Chapter: 142
Time just keeps rolling on.
The lizardmen continue their annual duels to select the champion, the elves and dwarves sharpen their weapons every 10 years and flail around trying to knock each other down, while the humans, including those from Arcadia, are locked in fierce power struggles through war, diplomacy, and politics.
I’ve made one decision.
“I’m looking to tone down my influence as the Goddess of Life.”
The inner sanctum of the Temple of Life. A room that has no entrance.
A room where only pilgrim dragons can enter. I looked over the dragons packed inside and quietly said.
“Huh…? You want to reduce your influence as the Goddess?”
“Wait, are you serious about this?”
“The supreme Goddess among gods saying she wants to reduce her influence… what in the world?”
The dragons around the big table began to murmur in confusion at my words.
Well, after gathering together after a long time, it’s understandable that they’d be surprised. I mean, I’d be shocked too!
“First, calm down. It’s not what you’re thinking.”
The commotion among the dragons died down a bit, but they were still showing signs of being unsettled.
“Then why would you say something like that?”
“Yeah! Spreading faith in you as the Goddess is our purpose!”
“Are you saying you’re thinking about retiring from your divine duties?”
I shook my head slightly and said.
“Not at all. I don’t plan to stop being a goddess. But there’s a bit of an issue with the faith being directed at me.”
“With the faith…?”
“What’s wrong with the faith?”
The dragons looked totally clueless about how faith affects me.
Well, I only realized how rapidly the faith had increased recently, so if that hadn’t happened, I’d be in the dark too.
If I, a goddess, was oblivious to it, these kids wouldn’t have a clue.
“The faith humans have for me is gradually changing me. It looks like I’m morphing into the Goddess of Life they imagine and hope for.”
“The Goddess of Life that humans desire… Wouldn’t that be a good thing?”
Hmm. If I were just the Goddess of Life, it wouldn’t matter… But the Goddess of Life is just one facet of who I am.
I don’t want to change because of other factors!
“Even though I’m putting on the act of the Goddess of Life, that’s not all there is to me. I don’t want my essence to change because of the faith I’m getting as the Goddess of Life.”
Right now, the portion of the Goddess of Life within me is about 10%. The Creator Dragon God is 5%, and… wait, what? The Destruction Dragon God is there too?! Even at 1%!
Ahem. Forget about that Destruction Dragon God bit. That’s not coming up again!
Anyway, taking 16% away, the remaining part is just me. But I don’t like the feeling of myself slowly fading away.
It feels, frankly, unpleasant to not be myself.
“So, I want to reduce the faith directed at me. But I can’t just wipe out the humans…”
“What are you planning to do then?”
In response to one dragon’s question, I snapped my fingers and said.
“That’s where you guys come in.”
“Us?”
“Even if you say ‘us’… we’re just pilgrims who have traveled the world for the Goddess. Ah!”
It looks like the dragons finally caught on to what I was trying to say!
“Are you thinking of reducing the number of pilgrims?”
“That’s the answer!”
With a smile at the dragons, I continued.
“Because the pilgrims have the most significant impact on human faith, if we cut down your numbers, it might just reduce the faith directed at me a bit.”
“But… the faith in you is already solidified, won’t cutting down the pilgrims not change much?”
I couldn’t argue with that logic!
But I can’t just sit here and do nothing.
I’m still working on how to create a façade like the Goddess of Life, so I can’t whip that out just yet. I need to take steps that I can now.
Otherwise, my options boil down to annihilating humans… Oh no! Using that method might actually create a faith based on fear. There’s also the awe-based faith that could emerge.
So, it looks like I’ll have to reduce my influence in this indirect way.
“Seems like you’ve been too dedicated to your duties.”
“Wait, you’re blaming us for this…?”
“Ahem. Anyway, I’ll need to leave only about half… no, maybe 30% of you as pilgrims, and the rest should quit that role.”
At that, the dragons murmured again.
“I want to stay a pilgrim!”
“Me too! Traveling around sounds like so much fun!”
“Yeah! I get this warm, fuzzy feeling when I help the humans…”
Hmm. I didn’t expect this reaction.
I thought the dragons would jump for joy thinking, “Free vacation!” with the mention of reducing pilgrim numbers.
But I can’t waver on what I want to do.
Instead,
“Let’s do it this way. We’ll reduce the number of pilgrims but have them rotate every few years. Say, after about 5 years.”
This way, we can pare down the total number while allowing as many as possible to maintain their pilgrim work. For the dragons, 5 years is like just a few months for humans, so the grumbling might not be as bad!
“If it’s just that…”
“Honestly, I’ve thought we had too many pilgrims for a while…”
Thank goodness, the dragons seemed to be open to my proposal.
At last, it’s nice that the dragons listen to me.
Let’s just ignore all the potential problems if they hadn’t!
So, the number of dragon-transformed pilgrims at the Temple of Life drastically decreased.
I didn’t touch the human pilgrims since, well, humans are humans! Over time, they’d naturally dwindle anyway.
Short-lived humans will vanish in the blink of an eye!
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
As my pilgrim followers gradually decreased, and the faith directed towards me became slightly weaker,
Slowly, very slowly, new phenomena began to emerge in the world.
Faint divinity.
New beings born from intelligent life forms believing in unexplainable phenomena.
Gods that sprouted anew in the empty void—not where my children and I lay claim.
Their power is infinitesimally weak, lacking massively compared to dragons, but transcendent when compared to humans.
Such new gods began popping up like mushrooms.
They’re not gods of any particular race, nor manifestations from natural phenomena—just mere weaklings spawned from human faith.
Watching these nascent deities with their nascent intellect, I felt a little curiosity.
Why were such gods born? The answer had always been within me.
It was genuinely my fault, even if it wasn’t intentional.
For instance, consider the question about the sky.
What is that blue sky? What are the sun and moon that float above it, and the stars, clouds, and rainbows?
Before humans developed their intellect, they could only express vague reverence toward the sky.
As time passed and human intelligence evolved, they began to accept the existence of gods through me and my pilgrims, slowly understanding that they could place gods onto those vague concepts.
And so, humans started imagining gods.
In that vast sky, there must be a ruler of the sky!
Just like the Goddess of Life, who nurtures all living things, there must be a great god dominating everything beneath the sky.
And the sun and moon? They must be treasures given to the sky by the god of light.
Normally, the sky god would have been born first, followed by Shamash the god of light. But what can I say? My kids, born from natural phenomena, popped into existence before humans were even considered.
In short… humans began tagging names of gods onto everything that I and my children didn’t take for ourselves.
“I am the god of the sky, Baal!”
I glanced at the cheeky little twerp with sky-blue hair prancing in front of me, then quickly turned away again.
“W-Why are you ignoring me!! I’m the god of the sky! I’m awesome!! Give me a head pat! Praise me! You’re the greatest god in this world!”
This sky-colored brat is latched onto my side, wailing like there’s no tomorrow.
Ugh… Hmm… The emergence of a new god is a delightful incident, but this kid is an unexpected surprise.
It’s a newborn divine being. An ignorant and immature god. I guess if I nurture and guide it properly, things might pan out?
The name Baal is a touch ominous, but… Ignoring where that name comes from, it sure sounds scary. If I raise it well, I can manage…
This expectation evaporated alongside the sight of the little twerp flailing around and wailing, and I let out a heavy sigh.
God of the sky. I wonder if returns are possible…
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