Chapter 58: Cloud Whale (1)

Chapter 58: Cloud Whale (1)

Thus, I brought the newly named Yama to the north of the world.

Although he had been promoted to the god of death, his foundation was that of an earth spirit and a mountain god. So, traveling long distances must have been unfamiliar to him.

Transforming into my true form, I carried Yama in my hand and flew north, completing the delivery of the god of death.

While flying north, I heard Yama scream in fright, but I ignored it as it wasn't important.

It must have been something about getting dizzy because we were moving too fast.

Anyway, when we arrived in the north and I set Yama down in front of the gates of the underworld, Yama knelt on the ground and began to bow deeply, looking very moved.

[I now understand the greatness of the earth. I now realize your preciousness. I see that all beings must live upon you.]

"You're being too dramatic."

Hearing my words, Yama just looked at me without saying anything.

Without a word, he just kept looking at me for about 30 minutes.

Thus, I went with Yama through the gates of the underworld, down and further down.

We met the dark spirits cleaning up the fragments dug up by Talos, introduced Yama to Thanatos who was commanding them, and eventually saw Talos, who had dug out all seven layers and was now stationary.

[This is... incredible.]

"Talos is quite impressive indeed."

Although it was a golem created in a moment of folly, its performance was an undeniable truth.

I praised the commendable Talos.

"Now that we have the place, it's time to complete the underworld."

Ah, but before that. I had to check if Yama had properly ascended to the god of death.

The method was very simple. I had a way to know the list of all gods.

GodTalk. The list of gods. Seeing Yama's name appear on that list, I smiled slightly.

"Being able to become a god through some unreal events, a bit of rumor, and manipulation of public opinion. This might be the easiest era to become a god."

The god of death. Yama. His name was fully listed there.

Hmm. Maybe I should just create gods to my liking this way? Thetis, Ifrit, and Sylphid becoming gods wouldn't be bad either.

Well, Thetis and Sylphid will be revered as gods once navigation fully takes off. Just need to plant the seeds.

Ifrit... Maybe I should give it a hand. An unquenchable flame would be a significant merit in this era, but the location of Ifrit was too much of a demerit.

If I distribute fragments of Ifrit here and there... Or perhaps manipulate the situation to cremate dead bodies with sacred flames...

Ah, or maybe introduce Ifrit as the god of flames and forges to the dwarves. Yeah, that wouldn't be bad.

While having such trivial thoughts and looking at the GodTalk list, I saw a name I hadn't seen before.

[Cloud Whale]

What's this now?

A whale made of clouds?

It just roamed the sky, scattering the souls that made up its body.

Under the sky where the cloud whale passed, the number of newly born children increasing wasn't a coincidence, surely.

Looking at the cloud whale, which lacked any intelligence and was aimlessly floating in the sky, I thought, maybe I could use this cloud whale?

That's because, although souls would be processed in the underworld to be reborn as pure souls.... How to reincarnate those souls was a bit of a concern.

I had thought about simply sending souls to the sky without much thought, but sending souls from the bottom of the underworld wasn't going to be easy.

The size of each layer wasn't small, so much so that it would take a normal human walking non-stop for 7 days to descend one layer.

Maybe if I create a space connecting the underworld and this whale, processing souls would become easier?

Of course, before that, it would be nice if I could talk to this cloud whale.

While continuing to create the underworld, I kept trying to communicate with the cloud whale.

The cloud whale, which only made animal-like sounds, had intelligence not much different from a newborn baby since it was made of pure, untainted souls.

Naturally. The souls making up the cloud whale were pure spirits without a single stain. Souls that had not yet been born.

It was natural that the cloud whale couldn't speak, being made of such souls.

It would be more convenient if the cloud whale could speak, but with intelligence at the level of an animal, it couldn't be helped.

While creating the underworld, I kept talking to the cloud whale using GodTalk.

No, wait.

Why do I have to keep talking to this cloud whale?

There are plenty of other methods.

This cloud whale is a god formed by a massive collective of souls gaining faith.

That faith comes through humans.

By directing that faith, couldn't I transform it into a desired being to some extent?

For example.... A god that exists above, spreading new life all over the world....

Hmm.... Zeus?

No, that was a bit harsh. Comparing the cloud whale, which merely scatters souls here and there, to the worst troublemaker in mythological history.

If the cloud whale had intelligence and could read my thoughts... it wouldn't be strange at all if it grabbed me by the scruff of my neck right away.

After all, the only thing it has in common with Zeus is that it exists above the sky and spreads new life!

Anyway, I should be able to somewhat direct the faith towards the cloud whale using humans.

Like turning it into a deity that grants new children to humans.

I'm sure that would be a better story than a whale that just flies around without intelligence!

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T/N: Btw new cover!