The Guild quickly reached a decision.
And that decision was relayed to Bell through Loki—along with another matter.
"Leave Ikelos's fate to me?"
The moment Bell heard this, he seriously suspected that Hermes and Loki were intentionally stirring up trouble. He even began to wonder if they already knew he'd acquired the Godslayer Development Ability.
"Hey! You two are going too far!"
Hestia was also the first to think, 'Did someone leak the secret?'
But after calming down, she realized that both she and Hephaestus would never have let it slip. So it wasn't a leak—it was just a lucky coincidence.
"Ikelos might technically be the Familia God for supporters, but he's already aligned with the Evilus. After everything he's done, sending him back to Tenkai is the Guild's job, right? Does my Bell really need to be the one to deport him?"
"Hermes, if this is what you and the Guild ultimately decided, then I don't see any point in continuing this conversation."
Hephaestus reacted immediately, backing Hestia as her expression went completely cold.
"Hey, it's not like that! Just calm down and let me explain!"
Hermes, suddenly painted as the villain, felt completely wronged.
Sure, he often did shady things behind the scenes that weren't exactly public knowledge, but he wasn't the kind of person who'd frame Bell.
And now that he knew Bell was the hope of both the world and the gods, the most he'd ever do was give the boy a little push—not drag him down.
Loki had already put distance between herself and Hermes. She wasn't about to get caught in any crossfire once things turned ugly.
"This time, the reason I'm leaving Ikelos to Bell-kun is because I think he's the perfect test subject."
...What!?
Hestia, Hephaestus, and even Loki stared at Hermes, utterly stunned.
Hearing that, Bell finally understood—it wasn't that his secret had leaked. Hermes had just made the offer based on his previous abilities.
Bell groaned, covering his face with one hand.
"Hermes, I appreciate your trust in my abilities, but I never expected you to go as far as handing me a god as an experimental subject."
Still, Bell couldn't deny that he was interested in having a god-level test subject.
There were still plenty of secrets surrounding the gods, and if he could get a few more of them to use as test subjects, his Development Ability would definitely advance a lot.
It was just... this reward felt a bit sudden.
"Well, it's not every day we get our hands on a god from Evilus. Might as well make the most of it. Besides, we need your help saving the Xenos—handing him over to you doesn't sound like a bad deal."
Seeing the hesitation on Bell's face, Hermes pressed harder.
"With the power you have now, Bell-kun, you should be capable of killing a god, right?"
"Hermes, don't say stuff like that! How could I possibly have the power to kill a god? If the gods in Orario find out, won't I become their target?"
Bell immediately denied having the power to kill gods.
He didn't want to bring that kind of trouble onto himself.
After all, that part hadn't even been confirmed yet.
Of course, even if Bell had confirmed the truth of that part, he would never say it out loud. After all, there were far more gods living in Orario than most people imagined.
You could run into one just walking down the street.
In a place like this, if an adventurer was known to possess the power to kill gods, wouldn't they be treated just like the Evilus?
Hermes could only nod in understanding at the boy's caution. He had no choice but to change his approach.
"Gods aren't so easily killed. So if you want to uncover the secrets behind them, you need to conduct specialized research."
"Huh? You've researched this kind of thing too, Hermes?"
"Well~ back in Tenkai, I dabbled in that sort of research when I had time. The results, though..."
Hermes shrugged helplessly.
Bell got the picture.
"After all, no matter what kind of beings gods are, they were born through the world's design. Since they're brought into existence through rules, they're inherently bound to those same rules. Just like gods can't kill the Black Dragon, they also can't kill one another."
That conclusion came from what they knew about the Black Dragon. Given how gods were born and the nature of their existence, the idea of one god killing another was pure fantasy.
If a god could really do that, then surely that god could also slay the Black Dragon.
But can they?
Obviously not. Gods simply don't possess the power to kill other gods.
"Also, the world's rules can't be torn apart. So killing a god is practically impossible."
Practically.
The rules themselves can't be broken, and since gods are bound to those rules, they can't be killed. Theoretically, that makes sense.
But if the bond between the rules and the gods could somehow be severed... then maybe it might be possible to kill a god.
Maybe.
Bell had his suspicions. But since the conditions weren't in place—and he had no desire to blow himself up—he didn't have the means to test it.
If he had a god to use as material, though, he might be able to experiment and see whether it could really be done.
"See? You do get it."
Hermes grinned slyly at Bell, but Bell calmly shook his head.
"This is just a theoretical hypothesis—it doesn't hold any real-world meaning. It's like me saying 'my mother is the world'—just a baseless idea with no practical foundation."
"As a mage, bold hypotheses and careful validation are both necessary for reaching a conclusion. Everything I just said is merely a theory derived from the case of the Black Dragon. Besides, I'm sure even 'Perseus' would come to the same conclusion."
"...."
"You really are something... sheesh..."
Faced with Bell's continued efforts to downplay things, Hermes could only sigh in resignation.