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Chapter 61: One Who Worships God (2)
Chapter 61: One Who Worships God (2)
Chapter 61: One Who Worships God (2)
When I was only known by the name of Creator Dragon God, not many called upon me.
At most, it was lizardmen or dragons. Even then, it was very rare, or they would call upon me only through the Archmage designated as my communication channel.
But now, as the owner of the Temple of Life and also taking on the role of the Goddess of Life….
[Please heal my illness!]
[My mother is unwell. Please listen to my prayer.]
[The wounds I received in the war continue to ache. Please do something….]
[Oh Goddess of Life! I want a partner! Please give me a pretty, good at housework, and kind woman!!]
Countless prayers were pouring down on me. But that last one praying! I'm the Goddess of Life, not some Goddess of Matches!!
Ahem. I realize anew, there are really countless people suffering in this world. Most of those praying to me were either sick or afflicted with diseases.
Well, it's not like I can respond to every prayer that's made.I tried sending a message reply, thinking maybe it wasn't impossible, but unfortunately, it failed.
Sending messages from here doesn't seem to transmit properly. Though, messages do get sent properly to dragons.
Ah, that reminds me, there was a case where a message was transmitted to someone other than dragons.
To the priest who became a servant of the Goddess of Life, who is now moving from youth to middle age, my message was properly transmitted.
When I first sent a message reply to that priest, he was so startled, I couldn't help but burst into laughter.
But seeing that messages are properly transmitted to dragons and priests unlike ordinary people, it seems that if the other party doesn't have enough faith, I can't send messages.
Dragons worship me as both the Goddess of Life and Creator Dragon God, so it's only natural.
Anyway, with such restrictions on replies, I couldn't respond to those who prayed to me, but I did fulfill the prayers of those who were truly desperate.
Making those with life-related diseases or injuries slightly better. So that their lives were no longer in jeopardy.
Though I can't send replies to prayers, I can fulfill the prayers of those who are truly desperate.
While taking care of the poor lives as the Goddess of Life, I was finishing up the construction of the afterlife when a message arrived from the priest.
[Oh Mother of Life. Please lend me your wisdom.]
No, I'd really prefer if you'd stop calling me Mother of Life. Being called that makes me feel like I'm destined to be caught, and forced to lay eggs over and over.
I've never laid eggs in the first place!
Anyway.
“What wisdom do you seek from me?”
[I wish to know the answer to a question that has remained unsolved for a long time. I could not find the answer on my own.]
A question? A question, huh.
This priest is quite intelligent among humans, but he wants to know the answer to an unsolved question.
What could the question be?
“What is your question?”
[What is life?]
It was a very vague question.
Life. Life, huh. The ability of living things to live and breathe and be active?
No, that's just the dictionary definition. That's not the answer he's looking for.
A very vague question. But one with much to ponder.
What is life?
The most precious thing that cannot be exchanged for anything else?
Life? Existence? The choices between birth and death?
Claiming to be the Goddess of Life, yet unable to give a clear answer to the question of what is life? I'm truly pathetic.
Unable to give a clear answer, I asked the priest in return.
There's nothing more foolish than answering a question with a question, but I became curious about what he thinks.
“What do you think life is?”
[Are you talking about my thoughts?]
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The priest pondered deeply at my words, then spoke slowly.
[Could it not be the driving force for movement? Just as a living being's body circulates warmth, their heart beats, and they breathe, a non-living being's body grows cold and can no longer move.]
Hmm. Is that what he was thinking?
Well, it's not exactly wrong.
"Your words do have a point."
If one cannot possess life, they simply become a cold corpse.
"Life has many meanings. What you're thinking of is just one aspect of life."
[Many meanings...]
"It could be the choice between birth and death, or something invaluable that cannot be compared to anything else."
I paused to catch my breath and continued.
"It's the ability for living beings to breathe and move. It's the power that allows living beings to exist as living beings. The definition of life differs depending on who defines it."
It was a rather vague explanation, but I could not put it any other way.
No one in this world had deeply contemplated the meaning of life.
Including myself.
[Differs depending on who defines it...]
The priest seemed deep in thought. Hmm...did I handle that well?
He caught me off guard by asking such a difficult question suddenly.
Speaking of which, it's rather funny. I call myself the Goddess of Life, yet I cannot clearly define what life is.
I can manipulate life force at will and easily strengthen others' life forces.
Yet I am a foolish deity who cannot clearly define life itself.
If he realized I was such a pathetic deity, would that child be disappointed too?
[Thank you, Mother of Life. It feels like the fog obscuring my vision is clearing.]
What?
He gained such an enlightenment from my ambiguous answer? Where in my words did he find that?
Contrary to my doubts, the priest looked extremely satisfied, as if finding the answer to a question that had long tormented him.
Well...if he's happy with it, then it's good. Yes.
Leaving the priest behind, I proceeded with the final preparations for the underworld construction.
The 7 layers were all ready, the Cloud Whale to return souls was prepared too. Good.
Shall I open the underworld soon?
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The Church of Life - humanity's first faith, or if including non-human beings then not the first, but for humans it was - has now become inseparable from humans.
From assisting pregnant women in childbirth to performing funeral rites after death.
It is said that the Church of Life, which accompanies humans from birth to death, originated from pilgrims who called themselves "those who bestow life."
The pilgrims who called themselves "those who bestow life" helped countless people as they traveled the world, but never settled in one place, so they could not avoid prejudice as outsiders.
The Goddess of Life, the faith of these wanderers, underwent a major transformation by a figure named Haim.
Haim was the first priest to serve the Goddess of Life and the only person who heard her voice. He was known for being the first to use divine power originating from faith, healing others through devotion to the Goddess of Life, unlike "those who bestow life" who used their own life force to help others.
Among his achievements were enshrining the Goddess of Life, who was originally the faith of the wandering pilgrims, as his own deity and building a proper temple to concretize the faith in the Goddess. He also compiled scriptures with the help of "those who bestow life."
He also organized the genealogies of the gods of birth and death who assist the Goddess of Life, and left behind many writings.
Among his famous writings are "What is Life?", which can be summarized as "the definition of life differs for each person", and "A Small Consideration on the Afterlife", the first record of the structure of the afterlife.
In particular, his depiction of the afterlife as divided into seven layers was a great shock to society at the time.
Moreover, the idea that one would receive terrible punishments according to the sins committed in life, though novel at the time, implied primitive justice by suggesting that no sin could be hidden and would be punished after death.
This fear of the underworld lingered long in the human psyche, to the extent that even the legendary hero Rychlen, said to have no equal under heaven, had to resort to various tricks rather than a frontal assault to pass through its gates.
- The Origins of the Church of Life
A book containing much information about the Church of Life, said to have been written with the cooperation of the Church itself.