"It's not late, is it?"

"What? Wasn't I reincarnated...?"

The hero was very puzzled to see his deceased wife standing in front of him, and I chuckled softly at the sight of the hero.

Well, it's natural, isn't it? The person he thought had already died and been reincarnated is now standing in front of him. If he didn't get puzzled, he wouldn't be human.

I tapped hero on the shoulder and said.

"To be precise, your wife has already been reincarnated."

"What? But the one in front of me is..."

"It's a doppelganger that has pieced together the remnants of her soul that remained in the Afterlife, using the memory of her that you have. Of course, since it doesn't have a soul and was recreated based on your memories, it can't function properly without you."

During the process of creating paradise and connecting it to the Afterlife, I happened to discover the fragments of her soul that she had left behind after reincarnation.

Normally, such remnants would disappear in a few days, but the fact that a portion of her soul, which had reincarnated years ago, remained is truly a miracle.

"Well, even for me, it wasn't an easy task to reassemble the fragmented soul. It took about half of the 49 days since your death to put her soul back together."

Creating the paradise itself wasn't as difficult as I had imagined. Since it's an immaterial space, I didn't need to create everything from scratch, and I only had a bit of trouble applying the changes that respond to the souls.

If I had just made it a space to store souls, I could have finished it in about 3 days. Hmm.

After completing the basic structure, the remaining time was spent on functions like the souls transforming into the desired form, separating the souls, and allowing only the souls to reincarnate.

It's much easier to create a world from scratch than to modify an existing one. It's truly strange.

Moreover, the world created in this way is much easier to tweak and adjust than the pre-existing worlds.

It's as if I should have created it this way from the beginning.

"Impressive... I don't fully understand, but..."

The hero began to examine his wife from various angles. Outwardly, she doesn't seem much different from when she was alive!

However, due to the lack of a soul, there are some issues, such as occasional moments of blankness and a slight lack of emotion.

But I can't do anything about that, as it's a problem caused by the absence of a soul.

"Honestly, I'm not sure about the lack of a soul, but anyway, dear. It's nice to see your youthful appearance."

The hero seemed to have noticed that his physical body had been restored to its prime.

Even the sword he's carrying on his back is the same.

Of course, it's not the real one! The real hero's sword is in my possession!

"In this place, your body is restored to its prime. The sword on your back may not be the real one, but it will have the same performance as the original."

The hero held the sword in his hand.

The sight of the hero in his youthful adventuring days, when he fearlessly defeated monsters alongside me, is a pleasant one to see again.

"So, what am I supposed to do here?"

"I didn't really have any specific expectations for you to do something here."

"Huh?"

The hero's slightly surprised expression made me chuckle softly.

"You just need to live here as you please. Spend your time doing what you want, and occasionally share your knowledge of this place with the newcomers."

Of course, I'm not forcing you to do anything.

I simply hope that those who deserve to be happy can find happiness here.

"As a senior..."

"You don't need to feel burdened by that. Just explaining things is enough."

After all, there's not much to explain in the first place.

At my words, the hero nodded.

"I understand. I've never tried explaining things before, but I'll give it a try."

"Alright then, just live comfortably here. I have some business to attend to for a moment."

"Huh? Business?"

"Yes, just a quick errand."

Leaving the hero behind, I exited the paradise.

And the gods of the Afterlife received three skulls.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"No, I didn't ask you to do so much! I just told you to quickly finish the judgment of that child's soul and send him on his way, but you went and charged him with a crime? And an absurd one at that?!"

"No, that's not it..."

"The crime of a mere mortal monopolizing the goddess? Monopolizing the goddess?! That child?! It was originally my request, but he was the one who made the decision! You should have told me first!!! You stupid thing! And what's more infuriating is that you tried to pin a non-existent crime, an innocent crime, on that child!"

My punches shattered the crown Yama was wearing, leaving a large hole in the top of his head.

Well, even if I beat him up like this, he won't die!

"Ugh!!"

"At least, you survived thanks to the others. If you had truly pinned that crime on him, my fury would have shattered the Afterlife. If the Afterlife created to properly judge the dead cannot function, then you have no reason to exist!"

"I-I'm sorry..."

Crawling on the ground, Yama, and the two standing silently on either side of him.

Seeing Yama being smashed to pieces, the other two trembled slightly.

They must be thinking that if they had agreed, they would have been smashed along with Yama.

"But... the fact that the time of the Goddess was wasted because of that one human is─"

"Shut your mouth!"

With a powerful uppercut, Yama's body was sent flying into the air, tracing a beautiful parabola as it fell.

"From now on, don't ever pull a stunt like this again. Understand?"

"Y-Yes, I understand..."

Leaving the thoroughly beaten Yama behind, I looked at Thanatos and Keres and said,

"You two as well. Be careful of making wrong judgments."

"Yes, we will remember that."

"Yes! I told him so many times that it wouldn't work. You brought this upon yourself, Yama."

Well, I can understand Yama's thoughts, but the crime he committed was too outrageous.

But I've beaten him enough... From now on, they won't pin any innocent crimes or do anything like that again.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Paradise.

Heaven. Utopia. Elysium. It goes by many names.

A world filled with nothing but satisfaction, free from suffering.

A world where one can escape the hardships and anguish of the mortal realm and immerse themselves in eternal happiness.

It is said that only the select few who have passed the rigorous judgment of the afterlife can enter this blissful world.

The proper way to reach this world is to pass the judgment of the afterlife, but that is no easy feat.

Therefore, some mages, particularly necromancers who summon the souls of the dead as assistants, have devised an unconventional method.

They summon the souls of heroes who have clearly entered paradise, return them to the mortal realm, and then trace the path they take back to paradise, creating a gateway to that realm.

However, this is no easy task.

The souls of heroes are inherently noble beings, beyond the control of ordinary mortals. To use them to create a path to paradise requires an immense amount of magic.

This led to the gathering of many powerful mages.

The assembled mages combined their power to create a ritual.

They utilized the vast magic flowing through the ley lines to supply the ritual with the necessary energy.

They used magic to create false physical bodies to temporarily contain the heroes' souls.

And to ensure the heroes would comply with their control, they forged powerful contracts.

Finally, they also created a massive soul vessel to temporarily bind the souls of the heroes who would attempt to return to paradise after losing their false bodies.

It is said that in this way, seven heroes who had entered paradise were summoned and given physical forms.

However, there was a problem.

To open the gateway to paradise, the souls of six out of the seven commanded heroes were needed.

Moreover, it became known that the gateway to paradise that would open could only allow one person to pass through.

Thus, a war broke out - the mages fought to claim the gateway to paradise for themselves, while the heroes who had obtained physical forms sought to enjoy life once more.

"That's the story. What do you think?"

"Whoa..."

The sleepy-eyed girl glanced at the book her friend was holding, a slightly awakened expression on her face.

"Any mage's heart would race at the idea of summoned heroes from the past becoming their fighting partners! This story is so exciting!"

"Well, yes, that may be true. Ahem... But I wonder if it will be okay."

The sleepy-eyed girl had mixed feelings about it all.

"Oh, by the way, this is based on a true story. Apparently it's based on a serial killer case involving mages that happened in the old days."

"Based on a true story, huh..."

---

T/N: Since it seems like there are some individuals who may not be able to afford unlocking all chapters due to financial constraints,

I have decided to make all chapters in this novel available for only 0.5 COOKIES per CHAPTER for a limited time of 2 hours since this chapter released for free. Come and enjoy this masterpiece! FUHAHAHAHA!!!

THAT'S LIKE 50% DISCOUNT AND 75% FOR SOME CHAPTERS, I THINK

IF NEXT CHAPTER ISN'T 0.5 Cookies, MAYBE YOU'RE LATE! SRY