“Oh, Renge, what kept you?” Air responded nonchalantly. “I’ve already eaten and now Tinaris is making me more delicious things to try…”
Clearly confused, Lord Revireus asked if this was really Air, the creator deity.
Hard to believe, I know…
The whole time, Jiril and Mirage were both kneeling with their heads bowed. I got the impression the Mythicals were more terrified of Air than I was…well, all except Renge, who seemed to be taking Air’s reappearance in stride.
“Don’t make unreasonable demands of Tina,” he chided. “Besides, I thought you hated being on the surface. What are you doing here again?”
“Oh, not much. I just thought I’d meet your industrious fiancée again. And pressure you to resume your training while I’m at it.”
“Now’s not the time for that,” Renge refused. “Besides, I can’t get much stronger than I am n—”
“What are you saying?” Air interrupted him. “The easiest way for a Mythical Beast to get stronger is through deification. With your half-human blood, you’d be better off putting in more effort. You have the talent! So hurry up and become a half-god, half-Mythical.”
“But I’m not interested in going through deification!” Renge argued, getting more emotional than usual. “I don’t want to become a god.”
“And I’m telling you you’re going to have to if you want to keep living in this world. If you won’t, then leave! You’ve never trained in another world before. So it’d be a good chance for you to try.”
“Grrr…”
Ummm…just what’re they talking about? Renge…becoming a god?! What are they getting at here?
“If you absolutely don’t want to be my successor,” Air went on, “find someone else to train and deify in your place. I’m still very much on active duty. But someday I’ll pass on as part of this planet’s natural lifespan. I’d really like to know I have a successor in place.”
“You make it sound easy…” Renge hesitated.
“That dragon child over there could do it, too,” Air said, pointing at Lord Revireus. “Red dragons mature into sovereign dragons quite easily. This age’s dragon sovereign is already quite far along in her lifespan, no? It would be a waste to lose her. If the white dragon sovereign passes on, maybe I’ll grant her some of my divinity to deify her…except that would shorten my lifespan. I really would like a new god to take over for me…”
I had no idea what Air was talking about. But apparently, he’d manifested physically in this world to find a successor, with Renge being his first choice. Lord Revireus and the Great Curalius were other options—at least, I think Curalius was who Air was talking about. The Great Curalius is quite elderly, after all…
“That elf friend of yours was a good option too, Renge,” Air continued. “He had the makings of it. But with the Sugula being born during his lifetime, he had the odds stacked against him. That reduced the human population a great deal, too, of course. But humans tend to breed very fast, like rabbits… I’d rather not deify a human, though. Both because it’s hard and I don’t like the idea of it.”
“It all sounds…quite difficult,” I remarked.
“It is!” Air slammed his hand down on the table, his spoon still in hand. “Do you understand my plight, Holy Woman?”
“Ah, erm, y-yes!” I said, alarmed.
Wow, it sounds like he really is troubled by this.
“See, normally, you have multiple gods born! Multiple! It’s not like I got in the way of other gods coming into being! Each world’s living beings are meant to put in effort and overcome the boundaries of their species to become gods! That’s why it’s necessary to make your world harsh to some extent! And since my world hasn’t produced any other gods, I suppose that must mean I’ve just been taking it easy!” he ranted.
“Erm, yes, I suppose it does…?” I faltered.
I wasn’t sure I understood what he was saying, and actually got the feeling I shouldn’t be agreeing with him at all! But if he asked if this world wasn’t harsh, I’d disagree. Just from my own personal experience, strolling outside could get one attacked by bandits or monsters or zombies!
I remembered how, when I was just born, my parents sent me down a river and I was picked up by bandits who wanted to sell me into slavery. Saying this world was set to hard mode would be an understatement.
“Besides, even if I end up deciding to deify, that doesn’t mean I’ll take your place as creator deity!” Renge said aggressively.
“It doesn’t?” I asked.
“No, it doesn’t. The highest level of deifying is to become a creator deity… In other words, a planet’s god. It mostly involves creating the concepts that give people in your world energy, as well as that world’s rules. In other words, it’s like being a system administrator, so you have to be smart to do it.”
“I see…”
That sounded hard.
“Well, I want to have a replacement god set aside in case something happens,” Air said. “And despite all my efforts, look at the state of this world’s lifeforms! No one even has a speck of intention to deify! That makes no sense! What would be the right answer here? Forget about what gods other people will worship, you should work to become gods yourselves!” Air was getting progressively angrier. “And humans, in particular! For how much they want to become gods, all they do is assume the name but never put in the work to become one! They’re all talk and no action, tricking those around them to get an easy life! Sometimes even the humans who seriously think they’re gods are better than that. This is why I can’t stand humans!”
“A-Air, please calm down first,” I said.
He looked like he was at his wit’s end.
“So you’re saying this is your greatest concern?” I asked.
“Yes. Why won’t any of the living beings on Wisty Air try to become a god? You keep making up gods, so why won’t anyone try to become a god themselves? What other point was there in prohibiting belief in everything except for me and the Holy Woman? I thought it would motivate the creatures living in my world to reach that level themselves if they saw the example I set as the strongest and allowed a mortal such as the Holy Woman to show the path they could follow to reach my level! But noooo.”
So Air actually had a reason to prohibit other religions. He thought it would motivate the people of his world to attain godhood. What an alien thought process.