* * *
Pirororororot… Pirororororot…
The sun shines brilliantly.
The shimmering white sandy beach.
The waves come in gently, then recede.
This is a beautiful coast recreated in the realm of the gods.
It’s Water Goddess Weelow’s personal area… colloquially known as her “divine territory,” akin to her own room.
Pirororororot… Pirororororot…
Such a beach is filled with the out-of-place sound of electronic tones.
“Mmm, mmm~~~… Huuuh…”
Water Goddess Weelow, who had been drifting and dozing among the waves, finally woke up due to the electronic noise.
“Wha, what, what~~~… Oh, is it morning already~~~?”
Weelow rises from the sea surface.
Being a water goddess, controlling water is her forte.
Even though it’s a recreation, she can behave as if she’s on solid ground, despite being at sea.
Pirororororot… Pirororororot…
“Aah~~~… Enough already, so annoying!”
Weelow, who had been sitting cross-legged on the sea surface, staring blankly for a while, seems to have reached her limit with the irritation of the electronic sound.
She slaps her cheeks with both hands (being made of water, it’s actually more of a splashing sound), psyching herself up.
“…Yoshha! Awake and ready~~~!!!”
Forcing herself into high spirits, she starts moving toward the source of the electronic sound, her divine tool.
It’s set up on a rocky shore, looking like a large black rock hollowed out into a water mirror.
What appears to be a simple rock slightly modified by human hands is actually a piece of cutting-edge divine technology, the culprit behind the incessantly high-pitched electronic noise.
“Now then, has some trouble cropped up, or what?… Wha, Haaa~~~!?”
Seeing the array of characters floating on the water mirror, Weelow involuntarily lets out a shriek.
“Magical disturbances in the vicinity of Zahan, disaster potential if left unattended, possible spread to other areas, urgent measures required, one month since incident…!?”
Weelow holds her head in distress.
“Why does trouble have to arise precisely when I’m thoroughly sleeping off a party?”
Yes, she was post-party.
With close friends like the wind god and the fire god, she had been drinking, eating, dancing, singing… enjoying an all-nighter for about 10 years.
It’s inevitable, absolutely unavoidable, that she would oversleep for two or three months. It’s beyond her control.
“Anyway~~~, there’s a guardian sacred beast there, right? What’s it doing, that child. Umm, its name was…”
Weelow placed a hand on her cheek, lost in thought. Her movements ceased, and three hours passed.
“…Ah! That’s right, the little white snake! Jarnayaharma! What’s this about the little guy dying? Isn’t that seriously bad?”
She hadn’t seen the guardian sacred beast she had endowed with wisdom and power about 200 years ago, not even once since then. It took her a while just to remember the name.
“Anyway, it looks like I’ve got no choice but to check out the scene! Alrighty, setting up an avatar, deciding on the duration of activity, let’s just randomly pick a week!… Okaaay! Ready to go! Well then, shall we head off? Let’s go! Whooo~~~!”
With a spirit lifted by converting negativity such as hassle and annoyance into excitement, Weelow jumped into the water mirror!
This latest divine gadget, “Super Water Mirror-chan ver.821,” is packed with various functions including simple terrestrial interference, anomaly detection, and oracle transmission, making it easy to transfer to the lower world using an avatar through it!
Normally, the descent of gods to the lower world is regulated, but descent through an avatar is somewhat permitted.
Moreover, since Weelow can create her avatar out of water, the preparation process is significantly easier for her. Thus, compared to other gods, she can descend to the lower world quite frequently. She is a god who practices on-site management.
* * *
Meanwhile, in the mountains of Zahan.
Weelow, housed in an avatar formed from water, burst forth energetically from a spring near Jarnayaharma’s altar.
“Yaaahooooi! I have descended!!”
Her out-of-place high spirits echoed through the quiet mountains.
“Hmm, hmm, hmm!? What’s that!? An altar!? Could it be Jarnayaharma’s!? Oh my, look how important that child has become! Mommy’s so proud—just kidding! Who’s your mommy, huh!”
While Weelow was making a fuss with her lively banter, she fell silent upon seeing something lying near the altar.
It was the bones and skin of a huge snake.
Though the size was different, the pure white scales, glistening in the sunlight, unmistakably belonged to the white snake Weelow had appointed as the guardian sacred beast.
“Really, what did it in… A human adventurer? But then they wouldn’t have left the scales untouched, so maybe it was a monster or something? Well, anyway.”
Floating lightly, Weelow approached the carcass and bowed her head.
“…Thank you for your 200 years of service.”
As Weelow stroked the split skull of Jarnayaharma, the carcass transformed into a beautifully shining liquid and was absorbed into the earth.
“Flow, flow, oh soul. Circle, turn, may the cycle of reincarnation turn. I pray that it washes away the stagnation, leading to a pure next life…”
Having mourned Jarnayaharma, Weelow promptly got to work solving the problem at hand.
However, for her, a water goddess, this task was easy.
She submerged herself in a nearby spring and from there, began to regulate the flow of magical energy carried by the local water veins.
Regulating the water veins and the flow of magical energy contributes to the stability of the world.
That is Water Goddess Weelow’s “water management.”
“…Okay! Excess magical energy leaks, distortions, contamination, all resolved~~~!!!”
The problem caused by Jarnayaharma’s absence was resolved in just three minutes.
No matter how light-hearted she may seem, she is a goddess. Her abilities are immeasurable.
“Mmm~~~… But, you know, this might need a bit of an intervention?”
During the three minutes it took to solve the problem, she had discovered another issue.
It was that the flow of magical energy around Zahan tended to stagnate compared to other areas.
This is a structural problem that occurs regardless of whether there is a guardian sacred beast.
“After all, we’ve been operating everything with the magical formulas from 200 years ago~~~… Naturally, various distortions will appear~~~…”
Weelow placed a hand on her cheek, lost in thought.
After two hours of contemplation, having made up her mind, she clapped her hands (though being made of water, it was more of a splash) and began to act.
“Alright! With things as they are, I’ll just go all out! Time to construct a new system! Creating a spell that ensures everything runs smoothly even in my absence! Zahan will be the test case. If it goes well, I’ll apply it to other areas too! For starters… Voilà!”
As Weelow danced and snapped her fingers (though being made of water, it was more of a splash), the entire area was enveloped in an even denser, pure white fog than when Jarnayaharma was alive. This fog serves as a barrier. With this barrier preventing the intrusion of all living beings, Weelow can immerse herself in her work without being bothered by unnecessary distractions.
“Ahhh… This won’t be done in a week. Looks like I need to schedule this on a yearly basis. Let’s see… Oh, I’ve already made drinking plans with the Thunder God! Oops… Well, it’s fine. It’s the Thunder God after all.”
Muttering to herself, Water Goddess Weelow sank back into the spring. Over the next week, she plans to conduct a thorough survey of the area, establish a schedule, prepare a long-term operational avatar, and then start the work in earnest.
After she disappeared, nothing remained but an impenetrable deep fog and silence.