Chapter 9: When You Wish to be an Elf but became a Goblin

"Yes, he has been living really well for the past few years and quite a proficient magician too." Yubis did not hide this fact to Ryuji.

Ryuji was brimming with joy hearing that he can see his younger brother again. It's a good choice to be an elf. He could not help his tears flowing down. It's good that he is alive, and he has the chance to see him again. He could not wait but before that he should be thanking these benevolent beings for this opportunity.

"Yubis-sama, Bishamonten-sama, Morticia-sama, Michizune-sama, thank you for this opportunity." Ryuji politely bowed as his tears flowed down. The gods nodded.

"We hope to use this chance to reunite with your brother." The jackal god smiled with benevolence. Yubis then glanced to the Goddess of Death. "Ticia-chan, help our little friend Ryuji-kun. You can bring Michizune-kun for a little tour our world."

"Yes, Yubis-sama." Morticia smiled. Ryuji and Michizune was engulfed by a blinding white light leaving Yubis and Bishamonten. They looked at each other but Bishamonten observed the troubled look on Yubis face.

***

Meanwhile, Ryuji's consciousness fleeted. He was instructed by Morticia that there was a loading scheme that will happen. She mentioned a voice prompt will be heard. They placed him in some capsule shaped pod. It was like the one that he played which was a nuclear fallout and the protagonist was cryogenically frozen. 'Isn't heaven so high tech?' Ryuji thought. He was amazed about everything with the divine realm. After hanging out with the gods for some time, he did abandon his worldly views. He did not care about anything now. If this is still a dream, he might earn a fortune in writing such fantasy story. After getting to the capsule, his consciousness drifted to darkness.

"Loading…" He heard the voice. Then comes after it were series of gibberish beeps like a tape suddenly put on rewind.

Then series of beeps again. Then a chime was heard "Ding! Failure to load, retrying… Please wait." Then the sound was like he was on the phone being put on hold. 'What the fuck!' Ryuji screamed in his mind. He did not know if he was to cry or laugh. There was a hold music during this phase. After his initial surprise he got a bit bored because the process repeated about 52 times.

"Welcome to Zariya, Takeda Ryuji, (beep-beep-beep)"

Ryuji slowly opened his eyes and saw a blinding light. He squinted a few times to adjust his eyes with the brightness and saw a bright blue sky with a visible moon. It seems it was daytime Ryuji thought. Then he slowly moved his body. He felt his arms and legs, he is still disoriented with the place.

'Is this what Takehiko felt when he got migrated?' Ryuji thought. It's probably no use wondering further. He will live this life very differently from now on. Different from what he used to be in Japan. Right now, he will be his own protagonist in his own Isekai adventure. He will find his brother here and live peacefully. He slowly lifted his arm and saw a moss green skin almost black.

'If I remember, I chose elf as my race.' Ryuji thought. He shrugged it off and made an excuse to himself. 'Probably the elves here have a green skinned elven race or something to the likes of that 'Avatar' (1) movie.'

'Better move now and make a home base.' Ryuji promptly sat and stood up but felt something odd with his body. 'Do elves wear loincloths? This is some fantasy world that came alive. If this is a fantasy like RPGs, loin cloths plus green skin is probably a savage wood elf or...'

Realizing something is amiss, he quickly searched for a nearby river and screamed. "F*ck!!!" He saw an ugly moss green creature with pointed ears staring back. He should be an elf not a goblin! He felt scammed and he does not know whether he should laugh or cry. It's like buying a laptop but getting a calculator instead.

***

"Yubis-senpai is there a problem?" Bishamonten asked.

"Yes, the data he carries is kind of encrypted. The Binbogami had latched too long with Ryuji-san." Yubis saw the Binbogami's blessing is still active.

"What do you mean?" Bishamonten did not see the status earlier as he was not keen on prying to the status. But he is surprised about the encryption.

"Can you remove the binbogami's curse?" Yubis did not answer Bishamonten directly but asked a question as his reply.

"Yes, but I would need approval from Lady Inari." Bishamonten replied in a straightforward manner. "Isn't this a normal transfer? Why would a binbogami still latch on him even if he is dead?"

"This is not as simple as it seems. Takehiko seemed has a strong familial bond with his brother. Usually after death, familial ties will be broken since he died of a disease." Yubis explained. "There is a specific rule set in Zariya, once someone crosses over the familial ties which used to harbor a portion of magic will dissipate once it merges with the world. Those feelings that were used to be a vessel will also disappear. In Takehiko's case, it did not. The magic merged with the world, but his feelings remained strong if not it was amplified."

"Amplified? But how?" Bishamonten was baffled.

"That we are not too sure. There are many points to speculate on. The special transfer today was approved by Karim-sama. But today i had confirmed something. Ryuji-san might not be your average human." Yubis looked at Bishamonten with deep meaning.

"Can you enlighten me Yubis-senpai." Bishamonten waited for Yubis reply. He was already thinking that a supreme being approving the transfer is very strange. Usually, transmigration transfers are done by world gods and greater gods like Hades and Sefie. They deal with the gods personally involved with the person under that religion. If the person is an atheist or does not believe in one, it is handled by the land god. Earth has no main god, but it is handled jointly by greater gods like Inari and usually she would be enough to deal with such. The gravity of involving a cosmic deity like Karim, the supreme being of karma, for a transmigration would mean a serious matter.

"He has no history of reincarnated life, but his transfer is already sufficient for the mana to be stored for five centuries. Aside from that he has some encrypted data which we cannot separate with his soul." Yubis snapped his fingers and appeared a floating 40-inch monitor. Then it showed statistics of Ryuji's data. "The encrypted data is not malicious but it's too big. The curse was trying to destroy the security mechanism to unlock this data which holds some powerful divinity surrounding it."

"Divinity on the encryption?" Bishamonten was astonished with the case. He remembered the binbogami was caught earlier as King Yan and Inari ordered earlier. "The binbogami is very peculiar. He caused Inari-sama's protection to expire every month. For an insignificant being to cancel a greater goddess's protection is a worrisome matter."

"Do we still have the binbogami?" Yubis asked.

"Yes, Yubis-senpai. We can go to the Citadel of Spirits. The binbogami is under King Yan's jurisdiction." Bishamonten replied. The Citadel of Spirits are housing spirits like yokai and other non-human ones. They are locked here due to special cases where they defied the cosmic nature or had cursed living things.

"No need. But keep that binbogami under observation. Sefie-chan wants to know about that encrypted divinity." Yubis replied. "The more important matter is removing the curse or Ryuji-kun will stuck in limbo during transfer."

"I will inform the rest of the Shichifukujin." Bishamonten bowed and immediately left, leaving Yubis alone.

Yubis picked up his smartphone and called "Hades-san we will be delayed with the delivery. Ryuji's case is not as simple as it seems."

"Make sure that we don't suffer any set back." The deep voice from the other line resounded.

"I will." Yubis replied and ended the call. 'Who are you Takeda Ryuji?' the jackal god sighed. He feels his divine existence will be tested to the limits.

Bishamonten got back after a few minutes and provided the items procured from the shopping list. Morticia and Michizune also got back from the tour. It seemed that the transfer was done. Everything seemed to be fine.

Yubis handed a black spear and the Zariyan gods bade farewell with the gods from earth. After Bishamonten and Michizune left, Yubis turned to Morticia. "Status report."

"They were able to remove the misfortune curse. However…" Morticia pursed her lips. She is nervous and fidgeting.

Yubis sensed her uneasiness. "What is it?" The jackal god was preparing for the worst. He needs to know if he had to do a lockdown or containment with the channels.

"Everything looked fine. however, there was a problem with the curse and unsealed a part of the encrypted data." Morticia said it in a calm face but deep inside her mind is running amok if she will be reprimanded.