- 87: The continuation of the legend
The story this time has reached its end.
What comes next is something like sorting out the information for the next step.
“Was it okay to leave the Underworld Country like that?”
For now, we have left the ‘Nameless Desert’ and returned to the Light capital, Apollon City where I once again ask Yorishiro this.
Suddenly bringing back a girl of unknown origins, and suddenly telling the higher-ups of the Church that she will be raising her herself threw them into chaos, but Yorishiro is not the type who would falter at something like this.
“Yeah, I thought that it would be best to have that city sleep for a while more.”
If the existence of the Dark Underworld Country is revealed, it will be a big historical discovery and the whole world would make a ruckus about it.
Every church would send an investigation team, and the once peaceful land might bustle in activity.
“The more that city is investigated, the more unbeneficial facts for the five great Churches will be dug out. They haven’t matured enough to permit this.” (Yorishiro)
“The city itself might be erased completely.” (Haine)
That land that had been destroyed by the whim of the Gods once, would be destroyed once again by the humans that hold authority. That’s certainly not something I could swallow.
Karen-san was also convinced by that explanation and promised to keep it a secret.
“And so, with this, my duty has finished-desu ne” (Yorishiro)
Saying this, Yorishiro takes out a magnetic compass that’s ornamented quite a bit.
If I remember correctly, this is a treasured article of the Light Church, the ‘Needle of Guidance’. By pouring light divine power into it, it would point at the direction of the place one desired.
“That’s…actually just a normal compass, right?” (Haine)
“Yeah. It is an antique that one of the Cardinals splurged money to make. It is made of a luxurious arrangement of gold and silver, but the use itself is that of a normal compass. It is something that I was given on a certain day as a bribe.” (Yorishiro)
Light and magnetism have similar properties. By using the light divine power, she can move the compass the way she wants. For the Light Founder and incarnation of the Light Goddess, this must have been a piece of cake.
And, for this girl who has the past life of being the queen of the Underworld Country, Izanami, it wouldn’t be strange for her to know of the location of the Underworld Country from the very beginning. As long as she moves the compass needle to the direction she wants…
“So that was only a prop to guide Karen-san and I to the Underworld Country huh.” (Haine)
“Yeah, for the sake of properly hiding the past that I am the queen Izanami. An item that shows the location of the thing you desire just by wishing for it; there’s no way such a convenient item exists.” (Yorishiro)
Saying this, Yorishiro threw the flashy normal compass in the guise of the ‘Needle of Guidance’ to a drawer in the corner of the room. It is probably the place for things that will never be taken out again.
“It would be problematic if this comes out in a conversation in the future, so let’s just say that it was lost in the confusion at the Underworld Country. I am counting on Haine-san to match up the story.” (Yorishiro)
“Got it.” (Haine)
“And so, Haine-san, what brings you here tonight? You purposely came at the time when Doraha was sleeping. As expected, your business has to do with those troublesome ones, right?” (Yorishiro)
We can finally enter the main topic.
Since the time she had Doraha at her side, Yorishiro’s bewitching nature has gone dormant, and in place of that, a feeling of motherhood has been prominent.
Even when I came to her room this late at night, she didn’t tease me by saying ‘are you crawling on my bed tonight?’, which helps me out, and, at the same time, it felt kind of lonely.
“…I want to hear in detail the things that happened after the Underworld Country fell.” (Haine)
“Okay… When I took off my body of queen Izanami and returned to being the Light Goddess Inflation, those guys all got surprised and grew flustered.” (Yorishiro)
By those guys, she refers to the four Base Elements that destroyed the Underworld Country.
Those guys didn’t know that the queen was the incarnation of the Light Goddess Inflation when they destroyed the Underworld Country huh.
“The face they made when they learned the truth, it was like a child who had their prank discovered by their mother. The Mother Earth Mantle got flustered and helped me out in sealing the Underworld Country…… At that time, it would have been fine to scold them and cause a new battle of Gods…but I didn’t do that.” (Yorishiro)
“Why?” (Haine)
“The first reason was because logic was in their side.” (Yorishiro)
“No way.” (Haine)
“It isn’t. In the past, we five Gods gathered to a united idea of ‘humans are below Gods’ and sealed you. And yet, I hid the fact that I had gone to the surface world, provided humans with culture, and had them progress. Doesn’t that mean I broke the agreement?” (Yorishiro)
Is that how it works?
For me who is in the side of humans, this logic is a bit hard to swallow though.
“I am one of the two poles, but I don’t hold that much advantage against the other four Base Elements compared to you, the Dark God. If I were to try using force to bring it to a conclusion, I might have even ended up like you. If you and I -both poles- were to get sealed, things would have gotten even worse.” (Yorishiro)
And then, Yorishiro —no, the Light Goddess Inflation said,
“I decided on a plan.” (Yorishiro)
“A plan?” (Haine)
“When the four Base Elements reunited with me, they began lining up excuses. As expected, they said things like ‘you were the one who broke the agreement and made the humans smarter’. And so, I created this mean.” (Yorishiro)
‘The reason why I ruled and guided them was in order to collect something from the humans’, is what she told the other Gods to gloss over things.
“What in the world did you tell them you were collecting?” (Haine)
“Prayer Energy.” (Yorishiro)
Prayer…
Now that she says it, I do feel like Nova and Coacervate mentioned something like that…
“This is something that I discovered by chance while I was spreading the religion of the Dark God Entropy in the Underworld Country as the queen Izanami. A type of energy in the heart of humans. When the human heart directs pure respect and affection towards a God, that heart will become mellow energy and be send towards the God.” (Yorishiro)
“So that’s what a prayer is huh.” (Haine)
“That’s right. Divine power is another form of heart energy from humans. I mentioned the existence of this to the four Base Elements, and advised them to have a taste of it. And then, they were soon enslaved by it.” (Yorishiro)
The power of human’s prayers…made the Gods drunk and enslaved them.
Are you telling me the human’s heart has that much power?
“The Gods that assimilate this Prayer Energy will have their strength increased, and, on top of that, its taste is exceptional. The Gods soon wanted to gather as much prayers as possible and began doing many experiments for that sake. The establishment of a church was a part of it. In order to stabilize the number of prayers, they created an organization that worshipped them.” (Yorishiro)
“And the ones who became the foundation of it were the foreign enemies that attacked the Underworld Country huh.” (Haine)
“Just as you have concluded. The four Base Element Gods that had now created churches, ordered them to attack the surrounding settlements to obtain more believers, forced them to join the church, and increased their influence. Humans literally became livestock that offered prayers to Gods. That kind of era continued for around a millennium. It was a hard to endure era. And then, a change occurred.” (Yorishiro)
“Ethereal.” (Haine)
The machine culture brought by the discovery of Ethereal.
Because of this, the hearts of the humans distanced themselves from the Gods. The energy that was gathered also lessened.
“That’s why they utilized a method like monsters and acted such a cheap farce. And when not even that was working, they threw a tanthrum, and were driven to kill their own believers without any distinction.” (Haine)
“That’s right. But the current Gods…can’t wipe out the humans anymore -just like how they wiped out the Underworld Country. They wouldn’t be able to destroy all the five capitals where the Grand Churches are located and kill all the humans.” (Yorishiro)
“Why?” (Haine)
“In the period of time that was close to a millennium, they indulged on the Prayer Energy of humans. This brought an unexpected change in them.” (Yorishiro)
- Chapter 88: This must end
“The four Base Element Gods…can’t live without Prayer Energy anymore?!” (Haine)
“That’s right. They exploited the humans of Prayer Energy for far too long, and drowned too much in its taste. For them, Prayer Energy is already on the same level as oxygen. If they have a shortage of it, they won’t be able to maintain their own existence.” (Yorishiro)
Being told this reality, I was shocked.
At the same time, I have now understood something. So that’s the reason why they were so attached to humans after I returned 1,600 years later.
And it is no doubt the bad type of attachment.
In the eyes of someone like me who knew them in the past, this gave out a really out-of-place sensation.
In the past, the Gods of Creation were a lot more indifferent towards humans. It was as if they didn’t care about them at all.
“So they already can’t live without humans anymore?” (Haine)
“That’s right. If humans fall, the prayers that were supplied would be lost, and at the same time, the Gods would fall as well.” (Yorishiro)
Gods would die?
Something as big as that would occur?
“Then, you, who formed the Light Church as well, have been eroded by the prayer energy?” (Haine)
“I am grateful for the prayers of the people, but I didn’t indulge in them. I managed to notice how dangerous the Prayer Energy was from the very beginning. That’s why I am the same as the time when you were sealed 1,600 years ago.” (Yorishiro)
Hearing this, I was slightly relieved.
But Yorishiro -the Light Goddess Inflation- knew how dangerous the prayers were, and yet, she encouraged the Gods to it while hiding this truth.
How scary.
But that probably shows just how angered she was with the four Base Element Gods that destroyed the Underworld Country.
So those four Base Element guys had changed in such a way in these 1,600 years huh.
It is true that there’s a point that bothers. They can’t live without humans, and even when they have been driven to such boundaries, they still look down on humans huh.
Truly beyond salvation.
“On the other hand, humans do not need Gods.” (Yorishiro)
“Ah, so that’s how it is.” (Haine)
This is one of the misunderstandings in this world.
Gods are not necessary at all to maintain this world.
The work of Gods is to create worlds.
Once the creation is done, their job is over. There’s nothing more to do.
That’s why, the Gods that have nothing to do anymore are simply squeezing out the spiritual energy of the ones living in this world. That’s all they are doing.
“Even if the Gods need the world, the world already has no need for Gods. In that case, we just have to separate them.” (Haine)
“The reason why I made them addicted to the Prayer Energy was…for revenge.” (Yorishiro)
Yorishiro said this resolutely.
“They destroyed the Underworld Country that I raised for the sake of my dear Entropy and ended up loving it as much as I love him. This is my revenge. The biggest bottleneck until now has been the seal that the all five of us placed on you.” (Yorishiro)
The seal the five Gods placed couldn’t be undone without all five Gods.
“But, after waiting more than a millennium for the seal to weaken naturally, I was finally able to undo it by myself. There’s already nothing to distress about. Haine-san –no, Dark God Entropy, please remove the harmful existences of this world.” (Yorishiro)
“What should I do?” (Haine)
“First of all, the most important thing would be to remove the harm that are the monsters. Those pseudo-lifeforms that have no soul are the villains that the Gods have created in order to maintain the faith to Gods. Once that harmful existence is gone, the need for Gods will finally be gone.” (Yorishiro)
Completely eliminating monsters huh.
Now that I think about it, Coacervate said this: ‘We Gods have created Mother Monsters that can give birth to monsters infinitely and released them into the world’.
“So we just have to defeat the fire, water, earth, and wind Mother Monsters that are somewhere in this world.” (Haine)
“Because the faith has decreased, the weakening of the four Base Element Gods has accelerated. In order to create Mother Monsters, there’s the need to pour several tens of times more divine power than that of the Fire Cow Phalaris and the Great Sea Dragon Hydra Serpent. Once the Mother Monsters are defeated, they probably won’t be able to make one again.” (Yorishiro)
So what must be done is already in sight huh.
“Light Goddess, are you fine with that?” (Haine)
I ask just to confirm.
Because she is also one of the six Gods that created this world after all.
“I don’t mind. At any rate, I am currently Yorishiro, one of the humans that lives in this world. If there’s an option that can bring good to the humans, it should be executed without hesitation.” (Yorishiro)
“Right. Let’s just think about what we should do as Gods after our current lives are over.” (Haine)
In this way, we began to act.
For the sake of humans and not for the sake of Gods; for the sake of recovering a world that humans can live in.
***
“With that wrapped up…” (Yorishiro)
“Hm?”
The look of Yorishiro suddenly changed.
“Haine-san, is it true that you kissed Karen-san?” (Yorishiro)
“Ugh!”
Why does she know that?!
Even though I kept silent about it because I knew that it would definitely be a pain if it were known!
“Karen-san disclosed it to me herself. ‘I am sorry for stealing the march’, she said. She really is a honest girl to the core. Compared to that, Haine-san, did you think it would not be a problem as long as it wasn’t discovered?” (Yorishiro)
“Uhm, no no no…” (Haine)
“So for me it was a slap on the cheek, and for Karen-san it was a kiss in the lips huh. It truly shows the difference in treatment here-desu wa ne.” (Yorishiro)
Is she talking about the slap I gave her for her sake?!
After hearing her revenge plan against the four Base Elements and what is happening right now, I am now convinced; this woman is quite vindictive.
“No you see, that slap was something I did exactly because I see you as someone important…” (Haine)
No, that’s not it. What I have to say right now is not that.
“You said it before, right? That once I learned about the sin you committed in the past, I would hate you.” (Haine)
“Y-Yes…” (Yorishiro)
“It didn’t make me hate you, you know? I am truly sorry for making you carry so many things on your back all by yourself in these 1,600 years.” (Haine)
And then, I hugged Yorishiro.
I held admiration towards this girl that has been living under many names for a long time.
“Haine-san, as I thought, I do want to live in this body with all I can-desu wa. As the Yorishiro that can live in the same time as you. Give birth to your child and raise it; have Doraha grasp the happiness that she was unable to grasp in her time at the Underworld Country; and I also want to get along with Karen-san in all that time.” (Yorishiro)
“You have a lot of wishes. But, that’s exactly why life is long.” (Haine)
“Yeah. Please fill my life…with a lot of wishes.” (Yorishiro)
Without saying any more than that, our lips overlap.
It was a sweet transient time before the fierce battle that will be unfolding from here on. <TL: in the sheets>