4th Year, Announcing Its Start Spectacularly (2)

Aetas paid attention to her appearance again today.

Seeing that a barely-there makeup look was fashionable in the human world, she applied subtle makeup and chose clothes that weren’t too flashy.

Shortly after Aetas finished dressing, she felt Lee Hyo-ju enter the Garden of Gods.

As always, Aetas sent an avatar to Lee Hyo-ju and moved her true body.

First, she gathered seventeen gods to where Lee Hyo-ju was staying.

When all the gods were assembled, Aetas approached them with a dazzling smile.

A beauty, one who could make you fall in love at a glance, smiled and approached, and the gods grew restless and extremely tense.

“Now, as you all know, I presented the contract and you signed it. Right?”

“Yes!”

The gods answered in unison like a single voice, their discipline tighter than a boot camp drill.

“You, explain the contents of the contract.”

Aetas pointed to the goddess who was glancing about from the back.

“Conversations exchanged between the assigned representatives shall not be disclosed or discussed with anyone except members of the Rebound legion and their patron gods. Assist the representatives and Kim Han more actively than at any time participating in the Battlefield of the Gods. That is all!”

Aetas wore a satisfied smile.

If any men had seen Aetas smiling like that, they would have clutched their chests.

But the seventeen gods trembled and remained on edge.

“Also, what are the precautions when meeting our Kim Han?”

“Do not look down on him because he is a representative. Mr. Kim Han is acknowledged by the Creator and is in a close relationship with Lady Aetas!”

“Oh ho ho ho. My, my~ ‘close relationship’ is…”

Aetas blushed, but the god who answered and the others did not relax their vigilance. It was not the time for careless words that could irritate her; one had to be even more cautious when she was in a good mood.

They weren’t called ignorant for nothing in the divine realm, the kind avoided even by the demon god Serpens.

“Alright, shall we go? Do well. Understood?”

“Yes!!”

Aetas again brought along the seventeen gods and made sure to have them greet me.

Perhaps because of the title ‘One Blessed by the Creator,’ unlike before no one dismissed me; if anything, they treated me with respectful distance.

Pleased with how effective the title was, I asked each god for legion recruits and, unlike before, quickly finished the meeting.

After the other gods had departed, Aetas suddenly clapped her hands as if remembering something and asked a question.

“Ah, Kim Han. Did you go to the place I told you to visit?”

“Ah… right. I went. Thanks. There was even a Dragon Heart?”

Aetas covered her mouth with one hand, her eyes crescent-shaped, and spoke modestly.

“It’s nothing really. Hohoho.”

“Is that nothing… Anyway, thanks. I’ll put it to good use. But where’s Genesis?”

The other gods who usually flocked around like neighborhood older sisters didn’t come; Aetas came alone.

“Ah, they said they wouldn’t come today for some reason. Why? Want me to call them?”

Of course, it’s not a neighborhood meeting or an annual general assembly; there’s no need for them to gather every time the Garden of Gods is visited.

There hadn’t been many pleasant outcomes when they met anyway.

“Do you happen to know about the Purple Dragon?”

“Huh? ‘Boradori’? Ah…! That thing Lee Hyo-ju was carrying around?”

“‘Boradori,’ huh? Anyway, yeah, that thing. The Purple Dragon. That tiny hatchling. What on earth do you feed it?”

“I was curious because Lee Hyo-ju suddenly kept holding that ‘Boradori’ tightly—so Genesis had one in their dungeon. Hmm… Boradori only needs mana. The mana in the Battlefield of the Gods is dense and pure, so there’s no need to give it anything else. But don’t underestimate that little thing. It eats dragons.”

Does feeding on mana mean it can live simply by breathing?

But if that’s the case, I’m worried whether it will grow larger than a dog by the time the Battlefield of the Gods ends.

“Won’t it take a long time?”

“Of course it takes a long time. Do you think dragons’ ages are measured in mere hundreds? Some dragons live over ten thousand years.”

Aetas nodded as if to say, ‘Why state the obvious?’

So Genesis gave a juvenile dragon as a pet?

“So is there anything that makes it stronger if fed? Or something it particularly likes?”

Aetas finally understood why I asked and clapped her hands while laughing.

“Makes it stronger? Yes.”

“It does? What is it?”

“A Dragon Heart.”

“…What?”

I glared at Aetas in disbelief, but she, with a ‘why are you like that?’ look, made it clear she was serious, not joking.

“Really?”

“I told you! What did I say about Boradori earlier?”

“Earlier? Dragon’s natural enemy… ah!”

So because it’s a dragon’s natural enemy, the idea is it gets stronger by eating Dragon Hearts.

But isn’t that extreme? Feeding a Dragon Heart to a pet.

“Wait! I thought a Dragon Heart can only be consumed once?”

“What…? Ah, a representative can only consume it once. Boradori isn’t a representative.”

What kind of reverse discrimination is that?

How can a mere pet be allowed to eat it multiple times when representatives can only have it once?

“Who said to feed a Dragon Heart to a pet! How powerful would a juvenile dragon become if it ate a Dragon Heart?”

“‘Jaryong’? I’ve been curious—what does that mean?”

“The ‘ja’ from purple, and ‘ryong’ meaning dragon. Jaryong! Now answer!!”

After explaining ‘Jaryong,’ Ludicer and Aetas stared at each other, then burst into laughter together.

Their laughter, like bells rolling down a hill, echoed through the garden for a long while.

“Hoho, so that’s what it meant? Purple dragon? What is that. Hohohoho. Isn’t Purple Dragon the same as Jaryong? When Lee Hyo-ju called ‘Jaryong, Jaryong,’ I thought it was short for ‘personal vehicle.’ Hohoho.”

“Ugh… Anyway, answer.”

“Hmm… well. If it ate the worm-tier Dragon Heart I gave it, it could chew through at least a thousand-year-old dragon. That one came from a dragon about three thousand years old.”

At Aetas’s mention of a thousand-year-old dragon, I hurriedly opened my inventory and pulled up the information on an item occupying one slot.

The Earth Dragon was one thousand years old.

Of course, it’s a matter of affinity, but if it could devour an Earth Dragon, wouldn’t that be impressive? Maybe it’s better to give it to another representative?

My hesitation deepened.

“What are you hesitating about? Give me Boradori.”

“…Why?”

“Genesis didn’t give Boradori to you for no reason. She thought it would help you. If Boradori hatched because you infused it with divine power, then it will never betray you until it dies. Never.”

“…Hmm.”

“You think that’s all? Do you know about the Ancient Prime Beasts?”

“Ancient Prime Beasts? Ah…”

I see.

There are six Ancient Prime Beasts. Defeating them yields massive achievement rewards, stat bonuses, indescribable material items, and sometimes demi-god grade weapons from their lairs.

And among those Ancient Prime Beasts, four were dragons or dragon kin.

“Which means…”

“Which means, can Boradori chew them up? No, that’s impossible.”

For a moment I thought Aetas was teasing me, and I gave her a sullen look.

Aetas laughed loudly for some time, wiping tears, then continued her explanation.

“Ah… Kim Han, that expression is so cute. I almost want to keep it. Anyway, for the Ancient Prime Beasts, Boradori would have to be at least ancient-grade—so at least around eight thousand years old. A newborn hatchling wouldn’t stand a chance.”

“But why?”

“Still, it could serve the role of at least three or four representatives, so I recommend it. From what I heard earlier, it seems there are multiple Dragon Hearts? Honestly, Dragon Hearts are excellent for wizard representatives, but among the representatives of the four gods here, none is a wizard. So it’s awkward to suggest giving them to anyone. In that case, it’s better to give one to a trustworthy Boradori.”

Aetas’s argument made sense, but a random question popped into my head.

“But jaryong can’t use magic, right? If it eats a Dragon Heart, won’t it get huge?”

“Yes, it will grow. A dragon’s size is a measure of its power.”

“How would you raise that in Exorsus?”

Aetas, who had tilted her head at my question, rubbed her fingers and replied with a mischievous smile as if she understood.

“Ah… I wondered what you meant. The magic Boradori can’t use refers to the dragon spells dragons cast. Boradori can’t do those. But it can perform some acts akin to divine powers. Breath attacks could be considered magic in a broad sense. Its huge body flying with small wings is also part of its magic. It can’t transform into a human, but it can keep its body small. That’s why dragons were once so popular with the gods: strong, fashionable to ride, using the same kind of divine power, and adorable when small.”

Indeed, our Jaryong is quite cute.

I should think it over, but since I can only consume a Dragon Heart once, giving one of the remaining Dragon Hearts to the Jaryong wouldn’t be a bad idea.

I nodded and asked the two goddesses about the next item I most wanted to know about.

“Do you know the ‘Soulstones of the Six Heroes’?”

“…What?”

“…Kim Han!”

Ludicer’s startled reaction and Aetas’s sharp voice, half as if she hadn’t heard it from me, hinted that this was no trivial matter.

Let’s rewind a bit…

Year 3 of the ‘Battlefield of Gods,’ December 30th.

Caelum, the God of Sky, was walking through the forest.

It was rare for a god like him to walk rather than move to a destination. But he was going where he had no choice.

His short, styled turquoise hair was disheveled, and his glasses were nowhere to be found.

His sharp gaze remained, but they were bloodshot, a far cry from the neat appearance he had when the ‘Battlefield of Gods’ first opened.

He was wearing shoes even as he walked through the rough forest.

Caelum, clad in mage’s robes, finally reached his destination and stopped with a sigh.

The man turned to a tree so tall that ten grown men would have to stand side by side.

“Cortina, it’s Caelum.”

As soon as Caelum said so, the giant tree parted and a woman leaped out, plunging Caelum into a hug.

A woman with doll-like features and green hair resembling the forest.

Above all, her dense features and small delicate limbs contrasted with her massive chest. With a chest so powerful it almost seemed like a weapon, she tormented Caelum.

Cortina, the mid-level god of the sky.

Despite being a god of sky, she loved the forest.

Just as humans have different abilities and preferences, she too received divinity and became a god of the sky.

However, unlike the other gods of sky, she preferred to dwell in the forest rather than in the sky.

The other gods of the sky couldn’t have been kind to Cortina. Naturally, they visited her frequently.

Therefore, Cortina set up a barrier around her, requiring even gods, unless they were high-ranking, to visit her.

Naturally, the other sky gods turned their backs on her.

A thousand years had passed like that.

Cortina finally met the sky god who had come to visit her after a long time. He was none other than Caelum.

When Caelum first became the sky god, he had greeted each god, starting with the highest rank. It was the proper courtesy for someone who had just turned into a god, still in the throes of humanity.

The other gods weren’t the problem. They just had to move.
The problem was this woman, this mid-level sky god, wasn’t insane. He couldn’t understand why she was trapped in the forest, with a barrier.

But in any case, the opponent was a mid-level god. He couldn’t dare look at her.

Caelum had just been granted divinity, having been a substitute at the time, so walking this far was routine.

At their first meeting, Cortina was delighted to see the Sky God saying it had been a long time since they visited.

Caelum, still untouched by humanity, agreed with her love for the forest, even adding a hint of understanding.

And then, this bumbling mid-level god suddenly took a liking to him.

At the time, Caelum wondered what was happening. And now, the time had come to put their positive relation to good use.

“Caelum, hasn’t it been too long?”

Caelum’s expression stayed unchanged, though he cursed her for feigning sullenness when they’d embraced her.

“I am sorry, as you know, the ‘Battlefield of Gods’ opened and I have been getting here and there.”

“… right, since Caelum apologizes. I will give you special treatment.“

Caelum followed Cortina into the forest.

Actually, Caelum didn’t dislike the forest as much as the other sky gods. It was just a matter of neither liking nor disliking. It wasn’t bad.

“The air is fresh and comfortable here, so matter when I come.”

That is why he could say compliments with such sincerity.

“Really!?”

Cortina, delighted by his compliments, led him to her home. She looked genuinely happy as she served him all kinds of fruits and food.

As time passed, Caelum began to sigh.

Seeing Caelum act like that, anyone but a fool could tell something was wrong.

His hair was disheveled, his demeanor unusual, and the periodic sighs.

Cortina, who was interested in him, asked him in a worried tone what was wrong.

“No, don’t worry about it.”

But Caelum wouldn’t respond, which made her more anxious.

Finally, under her urging, he embellished the situation and confessed like he had no choice.

After listening to his lengthy explanation, Cortina offered to help.

“How can you help, Lady Cortina?”

“Hahah. The fourth year is about to begin. I can just give orders to my substitute. That one is famous already, you know. I cannot communicate with him in real time, but I can hear him.”

“Ah… you are amazing, Lady Cortina.”

‘Yes, if you can’t even understand that, you are not worthy of being a God.’

Caelum silenced Cortina with his own words, his words completely contradicting his thoughts.