Third Outer World Story Series: Pumpkin Sorcerer - Chapter 16

Translator: MadHatter Editor: MadHatter

Huh, it turns out that the voice I heard in the mysterious space was God’s voice.

However, the majority of what God was saying was incomprehensible to Pumpkin, which was why he was being taught for the second time by Mizuki.

“So here’s my first question. First of all, who is Lean-sama?”

“It is said that Lean-sama is a God who oversees the cycle of life. Unlike the God of Creation who boasts that this world has been created by them, or the Mad God of Destruction who seeks to bring an end to this world, Lean-sama is a God who wields true power and performs their work even when they are asleep.”

“Hmm.”

They administer the cycle of life. If so, is this the same God that governs metempsychosis, reincarnation, and so on?

In that case, the reason why I have ended up in this world may lie in the hands of Lean-sama.

By the way, should I inquire about the fact that the God of Creation is treated as a liar and the God of Destruction is treated as a madman? No, somehow I have a feeling that it is wiser not to press the issue. That part of the story seems to touch on an extremely filthy and sordid part of human nature. Perhaps some royal family made up such an existence in order to gain prestige for their own bloodline.

“Well, I don’t care about any of the false gods. All you need to remember is that Lean-sama is so important to this world that even we, spirits who are the incarnation of nature, revere them,” Mizuki, perhaps sensing his thoughts on the matter, added.

In fact, from the viewpoint of the spirits that govern nature, Lean, who presided over the cycle of life, would be a subject of worship.

Nature itself meant that the flow of life must be consistent without being biased to one side or the other.

“Hmm. I understand well about Lean-sama. But why is it that Lean-sama is believed to be sleeping in this forest?”

“Even I have no idea about that.”

“You don’t know?”

“Because the story goes back to way before I was born. Even when I asked the senior wind spirits who sometimes pass over Lake Accumulate about the story, they merely offered uninformative response, probably because wind spirits are not concerned with details.”

Oh, well, that can’t be helped.

There was no way to know if no one could enlighten him.

From the story of the God of Creation, it would seem that the story that humans have perpetuated has been greatly distorted, and to begin with, there were almost no humans coming to this forest.

“Well, this is all I know about Lean-sama. The problem is that Lean-sama said to you, ‘I can’t let you catch a glimpse of my appearance. Even my voice, if it were true, would not be heard. But you may be able to put an end to the repetition. So for now, I’ll just tell you one power I possess’.”

“Yeah, that’s right…”

Pumpkin slowly thought about the content of Lean’s words.

“First of all, the power they were talking about is [Resonance], right?”

“Yes, it’s a power that is evidently beyond the scope of a typical reincarnated person, and from the fact that you suddenly have access to it, I’d say it was given to you by Lean-sama.”

He created a few spheres of magic power, and with the effect of [Resonance], a powerful gust of wind was generated, which heavily shook the trees growing by the lakeside.

This was distinctly different from the [Gust Blow] he has been using up until now.

If Pumpkin can suddenly attain such strength with just one piece of knowledge, that should be regarded as Lean’s power after all.

“Then what Lean-sama mentioned about concealment is[i]…”

“Maybe being asleep is actually a metaphor[ii], but I don’t think someone as powerful as Lean-sama would need to do anything to conceal themself.”

“Well, I don’t have any clues to investigate those details, so I shouldn’t worry about these right now.”

“I agree. If you want to find out, you will need to venture outside of this forest, so I don’t think there is anything to bother with right now.”

I wonder how powerful Lean-sama actually is?

From Mizuki’s words and the power of [Resonance], it seems that they’re quite powerful, and the party that such a god would conceal themselves from is, umm… their SAN value[iii] would drop if someone knew about it?

It’s not surprising that such entities would exist since both isekai and reincarnation really took place.

“So the only thing remaining words are, ‘But you may be able to put an end to the repetition’. Do you have any idea?”

“Yeah. The god of reincarnation, cycles, and other repetition-related concepts is Lean-sama themself. I can only think of one thing, though, that Lean-sama can’t stop, even if they wish for it, but I am not too sure whether I am spot on or not since I haven’t actually gone through it.”

“Still, that’s fine, just tell me.”

Pumpkin urged Mizuki to continue the conversation.

The reason why Lean gave him the power was to end the repetition, and perhaps the reason why he reincarnated in the first place with some of the memories of his previous life was to ensure that Pumpkin would be able to deal with the repetition.

Besides, isn’t it cool and heroic to do something with a mission from God? Is this not something to strive for? Even without that, I would at least like to repay the debt of gratitude for the invaluable knowledge I received in the use of magic.

For now, I should hear what Mizuki knows about the problem.

“The name of the phenomenon is ‘Kage-Ochi[iv]‘. Even we spirits, who are supposed to grasp all that occurs in nature, are unable to understand the cause of this catastrophe that is affecting the entire world.”

“Kage-Ochi…”

“I’m a young spirit, so I’ve never actually encountered such a catastrophe. However, it strikes once every few hundred years, wiping out any civilization that is thriving at the time. That’s all I’ve heard.”

“…”

Pumpkin fell silent at Mizuki’s words.

Lean-sama. Are you by any chance placing a tremendous burden on me? It sounds like the world is in jeopardy based on what Mizuki described.

“You don’t have any concrete idea of what’s going to happen?”

“I don’t know. The spirits… the Great Spirits who have been alive for more than a thousand years might know something, though.”

“Mm-hmm.”

The Great Spirits… I suppose I’ll have to get out of the forest sooner or later after all.

As long as he stayed in this forest, the information available to him would be limited.

But I think that if I go out of the forest without any real power, I’ll just get killed… I mean, I’m a pumpkin.

“Well, don’t worry, it’s not going to happen for a long time. I was told about this story a little over three decades ago, but according to the wind spirits who shared it with me at the time, it won’t happen for another two or three hundred years, and the omens are there.”

“Oh, I see.”

Although he was slightly reassured by Mizuki’s words, he immediately froze when he realized a rather unpleasant fact.

Mizuki just said this. She has been here for two or three hundred years. That would mean… his lifespan might be prolonged in accordance with that…

“For the time being, regardless of how many decades pass, you ought to be able to effectively control the power you have been given, right?”

Ah, yeah. My life as a pumpkin is going to be a very long one…

Well, at least it’s good to have a goal.

————–

T/N:

[i] This line is referring to “I can’t let you catch a glimpse of my appearance” in the previous chapter. It’s just another way of saying it

[ii] The actual word used here is expedient but that sounds confusing so I use metaphor

[iii] A slang used in RPG game, short for sanity check, a measure of how frightened or disturbed a player is, as in “I failed my San check — my character is getting the Hell out of there.” The term comes from the Call of Cthulhu RPG that has drifted into more common usage, even when playing games that don’t feature a Sanity stat.

[iv] English would be Yin Falling, but I will be using the romaji of it