I am not a god

It was an ordinary afternoon after school, in the usual clubroom.

That might have given the wrong impression. This was not a school, but a lounge inside the Temple, fairly close to the god's residence, that had been specially converted into a clubroom.

A little red-haired girl in a blue dress and a white lab coat sat at a white round table, propping her cheek on her hand.

She watched Carina listening to music, Nojiko preparing to make tea, and Nami and Rebecca playing Chinese checkers.

She gazed at everyone like that, lost in thought. Of course, that did not stop her from popping snacks into her mouth.

Her name was Aisa. She was a Shandia, and a disciple of Laki, one of the god's personal guards.

Born with powerful "Mantra," she could sense other people's emotions and intentions. Even if it was not mind reading, it still made ordinary school life difficult for her.

But ever since High God Sephiroth began ruling Sky Island, he had established a comprehensive education system, which meant Aisa had to go to school... even though her dream was to become a brave Shandia warrior.

Studying with a bunch of brats from Birka and Angel Island, and being a first grader, was simply too embarrassing for her.

Her parents had long since died in the holy war. From Aisa's perspective, she had a bitter blood feud with the people of Angel Island.

Objectively speaking, the four centuries of hatred between the two islands had not disappeared. It was merely being swept aside by the High God's overwhelming power and their current comfortable standard of living.

With her near-mind-reading ability, she had plenty of grounds to comment on that situation. That same gift also made her far more mentally mature than her actual age.

Yet not only had she been bundled off to school, the High God had personally approved her appointment as this year's "Holy Maiden."

Not only were the people of the Birka Church dumbstruck, even she thought making a Shandia child the Holy Maiden was a little absurd.

Ordinary people saw this as the High God's compassionate effort to promote unity. Only a handful of senior officials knew that the range of Aisa's Mantra, which could cover all of Babylon, was the key to that decision.

She might have been only six years old, but she had already joined the secret police department commanded by Her Highness Lilith, the [Happiness and Security Committee].

"The black tea's ready. Help yourselves, everyone."

Nojiko was pouring tea for everyone.

At seventeen, Nojiko was the oldest of the girls gathered there. In a sense, she was their big sister. Aisa had always received plenty of care from her, too.

She could always sense sorrow in Nojiko and Nami. With her considerable emotional awareness, Aisa recognized that familiar feeling, so she never asked questions she should not ask.

"Thank you, Nojiko."

The cup Aisa had emptied was promptly filled with steaming red liquid.

Come to think of it, the High God always instinctively showed a slightly strange emotional fluctuation whenever he encountered the terms "black tea" and "green tea." Aisa's Mantra could not truly sense his emotions, though. Beyond knowing there was a faint fluctuation, she could not tell what it was.

"You work so hard, Aisa. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, but you're still little. Take care of yourself, okay?"

Nojiko said that because Aisa was the youngest, a little child compared with the others. Yet she had volunteered for combat training and worked extremely hard, so Nojiko could not help wanting to look after her a little more.

Nobody asked Nojiko to do this, but she took the initiative to care for everyone, and seemed to enjoy it.

"Thank you. I will."

Aisa always remembered to thank people. The reason she was unpopular outside this group was that she could tell whether someone was being sincere. Some people even privately called her a monster who could read minds and spy on people's thoughts.

To her, however, there was little practical difference between knowing someone's emotions and intentions and actually reading their mind and thoughts. The result was the same.

But everyone in this little group was a good person. The voices in their hearts were all beautiful.

Aisa knew the god's Mantra had qualities similar to her own, and she wondered whether he used that standard to pick people up from all over the world.

This little group had another thing in common: the god had given all of them specially made clothes.

Compared with everyone else's, the clothes Aisa had received lacked any consistent style, which left her unsure whether she really belonged to this circle.

There were white shorts, capri pants, dark red sleeveless tops, puff-sleeved sportswear, vests, white lab coats, and so on. Besides those everyday outfits, there were clothes the High God called the "Sherlock Holmes Outfit" and the "Little Red Riding Hood Outfit."

(They were actually various outfits worn by "Ai Haibara.")

Faced with the god's special interference waves, which seemed to be a passive effect, Aisa could only vaguely sense faint emotions, without understanding his intentions.

She knew he bore her no ill will whatsoever, and was entirely friendly toward her. But when he dealt with the others in their little group, there was a different... more eager emotion.

He never showed that emotion toward her. She could not understand... what exactly made her different from the others?

"Oh, Nojiko~! This orange black tea is delicious~!"

As Nojiko's younger sister, Nami was very close to her, but they rarely addressed each other as sisters, usually using each other's names instead. She was easily the liveliest of their little group.

"Thank you, Nojiko."

Rebecca popped a cookie into her mouth, crunched it up, and washed it down with black tea. As she thanked Nojiko, she also dutifully put away the Chinese checkers on the table.

The newest member of their little group, she was two years younger than Nami.

Her experiences struck a chord with Nojiko, who had come to treat her like another little sister over the past few days.

Sephiroth had not told many people about Rebecca. Besides Isabella and the others, he had only told Nojiko and Nami the basic details. Based on her emotions, Aisa guessed that she might have had a difficult past.

Also, Rebecca seemed to have a very curious connection to the school's newly appointed gatekeeper. That gatekeeper, who looked like a Toy Soldier, actually had a voice in his heart just like a human's, unlike the Servo Angels.

"Hey, hey, Nojiko~! Can we watch cartoons?"

Aisa turned toward the speaker.

Carina, who had been listening to music, did not wait for Nojiko to come refill her tea. She carried her cup over to the round table herself, plopped into a chair, and looked at Nojiko expectantly.

At her words, Nami's and Rebecca's eyes lit up too. Even Aisa, who usually prided herself on her self-discipline, could not help looking toward Nojiko.

"...Hmm, not yet-"

"Whaaat-" ×4

"No means no."

"But, boss~!" "Nojiko~!" "Mama Nojiko!" "My dear big sister~!"

"Only two hours a day! And only after dinner!"

Nojiko had always looked after these younger girls like a mother hen. Besides, she had heard that, because of the animation crystals, Isabella and Lilith had dragged Lord Angel into a room, and his legs had still been shaking the next day.

Who knew what had happened...

-Lucifer's Glory.

"Ah... choo-"

Sephiroth suddenly sneezed inside the captain's lounge.

He had been in the pirate world for eighteen years now, and stood 186 centimeters tall. In his memories of his previous life, anyone under two meters was mocked as a third-rate cripple in this world. In reality, the vast majority of people here were normal heights. Besides, he was still growing, okay...

If he really grew taller than two meters, that would only be a hassle...

He could safely say he was getting more and more accustomed to this world. No matter what happened, he could return to everyday life the following day as if nothing had happened. That was pretty impressive, right?

Remembering how badly his legs had shaken a few days ago, he could not help pondering that sort of thing at his desk... ahem.

In short, today he was once again working hard to conduct diplomacy around the world and make his presence known, with three main objectives.

The first was military exercises. Traveling around the world on diplomatic missions inevitably meant encountering pirate ships. He personally handled anyone with a bounty above fifty million. Those below fifty million were left to the Holy Knights leading the Babylon Knights.

Those with high bounties were turned in for the rewards. Of those without bounties, suitable candidates were selected and sent to the moon as slaves. If they occasionally encountered adventurer-type pirates, they would let them go, though they had yet to meet any.

The second was building his public image. Along the way, Sephiroth provided relief for the poor and free medical consultations. His main goal was to establish a good reputation. Who knew when it might prove useful? Perhaps a certain blind swordsman might come join him... though that was merely a thought.

The third was establishing satellites. Coverage of the first half of the Grand Line was nearly complete. Across the Four Blues, only Loguetown had received one ahead of time, leaving a considerable amount of work for the other regions.

"...Anyway, I've officially provoked Doflamingo now. I'll need some sufficiently formidable help to deal with him."

He murmured that to himself.

In a direct, head-on fight, Sephiroth could not beat Doflamingo. Even after acquiring all the Holy Knights' combat experience through memory crystal technology, he still could not quite manage it.

But if he exploited his mobility advantage and beyond-visual-range attack capabilities from the outset, Doflamingo would have no hope of surviving the proton cannon and gamma-ray bursts.

The problem was that Doflamingo's Haki was quite good. He could be considered the gatekeeper to the ranks of the truly strong. Sephiroth could not kill him quickly, and fighting that way would cause far too much destruction.

Sephiroth was not so deranged that he would launch large-scale bombardments without regard for civilians. That really would be far too oily. He wanted no part of that whole "Hill saves everyone" business.

He really had considered trying to train, but the results were nothing special. Setting aside whether he could awaken Armament Haki in the future, even if he did, he honestly had no confidence in what level he could reach.

Knock, knock, knock-

"Come in."

"Lord Sephi, here's your dinner."

Although she had grown accustomed to the High God's peculiar behavior, that certainly did not mean she no longer found it strange. Feeling mysterious images gradually accumulating in her head, Laki greeted Sephiroth.

After all... the High God was currently supporting his entire body upside down on one index finger. That finger was balanced on a nail, with electrical sparks flashing between his fingertip and the nail.

Was this some special training method?

"Oh, Laki... sit down and have some."

Electric light flashed at Sephiroth's fingertip. He flipped himself over in midair and spread his wings, landing steadily on his feet with an extravagant flourish.

He said that because he had told Laki beforehand to bring extra food.

"Lord Sephi, it might be strange coming from me, but you are a god."

Since they were traveling, Laki had donned armor as his personal guard. At Sephiroth's urging, her current outfit closely resembled "Erza" from "Fairy Tail."

"Laki, if you mean a god in the sense of a 'king,' I'll accept that for now. But... I'm not a god."

Of course, Sephiroth would not force that argument on the members of the Birka Church, but he still hoped those outside the Church could view the matter rationally.

"A being who can move three islands together, easily destroy islands and wipe out their ecosystems, travel to the moon, unleash productive capacity, slice through the sea of clouds with a flick of his fingers, and carry another island halfway around the world..."

Laki placed the food and red wine on the table opposite Sephiroth, looking at him with respect mingled with wonder.

"And then that being tells me he isn't a god..."

"...Tch, this conversation sounds awfully familiar."

Seated on the sofa, Sephiroth gestured for Laki to sit opposite him, showing his usual attitude... one his subordinates considered extremely open-minded.

"Let's set that question aside for now. I'd like to ask what this red wine is about."

"Oh, I heard this red wine is a favorite even of Hawk-Eye, one of the Shichibukai. Don't you like it, my lord?"

"No, I mean, why is there red... hmm?"

Sephiroth's eyes locked onto what Laki had taken out... if he was seeing correctly, that thing should be... an adult balloon.

The ever-energetic Laki certainly looked mature, and she was actually older than Conis. But... this female warrior was the type who did not really understand adult matters.

"...Do you know what that thing is!?"

After all, Sky Island's industrial base and natural resources made producing such things impossible. He had originally thought this product did not exist in this world. Only after Titans Trade got underway had he learned that it did. He and Bella and the others had only started using them recently.

"Hmm? Oh, no. Conis just told me to bring it."

Looking ready for a good fight, Laki slapped that dangerous... no, technically "safe" thing onto the table, genuinely startling Sephiroth.

"You don't know what it is, and you still took it out?"

"Conis said you'd understand once I showed it to you."

"Can I ask why..."

After Laki explained, he finally understood. What had happened with Conis could hardly remain a secret, and the Shandia Elder had learned about it. He had then demanded that Laki pick up the pace.

Who knew what that blockhead Laki had been thinking, but she had actually gone to ask Conis!?

Then Conis had asked Laki whether she merely wanted to "pick up the pace" or wanted a child.

Laki had said she did not want a child for now...

And that was how things had ended up like this...

"Hey, Laki, you don't need to leave tonight."

"Hmm?"