"Father, what are you talking about? Isn't it normal for kids to be curious about legends?" Leo continued to play dumb.
Even though he felt this kind of talk was really awkward himself, it wasn't exactly difficult. Who hadn't been a kid? Just act like he was back in the day, it didn't really count as acting.
Raphael sighed, having come this far, how could he not understand what these two brats were trying to fish for.
Thinking about it, telling them seemed like it wouldn't be a problem anyway. Could these two brats possibly break the natural laws from the dawn of time?
"No need to pretend anymore. I'm not used to hearing you talk like this. Speak, what do you want to hear about?"
Both Leo and Michael widened their eyes in surprise. They even wondered if this was the real Raphael or not. When did the good-for-nothing old man in their impression become so easy to talk to?
"You serious?" Leo, finding it a bit hard to accept, asked back.
"Hmph, of course I'm serious. I'm not so bad that I'd go back on my word right after saying it."
Raphael frowned, annoyed at being doubted. He, a proper gentleman, how could he do something like going back on his word? If he were really that kind of person, he would have thrown Leo away a long time ago.
"Great, I'm not asking for anything too difficult either. I just want to know how an ordinary person becomes a contractor... If there's anything related to gods I want to know that too, and also the era when contractors first appeared."
Having gotten the answer, Leo of course wouldn't stand on ceremony. He asked everything he thought was necessary for his current situation.
Michael watching from the side was also incredibly excited. Telling an ordinary person about this might not solve anything, but who knows, the two of them might actually create a miracle.
One guy who looked exactly like a main character, the heaven-chosen one in both literary and film works. The other was a genie, even if useless, a god was still a god.
Raphael rubbed his chin thinking about where to start. As a former high-ranking noble, he had memorized a lot of things. The history of this world was long, if he told it all, who knew when he'd finish.
Thinking it over, it's better to just summarize a few important points. As for telling all that other stuff, it's useless anyway, he's too lazy to talk.
"First, let's talk about history. Stuff like changing dynasties and all that is useless to you guys so I won't mention it. As for the first contractors, according to ancient records, it was quite simple. On the day human civilization began to form its foundation, the heavens bestowed upon us knowledge related to contractors. At that time, everyone knew, as long as you were a person, you received a message from heaven."
Heaven? What is this implying? Does it mean the gods, or this world itself, or something else? No way to guess.
"What's this 'heaven' you're talking about? Is it a god?" Michael wondered.
Raphael showed a hint of awkwardness that was hard to detect. He himself only read ancient records, he wasn't from that era, so how could he understand clearly?
"Not clear. A lot of records are missing but it's probably not like regular gods." he answered evasively.
Leo and Michael glanced at each other, without saying anything they understood that Raphael didn't know. This wasn't strange. After all, this world's history was excessively ancient.
"Let's not talk about this anymore, let's talk about the gods. Gods truly existed on this continent. At least according to the most recent records from tens of thousands of years ago, the exact time isn't clear, this is just an estimate."
"What do you mean? Why is the time so vague?"
Leo was only questioning the vagueness of the time, not doubting the existence of gods. After all, he had a god right next to him. Michael was even a god from another world.
Seeing Leo wasn't that surprised to learn gods truly existed, Raphael glanced at Michael a little. He remembered their first meeting, Michael seemed to have called himself a god. But this god was so different from the gods he knew. Having no real power at all, can you still be called a god?
"To be more precise, they suddenly disappeared for a long time. After that, with no trace of the gods, everyone thought they had died?"
"This is a big deal. How can you handle it so carelessly?" Michael asked suspiciously.
He felt these gods were absolutely not some weaklings like him but real gods with actual power. But for such powerful beings to suddenly disappear was really incredibly suspicious.
"Matters of gods, how could ordinary people understand? From what I know, that era had quite a few gods and they even seemed to have conflicts among themselves. Maybe they dragged each other to some remote place to fight and all died together, huh? Who knows? It's been tens of thousands of years anyway."
Regarding this issue, Raphael back in the day was also quite curious and went to ask Gabriel and the older members of The Great Sun temple. But they didn't know anything more than he did.
The ones who knew the most were naturally the Phoenix clan because they were descendants of the Sun God. But the only thing they knew was that the Sun God had died. As for the divine artifact they protected, he had seen it too. It wasn't of any use because except for the Sun God, no one could use it.
"What's the point of you guys asking about this? Might as well talk about something more practical, like how to become a contractor for example. To become a contractor, you probably also know you need to be at least twelve years old, huh."
Michael and Leo nodded. This was the only thing that wasn't actually empty information that they had managed to ask the villagers.
"Why twelve years old?" Michael asked.
He lived in a modern society, had seen many special age milestones for humans. Like six years old being the age to officially start compulsory education. Eighteen years old being the age considered adulthood, having to bear criminal responsibility.
But twelve years old, why? Could it be because there are twelve months in a year? Or modeled after the twelve zodiac signs? Thinking about it, none seemed reasonable.