Tea Time, Yeah!

In a pitch-black space, a young man dressed in a tailcoat and top hat sat faintly glowing.

"It's our first meeting, isn't it? Guest. I'm Alecto."

Why are everyone wearing tailcoats?

"Nice to meet you, Akihiro. Thank you for your help."

"No need to thank me. I told you, taking care of guests is a host's duty."
Alecto answered with a smile.

"By the way, why do you and Shell-e wear tailcoats?"

"It's probably formal attire from your world. We're welcoming guests, so we should look the part."
I wonder if it could be morning suits or tuxedos instead. Well, let's take it as a friendly welcome. By the way, when I asked if it could be kimonos, I was told that they are too troublesome to wear.

"Where am I?"

"You're in the room of unconsciousness. Since time is on your hands, I thought it'd be nice to have a chat. You can think of this place as the space between reality and dreams."

"A chat?"
Alecto crossed his arms over his chest.

"Why not? Shell-e was boasting about meeting you, and I couldn't resist joining in since the timing was perfect."
Honestly, I have no idea what to talk about with a god.

"If I spread hand pumps throughout this world, is there any problem?"
I asked about the thing that concerned me the most.

"The craftsmanship and technology were laughable. That information must be considered 'standard' in your world, right? From this planet's civilization standpoint, similar things would have been created sooner or later. No problem."
Varda said something similar before, but he knows a lot about Earth for some reason.

"Is Earth that famous?"

"For those living there, I suppose so. We also get privileges to view other server environments as part of our management duties and learning. Your server is one of them. The number of people viewing Earth is astonishing."
Alecto continued while holding his stomach.

"As the harvest god said before, this planet is a copy of Earth. The basis for the development of civilization here borrows heavily from that source. You must have wondered why the civilization in this world feels so warped."
Thinking about the precision of forged spears, it does seem odd that hand pumps aren't even a concept here.

"Each star within the server has its own theme. The theme for this planet is 'to allow living creatures to live as happily as possible.' Though happiness is vague, we agreed that at least inter-species wars should be minimized."

"My acquaintance was drafted. What about that?"

"It's likely either against royal orders or fighting monsters. This planet has a strong ruling system, similar to your world where divine right of kings is taken seriously. In that sense, most kings are reasonable."
Alecto slightly furrowed his brow.

"To maintain diversity, various races must be created. However, if communication between species fails and they end up clashing, conflicts arise. That's an accepted... no, it's a permitted reality."

"Why is Earth so populated with humans?"

"The theme for that planet was 'to develop civilization.' It seems the past aimed for biodiversity but failed, leading to focusing on single-species civilization development instead."

"Diversity. Were there other species in the past?"

"Yes, weren't they written in your myths? Many went extinct, but some should remain based on logs."
UMAs or yōkai perhaps? That's another intriguing thought.

"Similarly, magic existed in the past too, but it was lazy with mana and spell concepts. Mana has been running out for quite some time now. Plus, spells were designed to have high costs for big results—too crude. Those ideas are laughable."
Like rituals taking a week just to make it rain? That kind of mythology sounds familiar from somewhere.

"Even if you wanted to use magic now, the products of civilization would be more efficient. However, rapid civilization development without proper management is a concern raised by server managers everywhere."

"A concern?"

"In your world, they say 'necessity is the mother of invention.' But here, necessity often stems from killing or taking from one's own kind. It's absurd to see people using divine names for no reason or killing their own kind for money while managing this planet."
I can't help but think about various places—like where oil comes out or where smoke rises.

"Though, your country, Japan, is interesting. Server managers praise its culture highly. Especially how it creates such imaginative worlds in games, anime, and manga without any basis—it's a unique talent."
Japan, the unique nation. Even here, it gets praised.

"Well, I've talked enough. Time to moisten my throat."
When Alecto spread his arms, a table with a tea set appeared. It even had a stand. There were sandwiches, cakes, scones, and clotted cream placed on it.

"Don't worry about manners. I don't know them either."
As I started to think about it, my throat felt dry, and my stomach began to growl.
A brief break was in order.