The goddess Ruche never fails. For two hundred and fifty years, she has summoned heroes to protect Asterant with flawless precision—until the day the ritual shatters, dragging through an utterly ordinary high school boy named Ryou instead of a chosen champion. No sword. No sacred blessing. No grand destiny. Just a deck of playing cards, a scarf, and an Authority that turns out to be... sleight of hand.
Stripped of eighty percent of her divine power as punishment and banished to the mortal realm
The Fallen Goddess and the Magician - The Magician and the Goddess, the Final Card—Ten Centimeters That Betray Assumptions
Morning light spilled across the market square.
Ryou walked slowly over the cobblestones, feeling their hard press through the soles of his feet. The aches from yesterday still lingered all over his body.
In his breast pocket sat a brand-new deck of cards from Mina. When he touched them, the stiff paper felt like it hadn't yet warmed to anyone's hands.
"...It's okay. I can do this."
He muttered it under his breath, as if convincing himself.
Walking beside him, Ruche glanced his way. Her long silver hair swayed in the morning breeze. Her golden eyes narrowed with their usual look of displeasure.
"Your voice is shaking, you know."
"...You noticed?"
"Obviously. Your hands are shaking too, and you're pale. And you think you can win like this?"
Ryou looked at his own hands. Sure enough, his fingertips were trembling faintly.
"It's not that I think I can win—it's that I have to win."
"Having to win doesn't mean you can. Look at reality."
"I am looking at it. And after looking, I'm still doing this."
Ruche gave a little snort.
"...Fine, whatever. My remaining divine power is good for one more use. This will be the last miracle. If you fall, I'm finished too."
"Is that you piling on the pressure?"
"Of course it is. Obviously. Because of you, I'll be erased too."
"Because of me?"
"Because of you."
Her answer came instantly.
Ryou gave a wry smile. Ruche's sharp tongue was the same as ever. But somehow, he felt there was something in her voice beyond the usual prickliness.
(She's actually worried about me, isn't she.)
He didn't say it out loud—she'd get angry if he did.
The two of them stepped into the market square.
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A large crowd had already gathered in the square.
The usual lively market atmosphere was gone. The merchants had closed their shops, and passersby stared at the center of the square from a distance. Everyone held their breath.
In the middle of the square stood Gareth.
His brownish short hair was still sleep-tousled. His narrow eyes fixed on Ryou with a damp, clinging stare. His features were ordinary, yet when he smiled, his mouth twisted and his gaze turned unnaturally sharp.
On his right arm was the Bracer of the Strong-Arm King. It caught the morning sun and glowed a dull, dark red.
"...So you came."
Gareth's voice echoed through the quiet square.
Ryou stood directly before him.
"Yeah. I came."
"You didn't run, huh. I'll pay back what you owe me from last time—with plenty of interest."
Gareth's narrow eyes glinted.
A small scream rose from the crowd. Someone was covering their mouth with their hand.
Ryou straightened his back.
(I'm scared. Really scared.)
He fought desperately to keep his knees from buckling.
(But I can't run.)
He gently brushed the cards in his breast pocket with his fingertips.
"Oh my, you're shaking too, aren't you."
Ruche took her place beside Ryou.
"I'm not shaking."
"Liar. Look at your hands."
Ryou looked down at his hands. His fingertips were trembling faintly.
"...This is what they call battle nerves."
"Oh? So even magicians get battle nerves."
"We do. I'm a man, after all."
At their exchange, a few people in the crowd relaxed their expressions just a little.
Among them was Mina. A small girl with brown curly hair in a braid. Her bright brown eyes watched Ryou anxiously. On her right wrist was a good-luck charm her grandmother had given her.
Beside Mina stood Sang. The informant was biting his lip, his fists clenched.
Their gazes pierced straight through Ryou.
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Gareth took one step forward.
"You brought a woman with you. Must be nice."
"Ruche is my partner."
"Partner? Don't make me laugh. A pretty-faced piece of trash like you, getting all full of himself!"
Gareth's right arm began to glow red-hot. The bracer shone as if it were sizzling.
The air trembled.
The crowd shrank back all at once.
"I got here through power. You've just been fawned over for your face. I'll make you understand the difference."
At Gareth's words, Ryou quietly shook his head.
"I never wanted to be fawned over for my face. I wanted to make people smile with my magic tricks. That's all."
"Smiles? What good are smiles?! In this world, you can't survive without power! A guy like you, with nothing, can't survive on smiles alone!"
Gareth's voice rang across the square.
Ryou looked straight into Gareth's eyes.
"If you can't survive without power, then I'd have died long ago. But I'm alive. I made smiles with my tricks, and I got here. That's my power."
"Card tricks are power?! Don't make me laugh! What can you do with a single scrap of paper?!"
Gareth raised his right arm.
The Authority of the Strong-Arm King activated fully. The bracer blazed dark red, and the air around them vibrated with a buzzing tremor.
"This is real power! Take thisssss!!"
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"Now!"
With trembling hands, Ryou drew a single card from his breast pocket.
A brand-new card. Still stiff. The feel of the paper reached his fingertips.
(This decides everything.)
Ryou threw the card toward Gareth's left side—into his blind spot.
A mere ten-centimeter scrap of paper cut through the air.
Fluttering, fluttering.
Catching the morning light, the card glittered.
For just an instant, Gareth's gaze was drawn to the card dancing on his left.
"Don't mock me!"
Gareth let out a roar.
But that instant was an opening.
Ruche's golden eyes glowed faintly.
"Wind."
A small gust whipped up.
The wind altered the card's trajectory. It slipped smoothly across the edge of Gareth's vision.
Gareth's attention shifted completely to his left.
In that moment, the angle of his raised arm slipped—just slightly.
By a few mere centimeters.
"Be crusheeeeed!!"
Gareth's fist came down.
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A thunderous roar.
The cobblestones shattered.
Gareth's fist missed Ryou's head entirely and exploded into the ground at his own feet.
DOOOOON!!
A cloud of dust billowed up.
Fragments of broken stone scattered everywhere.
Screams rose from the crowd.
"Gwaaah!?"
Gareth's body tilted heavily.
The bracer on his right arm spat sparks.
Bzzt, bzzt, bzzt!!
The bracer that had blazed dark red began to crack.
Gareth dropped to his knees.
"W-why... my attack...!"
Gareth's face twisted with pain and confusion.
The dust cloud slowly cleared.
Standing within it was Ryou.
Unscathed.
Ryou gripped the new deck of cards with fingers seeping blood.
The trembling in his fingers had already stopped.
"What you believed in wasn't power. It was assumption."
Ryou's voice echoed through the quiet square.
"The assumption that I couldn't do anything. The assumption that card tricks produce nothing. And—the assumption that your power could never miss. All of it, assumptions."
"Shut up... shut uuuup!! You pretty-faced trash...!"
Gareth howled.
But his body wouldn't move. The recoil damage seemed to have left him unable to move a single finger.
"I really don't have any power to fight. But I do have the power to deceive people. The power to betray assumptions."
Ryou slowly showed Gareth the card he'd been gripping.
"This is my power. With a single scrap of paper, I made your strongest attack hit you instead. That's a magic trick."
Gareth's face flushed bright red with humiliation.
"Damn it... damn it... I'm not this weak... I'm...!"
Gareth slammed his fist against the ground.
But that fist no longer frightened anyone.
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Silence.
No one in the square could move.
Gareth was on his knees.
Ryou was standing.
Everyone stared at the scene with disbelief.
Then, from the crowd, a single man muttered.
"He... won?"
With that voice as the signal, the air in the square began to stir, little by little.
"Against that Gareth...?"
"With a single scrap of paper...?"
Eyes that had been averted in fear now fixed on Ryou with curiosity and amazement.
One by one, the gazes gathered.
Mina murmured softly.
"Ryou..."
Tears welled in Mina's eyes.
Sang stood trembling, his fists still clenched.
"...He did it."
Sang's voice was hoarse.
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Ruche stood beside Ryou, her shoulders heaving as she caught her breath.
Her silver hair clung to her forehead with sweat. Perhaps from using up her divine power, her body flickered faintly translucent for just a moment.
"...Magic tricks produce nothing, yet they're the most underhanded thing of all."
Ruche muttered with a sour face.
But the corners of her mouth were just slightly relaxed.
Ryou gave a wry smile.
"Don't call it underhanded. But without your wind, no one would be smiling."
"Obviously. Without me, you'd have been flattened into the ground by the first blow."
Ruche gave a little snort.
But her voice sounded somehow like she was hiding embarrassment.
Ryou laughed.
"...Thank you, Ruche."
"Huh!? Why do I have to be thanked by you?! I only did it for myself! Don't get the wrong idea!"
"Yeah, yeah."
"Don't 'yeah, yeah' me! You really are something else...!"
Ruche fumed, but she didn't leave Ryou's side.
The distance between them told the story of their relationship.
――――――――――――――――――――
"He won... he actually won!!"
Someone shouted.
With that as the cue, cheers flooded the square.
"Amazing! With that scrap of paper!"
"Magic tricks are incredible!"
Applause broke out.
What started as scattered clapping grew louder and louder.
Children came running up to Ryou.
"Mister, that was amazing!"
"How'd you do that with the cards!?"
Surrounded by children, Ryou smiled awkwardly.
"It's a secret. I can't reveal a magician's tricks."
"Aww! Tell us!"
"If I told you, it wouldn't be a magic trick anymore."
People gathered around Ryou.
The people who had averted their eyes from him just yesterday were now looking at him with smiles.
Mina pushed through the crowd and came before Ryou.
"Ryou...! Thank goodness... really, thank goodness...!"
Tears spilled from Mina's eyes.
"Mina, don't cry. See, I won."
"But... but I was so afraid you might die...!"
Mina wiped her face with her apron.
Sang slowly approached from behind her.
"...Ryou. I'm sorry."
Sang bowed deeply.
"I betrayed you. Even if it was to protect my family, I put you in danger. I'm truly sorry."
Ryou lightly patted Sang's shoulder.
"It's fine now. Because you gave me information, I could win. Without the intel on the recoil, it would've been impossible."
"But..."
"So don't apologize anymore. More importantly, what comes next. What to do with the town now that Gareth is gone."
Sang raised his head.
Determination dwelled in his eyes.
"Right. If there's anything I can do, I'll do it."
"Then first, help me ease everyone's worries."
"Understood."
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Gareth remained collapsed, pounding his fist against the ground.
"Damn... damn...! Why... why did I...!"
Gareth's voice reached no one.
People avoided him, gathering around Ryou instead.
"Don't look... don't look at me...! I'm... I'm...!"
Gareth gritted his teeth in frustration.
But no one feared his power anymore.
――――――――――――――――――――
"...Huh?"
Mina pointed to the center of the square.
Something was peeking out from beneath the ground that Gareth's blow had shattered.
Half-buried in the soil beneath the cobblestones was an old stone tablet.
"What is this...?"
Ryou approached the tablet.
An unfamiliar crest was carved into its surface. A complex pattern, like swirling eddies.
"Ruche, this is..."
When Ryou called, Ruche peered at the tablet.
In that instant, her expression changed.
"...This."
Ruche's voice was trembling.
"It's a trace of a distorted summoning. Part of a summoning circle was buried underground."
Ruche fearfully touched her fingertip to the tablet.
The crest glowed faintly.
"Someone deliberately planted this beneath this town. My failure... may not have been an accident after all."
Ryou stared at the tablet.
"So next, we go looking for whoever did thi
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