Deity (2)

“…”

“…”

A terrifying silence hung over the hut, which had been built in the Tribal Confederation’s traditional style. That was fair enough. Word was that she’d be leaving the Empire for the Great Plains before long, and right before her departure she’d been handed a line that could easily leave her with a horrible impression.

Even Aiden found the stillness dreadful, enough to set cold sweat running down him…

…That damned fellow.

The first thing to come to mind was, naturally, resentment toward Meyer, who’d put him up to this. After all, Meyer was the one who’d gone on about how the only way for someone else to enter the Mental World with him was to sleep holding hands.

“—If you want me to meet the spirit, you don’t have to go that far.”

If Rania hadn’t said that in a deflated voice, he’d have gone right on stewing.

“…Sorry?”

When Aiden asked back, Rania put the pipe to her mouth again and pointed at the bracelet on his wrist.

“There’s a spirit in there. And every night you build a Mental World and meet it. Am I wrong?”

“…”

He had nothing to say to a point that exact.

While he blinked at her blankly, Rania snorted a laugh and tapped the eye that wasn’t under her eyepatch.

“I’m a Shamaness. Of course I can see a spirit.”

True enough. Come to think of it, finding Meyer and bringing him along in the first place had been thanks to her ability too.

Aiden nodded along while Rania packed tobacco from her pouch into the pipe and went on.

“Hand that over. Let me at least hear what it came for.”

He had no particular reason to refuse, so he held the bracelet out. Rania took it and stared into it with a frown.

“…This is the Knight of Dawn.”
“…It is, isn’t it?”
“You’re handling someone way too important here.”
“…Is that so?”
“Yeah. He’s from a sphere you’d normally never get tangled up with in your whole life.”

“…”

It was the kind of thing that could have stung, and yet it didn’t. It sounded too much like someone stating an obvious fact.

They hadn’t known each other long, but that was the impression she gave overall. Cast iron. A block of wood. You could describe her that way because she had no ornament, and no rise or fall in word or deed. She only ever stated facts, without the least intent to look down on anyone.

“Honestly, this is a stupid thing to agonize over.”

That was probably why he wasn’t especially angered when Rania, after glaring at the bracelet a moment, came out with that.

“…What do you mean by that?”
“Because your ability isn’t the kind that can help someone get stronger.”
“…?”
“How much do you know about the Pantheon up in the heavens?”

He was still tilting his head at the cryptic remark when that question dropped out of nowhere.

“I’ve never been interested in theology. Just that it’s where the gods reside…?”
“More precisely, it’s where the ‘known’ gods reside.”
“…Sorry?”

The sentence had an ominous ring to it, so Aiden asked back, and Rania went on with her explanation as evenly as ever.

“A god’s power is decided by the scale and the influence of its worshippers, and only those whose ‘deity’ has been verified that way enter the Pantheon. It’s a symbiotic relationship. Just as we need gods, gods need worshippers too.”

The oath a worshipper swears to a god, the Consecration of ki, the vow of divinity, the mantra of dharma power: every one of them is proof of that mutual symbiosis. The worshipper offers the god the virtue it presides over, and the god grants that worshipper its own authority in return.

But.

“Thing is, there are quite a lot of gods. As many deities as there’ve been supernatural powers across the continent’s long history.”

Which, put another way, meant.

“Not every god can prove its standing.”

Naturally, some gods end up ‘outside’ the Pantheon as well. Forgotten gods, who dwell in the dark places of the heavens. Some are forgotten simply because they never had enough influence over their worshippers, but others are outside the Pantheon for a somewhat different reason.

“And among those outlaws of the heavens, there’s one sort that’s the worst of all.”
“…And what’s that?”
“Deities that other gods have ‘sealed’.”

The alien things called Outer Gods.

Harsh smoke rose from the pipe.

“Sealed… did you say?”
“A god whose name and authority have been forcibly ‘stripped’ away from its worshippers. Even though it’s more than qualified to stay inside the Pantheon, it gets driven out by force.”
“How does a thing like that happen?”
“They do it to any being that threatens the Pantheon’s existence. The god the demon race served in the old days is the prime example.”

Rania snorted a laugh and carried on.

The god the demon race had served was Warnil, the God of Devouring, a mad god who’d tried to swell its own power by eating even its own kind. Its greed and hunger had no end, and left alone, so the story went, it would have brought the whole Pantheon to ruin. As the foremost example of a sealed god, the tale implied a great deal.

“Why do you think I’m telling you this now?”

Aiden looked back at Rania without a word. After hearing this much, it was obvious where the story was heading.

“What’s clinging to you right now is that sort. It’s not one of those… ‘ordinary’ gods that form a symbiotic relationship with their worshippers.”

“…”

“One that exists wholly alone. Not a god chosen by worshippers, but one that chooses its worshippers itself.”

Too alien to simply be called a god. Unknowable. Unknown.

At this point.

Why Rania had looked at him a while back and said some ‘dreadful thing’ had latched onto him was explained in a single stroke.

“The thing attached to you is that sort too. An Outer God. One whose purpose and power and origin are all unknowable.”

“…”

“That’ll be why the gods hand you abilities like it’s nothing. Though I still don’t know why they’d go that far.”

Aiden was lost for words and could only stare at her blankly, so Rania shrugged and answered.

“Well, don’t get too gloomy about it.”

…For someone who’d been laying out a staggering story a moment ago, she closed on something as simple as could be.

“Even if it’s an Outer God whose domain and true name are unknowable, you can’t just write it off as bad. Strictly speaking, right now we’d have to say we know nothing at all.”
“…Is that so.”

Aiden took it evenly. It was awkward to say so to the person consoling him, but he honestly wasn’t all that gloomy.

In fact, to be gloomy…

The story was on too large a scale to take in on the spot, so what he felt was closer to blankness. And of course he had questions.

“…But, Shamaness.”
“Go ahead.”
“Why would a being that fearsome choose me?”

If there was a single biggest question, that was it. What reason could an ordinary human like him have for catching the eye of something that enormous?

“…”

Rania fell silent a moment, then snorted a laugh.

“Because it likes you.”
“…Sorry?”
“That’s how it feels to me. At least, it doesn’t seem to mean you any harm.”

“…”

“I don’t know why, but it seems to have taken to you. And taken to you hard.”

“…”

…Far from settling the question, that only deepened it.

“Anyway, back to the original subject.”

Rania propped her chin on the table and went on.

“Your ability comes from something like that, so strengthening that side of it is impossible. It’s not just me. Nobody could help you with it, whoever came along.”
“…Is that so?”
“Yeah. So if you want a powerful means of attack fast, you’d be better off setting your sights on finding top-grade ‘material’ instead.”
“Material?”
“An ability, I mean. Raw stock the Knight of Dawn can carve into whatever you want.”

“…”

“I don’t know what domain the Outer God attached to you presides over, but wouldn’t it be better to put that to use?”

…Ah-ha.

In other words, stick to the basics.

…So what this is telling me is to raise their favor and squeeze a skill-copy right out of them?

Aiden laughed wryly to himself. Then again, that was the one ability he knew for certain he had. It felt a little like being back where he’d started, but learning its origin for certain was still a pretty meaningful harvest.

Because.

If it’s something as grand as an Outer God or whatever…

…then he could tear skill-copy rights out of anyone at all, one after another, couldn’t he? As long as he could raise their favor, there was no limit. It felt like being issued a license to fleece anyone he pleased, as much as he pleased…

“…”

Chewing it over gave him an odd feeling, but at any rate.

He’d better focus on what was urgent right now.

Let’s see, then.

The first thing he had to consider…

“…Is there anybody grandly impressive on the divinity side of things?”
“Grandly impressive?”
“It’d be good if I could somehow get close to somebody whose realm in the use of divinity is lofty.”

His opponent was a spirit body, so an ability tied to divinity had to come first. Katya was close at hand, but he’d shaken out the last of her skill-copy rights a long while ago, and if he tried to raise her favor any further from here… honestly, no method came to mind just now. So finding one new person was exactly the thing.

Rania, who had been listening quietly, blew out a stream of smoke and went on.

“There’s been quite a fuss. Word is people are coming from the Holy Kingdom.”
“Sorry?”
“The delegation, I mean. Isn’t that about you?”

Ah.

Aiden’s eyes narrowed.

He’d heard about it once before. A delegation was being dispatched to investigate how he handled a divinity that only royals could handle, or something like that.

…They’re people I have things to collect from.

One way and another, he had no good feelings toward that side, because nearly every memory tied to them was an unpleasant one.

Which meant.

…Whatever he did to them, he wouldn’t feel much guilt about it.

“That’s the face of somebody thinking bad thoughts.”

So when Rania grinned and said that, Aiden couldn’t help wearing a similar smile.

“Thank you for your help, Shamaness.”
“Call me Rania. And no need for thanks. I’m putting you in my debt in advance.”
“Sorry?”
“Either way, I get the feeling I’ll be seeing a lot of you from now on.”

She waved a hand loosely and answered in a languid voice.

“See you again. Aiden Kellermain. Next time we meet, let’s have some of those Far-Eastern noodles you like.”

“…”

She truly gave an uncanny impression. A Shamaness, yes, but one way and another she went past miraculous and came close to grotesque. Even as they said their farewells and parted, Aiden kept chewing over that impression. Going by the invitation to eat noodles together, she didn’t seem like a bad person…

Oh.

…But.

Had he ever once told her what food he liked?

“…”

Gooseflesh prickled up along his arms as Aiden left the hut.

Evening at the Kellermain house was always simple and plain.

It was a small household of just Kenneth Kellermain and Sicella Kellermain, so it would’ve been harder for anything much to happen there at all.

“Dad— I’m home—”

Sicella Kellermain opened the front door with a tiny hand.

She always got back this late after her lessons at school, but even allowing for that, the house was quiet enough to feel chilly.

“…”

She pushed her lips out in a pout and plodded on into the house with little steps. Kenneth always worked late, so there was no helping that, but there was no helping feeling lonely about it either.

…Oppa always used to be here to greet me.¹

Even when his own work kept him too busy to catch his breath, her oppa had always been waiting for her right when school let out, and she missed him all over again.

He’s gone off somewhere and won’t even show his face…

Dad had said Oppa had urgent business and would be away for a little while, but surely he could have at least said goodbye before he left.

Glum-faced, she set her bag down and plodded off toward the kitchen.

She had set off meaning to make herself something to eat, but.

The instant she switched on the kitchen light, there was a sight she never could have imagined.

“…Ah, would you be Aiden’s younger sister?”

Some woman was saying that. Right in front of her, Kenneth lay collapsed and unconscious, and the woman was holding him up with both hands…

“…”

Sicella’s pupils shook violently.

“W-What are you doing to my dad!”
“…Erm, I know how this must look. He collapsed all of a sudden and I was only trying to help—”
“W-We haven’t done anything wrong! Get away from my dad!”
“…I didn’t do anything to make him faint. He simply heard my name and then suddenly, like this…”
“I said get away from my dad—!”

“…”

…This wasn’t how it was supposed to go.

Noelle, her expression blank, found the thought coming to her.