[Head Base of the Three Gods Church]
[Kandam Continent]
"...How many won did you have in your life?"
As I walked down the front courtyard, Zenith asked in a grumpy voice.
I turned my gaze to where her eyes were and saw Kana and Kaelia sitting on a chair.
Kaelia like always just turned her head away while Kana waved at us.
"They were just guests." I said, placing my hand over her head and turning it away from them. "And don’t you worry, I didn’t like either of them."
"Who said anything about anyone liking them?"
She grumbled but I could clearly feel a sigh of relief from her.
We walked inside the house as the maids bowed slightly in my direction.
"Christina hired them."
I said, shutting her mouth before she could even complain about the maids.
One of them walked forward and asked. "Would you like to clean the guest room?"
"No." I replied. "But clean the room on the sa floor as mine, please."
She looked surprised, gave Zenith a quick glance before she nodded. "As you wish."
I turned to look at Zenith who was giving a suspicious look.
"What?" I asked.
"Nothing."
"You had sothing to say?"
"No."
She began to wander around before I could ask anything else.
But her steps halted only after a few steps when she saw a redhead walking toward us.
Zenith instinctively moved back until she was in touch with as the elf slowed down her steps.
She kept staring at Zenith who clutched my shirt slightly before she turned her attention toward .
’Ah right, Nyria used to bully Zenith in her first year.’
I had forgotten how complicated their relationship was in the academy.
Nyria gave a gentle smile as she asked. "You were back."
"Yeah." I replied. "Things didn’t go too well on Akasha."
Nyria’s gaze shifted back to Zenith.
It wasn’t hostile but it wasn’t warm either.
Zenith stiffened beside , fingers tightening on my shirt like she was bracing for impact.
"...She is Zenith, right?," Nyria asked softly. "She has changed a lot."
"Yeah," I said. "I brought her with because Akasha wasn’t doing well."
Nyria nodded once, accepting that answer without questioning further.
Zenith instinctively shrank back another half step when Nyria stood in front of her.
"...You looked healthier," Nyria said to her.
Zenith, caught off guard, could only blink.
Clearly, that was not the kind of thing she expected to hear.
"...What?"
"You looked more like your mother, now," Nyria said calmly.
"Are you... insulting ?" she asked suspiciously.
Nyria tilted her head slightly. "No."
A short silence followed.
Then Zenith muttered, "...You used to call useless."
"I did," Nyria said simply. "Because you were useless."
"S-shut up you elf witch—."
"I lost my mother too." Nyria spoke softly. "I could understand your pain."
"...."
Zenith just stared at her without speaking anything.
Nyria turned to look at , her affectionate smile back on her lips.
"Would you like to eat sothing?"
I shook my head in response as I gestured toward Zenith. "I would have loved it if you could help her accommodate in the house."
She gave Zenith a glance before nodding. "Sure."
"And don’t bully her."
"....Alright."
I patted Zenith’s head before I left them alone.
Despite knowing full well about their history, I had no plans to keep them separately.
It would have been better if they could overco their past on their own and get to know each other.
Both of them had gone through so serious trauma and had matured enough not to fight like children.
’....Well, I really hoped they didn’t fight.’
I didn’t want them to ss up the peaceful palace that I was trying to build.
I held back a sigh as I reached toward the garden where Elijah and Heather were already present.
Elijah smiled when he saw . "How did things go?"
"Not well." I replied. "We might have been in a greater ss than I anticipated."
Elijah’s smile faded imdiately.
Heather straightened from where she had been trimming a rose bush, her scissors pausing mid-air.
"...How bad?" Elijah asked quietly.
I didn’t answer right away. Instead, I looked up at the sky.
Even here, far from Akasha, the pale ring could still be seen faintly like a scar across the heavens.
"Bad enough that we might see a full invasion of an Outer Goddess."
Elijah frowned. "That bad?"
I just nodded slightly as I glanced at Heather who stood up and grabbed his hand.
I looked at the werewolf girl who had a nervous look on her face.
"Sothing to say, Heather?" I asked, folding my arms.
She nodded, her face firm with resolve.
"We both would have liked to visit Arisha to talk with Amaury." She said. "I may have a way to talk him out of this madness."
I remained silent as I could clearly feel the resolve and confidence in her voice.
"You really think so?" I asked.
"I had been his best friend since childhood." She said. "If there was anyone, it was ."
Her grip on Elijah’s hand tightened slightly, but her eyes stayed steady.
"He isn’t the sa Amaury anymore, Heather." I spoke softly. "He isn’t going to listen to anyone."
"But we could still try." Elijah added. "He is still my friend."
’...How did she get him to join her?’
Elijah wasn’t that stupid, he knew very well it was almost impossible to persuade him out of this.
"It’s not safe—."
"Please don’t stop us." she cut in gently, "if I didn’t at least try... I will regret it for the rest of my life."
Ah, she thought she was responsible for what had happened to him?
I let out a slow breath.
"Fine." I said. "You guys can go but don’t expect any positive response from him."
Her shoulders relaxed as she nodded.
"...When did you want to leave?" I asked.
"Tomorrow morning," Heather answered.
I nodded and turned away. "Good luck."
There was no point in persuading them any longer.
They could take their own paths without my interference.
I walked away from them until they were no longer in my sight.
Then, I slowly sat down on the grass as I gently touched it.
"Arawn." I said, looking up.
The elf imdiately appeared in front of . "How can I help?’
"Can you tell more about how an Eternal reached demigod rank?" I asked as I leaned back slightly. "I wanted to know more about the whole process."
Arawn didn’t answer imdiately, he just looked at for a long mont.
"...You are planning to break through soon," he said quietly.
"Yeah," I replied simply. "I didn’t have much ti left to sit around."
He let out a slow breath and stepped closer, his expression turning serious.
"Then you should have understand this properly, my lord," he said. "Because reaching demigod rank is not the sa as reaching Eternal."
I tilted my head slightly. "How so?"
Arawn crouched down on the grass across from .
"Eternal rank is about perfecting your existence and kingdom," he began. "Taking your body, soul and energy to the peak of what a mortal body can hold."
I nodded slightly because that part, I already knew.
"But demigod..." he continued, "...is about stepping beyond that completeness."
"Beyond?"
"Yes."
He raised one finger.
"To reach demigod, you had to anchor yourself to a concept."
"...A concept?"
"Yes." He replied. "The thing a demigod needed to do was evolve their kingdom into a small world."
I nodded slightly.
"Most demigods took a single concept and built their world around that concept." He continued. "My concept was Sun and Ti."
I stared at the sky again.
"...So every demigod beca like a walking world."
"In a way," Arawn replied. "A demigod’s kingdom was no longer just a domain. It beca a living ecosystem."
He drew a small circle in the grass with his finger.
"Inside that world, they were absolute. Their concept becos law inside their world."
"...So if soone’s concept was fire, they controlled all fire inside their kingdom?"
"Not just control," Arawn corrected gently. "They defined it."
He looked at .
"They decided what fire ant."
That made pause.
"...That sounded dangerously close to becoming a god."
"It is," he said quietly. "That is why they are called demigods."
I rubbed my temples as I stared at the grass on the ground.
"...And what about soone like ?"
Arawn didn’t hesitate this ti. "It is up to you to decide." He said. "I can not help you with everything."
I nodded my head as I let out a sigh.
There were so many things that I needed to do to reach demigod rank.
I lay back fully on the grass, staring at the pale sky.
The faint white ring still hovered there like a scar that refused to heal.
"...So basically," I muttered, "to beco a demigod, I needed to choose what kind of law I wanted to beco."
Arawn nodded.
"Yes. That was the simplest way to put it."
I closed one eye, thinking.
"That sounded less like training and more like... deciding what kind of existence I wanted to be."
"It was exactly that," Arawn replied.
He sat beside quietly.
"For most beings, this decision is natural. Their nature already leaned toward sothing."
"Like you with Sun and Ti."
"Yes."
"But for ...."
"You didn’t have a single nature," he said calmly. "You are... fragnted."
"...."
A soul with a conflicting nature.
My previous life had co back to bite .
User Comments
0 comments from readers