Book 3: Chapter 34: Terrifying Real Name

Book 3: Chapter 34: Terrifying Real Name

“When I found out that the church would hand out free bread and milk to their followers, I knew I could place my faith in them and that Jehovah was my god.”

Thea stared at the nostalgic look on Lilith’s face speechlessly, wondering to herself why the girl who used magic scrolls that were worth half of Aeria for the past few days would covet some free bread and milk.

Perhaps Lilith could tell what Thea was thinking, she said, “Believe me, I was not always this rich.”

“In fact, I was at a low point in my life at that time. Heaven was merciless. The continuous natural disasters (rain) left the empire’s treasury in deficit for three consecutive days. I was starv-... saddened. For the sake of feeding mysel-... my people, I had to do my best to find food as the ruler of the empire. Hence in my desperation, I stepped foot inside the church on that cold and rainy night.”

“But Lilith, you’re not a human being.”

Lilith, who was recounting her tale like some brave hero, was instantly reverted to her usual self by Thea’s sudden statement.Cheêck out latest novels on novel/bin(.)com

“...How did you know?”

Thea tilted her head and poked at Lilith’s smooth skin. “Although my emotions were suppressed when I was fighting with you earlier, I retained my consciousness. Not only that, my senses in certain aspects were keener than usual. Besides, you can’t possibly be a human with that speed of recovery. Having said that, your skin is really fair and soft. You look no different than a daughter from a rich human family. It’s hard to imagine your real form.”

Despite discovering that the other party wasn’t a human, Thea was still treating this unidentified creature of unknown origin like a friend. Lilith wasn’t sure if she had keen senses or was just being naive.

“Well, don’t worry about trivial matters like that. You can just treat me like a human being.”

“Okay then, but were all that true?”

“Of course it is. I’m your best friend. Would I deceive you just because you are young, naive, innocent and ignorant?” Lilith clasped Thea’s hands tightly and told her affectionately, “We’re friends and friends don’t lie to each other.”

“Oh... I see... I didn’t expect Lilith to have such a tragic past. It’s just pitiful to think that you had to find food all by yourself. I thought that you would be served at least a hundred dishes every meal and never of the same dish. Little did I expect you would be in such a... pitiful state.” Unsurprisingly, the naive and innocent Thea really bought Lilith’s nonsense. She even looked like she was about to cry.

“Ugh...”

“What’s wrong, Lilith? Is your chest hurting?”

“I’m... fine. It’s just my conscience acting up.”

“Oh... that’s good. And then? Did you manage to find food for your people after you went in?”

“And then... I stayed there two days before I escaped.”

“Huh? Why? Could it be that you discovered the evil conspiracy of the false god Jehovah?” Thea widened her eyes and asked.

“...Ahem, of course.”

Lilith spoke righteously, “Naturally, someone as righteous as me would never wallow in the mire with them so I broke it off cleanly with them. I didn’t even want to see them. It was ridiculous that those fake followers tried to stop me from leaving but fortunately, I managed to quickly slip past them.”

“What the heck are you saying, I’m not even a human!”

“But didn’t you ask me to treat you like a human?”

Lilith almost couldn’t breathe. She grabbed Thea’s shoulders and shook her violently. “I’m telling you that it’s useless to believe in gods!!”

“How... is that p-possible? The Radiant... Goddess... Ahh... Lilith... stop... shaking me. I’m getting dizzy.”

Lilith stopped shaking her then plopped down on the ground and crossed her arms in front of her chest. “How is that not possible? Think about it, why would such a powerful existence even care about the life and death of humans that are no more than insects in her eyes? The goddess is only using all of you as tools to collect faith. You’re weeds that can easily be replaced. She is only giving all of you a little benefit to make you grow stronger and more useful to her.”

“Impossible!!” Thea retorted angrily, “The goddess is definitely not like that! She bestowed upon us everything! Houses, clothes, food!”

“The goddess didn’t give all of you those. All of you are the ones who created everything with your own hands and through your hard work.”

“Nonsense!” Thea stood up weakly, ignoring her own physical condition. Her cheeks were flushed with anger and she looked like she would hit Lilith if the latter kept up with this accusation.

“I’m not talking nonsense.” Lilith spread her arms. Although Thea looked like a furious tigress, she was less than a paper-folded tiger that posed no threat at all.

“Let me ask you this, if a war were to break out between the Luminous Theocracy and the Holy Dragon Empire, the kind that would lead to the demise of a nation, who do you think will win, considering the intervention of the gods?”

“Probably... the Holy Dragon Empire. After all, it is considered one of the strongest on the continent. But if the goddess would intervene... then the Dragon God of the Holy Dragon Empire would intervene too. When it comes to the battle between the gods, I’m not too sure who would emerge victorious,” Thea replied while playing with her fingers.

Lilith smiled contemptuously. “Don’t worry, the Dragon God would never interfere. And I guess the Radiant Goddess wouldn’t be interfering either.”

“Impossible! Even if she didn’t intervene, it was also because she was worried that the Dragon God would stab her in the back or for various other reasons.”

“Oh?” Lilith suddenly leaned closer and stared straight into Thea’s eyes. “So you think it’s reasonable for her to abandon tens of millions of devout believers over some empty threats or for some unknown reasons?”

Thea stared right back at Lilith, her cheeks puffed up like a squirrel and her hands clenched into tight fists. She wanted Lilith to take back her disrespectful words.

But Lilith only responded with a scornful smile.

Unable to find any reason to refute, Thea could only kick the ball back at her. “Then how did you know that the Dragon God wouldn’t intervene for the Holy Dragon Empire?” she huffed angrily.

“Of course I would know.”

Lilith’s azure eyes started burning and turned into molten gold. At the same time, Thea found herself suffocated by an ancient dragon’s distinctive aura.

Lilith stood up and looked down at Thea who looked like a deer in headlights. She then chuckled sweetly, “My real name is Artemis Niger Lilith, a direct descendant of the Dragon God, Aterlieum Niger Gerald.”

“Of course I would know about my ancestor.”