm.

"So? What are you going to do this time? Rumors have already spread, and I don't think it will go as well as last time, right?"

The one who asked Eris was Midir, who had come to visit as a representative of the lesser deities.

Although not as powerful as the Three Great Goddesses, Midir, the Goddess of the earth, was a familiar figure for the people who work in agriculture.

Because Midir was the representative of the lesser Goddesses, there had been no commotion so far.

If it were not for Midir, a group of Goddesses might have already stormed Asura's residence.

The fact that there was a bit of time before Kousuke would arrive was also a problem.

It was enough time for rumors to spread, but not enough time to coordinate in advance.

The reason why rumors of Kousuke's visit to the Garden of Everlasting Spring had spread so quickly was because the Goddesses he had met on his last visit had spread the word.

In particular, good news about the Goddesses with lesser worshipers had attracted a lot of attention.

As faith in them weakened, their connection with Earthgard weakened as well, but their connection suddenly became stronger.

Of course, it was still too weak to be compared to the Goddesses who still had plenty of worshipers in Earthgard, but it was the sliver of hope for the Goddesses who were just waiting to fade away.

It was only natural that the number of Goddesses who wanted to get close to Kousuke would increase after his last visit.

What's more, it was not only the weaker Goddesses that were trying to get connections.

The number of powerful Goddesses getting involved was also increasing.

According to the Goddess, it was easier for prophecies to succeed.

To put it simply, the number of prophecies that could be interpreted without unnecessary noise had increased.

This surprised the senior Gods.

Naturally, they wanted to verify the oracle since it would have a great impact on their work.

In light of these circumstances, Midir made her move before anything else could happen.

Midir's question was answered by Eris with a sigh.

"It can't be helped. This time, instead of having him return immediately, we'll have him stay overnight. During that time, we'll have him interact with as many of them as possible."

"When you say interact with them, how many are you talking about? I mean, the number of people who'll be able to interact with him would be less than the number of people who want to."

"I guess so… Jal, do you have a plan?"

"Huh…? You're being absurd again… I can't think of a plan that quickly, you know?"

Jal, who had been abruptly called out, pondered frantically.

"Anyway, if we are having him stay overnight, we can hold some kind of night party, right?"

"Of course."

Both Eris and the Goddess Midir nodded at Jal's suggestion.

"I'll have Spica run that one. I'll let Jal think of something else. Something that will get as many of them into contact with Kousuke-sama, please."

"Okay."

Spica agreed briefly to Eris' words.

"As for the night party, since the number of people is limited, let's gather the participants first. I'll leave it up to you to decide in what manner you'd like to select them, and you can discuss it with Mir (Goddess Midir)."

"Yeah, that's a good idea."

The Goddess Midir, who was the representative of the group, was in a position to coordinate everyone.

Incidentally, the reason why Midir was not in such a hurry this time was because she was there during Kousuke's last visit.

Including her, those who were able to get in contact with Kousuke last time were going to be a lower priority.

Nonetheless, the demand to meet him would still exceed the number of Goddesses who could fit into the night meeting.

Even if they could forcibly pack as many Goddesses into the night meeting, it would be meaningless if they could not approach Kousuke.

During that time, Kousuke had a limit to how many he could interact with.

While the four of them were pondering, the door suddenly opened and an intruder walked in.

"You can have a handshake session…!"

The person who came into the room who said so was Asura.

The reason why Asura knew about the handshake session was because she was linked to Kousuke's memory, which made her knew about his visit to the Garden of Everlasting Spring.

As a side note, Kousuke gave me his permission to access his memories before she did so.

This was one of the things she found in his memory.

"What is a handshake session?"

Eris asked naturally, as she had never seen or heard of such a thing before.

The other three also had a curious look on their faces.

Asura began to explain about the handshake event to them.

As she explained in detail, their expressions brightened.

"That's true, if it's like that, then we can handle many in just a short span of time."

Everyone nodded at Goddess Midir's statement.

Currently, it was decided that the first handshake event would be held in the world of Earthgard.

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After Kousuke returned to the Tower.

Mir had come to Asura's residence.

Because of her refrain from this time's event, Mir had avoided visiting the residence.

"So? How did it go?"

"No problem. It was a great success."

Mir's face broke into a smile at Jal's answer, but then she suddenly pondered.

"Did you find any incompatibilities?"

"Strangely enough, no."

Even if a person were to glance at another, when someone was in direct contact with another person in the form of something as close as a handshake, there were bound to be incompatibilities no matter what.

That was how it was.

But there was not a single report that mentioned this.

"Isn't it strange that after being exposed to that many people, not a single one has been reported? Is there a reason for this?"

"Of course there is."

It was Asura, not Jal, who answered Mir's question.

"It's a big reason for why Kousuke came here in the first place, it wouldn't have been the same if he had gone to Earthgard by himself."

Being exposed to the air of the Garden of Everlasting Spring in his soul state made him more like the Goddesses living there.

Furthermore, being the first male deity, Kousuke was able to focus on standards that had not been there before.

If Kousuke heard this story, he was going to have a hard time thinking about it.

"So the girls didn't harbor any bad feelings from the start, did they?"

"If you ask me, I didn't either."

Mir had come to see Kousuke on his first visit out of sheer curiosity, but upon meeting him in person, those feelings had turned favorable.

"I have a feeling there might be more to it, but it's hard to tell with the way things are going."

Asura concluded.

"By the way… Can't you ask him to come back regularly from now on?"

Everyone in the room froze at Mir's question.

It hadn't occurred to them until Mir asked.

But now that she mentioned it, it was possible for them to communicate with each other, so they could just ask.

If he could come regularly, there wouldn't have been a commotion like this.

"I'll check with him later."

Eris, the one with the strongest ties to him except for Asura, replied.

The reason Asura didn't answer in this case was because Asura herself couldn't interfere with Earthgard that easily.

In the end, Eris confirmed through Sylvia that he would be visiting Earthgard regularly, and thus, there would be no more commotions such as that in the future.