Upon listening to this point, I had some questions that lingered on my mind. After pondering for a moment, I then decided to ask Lucia directly.

“I get the point as to how the magic formation summons a hero from another world. Yet the main question is, why? Why would they do such a bothersome thing every 50 years? They said that it was to decide the strongest nation, yet… I couldn’t fully believe it.”

Lucia lets out a wry smile and said, “Aah… it’s because the Gods were bored.”

What? What kind of reasoning was that!?

She continued, “Most of the heroes that was summoned to that world was an emissary to a certain God or Goddess, that’s why they had higher power than your usual mortal. Actually, the one who had started it all was a bored God whom had descended upon that world and began to spread that particular summoning formation. The other Gods and Goddesses then learned about that behavior of that particular God, and then began to discuss it together.

“As a result, most of them had agreed that it was actually a good trial for their emissary. Originally, the winner of that so-called ‘Hero’s War’ would have been summoned back to their own respective world by the God or Goddess they served. In a rare chance that the summoned one wasn’t currently serving any Gods nor Goddesses, they would have then offered a chance to be an emissary. Of course, not everyone of us had participated on that silly war, me included.”

I thought about everything she said in silence. If what she said was true, then…

“…Why am I not summoned back?” I unintentionally muttered out lout.

My words, even I myself had only caught the hidden meaning behind it after a few moments had passed. Indirectly, I had jabbed a weak spot at Lucia’s heart. It was as if I had accused and blamed her for not teleporting me back on my original world.

I hurriedly covered my mouth with both of my hands and glanced at her face. Lucia had a gloomy expression on her face, her long eyelashes fluttered softly as she closed her eyes. She murmured to me with a low voice, “I apologize…”

Crap, why did I said that? I seriously didn’t mean that!

I mean, by looking at her current condition, there ought to be some shady things going on in the background. What kind of force could possibly made a mess of the Goddess of Death herself, to the point that she had that pitiful appearance? She had even admitted that she was in a weakened state.

For a few minutes after that, there was only an awkward silence between us.

…I shouldn’t have said that.

“Lucia, I am sorry!” I bowed my head deeply in front of her and sincerely asked for forgiveness. “I didn’t mean to hurt your feeling or anything, it’s just… ergh, anyway, it’s fine! I didn’t mind about that anymore since long ago.”

I peered my eyes to observe her reaction. She hasn’t given any response yet, and… wait, was that tears? She cried!? I made a friggin Goddess cried!

“Awawawa….” I panicked, and since I didn’t know what should I do in these kind of situation, I could only said whatever it was that was inside of my mind and at the same time, tried to comfort her.

“It’s… it’s okay, really, I don’t want to go back to my original world anymore. I mean, it has been thousand of years, so I am sure that there was nobody who had remembered me anymore. So it doesn’t matter even if I am not going back there anymore.

“Anyway, you’ve also always been helping me, right? Based on your previous explanation, then the power that was running inside of my body was actually given by you, right? So come on, you’ve already helped me a lot, there’s no way I’d blame you. You’d understand, right?”

Once again, I tried to observe her reaction, only to see that she was still stubbornly bowed her head down, with her eyes closed.

…..

*SLAP*

“Eh!?” Lucia jerked her head in surprise. Her jaw opened wide, and so does her eyes too, as she stared at me in disbelief. On her right cheek, a bright red, palm shaped mark could be seen.

“You… you…” she said, as her body slightly quivered.

“Well, stop being such a crybaby, I already forgiv—“ as I said that, Lucia suddenly cut off my words, and said in an even voice.

“You slapped me.”

“Um, I can explain…” I waved my hand groggily as I tried to distance myself. I felt that the atmosphere was getting dangerous, as an invisible pressure had suddenly appeared and pressed down both my body and soul…

“You have slapped me.”

And the next thing I know… I woke up? Huh? Since when was I lying on the floor?

As I stood back up, I saw the ever smiling Lucia in front of me. My body instinctually shuddered in fear. Wait, what actually happened before? My memory was kind of fuzy…

“Um, what’s going on? I seemed to have no recollection of what had just happened before, and why am I lying on the floor…” I asked Lucia.

She smiled and said, “I am sorry, I kind of lost control of my power. You know, stuff happened when you’re in a weakened state…”

…Why did I had a feeling that she was hiding something important? Well, it doesn’t matter much, but…

“Anyway, it has been five days since you had first come here, so I will explain to you about the current state of your body, and as to why I summoned you here.” Lucia suddenly said.

“Wait, five days? I thought not even 30 minutes had passed since we’ve first talked with each other?”

“Time flowed differently in this place, my dear.” Lucia said.

“Okay, I am also curious about my current state… Am I actually already dead, or not?”

“Well, actually, your body and soul are perfectly healthy, and still in the peak condition. In fact, you could still go on for thousand of years...” Lucia explained.

Huh? Then why do I felt weakened, the more time had passed?

She continues, “You must have wondered now as to why you feel that your power seems to have weakened, right? In fact, it wasn’t. Your power stays the same, but my divine power isn’t. I am the one growing weaker. And thus, as the one who had acted as your source of power, me getting weaker was the same as decreasing the amount of power available for you to use.

“If this continues without me doing anything, then sooner or later, I would’ve passed away. By then, your power would’ve decreased by around 70%. Though it was still a lot if you compare it with the emissaries of another Gods and Goddesses, but you would have been unable to compete with their boss.”

I was kind of surprised to hear that, and couldn’t help but ask, “Eh, so God and Goddess could also die? And when you said ‘their boss’, do you mean the Gods? If so, why would I need to compete with them, anyway?”

Lucia sighed in a frustrated manner, and then said to me, “Everyone would die if they were to be killed, even me. As for why you need to compete with the other Gods and their emissaries, it had something to do with why I summoned you here.”

“Why?” I asked.

Lucia then began to explain, “Call it a desperate measure, if you want. But I wanted to ask you for a favor. But of course, I am not going to force you to accept, and you can refuse if you are not willing to do it. If you refuse, I could send you back to the palace you lived for the last hundred of years, or even to your original world, if you wished for it, by exerting my divine power.

“If you accept, however, you will have to face many tough challenges, and even had to do the impossible. You would face countless Gods and their emissaries, where many of them was currently stronger than you and the current me. And in the process, you may lost many important things.”

……That’s kind of, err, her wording makes it that she seemed to have wished for me to refuse, yet… somehow, I could feel that there was a hint of hope in her voice, a hope that I would have chosen to help her. She then continues,

“My request for you, is… to help me survive this ordeal, and to regain my power back. I still want to live. Ironic, isn’t it? The so-called ‘Goddess of Death’ actually doesn’t want to die.” A wry smile appeared on her face as she said that.

Well, it’s not like I had something to do in my current or previous world. It doesn’t take much of a time for me to made my decision. After all, what was life without a challenge? It was no better than death…

“I understand. I will help you,” I answered with a voice full of confidence.

“Really?” Lucia’s expression seemed to have changed to a brighter one as she heard my answer. I guess, she really hoped that I would accept, huh?

“Un, really. Then, what should I do now?” I asked.

“Touch my chest.” Lucia said.

What!?

“Um, wait, that came out weird.” She said with a bashful expression. Her cheeks and ears reddened as she looked away. Crap, it’s contagious. I could also felt my face getting hotter. Damn her and her wording!

“What I meant to say is,” Lucia continues, “Reach out your hand and send your magic power by directly touching my chest… J-just do it now!”

I did as I was told and, soft… wait, no! Despite my old age, I am still not ready yet for that kind of thing~! As I thought of that, changes happened to Lucia’s body.

The light she emitted suddenly intensified, and I couldn’t help but close my eyes. As soon as the light goes off, I opened my eyes once again, but… there was no one. Lucia was gone from her previous spot. It was as if she was never been there before.

……

WHAT HAD JUST HAPPENED!?

As I panicked and ran around while shouting “Lucia, where are you~?” a familiar voice suddenly could be heard within my mind.

‘Calm down, I’m still there, it’s just that you couldn’t see me.’

“Lucia, is that you?” I stopped dead in my tracks when I heard the voice.

‘Yes, it’s me. Currently, I reside in your soul.’

Well, glad to hear that. I was afraid that I did something wrong, and she just be gone forever like that… haah. But still, “What should we do now?”

‘Hmm, wait a moment. I will do this… and that… and, there it is.’

As she said that, a 3 meters hole suddenly appeared in front of me. The inside of the hole was so dark, I could see nothing.

“What am I supposed to do? Jump inside?” I asked Lucia.

‘Yes.’

“Uh, this seemed like an entrance to the abyss. Well, here goes nothing.” Without hesitating, I jumped inside the hole. Surprisingly, I could only last for 5 seconds before I lost my consciousness…

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