Chapter 59: Cloud Whale (2)
The Cloud Whale continued to float around the sky without a brain.
Well, honestly, does it matter if it has a brain or not? As long as it does its thing with the souls.
I just wish it could talk sometimes… but oh well, can’t have everything.
It’s not like the Cloud Whale is just going to get a brain out of nowhere, right?
Hold on… Actually, maybe that could happen?
Since the Cloud Whale gained a solid form through the belief of humans, I could probably work with that.
If I play my cards right, maybe I can shape it into the kind of god I want!
For instance… what if the Cloud Whale had some intelligence, or could boss around little birds to share souls?
And if I set its flight path a bit… letting it fly north at certain times would make it easy to pass on the souls I finished processing from the underworld.
Sure, I felt a tiny bit guilty about restructuring the Cloud Whale for my own benefit… but hey, what can I do? It’s not like we can chat.
If it were a sentient being, I might try to reason with it, but good luck explaining anything to an animal that doesn’t even speak our language!
And so, I halted the flood of rivers filling the first layer of the underworld and headed toward the land of humans.
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Humans kept multiplying.
Sure, a lot of them got injured and sick, but hey, the best part? Their numbers were strong!
These humans were building all sorts of city-states, big and small.
If I had to compare… it’s kind of like ancient Greek city-states.
Trading with each other, sometimes getting into little scuffles, and gradually growing in size.
The biggest city-state among them was Arcad, ruled by the descendants of a human I once gifted a crown to.
Yeah, since I handed over something like that, I should do at least a little something, right?
So, I polymorphed into a human, hid my horns, and even changed my hair color to blend in with the crowd.
I mean, my cute appearance is still intact, after all.
Honestly, I might be bragging a bit, but my look after polymorphing feels a tad unfair.
It’s an appearance that could win you over just by looking at it. If I didn’t look like a youthful sprout, a few cities would’ve probably crumbled just at the sight!
Anyway, I made my way to the entrance of Arcad.
A bunch of people were waiting to be screened at the entrance. A few armed guards were scrutinizing each one.
Most were travelers or merchants, and oh! I spotted dragons polymorphed into humans mixing in over there!
“What brings you here?”
“We are the givers of life. We travel the world to spread the will of the great one.”
The guard seemed to catch on without any fuss and nodded in understanding.
“Oh, you’re worshippers of a god? Welcome! Is this your first time in Arcad?”
“Yeah, it is.”
“Ah! Then I bet you don’t know much about accommodations. Our king built a place for folks like you, so you can just head there. Let me get someone to assist you. Penit! Come over here!”
With that, one of the guards moved up next to him.
“Take these folks to the temple and come back.”
“Got it.”
So, the dragons, led by the guards, zipped into the city much faster than the surrounding merchants.
Hmm. Looks like it’s not their first visit to this city.
Well, as they’re gallivanting around, helping out with healing and swapping stories from other cities… I guess there’s no reason not to be welcomed.
Plus, since their true forms are dragons, their power speaks for itself. If any bandits attack, it’s their lives that’d be at stake.
Yeah! Sending dragons out for a world tour seems like a smart move!
As each person in line kept either getting interrogated by guards or denied entry, my turn slowly but surely approached.
When a guard finally reached me, he raised an eyebrow.
“A child…?”
He looked really confused to see me.
“Why is a kid alone? Where are your parents?”
The poor guard was flustered. Seeing him like that, I chimed in with a bit of sass.
“I’m an adult.”
“An adult? Kid, lying isn’t nice.”
“I’m telling the truth! I don’t have any ID or anything to prove it.”
After all, we can’t rely on a system for resident ID when we’re in the ancient times!
That stuff would only show up way in the future. No way could they even do that for an ancient city-state!
“Very suspicious, but I guess I have no choice but to believe you. But if you mess around even a little bit, you won’t see daylight again, so keep that in mind.”
“Don’t worry, I’m just here to learn about the god.”
Even without valid ID, the guard let me through. I guess that cute face of mine worked after all!
And just like that, I entered Arcad, the largest city of humans.
After passing through wooden walls and gates, what caught my eyes were wide, unpaved streets filled with mud houses, snugly squeezed on either side.
These houses were made from wooden pillars and temporary walls coated with mud to finish off the walls and roofs.
Seeing it, I could feel the level of advancement. Humans who were once living in huts have built places like these… remarkable!
Plus, in the central square, a primitive market was bustling with barter trading. Oh look, they’re trading goods actively!
It appeared that this human city was developing quite nicely! But not everything was sunshine and rainbows.
“Hey! Here are some prisoners caught in the last war! They’re strong and can do any work easily!”
“Hey you! Need a pretty female slave?”
Ah, yes… human selling. Because why wouldn’t that exist?
Slavery, huh… Hmm…
Not a fan of that idea, but zapping them with lightning would definitely not be the right way to handle it… would it?
Slavery was a problem that took ages to get rid of on Earth, and it makes sense that it’s still around when the concept of human rights doesn’t even exist yet.
Though, not thrilled about it.
I shoved my dissatisfaction to the back of my mind and started to gather information about the Cloud Whale while wandering through the city.
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
[A giant whale floating in the sky. The Cloud Whale.
Under its massive body, new life begins to sprout.
Thus, couples wishing for new children pray for the Cloud Whale to grant them new life.]
This was all that existed of the meager faith surrounding the Cloud Whale.
Hmmm… I guess all naturally developed faith is like this.
It’s not very detailed, so there’s plenty of room for me to swoop in.
So I began to spread rumors about the Cloud Whale bit by bit.
First, let’s talk about the Cloud Whale’s subordinates.
[The white birds soaring through the sky are the aides of the Cloud Whale, delivering new life across the continent on its behalf.]
While the Cloud Whale is pretty massive and fast, it can’t handle the whole continent alone when it comes to handing out souls.
So it’s time to add some subordinates!
Just like storks deliver babies, let’s say these white birds will take care of distributing souls where the Cloud Whale doesn’t reach.
Next up, let’s sprinkle some intelligence onto the Cloud Whale.
[The Cloud Whale has the intelligence of a child and finds great joy in distributing life.]
For now, let’s give it childlike intelligence. Anything too high and it might go wild! Let’s keep it a bit above animal level for safety’s sake.
[The Cloud Whale travels the world from dawn to dusk, and at night, it heads north and sleeps under the night sky.]
This is to draw it closer to the underworld. Though the underworld isn’t finished yet, when it is, I’ve got to return the processed souls to the Cloud Whale.
It’d be a headache if its flight path was all haphazard.
[The Cloud Whale is the god of birth. A deity that creates new life. It is a cherished being of the god of life.]
To put a solid foundation on the faith in the Cloud Whale, it’s wiser to clearly define its role instead of just attaching random beliefs.
Hmm. And the God of Life… I kind of attached a loose leash there.
The God of Life in this case? Yeah, it’s basically me.
The dragons who act as givers of life. They revere me like a god!
If I let the immense value of life fall into the hands of a strange being, that would be a problem.
So let’s at least hang on to the faith regarding the parts I need to manage.
Let’s see… so the faith regarding the Cloud Whale goes like this…
[A giant whale floating in the sky. The Cloud Whale.
The Cloud Whale, with the intelligence of a child, is a treasured entity of the god of life and a deity of birth that finds immense fulfillment in creating new life.
The Cloud Whale wakes up in the morning, travels the world until dusk, and when night falls, heads towards the northern sky to fall asleep under the stars.
Always circling around its gigantic body are its aides, the white birds—messengers delivering new life to the world on behalf of the Cloud Whale. It’s best not to mess with them.
All you hopeful parents out there, pray for the Cloud Whale to bless you with new life. Then, the Cloud Whale will deliver that blessing to you.]
Is that it? Sweet! Time to spread the word!
And thus, the newly shaped faith in the Cloud Whale began to spread little by little around the city—slowly, but surely.
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