Cloud Whale (2)
The Cloud Whale continued circling the skies without any hint of intelligence.
Hmm. Well, who cares if it has intelligence or not? As long as it does a good job scattering souls, that's fine. Still, it would be nice if we could have a conversation now and then... But what can you do? It's not like intelligence is suddenly going to pop into existence for that Cloud Whale.
Wait... actually, that might be possible?
The Cloud Whale gained faith from humans and took on that solid form. If I play that right, couldn't I shape it into the kind of god I want? For example... giving it some level of intelligence, or having it delegate souls to flocks of little birds as subordinates. And if I set a rough flight path for it... making it head to the northern edge every set interval, that would make it way easier to hand off souls processed in the underworld.
Sure, tweaking the Cloud Whale to fit my tastes gave me a tiny prick of conscience... but what choice do I have? It doesn't even understand speech. At least with an intelligent being, I could try persuading it, but you can't reason with something like a dumb animal.
With that, I paused filling the first layer of the underworld with rivers and headed toward where the humans lived.
Humans kept steadily multiplying. Sure, there were plenty getting hurt or falling ill, but their greatest strength—numbers—remained as strong as ever.
By this era, humans had formed city-states, both large and small. If I had to compare... kinda like the poleis of ancient Greece? Trading with other city-states, sometimes clashing in disputes, slowly bulking up bit by bit.
Among them, the largest—Akad—was ruled by the descendants of that human I'd once made a crown for.
Hmm. After handing over something like that, this much is the least they could do. Of course.
I polymorphed into human form, hid my horns, changed my hair color, and disguised myself as an utterly ordinary girl. Well, except I kept the cute looks, obviously. Honestly, it might be a bit self-praising, but my polymorphed appearance is kinda cheating. An face that wins people over just by looking at it? If I didn't look so young, a few cities might've toppled already!
Anyway, I headed to the gates of the Akad city-state.
A ton of people were lining up to enter, getting checked at the entrance. A few armed guards were inspecting them one by one. Mostly travelers or merchants, oh! And up front, some dragons polymorphed as humans mixed in the crowd!
"What’s your purpose here?"
"We are the ones who bestow life. We pilgrimage the world, spreading the will of the great one."
The guard nodded right away, like he got it.
"Priests of the god, eh? Welcome. First time in Akad?"
"Mm. Yeah, first time."
"Then you probably don't know the inns and such. Our king built a place for folks like you who serve the same god—head there. I'll send someone with you. Fenit! Over here!"
One of the guards came up at the call.
"Escort these folks to the temple."
"Got it."
With the guards leading, the dragons slipped inside way faster than the surrounding merchants.
Hmm. Looks like dragons visiting this city wasn't a one- or two-time thing. Makes sense—if they're traveling the world doing volunteer healing and sharing news from other cities... no reason they wouldn't be welcomed. Plus, with their true dragon strength, forget bandits ambushing them; the bandits would be the ones in trouble.
Sending the dragons on a world tour was a solid call!
The line inched forward as people ahead got grilled with questions by the guards—some let in, some turned away—until it was my turn.
The guard approaching me frowned hard.
"A kid...?"
"No way a child’s here alone? Where are your parents?"
He looked seriously flustered. I shot back at him.
"I'm an adult."
"An adult? Kiddo, lying's not nice."
"It's true, I swear. No ID or anything to prove it, though."
This was still an era without resident registration or anything like that. Hell, that wouldn't show up until way way in the future. No way a bunch of ancient city-states could manage it.
"Super suspicious, but I guess I'll let it slide for now. Cause any trouble—even a little—and you'll never see sunlight again. Watch yourself."
"No worries. I'm just here to research the gods."
Even without proper ID, the guard waved me through.
Hmm... gotta be the face.
And just like that, I entered Akad—the biggest human city.
Passing wooden walls and gates, what met my eyes inside were unpaved wide streets lined on both sides with densely packed mud houses. Pillars and temporary walls of wood, plastered with mud for walls and roofs.
Seeing this really drives home how far they've come. From mud huts to this already... And in the central plaza, a primitive market was bustling with bartering.
Whoa... trade's picking up too...
The human city was developing in a pretty nice direction overall, but not everything was positive.
"Come one! Prisoners from the last war! Strong as oxen—good for any labor!"
"Hey, you! Need a pretty slave girl?"
Slave traders hawking humans were right there in plain view.
Slavery, huh... Not thrilled about it, but if I smite them with lightning over this... nah, probably not. Slavery was a problem even on old Earth that lasted ages. In an era without human rights concepts, it's par for the course. Doesn't mean I like it, though.
I shoved down the mild dissatisfaction bubbling in my chest and started wandering the city, gathering info on the Cloud Whale.
"A massive whale floating in the sky. The Cloud Whale. New life begins to sprout beneath its huge body as it passes. Thus, couples desiring children pray for the Cloud Whale to grant new life."
That was the entirety of the Cloud Whale faith—pretty thin stuff.
Hmm... well, naturally occurring faiths are all like this, I guess. Nice and vague, plenty of room to intervene.
So I started spreading rumors about the Cloud Whale, bit by bit.
First, about its subordinates.
"The pure white birds flying in the sky are the Cloud Whale's subordinates, delivering new life to every corner of the continent in its stead."
The Cloud Whale was huge and flew pretty fast, but it couldn't cover the whole continent alone scattering souls. So, add subordinates. Like storks bringing babies, have white birds handling spots the whale skips.
Next, add some intelligence to the Cloud Whale.
"The Cloud Whale possesses the intelligence of a young child and takes great joy in sharing life."
Start with childlike smarts. Too much intelligence, and who knows what it'd do. A notch above beast level—let's see how that plays out.
"The Cloud Whale circles the world from morning till evening, then heads north at night to sleep in the night sky."
This draws it near the underworld. It's unfinished now, but once done, I'll need to return processed souls to it. Can't have its flight path all random.
"The Cloud Whale is the god of birth, bringing new life into the world. It is cherished by the goddess of life."
Finally, lock in the faith. Better to pin down its role clearly than let random beliefs sprout. Oh, and the goddess of life... that's like a leash, just in case. Obviously points to me. Dragons out as life-bearers worship me like a god. Can't let some weirdo snag the life domain.
At minimum, keep faith control where I need it.
Looks good. So the Cloud Whale faith becomes...
"A massive whale floating in the sky. The Cloud Whale. Possessing the intelligence of a young child, the Cloud Whale is cherished by the goddess of life and takes immense joy in birthing new souls as the god of birth.
The Cloud Whale awakens at morning, circles the world till evening, then heads north at night to sleep in the night sky.
Pure white birds always circle its huge body—these are the Cloud Whale's subordinates, delivering new life to the world in its stead. Harm them not.
Those desiring children, pray for the Cloud Whale to grant new life. It shall deliver unto you."
Something like that. Perfect. Time to spread it.
And so, the new Cloud Whale faith took root in the city—slowly, steadily, but surely.