My fingers tapped at the holographic keyboard laid out on the desk before me. In order to fulfill my oath to Julian, I was researching any information I could find related to karma, whether its detection or manipulation. Yet, what I found were no more than mere rumors and hearsay.

According to some reports, the newly ascended Goddess of Ki held the ability to read a person’s karma, but… that in itself was problematic. The Goddess of Ki was a Martial Spirit, after all. If I were to form a pact with her to gain this ability, I would forfeit my right to return to the heavenly palace. That is assuming that she would want to form a pact with me anyways.

Unfortunately, if the rumors were true, she had not conducted any open research on replicating the effect. Nor had the lead research of the allied worlds, his focus occupied by other topics. Although there were several people with their own theories, nobody had been able to submit an answer with hard proof.

Realizing that, I let out a long sigh, leaning back in my chair and rubbing my face. Because I was sent back to the living world, my karma had been wiped clean.  In order to return and ensure a better future for those within the palace, I needed to accumulate enough positive karma to ensure my reentry.

However, I realized something else from my research just now which was possibly more concerning. If my analysis was correct, the Heavenly Palace itself would soon be obsolete. If that truly happened, then all of this work that I was doing right now would be for naughty.

Most people were calling this the Age of Eternity, a time when the population began to transition from the mortal coil to a pure energy body. In this way, they would be able to eliminate the failings of the flesh and obtain eternal life. But such a thing came at a cost.

By forming an energy body, and infusing one’s soul into it, that person is forever removed from the cycle of rebirth. When they die, their spirit is destroyed, unable to pass to the Underworld. Naturally, this means that they will be unable to enter the heavenly palace, no matter how high their karma is.

Of course, there were still people who would not be able to take this treatment, but those were the ones typically too weak to accumulate that level of karma within a single lifetime. As such, fewer and fewer people would be entering the palace in the future, until it was completely sealed off from the world.

This was obviously a flaw in the design of the palace, similar to the one that I was already planning to rectify. However, I did not know how to fix a problem like this from the outside. It wasn’t possible for me to form another pact with the servants of the palace, was it?

As that thought occurred to me, there was a gentle knock on my door. Hearing it creak open, I turned around to catch the eyes of a young maid walking into my room. “Sir Lorient, Her Highness wishes to speak with you in private.”

I offered her a kind smile, tapping on the desk to deactivate the crystal terminal, before pocketing it in the storage ring that I had been provided. “Of course. Lead the way, Shannon.”

The maid blinked in surprise at the realization that I had memorized her name, quickly nodding her head. “Right this way.” She gestured, hurriedly leading me down the hall after I left my room.

I had been in the mortal world for no more than a week, now… and I was already starting to doubt my chances to fix the palace. If I corrected this issue, would I have to descend again in order to open the palace to those who had gained their own eternity? Would such a change even be possible? There was only one person that I could ask about that, but I needed privacy to contact her. 

Soon, the maid stopped outside of a large wooden door along the hall, and offered me another bow. This was the same meeting room where I spoke with Queen Saruko originally, so I was familiar with it. Opening the door, I stepped inside, seeing the dishevelled look of the usually dignified queen.

“Harder than you expected, isn’t it?” I asked her with a small smile, moving to sit opposite her at the table. The queen had only just returned to the palace. When she heard that another monster tide had been sighted at a border village, she rushed out at once. With her strength, it would have been a matter of hours at most to subjugate the monsters or fight them back.

The fact that she only returned several days later meant that she had taken my advice. I had made that speech up in order to stir her into action, and also as my first bid to accrue karma. She let out a groan as she heard my question. “I can only be in so many places at once, Sir Lorient. However… it was nice to see the people smiling at me when I helped with some of their matters.”

An almost wistful smile appeared on the queen’s face when she said that, and I nodded my head. “I would suggest learning as much as you can about the lives of your people. If you do so, you’ll be able to find where certain matters have gone wrong.”

“Have you noticed something amiss?” She asked, blinking and looking towards me in confusion.

“Not that. However, I would be willing to bet that not everything is as pleasant as it appears on the surface. Now that you are getting out of your ivory tower, you will learn more and more about what is happening in your land.”

“The larger a ruler’s land is, the more is hidden from their eyes. This can’t be attributed to any shortcomings of yourself, as it is true for every ruler. When you visit cities in the future, try to stick around for a few days after everyone thinks you have left, and simply observe their expressions. If there is still a large matter troubling them, you should be able to feel their tension. You might even see the source of their problems firsthand.”

When Yuki heard that, she shook her head. “To stay after they think I have left? Sir Lorient, you must know that I am always being watched. There is never a time for me to slip away unseen.”

“That only means that you need to leave an avatar behind, hidden out of view. Change its figure to make it look like a traveler, And let that avatar be your eyes and ears.” I knew that the queen had yet to reach her own perfection, and was thus still a body of flesh and blood. But even then, it was possible with the level of energy she possessed to create an avatar, a clone that they could control.

Yuki furrowed her brow, realizing that she would have to master this new skill, before nodding. “Anyways… I asked you to come here because I need some advice. There were a couple of business-related problems that I couldn’t solve in the city…”

Hearing her questions, I felt a small smile grow on my face. The fact that she asked me about such things meant that she fully intended to learn how to better herself. This was why I had chosen Yuki as the ruler that I would help, as she was the one that had the purest heart.

After discussing with her about various business matters, I went back to my room, sitting on the bed and crossing my legs. My mana swept over my quarters, looking for any items which could be used to eavesdrop on me. Thankfully, I could not find any, though this was by no means my area of expertise.

Once I was satisfied that I was as alone as I was going to get, my eyes closed. Letting out a deep breath, I spoke a prayer I was certain that I may have to repeat several times in the future. “Goddess of Justice, Lady of Death, I am a spirit descended from your heavenly palace. I pray for an audience, that I may speak with you about the future of your realm.”

I heard a faint sigh, and the sound of wood scraping against wood. Then, a young voice spoke up in front of me. “Well… I suppose this will be a surprise for both of us, then.”

When I opened my eyes, I saw a young girl, dwarven by her stature. She had deep brown hair down to her shoulders, hazel eyes, and looked no more than ten years old. However, her eyes shone with a clarity that didn’t match her age. Coupled with the fact that she appeared suddenly in my room…

“I am sorry for disturbing you, Lady Irena.” I bowed my head, only for her to wave lightly.

“It is fine. To be honest, I am quite interested. You are the first person to ever descend from the Realm of Eternity. And now you wish to speak about the future of my realm?” The young girl, no… the embodiment of Irena gave a small tilt of her head.

I gulped thickly, before nodding. “That’s right. According to my findings… I believe that there will be nobody entering your palace after a hundred years pass at the latest. I do not wish to see the land you created with your effort lost to the ravages of time.”

There was an almost amused smile on Irena’s face. “I think you mean that you do not wish for Julian to be so alone after that time passes?”

My eyes went wide, and I had to force myself to calm down. “Please… Lady Irena, do not tease me so… I know that the servants only share the body of those trapped in the black chains.” Even though I said that, my fists were clenched, my arms shaking slightly.

“What if I told you that wasn’t true?” My eyes snapped to hers when I heard that. “What if I said that that was truly Julian? That the function of the black chains is to punish sinners while cleansing their souls, offering them as servants for those like yourself, before you descended to this realm?”

“Is… is that true, Lady Irena?” My entire body was trembling when I heard that, thinking back to the time that I spent with Julian, thinking that she was simply a recreation of the palace. I had never treated her poorly, but… it was hard to treat her the same as I did when she was ‘really there’.

The goddess before me nodded her head. “That is one of the secrets of the heavenly palace. A balance of light and dark, each fueling the other. By serving those of blessed karma, sinners have their souls cleansed. As time passes, their punishment within the chains will lessen. Once their souls are clean of sin, they will simply remain as the servants of the palace.”

I didn’t know why the goddess was telling me this. If this was a ‘secret’, then why tell me, who had already left? Was it to simply fuel my drive to return, to do all that I could to accomplish my oath? If so… it was working.

“Then… my concern is even greater. If the heavenly palace loses its function, she will never be free from her torment…”

“And how would you propose that this be fixed?” The girl sitting before me asked, her large eyes blinking. “You are an intelligent man, Thane. You would not have called me here if you merely had concerns with no answer. And if you did… I would be very disappointed in you.”

Taking a deep breath, I nodded my head again. “I do have an idea… I merely do not know if this is something that you are able to do yourself, or if you will require the Keeper’s aid. My knowledge of gods is fairly limited at this point.”

After admitting that, I went on to explain my idea. “As the Goddess of Justice, I believe you to have a measure of control over karmic rewards and punishments. Is it possible to impose these rewards on souls that have yet to pass?”

Irena thought about that for a moment. “You mean to offer entry to the heavenly palace to the living, so long as their karma has reached a sufficient point?”

“Only to those who have achieved eternity, and lost their normal rights to be reborn in the underworld.” I said with a small smile. “I would suggest, if it is possible, the creation of two skills for your followers. The first of these skills would be to call a servant of the heavenly palace to assess someone’s karma, and welcome them into the palace if that person’s karma is high enough, and they possess an energy body capable of surviving in the Underworld.”

Irena seemed to consider that, before gesturing for me to continue. “And the second skill?”

“If the reward is available to the living, the punishment must be as well… The second skill would be to summon the black chains. If there is a target with enough dark karma to warrant their presence, the chains will naturally try to drag them away.”

“Hmm…” The girl mused it over, her legs swaying idly over the edge of the chair. “I would not be able to make such a skill absolute, you know? The black chains only hold power over the soul. If the bearer of such dark karma were to fight against them, they would be able to escape the skill if enough power is used.”

I couldn’t help blinking at that, before letting out a sigh. “If that is the case, so be it. The skill can be used to ensure that a weakened evil is not allowed an easy death.”

“That is quite dark, you know?” Irena asked with a smile. “To not let someone off, even in their death.”

“Where there is reward, there must always be punishment. If someone were to believe that they could escape the shackles of damnation simply by obtaining an energy body, there needs to be something to prove them wrong.”

Irena gave a small nod of understanding. “I’ll consider it. For now, you should be working hard to reunite with your Julian. To honor the spirit of your deal, I shall prepare these skills, but not release them to the public until your deal is finished. It would sully your word if I were to do so now, and you took the chance to extend the deadline.”

I let out a faint chuckle when I heard that. In truth, I was hoping that would be the case on some level. The ability to ensure that I could remain until my karma was high enough would have increased my odds significantly.

“If that is what you wish, Lady Irena.”