"Pretty Cute."

"From a world different from mine?"

The sudden revelation made Shien freeze just as he was about to drink his tea, his face full of astonishment.

His reaction made the Goddess smile.

"You heard correctly." The Goddess smiled. "There are many Another Worlds different from this Omnipotens. The world where you lived in your previous life was merely one of them. The only thing they have in common is that your worlds are all ordinary. There are no gods, no demons, and certainly no extraordinary powers. They are therefore completely independent existences. Even we gods of the God Race cannot interfere with them. We can only summon anomalous individuals with the qualities of a Hero within the limits permitted by reason. That is the limit."

This was truly unexpected.

But upon thinking about it carefully, it did seem understandable.

If gods could casually summon people from Another Worlds, then the God Race would not have needed to create the various races to resist the demon race in the first place. They could have simply summoned manpower from Another Worlds, right?

Even in Another Worlds, people with the potential to become Heroes were pitifully rare. Not everyone could awaken an exclusive Holy Sword and a Unique Skill. But in that regard, the people of this world were under the same conditions.

The majority of people in this world had neither Holy Swords nor even Unique Skills. They could only train honestly from scratch, gradually level up, and learn skills before they could rise above the rest.

Therefore, if manpower alone was considered, people from any world were the same.

If the God Race could summon all the people from Another Worlds into this world, then most of them would probably be like the people here, starting their training from zero without any advantages. Only a small number would awaken their own Unique Skills, and whether those Unique Skills could be useful in battle was another unknown.

Only those with the qualities to become Heroes could awaken powerful Unique Skills and possess Holy Swords exclusively their own.

So what the gods truly needed were Heroes, and Heroes were the only ones they could summon.

It was just that the number of people with the qualities to become Heroes seemed truly scarce.

From ancient times to the present, fewer than ten Heroes had been summoned into this world. Every Hero had come from a different world, which meant that at most one person capable of becoming a Hero appeared in any given world. In many worlds, there was not even one.

"Moreover, Heroes vary in strength." The Goddess said, "In the past, the Holy Swords and Unique Skills awakened by the Heroes were all different."

Naturally, some Heroes awakened Holy Swords and Unique Skills of extraordinary power, while others possessed relatively weaker ones.

This was bound to create a problem.

That was—

"Even a Hero may not necessarily be able to defeat the Demon King."

As she said this, the Goddess's gaze grew somewhat dim, perhaps even disappointed.

Seeing that, Shien understood.

I'm afraid none of the Heroes summoned in the past managed to defeat the Demon King, right?

Otherwise, if the Demon King had already been defeated, there would have been no need to summon Shien.

It was precisely because the Demon King was still at large that the gods had no choice but to continue summoning Heroes.

From this, it was clear just how powerful the Demon King was. Even the Heroes throughout the ages had failed to defeat him.

Then what about himself?

Could he defeat the Demon King?

Just as Shien was thinking that, the Goddess looked over.

She simply stared fixedly at Shien.

"I think you are the Hero most likely to achieve that goal so far." The Goddess spoke as though talking to herself. "After all, whether it is your Holy Sword or your Unique Skill, I believe none of the previous Heroes could compare to you."

Shien did not quite know how to react to that.

Logically speaking, receiving such an evaluation should have been something to celebrate, right?

Unfortunately—

"You can't be happy about it, can you?" The Goddess said with an amused, helpless smile. "In your world, novels and myths are full of protagonists born with the greatest talents. There are even stories of useless people turning things around, or protagonists with ordinary aptitude. All kinds of situations can happen to a protagonist. So even if I say you are the Hero with the greatest potential in history, you would only find it strange, wouldn't you?"

Upon hearing that, the corner of Shien's mouth immediately twitched.

Could this Goddess really see through people's thoughts?

She was a god, after all. Was having abilities like mind-reading perfectly normal?

Then he might as well test it.

With that thought, Shien began imagining some scenes unsuitable for children.

"!"

In that instant, the smiling Goddess's expression suddenly froze. A faint blush also surfaced on her exquisitely beautiful face.

"Y-You bastard! What the hell are you thinking about!?"

The Goddess slammed the table hard and snapped angrily, startling Shien.

"You really can see through people's hearts!?"

Shien was so startled that he stood up.

"I never said I couldn't, did I?"

A trace of blush still remained on the Goddess's face.

It seemed this Goddess was unexpectedly innocent.

When Shien thought that to himself, a murderous gaze fell upon him. His entire body trembled, and he hurriedly looked at his nose, then focused on his heart, clearing away every distracting thought and no longer letting his imagination run wild.

"Hmph!" The Goddess snorted, rising to her feet. "That's enough for today. I'll send you back!"

Without giving Shien time to react, she waved a hand, causing the world to distort once more.

"Wait!" Shien hurriedly said, "You still haven't told me your name!"

This was something Shien had wanted to know all along.

Until now, Shien had only known that she was a Goddess. Now that he had learned there was not merely one god in this world, but an entire God Race, he naturally wanted to know her name.

Then—

"Just call me Nien."

Having said that, the Goddess who called herself Nien snapped her fingers. Shien, along with the distorted world surrounding him, vanished from the divine temple.

In the inn room, Shien opened his eyes and found himself somehow lying on the bed again, as though he had never left.

"I'm back already?"

Shien was uncertain, even wondering whether he had just been dreaming.

However, the lingering fragrance of the delicious black tea in his mouth told him that everything that had just happened was absolutely not a dream.

"I should've stopped fooling around and asked more questions."

After all, there were still many things Shien did not understand.

But—

"Honestly, the Goddess was pretty cute when she got embarrassed."

Shien gave a sly grin.

And so, the night passed.

Thank you to "Like Sunshine d" for the generous support! The first Ally Leader has appeared!

Second update today! Please recommend, bookmark, and support!

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