CH 26

January 6, 2023 — 1 Comment

What kind of being is ‘God’?

On Earth, many people believe in God solely through ‘faith,’ while others believe it is a being created by humans from their imagination. As much as there was religious freedom, it was individual freedom that ultimately allowed one to choose whether or not to believe in God. By the way, I am an atheist.

But in this world, denying God will cause you more trouble than anything else. This is because, unlike the Earth, there is clearly a ‘God’ here.  In fact, there have been several cases where some mentally ill people have been punished by thunder, with thunderbolts falling from the dry sky after they did some rampaging, claiming that there is no God.

Instead, it is not an omniscient and omnipotent being like ‘God’ in its literal meaning, but is closer to the Absolute or Transcendental being who watches over the world. Also, using the believers’ faith as a form to distribute power to them, punishing them for violating the rules, and so on. In addition, there are cases in which miracles are performed or oracles are issued through God’s own ‘incarnations’.

In a nutshell, God and its believers have a parent-child relationship, perhaps even a more profound connection than that.

‘God, huh…’ Currently, while listening to a Theology lecture, I was thinking about something else.

Is it correct for me to regard theology as a science in my previous life? There have been numerous debates about it, but it is one of the world’s most important studies since it is so closely associated with history. It is strange that, despite the fact that the existence of God is obvious here, theology as a science has not developed. As a result, even professors who are currently teaching theology are on par with an archbishop. As a nobleman’s son, I am aware that he wields the same authority as a Count.

“Luminus, the God of Light, said this. ‘It doesn’t matter if you believe in me or not. But always devote yourself to going on the right path. I will help you to go on the right path.’ And…”

There are three deities in this world. The professor first mentioned ‘Luminus,’ the God of Light. Luminus is the god that humans primarily believe in, and because the number of believers is enormous, his influence on the world is terrifying.

And although there are many words that symbolize Luminus, the most popular among them is ‘Sun’ and ‘Hope.’ Perhaps, as a result, Luminus followers make up a significant portion of soldiers who go to war, where their lives are always at risk. I know my father believes in Luminus as well.

The second is Mora, the God of Darkness. Mora is uniquely a god that the demons believe in. The reason why demons believe in Mora is that she symbolizes darkness…that is, ‘Moon’ and ‘Rest.’ If you look at the gloomy reality of the demons, you can see what kind of rest they want.

Finally, there is ‘Hirth,’ the God of Nature. This god is primarily worshipped by beastmen and dwarves.

Hirth symbolizes ‘nature’ itself, and for beastmen who lived in the wild, there could be no other god of more comfort than Hirth. Dwarves also understand that the ‘materials’ for their creations come from nature, so they worship Hirth too.

Then you might ask what kind of god the elves believe in, but they worship all three gods. Being descendants of ‘angels,’ they can use their divine powers more easily than other races.

As I recalled the gap between elves and the other races, a question came to mind. ‘Do the gods know why I was reincarnated here?’ But I had no intention of going to the temple and asking about it. Even now I am living well enough, and I hate it when things get complicated.

Furthermore, because they are gods, there is a good chance they were aware of my existence earlier. There is still no word of an oracle being given or that an ‘incarnation’ of God has appeared. So far, I’ve been living a comfortable life.

I plan to visit the temple if the opportunity arises, but until then, I intend to live a normal life. What’s more, I don’t have the ability to change the world like the main character in a webtoon, anime or novel, so they don’t probably care…

‘… Does that include the novel that I wrote?’

Anyway, let’s move on. For now, focusing on lectures takes a priority over anything else. I brushed such thoughts out of my head. Putting aside all my thoughts, I looked ahead and saw the professor giving a lecture in a calm tone.

The professor’s name was Hollard, and he was very tall and skinny. I heard that he has a high-profile position as an archbishop in the Luminus Order, and is actually a person of great fame. While listening to the professor’s explanation, I looked around. Because Theology was as boring as History to a lot of people, there weren’t many students in the classroom. These students were almost certainly devout followers of the god they worship.

How do I know? Many students participated out of curiosity at the beginning but chose to escape a level of boredom they couldn’t even imagine. Because I am personally interested in the subject, I listen with rapt attention to the lectures. The issue is…

—doze—doze—

It means that Marie, who was currently sitting next to me, was dozing off. I stared at Marie nodding off with her eyelids half-closed. Each time she nodded her head, the pen in her hand scribbled onto her notebook, and her silky white hair gradually began to cover her face.

{T/N:- when you are dozing off while sitting, your head follows a ‘nodding’ act.}

Eventually, Marie’s eyelids closed completely and her head slid down all the way. Beyond just drowsiness, she was completely asleep.

‘I’m sure she’d been well rested and paying attention through most of the previous week…’ For reference, Theology was a 9 o’clock class. So what did Marie do last night that made her doze off from the very first lecture?

I was a little puzzled, but I thought it would be good to wake her up first. I couldn’t touch her, so I put my hand in front of Marie’s ear.

Suddenly—!

“…Hmm?”

When I snapped my fingers, Marie flinched and slowly raised her head. When she lifted her head, the hair that had hung down like a silky curtain lifted slightly, but when she looked to the side, she had a somewhat blank expression on her face.

I opened my mouth, convinced she was still half-sleeping. “Are you coming to your senses?”

“… Huh?”

Marie turned her head to me in a dreamy state when I asked her that. Marie’s face, with its hazy yet distinct charm, drew my attention. She used to only have a lively appearance, so this was kind of refreshing.

Even as she pondered my words, Marie blinked and looked ahead, still not grasping the situation. Did she understand the situation after realizing the professor was still giving his lecture?

She shifted her gaze to me again and asked in disbelief, “…Did I doze off?”

“Yeah. You slept well.”

“Oh, my.” In response to my answer, Marie rubbed her eyelids and groaned.

I asked the question I had kept to myself as she slowly revived, “What did you do yesterday for you fall asleep in the first Theology class?

“… Xenon’s Saga.”

“What?”

“Ahhh…” After a long yawn, Marie answered in a hoarse voice, “I was up all night re-reading from the 1st to the latest volume. Originally, I was only going to read up to the third volume, but somehow I ended up reading all of them…”

“……”

“You know. Professor Beerus told us to predict the development of Xenon’s Saga as a group assignment.”

I ran out of things to say. In the next week or so, the group assignments will begin in earnest. So she must have been working hard on her side.

However, being motivated enough to disrupt your sleep patterns is not a good thing. If you do that, you may miss both rabbits. {*T/N:- There’s a saying that if you focus on two things at once, you end up getting none.}

“Still, do it in moderation. Otherwise, it will be difficult to concentrate on the lecture like today.”

“But what can I do since it’s so much fun to read? I’m already looking forward to the next volume…”

I couldn’t help but laugh bitterly at Marie’s voice. As the writer, I was happy enough, but the next volume will be out in at least two months.

Before entering the academy, I had a stockpile so I was able to release the 8th volume sooner. But I don’t have much time right now to write a manuscript, and it will only become more difficult as the exam period approaches.

Not only that, it’s nothing compared to the time I spent teaching Cindy to write and History to Marie and Cecily. Whenever I have some free time, I go back to my dorm and write, but I also need enough spare time for research.

‘Thanks to the free time I do have, I can set up the settings in the novel meticulously…’ The papers and books in the lab are extremely useful to me. Moreover, while Cindy only has poor writing skills, she is very knowledgeable about the history and she clearly explained any topics I was curious about.

Xenon’s Saga Volume 9 will be a fascinating episode in many ways. The Devil’s executives, who have shown their presence thus far, will begin to come forward in earnest, causing a lot of new horrors.

This is because there are humans, beastmen, demons, and even elves among the Devil’s executives. For reference, the background setting is the ‘Seven Deadly Sins’, which were commonly used in the subculture in my previous life, and each has special attributes.

While I was thinking about the story settings in my head for a moment, Marie muttered softly while looking at her notebook. “…I must have been really sleepy. What did I write down?”

“You didn’t write anything down, you just drew a long wavy line.”

“Tch, I am sorry, but do you have any notes? If you show me, I’ll buy you something delicious.”

“Whoa…only this time?”  When I complied and showed Marie what I had written, she smiled brightly and began to write it down.

“Thank you~”

But there was one thing I overlooked. “Ummm…”

“……”

It’s not easy to escape from sleep. I couldn’t help but be surprised when I saw Marie dozing again after transcribing my notes. If that’s the case, why did you bother asking me to show mine?

I took a deep breath and was about to wake Marie again.

“Just let her sleep. Marie sleeps a lot, so if she goes to bed late, she keeps dozing off.” It was Rina who was sitting to my right. She was looking at Marie, who was dozing off with a still expression on her face.

I heard these words and asked, “Is that really okay? If she gets a penalty for doing this…”

“It’s okay. Marie has studied the subject under tutors back home, so she’ll get a decent score in Theology. I can guarantee it, having been educated together in the Imperial Palace.”

Listening to Rina’s words, it seems that she and Marie had gone through separate advanced courses before. After all, either as a princess or as the daughter of a duke, they must have received a very different education from other nobles.

After she said this, I asked the question I had in my mind, “I’ve been wondering about it since the other day: when did Ms. Rina and Marie first get to know each other?”

“Probably…when we were 10-years-old? I know we’ve met occasionally since then.”

“I see.”

“Why do you ask?”

“Oh, I’m just curious.”

Usually, Marie is a bit grumpy about Rina. Marie frowns whenever she looks at Rina, and I can see that much. However, since I can’t ask the parties directly regarding the reason, I plan to bury it in my heart.

Rina grinned as if my answer were bland, and then called my name. “Isaac.”

“Yeah?”

“Are you interested in attending a little gathering?”

“A gathering?”

“Yes. A gathering.”

As I looked at Rina with a puzzled expression, she smiled and said to me, “There is a gathering soon, but rather than calling it just a gathering, only freshmen will attend. A lot of people will attend regardless of the program they’re in, whether they’re in Academics or Martial Arts.”

“…This the first time I’ve heard of it.”

“My brother warned me beforehand. And in a little while, the Academy will also notify you. What do you think?” Rina met my eyes straight and invited me again with a face filled with anticipation and interest. “Will you attend?”

It’s a good suggestion, I thought, or rather, a request.

“It’s up to the individual whether to attend or not, but personally I want you to come.”

To me, it was no different from a ‘princess’ command.

‘…it’s sad.’ If Xenon’s Saga Volume 9 comes out late, it’s Rina’s responsibility.