Chapter 200: Sloth and Thunder (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 200: Sloth and Thunder (2)
“Give me back my divinity!”
Her face was a mask of pure grievance, as if she had bottled up all the unfairness in the world.
Swallowing his internal flusteredness, Alon asked, “What are you talking about?”
“Don’t pretend you don’t know! You took all my divinity!”
“...I took your divinity?”
At Alon’s reaction, the girl’s expression became even more aggrieved.
What is she talking about?
Alon first tried to think calmly. He needed to understand why the girl in front of him was demanding her divinity back.
Then.
“Ah.”
A low exclamation escaped Alon’s lips.
The Thunder Snake Quest.
The NPC.
The girl who always appeared.
His thoughts linked together like a chain, stretching out until—
Finally, he reached a single conclusion.
“...Kalanon?”
It was an uncertain deduction, yet the most rational one at this point. At the mention of that name, the girl—no, Kalanon—clenched her fists and shouted again.
“Why are you pretending not to know when you clearly do?!”
Alon realized his deduction was correct. However, there was still one thing he couldn't understand.
“You’re saying I stole your divinity?”
He couldn't agree with the claim that he had stolen the divinity of Kalanon, the Lightning Receiver. Alon had never once tried to steal someone else’s divinity. In fact, he had never even made a conscious effort to become a god himself.
But at Alon’s counter-question, Kalanon put her hands on her hips as if she found him utterly absurd and yelled.
“It’s not just a matter of stealing! You’ve completely relegated me to the back room like some forgotten relic!”
“I did?”
“Yes! You! Can’t you see this?!”
Kalanon swept her hand across the air. Suddenly, the space that had been a night sky filled with the Milky Way began to flicker with the images of familiar statues, popping up one after another.
“It’s you here, you there, you at that end—and you at the very, very end—and here too!!”
Every single one was a statue erected by the Thunder Snake Tribe. After huffing and puffing while showing them to him, the girl spat out her resentment.
“It’s all you, not me! Because of you, all the faith that should be coming to me is being stolen away!”
Alon finally grasped the situation.
“I see. I think I understand the gist of it. But—and it feels a bit ridiculous to say this—I never acted with the intention of stealing your divinity.”
“Does that even make sense?”
“I agree that it sounds nonsensical, but...”
“Then are you saying my believers, who used to offer me their faith, are worshiping you for no reason? Why is the faith that should have come to me going to you instead?!”
Kalanon glared at him with eyes full of distrust, as if telling him to at least pick a believable lie.
However, Alon’s conscience was clear.
“I’m sorry to say this, but I am innocent.”
Truly.
“I have never once said or done anything to encourage this situat—”
Never...?
“...”
Alon stopped mid-sentence. A sudden hypothesis flashed through his mind. Because he had taken it so much for granted, he had forgotten a fact he hadn't paid much attention to until now.
Could it be because of that phrase?
Alon had never once referred to himself as Kalanon, the Lightning Receiver. Nor had he ever acted like it. Furthermore, he hadn't done anything that could be misconstrued as being Kalanon.
Yes, until he realized the girl before him was Kalanon, he had firmly believed he was innocent.
[I, who am hidden under the low sky, shall come to you, so you who greet the dawn, welcome me with joy.]
Alon remembered. It was the phrase he had uttered before the Thunder Snake Tribe. It was the very phrase the girl had spoken, which led the tribe to treat him as an honored guest.
That single instance of using those words must have caused the misunderstanding that he was Kalanon.
“Ah.”
Only then did the pieces of the puzzle, which had been incomprehensible until now, begin to fall into place. The probability was established, and his scattered doubts were gradually resolved—
“You did it, didn't you?”
However.
“See! You did it, right?!”
Faced with the girl, Kalanon, who was stomping her feet in frustration, Alon had no choice but to avert his gaze.
* * *
Alon had used that phrase. Though he didn't know the exact process of how the faith had gathered, the conclusion was the same.
He had been ‘suddenly mistaken’ for Kalanon and had taken the divinity that should have gone to her. That was the conclusion of this story.
“...”
“...”
Alon looked at the girl. The girl glared—no, looked—back at Alon. Her aggrieved eyes pricked at his conscience, but he cleared his throat with a dry cough and apologized.
“...It wasn't my intention, but I am sorry.”
It was a simple apology. At that, Kalanon began to speak with the same resentful voice as before.
“Give it ba—”
She tried to say something, but then.
“Huh?”
“?”
Her pupils suddenly dilated, and she shut her mouth.
“...Excuse me?”
“...”
“Is something wrong?”
Kalanon had frozen as if a playing video had been paused. While Alon tilted his head in confusion, she finally spoke.
“...A-Ah, no.”
Kalanon responded awkwardly, her movements stiff like a rusted machine. She wiped the aggrieved expression from her face and forced the corners of her mouth upward.
“No, I’m the one who’s sorry... Come to think of it, I’m not really in a position to complain to you.”
“...All of a sudden?”
And she was even apologizing? Alon was taken aback by her sudden change in attitude, but she persisted with her frozen, awkward smile.
“Yes—I probably wouldn't have been able to help my people anyway, and, uh—then I would have been naturally forgotten.”
Alon could easily understand what she meant. In the game, the Kalanon NPC didn't appear in the early stages but only after some progress had been made.
In reality, I ended up saving them using Elivan.
After organizing his thoughts, Alon got to the point.
“So, what do you want me to do? Do you want me to return the divinity—”
“No, no, no, no!”
Before he could even finish his sentence, Kalanon began to shake her head violently.
“Absolutely not. Never. Yes, yes, of course...”
“...Didn't you ask for it back at first?”
“I did, but, well—come to think of it, I don't think it's possible to get it back.”
“Why?”
Kalanon, finally stopping her head-shaking, clasped her hands awkwardly.
“Regardless of how unfair I feel, the faith is already flowing toward you. Don't you know the basic principles of how divinity works?”
“You mean that one can become a god if faith accumulates?”
“Exactly. And since you are already receiving faith as Kalanon, the Lightning Receiver, there’s no way for me to take that faith back.”
“Can’t I just go and tell them directly?”
“Even if you tell them you aren't Kalanon, that belief won't be easily broken. Faith uses belief as its channel and symbols as its destination to produce results.”
The girl paused for a moment before adding, “Even if you were to correct them and redirect the faith to me, my divinity would already be greatly weakened.”
“Why is that?”
“Unless you change the object of belief very slowly over a long period, faith doesn't gather easily when the target is suddenly changed.”
After a moment of thought, Kalanon offered an example.
“If I told you I was a primordial god, would you believe me?”
“...I wouldn't believe it easily.”
“It’s like that. Faith is built through absolute belief, so if the target changes, the belief itself inevitably weakens. Besides, I don't even have the power to manifest myself in reality right now.”
“...”
“In other words, there is no way for me to reclaim the faith from you.”
Her voice trailed off somewhat lonely.
“...Then what happens to you?”
“A forgotten god fades away.”
“But aren't you the real Kalanon?”
“I told you, didn't I? There is no such thing as a ‘real’ Kalanon. A god is ultimately a being created by their people. Unless they are someone like the primordial gods—”
“So it’s determined by the people who believe.”
“Exactly.”
Behind his expressionless face, Alon felt a bit sheepish. Though it wasn't intentional, he had obtained Kalanon’s divinity, and as a result, the real Kalanon was in danger of fading away.
And through his conversation with the girl, he also realized why he was able to use the divinity of the Primordial Elf just by being ‘mistaken’ for it.
Just as he was gaining this new insight and feeling a sense of awkwardness, Kalanon spoke up.
“So, I was wondering, could you do me a favor?”
“A favor?”
Kalanon asked cautiously.
“Yes. Actually, my fading away is as natural as a law of nature, but I still don't want to disappear. Could you help me?”
“Do you know a way to prevent it?”
“It’s not as difficult as you might think. In fact, it’s something that will be helpful to you as well.”
“...What is the method?”
“You just need to learn how to handle Kalanon’s divinity from me.”
As the girl said, it wasn't a complicated method.
“Will that keep you from fading?”
“Mmm—yes. To be precise, I need to do a bit more ‘work,’ but if you can handle Kalanon’s power perfectly, I can avoid fading away. I have my own way.”
“It’s a proposal I have no reason to refuse.”
It certainly was. In fact, it was a direction that benefited him. As Alon nodded, Kalanon clapped her hands.
“Then, please find the symbol.”
“...The symbol? Wait, wasn't that thing in the kingdom the symbol?”
“That’s just a stone monument infused with Kalanon’s power. The actual symbol is somewhere else.”
The moment Alon was about to ask something else—
Rumble—!
“?!”
The world suddenly began to collapse as if it were being crushed. As a startled Alon looked at Kalanon, the girl also spoke hurriedly—
“Uh, Lord Alon? I’m counting on you. You—you have to come before the symbol within a week, okay?”
“A week?”
“Yes, well, there’s a strange guy near the symbol right now, but I’m really counting on you, okay?!”
“I’ll try.”
“Don't just try, you absolutely—have—to—”
In the end, before she could finish her sentence.
“Ah.”
“...Is something the matter?”
“No, it’s nothing.”
Alon was back in his original place. Inside the royal palace he had walked into. Turning his gaze to survey his surroundings, he let out a quiet sigh.
“Let’s go for now.”
* * *
Arriving at the audience chamber, Alon faced the King of Luxible.
“...”
King Famillono of Luxible was looking down at Alon, radiating a royal dignity that far exceeded the title of a mere Grand Duchy.
And by his side was a very familiar face.
Jenira?
Jenira, the younger sister of Swift Sirkal, who had visited Alon during the previous ball. She was standing beside King Famillono like a strategist.
After staring blankly at her for a moment, Alon moved forward to stand before Famillono.
“Are you the Marquis of Palatio?”
A grave voice descended. At this, Alon habitually bowed his head to offer a polite greet—
Crash!
—but he couldn't.
“?”
When he raised his head again, Famillono was looking at Jenira with a flustered face. To be precise, he was looking at the shattered pieces of a wine bottle in her hand.
“I’m sorry. I accidentally broke the bottle.”
Jenira apologized in a tone that didn't sound sorry at all, holding the neck of the wine bottle in a reverse grip like a weapon.
Drip, drip.
“???”
Like blood, red droplets were slowly falling from the gaps in the broken wine bottle. While Alon’s face was colored with bewilderment for a moment—
“Be careful.”
“Yes.”
“Ahem—”
Famillono cleared his throat again and said, “Marquis Palatio—welcome to this place.”
He displayed his grave dignity once more.
Crash!
“...”
Once again, a wine bottle broke.
“Oh dear, I’m truly sorry. I keep making ‘mistakes.’”
Didn't she just smash it against the wall? Alon thought, but he couldn't bring himself to say it out loud.
Jenira herself was simply staring intently at Famillono while holding the broken wine bottle. Just as Alon was about to tilt his head at the incomprehensible situation—
“...Lord Marquis Palatio, welcome to our land.”
Unlike before, King Famillono used highly respectful honorifics. Seeing Jenira nod her head at those words, Alon realized.
“...Ah.”
He could fully grasp exactly how things were being run in this kingdom.