Edited by: Piamo

Avlios gave Sohtris one last hug before looking at Milo. “Now that we got all the blessings out of the way, let’s get to the main point as to why we called you here. We will try not to call you so often, so you don’t need to worry about that.” 

Milo finally remembered the whole point of him being brought to this place. All three of them got distracted and Milo almost forgot why he even got summoned in the first place…

“You know how you are in a country called the Hirean Empire? It’s the empire I founded when I decided to leave the Divine Realm and go to the mortal realm,” Sohtris explained. “The neighboring country was founded by Avlios, the Holy Kingdom of Aecira.” 

Avlios expanded on the kingdom he founded, “I may not be good in combat, but my divine healing powers are unmatched compared to the other Gods. The people formed Aecira through their worship for me, hence why it became known as the ‘Holy Kingdom.’ There’s no problem with the people having faith in me. It gives me more power. The problem is, they can no longer hear my voice.” 

Avlios had a grave expression on his face as he continued, “The people of Aecira began to see Light Magic as the only one worthy of being in my presence, slaughtering thousands of innocent adults and children for having an attribute other than Light Magic. If the person at least had Light Magic whether it was a low or high ability, they were spared. The others were not so lucky and were sent to the Great Dragon Forest to die. 

“Actually, that’s what happened to Atlas. He didn’t have any Light Magic affinity until Avlios gave him his blessing just now. Atlas was dumped in the forest and his biological parents hoped for his death. 

“They even see my beloved Sohtris as my enemy! Can you believe that? They call her the Evil Dragon God just because a dragon, not under her command, had rampaged at the border of the kingdom in the past. They thought the Dragon God was trying to take over the Holy Kingdom. A lot of people had died, but how was that Sohtris’ fault?” 

Milo was trying to process all the information, wondering when the main point was going to come around. 

“Ah, sorry about that. Once I think about that blasted kingdom, it just makes me so angry.” Avlios took a deep breath and his anger subsided. “Milo, we need your help. We can’t intervene with the mortal realm anymore. We can talk with the people from time to time, but we can no longer go there like we used to. You have two options to approach the problem.” 

Avlios held two fingers up as he faced Milo. He looked quite dramatic. 

“First option, you can change the dynamics of the Holy Kingdom. With my blessing, you should be able to change the Church of Aecira and help them to hear my voice again. If that doesn’t work, the second option is to destroy the Holy Kingdom’s central power and merge it with the Hirean Empire. There’s no need to keep a kingdom that doesn’t want to listen to me.” 

He paused before adding with a pout: 

“I also want them to stop seeing my precious Sohtris as an enemy!” 

For some reason, Milo felt that that last sentence was his whole motive. 

“I don’t know how to run a kingdom though, how would I be able to change a corrupt government?” Milo asked.

Sohtris hummed. “You don’t have to do everything yourself, Milo. As you grow, you will soon realize that it is okay to rely on others. You don’t have to do everything yourself. Find people you can trust. They should be able to help you.” 

She then had a solemn expression on her face. “You can also deny this request. We know this is a lot. We don’t want to force you to do something you don’t want to do.” 

“Sohtris…” Avlios had no idea this was what Sohtris was thinking too. 

“Avlios, I know we brought Milo here, but he’s so young. That’s a lot of weight on his shoulders. If it gets too much, no one can blame him for not being able to handle it. We won’t blame you, Milo. That’s why, tell us now if it’s too much. We do need your help, and we won’t lie about it. That’s why we brought you here. You can take your time to decide.” 

His face was blank, but his soul injury was blocking him from feeling, making him think he was frustrated, but he couldn’t even feel that. He did consider helping in the beginning but now that he heard everything, Sohtris hit the nail on the head.

For a split second, he thought it was too overwhelming, that it was too much work, that there was no way he could do something like that on his own. He did everything on his own even if it was difficult. He also had a hard time saying no. For that reason, he hesitated. 

“I… I want to help to thank you both for giving me a second chance at life, but I’m also scared. I think.” His emotions were lacking, but he could at least point out what he thought. 

“You don’t have to thank us, Milo. It’s the least we could do. Even if you can’t help us, we can figure something out.” Avlios patted his head. 

Milo was sitting close to them, so Avlios was able to reach him.

“No, I want to help you.” This time, he said it firmly, almost like he was trying to convince himself that this was what he wanted. “I am just worried I won’t be able to do well.

“That’s a given that you won’t be able to do well if we just threw you into the world and said ‘Okay, you can go fix this right now’! That’s why, you reincarnated into the body of a young boy from a nobleman’s house. They will teach you all you need to know about governing and protecting a territory. They are pretty high-ranked. You will see that when you wake up again. You will also be able to go to the Imperial Academy where they will teach you all you need to know about governing. You will be able to meet lots of people and in turn, they will be able to help you as you become friends with them. Do choose your friends wisely though. Not everyone is a good person.” 

Avlios gave a bitter laugh at his last sentence. People could sometimes be crueler than monsters. That Holy Kingdom was the prime example of that! 

“I understand, thank you Avlios and Sohtris. Thank you.” 

“No need for thanks, our child. We will make sure to protect you. You just have to remember, when you get to the Holy Kingdom, do not trust …???” 

Sohtris couldn’t finish her sentence and felt alarm bells ringing. 

“Eh? What happened?” Avlios asked because it wasn’t normal for something to distract Sohtris like this.

Milo saw Avlios worried and also felt compelled to speak up, “Did something serious happen?” 

Avlios and Milo saw her open up some sort of screen, but it was embedded in a white cloud. 

In it, they could see Atlas being chased by a bear. 

Milo saw the young boy, about his age, running for his life. He knew it was Atlas. Atlas had a golden left eye and a purple right eye. They stood out in stark contrast to his black hair which was hard to see in the darkness of the forest.

Sohtris felt aggrieved. “How did this happen?! I look away for one moment and he’s already getting himself into trouble.” 

They watched him trip, making all of their hearts stop. Then they realized that the bear didn’t stomp on him to death, making them sigh out of relief. 

They also watched him unleash a powerful lightning bolt and faint after killing the bear. 

All three of them felt that Atlas had some terrible luck even with two Gods’ blessings. Well, they could only watch over him and make sure he was safe. 

***** 

A few hours later, Atlas woke up. He was so glad no monsters or animals had found him and started to eat his body. It was such a miracle in his opinion. 

He looked to where the bear was when it died and found the bear was gone, but it had left behind a set of claws and a large piece of fur. It was just like a video game. Thankfully, he didn’t have to dissemble dead monsters…

After appraising them, he saw they were from a bear monster called White Star. The people had named it that because of the giant white star on its back. According to his information, it was an A-ranked monster.

Atlas, a lover of video games, novels, anime, and the like, felt like he wanted to vomit. “A-rank?! Jeez, I was so unlucky to meet a big boss like this on my first day! Damn. Is this what other reincarnated folk go through when they get to this world??” 

(Actually, no. It was just because Atlas was a little unlucky and his soul got lost…)

There was no leveling system or stats for his body, but he could see that the level of his Lightning Magic went up by one. That move was probably so powerful it leveled up his skill. He wouldn’t be able to do that shit again though. Even without an MP (mana points) bar, he knew it had taken all of his mana. He could only do that as a last resort or if he knew he was going to die… 

He definitely needed to practice using magic once he found a safe place to rest. He couldn’t go on like this in this dangerous forest using lightning bolts left and right. He would just be fainting all the time! 

He got up and put the items that had dropped from the White Star into his inventory. He then looked at his status one more time. He saw he had, at some point, gotten a new title and a new blessing…

The title was “Adopted Child of the God of Light and Dragon God.” When did they adopt him? Well, at least he had new parents in this world… He missed the parents of his previous life though. He hoped they were okay.

Then he looked at the blessing.

“What the fuck? I almost died because the God of Light, Avlios, gave me his blessing at that time?” 

That was the only conclusion he could come up with after staring at the title and blessing for 5 minutes. He didn’t have it before, and the light was so bright, it made sense if it was from the blessing. 

He could also use Light Magic now, and it had a high level of affinity… 

Atlas created a ball of light using the mana he recovered and had it follow him up the tree. He was resolved to rest in the tree. It was already night and it was unsafe to be moving around in the dark. The tree he got into was safe. No other monsters, nests, or spiders. 

He found the sturdiest branch and leaned back on the trunk. He closed his eyes. Maybe it was because he was afraid of falling, but he didn’t really sleep.