'Surely I'm not the only one who didn't know this?'
Loki wasn't bothered about whether it was supposed to be a secret. What she cared about was when she had learned it.
Tilting her head slightly, she glanced sideways at Hestia, Hephaestus, and Artemis, all sitting upright and tense. Loki finally understood.
'Looks like none of us knew.'
Some secrets could belong to one person alone, but others absolutely couldn't—and to Loki, this was clearly the latter kind.
Fortunately, aside from Bell himself, he really hadn't told any of them.
Setting aside her stray thoughts, Loki began to consider the matter properly.
'This is actually pretty serious.'
"This time, Hermes was conducting a purge on Evilus. And Hermes didn't just project the scene before us—he projected it across all of Orario. These words and events… after today, the entire city will know."
Loki could already imagine the morale of Orario crashing straight into the ground once this was over.
But after thinking briefly about Orario's current state, she brushed off that concern.
"It doesn't matter. In the past, only a handful of familias actually functioned properly anyway. Most of the others just slack off. Even if they find out about all this, it won't change much."
Loki knew very well how slack and unmotivated Orario's adventurers were. Even if things grew slightly worse now, it was nothing new.
As for Bell being the cause of this mess, Loki shook her head slightly.
"He absolutely doesn't care whether those people collapse into even more laziness."
"Let Ouranos deal with the headache. I'm not touching it."
Having already decided to stop worrying about the wider consequences, Loki rested her elbows on the table and placed her chin atop her folded hands. Her voice dropped, deeper than earlier.
"This kid must know something we don't."
"Knowledge about the existence above us gods—something we've sought for ages but never uncovered. How does he know?"
"There must be a reason."
Then Loki abruptly shifted her tone.
"I may not know the reason, but as long as that kid doesn't know we're watching him, whatever he says is most likely true."
"After all, when speaking one-on-one, he'd have no reason to lie to my child—unless he already knew we were observing him, and he meant those words for us."
When she finished, Loki's gaze swept sharply toward Hermes and Ganesha.
The other gods caught her meaning and turned their attention as well.
"Hermes… you didn't leak anything, did you?"
"???"
Hermes was dumbfounded. How had the topic jumped straight to him? And why was he being asked whether he leaked something?
Grievously wronged, Hermes raised a hand.
"I swear, I didn't reveal a single detail of today's operation to anyone."
"And gathering the gods to witness the purge of Evilus was a last-minute decision—made by Ouranos. I only carried out the order."
That settled it. Seeing Hermes swear on the spot, the gods were certain he wasn't the type to do such a thing.
Besides, Hermes was an expert in self-preservation. He'd never hand someone ammunition to use against him.
"So, if Hermes didn't leak anything, then this kid must have had some basis for speaking what he did."
The gods realized the truth: the boy in the projection clearly had some unusual quality. Otherwise, he wouldn't speak such things.
"If everything this child says is true… then the truth we've searched for endlessly might be found in him."
Interest flared across every god present.
Though the revelation of the World's "Purification" chilled every god to the core—granting them firsthand understanding of the helplessness mortals felt facing despair—they also knew this was not necessarily bad.
"If the world undergoes Purification whenever it reaches its end… then how many times has our world been Purified?"
"If the world always reaches its end, why must the 'World' enact such Purification each time?"
The gods couldn't stop themselves from voicing their questions.
"Right. If the world is fated to reach its end, then why would the 'World' that created us perform a great reset? If nothing changes, wouldn't everything just repeat?"
Repeating would still lead to another end. So what was the point of the "Great Purge"?
Freya swept her gaze across the gods, all lost in thought, before reminding them:
"Therefore, the 'Great Purge' exists for a purpose. It is meaningful."
"By resetting everything—whether all things change or change not at all—the 'World' that created us must intend to alter something. That intent is what gives the Purification meaning."
The gods snapped to attention.
"Right!"
Seeing these fools finally catch on, Freya shook her head lightly but continued.
"The core of all this likely lies in the 'Three Great Quests.'"
"The 'Black Dragon of the Sky,' the 'Behemoth of the Earth,' and the 'Leviathan of the Sea.' These may not be agreements between the Dungeon and us… but instead the greatest trials the World has given to us gods and the children of the lower realm."
"Behemoth and Leviathan were slain by the familias of Zeus and Hera. The only one remaining is the Black Dragon."
Freya's voice grew heavy.
"You all know, right? The Black Dragon's most recent rampage… that was likely a symbolic signal."
A collective wave of headaches swept through the gods.
They all knew what Freya meant. The Black Dragon's last roar had nearly thrown all of Orario into chaos.
As for whether it was a signal… they might not have believed it before, but now they couldn't deny the possibility.
Thus, the root of all problems might truly be, as Freya said, the "Three Great Quests."
"Sigh… Even if we know this, it's still a mess."
"…Yeah. The eras of Zeus and Hera are long over. Is anyone in Orario still capable of slaying the Black Dragon?"
…Wait. Isn't there still one?
The gods all realized it simultaneously.
Every divine gaze converged on the projection.
...
If you'd like to support my work and unlock advanced chapters, you can follow me on p-@-treon.
[email protected]/PinkSnake (100 Chapters Ahead).
You can also follow as a free member to read a few advanced chapters.