The Fool, The Death and The Rewriter

"...Hrrggh..."

"Hmm..."

Aoi and Myriel. Death Goddess and [Rewriter].

Getting to see each other again after such a very long time, it seems like this unexpected reunion isn't something that should be celebrated for both of them.

"E-Ehh..."

In fact, I could feel the tension in the air right now as it hits my skin.

'Aoi, how the hell did you come here? Haven't I told you to stay put inside the inn?!' I whispered behind her, feeling worried because of her sudden appearance.

"...It's because you took so long to catch that guy, big brother!" Aoi scolded me. "I realized that there's something sketchy about that guy, so I went out and tried to find you!"

I shook my head slowly as I let out a sigh. "You do realize that you're making those two worry, right..."

Aoi returned her sharp gaze to Myriel. "...While looking for big brother I suddenly picked up a familiar aura nearby and when I followed where it came from, I discovered this rotten hell of a woman trying to do something bad to my big brother!"

While bathed in seething rage, Aoi's fingers pointed at her.

"Oh my, your choice of words are really painful, Death Goddess," Myriel gasped. "But, I don't need to explain myself as you won't believe what I say anyway."

She reached out an expensive-looking bottle from a shelf and asked Aoi, "Want some?"

"...I don't drink."

"Oh my, I forgot! Pardon me for that Death Goddess," Myriel smiled at her. "Inviting a little child to drink liquor, while her big brother is around? Fufu, just how stupid and insensitive am I? I should've gotten some warm milk instead if I knew you're coming."

"...Gunununu...I'm older than you, you woman..."

Ah. Temper, temper.

"...Why are you here? Shouldn't you be at the God Realm right now, enjoying for yourselves the things that you haven't put effort into creating?"

"Let's just say that the God Realm is still too small for all of us, even after those two factions have already parted their ways with us, thus I decided to stay here for the meantime," she replied nonchalantly.

"...So it's still like that," Aoi muttered to herself. "Good thing I had a separate realm back then."

"Besides, I like it here in the mortal world more. You may not know it, but I'm having quite an interest on these mortals, especially humans, for some time now."

Shifting her gaze towards me, I felt a sudden rise in temperature as soon as she said those words.

Myriel continued to speak as she pour the contents of the wine bottle into a large wine glass. "Humans, and their constant struggle to satiate their endless desires is what makes this world even more entertaining to watch. You know it well, Death Goddess: wars, suffering, demise--all of it can be caused by only one person having a desire to become more powerful than the ones around him. It already happened countless times in the past, and I'm sure you want that to happen again soon."

She kept on pouring the wine into the glass, not stopping even though it already overflowed. Just like what she said, desires kept on pouring on a person until it completely spills out.

"That's why as a god, I chose Ren Mortel to have this opportunity to join my side and become my champion for this current hegemony with the other gods, and achieve glory and power equal to that of us gods, maybe even exceed it when the time comes. This is history in the making, and the Rewriter shall inscribe it!"

Raising the overflowing glass to herself, she drank the overly copious amount of blood-red wine in one sip.

"I told you already, I won't join into your side."

"...You hear it well, right? There's no way big brother would cooperate with a lecherous, scheming woman like you!"

Aoi, your words...

"Well, that's regrettable," Myriel sighed. "Even with all my pleas you still choose to refuse. That's fine though, since I'm sure you'll have no choice but to beg for my assistance sometime in the future."

"Assistance? For what?"

"That," Flipping her glass upside down, she replied, "That is for you to find out."

-----

"...Geez, that woman! My blood really boils everytime I see her!" Aoi grumbled as soon as she stepped out of Myriel's place.

"Did you got a fight with her in the past, Aoi?" I asked, out of curiosity.

When I asked her that, she paused for a moment, then spoke.

"...I'm not sure."

"Huh?"

"...I can't remember the details, but it seems like there's something in her that I hate so much. Ugh, why do I have to see her in a place like this?!"

To vent out her anger, she started kicking rocks scattered on the road. With all that emotions inside of her, she might need to kick mountains for them to dissipate.

"Aoi."

"...What is it, big brother?"

"About what happened just now, I..."

"...Oh my, there's blood on your face, big brother."

Stopping in front of me, she took out a handkerchief and started wiping it on my face. With our difference in height she struggled to reach me even on her tiptoes, so I decided to kneel on the ground.

"...Okay, I think that's enough," she said with a pleased look on her face a few moments later. "Filthy blood from humans are really hard to remove, isn't it?"

I didn't notice that there's blood smeared on my face until she said it to me.

"Thanks."

"...Hehe~"

"Ah, you two! There you are!"

Suddenly, we heard the elder Rainen sibling shouting at us from a distance.

"Hah, hah..." Saku panted heavily as he placed his hands on his knees. "Ren...where the hell did you go?!"

"Ahahaha..." I looked down in embarrassment. "I tried to catch that guy, but its too late when I realized he's a professional."

"...I tried to look after big brother, that's why I also went out of Sandy Fish," Aoi also replied.

"What a troublesome pair you really are. Haaah..." He let out a deep sigh.

""Sorry.""

"Ah. You're just trying to help so let's leave it at that," he shook his head. "Even so, I had to leave the inn to Saki just to find you two. Who knows if she can't handle the situation there? She'll yell at me again if that happens."

"...That's not good."

"I'm feeling bad for her. Let's hurry back to the Sandy Fish!"

And just like what Saku told us, we were greeted by Saki while holding a spatula as soon as we arrived. Her face showed an ominous expression, as if she's about to flip heaven and earth along with the three of us.

If she's a goddess, I would start begging for forgiveness right now.

-----

One week has already passed since we met Myriel but nothing strange happened to us yet. Still, there's no reason for us to let our guard down, as Aoi warned me that she's the type of person (or goddess) that will do everything just to achieve what she wants.

Maybe she's just watching at us from a hidden place, planning something. Aoi should tell me if she could sense her presence right now.

"By the way, it's been a week already since you began your community service. How's your progress?" Saku asked me while mopping the floor.

"At this rate, maybe I'll be able to finish it two or three days from now," I replied, while being busy wiping the tables clean.

"Heh...what a hardworking fellow."

"Nope." I glared at him with a tired expression. "Aside from my community service I still have to go to the Guild to do simple missions, and I'm also helping you guys here in the inn when I'm not doing those two. After waking up and going to bed I also have to do things for Aoi like helping her take a bath or something. So me, hardworking? Nope, not at all."

I believe, Saku is more deserving to be called a hardworking fellow more that me. For some reason he and her sister had to run a business even at a young age without any assistance from their relatives or their parents' friends, sacrificing a portion of their youth for the prosperity of their business. I doubt there's people like them in the world I came from, but in this place it seems such situation might be just a commonplace.

I aspire to have the same zeal and dedication as them when they work.

"Okay! All the things that needed cleaning are all sparkly clean now, that's why we could finally have our well-deserved breakfast!" Saku announced after we're done with the chores.

"Ahh, finally..."

A few minutes later the two girls came out from the back room. Saki has already washed herself and changed into her usual work attire meanwhile Aoi haven't changed her clothes at all, since her dress has some sort of antimicrobial property due to her powers imbued on it.

"...Big brother look, look!" Aoi ran towards me without minding the possibility of slipping due to the still wet floor. "My hair has two fluffy pink ties for today! Don't they look cute?"

As she spin her body her twintails also whirl around her. It really makes me happy to see her enjoy even the simplest of things.

"Yeah. They look cute on you."

"...Hehehe~"

"I thought giving those ties to her since I only seldom use it Brother Ren," Saki told me, "I'm glad she liked it."

"I-Is that so? Thank you very much, Saki."

While I'm thankful that she gave Aoi her hair ties, it's a bit regrettable that I won't get to see Saki wear those. A cute girl like her should wear cute things more often.

"...Yes, thank you!" Aoi also expressed her gratitude to her.

Saku cleared his throat. "You know what, being surrounded by cute people really makes me hungry. Saki, commence Operation Breakfast."

"Okayyyy..."

"Hey Saku, by 'cute people' does it also pertain to me as well?" I asked him.

"Huh?" He quickly gave me a surprised stare. "Who said you're cute? I was talking about the two of them, silly."

"Oh."

We then start eating our breakfast without hurry, not letting our hunger overcome our desire to chat and laugh with each other. It's like the four of us are all brothers and sisters, and Aoi seems to slowly see it the same way as I do.

Clang! Clang!

"Oh, is it the messenger? It's still early in the morning, what is he doing here?" Saku said while peeking at the window beside him.

Saki also did the same. "Are we finally getting a new mail from our faraway relatives, Big Bro?"

"It's been a long while since the last time they sent us a letter. Seems like they finally remembered our existence."

"Look, it isn't a letter," Saki pointed her finger at the thing the messenger is holding. "It's a package!"

'Yey!!!' She then rushed outside to ask if the package was really for them. The messenger nodded, and after signing some documents she returned with the package on top of her head.

"It's too heavy, I wonder what this thing is..."

"Did you ask where that package came from?" Saku spoke.

"No," she replied. "But, I believe in my heart it came from our relatives."

"Saki..." I shook my head. "Whether it came from your relatives or not, you should still have to make sure where the things you'll about to receive are from them."

"Yeah. What if it came from a bad person? Would you accept something from a bad person?"

"S-Sorry..." Saki looked down in regret.

She gave the package to her brother, who then placed it on the table. After inspecting the package that is wrapped in thick brown paper, Saku gave an exasperated look on his face.

"I can't see the name of the sender. My name is written here though, look."

An anonymous sender. Somehow the package also gives off an ominous feeling to anyone who sees it.

"Big Bro, I'm worried..."

Saku patted her shoulder. "Don't worry, I'll protect you if something happens. Hide behind me if you're scared."

When he said that, Saki immediately hide away from the package.

"...Big brother, I'm excited to see what's inside the package! Let's open it now!"

"You little...--"

After a few moments of deliberation, Saku and I decided to open the package.

Aoi started singing as she watch us slowly tear the package's wrapping.

"What package do we have for today~ What package do we have for today~? Severed fingers? Internal organs? Could it be, severed head--"

"Shut up already Aoi," I scolded her as I pinched her cheeks. "You're making Saki feel uncomfortable with that song!"

Again and again, quit spewing macabre things especially in front of other children, I beg of you.

Saku wiped the sweat on his forehead with his hand. "The wrapping used is very thick, like it's more heavy than the content itself."

"Maybe the content is something very important, who knows?"

"Important or not, wrapping the whole thing with all this paper is just too much."

"Just tear it open already."

With two hands Saku ripped the wrapping completely.

And...

"B-Big Bro, that's..."

Everyone's eyes widened upon looking at the contents of the package.

"This thing...is this gold?"

"...Amazing."

"It's my first time to see gold bars in my whole life..."

Inside the package there are thin bars of gold, stacked alternately in a 3x3x3 dimension, with each bar measuring about 5cm x 2.5cm x 1cm. If these bars are actually gold, the total weight of the package will be more than 2 kg.

"I-I'm not sure if it's real," Saku sole in a shaky voice. "Let me test if it's real."

Saku hurriedly went to his room upstairs and returned with a bottle of transparent liquid. Using a dropper he dropped a few drops on one bar, and the liquid quickly turned whitish a few seconds upon contact.

"Saku...is there something wrong?" I asked him.

With the complexion of his face turning a bit pale he did the same to the rest of the bars, and all of them showed the same results. Saku's lips started trembling as he looked at us and said:

"T-This...this is white gold."

Using a piece of cloth he wiped each gold bar, until they showed their metallic, whitish luster.

"In the current market, white gold's value is ten times that of ordinary gold. That said it is seldom used as a form of currency, and only the nobles are able to have these," Saku explained.

"Big Bro, then that means..."

"Un," Saku held his sister's hand. "We're going to be rich!"

'YAAAAAYYYY!!!!!', the two of them started dancing around happily. As Aoi watched over them Saki grabbed onto her hand and pulled her towards them, hesitantly joining them in their celebration.

"White gold?" I asked as my curiosity suddenly kicked in. "I have read about it before, but I never expected to see such thing in person."

Also, I'm amazed their worries about the package disappeared in a blink of an eye. Well, if you received something expensive like this would you not feel.the same?

'Hm?' I noticed a tiny envelope concealed on the torn wrapping placed beside the bars of white gold.

"Uhh...guys?"

"Hey," Saku's hand beckons me to come join them. "Let's celebrate this unexpected blessing we received today!"

I averted my gaze from him. "A-About that...I think we shouldn't get excited about this thing."

When I said that, I wrapped the white gold bars with a cloth and dropped it on the ground.

"Ren, what are you doing?!" Saku panicked as he quickly picked up the white gold scattered on the ground. "Y-You, you threw them down..."

"The ones you're holding right now...came from a bad person."

"Bad person...?" Saki gasped her breath in surprise.

Saku glared at me in disbelief. "So what you said right now is true..."

I nodded at him.

"...Big brother..."

As I am about to speak Aoi's eyes look at me, worried I might tell them something they shouldn't know. I smiled at her, saying it's all fine.

"Well," I let out a sigh, "I met that person last week."