Volume 1 - CH 5

Act 1 – 5 : Goddess of Wisdom and Victory, Rena and God of Craftmanship, Heibos

The Heavenly Palace, home to the Gods of Light, was located on top of the highest mountain in the world.

Elios.

At the bottom layer of that palace was Heibos’s abode. Only Heibos felt he was the most suited to live in the lowest layer of the Heavenly Palace.

The Gods of Light rarely visited that dim place.

But something had changed recently.

「Smithing God Heibos!! 」

An angry voice reverberated through his house.

Heibos was hailed as the God of Treasures and Smithing by humans. He was also known as the progenitor of all dwarfs. His abode was also his workshop.

Heibos went out to welcome the rarely seen visitor.

「What’s the matter, Arlena? How rare of you to come on your own instead of using a messenger.」

When Heibos turned around, Rena stood behind him.

The Goddess of Wisdom and Victory, Arlena, otherwise known as Rena, was also a member of the God of Light faction.

Rena sent an extremely resentful gaze towards Heibos.

Being hailed as one of the three most beautiful goddesses, she was still beautiful even when angry.

It had been a long time since Heibos last met Rena face to face.

She had always used her messenger whenever she needed something from him before. That included the time when she asked Heibos to create those auxiliary tools for summoning arts so she could summon a Hero from the Spirit World.

After he had completed it, she didn’t even come to see him.

And yet, today she came by herself. Even Heibos was wondering what matter could be so important that it forced her to visit Heibos by herself.

「Don’t give me that “What’s the matter”! 」

Rena was enraged.

「Heibos! You taught Demon King Modes the Hero summoning arts! 」

Rena pressured Heibos.

Despite belonging to the God of Darkness faction, Modes was the one and only friend Heibos had. There was no reason for Heibos not to tell Modes about the danger that was aiming for his life.

「Yes, it’s as you say, Rena. He asked me about that matter, after all.」

Heibos knew all he needed to know about the summoning arts. He learned during the creation of summoning art’s auxiliary tools.

When Modes was cornered by the Hero, he sent a messenger to Heibos requesting help. Heibos then told Modes everything about the summoning arts and the Hero.

「Modes is a God of Darkness! And you’re a God of Light! Why, why did you become my stumbling block?! Those Gods of Darkness should just follow us! If they refuse to obey us, then they’re our enemy! 」

Rena glared fiercely at Heibos.

The Gods of Light were the lineage of those who inherited the blood of the Sun Goddess, Mina.

By bloodline, Heibos was also one of the Gods of Light.

「The Gods of Darkness who refuse to obey us are enemies… I see. I wonder since when things turned this way.」

Heibos had a lonely look as he thought about how things had changed.

The skies were under the total control of the Gods of Light.

It all began when the God of Light faction successfully expelled Modes from Elios. Then, they began expelling one God of Darkness after another with newfound vigor.

Rena belonged to the group who actively expelled the Gods of Darkness.

Compared to the Gods of Light, the Gods of Darkness were lacking in terms of unity.

Regardless of their different opinions, the Gods of Lights were united under one banner. The Gods of Darkness, on the other hand, were distant from one another. Some were even downright hostile to those of their faction.

Their lack of unity was why they were unable to resist when the Gods of Light started expelling them from Elios.

Heibos didn’t stop any of that from happening.

He felt they deserved it. Those Gods of Darkness betrayed Modes by colluding with the Gods of Light and then they were stabbed in the back. In Heibos’s eyes, they were reaping what they had sown.

The Gods of Darkness that were allowed to remain in Elios were all under the Gods of Light’s control.

「My bad, Rena. But no matter what you say, it won’t change the fact that Modes is my friend. I have no intention of severing my precious friendship with him.」

Rena became even more enraged after hearing Heibos’s declaration.

「If yes, what will you do, Rena? Are you going to kill me? 」

Rena was speechless with Heibos’s words.

She could easily kill Heibos with her power, but Heibos didn’t fear her strength at all.

「I… Cannot kill you. You’re far too important to Elios.」

Rena sounded quite put out that she couldn’t kill him.

Heibos’s craftmanship skill was far superior to the skill of the other Gods. Losing Heibos would deal a critical blow to Elios’s power. Rena couldn’t kill him.

「But Rena… I keep wondering… Why are you so hostile to Modes?」

Heibos knew all along that the reason was Mona.

But he wanted to hear from Rena herself.

(How did she even know about Mona? Modes never announced her existence. And how did she know I told Modes about the summoning? Did she plant a spy among Modes’s subordinates?)

Heibos knew about what happened in Nargol because he maintained a private communication line with Modes.

But he had no idea how Rena acquired her information.

「What are you talking about, Heibos? Can you please be more specific about it?」

Rena feigned ignorance and turned around.

「Well, I don’t mind it even if you pretend you don’t know. Is that all you want to tell me, Rena?」

「Yeah, that’s all I wanted to say. I guess it’s time for me to go back, Heibos. But let me give you a warning: I’ll always know whenever you try to help Modes.」

「Come to think of it… Can I ask you a question, Rena?」

Heibos’s question stopped Rena before she left his abode.

「What is it?」

「I’m just curious about what you plan on doing after that Hero defeats Modes.」

Heibos had never met Rena’s Hero but he heard rumors about him. Especially the rumors about how his strength was comparable to Oudis.

It meant the Hero was an extremely dangerous variable.

Should he be welcomed as one of Elios’s gods?

That wasn’t easy to achieve since it required the approval of the other gods.

「Since he came from the Spirit World, isn’t it just natural to send him back to where he came from?」

Heibos was even more puzzled after hearing that.

As far as he knew, the summoning arts enabled the summoner to bring someone to their world. It could even send the summoned back from the world they were from.

But sending them back to their original world was close to impossible. They could accidentally arrive in another world, one different from their original world.

Or, worse case scenario, they could be trapped in the dimensional rift forever.

In Heibos’s opinion, you couldn’t call that “returning them to their world”.

「Since they came from another world, I just need to send them back to “another world” after they serve their purpose.」

「Did you tell the Hero and his companions about this?」

「Of course. I told them that it was “possible” to send them back to their world almost at the same time that they were summoned to this world.」

Heibos smiled wryly once he heard those words.

Sure enough, it was “possible” to send them back to their original world at the same time as when they were summoned to this world.

But it’s only a possibility, it shouldn’t be tested since it was too dangerous.

Even if it could be tested, how would she test it? Since there was no way to prove it, it shouldn’t be tested.

Heibos decided not to ask Rena about it.

「If you don’t have any other questions, I’ll be taking my leave, Heibos.」

Rena turned around to leave.

「Humph, so that Hero is just a disposable pawn. Despite his ugly appearance, Modes isn’t as despicable as you, Elios’s gods.」

He muttered as soon as Rena’s figure vanished from his line of sight.

Heibos knew all along that Rena played a major role in the plan to banish Modes. Modes might be a pervert, but he was a kind hearted guy. There was no need to compare his kindness with the other gods.

Heibos’s attention then focused on the letter placed on top of his work desk.

It was a thank-you letter from Modes.

What was written in there were Modes’s words of gratitude for his help in repelling the Hero.

「What a kind and honest fella.」

Heibos spontaneously smiles as he read the letter.

Although Heibos crafted numerous items during his life, Modes was the only one to send a thank-you letter for Heibos’s work.

「The Hero and his party should thank Modes too. I wonder what will happen to them if they managed to kill Modes?」

Heibos recalled how Rena hinted about disposing of the Hero and his party after they were done with their job. But that plan had already failed since Modes was still alive and kicking.

As long as the Hero and his comrades still had a job to do, Rena wouldn’t be able to dispose of them.

And Heibos knew very well she couldn’t summon another Hero from the Spirit World.

First, because the other Gods of Light decided to ban that summoning art after they witnessed the Hero’s power.

They were afraid of that power being used against them someday.

Second, using that summoning art required various rare materials as catalysts for the summoning. Heibos knew very well how hard it was for Modes and Rena to gather those materials.

Thus, both Rena and Modes shouldn’t be able to use that art anymore. Therefore, a third summoning was unlikely to happen.

Heibos recalled the name of the man summoned by Modes.

Kuroki.

「Hm… I wonder what he will do after this.」