A night of celebration. News had spread by now that he was able to subdue a demon lord. He is only a candidate for now but there were already people seeing him as a sure pick for a hero.

A night of reconciliation. Dessa’s assault was definitely the major issue. That was what the guild members thought, along with Rionna. They were involved with her ever since the war ended. This was an isolated event. They did not expect Kiryuu to be so accepting, and so forgiving, of the matter.

In that same vein, Hilde’s attack. The two were able to reconcile. It surprised Hilde the most. She prepared for the consequences as much as she was able. He thanked her instead. At the time, Kiryuu did not need Vena’s eyes to know how terribly frightened Hilde was. She was visibly shaking and on the verge of tears the moment the two were left alone.

Rionna started off with a toast and the feast began. Drinks started pouring in. Kiryuu did his best to try and taste as many of the dishes as he could. A lot of them came from monsters that were being hunted. Orc chops, Wyvern wings. Basilisk steaks. The thought of monsters as food made it exotic and it was all the more exciting for him.

It was soon after they ate their fill that Rionna started ordering drinking rounds. Raful declined and said that he wasn’t good with alcohol. It was after that first round that Vena pulled Kiryuu away from the group. A silent invitation. Everyone knew what it meant. Vena dragged Kiryuu by the arm, who was more than happy to oblige. Hilde smiled a little as she saw the two go up their room. Things were different now. The group continued to celebrate. Rionna was able to drink everyone else under the table.

As they neared the room, Kiryuu surprised Vena by picking her up and carrying her in his arms. It surprised her but she didn’t dislike it. She wrapped her arms around his neck as he opened the door and took her inside. He made sure to lock the door as Vena got onto her feet and pulled him towards the bed. He stumbled and the two fell onto the bed. They looked at each other a bit and started to laugh.

“You’re rather aggressive today,” he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer.

“Hmp,” she pouted and placed her hands on his chest, pretending to push him away. “Whose fault do you think that is?”

“Mine. I’m sorry,” he tried to coddle her by nuzzling her neck. She can’t deny that she was enjoying it.

“I forgive you,” she said with a soft voice. It wasn’t as if it was entirely his fault. He still felt the need to own up to it and apologize anyway. She knew that. A lot of things had happened one after the other.

She buried her face in his chest. She clutched his shirt as the feeling of almost losing him washed over her. She startled to sniffle. He embraced her tightly and stroked her hair as she cried.

She calmed down after a while and let him go. She admitted that she was jealous. Even though polygamy wasn’t uncommon, she couldn’t help it. After all, she wasn’t like the others. She had a normal upbringing. She had no problems starting out as an adventurer. The only thing special with her was the ability of her eyes.

It was difficult to interact with people with those eyes. More so when you could see their feelings and intentions. She had to be picky with who would party up with. It was difficult for her to trust anyone as she was able to see through their words.

Her eyes kept her safe. It was one of the biggest reasons why she was able to survive being an adventurer all this time. She couldn't deny that. This included encounters with both monsters and people with malicious intent. She had been going solo a lot but she made sure to be as careful as possible.

She, too, had the opportunity to party up with Rionna. It was her that found out about Vena’s eyes during an excursion. Still, she did not abandon nor did she feel threatened by the elf. In fact, it was through Rionna’s help that Vena was able to control and even appreciate her eyes.

In time, Hilde rose up the ranks and took hold of the position as a guild master. Vena took that opportunity to be a receptionist. She made use of her eyes to appraise and aid adventurers. She was able to save lives by warning people of any impending danger. Sometimes she had to sneak about but it was well worth the effort.

“I like your eyes,” Kiryuu said as she finished with her story. “If it weren’t for your eyes, our paths might have only crossed once.”

He might just be another otherworlder. Just another hero candidate. Just another adventurer. He believed that they had their fated encounter.

“But…” Still, she was jealous. She compared herself with Hilde, Shino, Dessa, and even Rionna. She thought she lacked charm and appeal. She decided to go for the aggressive option even though she had no experience in the matter. She encountered seeing lust and malice together before. She hated such things.

Only recently did she really become curious. Rionna had been teaching her a lot of things on such acts, much to Hilde's chagrin.

“You don't need to prove anything. I love you the way you are.”

“Kiryuu…”

“We can cuddle all night instead if you want,” he kissed her forehead and closed his eyes. She knew he was being considerate. Right now, she saw within him both affection and lust.

“Are you sure that’s what you want to do?”

“I…” Before he could answer, she already slipped her leg between his. Her thigh pressed against his crotch. She knew he was holding back. She wanted him to be honest. It was pointless to deny it at this point.

“Well?” She looked up at him and smiled.

He didn’t need words to answer.

It was the break of dawn when Rionna had finally had her fill of drinks. Raful and Rionna were helping Hilde to their room. Hilde, Shino, and Dessa, were unable to avoid Rionna’s drinking challenge. Shino and Dessa were knocked out, sound asleep in their room. Hilde gave up when she felt that she was about to throw up. Rionna still seemed unfazed, except for her blushed cheeks.

About the room placement, Hilde, Raful, and Rionna shared a room. Next to theirs was Kiryuu and Vena’s, then Shino and Dessa’s.

As they neared the door to their room, Rionna suddenly stopped. She started muttering incomprehensible things as she stared blankly into space. Raful assisted Hilde as they backed a few steps away from Rionna. After a while, she returned to normal.

“Was that… an oracle?” Raful asked Rionna.

“Yes,” Rionna went to the Kiryuu and Vena’s door and started to knock. When no one answered for a while, she knocked again. This time, she heard someone walking towards the door.

“Yes?” Vena opened the door only by a bit as she was using the sheets to cover her body.

“Oh my~ Did you have fun?” Rionna teased her. Vena smiled sheepishly and nodded.

“Anyway,” she continued. “I received an oracle just now.”

She normally received an oracle when she communes with the goddess. It was rare for her to get an oracle while she was outside the church. The oracle she received said that the goddess wishes to meet up with Kiryuu.

“Meet up?” Vena asked.

The goddesses are able to commune with a high ranking priestess from their churches. Meeting up seems to be a different matter altogether. Even Rionna found the message strange.

Would the goddess descend? It might cause a bigger issue than the one involving Dessa.

Would the goddess need a vessel? Rionna was ready to have her body serve as a suitable vessel if needed.

Kiryuu had gone back to sleep after basking in the afterglow. When his arms felt empty, he stirred awake. He saw Vena at the door and sat up, still a bit sleepy.

“What’s going on?” He yawned.

“Kiryuu, you’re…” Vena noticed that there were white glowing particles surrounding him. They were drifting upwards.

Rionna took this moment to slip inside and saw the spectacle. She had a pretty good guess on what was going on. She questioned the sudden urgency but set that aside for now.

“Quick, Vena, where are his clothes?” Rionna panicked a bit.

“Huh? What?” Kiryuu was still unable to comprehend what was going on.

“Eh? Why?” Vena was also confused.

“Ah… too late,” Rionna said. A bright light enveloped Kiryuu. He seemed to dissolve and rush up into the skies.

That was what the goddess meant when she wanted to meet him. Rionna had seen something similar. What she saw was in a descent, with the glowing light descending onto a person. It was the first time she saw that spectacle in an ascending manner.

“Kiryuu!” Vena tried to reach out for him but Rionna held her back to play it safe. Interfering with a transference spell has its dangers. This was also a very special case and Rionna didn’t want to risk anything.

“Sorry, Vena,” Rionna picked up the sheets that dropped onto the floor and draped it around her. “Don’t worry. I’m sure everything will be alright.”

Rionna was certain that it was the goddess’ doing. Surely she had no ill intentions, right? Vena had a foreboding feeling. Before Kiryuu had been whisked away, all the chains that had wrapped around him broke. For a brief moment, she saw him in a myriad of colors, far greater than how she saw him before. There were colors exuding radiance, and there were those that radiated tenebrosity. Yet, those colors all moved alongside each other in harmony.

“I… okay,” Vena said as she placed her trust in Kiryuu. She felt like he wasn’t the one they needed to worry about.

‘Am I too late?’

The goddess, Maia. The eldest of the seven sisters. They had been watching over the souls that have been crossing over for this cycle. A cycle in which seven heroes are chosen to defeat the evil god. It has always been this way and they have always managed to triumph over the evil god. They cannot completely vanquish the evil god. Thus there was a need for the cycle.

During this time, a certain soul caught her attention. Her sisters noticed it too. It was a soul that was incredibly weak. Most of them brushed it off as a weak soul that was fortunate enough to be given a new life. One of her sisters, Merope, even teased that Maia was going beyond her virtue. Maia did not deny their misconception even though in reality, she felt that something was off. It seemed impossible that a soul could be withered to such a degree.

Seeing as she was focused on the soul, her sisters thought she was simply taking pity on it. They thought she would give it a small blessing, enough to live an ordinary life. That was supposed to be the end of it.

That soul. That person. He stood in front of her and her aides.

“Alexios?” She called out to the winged man to her right. He wore a set of high quality white robes.

“I sense… nothing. There is barely any semblance of power from him,” he replied.

“Hey now, that’s rude,” Kiryuu spoke up. He was feeling really great when that transport occurred. Right now? Not so much.

He found himself in a strange white place that stretched out almost infinitely. There were only three other people. A woman that sat on a throne of gold and silver, and two winged people.

He figured that the man had a similar ability to Shino. She also said something similar when she was explaining her eyes.

“How indecent,” the winged woman chided him. She wore a gallant armor and had a sword on her waist.

“Huh? Oh, fuck me,” Kiryuu noticed that he was still naked. He held nothing but a pillow and used that to cover himself up.

“Myrina, Alexios,” the woman stood up from her throne. She raised her hand above her head and an immense amount of energy gathered at her fingertips. The other two responded with the robed man opening a tome and the woman drawing her blade.

“So much effort for a lowlife,” Alexios sighed as he faced his palm towards Kiryuu.

“I will make this as painless as possible,” Myrina raised her blade above her head.

“Disappear from my sight,” Maia pointed towards Kiryuu. Shot a destructive blast towards him. It was large enough to engulf a normal adult. Alexios shot a large orb of destruction. Myrina swung down her blade and sent waves of vorpal energy that can cut anything in its path.

Kiryuu was caught up in a destructive maelstrom from Alexios' orb. The blast from Maia soon followed, the contact causing an explosive chain reaction. This resulting explosion was then cleaved several times by Myrna's waves.

‘Did that do it?’ Maia thought to herself. They couldn’t see until the dust settled. All they could do was wait…

Suddenly, something flew out from the side, spinning rapidly and moving extremely fast. Following that, a strong force expelled everything obstructing their view. The three could see Kiryuu standing there. He was unscathed.

There was something about him that rendered the three unable to move. Maia trembled. There was no sign of the confused amnesiac from before. The air around them felt heavy, almost suffocating. Kiryuu cracked his neck to the side and stretched a bit. He cracked his knuckles and took in a deep breath.

Kiryuu gazed at Maia and smirked. He started walking towards her. Myrina immediately moved to intercept him only for a fast spinning object hit her over the head. It knocked her out before it changed its trajectory to hit Alexios. He fell over to his side, out cold and foaming at the mouth. The spinning object ricocheted and spun towards Maia. By a stroke of luck, her legs gave way and she fell back onto the throne. The object embedded itself on the throne at the height where her head had been. She trembled as she looked up to see what it was.

It was a pillow. A pillow embedded halfway on a gold and silver throne.

Kiryuu loomed over her and took the pillow out of the throne with ease. He patted it a bit to dust it off before tossing it towards Maia. She was so dumbstruck that the pillow bounced off her face before falling onto her lap. She took hold of it and realized something.

It was an ordinary pillow.

“I told you, didn’t I? Do your best to get it under control?”

“That was… directed at me?”

“Of course,” he chuckled. “You’ve been observing me the whole time so I figured I’d warn you if you meddled with me again.”

“So that whole time…”

“Yep…”

He spent a long time searching for a world where magic and otherworlders were common. It wasn’t that difficult. In fact, there are a lot of worlds out there that fit that criteria. The problem was that his presence was too much for most worlds. He kept trying to reduce his presence by forcefully weakening himself. He had no issue with it since he can recover over time anyway.

He was in a near death-state before he was able to find a world that he could enter. His regeneration was the problem. It constantly kept kicking in. So he decided to add a seal on top of it to keep him in that state long enough to enter a world.

Maya had investigated and used her abilities to scry through his soul’s memories. When she realized the kind of being he was, she tried to expel him from the world. Much to her dismay, she was unable to change his course. None of her attempts worked. She couldn’t lead him to another world so she decided to add something onto the seal. She made it so his memories won’t carry over.

“But… why are you here? What’s your goal?”

“Me? Well, I’m here on vacation.”

“V-vacation?” Her jaw dropped upon hearing his answer.

“I admit, the memory thing was kind of good. I didn’t think of that. Trying to get rid of me, though,” he made the gesture of tilting his hand side to side slowly before he continued. “Not really the best of your ideas.”

“I had no choice.”

“But you did. You could have taken my soul and talked to me in private.” It would still count as entering that world. There were many instances of a person meeting a godly figure after death. It usually occurred before transporting or reincarnating. He prepared for that kind of scenario.

“I…” She wanted to refute his words but she realized that he was right. She had the power to take his soul at the time. It wouldn’t even be suspicious. Her sisters already misunderstood her intentions. She was the eldest so she decided that it was up to her. Her sisters didn’t need to be involved.

She panicked out of fear and it slipped her mind. All she wanted to do at the time was to get rid of his soul. No matter what she tried, she couldn’t. Her vision tunneled onto the seal which was why she tampered with it. The seal itself was terrific. It can render a god helpless and powerless.

But she couldn’t leave him alone.

She kept watching over him from the time he appeared in the world. She guided her priestess with oracles and made sure they interacted. Because of that, she found out what the elf’s eyes saw him as. She welcomed any new information. Anything. But there was none that could help her with her goal.

Over time, the seal started to weaken. With every new woman he interacted with, his soul was recovering. She wondered if this was on purpose.

Then the incident with the demon lord happened. She normally wouldn’t have been able to sneak in when Asmodeus had dove into his mind. She somehow found a path this time. It was almost as if she was being invited in. She didn’t hesitate. She realized that she was baited into watching the exchange between him and Asmodeus.

“I’ve been dancing in your palm the entire time…”

He replied with a smirk. He intentionally showed her that he broke the seal. When he said he needed to lay low, it wasn’t from the goddess but from the will of the world. When he thanked his amnesiac self, it was because Maia had dove in, and not Asmodeus.

“I had to goad you a bit more,” he said. Hilde’s attack timed in perfectly. His regeneration kept him from dying. Rionna poured her all in her healing magic. It helped a bit even though it was unnecessary. He would survive. It showed his regenerative ability to Rionna. Her talent and understanding in the healing arts made her understand a few things. Having her witness that kind of regeneration was a step closer to resurrection magic. It was a forbidden art and it definitely got Maia's attention.

“I didn’t expect you to be this impatient though.”

“Wait… you don’t mean…?”

After his night with Vena, he disabled the interference spell. It prevented anyone from using transfer magic on him. He was expecting for Rionna to get an oracle when she returns to the church. Then, he would get called to meet up with the goddess.

“Just how far have you planned this?”

“It doesn’t matter since you rushed things anyway.”

“Hmp,” Maia couldn’t help but pout at those words.

Kiryuu stepped back with haste. Myrina had recovered. She tried to take him by surprise but he dodged with minimal movement. He went behind her. He traced something on her back before shoving her towards Alexios, who was starting to get up. The two collided and fell over.

He snapped his fingers and the two were launched upward with great force. After reaching a certain height, a blinding explosion engulfed the two. Moments later, they crashed down. Alexios to Maia’s right and Myrina to her left.

“Myrina, Alexios, stop it,” Maia said to the two that were trying to get up again. They were battered but they would be able to recover. They were still celestial beings, after all. She wasn’t surprised that he handled them with ease. She was frightened.

“It’s impossible,” Alexios spat. “How can we be defeated by such a powerless being?”

Kiryuu started to laugh, “you’re relying on your eyes too much, you know.”

“What?”

“You keep trying to look for water that you fail to realize you’re already drowning.”

“Enough!” Maia raised her voice against her aide. She took in a deep breath and calmed down.

“I think we got off on the wrong foot, ,” Kiryuu leaned back as he hovered in the air, as if sitting on an invisible chair. He crossed his arms and slowly crossed his legs. “Let’s negotiate.”

“F-fine,” she looked away. She worried about his demands, but his movements bothered her. It made her uncomfortable. After all, Kiryuu was still naked.