9 Every Beginning Is Hard

Day 1

I don’t know how it developed into this, but those c*nts started to follow me around. They even act all chummy with me. 

Let’s ignore the fact that they are suspicious as f*ck with their edgy names and look. In exchange for pestering me nonstop, they had given me a lot of information. 

For one, everybody on earth hadn’t died or disappeared like I assumed. They had isekai’ed into another world and only I had been left behind. 

Secondly, I have some supernatural abilities. Though they couldn’t exactly determine what kind of power I have, it just proved me right — I’m a supreme god and my golden godly rod has the power to conquer every woman in need.  

Third, they are searching for some kind of magical artifact. They didn’t tell me the name, but I’m not stupid. The only magical thing I encountered in these eight years of wandering alone on earth was that cursed sword. 

Fourth, they are targeting me as a “rare awakened” for their organization or something. In exchange for letting them take my body measurements and statistics, they give me free food. Bad side: I have to write this damn dairy journal for myself. 

Fifth, they can eat my sh*t.

***

They say ‘the way to a man's heart goes through his stomach’ and this idiom doesn’t only apply to love. 

After baiting Harem God with food, he got much calmer. Nonetheless, interacting with him was still an arduous task. The problem may lie in his temporary inability to speak, but the eight years of isolation and lack of social interaction were definitely the root of his difficult behavior.

For example, he could perfectly understand and communicate through writing with the other two, but his answers left one speechless. 

From internet slang...

Wtf or LOL

...to shortened messages, like,

What you mean?

...and random narcissistic praise,

I AM A F*CKING GOD

—it was unpredictable and unique.

While he definitely wasn’t an idiot, the way he presented himself was one of a kind. Moshi even doubted his eyes, when Harem God wrote down his birthday; he was actually older! 

If they hadn’t asked, Moshi would’ve assumed that he was still in middle school. Obviously, he knew that he wasn’t just by looking at his build, yet, based on his behavior he would mingle perfectly into Junior High or early High School.

Well, that thought wasn’t too far off. Harem God’s current age was 23 years, but by the time the transition happened, he merely had been 15 years old. So it was no wonder that Moshi assessed himself more mature than him— Harem God’s mental age had been stuck in his teens while Moshi had grown up under adults.

Without guidance in this important phase of his life, the young Harem God was bound to develop a crooked personality. Thus, Ace and Moshi attributed his God-complex to a natural protective mechanism of his brain to keep his sanity. Of course, he could have deceived them. Whether it was his genuine personality or not, they wouldn’t care as long as he was cooperative. 

Which was the second problem— Collaboration. 

They did negotiate a mutually benefiting agreement, but Harem God wouldn’t do more than the minimum. He would eat whatever they gave him, or let them run several analyzing tests on his body, but he wouldn’t even tell them the names of all the chicken he owned. Even less the details on how he obtained the mysterious katana.

It was really frustrating, he was secretive about the stupidest things, while being naive about potential dangers. The food could have been poisoned, didn’t he remotely consider this possibility?

***

Day 3

The rain finally stopped and I can take a fresh breath of air at last. Both of those freaks also went off to nowhere, so that I can do what was long due— spend time with my d*ck and smoke my weed. 

***

On the third day, the dark clouds finally ceased. Ace and Moshi moved out as soon as the rain ceased, they went back to where the fight took place. 

Upon their arrival, the remnants of the fight two days ago were still lying around. The rain had swept away only the dust and evened out the plowed earth. But their attention was elsewhere— the powerful sword had disappeared.

“How...?” Moshi uttered in disbelief as he stared at the incision in the wall. “I can’t track any traces of other life forms. The katana should still be here…”

Ace was speechless too. No matter what method they used, the sword couldn’t be pulled out. With the rain worsening and one unconscious person to worry, the two had no other choice than leaving the magical sword behind.

That was one of the reasons why Moshi was impatient and nervous back then. They had been looking for that artifact for years, and they finally had a hint with their compass guiding them to this certain place. But now they had lost their clue and the compass had broken after they used it.

The disappointment and anxiety were evident in Moshi’s face, that usually hid every emotion away to perfection. 

Ace couldn’t help but let out an imperceptible sigh. His rough hand ruffled through the snow-white hair of his little lover as he comforted, “Let’s inspect the city first. If that sword was really what we’re searching for, besides us, nobody can touch it anyway. Especially not them. My little Momo has nothing to fear.”

Moshi was surprised by the sudden head pat and gave Ace a sharp glare in response. However, the thing that actually bugged him wasn’t the head pat itself, it was the pet name he somewhat acquired.

“Ace, you do know that it is completely meaningless to give a pet name to my codename,” Moshi profoundly looked at his lover.

“Tsk, tsk, then I don't have another choice than call you by your real name since nobody’s around. Now come into my arms and let me comfort you, my Jiushi.”

Ace stretched out his arms and confronted Moshi, or better Jiushi, with puckered lips. 

“Pfft—” Jiushi was clearly amused and shoved the comical grimace aside with one hand, but his heart still warmed up by the sweet way he was called. After fooling around for a bit, Jiushi gave a simple “Hm” and collected himself. 

Scrutinizing the battle field only took about ten minutes, before the two proceeded to systematically scan the city for other possible clues. The first street had no abnormalities aside from the given weathering. However, around the next corner, a path of destruction manifested before them. 

“That…” Jiushi studied the area from an objective perspective to determine the goal behind it. At least he tried to, but he could only come to one conclusion; the havoc had been done arbitrarily without any purpose.

“Yeah, seems like someone was in a bad mood,” Ace chimed in. 

They both looked at the finely chopped public property and the damaged buildings. The cutting profile matched the blade of a one-sided sword and the haphazardly wrecking took a terrifying lot after their new friend’s temper. 

“But,” Moshi already began to judge Harem God inwardly, “did he have to go that far?”

“I don’t know, but if we track back his path, we might find out what triggered him.”

Thus, the two went window shopping through chunks of rubble and ended up at the ruin that was an antique shop once not too long ago. As they both stepped in, something inconceivable hit them.

There was only more trash and dust than outside.

Everywhere except one circular space that was relatively clean compared to the remaining shop area. Not only was it clean of shards and debris, that place was also completely deprived of elemental energy. The two men became solemn. If it was really was what it seems to be, then Harem God might be in the possession of a frightening power, he can’t imagine to control.