Year 5, The True Beginning (2)

I stared blankly around; Ludicer, who always greeted me warmly, was nowhere to be seen.

There was no one else—only a pure white space.

Even my chattering guardian and Argus’s Eye were silent.

A chilling stillness hung over the immaculate white space.

“This is the perfect space to lose your mind.”

Everything was white. I focused my divine power through my eyes and peered outward, but nothing changed. No need to make a fuss.

This wasn’t some other place—it was the Garden of Gods; only gods or beings comparable to them could interfere with events here.

If they meant to kill me, they wouldn’t have summoned me to a space like this; whoever it was would show up in time. Besides, Ludicer was watching—she would act.

‘They’ve gotten smarter…’

I muttered the pointless remark and sat down comfortably.

Rather than waste energy on useless things, I calmly gathered divine power for the first time in a while and practiced the Mixed Origin Yang Divine Art.

Now divine power moved as easily as my limbs; the amount was enormous, and my body vibrated in small increments with each motion.

In my previous life I scraped by with a pittance of divine power—I couldn’t fight with it; I used it only to restore stamina or to heal after battles.

I was about to lose myself admiring the divine power flowing like a proud river.

“As I’ve heard, you’re quite extraordinary! Ha ha ha.”

The voice that echoed through the space was male.

There was no trace of presence; even with my eyes closed and channeling divine power I couldn’t sense him—unless he stood right in front of me, I wouldn’t notice.

The voice and tone were clearly from a man who wanted to be noticed and admired as mysterious.

Attention-seekers like that are best ignored.

I kept my eyes closed and resumed rotating my divine power.

“Ahem ahem, hey.”

A voice sounded right in front of me; a presence moved openly—he must have revealed himself.

But I still didn’t open my eyes.

“Sleeping? No, it looks like you’re channeling energy. Hey, are you deaf?”

Now the man was waving his hand right in front of me. I slowly opened my eyes and looked up at him.

“Oh! You opened your eyes! I am…”

“Good grief, this guy talks way too much.”

“Huh?”

“Quiet down. I was just about to slip into a state of no-self. You look like a god or something similar, but you’re so boisterous…”

A stunned face. He stammered and babbled.

This being, presumably a god or someone of similar power, seemed flustered by my words and couldn’t continue speaking.

“Stop babbling. If you have something to say, say it. If not, send me back, or just stay crumpled over there.”

“…Damn. Who are you?”

The attention-seeking man in front of me, beyond bafflement, grew irritated and asked in a low voice.

“Why are all you powerful types the same? You’re a representative. You called me here, so you should know. You called me out specifically, so you should know who I am, what I do, what my name is—stop stalling.”

Whether out of anger, frustration, or sheer bewilderment, the man stamped his feet and fretted in place.

“Damn! What kind of bastard is a representative!! I’m a god, damn it?!”

“And?”

“…Christ, no wonder Caelum got got. You’re not ordinary, are you?”

“Caelum?”

“Well, that would explain why you have Bioss and Talis’s favor. And even Jimnas. Impressive. Respect, respect!”

“Bioss? Talis?”

“And the gardener likes you too, right? You’re praised by the continent-dwellers!”

This guy—seeing him now—is the type like Arun or Merus.

This style is the most tiring—they only say what they want and only hear what they want to hear.

It’s better to get these types to say what they want to say quickly.

“…So? What do you want to say? What is it?”

“Ah! Right. Exactly. Haha. You feel the same way as us, right?”

“Us? The same feeling?”

“Yeah. You hate Battlefield of the Gods too, right?”

“Do you think there’s any representative who likes Battlefield of the Gods?”

“Sometimes there are. It’s not like there aren’t bastards like Caelum. So here’s the thing…”

When I nodded for him to speak, his face lit up. Did he think I liked him? Or was he just an idiot?

“Work with us a bit.”

“Us…?”

“Yeah. We’ll save Battlefield of the Gods from the filthy hands of the gods.”

“…How?”

“I mean, uh, the—? That was close. You have to say you’ll do it before I can tell you. That’s the deal.”

‘Deal?’ What a letdown. I thought I might get information from this somewhat lacking guy…

As I was thinking about the clue he threw—’…’—

“Hurry, say it!!”

Suddenly, as if in a rush, the pure white space in the distance began to darken, like a shadow of evil creeping in.

“Look, I don’t act without benefit. And I especially don’t deal with guys who won’t even reveal their names. You say ‘we’—what’s your name?”

“No! You can’t say it! No, you’ll say you won’t join us if we do! No! Absolutely not!! The filthy gods could hear it! What then!! Wait for the next chance! There’s still plenty of time! Just tell him the name?! No!!”

This guy suddenly got excited and started ranting to himself.

Who was he talking to? He answered and replied to himself.

The stranger’s bizarre behavior accelerated the darkening of the surroundings until it reached right up to me.

“Tch! See you next time, kid!”

“Right, Manus.”

“What? You! How…”

Before he could finish, the space vanished and the usual scenery of the Garden of Gods greeted me.

Before I could enjoy the gentle breeze and the beautiful scenery, I felt something embrace me.

“Huh?”

A small jolt hit my chest; what threw itself over me was a silver wave—no, silver hair. It was Ludicer.

Looking down, the small-bodied Ludicer was clutching me tightly and trembling uncontrollably.

“Ludicer?”

“…”

“It hurts.”

“…Don’t lie. According to the simulation based on Kim Han’s strength and stamina stats, it absolutely doesn’t hurt.”

Ludicer spoke in a soft, calm voice to counter my remark.

Her babbling lips and the muffled tremor against my chest made the area around my heart tingle.

Just when it seemed she would keep that up forever, she jerked her head up and spun my body around, checking this and that.

Ludicer, small-bodied with a sisterly aura like Naruan, shook my much larger-than-average male body as she inspected me—an odd sight.

Regardless, Ludicer was truly serious. Boldly so.

After a long inspection, she seemed to confirm there was nothing wrong and let out a sigh of relief.

“What on earth… happened?”

“Huh? You… don’t know?”

Ludicer’s voice was full of concern. She asked what had happened to me.

“Yes… The moment Kim Han entered the Garden of Gods, you disappeared from my sight. You didn’t appear in the garden either, so when I searched I found you in an unknown space and hurried to intervene. It wasn’t easy. If it hadn’t been for the Latens Cube that Serpens accidentally left behind, it would have taken longer.”

“Hmm…”

Just as I was about to explain, five shadows appeared in the Garden of Gods.

‘Five?’

“What’s this?! Kim Han!! Are you okay?”

Aetas fussed as much as Ludicer, circling me to check.

Spatium had her eyes closed, as if attending to something, while Mors and Genesis looked at me with worried expressions.

‘Is this really worth all this worry?’

As I tilted my head in puzzlement, a woman I hadn’t seen before approached.

“Hello, Kim Han. I’m Sophia. My foolish Merus is always indebted to you. But he means no harm, so please be understanding.”

“Ah… Sophia. The Creator’s archivist, right?”

“Hoho, yes. But where were you just now? For our dear Ludicer to beg us for help like that…”

Ludicer calmly explained her actions. For some reason, the way she did it looked awkward.

“I have a duty to prioritize the safety of the representative. Naturally, I requested assistance from our usual allies to ensure Kim Han’s swift return.”

“I see.”

“Really.”

“Alright.”

“…”

“Pft. Okay, okay. I didn’t realize it was that serious. I didn’t think you’d die anyway. There was no problem entering the Garden of Gods at first. As usual, I greeted the gardener and entered after seeing all the members come in. There’s no one among the members who didn’t enter, right?”

The goddesses nodded. That made him even more puzzled.

“And when I entered it was a white room. A pure white space. There was nothing, yet it looked white—it was strange. And…”

Only my voice echoed through the Garden of Gods.

After the brief tale ended the goddesses’ faces grew serious.

“…So among the gods participating in Battlefield of the Gods, there was only one who could do this. Ludicer said, before restoring the space, ‘Right, Manus.’ Then that guy was surprised and asked how she knew.”

“…!!”

“Manus?”

“Really?”

“Manus isn’t such a frivolous character, is he?”

“Manus…!!”

Aetas and Mors were shocked, Spatium and Genesis looked contemplative, and Ludicer’s aura hardened.

“What did he look like?”

Amidst the shock and tension, Sophia’s calm question made me recall the man I had just met. The memory was already fading and hazy.

“His build was classically scholarly. Not tall, with light green hair. A slim frame with no muscles, and his speech was light and frivolous.”

“…Then it’s not Manus.”

“Huh?”

Sophia spoke definitively. Everyone’s attention focused on her.

“Why?”

“Manus is stout and quite tall. Fitting for a war god, his whole body is covered in small muscles, and his hair and eye color are black. Gods can create avatars. But like transcendants, it’s not easy for a god to change form. Not impossible, but not easy. Aetas, how long would it take to transform into a man?”

“Well, I haven’t tried. At least three weeks? If it’s changing the form, not a polymorph, it would take at least 2–3 weeks.”

“Exactly. Changing form is, in a sense, changing identity. I’m certain it wasn’t a polymorph because no being besides that one has the capacity to interfere with the Garden of Gods’ systems like that. He said, ‘Decide quickly,’ didn’t he? Even a high god, once a small breach forms, can’t prevent the intervention of a lower god like Ludicer. But maintaining that form until the end is impossible.”

“So that person isn’t Manus?”

“But you said he was surprised by the name Manus, right? Hm… Then is it a being that believes itself to be Manus? Could that be? I should look into the records.”

This is like a ridiculous talk show that debates for a hundred minutes and then leaves the conclusion to the viewers.

“…So what’s the conclusion?”

“Hoho, I was just going to say I don’t know either. By the way, you’re even calmer and more impressive than the reports suggested, Kim Han. Both before and now.”

Sophia emphasized the word ‘before’ with particular weight. Her gaze turned expressive.

While the other goddesses were lost in thought, there was an exchange of glances between her and me.

‘She knows too.’

She knows that I returned through reincarnation and that I was previously a representative who took part in Battlefield of the Gods.

Indeed, as the god who records all events in the divine realm under the Creator’s orders, it would be stranger if she didn’t know.

That made me wonder: does her archive contain all those details?

“I don’t record everything, you know.”

Was that about my look, or about Manus?

She spoke ambiguously and stepped back, taking a watching stance—back to her role as archivist.

“Ludicer.”

“Yes.”

“I wanted to give this to you first, but since everyone’s here I’ll bring it out. This was at the end of the Monster Belt.”

“Ah…!”

“So it existed.”

“Yeah! This was it. The monster!”

“…It was real.”

“Ho! It appears to be an object that ‘was’ a Latens Cube?”

“Yes. We’ll begin inspecting it now.”

Reactions came in order: Aetas, Spatium, Mors, Genesis, Sophia.

Ignoring them, Ludicer used a skill like manipulating air with divine power to take the Latens Cube from my hand without touching it directly.

The sight of six beautiful women, including the five goddesses, huddled around the pure white box made me want to record it.

I decided to wait leisurely and took a juice from my inventory. As I opened the cap, Aetas looked up in puzzlement.

“Kim Han, this… it’s been formatted?”

“Huh?”

“It’s formatted. Completely empty.”

“So it formatted when it glitched and shouted an error and shut down?”

“Maybe…?”

Even as Aetas and then Mors looked away from the Latens Cube with puzzled expressions, the other gods continued to examine it.

“Ho?”

“Could the format have been too hasty? A lot of residue remains.”

“More importantly, this format is very recent.”

“Hmm.”

Starting with Sophia’s astonishment, the four shared opinions. Watching them, Aetas snorted as if incredulous.

“Hey, Genesis. Come over here. You’re our department. Stop pretending to know things you don’t understand.”

“Tch!!”