Chapter 4 – Light and Dark

When I joined the Divine Race I conquered the curse, and so I was able to take long baths again.
Up until now the curse would activate if I didn’t leave the bath before thirty minutes was up and send my clothes flying into the bath, so I always had to bathe while watching the time. Now I could finally bathe as long as I wanted.
Although I stopped sweating, I still got dirty, so I would usually bathe every day. More important than anything was the fact that getting into a hot bath was relaxing for the spirit, so it was essential that I did so.

“Phew…”

Feeling the heat soak into my body, I unconsciously let out a sigh. After pouring some water on myself, I dropped into the bath. Waves went through the bath, and the comfortable vibrations swayed my body.
I played around like that for a while, but because I had already been in for an hour, although I didn’t get dizzy I still thought that it was about time to get out, so I stood up.

And when I did, a man in a crimson robe suddenly appeared outside the bathtub without any warning.
He was a tall man with long, light green hair, and although he had a handsome face, he looked somewhat ill-bred.

“Ahn?”

It was so shocking that I had forgotten to even hide myself and stood there stock still. In front of me, the man looked around the room, before finally noticing me.

“…”

“…”

We continued to stare at each other wordlessly for a while, but the man finally lowered his gaze just a little, before averting his eyes with a scoff.

*imouto*

Still silent, I fired a relatively serious shadow bullet at the man.

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After preparing an emergency meeting room and round table on the 5th floor, I sat down on one of the three chairs. The other chairs were occupied by the peeper who intruded on my bath earlier, and a blonde woman wearing a full set of silver armour. Incidentally, although the man took my relatively serious shadow bullet, he was left without a scratch.
Tena walked around the table and placed a cup of tea before each of us.

“Thanks. We’re fine now, so you can leave. Also, tell everyone not to come near this room.”

“Y-, Yes! Understood.”

Perhaps I accidentally let some of my urgency into my voice, because Tena leapt out of the room with great urgency.
I felt a little guilty, but considering the situation, it couldn’t help that I was nervous.

*imouto*

Not even in my dreams had I imagined that the 『God of Darkness』　and the 『God of Light』 would march in here directly together.

*imouto*

The man sitting to me left in a deep crimson sleeveless robe had introduced himself as Dark God Anbaal.
Whether his long green hair, or the bared chest beneath his robe, his appearance just made him look like a member of a visual kei rock band, but because of his bad attitude, crossing his legs on the table, I couldn’t see him as anything but a hoodlum.
He saw me naked in the bath. He looked at my chest and sneered. I already had a pretty bad impression of him. When I considered that this was the deity that they worshipped, I began feeling sympathy for the Demon Race. I’ll make sure to warn Leonora later not to be hasty.
But the feeling of pressure I was feeling was the real thing, so I had no doubts that he was a god. He was the god that ruled over “darkness” so considering the attribute of my shadow bullet, it made sense that he was unharmed.

On the other hand, the armoured woman sitting to my left who appeared in the bathroom to scold the Dark God for intruding introduced herself as the God of Light Sophia.
Her beautiful blonde hair was tied into three braids, and from her appearance she looked like a calm woman in her twenties, giving off a clean and serious atmosphere… but there’s one thing I’d like to say.

Her appearance was way too different to the statue in the church; it’s fraud.
If something like this is allowed, wouldn’t it be fine for me to change my clothes too?

I only saw it from afar, but I think the goddess statue in the church was wearing something like a nun’s clothing. And in contrast, the woman in front of me was wearing a silver plate armour without a single gap, and no matter how you looked at it, she seemed like the martial type. She was like Joan of Arc. The fact that the person herself was quiet made things scarier instead.

Honestly speaking, I was less afraid of the hoodlum Dark God than I was of her. She didn’t seem the type who understood jokes, after all.
In contrast, the Dark God was just acting tough and wasn’t all that scary.
When I turned my gaze to him, perhaps he noticed my gaze because he looked my way.

“The hell you lookin’ at?”

“A peeper.”

Ah-, oops. I accidentally spoke my mind.

“Hah! You think you have anything worth peeping at?”

“That thin body and…” he said, before wordlessly looking at my chest. I reflexively wanted to cover up with my hands, but I felt like I would be the loser if I faltered here, so I just boldly glared back at him. But of course, perhaps I should be saying ‘as expected of a god’ because the mystic eyes had no effect at all, and he didn’t even flinch.

“To begin with, the heck is a god even doing in the bath?”

When I glared at him, he blocked my eyes like it was annoying, and said that. Well certainly I don’t have a metabolism, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t get dirty, so I thought it was obvious that I’d clean myself but… Do gods normally not bathe?
I mean, I’m fine with this peeper skipping his bathes or whatever he wants as long as he doesn’t come near me, but if gods don’t bathe, then could it be that she also…

“Anbaal, it seems she still hasn’t been released from a physical body. It’s natural that she needs to clean herself. Don’t think of her as the same as you and I who exist only as souls.”

The Light God cut into the conversation as though scolding the Dark God. And at the same time, she glared at me with an incredible glint in her eyes. Could it be that she knew what I was thinking about? Understood, Oneesama, you aren’t unclean.

“A brat with her shell still stuck to her arse, huh? Tsk, how annoying.”

The Dark God gave a languid sigh as though saying ‘my my’.
But still, I wonder what they meant. If I take the Light God’s words at face value, then these two were just spiritual beings without a body. Seeing them sitting on chairs and drinking tea made it a little hard to believe, but since there wasn’t any need for them to lie here, it was probably the truth.
But in that case, what kind of position did that put me in?

“If there’s anything you would like to ask, then I shall answer. Before we get into the main topic, it seems that you need to be informed of some background information first.”

“Guess it can’t be helped, ey. We aren’t getting anywhere at this rate.”

The Light God spoke to me who was having questions. I’m concerned about what her ‘main topic’ is, but for now I’ll obediently ask my questions. It’s dangerous to get into a conversation with people whose motives you don’t know, but because I had so little information, I wasn’t in a position where I could form any strategies.

“What’s the difference between you two and I?”

I decided just to ask what I had doubts about just now.

“We are all the same in that we belong to the Divine Race. However, because the ones formed from the divided Creator God, Anbaal and I, were divines to begin with, we were always souls without physical bodies. And in contrast, because you were somebody who became a divine from a human, you still possess your body. Once your soul becomes a divine, your body will be affected as well though, so it isn’t as though your body is the same as when you were a human though.”

“Me and that overly serious woman over usually exist without possessing any substance, but right now we’re materialised. But well, once your body is destroyed you’ll probably be just like us though.”

In other words, right now I’m like a half-baked half-divine with a physical body, but once my physical body is destroyed, I’ll be a complete divine just like them? I get the feeling that we just casually skipped through a fairly heavy conversation.

“But well, even if you still have a body, you’re still a divine, so there shouldn’t be any problems with exercising your powers.”

“Exercising my powers?”

Could it be that she’s talking about the ‘Administrator’ skill that came along when I became a divine? I can’t think of anything else that matches, so I think that’s probably it, though.

“Yeah. That’s the ‘main topic’ that we came aaaall the way here to talk to ya about.”

The Dark God pulled his legs back from atop the table, and after fixing his posture, he put his crossed arms atop the table and leaned in. The sense of tension in the room surged up.

*imouto*

*imouto*

“Today the reason we came here… is to decide on our 『Authorities』.”

<Previous Chapter | Imouto | Next Chapter>

So my friend asked me to play Aura Kingdom with him, which is why I didn’t get a chapter out yesterday. And while I was playing, I realised something: some readers play games too!

So anyway, in conclusion, if anybody plays Phoenix server in Aura Kingdom and wants to throw free stuff at me because they love me, I’m playing a lv60 ronin called ‘YamotoKoki’ (YEEART!) ahaha!

Oh, and I guess playing together is fine too, but I’m mostly asking for the free stuff (lol).

There’s a superstition that the area between your eyebrows is particularly sensitive and pressing a finger or stick there will especially hurt.

Chapter 3 – Progression of Heresy

『In the beginning, Anri-sama created the world.
Humans, animals, plants; all things that exist were created by Anri-sama’s hand.
However, the foolish humans did not know.
Sophia the Evil God was jealous of Anri-sama, and pretended that Anri-sama’s achievements were her own, and the people praised Evil God Sophia.

Anri-sama who lamented over the world dyed in heresy, decided that she would purge the world with only her believers remaining.
The believers of Evil God Sophia will surely burn in Hell for eternity.
Only those who believe in Anri-sama will be able to go to the new world, and obtain eternal happiness.』

After reading the words on the paper in my hand, I looked up and found that the Pope was standing there with eyes shining with some kind of expectation. Seeing that subtly proud face, the fact that his good looks were its only redeeming feature kind of pissed me off.

“…Leonora.”

“Yeah.”

Faiya~

“NOOOOOOH――――!?

Leonora was standing next to me and had been peering in on it as well, and when I had her burn it away the Pope began to scream.

I didn’t want to meet him so I had Tena act as my representative, but he specifically wanted me to have a look at something, so I even went out of my way to build an audience hall on the 4th floor, but I didn’t think that I’d be made to read something like that. The reason I added this hall was because they were treating me as a god, so I couldn’t easily head down to the 3rd floor and below, and since I didn’t want to invite him up to the 5th floor, there was no other place but the 4th.
Also, the reason I didn’t want to call him up to the 5th floor was because I didn’t want him to meet Lili. In his mind, Lili had been eaten by me, and as for Lili, she shouldn’t want to meet somebody who tried to kill her either.
Only, although I know that he’s somebody who tried to kill a person I’m close to, mysteriously I didn’t feel any sense of repulsion. I think it’s because his personality is so intense that the first impression was drowned out.
I wonder how Tena feels about this. She associates with him normally though.

“Why, Anri-sama――――!?”

“Uwah-”

The Pope drew in with a flood of tears, and in my revulsion, I accidentally sent him flying with a shadow bullet. It was so sudden that I didn’t hold back on my strength, or so I was thinking, but the Pope was just fine and immediately got up. I shouldn’t be one to say this, but is guy really human?
To begin with, these eyes that even cause the daughter of the Demon King to dogeza don’t seem to have any effect on him… Or rather, should I say that he even gets a little excited? It makes me want to avert my eyes myself.

“My apologies, I lost my composure. I am terribly ashamed, but could you please teach me what it was that was unsatisfactory?”

Even if you act all prim and proper now, it’s too late you know.
And even if you ask me what was unsatisfactory, it’s actually harder to point out something good about it. It’s the first time that something’s been so bad, that one of the less bad points is a good point. But well, if I had to pick the worst point, then…

“It’s needlessly antagonistic. And there are lots of parts that are disconnected from the truth.”

Even without antagonising them, the Church of Sacred Light might be hostile anyway, but that doesn’t mean that there’s a need to needlessly stir them up. We’re lucky enough that they’re glaring at another country, so I don’t want to provoke them and have their spearhead turned this way instead. And also, why did I end up the one who created the world? I have no memory of doing anything like that.

“Certainly, there are a few exaggerations mixed in.”

A few? So this is ‘a few’…
Or rather, before ‘exaggeration’, all I found were a bag of lies, but?

“However, we presently require something to gather people to our country. As such, I wanted to create a scripture. In order to draw interest, giving it a little impact would be better, wouldn’t it?”

Please give me a break. Just imagining a nation formed from people gathered by that kind of scripture is giving me goosebumps.
But in regards to the need for scriptures, I guess I can’t help but agree with his idea. I don’t want to starve either, so the idea of propagating the religion itself is something I agree with. Then in that case…

“I’ll write the scriptures.”

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I might have been too hasty.
The blank paper in front of me was causing me to hold my head in trouble inside.
I accidentally said in front of the Pope that I would write it──the Pope gleefully left──but, since then the brush in my hand has written absolutely nothing.
To begin with, I only realised just now that there’s no way the deity themselves would write the parts that worshipped and praised the deity, but it’s much too late.

And also, even leaving that part aside, the rest of the contents are difficult too.
Amongst the believers gathered in the temple right now, many of them were in despair because of the Church of Sacred Light, or the social class system. Because of that, I needed to write something revolutionary and reformist like destroying the current system, but in that case, I’d had no choice but to write something antagonistic towards the Church or the other countries.
And personally, just as I said earlier, I definitely don’t want to antagonise the Church of Sacred Light or the other nations, so as much as possible I’d like to head in a direction that doesn’t provoke them.

“Anri-sama? Are you still awake?”

“Tena…”

When I sighed at how I was making no progress at all, I heard somebody call me from outside the room. Apparently after Tena had put Lili to bed, she came to see how I was doing.

“Overly exerting yourself is bad for your body, Anri-sama. I think it might be better if you went to bed…”

“It’s fine. You can go to bed, Tena.”

“Anri-sama…”

It wasn’t a lie. I’m still totally fine. For some reason after I turned into a divine, I stopped needing sleep. Staying up a few nights won’t hurt my health at all. It’s completely unrelated to physical fatigue.

“If you don’t plan on sleeping yet, then could I trouble you for some tea?”

“Understood.”

I know that as an apostle, Tena still needs to eat and sleep. Because of that, unlike me, she needs to properly rest. I’m happy that she’s worried about me, but she needs to rest after she’s done with the tea.

After she left a cup of tea in front of me, I was going to tell her to go to sleep, but before I could, Tena spoke to me first.

“Are you not making progress?”

Perhaps realising that I was troubled, Tena asked me that, and I nodded wordlessly. A situation where you keep crumpling up the pages and starting over can’t be called progress no matter how you look at it.

“What are you worrying about?”

“I can’t write something that endorses reform without picking a fight with the Church or existing countries.”

After saying it myself, the impossible requirements made my head hurt. The moment that you reform something, you’d be picking a fight with the people who currently had benefits, so to begin with it was contradictory.

“Umm, why is it that reform is necessary?”

“Why, you say? Well…”

‘Because that’s what the followers want.’ I was about to reply, when my mind suddenly came to a stop.
Is that really true?
It’s certain that there were lots of people amongst the followers that were in despair because of the Church or the class system. But if you asked me if all members wanted reform, then I would have to say that I hadn’t heard such a thing.
What the betrayed and wounded wanted was something more vague than that; ‘something righteous’. If that wasn’t true, then even without religion, they’d rely on something else in some other place.
And as for ‘something righteous’, there was no need to forcefully link it to reform. From the beginning, there was no need to touch on troublesome topics like the current state of the religions or countries in the world. As long as I state ethics or morals; state ‘the way things should be’, then that’s enough.

It felt like a ray of light shone into my mind that had been hazy from agonising over this.

“It looks like you’re fine now. It wouldn’t do for me to be a nuisance, so I’ll take my leave.”

Perhaps feeling relieved because she saw that I was fine, Tena gave a bow with a smile. I nodded back at her.

“Goodnight, Tena. And… thanks.”

“Good night, Anri-sama.”

Right. There was no need for me to put on airs.
In the end, the scriptures were just the basis, and not the entirety. You could tell this just by looking at the way the Church of Sacred Light spread. It’s fine just for me to write whatever I think. The religious stuff can just be left to the Pope and the rest to add on.

Mn. It feels like I can write now.
Pulling myself together, I turned to the page and began putting down my thoughts into words.

*imouto*

*imouto*

*imouto*

*imouto*

*imouto*

<The Black Scripture>
An item designated as an ‘S-Class Danger’.
Said to be filled with the malice of the Evil God, amongst the things in this world, it is a cursed item of particularly great strength.
Those who have received this item will continue to suffer misfortune until they transcribe a copy and hand it to somebody else. Additionally, as even the copy contains the curse, it will propagate endlessly.
Additionally, there is no means of destroying this item.

A list of the misfortunes of the cursed lett… I mean, the “Black Scripture”:

You suffer a bald patch.
You experience “popping ears” when heading to high places.
It feels like somebody is pressing a finger between your eyebrows.
You contract hay fever.
You will suddenly suffer stomach pains in places where there are no nearby toilets.
Each morning you will awaken to a leg cramp.
You will unfailing stub your little toe on a shelf.
You will unconsciously blurt out your real opinion.
You will end all your sentences in ‘evilgod’.

<Previous Chapter | Imouto | Next Chapter>

Chapter 2 – The Situation in Various Countries

『Well then, please tell us the situation in all the other countries.』

On the monitor, Tena called out to the people assembled there.
Sitting around the round table were the important members of the Faith, and of course, the Merry Pope was there as well.

Ever since the country-founding announcement, I sent people out to see how the other countries would move, and the information they gathered was to be presented at this meeting.

As for being there myself, with Tena already recognised as my representative, I left it to her and instead decided to watch on-screen from the top floor of the temple. Also, Lili was sitting next to me, reading a picture book and studying letters. In this world where the literacy rate and printing techniques were oddly high for a medieval European level, learning how to read was indispensable.

Tena sat on a special chair that was placed at the highest part behind the round table, and overlooked everybody gathered there. Just like how my appearance didn’t change when I became a divine, Tena’s appearance didn’t change either when she became an apostle, but for some reason I get the feeling that she was now wrapped in a kind of transcendental atmosphere.

With beautiful blonde hair, a youthful but dignified face, as well as the black outfit with the mysterious atmosphere, it was like she was a princess or a shrine maiden from somewhere. Well, I guess she’s exactly a shrine maiden.

『Well then, I shall begin. In regards to the movements of the Headquarters of the Church of Sacred Light, the Luxiria Theocracy, they immediately repudiated the announcement of our country’s founding. They are appealing to the other nations to agree.』

A commotion ran through the meeting due to the sudden report.

『Calm yourselves. Anri-sama is watching us as well.』

The Pope’s voice rang out through the noisy room, and the noise changed to complete silence.
Well yeah, I am watching, but there’s no need to say it.

『We knew from the beginning that this was how the Luxiria Theocracy would act. The issue is how the other nations will respond. How do things proceed on that front?』

A woman raised her hand at the Pope’s question.

『In regards to that, I will give the first report.』

『You’re… As I recall, the one in charge of the Kingdom of Fortera, weren’t you.』

『Yes.』

The Kingdom of Fortera was the nation that originally owned the place that we were in, and as somebody who was a stakeholder, you could say that they were the most important nation to us. I was very curious to know what news the report held.

『The Kingdom of Fortera rejected Luxiria’s appeal. Furthermore, they raised complaints about the dishonesty of the current upper echelons of the Church, and created a new faction, taking a hostile position towards them. Furthermore, in regards to our country’s founding announcement, they did not negate it, and are taking a neutral position.』

The meeting became even more noisy than before.
The Church of Sacred Light was the official religion for all nations in the Human Territory, and this was the first time in history that anybody had opposed it, so a commotion was natural. No, perhaps forming a new faction isn’t actually defying the Church of Sacred Light itself.

『The name of the new faction is called the Origin Faction, and are based on being faithful to the teachings of the Goddess.』

『What reaction did the Luxiria Theocracy have towards Fortera’s declaration?』

『Their Pope stated his own feelings of regret, and they seek a withdrawal of that decision.』

When the Pope received the woman’s report, and asked that question of the man who first gave the report on Luxiria, he received a reply that you could say was natural. But if they were going to withdraw that decision, they wouldn’t have made it to begin with, so it was already decided that the two would be hostile.

『The other nations also appear to be watching the confrontation between Luxiria and Fortera, and things are in a deadlock.』

Still, I wonder what’s going on.
From Fortera’s point of view, our country──we’re a self-proclaimed country, but──our country had stolen their land and declared ourselves a nation, so Fortera should have been the first person to deny us. That’s what I expected as well.
And the result was that they were taking a neutral stand, and taking a hostile position with the headquarters of the Church as well. I don’t understand why they would take a hostile position with the Luxiria Theocracy before taking one with us.

“Has the situation progressed?”

When I turned around towards the voice that called out to me, I found the person who should have been in the Demon Territory gathering information, Leonora. The moment I turned to look at her, she averted her eyes. It was an very smooth motion… She’s gotten used to it, hasn’t she.

“Welcome back.”

“Thanks. I just got back.”

For information in the Human Territory, I can sort of leave it to the Pope and the others, but as you’d expect, that wouldn’t fly in the Demon Territory. Since we’re right in-between both territories, I can’t neglect the Demon Territory either. Because of that, I asked Leonora to gather information there. As you’d expected, I don’t think she’ll tell me anything disadvantageous to her country, but we’re not hostile to the Demon Territory or anything, so just normal information is plenty.
Right, and I should see what Leonora thinks about the information from just now. She is royalty, so she might know what a country is planning. I’m worried about the fact that she’s a muscle-head though.

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“I see…”

The discussion was still continuing, but since I heard the most important parts, I decided to take a break and discuss the situation with Leonora over tea. She crossed her arms, and sank into thought for a while. While patting Lili who was next to me, looking at the sweet bun with glittering eyes, I waited for Leonora to gather her thoughts.

“Hmm, three things come to mind.”

“What are they?”

Leonora really is reliable. I’m sorry for thinking that you were a muscle-head.

“The first is that they’re very simply afraid of you.”

“…”

I was stupid for praising you. No, well, I certainly do think that they’re scared of me, and as a guess that probably isn’t wrong, but it was a pretty disappointing answer considering how much I was looking forward to it. While I was laying down on the table, Lili pat my head with her small palms. What a good girl.

“The second is that the Fortera and the upper echelons of the Church of Sacred Light had some kind of discord to begin with.”

“Discord?”

“Yeah. Earlier when the Forteran Army invaded, I told you, 『If a problem within their country is dealt with by the Church or the Order, they will come to owe them a favour.』 didn’t I? In other words, the Church of Sacred Light knew that it would come to that, and yet they still tried to form the Order of the Sacred Light. It might that they simply put precedence over opposing the Evil God, but there’s also the possibility that they had some kind of discord with Fortera.”

“In other words, forming the Order of the Sacred Light was to put pressure on Fortera?”

“It’s nothing but conjecture, but yes.”

I see. Then if we take that as the truth, then certainly it does seem reasonable that the Kingdom and Theocracy would be quarrelling.

“The third is… the relationship with the Demon Territory.”

“…?”

What kind of relationship would that be?
Seeing me tilt my head just a little, Leonora continued to speak.

“Even within the Kingdom of Fortera, this spot is the closest to the Demon Territory. Fortera is the frontline against the Demon Territory, but if a country appears here, that situation will change. It wouldn’t be strange for them to determine that there are large merits for losing just a small amount of territory.”

“That’s…”

In other words, using us as a shield against the Demon Territory?
If they did that, then it would certain explain their neutrality towards us. If they want to use us as a shield, then it wouldn’t be good to have either an antagonist, nor a friendly relationship. The former would just make a new enemy in place of the Demon Territory, and the latter would mean that they wouldn’t be able to push us to the enemy.
And by taking a neutral stance with the Evil God Nation──as long as they weren’t choosing to become our enemy, they would necessarily worsen their relationship with the Church of Sacred Light. And it was because they knew this in advance, that they revolted against the Luxiria Theocracy. That kind of thing?

“Both are possible, and it isn’t the case that there can be only one reason either, after all. It might have surprisingly been the result of all three reasons combined.”

That might be it.
For now, the fact that the most likely enemy Fortera, had now fallen into a deadlock with Luxiria was something very convenient for us.
We should work to fix our appearance as a nation while we still can.

“Speaking of which, what about the Demon Territory?”

“Ahh, they’re basically just watching. As the Demon Race, they aren’t fond of the ‘Evil God’, but that was because it was an idea used by humanity to demonise our Dark God. As a completely different person to the Dark God, there’s no reason to be hostile to you. If it seems that through me, they can come to a mutual understanding with you, they’ll probably be keeping this kind of relationship for the near future.”

“I see.”

I felt relieved after hearing that.
At the very least, it seems that for now, I’ll be able to concentrate on the problems in the Human Territory.
Feeling full, I rubbed my drowsy eyes while patting Lili on the head, and let out a sigh of relief.

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『I suppose that just about sums up the situation in the other countries, and the management of our own. Finally, there is one thing that I would like you to convey to Anri-sama for me, Tena-sama.』

『What is it?』

Mn?
It seems that they wrapped up all the complicated stuff while I was resting, but the Pope began talking about something.

『The truth is, I have thought of a plan to make Anri-sama’s splendour known to the other countries as well. I would by all means like to verify the details with Anri-sama.』

What is he planning…?
I’m worried. Terribly worried.

<Previous Chapter | Imouto | Next Chapter>

I think most of you know already, but 黒歴史(kurorekishi), known as dark history or black history, refers to the incredibly embarrassing shit that happened to you in the past.
Like when you ran around pretending to be Naruto in 8th grade, or when you were so into death metal in 9th grade.
Or the time you started a dancing blog and uploaded videos of your own choreography(lol).

Of course, being an Evil God, there’s obviously the meaning at face value too.

Chapter 1 – The Beginning of a Dark History

I’ve heard a saying before about how it’s easier to destroy something than create.
It’s a somewhat paradoxical saying that emphasises the difficult of creating things.
Whether it’s buildings, or artwork, or culture, when you create something, a lot of time and effort is needed to do so.

*imouto*

But if I had to add one more line to that──

*imouto*

──it would be that cleaning up after things that you accidentally create are also quite a pain. Including bad things that you’ve accidentally done.

*imouto*

And if I had to add one more line on top of that──

*imouto*

──it would be that if you leave it to somebody else because cleaning up is a pain, there also exists the fear of things getting worse.

*imouto*

The newly erected temple, the Forteran Army that was driven away, the Evil God Followers who ended up saved because of this, and more than anything else, I myself, who had become an Evil God.
There were so many problems that I didn’t even know where to begin, so I decided to create a rough order of precedence, and allocate people wherever I could. There shouldn’t be anything wrong with this line of thinking.
And to me, the point of highest priority was dealing with the fact that I’d become an evil god, and all other matters were lower. Considering this once again, I still think this was correct.

So that’s why. That’s why…

*imouto*

“As our great god’s──Anri-sama’s, servant, I, Pope Harvin, hereby declare, the establishment of the 『Holy Anri Thearchy』!”

*imouto*

I want to believe that this isn’t my fault.
Also, I’d like for you to stop with that name. Very much so.

◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

The Evil God Followers were taken in on the first surface floor of the temple, and I left their care to Tena and Leonora. Having said that though, I had no intention of worrying as far as the minor details, and the fundamental idea was to have them arrange themselves.

“And so, why did it turn into this?”

“Even if you ask me that… you know?”

“I just passed on the message, 『Gather your followers over there.』 exactly as you said, Anri-sama, but…”

After Tena and Leonora returned to the top floor of the temple, they told me about the details regarding the speech that the Merry Founder──now, the Merry Pope, gave beyond the monitor, but apparently Tena just passed on the message as is. So how did it have anything to do with founding a country…?

“You’ll probably need to ask him yourself… But whatever the reason, now that he’s declared as such, you can’t so easily take it back, you know.”

“I know.”

What’s more, although we declared that we were creating a country, in the end our situation was just that of insisting that it was true. There’s the fact that we weren’t being acknowledged by other countries as well, but that was because we hadn’t created a country yet. We were just a temple sheltering 1000 refugees, without even a single house, so of course it that much was natural.
But since that announcement had already been accepted by the followers, it was too late to say otherwise.
Of course, I could use my position as God to force the decision to withdraw the announcement, but once I considered the chaos that would ensue, I couldn’t so easily take the plunge.

“Why do they know my name?”

“They begged me, 『Please, please tell us!』 so I ended up telling them, but… was that no good?”

I replied to Tena’s worried question with a shake of the head.
There was the fact that I hadn’t forbidden her to do so as well, and since there was the benefit of being more famous and familiar amongst the followers, I had no intention of criticising her. Because right after that announcement, my belly felt full. At the time I didn’t know what was going on and fell into confusion, but apparently, because the announcement had made my name known, the effectiveness of their faith ended up rising, or so I concluded later on.

Having become a member of the Divine Race, I didn’t need to eat, drink, or use the bathroom any more, but in exchange, how full I felt apparently depended on the religious faith that the people of this world had towards me. I guess that’s how it ended up.
Right now I had faith, so I was happy with a full stomach, but if the faith towards me dropped too much, then I’d be stuck with feeling hungry. Not only that, even eating food wouldn’t fill that hunger, so until the faith towards me restored, I’d continue to starve…
Considering this, forming a country might be convenient for me; mostly in the sense that keeping myself famous would fill my stomach. Although, far from solving any problems, the fact that problems had just increased gave me a headache, and I’m worried about the reactions of the other countries too.

What I wish is to live peacefully, but I don’t want to suffer and starve either. The ideal would be to maintain a deadlock where I’d preserve just enough faith, while not being invaded by any countries.
Having said that though, just being the Evil God Country would be famous enough, so…

“At least change the name.”

“Why? Isn’t it a fine name?”

“I think so too. And furthermore, the name is already well-known amongst the followers, and so, changing it now would be…”

It’s damned embarrassing. Embarrassing enough to roll about in agony on my bed.
Also, why is an evil god-worshipping country prefixed with ‘Holy’? I seriously want to know.

“It isn’t just the followers, you know. That guy has already sent out letters to every nation, after all.”

Why the heck is he so needlessly proactive!? If it’s already spread that far, isn’t it impossible to change now!?
Letting that country name become known across the land, what kind of shame torture is this?

No, wait, wait, thinking about it carefully, there’s a more important issue.
Isn’t sending something like “We created the nation of the Evil God” to every nation basically the same as a declaration of war?
And in a situation where far from being a “nation”, we’re not even a “village” yet?

“Every country is going to come attack us.”

“Although you can’t let your guard down, for now you’ll be fine.”

I asked Leonora ‘Why?’ with my gaze and… she averted her eyes. Although I’ve become a divine now, my mystic eyes are still in good health. I’m just glad that they haven’t gotten worse though.

“The country right beside ours is the Kingdom of Fortera. Considering what happened the other day, they’ll probably be cautious about invading.”

Well, I certainly did threaten the Forteran Army quite terribly. I guess they won’t invade right this second. Having said that though, just as Leonora said, I can’t let my guard down and it’s just a matter of time.

“For now, tell them that they can use the first three terrarean floors, Tena. Also, I’ll leave the management of the country to that Pope.”

“Yes, Anri-sama. I understand.”

Although I’m worried about choosing the Pope, incredibly worried about choosing the Pope… he was apparently the peacemaker in the cult, and there was no reason to change it. Moreover, I couldn’t think of anybody else for the job.
Incidentally, I’m using the 5th and top layer as another residence, and prepared rooms for Tena and Leonora as well. As for Lili, she’s still too young to be on her own, so she’s sharing a room with Tena. However, Tena became busy recently, so I’ve been looking after Lili a lot of the time. Perhaps that had some effect, because as long as I didn’t meet her in the eyes, she’d seem pretty attached to me. I’m a little moved.
The 4th floor is serving as a line of defence. But the actual stronghold is on the subterranean 31st floor, so it’s fine even if I abandon this place when the time comes.
The dungeon core is still on the 31st floor, and I put a newly divided subcore on the 5th surface floor. In exchange for having a number of its functions sealed, like the ability to add floors, with the subcore I could check for abnormalities in the dungeon even without being on the 31st floor. Only, it didn’t function as a backup, and if the main dungeon core was destroyed, then the subcore would break as well.

I hadn’t really decided on what to do with the 3rd surface floor and below, so I offered it for use by the management of the country. With this place as the base, they’ll probably clear the land around the temple and build a town. Only, I don’t really know much about that, so I left it all to somebody else. While I was at it, I pushed all the exchanges with the Merry Pope to Tena. No, I mean, I am sorry to Tena, but once I think about that guy’s vigour, I’m afraid of meeting him directly.

Incidentally, although they’re surface floors, they’re still part of the dungeon. I made it so that monsters wouldn’t spawn, but I couldn’t stop the miasma. Only, unlike the floors underground, it was open here, so I dealt with the problem by blowing it outside.

*imouto*

*imouto*

“Speaking of which, is it really fine for you to stay here, Leonora?”

We’d stopped the conversation so that I could tell Tena to give instructions to the Pope, but I suddenly had that wonder, and so I asked her.
She’s helped me with a lot of things, but thinking about it carefully, isn’t it bad to be receiving “aid from another country”?

“Yeah, no problems. My country is focused on this place as well, you see. They want know what’s going on. In exchange for letting me stay here for a while, I’ll help out.”

“…Thanks.”

When I thanked her, Leonora combed her hands through her beautiful silver hair, as her face turned a little red, and she looked away.

“I-, It isn’t really anything to thank me for. They’re orders from my country, right? I’m something like a spy, you know.”

If you were seriously stealing information, there’d be no need for you to tell me; would pointing this out to her be boorish?
It was obvious that she was worrying about me.

“S-, Speaking of which, have you grasped the effects of becoming an evil god?”

“About half of it.”

In exchange for not needing to eat, excrete, or sleep, I experienced the fact that I apparently needed faith. I don’t know about my lifespan, but since I’m a divine, I’m probably immortal. My mana and skills and stuff all went up across the board.
Also, although I didn’t need to eat or sleep, it didn’t mean that I couldn’t, so I hadn’t changed my lifestyle rhythm. I want to continue living life like a person to maintain my mental stability, after all. By no means is it because I won’t get fat no matter how much I eat or sleep.
I was scared about what would happen if I used my power as an Administrator, so I hadn’t tried it yet.

“Also, I can change my clothes now.”

“Hah?”

Even with curses on the tantou or robe, since I had become a divine myself, I had overcome them. But it wasn’t like the curses themselves had been dispelled, so I guess it would be more correct to say that even cursed, I alone could equip or remove them.
When I told her this, Leonora replied…

“Sorry to say this while you’re happy about it, but you’ve already become recognised as wearing those clothes. If you change too often, it’ll cause trouble.”

“Why?”

“Well, even if you ask why, if God kept changing their clothing, it’d be unnatural, right?”

…Certainly, I’ve never heard of a god who changes their clothing all the time.
Even when it comes to statues or whatever, it’s normal that they wear the same outfit.
Even though I’d finally been able to change… It seems that I’ll forever have nothing to do with fashion.
Is this also the curse of the Evil God?

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