Return And Another Beginning.

A city located to the east in the Dark Empire and to the west in Exorsus. Urbs, called the Dark Empire’s second capital.

In just a few months, this place had developed to the point where it was nearly on par with the Dark Empire’s capital.

Since the Dominion Legion had taken root, the pace of change kept accelerating. Urbs was changing from one day to the next.

Although the number of representatives in the Dominion Legion had fallen from over 3,500 to under 3,000, the atmosphere in the Dominion Legion was excellent. Most of them even thought the chaff had been weeded out.

It was a dull routine of training and going out on rotation to hunt and ‘absorb’ representatives, but now, in the early and middle stages of the fifth year, the Dominion Legion members felt their skills improving by leaps and bounds and lived quite contentedly.

Since they had been chosen as representatives in the first place, it was only natural that they liked battle.

And because this was the camp of the demon god Serpens and the gods who followed him, that tendency showed up even more strongly.

“Hey? Where are you going?”

“Ah… I have something to report to Lady Violentia. An urgent message came from Exorsus. You’re going out on the ‘hunt’ this time, right?”

“Yeah. I hope another jackpot like last time comes through again…”

“Damn it! You greedy bastard! You already ‘absorbed’ your first talent and had a private audience with Lady Violentia, and you still want more!!”

“Heh heh heh, they say you should dream big.”

“You lunatic. I’m off!”

Even after being cursed at for a while, the man didn’t look bothered at all; watching his departing colleague, he muttered to himself as if something had just occurred to him.

“But what urgent message is it? Ah, what a shame. If I’d known, it would’ve been a chance to drink free beer to my heart’s content.”

The man clicked his tongue and hurried off. And he would never hear this incredible news.

A modest, tidy office. Inside, a beauty and three men had gathered in haste. And as soon as one man finished speaking, the woman sprang to her feet.

“Really?”

“Yes. It just arrived as an urgent message from the Black Tower’s Exorsus branch.”

“Mr. Kim Han really… T-this is not the time. I need to go.”

“That won’t do.”

A voice stopped Violentia’s attempt to hurry out of the office.

Among those gathered here, excluding the member who brought the news and Violentia, there were two others.

The representative who, from the very beginning of joining, had won Violentia’s absolute trust and risen to the post of captain of the guard, overseeing Violentia’s personal guard, was Makiira.

The other was a legendary figure named Mabyuda, who had risen from a normal member to the position of combat captain, overseeing the combat squads.

Of the two, the one who restrained Violentia was Combat Captain Mabyuda. He looked up at her with his face full of displeasure.

“Lady Violentia, you must not do that.”

“Why not?”

Was it because she had been unexpectedly restrained by an unexpected person? Or because he had merely tried to stop her from going to see Kim Han? Violentia’s voice carried annoyance and even anger.

“You are the representative of the Dominion. You are not someone who should move about so lightly.”

“What did you say…!”

“Hold on. You, step outside for now.”

Makiira, who had restrained the furious Violentia, sent out the member who had come in to report. And he sneered at Mabyuda without Mabyuda noticing.

Does this bastard even realize who he’s picking a fight with, blinded by jealousy? With nothing more than some flimsy title like combat captain? A weak piece of trash who’d be minced meat in less than five minutes even if Makiira himself stepped in?

“Mabyuda, your words do seem reasonable at first glance. However, Rebound and we are allies. When an allied legion returns safely from an expedition, greeting them is by no means a light matter. Moreover, our strength has increased sharply thanks to Rebound’s advice. You can’t deny that, since you benefited from it too.”

“That may be so, but… ”

“And there’s something else you’re mistaken about: we are people who offer advice, not beings who give orders to Lady Violentia. A pack needs only one leader.”

“N-no! I…”

While the flustered Mabyuda stammered, Violentia’s eyes turned colder than ever.

Makiira didn’t think Mabyuda was completely wrong either. There was some point he could agree with. If the leader of the pack moved about carelessly, others might see it as frivolous.

But this time, Mabyuda had definitely made a mistake.

His first mistake was timing. He had restrained Violentia’s actions in front of a normal member who had come in to report.

His second mistake was failing to consider at all how Violentia felt about Kim Han.

The third was underestimating Kim Han and Rebound, and the fourth was that, stupidly, he had been blinded by jealousy and stepped forward when he should have stayed back.

“Mabyuda, remain confined until I call for you.”

“What? Ah, no!!”

“What? Do you have something else to say?”

“…Kgh. N-no, I don’t.”

Unlike the composed Makiira, Mabyuda couldn’t even lift his head under Violentia’s rough, ferocious pressure, sweating buckets of cold sweat.

He barely managed to open his mouth and struggle out the words, ‘No, I don’t.’

Only after Mabyuda’s answer came out as small as the buzz of a mosquito did Violentia finally ease up.

“Ghh… Hah, hahh.”

“I guess I let you off too easily. Because I kept saying good job, good job, are you trying to climb onto my head?”

“… ”

Mabyuda kept his head bowed, but even the gaze Violentia drove into the crown of his head was enough to make his body tremble with chill.

He felt such a cold, savage look that he couldn’t even bring himself to raise his bowed head and look at Violentia.

The one who saved Mabyuda was the very voice that had once dragged him into the abyss.

“Lady Violentia, shouldn’t you hurry?”

“Ah! Look at me. I’ll deal with your matter after I get back, so wait here. Imoen.”

At Violentia’s call, a woman entered the office. She was the very representative who had once fallen for Kim Han.

Imoen, Violentia’s personal secretary and close-protection representative.

“I’m going to see Lord Kim Han for a moment. In the meantime, keep watch so Mabyuda here can’t leave this place. We’ll discuss his disposition after I get back.”

“What?”

For the first time since she had been serving Violentia, Imoen asked back. Since the member currently favored by Violentia was Mabyuda, wasn’t that perhaps a natural reaction?

But Imoen’s question did not mean, ‘How could you do that to Mabyuda?’ It was a question of whether she had misheard.

Violentia’s cold expression, and the frigid atmosphere.

Confirming that she had definitely not misheard, Imoen briefly bowed her head and took out a communication crystal.

While Imoen took care of things, Makiira stood up. Then he spoke to Violentia.

“Lady Violentia, if it’s not too rude, may I accompany you when you go to meet Lord Kim Han? I’d like to see everyone’s faces after such a long time.”

“Ah! Right. You were staying in Rebound, Makiira, weren’t you? Of course. Get ready, and let’s meet in front of the warp zone.

“Yes, then.”

After greeting Violentia, he briefly looked with concern at Mabyuda’s bowed head, the one who had risen from a normal member to combat captain and then fallen to the depths in an instant, before leaving the office.

The moment Makiira entered the space he used personally, his concerned expression changed in an instant, and a smile spread across his face.

His gaze, like a snake that had found prey, and the way he licked his lips, were like a snake facing a frog.

“You’ve been getting uppity lately, and I was already looking for an excuse… You rolled right into my hands on your own, and you’re not even a pumpkin—you’re a watermelon.”

After spying on Violentia’s camp and figuring out what they were doing, Giorgio also hurriedly joined the ‘hunt’ by the same method.

But the method was completely different. From the start, Violentia’s and Giorgio’s groups differed in numbers.

3,000 versus 11,000.

So he couldn’t even dream of giving every member a chance to hunt the way the Violentia Legion did.

So Giorgio chose selection and focus.

Selection.

Representatives who would obey him and anything he ordered. Skill didn’t matter. If they worked hard at ‘absorbing,’ they could improve quickly enough.

The only thing Giorgio considered important was loyalty. To test that loyalty, he gave them many missions, and a total of 800 representatives passed the process.

Eight hundred fanatics who blindly believed in Giorgio. They went out to hunt representatives in alternating groups of 400 every half-month.

It wasn’t as if they had started out hunting representatives and ‘absorbing’ them from the beginning.

As mentioned earlier, since they had been chosen for their loyalty even if they lacked skill, some of them were so lacking in ability it was almost pitiable.

Those people were ‘fed’ the plentiful representatives that were everywhere.

It was the Benialis camp, growing by three or four a day from 11,000.

Representatives who came sniffing around after hearing of the renown of Heavenly God Amor, the protection of the Holy Realm Alliance, or the fact that they possessed the greatest number of representatives.

And he secretly kidnapped and absorbed the weak representatives they thought were only good for eating food.

The method of kidnapping was very simple. If Giorgio approached them and secretly told them to meet in the evening, they would come to the meeting place by any means necessary, without saying a word to any other comrade.

As a result, the total number had decreased by about 1,500, but no one noticed.

The Benialis camp was using an entire city. Even gathering once was no ordinary task.

Of course, Giorgio carefully kept track of the representatives going in and out.

More precisely, only Giorgio was keeping track of them.

Benialis was sunk in women, alcohol, and drugs.

Of course, he would appear at official events when needed by Giorgio, but that was all. The unmotivated Benialis was gradually becoming a wreck.

The Benialis camp would have already fallen apart if not for Giorgio.

The ones Giorgio had chosen now skillfully absorbed other representatives, and each time they returned from a hunt they brought back captives ranging from as few as ten to as many as around twenty.

And Giorgio absorbed all the representatives they brought back.

As a result of steadily ‘absorbing’ them, Giorgio felt sure that he had become more than twice as strong as when the fifth year began.

Today too, after effectively ‘absorbing’ the ‘prey’ left behind by the guard unit that had just returned from the hunt, Giorgio was about to savor his satisfaction at the message saying his stats had increased when someone interrupted him.

“Sir Giorgio.”

“…Hm?”

It should be ordinary business, so there was no reason anyone would interrupt him now. Moreover, the voice from outside belonged to a guard officer who followed him like a god.

“Come in.”

Only after Giorgio’s permission did the door open, and a male representative entered. He was indeed the same guard officer Giorgio remembered by his voice.

But he was not alone. He was with a mainlander who looked like a cleric.

“What is it? At this hour?”

Giorgio emphasized ‘at this hour,’ showing his displeasure. But the guard officer only bowed his head even lower and continued his report to the end.

“The priest here has brought urgent news.”

“Urgent… news?”

“Yes. Kim Han has returned.”

It was certainly enough to interrupt him at this hour.

Feeling his mind go blank and then return at the sudden news, Giorgio went on speaking as if chewing up and spitting out an insect that had flown into his mouth.

“…Damn it! That is urgent news. Of course, that damn shitter bitch must have heard about it too, right?”

“I believe so. They say Exorsus was in an uproar.”

Well, of course. The news had probably reached the representatives staying in the northern fortress region too.

There was no time to dawdle. The one who had previously passed only Violentia the information about the ‘absorption’ hunt was Kim Han. If things grew any more distant between them here, it would be irreversible.

Making war was fine, but if they joined forces with Violentia, it was obvious that they themselves would be utterly crushed.

He had to stop the two from getting any closer, and work to improve his own relationship with Kim Han.

“Hurry up and move to Exorsus! We have to arrive before that damn shitter bitch, no matter what!”

“Understood.”

“Ah! And tell Ringo to prepare the gifts.”

“Yes!”

There was no time to see off the representative and priest as they hurried out of the residence. Giorgio quickly began gathering what he himself needed to prepare.

The return of the Rebound Legion and Kim Han from their expedition stirred up not only Exorsus, but also the major guilds in the eastern and western regions.

As if by appointment, Violentia and Giorgio arrived at the same time. Urging their carriages on, the two arrived almost simultaneously in front of Kim Han’s mansion.

At the very moment Violentia and Giorgio arrived in Exorsus, the five goddesses gathered in one place wore faces thick with bewilderment.

“What did Kim Han write? Is it a typo?”

“Who knows.”

“What does it look like to everyone? Could it be some ambiguous expression from another language or something like that?”

“No. It is exactly what Lord Kim Han wrote.”

“So you’re telling us to believe that?”

The magic book. On the left side, the words Kim Han left were only a single line.

—Deicide and Destruction, and the shock left behind when a representative died. Look into the human realm. Start from the dimension where Caelum was originally chosen as a representative.

“So… what Kim Han means is… ”

“Not that Caelum fled or vanished, but that he was demoted… that he lost his divinity?”

“…Is that even possible?”

Everyone’s gaze turned to Spatium at once.

“I could excuse Aetas, Mors, and Genesis for being too lazy to think, but even you, Ludicer…”

“It would be troublesome to lump me together with them. It’s just that from the data I have, I cannot tell whether it is possible or impossible. However, Spatium’s power is space. I thought you might know.”

“Ugh… That’s at least a relief. I don’t know right now. Don’t make that face. We had originally limited the search target to gods. Still, it looks like it’ll take some time.”

“Why?”

Aetas asked with a rarely serious expression, apparently surprised by Spatium’s complaint. That was because, whether Kim Han was right or wrong, this incident was a serious matter.

“Demotion, demotion… Yes, it’s not as if there had never been a case like that.”

“Hm? There was a demoted god?”

Mors asked, tilting his head as if hearing it for the first time.

“It seems everyone has forgotten. I’m talking about the incident when Genesis’s representative went berserk.”

“Hm? Ah! Feliki!!”

“Mhm!”

“That’s right… ”

“…?”

“Mors… you’re fine. Since the goddess of luck, Feliki, was demoted to a luck fairy, this isn’t the first such case. But the problem is that we can’t know how much power has dropped. For now, let’s inspect the dimension of Kailum’s origin as Kim Han said. Still, it will take time.”

“Well, that makes sense. Then that mea… ? Hm?”

“You too?”

“You too? Even Ludicer?”

“All of us? Why are you calling us all of a sudden?”

The five goddesses looked at one another in shock, then vanished without a trace.