The Statues of the Twelve Olympians

Night was noncommittal.

He just followed Haruman and found an inn in the city to stay.

After freshening up, Haruman left excitedly to return home.

While awaiting news from the old, Night decided to explore the city of Rome.

The first place he visited was the city's most iconic structure—the statues of the Twelve Olympians in the Roman town square.

Because of the inheritable relationship between Rome and Greece, he was quite interested in the Twelve Olympians of Rome, especially the god of light, Apollo, whose name remained unchanged.

Well..even though he was visiting, if he really encounter a real god, he would just turn around and escape.

After all, this wasn't a stimulation world where he had extra chances or some resurrection props...

Here, in reality he had just one chance...

So, it's best to avoid these beings as much as possible.

Involvement with gods rarely ended well.

But since these were ordinary statues, there was no harm in admiring them.

When Night arrived at the Roman square, he quickly saw the twelve giant statues.

There were only a few people in the square, and many spectator seats around it were empty.

But when Rome held significant speeches or elections, many citizens would come to the statues to listen to the candidates for consul make their promises to the gods.

Of course, in this era, gods rarely manifested.

So Oaths to gods were mostly symbolic; taking them too seriously would be foolish.

Night carefully observed the faces of the statues of the Twelve Olympians.

After all, he had never seen a God's true face before ...

Even during the Trojan War, when he received Apollo's blessing, he did not see his true face, so, he didn't know if these Roman Gods were really the same as the Greek Gods.

Of course, this world wasn't the Mythical World of Greece where Gods and Demigods could be scene everywhere, so these Gods might just be concepts.

However, while these statues might not represent the gods accurately, there was no harm in using them as references.

Starting with Jupiter, corresponding to Zeus, then moving to Juno, corresponding to Hera, and then to Apollo, now regarded as the sun god in Rome.

However—

While observing the first two statues, nothing happened.

But when Night started observing Apollo's statue, a startling event occurred—!

A faint light began to glow within his body.

A familiar sensation surged through him, and his body suddenly became rigid.

'Apollo's blessing!!' He was utterly shocked.

The blessing's light faintly resonated with Apollo's statue, and Night's senses were suddenly amplified, allowing him to faintly detect a trace of familiar divine light power from the statue.

—!!!

His eyes widened in horror.

Could it be that he had brought Apollo's blessing out of the simulated universe as well?!

After returning to reality, he had checked and had not felt the distinct divine power of Apollo's blessing as he had in the last moments of the simulated universe.

This led him to believe that the blessing had remained in the simulated universe and couldn't be brought into the real world like other conceptual entities.

But now it seemed that the blessing hadn't disappeared but had instead hidden deeper within his body.

A blessing obtained in the conceptual universe could also be effective in reality…!

Well, considering it's an intangible blessing, it seemed reasonable that it could come along.

But the fact that this blessing was resonating with Apollo's statue in the Roman square made Night's hair stand on end.

This world—also has gods?!!!

He had assumed they were just ordinary statues, but the faint divine power in Apollo's statue seemed to confirm that this wasn't just a simple historical Roman world.

It was a world that also included the Twelve Olympians.

This revelation suddenly made the situation in Rome far more complex.

At this moment, Night felt an overwhelming urge to turn around and leave.

However, he quickly forced himself to calm down but couldn't help pondering a troubling question.

If the Twelve Olympians in this world could sense their statues, then could Apollo have already sensed his presence?

In the Greek world, the gods could cast their gaze through the prayers of priestesses and the people.

This time, with his internal blessing resonating with the god's power, wouldn't it be even more likely to draw divine attention!?

And if Apollo discovered a blessing similar to his own but not granted by him, what would he think?

Night's mood grew heavier.

Whether out of curiosity, goodwill, or malice, the outcome would lead to the unknown.

For him, who could steadily grow stronger through the simulated universe, the unknown was the most terrifying and unnecessary thing.

Night didn't flee, understanding that having Apollo's blessing was like being a beacon in the dark, providing the god with a direct GPS location, so running away was futile.

With a sense of clarity, he realized that the now fully activated and resurrected 'Apollo's blessing' could not be turned off.

Running away now would only fail to escape the god's gaze.

If his actions were misunderstood, leading to bad consequences, it would be entirely his own fault!

Apollo… should not be a malicious god.

Judging by the myths, as long as he didn't provoke Apollo's sister—the moon goddess Artemis, the sun god was relatively friendly to ordinary people among the gods.

With the added factor of Apollo's genuine blessing, there should be no deception involved.

As long as it wasn't mistaken for stolen blessing, given Apollo's character, even if he discovered this kindred power, his attitude might actually be more gentle and kind.

However—

Just as he awaited Apollo's attention to descend upon him, similar to the night when he recieved Apollo's gaze in Thebes,

But time passed slowly, but by bit until the faint divine power within the statue dimmed, unable to continue resonating with the blessing within his body.

— Everything returned to calm, as if nothing had happened at all.

If not for the clear and distinct perception of Apollo's blessing within him, Night would have truly believed that everything just now was an illusion.

For a moment, he was stunned...

A faint suspicion arose in his heart.

What's going on— Did Apollo leave? Or... did he never actually come?!

With a mind growing ever more composed, Night began to analyze what was happening.

In this world, Rome has gods—!

He had already confirmed this just moments ago.

And since the statue of the sun god Apollo contained divine power, it was probable that the statues of the other major gods also did, but Night did not possess blessings from those gods, so he couldn't perceive their powers.

Since the Twelve Olympians might exist in this world, perhaps the legends of the Julius divine family were not mere myths.

But the gods of this world seemed to have disappeared, rarely appearing before mortals anymore.

At least, according to the normal development of Roman history, there were hardly any records of divine miracles.

Could it be that something happened to the gods of this world?!

..