Chapter 12 – Truth – Part 2
TL: Eevee
Ed: Isalee
Humans worshiped the gods.
But there were four gods.
Naturally, they split into four groups.
“As the population grew, it became difficult to take care of them all within the holy land alone. Because of this, they began to develop outwards. Unlike before, this time, they had strength and knowledge, so they did not suffer too much hardship.
The ones that went north followed the Angel God and called themselves the angelkin.
The ones that went south followed the Demon God so called themselves the demonkin.
The ones that went east followed the Beast God so called themselves the beastkin.
The rest followed the Dragon God (Sunang) and called themselves the dragonkin.
And so more time passed.
Their powers of adaptability was greater than anyone expected. Despite the dangers presented by monsters and nature, they quickly spread their area of influence. Then they founded nations, and established borders.
“I suppose that was where conflict began.”
“It was not that bad at first. My comrades and I made sure of that. But my comrades, too, had emotions of their own… the fights of the children became the fights of the parents.”
The ones that clashed the most often were the angelkin and demonkin.
“The Beast God and I do not like fighting, but contrary to our personalities, the Angel God and Demon God loved it.”
The Beast God, who disliked fighting and had a laid-back personality, chose to extend his reach within his territory and avoided danger from the very beginning. Seeing their god’s personality, the beastkin adopted the same traits, and because of this their country was not a monarchy, but more like a coalition of city-states. In contrast, the angelkin and demonkin each built a single country as an empire.
“We had a mutual wish. But we loved our children too much. This became poison that made us distrust each other, and so seeds of unrest and conflict sprouted between us.”
The skies crumbled and the oceans split. The atmosphere became turbulent and floods occurred; earthquakes and hail ravaged the land.
The aftermath alone from the fight of gods was nothing short of catastrophic for humanity. As the destruction began to affect the beastkin, the Beast God became angry, and he, too entered the war in a three-way conflict.
“I bade them peace and told them that my foresight had spoken to me of a person who could make our wishes come true.”
They knew. It wasn’t simply because of distrust that they had started fighting.
They were tired.
Exhaustion made people snappy at the tiniest of things, and hope gave way to despair.
“I asked them to rest in slumber. But because of their worries and care for their children, they couldn’t make that decision so easily.”
After bringing their heads together, the solution that came up was thus: they would tear a part of their bodies and give it to their children. Since they had already surpassed physical mortality, as long as their divine core was intact they could gather their power to revive, and they believed that by the time they revived, their children would have grown sufficiently stronger as well.
“They left me in care of their divine cores and slept. They also gave part of their immense strength to their children. This was the Al, Horn, and Divine Beast that is called the ‘proof of the gods’. This happened around 200 years after we arrived. It seems that our children use this period as the turning point between the Age of Myth and the Age of Metal.
“Hm…… Then are you alright?”
“What do you mean?”
“It wouldn’t be a stretch to say the other gods fell asleep due to exhaustion. I was kind of worried if you were alright.”
The other gods started fighting with each other after just 200 years out of exhaustion, but Sunang held out alone for a thousand. Although I have no idea of a god’s standards, between 200 years with companions and 800 alone, the latter would be undoubtedly harder to endure.
The other gods lasted 200 years and slept but Sunang lasted a thousand. God or not, it couldn’t have been easy on her.
“Fufu, concerned about a god. Jinsu-nim is quite a person.”
“Since no one else is worrying, it’s not going to matter if one person does.”
“That is true. It’s not a bad feeling.”
She said that on the contrary, and it was a very good one.
“Don’t worry. I feel better than ever right now. Because you have appeared according to my foresight.”
I’m the one that will help fulfil her wish?
“What is your wish?”
“I can’t tell you that.”
What. We were doing so well too.
“So what should I do?”
“Thinking about that is your job.”
Does Sunang think that chucking in an engineer is a one-stop solution as well?
“If you move where your heart takes you, at the end of the path, we will surely fulfil our wish. So there’s no need to worry or think about it too deeply.”
“In that case, I can’t guarantee when I’ll be able to do it.”
“I’ve already waited a thousand fruitless years. Another hundred or two hundred years at this point will just be a joyous wait.”
Indeed a god. Their scale of time is way different.
“Having said that, it would be nice if that day came as quickly as it could. I shall give you a gift.”
“Thank you.”
Even if I don’t know what it is, it’s a gift from a god. Rather than refusing, it’s best to just take it ASAP. Although refusing three times is the white clad people’s(1) politeness, a god can just see through that.
“I shall grant you eyes, nose, mouth, ears, and a head.”
Eh? I’ve already got those?
“H-hold up.”
Something goes wrong and I’ll end up a two-headed human. What’s rudeness to a god got to compare with that?
Despite my refusal, Sunang’s pure white hand came closer. My face glowed with a bluish-silver light.
“It will not manifest itself that strongly yet. It will adapt and evolve to Jinsu-nim’s body, so use it well.”
So this is a god’s blessing. I can’t exactly put my finger on it, but it feels like my senses have become sharper. Although I can’t exactly explain how much, it feels like if I studied for just a year, I could even enroll at Berkeley University’s Audio Engineering school, which is said to be the dream of all mechanical engineering students.
“Sorry for asking when I’m already getting something, but can’t you give me some strength as well? The world here’s a tad dangerous.”
Namely Pyongang, Pyongang, or Pyongang.
Sunang simply smiled at my words.
“That’s what your subordinates are for.”
Yeah, ’bout that, that’s the problem right there.