"Oh?"
Haimer stepped over the threshold, eyes settling on the small figure in the sunbeam.
Seeing her clear readiness, he showed a hint of approval.
"So you knew I would come?"
He didn't bother with small talk, walking straight toward the center.
"Yes, my lord," Tsukuyo said, bowing slightly in an old formal style.
At that address, Zanzan's brow lifted faintly.
Rin and Nono froze at the doorway.
"My lord…?"
Rin's face went blank with disbelief.
"You know who I am?" Haimer asked, mildly amused, looking at Tsukuyo.
"No," Tsukuyo shook her head. "I do not know your name."
"But I can hear."
"Hear?"
"Yes."
She pointed gently to her ears.
"From the moment you descended, the academy's sounds changed."
"The wind stopped moving. Birds stopped singing. Even the dust in the air began to tremble."
"That is the instinctive submission of all things before an absolute superior."
"And…"
"I also heard you defeat the Empress, and then use Mozunotori-san's baton to shatter Oniwa-san's mask."
"I heard it all—clearly."
As she calmly recounted the fight's details from the building earlier, Zanzan watched from the side, eyes narrowed, clearly disdainful of being "listened in on."
Yet beneath that disdain was a heavier gravity.
Because this old gym was far from the place where the conflict had happened—hundreds of meters away in a straight line, with walls, trees, and the usual academy noise in between.
And yet Tsukuyo hadn't just "heard"—she'd reconstructed every frame, even the weapon's material and the exact points of impact without error.
The sensation of being watched from the dark—of having every movement exposed while knowing nothing about the watcher—
Was revolting to someone like Zanzan who was used to controlling everything.
Those rabbit ears were as irritatingly sharp as ever.
…
"Excellent," Haimer said, stopping five steps from Tsukuyo.
He applauded lightly, admiration clear in his eyes.
"To reconstruct a battle from that distance through hearing alone…"
"Even in Orario—a place crawling with monsters—such hearing would be rare."
He didn't hide his appreciation.
To gods, a mortal's value was never singular.
Raw strength and magic capacity were only vulgar slices of the whole.
This way of sensing the world—
The ability to extract key information from a sea of noise—
Was worth far more than brute destructive power.
If anything, it felt tailor-made for a Dungeon full of fog, traps, and sudden crises.
"You flatter me, my lord," Tsukuyo lowered her head.
Silver hair slipped along her cheek, hiding part of her face.
"This is only a small trick forced upon me by losing the light, merely a way to survive in darkness."
"If such a petty ability earns your praise…"
"Then I am unworthy of it."
"But I do have one question."
"You came to this secluded place… for me, didn't you?"
She paused. Her unfocused red eyes seemed to hold a trace of confusion.
After all, a god with such might—one who could even subdue the arrogant Empress—
Why would he seek out someone "incomplete," a girl who believed she had nothing but swordsmanship?
Haimer answered without hesitation.
"Yes."
"I came for you, Inaba Tsukuyo."
"Because I need your sword."
"Or more accurately…"
"I need you to become my family."
"Family…?"
The word rippled through the air.
Even Tsukuyo, trying to maintain her still-water composure, couldn't stop a faint wave from stirring in her heart.
A blush climbed swiftly over her porcelain-like cheeks.
Because no matter how mature and detached she acted—
She was still a teenage girl.
Faced with a god's blunt, sincere, almost singled-out declaration, that shy softness inevitably leaked through the façade of "masterful calm."
"Family…" she repeated softly.
Embarrassed as she was, she could feel the god's gaze resting on her—warm, direct, and earnest.
For Tsukuyo, who was used to being feared or kept at a distance, such a look was unfamiliar.
"If you are so candid, my lord…"
"Then I needn't hide behind postures either."
"Still…"
"I am curious."
"You went to great lengths to descend into this world…"
"The world you spoke of—what is it like?"
She lifted her head, voice steadier again. Though she could not see, her red eyes aimed perfectly at Haimer.
The question wasn't only hers.
Even Zanzan, Rin, and Nono listened hard.
"That world…" Haimer said slowly.
"If you want to understand it, then first…"
"I should explain what the greatest poison is for gods with endless life."
"For immortals, sameness is the deadliest poison."
"In Heaven, the gods have spent billions upon billions of years."
"Day after day. Year after year."
"As time stretches on, life there becomes a suffocating torture."
"So much so that some gods seek entertainment through suicide."
"Death, to us, is only a long sleep that lasts ten thousand years."
"And yet…"
"As time passes, some gods go mad, choosing to erase other gods for brief moments—turning annihilation itself into a luxury pastime."
"Most gods don't endorse such 'entertainment.'"
"But it proves this much."
"Heaven has an enemy the gods cannot overcome."
The shock hit hard.
Not only Tsukuyo—
Even Zanzan, Rin, and Nono wore expressions of disbelief.
Gods… get bored?
So bored they kill each other?
The notion shattered their understanding.
But Haimer continued, unmoved.
"So we made a decision."
"To seek the unknown. To fill eternal emptiness."
"We allowed gods to leave that dead Heaven and descend into the Lower World."
"That is the world I've been speaking of."
"We established rules: gods are forbidden to use divine power in the Lower World and must live like mortals."
"They can even be drunk on wine brewed by humans."
"Then…"
"We grant chosen children a gift called a Blessing."
"We make them our Familia—giving them the key that unlocks their potential."
"And we send them to explore the source of monstrous evil that lies beneath the continent—"
"The bottomless Dungeon, filled with creatures beyond counting."
"They fight monsters, harvest magic stones, strip materials…"
"And trade them for wealth, fame, and growth in strength."
"And we—"
"We sit in the audience and watch with our own eyes as our chosen children play out epics of friendship, courage, growth, betrayal… love and hate."
"You might wonder why gods would be obsessed with a mortal 'game.'"
"The reason is simple."
"Because life contains uncertainty."
In Heaven, everything is known.
Like a movie spoiled a thousand times—dull beyond endurance.
But in the Lower World—
Life itself is a miracle born to resist the ultimate law of the universe: entropy.
-------
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