Ch.16554. God… Are You There? (2)

The girl’s attire was relatively simple.

Her white garment, extending from below her chest to her ankles, left her upper chest completely bare, exposing her light bronze skin.

Reflexively clutching the circular bronze necklace around her neck, the girl gazed up at me for a while before suddenly dropping to her knees on the floor, as if flustered.

In that very pose.

As if shifting through time, the girl’s figure vanished.

When she reappeared, she looked slightly different.

“Have you… come?”

The difference was in her attire.

Her original clothing remained, but bronze bracelets and anklets had been added to her wrists and feet.

Additionally, she had something like a thick scarf wrapped around her shoulders and neck.

There was also something strange.

She seemed to recognize me, but that was all.

I descended and approached her, but her gaze remained fixed on the corner of the ceiling where I had been positioned.

Then again, as if time was fast-forwarding…

“You have come!”

For me, it was just an instant.

But for her, it seemed like several days had passed.

I looked around at the well-maintained idol and the well-kept room before asking.

“Can you see me?”

“Yes! I can see you clearly!”

This time, judging by her response, I might expect some interaction.

“How is it that you can see me and speak to me?”

“Well, that’s… I think it’s because I’ve been granted the qualification of a priestess…”

“Priestess?”

“Did you… not know about me?”

“……”

I pondered quietly before asking.

“Isn’t your name Heba?”

“What? That name is… no, not at all! But if the deity wishes to call me that… there must be a reason! From today, I shall call myself Heba!”

“……”

This isn’t right.

So she identified herself as Heba because of me?

Thinking about it, there seemed to be a considerable age difference between this young girl and the Heba I had seen before.

And considering the different clothing and the metal on her wrists and ankles…

“Can a priestess converse with a deity?”

“Well… isn’t that obvious?”

Her response suggested it was a strange question to ask, so I pondered for a moment.

‘She is…’

Not someone with the ability to see deities.

Nor is she someone with strong spiritual sensitivity who can recognize ghosts, spirits, demons, or specters.

Above all, I am currently peering into the past.

And if a being from the past is responding to me…

“Your ability isn’t about recognizing deities.”

“What? Then what kind of grace has been bestowed upon me?”

“……”

Grace, she says.

“You can probably see the future.”

“M-me? The future?”

“Yes.”

And a distant one at that.

A future far, far away.

But whether glimpsing such a distant future would have a positive impact on her in this era… honestly, I’m not sure.

“Excuse me for interrupting, but… is that why?”

“……”

“Ah, well… I’ve strangely been able to predict what will happen to others from time to time. But the future… Could it be! Have you bestowed such grace upon me?!”

“……”

It would be a lie to say yes, but is there a need to clarify the truth here?

Is it right for her to treat me as a deity? Is there any element worth exploiting?

“I am a being from a distant future. I’m not the deity you know. Though I am in a position to deal with those entities.”

“You deal with deities?!”

She’s incredibly surprised.

“Then perhaps, are you a divine human? Or a demigod?”

“……”

Before that, I became curious about something else.

“Who do you worship as the chief deity and sky god in your era?”

“Have you heard of Asalluhi? Bel Marduk. The great son of the sun who killed the evil dragon Tiamat, who tried to destroy the gods, and created the world we live in from its body. The representative of Enlil.”

But to me, his name sounded different.

Amar Utu (𒀭𒀫𒌓)

Son of the Sun.

An expression that can also be interpreted as the Sun’s Calf.

And Tiamat, called the evil dragon, was originally the goddess of the sea.

To defeat the sea goddess, Amar Utu… Marduk…

“Are you alright?!”

“…Ah.”

Just as something was about to surface in my mind, my face contorted with nausea and a bone-crushing pain.

The distraction broke my concentration, bringing me back to the present.

The splendid idol, the impressive large bed, and the pond-like fountain had all vanished.

This place was truly a ruin.

“Do you know who Marduk is?”

-…The chief deity worshipped by those who collapsed the Lute religion.

Lute religion?

“A monotheistic faith that preceded the Irenis Church, worshipping the master and father of the heavens. I know that the origin of the Tetragrammaton, meaning the four letters that cannot be spoken, came from there.”

-Because you classify the Lute religion as another heresy.

“…They contributed to the fall of the Great Vera Empire, and joining forces with the Demon King’s army… they not only erased Vera from the map but also brought calamity to that land.”

That’s why even now, most of that peninsula remains a dead zone where life cannot exist.

Yet the Lute religion isn’t persecuted, at least within the Empire, because their activities are virtually non-existent.

They have essentially abandoned public activities and continue their religious influence secretly and covertly.

“The god they believe in was called Yahweh, right?”

-Actually, that’s an incorrect expression, but it’s not important, so let it be.

“……?”

Anyway.

“But it’s strange. Wasn’t this place where the fire giants dwelled?”

-That’s what we need to find out now. This time, ask properly.

Nodding, I delved back into the past.

“My deity! You’ve finally come!”

She seemed a bit taller than before.

“When did you last see me?”

“It’s been at least 100 days! And… let me guess! You are Namtar, the messenger who governs fate and traverses the afterlife! The guide of death! I apologize for judging by appearances, but you look quite convincing…”

“……”

“Oh, am I wrong? Then perhaps… Nergal? Era? Eragal?”

“……”

Inadvertently, I glanced at the Demon King, who shrugged her shoulders.

“Or are you a hidden deity we don’t know about?”

“Is that important?”

More importantly, these people seem to have no hesitation in calling the names of deities.

We were taught to mention Irenis but never to dare mention the Father, the Heaven Lord, or the name of the Lord.

“Actually, you see. I am a priestess of Namtar. That idol over there was erected to honor him…”

The idol and my appearance were completely different.

I am young, but that has a heavy middle-aged appearance with a thick beard and the hair condition is… no.

“Everyone believes I can see the future because I received grace from the deity of fate. I’ve been using that to help many people.”

“In what way?”

“I mainly share what I’ve seen with many people. How cities will be established in the future, or that there will be wingless birds flying in the sky and carriages with wheels that roll by themselves. Things like that.”

“……”

That makes me curious too.

“May I take a look?”

Even as I said it, I wondered if it was possible.

I’m already spying on the past, and from there, to peek into the past of a specific person?

“Of course, by all means.”

“…Excuse me.”

Thinking it was worth a try, I placed my hand on her head.

Though fragmentary, I could vaguely see something.

A massive bird… or so it seems, but its wings don’t flap.

Some kind of iron box with four wheels moves by itself.

Something long like a snake… no, more like a centipede.

Anyway, it runs on a strangely constructed road, spewing smoke.

It was dim and vague, so I couldn’t make it out clearly.

But that centipede-like elongated structure, with wheels that pulsate and move on their own.

Eventually, it disappears into a tunnel, as if being sucked into massive structures that fill the sky with black smoke.

“I saw it well.”

“Really?”

“Yes. As you said, a huge iron bird that doesn’t flap its wings. Though it’s more like a ship than a bird.”

I had heard that magicians tried to lift ships into the sky to cut through the heavens as they cut through the seas, but I had never seen it myself.

However.

Even the magicians who wanted to become rulers of the sky, even their masterpieces completed through arduous efforts.

This, I instinctively sensed, was a culmination of far more advanced and futuristic technology that would make such masterpieces look shabby.

Naturally, what was impressive and excellent wasn’t immediately important to me.

Instead, curiosity arose.

Does our future become so brilliant?

However, the world being covered in black smoke reminded me somewhat of the part of the demon realm that the Demon King had vaguely shown me, which was a bit concerning.

“What you’ve seen would be far in the future even for me.”

“Really?!”

“Yes.”

Is that so surprising?

“You must be looking forward to it. After all, you’ll be able to see it someday.”

“……”

“I suppose it’s impossible for me?”

Why does she ask as if she’s hoping?

Moreover, if you’re a giant race, you should be immortal, so why do you assume it’s impossible?

“Aren’t you of the giant race?”

“Giant race?”

“The Eldjötnar.”

“……”

At those words, the girl tilted her head.

“I don’t understand what you’re saying at all. Why would we be… giants?”

====

“It’s giving me a headache.”

[Why, what is?]

Catching my muttered words meant for the Demon King, the familiar hopped over towards me.

“Peering into the past, it seems they had no awareness of being giants themselves.”

[Is that so?]

I explained part of the information I had obtained from Zora.

[You mean Marduk?]

“You know the name?”

[I learned it while researching Lute mythology. The arch-enemy who destroyed the holy sites and temples of the Lute religion, the ancestral bloodline of the great ruler who established an empire in the desert. The supreme deity they worshipped at that time was Marduk.]

And he is…

[Zeus, the sky god of Krik. For Vera, it would be Jupiter.]

“…They’re connected like that?”

[All religions have always assimilated and absorbed the past to achieve unification. Also, depending on the creatures who worship them and their nations, the faith, mythology, and the existence of gods have undergone changes.]

Zora let out a small laugh.

[In that sense, the Irenis Church is like a mutation in the world of faith. Though it’s based on the Lute religion… in the Lute religion, Irenis isn’t considered a savior… or both the Heaven Lord and his only begotten son.]

He was a prophesied figure, but that wasn’t Irenis.

If it were Irenis.

Those who led to his death would have killed, denounced, and blasphemed their own savior and redeemer, their god.

The moment they acknowledge that, the Lute religion would collapse.

So they don’t acknowledge it.

He was neither a savior nor a redeemer.

Just one of many false prophets.

[We’ll talk about that later. So… if they’re not giants? Then what are they?]

“…Perhaps a race or ethnicity that dwelled in this area.”

However, something the Demon King had said bothered me.

In the era when the one-eyed great magic deity ruled as the supreme god in that distant place.

However, they faced their doom, Ragnarok, as prophesied.

For some reason, that one-eyed great magic deity is said to be the same as the son of Zeus.

Also, in some distant world, he’s known as another god of wisdom.

Athena, the great goddess of wisdom and war in Krik, the most versatile of all goddesses, is now even called the demon Astarte.

Or Asdar, referred to as a male demon rather than a female one.

Then a curious point came to mind.

“But why is the goddess of wisdom Athena classified as a demon, while the sky god Zeus… is not?”

[I told you before, didn’t I? The Irenis Church absorbs what’s good. The Heaven Lord, the Father in Heaven, the Lord. I said these were terms used to refer to Zeus.]

“So that means…”

[The sky god Zeus was absorbed as a positive aspect into the Irenis doctrine.]

However, in the world, Zeus and the Heaven Lord are considered separate.

[If they were to worship Zeus directly, they’d have to follow the Zeus faith doctrine, right? But that would be quite different from the teachings of the Irenis Church.]

Zeus is also called the god of love, justice, and fairness.

…But there’s a significant gap between that and the foundation of unconditional love in the Irenis Church.

“……”

But.

I clearly conversed with Zeus.

He stated that he wasn’t Zeus but aimed to succeed him, which somewhat alleviated my doubts.

Still, there were many questions.

“Alright, I understand.”

Let’s revisit the past once more.

Perhaps.

The past I’m examining might be something different from what I expected.

-Remember. The role of the World Tree. Being an observer but also a guardian.

The Demon King added.

“I know.”

I agreed without any particular resistance.

I didn’t need to be told; that part had just occurred to me.