Chapter 7

"Well, what do you think? That's the story of Solomon, The King of Magic, or the King of Magecraft some people called him!" Zelretch said as he stood up from his chair, signaling the end of the session

Some of his audience have also decided to stretch their leg after spending around 2-3 hours doing nothing but sitting and watching

"It's very interesting, I must admit" Freya said, still sitting on her sofa

"A question, Lord Kischur" Riveria said as she raised an arm causing Loki to raised her eyebrows questioningly

"Of course, Lady Riveria" Zelretch politely said the high elf

"I heard the term 'magecraft' being thrown around when we watched Solomon's life. It's almost like your world treated the term magic and magecraft differently, why is that?"

This question piqued the interest of everyone in the hall, especially those who used magic

"Aah, very observant of you Lady Riveria. Indeed, my world do have different interpretation when it comes to magic and magecraft" Zelretch confirmed

"Even the way the called the users are also different…those who used magic are called Magicians, while those who used magecraft are called Magus"

"And you said that you're a magician" Freya stated, which Zelretch responded with a nod

"And the difference?" Hermes asked "I don't see any difference in them"

"Yeah, I feel that they're just overcomplicating things. Just called them all in one term!" Loki scoffed

Zelretch just chuckled

"While I do understand your confusion, there's one major difference that separated magic and magecraft

"First, I'll ask you…will you considered the art of flying in the air as magic?"

Everyone nodded

"What about creating and throwing fires around?"

"Of course" Riveria answered

'That descriptions...kinda resembled Bell's Firebolt' Ryuu and several other thought at the same time

"In my world, specifically in Gilgamesh and Solomon's time…they will be considered as magic. But as of now? Such ability has been downgraded into magecraft" The vampire said

"Huh? Downgraded? Why is that?" Hestia asked, confused

"Hmmm…perhaps it's a too strong of word. The more appropriate word would be…reclassified" Zelretch corrected his word before continuing on with his explanation regarding the nature of magic and magecraft

"You see, in my world…humanity have advanced so much since the Age of Gods in terms of technology and science. How advanced? You'll see it later as we progressed even further with our session. What I'm trying to say is that, everything that can be replicated using technology classified them as magecraft"

All of them still look confused at his explanation, probably because they don't know kind of technology that the human in other world have invented in the span of three thousand years.

"In the Age of Gods, which is the era when heroes like Gilgamesh and Solomon were active…there were probably hundreds or even thousands of magic. They were called magic because humans at that time were unable to explain the mechanism behind them.

"However, as time passed by and humanity starts to advance…they started to figure it out. They invented items that can generate elements, they created vehicles that can fly into the air, and others. When common people can replicated such feats, the art of flying and casting fire were no longer classified as magic, but as magecraft. Meanwhile, those that can't be replicated by technology or magecraft will be considered as magic" Zelretch explained once again

This time, they seems to understand what he means and they look absolutely stunned

"…I think I get it" Riveria nodded

"Still…I wonder how advanced the people in your world are" Ouranos mused

"You'll have the chance later, Lord Ouranos" Zelretch grinned

"Umm, Zelretch" this time, it was Bell.

The boy looks uncomfortable when everyone turned their attention to him

"Of course, ask away boy!" Zelretch said, a grin still etched on his face

"W-well, does it mean there's no more magic in your world? Except for yours, I mean..."

"Hmmm, no. As of now, there's what the magus in my world called as 'The 5 True Magic'"

"And you used one of them" Freya pointed out

"Indeed, and I assume you have a basic understanding of what my magic capable of?"

"You called yourself a magician from another world, so it must be something related with dimension travel" Freya said, pretty confident with her analysist

Zelretch laughed

"As expected from a goddess. Indeed, my magic is called the Kaleidoscope or The Operation of Parallel World, the 2nd Magic. It allows me to travel to various worlds that existed, as you see now"

"And the other 4?" Riveria asked, she looks very interested with the topic of the discussion

Travelling to other worlds is a very impressive feat, even the deities currently present in the hall never heard of such ability (Sans Ouranos, who met Zelretch first)

Zelretch stroked his beard, as he thinks on how to answer that question

"For the 1st Magic, there's no official name for it. They said that It granted its user the ability to materialized everything except for living things out of thin air"

"Huh…that's pretty broken" Gareth said, earning nods of agreement from his fellow adventurers

"Damn! You mean the user can just materialized weapons out of thin air!?" Welf asked, not believing what he has just heard

"Yes" Zelretch nodded

As a blacksmith, that must be a difficult thing to hear. After all, blacksmiths spend a lot of time and efforts crafting their weapons. To find out that someone out there can create weapons out of nothing in an instant and throw them away anytime they want…Welf has no word for that

"You already know what the 2nd Magic is capable of, so I'll skip it. Then we have the 3rd Magic, Heaven's Feel"

"What kind of name is that" Loki scoffed

"Eh, I think that's a beautiful name!" Tiona said

Zelretch chuckled at the girl's enthusiasm

"I'm sure they will be glad that you like their naming sense, Tiona Hiryute. The 3rd Magic granted the ability to materialize the soul, in other word…complete resurrection without any negative drawback"

As he expected, all of them look shocked

"Complete resurrection!?" Hestia shouted

"That's…insane" Hermes muttered

"Forget about that! That Magic literally break the natural law of the world!" Loki said

Their reaction was as expected. Of course the gods will freak out when they find out that a magic with the capability of resurrecting the dead exist. After all, they have the task of watching over and deciding the fate of the dead. Such magic, for them, is a complete violation of the natural law of the world

"Hence it was called Magic" Zelretch said, ignoring the glares he got from some of the deities

"Moving on, there's no definite information regarding the 4th Magic. Although some speculated that it has something to do with time travel"

"Umm, can't you just find out about it? I mean, you're capable of traveling through various worlds…surely you can find out more about it" Asfi said

"Well, I have better things to do and I have no interest whatsoever in it" the vampire scoffed and continuing on

"Then, we have the 5th Magic. I personally knew the user of this particular Magic. She speculated that its domain revolve around consumption and extinction"

"What does it mean?" Ryuu asked, uncomfortable with the word 'extinction' attached to the 5th Magic

"I don't know, she never really into exploring it. Probably because she's already powerful enough without using it" Zelretch shrugged before looking at his watch

"Well, perhaps it is time to call for a break?" he said

Everyone nodded and leave their seat to do their own thing

"What's your opinion on Solomon, Bell?" Welf asked as he slung his arm around his Captain' shoulders

All members of Hestia Familia alongside Ryuu are currently huddling in the down right corner of the hall

"Well…he's a hero, there's no doubting that…and a very powerful one at that" Bell said, still feeling quite giddy. Understandable though, he has only ever read or heard stories about heroes. To see the life of heroes, even though they're not from his own world, with his own eyes is something that he never thought he will ever experience.

"Yeah…you remember his magic? Man, that gave me chills…imagine if we somehow have an enemy as powerful as him" Welf said

"Urgh…I can't imagine how we will beat someone like that" Bell grimaced

Future sight, demons as familiars, extremely powerful magic that can even change landscape…Bell shuddered at the thought of facing people with that kind of power

"I don't know how people in Zelretch's world can be that powerful…" Mikoto said, standing next to them

"I mean all of the heroes that he has shown us are directly related to gods though" The red-haired blacksmith said

"True…Gilgamesh is a son of a goddess, Enkidu is created by the gods, while both David and Solomon are blessed by a god called Yahweh" Mikoto nodded in agreement

"Umm…aren't we the same as them then?" Haruhime timidly said

Everyone turned their attention to the renard

"What do you mean?" Welf asked of her

"I-I mean…aren't we also blessed by our goddess and god?"

"Hmmm, that's true though. We're part of a deity's Familia and received blessing from our goddess"

"I wonder though…can we…reach the level of power that they had shown…" Mikoto muttered

"Lili's not sure. Lili thinks that the way their world works is quite different from us" the supporter of Hestia Familia said

"We also have some powerful heroes too though, like Albert the Mercenary!" Bell said

He still remembers that particular story from his grandfather when he was young, and until now…it is still one of his favorite story

"Heh, I guess you're right. There's no point comparing something that already different from its foundation" Welf said with a smile

Everyone nodded in agreement

"Well…that was something don't you all agree?" Finn said to his fellow Familia members

"Tell me about it, still kinda give me chills that so much power was in the hand of one man" Gareth hummed

"I'm more concerned about his familiars though…" Riveria muttered, making everyone to looked at her, confused

"…what do you mean?" Aiz tilted her head

"The Demon gods? To be honest, I was quite surprised that they called them 'gods'…" Finn said

"Yes…I'm just wondering…what those demons doing after the King's death" Riveria said, her face showing how serious she's thinking about it

"…now you said it, we don't know what happened to them right?" Bete pointed out

"Ehhh, I don't think anything happened tho. I mean…they're pretty concern about humanity right?" Tione said

Before they can start discussing it in more depth, Finn put an end to it

"Let us stop with this topic…lest we got stressed thinking about it" Finn said, a small smile on his face

"Agreed. We're here for relaxation and enjoying the show provided for us, let's not think too much about it" The dwarf, Gareth, said

None of them argued with that and the group adjourned themselves to do their own thing, with Aiz heading towards where Bell's group is. Lefiya is about to protest but got stopped by the Amazon twin and took her with them.

"…it seems that they're enjoying themselves" Hestia said

She and the other deities sans Ouranos are currently standing at the very right top corner of the hall

"Well…I brought Finn and the others so they can have some break…looks like it works" Loki muttered, taking a sip of her drink

"And here we are…fretting over something that might never happen" Freya laughed a little

Ever since the end of the 1st break, the deities have been worrying over something though they do their best not to show it in front of their Children. It is about something that Zelretch has said

The Beasts

The Evils of Humanity

The moment those words came out from the old vampire's mouth, the deities have all demanded him to explain what that means. Zelretch has been very vague in his explanation, though there are several key points that the gods managed to understand.

The Beasts are 7 entities that preside over the 7 Sins of Humanity, though they're not sure which ones. They are positioned to enact the annihilation of humanity and their power grew as they accumulate strength in proportion to the advancement of humanity. In other word, the Beasts can be interpreted as some sort of disease that will slowly consume humanity from the inside.

The gods, of course, freaked out when they realized these facts. The birth of such beings would be catastrophic. Threats posed by the 3 Grand Quests will paled in comparison. As the Beasts' source of power is the advancement of humanity, the only way to prevent their creation to completely halt humanity's development or humanity complete annihilation.

"But…Zelretch said that the chance of them exist in this world is not even near 1%..." Hestia whispered

"Yes…but, remember this Hestia…even 0.05% is still a chance" Hermes said, his tone serious

"This information…never leak this to anyone" Loki said

While there are some truths when people said that the deities only see humanity as some sort of entertainments, they're forgetting one important thing. For the deities who had descended into the Lower World, they have created bonds and attachments with the residents of the world they're currently living in. Even someone as twisted as Dionysus still love his Children in his own twisted and sick way. There's no doubt that if rumors start spreading about the possible birth of extremely powerful beings, especially ones that accumulate strength from humanity...there will be chaos. Some of the gods who never really cared about the Lower World will advocate for humanity's destruction or will use it as an excuse to impose their wills on the children.

"I wonder what they're talking about…" Hestia murmured

Zelrecth and Ouranos are currently locked in a conversation while standing under the mirror that Zelretch used to shows his stories

"Nothing good, I tell you" Loki flatly said

"I'm more curious on where we're going to stay tonight" Hermes grinned

"Oh yeah…the letter said that it will take several days to finish the event!" Hestia said

"Perhaps there're some sort of secret rooms in this hall. Ouranos is nothing but resourceful…" Freya chuckled, getting a nod of agreement from her fellow deities

After finishing his conversation with Ouranos which took around 30 minutes, Zelretch once again gathered all of his guests for the next 'learning history' session

"Does this next hero has another fancy title like the previous two?" Freya teased

The vampire laughed quite loudly

"I don't know whether you can consider it as fancy…but he does have a title"

Right after saying that, the vampire gave Bell an amused grin which caused the boy to shift uncomfortably. The two girls sitting next to the white-haired boy realized what's going on and gave Zelretch suspicious looks.

"Bell Cranel, I think you will find the next one…very interesting"

'I…don't like that tone' Bell shivered

'This is gonna be fun' Zelretch mentally chuckled

Note:

For some reason, I'm having quite a hard time finishing this chapter lol. Regarding the explanation of Magic and magecraft, I tried my best to convey it in the easiest way for the danmachi cast to understand...so It is not the best explanation.

Sorry for any grammatical/structural errors