Chapter 186
Chapter 186
When did it all begin? She couldn’t remember anymore.
Although it was just barely, she could recall that she had once used to be a human. However, when she became a deity, her human self had completely vanished from history, as if she had never existed in the first place. Therefore, only she herself knew that she had once been a human, but there was no way to prove it.
It had occurred too long ago for her to remember the twists and turns that had happened after that. However, there was no doubt that, in the end, she had faced the creator deity, destroyed it, and became the next deity.
After becoming a deity, the first thing she did was create a universe. Next, she created a planet with an ideal environment for living things and created life through trial and error. But it was at this point where she stumbled.
Although she had more than enough power to destroy the previous creator deity, she didn’t have the ability to create life. This was because life was too fragile by her standards. It was so fleeting that it was beyond the limits of her comprehension. It was a puzzle that required a complicated process to create. Even a single part of it was difficult to get right. Even if she tried to create life, nothing would come out of it.
Inevitably, she had to create the world bit by bit using every living thing from her original world. She moved them to Midgard and allowed them to thrive there. As time went on, creatures with similar appearances and intelligence levels as the humans of Earth appeared. This made her jump for joy.
She loved the people with all her heart. She responded whenever they asked for her, and she gave them whatever they desired. This didn’t change even after they ate the forbidden fruit containing the essence of evil, which they had been taught not to eat.
I love you all. I want you to be happy. I’ll be sure to make you happy.
With that wish, she continued to give the people everything that they wanted.
But why…why?
The more she gave, the more desires she fulfilled…
The people’s standards for happiness simply continued to rise, but they were never truly happy.
?
The final point. This was what Alovenus called the place outside of the universe. This was the end of everything and also the place of beginnings. Every world and every timeline was connected to this place.
In a sense, the universe was like a software within a computer. There would be various saved data within. Each of them formed a parallel world. Beyond the universe, there were many more universes (softwares). These were organized in a folder. But if one were to look outside that folder, there would be more folders. If one were to go beyond the computer itself, there would be more computers lined up outside. This served as an analogy for the universe.
Everything came together in this divine space. It was a world that nobody except Alovenus could enter…At least, that was how it was supposed to be. It was a world of whiteness that spread infinitely towards the horizon. It would be meaningless to ask how far it extended, since the answer would be that it extended forever. This world was endless and infinite.
In contrast to the whiteness, there was something black scattered everywhere. Each of them constituted an entire universe. Midgard was simply one of these infinite universes. In fact, it was just a tiny world within a star system that existed inside a galaxy, which was part of a galaxy cluster. The universe itself contained many such galaxy clusters.
It was a completely different order of magnitude and scale from what had come before.
After all, no matter how much Ruphas was considered a monster, she was only the strongest creature of a small planet. She couldn’t possibly reach this place.
At least, that was what the Goddess had always thought. Therefore, Alovenus was now trembling with surprise unlike any she had experienced before. There were three intruders who had stepped into her own domain. They stood before her with the intention of having a decisive battle.
The concept of size did not exist in this place. After crossing over from the universe, Ruphas and the others were now on equal footing with Alovenus. Even though they were nothing more than dust in the universe, they had unmistakably come here as enemies.
“So you’re Alovenus? …This is the first time I have seen you face-to-face.”
On the other hand, Ruphas was unable to hide her excitement in the presence of the Goddess whom she had finally met.
In terms of appearance, she was just like Dina, to the extent of having the same features. Her hair color was different from Dina’s. Even though Dina’s blue hair had been replaced by golden hair, she still looked like Dina. She was wearing a white dress and draped in a blue cape while being wrapped in light.
Her status…Ruphas observed her status a little, but she soon realized that it was pointless. Her status was displayed, but that was all. Gauging her status was evidently pointless when there were strings of the number nine stretching all the way to the edge of the window. In any case, there should be no doubt that the numerical values were astronomical.
“I’m surprised. I didn’t expect you to come here.”
“I suppose so.”
Ruphas responded in a casual manner, but deep inside, she knew that she was being overwhelmed. She had known that the scale and dimensions they were in would be different, but when Ruphas finally faced her, she was still stunned by her vast power.
There are black things floating in this space…Is every single one of them an entire universe?
The inflation had reached its extreme here. It had reached the end of the line.
“Did you come here to demand a rewriting of the script?”
“If you already know, then this should be quick. Even if you refuse, I’ll force you to rewrite it.”
“Is it really such a bad thing to prepare a common enemy for all of the humanoids?”
In response to Ruphas’ request, Alovenus asked if her script was really wrong. Obviously, it would be a difficult world for the people involved. Alovenus naturally knew that. But it was fine for it to be difficult and bitter, since that was what the people really needed.
“I didn’t make the world like this out of the blue. At first, I thought that saving people would bring them happiness.”
Alovenus gloomily lowered her eyes and spoke as if she was reminiscing about the past. Yes, she had continued to save people and give them what they wanted. She had once believed that doing that would bring them happiness.
But that was wrong. If the people only experienced happiness, they would become numb to it. In a world that only ever experienced peace, people wouldn’t realise that they were in a state of peace at all.
For example, suppose there were two children with the same birthday. One was a poor child who struggled daily to find enough food to eat and had never celebrated a birthday before. The other was a rich child who could eat as much cake as desired and always had huge birthday cakes for every birthday. If the same cake was given to both of them, only one child would gain a great sense of happiness out of it.
What a delicious cake! It’s the first time I've received such a thing on my birthday!
On the other hand, the other child might throw a tantrum upon seeing the cake.
Are you fooling around? It’s my birthday, so what’s with this tiny cake?
Wasn’t it strange? The poor child was extremely happy, while the rich child was unhappy instead, even though they were given the same cake of the same taste and size.
Why did this happen? It was because their definitions of happiness were different. The poor child had low expectations, so a lot of happiness could be gained with just a tiny cake. However, the rich child had high expectations, so it was impossible to be happy with just a tiny cake. Happiness had become so common for the rich child that it couldn’t be recognized for what it was anymore.
In other words, the amount of happiness that one could feel was not absolute. Depending on one’s environment, it could increase or decrease significantly.
“People can’t have nothing but happiness. Peace alone would make them rot.”
There was a time when Alovenus had created a utopia where everyone could be saved. There was no hunger, no pain, and no lifespan, since all of them had been removed by the Goddess. Sickness and death had nothing to do with people. After all, they could always get whatever they wanted. It was a world engulfed by the love of the Goddess. There had been no wars and no disparity between the rich and the poor. It was a paradise that idealists could only dream of. It was a golden age.
Alovenus had realized the Heaven that people had dreamt of. However, there was no limit to people’s desires when it was all just given to them. Their standard of happiness continued to rise as long as they continued to receive.
It's only natural to receive. It's only natural to be saved.
For the people who had arrived at such thoughts, their current level of happiness was only natural and they were unable to recognize their current feeling as happiness. They would continue to enjoy it without feeling happy, and if things didn’t go as they had expected, even if just a little, they would become unhappy.
It was a world where the Goddess would give them everything without them having to do anything. They didn’t have to walk by themselves. With a little wish, they could be carried anywhere. They couldn’t stand by themselves since they didn’t need to do so. They didn’t even need to lift things or eat by themselves.
Those people could live forever in a utopia without pain. Since everything was given to them, they didn’t do anything. All they had to do was lie on the soft grass or a bed given to them by the Goddess.
Alovenus had sighed upon looking at those people.
No, this is wrong. This isn’t the world that I had wanted to make. I didn’t intend for people to be like this.
What I wanted… was to help and save the people who were desperately striving to live and give their best whilst living in a cruel world, yet weren’t able to get a break. I only wanted to make them happy.
These are…These are merely dolls, aren’t they?
Alovenus didn’t understand.
I didn’t make any mistakes. I was surely doing the right thing. But why did the people become so corrupted? Why did their hearts become so frozen?
Then, she took a look at her original world as a distraction…and saw something incredible. A poor child became exceedingly happy after eating a hard piece of bread that wouldn’t be considered delicious by any means.
Her people wouldn’t even eat such a thing. Instead of eating such a hard piece of bread, they would naturally eat higher-quality bread. Sometimes, they would even take one bite before throwing it away. But they didn’t consider it to be a form of happiness, since they had already taken it for granted.
Those people who lived in nations that were at war would be delighted at the brief moments when their lives were not being threatened. But those things were completely unrelated to the people of the Goddess. This was a sight that had a huge impact on Alovenus.
“You seem to be misunderstanding something. I don’t want to make people unhappy. On the contrary, I want to lead them to happiness. I want them to be happy.”
I was wrong.
Alovenus realized her mistake and understood that peace and happiness were not what her people needed.
Indeed, it was only natural if one were to think about it. Even though sugar was sweet, if one were to continue eating sugar-rich pastries everyday, one would naturally hate it. It was good only because people only tasted it once in a while. Sweet things would taste sweeter after eating some unpleasant food. However, for people who only ate sweet things, sweetness wouldn’t be recognized for what it was.
It was the same for happiness. For people to feel happy, they also needed to feel down. If they were at rock bottom with their misfortunes, they would be happy over the most trivial things.
I can make them happy. At the very least, it would be much better than this corrupted utopia. They don’t think and don’t act. They simply wait for it without moving. Where is the happiness? In what ways are they humans?
Even in difficult times, humans would still stand up and walk on their own feet. That is what makes them humans. That is what makes them beautiful.
That’s right. I want to make people happy. I don’t want to make dolls happy.
“Ridiculous…Then, Goddess, are you going to say that everything that you have been forcing on the world is for the sake of the people!? Your well-meaning actions have no bad intentions…yet they have caused so much misfortune for the sake of making people happy!? Have I been playing the clown just for that reason!?”
Orm, who had the longest relationship with the Goddess, raised his voice in anger.
What a joke…What is this?
He wasn’t trying to play the victim here. He was the one who had been playing out the Goddess’ script and brought misfortune to a lot of people. He had no intention of denying this fact.
But the reason for it…was just so ridiculous! Pollux had cried and those heroes had died for something like this…
“…This…means that all of those people that I’ve killed were never saved…! I…I…for something like this…those honorable people…and their futures…!”
“Don’t mourn, Moon Ouroboros. They were happy. It might have been a fake happiness, but their sacrifices brought about peace…It certainly gave them a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction.”
“Stop messing around—!”
Orm struck out at the Goddess in a rage. He had continued killing them with his own hands. He had robbed them of the happy future that they should have had. More than anything else, it was for these reasons that he couldn’t forgive himself if he didn’t ask the Goddess why.
Having surpassed the level limit, the fist that Orm was throwing at the Goddess could even destroy a galaxy supercluster. Its speed was infinite. Its destructive power was immeasurable. It was a punch that could be conceptualized as pure destruction.
The punch approached the Goddess, but it was easily stopped by an invisible wall that was deployed before her.
“Moon Ouroboros, you must be mourning right now. You are suffering for your sins…But rest assured. If you’re miserable now, you won’t be able to go any lower than this. You can be happy from now on. Rejoice and be glad.”
“You—…!”
“I will never abandon you. I sincerely hope that everyone will be happy. Therefore…”
Alovenus smiled and held on to Orm’s hand. Ruphas and Benetnash responded at the same time, releasing arcane magic from their palms.
However, all three of them were simultaneously teleported away into outer space. Surrounding them was a group of giant stars which were several thousand times larger than the Sun.
“For the sake of a happy future—let the world be stained in despair!”
—Hypernova Explosion.
A massive chain explosion that could burn the entire universe was centered on the three individuals.
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| Image from Light Novel Volume 9. |
Author’s Notes
The final battle begins. This battle is really the end. However, if you think about it, what kind of last boss has no actual combat experience…?
Inflation-san: “Eh? Holiday…work? Service overtime without breaks…? Wait—eh…This…By the time I finish overtime, it’ll be time to come back to work…Eh? Is it really gonna be like this…?”
Laws of Physics-san: “See you. LOL”
The Goddess wants people to be happy more than anyone else.
The Goddess was stronger than everyone else.
The Goddess loves the people more than anyone else.
—But the Goddess is dumber than everyone else.
Ahovenus (Idiot-venus): “I want you to be happy, so despair!” (゜∀゜)
Translator's Notes
This is the final arc, so I was hoping the author would cut the crap on pointless, long-winded analogies…But nope. As if it wasn’t bad enough to explain why you can’t trap someone in a prison made of jelly, he has to write another redundant analogy about cakes for half a page…and then went on to repeat himself by paraphrasing the whole thing again for another page…and then repeat it a second time by saying the same thing while the Goddess is voyeuring some brat…and then repeat it a third time with the sweet analogy!
You just need two words to explain the whole damn thing—relative deprivation. The end. If he was writing this for a newspaper, where every word counts due to limitations on space, the editor would be screaming all day long. This applies even for published books, since more words = more pages = more paper and printing cost. I hope the published light novel has proper editing for this…It was a bloody waste of my time translating this chapter…I could have been watching cat videos. (end of rant)