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Volume 3 Epilogue 1.2

Translator: Kureha
Editor: Weasalopes

「I am the God of Fire, Igreos!」

The following morning, Hiroshi’s party was forcibly taken back to Igreos temple. They were led into the sanctuary located in the furthest room at the temple. In that room, the group came across the owner of the temple, Igreos, the God of Fire. The priestess and the Queen who was accompanying them were now absent. It was obvious that Igreos was going to mention something which he did not want either of them to hear about.

As expected from the God of fire, he had a fiery appearance.  A muscular build, Toga over his shoulder, and his face framed with a fiery red fair. He also had what most people would call it a masculine face. Furthermore, the Igreos temple, in general, had an impressive build. However, this alluring room which they were in was flawless in every way.

「I would like to personally thank you all for the help which you have provided throughout our nation’s affair!」

Yet without a doubt, the one thing that really stood out in this room was how Igreos would strike a pose every time he spoke.

「One of our friends were dragged into the affair so there is no need for you to thank us.」

Tatsuya politely responded, fighting off the overwhelming presence which Igreos possessed. Having a trait which made people want to make a comment about it seems to be a thing among the Gods of this universe. It seems that there are no decent Gods in this universe.

「Nay, it does not change the fact that you folks have saved my priestesses! Thus it is only natural for me to give my thanks to you all!」

「If that is the case, could you please stop making those poses …」

「Oh! As expected! It was not appreciated!! 」

Tatsuya commented as the God of Fire casually changed his pose from flexing pose to Oliver pose. Igreos stopped posing with a shocked and disappointed expression. It seems that his poses weren’t appreciated by the authorities working at the temple either. Everyone wondered under what logic did Igreos thought bodybuilder poses would gain positive attention.

「Um, we have received enough gratitude from you. So, could you inform us on why the Norton sisters were attacked or why the God of Underworld, Zanafel disappeared from the Underworld?」

「To inform you all on those topics is my responsibility. So, I will gladly provide you all with the information even if you did not ask. However, those two events are strangely related. I am not sure where to start.」 

Hearing the word “related” Tatsuya internally buried his head in his hands as he thought this will be another difficult situation.

「Well, putting aside the details, could you please tell us the overall conclusion?」

「Yes, I see, firstly, the reason why the sisters got attacked; this one is simple. Those two are the previous king of Darl, or rather, the current Queen’s husband’s father’s love child. Therefore, both sisters possess the trait of becoming the priestess to myself and Zanafel. So the sisters’ presence must be very much in the way for those who worship the fallen God.」

Hearing Igreos’ explanation, the group could not help it but give a twisted expression. The Japanese people did consider Primula and Judith being related to the royal family since they weren’t fond of visiting the palace. Also, they slowly realised that people of the royal bloodline are more likely to possess the trait to become Igreos’ priestess. With the two information, the group did think that the Norton sisters might be related to the royal family. However, none of them thought that the God of Underworld would be somehow connected to them.

「The reason why I have not made the sisters my priestess is simple. Since there are political affairs mixed into this matter, I am not able to bring them to such a position. They have not shown any sign of it; however, the sisters also possess the trait of hereditary magic of Darl’s royal family. That is also one of the reasons why I have not made them my priestess.」

「That, would be very burdensome…」

「With all of that in mind, I am very grateful that the gentlemen which the sisters sparked the flame of love towards were you two. If the relationship was to progress and the child which the sisters gave birth to activated the hereditary magic, it will cause a nation-wide panic without a doubt.」

Makoto pitied Primula and Judith seeing that even God was grateful that they had fruitless love. Hiroshi and Tatsuya, who were the reason why the sisters had fruitless love seemed very awkward. Tatsuya seemed especially awkward as he rejected Primula clearly, face to face.

「However, as the God of Fire, I am pleased to know that the sisters were able to spark the fire of love. Even if their feelings did not come from the right place, all is well as long as the flame burns bright and strong.」

「It would not be nice if the flame ends up burning into a mud puddle though…」

「The flame of jealousy is also a form of flame. However, those in-pure flames are likely to go out of control and burn off the land.」

「Well I hope something like a mass bushfire would not take place…」

Tatsuya sighed, ignoring half of Igreos’s very questionable statement. Since Tatsuya has felt those emotions himself, it made it much harder to accept Igreos’s statement.

「If anything, to make sure something like that would not take place, lets spoooorts away those in-pure emotions and burn the flame we should be fuelling! So like that, song muse, just spooooorts away those emotions!」

「Wha, why me!?」

Haruna panicked as Igreos suddenly pointed towards her. She wasn’t completely clueless, but it made her want to yell that she’s not the only one to be called out in this group.

「It is obviously because the flame of jealously is burning strongly within yourself! They say that feeling of jealously is the farther to all emotions. But if it progresses, it becomes impossible to turn it into a healthy emotion. So spoooorts those emotions away!!」

「I agree with most of what you are saying but I don’t think sports has anything to do with this!」

「If you play sports and sweat, then you would not get jealous of someone who is not even your lover dating another person!」

「Does this God knows what he’s talking about!?」

To Igreos’ very spontaneous logic, Haruna spoke without watching the way she spoke. She did act cold from time to time because she was feeling jealous. However, playing sports would not change those attitudes. No matter how much an individual puts in the effort to improve their fitness, it is unlikely that those efforts would have any impact on the individual’s emotional maturity.

「Um, if you excuse me, I think we have gone off track. I think the important topic right now is the background of Norton sisters and the God of Underworld Zanafel.」

This conversation would become endless if Igreos continues to tease Haruna. As Makoto noticed this, she stepped in and corrected the direction of the conversation. Hearing Makoto’s comment, Igreos seemed slightly disappointed but he went back to the original topic.

「Yes, you are indeed correct. Let us leave this topic behind. We were talking about the Norton sisters and Zanafel right?」

「Yes, your holiness. I understand why it is difficult for the sisters to become your priestess. However, I was wondering why Barold has attacked the sisters with an intent that he must absolutely kill them. Although the sisters have the trait to become Zanafel-sama’s priestess, I believe that would be irrelevant as Zanafel-sama himself is absent.」

「In general, you would be correct. However, it is related to why Zanafel is currently missing.」

「So you are aware of where Zanafel-sama is?」

「Of course, he is sleeping in the pyramid at the bottom of this Oasis.」

Everyone looked at each other to the outrageous response Igreos gave. It seemed that every answer they got, there were at least three more questions that came along with it.

「This is something which people living in the light are not aware of. However, about 3000 years ago, there was a sudden disease outbreak in the underworld. When that happened, other fallen Gods decided to take advantage of the situation and they started to attack Zanafel.」

「You don’t mean to say….」

「Indeed, both sides were defeated so the fallen Gods were not completely resolved about the matter. The ones who survived, although they were not as strong as Alfemina, Zanafel and the other five major Gods, but none the less they survived that battle. Those survivors are now working towards revolution and planning to start the pandemic here on the surface as well. That is why they are sending in Barold around the world.」

「So the reason why Alfemina-sama is currently busy is because …」

「Is because she is doing everything she can to make sure that the fallen Gods does not do anything suspicious. However, due to our position, we have no way of directly visiting the human world unless it is done through one of our priestesses. Thus, the incident is becoming more and more complex. To start with, this has nothing to do with Zanafel. If you want to know more about it, you are better off asking the God of Knowledge, Daljan. I have my hands full with Zanafel’s seal and purification.」

As numerous serious topics were brought up, it was giving Hiroshi and others a headache. As they were dragged into many affairs in Farlane, they were prepared to hear something like this to an extent. However, they wanted to cry over how deeply they have gotten themselves into this matter.

「Well, with Zanafel, I am sure you folks could guess this much but when the battle was tied, part of the fallen God was dug into Zanafel very deeply. Thankfully, that fallen God was slacking off so they ran off somewhere with their priestesses. Then, with the help from the royals in Farlane, Alfemina at the time, the priestesses of the remaining major Gods, myself and the God of Water, we managed to seal Zanafel. To reduce the damage made to the surrounding, we chose a pyramid to seal him in. But it seems that the fragment of the Fallen God was stronger than we expected. When we finished the seal, only this area was turned into a desert.」

The party members fell silent as they heard a very large scale and very fantasy-like scenario. Although the line of the story made sense, to think that the origin of the Torrid desert was related to sealing of the fallen God was beyond their expectations. Following such events, the Sweltering Tower was built to contain the worshippers of Fallen God which could not be dealt with at the time.

The castle was 15 storeys high and its architecture was breathtaking. There were many theories to how the castle has managed to stay up for so long. However, the situation which the castle was built upon will explain why the castle could never be demolished.

The insanely purified lakes suddenly turning into salt lakes, the sudden outbreak in eutrophication, all of those phenomena are related to the sealing of Zanafel. When sealing Zanafel, the Ocean Goddess and her assistant, God of Water came for purification, they purified the entire lake and placed a production line in the underground water system to minimize the damage.

「To seal Zanafel, human sacrifice was inevitable. So, we got consent from the King at the time and his lover who was Alfemina’s priestess. Using Zanafel’s hidden ability, the King and Zanafel’s priestess who understood the situation gave birth to their child. That priestess was then placed under my care and was sealed together with Zanafel. Her soul would be worn out by now so even if we were to dispel the seal, I doubt she would be able to say a single word.」

It was likely that Igreos has left out many details of this story. However, it did explain the problem behind sisters.

「In other word, those two are the key to Zanafel-sama’s revival.」

「Indeed, Alfemina’s princess priestess has been a powerful leader for many generations now. Now that she is one of the most powerful figures, she must be very much in the way of Fallen God’s worshippers. Afterall, Zanafel’s revival is connected to demolishing the fragment of Fallen God. Though, I doubt that is all that is needed for his revival.」

「So you mean to say that the sisters are still been targeted… ?」

「There is no need for you folks to worry about that. It has been confirmed that the two of them will be accepted at the main temple of Alfemina. Even the worshippers of the Fallen God would struggle to plan any direct actions towards Alfemina’s main temple. Even if they were to attack Wulls in terrorism style, the defence force of that country is too strong. The worshippers would not be able to entre or leave the country.」

Turns out, Alfemina wasn’t possessing Aearis just for a change in scenery. All anyone could say was, as expected of one of the five major Gods.

「Since that is the situation, I would like you fellows to help with Zanafel’s purification and revival.」

「I am assuming that you are not going to take a no for an answer?」

「Well, I doubt you will make it back alive if you go on your own. Currently, the remaining four Gods are doing works on Zanafel’s behalf. So, even if we were to reset a deceased soul and send it back to the underworld, it would be very difficult to travel through that gate alive.」

「… This incident will likely affect us in the long term so we will gladly accept your request. It seems like we will be dragged into this matter sooner or later so I am sure we would have to do this job in the future even without your request.」

「I thank you for your cooperation. For everything which you have done to help us, I shall grant you my power.」

Once Igreos has said his statement, the party members were wrapped in flame. Not giving them a time to be shocked, the harmless fire swiftly wrapped the Japanese people and comforting heat rushed through their body.

「I have provided you all with pyrokinetic abilities. This should make it easier to use any fire-related abilities. Also, any item that requires fire to craft it will have better quality; although, it will only be a very slight difference. Also, the maiden who uses Katana, was it Makoto?」

「Ye, yes, 」

「For you, I have granted one of my hidden abilities. Like Alfemina’s hidden ability, which the song muse uses, you would need to train your physical strength before you can use it to its full potential. However, once you do so, your physical ability would improve significantly.」

The element of fire which lay deep within yourself. If you manage to activate its strength to its very limit, that individual would be able to use an extra skill that provides the individual with an undefeatable strength. Accepting that she has obtained such a skill, Makoto nodded with a serious face. She knew that this wasn’t an easy skill to master. That was always the case with anything under the name of extra skill.

「Also, Workshop owner, take this with you.」

「 Tis, tis is, no way!」

「Indeed, an item to ignite the true flame, 『God’s Flame』. I believe you will make good use out of this.」

「I shall use ‘t with greatness. Since we jist crashed down the Swelterin’ Tower, there should be ‘nough material to use the blast furnace.」

Igreos looked over Hiroshi with a protectively. Hiroshi was grinning like a child as he held the treasure in his hands. It seems that Igreos has taken a liking towards Hiroshi’s creative burst.

「Now that I have given you all what I wanted to, let us spoooorts!!」

「So we’re going back to that topic…」

Tatsuya commented lazily to Igreos who seems to just want to play sports.