episode_0024

I prayed to Mom right away.

“Goddess of Light, Serena.”

“If you can hear my voice, please answer me.”

At first, I prayed as if I were truly speaking to Lady Serena…

But nothing happened.

“Mom!”

“Are you listening?!”

“If you’re listening, please just answer me!”

Still, nothing happened.

“Mom?…”

No matter how much I called out, I couldn’t hear anything resembling a voice.

“Ah…”

“Master did say…”

The Demon King blocked off the Celestial Realm first to dominate the world.

To prevent the gods from helping humans.

To stop the gods from destroying the demonkind.

Because the Celestial Realm was the most dangerous, it was sealed off first.

The Goddess of Light, Serena, cannot intervene in the human world… or so Master told me.

Because of the Demon King, there was no way to communicate with Mom.

But.

It wasn’t a complete seal.

She could still watch over the human world,

and she could still bestow blessings.

“But still…”

What we needed now was to find Master’s location.

We didn’t need blessings—

We needed a voice to tell us where Master was.

So I pondered.

“Hmm…”

“Should we just take down the Demon King first?…”

Master once said.

If we move really fast, we can defeat the Demon King within a week.

So then?

If we defeat the Demon King within a week, restore Celestial communication, and then pursue Master, wouldn’t that work?

…That was my suggestion.

“That’s too much.”

“Sigh…”

“I know…”

Thanks to the map Master drew in the guidebook, we know where the Demon King’s Castle is.

But.

Just knowing doesn’t mean we can get there immediately.

Even if we ride a carriage at full speed, it’s still a distance that would take about two weeks.

“If Master had told us about some kind of shortcut, maybe we could’ve defeated the Demon King within a week…”

“But the guidebook doesn’t mention any shortcuts to the Demon King’s Castle…”

“Ugh…”

I gave up on the idea of defeating the Demon King and locating Master.

We needed another way.

“Ellis…”

“Isn’t there any other method?…”

“If we could just hear the voice of a god, everything would be solved…”

Just hearing it would be enough.

A god can borrow the eyes and ears of their faithful believers.

Mom could borrow the eyes and ears of all people,

and she’d be able to find Master.

“She could find him, but…”

The problem is, there’s no way for her to tell us.

…Or so I thought.

“We don’t necessarily need to hear a voice, right?”

“Huh?”

“She could tell us through letters or arrows or something.”

“That’s true, but…”

“The gods are in a state where they can’t intervene in the human world…”

If intervention were possible, they could shine a light where Master is,

or even write letters with lightning.

But.

That’s unrealistic.

Because the Demon King is blocking the power of the Celestial Realm.

…Or so I thought.

“She could write letters with blessings.”

“Blessings?”

“Yes.”

“How do you write letters with blessings?”

“Hmm…”

“If it’s roughly like this, wouldn’t it be possible?”

Ellis scattered countless seeds on the ground.

And then she prayed.

“By the grace of the Goddess of Light, Serena, and the Goddess of Bounty, Gaia, please grow these seeds into letters.”

“Grow seeds into letters?…”

“Ah!…”

We’d create letters with plants.

Not by writing letters with divine power,

but by writing them with divine blessings.

Blessings aren’t divine power—

They’re a manifestation of the faith of believers.

Even the Demon King couldn’t block this.

…With that thought, I prayed alongside her to Mom and Lady Gaia.

Then.

Plants grew, forming letters.

[Kean]

“The port city, Kean!”

We found it!

We found out where Master is!

“Mom!”

“Thank you so much!!!”

Then, the plants responded.

[^ㅅ^]

They drew a smiling face in reply.

###

At the same time.

Serena watched her daughter with tears in her eyes.

“My daughter…”

“She used to know only me… She didn’t have a single friend… When did she grow up like this?…”

She moves confidently out in the world now,

and she’s even made friends.

The sight was so moving it brought tears to Serena’s eyes.

“You worked hard too, Gaia.”

“To be of service to the glorious Goddess of Light, Serena… This Gaia is overjoyed…”

Gaia even wept and dropped to her knees in prayer…

‘Sigh…’

‘Everyone around me is great, but that’s the problem…’

Their piety was too intense.

Humans with the strongest faith become angels,

and angels with the strongest faith become gods.

Even after becoming gods, them worshiping me might be natural…

‘But still…’

‘We’re both gods now…’

‘We should be equals…’

Yet she still kneels before me and prays.

‘She’s gotten worse…’

Even as a human, she was a devout child.

But it got worse after she became an angel.

Once she became a goddess, she praised me every day to an extreme degree.

Gaia wasn’t the only one like this.

All the gods acted the same way.

Of course,

it wasn’t a bad thing.

It just meant they trusted and followed me.

But.

Spending too much time around people who worshiped me made me think—

I didn’t want someone praying beneath me,

but someone who could look me in the eyes as an equal.

That’s why I went to the human world.

Not as the Goddess of Light,

but as an ordinary person—couldn’t I form ordinary human relationships?… That was my hope.

Needing a hero to defeat the Demon King was just an excuse.

Sure, a hero was necessary,

but my real goal was to form connections beyond that of a believer.

Neighbors, family, friends—things like that.

But.

Reality was cruel.

Not as the Goddess of Light, Serena,

but as just an ordinary woman, Serena was shunned by the village.

‘What did I do wrong…’

Truth be told, Serena hadn’t done anything wrong.

If anything, the mistake was

settling in a rural village wary of outsiders.

And.

The Goddess of Bounty, Gaia, who despised those who opposed Serena, grew furious and withdrew all blessings.

As a result,

the villagers misunderstood that their bounty had vanished because of cursed humans.

That was why Serena and Ria were ostracized.

But.

Serena didn’t know that.

All she knew was that the villagers hated her.

Was that why?

Serena grew to love her daughter even more.

Of course, a mother loving her daughter is natural,

but this child was special.

She was the first daughter Serena had carried and birthed herself.

A child she raised with her own hands for 20 years.

Not created—

the only family born in a human way.

Not through faith—

the only child who loved her in a different way.

While the other villagers hated Serena the ordinary human,

this child was different.

The only one in the world who liked Serena the ordinary human.

That’s why she couldn’t help but love her more,

and she grieved.

Because bandits had killed her, making it impossible to meet again.

And so she cried… until—

‘Cain…’

‘Thanks to that man, I get to see my daughter again…’

He revived my body,

and safeguarded it until the Demon King’s defeat—a child I’m endlessly grateful to.

Even just that made him worth bringing from another world.

‘Cain…’

‘That boy called me Serena…’

Everyone else calls me Goddess of Light, Lady Serena.

Even my daughter calls me Lady Serena.

But.

That man, Cain, called me Serena.

And I liked that.

‘It was the first time…’

‘The first time someone saw me not as a god… but just as another person…’

Because of that, I became more interested,

and kept watching him.

Which allowed me to answer immediately when my daughter asked where Cain was.

‘Cain, huh…’

‘Once I regain my body, what kind of relationship will we have?…’

Maybe he’ll marry my daughter and call me Mother.

Or maybe we’ll become friendly enough to stand shoulder to shoulder.

Anything’s good.

I just want to meet someone who isn’t a devout believer,

but a man I can be ordinary friends with.

###

At the same time.

Cain was renting a carriage.

“Where would you like to go?”

“To the port city, Kean, please.”

After paying, Cain boarded the carriage.

‘Phew…’

‘I still can’t get used to this speech pattern…’

Back in Korea, he was a model citizen who always used honorifics with strangers.

But in this world, he used informal speech almost exclusively.

‘In this world, that’s considered polite behavior.’

Using honorifics for nobles above you,

and informal speech for commoners equal or lower in status was basic etiquette.

Speaking politely to commoners would actually seem strange.

So he stuck to informal speech.

‘When in Rome, do as the Romans do.’

So.

He’d just have to adapt, step by step.

‘I have no intention of returning to my original world anyway.’

Both his mother and father had passed away years ago.

Friends…

Well…

He only had online friends he gamed with on forums.

That’s the kind of person he was.

No lingering attachments to his old world.

‘Honestly, I like it better here.’

The lack of scientific civilization was a little disappointing,

but this world had his favorite character.

That was enough.

…With that thought, he set off for the port city, Kean.