Chapter 166
Chapter 166
Chapter 166
The Holy Relic of the Death King (1)
Originally, the gods of the heavenly realm had no interest in the lower world.
There were various reasons for this, but fundamentally, the civilization level of the lower world was so insignificant that from the gods' perspective, there wasn't much to entertain them.
After the First Heaven-Demon Great War, Berus of Light had also established it as law that excessive interference with the earthly realm was forbidden.
Especially since the aftermath of the Heaven-Demon Great War had caused human civilization to regress to almost a quasi-primitive age, the gods' complete loss of interest was the decisive factor.
For nearly half a million years, until civilization recovered, the gods paid no attention to the earthly realm.
However, as time passed, more and more gods gradually began to take interest in the lower world.
Starting from 3,000 years ago, as human civilization entered a period of revival and creatures challenging the gods began to appear one by one, some gods began to shift from complete indifference to slight interest.
The ones who broke that starting point were Goddess Ruura, who wanted to spread her love to the earthly realm as well.
And Goddess North, who wanted to establish her identity as the goddess of darkness.
***
Rudian slowly examined Britian's wounds.
'If she was hit by divinity, there's no answer.'
To remove divinity, one could only offset it with demonic power or the same divinity, but unlike before, with Rudian's divinity reduced to the size of a fingernail, he couldn't heal these wounds.
'At least it's maintaining the status quo, but I can't leave it like this forever.'
No matter how much power Ruura wielded, the opponents were fellow Seven Seats, and two of them at that.
While Rudian was pondering how to resolve the situation.
WHOOSH!
Suddenly, Ruura's sacred statue in front of them burst with powerful pink light, blocking everyone's vision.
"Oh, ooh? What is this!"
The intense divine power that could only be felt from Britian emanated from the statue, and at some point, a human figure shimmering with pink light appeared across from Rudian.
-…….
THUD!
The Pope and cardinals instinctively knelt and bowed their heads toward that figure.
"Ah, aah...!"
Everyone present recognized who that figure was.
One of the Seven Seats, Ruura of Love.
It was an avatar representing her will.
The first words spoken by Ruura's avatar, wrapped in the goddess's holiness, were these:
-Ah, how annoying.
"......!"
"Go-Goddess?"
At the irritable remark so far from holiness, the Pope and cardinals' expressions momentarily went blank.
-I put so much effort into this child! Those two bastards dared to team up and make me look like a fool! Annoying! Infuriating!
"......"
The only ones maintaining composure at Ruura's childish outburst were Rudian, who already knew her personality, and Yev, who didn't care what happened in worldly affairs.
Rudian pressed his forehead and spoke to Ruura's avatar.
"Please stop making remarks that will shatter the believers' faith."
-Huh? This is my original personality though? The kids all know.
"That was hundreds of years ago. Those people are all dead and working in your temple in the heavenly realm now, aren't they?"
-Huh? Is, is that so?
"......"
"......"
It was a passage that showed how twisted the sense of time between gods and humans was.
'Actually, even if they didn't know Ruura's personality, looking at Britian would give them a clear estimate.'
Having been in contact with Ruura for hundreds of years with the title of virtually the goddess's first servant, it was inevitable that Britian's tendencies would come to resemble Ruura's.
It's not like the scriptures would openly write that the goddess had such a personality.
Looking at the leadership's reaction, it seemed this was their first time facing Ruura directly.
Well, if they weren't going to convert, they'd have to get used to it somehow.
-An-anyway! Ahem!
Ruura cleared her throat lightly and finally assumed a serious atmosphere.
-North and Garganta have begun excessive intervention in the earthly realm. They're openly creating servants imbued with their divinity on earth, violating heavenly law.
Actually, that intervention had started long ago, but seeing that Ruura, who had some interest in the earthly realm, was only now reacting showed how much effort North and Garganta had put into deceiving the gods' eyes.
"So you came out to request my help?"
-That's right, well.
The sight of a god requesting help from a human while showing no particular shame.
Ruura was virtually the only one among the Seven Seats who showed such anti-authoritarian behavior.
-Honestly, the situation is quite serious. What injured this child wasn't simply those bastards' servant.
"That would be the case. Britian is the maximum fighting power that can be created through loopholes unless a god directly possesses someone."
The trick of injecting divine power over a very long time to slowly cross the singularity and convert it to divinity.
-The identity of those who attacked this child is....
"Gods. Mid and lower-tier gods from the pantheon under North and Garganta."
-Correct.
Gods who received compensation directly possessing human bodies to briefly operate on earth.
It was a different kind of loophole from Ruura's method, but also a way to barely avoid the constraints of causality.
'The efficiency is terrible, but the performance is certain. There aren't many ways for gods to defeat humans.'
The fact that they inflicted serious injuries on Britian and withdrew was likely not because they didn't finish the job, but because they couldn't.
They would have consumed all their inherent causality in a single battle.
Ruura spoke to Rudian with subtle expectation.
-There aren't many forces on earth that can face those bastards. But if it's you....
"...Well."
I can solve it somehow.
That's why I came here in the first place.
But that didn't mean I could miss this golden opportunity to fleece Ruura.
"A commission requires compensation."
-Compensation....
Ruura's expression slightly contorted.
"It's natural that there should be compensation for using high-level personnel like me, right?"
-That, that's true... but....
No matter how you looked at it, she seemed to have appeared thoughtlessly, planning to use unpaid labor.
-Isn't my supporting you enough?
Rudian's eyes lit up with interest at understanding those words.
"It's an attractive proposal, but isn't that too much of a freebie?"
-…….
"Even with Ruura's support, North and Garganta would definitely vote against, so it's meaningless whether you have it or not. I don't really care anyway."
'...What are they talking about?'
Those listening to the conversation between Ruura and Rudian couldn't understand the context and tilted their heads in confusion.
Though he said he didn't care, it was actually quite an important matter for Rudian.
Demigod.
Having gained the stat called Karma and essentially begun shedding his human shell, Rudian gradually drew closer to godhood over time.
But the problem was that, like in Celestial's case in the past, the heavenly realm absolutely did not look kindly upon humans ascending to godhood.
Ruura was telling such a Rudian that if he became a god later, she would support and embrace him.
'I have no intention of that anyway, and you're trying to settle with a postpayment?'
Seeing Rudian's eyes narrow slightly, Ruura frantically waved her hands and shouted.
-Then, should I use my power to adjust your fate a bit?
"...? What does that mean?"
'Adjust fate?'
Rudian's fate was already beyond the level that others could interfere with.
Even if it were one of the Seven Seats, unless it was within their domain of authority... wait?
-There's tremendous difficulty intertwined in your fate, and it's gotten much worse recently too. If I use my power, I can adjust it to some degree. Of course, complete offsetting would be difficult, but....
...Chill!
-Do you like harems? Should I make it into a harmonious harem where everyone gets along?
"......"
Of course, as a healthy man, I couldn't say I wasn't attracted to that proposal... but if even Seven Seats Ruura said complete offsetting would be difficult....
"It's, it's fine."
-...It's fine?
"I believe in pioneering fate myself...."
Though he said this, he couldn't stop the cold sweat flowing down his back.
But even so, involving divine power to twist fate was something that shouldn't be done.
He knew that an uncontrollable backlash would surely come later.
-Ugh, uugh... Then I have nothing to give.
Ruura stomped her feet and made a tearful face.
At the same time, tremendous killing intent from the Pope and cardinals behind him began stabbing his back.
He could drag this out longer to fleece Ruura's backbone, but then Luuren might turn into an enemy of the Morian Empire as soon as everything was over.
"Just promise me three things."
-What are they? Tell me.
From Ruura's perspective, conditions that wouldn't be particularly problematic flowed from Rudian's mouth.
Of course, the guys below would suffer quite a bit....
-Hmm, hmm....
"How about it?"
-Well, it's not bad!
Rudian's conditions were three things.
First, to establish an absolute non-aggression treaty between nations in the goddess's name (indefinite).
Second, to mobilize all of Luuren's capabilities to recover the Death king holy relic.
Finally, to support Rudian in any situation when issues regarding him arise at future Seven Seats meetings.
Having prepared for tremendous losses, when the conditions turned out to be unexpectedly modest, Ruura sighed in relief and extended her pinky finger.
-Then the contract is established?
"Yes, I'll resolve it cleanly. Hehehe...."
Of course, there were 'minor' details like transferring one of Luuren's sacred relics to the Morian Empire as a token when establishing the non-aggression treaty, or how the Seven Seats meetings would become chaotic later when the Death King's cult was established on earth... But Rudian didn't bother mentioning those facts.
The goddess had already given permission, so what could the subordinates do about transferring one sacred relic?
-Britian will wake up in about a week. However, even when she wakes up, she won't be able to use her power for a while, so you guys take good care of her.
"Do-don't worry about that, Goddess! We will carry out the holy mission with our lives!"
The Pope pressed his forehead to the floor and shouted solemnly.
-Yeah, yeah. Then I'm going.
Ruura, who seemed somewhat tired, yawned and waved her hand as she disappeared.
"......"
"......"
Having witnessed the great criminal who dared to 'negotiate' with the goddess, the Pope and cardinals began glaring at Rudian with uncomfortable gazes.
"......"
If Gray had been there, the atmosphere was bad enough that he would have interjected with 'What are you going to do about this messed up atmosphere?'
Rudian quietly averted their gazes.
***
"Luuren...."
The two women who had finished training at the Hall of Heroes and arrived at the Great Forest mulled over the message that had reached them while looking toward the southeast where Luuren was located.
"How did he end up there again, really...."
The orange-haired girl, Rebecca, sighed and cast a slightly resentful glance toward her childhood friend who was running around everywhere.
An emerald-like green-haired woman picked up on Rebecca's lament.
"I feel an ominous premonition. Rudian will probably have to prepare for considerable fierce battle."
"Then we should go help him!"
Her hair color, which had been lustrous blonde, had changed to green when she fully inherited the Seven-Colored World.
Of course, it was proof that her power had reached completion, but she couldn't help being concerned about how she would appear to the other person with her suddenly changed appearance.
"Let's go, Maria. To help Rudian!"
"Yes... A day should be enough."
The two women who had achieved their complete goals at the Hall of Heroes began moving toward Luuren where Rudian was.