Myth: The Ruler of Spirituality

“That’s really wonderful!”

His face beamed with joy, as the disaster finally seemed to have a chance of passing by. The young man was about to express his gratitude when, in the next moment, he awkwardly raised his head again.

He had suddenly remembered that Mount Olympus was to the west of Aurora, the sea to the east, and both the earth and the stars were visibly clear, but he truly did not know where the Spirit Realm was.

“Um, the Spirit Realm… is it the legendary resting place of souls? Where is it—I mean, in which direction should I worship this benevolent deity?”

With a wave of his hand, Laine wasn’t surprised by this. In this era, only a few people born with a higher sense of Spirituality could accidentally see the surface of the Spirit Realm, so he explained patiently:

“Anywhere, in fact, the Spirit Realm is omnipresent.”

“However, He is the origin of all Spirituality in the world, so, as humans, as intelligent life forms, the closest place to the Spirit Realm is in your heart.”

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Soon after, Laine and the ever-silent Humar declined the retention of the others and turned to leave the temple.

He claimed that the reason he was still walking the streets was to share such good news with everyone. As a result, the young man could only say goodbye regretfully to the two men and stated he would also spread the word.

After the two had left, several people who were hiding in the temple exchanged glances. They were actually passersby pulled in by the young man; now, a middle-aged man, slightly older, looked toward the doorway, where the silhouettes of Laine and his companion were no longer visible.

“Nuo, do you really believe what that man just said?”

“Hm? What are you talking about?”

“Why wouldn’t I believe him? What reason does he have to deceive me?”

In response to the question, the young man named Nuo was somewhat puzzled.

“You are from the second generation of Bronze Humanity, so you may not recognize… In fact, I’ve seen that old man before.”

There was no respect in his voice as the middle-aged man slowly said:

“He is one of the oldest among the first generation of humans, but he doesn’t possess any particularly outstanding talents… The creator gave us excellent bodies but failed to grant us equally excellent wisdom, which is why he ended up being assigned to guard the ‘Archive’—it’s said that deities record knowledge in ‘books,’ but we don’t have that much knowledge to document yet.”

“That’s perfect, the more knowledge he knows, the more it proves that what his companion said is likely true,” Nuo interjected after hearing the middle-aged man’s words, still not quite understanding the other’s point.

“What I mean is, if the creator really did leave something behind before departing, why didn’t he entrust it to his most trusted Priest, instead of leaving it with an incapable old fellow—and indeed, it might be the one you just spoke with, though there’s no difference; they both have little presence in Aurora. I have at least seen Humar, but never that one in black.”

“…Maybe not necessarily. Perhaps the creator realized at the last moment that those he originally trusted weren’t trustworthy after all?” somebody interjected upon hearing this.

There was some sense in what he said, after all. By this point, even without evidence, Bronze Humanity had started to harbor some doubts about the Priests. Reality wasn’t as wonderful as they claimed, so there had to be Lies.

“Perhaps, so you too intend to leave and preach the so-called ‘redemption of the nameless god’?”

Without argument, the middle-aged man simply looked at the one who had spoken, replying indifferently.

As expected, the other did not respond. After all, he was still on the fence, not yet prepared to act on this belief.

As for what the other person had said, it might be good to believe a little. When disaster struck, if the temple couldn’t protect him, then he would kneel and pray for the protection of that god. After all, it didn’t require giving up anything.

As for leaving now, that was out of the question.

“Fine, then you all stay here, I will do as I promised!”

After looking over the remaining people, Nuo was disappointed to find that no one wanted to leave with him. Frustrated, but mindful of the urgency, the young man turned and left.

Behind him, the others had various expressions but ultimately, none followed him out of the temple, which had long since lost its divinity. Not far from the temple, the two who had left before him now watched Nuo’s hurrying figure.

“Cough cough, I thought you would reveal your true form, tell them of your majesty and sanctity, or expose the real intentions of the rest, then tell them that because of their skepticism, the grace of the gods would no longer be scattered upon them.”

Standing behind Laine, the old man spoke slowly.

He had seen clearly: among the few, only the first young man truly believed Laine, and as it turned out, his guess was not wrong. In days past, this might have represented gullibility, but today, it could save his life.

As for the rest, they clearly wouldn’t trust a stranger’s words enough to entrust their lives to a god without even a name, so their staying in the temple was no surprise to the elder.

“Heh, then I must reiterate, Humar. The reason I came here is not to save humanity or to demonstrate my majesty before some Mortals. If I wished, I had many opportunities to do so in the past.”

“I came here merely because of a memory from the past, a legend of the ‘Sufferer.’ Of course, there’s also a bit of selfishness.”