Chapter 525

525.

“Lord Leo. Please take a look at this. This is a sculpture of Lord Kyle that I carved by hand, depicting him wielding a sword. After the Era of Catastrophe ended, I have diligently carved a sculpture of Lord Kyle every year!”

The deity showed Leo one of the sculptures displayed on a shelf.

The gemstone sculpture looked so lifelike it seemed as though it could start moving at any moment.

Leo held up one of the red stone sculptures depicting Kyle standing with a sword in hand.

The sculpture captured Kyle’s trademark smirk.

The kind of annoying smile Luna would refer to as a “smug smile.”

“This shows Lord Kyle’s smile when he was annihilating the enemy! A charismatic smile that seemed to look down upon the entire world! Ahh! Could you not grant me the opportunity to witness such a smile?”

Keeeee! Kyaa! The deity nearby let out a small scream.

Seeing this reaction, Leo crumpled his face instantly and without hesitation threw the sculpture in his hand to the ground.

Ching!

“My masterpiece!”

The deity let out a shrill scream, crawling over to clutch the shattered fragments, weeping tearlessly akin to chicken droppings.

As the deity wallowed in despair, they suddenly raised their head and shouted.

“Yes! Destruction is a new beginning! This destruction signifies that Lord Kyle has reincarnated as Lord Leo! The fragments themselves are significant!”

Crack! Dradradak! Dradak-

Leo crushed the fragments underfoot, grinding them into powder.

The new beginning turned to dust.

Seeing this, Leo coldly addressed the deity who had once again fallen to her knees, hand on the ground in despair.

“I know deities shouldn’t be doing this kind of thing, but why on earth have you made these?”

“Making these while working helps raise efficiency.”

“Work?”

“I should introduce myself properly.”

The deity stood up and bowed respectfully to Leo.

“My name is Rian. I am the librarian and recorder responsible for the Hero Record.”

“Librarian and recorder? So you’re the one wielding the authority of the Hero Record?”

“Exactly, it’s more like a provisional authority. The Record system ultimately belongs to you… or rather, the Great Heroes.”

“So that’s why Luna could register Lunia in the Hero Record?”

“Luna? Lunaria Rubenesce has reincarnated into this world?”

Rian’s eyes widened.

They were filled with an uncontrollable excitement.

“She lingered in this world as a spirit not too long ago.”

“Ah.”

Rian sighed wistfully.

“From your reaction, it seems you know I’m the master of the Hero Record.”

“I met Pibua in the Hero’s World some time ago.”

“Pibua? Indeed.”

Rian nodded as if acknowledging something.

Seeing this, Leo asked.

“Anyway, wasn’t it true that deities could no longer dwell on earth after the incident 5000 years ago?”

“That’s right, deities can no longer come to the mortal world.”

“Then how are you here? If you’ve been managing the Hero Record, that means you’ve been on earth for 5000 years, right?”

“Yes, the reason I can exist here is due to the Hero Record.”

“Due to the Hero Record?”

“Yes. To explain why, I must first tell you how the Hero Record was born.”

Rian lightly clapped his hands.

Suddenly chairs and a table appeared with a poof!

An average wizard would have been astonished by this phenomenon just now.

It wasn’t simply a matter of summoning the chair and table from an interdimensional space.

It was as if they had always been there.

This wasn’t about bending or tweaking the laws of space, but rather rewriting them outright.

A phenomenon that could never be achieved through magecraft.

But Leo remained calm.

‘This guy is an omnipotent deity after all.’

Of course, deities cannot properly utilize their omnipotence in the mortal world.

The role of the gods is more akin to overseers, or rather observers.

And their management mainly entails maintaining the world so it doesn’t collapse.

In other words, it’s about containing Erebus.

Beyond that, they are restricted from exercising power in the mortal world.

Thus, deities can be omnipotent yet powerless at the same time.

Additionally, having lived through eternity, they have strong desires to simply satisfy their own cravings.

This was why Luna distrusted deities.

‘Pibua is an exception, a very rare benevolent deity.’

Leo glanced at Rian.

‘This one’s a lunatic too, but at least in a somewhat pleasant way. If we’re being precise, he’s a benevolent deity.’

Benevolent deity.

It refers to a deity who is good.

Of course, other deities aren’t necessarily harmful to the world.

At most, they cause chaos and trouble on earth.

‘Well, being a deity, they do things on a grand scale, so it’s irritating.’

And then there are the downright crazy ones.

Just look at the heroes recorded in the Hero Record to see what I mean.

They seem insane, but Leo knew Rian was relatively balanced.

“Very long ago, there was a primordial monstrosity and five Great Heroes.”

Rian placed figurines representing the Great Heroes on the fingers of his left hand, and a figurine of Erebus on his right hand.

“The monstrosity roared. Kyaow!”

“…”

The puppet show began as Rian earnestly performed his clumsy act.

Upon seeing this, Leo muttered to himself.

‘Huh, he’s completely insane.’

“But the monstrosity was defeated by the Great Heroes.”

Rian elegantly moved his left fingers to repeatedly strike the right hand.

“How much longer do I have to watch this ridiculous play?”

“Wait a little longer, it’s my favorite scene coming up.”

Rian, who had been beating the Erebus figurine with his left-hand hero figurines, suddenly destroyed it violently with his left hand, throwing the remains into the air.

Black cloth shards soared skyward, then fell to the ground.

“Isn’t that cool?”

In response to Rian’s excited question, Leo made a skeptical reply.

“Sure.”

“Aww~”

Rian pressed his cheeks with both hands and expressed joy, then quickly changed expression and continued talking.

“Thus peace came to the world. The gods, in order to eternally praise the impossible feats of the Great Heroes, and also to prepare for the potential return of the as yet incomplete primordial monstrosity, decided to create an entirely new Record system.”

“Entirely new Record system?”

“Yes.”

Rian spread his arms wide.

“The Akasha Record. The Record system that records the world itself. All the gods who returned to the divine realm pooled their omnipotence to create this system. This library is the very Akasha Record itself. An identical copy of this library also exists in the divine realm.”

“What exactly does ‘record the world’ mean?”

At Leo’s question, Rian smiled faintly.

“It records exactly everything happening in the world since 5000 years ago. From a small movement of insects somewhere, to what kind of gentle breeze passed through that location… It was a tremendous collection of information even the gods could scarcely handle. Even the Creators who created the world long ago and entrusted its management to us probably never foresaw such a thing could be created.”

“I get that it’s extraordinary. But why did they create such a system?”

“Because the gods wanted to create ‘the world’ itself.”

“The world itself?”

“Yes. In a limited capacity, to create the world. To touch the power of creation, even if just partially.”

Rian closed his eyes and smiled happily.

“To recreate the events of the past in this timeline in a ‘real’ way.”

At this statement, Leo’s expression changed.

“The Hero’s World.”

“That’s right! All of this was the preliminary work to create the Hero Record. The Akasha Record serves as the fundamental base system that supports the Hero Record.”

Rian placed his hand on his chest.

“From the characters recorded in the Akasha Record, those worthy of the title ‘Hero’ were selected and recorded in the Hero Record. So that the children of the mortal world could replicate the records of the past and inherit the power of the previous heroes. But the Hero Record required curation and there was no one who could record it. Furthermore, there was also a need for the source of strength to constitute the Hero Record.”

“Is that you?”

“Yes, I am the librarian of the Hero Record and also a part of it.”

“Meaning you sacrificed yourself? Is it really worthwhile for an existence like a deity to sacrifice their own value just to become a part of the Hero Record?”

“Probably not to other deities. I was the only one who volunteered.”

“Why?”

“…”

Rian gazed upward with his gray eyes at Kyle.

“I hated gray. It’s a color like the useless ash left after something has completely burned.”

Rian touched his own hair.

“So I didn’t like you either. More accurately, I mocked you. I disliked you first because you had gray hair and eyes. And I thought it was utterly meaningless that you continued to exist without any desire. I was certain that the world would meet its end during the Era of Catastrophe. While most gods probably believed the same, I belonged more to the camp of mockery. But then, even though you had given up on everything, you refused to perish and ended up saving the world. There was nothing left to do but revere you.”

Rian smiled.

“So I wished for your will to be eternally remembered by future generations. Since I had already given up everything, I saw no reason to hold onto my own existence.”

“If you’d possessed my power, anyone would have done the same.”

Rian shook his head.

“Even the all-knowing gods considered your feat impossible. Please do not downplay it. Do not downplay the faith of your comrades who believed in you until the end.”

Rian stared at Leo with his gray eyes.

“It was something that could only be achieved by you. That is an absolute, unchanging truth.”

“…”

Leo scratched his cheek.

‘Indeed, deities are deities.’

Thinking that they are truly incomprehensible, Leo asked.

“Did you know about my existence since the time of reincarnation?”

“No. That accursed monstrosity also caused damage to the Akasha Record, causing errors. Additionally, because the Akasha Record contains such an extensive amount of information, even the gods couldn’t have full knowledge of all records.”

Rian shook his head.

“Moreover, everyone was so focused on trying to record their desired heroes in the Hero Record…”

“That’s why it took so long to discover me.”

“The recording of the Record is your responsibility, is it not?”

“Yes, but even I couldn’t keep track of all the heroes, so the gods regularly hold meetings to decide which heroes to record. Of course, as you know, the gods are a messy bunch.”

Rian frowned.

“Things that shouldn’t be considered heroes end up being recorded during these meetings.”

His face showed irritation.

“Why did you send the Heroes of Cataclysm away?”

“Ah, that was done to draw attention to your existence and open the Hero Dungeon to guide you here, but due to the monstrosity, the puppets I created went berserk and ended up going to the current world by themselves.”

“Indeed, omnipotent yet powerless.”

“Aah!”

“Why are you so happy? That wasn’t a compliment.”

“Anything handed down by Lord Leo is fine with me. Even if it’s spit—I mean, holy water—I’d gladly accept it with joy!”

“…”

“Lord Leo, this hair! After becoming devoted to you, I pulled out all my original hair and regrew it! It’s the same with my eyes; I plucked them out and replaced them! Ah! Now that I have red eyes too, I should pluck one out! Which one should I pluck? The left? The right?”

‘He’s just completely insane.’

The impression of Rian, which had been improving, plummeted back down.

With a tut, Leo said, “If you’ve been recording the Hero Record, let me ask one thing.”

“Yes. Please command me.”

“About Berkiya and Bihar.”

“You’ve learned about them.”

“It might disturb you.”

“Fixing what’s wrong is also the role of a teacher.”

“In that case…”

Rian closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

“I will first explain why the Fairy Knight became what she is.”