Ch.290Horn of Plenty. Irshem (4)

“Long live our Emperor!”

Donald and the nine other apostles knelt before the incarnate deity.

Now they would become the first servants of the Victorian Empire and, furthermore, the forerunners of humanity who would illuminate this world.

“Your loyalty is commendable. When I complete my pilgrimage, an empire shall once again be established in this world. That day draws near, so prepare yourselves to transform the world. The day when humanity will once again shed blood under the sun is not far off.”

“Then, how should we prepare?”

“Plant agents in Faerun, Miriam, Meridia, and Yenisei. These four continents must be instilled with loyalty to the Victorian Empire. Though I have passed through these continents before, I was merely a mortal commoner who had not yet received the call, and thus they have not heard the gospel of the sun. Show them that an empire will rise again in this world.”

“We shall obey your command.”

The apostles bowed their heads, and Simon, standing beside Victor, drew a deep breath.

It was difficult to breathe. The overwhelming divinity emanating from the apostles made him feel as if his very existence might be erased.

Was Victor truly stronger than all these apostles combined—apostles whose mere presence could erase humans? Simon found this very difficult to accept.

He knew Victor’s origins. Even as a mortal, he had directly and indirectly killed hundreds of thousands, a man of tremendous ability. After receiving the sun’s call and becoming a Knight of Fervor, he had displayed overwhelming might wherever he went, slaughtering his enemies.

And now… having literally become the sun and then fallen back to be resurrected in physical form, how powerful must he be?

Even as an apostle, at the cost of his ascension, he had been strong enough to burn to death dozens of dark gods. Now, as a deity with physical form, Victor might truly be stronger than anyone else in this world.

“Besides you, there are others who follow my commands.”

“Do you mean Turianic?”

“You’re quick-witted. Yes, they are my servants too. The expansion of influence through orichalcum… you who serve prosperity and abundance understand what that means.”

“Indeed.”

“Go forth and execute my will and hers. I tell you this: even after the sun has gone dark, the Four will still be worshipped as gods.”

The Four are the Four.

The Four Great Gods ascended because people wanted it. The empire ultimately fell because it refused to acknowledge this, and Victor had no intention of repeating that mistake.

This was the fundamental difference from the Nariakiran Empire.

The Nariakiran Empire, which recognized only the sun and moon as legitimate deities, suffered a critical blow to its 300,000-year-old doctrine of “mortals cannot ascend” when mortals did indeed ascend to godhood. This completely undermined the legitimacy of their rule and ideological superiority, delivering a fatal blow to an empire already weakened by the imperial family’s escalating tyranny.

But the Victorian Empire was different. The world was already ruled by the Four.

Though the sun was more powerful than them, this was due to the sun’s unique nature. Fundamentally, it did not align with the Victorian Empire’s national policy of ending the age of the sun and ushering in the age of lanterns.

Moreover, the Four Great Gods symbolized human nature: Struggle, Prosperity, Knowledge, and Happiness… How could humanity be called humanity without these four elements? They would likely degenerate into something worse than animals.

The sun symbolized “civilization”—more precisely, justice and rule of law in civilized society.

The Four symbolized “instinct.” The desire to fight and win against others. The desire to learn more. The desire to enjoy more. The desire to live happier and more pleasantly… These were the inherent desires of intelligent beings that should never be severed and could never be severed.

With only the Four, the world would revert to lawlessness and a state of all against all. With only the sun, humanity would live powerlessly, castrated of all instincts, merely existing.

Victor briefly gazed at the sun hanging in the sky, then turned and returned to the Sky Warden.

Someday, that sun in the sky would descend, and the lighthouses built by humanity would illuminate the clouds in the sky, the vegetation-covered land, and the deep, deep sea.

But that time was not now. Perhaps only after an immeasurable amount of time had passed since the founding of the empire would the lights of the lighthouses begin to illuminate the world.

Until then, Victor’s avatar would have to suffer up there in the sky.

*

When Victor and the Iron Walker party returned to the Sky Warden, the council members moved quickly.

Though they had sworn allegiance to the empire, that was only the story of the ten. It didn’t mean that other apostles of abundance had joined.

While apostles were beings granted divinity, they were not gods themselves. Of course, Victor was a true god, but that was too exceptional a case to consider.

“How will the other apostles view us?”

“They’ll either join or resist. But resistance would be futile. You saw how powerful he is, didn’t you?”

Donald nodded. A god descended to earth… that was Victor, and though classified as an apostle for convenience, he was so powerful that other apostles would say, “How can that be an apostle?”

Just as a teacher doesn’t become a student by being in a classroom with students.

“The scale is truly grand. Thirteen lighthouses…?”

“They’d need to be at least 10,000 km tall to cover entire continents. And the volume and size… my goodness… all the metals in the world wouldn’t be enough…”

“Still, with Turianic Industries’ help, we can secure a fair amount of materials. Since we can use orichalcum freely, it might be easier than we think.”

“Easier than we think, yes…”

The continents are vast, and a world of thirteen continents is enormous. To build lighthouses that illuminate the islands and oceans between continents, and even the outer seas beyond the continents, would require tens of thousands of years and resources equivalent to overturning entire continents.

Even if the resource gap could somehow be filled using ancient technology, there was no way to reduce the time and labor required.

Lighthouses incorporating technology capable of replacing the brightness of the sun couldn’t be built by unskilled dock workers… They would need to conscript highly educated individuals, which would provoke tremendous global resistance.

Victor knew this, which is why he had looked at the sun with such a complex expression.

Humanity still needed the sun’s care.

*

“Haaah…”

Victor lay on the bed in the captain’s quarters and clenched his fist.

His hand began to glow white-hot, and soon the room was filled with brilliant white light.

“…”

When he withdrew his power, his hand remained intact. His skin, hardened like oak bark thanks to the enhancement implants he had received. His wife gently caressed it and kissed him.

“I love you, my lord.”

“Yes… me too.”

Victor knew well that he was not an apostle but an incarnate deity.

Perhaps that was why his faith in Saburo had almost disappeared.

Rather than the relationship between a believer and a god, it was more like that between a monarch and subject who shared the same beliefs… Victor knew very well the cause of this strange state where faith had been replaced by loyalty.

Divine nature.

Victor had now become a living god.

He had reached the stage where he was self-validating—a god with physical form.

If he ascended to the imperial throne, he would receive the loyalty and adoration of all people, and would ascend as the seventh god, connecting the Four and the Two.

Though the number 7 being lucky was a custom passed down from the Old Earth era, Victor didn’t particularly view it positively.

Gods are not human. Therefore, they need no personality.

Gods belong to all people. Therefore, they need no love.

Victor knew his state could not last forever.

Unstable things eventually “stabilize” into a stable state, and that stable state doesn’t necessarily mean something positive for humans.

“Damn it…”

He clenched his fist tightly and stared at the sealed ceiling. As it reflected his own state of mind, Victor sighed.

He had to become emperor.

Not that he could become one, not that he wanted to become one, but that he had to become one.

His adventure had reached the point where he sustained himself, and now his life, purpose, and even his identity had become part of his adventure.

The moment he stopped his adventure, Victor would collapse. Not because of his beliefs or ideology, but because of the weight of the burden he carried.

Just as bipedal walking is an endless repetition of falling forward, Victor had to imagine himself happy.