Power And Faith

With Wheel-san’s agreement, I felt a great sense of relief.

Now the refugees could live far away without being discovered by House Conrad.

Of course, I intended to give Wheel-san one World Tree Fruit a day, the same as with Simurg-san.

And since it wouldn’t be fair to only give them to the husband, I thought I should probably give one to Catherine-san too.

“But even for me, I won’t just hand out blessings and create a Sanctuary without reason. So Woody-dono, may I ask you a question?”

Wheel-san sat down heavily on a stump.

Arms folded, he fixed his eyes on me.

Though his expression remained the same as before, his gaze was deadly serious.

He might look like a mascot, but there was no doubt—he was a Divine Beast.

One look in his eyes was enough to understand that.

I didn’t want to waste this opportunity.

So I shifted into a serious mode, tightened my face, and nodded firmly.

“Do you know why Divine Beasts exist, Woody-dono?”

“I only know that Divine Beasts grant trials to humans, help them, sometimes admonish them… staying close to people, watching over them.”

“Well, that’s mostly correct. But let me go one step deeper—have you ever thought about what a Divine Beast really is?”

What a Divine Beast really was…

A vague question, but one I had thought about several times while living with Simurg-san.

Everyone knew that Divine Beasts were guardians of this world.

But in truth, we knew nothing about what these beings, told of in legends and fairy tales, actually were.

Were Divine Beasts monsters?

That was my first thought.

Monsters, in simple terms, were creatures transformed by accumulating mana within their bodies.

But monsters couldn’t speak, and they hated humans.

From my perspective, Divine Beasts were probably not monsters.

Monsters were warped by mana, an impurity that twisted their nature.

But Divine Beasts had none of that distortion, none of that unnaturalness.

So my personal speculation was…

“I think Divine Beasts are natural phenomena. Forgive the rude phrasing, but—like storms or tsunamis, they are disasters the world inevitably produces, given form as beasts.”

“Hmm… not exactly wrong, but not quite right either. Out of a hundred points, I’d give you about forty. Divine Beasts are power itself. Power takes form as faith, and only then does it become a Divine Beast. Never underestimate human emotion—thanks to the will of those who once believed in us, we live on as Divine Beasts.”

“Divine Beasts… are power itself…”

“Indeed. Power that is not believed in becomes nothing more than a beast. Among dragons and higher monsters, some of the most powerful were once Divine Beasts. Our very existence is ambiguous. In that sense, Woody’s description of us as natural phenomena is not entirely wrong.”

I had thought Divine Beasts were like divine messengers, all-powerful beings.

But thinking back, even Simurg-san couldn’t do everything.

He’d do anything for World Tree Fruit, or get fired up over Wind Muscats.

But he had said before that he couldn’t lend his strength directly too much, or else he’d draw dangerous attention.

Maybe Divine Beasts… were far more restricted beings than we imagined.

And then…

“Faith, you say.”

“Yes. Lately, Shekuri has been spreading word of my strength as if I were a Priest, and thanks to that, I feel in top form.”

“Damn, in that case I might not be able to beat you now. I envy you, Simurg, for finding such a good place and good people.”

“Fufun, of course. Though even if it weren’t now, I’ve always been the stronger.”

“…Hah?”

“…Hm? Want to prove it?”

The two of them suddenly began sparking against each other.

Watching them, I mulled over Simurg’s words.

So that strong gaze I’d been feeling lately was because of Shekuri-san.

And the surge in my smile points finally made sense too.

Since people were beginning to believe in Simurg-san, their trust in me, who had brought him, rose sharply as well.

As for Wheel-san’s words—

“It’s about time I taught my kids what it means to be a Divine Beast. Honestly, I’d have asked you myself.”

—that was really about gaining believers.

From the sound of it, Divine Beasts grew stronger the more people had faith in them.

That meant Simurg-san was stronger now than when we first met.

Though, since I had no combat ability, I couldn’t tell the difference.

Either way, with this, preparations for building the new village were complete.

Right now, there were surely people suffering out there—so I needed to hurry and get ready!