*

“Honestly, I’m not sure what you’re talking about. You’ve completed my trial perfectly.”

“What does that mean?”

I could understand that I somehow made it through the trial.

But no matter how I thought about it, it didn’t feel like I’d done it ‘perfectly.’

After all, I ended up dying there without saving Hailen from destruction.

“Besides, all the other talents in the Trial Barrier must have died too, so the world is probably on the path to ruin.”

Yet the god was saying that I had completed it ‘perfectly.’

That could mean…

“Was the objective of the trial not to prevent the world’s destruction?”

Not preventing the world’s destruction, but something else.

If that’s the case, there might have been some other action I took that met his criteria for completing the trial.

“The 31st Demon King? Or perhaps developing Libero’s swordsmanship to a level that connected with Elsie?”

Although I had achieved that through the Awakening Pill, I had managed to reach a high stat as well.

However, all of that felt ambiguous when it came to calling it the god’s trial.

Of course, those things weren’t easy, but compared to the regrets and concepts of trials up until now, it felt too trivial.

“It seems you’re a bit off the mark. Let me give you a hint.”

“A hint?”

“Do you know when you properly noticed that space was my trial?”

Noticing that it was a trial.

In fact, I had felt something was off from the moment I heard the news that the demon kings were invading.

There was no mention in Sung Yoo-rang’s memories of the demon kings being able to invade Hailen during this time.

And that eerie feeling deepened with the appearance of Gineus, whom I had already killed. The same went for the emergence of the 31st Demon King right after him.

But it was just a sense of déjà vu; I never reached the conclusion that I was in a trial.

“I had been thoroughly deceived.”

It was like a dream within a dream.

Something similar to that.

I went out for a trial, but it was ultimately still within a trial. That’s how he completely tricked me.

“But the moment I heard the word ‘fragment,’ I realized.”

The ‘fragment of chains’ that the 31st Demon King had mentioned.

Of course, the word chains bothered me, and I still couldn’t figure out what it meant.

It could’ve just been the ramblings of a dying demon king.

However, the term ‘fragment’ did lead me to a certain thought.

What if this place was a trial that was fragmented from the real world?

It was a conclusion without solid evidence, but conversely, if this wasn’t a trial, there were too many things that couldn’t be explained.

So I could say that the moment I realized it was a trial was right after I caught the 31st Demon King.

“That’s correct. Until then, you thought of that place as the real world. The same goes for the people there.”

As the god said, I thought of that place as the real world, which is why I wanted to prevent its destruction at the cost of my life.

And it was ultimately because I thought the people there were real.

“Elsie and Yusera felt that way too.”

If I had thought this was a simulated battle like a trial, I wouldn’t have hesitated to mobilize them as my full strength.

Perhaps I would have returned to the trial directly and signed a contract with the god to bring them out.

Even if they showed up on their own, I wouldn’t have hesitated about taking them back.

But I couldn’t do that because I believed they were the real Elsie and Yusera.

That’s why I struggled and was persuaded by them.

In the end, I managed to produce the best result while believing that their lives were real.

“That means…”

At that moment, I gained an inkling.

Considering the previous manifestations of this nameless god, there was some consistency there.

Just like during the last midpoint reward and the words he delivered in-between.

“He’s a bit different from the God of Regret or the God of Reality.”

He mostly spoke with a focus on ‘me.’

But this one was different.

From the very first meeting, he didn’t know much about ‘me.’

However, he always talked about those around me.

There couldn’t be any coincidence there.

What had previously been virtually impossible to pinpoint in his consistency was now aligning.

If that were the case, there was one name that came to mind.

“Are you the God of Connection?”

“That’s correct. I did give you hints, but I never expected you to guess it in one shot.”

In fact, I didn’t think I could guess it right away either.

There were so many expected concepts like trust and friendship.

But the only concept that could unify those was just ‘connection.’

“I’m the god who oversees the concept of connection. However, since connection is ultimately a human thing, I’m a poor god who doesn’t quite understand the concept I govern.”

A god who oversees human connections.

Moreover, being a god, he couldn’t really grasp the concept of connection properly and couldn’t interfere with people outside because he couldn’t leave the trial.

He was merely a god who can observe the students of Hero Academy within the trial.

“But then, isn’t that basically the god of voyeurism?”

“Ahem, I’m just stuck here, unable to help it. It’s not like I wanted to be holed up in this place.”

For now, I decided to trust him.

“So if I’ve completed your trial perfectly, does that mean I met the standard of connection you have in mind?”

That was somewhat questionable.

How could I have perfectly completed his trial when the god himself didn’t even understand connection well?

It’s not like I could discern that standard at all.

“To explain that, I need to say this first: This was not just your trial. You can’t create connections alone.”

“Then, does that mean Elsie and Yusera were included…?”

“Yes, to conduct this trial, I pulled them into it as well. The ones you fought alongside weren’t virtual; they were real. After the trial ends, it will fade into their memories like a dream, though.”

Hearing that made me feel a bit relieved.

The fact that they were ultimately real Elsie and Yusera, instead of the illusions of the trial, eased the emptiness I felt.

“But the trial wasn’t just for you and them; it was the same for me. Watching you taught me about connection. That was my trial.”

After a short pause, the god continued.

“To be more precise, your trial began the moment you first met me. The moment I felt both fondness and curiosity towards you.”

He began to unfold the story from the moment he first met me.

“The God of Regret found you interesting, while the God of Reality felt sorry for you. The moment I first laid eyes on you, the feeling I had was fondness.”

“Fondness?”

“Yes, you cherish the connections you’ve made and struggle to protect them. The sight of you risking your life and honor for that was incredibly beautiful in terms of my concept of connection.”

In fact, that’s still the case even now.

I was still prepared to risk my life and honor for them.

But despite that, there was a clear difference between who I was now and who I was back then.

“That’s why, at first, I wondered whether you even needed my trial. But as I continued to observe you within the trial… I eventually realized something. Connection isn’t one-sided.”

Indeed, as the God of Connection, he grasped what I had come to understand after several conflicts much earlier than I did.

“Back then, you simply valued those connections from your perspective. You were afraid to consider how the other party felt about you. That’s why you often retreated like a coward, severing those connections.”

Yeah, I was a coward.

I valued connections but chose to sever them because I didn’t have the confidence to preserve them.

That’s why I always ran away and maintained a useless disguise in front of Elsie when we met again.

“That wasn’t a proper connection. It was fortunate that Ershiarah noticed it first and extended a hand toward you. That allowed you to face connections you had been avoiding until then. But…”

I knew.

That wasn’t the end.

“I had been viewing connection as merely one-sided until that point.”

I had stopped running, but I still tried to look away and ignore them.

I didn’t consider how they thought of me at all.

I was merely trying to bear the weight of everything all on my own.

And the God of Connection understood that.

“So you threw me into this trial.”

A real battle situation, not a mock battle.

In fact, it was a situation that I definitely couldn’t overcome on my own.

In that scenario, he tried to enlighten me using Elsie and Yusera.

“Quite a well-crafted trial, indeed.”

However, he partially denied my words.

“It is a well-crafted trial. But not everything you experienced was according to my intention. If it had been according to my intention, you surely wouldn’t have passed my trial.”

“Huh?”

“It was not I who made the contract with Ershiarah. They were the ones who first asked to be let out. They just didn’t know the other party was a god.”

That was unexpected.

I hadn’t imagined that Elsie, who was relatively ignorant about gods, would take the initiative to contract with one.

“Even though you ignored them, they tried to shift your gaze back toward them. To put it frankly, in this trial, they were more active than you were.”

Embarrassingly, that was the truth.

Without their efforts, I wouldn’t have been able to properly face connections.

In the end, it wasn’t an objective, but capturing the 31st Demon King would have been impossible too.

“That’s why this trial wasn’t just yours. Even I came to realize that only during the trial. And it was then I realized something.”

The god continued speaking.

This time, it was about his own trial, not mine.

“Connection is more complex than a simple concept. It’s more complicated than regret, reality, or any of the other concepts. Merely expressing it in the two words ‘connection’ is nothing short of miraculous.”

That statement sounded almost like despair but I knew it wasn’t.

Having listened to him, I too had been grasping what connection was.

“Earlier you asked me about the criteria I had in mind for connection. To answer that… there’s no such thing. At least, I think now there’s no definitive answer when it comes to connection. However, there is one thing I can be sure of.”

He abandoned the idea of establishing a clear definition for connection.

Instead, he presented the answer he had found.

“I like your connections.”

That wasn’t the ‘correct answer’ but simply a ‘reply.’

Yet I liked that reply as well.

“I like it too.”

Over the past few months, there had been many events.

They weren’t things that put my life in jeopardy, but they felt quite challenging for me since I wasn’t used to it.

But I could confidently say there was a sense of fulfillment in that.

“I made some allies.”

Perhaps the reason I entered Hero Academy wasn’t just to learn archery or to clean my background.

Having wandered alone for years, I was surely… lonely when I lost the only person I’d gotten close to, Libero.

If I hadn’t left that letter for Elsie back then, it would undoubtedly be a lie.

“Maybe I just wanted to see Elsie again.”

It was one of the few connections I had made in this world.

Among those connections, she was the only one I could meet while maintaining my optimal growth route.

And ultimately, looking back, that choice could be seen as correct.

“But you mustn’t stop here.”

“Of course. To protect these connections, I must prevent the world’s destruction.”

Not just Elsie.

Other connections I had no choice but to leave for my growth were precious to me too.

And someday…

“I want to return to the inn.”

Personally, I wanted to invite Elsie and treat her to Miss Weiss’s cooking.

To do that, I first needed to stop the world’s destruction.

“Very well. Then I would like to offer you the only help I can provide. Last time, it was a trivial mid-reward, but this time, I’d like to give you the final reward of my trial.”

I once again looked up at the sky with familiarity.

At that moment, something caught my eye among the branches of the great tree.

It was a form shrouded in dark shadows.

‘That’s…’

Although I couldn’t see it properly due to the darkness, I was certain.

It was a figure I had already encountered.

And at the same time, it was someone I had been anxiously waiting for over the last few months.

“God of Chains?”

Then he tossed a fruit into the air and caught it as he spoke.

“I hear you’ve been looking for me?”

*