After saything this much, the rest of the words slipped out.
“And I, want to kill everyone.”
Not Heroes or monsters. But everything that encompassed it.
That was what she really wanted to do.
‘You, scary goddess.’
“Indeed. I am terrible. A hideous goddess.”
‘But…I understand the feeling. I, also want to kill everyone.’
“Then you are also a scary monster. The same as me.”
‘…Yes.’
The two souls from different worlds laughed at their shared sentiment.
The atmosphere felt fresh, and there was a warmth in the darkness of the night.
‘Salia.’
“Sheto.”
They understood each other just by calling each other. And then the goddess said,
“So, what will you do?”
‘…I, became a scary monster. But am still a weak kobold.’
“Yes. And I have no power either.”
‘Should I raise my level again?’
“Well, just attacking rust eaters will not be enough for you to catch up to even the weakest Heroes. And my brother’s Hero has grown even stronger now.”
‘In the end, we’re still weak!’
But there was no darkness in his voice. Perhaps it was because he had eaten to his full, and said what he wanted to say.
“That is true. What we have is the spirits of rebels, and your hunting skills.”
‘Cannot kill Heroes with hunting. It is hopeless.’
“Is it? In the end, he is just a human. Perhaps hunting him is not so difficult?”
‘You really are strange. Hunting him, not the same as hunting deer.’
“But you said that you have hunted a bear before? Humans are weaker than bears.”
Even she realized that this was faulty logic.
The gods gave humans power, and humans became something else. Surely there were no Heroes out there who were weaker than bears.
And so the kobold was quick to argue.
‘You don’t understand. Bear hunting is difficult. And Heroes are stronger than bears. Bears don’t breathe fire. Don’t bring down lightning.’
“It is not as if they do it themselves. It’s a miracle they can call three times a day.”
‘Amazing armor. Bear skin can be pierced with poison arrows. Heroes have invisible walls, my arrows cannot pierce.’
“But unlike bears, a Hero will remove his armor. They are not wearing it all day long.”
‘And the sword? It can cut through anything.’
“Your main weapon is a bow. Just stay out of range.”
Sheto looked down for a moment, as if he had not thought of this.
‘Salia. Humans. What times do they take off armor and put down swords?’
“When eating, bathing, sleeping. Plenty of times. Perhaps when he is seducing a young woman. Only a fool would bring a bloody sword to a place of love.”
‘…I think…all of that is in towns. Houses and inns. I, cannot go.’
“You must think with more flexibility! Even when camping outside, they may take off their armor and sleep!”
The monster had picked up a branch and was drawing something on the ground. A Hero, himself, and…
‘Won’t work! The Hero has friends! Bears don’t live in packs!’
“Do not give up! A pack can be separated!”
‘How?!?’
“Ah… I know! Think of them as wolves!”
‘Wolves, now… Wolves. Also difficult to hunt.’
He drew the others as well. The knight with the sword, the sorcerer, the monk. And against them, a single kobold.
Salia saw this and gasped.
“He…hey, Sheto. What is the trick to hunting wolves?”
‘Find the leader of the pack. Make nose not work. Others will scatter.’
“Think of it like this. The Hero is a bear with a wolf’s characteristic of being in a pack. When it is alone, it is a bear. But as a pack, it is a wolf.”
‘Troublesome… But I could try.’
By comparing it to hunting, the kobold’s intelligence was more able to handle it, and the wheels in his mind seemed to be turning.
He began to talk, just as he probably did while planning a hunt with other kobolds.
‘The Hero, strong with a sword. Magic too. But the knight, sorcerer, the god servant. They are together. …A Hero is strong enough alone. Why do they need pack?’
“It is simple. Because he has no power outside of fighting.”
‘Heroes, only fight? He cannot do anything else?’
“Probably. With powerful god vessels, there is a great price to acquire it. It is likely that he could not have abilities such as danger detection and healing others.”
‘So, that is why they are there.’
While talking like this, Salia began to understand as well.
“Even a Hero cannot do everything perfectly. They are only humans. And so they must make packs and make up for their weaknesses. But if you break the pack apart and isolate them…”
‘…I can…hunt the Hero…?’
“I can make no promises. We do not know the extent of his potential now. But…”
There was no need to say any more.
He probably didn’t realize it himself, but there was now a light in his eyes.
Kobolds were weak. They could not be warriors.
But they could be hunters.
‘Salia, teach me more. About the Hero, and friends. All of it.’
“Very well. I shall tell you what I know.”
While sitting in his own god seat, Zephalis did not stop looking angry.
Lesser gods who served him were there as well, but they were all too scared to come any closer.
Of course, his sister was the source of his bad mood. She had suddenly decided to participate in the games. And now she was gathering a lot of attention from the others.
“What a fool.”
His lips tightened as he looked through the water into the world below. There was an ordinary town, and in the corner of a farm, the Hero was training.
“…I see that you are working hard.”
‘What? You seem to be in a bad mood.’
“And whose fault do you think that is! You let the beast get away!”
‘But that was two weeks ago!? You would think a god would learn to let things go!’
This Hero was rude and vulgar. Zephalis could not stand him. Even if he could be a useful tool, sometimes. He was still a layman. He had no respect for his superiors.
“So, what are you doing now?”
‘Trying to make your faulty product something that I can use.’
“Are you calling my god vessel broken!?”
‘My own barrier prevented me from attacking! Clearly it must be broken!’
This was all true, but it was not his fault. It was made by the Goddess of Judgement who presided over the games.
“The invisibility barrier reacts to all attacks. It works by shutting down everything around you in that instant. This is in order to deal with delayed attacks, area attacks, and poison or paralysis mists.”
‘…Well, I guess I can understand that. But can’t you just make my weapon an exception?’
“Part of the rules is that we cannot make something that is ‘perfect.’ If you got what you asked for, there would be an enormous price for it, that you would not be able to pay, even if you returned that sword and bracelet.”
‘I suppose being able to attack in such a one-sided way would be cheating and ruin the balance. People would say it was a shit game.’
Unfortunately, a degree of ‘fairness’ was required here. And so it was difficult to just use your resources to buy a god vessel and use brute force to win.
“By the way, what did you mean about making up for the flaw?”
‘Well, take a look.’
The Hero said confidently. Zephalis sat back and watched.
“Oh…!”
He stood up from surprise and delight.
“Ohhhh!”
‘What do you think?’
“I-I see! Now that is an idea! Wonderful!”
The god seat had a gloomy air after the frustrating results last time, but the air brightened in an instant.
‘If anything, by using this, I should be able to broaden my tactics quite a lot?’
“Yes, yes! Splendid! Now then, you should acquire the complete magic defense too!”
‘Seriously!? But is that really a good idea? In terms of rules and limitations?’
“I already confirmed it with the Goddess of Judgement. All it will take is adding the affinity for magic defense to that armor barrier. So there is no problem!”
If magic obstruction was added on top of physical attacks, most Heroes would turn into an invincible fortress.
“Hehehe… We have finally reached this point!”
Up until now, he had never had a Hero who survived until the end. But if you gave them a god vessel with this much power from the beginning, you could just let them do whatever they wanted, and their level would go up.
Now the gods who looked down on him would not be able to laugh.
“Good! The Goddess of Judgement! To Yesta!”
“I am right here.”
“Huh!?”
Yesta said with a smile. She had come without permission, and Zephalis was startled.
“In any case, to my Hero…”
“Are you sure.”
“Yes. Just do it!”
The Goddess of Judgement took her staff and pointed it at the Hero who appeared in the water.
“With my life, I grant you the power to block all magical forces.”
It was done shockingly quickly. And the power went into the Hero’s armor.
‘What just happened?’
“You have complete magic protection now.”
‘Seriously!? Alright, then can I test it!?’
“Have your sorcerer friend do it. Something powerful. As if to kill you!”
Now the Hero was nearly perfect.
There were still some weaknesses, but he just needed to continue to kill monsters and gain experience. There was nothing to worry about.
After that, Zephalis went outside, now in a good mood.
He waved at the other gods who greeted him. He had not felt this cheerful in a long time.
And like that, he descended into the garden.
But as if to erase it all, there was someone there, waiting.
“…What are you doing here?”
He said angrily. His sister went down to one knee and bowed her head.
“I have come to ask for your pardon, brother.”