Inside the Throne Room, Goddess Ilias is receiving information from the commander of her army, Alice.
"How is the girl doing?" Ilias asks in her usual neutral face.
"Unfortunately, she was defeated by a Dullahan, my Goddess." Alice kneels in reverence, her head looking down.
Why do they all always look down when speaking to me? Don't they find it difficult to converse in such manner? Ilias thinks to herself, but doesn't say anything.
"Dullahan?" Ilias asks, as she looks down at Alice's bun shaped blue hair.
"An X rank undead beast, my Goddess."
"Defeated by a lowly X rank beast? How disappointing... Does it mean that neither her conversion nor expression were at an advanced level?"
"Not exactly, my goddess… It seems that after your Divinity sent her to the swamp of wandering spirits, a banshee possessed her and began to attract undead with its screams... The reports say that the girl only went down after almost exhausting her mana, not before killing approximately a hundred undead ranging from S to XD ranks…"
"Then? What is your analysis of her?"
"It would seem, my Goddess, that she has an advanced mana expression and either advanced or master conversion. It is not possible to say it with certainty at the moment, since she only used fire conversion. Either she has an advanced conversion, with complete affinity to fire; or a master conversion and she chose to use nothing but fire because she knew of the undead weaknesses..."
"… Master would be within an acceptable average. How is her condition right now?"
"We've rescued her right after she passed out, as ordered by your Divinity. Now, she is sedated and her wounds are healed. Her mana should naturally recover come morning."
"I'll send her to the ocean next to confirm her conversion level... And what about the boy? He seemed… Interesting… He exuded a very familiar sensation..."
Alice holds herself not to gasp in surprise as she listens to her Goddess calling someone, anything, as interesting.
"*C-caham!* We sent a Night Wolf, an XC rank beast, to ambush him, my Goddess. And he was able to repel it."
"And?"
"He wasn't able to break through its natural resistance, my Goddess, so we presume him to have an advanced expression at most. Furthermore, it would seem he doesn't know how to use conversion… But he was able to repel the wolf by using a poison to which it had no resistance."
"Is that so… Truly, how disappointing… They are all so weak this time around… In the previous summoning, Laurent was already capable of easily slaying XS rank beasts at this point…"
Alice controls herself in order not to show her nervousness. She was tired of having the Goddess use the greatest monsters amongst the heroes as a source for her standards.
"Thankfully, the Demon Lord doesn't seem to amount to much this time around either."
"…" The Commander's silence betrays her emotions.
"Then, what is the boy's condition at present?"
"It's somewhat peculiar to be honest, my Goddess… After the battle, he was left unconscious and in terrible condition. After that, as per your divinity's instructions, we worsened his situation by raiding his camp---"
"Is it worthwhile to keep him or not?"
"No, my Goddess. Once he woke up, all he did was walk erratically around the Forest. We believe that he, in a near death state, spent the last of his strength searching for help."
"I see... It's a shame, I had high hopes for him... Be as it may. Just finish him, then." The Goddess usual expressionless face shows an unusual glimpse of sadness, before returning to its usual state.
"It shall be done, my Goddess. H-however, as I just mentioned, there is a peculiar aspect about the man. We currently do not know of his location… He has… Disappeared…"
"'Disappeared'? Wasn't Spring the one assigned to watch him…? Is there any chance she has betrayed me? Or could it be…" Ilias silently ponders for a moment. "Enough, I'll confirm it personally."
"…" Alice almost felt herself compelled to ask what could be the possible reason for Ilias to PERSONALLY take care of this situation. However, she knew better than to question the Goddess to her face.
"Alice." Being called by name, Alice finally raises her gaze to meet her Goddess. "Dismissed." Ilias says in a dismissive tone, as she waves one of her hands.
"At once, my Goddess."
Alice leaves in a hurry. A fierce scowl forms in her face, as her thoughts wander to the anger and humiliation she feels from having to depend on these otherworlders to defend her people.
She dwells on how even after training her whole life, and reaching the top in terms of battle proficiency amongst individuals of the goddess race; any hero, even without any previous training, would take almost no time in order to surpass her.
Why would someone who doesn`t even care about their own world save another? If there is anything to be learned through history, then the heroes of the past are the answer to that. There aren't good reasons. And such a negative answer makes Alice even bitter.
…
…
…
Once the Goddess is left alone in her throne room, she moves her hand to the blue jewel of her necklace, covered by her dress.
"I`m tired… Is there even an end in sight?" Ilias says, as she walks away, and in the next moment disappears into thin air.