To Ais, Riveria Ljos Alf was a figure she could only describe as a second "mother."
Nine years ago, when Ais received her Falna and joined the Loki Familia, Loki assigned Riveria the responsibility of mentoring the overly reckless girl. Riveria handled her with boundless patience. She embraced the young Ais, who had been drowning in a lethal "isolation" after losing her parents, and raised her with genuine affection.
Meanwhile, Al Cranel represented the "ultimate ideal" in Ais's eyes.
To her, he overflowed with more talent than anyone else. The way he overcame even the most grueling hardships reminded her of the heroes in old tales. In fact, he embodied the very strength Ais sought through her own abilities.
Initially, she might have resented him out of jealousy. However, once she experienced his warmth and kindness—and once Al began protecting her, a girl who knew only how to charge forward—Ais started seeing him as a "father" figure. Or perhaps she believed that if she had an older brother, he would be exactly like Al.
Due to her unique upbringing, Ais did not understand the subtleties of romance or the delicate emotions between a man and a woman. Her only "reference" was the quiet life her father and mother shared in the past. Consequently, she didn't grasp the nature of her feelings for Al, nor the difference between them and the feelings she held for her father, her mother, or even Riveria.
Her thoughts were simple: she just wanted to be with Riveria and Al. That was the extent of it for Ais, who still possessed the heart of a child.
"Is it true that the noble lady ── Riveria Ljos Alf and that man called Al Cranel are secretly married?"
"...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Huh?"
When those words reached her, neither anger nor jealousy touched Ais's face.
── What is this? I never heard of this. A sorrowful bewilderment was all she felt.
She never suspected that the two people closest to her after her parents—the two she trusted as family—shared such a relationship.
Certainly, they were very close. As the Vice-Captain and the de facto second-in-command, they spent vast amounts of time together in both professional and private capacities. They likely spent more time with each other than they did with Ais herself. Thus, it wasn't surprising that their relationship had progressed this far without her knowing. From her perspective, Al and Riveria were an incomparable, perfect pair.
If the two had revealed their relationship to her, Ais—who often conflated her own feelings with familial love—would have congratulated them with all her heart.
The shock, however, lay in the fact that she "hadn't heard about it." These two people, who were supposedly the closest to her, had told her nothing and never consulted her.
── Why didn't you tell me?
The sensation that ambushed Ais in that moment was the same "isolation" she thought she had forgotten.
●○●○●
── Somewhere, in a sacred region.
There dwelt the God who once led the strongest Familia ever to rule Orario, the City of Heroes.
That God, who commanded a legendary group that the current Freya and Loki Familias could not match even if they united, was now moving to settle the "divine debts." These were the seeds of disaster he himself had planted in the ages preceding the current Era of Gods.
"... Heh, it's become completely tainted."
This Great God saw with his own eyes the truth behind that island dubbed a sacred zone. No trace of its former glory remained. Instead, an ominous, evil energy had spread, and malevolent curses had taken root.
Thanks to the protection of the Goddess of Wisdom, this evil was barely held in check, but it would soon reach its limit. Little time remained before the dams failed to contain the celestial "Divine Flame" that had turned into a curse itself—that sacred fire which, if released, would annihilate the Lower World in an instant.
This city, which had stagnated, decayed, and lost its sanctity, possessed not a shred of purity. This tainted celestial curse was nothing more than the "failure of the gods," the catastrophic result of omnipotent deities attempting to interfere in the affairs of the Lower World.
Even the total power of a god could not defeat the "Envoys Sent to Kill Gods" that emerged from the depths of the Dungeon—those pitch-black monsters. They might defeat ordinary monsters, but the black ones were a different story. The fire of the gods had done nothing but futilely disrupt the laws of the Lower World.
The Lower World could not be saved by the hands of the gods. Only the mortals living within it could save it.
Originally, the followers of this God and the followers of the most terrifying Goddess were supposed to achieve "world salvation" fifteen years ago by completing the Three Great Quests. Since ancient times, monsters emerging from the deep abyss in the earth caused tragedies that accumulated over three thousand years. The first step to settling those accounts was executing the Three Great Quests.
These were: the extermination of Behemoth, the Earth King; Leviathan, the Ruler of the Seas; and finally, Ziz, the One-Eyed Black Dragon. Only by breaking the spirit of those beasts, which had gnawed at the world and corrupted the land since time immemorial, would humanity enjoy true peace.
This Great God intended to deal with the perverted "Sacred Fire" after slaying the One-Eyed Black Dragon. Had things gone that way, the embers of catastrophe would have been extinguished without issue.
── But they were defeated.
The followers of the God, and the followers of the most lethal Goddess, fell before a single dragon. The covenant went unfulfilled, and the world remained unsaved.
Now, no way remained to handle this sacred disaster unless a Great God like him decided to abandon everything and use his forbidden divine power, the Arcanum, or through the sacrifice of a god who managed the Eternal Flame and could tame the tainted blaze.
"The end is drawing near....."
The Great God sighed and pulled a letter from his pocket. It was a periodic message from the God of Messages, who still communicated with him secretly even after he left Orario, keeping him informed of the city's events. The letter summarized various incidents, but two points caught his eye. First, his youngest grandson had undoubtedly become a follower of Hestia.
"Ho....."
The second point was that his eldest grandson had reached the same rank once held by the "Legendary Hero," the strongest among his former followers—Level 8.
This grandson possessed the Vessel of a Hero that made this Great God, who had seen every type of hero across three thousand years, struggle to find a comparison. His talent was supreme in the Lower World, manifesting without being hindered by the illnesses that plagued his aunt or mother, and he possessed a spiritual energy capable of warping everything toward a "better" path.
This God had seen heroes who were the pride of the Era of Gods, led by the "Legendary Hero" and the "Empress." He had seen the masters of the Golden Age, headed by the Zeus Familia and the Hera Familia. He had seen the Thor Familia, who restrained Behemoth for many years, and the Poseidon Familia, who toppled Leviathan alongside the two Great Familias. He had seen the Osiris Familia, who continued to challenge the Great Familias to spread chaos. Even the alliance of powerful Great Familias, led by the Seth Familia, possessed a strength that could not be ignored.
All those heroes of the previous generation had vanished in the wars of the Three Great Quests or in Familia disputes.
This grandson was the candidate to be the hero of the current generation, no less significant than any who came before him. Indeed, he was the child who made one feel the dawn of a new era, signaling the end of the Age of Gods. The Great God was certain that this boy was the Vessel of a Hero who would carry the next generation—the only one capable of reaching the title of "Strongest in History" and completing the "world's salvation."
Though he harbored lingering hesitation about making his grandson a mere tool for saving the world, he trusted the boy would eventually end everything with a happy conclusion for everyone. For this reason, he felt no shock, only praise and appreciation, that the boy had reached Level 8 by the age of sixteen—a territory entered by only a rare few in the three thousand years of the Era of Gods.
── However, the letter contained details that could not be overlooked.
"Hmm? Is there another page?....."
As he neared the end of the reading, he found an additional note tucked inside the envelope. Its contents were ──.
"Wow, is this real? Amazing... Congratulations! ── As expected of my grandson!!"
This lecherous God (nicknamed the "God of the Depths" due to his obsession with women) whispered to himself:
"It seems my obsession with Elf girls has proven contagious."
▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎
[100 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter]
[Read 100+ chapters ahead on Patreon: patreon.com/Raven737]