The King looks at me with a face already set in resolve.
"Good, first the information about the gods, then the meeting. But this might take a while to tell," the King says.
"That's fine, just go ahead," I reply. The others merely nod in agreement.
"Good, then let's begin... The gods are powerful beings. Originally there were seven of them, but recently there has been a rumor that one is gone: Hermes, by far the most dangerous after Galaktika, whom we will come to at the very end. Let's start with the weakest of the gods..." He pauses briefly to see if we want to respond. It's interesting. Six gods, previously seven. Hermes left, at least that's what most say.
"...The weakest of all is definitely Thor, the god who can manipulate the weather. His nickname is also the God of Lightning. In terms of parameters, he is the weakest. His power lies at 1,950,500. Oh, and so you don't wonder: the gods only have this one value and no table like us humans, as they don't need it." The King stops again briefly. I look at him with tense eyes, but one thing is strange. He said "in terms of parameters." Does that mean there are even weaker or more harmless gods with higher parameters? If that's the case, it's an important realization for me. The King takes a deep breath to continue.
"Good, then we come to the second place of the weakest. We're going from bottom to top, just so you know. Kronus would be the next with a power of 1,990,000. He is also called the Demon God, as the demons trust him most. He is likely responsible for all of this. Lower in parameters, but a bit higher in rank. But without things like demon control, he would be powerless. So he's probably weaker than Thor if you handle it well." I go through everything in my mind again, while the others just watch tensely. For now, they are all weaker than me, at least in parameters. But I am sure it won't stay that way. "This feels like an info-dump in a game or a manga or anime," Milo thinks with a tense face. The King looks at us all again to see if we want anything.
"So, now we arrive at an even stronger god: Mira, a goddess with 2,050,000. In the hierarchy, she is the most important but weakest. She wouldn't even fight the archenemy of the gods, for she stands for peace and love. Well, her divine name is the Goddess of Love, after all. In any case, she could kill everyone here, but she wouldn't do it because it goes against her principles." This goddess is the most interesting. If I get her on my side, I'll only have five gods as enemies, although I suspect Freyja is manipulating everyone. I look at the King briefly and then away out of a window, where the sky is clearly visible. I will simply bring Mira to my side with everything I can.
"Good, let's move to the fourth god, who is the last one Min would have a chance against alone, even if it's nearly zero. I'm talking about Ignis, the Goddess of Flames. Her power lies at 2,100,000, which is already in an abnormal range. The only problem with her is: she can create clones with half her power, so 1,050,000. But even that would be sheer suicide for humans. Well, there's not much more to say about her." A god who could fight our group alone fairly. An interesting ability, but this handicap would be her undoing.
"Good, let's come to her, the one also called the author of this world. Yes, she is only the second strongest, regardless of whether you take parameters, titles, or abilities. You always get this result: Freyja, the author and ruler of this world. Her power lies at 3,040,600, which is impressive. Plus her ability to rewrite everything at her whim makes her a dangerous opponent." A goddess who can do anything, rewrite the world's history and such. But if she can do that, why doesn't she just erase me or make me weaker? That's strange somehow. But it's obvious the gods are up to something. My face becomes more thoughtful. Usually, I have no problem thinking, but this time it's a bit different.
"Good, let's come to the one I mentioned earlier. I mean Galaktika. His power is beyond being and non-being. But why it is so: he is also called the Universe God. He is said to have created the galaxy. His power is 42,001,500. This makes him fourteen times as strong as Freyja. But his personality is strange. No, Min, your personality is exactly the same. They say about him that he wants peace and is a quiet yet strong god." With these words, the King finishes the information on the gods. But Galaktika is supposed to be similar to me. What exactly does the King mean by that? But asking now would surely be weird. I'll leave it at that for now.
"So, now the demon-fighting discussion can begin," I say. The King nods in agreement. We talk for a full two hours just about tactics on how to defeat the demons. And with as much as I know about demons now, I already have a plan for the Demon King. But whether it will work out, I can only see later when we stand face to face and it's time for the final battle against the demons. We also talk about alternative possibilities to wipe out the demons quickly. But there would only be Erasure to do it without major damage. But I still need that to destroy the gods. Especially when there are so many and such strong gods. Of course, as I say it, I immediately tried to erase the existence of the gods, but it doesn't work. I guess I can only erase one god. Unfortunately, it does me no good to erase one or two now. We slowly finish the war meeting.
"You are the entire hope of humanity. Please save us from the gods and demons." The King sounds hopeful. We nod briefly and start to leave.
"Wait a moment! Min, do you have a way to transmit a means of communication to the whole world?" The King sounds as if he has a plan to prevent panic, probably also with the hope that the countries will help us. I just nod and create a giant glass sphere in front of me, with a kind of microphone in front of it. His face is already being transmitted everywhere in the world, in every city, every country, every village. I nod to him to begin. He takes a short breath.
"Good, then I'll start. Hello people of all the world, I am the King of the land of Limbora. I must tell you something: the demons will attack in three more countries. For my land was recently attacked by 100,000 demons and a demon general. The probability that the Demon King will be there in the fourth wave of attacks is high—at least that's what our group of hope or their leader Min predicts. So please try everything not to fall into panic. Supposedly, the next attack site is Janobu, the capital of Manduro. So please, everyone in Manduro, help this group!" The King speaks with a voice one is not used to from him. I end the magic. The King looks at us.
"When you set out tomorrow, remember: come back without damage or losses," the King says with final words. We just nod and then walk out of the castle. We spend the entire day walking through the city and seeing how everything is being rebuilt. Then, around noon, we go to the camping site where that restaurant still stands, only now built as a permanent building. Only the roof is missing from the house where the restaurant is inside. I go to the owner, as I used to come here frequently when we returned, mostly at noon.
"Hey, why are you building the restaurant here instead of in the city?"
"Oh, people come and go here, so good—maybe even better—income should be generated here," the restaurant owner replies to my question. I nod understandingly.
"Okay, then a table for six people," I say. He points to a table with six seats. I look there and then go with the others to the table, sit down, and take a menu where everything is listed. We order something. After a few minutes, the food arrives for all of us. We finish eating in a relaxed way and chat a little more. After the meal, we go home and just relax a bit. We play cards, a board game from Milo's homeland, and then eat dinner. Afterward, we go straight to sleep since we want to leave early tomorrow to arrive in Janobu in time. After all, two out of five days have already passed, at least considering the theory of when it should be. The next demon wave is also supposed to be stronger. That means I have to get stronger too, as do the others. We go to sleep.
The next day we get up quite early. While I get up two hours early to get food, drink, and the rest, the others only get up now. I have already prepared food for everyone. This is necessary before we set out.
"Are you ready to depart?" We've finished eating; everyone nods in agreement. We gather in a small circle so I can at least teleport us to Manduro, so we can get to the capital from there faster. The violet light envelops us all in a circle. We slowly dissolve. The entire entrance area is filled with light. A few seconds later, we appear in Kimura in a secluded alley. We walk straight out of the alley.
"Min, since when can you teleport?" Kira asks me as if she had never seen it before. Well, it might be because I've only been able to do it for about a year.
"I've been able to do it for a year," I answer her question. We come out of the alley. People are walking through the city with the information in their heads that the King gave them. We first look around and see the mayor's building where the mayor is inside. We walk along the streets to get to the building. A white-grey house stretches out before us.
"Luna, I'm only seeing now that your hair and eyes are staying like this," I say with a fascinated voice. Luna brushes lightly through her half-snowy white and half-flame red hair. Her eyes have stayed too, in a mixture of dark blue, gray, and white. Additionally, small star-like points sparkle in her eyes. It's been like that since she used her attack.
"Wait a moment, Luna. A status sometimes only updates very late," I say with the thought that it's strange she used such a powerful attack and killed so many enemies but has hardly gained any power.
"What do you mean by that?" Luna asks when she hears me.
"It could be that you've become a lot stronger." I say no more and open Luna's status. In her status, it says: "2 hours until update." We all look at it. I close the status again.
"Good, then in two hours," I say. We go into the city hall, as it's apparently called here. The mayor is already expecting us. We are startled as we didn't expect him to be standing right at the door.
"Welcome, Group of Hope," says the mayor with a rough and friendly voice. He is a somewhat younger man, about twenty years old, who has only been mayor here for a few days. His sister stands behind a pillar. She is a bit younger than him, about fourteen years old. Their father is said to have died three weeks ago when the city was attacked by orcs. He died at only forty, and their mother already at the birth of his little sister.
"Come on in first." The mayor looks at us and invites us in with a friendly gesture. We go in. His little sister leads us through the city hall, which is built like a small castle. There are four bedrooms now, two of them guest rooms, a kitchen, a living room, an office, and a meeting room. We arrive at the meeting room, which is a giant hall with over twenty chairs around a long table slightly rounded at the corners. The mayor is already waiting at the end of the table.
"How do you like the house?" His voice is slightly different than before, as if something happened. We sit down.
"Yes, it's really beautiful," Luna says with a polite voice. This is the first time you notice she's a princess. Only I wonder why he wants to talk to us.
"Good, actually I want to show you the way to the capital—the fastest way, of course," he says this time again with the friendly voice like at the beginning. He takes a map from the box behind him hanging on the wall. He points with his fingers to a path about a hundred kilometers long that goes through a mountain range, a body of water, and two forests. It's supposed to be a dangerous path, but that's basically irrelevant since we are well-equipped against everything anyway.
"Good, thank you for your support, we appreciate it very much," Luna says with an even more polite and formal voice, the likes of which we have never heard. We go out of the city hall and toward the city exit. We pass the 24/7 store, which is just about to close. I stop briefly.
"You guys go on to the exit, I'll get something," I say to them while I go into the store. I am greeted nicely again. I get a bit more to eat, drink, and of course, some tasty snacks, pay, and go straight back out. We meet again at the exit of the city. First comes a small forest, which isn't supposed to be threatening, though at the end, some stronger monsters might appear. We head toward the forest where adventurers are just coming from. They look slightly exhausted, apparently a weaker group. We arrive in the forest, but instead of monsters coming toward us, they are hiding. However, not from us, but from another, stronger monster—maybe even stronger than a demon. We should get out of here quickly. I'm just about to say these words when fire flies toward us. I quickly create a barrier to deflect the attack. A roar echoes through the forest; it sounds like a dragon. I react immediately and increase everyone's speed.
"Run! It's a dragon!" I shout. We run at a speed equal to the speed of light. The dragon stands behind us. We slowly arrive at the end. I come out first, the others close behind me. We look back where the dragon is breathing fire into the air. I look at the others, who came out of the forest unscathed.
"Good thing we all got out safely. We wouldn't have had a real chance against that beast," I say, breathing heavily. The others sit down briefly to circulate their breathing.
"MIN!!!!" A gentle, almost familiar voice calls for me from the forest.
"That voice... never!"