More than ten days passed after Xion left.
No matter how hard or busy things were after leaving Root, Xion made sure to contact Reinhild at least once a day.
Just to talk for a mere five minutes, he would breathe magic power into the crystal and seek Reinhild.
Reinhild waited every day for the crystal to light up.
Wherever he went, he never let the crystal out of his hand.
A bed that had once felt cramped now felt far too wide, so he would sometimes set the crystal down in the very spot where Xion always lay, and when he ate, he would set it on the other side of the table.
If he did that, it felt as if he were always together with Xion… or not. He had simply become a strange Demon King who was always together with a crystal.
“What am I doing?”
It was so absurd he was afraid someone might see him, but since he never knew when Xion would contact him, he could not stop carrying the crystal at all times.
In any case, there were no other humans here to see Reinhild like that.
Reinhild boldly kept the crystal at his side.
If Xion saw this, he would probably get jealous of the crystal and throw it.
Beep.
“Xion!”
With a short tone, light entered the crystal.
Reinhild, who had been sprawled on the couch, sprang up and grabbed the crystal.
As Reinhild’s hand touched it, the crystal connected, and beyond it Xion’s face appeared.
[Rein. Your face has grown gaunt. Are you eating properly?]
“I have no appetite without you, Xion.”
Having eaten two big sandwiches at lunch with thinly sliced ham and cheese stuffed in, Reinhild answered shamelessly.
The various vegetables Xion had prepared to be eaten together in the sandwiches were quietly ignored, but that was strictly a secret.
“What happened today?”
[I received word that, since there are no records of a god manifesting in human form, the capital has sent an inquisitor.]
“Isn’t that dangerous?”
[I am fully prepared for that, so it is fine.]
Reinhild nodded big enough for Xion beyond the crystal to see clearly.
If Xion said it was fine, then it was fine.
Xion told Reinhild absolutely everything that had happened that day.
When he woke, what he ate, even trivial things like what time he planned to go to bed—each and every one of them, all of it.
Then Reinhild, following Xion’s lead, described what had happened to him that day.
Unlike Xion’s days, which were full of surprises every day, Reinhild’s days could not have been more monotonous.
Every morning, he rose and drank milk with honey boiled in it that Xion had prepared in advance.
He had done it exactly as Xion had taught him, but strangely it did not taste as good as when Xion made it.
After that, he ate the food Xion had prepared in bulk and preserved with magic so it would not spoil.
There were times, like today, when he sneakily left out the vegetables, but usually he ate all the portions Xion had set.
After that, he sat by the sunlit window for a long while doing nothing, then watched outside while drinking cocoa, and if the day was warm, he would take a solitary walk through the lonely streets of Root without Xion.
“Today I fed the deer.”
[If you start feeding the deer, they will come down into the village. They might damage your field, Rein.]
“How ungrateful!”
Before leaving Root, Xion had made a small kitchen garden in front of the house for Reinhild.
Reinhild planted winter carrots there and watered them whenever he missed Xion.
Then, in no time, the garden became a sea of water.
Fortunately, the carrots did not end up submerged and rotting. Before that could happen, the field froze solid along with everything else.
It was hard work thawing the field and planting new carrots, but thanks to that, he stayed busy for a while and thought of Xion less.
To think that the winter carrots he had finally managed to sprout through all that trouble might be trampled and nibbled by those wretched deer.
Reinhild vowed never again to throw food to the deer.
Even if what he threw was pilfered leftover vegetables.
“When can you come?”
[I will have to remain here another month.]
“Can’t you drop by even for a very short while?”
[If I come into contact with you right when my divinity is about to form, it will have a bad effect.]
“We can just not touch and look at each other from afar.”
[I cannot promise I would not embrace you when I see you.]
“Ah.”
Well, in that case, it could not be helped.
Truthfully, Reinhild was not confident he would not rush at Xion the moment he saw him.
[And Rein…]
“Mm.”
[I might be a little busy for a while.]
“Mm? Busier than now.”
[Busier than now.]
“Then… will you not be able to contact me anymore?”
[Not that. I am telling you in advance so you will not be too startled in the one-in-ten-thousand chance I cannot reach you.]
Beyond the crystal, Xion looked at Reinhild with a face full of regret.
Reinhild clutched the poor crystal as if to crush it.
It only made his fingers hurt, so he soon stopped.
“I miss you, Xion.”
[I miss you too, Rein.]
With those words, Xion said he had to go and ended the call.
Xion’s face looked so very sad as he said farewell that Reinhild wanted to grab him and tell him not to go again and again, but he could not hold back a would-be god who said he was busy, and in the end, he let him go.
Not knowing that the expression on his own face as he sent Xion off looked even sadder than Xion’s, Reinhild set the crystal down.
“Haa…”
Reinhild let out a long sigh, stretched his arms wide, and lay down on the bed.
Today of all days, the ceiling looked empty in a way he did not like.
“Will Xion contact me again?”
Maybe today he would contact him twice.
Recently, because he was busy, that had not happened, but not long after he left, Xion had contacted him two or three times a day.
Reinhild heaved another deep sigh and picked up the crystal again.
And he waited.
Until Xion contacted him.
❖ ❖ ❖
“The Hero is strangely quiet.”
Ainel, who very much wanted to witness with his own two eyes a fresh new god smashing the High God, had joined up with Xion from the day he came to the city of Audrit and was helping him.
Ainel, who mainly focused on gathering information, had been digging into the trail of the Hero, Jake West, for some time.
But whether the Duke’s house of West was hiding the Hero or not, there was no trace of Jake to be found anywhere.
“Maybe he died somewhere on the road, or maybe he has a new scheme, but it does not look like he plans to attack the Demon King right away.”
“Are you certain? There must not be even the slightest error in a matter where Rein’s life is at stake.”
“You would not know unless you barged into the ducal castle. There is a ridiculous rumor that the Hero is locked up in the castle’s basement. But for the time being, you can stop worrying.”
Xion showed a dissatisfied expression.
Saying it “should” be fine ultimately means it is not certain.
So Ainel corrected himself with all kinds of irritated grumbling mixed in.
“It is fine. You can stop worrying. I have set the information guild to alert us the moment the Hero moves. This Hero is quite conspicuous, so word will come at once.”
As long as they avoided the Hero, the High God could not directly attack Reinhild.
Only then did Xion relax his hardened face.
Everything Xion had planned was proceeding as he wished.
The world was in an uproar at the claim that a god of little importance, the god of abundance, had in fact been watching over his believers from the closest place.
Of course, that did not mean Xion’s face or name had been revealed.
Instead of the name “Xion,” he put forward “the true master of the fertile land of Audrit” to announce to the world that he was the god of abundance.
Considering that the only person who knew the exact existence of Xion, the true master of Audrit, was the Count of Audrit, this plan was close to a gamble.
If they misstepped, they might end up empowering the existing god of abundance or even have an entirely different person become a god.
But the plan was successful.
“I can definitely feel the divinity.”
Xion looked down at his right hand, where a faint divinity could be felt, and clenched his fist.
It was not yet enough power to absorb the existing god of abundance.
If he made a wrong move at this stage, his existence could be snatched away in reverse by the god of abundance, so he had to be careful.
Xion clenched his fist tight.
What mattered at this stage was the existence of the Count of Audrit, who clearly recognized the existence of “Xion” himself and equated Xion with “the god of abundance.”
“Sir Xion.”
A man draped head to toe in dangling jewels rubbed his hands like a gnat and stood before Xion.
The Count of Audrit.
He tended to act like a sycophant, but he did not have a disposition to betray.
Being simple by nature, when Xion confessed that he was the god of abundance, the Count truly believed him, and thanks to that Xion instantly gained a devout believer.
“The inquisitor has arrived.”
“I will go to him personally.”
“Do you intend to show your face?”
“I do not.”
At Xion’s firm answer, the Count of Audrit rejoiced inwardly.
It was a great honor to be the only one to enjoy the privilege of knowing the name and face of the god he served.
“Then… how do you mean to meet him…?”
To the Count’s question, Xion again opened and closed his hand and looked down at it.
His divinity was absurdly lacking to be called a god.
With this, it was hard to do anything, let alone prove that he was not a fraud pretending to be a god.
But… what if he added the High God’s power to this?
“Haha.”
At Xion’s laugh, which he had never heard before, the Count of Audrit startled and took a step back.
Xion paid no attention to the Count of Audrit’s reaction.
The High God would not be in a very good mood, since his former Hero had appeared as an enemy.
But how would he feel if Xion used the power he had received in his days as the Hero to strike the back of the Supreme God’s head.
He certainly would not be pleased.
Thinking of crumpling up the High God’s mood like a sheet of paper put Xion in a good mood.
Xion, guessing that the day was not far off when he would once more hold Reinhild in his arms, said,
“I will deliver an oracle.”
❖ ❖ ❖
While Xion was moving busily, Reinhild too was spending his days busy in his own way.
Pop.
By pulling up his fully grown winter carrots.
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