Volume 18 Chapter 10, Finally Returning Home

When Kousuke performed astral projection, he somehow understood the cause of his poor physical condition.

The reason was that his physical body did not match the changes (evolution?) of his astral body, i.e., his soul.

He was able to understand this because he was properly conscious while his soul had left his body.

Based on that experience, Kousuke was now trying to resolve the discrepancy between his soul and his body.

From the outside, he appears to be sleeping normally, as he was simply lying in bed with his eyes closed.

In reality, however, he was not sleeping, but meditating.

It was the same state he was in when he first performed an oracle in the city of Mixen.

In that state, he could use Divine Power to investigate any discomfort in his body.

It would be necessary to correct the discomfort so that it matched the current state of his soul.

However, this was the first time he was doing such a correction, so it took a lot of time.

During his first modification, time passed quickly, partly because he was unfamiliar with the process.

So much so that Eris, who came to check on him, became concerned when she saw Kousuke not moving.

Eris would not have been worried if he had just been meditating, but he was working so deeply and intensely that she hardly felt any vital signs from him.

When he managed to correct the discomfort of the first part and return, Eris was looking at him with an anxious expression on her face.

In addition, he had the rare experience of becoming lethargic, even though he was not physically tired.

Kousuke, who clearly felt mentally exhausted, immediately fell asleep.

The next time he woke up was when someone called him for lunch.

At first, there was no progress at the beginning, but as he became accustomed to the process, the speed of modification became faster and faster.

Later, he realized that it was not enough to just fix the parts that felt strange. Balance was also important, and thus, he was forced to work in more detail.

He felt somewhat strange correcting his own body, but since there was no one else who could do it, he had no choice but to do it himself.

More than anything, he knew that what he was doing was actually making him feel better, so he stayed in bed and continued to work on the corrections.

***

Overall, it was only three days later that he was able to correct his physical condition until he no longer felt any discomfort.

Thanks to this, the dizziness subsided, and he could have a more normal experience.

Incidentally, there were no visits from the other Goddesses during those three days because of Asura’s instructions.

The only ones who came to visit him were Asura and the three Great Goddesses.

They would have been in trouble if the other Goddesses had barged in at their usual pace. Therefore, Kousuke thought he was saved. Unfortunately, it was not a good plan considering the other purpose of his visit.

Therefore, instead of returning to the Tower as soon as he was healed, he decided to stay in the sanctuary for one more night and interact with the other Goddesses during that time.

Perhaps they had already been informed that Kousuke had been ill and were not as vigorous as before. Nonetheless, they treated him as if they were greatly concerned about him.

Kousuke still felt somewhat unwell even though he had already made a full recovery. Nonetheless, he did not want to leave without doing something for these Goddesses. He decided that it could not be helped and tried to meet as many of them as he could.

***

“Are you sure you are okay?”

The next day, Kousuke decided to return to Amamiya Tower and was seen off by a worried Asura.

Even Asura did not expect him to return the day after he got completely healed.

“It’s okay, it’s okay. Physically, I’m already fully healed.”

Kousuke worked on it himself, so he knew that he was fully healed.

Asura also knew that he was much better now, but she still could not help getting anxious.

Knowing it was futile to stop him, Asura handed Kousuke something that looked like jewelry.

“Then, take this at least.”

“Hmm? What is this?”

“A marker in case the return fails. I don’t think you would need it, but just in case.”

“….Okay. Thank you.”

It would be unlikely that something would go wrong when using the return spell. After all, his body got restored to match the state of his soul.

Though, he didn’t have any assurances and if the transfer did fail, he would be in serious trouble.

Depending on the situation, he might end up wandering from one world to another.

Kousuke knew this, so they prepared a marker so that they could find him if something went wrong.

Kousuke understood their intentions and decided to gratefully accept it.

“Well then, I’d better get going.”

Kousuke bid them farewell, and returned, this time, using the return spell.

Asura and the others were greatly relieved when they confirmed that he had arrived safely without any failure in the transfer.

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When Kousuke returned to the Administration Floor, he was greeted by all the members.

“Welcome back, Kousuke-sama!”

Sylvia said on behalf of all the members.

Kousuke, who felt that this reception was somehow different from the usual one, wanted to run away from the group.

“…Eh? What’s wrong?”

Sylvia stared at Kousuke, and Peach asked Sylvia.

“What do you think?”

“I’m sure of it.”

The two of them exchanged something that Kousuke did not understand.

He looked at the other members, confused. Unfortunately, no one seemed to be able to help him out of this situation.

Sylvia, seeing Kousuke like that, let out a sigh.

“… Shall we have him tell us what happened in the sanctuary?”

Kousuke’s attempts to escape were reinforced by the fact that Sylvia seemed to be somewhat distant from earlier.

“Eh? Well, I was just going about my business as usual, you know?”

“Then, shall I ask you to explain to me why Kousuke-sama’s divinity has risen?”

[Divinity? What’s that?] Kousuke thought, but Sylvia’s eyes could not be fooled, so he gave up.

***

He had originally intended not to talk about what had happened in the sanctuary, but he suddenly found himself on the wrong end of the stick.

Nevertheless, the story about the World Record was kept vague.

Sylvia was aware of this and did not probe too deeply into that matter.

“By the way, what do you mean by ‘divinity’?”

Kousuke asked Sylvia when the conversation was over.

“I think I told you before… It’s the aura priestesses and priests experience when we are in the presence of a deity.”

“And are you saying that it has increased?”

“It is rising. If it continues to rise, it would soon be enough to rival Goddess Elisa Meir-sama.”

“Isn’t that just an exaggeration?”

Kousuke was about to laugh it off, but stopped himself when he saw how serious Sylvia looked.

“Uh, seriously?”

“Yes. It’s true. You should seriously start training to suppress your divinity. If you don’t, even ordinary priestesses and priests will notice.”

“Really…”

Kousuke held his head in his hands at Sylvia’s advice.

He was currently in a state where his divine presence was leaking out.

With his former level of divinity, an ordinary priestess or priest would not have been able to notice him unless they paid close attention.

However, now, a priest or priestess with a certain amount of training would notice him immediately.

“Hmmm. I’ll try to do something according to what you said…I’m going to cause trouble for you, so please assist me.”

Kousuke did not know how to suppress divinity in the first place.

He would definitely need Sylvia’s help. After all, she was the most knowledgeable person in the group.

“Of course. That’s what I’m supposed to do.”

Sylvia nodded in agreement.

Sylvia didn’t know how to suppress a God’s divinity, but she could check to see if it was leaking out.

Rather, that was her specialty.

She was the perfect person for Kousuke’s training on how to suppress his divinity.

Eventually, the first thing Kousuke did upon his return from the sanctuary was not to check on his new power, but to train himself to suppress his own divinity.