In the Beginning Was the Word
Deus said to the Father: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with Deus, and the Word was Deus. He was with Deus in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory of the only begotten from the Mother, full of grace and truth. No one has ever seen Deus, but the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Mother, has made him known."
Perseino Territory
Leopard's Office
Hanna Scarlet, Luke's escort knight, stood before Leopard, who was seated at his desk, delivering her report.
"Hmm... So that's what happened."
"Yes. Thanks to Young Master Luke's sacrifice, we all survived."
Young Master, I'm sorry! You made me swear on our fingers never to tell His Highness the Grand Duke, but I can't do that. You always sacrifice yourself for me. To prevent this from happening again, I'll report every detail to His Highness. Forgive me, Young Master!
Having finished her report, Hanna squeezed her eyes shut, inwardly picturing her beloved young master.
"Luke's sacrifice..."
Tap tap tap.
Leopard fell deep into thought, drumming his fingers on the desk.
"...We were—I was—insufficient and failed to protect Young Master Luke properly. Punish me!"
Hanna bowed her head low and cried out.
Having heard Hanna's tale, Leopard sank into contemplation.
After a brief silence, he spoke.
"No. There will be no punishment."
"But—!"
"If you hadn't been there, we wouldn't have even bought Luke time. It was because of you that Luke could pull it off. If anything, I should be thanking you. Thank you for protecting my precious son."
Leopard rose from his chair and bowed his head politely.
"Y-Your Highness! I don't deserve such gratitude!"
"I'm also grateful for your detailed report. Thanks to it, I understand exactly what happened. It must have been grueling enough to escort Luke to the academy with your injuries, yet you rode through several sleepless nights to report to me."
"...It was my duty."
"Even duties aren't always fulfilled so faithfully. Luke chose his escort knight well."
Hearing Leopard's words of thanks, Hanna bowed her head deeply.
"Because... he's my young master."
"Ah, I've kept you too long without thinking. Go rest and recover from your fatigue. You need to heal quickly to resume your duties as Luke's knight."
"Understood."
"Once more, thank you for protecting our son."
"N-No, it's nothing."
Creeeak.
Thud.
Hanna Scarlet. Though she was the knight whom Luke called Hans—and despite always being addressed by that odd name—her loyalty to him was unshakable.
Once Hanna had left and the room fell silent again, Leopard removed the monocle from his eye and placed it on the desk.
"Saula... Just as Deus foretold. She truly is Deus. In that case..."
Leopard began to recall the mysterious spirit that had appeared several days earlier, borrowing his wife Lulu's body.
"Wh-what does that mean? Then Deus didn't choose Luke...!"
Hearing the words of whoever had borrowed—not Lulu, but Lulu's body—I sprang to my feet in confusion.
—That's right. To be precise, Luke chose me.
"I have no idea what's going on."
My mind was a whirlwind of chaos.
Until now, I'd believed Luke had been chosen by a divine being.
A child like him couldn't possibly have written such an extraordinary book on his own.
Even recruiting Scala, the guildmaster of the Arachne information guild, had seemed impossible without divine aid.
It was all too improbable otherwise.
Of course, when Luke was betrayed by mercenaries and fell into danger, I'd harbored faint doubts—but I'd chalked it up to part of the divine plan.
Even Meiru, whose rift with Luke stemmed from her obsession with Deus.
But now, the one claiming to be Deus spoke through Lulu's mouth:
Not that she had chosen Luke, but that Luke had chosen her.
What did that even mean?
Luke chose a god?
No, then what was that "true mother" bit she told me earlier?
Was Luke not my son after all? Was he a god?
—Calm yourself, my child.
An enigmatic energy from Deus flowed into me and settled within my body.
A warmth enveloping my entire form.
A holy energy.
Was this divinity?
It was a higher power than the divine force used by priests.
As the energy took root inside me, my mind began to settle somewhat.
"Th-then... If what Deus says is true... If Luke's book truly revived you... then why did you first call yourself Luke's true mother...?"
Of course, it was only a little; I was still far from composed.
How could a non-devout man like me face a god and keep his sanity?
"C-could it be that the Lulu I knew was actually you, Deus, all along? Ah, but then it wouldn't make sense for Luke's book to have revived you..."
—This woman named Kallos did bear Luke. And until today, when I entered this body, I had never once inhabited her.
"Then what do you mean by calling yourself his mother...?"
—My child. Do you know that faith-born divinity can shape reality?
"...Pardon?"
Divinity... shapes reality?
What was she saying?
—Even things that never existed can be born if enough intelligent beings come to believe in them. Divinity gathers, and the entity is created. That is how gods come to be.
"...Divinity."
—The god of abundance, Baal, too. Even the evil gods of Chaos—none truly existed at first, but they were born from someone's faith.
A staggering secret, unrecorded in the Perseino family vaults or the imperial archives. The birth of gods.
Gods—transcendent beings—were born from belief!
Not belief following gods, but gods following belief!
"Th-then, does that mean even you, Deus, were created by Luke's book...!"
Did that mean the goddess Deus herself arose from the faith spread by Luke's book?
Impossible.
—No, I was born before that. But I was forgotten and faded away. A god no one believes in loses its divinity and perishes. Yet Luke's book contained my story, and the faith it birthed revived me.
...Luke's book revived a forgotten goddess?
—The faith from Luke's book created me and brought me back. The Deus in Luke's book is not singular. One becomes three, and three are one.
"One becomes three, and three are one... The Holy Mother, the Holy Son, the Holy Spirit...!"
The three hypostases of Deus mentioned in the scripture Luke wrote.
—Indeed. I was not three before, but through Luke, I was reborn. Thus, the Deus reborn is a god entirely different from the old one.
Imagine a ship: if a rotten plank is replaced with a sturdy new one, little changes. But if every plank is gradually swapped out, eventually not a single original remains. Is it still the same ship?
A god revived by the faith Luke created. But a being whose very existence stems from the faith born of Luke's book.
Could such a reborn god truly be called the same as the original?
Perhaps it was an entirely new god.
If so, then Luke had created a god. Alone, at such a young age.
—And one of my hypostases, the Holy Son, takes human form.
The one who descends to earth in human guise.
The Son of God, the only begotten.
"No way—Luke!"
Lulu smiled slyly.
—Precisely. The manifest god born from the faith Luke created. My hypostasis, my only begotten, my true son. The savior of this world: Luke.
Luke... not my son, but God's Son?
A truth so shocking it was hard to accept.
...Wait a moment.
If this being before me was truly Deus, and everything she'd said was true...
Why come to me with this?
"...Why come to me, instead of Luke? He seems completely unaware of all this."
—Luke will soon learn the truth. He will awaken to his mission as the Son of God. The reason I came to you is... hmm. Well.