Now, after being told by the goddess that she would reincarnate me, I woke up again to find myself in a place surrounded by many trees. As far as I could see, there were really only trees. And when I looked up at the sky, it was entirely purple.
"...Purple?"
Hmm, that's strange. The sky I knew wasn't this color. This is just like a different world... oh wait, I was reincarnated into that different world.
"Hey, can you hear me?"
It was the mom's voice. But I could hear her voice without seeing her figure. Could it be an auditory hallucination?
"It's not an auditory hallucination. I'm just sending my voice to you from here."
"Like a telephone?"
"That's right."
"As expected of a god. So, what kind of world have I been reincarnated into?"
"Well, it's a world called High School D×D."
Hmm? That sounds familiar somehow... Ah yes, that's right, it's an anime. One of my friends was an avid reader of it, so I only know the name. Let's see, according to him, it was a novel about "Oppai," "power inflation," and "Ophis" Yeah, I have no idea what that means.
"I asked to go to a world where I could live peacefully. And why anime?"
Just from the term power inflation appearing, it can't be a normal world.
"Yeah, that's why I chose that world. Since it has 'High School' in the title, I thought you'd surely be able to enjoy a fun youth."
Hmm, it seems she properly thought about it in her own way when sending me to this world. However, let me say one thing.
"Um, did you check what kind of content this world has?"
"Hmm? I didn't."
"Ah, as I thought..."
Perhaps sensing something from my dejected state, the mom's voice mixed with a bit of panic.
"Ah, um, did I misunderstand something?"
"Could you check it now?"
"U-understood! Wait a moment."
And several minutes later, what came from the mom's mouth was...
"Forgive me! I'm truly sorry!"
It was a heartfelt apology. Still, how did she check in such a short time? If she read all the novels, that would be incredibly fast. Though I suppose gods can understand book contents without reading them.
"Well, what's done is done. Besides, even though you misunderstood, you seriously thought about me."
"Ugh, your kindness is painful right now... No, this isn't the time to cry! In that case, I'll make you strong so you can live peacefully in that world!"
The mom suddenly switched from a tearful voice to an energetic one. But specifically, what will she do?
"First is your body. The 'sturdy body' you wished for. I originally planned to give you a body that wouldn't get sick or poisoned, but I'll make it so that even if you receive the strongest attack from the strongest being in that world, you'll only get scraped skin. I really wanted to give you a god's body like mine, but that's not allowed, so forgive me."
The mom explained apologetically. No no no no! That's more than enough - it's too much! That means there's virtually no existence in this world that can hurt me, right?! Or is this world so dangerous that I'd die immediately without that much protection?! Damn, I should have borrowed anime from him!
"Next is your wish to be reborn as a handsome guy, but it's better to show you this rather than explain it. I'll send you a hand mirror now, so check your face."
The space in front of me warped, and a small hand mirror emerged from it. I looked into it as instructed. At that moment, I widened my eyes in surprise.
"...What the hell!?"
Reflected there was the face of a blue-haired handsome man who was clearly different from me. And I recognized that face. The part that should be there (tattoo? birthmark? makeup? whatever) was missing, and the features looked slightly younger, but this face was definitely...
"Al-Van!"
My face had become Al-Van, an original character from Super Robot Wars.
Al-Van. Full name: Al-Van Ranks. A knight of the original enemy organization "Furia Knights" who appears in Super Robot Wars J, essentially the rival character to the protagonist. Though for a rival, he didn't appear from mid to late game, making him feel somewhat overshadowed, but honestly, I liked him more than the male protagonist Tooya.
The reason was that I was annoyed by Tooya having a harem with the three partner girls he rode with. This work J had stronger romantic elements than other entries. When Tooya is the protagonist, if affection exceeds a certain value and is the highest with one person, you end up in a romantic relationship with them. What? So if affection is low, you don't end up with anyone? Sweet, too sweet. If individual ending conditions aren't met, you get a "normal ending" which is actually a harem ending. Though they don't become lovers, all three clearly had feelings for Tooya.
In that regard, Al-Van was cool-looking, and his fighting for his comrades was very knightly - I liked that. Plus, like me, he didn't have a girlfriend... wait, wasn't he romantically involved with the female protagonist Calvina? Damn, this guy was also popular with women!
...Ah! I got sidetracked. I need to ask the goddess why this happened.
"There are many types of handsome men, right? The handsome man I think of might not be handsome to you. So I thought I'd just make you into the handsome man you imagine. I used the handsome man you were thinking of just before you died as reference."
I see, so that's how it happened. Now that she mentions it, I remember thinking about the characters from J on the way to that convenience store. So she chose Al-Van from among them... Thank goodness. If I had become Gu-Landon or something, I would have been the one going Despair!
"Come to think of it, my eye level is a bit higher too. Could it be that not just my face, but my body too?"
"Would you have preferred the original?"
"No, this is fine."
"It seems you're pleased with it, which is good. Then the third thing is fighting power. What do you want? I can prepare anything."
Power... Hmm, when it comes to Al-Van, it has to be his Raftclans. That strength was truly amazing even thinking back on it. Equipped with sword, shield, and gun, it could parry, shield defend, and had the now-defunct shoot-down ability. Most importantly, the "Orgone Cloud" which provided barriers, clones, wasn't affected by terrain and always gave maximum movement, plus energy recovery - it was basically a cheat. If conditions were met, the protagonist could also pilot it, and then the final boss could be defeated by the protagonist alone. That's how strong it was.
It was also equipped with the time weapon Lars Eilem that stops time, and the Lars Eilem Canceller that negates it, but these were story-only equipment so they weren't that memorable. Well, they were actually incredible weapons though.
It looked cool and had well-balanced weapons. Among them, what left the deepest impression was the Orgone Rifle fired from the Sword Rifle, one of the two carried weapons.
Four Raftclans units existed in total, and each had specific weapons with dedicated animations. Among them, the protagonist's machine and the Raftclans of Hu-Lu, a female knight from the same "Furia Knights" as Al-Van, had the Orgone Rifle as their dedicated animation weapon. The sequence was: firing an extremely thick energy wave clearly disproportionate to the gun barrel. Immediately after, activating Orgone Cloud to instantly move behind the enemy machine and fire again. The sight of the thick energy waves from front and back crushing and swallowing the enemy machine made me burst out laughing when I first saw it.
---This is instant death regardless of HP!
So it would be amazing if I could pilot Raftclans, but there's no way I could operate it without being Al-Van, and even if I could, there's nowhere to put such a giant robot. So I have no choice but to give up...
"Ah, then you could just become that robot yourself."
Just as I was about to ask what she meant, suddenly my body glowed, and the next moment, my arm was covered in deep blue armor. Not just my arm. My legs, body, and even my face - everything was covered in the same material.
"Wh-what is this!?"
"It's a miniaturized version of the robot you mentioned so you can use it too. Think of it like armor."
I looked into the hand mirror on the ground again, and instead of Al-Van's face, there was a robot's face - Raftclans' face reflected there.
"Seriously... I seriously became Raftclans!?"
"Hmm, it's a bit different. It's more accurate to say it's a fake that's infinitely close to the real thing. If I wanted to, making it real wouldn't be impossible either."
My excitement rising, I tilted my head at the mom's words. If it's possible, why bother making it a fake?
"Listen. The real thing - that is, a completed product - cannot change any further. That's natural, since it's complete. But a fake - something that can never be completed as the real thing no matter how much effort is put in - can continue changing indefinitely."
"Um... what does that mean?"
"It means the fake can do things the completed real thing cannot. Let's see... for example, your armor there - the original robot seemed to only have one sword, but in your case, you could have two."
"...So, never being completed means I can eternally change - in other words, strengthen it?"
"That's right."
She says it casually, but isn't that incredibly amazing? In other words, depending on my thinking, it can be strengthened into an even more cheat machine than in the game. Hey, if it gets any more cheat-like, wouldn't that be a bug rather than a cheat?
"Are you satisfied?"
"Y-yes. If anything, I think it's too much."
"That's good. As another apology for sending you to that world, I'll grant you one more wish... is there anything?"
"Hmm... honestly, I can't think of anything right now, so could I put it on hold?"
"That's fine. You can tell me anytime... Actually, there's one more thing I need to apologize for."
Eh, at this timing?
"Actually, I made a small mistake with the coordinates where I sent you. I'm preparing for re-transfer now, but it'll take a little time. Sorry, but could you wait a bit?"
"Ah, yes, understood."
"Well then, I'll contact you again when it's ready."
That was the last I heard from the mom. Now, what should I do until she contacts me?
"Come to think of it, if this armor is Raftclans, can I fly too?"
The Raftclans in the game could fly, so it should be possible. But how do I do it?
"There's no switch or anything... should I try concentrating?"
I concentrated on the thought "Fly!" Then I heard a sound like something shooting out from the boosters on my back. The sound gradually increased in volume, and when it reached a certain level, my feet slowly began to leave the ground.
"Oh, ohh! Amazing! I'm floating!"
While I was getting excited, my body kept rising higher and higher, getting more than ten meters away from the ground.
"A-alright! Next is forward movement!"
Like before, I concentrated on "Move forward!" and heard a "Clank!" sound from my back, then began slowly moving forward.
I kept accelerating - bicycle speed, then moped speed, then about car speed. While watching the scenery flow past me, I concentrated on stopping. But instead of stopping, my body accelerated even more.
"Hey, stop! Stop!"
I not only concentrated but also spoke aloud, but it wouldn't stop. Why not!? Ascending and moving forward went smoothly, so why can't I stop!?
"Stop, damn it! Please stop! I'm begging you!"
I was almost crying. Then I saw something red and white ahead. Frequent explosions were happening around it.
"Wh-what is that...?"
I had a terrible premonition. And that premonition would prove perfectly correct. The red and white thing got bigger as I approached, and when its identity became clear, I couldn't believe my eyes.
A massive body that seemed like the phrase "majestic and imposing" had taken physical form.
Vicious fangs that looked like they could crush anything.
A tail that could blow away even giant trees like paper scraps.
Magnificent wings that could easily lift that massive body into the air.
A monster that existed only in fantasy in the world I came from.
---No matter how you look at it, it's a dragon. Thank you very much.
"Seriously!?"
What is that!? What is that!? It's important so I'll say it twice... but this isn't the time for that! This is clearly a direct collision course, right!? A-anyway, I need to somehow avoid it!
"Turn!"
Screaming like a certain boy working in a mine, I forcibly twisted my body. Every time I watch that, I think his physical abilities are pretty cheat-like too.
Then, slightly but surely, my course began to shift to the right away from the dragon. Good, now if I just pass by at full speed...!
I was relieved, but the next moment I froze. Now I spotted what appeared to be a magical girl in frilly clothes holding a staff ahead of me. Why a magical girl? And does she have wing-like things growing from her? I'm throwing those questions aside with full force right now. At this rate, I'll crash into that magical girl. And she doesn't seem to notice. If we collide, that magical girl will definitely be seriously injured, or worst case, die. I absolutely don't want to become a murderer after finally coming back to life.
(Then there's only one thing to do. I have to grab that magical girl just before we collide!)
Judging that avoiding her was impossible given the distance, I decided on that. If my timing is off, it's over. And I only get one chance. The me from before reincarnation would definitely have failed, but the current me is Al-Van! I'm a knight!
(I can do it! I'm a knight! Come on, don't give up, get more fired up!)
While encouraging myself, I concentrated. Five meters to the magical girl... four meters... three meters... two meters... one meter...!
"Eh?"
(Magical girl get!)
While still accelerating, I embraced the magical girl. Immediately after, the red dragon's flames passed behind us.
Cold sweat ran down me. If I hadn't been there, this girl might have been swallowed by those flames.
Having inadvertently performed a rescue, the boosters that had been completely ignoring me finally stopped several dozen meters away from the dragon.
(F-finally stopped...)
If it hadn't stopped then, I would have kept flying forever with this magical girl. ...Yeah, no matter who looked at it, that would be kidnapping. I'm really glad it stopped.
While feeling relieved, I looked down at the magical girl I was still embracing, and our eyes met directly.
"Um, who are you...?"
Well, yeah, that's a natural question. However, honestly revealing my real name here feels somehow problematic.
"...Fury."
So I quickly said Al-Van's species name, which wasn't wrong... I think.