Each One Reaches Their Second Year (1)

Looking back, we might have already been like fish caught in a net. Perhaps we knew this from the very beginning? Yet, we stayed by that guy’s side and pretended to give in because we had hope.

Because of that guy’s skill in tying us up so we couldn’t move and manipulating us here and there, we thought he might actually fulfill what he promised us. Both me and that gloomy wizard guy.

Huh? Wasn’t it hard? It was… really hard.

Ah, you ask what was the hardest? Taking care of the kid.

What?! How dare you belittle taking care of a kid? Do you want to die?! You think it’s easy? The problem is that the kid is stupid. At least our disciple understands well, but those attached to him…!

Exactly! How ignorant they are. You just have to draw up divine power and seal it onto the weapon like this. It’s really easy, right? But they can’t do it! I’ve shown them not once but twice, yet they still can’t do it!

Hey? Hey! Where are you going!! Hey!

—From the last conversation with the author who signed the twenty-third autobiography contract with Deicide Biosis.

‘Battlefield of the Gods’ Year 1, November 22.

A small house in the mages district lined with magic towers in the west of Exorsus.

Uniquely, this house had a bathroom installed inside, just like on Earth.

It was a state-of-the-art bathroom perfectly treated with magic so that no smell or residue remained. Considering the house was not very large, it was quite unusual.

This small house, structured with a bedroom, a combined kitchen and living room, and a bathroom, had all sorts of clutter scattered throughout the living room.

The bed twitched, the blanket slipped off, revealing the dazzling naked body of a woman.

The woman stepped down barefoot from the bed, making no sound as her feet touched the floor.

The woman walked softly, picked up the robe crumpled on the floor like a discarded skin, and put it on.

She roughly tidied her hair and let it fall outside the robe; she was dazzlingly beautiful. The only flaw was the dark circles deeply set under her eyes.

“Hoo… I hope today will finally work.”

She approached the L-shaped table occupying more than half the living room and let out a deep sigh.

What could make such a beautiful woman so worried? If men saw her, they might even give their hearts to her; what kind of worry dwelled within her?

Approaching the table, the woman put on goggles and held a strangely silver-glowing pen. Like a skilled painter about to dot the final eye of a dragon, she raised the pen solemnly and gravely.

What kind of magic was this? A vivid blue light began to emanate from the small pen.

She brought the glowing pen to the woman’s underwear adorned with red lace.

“Magic circle design… engraving, purification magic circle… engraving, elemental decomposition magic circle… en… ah!”

Bang!!

Red fragments scattered from the explosion’s aftermath. The woman thought those pieces looked like blood-soaked flesh.

Staring emptily at the underwear that flew away due to the failed magic circle design, she took out black lace underwear from her magic pouch and placed it on the table.

“Hoo… again, magic circle design…”

About nine months after arriving in Exorsus.

During that long time, she secluded herself and focused solely on this. She couldn’t do anything, let alone receive instruction.

Moreover, Serpens, who was supposed to help her…

“You have insulted me…”

“Lady Serpens.”

“You miserable half-lizard woman! You! How dare you tarnish my name, of the Serpens?”

“…I only committed the sin of eating what was placed on the altar as Lady Serpens instructed.”

“What? Is your senses broken? If what you’re experiencing now… that filthy rejection reaction, divine power would have overflowed!”

Serpens’s voice grew louder, and with it, a surge of energy poured out.

Under Serpens’s pressure, the woman knelt on the floor, bowed her head, and wept like a pitiful tragic heroine.

“I really didn’t feel any divine power. It’s true. Serpens, you saw it too.”

Seeing the woman pleading with tears, Serpens sighed deeply and fell into thought for a moment.

Soon, realizing her words were true, Serpens burned with resentment toward someone.

Finally, Serpens threw something onto the floor prepared for her representative.

“Eat this. It will remove the side effects caused by divine power.”

“…Th-thank you.”

Like giving a piece of bread to someone starved for days, the woman crawled on her knees, grabbed the red crystal, and hurriedly put it in her mouth.

A fierce spreading tremendous energy. In the storm of mana, the woman made a sound like air escaping at its peak.

The goddess Serpens, called the Demon God, smiled with satisfaction at her representative’s appearance. It seemed her divine power was pushing away the Deicide’s divine power.

But the smile did not last long.

Tutatatatatata!!

“Ah… ah… sob…”

The woman shook her head as if trying to erase an involuntary memory.

Dark circles under her eyes and somehow beautiful yet rough skin.

The woman, reminiscent of a frail beauty with a fatal illness, refocused on the table.

That day, as the sun was setting and twilight stretched long,

“Ah!! Aaaah!! Aaaaah…! Huh, sob! Sob sob sob!”

Inside the small house, cries that could be either tears of joy or sorrow spilled over the walls.

‘Battlefield of the Gods’ Year 2, January 1. Entrance to the Garden of Gods.

Exorsus is vast and complex, but once you know which district you’re in, you can easily reach the central plaza, so there’s no worry about getting lost.

A man walking from the northern residential area with two swords dangling at his waist caught the attention not only of continent dwellers but also of representatives.

Though a man, he fixed a hairpin in his hair, which fell down to his waist. He wore a martial uniform made of subtle pure white silk with a red belt at his waist.

His eyes were like sharpened daggers, and his thin lips were tightly closed, making him look like a famous sword rather than a man in old-fashioned clothes.

Around the man, an aura so intense that people stepped back in surprise and fabric seemed to tear just by touching him radiated from his entire body.

The crowd naturally parted like waves.

On the first day of the second year, the dense crowd curtain in front of the Garden of Gods parted on its own.

Like a waterfall splitting as it falls on a swordsman’s famous blade.

A similar scene was unfolding on the path from the southern mercenary street to the plaza.

Only the appearance was completely different. A rough, faded black martial uniform torn at the shoulders. The exposed arms were thicker than most women’s thighs, with small muscles rippling and dancing.

His gait was swaggering; the faded black uniform top and bottom had holes here and there.

And barefoot. Surely the representative wasn’t too poor to buy shoes? No one knew why he walked barefoot.

But one thing was certain: the man was strong.

Facing him, an overwhelming presence made one want to kneel automatically. Though rough and coarse in appearance, the closer one got, the more heads bowed and knees bent.

Perhaps because of that, no one, representative or continent dweller, approached him. Thus, the human barrier parted again.

The famous sword from the north and the dignity from the south faced each other in front of the Garden of Gods.

The famous sword, who had been walking lightly with a mocking expression at the people around, and the dignity, who had been swaggering and chewing on grass, both raised their heads simultaneously and stared at each other.

Swooshhhhh.

The aura naturally emitted by the two men collided, creating a fierce wind. A space for only the two of them.

Even other representatives dared not pass them to enter the Garden of Gods.

“Ho, is there another strong one like this? You are the second strongest representative I’ve met till now.”

“…Second?”

Though the tone was somewhat frivolous, the man with dignity spoke, and the man with the sword at his waist hesitated before speaking.

“That’s right. Second. That person was very strong, to the point even I couldn’t guarantee it. Anyway, you’re strong too, but not to that extent. May I know your name?”

“Makiira.”

“Proy Rium.”

After that, the two silently stared at each other for a while before entering the Garden of Gods.