Multiverse: Library

On the way to Point Nemo, Kaiser used Divine Dividing to fly there, so it didn't take very long.

On the way back, Kaiser swam through the sea—and surprisingly, that didn't take very long either.

After obtaining the Trident, the ocean truly became like his home. Even when he dove into the deep, bottomless seabed, he could still breathe freely at will, unaffected by water pressure, and could move as he pleased—more freely and conveniently than even on land.

At a depth of several thousand meters, nothing should have been visible, yet once Kaiser entered that depth, the seawater actually became as clear as transparent blue, as if sunlight were shining through, giving off the feeling of diving for leisure in Sanya or Hawaii.

Unfortunately, this uninhabited deep-sea environment was neither beautiful nor pleasing to the eye. Instead, it was completely barren, utterly desolate. Even the marine creatures that swam by weren't those colorful and lovely fish, but rather species with all sorts of bizarre appearances—practically none of them could be called attractive.

This was the difference between reality and fairy tales.

However, because of this, Kaiser discovered yet another function of the Trident—it could command marine life.

No matter how ferocious the sea creatures were, once they reached him, they would become as obedient as the most loyal servants of humankind, circling around him.

Kaiser suspected that he might even be able to command those legendary sea creatures.

"According to legend, when Poseidon grew angry, sea monsters would appear on the sea—that's also a kind of marine life, right?"

Creatures like the North Sea Kraken, the ocean behemoth Leviathan—those were all types of sea monsters, and fell within the category of marine life that could be commanded by the Trident.

"Is this a power the Trident originally possessed? Or did it undergo a transformation after becoming my Authority?"

Depending on the nature of the recipient, the Authorities obtained through God-Slaying might undergo drastic changes, so Kaiser wasn't sure whether the original Trident had the function of commanding marine life.

But he could indeed do it—he didn't even need to summon the Trident, just borrowing a portion of its power was enough. The only question was how far this ability could go.

"I'll test it out sometime in the future."

With that thought in mind, Kaiser moved through the sea, riding the currents and soaring freely, with an astonishing speed.

Though not as fast as flying through the sky with Divine Dividing, by surfing the ocean currents, Kaiser still returned to land in a short time.

After reaching land, Kaiser stepped ashore, and his clothes weren't even wet.

In this state, Kaiser returned to his residence in this world.

It was an apartment situated near Tokyo Tower.

The apartment wasn't far from Shiba Park near Shichio Shrine, which was why Kaiser had taken on a part-time job there.

"Not bad, at least this time it came with a house."

Kaiser grumbled about the background setting this time while returning to the apartment, locating his own place in one of the less favorable spots.

It was a rather cramped room. Opening the door, there was a narrow entrance hall just wide enough for one person to pass. Beyond that was a single room with a bed in the corner—no other spaces besides a toilet beside the entry.

There was no kitchen, so cooking was out of the question. There was no bathroom, so bathing either had to be done in the toilet or at a nearby bathhouse—cheap and convenient, sure, but sharing a tub with a bunch of old men was a bit unsettling...

Knowing the conditions here, Kaiser immediately formed an idea.

"This isn't a place fit for long-term living."

Not that he was being picky—he actually had no demanding standards when it came to living conditions.

His only requirement was that it didn't make him uncomfortable, that it was clean and sanitary.

This place didn't leak, nor was it unclean or unsanitary, so as long as it wasn't for long-term stay, Kaiser could accept it.

But if it was for long-term residence, then he hoped at least for a fully functional place—at the very least, he didn't want to have to go elsewhere to cram into a bathhouse with others just to take a bath.

"Let's see if I can find a way to get some money."

Kaiser sat at the low table, thinking idly.

For him now, making money was no longer difficult, so he didn't need to think too hard about how to go about it.

Especially in this world, as long as he remained a Campione, there would be plenty of people willingly lining up to bring him money.

Even without that, with his current power, he could dive into the sea, casually catch a Pacific bluefin tuna, and sell it for a good price—he'd have no worries about food and clothing for a while.

"The important thing is intelligence about the gods..."

Just as Kaiser had this thought, there was a knock at the door.

"Hmm?"

Kaiser instantly came back to his senses, raising his eyebrows.

He had just returned, and someone was already knocking?

...This wasn't a coincidence, right?

Thinking that, Kaiser walked to the entrance and opened the door.

Sure enough, standing outside was someone he had just seen at Shichio Shrine not long ago—a familiar face.

"Pardon the intrusion, King."

Touma Amakasu bowed deeply to Kaiser.

"It's you." Kaiser said in slight surprise, "I thought it would be Miss Mariya."

Not that he was thinking about the young lady, but since someone had come knocking right after his return—if it wasn't a coincidence, there must be a reason.

So, Kaiser had assumed it was Mariya Yuri who had used Spirit Vision to foresee his return at this specific time, and had chosen the perfect moment to come by.

In truth, although it was Touma Amakasu who had come, Kaiser's guess wasn't entirely wrong.

"Before I came, Miss Mariya did indeed give me a few words of advice. She said visiting at this time would be best."

Touma Amakasu would not tell Kaiser that it wasn't Mariya Yuri's spontaneous advice, but something he had consulted her about.

He didn't want to lose his life over a job.

Although he was a ninja and Sayanomiya Kaoru's representative, come on—what era was this? That outdated practice of a ninja sacrificing everything for their lord ought to be discarded already.

At least, that's what Touma Amakasu thought.

Thus, Touma Amakasu always treated his position in the History Compilation Committee as just a job and dressed like a proper office worker.

Work was work—just getting a paycheck was enough. Who would risk their life for the interests of those in power?

With that mindset, Touma Amakasu had gone to Mariya Yuri and asked her to use that all-purpose inspiration of hers to help him determine when a visit wouldn't incur the King's wrath, and when he could catch Kaiser in a good mood.

Thanks to that, Touma Amakasu was able to show up at just the right time.

"Come in, then."

Kaiser nodded in understanding, then casually waved Touma Amakasu inside.

"No, how could I trouble the King?" Touma Amakasu hurriedly handed over a thick stack of documents to Kaiser, saying, "These are all the records on gods collected by the History Compilation Committee. Please have a look, my King."

"That fast?" Kaiser accepted them, slightly surprised. "You guys move pretty quickly."

"Because the higher-ups also place great importance on matters concerning the King." Touma Amakasu said with a fawning smile, "The intelligence was already gathered beforehand. We just needed to extract the parts related to the gods and organize them."

Since it was a request directly made by a Campione, the History Compilation Committee naturally dared not delay. All procedures and formalities were skipped—they opened the green channel and deployed as many personnel as possible to complete the compilation of information at the fastest speed.

Under such conditions, it would be hard not to be efficient.

"Alright then." Kaiser looked at the thick pile of documents and, glancing at the overly respectful Touma Amakasu, chuckled, "In that case, I won't bother hosting you."

"Yes." Touma Amakasu bowed deeply as if receiving a pardon, then decisively took his leave and vanished without a trace.

That hasty escape wasn't like someone who had just narrowly escaped death—it was more like an office worker finally getting off duty after a long day, desperate to get home.

"A real talent, huh."

Kaiser muttered in his heart. After returning to the room, he immediately began reading the documents Touma Amakasu had brought.

They contained intelligence on gods who had appeared in various countries and regions—even records of Divine Beasts.

There were also reports suspected of divine descent, including but not limited to descent locations, speculations on their divinity, and conjectures as to which god had descended.

Though it looked like a thick pile, in reality, the number of reports that could be confirmed as actual god appearances was very small. Most were labeled as "suspected," "uncertain," or "possible," each followed by evidence, speculation, and clues.

This was only natural. If Heretic Gods really appeared so frequently, the level of disaster this world would suffer would be unimaginable.

Examples of divine descent were still rare. There shouldn't be enough cases to fill a thick pile of documents—so most of it consisted of suspicions of where gods might have appeared.

Some regions had strange phenomena, some had unusual incidents—those might be signs of Heretic Gods descending, but more often than not, they turned out to be mistakes. Hence, the thick file.

As Kaiser read, he suddenly spotted something unusual.

"It seems... there are surprisingly few reports of gods appearing in this country?"

Kaiser roughly understood what was going on.

"So many little schemes. If I didn't know the original plot and know that this country had a real Heretic God sealed, I might not have caught it."

Kaiser curled his lip.

Just from the fact that this intelligence file didn't mention that event, Kaiser could confirm that the History Compilation Committee had definitely concealed intelligence related to gods in their own country.

They were afraid Kaiser would break the seal and throw the nation into chaos for the sake of God-Slaying.

"Fortunately, I'm someone who can understand your thinking. If it were another Campione, just this act of deliberate concealment would be enough to bring disaster upon you."

Kaiser muttered to himself—and at the same time, he confirmed something else through this intelligence.

That was, what point in the original story he was currently at.