Before heavens and sovereign dragons

Ace was too preoccupied by the book to care about what the girl had just said. Maybe he didn't even hear.

"Huh? Why?" I was confused too. Was it simply because of food?

"Because of this food item. I've been in this room for hundreds of years so I haven't been able to eat a lot of good food. Considering you also crossed the seven apprentices, I think you're worthy enough." She responded with same nonchalant manner.

"But I already have a team with five members. I don't want any more. It would be difficult to manage." She is too strong so she could one shot any enemy. I don't want that as it would impact experience gained by the team. We get to try out different strategies and different reactions but with her being on the battlefield, it would become redundant. Gaining battle experience and gaining experience points are totally different things and I don't want it to be impacted in a negative manner.

"I see. Even then I would appreciate meals so is there any way I can get you to stay here then?"

I didn't know how to answer. She was insanely strong to a point where even Ace was minding his own business. If I piss her off, she might easy kill us.

"Well... become my maid! If you work hard enough, I'll make you one meal everyday." I blurted out smugly. I knew someone calling themselves 'the primordial one' would never agree to it.

"A maid? I had many during the glory days so I do know how one works. Sure, if that's your conditions."

"I... I see! As a maid, then tell me what is in that book!" I pointed to the book. I was too scared. I didn't know how to act. I might wet my pants if it keeps going.

"As you see, this city is upside down to the world above. There are many cities like this and the sky above those cities... kingdoms is fake. You could say it's the world above that is upside down in reality." She walked over to the trolley and served herself a cup of tea. "Thousands of years ago, all the species and races lived in harmony but then an egg hatched bringing forth 'the origin'. This being then decided to reproduce and destroy every other race. Thus started a war that lasted roughly 10,000 years. The origin won the war and created the new world, metaphorically. The races who survived hid in their own domains. Humans started to hunt every last one of them to drive them to extinction. The origin grew weak and so, it divided itself into five parts. Those five parts were Jeyma, Viniga, Kilmari and Deoni which took different aspects of the origin and the primordial one who became the shell. Roughly 3,500 years after the origin tribulations, another war broke out when these races joined forces and created weapons far beyond human comprehension. The four parts got scared and ordered yet another war. These other races managed to have their kids run away and hide. The war became so disastrous that gods themselves descended from the heavens to get rid of this world and create yet another one that you know today."

"Wait wait wait! Too much information. Let me recap... everyone lived in harmony, this origin came and destroyed everything out of survival instinct. It grew weak and divided in five parts. Four of those got scared of races other than humans and then destroyed the world again?"

"Yes. They then created a perfect world for humans. But humans got greedy and arrogant. Gods have basically hit themselves in foot with an axe. They asked you to correct their wrongs."

"But if this information went out, it would cause another war!" I looked at Ace and the book. "We have to burn these records."

"This is some heavy stuff. The Gods these people worshipped oh so dearly are the cause of every disaster. It is not humans' fault but theirs. I've already forsaken them so this information doesn't shock me as much but people living above would definitely do something crazy if this information gets leaked." Ace said as he got up.

"But wouldn't this book help you further your goals?" I asked Ace and he smiled.

"Yes." He said before disappearing in front of my eyes. I quickly scanned the room and he was gone.

"You! Can you scan for his presence?" I asked the primordial one and she shook her head no.

"He must've used teleportation magic. It might be a preplanned teleportation where the person teleports to a very specific location based on their magic. It is not possible to track." She responded.

"I don't know who to trust now. Sunri is being fed incorrect information while Ace technically never asked me to trust him in the first place. If the information is leaked, it would cause chaos." I sunk into a chair and tried coming up with something but considering how strong he is, I can't exactly go to kingdom of Commieku and start a war. I can't ask primordial one to do anything till we have his location tracked down. But how wide his information network is, I doubt I could ever track him down.

"What would happen if he leaks the information?" I asked the primordial one.

"The information would force them to end the world all over again and restart so they could continue being Gods." She responded.

I figured as much. I don't have the heart to tell Barbara and Rosaline the truth of Jeyma. It would shatter their worldview since they worshipped him so much and based their entire life around that individual.

"By the way, what's your name apart from primordial one?"

"Some people also call me 'the second coming' since I came out of the origin. But I don't have a human-like name."

"I see. Well... you would need a normal name once you go out in public."

"Then how about the apostle name me since you're chosen by those four."

"Layla should work, right?" I said thinking not so hard about it. Layla is weirdly one of my most favorite names.

"Layla it is then." She responded with still absolutely no emotion on her face.

I wondered if she is not worried about the book being in wrong hands but considering her stats, I doubt anything would pose a threat to her.

"Going back would be difficult. Are there any intelligent life forms?" I asked but before she answered, she teleported us out of the underground city.

"Deep into the underground world, there are a couple life forms that can compare to humans in terms of intelligence but they prefer staying underground." She responded.

This world is way more different than what I had originally thought and now my view had totally shifted knowing the sky above is fake and we are technically upside down.

"I should change my garments." Layla said as her body started glowing and once it had gone back to normal, her clothes had changed to your usual maid outfit. It reminded me of Victorian era maid than those more modern maid outfits you see in those maid cafes. She looked even more serious in this outfit.

"So, what is our starting point?" She asked.

"First, we will go to Grumania and then discuss everything with my team and my classmates and come up with a plan." I said and sighed. This is too much for now. I want to rest. She teleported me to my dorm. I wonder how she did that but I'm too tired to question. I fell onto my bed and immediately fell asleep.

...

I was woken up sudden weight put on my body. It was Leisha sitting on my torso while Rosaline was next to me sitting on the bed,

"You should've at least said something before leaving for so many days... no... so many weeks!" Leisha whined.

"Also don't tell me you got yet another girlfriend when you already have three." Barbara said with a disgust in her voice.

"No! She is just a maid. Nothing more nothing less. Actually right! Before I tell you the details, I need to ask a few of my classmates to join including Kristine."

"Oh right... she did come asking about you. I wonder how she broke out so easily." Rosaline informed me.

"Layla, track down Kristine and meanwhile, I will gather important classmates." I got out of my bed and rushed outside. It's summer vacation so they should be in the dorm... hopefully.

I couldn't find James and his clique but Layla did bring back at least Kristine.

"Lord Kenji, she is under influence of Jeyma." Layla informed me.

"How..?"

"Jeyma has used a spell that exponentially increased her emotions to the point of lunacy. I can break it though. Should I?"

"Of course! Please!" I begged.

Layla performed a spell and Kristine started glowing. Magic circles appeared around her which broke maybe implying that Jeyma's spell has broken. After the spell was over, Kristine looked around and started apologizing profusely.

"H-Hey! It's okay!" I tried stopping her.

"I... I'm sorry I couldn't tell right from wrong." She was almost at the verge of crying.

"You were under a spell so it's okay. I have a hunch that it is the spear of valedictory. Can you take out the weapon and let Layla check?"

She obliged and handed the weapon to Layla who confirmed my hunch and removed the curse from it and gave it back to Kristine.

"I need to apologize to the girl I attack and those members of head hunters too and also James and Jennie and Varun... Ahh... so many people. It will take some time. Also... I was insane but you can't date Rosaline and Leisha! But for now that has to wait. I'll go apologize to everyone."

"Sure." I sighed feeling relived. I asked Sunri to accompany her and help her explain the situation to everyone properly and the two left the dorm.

...

Now that Kristine had apologized to all who were available, we were in my dorm.

Sunri, Kristine, Layla, Leisha, Barbara, Rosaline and I.

I explained the details of the book to them and all of them as expected, couldn't accept it.

"We... it..." Barbara couldn't even form a sentence. She tightly held her head wondering what to even think.

"It is indeed a pity that the one we worshipped all our lives turned out to be such a despicable man. Rosaline and Barbara's entire lives revolved around worshipping Jeyma so finding out the truth must've taken a toll on them." Leisha sighed. She never worshipped Jeyma as she was from a different nation.

Rosaline had gone silent while Barbara kept murmuring something to herself.

"Also... this information might become public knowledge soon."

Sunri and Leisha gasped.

"But! But that would easily cause wars." Sunri exclaimed.

I understood this all too well.

Once the information about Gods prejudice against non-humans become public, it would cause war as it would give humans a reason to murder the remaining non-humans and I would become a target as the individual favored by Gods the most.

If Ace makes the information public, I would become the enemy of all non-humans and those humans who side with non-humans.