Hestia's eyes bulged. That blue ribbon, which was not only unscientific but also always suggested her figure from various angles, shook restlessly across her chest with her violent trembling. Her finger shook as she pointed at the highly impactful scene in the room.
This, this...
Early in the morning!
A lone man and woman!
Naked!
And it's in Heimer's master bedroom!
Does this even need to be asked?
Even the densest paramecium idiot!
Just one look at the suggestive atmosphere filling the room and the shocking marks on that woman's body would make anyone instantly understand what happened here last night!
However.
After a brief brain freeze, as a Goddess of Chastity who had spent eons in the Tenkai.
Hestia quickly forced herself to recover from that dizzying sensation.
No.
Calm down, Hestia!
What are you surprised about?!
After all.
There was no other reason.
At its root.
Even back in the Tenkai, Heimer was already a typical, thoroughbred carnivore.
In the long, seemingly endless years in the Tenkai, the number of goddesses who were eventually lured into his temple for days and nights—whether voluntarily or half-reluctantly—by his looks and methods was truly countless.
Fortunately.
This guy's principle.
Was that for those like her, Athena, and Artemis—Goddesses of Chastity who had explicitly sworn to protect their virginity—he could always strictly observe the final bottom line.
Feelings might arise, but they stopped at propriety.
Although he often made harmless jokes, and would even mischievously pinch their faces, rub their heads, and mess up their hair.
But it only went that far.
He never crossed the line by half a step.
Eons of interaction remained the same.
This was why, even though Heimer had a fierce reputation in the Tenkai, gods like Hestia and Hephaestus could become close friends with him without any psychological burden.
After all.
Many times.
When those thick-skinned male gods—like a certain pervert named Apollo—buzzed around them like flies, impossible to shake off, trying to break their vows.
Bringing up Heimer was always the right move!
Because of this.
Goddesses who eventually couldn't stand being relentlessly pursued by other male gods would often simply choose to hide in Heimer's temple. Even if they did nothing, just staying the night using Heimer's name was enough to make those ill-intentioned male gods outside look at the closed temple doors, imagine ten thousand words of indescribable plots, and then return empty-handed with broken hearts.
Originally.
Since that major event that caused the Tenkai to be desolate for ten thousand years, Heimer had sat alone on his divine throne for ten thousand years.
Hestia had naively thought that after the settling of that event, this guy had truly changed his nature, started cultivating his character, and was preparing to be a quiet, handsome man.
Even when he came to this Orario full of the smoke and fire of life.
Hestia had even secretly fantasized:
Maybe Heimer really was here to experience a mundane and warm life? That in the future, everyone in this Lower World could live a warm and ordinary life together, visiting each other, sharing meals, and taking walks together in the sunset?
In the end, what is this?!
"Heimer, you big idiot—!!!"
Hestia still couldn't help it, she was so angry she went crazy on the spot!
Her twin tails tied with blue ribbons shook violently with her stomping. She was like a cat with its fur standing on end, wishing she could rush up right now and give that absent culprit a "Hestia Kick."
However.
Facing the Loli Goddess's fury.
Kirukiru Amou, who was getting dressed, only elegantly fastened her last button.
She turned around, slightly tilted her head, and looked at the tiny deity jumping at the door, a hint of playfulness flashing in her narrow eyes.
Although she didn't know about those old affairs in the Tenkai.
Let alone the deep bond between this rice-worm goddess and her own master.
But.
Kirukiru Amou, as a woman, saw Hestia's current reaction very clearly.
It was probably the impotent rage of a child who didn't get any candy.
"God..."
"Is truly very charming."
"Not only powerful, but the taste is also very good."
So.
Right in front of Hestia, Kirukiru Amou treated her angry reaction as a seasoning called "jealousy." She stuck out her pink tongue and very seductively licked around her slightly swollen lips from last night's intense demands.
—An action full of suggestive meaning.
As if she were still savoring last night's feast that made even her soul tremble, savoring the nectar bestowed by the god.
Boom—
This sentence, combined with this action.
Was like throwing a match into a powder keg.
Hestia's face instantly turned the color of a tomato, and steam almost rose from the top of her head.
"Heimer, look at her!!"
"Ahhh! Shameless! To say such things in front of a god! You, you... you are simply..."
Looking at this scene, Hestia felt the string of logic in her brain snap completely with a crisp "twang."
...
Meanwhile.
Another world.
G-404 World.
Tokyo Area, Holy Residence.
Pale moonlight poured through the huge floor-to-ceiling windows, spilling onto the smooth marble floor and reflecting the eye-piercing bright red on the ground.
Heimer stood before the massive floor-to-ceiling window, looking down at the city that appeared prosperous but was actually riddled with holes.
Behind him.
Tendou Kikunojo's roars were still coming intermittently, but in Heimer's ears, they were nothing more than the final bits of noise before the collapse of the old era, not worth mentioning.
His gaze turned to the silver-haired girl sitting in the chair.
Seitenshi.
The nominal supreme ruler of the Tokyo Area.
At this moment, her face was pale, and although her pure white dress was not stained with blood.
Her soul seemed to have been stained with an indelible shadow by this cruel scene.
Heimer's mind stirred.
Speaking of which.
Although this Seitenshi was powerless.
In terms of combat strength, she might not even be as good as a random civilian moving bricks on the streets of Orario.
But in the system-determined [High-Potential Candidate List], the Seitenshi's ranking was actually quite high.
...
[NO.10 Seitenshi]
[Title]: Third-generation ruler of the Tokyo Area.
[Characteristics]: A girl with a face as perfect as a work of art, with fair and translucent skin and long silver-white hair like pouring moonlight. Although she holds a high position, she is a canary imprisoned in an ivory tower, harboring noble ideals of coexistence but possessing no actual power, existing only as a political puppet of the Tendou Family. Her personality is soft on the outside but firm on the inside, yet she appears too naive in the face of cruel political struggles.
...
Looking at the Seitenshi's top-ten ranking on the system panel.
Heimer was somewhat surprised.
As everyone knows, the power of Falna, while its root is the seed bestowed by the gods.
But what kind of flower that seed eventually blooms into, what kind of fruit it bears, whether it grows into a towering tree or a low shrub.
Ultimately.
It depends on the recipients themselves—that is, the capacity forged by their aptitude, the deep desires of their souls, and their past experiences.
In this world, except for those "Cursed Children" who naturally carry the Gastrea Virus and possess extraordinary physical abilities.
It is almost impossible for ordinary humans to obtain transcendent power.
Tendou Kisara relied on her amazing swordsmanship talent, combined with day-after-day self-abusing hard training driven by her obsession with revenge, to achieve her current success.
Satomi Rentaro relied on his modified prosthetic body, exchanging technology for power.
However.
The Seitenshi, an ordinary person without any combat ability, could rank in the top ten, even higher than some "Cursed Children."
This was enough to explain it.
The manifestation of her potential likely wasn't reflected in her current physical state.
This caused Heimer to think of that person in Orario—
If there were no accidents.
That poor little fellow should still be suffering deep within the Pleasure Quarter right now.
The Ishtar Familia—
Sanjouno Haruhime.
That Far Eastern Renard girl who possessed the magic known as Uchide no Kozuchi.
Despite being an apprentice courtesan, she was so innocent that she would foam at the mouth and faint just from seeing a man's naked body; she remained a pure virgin to this day.
She couldn't even defeat a single low-level Goblin.
However, it was such a little fellow who had awakened the magic known as Uchide no Kozuchi.
A miraculous magic capable of breaking through Level barriers, forcibly raising the target's Level by one.
Although it had restrictions such as 'cannot be applied to the caster themselves' and 'limited duration.'
Its magical utility was of immeasurable value in the Lower World, where Levels were strictly hierarchical and the difference between them was like heaven and earth.
The reason Haruhime was able to awaken this magic was largely because of her noble birth and her reading of countless heroic epics; though she was cowardly deep down, she possessed an exceptionally pure longing for heroes.
Since she was too frail to become a hero herself...
...she would become the support behind a hero.
She would become the wind that could support a hero to fly higher and further.
This pure wish, under the guidance of Falna, eventually transformed into the Uchide no Kozuchi that could create heroes.
...
Many times.
There isn't only one way to display power.
Swinging a sword and cleaving mountains and rivers is power;
Tightly grasping a hand that is about to fall at the edge of a cliff is power;
Lighting the first torch to illuminate the path ahead in an endless dark night is also power.
Otherwise, God would not have said on the first day of creation:
Let there be light.
And for a leader...
...true power is often not reflected in how many armies she holds in her hands, nor in whether she can easily dictate the life and death of others.
But rather—
Even if she is unarmed, even if she is in a desperate situation.
As long as she still stands there.
As long as that flag, symbolizing the ideals of countless people, is still snapping in the wind.
She can make countless people willing to die for her, cause a scattered army to regroup, and reignite the spark of hope in people struggling in the mire of despair.
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