"Hrk!"

A strange voice, the instant the contract was done.

Why would a god from another dimension take notice of me?!

"M-Mr. Barnsdale."

My heart gave a lurch.

"Heh heh. What?"

Barnsdale answered with a sly smile, like he knew something.

I was starting to regret ever feeling sorry for him.

The Rune language had come to me like one of those good-luck chain letters, and now it felt like a curse.

"Why would a god from another dimension be interested in me?"

"You learned the Rune language, didn't you?"

"Just because I learned some measly Rune language..."

"Tut! Measly Rune language? Over there, the Rune language is the language of the gods. Of course they'd notice!"

"What?! The language of the gods?"

I'd played the fool more than once today.

This is why people need to learn things.

Ignorance was already costing me.

I'd gotten used to Earth's gods, more or less.

But attention from a god from another dimension, I could do without.

Somehow, I had a bad feeling something was about to happen.

"In ancient times, on this cramped little mud patch called Earth, the foundations of advanced civilization once appeared suddenly, all at once."

And the god launched into a tale of the old days.

"They granted humans many things. They supplied the foundations for an advanced civilization."

"Out of nowhere, you mean?"

"The wheel, tall buildings, metallurgy, medicine, jewelry making, the ancient cities, law codes, mathematics and astronomy, even the calendar—they spread more than a hundred pieces of ancient civilization."

"..." The ancient-history lecture wasn't getting through to me.

Barnsdale's knowledge hadn't come with any ancient history.

It was a pretty interesting story, though.

It felt like sitting through an ancient-history class I'd only half paid attention to.

"Really?"

"What, you think I'm making it up?"

Today my faith in him had cracked.

Anyone who trusted a points-hungry Barnsdale would be the strange one.

And how was I supposed to believe something I hadn't seen?

"Tsk tsk tsk. Foolish human."

Whoa! Was that immortal trashing me right now?

He'd forgotten his own early days and…