The Great Angel Garenmoon was kneeling in front of Yuma.
“You can bring as many people as you want.”
Garenmoon explained to Yuma in a submissive tone.
“As long as it’s not more than a thousand, it’s acceptable.”
“Got it.”
Yuma had no intention of bringing a thousand people anyway. Since this was the first time, he was thinking of moving with about a hundred.
He had actually narrowed it down to exactly 100.
Yuma sent a servant to relay the return order to Cloney, who was at the Scarlet Magic Tower.
He planned to set off as soon as Cloney came back.
*
In front of the royal palace, a group of 100 people had gathered.
At the forefront were Bell and Cloney, easily noticeable.
Everyone knew that these two were subordinates of Duke Yuma, among the palace and the empire’s high-ranking officials.
The Cat-Folk swordsman Hestia looked at the former Holy Maiden Ermel next to her.
“I’ll be back. I need to keep checking on the temple construction…!”
Ermel, still at the 3rd Circle, was not yet within the criteria for entry into the Celestial Realm, which required 4th Circle or higher for mages.
Hestia thought she had whispered it quietly enough that no one would hear. However, Yuma, who was on the platform, caught her words. He paused for a brief moment and gazed intently at Hestia.
Feeling Yuma’s gaze, Hestia quickly raised her head and swallowed hard.
That look definitely indicated he knew something.
Yuma was already aware that the empire’s temple, originally built to honor God Incrinew, had undergone some changes. He knew that Hestia and Ermel were constructing some peculiar temple for him.
After all, that land belonged to him.
It was territory granted to him by Princess Brigitte of the Astes Empire.
The chief architect of the God of War’s Temple, Rephel, who had questioned the strange construction decisions made by Hestia and ex-Holy Maiden Ermel, rushed to Yuma for guidance when Hestia absurdly tried to appoint him as the project manager.
If they had mentioned demolishing the original temple structures and starting from scratch, Yuma would likely have told them not to waste their time. However, since it seemed they just wanted to erect another statue in place, he let it slide.
It was quite curious to see Hestia and the ex-Holy Maiden Ermel have fun together, and he didn’t want to disrupt their enthusiastic play. Of course, if Yuma were to visit the construction site of the God of War’s Temple, there was a high chance he would demand them to stop everything immediately.
If Duke Yuma were to see the scene, he would likely immediately tell everyone to stop what they are doing.
The overall supervisor, Repil, and all the workers had suddenly become extremely motivated.
During the demon world invasion, the workers had witnessed Yuma beating the Demon King and just days ago had seen the mysterious being Barbatos getting dealt with. Now, they were starting to take Ermel and Hestia’s words quite seriously…!
That the War God exists like this and must be worshipped.
Ermel tightly grasped Hestia’s hands and said.
“Don’t worry! We’ll complete this safely!”
Hestia raised her finger and placed it on her lips.
“Yo, that’s too loud! Shh—!”
“Shh….”
At Hestia’s words, Ermel hurriedly covered her own mouth.
Yuma pretended not to notice all of this. He was simply determined to finish his schedule in the Divine Realm and eventually visit that temple.
This time, the Heavenly Apostle Garenmoon had descended in a carriage.
A huge carriage pulled by pure white horses.
Three carriages in total.
A number capable of carrying everyone.
The three carriages, filled with people, soared into the sky simultaneously.
Whee—!
The Heavenly Eye opened wide.
The three carriages approached very close to the Heavenly Eye. Then, intense light burst forth from the eyeball-shaped Heavenly Eye.
The eyeball-shaped form completely vanished, and a white light that resembled a mirror flickered.
The entrance.
Like a door activated by radiant light, the carriages smoothly entered through.
*
Divine Realm.
Once again, the gods gathered in the Hall of Gods. However, this time, the gods assembled were not the Eight Deities.
They were the first and second-tier gods, who could be said to be of a lower hierarchy.
There were over thirty gods gathered in this place.
The reason they had gathered was simple. The Eight Deities had brought up the idea of cleaning up the Intermediate World.
A meeting to discuss that was necessary.
“Is this really a topic worth discussing at length?”
The god with enormous red bat-like wings, Arkamtun, the God of All Misfortunes, continued speaking.
“The cycle of the Intermediate World is something we have to deal with eventually. It’s just that it has been pushed forward a bit, and now there’s one more human we absolutely have to kill, but I don’t think anything has really changed for us.”
“It seems like nothing has changed in our affairs other than the fact that we now have one more human we must kill.”
At Akamtun’s words, most of the gods slowly nodded their heads.
After all, it was something that had to be done eventually. There wasn’t a flaw in that statement.
However, there were certainly gods who were reluctant about this situation.
They were gods actively supporting a certain nation on one of the continents. As that country’s prestige increased, the standing of the gods supporting it also slowly grew. They were gods who had been steadily building their divine status using the laws of the Divine Realm.
For them, it was not a pleasant thing for the nation they were nurturing to become a sacrificial lamb in the continent’s cycle.
It could also mean the potential loss of the source of divine power they had easily been draining.
Which country on which continent would be destroyed?
Or should they completely submerge the entire continent and save the rest?
“Shouldn’t the Elves be replaced this time as well?”
Said a huge tiger resembling a mountain god, as a cadaverous figure that looked like a withered black corpse opened its mouth.
“Why are you trying to kill off the superior beings when there are so many inferior ones…?”
The tiger twisted its lips in a grin.
“The ones you tend to aren’t the white-eared ones but the Dark Elves. Well, I suppose the Dark Elves do need to be replaced as well.”
“…Do you wish to die?”
The gods continued to debate.
In a form strikingly similar to the selfishness of humans, they fiercely argued over their own interests and losses.
How to eradicate half of them for the cycle of the Intermediate World.
It was clear that the discussion would be lengthy.
*
Duke Yuma looked at the Celestial Sovereign, Arten, who stood before him in an ambiguous posture.
“Uh, nice to meet you. I am Arten, the lord of this Celestial Realm.”
“Duke Yuma.”
Yuma didn’t feel the need to mention his rank from the Empire.
After all, this was a Celestial Realm where such things held no meaning.
“I assume what I sent through Garenmoon has been executed properly?”
At Yuma’s words, Arten nodded vigorously.
“Yes, aside from the uncontrollable monsters of this Celestial Realm, none of them can kill you or your companions.”
Constraints.
Yuma hoped that Arten would enforce those constraints.
After all, those who had tried to abduct him and Bell to make them into pawns were lurking around. It was essential to have such constraints in place to be in a place where those kinds of beings existed.
It was essential to impose a restriction.
“Hahaha, since I’ve made a wrong judgment, it’s only natural to impose such limitations! Argh!”
Arten said this with a bright smile. That was just his opinion, and anyone could see it was more of a bitter smile.
Yuma looked at Arten with the [Search Eye].
[Lv.652] Arten
Race: Celestial Sovereign – Celestial Beings
Rank: God
Info: Has placed a ‘mysterious’ restriction on himself limited to the human ‘Yuma’ and his party. As a Celestial Sovereign, he imposed ‘mysterious’ restrictions on all Celestial Beings.
Yuma realized that the restriction had been properly applied just by looking at the state window displayed by Search Eye.
Yuma nodded. That would do.
“We won’t need to have pointless conflicts.”
He had achieved the maximum stability possible in the current situation.
At Yuma’s words, Arten and the other Celestial leaders flinched.
They had all witnessed Yuma confronting the evil god Barbatos.
“I’d like a guide. To the hunting grounds and training area.”
At Yuma’s words, Arten glanced to the side.
Standing there was Valkyrie Brenhild. A Valkyrie with long white hair tied in a ponytail.
“Please guide us, Brenhild.”
Brenhild approached Yuma with a faint smile.
Then, without hesitation, she knelt down.
“I have the honor of meeting the magnificent being that God has created.”
Arten briefly straightened himself at the sight.
‘…Should I have knelt too?’
Arten thought seriously for a moment about his unwavering surrender with his right arm. In the end, he didn’t kneel. After all, he was the master of this celestial realm.
Yuma and 100 members of the Astes Empire all followed behind Valkyrie Brenhild.
Countless Celestial Beings looked at the members of the Empire. While most watched with dry gazes, young Celestial children stared wide-eyed with curiosity.
“First, there is the hunting ground on this outer path, where many can enter together.”
On the surface, it looked no different from Earth’s grasslands. Beyond that grassland, there was an opaque space. Brenhild approached that space.
“Let me show you this place first.”
Everyone followed Brenhild down the side path.
The first day of life in the celestial realm had begun.
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