Intervention

"Are you okay!??!?" Layla asked, seeing Aki covered in open wounds with glass shards embedded into his skin, "It doesn't seem like your wounds are healing by themselves anymore. Can you lie down?" she inquired, as a medic team placed a talbecoth-type gurney on the dirt ground.

"Nope, I can't move my body anymore!" Aki answered, struggling to even open his mouth, "Help me, please!" he pleaded, hoping Layla would gently lay him flat. 

"Fine, I'll help you," Brox offered, tossing Aki onto the gurney like a sack of potatoes. 

"*OAPPH!!*" Aki yelled, followed by an immense scream of pain, as he landed harshly onto the gurney with multiple wounds opening.

"CAPTAIN! WHY DID YOU DO THAT? " Layla exclaimed, "BASED ON WHAT I CAN, THE MAJORITY OF HIS BONES ARE BROKEN AND HIS MUSCLES ARE TORN!" she explained, and began to administer first aid treatment to stop the bleeding.

"Sorry, my bad!" Brox apologized, as he still felt sour from Aki's attempt to kill them earlier. 

"So, what do we do about this?" the Guild Master inquired, picking up the meter-long fang from the Forest Guardian. "It's truly an amazing fang! Did you want to sell it? I guarantee a good price for it," he added. 

Aki attempted to respond, but only blood came up, causing him to cough excessively. Layla gave the Guild Master a side eye stare, telling him to knock it off, or I will end you. 

"I-I'll hold on to it in the meantime," the Guild Master decided, trying to avoid Layla's fury in any way as he stored it in his item box.

Suddenly, the ground began to rumble again, with the sound of trees breaking once again, and monsters reappeared onto the empty battlefield. This time, the monster came in a larger number of Trolls and Orcs, joining the fight. 

"The second wave, huh?" Aki muttered, attempting to stand up, only to lie back onto the blood-soaked gurney. "Leave me and run away," he ordered, knowing that the number of enemies was too much for them to handle.

"Don't worry about this round, you've done enough!" a male voice yelled, followed by the sound of hooves passing by. "It's our turn to handle it from here on. Get some rest now!". 

*Grand Explosion* the male voice yelled, as the blue sky lit up with five soccer-sized orange balls, before suddenly falling onto the grassy plain, followed by a loud fiery explosion, with the cries of monsters filling the air.  

"ROYAL KNIGHTS, WITH ME NOW!!!" the male voice ordered, with three dozen knights donning in black metal armor, running onto the battlefield, slaughtering the monster with ease as if they were slicing tofu. 

"Let me heal him too, partner," a female knight in purple armor appeared, kneeling next to Layla.*Greater Heal*,  with small glass shards, wood chips, and other foreign objects started to be expelled from Aki's wounds.

"This is much more severe than I thought! How are you even alive?" she inquired, after examining Aki's entire body. "There are multiple bone fractures and extensive internal damage, which I've only seen in landslide corpses," the female knight added, "The only thing I could do right now is to keep him stable enough til we get to the church, as only the Saint can heal you properly." *Sleep*

"Let's move him now!" the female knight ordered after putting Aki to sleep to prevent him from moving around in pain during transport. "I'll see you tonight, Layla," she stated toward Layla while lifting her helmet slightly and giving Layla a small, passionate kiss on the lips, with two knights picking up Aki from the ground. 

 "Yes, I'll see you tonight!" Layla responded happily, with a smile, "I'll make your favorite meal for tonight's dinner," standing in place, lovestruck and watching them leave the battlefield. 

"*Ah-hem*", Brox cleared his throat, "It looks like we can leave this to Prince Kurt & Princess Rei," he commented, trying to bring Layla back to reality.

"Ah, yes........we leave the rest to them while we clean up the rest of the smaller issues inside the gate," Laya stated, "After we are done, we can check up on Aki at the church," as the party began to retreat to the gate with the sun setting behind them.



Aki slowly opened his eyes and saw a familiar pink ceiling. "Did I die again?" he muttered, closing his eyes and remaining silent on the ground.

"Of course you didn't, you fucking moron!" a soft voice yelled, with a sudden feeling of pressure on his guts. "I summon you here to speak with you," the voice added, with the pressure on his gut disappearing.

Aki rose slightly to see the tiny Goddess in a white one-piece dress sitting in a pink floating egg pod chair, with her tiny arms and legs crossed over each other, and gave an upset frown.

 "How am I here?" Aki questioned, "Wasn't I on the battlefield just now?" 

"You were moved to the cathedral to get your life-threatening injuries treated," Mersia answered, looking directly at him. "While they are treating your physical injuries, I summoned your soul here to speak with you about your foolish actions." 

"I see..." Aki muttered, noticing something white with animal prints coming into view as she uncrossed her legs.

"*sigh* I brought you here to inquire why you are being so reckless," Merisa questioned, summoning a window screen and replaying a recording of Aki's reckless fighting. "You do realize that you've only been in this world for less than a month and experienced too many life-death events. Are you trying to die on purpose!?!? You were finally given a second chance to find happiness, so why risk it all to protect a few strangers?" 

"........I..........I-I" Aki attempted to respond with a witty comment, but stopped. He knew that the Goddess wasn't trying to lecture or scold him, but was a concerned party. "To be honest, I'm not too sure why I reacted the way I did. I want to say the action I took just now could be my soul's way of preventing any more regrets or mistakes like in my past life," as bitter memories resurfaced again. 

"Whatever," Merisa answered, displeased with Aki's answer, but didn't wish to pry further into his past life. She proceeded to close out the window screen, rotate her chair around, and face away. "You can leave now," she stated, pointing to a wooden door with a golden handle. 

"Hey......since I'm here, what are lost?" Aki questioned, remembering his talk with Layla. "Why do people sound concerned when they find  I'm a lost?" 

Mersia slowly rotated back around to face Aki. "Lost, refers to someone or something that is not from this world," with Aki giving her a blank look of obviousness. "Don't give me that look, I'm going to explain it a bit more now." 

"Each world is protected by a fragile, thin barrier wall that prevents anything or anyone from entering another world," Merisa explained, "From time to time, a rift can open when the barrier weakens by internal influence like a natural disaster or conflicts. Due to this influence, a tiny rift can open in any part of the world, which doesn't allow people to pass through, only small random objects that happen to be there." 

"What about Layal's great-great-grandmother?" Aki inquired. 

"REMEMBER! I can usually," Merisa stated, "In very rare cases, humans or monsters have been able to travel between worlds, which leads to the countless stories of dragons, oni, mermaids, etc, on Earth. As Gods, it is our job to make sure these outsiders return to their world as soon as possible, especially those who end up in the world you are currently in."

"What do you mean by that?" 

"Think about the time you've spent in this world." Mersia stated, "What is an ability that you currently have that you didn't have before you died on Earth?" 

"Hm......." Aki pondered, "The ability to have an erection!" he answered, after thinking long and hard. Aki was fifty-seven years old when he died, and like many adult males, erectile dysfunction was a major setback, emotionally. 

"Yes, that's correct! The ability to have an erect-" Merisa stopped midway, before jumping off her floating pod chair, proceeded to stomp on Aki's groin, with him rolling in pain. "HOW DARE YOU MAKE A GODDESS SAY A NAUGHTY WORD LIKE THAT!" she yelled, turning pinkish in anger, and started to kick him. 

"I-It's true, though. I was fifty-seven years old when I died, and for most men, erectile dysfunction is a serious concern," Aki answered, while holding his groin in pain. "The answer you wanted is skills, right?" 

"Yes, that's what I wanted to hear!" Merisa yelled, stopping her fury of kicks. She noticed her hair was frazzled. "Look what you did to my hair!" she cried, running to her desk, grabbing a brush, and trying to untangle it. When she attempted to brush downward, the brush kept getting stuck on a knot, causing her to start sobbing. 

"Come over here," Aki gestured with his left hand, telling her to come sit in front of him, "Give me the brush." 

"Do you even know what you are doing?" Merisa asked, handing over her pink brush, and sat down in front of him. 

"Of course I do. I had a daughter who was the same size as you at one point in my past life," Aki reassured the tiny Goddess, and began to brush her long hair slowly. "So what is this about skills?" he asked, trying to continue the conversation. 

"People who crossed over into this world through those rifts will never be able to use skills," Merisa explained, "The ability to use skills is something you are born with; in other words, a divine intervention from god. Due to this reason, lost individuals are considered extremely weak compared to them and tend to die soon, or at least that's what their study of lost individuals concluded." 

"That would explain why Layla's great-great-grandmother couldn't speak the language in this world," Aki replied, realizing that his ability to speak came from a skill. "Why didn't Layla's great-great-grandmother return home?" he questioned, as he finished removing the knots.

"For us to return someone home, they need to have a desire of wanting to return home," Merisa answered, "We cannot forcefully return someone home otherwise their souls would end up being destroyed during the return process. The desire to return home can be a simple thought, like feeding your pet, missing out on a TV show, or even craving a snack that isn't found in this world. It is very rare to find lost individuals who truly have no desire to return to their world, especially when they realize that this world isn't what they expected." recalling how many lost souls were returned when they found out that there were no cheat skills or harem involved, only hard labor awaits them.

"I see.........All done!" Aki stated, after completing the crown braid. "Do you like it?" 

Merisa quickly jumped up, running to a mirror to see her hair in a pretty braid, and began to smile. "I like it! How did you do this?" 

"I used to do this for my daughter when she was a kid, too," Aki answered. "Also come here," he gestured. 

Merisa walked over happily before suddenly receiving a flick on her exposed forehead. 

"HEY! What was that for?" Merisa exclaimed, covering her forehead.

"That's for reading my memory again after I warned you not to," Aki scolded, remembering his extra skill that was given to him. 

"I'm sorry," Merissa apologized, looking downward. 

"*Sigh*"Aki sighed lightly, standing up and began to walk over towards the door to leave. "Hey, can I tell you one more thing before I leave?"

"What?" Merisa inquired softly.

"As a Goddess and more importantly, as a lady, you need to watch your sitting posture when wearing a long dress," Aki lecturured, grabbing hold of the golden handles, with a bluish hue enveloping him, "I saw your white bear-printed underwear earlier when you were sitting in front of me. It truly suits your childish personality! " giving a smug smile. 

"GO AWAY ALREADY!" Merisa yelled, picking up an empty glass bottle of cola and throwing it at him, only to strike the door. "I HATE HIM! WHY DOES HE ALWAYS TREAT ME LIKE A CHILD?" she yelled, throwing a tantrum, with a few strands of hair coming into her view. "Crap!".