Chapter: 179
Putting the emotional mother-daughter reunion on hold, it was more important to hear the story first.
“How on earth can mere mortals create a god? I just can’t understand that!!”
Maybelle still looked like she couldn’t believe that the beastmen were trying to create a god. Well, it makes sense for her to think that way.
“If you’re just talking about creating a special being instead of a god, then I can somewhat understand it, even if it’s a bit hard to believe! But to create a god? That’s blasphemy!!”
Creating a god.
Spreading biased information to the masses, guiding their thoughts, inciting them, and steering collective consciousness in a specific direction to create a new belief system.
In doing so, either creating a brand new god that didn’t exist before or changing an existing god by layering different information on top.
Was that really what the rat beastmen were trying to do?
No, more importantly, where did they even learn such a method? Other than me and Baal, no one else seems to know anything about it.
Keeping these questions buried in my heart, I started to focus on what Ella was saying.
“It’s completely understandable that you can’t easily believe it. But it’s actually happening.”
Ella continued her story while petting Maybelle’s head.
“After the first beast, who was the god of the beastmen, became the guardian deity of the pantheon under the name Sirius, a huge rift appeared in beastman society.”
Hmm?
“The spiritual pillar of the beastmen—their god—disappeared, which had united the varied beastmen of different species. As a result, conflicts started to arise among beastmen, even though they shared the same race.”
“There’s one mistake in what you said.”
“Huh?”
I interrupted Ella, and she tilted her head in confusion.
“Mistake? What mistake…”
“You said that after the original beast became the guardian deity named Sirius, the beastmen split apart, but it’s actually the opposite.”
I recalled the run-down temple where Sirius, the original beast, had lived.
The revival of Arcadia was due to Sirius, the original beast. Arcadia’s state religion could be considered the original beast, but as time passed, the number of non-beastmen in Arcadia increased, and so did the number of those believing in gods other than the original beast.
That’s how the diversification of faith happened in Arcadia.
As faith became more diverse, those beastmen who originally followed the original beast began to believe in gods that were more advantageous to them, causing their faith to split into various directions.
Through this process, it wasn’t that the original beast, now known as Sirius, turned his back on the beastmen, but rather, the beastmen turned their backs on the original beast, who then obtained the name Sirius.
Well, it’s just a reversal of the timeline, but still.
“Is that so? But the scholars’ research…”
“Isn’t it possible that they couldn’t admit the beastmen’s initial abandonment of their tribal god, leading them to twist the records?”
Otherwise, it wouldn’t make sense at all.
The image of Sirius, lonely in that dreary temple, is still fresh in my mind.
Humans have a knack for leaving records that are beneficial to them.
“But…”
“Let’s just move on from the truth of it all. What’s important right now isn’t the facts themselves.”
At my words, Ella nodded lightly and cleared her throat.
“After the beastmen split by tribe, us rat beastmen found ourselves in deep trouble. Even before, we were kind of shunned among the various beastmen, and after losing the original beast’s protection, the future of our rat beastmen tribe became pretty bleak.”
I see. Indeed, beastmen are incredibly diverse. Even among the same race, if the species differ, they’d treat each other like they were from different tribes.
“We rat beastmen aren’t physically impressive like other beastmen, and our ability to connect with animals is limited to just tiny rodents. We had nearly zero advantages as a race. It was painfully obvious that our tribe’s future was dark.”
So, the tribal discrimination that had been suppressed when Sirius held all beastmen together was now raising its ugly head.
Discrimination really doesn’t just disappear, does it?
“So, the rat beastmen in this crisis worked hard to figure out ways to secure the tribe’s future. Some sought to find the rat beastmen’s value through interaction with other tribes, while others like me wanted to show off our individual strength to prove that rat beastmen aren’t weak.”
Hmm. Now that I think about it, Ella did mention being an adventurer in her youth.
So, there’s that backstory. She wasn’t just kicked out by her stepmother.
“In the midst of searching for ways to help rat beastmen, one ascetic heard a voice.”
“A voice?”
“Yes. They said he was a seeker practicing deep underground, and he heard the voice while delving into the earth.”
A voice… really?
“The voice told him to create a new god. If the absence of a god was the issue, making one could solve it. It even said if they created a god specifically for rat beastmen, our standing could soar.”
That voice is definitely suspicious.
Plus, a voice from underground…
Is it that guy again?
“That voice had knowledge that even the old rat beastmen scholars didn’t know. The method for creating deities was part of what that voice taught.”
“So? Did they follow the instructions from the voice?”
“Yes. The rat beastmen really had no choice. Thus, to create this god, the rat beastmen prepared many things.”
Ella kept petting Maybelle’s head, and Maybelle seemed to drift off to a comfortable sleep with her mother’s gentle touch.
“Just like when she was little, petting her head sends her straight to dreamland. I was worried about telling her a story she couldn’t hear, so this is a relief.”
Ella continued speaking while gently stroking Maybelle’s sleeping head.
“After that, the rat beastmen did everything they could to save money and prepare the materials needed for the ritual to create the god. The most important of these materials was… the sacrifice that would become the new god’s body.”
Body? Sacrifice? Those aren’t things you need to create a god, as far as I know!
What’s going on? Are they making a god in a totally different way than I’m familiar with?
“They paired off selected individuals, and creating the remarkable child… the sacrifice for the new god was also part of that plan.”
“Selected individuals?”
“Yes.”
Ella patted Maybelle’s head again, and Maybelle shifted slightly, clearly tickled by the touch.
Ella smiled gently at Maybelle.
“This child was also the most promising candidate to become the god’s body in that ritual. But doing that would mean sacrificing this child to create a new god. I couldn’t allow that to happen, so I entrusted this child to a safe place instead.”
“That’s… isn’t that betraying your tribe?”
Ella nodded slightly.
“Yes, it is. Betraying my tribe. But I wanted to protect this child. From the moment this child was born and wrapped my hand around her tiny fingers, my life became one dedicated to this child. Even if the tribe flourished, sacrificing this child would render it all meaningless.”
Truly. It seems a mother’s love has grown to eclipse her love for the tribe.
Maternal affection… is genuinely amazing.
“Of course, all these plans were kept under wraps, even from me as a principal. I didn’t have a clue, so if my husband hadn’t found out, this child would have been handed over completely.”
“Husband?”
“Dad?”
Maybelle, who had been snoozing, suddenly woke up, her ears perking up at the mention of Ella’s husband. The topic of a father she didn’t know seemed to have caught her attention.
“Your father… he was really a smart man. Among the young rat beastmen, he was easily the brightest! If it hadn’t been for this absurd ritual… he might have ended up leading the rat beastmen.”
“But dad is now…?”
Ella shook her head gently at Maybelle’s question.
“To help you and me escape… he’s gone.”
When Ella said this, Maybelle’s tail drooped, as if sadness washed over her too.
That truly is a bit heartbreaking.
“But it seems the place he talked about really was safe. I’m so glad our daughter has grown up safely there.”
“A safe place? You mean the little village I lived in?”
“Yes. Your father… he said you had to go there to be protected. I had no idea that his old adventure buddy was a priest in that village, but thanks to that, I could trust him with you. That was a real stroke of luck!”
Hmm. It seems like Maybelle’s dad could see the future and made preparations.
It’s almost like he knew I’d be sleeping there too.
You may also like Mesugaki Tank Enters The Academy
