I discovered a new fact—that I had been reincarnated by a god.

  Well, to be fair, I had considered it as one possibility, but the conditions were so far removed from the divine reincarnations I knew of that I had convinced myself it wasn’t the case.

  *"Starting today, I will be your guardian. My name is Cudia. I look forward to working with you."*

  Cudia, the very person who had dropped this bombshell on me, was now introducing herself to Ingrid and Amina, who had stayed behind at the house.

  A sudden appearance by a celebrity.

  *"It’s a pleasure to meet you, Lady Cudia. I am Ingrid Grullet, serving under Libert-sama."* *"A noble name, and the daughter of House Grullet, I see."* *"Yes."* *"And you must be Amina?"* *"Y-yes! I’m Amina!"* *"There’s no need to be nervous. As I mentioned earlier, I’ve come to ensure you all can act freely."*

  For just a moment, Ingrid’s usual expressionless mask cracked, her eyes widening slightly. But her noble upbringing quickly kicked in, and she smoothly continued her introduction.

  In contrast, Amina was frozen stiff, her nervousness pin to see.

  Cudia, too, wore a troubled expression.

  Well, given the scars covering her body, Cudia carried an intimidating presence. I could imagine this kind of exchange happening every time she introduced herself in formal settings.

  Actually, Nel had reacted the same way.

  *"L-Libert! What’s going on?!"* *"Yeah, the reason I went out earlier was to meet Cudia. And in the course of our conversation, she agreed to become our guardian."* *"May I ask what exactly happened?"* *"Libert did something utterly reckless."* *"Reckless how?"*

  As the conversation continued, it took a slightly awkward turn.

  *"He challenged Lady Cudia to a fight and ended up with both arms broken—serious injuries. Just because he’s healed now doesn’t make it okay!"* *"Is that true?"* *"Uh, well... yes."* *"Huh?! Are you okay?! Does it still hurt?!"*

  Awkward.

  Not just the injuries, but the fact that I had challenged Cudia—someone far stronger than me—without telling anyone made the whole thing even more uncomfortable.

  Amina’s genuine concern only made me feel worse.

  *"It doesn’t hurt anymore. I was healed properly."* *"Ugh, even if you say that, you were in terrible shape just a while ago! Take this as a lesson and reflect on it!"* *"Yes."*

  I had expected some chaos from bringing Cudia home unannounced, but things had gotten hectic in a completely different way.

  *"Nel, let’s leave it at that. I’m also feeling rather guilty for being the one who injured him."* *"You have nothing to apologize for, Lady Cudia! Libert was the one who challenged you, and you even warned him properly!"*

  As I slumped in remorse, Cudia gave me a wry smile.

  *"Libert-sama, where should Lady Cudia’s room be? The one next to mine is avaible."* *"Then let’s go with that. I’ve prepared the bare essentials, but if there’s anything else you need, just let me know."* *"When you’ve been traveling as long as I have, just having a roof over your head and a pce to lie down feels like luxury. As long as I have permission to train in the garden morning and evening, that’s more than enough."*

  With the topic shifted, we settled on Cudia’s room and the fact that we’d be living together from now on.

  *"That’s fine by me. By the way, can I join you for training?"* *"Of course. Having a training partner only helps sharpen one’s skills. Especially someone like you, blessed by the gods."*

  But it seemed there was one more thing I had forgotten to mention.

  *"Blessed by the gods? Hey, Nel, what does that mean?"* *"Exactly what it sounds like. Apparently, even Libert himself didn’t realize until today, but according to Lady Cudia’s assessment, he’s this continent’s prophesied hero."* *"Huh?! That’s huge, isn’t it?! So why are you so calm about it, Nel?!"* *"Because it’s Libert we’re talking about. At this point, nothing would surprise me."* *"Oh, yeah, I guess that’s true. Yeah, it’s just Libert."* *"Hey, do you guys think of me as some kind of jack-in-the-box?"* *"If anything, a jack-in-the-box would be less surprising, given how much Libert-sama knows."* *"Even Ingrid’s on their side now..."* *"Yes, I’m afraid there’s no helping it. Though I must admit, even I was surprised."* *"Your face hasn’t changed at all, though?"* *"It did. Around the eyebrows."*

  A child of the gods.

  I hadn’t told them I was a reincarnated person, but even so, they seemed to think I was someone specially blessed by a deity—in my case, the Goddess of Wisdom, Cepheri.

  My knowledge and memories from my past life.

  Those two were undoubtedly powerful abilities, but since the goddess hadn’t given me any instructions, I had no idea what I was supposed to do.

  So, sticking to my original pn, I’d keep moving forward with the goal of getting stronger.

  *"Hey, Libert. Is Lady Cudia going to do the same things as us?"*

  As I stared at Ingrid’s face—her expressions changing at a level so subtle it was like one of those "spot the difference" puzzles in family restaurant pcemats—Amina, who had been talking with Nel, brought up an important point about what it meant for Cudia to live with us.

  The same things as them—in other words, leveling.

  *"No, I feel bad saying this, but Cudia will have to stay as she is for now. If she tried leveling the same way we do, she’d have to weaken herself temporarily. While she’s acting as our guardian, she won’t be using my leveling method."*

  The secret behind my strength—my leveling method—was something I hadn’t yet shared with Cudia.

  I had told her that there was a secret to my growth, but that was all.

  She had agreed to become our guardian based solely on the uncertain fact that I was a child of the gods.

  Under normal circumstances, there’d be no reason for trust to form between us.

  But with her, betrayal wasn’t a concern.

  *"Yes, until you’ve all grown stronger, I can’t afford to weaken myself."*

  The biggest reason was her personal creed.

  *"Indeed. Grow stronger. And once you have, Libert, I’d like a rematch—no restrictions, head-on."*

  Even now, she looked at me—a boy whose strength had been ordained by the gods—as a worthy rival, eagerly anticipating the future.

  It was precisely because of this that she had agreed to become our guardian without betraying us and was even fine with me keeping my secrets for now.

  *"Well, I think that’ll happen sooner rather than ter."* *"Then I shall look forward to it."* *"This is... a little hard to ask, given that we’re already deferring payment, but there’s something else I’d like to request."*

  Asking her for even more felt bad, but if she was going to act as our guardian, this was something I couldn’t pass up.

  *"A request? Though our arrangement is temporary, I am your guardian now. I’ll hear you out."* *"Tomorrow, I’m supposed to visit the ducal house. Would you come with me?"* *"...So that’s why a noble’s daughter is living here. I suspected something was up with the presence of a Grullet, but the ducal house... the Edelgard family, correct?"*

  Tomorrow.

  I had asked her to accompany me to my meeting with Duke Edelgard.

  I was the only one invited, but as my guardian, there should be no issue with her coming along.

  *"Yes, due to certain circumstances, I’ve formed a connection with them."* *"I’ll hear the details ter. Who summoned you?"* *"Duke Edelgard himself."* *"...The head of the house personally? That suggests this will be a significant discussion."* *"I think so too."* *"Any idea what it’s about?"* *"If I had to guess... probably the dungeon that hasn’t been conquered yet?"* *"The one where the Stampede occurred? I’d heard the exploration was progressing smoothly, but there have been unsettling rumors tely, so that’s pusible."*

  Lady Esmeralda had said she’d dealt with the troublemakers within her family, but the fact that she wanted to talk to me *after* that was more unsettling than anything.

  If I went alone, there was a chance I’d get cornered, so I needed Cudia there as a deterrent.

  *"Does the duke suspect you’re a child of the gods?"* *"Thinking about it now, probably. At first, I thought he was just interested in me, but there’s likely that element too—which is why he’s been careful with his approach. Otherwise, a kid like me would’ve been either recruited or eliminated in an instant."* *"That sounds about right. His caution is the clearest evidence. He may not have confirmation, but he’s confident enough. If I accompany you, it’ll essentially confirm it for him."*

  Having someone from the神殿 (temple) involved was a double-edged sword.

  Just being under the protection of a神殿 (temple) official would make even a ducal house think twice before acting against me.

  Against ordinary adventurers? Forget it. But when dealing with someone who had once been an archbishop, even royalty would hesitate.

  But the flip side was that this would also establish the fact that someone of that stature had taken me under her wing.

  *"It’s fine. At this point, I think it’s better to just go all in. If things have come this far, we might as well charge ahead full speed."*

  There wouldn’t be much time before this fact became widely known.

  Once it did, the implications of a former archbishop protecting a child were obvious.

  Nothing good would come of it.

  But I was reaching my limit with hiding and staying quiet.

  If that was the case, then the only option was to rise to a position where no one could easily touch me.

  *"Understood. It seems you have a pn. For now, I’ll accompany you to the duke’s estate tomorrow. That should prevent anything too bad from happening."* *"Thanks."*

  The immediate issue was figuring out how to handle my retionship with the ducal house, which had taken an interest in me first.

  Cudia wasn’t omnipotent.

  I couldn’t afford to overestimate her and end up blindsided.

  But at the same time, I couldn’t let excessive caution lead to unnecessary hostility.

  The ideal scenario was a mutually beneficial retionship.

  *"Ingrid, has there been any word from the duke since then?"* *"No, nothing."* *"Then I guess we’ll have to wait at home tomorrow until summoned."*

  Now then, what exactly would tomorrow bring?

  I doubted it would be anything that’d keep me up at night, but I couldn’t help wondering.

  *"Alright, then it’s Mochi Dungeon grinding."* *"Huh?!"* *"Understood."*

  As I pondered what to do about tomorrow’s pns—

  *"Of course. We need every advantage we can get to grow stronger. Oh, and Amina, you’re dungeon grinding too tomorrow. No rice toner-making."* *"Okay!"* *"Fine by me! I’ll get a Golden Key before Libert gets back tomorrow!"*

  With Cudia around, we didn’t have to worry about troublesome adventurers bothering us. Once the duke’s summons were over, we’d be free to move as we pleased.

  The real pain was that evolving my skills was a mandatory requirement for my next css upgrade.

  Right now, the only way to get the Skill Evolution Orbs was through the Golden Mochi Dungeon, accessed via the Golden Mochi Dungeon Keys that dropped in the regur Mochi Dungeon.

  It wasn’t the *only* way, but at my current stats, other methods were too difficult.

  If I could at least reach Css 3, things would be different—but to get there, I first needed to evolve my skills. A real catch-22.

  *"Ingrid, can you support the two of them?"* *"Understood."*

  With Nel’s incredible luck and newfound motivation, it seemed like we’d resolve this issue soon.

  Which meant I needed to start preparing for what came next.

  *"The atmosphere here is nice."* *"You think so?"* *"Yes, that’s the impression I get."*

  Watching our exchange, Cudia smiled.

  *"It’s been a while since I’ve seen a party whose future I could look forward to."* *"Because I’m a child of the gods?"* *"Who can say? I’ve met other divine children, but none had such a warm atmosphere. The North was full of killing intent, the East was all about money, and while I didn’t see the West, the vibe there felt like minds were being controlled. Divine children come in all forms—some good, some bad."* *"Is that how it is?"* *"Yes. So I’ll be keeping an eye on you."*

  At the very least, for now, she seemed to have high hopes for our future.

  *"I wonder what kind of hero you’ll become."*

  Hidden beneath those words was the unspoken question of whether I’d become someone she could speak to with her fists—a hope she had for me.

  That was the one thing I couldn’t ignore.

  *"I’m looking forward to it."*

  Feeling a faintly alluring aura from her, I turned my thoughts back to tomorrow’s meeting with the duke.