~ Chapter 2: Never-ending summons ~

Well... it took them a while to calm down their hysterical laughter. Sapherya, I sincerely apologize! It wasn't my intention to make a joke out of your name! I thought while trying to hide from her glare.

I couldn't decide if she was cute with her puffed up cheeks or scary.

So far, it became apparent that I was standing in front of 118 gods, one for each of the worlds I was previously summoned to, except for Sapherya's. But as for why or how, I had yet to receive a clear answer.

“I would appreciate it if you don't use such an unsightly acronym... I am not a Goddess of War or Military Instructions!” she retorted.

“I understand! Dully noted!” I raised a hand in salute.

She's glaring at me. She's definitely glaring at me... C-cute. I thought.

Letting out a sigh, she crossed her arms at her chest and relaxed a bit.

“It's all good then... Thankfully, none of the inhabitants of my world use Earth's modern English language.” Sapherya nodded to herself.

Then why did you get embarrassed because I used this acronym if it has no meaning whatsoever in your world?! No, actually, why did all of these gods laugh because of it in the first place?! I retorted in my mind, but I withheld from letting these thoughts be known to them.

I didn't wish to anger her more than she already was.

“Leaving that matter aside. Shall I continue?” the goddess asked after straightening herself a bit.

“Please do.” I urged her.

Thanks this small comical moment, I was also able to relax a bit, and my state of panic was nearly gone. Although what worried me the most now was that I had no idea what was going to happen to me from now on.

“Well, all of our worlds can call the so-called heroes from Earth or similar worlds. You were one of them, but unfortunately, the royals who first summoned you were all a bunch of blind idiots.” she turned her gaze to one of the gods, who had big black circles under his eyes from the lack of sleep.

“I apologize!” he bowed his head.

What the... I thought.

The god startled me.

“In truth, you were the absolute PERFECT hero for my world, but those morons just had to... URGH! Sigh... It matters not now...” he shook his head as if he had already given up all hope.

“The same happened during your next several summons. Truthfully speaking, your [Hero Potential] is incredibly high, and surviving those countless accidents as well as keeping your hope up and positive thinking, most of the time, only made it grow more. A normal human would have been unable to survive through that ordeal. It's truly amazing!” Sapherya began to praise me and look at me as though I was some sort of priceless jewel.

I didn't know if I should have been embarrassed or angry at her.

It seemed as though the gods were not the ones to blame. If anyone, I had the right to be angry at the individuals who summoned me and acted arrogantly. Thanks to those idiots, my life had been a living Hell!

Still, telling me I was the perfect hero after being rejected 117 different times, the current drooling goddess was excluded for now, was not making me feel any better. In fact, I felt slightly annoyed by the fact that they allowed this to happen not once but 117 times already!

The best way to describe my current boiling emotions was by imagining being called to work on a Sunday, at 6 AM in the morning, only to be told that they didn't really need you and that you were free to go back home. It wasn't such a terrible thing if it happened once. Mistakes happen, right? But what if it happened 117 times and to add to this whole steaming pot of anger, your total time of driving from your home to work and back was counted in hours not minutes.

Looking at it this way, there was a very high chance you were going to blow a fuse sooner or later.

That being said, I remained quiet and only cursed a couple of times in my mind. I hoped all those summoners ended up with a hero just right for their personalities and attitudes. I demanded justice!

“I'm sure you weren't very pleased with that, but neither were we.” Sapherya pointed out.

I raised an eyebrow and looked back at her. It was hard to believe that my current situation could cause any sort of inconvenience to them unless this was related to their lack of sleep problem.

“You see, every hero is supposed to receive some sort of blessing from us when they are summoned to our worlds, but you never got yours from any of us!” she showed me a wry smile.

“How? Wasn't I supposed to get it before being summoned or from the act of summoning itself?” I asked.

“No... At least this isn't the case for us. The lazy gods usually leave it to fate with summoning circles and the like or forget to take back the hero's abilities before he returns. What should have happened was that you were supposed to go to a nearby temple of any kind. There, the god of the world would have contacted you and explained the general idea of how things worked over there as well as point you in the right direction. If you agreed, they would have given you a blessing or ability of some sort. If you disagreed, you would have been sent back to your original world. Well, in the case of agreeing, you wouldn't have been able to return afterwards.” she explained.

“Gods interfere quite a lot with mortals, don't they? But why wait until I reached a temple?” I asked.

“When you come from Earth or any other world, you are deeply tied to the energies of your original world's gods even if you never believed in them. Entering one of our temples brings you in touch with our energies on a high enough level to be able to connect with you.” she explained.

“So that's why all those morons made sure to lock me up in a cage and never brought me to a temple!” I declared after I had come to realize the truth.

To be honest, I was getting a bit suspicious that none of the gods or goddess of those worlds ever entered in contact with me. This also explained why the priests or the individuals who I believed were priests were never present or if they were, they got escorted out of there in a hurry. Killing me before meeting a god was like I was never summoned to their world in the first place.

“Your [Hero Potential] increased after each summon, making you the most likely candidate for the job from all the humans back on your planet... That's 1 out of the 7.445 billion humans at the time of your current summon, you know?” she showed me a wry smile.

It was an absurd chance, but it didn't comfort me at all. In fact, it made the whole thing all the more ridiculous. Why did none of those 117 worlds accept me if I am this good?!

“The thing is, after several rejections, you automatically receive a 'bad mark' on your soul.”

I raised an eyebrow and asked “A what now?”

“A 'bad mark'... This normally happens only to those who have a [Hero Potential] and also a very bad personality. Usually, when they return to their original world, their [Hero Potential] drops or disappears completely.” she explained.

“So, it's a safeguard that prevents unwanted souls from becoming Bad Heroes, right?” I asked raising an eyebrow.

She nodded slowly.

“There are still some gods who prefer those heroes because they have some sort of plan for them, but most of us aren't that happy with giving a blessing to someone with the intent and mental potential to turn our world into dust.” she pointed out.

“Sounds reasonable. I wouldn't want that either.” I nodded.

“Hence why you have such a high [Hero Potential]!” one of the gods said.

“Thanks...”

“If you were that sort of individual, you wouldn't have received a hero summon after your first 'bad mark', but your [Hero Potential] continued to grow, surpassing their accumulated influence. It was also possible that in some of those worlds, the summoners misunderstood the reason why you held so many 'bad marks'. In their eyes, it was a failed summoning, but if you managed to reach a temple, this misunderstanding would have been immediately cleared up. After all, only a god can remove the 'bad marks'.”

“Oh joy... Out of curiosity, how many do I have?” I asked.

“78...” she looked away.

I narrowed my eyes.

“What does that mean?”

“It means you are on the level of a Demon King when it comes to how presumably evil you appear to be. At least, in their mortal eyes... YAWN!” a half-asleep god replied, while Sapherya nodded in confirmation.

“This still doesn't explain why you gods personally summoned me and killed me back on Earth...” I glared at them.

“Every time you were summoned and sent back before you could receive a Blessing, all the gods of the previous worlds you were summoned to were notified... The thing is...” she then looked back at her companions.

“It's like having the horn of a truck made to sound in your ear right when you have finally managed to fall asleep!” the god with the pillow shouted.

“Time and time again... BANG! BANG! BANG!” one of the goddesses cried.

“It's annoying and LOUD!” another complained.

“If you aren't paying attention to something, it can startle you! Because of you, I accidentally gave my male hero the cheat ability to make any MAN fall in love with him! My poor hero cried tears of blood every time a brawny sweat-smelling man courted him. And you have no idea how hard it was to fix that thing!” a goddess cried.

I'm sorry, and my condolences to the sanity of that fellow. I thought.

“Yeah! It's crazy!” another god complained.

“Bang! BANG! BANG!!! Every day and every night! Ugh... make it stop, please!” a tough-looking god said as he cried like a child.

All the gods were in an uproar.

“As you can see... you became an [Unwanted Hero] trapped in a loop of endless summons that kept all the gods wide awake and unable to focus properly on their own worlds.” Sapherya showed me a wry smile.

“How and WHY in the name of all that's HOLY is that MY fault to begin with?! I never had a say in this matter! NEVER!” I shouted back at the top of my lungs at the angry gods.

Yup... I just snapped in front of 118 gods... who just so happened to have killed me in cold blood several minutes ago.