But Asuka, who stood beside Kuro Usagi, did not seem to catch on to the topic as she tilted her head to ask:
“Hm, what does that mean?”
“It’s said that after [Perseus] defeated the Gorgon, he was bestowed the equipment that consisted of the [Helmet], [Plated boots], [Shield] and [Harpe]. But the [Shield] had been returned to the Goddess……It’s said in the legends that the [Shield] had been fused together with the head of the Gorgon when it was returned. And that’s where the shield of the constellation, [Perseus], resides and the truth behind the [Demon Lord Algol]. As for the one who could have bestowed the technique of fusing the shield and the head……it can only be the God of Blacksmiths right?”
Kuro Usagi recounted the [Perseus] heritage in a fluent manner while Laius started to smile smugly.
But Asuka continued to tilt her head quizzically.
“……?? Hm, which means to say that this young master is actually the descendant of a Great Hero?”
“YES! It’s HIS ANCESTOR who is the Great person!”
“Yahoho! His ANCESTOR really is great!”
“Very well then~, follow me outside now! And make known all those filthy thoughts of yours once and for all! This time Algol and I……”
“ “ “ What a despicable young master.” ” ”
“ALGOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!” “Please stop it, Laius-sama! Summoning a Celestial class being in the middle of the city isn’t funny at all!” A few knights in their working attire had quickly pounced on Laius to pin him down.
Asuka used the opportunity to digest the information on the heritage of [Perseus].
“I get it now. So the Gift of Divinity from the God of Blacksmiths is also one of the rewards for defeating the Gorgon, right?”
“YES! But it’s most probably not the Divinity itself and just of a Divine equipment that can strengthen the ability to bestow Gifts. And with that, it might just be possible to refine high level ores of the Rare Sacred Iron or Diamond Iron Ore class.”
“Hmph, that sort of fact needn’t be said at all! As long as ore-sama[17] here makes a move, such a small thing wouldn’t even need much strength……”
“Laius–sama, you can just drop the act already. If it weren’t for Jack-dono, we wouldn’t even know where to start working on those stuff.”
The male aide tried to persuade Laius.
And Laius rewarded him with an angry stare and a click of his tongue, without raising a hand at him.
Giving a sigh, upon envisioning the bumpy road ahead of them for their Alliance pact, Kuro Usagi suddenly remembered something and she turned to Jack:
“There’s something that Kuro Usagi’s been wondering about…… What’s the relationship between [Will-O'-Wisp] and [Perseus]? If I were to describe what I’ve seen, you guys don’t look to be on good terms.”
“Yahoho…… Mhm, it can be said as a relation of being indebted of sorts. I may have mentioned it before that we of [Will-O'-Wisp] had been attacked many times by [Demon Lord Maxwell].”
“YES. We’ve heard of that before. The feud between your Community and the Demon Lord of the upper Five Digitsー”
“No, that’s already in the past.”
“Eh?” Kuro Usagi cocked her rabbit ears to the side as a gasp of surprise escaped her lips.
Jack continued in a nervous tone.
“That guy isn’t at the Five Digits anymore. It’s said that during the time that we have gone to [Underwood]ー[Demon Lord Maxwell] has ascended to the Four Digits.”
“Four… FOUR DIGITS?!”
Kuro Usagi shouted in dismay.
Beside her, Asuka had also narrowed her eyes as she took on a serious expression.
In Little Garden, the Seven and Six Digits would be called the lower levels while the five digits would make up the middle and from four digits and below, all those would make up the Upper echelon. Although the Five Digits were already counted as the middle levels, the power difference between them and the next level was a difference comparable to that of Heaven and Earth. And that was an accepted truth in this world. In other words, a Demon Lord of the top tiers in the Five Digits shouldn’t be able to easily ascend into the Four Digits.
If it were to be the backing of a [Floor Master], which tend to be of the strongest race, it might still be understandable. But it is rare to see an individual ascend a level on his own.
Kuro Usagi cocked her rabbit ears to one side:
“Four…Digits? For an individual to rise to the Four Digits, it’s already undeniably one of the strongest kind……but it would require a lot of merit for someone who isn’t a [Floor Master] to ascend to the Four digits, wouldn’t it? Or is it to say……”
ーthat he had become the important spiritual power that resulted in a [Paradigm Shift]? But Kuro Usagi had already stopped herself in mid-sentence for it would sound too absurd to be said aloud.
Although this was only a speculation at the moment, but the title of [Demon Lord Maxwell] had most likely been born out of the demon that was speculated to be present within the ideologies of Thermodynamics, which is a sub-topic of Physicsー[Maxwell Demon].
This imaginary Demon had been born after the year of 1860, which is also something that happened in the nineteenth century.
But according to the generally accepted knowledge of Little Garden’s history, the prosperous age of [Paradigm Shift]s that allowed others to break into the upper levels have had happened before the seventeenth century.
And especially after the nineteenth century, the histories branching out from them, had started to split into many various possibilities and the possibilities had grown to the extent where it could no longer be controlled or recorded like before. Then came the twentieth century where the convergence and birth of Gods and Demons have had their boundaries blurred to the point of disappearing altogether. Even if there were records on it, it would only be at the scale of an urban legend. The [Paradigm Shift] that has bestowed Gifts and spiritual powers upon many had already been replaced by Beliefs in the Stronger Religions and that is the situation of the world today.
ーLet’s use this as an example.
[Perseus] is a Knight recorded within the Greek mythologies, having had existed during the BC era. If the spiritual level of [Perseus] were to deteriorate, it might cause the influence of Greek mythology to be weakened in its impact on future generations. And the worst case scenario would not exclude the possibility of being totally annihilated and forgotten.
However, due to the various influences of Greek mythology on Philosophy, Religion and Politics, it opened up many opportunities for them to have a large scale [Paradigm Shift] from their influence. Be it a true story or a story from the myths, they would still continue to appear in all the time-lines IN SOME FORM OR ANOTHER.
Hence those who are elevated to the status of Gods from the collective devotion of Humans will not be able to be killed by normal half-baked means. Since Gods are the milestones of the planet, the spiritual level and power of the individual would then retain the power to resurrect themselves according to the description of the generation that they came from.
And there’s only two ways to kill Gods: to prepare the method to overthrow them in the history that they choose to propagate their followersーor to use a strike that has the destructive power to completely wipe out a large scale of Mankind’s History.
If Celestial Beings were the strongest species that controlled over space and matter with their spiritual power,
Gods would be the strongest species that ruled over the ideologies and eras of their existence with their spiritual power.
(However, there are also those such as that have written contributions propagating into the world outside of Little Garden. If one wanted to use the [Paradigm Shift] to obtain a huge amount of Spiritual power, the only way would be to grab a seat amongst the Gods. Black Death(Percher) was a very irregular example that wouldn’t repeat itself as easily as before……)
“Kuro Usagi-san. I know what you are thinking about but that fellow isn’t a normal Demon that can be predicted by means of common sense.”
“What do you mean by that?” Kuro Usagi halted her train of thoughts as she cocked her rabbit ears to the side.
The flames in Jack’s hollow eyes took on a melancholic glow then.
“Although it might sound unbelievable…. It’s the truth that [Demon Lord Maxwell] seemed to have triggered a [Paradigm Shift] after the year of 2120AD.”
“2…2120AD?” Kuro Usagi’s rabbit ears had perked up in surprise at that information.
“Wa…Wait a moment! Kuro Usagi haven’t heard of a convergent point at that time before! To have such a long history of being in the chronology of Mankind, it’s already on par with the civilization that worship the Gods! To have that sort of Convergence point occurring in a Parallel world in that era is impossible! Even if it were to occur, it can only be in the next generation of Manki……”
“No, it’s possible. I had thought the same at first and I had doubts before seeing his power with my own eyes……but after witnessing it for myself, I’ve already accepted it as a fact… That fellow is already on par with the Demon Lords of the strongest species.”
A sense of restlessness could be picked up from the glow in Jack’s pumpkin eye cavities and it did not seem to feel like a pretense at all.
Asuka who knew of Jack’s strength first-hand had also contracted the nervousness as she gave a sigh.
“……Is that so? No wonder you guys have chosen to work alongside [Perseus]. Aside from the fact that he’s an immature young master, it’s undeniable that he possess the power to control a Celestial Being.”
“Oi, who are you calling immature?”
“Yes, that’s the case.”
“At least deny that on my behalf!!! Aren’t we part of the same Alliance?!”
Asuka and Jack exchanged a meaningful look and nodded their heads. While Laius seemed to have cried ou