Chapter 4: Because I have to?
The palace held its breath.
A stunned silence stretched through the vast marble chamber, so thick it seemed to muffle even time itself. Rows of magical beings—elves, beastkin, giants, dragonkin, and ogres alike—stood frozen in place, their mouths agape as if the words "Divine" and "Mythic" had knocked the air from their lungs.
No one had expected this.
Especially not from a human.
On her elevated throne, the Goddess of Rebirth lounged with practiced ease, her expression a picture of playful detachment. She twirled a lock of silver hair around her finger, a secret smile tugging at her lips, as if this turn of events was simply another delightful surprise in a play she'd already seen.
But across the hall, Darfin looked like his entire understanding of the world had shattered.
His usually pristine posture had unraveled. Eyes wide with disbelief, he muttered incoherently under his breath, his gaze fixed on Lucy like he'd just watched a squirrel bench-press a mountain.
Yet for all the astonishment painted across divine and magical faces alike, none were more shocked than the Human at the center of it all.
'Divine and Mythic?' Lucy blinked rapidly, trying to anchor himself in reality. 'Does that mean I'm... some sort of god?'
The very thought startled him more than the result itself.
But after a few stunned heartbeats, his mind wandered, unprompted, toward a far more pressing question: