Adin felt a portion of the vast power that enveloped the ‘Celestial God’ vanish.

At first, he thought it was some kind of mistake.

But after checking several times, it was the same.

‘It’s weakened.’

I have weakened.

I… this body! The great Celestial God!

His mind spun at an unbelievable speed.

What has made me weaker?

‘There’s no need to ask.’

This torrential rain, brought by commanding every water spirit on the continent with divine power, somehow it was taking its toll.

He immediately tried to withdraw the order he had given the spirits.

That was when a chilling voice came from behind.

“Please continue.”

“V… Velosian.”

“Yes. It’s me.”

“Do you not understand the situation? The faith humanity has been offering me has vanished!”

Velosian corrected him.

“Only a tiny portion vanished.”

“The fact that it vanished at all is the problem. Since joining hands with you to kill Impelium, nothing like this has ever happened!”

“……”

“In all the endless ages, humanity has never once doubted me. Yet the impossible has happened!”

Velosian scratched his head, then spoke in a leisurely tone.

“To be honest, I will admit it. Mide struck at a weak spot.”

“Mide? What trick did he pull?”

“With the emperor’s cooperation, he gave a grand speech across the continent.”

Velosian briefly summarized the contents of Mide’s speech.

Adin nearly let out a sound of admiration.

Of course, he couldn’t bring himself to praise an enemy’s trick.

He forced himself to belittle Mide’s scheme.

“Hmph. A meaningless struggle.”

“Ahaha.”

“Why are you laughing?”

“You are hardly one to say that, considering just moments ago you were flustered and panicking at that ‘meaningless struggle.’ We have known each other a long time, but I will never get used to your petty pride.”

“……”

“No matter how harshly you evaluate it, Mide’s resourcefulness this time can only be called remarkable. The power you lost proves it, doesn’t it?”

Adin ground his teeth.

But in the end, he had no intention of admitting Mide’s brilliance.

So he changed the subject.

“In any case, I will stop this rain.”

“Hm.”

“I will end it before it’s too late. Even as I speak, my power continues to fade.”

Velosian didn’t answer. Instead, he glanced to the side.

There was Kaeld, eyes darting nervously.

Velosian asked,

“What do you think?”

“Huh? M-me?”

“Yes. From the look of it, Adin wants to cancel this operation. What do you think about that?”

Kaeld stole a glance at Adin.

But soon, with a firmness that made one wonder why he bothered glancing at all, he answered.

“I would prefer it if you continued.”

At those words, Adin’s eyes widened in rage.

“Y-you dare speak that way to me…!”

“Look. If you stop the rain now, then Mide’s speech will be proven true.”

“……”

“Mide claimed he would stop the rain. If you do it, people will believe he achieved that feat. Who knows how far his fame will soar?”

Adin snapped back, blood boiling.

“You wretch! Don’t speak so lightly just because it’s not your concern!”

“But it really isn’t my concern.”

“You were created by me for the sole purpose of killing Bion. You are my creation. Are you saying you don’t care what becomes of your own creator as long as you get what you want?!”

That was when Velosian interjected.

“Doesn’t this remind you of the past, Adin?”

“W-what are you talking about.”

“Doesn’t Kaeld’s behaviour remind you of your selfish former self?”

“Silence.”

“Back when you were one of Impelium’s party members.”

Adin shut his mouth.

Instead, Kaeld burst out,

“Impelium’s party member? You mean that Impelium who is cooperating with Mide?”

“That’s right. Long ago, Adin was part of the hero Impelium’s party.”

“H-hero?”

“But he betrayed Impelium, and for his own selfish gain sided with the Demon King of that time. Together with the Demon King, Adin killed Impelium.”

Drip.

Cold sweat slid down Kaeld’s back.

He could guess the answer without asking.

But still, he forced his mouth open.

“That Demon King at that time… who was it?”

Velosian answered lightly.

“Me.”

“……”

“It’s quite the similar picture, isn’t it? You too are about to join hands with Demon King Idria and betray humanity.”

“……”

“If everything goes well, you will betray your party and get what you desire. Your soaring fame would eventually make you another ‘Celestial God.’”

His body trembled violently.

Fear? No.

It was ecstasy.

Just imagining becoming a Celestial God filled him with an indescribable euphoria.

“Of course, Adin wouldn’t sit back and watch that.”

“…What?”

“It won’t matter to Idria once she leaves for her fake world, since it won’t affect her there. But she certainly wouldn’t take you with her.”

“……”

“You would remain here. Then there would be two Celestial Gods. Do you think petty Adin would tolerate that?”

Kaeld glared sharply at Adin.

Adin didn’t bother avoiding his gaze.

Instead, he said as if nothing was wrong,

“Hmph. I have no intention of creating a successor.”

“Son of a…” For origınal chapters go to novèlfire.net

“Keep barking, foolish creation.”

Velosian watched the quarrel with amusement.

How alike they were.

To think there could be two beings who cared only for themselves to such a degree.

Rarity was always beautiful, but somehow he didn’t feel like using that word for these two.

Clap.

Velosian clapped his hands once.

“Now then. Back to the main point, Adin.”

“What do you mean?”

“You need to issue a reply to Mide’s speech.”

“……?”

“This time it’s Kaeld’s turn to give a speech.”

He continued in a leisurely tone.

“Then Mide will counter that. Kaeld will counter again. And so on. What do they call this? Psychological warfare?”

“……You think such a thing can defeat Mide?”

“There’s no real need to defeat him.”

“What?”

“This psychological battle is meant to help you maintain your power as the Celestial God. Even if your power dips for a moment, Kaeld’s rebuttal speech will raise it again.”

Adin couldn’t understand what he meant.

In the end, it sounded like nothing more than stalling for time.

But what possible benefit could there be in stalling?

Velosian, reading the doubt on his face, spoke again.

“As long as the rain doesn’t stop, it’s fine, Adin. Humanity can never truly risk their very lives to put faith in another.”

----------------------------------------

A day passed.

Having barely slept through the night, I checked the fame.

Mide Mohan / Total Fame: 461,800

Adin Pres / Total Fame: 1,005,000

My fame had risen again.

Adin’s fame had dropped.

I immediately informed the party of this.

Everyone was visibly delighted.

Lisel said,

“It seems this strategy was indeed the right one.”

“……”

“If we had chosen the wrong path, this trend couldn’t possibly have lasted all night. Don’t you think?”

“…Yeah.”

“…But for that, you look far too grim.”

Indeed, Lisel was right.

I could feel it myself, my face was stiff and hard.

Adwin tilted his head and asked,

“Is something wrong, hyung?”

“It’s too slow.”

“Huh?”

“The rate at which Adin’s fame is falling. The rate at which mine is rising. Both are far too slow.”

At that, the party members’ faces hardened.

Serein hesitated before speaking up.

“I-it’s fine. Even if it’s slow, as long as it’s the right path, isn’t that what matters? Someday, when we look back on ourselves, as long as we can nod and say, ‘I lived well,’ that’s enough.”

“Who said that?”

“Me.”

“Doesn’t suit you at all.”

“Yes. I will admit that honestly.”

“In ordinary circumstances that would be true, but not now.”

Neril said this and looked out the window.

The capital was safe thanks to Xenia and Serein maintaining barrier spells.

But the rain hammering down against those barriers could be clearly seen.

“If Mide’s and Adin’s fame don’t reverse, the rain won’t stop.”

“…Right. And the damage will be devastating.”

“Damage is one thing…”

Neril trailed off and fell silent.

Probably didn’t want to lower morale with needless words.

But this had to be said.

I picked up where she left off.

“You mean people will change their hearts.”

“Mhm.”

“You are right. For a day or two, it will only mean economic losses. But once the rivers swell and people’s homes are swallowed by water, then it will be an entirely different story.”

Lives. Survival. Existence.

Many shout there are things more precious than life. But when it comes down to offering their own lives for those precious things, there aren’t many who actually do.

No, one could say there are almost none.

Offense muttered with a groan,

“So once their lives are on the line, they will turn back to the Celestial God.”

“Exactly. At that point, right or wrong won’t matter to them.”

“……”

“They will bow their heads to whoever can protect their lives. I may have claimed I can stop the rain, but to humanity, the fame of a hero can’t compare to the Celestial God’s.”

“……”

“People will kneel before the feet of the larger, greater being.”

Serein, who never had a shred of faith to begin with, grumbled.

“Would that kind of faith, gained through force, even bring joy?”

“Not to me. But Adin would be overjoyed.”

“……”

“Either way, from today onward, we will need to accelerate the speeches. Not just once a day. As many times as possible.”

Rustle.

I pulled out the notes of speeches I had written through the night.

Everyone gathered close and began reviewing them.

“Should we try using more provocative words today?”

“No. Too radical won’t be good. We should phrase things gently.”

“The priority is figuring out what degree is appropriate.”

“Wow… we have really ended up doing even this. Back in Grade’s time, all we had to do was slay the Demon King.”

About ten minutes later.

Neril, on behalf of the group, handed me the speech with some revisions.

A quick skim showed the sentences were indeed much smoother.

[This should show better results than yesterday.]

‘Let’s hope so.’

Well then, shall we begin?

I approached the communication orb set up on the rooftop.

Just before I activated it.

“Huh, huh?”

“The rain stopped!”

“What? Don’t tell me the fame is already reversed?”

Startled by the voices of my companions, I looked up at the sky.

Sure enough, as if the torrential rain had never happened, the sky shone with blinding blue.

[Fame hasn’t changed at all.]

‘Damn it.’

[What?]

‘So that’s how it is, Velosian, you really are going to see this through to the end.’

At that moment…

Shoooom.

The sky split open.

Golden light poured down over the world.

Once again, an oracle was descending.

“An oracle…”

“Damn it. Isn’t this cheating?”

“The moment the oracle descended, the rain stopped. Haa… it’s so clear how people will interpret this.”

“Of course, they will think only the Celestial God can stop the rain.”

“Exactly. That’s how they will see it.”

Their voices left a bitter taste in my mouth.

But soon I realized.

Even expecting it to be an oracle was far too optimistic.

—Greetings, everyone.

The voice did not belong to the Celestial God.

This voice was…

—I am Kaeld Wake.

----------------------------------------

TL: Let’s recap the story: First, we find out that Kaeld is a fake hero. Then we learn that Trail was actually the first hero. After that, we find out the fourth hero was also fake. And finally, we learn that Impelium is the real first hero. Bruh, only Mide and Impelium weren’t made heroes by someone else. Well, I don’t even know if you can call Mide a hero. Wait, what’s even the requirement to be a real hero?