Since the resurrection of Jagd Spinne, Leon had announced his intention to appoint him as a member of his guild.
"Then… I shall proceed with the registration in proper order! Um… it's a bit complicated, so it might take some time."
"Alright, go take care of it."
After sending Hari off, Leon walked down a quiet corridor with Jagd Spinne.
A completely empty hallway, with no one else in sight but the two of them.
Only then—
"Cough…!"
—Screech!
Leon stifled the blood rising in his throat.
[Are you alright, my knight!?]
The feedback came instantly. Leon was relieved that the only ones who could see him now were the goddess and the Grail Knight.
"I'm fine."
Despite his reassurance, Ariana clenched her teeth.
[Perhaps it was too reckless to appoint a Grail Knight in a land with such little faith.]
"It was a necessary act. One that had to be done. Please don't concern yourself."
In the dying world they came from, it had been manageable—
There, the land was saturated with divine energy, offering Leon its protection.
But here, it was different.
Though he had begun to spread faith, the believers remained few and scattered.
A Grail Knight wasn't just a title—they were living saints, avatars of the gods.
Elevating someone to that status required an immense amount of divine power.
If Leon hadn't possessed the heart of the Lion, he wouldn't have survived it.
—Screech?
Leon caught a hint of Jagd Spinne's concern and smiled gently.
"This isn't your fault, sir. It's my own weakness."
[How could this be your fault? It is I, your goddess, who is lacking.]
"Divinity should never be blamed—under any circumstances. Please take those words back."
Ariana fell silent. Even in pain, their knight of glory remained faithful—
It was hard to believe he'd once been an atheist.
[My knight… Your goddess is forever grateful for your devotion.
But still—whether the land lacks faith or not—it was the inaction of your goddess and her fellow deities that caused you harm.]
The goddess realized she had to hasten what was happening within the Pantheon, sealed in Leon's heart.
[Rest now. Trust your gods. Wait for us.]
"Ariana?"
With those parting words, Ariana returned to the Pantheon that had taken refuge inside the heart of the Lion King.
There, she faced the divine beings awaiting her.
On the 121st year of Leon, the Lionheart King—
When the world had fallen to the spawn of evil, and only one knight remained standing…
Leon had carried the will of all fallen Grail Knights and sheltered the entire Pantheon within his own heart.
Shamefully, the gods had taken refuge in the body of a mortal saint,
and for 180 years, watched as the Lionheart King eradicated the evil ones.
But the gods had not sat idle.
They bestowed upon him every ounce of power and divine authority they could.
Their last remaining saint bore all their burdens.
And so—
Every god in the Pantheon owed Leon a debt they could never repay.
"How is the child?"
The divine spirit of life and fertility, Demera, asked with concern.
"Not well, Life. My knight pushed himself too far."
At this, the divine being of war and flame erupted in anger.
"All this… just from appointing one Grail Knight!? Where is the brilliant Lionheart King who once carried the glory of the gods!?"
"Mind your tone, War. He fought for us for over two hundred years and triumphed in the end."
"You think I don't know!? That's exactly why this burns me all the more!"
He wasn't blaming Leon.
The one who cherished Leon Draconia, the Lionheart King, more than anyone—
was furious with himself.
The divine being of light and justice looked around at their siblings, sensing similar feelings in them, and declared:
"The time has come to break our 180 years of silence, my brothers and sisters.
We can no longer watch our knight suffer alone."
How should they support him? How can they reclaim the Pantheon's glory?
It could no longer fall solely on Leon's shoulders.
The divine beings themselves had to take a more active role.
"We must support our only remaining saint."
"Not the only one anymore."
It was Iron and Forge who objected.
Though noticeably smaller and more compact than the other gods, his sturdy muscles stood out—
the patron deity of dwarves, Heto, brought up the newly emerged saint.
"Jagd Spinne. That one has just been anointed a new saint."
"Hmph…! A saint who doesn't even revere divinity?"
"You object, War?"
"Of course I do! To become a saint, one must serve the divine and prove themselves! That thing has no right!"
The God of War's opinion found support among many.
But they remained silent for one reason:
"The Lionheart King vouched for him. What more proof do you need?"
"Grrngh…!"
War gritted his teeth at that. Around him, the other gods chided his rashness.
"Justice. Do you believe Jagd Spinne is unfit to be a Grail Knight?"
Ariana answered without hesitation.
"For over a thousand years, he has thwarted the schemes of evil.
Though he has no faith, his honor and loyalty overflow, Iron."
"Hmph…! Leon and Justice—you two put too much weight on chivalry.
Honor alone can't win a war."
War muttered his grievances, clearly still dissatisfied.
Ariana assumed he would eventually respect the warrior knight in his own way and turned to Iron.
"Iron, you mentioned Jagd Spinne for a reason. What are you thinking?"
Iron smiled slyly in response.
"180 years ago, we lost all Grail Knights except one.
In their final moments, they burned themselves away to serve as vessels for the divine."
"That's well-known."
"Through Life—the only one of us who has active followers—we've learned more about this world."
"Is that so?"
"Through the eyes of my believers, I've been watching the world. And I found a rather interesting child."
The divine being of life and abundance, Demera, shared what she had seen with the other gods.
[Brothers and sisters, today we're coming to you from the hot Naju plains!]
It was a streamer—a man known as Farmer Park, who combined farming with live internet broadcasting.
After experiencing the blessing of divine rice, he had come all the way to the Naju plains—said to have been purified just like the Honam plains.
"What is that child doing exactly?"
Some gods tilted their heads, unable to grasp the intent. Iron explained.
"This world—Earth, the Lionheart King's home—has developed something called 'internet broadcasting.' It's an extremely effective promotional medium."
"Are you suggesting we use it for missionary work?"
"Exactly. We'll show them miracles and reveal the presence of divine beings.
And more than that, this world is connected across the globe by a space called the 'internet.'"
At that, War raised a question.
"But why didn't the Lionheart King think of this? Was he not a native of this world?"
Iron shook his head and shared a regretful truth.
"He died just before the internet saw its dramatic rise. It was too early."
Then Iron began laying out a specific plan:
"Using blessings from Life and others, we'll cultivate faith across various sectors of society.
And our promotional tools will be the internet, news, and similar media."
"But what of the setbacks? Leon's ambitious newspaper took 20 years just to take root."
"That's where our new Grail Knight comes in."
"???"
The divine beings looked puzzled.
—Screech.
Recently resurrected, Jagd Spinne was coldly analyzing his situation and outlining his next steps.
"Maintenance unavailable. Central processing unit required."
First was the clear drop in processing power from the lack of city backup systems.
Because of that, his core program wasn't functioning at full capacity.
But even as a machine, he found something strange.
He should be completely offline.
Yet somehow, he was moving.
He should be running at zero capacity.
Yet he had computation power equivalent to that of a sub-computer.
As a strong AI, he ran thousands—millions—of simulations,
but none could logically explain the situation.
And then—
[I am Heto, the divine being of iron and forge. From now on, you are my messenger—and I shall be your patron god.]
A voice—without any communication interface.
And when the "Hunters" began invading the cities, he could suddenly comprehend every language.
Phenomena that shouldn't be possible—things not programmed into him—were being written into his data logs.
He had no choice but to assign a term to make sense of it:
"Divine system active. Anomalous event A assigned to divine system. Set as imaginary number (ignore)."
Even a machine concluded: "This is some weird stuff, just roll with it."
Then came the second problem:
"Output at 13%. Immediate repair needed."
His body had been miniaturized to 1/100th of its original size, drastically reducing power output.
Even still, 13% at this size was absurd—
but again, he chalked it up to the divine anomaly and moved on.
His original body had been destroyed and was beyond repair.
Even after hacking the national databases to search for substitute materials,
nothing on Earth could match his original armor—not in quality, nor in quantity.
Then Iron spoke:
[Look at this. Feel it. This is the divine metal that can recreate your body.]
—Screech!
He couldn't see it, but he could feel it.
Even without data, he could calculate it.
It was the same supernatural phenomenon he felt when fighting Leon.
A force imbued with divine intervention.
With that, he could build a new body.
—Creak.
"What must this unit do?"
In response, Iron laughed—and delivered a revelation.
The strong AI immediately began learning everything it needed.
"Huh? Sir, check this out!"
"What is it?"
"YouTube—was this even authorized?!"
Hunter Association Section Chief Kim Jin-soo widened his eyes at the video his junior officer was showing him.
"Naju plains? YouTuber?"
The video opened with sweeping shots of the vast rice fields of the Naju plains.
[Let us show you the special crop that grows only here in the Naju plains—the divine rice of Mansinjeon.]
The narration began, delivered in a voice so smooth and pleasant it was hard to believe it was synthetic—soft and instantly likable.
[You might be wondering: what makes Mansinjeon rice so special? This video has the answer.]
The footage was ultra high-definition—supporting resolutions up to 16K—with background music of a tone and texture never heard before.
[The farmers of Mansinjeon start their mornings at 5 a.m. sharp.]
The seamless flow of the video clearly spoke of professional-level production.
[Each morning begins with a solemn prayer led by Elder Choi, the temporary priest of Mansinjeon, and the farmers. Look there—see? Even now, they're praying to Demera, the goddess of life and abundance.]
The camera moved in on the farmers praying toward the altar.
But rather than looking like ordinary farmers, they had a tranquil, almost monk-like aura—serene and blemish-free.
[So what makes Mansinjeon's crops so unique?]
– "The crops blessed by Demera make you healthier just by eating them—and they can even cure illness! My wife had dementia, but now she's completely fine!"
– "I was suffering from chronic heart disease, but it's gone! I can run 100 meters in six seconds now!"
It sounded absurd, and yet the video continued as the scene shifted.
A sick dog regained its strength after eating a bowl of rice. A terminal cancer patient made a full recovery.
[And what makes all this possible? There's only one answer. The divine beings served by the Mansinjeon Guild, under the rule of His Majesty, the Lionheart King, Leon Dragonia.]
– "Praise Demera!"
– "Long live His Majesty, the Lionheart King!"
– "Blessings to the other deities of Mansinjeon!"
"..."
Back at the Hunter Association, a group of staff had watched the video. A few seconds passed in stunned silence before anyone spoke.
"...Who made this?"
"Mansinjeon... Isn't that King Leon's guild?"
"You really think that guy's doing YouTube?"
"...Maybe Assistant Manager Han made it?"
"She's a total tech-illiterate."
Something didn't add up. The absurdly high-quality production aside—why even make a video like this?
It was, by all accounts, a ridiculous infomercial. And the comment section agreed:
Wtf is this ad now?
Lmao this is some peak cringe-tier talent waste.
Wait, Lionheart King? Isn't he that hotshot survivor? The one who cleared the Cheongju Gate?
This dude's got jokes. Even if he's an internet-illiterate from another world, is it okay to just rip people off like this?
Wait—this is translated into 104 languages. Who the hell made this, some insane genius?!
Of course. It was clearly a blatant ad, throwing around talk of gods like it was nothing.
Even cheap infomercials on political commentary shows weren't this unsubtle or illogical.
Cure cancer by eating rice? A goddess blessed the land?
It was nonsense—something you'd expect to become a meme.
The problem?
Every last bit of it was true.
The rice did cure cancer. There were association staff who had seen the goddess.
And at the center of it all, a man from another world—the Lionheart King—did exist.
So yes, this video really did come from Leon's side.
"We need to meet with that guy. Now."
What the hell is he thinking? Section Chief Kim Jin-soo began preparing to head out, dialing Han Hari as he moved.
"What the hell is he thinking?"
…
Upload complete.
Inside the penthouse where Leon resided, Jagd Spinne unplugged a USB-C adapter from the laptop.
"Sir Spinne? Are you done with my laptop?"
He returned the laptop to Han Hari and nodded his metallic frame.
"Operation codename: Noise Marketing. Phase One: Success. Proceeding to Phase Two. Hacking networks in progress."