The Max Level Hero Has Returned!-Chapter 1299

The goddess, whose current ego was far firmer than her original form, would occasionally engage in quiet conversations with a few of the heroes in the Hall.

Of course, it was usually the heroes who led the conversation while she simply listened. Yet today, they were the ones listening.

Rho Aias, who had shown overwhelming might since the days of the previous hall of Heroes, viewed the goddess from a different perspective than Odin, who was also known as the God of Mages.

“Are you in a lot of pain?” a woman with beautiful violet hair asked, her mouth partially covered by her sleeve.

The goddess silently looked at the reflection in the pond. It showed the current incarnated form of Daphne and a boy wearing a hooded robe.

“Wasn't giving that child a chance your way of confirming your own change?” Rho Aias asked.

In response, the goddess closed her eyes quietly and then slowly opened them.

[Omnipotent. There’s no word more arrogant and empty than that.]

“Omnipotence? It sounds impressive, though in a way, I think it’s just unbearably lonely.”

For an omnipotent being with nowhere higher to rise, the only option left was to look down. That wasn’t all, either.

“Then because you’re so high up, you can’t see what you should. As the Primordial God, you’re the noblest and holiest being in this entire world.”

Taken at face value, Rho Aias’s words sounded like flattery, but anyone who thought a little deeper would realize she actually pitied the goddess.

To direct pity toward a primordial god was an extraordinary perspective in itself.

[Do you know why I gave emotions to living beings when I created them? It was because I didn’t have them myself. More precisely, I judged that I shouldn’t have them.]

Normally, when someone created something, they infused it with their own desires. To the goddess, emotions weren’t something she needed, instead the most intriguing variable she knew of.

Long in the past, the goddess hadn’t possessed emotions so rich as her silly tablet-wielding self.

While she still didn’t show much outwardly, compared to the past, the emotions of her current avatar were surprisingly deep.

Sadness, joy, anger, and many other feelings she, as a Primordial God, shouldn’t have.

Just watching from above as things changed, but knowing the future made it no different than watching a movie or reading a book with the ending already spoiled. Boring, to say the least.

Emotions only stood in the way of omnipotence. For a god who created the world, they were nothing more than a luxury. Once given emotions, one would inevitably develop bias.

“But you regret it, don’t you?”

It should’ve been impossible, yet because of a certain individual, the goddess had begun to feel curiosity. It couldn’t be helped. After all, it was Davey’s past life that had tried to manifest a godly being capable of granting emotions to the goddess.

Davey’s soul, shackled by the title of Holy Knight, had long begun trying to shape a future she could no longer foresee, long after plenty of time had passed.

His soul, shackled by the title of priest, slowly began to move in ways that created a future even she couldn’t foresee. Yet despite being so impactful, he was a feeble creature, a mere being with unusual experiences and emotions. The goddess didn’t know how he had gone through such transformation.

At that moment, the goddess, for the first time, had felt curiosity as a deity. Thus, she’d ended up bestowing an enormous amount of divine power upon Davey.

Watching him led her to a new realization. She, who had never known emotion, began to feel fragments of it.

If she were a computer, that would’ve been no different from a bug. Even so, the goddess didn’t correct or troubleshoot it. It was because of a subtle feeling she had about Freyja, Hercules’s sister, who had served as her priestess ten thousand years ago.

As time passed and she came to witness his sincerity alongside so much more, she felt pity, sadness, and pride. They were all emotions a primordial god was never meant to have.

As those small feelings took root, they eventually grew into something deeper.

Love.

She’d then cast aside her perspective as an omnipotent overseer and descended slightly to look at the world from a lower place. She had finally realized that she had come so close to omnipotence, yet in the end, she was not truly omnipotent.

She finally understood why she had failed in the past. Why things had gone wrong. A being who was supposed to know everything had discovered something she hadn’t known.

“If you’d come to understand emotions a little earlier, the zenoen wouldn’t have suffered for so long. That’s what you’re thinking now, aren’t you? While you wouldn’t have back then, now it’s different, or am I wrong?”

The goddess didn’t answer her blasphemous question.

Instead, her lips parted slightly as she began to sing a soft melody. There were no lyrics, no background music. Yet embraced in that melody, Rho Aias felt her sorrow.

The perspective of other living beings didn’t work on Goddess Freyja. To her, all life was equally worthy of love. Of course, she still held anger toward those who had betrayed her, but she cherished and loved most living beings.

That was why she was the Goddess of Mercy, and had continued to protect the world as the Primordial God.

Ultimately, the goddess who once claimed omnipotence only realized what she hadn’t seen after setting aside that grand vision and lowering herself just a little.

Alas, she had realized it too late. She claimed omnipotence, lamented loneliness—and yet, despite her blindness, she still believed herself perfect.

It was pitiful.

“Someday, that thing called emotion might slowly erode your noble and sacred self, leading to your corruption.”

Despite her words, the goddess didn’t stop singing.

“Still... This is just my humble opinion, but I don’t think you’ll break so easily just because you have emotions. Maybe it’s better to accept that this perspective exists and hold it close.” Rho Aias paused briefly, then continued cautiously, “Don’t you think that's the ultimate form of mercy you’re seeking?”

Of course, she knew full well how absurd she sounded. She was a mere creation who dared to judge the thoughts of a goddess.

Then the goddess suddenly stopped singing.

[Aias.]

Being called by her name, Rho Aias’s eyes widened in surprise.

“You... called me by my name.”

[Have you ever thought about becoming a god?]

Rho Aias looked up at the goddess, stunned. She could immediately tell it wasn’t about becoming something like Neltarid or Thanatos. The Goddess was asking if she would take on the role of the Primordial God.

Originally, the goddess had sought a new path by embracing Davey and becoming one with him. However, she gave that up.

Then she tried to place Davey on the same level as her, the Primordial God. She gave up on that too.

She had come to favor Davey too much. Besides, Davey himself didn’t want it either. She knew that he’d never be the same Davey again if he reached that place.

Now, the goddess appeared to be choosing Rho Aias as the new being to take her place.

Her offer was certainly tempting, especially when coming from the Primordial God, an absolute being who could tune the entire world with will and words alone.

After much thought, Rho Aias smiled gently. “That position is far too much for me. Nobody else but you could bear that burden.”

Hearing her firm reply, the goddess nodded. She was respecting her will.

It was a response the old, emotionless goddess would never have imagined.

“Still... That young, overconfident priest... Do you really think he’ll be of help to the youngest one in the future?”

Auxiliary Bishop Tophenne. Unlike Roam, who was deceived by Parthenon and gave in to his own greed, this young elite of the Holy Empire had been tricked by false stigmata and made a grave mistake.

Through Daphne, the goddess had made Davey keep him alive.

He didn’t like it at first, though in the end, he followed the goddess’s intention, making it so that Tophenne was spared.

Considering Rho Aias’s question, the goddess quietly answered.

[It must be difficult for you all to reflect on your own wrongdoings and grow from them. Nonetheless, that child will change. Just like Davey, who was once given a chance.]

Auxiliary Bishop Tophenne would one day become a great help to Davey. All because the goddess, who was merciful to all beings, wished to give him a certain chance.

The goddess lightly lifted her foot and gently tapped the surface of the pond.

With that, something began to change.

* * *

The meeting dragged on, but the conclusion came relatively quickly. The date for the first negotiation between humans and demons had been set.

Of course, many factions would oppose it, and it was bound to stir up massive turmoil, but there were simply too many pressing issues on their plate to keep pouring hate into a bottomless swamp. On the other hand, a rushed ceasefire would cause just as many problems, so no hasty decisions were made.

In the end, a foundation had been laid for what would’ve otherwise required much longer planning between humans and demons.

Was it for the demons? Or for the humans? If asked, the answer was half right either way.

Originally, the reason Davey became the Demon King and took in the demons was that Perserque was a demon. While it was difficult to say her physical body technically resembled a demon anymore, he never wanted her to live her life hiding that she was a demon.

“Ah, what a great day! Days like this call for that bottle of liquor I hid away...” Humming to himself, Davey returned to his room, only to suddenly freeze with his eyes wide open. “Huh?”

He instinctively looked around in a panic, but as expected, it was gone! “W-Where the hell did it go?”

Other drinks would’ve been fine, but that bottle was something he had been holding back on for a long time.

It wasn’t something just money could buy. It took time and effort to get.

Even the four boozers up in the Saint Sanctuary constantly schemed to get their hands on it.

Cold sweat ran down his back. A wave of unease, as if he had been stabbed in the back, surged through him.

Someone else walked in. “You’re back, Davey.”

“Perserque! The thing that was here... Where is it?”

Perserque tilted her head, then turned with a surprised look to the now-empty cabinet.

Davey was shocked to see the expression on her face. “W-Where did it go? Wasn’t it you who drank it?”

“Of course not. You promised that on a good day, the four of us would leave the kids behind and drink it together.” Even Perserque, who usually didn’t indulge in alcohol, looked flustered.

“There’s no way it just vanished.” While Davey stood confused, his thoughts began to narrow down the potential culprits.

First up was the Gourmet Research Society, who caused trouble at every turn.

‘Hmm, scratch them off.’

While Yuria may be an elf who tried every bizarre thing under the sun, considering she was the one who made and gifted him the drink, she had no reason to steal it back.

‘So then, who stole it?’

Blinding fury flared up and consumed him.

That’s when it happened.

“Hm? Davey, what’s going on?” Ilyna, who’d said she’d come to Heins territory for some healing time with Abel after the war, walked in while holding hands with waddling Darian and cradling Abel in her other arm.

She glanced at the same cabinet and tilted her head. “Hmm? What’s wrong?”

“It’s gone.”

She paused at that, then handed Abel over to Perserque and gently lifted the babbling Darian. “Oh, Abel took it. He said you told him to bring it since you wanted to drink it.”

None of them said a word.

But not for long.

“Abel. Where the hell is that little bastard?!” Perserque adored Abel more than anyone, but even she seemed to have reached her limit. “It’s only right for a parent to punish their child for having sticky fingers.”

* * *

Abel took the premium liquor and left Heins Territory.

Then, traveling alongside Kouna, he went to Evangeline’s lair.

“Sis! You’re in here, right?”

“Huh? What’s going on?” Evangeline, who had been on hiatus from her stream for quite some time due to the war, was in the middle of warming up her voice and loosening her hands to prepare for a comeback stream. Her head tilted in confusion when Abel suddenly appeared at her place.

Unlike Abel, who had kept his identity hidden across the continent of Tionis, Evangeline was being hailed as a hero for ending the war. Honestly, she didn’t care much for the title.

Unlike typical noble families, she preferred the modern concept of family. Family names meant little to her. She had no interest in putting on a dress, giggling in high society, and playing the part.

Just as she was about to return to her normal life, Abel showed up, dragging Kouna with him.

“Evangeline, is there a quiet spot around here?”

His question made her uneasy. Experience alone screamed at her not to let those two into her lair under any circumstances.

Alas, he was her precious younger brother.

Just as she was about to stand up and show them to a decent spot, something caught her eye.

A liquor bottle. It wasn’t just any bottle, but one she recognized instantly.

Davey had always smiled happily whenever he looked at it. He had guarded it so tightly that he wouldn’t even look at it often, worried that it might damage it. That was how much he treasured it.

Yet, Abel was now holding that very bottle without their dad anywhere in sight.

Her instincts screamed danger.

Having suffered firsthand from the Gourmet Research Society, she instantly realized Abel had stolen the liquor. “G-Get out!! Right now!!”

“It’s already too late, Sis. You think I came here just to die alone?”

She staggered back at the lethal verbal assault. “W-What?!”

“Come on, help us out. You were curious about how it tasted too, weren’t you?”

His wicked grin made Kouna grimace.

Evangeline turned pale. “You... You little—”

Crack!! Riiip!!

At that moment, her lair was forcefully torn open, and a voice rang out, “Abel. Where the hell is that little shit?”

The voice wasn’t loud, but Evangeline felt chills run down her spine. It was Davey. His tone was calm, but she knew—as his daughter, she could tell better than anyone when he was furious.

“Time to run.”

Seemingly indifferent to it all, Abel didn’t even look fazed.

Instead, Evangeline made a split-second decision and screamed, “Dad! He’s here! The bastard’s right here!!”

She decided to throw her dearly precious brother under the bus.

Even though they had played a pivotal part in a war just recently, it seemed nothing had truly changed.