Return And Another Beginning.

A cliff-top ancient castle that had already appeared once before.

With waves crashing below the cliff in white foam, this place is romantic in one sense, and loneliness seems to seep from it in another.

The owner of this ancient castle, steeped in such atmosphere, was none other than the Heavenly God Amor.

The Heavenly God Amor’s sanctuary, Disguised Love (Simulatus Amor).

If it were the usual Amor, this would be the time she was either sleeping or straddling a man on the bed, panting.

However, Amor was neither sleeping nor holding a man.

“What? Say that again!!”

A sharp shout cut across the inside of the ancient castle.

The man, unable to lift his head for how apologetic he felt, continued in a voice heavy with mixed emotions.

“The Ego Stone you arranged, Lady Amor, has been replaced by the Creator.”

“…So the Creator is finally showing his true colors? Hm? Is that it?”

“……”

Though Amor’s tone sounded like a question, the man knew it was merely a habit of muttering to herself when she was working out a solution, so he kept his head bowed and waited. Until Amor produced an answer.

“No, that can’t be. If that were the case, he would have done it with force long ago. He’s resorting to the trick called the ‘Battlefield of the Gods’ because he can’t tear it all up with his own hands. Then why?”

“……”

“Senility? No. Surely… something happened that left him no choice? Oho, well now?”

Amor, who had been frowning while raising her voice with an entrancing face, gradually smoothed her expression and began to smile.

The brow that had just moments ago been creased with surprise and anger relaxed, and her face returned to a confident look.

“What could it be? Hm? What on earth happened for the Creator to replace the Ego Stone ‘personally’? Hm? Ha…. I’m curious. Hah! It’s so curious I could kill someone, isn’t it?”

A languid, sultry voice, yet at the same time filled with sticky killing intent.

As if imagining something while speaking, Amor trembled all over, gripping both shoulders with her own arms.

“Gather all the gods of our faction for now. It’s been a while; I should go see Father’s face.”

“Understood.”

The smile that had just begun to etch itself at Amor’s lips deepened even further. A smile that looked as if it could devour someone at any moment.

Beep— beep— beep—

Beeping sounds came intermittently from all directions.

The person busily working their way through the huge machines, however, looked like a middle- or high-school girl.

After moving about here and there for a long while, she stopped walking and stared blankly at something with a shocked face.

“N-no way……!”

As if trying to confirm something, the child waved her hand through the air. And the longer time passed, the more she checked, the more her shocked expression grew grave.

Whether she no longer needed to confirm it or had made up her mind about something, she let the arm that had been moving busily fall limply.

Then, with a hardened face, she rubbed her white, slender fingers together.

Snap—!

With a brisk sound, four screens rose into the sky. Four women, each with their own beauty, appeared on the screens.

Their looks were different, but one thing was the same: all of them were clearly surprised.

―Oh my? Ludicer, what’s this? Reaching out first for once?

―What kind of trouble did Kim Han cause again?

―Damn. Genesis, are you Kim Han?

―What’s going on?

“He… he disappeared.”

―Who?

“The one we were watching……”

―Watching? …Caelum?

“Yes. That Caelum… disappeared. Completely.”

―Genesis!

―W-wait a minute……

Genesis disappears from the screen with a flustered expression.

After a brief moment, the face that appears again on Genesis is full only of awkwardness.

―Gone. Strange, isn’t it? No one had approached him……

―Someone sneaks past Genesis’s watch and disappears with the near-dead Kailum?

―And he was already hit by the ominous techniques of Talis and Bioss! Just getting near him gives you an unpleasant feeling!

―……

The four goddesses, including Ludicer, fell silent all at once. In the meantime, Rudiker, who had mulled it over alone and shaken her head several times, opened her mouth in a cautious tone.

“I… there is something Lord Kim Han told me to check, just in case.”

―Kim Han?

“Yes……. But I don’t know if this even makes sense……”

The moment it felt as if we were being wrapped in bright light, I sensed the scenery changing.

A silver wall visible between the buildings. A densely packed residential district. We had returned to Exorsus, the city of beginners and the city of beginnings.

“That was quick.”

Lee Hyo-ju, speaking in a voice tinged with dejection, walked over. Even she, who had pretended to remain composed the whole time, looked plainly exhausted the moment she returned to Exorsus.

The members who had pretended to be fine while drinking beer all let the tension out of their shoulders and relaxed.

“Good work. For now, let’s return to the legion house.”

As if waiting only for my words, the members began straightening their clothes. As if they already knew that once we left the building with the teleportation magic circle managed by the five magic towers, all eyes would be on us.

“Huh?”

“Yeah?”

“…Rebound?”

“It’s Rebound!”

“L-Lord Blessed Warrior is here!!”

The surroundings turned into a marketplace in an instant. The citizens of Exorsus who abandoned everything they were doing and came toward us.

And the rumors spread faster than a running horse, so by the time we arrived at the legion house, citizens had already gathered in numbers too great to control.

“Mr. Kim Han.”

The White Tower Lord, who had come with us, called me with an awkward face as if he had received a communication. At a glance, it was a situation where people were densely packed and an accident could easily happen.

“Everyone.”

The noisy clamor dies away all at once. A voice gently imbued with divine power spreads far into the distance.

“We will be staying in Exorsus for a while now. So even if it’s not today, you’ll be able to see us often. Also, the tower lords here have prepared a way for you to share in the gains from this expedition, so please head back for today. I worry that on the day we returned, an accident might happen because of us.”

As thousands of people flinched at once, it looked as if ripples were spreading across the surface of a flat lake.

When one by one they began nodding and moving as if to leave, the magic tower mages quickly stepped in and cleared the area around us.

After all the twists and turns, we gathered in the first-floor hall as soon as we returned to the legion house. Everyone waited for me to speak.

“You all worked hard. This expedition is over. Above all, make sure to rest well today. Rest as freely as you like, but disturbing other members is forbidden.”

“Yes!!”

“Then dismissed.”

“Yay!!”

“It’s over, it’s over!”

“Alcohol, give us alcohol!”

“Ah… it’s been a while, I should wash up first.”

The members buzzed about as they gathered in little groups and scattered.

In the spot where even Hazel and Lee Hyo-ju had disappeared to wash up first, one woman remained alone, fidgeting as if embarrassed, or maybe not knowing what to do, and watching my reaction.

“Nana?”

“Y-Yes?! Ah, yes!”

“Why? Why aren’t you going to rest? Do you have something to say?”

“Well… um……”

Just as I was getting frustrated and annoyed at her continued fidgeting, Hazel, who had been going up the stairs with Lee Hyo-ju, hurried back down.

“Come with me. You can use any lodging, as long as it’s not one other members are using.”

“Ah! Yes! Thank you!”

Nana let out a relieved breath, greeting Hazel as if she had been saved. After bowing to me, she hurried off to the second floor with Hazel and Lee Hyo-ju.

“…What? Didn’t I assign her a room before?”

Because I had regarded Nana as a suspect all this time, I didn’t know until Hazel told me later that I had been assigned the fourth-floor attic room.

Anyway, after going up to the third-floor bedroom, I asked the highest water spirit Elastra to help me wash up briefly and organized the items I had obtained from this expedition.

With a loud flapping rustle, something abruptly popped out of the inventory, making enough noise to wake Ja-ryong, who had been sleeping as if my bed were his own.

It’s a magic book. If a magic book pops out, that means Ludicer has something to say……

But the magic book that usually slipped leisurely out of the inventory and opened itself before me was now flapping violently, showing off its presence. Like my little sister’s KakaoTalk.

When I snatched the magic book dancing in the air and roughly opened it, I could see why this thing had been so noisy.

―Mr. Kim Han.

―Something terrible has happened.

―Kailum has disappeared.

―You mentioned it before, Mr. Kim Han. You asked me to let you know if there were any changes in Caelum’s condition.

―Do you perhaps have any idea?

―If you do, could you tell me as well?

―Huh?

The contents clearly looked as if they had been hurriedly written in just a few seconds.

Ludicer’s urgent feelings seemed to have reached all the way here. That was why the magic book had been flitting about like ‘kka-kka-kka-talk,’ as if dancing in a flurry.

However, right now, none of that registered at all in my eyes.

Only one line.

―Caelum has disappeared.

Only this content, as if magnified, was etched into my eyes.

Caelum had disappeared. For him to have disappeared meant he had vanished from his own sanctuary where the gods stay, the place they call a Shelter.

In a place where Genesis guards the entrance and surrounding area, Aetas sometimes visits, and Spatium, the god of space, watches over the entire domain, Kailum—who had been hit by Talis’s Destruction and Bioss’s Deicide—had… disappeared.

An event that seemed impossible even for the Creator. And it was an event that let me be certain my original plan was not impossible to realize.

A dark space. The figures faintly lit by magic lamps suggest that this is a naturally formed vast space. Like a cave.

What’s more, white frost has gathered all over the walls. And from the mouths of the people moving within it, white breath keeps pouring out without pause.

A space impossible to describe simply as cold. The people moving busily in this dark, extremely cold cavern don’t seem to feel any discomfort at all.

“Hm?”

“Hm?”

“Hm?”

People tilting their heads as if they sensed something all at once. But then they return to their places and continue what they were doing.

Only one of them—the one who had pulled a black robe down to his forehead—left his spot and headed somewhere.

A handsome man who looks to be in his twenties. Tall stature, handsome features, and eyes filled with melancholy, somehow sad.

A man who seems like he would be welcomed by women just for existing has been staring at one place without moving for hours.

A plain silver coffin, softly tinged with light. It is a coffin used to lay the dead to rest. But on closer inspection, its material is solid mithril, worth more than gold.

The man’s gaze is fixed precisely on the inside of the coffin. He stares, motionless, as if time itself has stopped.

Then comes someone’s visit, one that makes the frozen time begin to flow again.

Whispers come in, and the man asks back in a heavy voice, startled.

“Hm? That tyrant… perished?”

Was it something out of the ordinary? The man, with wistful eyes, took in the sight inside the coffin and turned his body away to disappear.

The space the man vanished from. A pale woman’s corpse, and a mithril coffin glowing faintly. And in the space, which was colder than anywhere else, only heavy silence lingered.