Chapter 6: Normies Should Explode
[Lord Yvell, what do you think of this? With this, I shall no longer need the backpack.]
[This is… excellent, Esphera. This will surely give you a more ‘holy’ vibe, befitting a ‘Holy Spirit,’ but perhaps we should keep the bag on first before revealing such a form.]
Esphera, now with the backpack off her head, had set her entire head on fire. As morbid as that sounds, she’s not actually getting consumed by the fire, of course.
Fire is a natural aspect of her nature as the Ringed Star Mother, so she should be practically invulnerable to fire.
Rather than trying to pull off a Spirit Rider cosplay, this was Esphera’s attempt at concealing her face from her followers while maintaining an appearance befitting of a holy entity.
The fire covered her face thoroughly, obscuring every detail. It also made sure to cover every fiber of her long hair, hiding its silver sheen with flames, appearing almost like a supernatural crimson cape.
“Oooh! Holy Spirit! Ring Mother! Oooh!”
Egg gave us his seal of approval after we showed it off to him.
Fire was naturally seen as a most holy thing to his people, so witnessing a woman on fire who was unharmed by the flames would surely be a jaw-dropper. But it would be best to tread carefully, just as I had reprimanded Esphera last night.
It would be best to build up this reveal rather than just show it all at once. Surprising them with her fire form might just cause a few of the villagers to faint. That’s why we had to put on a show first.
So, not long after arriving at the village, we had Egg gather around his kin. That didn’t take too long, since there weren’t so many of them. There were about thirty people, including Egg, wearing animal pelts to hide their Excaliburs and fun bags.
With everybody here, it was time for the show to start. I nodded my head at Esphera, who was back to wearing the backpack on her head, and stepped forward toward the crowd.
Apostle Emulation Mode: ON!
I leaped into the air and performed a graceful spin, producing fire from my palm with a lighter tucked between my fingers, creating a beautiful helical trail of flames mid-air.
Upon landing on my feet, I struck a magnificent pose, and fire spewed from my palm.
[Esphera, spotlight.]
[Yes, Lord Yvell!]
Ding.
“Ooooh! Ball Mother! Ball Mother!”
“Fire! Mother’s fire!”
[Lord Yvell! That was wonderful!]
Raving reviews. I must have a legendary talent for theater.
Too bad my NEET ass would rather stay unemployed than become a theater kid. That would be a fate worse than death.
“It is a pleasure to meet you all. I am an Apostle of the Ringed Star Mother, Esphera, sent to this mortal plane to provide you with guidance.”
“Ringed Star! Ringed Star!”
“Apostle, guidance, what?”
“Now, now. Calm down, everyone. I will be sure to answer your questions soon. But first, allow me to introduce my partner beside me.”
Now that the crowd’s been warmed up to the scene of a man producing small flames, they shouldn’t be too surprised by Esphera’s Holy Spirit form.
After stepping aside to give Esphera some space, I gave her the go-ahead.
[Esphera, it’s your time to shine.]
[Yes, Lord Yvell! I made sure to prepare for this!]
Prepare what now?
Before I could transmit that thought to Esphera via telepathy, she suddenly leaped into the air and…
“Holy Spirit, TRANSFORM!”
Mid-air, she grabbed hold of the backpack on her head and pulled it right off.
Sparkling light obscured her face and hair for a moment once the backpack left her head, then—
Fwuoosh.
Fire erupted from her shoulders, instantaneously spreading to her head and down to the tips of her long hair. She followed that up with a somersault mid-air and kicked the ground upon landing, sending dust flying everywhere. This created a cloud of dust that obscured her body from view for a moment. But then—
FWUOOSH!
Her flames grew stronger, burning away the dust and revealing her divine form, striking a pose I swear I’ve seen somewhere else before…
Mega S***ai? Power Soldiers? No, there are way too many of those types of shows to tell for sure which one…
The flames eventually died down.
“I am the Holy Spirit, guardian of Esphera’s faithful! I watch over you all, always, so never fear!”
“OOOOOHHHHH!!! HOLY SPIRIT! HOLY SPIRIT!”
“FIRE MOTHER!!! HOLY FIRE!!!”
Clap. Clap. Clap. Clap. Clap.
At the back of the crowd, I could see Egg clapping like a madman. I think he was shedding tears of joy, emotional at Esphera’s presentation, but it was hard to say for certain because the whole village was jumping around in excitement, making it difficult to see.
There was also a young woman in the back who didn’t seem to react to our presentation in the slightest. She was clearly an outlier, though.
Ugh… I’m not jealous of her reception or anything. I could probably do better than that. No, seriously, I could! Agh…
[How did I do, Lord Yvell?]
[Uh—You did amazing, Esphera! Truly! You are learning so quickly that it baffles me.]
[Hehe~ Thank you very much!]
I’ll forgive you because you’re cute.
Brrrt. Brrrt. Brrrt.
Brrrt. Brrrt. Brrrt.
Hm? Something is shaking in my pocket…
Oh, it’s my phone. I hadn’t realized I brought it with me on the trip to the village. I must’ve stuffed it in my pocket without much thought.
It looks like it’s been on this whole time. The power’s almost out. Since I didn’t set a password for my phone, moving to the home screen to check what was making it buzz was instantaneous. I didn’t really have anything to hide on it, so I never gave securing it much thought.
It turns out it was a reminder I set for myself to go out to the convenience store. I was running out of energy drinks back at the condo, so today would’ve been the day to go if Esphera hadn’t summoned me here.
Let’s just turn that off for now.
Right, I have a few clips from some of those Tokusatsu shows on my phone. Let’s just take a quick look at them… I don’t remember favoriting this one?
Oh, this is the one I saw Esphera pull off! It’s practically a one-to-one, with some minor differences.
Zzzt.
Ah, fuck. The phone died. Oh well.
Right after the introduction and answering some of the villagers' questions, business was finally in order.
Colony building.
No, I guess in this case it’s civilization building? Whatever works.
This will serve as both an educational experience for Esphera and a way to further reinforce the village’s faith in her. So, I need to ensure the survival of this village. For that purpose, Esphera and I began surveying the village and its surroundings.
The village was set in the plains, not too far off from the river. As for why they didn’t settle by the river, when we asked around, it seemed like it was because powerful beasts lingered near rivers around dawn and dusk.
Most of those beasts were large herbivores, or grass eaters, as the primitives called them. While they weren’t particularly hostile, humans weren’t exactly welcome around them. So, building their village right next to the river would have been unwise.
[I was not aware that such factors could affect decisions on where to settle.]
[If you only focus on ideal locations where to kickstart your civilization, you will find yourself blindsided by problems just out of view.]
Choosing an ideal location is basic to colony building. But some places can appear too ideal. Settling in the plains sounds great at first. Unlike with forests, there aren’t too many obstacles that could hide a beast or two, or hinder movement. Threats were visible as far as the eye could see… or so you’d be led to believe.
Then you remember which animals thrive in the plains.
“Thin legs! Careful! Coming!”
“Run! Too fast! Run!”
While we were spending the day surveying the village, we encountered some villagers being hunted down by a… large bird? It was a large yellow bird, running on its two thin feet, fast as fuck.
Ah, shit. I feel like I could get in trouble just looking at it and describing it. We gotta get rid of it.
[Oh, Holy Spirit. Your people are in danger.]
[Yes! I will save them right now!]
Naturally, the encounter ended anticlimactically.
Learning from her previous mistake, instead of sending a fiery beam of death at the bird, she sent a classic fantasy staple—the fireball, and taught her faithful the joys of cooked meat.
“Delicious! Cooked meat? Delicious!”
“More! More!”
“No, don’t eat the fucking bones. You’ll hurt your stomach like that.”
What’s with these damn primitives?
Anyway, it was clear that security was a major issue here.
These plains were teeming with wildlife that could put blue hedgehogs to shame with their sheer speed. These monsters could easily outrun the common man. It’s a miracle that these primitives survived for as long as they did.
We won’t get anywhere if the village gets wiped out before we start any development projects around here. We ought to make this the top priority.
[Tell me, Esphera. What do you think we should do?]
[Could this be a test, Lord Yvell?]
[Yes, indeed. You may consider it one.]
[Mhm… The first thing that comes to mind… Weapons… No, that does not sound like the right answer.]
[Indeed. Improving their weapons will not do much for them in the current state of things.]
Giving them sharper sticks or teaching them how to throw spears and stuff won’t do much for them. The beasts in this world are a lot stronger and faster than the ones I know of on Earth. They’re too strong, in fact.
Come to think of it, how did those winged cow rexes manage to fly with large bodies like that?
[It is almost like… magic?]
[You sensed the magic in the air, Lord Yvell? Truly, nothing escapes your notice!]
What? No, don’t tell me…
[Esphera… Please tell me you didn’t spread mana around this world.]
[Ah… Lord Yvell, you don’t sound pleased…]
[Esphera?]
[Y-Yes?!]
[Tell me, are the beasts we have seen thus far products of magical influence?]
[I-I am not certain what you mean by—]
[Esphera. The beasts. Did they evolve this way because of magic?]
[... Yes.]
[Why did you introduce magic into the world?]
[... Your worlds… So, my divine power…]
Ah. That again.
Long story short, she saw that one of my worlds had magic in it, thought it was cool, and converted a fraction of her divine power into an energy that life forms in this world could use with the right aptitude. Animals with the right aptitude to control that energy adapted and evolved into the magical beasts we know today.
[... You really are far too hasty with your powers.]
[... I am sorry.]
[We cannot undo what has been done. We must instead adapt, just as the magical beasts have.]
Unfortunately, we can’t just return all that magical power to Esphera. That would cause its own kind of nightmare.
I’d liken it to making oxygen suddenly disappear. The magical beasts relying on mana to survive will all go extinct in a flash, and entire ecosystems will be thrown into chaos.
The repercussions are just far too severe.
[Magical problems might require magical solutions. Do you know if the humans of this world could make use of magic as well?]
[I cannot say for sure. I have yet to see a human use magic.]
That makes things difficult.
We can’t just stick around here forever and give them help whenever they need it. A civilization must stand on its own feet. A primitive society deeply reliant on a higher power is about as brittle as a pile of dry dog shit. That, and I doubt that’s the utopia Esphera wants to build.
[Well, for now, let us simply do what we can. Let us have the villagers build fences around the perimeter. The fences will not do much to keep predators at bay, but some defense is better than none.]
[... That would be for the best. I am sorry, Lord Yvell.]
[Think nothing of it. What is important is that you work to fix your mistake.]
So we began checking around the village’s perimeter and happened upon… a grave.
This is…
“Could this be…?”
“Stay, away.”
Hm?
When Esphera and I turned around, there was the unimpressed young woman I had seen earlier. She was glaring daggers at Esphera and me, her lips shaped into a deep frown.
“Stay, away! Ball Mother, bad!”
Huh?
“W-What?!?”
She charged in and pushed us aside.
She wasn’t that strong, so it didn’t hurt me much, but it was enough to make Esphera stumble and fall on her rear.
When I turned to face the young woman, she was standing over the grave protectively, with a rock in one hand. Did she pick that up just now?
“Esphera, bad! Let Fish die! Spirit, Apostle, go away!”
Fish? Is that a name?
Woosh!
Woah!
Before Esphera could get her bearings, the young woman threw the stone she had at her. I quickly reacted, shielding her with my outstretched hand. The stone slammed into my palm with a sickening crack.
FUCK! That hurt!
“Ugh…”
[Lord Yvell!]
Esphera immediately rushed over to check on me. My palm was badly bruised. Just moving my fingers hurt like hell.
“I’m fine.”
I’m not. But I have to act fine.
“Go away, Apostle! Spirit!”
The woman then spat on the floor.
What the fuck is with this chick?
“... Apostle, perhaps it is best that we leave.”
“What? But we have to—”
“Please… Let us go elsewhere.”
The fire surrounding Esphera's head and hair dimmed down for just a moment, revealing a small glimpse of her face. For some reason, Esphera looked as if she was holding back tears as she glanced at the young woman. Then, the realization hit me.
The grave.
The young woman.
(... A blossoming love for the village chief’s daughter…)
Ah, fuck. This is why I hate normies.
Seriously, normies should explode.
