The Deities of Hell

After Ria and Kanata entered a contract, they decided to help each other escape this hell.

“T-then, the monster I met was a devil?”

“Exactly. I came here for the witch.”

The two walk through the decaying world, telling each other what the other one didn’t know about.

“When you say witch, do you mean the devil earlier?”

“Yeah.”

“And you call this place the Sanctuary from Hell?”

“Yeah.”

“And humans are living outside?”

“Yeah.”

”I kinda want to take a look now.”

Kanata and Pomkichi glanced at Ria when she muttered that.

Pomkichi was riding on Kanata’s back, still tied up by the cord.

“Are you really not human?”

“Mom says that we are gods. The humans loitering around this world say the same. But maybe even that is a lie.”

Ria ended up telling Kanata everything about her running away.

How her mother only thought of using her heart to revive a person, and then how she ran for her life from a monster, finally she answered any questions that Kanata had.

“And Pomkichi? How can a plushie walk around?”

“Why? Because he’s Pommie… That’s all I can say.”

“I’m the Dead from Hell!”

“Is that… So.”

Kanata patted Pomkichi’s head with a confused expression.

“And you, Kanata? Why haven’t you escaped yet? To even stay in that house… Don’t you know the exit?”

“I’m always staying indoors. I’m scared… School and this sanctuary are scary… I have no confidence. So it was also scary to do a contract with you. For me to help anyone… that’s impossible.”

Kanata stared at the ground, looking meek.

Ria tilted her head at him.

“School? That place with education? So it really exists…”

“It’s not that good of a place… At least not for me.”

“You are really annoying with how timid you are, after all.”

“Sorry… I think I’ll rather hold you back than help you, so you can just abandon me whenever.”

“I won’t do that. Because I’m the Benevolent Prince.”

“You’re a prince even though you’re a girl? Not a queen?”

“I’m a prince! To be a prince is cooler!”

“That’s true, but…”

As the two squabbled, they saw something light in the distance.

“Light! It’s guiding us!”

Pomkichi, who had noticed it, pointed toward the sun in the sky.

Approaching the sun, they entered an area that was different from the previously decaying world.

It was a place looking like an island lit up by the sun.

The entire area was surrounded by the sea with houses and public properties here and there.

In the center stood a building that couldn’t even be called small.

Moss and grass grew densely over it, making it the most conspicuous building among them.

“Is the water the ground? It’s not possible to cross it though…”

“One moment.”

Kanata pulled out a telescope from his shoulder bag.

With it, he could see far into the distance.

“It’s no good. Even if we go to this building, there’s no foothold on the other side of it. We need to find another way.”

There was no foothold at the back of the building

Therefore, even if the two went to the building, they couldn’t get any further.

However, they had a self-proclaimed god among them.

“If we go from the roof of the building, we can get to the other side.”

“How?”

“I have these wings, you know?”

Ria said and proudly spread her asymmetrical wings.

“Can you fly with them?”

“Well, I can glide like a paper plane… my mom can fly, but my right wing is too small to do that properly,”

Ria said and kicked from the ground to jump as high up as possible.

Then, she spread her wings and slowly flew Kanata around.

“With this wind, I can fly for longer, so don’t worry.”

“Amazing… This is so cool.”

“Haha. Right? I’m so cool.”

Ria became shy, but Kanata seemed to calm down.

“But, even if you can fly, I can’t.”

“I’ll carry you.”

“Will it work?”

“It will. Carrying you is easy.”

“Really? Then, that’s good.”

“But, not you, Pomkichi.”

“No way!?”

The two tried to go to the building they could see in the distance.

Ria carried Kanata across the sea moving from footholding to footholding.

“Sorry.”

Kanata looked apologetic.

“For what?”

“Well, for being a bother.”

“Kanata, do you think this is bothersome?”

“Well… It’s not like that.”

“What? Then don’t apologize. No one is going to benefit from your apology.”

“Sorry…”

“Like. I. Said! Don’t apologize! Next time you do, I’ll send you flying.”

“O-okay.”

Kanata dropped his head with an apologetic expression.

Clinging to Ria and feeling sorry for angering her, he felt like he’d be crushed by guilt.

“I-I’m shorry.”

Pomkichi apologizes in Kanata’s stead.

Ria sent him flying.

“Woah!!!”

Pomkichi flew over to the building of their destination and bumped into a snail.

That snail looked nothing like an ordinary one.

It was three times as huge as a human.

Compared to the devils Mizuki and Ritsu had encountered previously, the size would be cute, but to Ria and Kanata, it was too abnormal.

Clinging to the wall of the building, it looked at Pomkichi that had bumped into it.

“W-what’s that? Maybe… a devil?”

“A snail devil? It’s small compared to the devils I’ve seen so far.”

“Pomkichi might have died…”

The two gulped when they saw the giant snail in the distance.

However, the snail didn’t do anything to Pomkichi, and continued toward a blind spot instead.

“It thought Pomkichi was an ordinary plushie, huh?”

“A-are we really going to that building?”

“We have to…”

Frightened, the two set foot on the island where the building stood.