Ch.9595. Evil God Conference – Aftermath

Naturally, the negotiation was about the distribution of districts in the capital city that hadn’t been decided earlier.

“Before we begin, let’s change our seating arrangement.”

Since this pillar-filled space wasn’t particularly suitable for negotiations, I created a conference room between us with a round table and two empty thrones.

“And let’s change to more comfortable forms as well.”

To sit on the throne I had prepared, I changed my appearance from a flying skull to an elderly priest in a red robe before plopping down on the seat.

“Very well.”

To my surprise, Magica, the Evil God of Conspiracy, also changed her form.

*Magica, Evil God of Conspiracy

Among the many forms Magica takes, this is commonly called her “magical girl form.”

Transformed into a blue witch, sh…e sat down without hesitation.

“Now then, Evil God of Conspiracy. You’re after the divine authority of magic, aren’t you?”

“…What do you mean by that?”

As soon as sh…e sat down, I casually mentioned Magica’s objective.

In the original work, the Evil God of Conspiracy Magica is referred to as the god of conspiracy and ‘magic.’

But since the divine authority of magic is currently 100% held by the goddess Anat of the pantheon, it’s almost certain that she will eventually kill Anat and obtain that divine authority.

However, being the Evil God of Conspiracy and Schemes, she wouldn’t leak such important information, so the fact that I know this information is incomprehensible by normal common sense.

Therefore, having precisely caught her slightly shaken expression, I decided to press her before she could regain her composure and judgment.

The asymmetry of information that comes with being a possessor is certainly advantageous, but still, I can’t match the cunning of the ‘real’ ones.

In a normal situation without variables, where everything proceeds as originally intended, it would be impossible to gain any advantage in negotiations with the Evil God of Conspiracy.

“Well, let’s leave it at that. So, I’m sure you’ve already figured it out?”

“…Tch. I understand. Then you must be after the divine authority of ‘Judgment.’ Am I wrong?”

“Correct, Evil God of Conspiracy.”

Thanks to becoming a god, the speed of my thinking has reached a different dimension, but it’s still clearly inferior to that of the Evil God of Conspiracy. So I desperately continued the negotiation while playing the character of a ‘mastermind who knows many things.’

“You want the power of magic, and I want judgment. But the academies where you need to conduct operations to obtain the divine authority of magic have my influence deeply rooted—”

“While in the judicial and administrative districts where you need to operate to obtain the divine authority of judgment, conspiracy and schemes are more powerful than anything else… I see.”

That’s right. Currently, the research district and academies have my Red Flavor influence deeply rooted in them, making them places where infiltration would require dealing with not only the existing powers but also my interference.

On the other hand, the judicial and administrative districts of Justitia-Astraea, the Goddess of Judgment, are extremely complex due to their intricate political currents and thoroughly corrupt structure, making them difficult to control without someone like her who can secretly infiltrate and establish conspiracies.

So, I proposed this.

Since our desired divine authorities happen to be crossed, why not join hands and cooperate until each of us obtains what we want?

The ownership of divine authority is connected by a kind of fateful causality, so it can be trusted, and betrayal would only harm both sides, making it a win-win situation.

Of course, as anyone with cold reason and insight would realize, this exchange actually puts the Evil God of Conspiracy Magica at a relative disadvantage.

To be frank, I just need to continue doing what I’ve been doing, whereas Magica has to stick her head into that hellish mess.

Perhaps due to the negligence of Justitia-Astraea, the guardian deity of the judicial and administrative districts, who failed to properly manage the quality of internal personnel.

It’s even dirtier than the commercial district ruled by the filthy capitalists, requiring Magica to exert her maximum effort despite being one of the world’s most cunning minds.

And if you’ve understood this far, you’ve probably figured out why I proposed this contract.

In short, my goal was to prevent this variable-filled Evil God from causing trouble.

Like how she infiltrated the church with a doppelganger before, if she confirms that I know information that shouldn’t be known through normal means, she’ll inevitably try all sorts of schemes to dig into it.

Of course, due to practical limitations, there are limits to what operations she can carry out, so I could probably block most of her schemes, but…

Frankly, it’s annoying. Extremely annoying. I already have a lot to do lately, and it’s too bothersome to worry about counterintelligence activities on top of that.

That’s why I used my military superiority and information asymmetry to hide my political weakness and made an “offer she couldn’t refuse.”

Again, the Evil God of Conspiracy Magica is currently overestimating me, but given her cunning, she’ll probably realize the truth once she has time to cool her head.

So, this was my only chance.

“Then, let’s make a contract. A soul contract that can never be broken.”

“…Very well.”

A soul contract that uses our souls as collateral, where if broken, partial ownership of the soul transfers to the other party.

With that, I formed a relationship of mutual assistance with the Evil God of Conspiracy… I suppose?

※ ※ ※

After returning from barely succeeding in the negotiation by employing all manner of deception and lies.

‘Ah… my head hurts.’

Despite having no reason to feel pain, I was complaining about the distinct headache-like sensation.

Along with the impression that such political actions like negotiations really don’t suit me.

But impressions are just impressions, and they shouldn’t affect reality.

So, despite having just returned to my divine territory, I was about to start working again when I suddenly remembered the soul of the god I had killed earlier and decided to deal with it first.

‘Ah. Come to think of it… I still have this?’

Having been so preoccupied with the negotiation, I had completely forgotten about the soul and divine authority of that beef… the Minotaur god.

‘Hmm… a Minotaur god.’

Upon examining its soul, I found that this god… goddess was both the racial deity of minotaurs and a god of war.

Searching through my memories, I recall that the wiki mentioned the war god of minotaurs being a goddess, so she must be one of those deities that only gets a single line in the original work.

Anyway, regardless of her lack of presence (not even having her real name written in the wiki), the divine authorities she possessed were quite substantial.

As befitting a racial deity, she had 10% Minotaur, 0.5% Bull, and 1.2% Cow divine authorities. Additionally, as a war god, she had 0.7% War and even 0.2% Violence divine authorities.

Divine authorities that overlapped with what I already had weren’t particularly burdensome, so I could easily absorb them.

Ma-Duk

Race :: God

Type :: Personality-based Thought Complex

Occupation :: Evil God (Medium)

Stats

Divinity :: High

Divine Authority :: Medium

Faith :: Medium

Interference Level :: High

Believers :: 39823

Souls (Believers) :: 65211

Souls (Sinners) :: 29343

Divine Authorities

Revenge: 100% (Medium) Vampire: 100% (Medium) Blood: 87.1% (Medium) Violence: 78.5% (Medium) Rage: 76.9% (Medium) Wolf: 41.7% (Medium) Bear: 11.3% (Low) War: 11.9% (Low) Bull: 6.6% (Low) Boar: 1.2% (Low)

Skills

Divine Eye (Medium), Bestow Blessing (Medium), Bestow Divine Magic (Medium), Divine Punishment (Medium), Bestow Miracle (Medium), Create Divine Artifact (2/3), Designate Apostle (2/3)

But the problem came next.

The 10% Minotaur divine authority and the 1.2% Cow divine authority were like a chicken rib—too good to throw away but not meaty enough to eat.

Considering the value of divine authorities, it would be a waste to just give them up, but…

I was reluctant to fill a divine authority slot with them, yet when I thought about the Minotaur divine authority, it didn’t seem like a bad idea.

So while I was contemplating what to do with these two remaining divine authorities…

‘…Huh?’

Suddenly, my eyes fell upon the gigantic angel-giant resting in the field—Ugo the minotaur who had been active in Vulcanus’s industrial city.