“I think it’s because no one knows they can become a god,” I pointed out.
“They don’t?” Air looked surprised.
“Is it well known in the Mythical continent?” I asked.
“Hm, I’m not sure. I only know about it because Air told me…” Renge said.
“Today’s the first I’ve heard of it,” Lord Revireus added.
“Meeeeeeeee too…” Mirage said.
“Me as well, hmm,” Jiril chimed in.
“Are you all serious?!” Air looked bombastically surprised at the Mythicals’ ignorance.
Apparently no one knew about this possibility, which went a long way to explaining why no one tried to become a god.
“Besides, deification isn’t easy, is it?” Renge said. “I’m not interested in it, and I don’t think I could do it even with training.”
“Of course not. Becoming a god doesn’t come easy,” Air said.
“I think only someone who’s really backed against the wall or very peculiar would voluntarily go through something that arduous,” Renge said.
“Hmm… So you’re saying the world isn’t demanding enough to drive people into that corner?” Air pondered.
“Renge, Renge!” I said in alarm.
“Lord Rengeeee, you gave him a bad ideeeea!”
“Wait, Air, I didn’t mean it like that!” Renge rushed to correct his error.
At this rate, Air will make another dangerous law for this world! It’s already dangerous enough as it is! Believe me, I haven’t been alive for that long, and I already had too many scrapes with death!
“There’s just no precedent!” Renge reasoned. “Yes, no one ever did it before, so no one knows humans, demi-humans, or Mythicals can deify! And I don’t think they feel the need to do so…”
“No precedent, no need…” Air said pensively. “Should I summon a demon lord then?”
“Wait, wait, wait! Why aren’t you listening to me?” Renge panicked. “How did you come to that conclusion?!”
“Wait, he can summon a demon lord? Really?!” I cried.
How does he say crazy things like that with a poker face?
“Demon lords from the sixth rank or over have deified in the past, so I could ask one of them to cull the humans’ numbers. That should make for a good motivator, right? I could disseminate weaker versions of the Stella to create a hero or two that would exceed the limitations of their species. It’s brilliant,” Air said with a satisfied smile.
“Just dealing with the monsters is hard enough!” Renge insisted. “When you kill monsters, they scatter Camilla, which makes more monsters! Tina’s Stella is our only hope. And now you’re thinking of adding demon lords and their minions from another world to all that?!”
“He’s right. Just the monsters make life hard enough here, Air!” I chimed in.
“But then I’m not pressing the people hard enough, right?” he asked, his head tilted cutely like he wasn’t considering making the world suffer to further his goals. “I think I shouldn’t overcomplicate things and use the old, established methods to up the mettle of lifeforms in my world.”
“No, no, no! That’s not true. We just told you that monsters make things hard enough. If you add a demon lord to it, all you’d achieve is to make Wisty Air infested with monsters! And you don’t want that, do you?” Renge pressed.
“Well, no, but if this world falls prey to monsters that easily, doesn’t that just prove its weakness? That there’s a clear lack of resolve?” Air countered.
Oh, no this is bad. If we don’t change Air’s mind here, we’ll have a demon lord on our hands, too!
But I did have to appreciate the way he respected our opinions. He didn’t make the decision on his own, and he was acting out of an intention to see us grow.
“There’s nothing good to be gained from you being weak, is there? Wisty Air isn’t invaded by other worlds because it’s run by me, a Cerberus, a combative species. But creator deities invade other worlds all the time,” Air said, dropping a scary tidbit there.
“Really…?” I didn’t know what else to say.
“See, this is why I hate humans,” he responded.
So the gods who invade other worlds were originally human… Good to know, I guess?
“There are more races of Mythical Beasts here, but not many of them are proficient at combat. There are some combative demi-human races, but their governments are strong, and they’re unified under worship of the Holy Woman. That’s both good and bad. In 500 years, I’ll enter the part of my life cycle where I’m weakened every 5,000 years. So I need another warrior god class deity on my side to fill in for me,” Air said.
“…You actually had a good reason for all of this then,” Renge said, sounding a bit impressed.
“What do you take me for?” Air looked hurt.
Renge has a way of being casually rude to Air…
“Excuse me, but what do you mean, you get weak every 5,000 years?” I asked.
“I guess you could say creator deities go into a period of hibernation. Living things need to eat and rest to recover, right? Well, creator gods—or planetary gods as we’re called—are the soul of a planet. Since we’re the planet, we’re alive and have a metabolic cycle. I happen to be a creator god with shorter periods of weakness that come at longer intervals, but that just makes me weaker than most when the time does come. And since two Sugulas were formed during this period, I think my hibernation will be longer than usual. It doesn’t influence lives on the surface, so you probably wouldn’t know, but at times like these, the world is vulnerable to invasions from belligerent creator deities like dark lords and humans from other worlds. My world is a closed one, which makes it hard for invaders from other worlds to find their way here, but it’s easier for them to get past that when I’m at my weakest.”
“What? That’s awful!” I exclaimed.
“See the issue? That’s why you need another god to take my place when I’m weak and defenseless,” he finished.
That’s actually a really serious and convincing reason! But becoming a god, huh… I can’t imagine what that’s like.
“And you’re saying you have no intention to deify, Renge.” Air shot him a look.
“W-Well, I mean…” Renge stuttered.
“Air, mighty creator deity! Train me instead!” Lord Revireus burst into our exchange.
We looked at him in shock. He was very destructive and had a lot of power at his disposal. Air hummed, contemplating the idea.