Now, the world has beore dynamic due to the element of heroes, and the situation has begun to ge.

  Until now, progress has been slow, with advances areats dictated by human will. The world has been in a state of stagnation, so to speak.

  Thanks to the bes of levels and skills, people are satisfied with a moderate amount of effort. Although flicts arise due to the abundance of inexhaustible resources like monsters and dungeons, they have not led to the world's destru.

  And above all...

  "It's begun.""Yes, it's begun.""So it has started, huh?""...O has started, there's n back."

  The flow of events, trolled by the gods who govern the world, was tacitly accepted and affirmed.

  In a garden above the clouds, fods gather.

  The floor is made of clouds, and the absence of walls allows a clear view of the ground below. It's an open space at a height that would terrify ah acrophobia.

  There, four chairs surround a stone game board.

  "That's right, Eastern God. This is the result of your deep ption. Now, all we do is watch the oute."

  The fods peer at the board. The golden-haired man, dressed in loose, luxurious clothing, mutters with a hint ret.

  His domain is wealth. He is the god who creates resources, determihe value of things, and brings circution to the world.

  People on the ground call him the God of erce, Goldos.

  "You gave the Eastern Hero something quite characteristic of you. It's not against the rules, but you pushed it to the limit.""I don't o hear that from you, Northern God. As you said, I stayed well within the rules."

  Dungeons are tricky even by diviandards. Even with multiple safety measures, granting a god-made alternate space brings immeasurable bes.

  The one pointing this out is a childlike god with flowing red hair. His small frame is armor scarred from tless battles, yet it shows no sign of breaking.

  "I also stayed within the rules. Skill distribution is my domain, and the skills I granted won't destroy the world."

  His name is Akam. He is the god who created the skill system in this world and oversees its circution.

  People on the ground call him the God of bat, Akam.

  Though he always wears a smile, his eyes hide a dangerous light. Despite his small stature, he exudes fidehat, in pure bat ability, he is the stro among the four.

  "Stop fighting. I'm the one who has to up the mess."

  Wealth and bat. These two gods overp in both good and bad ways. The resultiation has been witnessed by anod, who acts as a brake.

  "Western God, arguing here won't affect the oute and isn't worth a single copper .""Eh, I'm a bit frustrated and want to cause some trouble. Hey, Eastern God, want to pick a fight?""Then shall we three take you on?"

  The silver-haired goddess, with a slender yet well-proportioned figure, wears a dress that atuates her beauty. Her words, though smiling, carry pressure, showing she's not just about beauty.

  She is the goddess of mediation, who values discipline, creates rules for people to live by, and judges those who fall into evil.

  People call her the Goddess of Duels, Maetel.

  "Eh, if the Western God gets involved, I'd rather not.""Then please restrain yourself."

  This goddess, despite her rational appearance, enjoys bat as much as Akam. In a world where skills spread and mohrive, strength is often seen as justice.

  Thus, she is a well-rounded goddess, possessing both the knowledge to establish ws and the武力 to enforce order.

  The divine dispute doese and temporarily subsides.

  At that moment, the sound of a page turning echoes.

  "Southern God, could you unicate with us a bit more?""I hear you. And I verse. Part of my sciousness is directed there and also to the board. Anything more would be ineffit."

  The st god is a goddess shrouded in a deep bck robe.

  Her raven-bck hair spills from the robe, and her ample bosom obscures the book in her hands. Her appearance is said to be uated due to the pin robe.

  She is the goddess of knowledge, who collects and manages all the knowledge gained by people, monsters, and the world itself.

  People call her the Goddess of Wisdom, Kefeli.

  "Hmm, you seem to be hiding quite a bit. You even took oies to keep it from us. What's your pn?""..."

  She isn't particurly unusual among the gods. However, this time, a wave has beeed in the world by the gods.

  The ones who caused this wave are her than these four.

  Akam asks Kefeli about the wave she created. Goldos and Maetel are also unaware of what Kefeli has dohus, the versation shifts to focus on Kefeli, who had been silent until now.

  "Knowledge is a on."

  She stops turning the page and looks at the ods. Her glowing blue eyes are visible from within the robe.

  Her calm tone shows no iion of hiding, indig she will answer questions within her domain.

  "But fear ot be instilled by what is known."

  First, she looks at Akam.

  "The hero you granted skills to, Northern God, is indeed powerful. But my 'hero' knows."

  Akam feels a chill run down his spihinking it might be a pre-battle shiver, he realizes it's not that kind of sensation.

  , Kefeli looks at Goldos.

  "The dungeon you granted, Eastern God, will indeed enriations and nurture people. But too much of a good thing corrupt. You were a bit x in your seley hero knows how to utilize treasures."

  Goldos wants to ask what she means, but Kefeli shifts her gaze to Maetel before he .

  "Western God, your hero is the oo be most wary ht now.""That's fttering.""The match-up is bad. You made a good choice, but what you granted worked in your favor."

  Then, Kefeli's fident tone shifts slightly as she looks at Maetel with a troubled expression.

  Kefeli's hero and Maetel's hero—though mixed with personal bias, Kefeli believes her hero is most likely to lose to Maetel's.

  "There's plenty of room to exploit.""Is that so? But I have no iion of losing."

  Still, she decres that a path to victory remains.

  "Hey, you've been evaluating our heroes for a while now. How about telling us a bit about yours? It's fine if you goddesses get along, but..."

  The banter between rivals. While it may seem like that, fually, Maetel and Kefeli don't get along well. One enforces order, while the other seeks knowledge even at the cost of disrupting order.

  They aren't as close as Akam suggests. It's fortuhey aren't openly hostile.

  "What I did was simple. I prepared a sandbox ahem py. That's all.""That's all?""Yes, that's all."

  These fods are necessary to maintain the world. Thus, they原则上 avoid flict.

  However, the current rivalry is something that must be pursued even at the cost of disrupting that order.

  "Hmm, aiming for the throne of the chief god, aren't you?"

  The four here are didates for the future chief god.

  After Akam belittled his own hero, Kefeli reveals that she simply gave her hero a game to py.

  As Akam shrugs in disbelief, Kefeli ughs within her robe.

  "If you think so, keep thinking that. It suits me better. Though our dice have already been cast. Only the juniors who e here might be able to make a te move.""Hmm, do you think ods will e?""Who knows? Don't we all have some idea?""Well, do you have any idea, Eastern God?""Hmm, I wonder?"

  The seat of the chief god is vat. Everyone here is aiming for it.

  And there are ods who are also aiming for it.

  "Pying dumb is fine, but be careful not to trip over your ow."

  With that warning, Kefeli returns her gaze to the book in her hands.

  "Eh, after stirring things up, you're just going to leave it at that?""Maybe it's because the Northern God's attitude is annoying. The Southern God has responded suffitly.""Eh, are you pig a fight with me? Are you selling it? I'll buy it, that fight.""Please save it for ter. Deciphering the Southern God's words is more urgent. She mentioned a sandbox... What could that mean?""Boo, fine. But I'm more ed about where the Southern God's hero is.""I agree with the Northern God on that. As things stand, my hero, along with the Northern aern heroes, will pete—or rather, fight. They'll likely interfere with each other."

  They pool their wisdom to decipher Kefeli's words, having chosen silehey search the board, looking fns of her hero, but no oands out.

  "The authority of diviion is limited to three times per god. It's a trump card for critical moments, but using it just for the Southern God's hero is hesitant."

  From the gods' perspective, they see every person in the world, but they 't determine who is a hero.

  "It's the only exception where we interfere with the world. The targets are limited to believers, the time is mere minutes, and once used, we must wait at least a year before using it again. And in this test, it's limited to three times.""Normally, one would hesitate to use it."

  They have no choice but to judge who the heroes are based on human activity. Even if they figure it out, using the precious diviion to vey it is something the gods hesitate to do.

  "Then, all we do now is find the missing Southern God's hero, gather information, and warn our heroes if necessary.""That's right. Whether to act or not is up to each of us.""There's also the possibility they'll discover it on their own."

  The sound of pages turning indicates that Kefeli is listening to their versatioe the quasi-allianing against her, she remains unfazed.

  "By the way, Southern God, what are you reading?""Does the knowledge-obsessed Southern God even have books in this world she hasn't read?""Hmm? I have no idea."

  The book she's so engrossed in. Sensing their , the other three gods g Kefeli again.

  "Pfft.""Eh?""Did the Southern God just ugh?""Ah, perhaps a natural disaster will occur tomorrow."

  At that moment, Kefeli bursts out ughing. It's a light, natural ugh, something they've never seen from her before.

  Maetel is stunned.Akam doubts his eyes.Goldos quickly checks the board to firm the world's stability.

  What kind of book could make the Goddess of Knowledge ugh?

  Though the ods 't see it, if Liberta had a ce to see it, she might be surprised to find a long-running poliid beg to borrow it.