Chapter 37

The story of the great flood appeared in The Epic of Gilgamesh, the oldest piece of literature on Earth. According to the tale, it rained for forty straight days to eliminate the sinners. It was all part of God’s plan, even though God had been the one to create humankind. Maybe the Goddess herself brought this calamity onto Obum. But he might just be projecting his suspicions on her because he viewed her as the enemy. Either way, it seems the Evil God who was sealed below the earth and the god who became the sun might be the same being. Just as he came to this conclusion, he shot a glance at the Demon King, who pounded his cerulean chest with a proud thump. “I claimed the title of the Blue Demon King—in part for the color of my skin, but also as a tribute to the god who saved demonkind.” “I see. Since the color of the sun is blue,” Shinichi concluded. In human terms, it’d be like having the name “King of the Golden Sun.” “How strange,” Arian said to herself, nodding in admiration as she noted their cultural differences once again. “Speaking of, is this calamity the reason why demonkind doesn’t come to the surface?” Shinichi asked. “Yes, we’ve been taught that it’s a dangerous place. We must not leave the demon world since the calamity fell,” explained Celes. “And that’s why those who do go to the surface are those looking for danger, like my wife,” the King added. “I bet she was pretty bummed out,” Shinichi commented. After all, they’d been told that the surface was more dangerous than the demon world—the land of roaming monsters, where strength was king. And when they gritted their teeth, determined as all hell to go up to the hellish scene aboveground, they were met with…a peaceful sight: animals wandering through lush greenery under a golden sun streaming through the clouds. Oh, and humans—weak as hell and mostly incapable of using magic, save for a special few. “Some of the jaded demons returned to tell their tales of the ‘human world,’ a place where there wasn’t a single dangerous thing. But the majority of the demons couldn’t see it for themselves since they’d need to Teleport a great distance. And with a few travelers never returning, they’d rather believe that the land aboveground was fraught with danger,” Celes explained. “My guess is that they didn’t come back ’cause the heroes did them in or they fell in love with the food,” Shinichi offered. There might even be some who’d fallen in love with humans and settled down on Obum. “It’s incredible if you think about how we got here. First, Your Highness’s wife brought back stories of good food.” “Yessiree, and I was able to meet you, Shinichi, thanks to Mommy. I’ll have to tell her thank you when she comes home!” Rino’s joy was contagious, and Shinichi found himself smiling, too. “Which is the truth: The hordes of evil creatures or a calamity from the sky? Or are they both wrong…? This would be a whole lot quicker if we had someone who’d been there. Are there any high elves that live for thousands and thousands of years?” he asked. “What exactly do you think an elf is?” Celes fumed, glowering at him to the max. Just who do you think you’re calling an old hag? seemed to be what she was implying. Shinichi remembered what she’d told him earlier. “Oh yeah; elven life spans aren’t too different from humans, right?” They’d talked about it not long after they’d defeated Bishop Hube, around the time Arian had joined them for good. “Yes, we live to about a hundred and twenty years,” Celes hissed. “I’ll never get used to hearing that…,” he muttered. Based on popular fantasy worlds and stories in Japan, he’d had the impression that elves generally lived long lives. That’s why he was a bit resistant at first, but there wasn’t anything strange about it. In reality, the demons were saying the word aulice. Shinichi was under a Translation spell, which had been cast on him when he’d been summoned. This is how it broke that word down: aulice → “a race of beautiful people with long ears” → elf. That was finally a word that he could understand. But there wasn’t actually any relationship between the “elves” here and the race featured in high-fantasy stories on Earth. “Well, forget elves then. Are there any demonkind who were around when the calamity fell?” Shinichi tried again. “Don’t be dumb. How long ago do you think that was?” The King gave him a hard no. “We can live to be two hundred years. In fact, some can live to see three hundred, but none have lived the thousands of years from the time of myth.” “You’re right; it’s a waste of time… Wait, hang on,” Shinichi said when one possibility popped into his mind: “The dragon would know everything, wouldn’t it?” The legendary Black Dragon. This was the incredibly powerful creature that slumbered in the demon world—the Evil Dragon that the Goddess allegedly sealed beneath the earth. “Indeed. The Black Dragon would know everything,” Celes asserted. “But nobody knows where it is,” Rino chimed in. It was a legend even among the demons. There wasn’t even any proof that it existed. “That’s true. We don’t even know if the Black Dragon exists. We know with certainty that a Red Dragon does,” declared Shinichi as he looked pointedly at their proof, Arian. “Ah…” Arian was startled to find herself at the center of their attention. Her hand shot up to touch the red scales that cascaded down the base of her throat. She was a half dragon, the child of a dragon father and a human mother. This was more than enough proof that dragons existed. “Arian, I know it must be difficult to talk about, but do you know where your father is?” asked Shinichi, trying to be as considerate of her feelings as possible. “…Sorry, I don’t know anything about my father at all.” She hung her head apologetically. “My earliest memory is traveling alone with my mom. I haven’t met him even once. When I asked my mom, the only thing she’d tell me was that he was a dragon and so I’m a half dragon…” Since her mother had passed away from an illness, the secrets of how she’d met Arian’s father and the circumstances that had led to Arian’s birth would remain shrouded in mystery. “I see,” he said. “But you know, whenever I asked my mom about Dad, she’d seem a little embarrassed and hesitant, but she never looked like she disliked him. So…” Arian trailed off. …I want to believe they were in love, she seemed to want to say. Shinichi stroked her hair as he smiled reassuringly. “A dragon and a human created a child. Two different races, two different forms. There’s no way you’d convince me that child isn’t proof of their love.” “…Uh-huh!” Arian wept tears of happiness as she jumped into his arms. His gentle words washed away a lifetime of fear. “Hmph, Arian! No fair!” Rino whined. “…… (gazing intently).” “Uuum, yeah, let’s see: Does the church have any stories of the dragons’ whereabouts?” Shinichi strategically changed the subject as he released Arian upon seeing Rino pouting and Celes glowering at him coldly. “Other than the story of the Evil Dragon sealed beneath the earth, not really. I’ve heard of dragons hiding in mountains and rumors of heroes going to defeat them,” replied Sanctina. “But you don’t know of anyone who has seen them, right? Much less defeated them.” “I do not,” she confirmed. Shinichi’s shoulders slumped in defeat. “Oh well, let’s give up on the dragons then. We don’t even know if the Red Dragon would know anything about that time anyway, and we have to come up with a plan to deal with the church.” “I could go look for them instead if you have no time,” suggested the Demon King, his eyes sparkling with excitement. “No chance,” Shinichi shut him down immediately. If Arian’s dad is anything like the Black Dragon, then the Demon King would be no match for him… But, of course, demons were exactly the kind of meatheaded warmongers that’d be itching to fight with a matchless opponent. With that in mind, Shinichi decided it would be too risky to talk about the dragons any longer, so he turned the topic back to the church’s legends. “So humanity was pushed to the brink of destruction by a gaggle of demons or the calamity. Then what?” “For a long time, humankind lived in the world without gods, suffering along the way. But they scraped by. Then 287 years ago, the Goddess suddenly woke again—” Smack-dab in the exact center of the continent of Uropeh, there was a small village where a man named Eument lived. He worked as a woodcutter and carpenter, an honest and good young man, but it’s been said he was a commoner without any magical abilities. Then one fateful night, he woke from his slumber to find a ravishing, radiant woman standing by his bed. Eument was frozen in surprise, but the woman spoke to him with a gentle smile. “I am Elazonia, the Goddess of Light. I have awakened and descended from the heavens to save my lost children. You are their savior, destined to spread divine light to the people,” she commanded. With that, Eument was bathed in brilliant light as if the sun itself stood in his room, showing him that his late parents’ polytheistic beliefs were lies, false idols. He swore his everlasting devotion to the Goddess Elazonia, who was filled with joy and bestowed upon him great magical power and the holy symbol of the sun. That was the moment that the first follower of the Goddess was created: the first preacher, the first undying hero, and the magnificent first pope. Eument used his magic to heal the sick and injured, even to raise the dead, and to fell fearful monsters and evil men. Awed by his acts of faith, the people began to toss aside their old beliefs in local spirits and nature to praise the Goddess Elazonia instead. The number of followers multiplied right away, and the particularly skilled followers received the Goddess’s symbol from Eument to begin their work as heroes, further spreading her word. Then, in year twenty-two of the Elazonian calendar, Eument led many followers in a triumphant return to his hometown where they established the Holy City, the center of the church. With his own hands, Eument carved a statue of the Goddess from stone and placed it in his home, which later became the site of the Archbasilica, where the Goddess had descended to Obum. “—and that’s the story from the time when Elazonia descended from the heavens until the Holy City was created,” Sanctina concluded. “……” Shinichi was silent, lost in thought, as Sanctina took a deep breath and sipped some water. So it isn’t wrong to think the Goddess Elazonia “existed”… It was more realistic to think there was a paranormal entity pulling the strings than to believe an average young man suddenly developed the ability to use magic and started spreading the word of a made-up religion. Which means that the Goddess Elazonia isn’t some system or machine, but rather a single entity. And if that is true, what is her goal? While Shinichi was thinking, Rino spoke up in a voice tinged with sadness. “Everyone abandoned the original spirits and the other gods? That’s so sad…” “Tsk, the people in the church are all the scummiest scumbags! I can’t believe they’d make my sweet girl cry!” Sanctina screeched, exploding in anger. “…Should I say something?” asked Arian. “Let her be. You’ll just wear yourself out.” Celes sighed. The pair were understandably exasperated at Sanctina, ready to chuck the blame at someone else when her own past was intrinsically tied with them. Upon hearing Rino’s words, Shinichi had another question. “Speaking of, do these spirits and gods actually exist? I mean, could we meet and speak with them?” “In Tigris, there are people who believe in the mountain god, and I’ve heard of forest gods in other places, but I’ve never met any or heard of anyone else having those kinds of encounters,” Arian started. “If other gods did exist, I imagine the church would attack them, claiming they were false gods, but I don’t remember ever hearing of such a thing,” Sanctina added. “There are stories of spirits living in stones and trees in the demon world as well, but I’ve never seen one,” Rino concurred. “Well, the ghosts of the deceased often appear on battlefields,” said Celes. “Yeah, but I punch them down,” the King admitted, “since they annoy me.” “So (physical) exorcisms are effective, huh? Man, fans of horror movies would be so disappointed,” joked Shinichi. On one hand, he’d learned the stunning truth. On the other hand, there was no useful intel on whether or not spirits or gods existed based on personal accounts alone. It sounds like Earth. Do they also worship the spirits and gods that don’t materially exist? If so, why is the Goddess Elazonia the only one that “exists”? The only person who’d ever seen the Goddess was the first pope, Eument. But there certainly was something that gave him his massive magical power and something that continued to make the undying heroes. “I have one question. Heroes didn’t exist before the first pope, right?” Shinichi asked. “Correct. If what is written in the holy book is accurate, Eument was the first hero,” Sanctina confirmed. “So we can be fairly certain that the Goddess started doing things about three hundred years ago,” he guessed. If they believed that it was true she’d slept after using her powers up in a battle with the Evil God, then they could theoretically handle her in a fight. Even if she was undying like the heroes, they could potentially take her out of the picture for a long, long time. Then the system that resurrected the heroes would collapse, and they’d be able to put a stop to this nonsense and the church’s reign of terror. The only problem is whether or not the Demon King can win against the Goddess. If they considered the fact that the Goddess could resurrect people from nothing—something that even the Demon King couldn’t do—it’d be a gamble with poor odds. “I guess we have no choice but to do something about the cardinals…” “Shall I continue telling you what I know?” asked Sanctina. “Yeah, please,” Shinichi urged, pulling himself out of his spiraling thoughts and listening again to her stories. Unfortunately, the remainder of the stories were about how the various popes throughout history spread the word of the Goddess. They didn’t contain any hidden intel on Elazonia. Rino started to doze off while they were talking about the current cardinals, so they ended their strategy meeting and went off to their respective rooms to sleep.