Chapter 68: A Small Piece of Darkness (1)

Chapter 68: A Small Piece of Darkness (1)

Time passed.

During this time, various things happened, but nothing too important, so I will briefly explain and move on.

The priest, who had discovered that the cause of the epidemic that had taken the lives of his wife and child was the unattended corpses, asked me about the method of disposing of the bodies, and I simply said,

"Just burn them."

Since the unattended corpses that were not properly handled had caused the epidemic to spread, if there was no time to bury them, it would be better to burn them.

However, humans were quite reluctant to cremate the bodies and have them cremated. Is it because they think of it as desecration of the dead? Even if the bodies are buried, they will rot and only the bones will remain.

Therefore, I spread a little rumor.

[Offering the deceased's body to the sacred flame can alleviate some of the sins the soul is burdened with. However, the sacred flame burns eternally deep within the volcanic depths of the scorching desert, where human feet cannot tread.]

While I'm at it, I'll also do a bit of reputation work for Ifrit.

That child is also a bit pitiful to be alone, so it's not a bad idea to spread a feeling like the sacred flame that burns away the wickedness, right?

[While not as much as offering to the sacred flame, burning the dead body to leave only the bones can also alleviate a very small amount of sin.]

When it says "a very small amount", it should be read as an amount that has almost no influence on the verdict.

Well, ultimately, the purpose is to burn the bodies to prevent the epidemic, after all.

If the bodies of the dead could be buried immediately, there would be no need for this, but not all bodies can be buried in time.

For example... in times of war.

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Humans and other subraces continued to spread their influence.

The most widespread are humans, and the beastmen living mixed in with them.

The elves spread out in the great forests centered around the World Tree, and the dwarves burrowed into the mountain ranges around Sagarmatha like ant nests.

The lizardmen did not expand their territory significantly due to the problems of humidity and temperature, but thanks to the first-mover advantage, their current territory was still quite extensive.

As for the giants... their numbers had increased, but there were only a few hundred of them. Despite the vast individual territories, their small population made their territory embarrassingly small compared to other races.

Dragons? Most of them were pilgrims worshiping me as the Goddess of Life, or some were holed up in caves and not coming out.

The reason they were holed up was either to protect their eggs or hatchlings, or simply because they liked to be reclusive. That's about the gist of it.

Thanks to that, dragons didn't really have any defined territories.

In this way, each race continued to expand their territories.

But they can't keep expanding forever. Habitable places are limited, and most of them are already occupied by other races.

Inevitably, war broke out.

No, wait, so far, war has only broken out among humans! Even though they are humans, they have not yet declared war on other races!Diiscover new stories at novelhall.com

The rugged forests and steep mountains served as natural fortresses for the elves and dwarves, and the cold of the giants' territories was too harsh for humans to easily venture into.

You might think it's too much, but it's Erebus who went too far! That foolish child committed acts he should not have, blinded by the power of the wish.

He even split the scales I had lent him out of fear of having them confiscated, and because of that, I felt pain for the first time in this world.

No, it wasn't the first time. I felt pain in my wings when I was first born into this world.

Anyway, Erebus was the one who did wrong, so there's no problem with me doing something too extreme.

Therefore, I grasped the fishing rod I had created.

This fishing line made of the same darkness as Erebus should be able to penetrate the earth and catch the hidden Erebus.

And since I've also added an auto-tracking function to chase Erebus, if I just cast the fishing line into the ground, I should be able to catch that foolish child.

Then... shall we go fishing?

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Erebus had existed as the darkness deep underground since he gained self-awareness.

The earth beneath, where not a single ray of light shines, is Erebus' domain, where only darkness exists.

Therefore, I have been patiently waiting with the fishing line made of darkness cast down. To capture Erebus.

The child, whom I have gathered, taught, and raised.

Well, if that child has any sense of self, he won't be easily caught. But if I keep the fishing line cast down, I should be able to catch him eventually.

A considerable amount of time has passed.

The priest who served the Goddess of Life has passed away and moved on to the Afterlife, and in accordance with my instructions, has become the administrator of the upper layers of the Afterlife. Yet the fishing line I cast down remained motionless.

Even after the faith in the sacred flame spread and a religion worshiping the sacred flame as a god was born, the fishing line remained motionless.

Even when a princess from the east journeyed to the Afterlife to revive her deceased father, the fishing line remained motionless.

How much time has passed since then?

At the point when the city-state of Arcad merged the surrounding city-states and was reborn as a proper kingdom, the fishing line began to move slightly.

Has it finally found Erebus? I quickly grabbed the fishing rod and started reeling in the line. After reeling it in for about a day, I was able to see what was hanging at the end.

Finally... I can catch that foolish son who has given me so much trouble.

"Huh?"

I looked at what was hanging at the end of the fishing line.

Instead of Erebus, who was supposed to be tracked and captured by this fishing line, there was only a faint darkness.

Uh... Hmm... So...

"Erebus?"

The faint darkness did not even respond, only twitching at the end of the fishing hook.