Chapter 59: Cloud Whale (2)

Chapter 59: Cloud Whale (2)

The Cloud Whale continued to roam the sky without intelligence.

Hmm. Well, whether it has intelligence or not, what does it matter? As long as it does a good job scattering souls.

But sometimes, I wish it could communicate... Oh well, can't be helped.

It's not like the Cloud Whale will suddenly gain intelligence with a pop!

Wait, hold on... Maybe it's possible?

Since the Cloud Whale has gained faith and a complete form through the belief of humans.

If I use that well, couldn't I turn it into the kind of god I want?

For example... Perhaps the Cloud Whale could have some level of intelligence, or command small birds to distribute souls.

And if I could somewhat set the Cloud Whale's flight path... to fly to the northern end at regular intervals, it would be convenient to hand over the processed souls from the underworld to the Cloud Whale.

I did feel a slight pang of conscience about tweaking the Cloud Whale to my liking... But what can I do? It's not like we can communicate.

If it were a sentient being, I would try to persuade it, but that's not possible with a being like an animal that doesn't understand language.

So, I stopped filling the first layer of the underworld with rivers and headed towards the human world.

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Humans continued to increase.

There were many who got injured and many who fell ill, but the greatest strength of humans, their numbers, remained constant.

The humans of this era lived in large and small city-states.

To roughly compare... it might feel similar to the polis of ancient Greece.

City-states that traded with other city-states and sometimes had conflicts, gradually growing in size.

Among them, the largest city-state, Arcad, was ruled by the descendants of a human to whom I had once given a crown.

Un. Since I handed over such an object, I should do at least this much. Of course.

I polymorphed into a human form, hid the horns on my head, and even changed my hair color to disguise myself as an ordinary person.

Well, my cute appearance remained the same.

Honestly, I could say it's self-praise, but my appearance after polymorphing feels a bit like cheating.

An appearance that can win favor just by looking. If it weren't for the slightly younger-looking age, perhaps a few cities would have been shaken!

Anyway, I headed towards the entrance of the city-state of Arcad.

A large number of people were being checked at the entrance to enter Arcad. A few armed guards were checking each person.

Most were travelers or merchants, or, ah! There in front, dragons polymorphed into humans were mixed in!

"What is your purpose for coming?"

"We are the givers of life. We travel the world spreading the will of the great one."

The dragon's words seemed to be quickly understood by the guard, who nodded.

"You serve a god, I see. Welcome. Is this your first time in Arcad?"

"Un. It is."

"Then you might not know about accommodations. Our king has built a building for those who serve the same god as you, so you can go to that building. For now, I'll assign someone to you. Penit! Come over here!"

With that, a guard approached his side.

"Escort these people to the temple and return."

Ignoring the slight dissatisfaction in my heart, I started collecting information about the Cloud Whale while wandering around the city.

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[A huge whale floating in the sky. Cloud Whale.

New life begins to sprout under its massive body.

Therefore, couples wishing for a new child pray for the Cloud Whale to bestow new life.]

This was all there was to the meager faith in the Cloud Whale.

Hmm... Maybe all naturally occurring faith feels like this.

It's not very specific, so there's a lot of room for intervention.

Thus, I began to spread rumors about the Cloud Whale a little bit.

First, about the Cloud Whale's subordinates.

[The white birds flying in the sky are the subordinates of the Cloud Whale, delivering new life across the continent on behalf of the Cloud Whale.]

The Cloud Whale, with its considerable size and relatively fast speed, was insufficient to distribute souls across the entire continent by itself.

Therefore, let's add subordinates.

Just like storks deliver babies, the white birds would distribute souls in places the Cloud Whale doesn't visit.

Next, let's add some intelligence to the Cloud Whale.

[The Cloud Whale has the intelligence of a child and feels great fulfillment in distributing life.]

For now, let's give it the intelligence of a child. If it's given too high intelligence, it's unpredictable what actions it might take. Let's observe the situation a bit more, with intelligence slightly better than that of a beast.

[The Cloud Whale travels around the world from morning until evening, and when night falls, it heads to the northern sky and sleeps under the night sky.]

This part is to make it come closer to the underworld. Although the underworld is still incomplete, when it's finished, the processed souls will have to be returned to the Cloud Whale.

It would be troublesome if the Cloud Whale's flight path was arbitrary.

[The Cloud Whale is the god of birth. A god that brings forth new life. It is a being cherished by the god of life.]

To solidify the faith in the Cloud Whale, it's better to firmly establish its role rather than attaching various kinds of faith to it.

Hmm. And about the God of Life.... I put it on a leash, just in case.

The God of Life here is .... It's pretty much me.

The dragons that are active as givers of life. I was the one whom those dragons revered like a god.

It would be problematic if I left the great value of life unattended, and some other strange being became a god.

Let's at least hold onto the faith regarding the parts I need to control.

Let's see. Then the faith in the Cloud Whale is...

[A huge whale floating in the sky. The Cloud Whale.

The Cloud Whale, with the intelligence of a child, is a being cherished by the god of life and a god of birth that finds great fulfillment in bringing forth new life.

The Cloud Whale wakes up in the morning, travels around the world until the evening, and when night falls, it heads to the northern sky and sleeps under the night sky.

Always surrounding its massive body are the Cloud Whale's subordinates, the white birds, who act as messengers delivering new life to the world on behalf of the Cloud Whale. It would be wrong to harm them carelessly.

Those who wish for a new child, pray for the Cloud Whale to bestow new life. Then, the Cloud Whale will deliver new life to you.]

Is this it? Good. Now let's spread it.

Thus, the newly completed faith in the Cloud Whale began to spread slowly, bit by bit, but surely throughout the city.