Back in Olympus, the alternate Lena was monitoring the information of the seven life stories that had been revived, with Tsubaki standing at her side with a serious expression. “Calm down, senior.” Lena said with a gentle smile. “I don’t think that you have to worry so much about all of this.”
However, Tsubaki shook her head firmly. “There are individuals who seek to harm the Keeper, and are dangerous enough that Lady Terra herself sealed them away for eternity. I am only responding appropriately.”
“They were dangerous.” Lena admitted. “However, in the current age, the level of danger that they pose is considerably reduced. Also, despite the loophole they exploited in Terra’s divine power, those life stories have a serious flaw.”
When Tsubaki looked at her curiously, Lena continued. “Once you’ve been recorded in a life story, you are for all intents and purposes, dead. But, it’s not like we’re dealing with their spirits, either. It would actually be more troubling if this were their spirits we were dealing with. I’ve spent some time as Terra myself, so I understand her abilities pretty well, I think!”
“What we’re dealing with are just shadows of consciousness locked into existence by Terra’s divine power. The life stories were created in such a way that even she herself can’t casually terminate them once their story has been read. That’s because the life stories weren’t made exclusively for villains like this. The original theme of the power was to let her preserve powerful heroes that she could call upon in the future for help.”
“However, it was really just a passing fancy for her at the time, I bet. She knew all along that the world would grow beyond any need for old heroes like that. Any hero stored in such a way would become obsolete after only a few generations. If I had to guess, that’s when she decided to use it to torment who she believed to be irredeemable villains.”
“You were discussing a critical flaw of the ability, Lena.” Tsubaki reminded, causing Lena to blink, laughing to herself.
“Oh, right! Sorry, I got a little distracted, senior. Anyways, the key flaw of the ability is that their story is already completed. They have no room for further growth. In other words, while they possess a shadow of the world’s system from their time alive, they are incapable of leveling up any further, and are stuck at the level that they were in life.”
Tsubaki’s eyes widened slightly when she heard this, lowering her head in thought. “I see… if this is the case, it would indeed be unlikely that we have to be concerned with their direct combat prowess. Outside of those possessing special abilities like the Plague Doctor, it would prove difficult for them to kill even a normal civilian. However, if that were the case, how did they get free from the ones who found their books in the first place?”
Lena offered a small smile at that. “Of the seven, one of them has a significant combat ability. The title of his book is ‘Averick of Gluttony’, and he possesses a unique energy that allows him to consume practically anything, whether matter or energy. Once he has consumed something, he will gain a temporary ability until he has fully ‘digested’ what he ate. He used this energy to consume the God of Bindings that released the locks on their seven books, then bound the others present in place while the group’s new leader made arrangements.”
Tsubaki’s brow furrowed. “I see… that could indeed prove to be a tricky enemy. Are you aware of the limits to his powers?”
“Yup!” Lena nodded. “He sounds really scary, but it’s not that bad. He has to consume his special energy to devour something, so there is a limit to the quantity that he can devour. The God he ate was only a young, freelance god with few followers, and it took most of his energy to consume him. If he were to try to eat you… he’d probably get as far as half of your little finger?” She tilted her head in thought at that.
“Anyways, that’s really all there is to Averick. He was locked up in his life story because he once desired to make the Keeper his meal. I don’t really think that he was strong enough to carry out that plan even back then, but Terra has a fiery temper when she finds out someone wants to hurt her man.” Lena said with a grin, and Tsubaki quickly nodded her head in agreement.
Though, after a moment, Tsubaki looked over at Lena curiously. “How are you learning all of this, by the way? Some of this information shouldn’t be available from observing their current movements. You… didn’t read their stories secretly, did you?”
Lena shook her head with a laugh. “No, of course not. After what Aurivy did to my other self, she would be furious if this me went and read their stories like that. No, once I knew the identities of the seven, I just looked into them normally. Old historical records and things like that. Most of them have made a name for themselves, even if it was only as a footnote in history.”
Tsubaki blinked slowly, but nodded her head in understanding. “Does that mean that there are those that you can’t find information on?” She asked, to which Lena readily confirmed.
“There is one man. His title is ‘Grey the Shadow’. I can’t find any detailed information on anyone matching his description in the records I’m searching, so I considered asking Terra directly who he is. I was just saving that for if he showed any significant ability that I thought warranted bothering her with this. Right now, all I can say is that he is incredibly intelligent.”
“Grey was the one that immediately figured out the method to exploit Terra’s life stories, and took charge of the group. He also seemed to know the information about some of the others, and used that to convince them to follow him. Right now, he’s acting as a beggar, getting just a few coins so that he can leave the city.”
Grey sat on the sidewalk, leaning against a building with his clothes in tatters. His appearance was disheveled, dirt obscuring his features. Anyone who saw him would think of him as a homeless individual, desperate for anything that could help him survive.
In this day, such individuals were rather uncommon, but not completely unheard of. Such beggars would often sell their own mana for the smallest coin, without any useful skills able to get them a job. That little coin might be enough for a simple meal, but only just enough to sustain them. They wouldn’t have a home, or any form of luxury.
While Grey’s eyes appeared as unfocused as one would expect of a man whose mana was regularly depleted, his mind was racing. Unlike Castor, he was well aware of the time that had passed since his imprisonment, and had anticipated the changes to the world to some degree. Granted, while he expected gods to be prevalent, he had not believed that they would become quite so common as to become freelance workers.
The world advanced beyond my predictions. This should be the influence of the Keeper and the Greater Pantheon introducing new systems over time. I’ve understood most of the systems that have appeared now, so it’s just a matter of understanding the current world’s situation.
As he thought about that, Grey let out a forlorn sigh. It would be best if I was able to access the current world’s system myself. Just the inventory would make me feel substantially safer.
At the moment, Grey clutched the book belonging to Averick beneath his clothes, ensuring that his sitting position didn’t cause his shirt to bulge around the book. I need to find a way to blend in with this world. He glanced up at his health bar, which was naturally visible as he was ‘damaged’. Most people would understand this damage as being malnourished, but Grey had purposely cut himself beneath his clothes to create such an image.
The fact that I still have a health bar means that I’m alive in some way. Or, at least that I have the appearance of being alive. That consolation was enough for some of the others, that they were ‘alive’, but that can’t be true. If this was truly alive, then Terra would have created a modified version of these books and used them as a way to grant the Keeper eternal life.
When he thought about that, he looked at the tattered hat flipped over on the ground in front of himself. There were a few coins within it, which Grey understood were the currency of the current age. No, I’m not alive at all. Right now, I can be considered a phantom fueled by her divinity. If the conditions are met, this image of me will be snuffed out without hesitation.
So… how do I ‘survive’? There’s nowhere in the world that I can go to escape Terra’s gaze if she truly seeks to hunt me down, especially not since I am tied to her very being. In fact… you’re watching me right now, aren’t you? He asked inwardly, his eyes turning towards the sky again.
Only just. Sure enough, Terra’s voice appeared in the back of his mind, causing him to shudder. Honestly, I don’t consider you worth the time spent observing you. However, I need to make sure that I don’t leave behind any problems.
Grey chuckled bitterly when he heard that. The reason that Terra had trapped him was because he was a manipulator behind the scenes. He was able to predict how events would unfold by understanding both his target and his environment. In the past, he had used this to incite wars between human nations, without ever coming into direct contact with any form of nobility. He’d appear before farmers and musicians, spreading one rumor or another, and then just sit back and watch things unfold.
He believed himself to be untraceable, as he never interacted with anyone of significance, and never used his true name or face. But, as time went on, his desire to manipulate the world grew larger and larger. He had become a druid purely for the purpose of using the weather to his advantage, subtly influencing it to cause unrest among selected populations.
When his ambitions reached their peak, he even dreamed of orchestrating the death of the Keeper. Such a manipulation would have been a tale for the ages. Of course, this was back in the time before the Keeper’s intricate connection to the world was widely accepted. Most people simply thought of him as a being of immense power.
One day, Terra appeared before him, making this fact abundantly clear. She had asked him if he truly intended to carry on with his plans, even knowing that it could lead to the end of everything. Grey cursed himself for his foolishness back then. Although he had lied, promising to end his plans, Terra had read his heart, the heart that believed that such a large world couldn’t be tied together by one fragile life.
You should know that I gave up on those plans a long time ago. Grey muttered in his mind, unsure if Terra was still listening. Or, if she deemed him worthy of a response. He no longer wished to control the Keeper’s life and death, or even orchestrate a grand war. He wanted to live a quiet life, one where the only thing that he needed to control was himself.
It had been so long since he was able to control his own body, the feeling of emptiness gnawing away at his mind for an eternity. However, he knew that it wasn’t that simple. This wasn’t just about him. As far as anyone was concerned, his life was tied to the others that had escaped with him. If they committed any sins worthy of death, the only way to kill them was if he was eliminated as well. Or, at least, that was what they all believed.
I never read any of their stories. He thought inwardly. When he had suggested that they read each other’s books in order to form a chain of life and death, he had intentionally blurred his own vision to such a degree that he could not make out a single character in any of their books. So, while it looked as if he had ‘properly’ joined their little chain, he was not an anchor for any of them.
This seemed to even surprise Terra, who had obviously not been paying close enough attention to infer those details. As she had said, she was only barely keeping an eye on him. You would betray your new comrades?
Comrades? Grey chuckled sarcastically. A man who ate his own father, a woman whose poisons drove every man she met to their deaths. An assassin who can’t even sneak up on a child in the current age… These are the people I’m supposed to call comrades? I could tell right away that some of them hadn’t given up their hatred, letting it seethe inside of themselves for centuries.
I didn’t want to get mixed up in their affairs, so I offered them a convenient survival method. If I’m right, then Averick will emerge from his book again if his physical body is ever killed, correct? That’s why I chose to keep it with me. Of the group, he is the most dangerous, the only one that can really be called a danger to the current world. I thought… if I could offer his book, perhaps that would be enough to earn some leniency. I was just planning to leave the city first, find somewhere quiet where the descent of one of the Greater Pantheon wouldn’t be noticed as easily.
He knew that there was no point in lying, especially not to Terra. Every word that he spoke was the truth. If they had Averick’s book, they could eliminate the only true threat faced by the group. Among the others, the greatest ‘threat’ would be if one of them somehow managed to reach a position of influence. This was what Grey himself had used as a lure to get them to listen to his plans. However, he knew better than anyone that the Greater Pantheon would never allow them to reach such a position.
