Enlightening the Father
Chapter 1, Verses 34–39
My one and only precious son, Luke.
Luke had been frail since childhood, often falling ill and bedridden.
When he turned four, he fell so gravely sick that his life hung in the balance.
Even the temple priests declared there was no hope and prepared for his final farewell.
Yet somehow, as if some divine being had taken pity on him and bestowed a special blessing, he suddenly recovered completely and returned to normal life.
He couldn't match the strength of his two sisters or the vigor befitting our Perseino family, but he could at least live like any ordinary child.
…It was almost like the tale of a child chosen by a god from myth.
Such stories abound in legends.
A child selected as a faithful servant of a god falls deathly ill in infancy but miraculously recovers one day, grows up healthy, and becomes the god's apostle.
Could some deity have chosen our Luke as its apostle?
My one and only precious son…
I couldn't bear to let him walk the thorny path of a divine apostle…
But what is a god?
An absolute being no mere mortal can defy.
If a god had chosen Luke, we had no choice but to obey its will.
Defying a god and incurring its wrath would lead only to a miserable end worse than death.
I prayed fervently that such a day would never come.
…
One day when Luke was seven, he brought me a book.
At first, it seemed like some novel he'd created.
A novel written by a child.
For something made by a kid, it was surprisingly well-crafted, but it still felt oddly heterogeneous compared to existing novels—clearly the work of a child.
Luke wanted to sell this novel to earn some money.
Haha. Trying to make pocket money by selling books. What a clever boy.
No way such a book would sell, but the fact that a child even thought of it was impressive enough.
I praised him and sent him back to his room.
Poor boy, born with a body too weak for our family—yet perhaps destined to become a great cultural luminary someday.
…
A few months later, Luke brought "that book."
The book that no child could possibly have created alone.
The handwriting was unmistakably Luke's.
But the content? No way he came up with it himself.
…
It contained secrets of the continent that Luke could never know.
And records of a certain god long forgotten since ancient times.
…
Secrets known only to the emperor and me within the entire empire.
Secrets Luke could never uncover.
Unless some divine being had guided him in making this book.
…
Luke brought me this book and said he wanted to sell it to make money.
…
Sell this book? For money?
…
Our territory isn't the wealthiest, but it's comfortably affluent.
Especially for my precious son Luke, who'd suffered so much pain since childhood—I made sure he lacked for nothing.
And yet here was this seven-year-old wanting to earn money?
Something was off.
Clearly, the god that chose Luke was compelling him to spread this book.
And its refusal to reveal the truth to me meant the god wanted that fact hidden.
…
I sent Luke back to his room and read the book cover to cover.
Bible for Continent Dwellers — Old Testament Volume 1
What a grandiose title.
From the name alone, it could pass for a book by a child.
But reading through it revealed prophecies of the peril looming over the continent—the forces of Chaos.
…
The forces of Chaos.
The malevolent power emerging beyond the northern mountains I guard.
Seemingly spawning endlessly from thin air, they're presumed to be invading from another dimension.
For now, their numbers are few and their power weak—no threat to the empire.
But their very existence as hostile entities from another realm could sow chaos, so the information is strictly controlled from the public.
This book prophesied that they would explode in power overnight, devouring the continent within decades.
And to stop them, one must follow the god called "Deus."
…
I see.
So the god that chose Luke is this "Deus."
A name I'd never heard before.
I even scoured the imperial library, but "Deus" turned up nowhere.
The book described Deus as a god from the mythic age who saved the continent and was then forgotten.
If true, it made sense no one knew the name.
…A god who sacrificed itself to save the continent and faded into oblivion…
If Luke wrote this under Deus's guidance, then Deus is undoubtedly a benevolent deity.
Gods cannot lie, after all.
…
If so, is our Luke the savior chosen by Deus to redeem this continent?
My son, the continent's redeemer.
For the boy who was born frail compared to his sisters and always mourned his weakness, this might be a blessing.
…
My mind was already made up.
Luke couldn't have written this alone.
A god must have helped him.
But to be absolutely sure, I decided to test him.
Secure a distribution method that wouldn't reveal the author's identity to anyone.
Impossible for a mere seven-year-old.
But if Deus truly existed and aided Luke, then possible.
With that in mind, I gave him the condition…
…
"We meet the empire's supreme sword, Grand Duke. I am Scala Arachne, guildmaster of the Arachne Information Guild."
Luke effortlessly recruited the empire's top information guild.
…
I'd gotten permission to sell the book I'd made, but Father attached one condition.
The author's identity—mine—must never be exposed.
I had to find a distribution method that guaranteed no one would uncover it.
Considering I was only seven when I showed him the book, it was basically a "don't do it."
Even as a high noble, how could a seven-year-old secure a distribution network?
Especially one that met the "no one finds out" clause.
Father probably hoped I'd back off lightly and was worried about potential risks.
"Don't try until you have the ability."
But I'm no ordinary seven-year-old.
I'm a possessor with vast knowledge of this continent.
The main story starts in ten years, so not all info is perfect, but securing distribution? Easy.
…
One day, during a trip to the imperial capital Kallandra for a royal event, I asked Father for a few escort knights and some pocket money.
A mere seven-year-old wanting to go out with just knights? He agreed readily.
…Does he trust me that much? Not even stopping a kid from wandering off.
I'd prepared arguments to convince him, but luckily didn't need them.
Thus, escorted by sturdy northern knights, I stopped at an herb shop.
Bought common herbs, borrowed the shop's facilities, and mixed them into the potion I needed.
To win over the empire's premier information guild for distributing this book.
…
The empire has many information guilds, straight out of fantasy tales.
Among them, one dominated the capital completely: Arachne.
Scala Arachne, a woman from a fallen noble house.
She built her guild from nothing using her personal talents, including her Gift, and fully conquered the capital's underworld.
Her path ahead was paved with success—until her sister, her driving force and reason for living, fell to an incurable disease.
…
By the start of Deus ex Machina's main story, she'd mobilized alchemists and mages across the empire to invent a cure.
Too late—her sister had died years prior.
…
But as a game veteran, I know the cure recipe at this point.
A status-recovery potion I'd brewed countless times in Deus ex Machina.