Chapter 136

I looked at the woman dressed in a peplos, her brilliant golden hair fluttering in the wind, and asked in a calm tone.

‘This… isn’t just a dream, is it? Who are you?’

[I am Lumina, the Goddess of the Moon and Purity.]

‘……!!!!!!’

[O Hero. I have a favor to ask of you.]

‘…Do you think you have the right to ask me for a favor? Do you even know the meaning of the word “shame”?’

…Do these bastards really have no conscience?

What? “O Hero, I have a favor”?

At this moment, I completely forgot about her radiant beauty or the fact that she was a being far higher in rank than I was.

Pure rage was the only thing filling my mind.

The only reason I managed to refrain from slamming my elbow into the skull of this woman—who had clearly tossed her conscience aside—was that I remembered at the last second that she was Yuribel’s boss.

‘Huu, huu, huu….’

Only after taking several deep breaths was I finally able to spit out the words in a cold voice.

‘Do you think you have the right to ask me for a favor? Do you even know what shame is? Did you throw your conscience in the trash? Huh? You shitty, god-awful Moon Goddess. Are all the celestial gods as brain-dead as you? If I took care of the North Demon King, you should be grateful. Instead, you throw a perfectly fine person to the West Continent to duke it out with a Demon King without even checking their consent? Why? Do you want me to handle the East or South Demon Kings this time? You really want to see my temper? Should I just break the seal and become a real Demon King? Should I kill every last ant on this planet? You know I don’t have any of those “Forbidden Feet” (geum-jok) restrictions like the other Demon Kings, right? Why, got a problem with that? If you do, kill me now. Oh wait, you guys can’t properly intervene on the ground during the trials. Wow, it’s a checkmate, isn’t it?’

[…….]

‘To be blunt, do you know what I thought was more full of shit than the West Demon King while I was fighting her? It was you people. You. If you’re going to make excuses about me flying to the West Continent being an accident and that you just left me be, don’t bother. How is that any different? If I were in your position, the moment I flew to the West Continent, I would have sent Yuribel or another angel to return me to the North Continent immediately. Considering the debt you owe me, that’s only natural. The fact that you didn’t do that and let me catch the West Demon King with my own hands makes you all nothing but trash. Trash. There’s a limit to how ungrateful you can be, ha… Celestial gods? Give me a break. Seriously.’

She listened to my stream of insults in a quiet posture… and then, once I finished speaking, a low chuckle escaped her lips.

‘Do you find my insults funny?’

[Ah, my apologies. It has been a very long time since I’ve been cursed at so refreshingly to my face.]

She pointed to the eleven pairs of wings of light stretching long behind her back as she continued.

[As you know, when one reaches this level, most of what one hears is praise or gratitude. To be honest, it’s a very fresh feeling.]

‘So? What about it?’

She gave me a slight bow.

[I shall offer an apology first. What happened to you was certainly unreasonable, and regardless of the reason, it was the fault of our Celestial Realm. I fully understand that anger and loathing. However… there is a reason behind it that is more complicated than you might think. If possible, could you give me a little time to explain?]

I felt my anger soften slightly at her attitude—choosing to offer a clean apology instead of rambling through excuses or using her status to browbeat me.

Right. I had lashed out because I was pissed, but come to think of it, this person was a Subordinate Heaven. Aside from Knowledge Heaven, which was a governing god and the chief deity, she was one of the highest beings in heaven and a truly formidable entity who ranked among the top five even among those of the same Subordinate Heaven grade.

It could not have been easy for such a being to bow her head to a mere lower-realm sapient.

‘Fine. Let’s hear it.’

[Thank you. Now then… for that, I need a word that can define “them”… Ah, it seems there is a very appropriate expression in the language you use.]

‘Hmm…?’

[This is where I begin. Currently, the heavens are home to a few ‘venerable’ fossils—arrogant old fogies who do nothing but lecture. They are the stagnant old guard, like layers of filth that have hardened over the eons.]

Huh. Suddenly, my interest was piqued.

.
.
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[In truth, “we” intended to dispatch Yuribel immediately to return you to the North Continent when you were kidnapped to the West Continent by the West Demon King. As you said, if we had any shame, that is exactly what we should have done.]

‘Who is this “we”?’

[The gods currently managing this Kion. Beings like the Earth Mother, the Sun God, the Moon Goddess, the Sea God, and the Racial Gods. Usually, they are called the True Gods.]

‘From your nuance, it sounds like those old fogies you mentioned blocked you….’

[Yes. That is correct. They blocked us.]

‘What is their identity?’

[They are the gods who were in charge of the civilizations before Kion—the Old World. They are currently in a dormant period. In the current Kion, they are called the False Gods.]

‘…False Gods? Why would they do such a thing? What kind of grudge do they have against me?’

[It is simple. They wish for the current civilization, which they cannot interfere with, to perish.]

‘…Wait. The story is getting weird… Why would the world perish just because a Demon King is caught?’

[Because the moment the Demon King disappears, a war that will set the entire continent ablaze will break out.]

‘…Huh?’

[Currently, this world has gathered an enormous amount of military force to fight against the adversary known as the Demon King. Of course, that force is barely enough to catch monsters, let alone a Demon King… but that is only because the comparison is the Demon King. In reality, the current military strength of each nation is three to five times what it was before the Demon King appeared. And all that power is currently focused solely on the external enemy that is the Demon King.]

I understood what she was trying to say without much difficulty.

‘So you’re saying that once the common enemy known as the Demon King disappears, all that accumulated military power will be turned toward one another.’

[Yes. Exactly. If the Demon King vanishes and the people of the continent find out, the number of casualties will increase to a level that can’t even be compared to when the Demon King was around.]

[If that happens, the evil karma—the negative karma—shouldered by this world will become enormous… and that evil karma will make the remaining Demon Kings terrifyingly strong. The restrictions of the “Forbidden Feet” will vanish without a trace.]

‘…You need time to let the air out of the tires, then. Ah, so the reason rumors about the North Demon King’s demise haven’t spread is because….’

[Yes, it is because we are controlling the information. To use your expression, we estimate it will take roughly 100 to 150 years to “let the air out.”]

‘Which means such control is difficult on the Western Continent.’

[Indeed. Unlike the Northern Continent, which is entirely under our control, the influence of the False Gods is still alive on the Western Continent.]

[To be more precise, Equos, the God of Balance and Justice, and Morta, the God of Death, are siding with the False Gods… and the denominations of those two gods are quite powerful on the Western Continent.]

[That is why the False Gods actively interfered with our attempts to return you to the Northern Continent. As a result, you ended up encountering the West Demon King… and being as excessively talented as you are, you went ahead and cracked the skull of the West Demon King right after the North Demon King. To be honest, even the False Gods were probably flustered. They likely thought, “If it works, great; if not, whatever,” but things rolled along far too well.]

‘Hmm….’

[At any rate, their work has already begun. A revelation has already been handed down to the denominations of Equos and Morta stating that the West Demon King was destroyed by the hand of a Hero. That news will soon spread across the Western Continent like a wildfire. Then, it will be immediate continental war.]

[Currently, our side is issuing counter-revelations saying the Demon King is still alive and not to act rashly… but it won’t last long. The monsters won’t be acting the same as before, for one thing. And there won’t be any “Raids” that the West Demon King used to trigger just for fun.]

‘…….’

[The more the Western Continent burns with war, the more the ranks of the East and South Demon Kings will rise. Eventually, they might even reach the Defiance Heaven grade. Then it’s over. How could the beings of this earth possibly catch something like that?]

I scratched my head at the unexpected story and asked again.

‘I don’t quite get it… at that point, shouldn’t the Governing God Yuel just crack the skulls of those False God bastards?’

She shook her head.

[The Governing God does not intervene.]

‘Why?’

[First. They, the False Gods, are not evil.]

‘Even though they’re trying to destroy the world?’

[Worlds are naturally meant to repeat cycles of creation and apocalypse. When a problem arises in the world they govern, it is a common occurrence for gods to perform “end-processing” and start a new civilization.]

‘So you’re saying that if the perspective is different, the view of good and evil changes too?’

She nodded.

[Therefore, the conflict between us and them is not a battle of good versus evil, but a clash of preferences.]

‘Ah….’

[Of course, that is the official position….]

‘Official? There’s an unofficial one too?’

[Actually, Senior Yuel… Ahem, Governing God Yuel shares the same preferences as us. That is, he wants to keep this world maintained strongly. That is also why those old fogies were cursed out by the Governing God and pushed aside to become False Gods. …Actually, there is another reason why the Governing God cannot restrain them.]

‘What is it?’

[He went to the military.]

I doubted my ears.

‘…What?’

[Governing God Yuel was dragged off to the military about 100 years ago. By now, he’s probably toiling away as the commander of the 199th Angelic Legion in the Laniakea Supercluster Unified Angel Force.]

‘No… what kind of absurd nonsense is this? The Governing God did what?’

[For your information, the Laniakea Unified Force consists of those fighting in the third-largest battlefield against “Evil Gods” in the universe. It’s a place where one must grapple with Evil Gods for over 19 hours a day based on Universal Standard Time.]

‘Setting aside Laniakea and all that… why is a person who is the Governing God of an entire world being dragged into the military?’

[Didn’t Yuribel explain? That a loophole was used to bring the Hero here.]

‘Wait… does that mean….’

[Yes. He is paying the price for bringing a Hero from the outside with military service. This is despite the fact that he already served his time once during the process of rising to become a Governing God.]

‘My god…. He went to the army twice? And he volunteered for it?’

Suddenly, my respect for this “Governing God” fellow started growing immensely.

I let out a deep sigh and asked the goddess.

‘So? What do you want from me?’

[Will you grant my request?]

‘…If a guy went to the army twice, even volunteering for it, to save the world, I’d be trash to back out now. Oh, of course, it’s not for free. I’m going to get what’s owed. Counting everything from the North Demon King to catching the West Demon King.’

[Do not worry about that. Whatever it may be, we will compensate you clearly. We must follow the Golden Rule regardless.]

‘So? What do I have to do?’

[Please become a temporary Demon King.]

‘…For real?’

[To be more precise, you just need to act as the West Demon King and prove to the people of the Western Continent that the revelations of the False Gods were wrong.]