At last, everything was settled. Thanks to Trellia spreading her protection on all kingdoms, the war waged between Biscotti and Galette was drawn to a dead-end, eventually resulting on a radical cancel of the galletean’s invasion and the withdrawal of all of their forces on the territory. Maybe due to the confusing novelty, nobody dared to put a hostile face any longer. Did they understand it was the work of a god, and feared to incur his wrath in one way or another? Or maybe pure coincidence…

Of course not, how could that be possible? Everyone felt the change in the air, and sensed everything wouldn’t be the same anymore. The most evident proof of that was the number of men who fell during the previous battles. Despite some lightly injured, the death toll amounted to a null value. Nobody died since that evening, when Paladron witnessed a goddess sacrificing herself for the rest of the world.

She probably wasn’t able to tell if it was the best solution, nor if it was a solution they should have seriously considered. But she still did it, because she knew it was a choice only available to her with her immense power. It inevitably costed something tremendous, something you wouldn’t regain in a lifetime, or even in an eternity.

It brought its fair share of trouble to Paladron, but also many questions he wished she had answered before leaving this plane for one above theirs. “In a sense, she hadn’t change at all” he told himself internally “It is just like her to take the easiest path to avoid the most serious topics.”

He suddenly heard a knock on his door. Right now, he was quite busy with all the paper work from the aftermath of the battles. He also wanted to write an important letter for someone before the end of the day, then maybe ignoring the knocks wasn’t a wrong choice. No, he still had his duties as the First General. Hearing reports from his subordinates was part of his job.

“Come in.” He said loudly enough to be heard from the other side.

The door opened, revealing the petite figure of Friture Elmar. The presence of the scientist who was the origin of all this mess was unexpected. He too should be preoccupied by other problems. Not knowing the reason of his appearance, Paladron asked him with a stern tone.

“Is this about the aftereffects from the protection?”

His inquiry was related to the new subject the scientists were studying at the National Research Center. So far, the spread protection did his job accurately, preventing everyone in its influence to die prematurely. Current assassinations attempts were thus cancelled, while many citizens that were about to die due to household accidents or natural incident, like landslide or getting struck by lightning, were miraculously saved.

This too brought its lot of problem. Dubious sect rose, trying to profit from this untold event by luring people into their ranks. They were one of the problem Paladron had to deal with. Other examples could be the mental state of some people believing they were chosen ones, or simply found the grim hobby of attempting to kill themselves somehow satisfying. While the public order was on the verge of collapsing for various reasons, they wanted to check if it was possibly because of some hallucinogens created with the wide manipulation of divine energy.

For now, they haven’t found anything which would make the protection guilty. It was really a marvellous invention which perfectly worked. Just like what you would expect from the most brilliant head of the National Research Center, helped by the most potent goddess in history.

“No. We are still looking for any dissimilarities from our theorems and laws.

For now, nothing unusual was found. The world is still the same… Except with this additional rule which prevent people from dying.”

It was still too early for having people dying of old age. They would have to wait months, maybe years until the first case emerged, and allowed them to validate this new law.

“Then you both succeeded… You both managed to change the world, and saved everyone, didn’t you?”

Exactly like he hoped. Exactly like what he strove for. The end result was a one hundred percent success. Now all they needed to do was to adapt to this new world. It would take some time, but they would eventually find a new equilibrium.

“Yes we did.”, answered Friture nonchalantly, but without smiling at all, “Actually… I came to visit you because I had a question I know only you can answer.”

“A question only I can answer, you say…”

“Yes… When Trellia was lodging me, I frequently heard her saying she made mistakes in a distant past, but never mentioned them in the least.

Do you happen to know what mistakes Trellia left behind, First General?”

The mistakes left behind by the most potent goddess in history. This was not something the remaining gods, let alone the mortals, could probably deal with as you would with a dry wipe.

The mistakes left behind by Trellia. Only a person close to her may know at least a few of them. Paladron was such a person who, Friture guessed, associated with her in the past. The First General didn’t respond, because he didn’t know how to answer him without causing a panic. That was a duty he wanted to shoulder alone. A cruel, stupid, but unavoidable duty. That was why he couldn’t answer… Not without knowing the scientist’s intentions.

“I do… Why are you interested? It doesn’t concern you at all.”

There, he saw a strong determination birthing in Friture’s eyes.

“Because I want to correct those mistakes.

As the temporary Chief Researcher, I believe correcting those mistakes can reward us with crucial knowledge on divine energy.”

Trellia was a massive chunk of power. Her ability to use an incommensurable amount of divine energy granted her possibilities that went even beyond the reach of other gods. Correcting those mistakes, which were undoubtedly related to divine energy, would serve as major leads to new discoveries. Those discoveries would certainly help the mortals attain new heights, maybe even give them the mean to oppose demons in the future!

“You’re no more a temporary, Mr. Elmar.”

“I know… But it’s still hard to stand where he used to…”

Paladron could not laugh at this. Even he was still mourning the departure of his friend. But the past was in the past, and now the present was of more importance.

“But I want to correct Trellia’s mistakes. It is also for the sake of this new world.”

They exchanged their gazes for a short while, before hearing a low sigh from Paladron.

“Well… On this point, you are not wrong…”