“Absolutely not.”
Asherath spat the words out like an ice blade, sharp and cold.
I had merely asked how she felt about elevating Encia to godhood, and yet, this was her reaction—so frigid and cold!
“Isn’t it true that it was the Goddess of Life who placed restrictions to prevent new gods from being born easily and to ensure that gods do not descend directly onto the mortal realm? So now you wish to make her a god just because you’ve modified some magic? That would be a direct violation of the rules established by the Goddess herself.”
Asherath crushed my opinion with her cold, logical tone.
“And when you previously made several beastmen into guardian deities of the Divine Hall, I heard that it sparked quite a controversy regarding overreach. I wasn’t a fully realized personality back then, but still.”
“Did it really?”
“Yes! It is said that such discussions wouldn’t have occurred in front of the Goddess of Life! But the voices of other gods were quite turbulent regarding the matter! After that, there was a reduction in the number of gods, which quieted things down.”
Was that truly the case? I hadn’t noticed since they were silent in my presence.
“Then how about making an exception this time…”
“An exception is out of the question.”
Asherath coldly cut off my words. But still, I had promised to grant a wish…
“No matter how much the Goddess of Life has granted her Wish Ticket, granting such a wish is impossible. What even is a Wish Ticket? Does it mean any wish she makes will be fulfilled?”
“W-well…”
“Anyway! I oppose it. Just as I do, other gods would likely share the same opinion.”
“Ugh…”
“As long as she doesn’t attain divinity by herself, there’s no way for her to become a god. So stop having such wild thoughts and focus on your duties as the Goddess of Life.”
Thus, my attempt to grant Encia’s wish hit a brick wall right from the start. If even my right-hand companion and fragment, Asherath, opposed it like this… the other gods would likely feel the same.
The resource of human faith is proportional to the human population… it’s a finite resource after all.
The increase in the number of gods who can claim that faith means the size of the pie each one can eat will become smaller.
It’s likely that other gods share Asherath’s sentiments.
Ugh. What should I do…
Honestly, I could just disregard the opinions of the other gods and proceed as I please, but I didn’t want to take that route.
If I did, it might open the floodgates for the other gods to hastily fill the vacant thrones with me, and then a slew of bothersome matters would likely come pouring in.
I don’t want any more of those annoying tasks! No way!!
Thus, it’s better to look for another method.
For example… a way for Encia to attain divinity by herself?
In contrast to the times when gods were born indiscriminately, gaining divinity now isn’t exactly easy.
Perhaps due to the increased cutoff points for attaining divinity, even a substantial amount of faith won’t suffice for someone to transform into a god anymore.
To meet such conditions…. Simply spreading rumors or embellishing stories would be far from easy.
So… um. What should I do?
For now, I should let Encia know. She might have a good idea.
—
“Hmm. So it was like that, huh?”
“Like what… Did you have a hunch?”
“More or less. No matter how much Tia is the Goddess of Life, it wouldn’t be simple for someone like me to be made a god, right?”
In the past, such things had been effortlessly done! That too, twelve times!
“Still, if I could just attain divinity, I could become a god, right?”
“If you can obtain divinity, yes.”
To be honest, divinity is a mysterious thing that’s hard to put into words.
Through the prayers of countless individuals, their hearts gather to elevate that existence to a higher level.
I have no idea how willpower can manifest like that… but what can I do? I have to make use of it even if I don’t understand it.
“Um… what exactly are the conditions for attaining divinity?”
“It’s to acquire faith and transform into a god. Back in the day, when the rumors about gods didn’t spread far, you could manipulate just a bit of rumor to create the desired god…”
“To birth a god is something only the Goddess of Life could claim, and if Tia wasn’t the Goddess of Life, that would just sound like nonsense.”
“But what can I say? It actually happened. And now, such a thing is impossible.”
This is an era where knowledge spreads easily. If you spread rumors about a non-existent god, it wouldn’t take long for the truth to be revealed and everything to settle down.
While it’s good that information spreads fast… this aspect is a bit inconvenient.
“Acquiring faith… um… would praying work?”
“Usually, yes. When many people pray to that god, their faith will direct towards that god.”
The faith gathered like this is not only the power that sustains the gods’ existence, and the driving force behind their miracles, but it also serves as material to elevate their divine nature and is used as currency among gods.
I think I mentioned this before. To put it simply, it’s like HP, MP, and experience points in a game, all rolled into one for a god.
Gaining that faith won’t be an easy task.
Except for me.
“Honestly, if I were to share my faith with Sia, who lacks faith, she could become a god, but then she would become a lower god entirely bound to me… which would be hard for Sia.”
“Why would being tethered to Tia be a bad thing?”
Encia tilted her head, bewildered.
“Let’s put it this way… It’s like a puppet with a will of its own.”
“A slave?”
“Exactly. A slave. She would be bound to me, unable to go against my will, and even if she wishes to refuse something I desire, she wouldn’t be able to do so. It’s as if she would be restrained by a leash.”
The closest state to this would be… my fragments, Asherath and Hades, right? Of course, they possess an appropriate degree of independence!
Except for Quetzalcoatl, whom I let act however she pleases, so let’s ignore that.
Such fragments could be instantly absorbed back into me if I ever decided to reclaim my faith. They exist because I allow it, after all.
In a way, you could say it’s a state similar to a puppet with a will.
Moreover, when I made several beastmen into gods including Maybel, a problem arose immediately after I shared my faith, which caused quite a headache.
Well, I quickly resolved it by having them attain their own divinity and then reverting them back to Sirius’s subordinates, going through a tedious process of distributing my faith to them step-by-step.
It could have turned into a big issue if I hadn’t carefully moderated things… but let’s skip that for now.
“Hmm… I think being bound to Tia isn’t a bad thing.”
“What?”
“But she’s not just any god; she’s Tia! The Goddess of Life! I doubt such a Tia would treat a god she’s bound to in a bad way!”
Well… I couldn’t deny that. In reality, my fragments, Asherath and Hades, both had their personalities respected as well.
Quetzalcoatl was just left to do as she pleased. As long as she doesn’t cause significant trouble, that’s fine by me.
However, they’re all ultimately derived from me. Pieces of me. They were born from my fragments, so strictly speaking, Encia, who is a different being, wouldn’t be comparable to them.
“But still, being tied to someone can’t be a good thing. You may have to do something that conflicts with your own heart.”
“I don’t think Tia would force something like that on you, would she?”
“That’s true, but… who knows? My feelings could change.”
At my words, Encia began to ponder deeply. Well, I suppose it’s not impossible to have a change of heart.
So, don’t even think of such leashes.
“Well then, it seems there’s no choice but to change the method.”
“Method?”
“Yeah. The method.”
Encouraged, Encia smiled faintly.
“What’s important is gathering the prayers of many, right?”
“Yes. That’s right.”
“Then if I can find a way for many to pray to me, wouldn’t that make it possible to acquire faith as well?”
“Well… that is true.”
“Even if it’s through external factors, if I can receive prayers, that’s enough!”
“I won’t deny that, but how?”
The hearts of people are like a wind that blows freely, and changing their direction at will isn’t an easy feat.
Why does Encia seem so confident in stating all this?
“Here… let’s use the power of the book!”
“The power of the book?”
In Encia’s hands was… the book she had written, titled Basic Magic Theory of Scientia.
What was she planning to do with that book…?
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