Return And Another Beginning.

After arriving at Exorsus, just as I hadn’t expected the continent’s people to welcome us so enthusiastically that an accident almost happened, the sudden arrival of Giorgio and Violentia far exceeded my expectations in speed.

I had been spying on Violentia and Benialis, but after entering the ruined kingdom’s castle I stopped to focus on the tyrant.

Because I didn’t continue even after removing the tyrant, this mess happened.

When I heard they had coincidentally met and were growling at each other at my door, I couldn’t help but clutch my forehead.

It’s like the upbeat mood from the Caelum incident just dropped again?

But I couldn’t not see them, so I stifled my annoyance and moved. I put all the equipment I had out into my inventory and went downstairs.

But before I even entered the reception room, the surging aura could be felt outside the door.

‘They’re making a mess in someone else’s house in pairs.’

I opened the reception room door and walked in.

As expected, Giorgio’s party and Violentia’s party sat facing each other, amping up their presence.

If anything, at least the furniture wasn’t being destroyed—either they were restraining themselves or they simply couldn’t.

Clap―!

I clapped my hands and put my momentum into the crisp sound. Cutting between the two sides and scattering them took just an instant.

As fast as sound travels, it split the pressure the two groups exhaled.

Szzzzrip―!

The rip of thick cloth was heard and the rising pressure dissipated. They turned to me with startled eyes.

“What are you doing right now?”

Tiredness from lack of rest. Annoyance at an unexpected visitor. Anger at the complete lack of decency in having a power struggle in someone else’s house.

These feelings layered together and my voice was thick with displeasure.

“K-Kim Han…”

Violentia called to me in a trembling voice. Makiira, sitting next to her, couldn’t look me in the eye either and quickly stood and bowed.

“Kim Han, I’m sorry.”

Makiira was quick on the uptake. He couldn’t meet me in the best circumstances, but hurriedly apologized to at least get the second-best outcome.

“Makiira, long time. But seriously, what is this? A power contest in someone else’s legion house?”

“I have nothing to say. I’m sorry.”

Makiira bowed his head again.

Before entering the ruined kingdom’s castle, from Violentia I knew his rank: second-in-command in the Dominance legion, at worst third. Yet he bowed without a shred of hesitation.

If Mabuda had been here instead of him, he might have picked a fight rather than apologize.

“Alright then. But why did you come all of a sudden?”

“Well, it’s just…”

“We hurried here as soon as we heard you had returned from the expedition.”

Did he think I was only talking to Makiira? Giorgio cut in while she was answering and interrupted.

A vein twitched on Makiira’s forehead, and a smile appeared at the corner of Giorgio’s mouth.

Seeing those two—and in fact the five people in their retinue—made me frown on instinct.

‘Honestly… what a mess.’

Today was the day of return from the expedition. And yet they came here and spat out this nonsense.

Normally it’s customary not to visit someone on the day they return from an expedition. Letting them rest that day is courtesy, and it also prevents needless bloodshed while the excitement of battle hasn’t yet subsided.

The reason they thoughtlessly came to find us like this was because they had no expedition experience.

An expedition involves long marches as the baseline. You have to return having beaten monsters, beasts, or other representatives that are trying to take your life and having cut their throats.

Therefore it’s polite to visit two to three days after returning from an expedition.

“Thank you, but I’ve just returned from the expedition and haven’t even had a chance to wash. More importantly, as you all know, we fought until we entered Exorsus. The members are sensitive to pressure and killing intent right now. A trivial thing could escalate into a fight. So I appreciate the visit, but I’d like you to leave today.”

“Ah…!”

“….”

Violentia let out an exclamation in embarrassment. At the same time, disappointment was deep on her face.

Giorgio’s face across from me hardened with displeasure.

An awkward silence settled. I hadn’t even sat down yet—an indirect sign I wouldn’t sit and chat.

The reception room felt desolate. When the muscular man next to Giorgio sprang up, there was a loud crash as chairs tumbled to the floor.

“How dare you! Just because you’ve gained a bit of fame you look down on Lord Giorgio? You little legion?!”

“…?”

His outburst was so random that I felt not just incredulous, but embarrassed.

It felt like the call from a girlfriend who’s angry you didn’t pick her up after you’ve finished a grueling summer reserve training and are exhausted on your way home.

“Obviously, but just in case—are those words directed at me?”

“Hah! Of course I—gasp!!”

I bared my teeth in a smile and asked Giorgio, who hadn’t even tried to restrain him from the start.

“Is this your intention, Giorgio?”

“Ah, no.”

Giorgio watched calmly. Had he felt my shift in momentum? Or had some other thought occurred? He hastily changed his attitude and began to excuse himself.

“Gah… gah gah…”

“Since you still don’t seem to get it, I’ll make it simple. You probably don’t understand because you have no expedition experience, but until just an hour ago we were fighting with monster blood splattered on us. In the early stages of an expedition representatives rush in recklessly. You’ve encountered a Monster Wave before, right? No? Giorgio? You don’t understand because you’ve never wrestled with beasts or monsters directly.”

“Th-that’s the thing. Kim Han, please listen to me.”

The subordinate dying beside him was already out of Giorgio’s mind. He rattled off excuses in a frantic voice.

The usual excuses began—‘it had nothing to do with my will.’ Meanwhile, the guy who had provoked me a moment ago went pale as death.

“It seems you took my words lightly, but there are members outside the Exorsus walls who still have monster blood on them and whose killing intent hasn’t cooled down. To survive and not be looked down on, they emit a killing intent thicker than monsters or beasts, so they can’t control it even over trivial matters. Like now.”

I lifted Giorgio’s henchman—who was wheezing on the floor—using the art of manipulating the void.

The trash floated through the air and approached me. Fear filled his eyes when they met mine.

Poke―

Like plunging into rotten tofu, my right hand sank into his chest without resistance, and before I knew it I could feel his heart beating in my palm.

“Absorb.”

“W-what are you doing…! Ugh! Ugh!”

Giorgio’s remaining henchman got up to protest, but Giorgio stood and clamped a hand over his mouth. Then he looked at me and offered an apology.

“I’m sorry. I understand now what Kim Han meant.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes.”

“Then what are you doing here?”

“…Huh?”

Giorgio asked back with a stupid look on his face. Beside him, his henchman glared at me with eyes red-rimmed and furious.

“If you understand, then leave. Take this trash with you.”

“Yes. Once again, I apologize for my subordinate’s rudeness. I’m sorry. I will come back one day with a gift of apology.”

“Fine.”

The two of them left carrying the corpse with a hole in its heart, blood flowing.

And then there was Violentia, unsure what to do, and Makiira watching the situation carefully. Only the two representatives remained.

“I think you two should leave as well.”

“Yes. We’ll contact you later and visit formally.”

“We’ll be going now. We were discourteous. I’m sorry.”

Violentia bowed demurely and Makiira offered another polite apology as the two left the reception room.

I had shown hostility to Giorgio, but given the slyness I know him for, he wouldn’t truly turn hostile toward us—he wouldn’t risk us siding with Violentia.

It seemed Giorgio’s physical stats and divine power had risen considerably since I last saw him, which might explain his initial confidence.

Judging by the fact that one of the two meatheads beside him had a strength of 87, they were no longer just riffraff.

They probably mimicked the “hunt” Violentia had taught them. A scheming Giorgio would train only his closest men.

Surely, to recover from the blow to his pride today he’d push himself harder in hunting.

‘Eventually, the two forces will collide.’

My annoyance at the unexpected guests eased a little, but my mood sank again soon after.

I sighed like an overworked junior employee and went up to the bedroom. There was a mountain of things to organize from gear to spirit lists from this achievement.

So many things. It’s overwhelming. Tons. There are a lot.

They all mean the same thing: an enormous amount. It’s the exact right phrase for this unknowable space.

Gods—beings that mortals rarely see even once in a lifetime—are swarming. From gods whose names are hard to remember to famous ones, disgustingly many are gathered.

A commotion erupts in the center where those gods are gathered.

“Who do you think you are to order me around like that?!”

A lively beauty in an alluring red dress points and scolds a ladylike beauty in a pearl-colored dress.

But the scolded beauty, seemingly used to it, sneers lightly and takes control of the mood.

“I included you because I’m afraid you’ll whine later. Just stand aside, pick up the falling pie slices, and get lost, you fool.”

“What?! You wanna fight?!”

“Fine by me.”

A voice cuts between the two about to collide; though its timbre is lovely, its tone is very rough.

“Ugh, seriously. These two always fight whenever they meet. Grow up.”

“Who…! Aetas!”

“…Damn it!”

The two goddesses look defeated. They dampen the energy that had been rising for a clash and click their tongues roughly.

“Amor, Serpens, aren’t you two old enough now? Can’t you be a bit more intellectual and cultured, and talk nicely instead of cursing or throwing punches?”

The goddess in pure white is Heavenly God Amor.

The goddess in a red dress is the demon god Serpens.

The two goddesses, at Aetas’ admonition, click their tongues again as if incredulous.

Who is Aetas? A thug of the divine realm, stone-fisted, ignorant. For words like ‘intellectual’ and ‘cultured’ to come from his mouth was surprising.

Hearing such words from the least intellectual god made the two’s faces flush red as if about to burst.

“Aetas, you get it. They’re just uneducated.”

Another goddess appears. She plods over with a black scythe and drapes her hand on Aetas’ shoulder; this well-featured goddess is Mors, the god of Death.

“Are you two crazy together?”

“If only Genesis were here, you’d be the useless trio…”

“Who called me?”

Genesis approached with delicate steps; Amor grimaced as if she didn’t even want to deal with him and took a step back, while Serpens muttered a word as she retreated, her pride stung.

“Ignorant Aetas, clueless Mors, and this shameless Genesis…”

Nearly all the gods were gathered. Amor, who had intended to summon only gods of her faction, changed plans and called all gods—even Serpens, who was in a rival relationship.

It was currently the ‘Battlefield of the Gods’ period. That means summoning all the gods isn’t an ordinary matter.

Of course, she hadn’t summoned the Creator-line gods like Aetas, but still…

‘Who on earth called these people?’

Amor was inwardly flustered because she had planned to summon the Creator only after gathering the other gods.

But a considerable number of gods were already present. With numbers like that, it would be hard to bully them by force.

‘Right, with numbers like this, even ignorant Aetas…’

“The 21,451 gods who manage 1,182 dimensions, led by Amor who rules that celestial realm, wish to see the Creator.”

“We wish to see you!”

A few gods, including Aetas, looked indifferent, while about 15% of the gods who followed Serpens glared at Amor with tense expressions.

And most of the gods watched the situation with curious expressions.

“What’s this about? I’m swamped.”

A middle-aged man appeared without anyone noticing. The Creator appeared a few notches higher than the other gods and looked down at those gathered below.

Amor, who had been bowing her head, again bent at the waist and offered a deeply respectful greeting when the Creator appeared—a posture even Aetas and other Creator-line gods didn’t adopt.

But knowing it was merely formality and pretension, the Creator and the other gods showed no particular change in expression.

“Long time no see… Father.”

“Ho? Father? Calling me ‘Father’… Amor, when you call me father it means you always have a complaint?”

A small smile―

She smiled in a way that made the male gods of Amor’s faction swoon, then looked the Creator straight in the eye and moved her plump, small lips.

“I heard that the Creator recently replaced the ego of the Setting even during the ‘Battlefield of the Gods’ period. I’m curious why. You who forbade touching the dimension that contains Exorsus during the ‘Battlefield of the Gods’ unless under special conditions—surely you changed it because there was a special condition, right? And we, who are participating in the ‘Battlefield of the Gods’, believe we have the right to hear that reason. Will you tell us why?”

All the gods’ gazes focused on the Creator. The Creator, lips pressed, looked as if he might be flustered or perhaps angry.

“That is…”

Some ninety thousand gods watched the Creator’s lips in unison.

“…Not telling you.”