"Wake up. Wake up. WAKE UP!"
….
"Wake up this instance or I will reincarnate you inside Goblin Slayer as a helpless female villager!" Yelled a sharp voice that suddenly entered Jason's ears, forcing his eyes open.
His vision was then blasted by a blinding light, temporarily blinding him.
'Could I have been saved by a doctor?' Though it sounded impossible, that was the only reasonable thing he could think of, especially after considering the sudden light which had blinded him.
"No, you died back then, though you did manage to save all those lives due to which you now have the chance of reincarnating." The voice immediately shattered his theory as he felt confused.
"Eh??? Can you repeat that?" As a teenager, Jason had watched anime and read web novels. Although he was no stranger to such concepts, getting to know that they actually existed was another thing.
The voice clearly didn't seem to notice or care about his confusion as the owner proceeded ahead.
"You are offered to choose a patron god to help you lead a better life. I wish you the best of luck finding one." The voice said in a very insincere tone.
"Patron god?" Moments later, Jason's vision finally returned and the first thing he saw was the face of a white-haired youth who he assumed to be the person he was speaking to due to the lack of presence of anyone else.
He stood behind a counter with different bottles of alcohol lying on a shelf behind him while casually sipping wine.
Sensing his gaze, the man raised an eyebrow.
"I don't serve alcohol to minors else I would have the FBI on my back. You can have a coke instead."
"Just tell me what happened after I died," Jason said while looking around.
He was currently in a bar, which was moderately sized as compared to the large one from Earth.
It was as big as two high school classrooms combined together. Stools lined the side of the counter while a red carpet was spread across the floor.
Nothing about the bar stood out outside those two things.
"After you died, the explosions wiped out your entire country from the face of Earth. You managed to save that shelter. Looks like your death wasn't in vain." The white-haired man said, before patiently waiting for Jason's reply.
The latter had no idea about what to say next. Although saving a few people was a good thing though he died in the process, yet he didn't really care about any of them.
"What will happen to Thalia and the rest?" He then asked while staring at the bartender's obsidian black eyes.
"Here, sit down and read this."
Instead of an answer, Jason was handed a pamphlet. He sat down on one of the stools and started reading.
The bartender summoned a coke for him and placed it beside him before going back to sipping his wine.
'You have been chosen to reincarnate into another world.' Jason slowly read the pamphlet. 'Such chances are only offered to those who either couldn't live their lives or sacrificed themselves for the greater good.'
'Greater good? Sure…' Despite the calm expression on his face, Jason was internally cringing. If gods cared about the greater good, there wouldn't be any greedy humans acting like saints.
'Since Gods don't create fates for people and hardly meddle with such mundane affairs, you cannot blame them for anything that happened.'
Somehow, the second paragraph managed to completely shut up his theory. Whoever wrote it had done his research on humans pretty well.
"It's written by a female." The white-haired man added before turning his attention towards the bottle of alcohol.
It seemed to be trying to pick a bottle to drink.
Jason stared at him for a few seconds before continuing.
---
'The place you are in is known as the 'Bar of Hope.' You will find many gods around the bar alongside your fellow living beings who have been provided with the same chance as you.'
'Don't bother talking to them because they are not going to do anything for you.'
'If a God wants to have you as their follower, they will offer you a contract. The God with whom you decide to sign the contract will become your patron and in turn, you will be marked as their follower.'
'Alongside Patrons, other Gods might give you a blessing or a gift. Such cases are rare so refrain from begging shamelessly. Such requests will not be entertained.'
---
"There are people shameless enough to beg from Gods?" Jason asked the bartender as he just shrugged.
"There have been many cases like this. Some actually end up getting a gift while the result for others is not very ideal."
The man then looked as though he had found the love of his life. Moving ahead, he picked up a bottle of alcohol and poured it into a glass.
Jason no longer paid any attention to him.
---
'Rarely, you might not become a follower but more of a disciple, or maybe something much more. That's all for now. The God you chose will inform you about the rest.'
May the odds be in your favor.
---
The moment Jason read the last line, the entire paper went up in flames. He blinked for a few seconds before looking at the bartender.
"So, this is the bar but where are the Gods?" He slowly asked as the bartender put his glass down and suddenly appeared beside him.
"Let me take you to the official place." The bartender muttered before he started walking towards the south of the bar.
A door suddenly appeared in the wall as the man turned it open. He then looked at Jason, gesturing for him to step through the door.
Gulping nervously, Jason stepped beyond the door into a completely different world.
Beyond it were thousands of people, dressed in different clothes.
Some wore clothes from the earth, others wore battle armor, some wore ancient Chinese robes, some had paint on their faces, while some were carrying ancient-looking weapons with them.
It was full chaos.
"Go on kid, you will live a new life now."
The bartender suddenly muttered as he closed the door.
However, Jason hesitated to move forward. The new area was ten times the size of a soccer stadium.
Despite the size of the place, it was packed to the brim and bustled with lively activity.
Though Jason's life had been lively, the place was too bright for him. But if he wanted to reincarnate and live a life he had only dreamt of, he had to choose a Patron.
Taking a deep breath, he took a few steps forward. This caught the attention of a few Gods waiting for new candidates to appear.
They didn't skip a beat and moved forward to encircle Jason. He was now surrounded by a group of people asking him to become their followers.
"God of Tolls at your service, the price for stepping here is signing a contract with me or you will be put in a Burning Pit for Eternity." A short man wearing yellow and black colored clothes suddenly spoke up and held a piece of white paper in front of him.
Before he could advance further, the other gods glared at him and cut him off.
"Don't you listen to this shameless scammer? Choose me, the god of shovels. I will give you a shovel that will instantly kill the person you hit with it !"
A man wearing shiny silver clothes smiled as he lifted his right hand and a shovel suddenly appeared in his hand.
Once again, the other Gods glared at him.
"How can you be shameless enough to use your divinity this early in the game!? Let us talk to him too." A few of them called out to him while the others realized that baiting the boy was a good idea.
"Instead of fighting, become my follower, the Goddess of Gardening, and grow plants all around the globe! Make sure to spread the message of greenery."
"If you choose me, I'll make a painting of you and hang it in my bedroom! I will gaze at you every time I visit my bedroom."
"Which will be once in a century," Another god sneered. "Choose me and I shall provide you with a portable toilet! You will never need to worry about doing your business out in the open!"
"I will give you a jacket that can turn into a life jacket on command! You will never drown!"
"I will give you a waifu pillow that you can hug yourself to sleep! If you accept my offer now, I will make sure you have nice and lew- I mean relaxing dreams."
Soon enough, all the Gods in the circle laid out their offers for him while glaring or sneering at each other. However, all of them genuinely wanted Jason as their follower.
They could see how his past life had been and they were surprised to see that a nobody like him had managed to save so many lives.
Such a person rarely appeared and the Gods knew that if they had him, they would add a good human being to their list of followers.
They were known as the follower leechers as they made a move on almost half of the people that passed through the door.
Jason soon started rubbing his temples as he was torn between the choice of having a waifu pillow or looking for another God.
He had a feeling that it was going to be hard for him to leave the circle since none of the Gods looked as though they would be willing to let him go.
In their eyes, he was a half-polished diamond hidden amid stone.
Suddenly, a new voice rose from outside the circle...
"Looks like someone is causing trouble again. Do I need to report you guys?" The voice was cold yet calm at the same time.
It seemed to have a chain effect on the Gods as they turned around to see the owner despite already knowing who the person was.
They looked as if their parents had managed to find their report cards saying that they had failed without style.
"I apologize for my behavior, Lord Sancus." The god of shovels immediately started kowtowing over and over again before he vanished from his spot.
All the gods followed his example before leaving one by one until Jason and the god named Sancus remained.
For a god, Sancus oddly looked like a normal big brother one might have had on earth.
He had curly blond hair and gray eyes that were currently examining Jason's face while his own face clearly displayed interest in the boy.
"Nice to meet you, Jason. I am Sancus, the God of Oaths and Promises." The god extended his hand which made Jason gulp nervously.
For once, he knew who the god in front of him was. Sancus was a popular figure in web novels and myths.
All the oaths and promises were sworn in his name and the consequences of breaking them were deadly, or at least that's how he was portrayed.
"Correction, me and my twin, Horkos, handle this together," Sancus replied with a wider smile as he could see that Jason was feeling uncomfortable.
This was expected since unlike the gods from earlier, Sancus could be considered to be a very high-level god. Even though he was containing his aura, a mortal like Jason could sense his true power.
"Do you want me to become your follower?" Jason managed to ask without stuttering as his thoughts were running wild.
"If I wanted to make you my follower, you would be currently at my feet and begging me to give you the contract." The god of oaths replied with another smile as Jason politely decided to ignore the god's words.
"Then what are you doing here?"
"I am here because of the promise you broke."