Chapter 404
Chapter 404
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 404
Chapter Title: Netherworld Magic City (2)
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[Acquired Divinity: 6,241,531.]
The nation and the god were treated as one, restoring a massive amount of divinity in an instant.
But it was still far from enough.
It was merely forced conversion because Rokan had declared it the state religion—there simply weren't enough people who truly believed in him.
Rokan was well aware of that fact and knew exactly how to rally public sentiment in one fell swoop.
"Relief efforts."
By opening the coffers.
Hadn't the title "Wealth is God" given him a hint? Political outcomes influenced faith.
Thanks to the sustained peace, taxes were overflowing in every city anyway, and Rokan no longer cared about gold, so he began splurging freely.
He distributed food and clothing to the poor and poured massive funds into the temples now dedicated to him.
He supported missionary work and had luxury religious goods produced to distribute among the nobles.
"But we can't just hand it out endlessly."
However, he didn't give indiscriminately.
As noted when the state religion was first declared, wasn't the Rokan Church aligned with violence, brutality, iron fists, strength, struggle, and battle?
To match that, he ramped up periodic subjugations and training, preparing for war.
He encouraged territorial wars between domains and restructured the system so knights' ranks and noble titles were based strictly on martial prowess. He ushered in an era where anyone with strength and grit could become a knight or noble.
[Acquired Divinity: 2,325,736.]
Naturally, divinity surged. The downtrodden, with nothing to lose, began embracing the Rokan Church.
While the hourly influx of divinity was still meager despite the sudden boost, planting the seed was what mattered most.
Moreover, the operation Rokan dubbed the "divinity farm" wasn't over yet.
[The Lord of Risoneuman resents the logic of strength.]
[The Lord of Ginohason voices that this is misguided politics.]
Naturally, backlash from the entrenched powers followed.
The martial god descendants seemed to accept it grudgingly, but the civil god nobles—or the hereditary pigs bloated with fat—rebelling was only natural.
"Is that so? Drag them all here."
Rokan quashed their resistance simply.
No need for him to step in personally. Dispatching his forces was enough to haul them in.
Plus, though a bit petty, just announcing "Whoever beheads the current lord in combat gets the lordship" solved most cases on its own.
Iron-fist politics transcending violence and fear.
No one dared rebel before overwhelming violence.
[Acquired Divinity: 1,246,663.]
If you're aggrieved, get stronger.
That was Rokan's sole doctrine.
He also provided training opportunities as soldiers to anyone with sufficient aptitude, instantly establishing a mass-production system for troops.
On top of that, Rokan issued an imperial quest with coercive force, summoning all guild masters active in Restonia.
"Make them all join."
"Lord Rokan, but..."
"If you don't like it, come at me."
It wasn't just NPCs who could have religions. Users could join specific faiths too.
For priests, the divine spells varied slightly by religion, but it wasn't a bad thing overall.
Believing in the Rokan Church didn't eliminate healing or buff spells. They just shifted toward aggression.
'It might even be better.'
They could even formalize some of Rokan's powers, boosting combat ability or converting damage to life force absorption—buffs like that.
Even without that, Rokan had no face to save anymore, so he strong-armed and bluffed.
Join or get crushed.
The guilds, forced to choose, had no option but to enroll all members in the Rokan Church, tears and all.
Some might try faking it by exempting priest classes, but with Rokan's threat of "Get caught and you're dead," that rarely happened.
[Acquired Divinity: 1,173,523.]
Divinity recovered once more.
They might not believe deeply, but joining alone granted divinity, so that sufficed.
Even nominal faith produced minimal resources.
"Humans are sorted for now. Time to summon that guy?"
Phase one complete.
Rokan, advancing smoothly, moved to the next: summoning a certain someone from the heavens.
"Hmph! Our contract's done, so why... Gah!"
[Creator of Vengeance, Drokshy][Lv 423]
It was Drokshy.
Thanks to endlessly crafting items from rare materials per their contract, his level had risen sharply, but upon seeing Rokan—who had reached demigod status—he recoiled in terror.
He'd scrimped and saved contract leftovers to gear up against Rokan, only to face a Majesty Master?
Had anyone in history ascended to Majesty Master this fast?
Drokshy sighed in dismay, but Rokan issued an absolute command.
"Do me a favor. Declare the Rokan Church the state religion in the dwarf nation too."
"What? Ahem, why should I?"
Drokshy startled, then feigned ignorance upon grasping the intent.
Their slave contract was over—why heed such a demand without compensation?
"F-Fa-Vor?"
Crunch.
Rokan gripped the throne's arm, shattering it.
Drokshy, who knew better than anyone how tough that metal was and the strength required to crush it barehanded, paled.
It was a "favor," but not really.
"No, I didn't say I wouldn't..."
Seeing divinity naturally infuse every action killed any resistance.
He was a monster before—now with divinity too...
If Rokan wanted, he could conquer the dwarf nation without even asking.
Knowing Rokan was being "peaceful" now, Drokshy strung excuses.
"You know dwarves are artisans at heart, even if we have warriors. They worship various related gods naturally, so declaring a state religion out of nowhere..."
"Not monotheistic."
"Huh?"
"Not the only god. It'd be better for gathering divinity, but impossible now. Not until I've devoured the other Majesty Masters. So just declare it. Auto-enrollment is enough."
"Ahem, if that's all... But don't expect much. As I said, they won't believe just 'cause we say so. It'll be superficial at best."
"Fine. That's all I need. Go declare it."
"...Out of respect for our past ties, I'll make this exception of a fa-VOR."
In the end, Drokshy went to the dwarf kingdom and declared the Rokan Church the state religion.
There was backlash, but as Rokan instructed, he insisted it wasn't monotheistic—just state religion—and other gods were fine, rooting it in.
Many remembered Rokan's feats in the Second Racial War, and hearing he'd become a demigod swayed plenty. Quite a few dwarf warriors even joined to grow stronger.
[Acquired Divinity: 2,346,645.]
A hefty recovery. The ongoing supply would be low, but this sufficed for now.
Meanwhile, before confirming the dwarf declaration, Rokan arrived at the half-elf camp.
"Understood. It doesn't suit us half-elves at all, but as repayment for restoring the World Tree, I'll honor that promise."
[Acquired Divinity: 2,112,926.]
The promise extracted when restoring the World Tree for the half-elves.
That was the hook.
Someday, grant one demand from Rokan—anything, so long as it didn't stake the race's fate.
But the World Tree and spirit god were their roots, so changing the state religion was impossible.
Still, it was propagated equivalently, temples built, and all half-elves forced to join.
'That'll do.'
A substantial divinity boost, and several other half-elf nations in different dimensions had made the same promise.
Fulfilling them via rainbow teleport would recover nearly 20 million divinity.
But that was for later.
Rokan also met the gnome king, strong-arming a state religion declaration.
'Maybe even Korea's possible?'
Not done yet. He headed straight to the Black Dragon Legion's camp.
Even as Grand Master, none blocked him— who could now?
Goblin, undead, troll, orc.
The four race leaders of the Black Dragon Legion received him and yielded to violence.
Take a beating or accept?
They'd avoided even skirmishes out of fear of Rokan.
Before the obvious outcome of this simple proposition, no bold soul chose otherwise. As a human, full state religion was a stretch, but they couldn't block Rokan Church infiltration and propagation.
[Unbelievable feat! You have become a god rooted and revered in every nation on the surface.]
[Acquired title 'Nationwide God'.]
[Nationwide God][Unique]
You have become a god revered in every nation on the surface.
All divinity acquired from the surface increases by 1.5x.
This title is revoked if the religion is rejected in even one of the eight race nations.
[Held Effects]
Surface-produced divinity x1.5
An unexpected bonus too.
Rokan, having maximally harvested surface divinity, happily used the rainbow teleporter.
To reap the seeds he'd sown, he dimension-hopped World Tree realms, enforcing promises and recovering substantial divinity.