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「Anyway, I’ve also been wondering about that God of Monsters you mentioned earlier, could you tell me more about that?」

Mira could already feel her mana regenerating faster thanks to the necklace. Then she asked something that had been bugging her, the God of Monsters they mentioned in the story had rather bizarre powers, and even commanded monsters that had never been seen before, which were far more powerful than the monsters people knew. Mira had the impression that the war they told her about could rival even the Defense of the Three Gods’ Countries in magnitude.

「Now that you mention it, I wonder how that even happened?」
「You’re right. Looking back at that time, there were many things out of the ordinary.」

The two started to recall those times, and after muttering that, they told Mira everything they knew of the incident.

First off, the God of Monsters had been an unknown entity that just appeared out of the blue. He had a human figure, but it was always obscured by darkness, almost as if he was only a shadow. He had authority over powerful monsters, and could bring forth natural calamities.

The Spirit King and various human heroes fought hordes of monsters, finally reaching the God of Monsters. Everyone was ready for an arduous fight to end it all, but then a single strike from one of the heroes’ attacks was enough to defeat the God of Monsters. Apparently the only challenge was getting there.

After that the monsters were left without a leader, and quickly scattered away in disarray.

「I actually believe the God of Monsters was in an extremely debilitated state by then. The mana palpitations I felt from him were quite weak, though now that I think about it, even those palpitations felt off. Mana is essentially the same substance regardless if it comes from humans or monsters, but the thing I felt from him and his monsters was completely different.」
「I felt that too. It was almost like a substance from a different world.」

The Spirit King and Martel finished the story with that. The main takeaway was that the God of Monsters had been a clearly aberrant entity. They also mentioned that they never learned what his objective had been.

「That’s all so mysterious…」

Martel, who had personally seen the God of Monsters, and the monsters he commanded, had described them as looking like they came from a different world. That was of special interest to Mira, who had actually come from a different world.

But there was no way for them to look any further into it now.

The mystery had become more intriguing, but Mira knew there was little she could figure out mulling about it, so instead she focused all her attention on the ring she had just obtained.

「This truly was a treasure befitting of an Originator Spirit.」

Mira checked how fast the barrier was deployed, how large it was, what would happen if there were objects within the boundaries as it activates, and so on.

There was no cast time whatsoever, and the barrier would automatically conform to the shape of whatever objects were nearby. On top of that, Reedsline’s emotions seemed to be stronger against weapons, as they were repelled with a strong recoil.
Mira was still testing that when the Spirit King spoke to Martel.

「By the way, Martel. You don’t expect me to believe this is everything, right?」
「Oh, I guess it really is impossible to hide things from you, Lord Sym.」

Mira was filled with enthusiasm after obtaining the powerful ring, so the two started talking amongst themselves. It took some time before Mira finally realized what the Spirit King meant with that not being everything, or what Martel had tried to hide. Martel looked at Mira for a moment, before muttering, 「I guess you aren’t exactly an outsider, having Lord Sym’s Divine Protection and all.」

She then explained that everything Mira had seen was simply a decoy, there was something even more valuable hidden there.

「I could tell. None of these riches are so major to warrant the protection from an Originator Spirit. So what is it you’re protecting here?」

The Spirit King had known from the start that the treasure there was merely a decoy to distract any human who somehow got there. But the value of those riches was still nowhere close to the price of an Originator Spirit’s protection. Mira had claimed earlier that this was treasure befitting of an Originator Spirit’s protection, but hearing the Spirit King’s words she quickly walked back on her word and pretended she never said that, acting like she had also known there was more the entire time. But that act would not work on the Spirit King and Martel, as they merely watched her with lenient gazes.

Mira had been thoroughly fooled, but she nodded sagely thinking about it, and recalled that she had experienced something similar in recent times.

She was thinking of the area below the Ancient Temple Nevrapolis and the treasure room there. Reaching there took a long detour from the main route, which included countless hidden doors. But the treasure room was not the last one in that path, and there were even more rooms past it. Solomon had recognized the continuation as the true secret, while the treasure was merely a curtain to conceal it.

A similar system had been put in place by Martel here. There was a cleverly hidden path deep inside a dungeon, which housed an invaluable treasure protected by one of the strongest spirits in existence. Mira and any other adventurer would assume that treasure to be the end point of the place.

But the Spirit King knew Martel very well, so he could tell she was hiding something more.

That was also because he knew how important and powerful Originator Spirits were, and it made no sense for her to be there just for some treasure.

(Wait… could it be a sacred vessel? Or an Artifact?! It has to be a lost Artifact or a sacred sword, spear, axe, bow, shield, dagger, staff, armor or helmet!)

If legendary weapons were not the main treasure, then it could only be a sacred vessel, weapons with the power of Gods, or an Artifact, which were said to have the power to fulfill the wishes of people. Mira’s heart began racing with excitement, wanting to at least catch a glimpse of whatever treasure was hiding there.

「I’m actually guarding Vessels of Gods here, the three most famous ones in fact.」

Mira got even more excited hearing that, but then noticed something was slightly different from what she expected. She had assumed Martel meant a sacred vessel, but Martel had clearly said Vessels of Gods, and her next words made it even more confusing.

The three most famous ones. Was that really something one would say about sacred vessels? Mira debated about it internally when the truth was revealed to her.

「Vessels of Gods… wait, could that mean..!」

The Spirit King seemed to have a hunch, his voice clearly surprised. That told Mira that they were clearly not talking about sacred vessels.

「Yes, it’s exactly what it means. They’re the vessels Gods need if they ever manifest in this world again. To be specific, they’re the three vessels of the three pillars holding this continent.」
「…I see, that does explain everything.」