North Ridge (3): Where in the Soul is a Lifetime Recorded?
If someone asked where in the soul a person's lifetime is recorded, I could answer simply: in the white.
I think I've mentioned this before, back when I was investigating the structure of souls. Anyway, thanks to my detailed grasp of that fact, implementing the function for the item North Ridge requested wasn't difficult at all. I just engraved the technique onto a pre-prepared bronze mirror, and that completed the tool he wanted.
It was a simple device that, when you shone a soul on the mirror, pulled out and displayed the memories recorded in that white part. And as a bonus, one more thing.
Since paper hasn't been invented in this era yet, I had no choice but to make something out of bamboo slips—the books of this age—and hand it over to North Ridge along with the bronze mirror.
"What is this?"
"Want to open it?"
At my words, North Ridge carefully unrolled the bamboo slips.
"There's nothing written on it..."
"Hm. So it's working properly."
I grinned and held out a soul I'd casually grabbed from nearby.
"Try shining the bronze mirror on this soul?"
It was a soul I'd picked up around here not long ago. When I checked its memories with the mirror, it turned out to be a foolish thug who'd been terrorizing the city and got his skull bashed in with a rock late one night. Honestly, what an idiot of a human.
"You're telling me to test the mirror. Understood."
North Ridge shone the bronze mirror on the soul, and at the same moment, a faint light leaked from the mirror, displaying the soul's memories. Of course, reading an entire lifetime would take too much time, so it showed a heavily abbreviated version—picking out just the important events or scenes of crimes, like a summary.
If it didn't do that, you'd spend an absurd amount of time on every single human life.
"Fascinating. To implement the function I requested so precisely."
"Hehe. That's not all. Now try opening those bamboo slips."
"This? But there was nothing written on it..."
"It'll be different this time."
Because those bamboo slips—the Ledger of Life and Death—were meant to link up with the bronze mirror. To be honest, a document listing the lifespans of every living being... that was impossible! Yeah. Sure, I could probably manage it with my creation powers, but I wanted to try doing it with my own skills this time.
Instead, I'd approached it a bit differently, and that was the Ledger of Life and Death.
"Hm? The words are appearing on their own...!"
"Pretty amazing, right?"
It worked like this: the memories read from the bronze mirror automatically inscribed themselves on the Ledger of Life and Death. Then, based on those memories, it reviewed various possibilities and recorded the lifespan the soul would have had if it had lived a life free of crimes or major issues.
In simple terms, it displayed the lifespan that soul would have achieved with a proper life. Of course, since it was just assessing possibilities, you couldn't trust it completely... but it gave you a rough idea of the expected lifespan.
Naturally, a "proper" life didn't always mean a long one, so sometimes the expected lifespan came out shorter than the actual one.
"But this is strange. This one died at 28, yet the ledger says death at 78..."
"That means he had the potential to live to 78. But he died before even half that due to various problems."
"So he didn't live out his full lifespan?"
"You can think of it that way. Of course, it's just a possibility, so it could be wrong."
Sudden quarrels could breed grudges, and then a sharp rock might smash into the back of your head on a dark road—who knows?
"With these tools, you can read the soul's memories and understand if that life was on the right path, don't you think?"
North Ridge nodded slightly at my words.
"If these items judge whether it was a proper life, they'll help evaluate the soul's existence."
"Exactly. But they're not all-powerful. They only judge lifespan, so they can't weigh the gravity of the soul's sins."
"I'll have to judge that part separately."
I nodded slightly. But I didn't plan to leave judging the weight of sins to North Ridge. You shouldn't burden one person with too much responsibility. Of course.
That role... if Ceres wanted to work in the afterlife, I'd hand it to her. I'd already prepared the item for it while making these tools for North Ridge. I'd give it to her the moment she decided.
Once the afterlife's system was set up with those three...
Thanatos commanding the shadow spirits to gather the souls of the dead.
North Ridge checking via the mirror and ledger if the soul lived its full proper lifespan.
Ceres weighing the souls on the scales to measure their sins and decide their fate.
That was the rough structure planned. Though it could change depending on circumstances.
Anyway.
"Items this incredible must have proper names. What are they called?"
"I named the bamboo slips the Ledger of Life and Death, but I haven't decided on the mirror yet. I was thinking Mirror of Karma or Pure Crystal Mirror..."
Mirror of Karma, from reflecting human karma. Pure Crystal Mirror, from being clear enough to reflect a whole lifetime. Honestly, either works!
"Then why not use both? You can call it whichever fits."
Hm... that makes sense? Fine, call it whatever.
No matter what you call the mirror that reflects a lifetime, it won't change much.
"Anyway, preparing these for me... I can't refuse your proposal now."
"Hm. That's what I was waiting for."
For a veteran newbie god, making these was no big deal!
"However, I am the mountain god of this North Ridge Mountain. If I leave it, I'll be no different from other spirits. What do you plan for that?"
"I've got something in mind for that too."
If he's bound to this mountain, just make the mountain part of the afterlife, right? Not physically moving it, of course—just nudging people's perceptions a bit to build faith in him as the god of the underworld through their beliefs.
"So first, let's hide this mountain."
"Pardon?"
"Don't worry. It'll be quick."
I just grinned at North Ridge.
The capital of Ye Kingdom, its largest city. In the greatest city in the East, home to the most people, a strange rumor began to spread.
"North Ridge Mountain has vanished."
What was North Ridge Mountain? The mountain north of the capital, like a communal graveyard where countless people were buried, right?
But one day, it vanished into thin air. A thick fog blanketed where it had stood, and undertakers heading into the foggy North Ridge Mountain to check graves emerged on the other side without knowing how.
It was the stuff of ghosts wailing in frustration.
Some said the mountain god of North Ridge was angry. That covering the mountain in graves had enraged the mountain god.
Others said North Ridge Mountain had become the underworld. A mountain shrouded in death had sunk into the underworld.
No one knew the truth. All that was certain was that North Ridge Mountain was no longer there.
After a short time, another rumor spread.
The mountain god of North Ridge Mountain had become the god of the underworld. A judge of the dead in the underworld.
With that, the fog around where North Ridge Mountain had been thinned, and the mountain vanished without a trace.
Truly, the stuff of ghosts wailing.
Through that process, North Ridge was no longer the mountain god of North Ridge Mountain—he had become a god of the underworld.
"Unbelievable. Just spreading rumors did all this..."
"Humans fear the unknown, but also revere and yearn for it."
It was a method that worked because humans hadn't accumulated much knowledge yet. They couldn't even understand natural phenomena and imagined gods.
It wasn't hard to guide their thinking with a bit of trickery and rumors. Thanks to that, North Ridge was no longer bound to the mountain, and his appearance changed a little too.
The crown-like hat with a flat square plate on top was the same, but the veil draping from it shifted from white to black. His clothes, once mostly green and brown, were now entirely black.
Probably because humans associate the color of death with black.
"So what happens to my North Ridge Mountain now?"
"Hm... well. I thought about sinking it into the earth, but you probably wouldn't like that. I just attached it to the edge of the nearby mountain range."
"You speak of such abnormal feats so casually. It's not a huge mountain, but to move it so easily..."
"What, this is nothing."
I smiled faintly at North Ridge.
"No longer the god of North Ridge Mountain... I can't use the name North Ridge anymore."
"Hm. I'll give you a new name then. One fitting for the new god of death."
"A name?"
Hm. Names are important. They define a being's essence, even determining its fate to some extent.
"I've prepared two. One for the East, one for the West. Which do you want first?"
North Ridge—no, not North Ridge anymore. The new god of death spoke without hesitation.
"The mountain I dwelled in was in the East, so tell me that name first."
"Yeah, I figured."
I grinned and opened my mouth.
"Yanluo. That's the name you'll be called in the East. Use Moros in the West."
The judge of the underworld, and from Greek myths, a god of death like Thanatos. No names could suit an underworld administrator better.
And with that, the underworld's second manager was set.