Ch.165011 Investigation Record – An Unexpected Opportunity (5)

I received the money and immediately grabbed the unworshipped god who had turned away without hesitation. Since I’d met him, it would be better to interview him. Though we couldn’t truly communicate, we could at least exchange words.

“Ah, um, excuse me! Wait a moment! Could I interview you? I mentioned I’m a reporter, remember!”

At the word “interview,” he turned around. Though he didn’t fully understand what an interview was, he seemed to have his own interpretation.

Even in the darkness of the alley, his eyes shone golden. Despite appearing as a vagrant with wildly overgrown hair and beard, his body was so muscular that it would make an ogre look ridiculous, without an ounce of fat. A god is a god.

“You wish to know, warrior! Then do not worship me. I breathe in this land through the power of documents only because I made such an agreement with the God-President. And, does this ‘interview’ thing make money? People buy and sell all sorts of things these days. Stacking up proclamation-like things and selling them.”

Was it possible to be so thoroughly ignorant of the modern world? He seemed to have his own definitions for most words. He appeared to be someone who didn’t care about others’ opinions in the slightest.

“If you’re talking about newspapers, that’s what I write? And about money… it’s proper etiquette to treat you to a meal, but I don’t usually pay for information. An interview is just an interview.”

“So the God-President doesn’t write those? Hmm, he must be getting old. I thought the omniscient and omnipotent one wrote everything down on paper.”

He seemed to be acquainted with the God-President. Only fellow gods could properly see the God-President’s face. He, who hadn’t taken human form, appeared as a silhouette.

It was a silhouette resembling a human. Or perhaps humans had come to resemble that silhouette. The fact that there was no discomfort when talking about him was itself a mark of divinity. People generally found it burdensome.

“The God-President barely intervenes in people’s lives, you know? He gives good speeches when speeches are needed. Do you know something about him?”

The vagrant god stroked his beard and shook his head as if to say he didn’t know. I would have been more surprised if he had been a useful interviewee.

“How would I know, little elf? I’m just a vagrant in this city. This is all the intact power I have left.”

He cackled self-deprecatingly and pulled out a dirty leather scabbard from his right hip. Though the age of swords and magic had long passed, a sword suited him.

In contrast to the dirty scabbard, the sword inside gleamed. It was a blade just over two feet long, but it looked almost like a dagger in his massive frame. For an elf, that would be a longsword.

Something was engraved on the blade. All I could tell was that it wasn’t in English. A warm light flowed from within those engravings. The sword somehow resembled Hexenbane.

The fact that it resembled the holy sword created in the name of the God-President was another proof that he was a god. Since he looked nothing like a god, being a huge man, I needed to constantly find evidence of his divinity.

The unworshipped god sighed deeply. As if dissatisfied with something, he jabbed the air a few times with his sword hand. Sighing, he put the sword back.

“But these days, everyone just carries guns. They used to call archers cowards, but at least archery required muscles to draw the bow… Where is a warrior’s value in guns? If you were a war god, you’d say something similar. Still, at least there was the Great War! A battlefield that created heroes!”

He smiled only when talking about the Great War. As far as I knew, this unworshipped god was the only person who smiled while talking about the Great War. I felt I had to say something.

After hearing the detective’s story, the words “war” and “honor” had grown distant in my mind. The gap between them had widened enough to fit all other words I knew.

“The Great War was…”

He was still a god with whom dialogue wasn’t possible. Only language was shared.

“Don’t speak like the cowards, warrior! Humans grow through struggle. Wounds from struggle will heal. Don’t the survivors become tempered like steel! Some advance toward the future through struggle. Isn’t that right? You smell like a warrior. Aren’t you here now because you smashed whatever stood in your way? Hmm?”

Though he was a god with whom dialogue wasn’t possible, he constantly sought understanding. I agreed with his words. And simultaneously disagreed. The ratio was about fifty-fifty.

“I don’t know what you mean by smell… but yes, I fought to get here. I fought with my father, and I fought with people who told lies. But is fighting so important? I think what you fight for matters more. What will you do after you fight and win?”

I didn’t feel I had grown when my father was arrested after our fight. Not when I shot him. It was when I listened to the detective and remembered my father, speaking of love.

Becoming better at fighting felt more frightening than rewarding. Sometimes an unpleasant tremor would wrap around my body, wondering if I might become someone like my father. Blood seemed impossible to hide.

And I could somewhat guess what he would say. He would surely say he would look for the next fight. And as expected:

“Of course I’ll find the next opponent. Having defeated this opponent and grown, I’ll go see the next opponent I can defeat. It’s repetition. But isn’t repetition moving forward like a wheel!”

“It might be a wheel, but isn’t it a hamster wheel? Whatever you gain from that fight, you’ll only use it for another fight, so what’s the meaning, whether you’ve grown or not? You’ll just end up fighting again.”

I was prepared for some harsh words since I had directly challenged his domain, but he just laughed heartily. This only confirmed that he was not a modern god.

“You charge straight ahead! Not many elves are this brave. Believe what you want to believe. Either way, aren’t you someone forged through battle? That’s enough.”

It seemed he didn’t care as long as I didn’t deny that fact. I didn’t know much else, but it would be better to prevent this god from meeting the detective.

The two were complete opposites. They would surely clash. How hard, how forcefully they would clash was unknown, so it was better to keep them apart.

Even after leaving the factory area, he remained both a god and a vagrant. People frowned at him, but when he approached, they easily recognized that he was an unworshipped god.

Keeping my promise to buy him a meal wasn’t difficult. Though restaurants probably wouldn’t accept him, cafes with outdoor seating wouldn’t turn away customers.

We entered a cafe near a visible police station. It was famous for its shrimp sandwiches, so I ordered one elf-sized sandwich and one ogre-sized sandwich for him, then took out my notebook.

“I need to hear more, at least until the food arrives. So… what’s it like living as an unworshipped god? To us… you’re somewhat revered. Gods who gave up worship to live among people. I’m curious if you feel the same way.”

Sol Invictus stroked his beard again. As he stroked his long beard, he tapped the cafe table with his large hand and spoke.

“Giving up worship? Aren’t you thinking too positively? Not many unworshipped gods gave it up willingly. Worship was already nearly cut off, barely clinging to life, when the God-President picked us up for whatever reason. When The Morrígan came over, there was a great famine, and I had been disconnected for a long time. We’re all just looking for ways to survive.”

His golden eyes blazed. It wasn’t like feeling the burning emotions when looking into the detective’s eyes. Literally, his two eyes burned with flames. They began to emit a deep yellow light like angels.

This god clearly harbored resentment about not being worshipped. Long-dead desires raise their heads again when life becomes comfortable. Was this that moment?

I thought it might be good to report this to the Divine Security Bureau, but what I knew, people directly under the God-President surely knew as well. I believed they were watching from somewhere even now.

Sol Invictus blinked a couple of times, extinguishing the fire in his eyes like covering a candle. His voice, which had momentarily turned fierce, returned to its listless tone.

“Still, I can’t fight the God-President. I’m a god of war, not a god of dying like a dog. So I must adapt and live somehow. I’m thinking of taking a trip, so don’t worry, little elf. It would be nice to find something that could change my life.”

Perhaps such listlessness was preventing him from doing something dangerous. The shrimp sandwiches hadn’t arrived yet, so I asked something I’d been curious about.

“But you keep saying you’re a god of war… yet what I mostly see is flame? Your eyes are golden, and they were even on fire just now. Oh, and there was a smell like sunlight-dried blankets too.”

He raised his hand and sniffed his wrist. Perhaps he noticed it himself, as the ominous aura from earlier vanished completely, and he laughed heartily.

It was a very good sign, except for the stares from around us. People knew that unworshipped gods had at least one strange aspect to them, to put it directly.

“What a childish way of expression. Well, I was also a sun god. Then I became a war god. That’s all. As for this side of things…”

He seemed about to say he didn’t want to talk about it, but timely enough, the two sandwiches arrived. I was a bit worried, but he ate neatly.

Thanks to his large mouth, the ogre-sized sandwich disappeared in three bites. After wiping his mouth with the brown paper wrapper, he placed it on the table. He was the first person I’d met who finished his food faster than an elf, who naturally ate small portions.

For the first time, I tried to eat quickly, devouring a sandwich that wouldn’t even be a single bite for him, and continued the interview. I still had much to say.

“Hmm, then moving away from divine topics… ah, first, you’re aware that you don’t fit well with the current era, right?”

At those words, the vagrant god raised his arm as if showing off his muscles. His forearm was as thick as my waist. Judging by the thickness of his muscles, it might have been thicker than my waist.

“Of course. I come from an age of heroes and wars, not factories and workers. And it’s not that a war god became unsuited to the times. How can I help it if the times don’t follow behind me?”

It was something only gods could say, and a confidence only gods could show. That temperament of pouring out everything he wanted to say was something modern people lacked.

If he was the sun, I wanted to steal a piece of his flame to show people, so I asked this confident god:

“And you seem quite dissatisfied with this golden age of jazz. Maybe if you could share some of your good qualities with people, things might change a bit. Is there anything you’d like to say?”

Only then did he make a somewhat god-like expression. He wore the expression of a being who knows more than humans and thus contemplates and gives advice. After a delay, he opened his mouth.

“I’m not good with words. I was a god of war, not a god of speech. Still, fight. Take on any opponent. If you’re growing old, grab time by the collar; if you’re in despair, grab that despair by the collar and face it. Though I’m not friends with the God-President, I do like his saying that struggle for life is always right. So I can say the same.”

He was a god of struggle. Though he knew no darkness, like the sun, I who said he knew no darkness hadn’t experienced much darkness either.

At most, turning my father and family into enemies, or having my life threatened by the mafia… Actually, I have experienced those. Yes, I’ve experienced quite a bit of this era’s darkness.

If it helped me, it could help others too. After recording his words, I picked up my camera. Since he didn’t seem to understand cameras, I had to explain for quite a while.

He was thoroughly ignorant of everything except struggle. It’s almost a divine privilege to be interested only in what interests you and to know only what you want to know.

Anyway, I gathered mana at my fingertips again. I made it flow through the circuits and took a picture of Sol Invictus sitting in the cafe chair. His golden eyes weren’t captured in the black and white photo.

Being able to see those burning golden eyes was a privilege of those who saw him in person. Fortunately, I could at least write an article about meeting an unworshipped god.

“Was it captured with that flash? Such light would only leave shadows. Let me see, I’m curious.”

“Ah, well, it needs to be developed, so I can’t show you right now…”

He was truly, truly ignorant of everything except struggle. Even the knowledge he had of his own era was probably due to the efforts of those who once worshipped him.

“You’re stalling. That’s how everything is in this era. Anyway, I’ll be traveling all across America, so recommend some places. I’ll visit them.”

Unfortunately, I didn’t know many places. I couldn’t introduce my Texas hometown that I could no longer return to, so there were only two places left.

“Ah, Pennsylvania seemed like a good place to both live and visit. A great demon called Gremory is working incredibly hard to make it a good place to live. And if you have time, how about crossing the continent all the way to the Emperor’s Realm of San Francisco? That’s a place I’d like to visit, but I don’t have a good way to get there right now.”

So, this incident… should I say that I was able to meet an unworshipped god who was once a sun god and war god because James Harding, a reporter from the same social affairs department, was a good father who cared about his child?

It was somehow a funny coincidence. Not amusing, but the result was refreshing.