Elisae smiled, looking down at her script on her terminal, making sure that she remembered everything that she needed to say. This charity event was meant to funnel money into the less well-off areas of the world, in an attempt to aid in the fight against economic decline. It wasn’t the first charity event that Elisae had held in recent years, but it was certainly the most ambitious

Asking gods to come and fight each other in Virtual, when doing so was likely to reveal many of their trump cards for others to see… She wouldn’t be surprised if less than ten actually showed up, and had asked around for some friends to get the bare minimum necessary for the event.

“Y-Your Highness?” As she was thinking about that, and finalizing the script, she heard a knock on the door behind her, turning to see one of her maids.

“Lea, how many times have I told you…” Elisae’s gentle words trailed off when she saw the trembling appearance of the maid, her expression growing more serious. “Has something happened?”

The maid nodded her head, Elisae quickly standing and preparing to rush out if need be. “The… The Keeper is here to see you, Your Highness.”

When Elisae heard those words, her body went stiff. Her battle strategies slipped from her mind, and even the script that she had been diligently practicing vanished like a bad case of stage fright. “The uh… the Keeper, you said?” She asked to confirm, the maid nodding her head.

Elisae took a deep breath, closing her eyes and focusing. Calm down, Ellie. This isn’t your first big meeting. Don’t… don’t think of him as the Keeper. Think of him as… yeah! Think of him as Scarlet’s dad! He’s the father of a friend, coming to visit. Yeah, that’s it.

Gradually, Elisae’s confidence began to return, as did her smile. “Please take me to see him.” She instructed Lea gently, who quickly nodded her head and led the human queen out of her private quarters.

It only took a few moments for them to descend the stairs and make their way towards one of the larger meeting rooms of the palace. Despite her best attempts to calm herself, Elisae’s pace was unusually fast, causing her to arrive at the room even before her maid.

Upon opening the door, Elisae was greeted with the sight of the Keeper and his three most commonly seen servants. He sat at the table, drinking tea that was likely prepared by one of her staff, while the other three stood behind him with their arms at their sides.

Elisae gulped, taking a step into the room and closing it behind herself. “Keeper, sir, this is a pleasant surprise.” She spoke up, bringing attention to herself and causing the Keeper to look over. “To what do I owe the honor?”

“I wanted to meet with you before the big event.” The Keeper said in an amicable tone. “It was my intention to watch your event, but I did not want to cause any undo awkwardness with you finding out only after the event had begun.”

Elisae blinked, surprised that the Keeper himself would be watching this event. She could already imagine that there would be more gods participating now, in an attempt to catch his attention. “I see… thank you for doing this, sir.” She nodded her head, able to return to her normal composure once she saw that the Keeper did not seem to express any absurd demands or eccentricities. “In that case, is there anything that I should be aware of?”

The Keeper thought about that for a moment. “First of all, there is one announcement that I would like you to make. As this is going to attract many viewers, it seems a fitting place to do so.”

“What would you like announced?” Elisae asked, genuinely curious. It was rare for the Keeper to make any kind of announcement, so she wondered if it had anything to do with the recent update to the world system that went live.

Sure enough, her thoughts were verified when the Keeper spoke again. “There will be another update coming soon, though this one will not be as significant as the last change to the system. We will be adding in a new class, as well as one new feature. The new class will be the Maid and Butler class, the name able to be changed depending on the person’s preference. As for the feature, we are adding the ability to contact others directly through the system itself, so long as they are registered on your contact list.”

Elisae tilted her head slightly, but did not question the Keeper. The maid class… she wasn’t quite sure what it would do. However, a private messaging system seemed to be purely a quality of life improvement. “Out of curiosity, sir, will this new feature require any cost to use it? For instance, mana to send the message, or a prayer to a specific deity?” Energy was the hot currency of the day, so Elisae was concerned that this would increase the demand even further.

Thankfully, the Keeper shook his head. “No, so long as someone has been registered as a contact, there will be no energy cost. My aim is to gradually begin cycling out the communication crystals with this new feature. Once the feature has been released, we will refine it over time to include additions such as sharing contact lists from one person to another.”

“One last thing.” The Keeper said with a smile. “About the matter of the event’s prizes…”

“Thank you, everyone, for joining me for today’s Virtual Tournament of Gods!” Elisae announced with a wide smile, her voice reaching every corner of the packed stadium. She had expected a large turnout for viewers, but was pleasantly surprised by the number of participants that began registering just before the start of the event. Though, she knew that there would be even more once she announced the prizes.

“Now, before we begin with the main event, I’m sure that everyone has noticed a very special guest in attendance.” She lifted her hand upwards, pointing to the structure above the stadium, the Sky Citadel hovering high above their heads. “That’s right, the Keeper himself will be viewing this event, and has asked me to make a few announcements!”

“First of all, he wishes to make it known that there is another system update on the way, which will release the Maid class and a Private Messaging feature!” Elisae’s smile and enthusiasm seemed to be contagious, as she heard a round of heavy applause and cheering, despite the rather simple announcement.

“Finally, the prizes for today’s events have been altered at the last minute. If anyone wishes to withdraw their name from the lot, they may of course do so. However… I believe there will be far more people lining up for the chance to participate!” Elisae’s voice rose sharply to build up the anticipation.

“Our top four contestants today will all win a very special prize. These lucky winners will receive a fully customized training program created by none other than the Sky Citadel’s Goddess of Adventures, Lifre! If you have already used one of her training programs, she has volunteered to replace the prize with another fully customized story of your choice!”

“Additionally, our grand prize winner will have a divine artifact of their choice enhanced by the Keeper himself!” When Elisae announced that, startled gasps rang out from the crowd. Nobody present knew the effects of the Keeper enhancing a divine artifact, but it couldn’t be bad if it were a grand prize. In fact, if one were to consider the Keeper’s status, having an artifact enhanced personally by him would make it invaluable even if the enhancement had little effect.

Elisae continued after a suitable pause, allowing her words to properly sink in. “As you all know, this is a charity event to help stimulate the economy. There is a small fee to register, and all profit and donations will go towards revitalizing businesses in areas most affected by the current decline. As the host, I will not keep a single coin. In fact, I have promised to match ten percent of donations in order to show my personal support to these businesses.”

“Now, with that out of the way, the final registration period is open! Those who wish to withdraw may do so, and receive a full refund of their registration fees, and those who wish to apply, please simply consult our Virtual site for details.”

“Is it really okay to give out four training programs as prizes?” Lifre asked in concern, sitting next to me as we watched the event beginning to unfold from the comfort of the Sky Citadel’s lounge. At first, we had planned to get a seat in a VIP box in the stadium, but Elisae had informed us that there was no such box. Even she, the Queen of Hanbei, sat with everyone else when she wasn’t doing her announcements.

I thought it might attract unwanted trouble for us to simply sit in the midst of everyone else, so I had Tsubaki bring the citadel over to watch like this. When I heard Lifre’s question, I offered a small smile. “You can use my divine energy when you are creating the books.” I told her, readily giving her the permission to do so.

Lifre blinked in surprise, nodding her head. “Well, I’m sure that there will be a lot of people lining up to compete. Especially for your grand prize. Do you need us to act as additional security?”

I shook my head at that. “No, they have plenty of security. Let’s not take away from their own hard work, and have some faith in them. Besides, since the prizes are coming from us, the only thing that they have the opportunity to take by causing trouble are the donations. If someone chooses to ruin Elisae’s event just for some donation money, they deserve whatever karmic justice they get.”

Scarlet had long since told me about Elisae, the being with the single greatest karma value in any world. Stealing from her was an act that would leave a black stain on anyone’s soul.

As I was thinking about that, I caught sight of a refreshment stand that was set up near the entrance of the stadium. What caught my eye about this stand in particular was that it was manned by a deity. More than that, one that I had seen before, the ‘personal chef’ of the Greater Pantheon.

I let out a small chuckle when I saw Aznod passing out snacks and drinks to those in attendance, but made no attempt to get anything for myself. I had Tsubaki’s cooking, and that was more than enough for me.

“Oh, they’re about to get started!” Dana called out, switching the channel. “They let out the rules for this tournament weeks ago. Since it is a battle of gods, the main focus is on divine powers. You can use other abilities, but only if they are related to your divinity in some way.”

I gave a nod at Dana’s words, turning to look at the list. There were hundreds of gods competing in this competition, so they naturally had different channels set up to watch each contestant. “Tsubaki, who do you think would be a good contestant to focus on?”

“I believe that number seven would be an interesting choice, my Keeper.” Tsubaki answered, surprising me with the low number. I looked back up at the top of the list, and saw that number seven was none other than Aznod himself.

So he is participating both as a refreshments vendor and as a contestant? I suppose that works, since this is a battle in Virtual. I nodded my head, switching to his channel. His first battle was just about to begin, and I was curious to see how a chef fought.