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“Well, if others hear the name Loreina, they might get confused. For now, just call her the Dragon Priestess. I don’t want her name to be misrepresented.”

“Okay… No, yes.”

Eric accidentally spoke informally upon seeing the familiar face, then corrected his tone.

Seeing this, the Goddess of Life, Loreina, lightly waved her hand.

“Don’t be so stiff. Acting like an older sister to Alice is enough. The name Loreina is just a pseudonym.”

“Is that so…? But…”

How can you treat the Goddess of Life lightly? She oversees the birth and death of life and is considered one of the highest gods above all others.

“I can understand your tension… but it can’t be helped.”

The Goddess of Life, Loreina, sighed softly and then spoke.

“Anyway, I need to think a bit more about a specific method to rescue her… but what I want to focus on for now is leveraging the power of other gods to weaken the Demon King.”

“The power of other gods?”

“Yes. If we can borrow the power of particularly powerful gods known as the Ancient Gods, we can weaken the Demon King’s power that resides within this body.”

“Well… if that’s the case, wouldn’t it be simpler for the Goddess of Life to directly use her power?”

The gods known as Ancient Gods consider the Goddess of Life their mother and follow her.

Their influence and power are inconceivably strong compared to other gods… but compared to the Goddess of Life, their strength would be like comparing an adult to a child.

That’s how powerful the Goddess of Life is.

“Then wouldn’t it be possible to bring Alice back right now…?”

“I’m sorry, but that’s impossible.”

The Goddess of Life firmly interrupted Eric’s thought.

“Why not? Alice is your Dragon Priestess serving the Goddess of Life.”

“Well… there are complicated reasons, and to put it simply, I can’t directly use my power on Alice.”

That was a profoundly strange statement. Saying that the Goddess of Life’s power cannot be used on the Dragon Priestess.

“I understand what you’re thinking, but it can’t be helped. It’s because of Alice’s constitution.”

“Constitution…?”

“Yes. Just think of it as a rough reason. It would take too long to explain it in detail.”

Constitution. To hear that the Goddess of Life cannot directly use her power due to constitution was bewildering.

What does that even mean?

“Anyway, if I excessively use my power on Alice… there’s a risk that her body could annihilate. While I’d love to help Alice directly, it could lead to adverse effects.”

“Adverse effects…”

“However, any power below a certain threshold would be absorbed by Alice instead. It’s quite troublesome.”

Eric couldn’t fully grasp her words. He only understood that she couldn’t help directly because of some problem.

“In that case, isn’t it the same for the powers of other gods?”

“The powers from other children should be okay. This is… probably an issue arising from Alice’s body being closely connected to my power.”

Though he didn’t fully understand, Eric forced himself to nod.

“Understood. So what should I do?”

“First, you need to grow stronger. To a point where you can fight even without the Hero’s sword. And travel together with her to borrow the powers of various gods.”

“Travel…?”

The Goddess of Life nodded slightly.

“This isn’t a journey to defeat the Demon King. It’ll be more of a leisurely trip. But… remember this.”

The Goddess of Life spoke with a firm voice filled with deep warnings.

“The Demon King hasn’t disappeared, which means the Demon King’s forces haven’t either.”

“The Demon King’s forces…”

“Even those known as the Four Heavenly Kings of the Demon King. Those under the dominion of the Demon King. They’ve just become a bit quiet for now. They haven’t been completely eradicated.”

At her words, Eric nodded slightly. Although they had defeated the Demon King as the Hero and Dragon Priestess, the remnants of the Demon King’s forces had not disappeared immediately.

While their presence had significantly decreased, problems continued to arise here and there because of them.

Moreover, the powerful beings called the Four Heavenly Kings of the Demon King… although they haven’t shown themselves directly, it didn’t mean reports of their eradications had emerged.

The dark knight sealed in the battle against the Demon King… by now, he would have been freed from his seal.

“Perhaps they intend to reclaim the Demon King they lost.”

The Goddess of Life carefully placed a hand on her chest, as if to imply that both Dragon Priestess Alice and the Demon King resided there.

“Now, let me ask you one thing.”

“Yes?”

“If, for instance, a being called the Dark Knight appeared before you right now… could you win?”

At that question, Eric instantly shook his head.

“I wouldn’t be able to win. Without Alice’s magic or the Hero’s sword, I wouldn’t stand a chance.”

“That figures, huh?”

Most of the strength Eric displayed as a Hero stemmed from the Hero’s sword.

Even if he had skills stronger than an ordinary knight, it was incomparable to the power held within the Hero’s sword.

“And if another of the Four Heavenly Kings of the Demon King appeared?”

“I couldn’t win. No, even against a golden goblin, I wouldn’t stand a chance.”

If he had the Hero’s sword, he might have been able to counter the lightning it unleashed, but currently, Eric had no such means.

He let out a small sigh. Without the Hero’s sword, he felt infinitely weak.

“Looks like I definitely need the Hero’s sword.”

The Goddess of Life regarded Eric thoughtfully for a moment.

“Even so, I can’t extract the Hero’s sword that’s currently assisting Alice… hm… what to do…”

After some deep thought, the Goddess of Life suddenly seemed to have an idea.

“That’s right! The Agathlam Silver Armor is still available!”

“Huh? Ah, yes… While I can’t revert it to a greatsword since the Hero’s sword has disappeared, it remains as armor.”

Initially, it would have been stored as a greatsword, but due to the sword’s disappearance, it was being kept in armor form.

“Then… you should use the Agathlam Silver Armor for now, but it’s best to create a separate weapon. The armor should suffice in performance, so just the weapon will do.”

Upon snapping her fingers, Agathlam, which had been stored in Eric’s room, suddenly appeared.

“Space movement…?”

“Yes. It’s the same magic that transported you from the Demon King’s castle to the headquarters of the Church of Life.”

“Ah… that was the Goddess’s power.”

The feather she had given him before entering the Demon King’s castle, intended for use in case of emergencies, was the same kind of magic used by the Goddess of Life.

“Well, it was given to Alice just in case. Anyway.”

With a gesture from the Goddess of Life, the Agathlam Silver Armor began to float gently in the air.

“I shall create a temporary sword to use alongside the Agathlam Silver Armor. It will match the length and weight of the Hero’s sword. Of course, I can’t guarantee it’ll be better than the Hero’s sword… but it should be decent for general use.”

At that moment, something began to materialize in front of the Goddess of Life.

It was a one-handed sword with a silvery-white blade.

“What shall I name it…? Gram? Caliburn? No, that’s too grand. How about just calling it Caladbolg for now? It’s not spirally or anything, but.”

“Spirally…?”

“Such a thing exists. It does.”

The Goddess of Life handed the newly created silver-white sword to Eric.

Though she spoke of it casually, the sharpness contained within that sword was anything but ordinary.

Even a master blacksmith among the dwarves wouldn’t craft a blade with such sharpness and strength.

One might say it was a divine sword created by a god.

“Since this is merely a temporary item until you retrieve the Hero’s sword, I haven’t added any special functions. However, it should still be better than an ordinary sword, so once you find the Hero’s sword later, you could give it to someone you like.”

“I’ll use it carefully.”

Eric held the sword given by the Goddess of Life and moved it lightly. Its weight and length were identical to the Hero’s sword, so he felt no awkwardness whatsoever.

But…

“The power that created this sword was… wasn’t it the power of the Goddess of Life?”

“Um? That’s true, but…”

“But just now, you mentioned you couldn’t use the power of the Goddess of Life on Alice…”

“Yeah. That’s right.”

“If that’s the case, wouldn’t that make it impossible for you to create this sword?”

At Eric’s words, the Goddess of Life tilted her head slightly.

“That’s definitely… correct, but… huh? Why is it possible? This?”

The Goddess of Life stared alternately at the sword in Eric’s hand and Alice’s body, her expression turning to one of confusion.

“My magic was absorbed by Alice… then why? Why is creation possible? What’s going on? Now that I think of it, when I created the feather with space movement magic and gave it to Alice, it also didn’t get absorbed… why…?”

“Don’t ask me…”

“Is there something different? Is there another reason? Or was there a condition I overlooked…? Or maybe not…? Perhaps objects with forms cannot be absorbed? Then what about Alice…?”

Her questions deepened further.

 

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