episode_0005

I wasn’t their god, but I guess I liked it.

A man named Hieronymus took me to a stone chair, had me sit down, and bowed his head as if our answer had come down to us.

The surrounding pagans, who had been wandering around, also followed suit and bowed down.

Since I can’t see their faces when they bow, I can’t tell what they’re thinking. Still, I licked the boy and girl with the ridiculous title of Warrior of Faith, and I was able to get a rough idea of what was going on around them.

I got warmth from the corpse below, but it had already cooled down so much that I didn’t have a proper memory of it even though it was warm.

When I watch a video, it keeps cutting out a lot because it doesn’t load properly, and it teleports at some points. Something happens every 10 seconds, and it’s impossible to watch and understand the context.

So it just had warmth.

But these two were different.

From their memories I barely knew the name of this pagan.

Future Hope Church.

It’s an easy name to understand. It’s closer to a pseudo-religion created for personal use rather than a pagan religion that believes in a specific god.

Originally, it was said that as a pseudo-religion developed, it separated the god it believed in from its leader. In other words, the leader gained the most important thing from the president of the cult.

Because if you focus on the leader, the cult can easily be swayed by the leader. The cult also has what is commonly called owner risk.

However, if you separate the object of belief and the object of acquisition, it will be convenient later on. Just like when passing down a cult from generation to generation.

Here, they have inherited the god of a pseudo-religion from an unknown phenomenon and have been acquiring believers.

They demand excessive amounts of money, give exaggerated preaching that makes it impossible for people to function in society, and break people’s self-reliance through repeated failures.

Once you are labeled as a member of a cult, it is impossible to go out. And hiding your face with a mask is also effective.

It prevents the creation of horizontal relationships among believers. Relationships are only effective when they are from the top down.

They mentally harass you, isolate you from others, and make you look up to those above you.

It’s exactly the same type of job as a torture technician.

I don’t like it.

If you cut it like that, the light loses its warmth.

From my experience licking the light so far, when hope is high, the light has a warmth close to heat. How can I make that higher?

Even if they are covered with a sheet or wearing a mask, if their gaze is directed here, I can see all of their facial expressions.

About half of them are dissatisfied. But this man named Hieronymus has such strong charisma that he doesn’t show it outwardly.

He must be a competent person, right?

I wonder how this guy will use the abilities I have.

You will have more specialized knowledge and knowledge than someone with superficial knowledge like me. Based on that, you will be able to make a more detailed plan.

Of course, I thought about putting my power directly into this person, but that wasn’t it.

The goose that lays golden eggs must be nurtured with patience, not by cutting open its belly.

I follow Hieronymus quietly.

Jerome tells a shallow lie that our Savior has come, along with the fact that the ceremony is over. He calmly tells a lie that even he himself does not believe.

So, there aren’t many people who get fooled.

The ultimate goal of a liar is to believe his own lies, but we’re not there yet.

He took me to a place the warrior of faith did not know about.

Warrior of faith.

I looked over it carefully as I passed by.

I never thought I would get to experience firsthand the warriors of a certain religion who would risk their lives for their gods, but it was much warmer than I thought.

It’s going to be warm from now on!

I still feel the chill in my core, but if I can get some more warmth, I can get rid of this chill a little.

So I wasn’t at all surprised when Jerome took me to a room in the middle of the dungeon.

“Rebecca Rolf. Are you sure you want to use that name?”

“A name is needed to refer to an object.”

“God thought names were important.”

Does the name matter?

Is that so? I don’t know. The major religions I know of have verses that say not to use names carelessly, and there are many religions that talk about names having power and other various settings.

so

“I’m not a god. I’m just colder than other people, and I need warmth. I don’t need anything else.”

You don’t even need a name. I just took the name of this body because it would be uncomfortable to call it by a pronoun. It’s a lot different from when you lick the light, but you can recall memories from your brain.

Then you should write it well.

emotion?

You may think that the person in front of you is repulsive and scary, but that is nothing compared to the cold.

So it’s the same as not existing.

“So, Hieronymus, you want to act like a god?”

Before that, I wanted to decide what to do next, so I asked Jerome a question. He thought for a while and then opened his mouth.

“No. You already revealed your name. Now, you shouldn’t call me Mr. Ksax. If you do that, no one will believe you.”

“Then what should we do?”

“As you wish.”

As he said that, Hieronymus made a very worried expression. Of course, on the outside, he looked very stiff, and when I was a human, I would have thought he had no expression.

If you look at it this way, I can see it.

The light is not obscured.

“Do whatever you want, and lend me your power whenever you need it.”

When needed.

Well, that’s not a situation I need, but a situation where you need Jerome. Then I guess I should say this.

“Bring someone with deep faith. I need warmth.”

It’s so cold.

I’m holding back. But I really can’t stand the cold. My heart is so cold, even though I’ve already gotten more warmth than I’ve had in a while.

A fundamental question crosses my mind as to whether receiving warmth like this will actually warm my heart, but I ignore it.

I’d rather have a little more warmth than lose it and sink to the bottom, feeling the colder and colder forever.

“Please wait a moment. I’ll bring it right away.”

Disgust and fear and a faint hatred rose and fell, and Hieronymus left me alone in the room.

Looking around, there are several unlit candlesticks, wooden chairs, and a podium in a radial arrangement where the chairs’ gazes converge on one point.

Or should we call it an altar?

It’s a prayer room. But the space is small.

It doesn’t seem like a place where all the believers there come to pray. It’s a place where special people come.

I think it would be reasonable to see it that way. Even though I know the general form of the pseudo-religion, I don’t know the details, so I thought that the upper class would only be a group that is happy about accumulating wealth. But looking at this, I think that’s not necessarily the case, right?

No, maybe not necessarily, considering some cult that likes to write the same character three times and then have the white hood evaporate on them by the comic book hero.

Immersion is a phenomenon that can happen to anyone.

But the man named Jerome is not an immersive person. Like a leader of a cult, he looks at his own religion with indifference.

I’m just using it because I need it.

It seems like a system that could be used much better by such people. A pseudo-religion.

I keep thinking about it.

This is my first time.

Every time, I reached out to the light and burst like a fish shooting a water gun at the bottom to knock down bugs and eat them, and I got the warmth that was sinking down.

It’s a huge step forward compared to the days when I could just watch and do nothing.

And if I miss this opportunity, I may never be able to set foot in this world again with a body like this.

There’s a chance this may never happen again.

Well then, we should make the most of it. If possible, forever.

I don’t want to play God, but I should plan on doing it if necessary.

If there really are gods who scream so loudly while looking into the light but whose noses are not visible, I would like to see their faces just once.

But that’s a lower priority than warmth, so put it aside until your life stabilizes.

At that time, I was carefully planning the general direction of what to do going forward.

There was a knock on the door, followed by a man’s voice.

It’s Hieronymus.

He’s back.

When I tell him to come in, he comes in with a woman.

The person who came with me was an old woman wearing a rather plain rag.

Were there any lower ranks than those on the third circle? Even they had patterns on their clothes. Even if they took off their masks to see me, there were still a lot more of them than I expected.

It’s a much bigger cult than you might think.

“Oh, you piece of shit Ksax… … !”

As soon as she sees me, she kneels down and bows to me.

Ah, right.

This is a person who tricked me into thinking I was a god and brought me here? But the light is very small, and the warmth is also small. A human who has despaired to the point of despair.

A broken person with very little hope, who is only dependent on God.

There is no healthy part of her body. Her fingers are missing, and her skin is swollen and sticky. Meanwhile, the man who brought this woman is looking at me with an observing gaze.

It’s a gaze that looks at an animal being raised.

An old and sick woman. But she has faith. Will this beast eat this food well? I can see that if she can raise it by feeding it relatively close to a pet, it might be able to be raised cheaply. Wow, that’s funny.

Hmm.

Hmm.

What should I do?

This is neglect. It’s too small.

But it might be worth a try. Up until now, when I’ve tried to pull myself up from down there, it’s just blown up in an instant. But now that I’m here, and I can talk to it, there might be another way.

I walked forward and took the old woman’s hand.

“I’m not the guy named Ksaxshibal.”

First, try breaking it.

The hand that was holding it flinched and ran away, then a dull despair spread across my face. And then what appeared next were questions about myself.

“I am the cold sea that seeks warmth from below.”

Facts are always a powerful weapon. When you say something, even if it’s nothing special, you mean it!

“I don’t have the power to grant your wish.”

Yes. I’m the only one who has it. If I had the power, I might have been like the protagonist of a fantasy reincarnation in this world, shouting out for a harem. There are novels where the protagonist is a horoscope monster, so I don’t know if that would have been possible.

I’m on the poor quality side.

“I am the only one who can give you something, so I will give you something.”

A dark purple mist came out of my hand. No, my body? It touched her. As soon as it touched the light, I wanted to snatch it away for warmth, but I held back.

It takes effort to sow seeds and plant crops.

Push me in.

Because I did something similar before.

“Instead, I’ll give you everything you have later when you’ve finished everything.”

At my words, the old woman slowly nodded with a blank expression. Then, I applied the same force, and the dark purple smoke was sucked into her.

If you accept it, it gets absorbed! But, so far, it just exploded.

Please don’t explode.

Please don’t explode.

Be my tenant!

Knock knock.

What the heck, it’s exploding?

There’s a crack in the woman’s face. Oh, I can see her name. No, I can see her gaze. I look at her, and she looks at me.

Joanna Smith.

She was born the daughter of a landowner and married into a good family, but her husband was a bad person and she was abused until she miscarried and was abandoned. Her heart was broken and she could not even think about returning home, so she wandered the streets until she joined the Future Hope Church and lived there for 30 years.

There remains only one woman who has been ruined by overwork and hard labor as a result of belonging to a cult.

Crunch.

The fragments of her face fell to the ground. But inside, she could see pure white skin. Joanna Smith felt full of energy. Her body fell like a statue and inside, she could see a new body.

As if a plaster statue had been broken and burst out of the inside, a young woman emerged from inside. Except for the fact that her skin was a bit pale, she had not only recovered, but had also been rejuvenated.

The light is tinted dark like skin, but it still has warmth.

Okay, I think the sowing is done.

Then, we should try to raise it next.

“Joanna Smith. How are you feeling?”

She felt her own blue-tinged skin, then came towards me and buried her head in the ground.

But even before I sat down, I knew her answer.

“I will believe and follow you for the rest of my life.”

lol.

We got a tenant.