"Eh? Eh? Ehhhh?! Why are you here?!"
At the boundary between life and death—
Pandora had been in the middle of performing the reincarnation ritual for Erica, who had only just arrived, when Rowan suddenly appeared.
She couldn't help letting out a startled shriek.
His appearance had simply been far too sudden.
Rowan smiled faintly and turned toward Pandora.
"Why can't I be here?"
Pandora looked to be around ten or so years old.
She had delicate features and a slender figure. Compared to women with more developed figures like Lucretia or Erica, she was definitely on the petite side.
Her doll-like face and body were cute enough to make people want to praise her.
Long purple hair fell on either side of her face, and she wore a thin white one-piece dress.
Yet despite her appearance, she gave off a far more bewitching, womanly impression than most people.
That was probably because of her divine aura.
Otherwise, with a body as childlike as hers, it would be difficult to perceive her as a woman at all.
At the same time, after confirming that Rowan had entered her territory without permission, Pandora's first reaction was naturally to expel the intruder.
After all, the reincarnation ritual she managed took the power of gods and bestowed it upon humans, giving mortals the ability to oppose divinity.
From the perspective of the gods, what she was doing was basically betrayal.
It wasn't that no god had ever wanted to cause trouble for Pandora over this.
They simply couldn't find her.
That was also why Pandora remained here and rarely left.
The moment she dared to step outside, the gods would most certainly give her an extremely "warm welcome."
As for exactly how warm—
Pandora had absolutely no desire to find out.
Not now.
Not ever.
So now that a god had openly barged into her territory, it would be a lie to say she wasn't panicking.
In reality, Pandora was so nervous that she wished she could immediately kick Rowan out.
"Don't waste your effort."
Rowan spoke while casually neutralizing Pandora's attack.
"You're not my opponent."
"You can't defeat me, and you definitely can't throw me out."
Pandora was furious.
But more than that, she felt helpless.
Pandora might also be considered a goddess, but gods were divided into levels too.
At the very top were god-kings like Odin and Zeus.
Below them were gods such as Apollo and Michael.
As for Pandora—
although she was indeed a goddess, her standing was nowhere near Odin or Zeus.
She was far below even Apollo.
So there was simply no way she could drive Rowan out of her territory.
To put it another way—
imagine Rowan as a strong, muscular robber who suddenly broke into someone's house.
Meanwhile, the owner of the house was merely a seven- or eight-year-old child.
Could that child possibly drive the robber out?
Of course not.
Worse still, this child had offended the police for certain reasons and didn't even dare call them.
Because if the police showed up, the first person they would arrest wouldn't be the robber.
It would be the child.
So the moment Rowan entered Pandora's territory—
Pandora had already lost.
Rowan could theoretically do whatever he wanted here.
But in reality, he had no intention of doing anything to Pandora.
He had absolutely no interest in little girls who hadn't grown up yet.
Even if Pandora was technically an ageless, fully legal goddess in a childlike form.
Rowan simply had no interest in that flat, undeveloped figure.
He had come here for one purpose only.
The reincarnation ritual.
This ritual had actually been developed jointly by Pandora and her husband.
That's right.
In the world of Campione!, Pandora actually had a husband.
And her husband was none other than Prometheus's younger brother—
Epimetheus.
Therefore, in a sense, every Campione in this world was the child of Pandora and her husband, Epimetheus.
Pandora herself often referred to the Campiones as her children and proudly considered herself their mother.
Unfortunately, the boundary between life and death was an extremely unusual place.
Anyone who entered would completely forget everything that had happened here once they left.
Only when they returned again would those memories come back.
Of course, whether Pandora herself had deliberately arranged this was something only Pandora knew.
Rowan suspected that the Campiones forgetting everything about this place was probably a little trick Pandora had deliberately put in place to protect herself from being discovered.
And that trick had indeed protected her quite effectively.
From ancient times to the modern age, many Campiones had been born.
Yet no one had ever managed to trace Pandora's location through them.
Until today.
Through his own efforts, Rowan had broken through Pandora's little trick and found this place.
After confirming that there was nothing she could do to him, Pandora retreated to the side and couldn't help asking,
"What exactly do you want?"
"I came for the reincarnation ritual."
As Rowan spoke, he observed Erica's condition.
The moment Erica entered the boundary between life and death, the reincarnation ritual had actually already begun.
At this very moment, with the help of the ritual, Erica was gradually transforming into a Campione.
And Rowan saw the entire process clearly.
For some reason, the ritual gave him an extremely strong sense of déjà vu.
Then he realized it.
At its core, the underlying logic of this ritual was very similar to that of the Prometheus Grimoire.
The Prometheus Grimoire could steal divine power and store it inside the artifact, then release that stolen power when necessary.
As for the reincarnation ritual—
it essentially took the power of a slain god and stuffed it into a human body, transforming that person into a Campione.
The fundamental principle behind both was basically the same.
No wonder Rowan had felt such familiarity.
Thinking about it carefully, the reincarnation ritual had been created by Pandora and her husband Epimetheus.
And Epimetheus was none other than Prometheus's younger brother.
So it was perfectly normal for the two techniques to share similarities.
Perhaps Prometheus himself had even helped develop it.
That would certainly fit his personality.
After all, he was the legendary thief of fire who had stolen divine flame and brought it to humanity.
After observing the reincarnation ritual from beginning to end, Rowan had already grasped most of its principles.
During this entire process, Pandora kept a wary eye on him.
If Rowan made even the slightest suspicious move, she would attack without hesitation.
After all, in her eyes, Erica—the newly born Campione—was her child.
As a mother, protecting her child was only natural.
Even if Pandora knew she couldn't defeat Rowan—
she would still fight.
However, Rowan never made any suspicious movements.
Or rather, he didn't care about Pandora's vigilance at all.
Once he had fully understood the reincarnation ritual, Rowan simply left the boundary between life and death.
Pandora remained behind with a blank expression.
Uh…
So he really had come only for the reincarnation ritual?
Would a god actually be interested in something like this?
Pandora was speechless.
…
Meanwhile, after leaving the boundary between life and death, Rowan returned to the underground temple from earlier.
Erica's body was still lying there.
After all, only her soul had entered the boundary between life and death.
Her physical body had remained behind.
Not long after Rowan returned, Erica awakened from her sleep.
At this moment—
Erica had become a genuine Campione.
However, she had completely forgotten everything that had happened at the boundary between life and death.
She didn't even remember meeting Pandora.
But that didn't matter.
Whether she remembered any of it was irrelevant.
What Rowan really wanted to know was—
what kind of Authority had Erica obtained?
After witnessing the reincarnation ritual, Rowan understood very clearly that although it could transform Erica into a Campione, which Authority she obtained was largely random.
Some people could obtain nearly all of a god's Authorities at once.
Others would receive only one.
Clearly—
the joys and sorrows of humanity were not equally distributed.
"I obtained the Authority of Lightning."
Hearing Rowan's question, Erica raised her right hand.
Crackling sparks of electricity danced across her fingertips.
Rowan asked curiously,
"Only one Authority?"
Erica nodded.
"Only one."
Rowan clicked his tongue.
"I didn't expect Mekal to be so stingy."
"This is already more than enough."
Erica felt that becoming a Campione at all was an extraordinary stroke of fortune.
The number of Authorities she gained didn't matter that much.
Compared to divine Authorities—
what she cared about even more was Rowan's magic.
Authorities were certainly powerful.
But Rowan's magic was hardly ordinary either.
Some of his spells possessed terrifying effects.
For example—
stopping time.
That one spell alone was enough to make Erica nearly invincible.
So she had already decided.
She absolutely wanted Time Magic.
As for how she would obtain it from Rowan—
Erica already had a rough plan.
Now that she was a Campione, all she needed to do was return home, publicly reveal her new identity, and make a few arrangements.
She would immediately gain enormous numbers of followers.
Countless magical associations would gather beneath her banner and swear allegiance to her.
At that point, Erica could use her status as a Campione to order those associations to copy all the magical knowledge they had accumulated and hand it over to her.
Then she would give that knowledge to Rowan and exchange it for magic from other worlds.
Perfect.
She could profit from both sides.
Several benefits with a single move.
As expected of me. I really am brilliant for coming up with such an excellent plan.
Erica proudly puffed out her chest.
Eager to carry out her plan as soon as possible, Erica said goodbye to Rowan immediately after leaving the underground temple.
"Lord Rowan, I intend to leave Sardinia and return to the Copper Black Cross."
"I'll have all of our grimoires and magical texts copied, then present them to you as a thank-you gift for what happened this time."
"What do you think?"
"Sure."
"I don't have any problem with that."
"Handle it however you like."
Hearing that Erica planned to return specifically to prepare magical knowledge for him, Rowan readily nodded in agreement.