<<Passsshun!>>
–World transport complete.
“… It’s been a long time since I’ve been here.”
Having safely returned to the “White world,” I walked over to the table next to me. I sat down on a plain white chair that I had no idea what it was made of, and it felt nice and fluffy, gently enveloping my buttocks that were used to hard wooden chairs.
“One year this time. It took rather a long time. ….”
In front of me stood an unsupported white wall about two meters high, with a large number of doors attached to it. The wall was short at first, but now I had to turn my head to see the left and right edges.
“I’ve done my best, haven’t I? Don’t you think so?”
There were a total of 100 doors lined up. This meant that I had been expelled from the party 100 times in 100 different worlds. It was a really stupid number that no one could be proud of,…, but it was also a number that was absolutely necessary for me to return to my world.
“…..You said it yourself. In order for me to return to my original world, I need to join 100 hero parties in 100 different worlds and be banished 100 times. Now that I think about it again, it doesn’t make sense. If you’re asking me to save the world or help the heroes, why do you want to be banished? Well, even if I asked you, you probably wouldn’t answer.”
God doesn’t speak. In fact, after all this time, I had never heard the voice of God either. I was living a peaceful and ordinary life when I was suddenly summoned to this place, and all I had in front of me was a white book.
Yes, of course, it was just a white cover, but that doesn’t mean it was completely white inside. There were more details about what I needed to do …, or in other words, the conditions I had just described, and the wall in front of me was still small and there was only one door.
If I passed through that door, I would be transported to another world. And then I was expelled from the party of the brave. … To be exact, I was returned to this place by achieving the condition that “you will be expelled after you have been a member of the party for more than six months or after you have been recognized as a member of the party by gaining a certain level of trust.” Once the door was opened, it could not be opened again, and instead, there would be more doors next to it.
“But I did make it through that mysterious condition. It took me about a hundred years, but I did it. Then you could create a little more of a celebratory mood, or something like that, you know?”
While making such a light remark, I glanced at the figure in the mirror next to the table. What I saw was an ordinary young man, a little over 170 centimeters tall, with short black hair and a medium build.
Every time I returned to this “white world,” my body would return to the state of being 20 years old when I was summoned here. In addition to that, the shortest time I spent in the other world was seven or eight months, and the longest was about three years, which meant that I’ve been repeating my early twenties for about a hundred years.
It was strange, that my body, which normally would have become a saggy old man and had a lot of wisdom, had not grown much from what it looked like before. It could be said that my mind was being dragged down by my body, or it could be said that there was no room for growth since I was still treated as a 20 year old kid by the people around me. …. Anyway, I’ve been living a long time, but my mind was still of a young man.
So, I never said such enlightened words in such a place. I can’t think of any auspicious thoughts such as, “Thanks to you, I was able to grow both physically and mentally”. I don’t want to be in the good graces of a god who kidnapped people and made them do unintelligible forced labor for 100 years.
“… Well, whatever. Anyway, I followed your instructions. Then you’ll have to fulfill your promise this time.”
The crystal ball that sat in the middle of the table with a solemn atmosphere shone brightly, as if in response to my reluctant words. This was a sign that I would be given a skill as a reward for being successfully expelled from the other world.
“Are you still going to give me something? If you can give it to me, I’ll take it.”
I had taken the liberty of naming them “banishment skills,” and they were basically all super useful. Without them, it would have been much more difficult to infiltrate a hero party in 100 different worlds, and it might have taken hundreds of years more.
“The first world, before I got all my banishment skills, was like hell. …So, what is it this time?”
I shuddered as I remembered, and then I slowly placed my hand on the crystal ball. Then a mysterious divine power flowed into me. …. What?
“Well, that’s another … big skill. I can see a future where it’s left to die in storage, though. …”
I don’t think I’d use a one-time skill with a limited number … of uses, even if I was driven on the edge. If I were to sort through the Stranger Box, there must be dozens of magic potions lying around that would cure anything if you weren’t dead.
“…………………… Eh?”
It was not that I had awakened to some strange power, but that there was nothing else in the world that moved except me,…., and even the wind was not blowing, so I could somehow feel when something appeared.
“…. left?”
The number of doors to new worlds were increasing all the time on the right side. In other words, the further to the left you go, the more likely it was to be able to get to the first world, but if something appeared further to the left than that, then ….. perhaps!?
“…….. is increasing.”
Next to the door of 001 that I passed through for the first time, a door of 00 has appeared. It was a door that was never there before, a door that predates the beginning of …. In other words, this must be the door that leads to the world I came from.
“I can go back…?”
I can go home. Yes, I can return. I can go back to my original world, the one that was unreasonably taken from me 100 years ago. I can go back. I can go home. …
“Hey, God? It’s been about 100 years since I came here, but is it still 100 years in the original world? If that’s the case, I think my family and friends are all dead. …”
The lifespan of a human being was roughly sixty years. Some noblemen who ate good food could live to seventy or eighty, and in some worlds it was possible to extend one’s life with magic, but at least there were no powerful people or great wizards in my world, so no one would survive.
“Well, you know, you’re God, so you can adjust things to your liking…Will you not do it? Oh, or are you telling me to use my last skill here! Oh come on, that would be petty as hell!”
There was a possibility that I could manage this situation by using the skill I had just been given. But that would be a waste of time, if you ask me. Because the 100 years I lost were 100 years that I dedicated to God, or that were taken from me. Giving up my rights in order to make up for it would be like taking all the money I get for my work as an expense, and no matter how good-natured I was, I couldn’t easily accept that.
Thud!
“Whoa!?”
When I tried to argue with him, I suddenly heard a noise behind me. I turned around, startled, and looked underneath my feet where the noise had come from. ….There, on the floor, was a book with a white cover that looked like something I had seen somewhere before.
“Oh, you mean read this. What’s that under the …. number?”
When I looked up from the book and looked at the door again, I saw that another number had somehow been added below the world number engraved on it.
“This is the amount of time that has passed in that world since I left it ….. That means ….”
The door to the original world that was 00. The other number engraved below it also had a clean line of zeros.
“No time has passed since …? Does that mean I can go back to that moment when I was brought here!?”
Then, truly, this was the end. My long journey …. through countless worlds and being expelled from the brave party over and over again would end when I pass through this door.
“Okay, then now is the time to make a …… triumphant return to my world !”
Just as I was about to turn the knob on the door to the original world, An additional book fell from the sky, hitting me squarely in the brain.