Whether You Call Me a Guardian Dragon or Not, I’m Going to Sleep

Chapter 142: The World After the Hero (3)

Time continues to flow.

The lizardmen continue their annual duel to select the champion, the elves and dwarves sharpen their swords every 10 years and struggle to knock each other down, and the human nations of Arcadia and others are engaged in power struggles through war, diplomacy, and politics.

I have made one decision.

"I now wish to reduce my influence as the Goddess of Life."

The inner sanctum of the Temple of Life. A room where no entrance exists.

A room that only the pilgrim dragons can enter. I looked at the dragons filling the room and spoke softly.

"Huh...? Reduce your influence as the Goddess?"

"Eh, are you serious about this?"

"The supreme Goddess among the gods, reducing your influence..."

The dragons seated around the large table began to murmur in great confusion at my words.

Well, it's been a while since we've gathered, so it's understandable that they would be surprised, they have a right to be surprised.

"Calm down first. It's not what you're thinking."

The murmuring among the dragons subsided a little, but they still showed signs of unrest.

"Then why did you say such a thing?"

"Yes! Spreading faith in you as the Goddess is our purpose!"

"Are you perhaps thinking of retiring from your divine duties?"

I shook my head slightly and said.

"It's not like that. I have no intention of giving up my divine activities. But there is a slight problem with the faith placed in me as a Goddess."

"With the faith...?"

"Why would the faith be a problem?"

The dragons seemed unaware of how the faith affected me.

Well, I only recently became aware of the rapid increase in faith, so if that hadn't happened, I wouldn't have known either.

If even I, as a Goddess, didn't know, there's no way these children would know.

"The faith that humans send towards me is gradually changing me. It seems I am transforming into the Goddess of Life that humans desire and imagine."

"The Goddess of Life that humans desire... Wouldn't that be a good thing?"

Hmm. If I were simply the Goddess of Life, it wouldn't be a problem... But the Goddess of Life is only one aspect of who I am.

I don't like the idea of being changed by other elements.

"Although I have taken on the role of the Goddess of Life, that is not all that I am. I do not wish for my essence to be altered by the faith placed in me as the Goddess of Life."

In my current state, the portion of the Goddess of Life is roughly 10%. The Creator Dragon God is 5%, and the Destruction Dragon God is... What's this? It even has 1%.

Ahem. Let's erase the part about the Destruction Dragon God. That won't be coming up anyway.

Anyway, the remaining 84% is maintaining my true self, but I don't like the feeling of myself gradually diminishing.

The feeling of not being myself is, to be honest, unpleasant.

"Therefore, I want to reduce the faith directed towards me. But I cannot simply annihilate the humans..."

"Then, what do you plan to do?"

In response to the dragon's question, I lightly snapped my fingers and spoke.

"That's where you guys come in."

"Us?"

"Even if you say 'us'... We are just pilgrims who have traveled the world for the Goddess. Ah!"

It seems the dragons finally realized what I was planning.

"Are you thinking of reducing the number of pilgrims?"

"That's correct."

I smiled at the dragons.

"Since you pilgrims are the ones who have the greatest influence on human faith, by reducing your numbers, I can at least slightly reduce the faith directed towards me."

"No, but... The faith in you is already firmly established, so will reducing the pilgrims really make a significant difference?"

I couldn't deny their words.

However, I can't just leave it as it is.

I'm still investigating the method of creating a mask-like persona of the Goddess of Life, so I can't use it right away. For now, I need to do what I can.

If I don't use this method, the only options left would be to annihilate the humans or... No, no. If I use those methods, it might instead give rise to faith born out of fear and awe.

In the end, I can only indirectly reduce my influence in this way.

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"It's because you've been working too hard."

"S-So you're blaming us for this..."

"Ahem. Anyway, I'll have to leave only about 30% of you as pilgrims, and the rest should quit their pilgrim duties."

At my words, the dragons murmured again.

"I want to continue being a pilgrim!"

"Yes! Traveling around the world on a journey is so enjoyable!"

"Me too, I get this warm, tingling feeling in my heart when I help the humans..."

Hmm. I didn't expect this kind of reaction.

I thought the dragons would be happy, thinking "free vacation!" if I mentioned reducing the number of pilgrims.

But I can't just stop what I'm trying to do.

Instead,

"Then let's do it this way. We'll reduce the number of pilgrims, but have them rotate every few years. Around 5 years or so."

This way, we can reduce the overall numbers while allowing as many as possible to serve as pilgrims. And for the dragons, 5 years is just a few months for humans, so it should help minimize their discontent.

"Well, if it's only that much..."

"Honestly, I've thought the pilgrims were a bit too many from the start..."

Fortunately, the dragons seemed willing to listen to my proposal.

As expected, the dragons are good at listening to me.

Well, let's just move on from the problems that would arise if they didn't listen.

And so, the number of dragon-transformed pilgrims of the Temple of Life drastically decreased.

I didn't particularly touch the human pilgrims, but humans being humans, they would gradually decrease over time anyway.

With their short lifespans, the humans would disappear in the blink of an eye.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

As my pilgrim followers gradually decreased and the faith directed towards me became slightly weaker,

Slowly, very slowly, new things began to appear in the world.

Faint divinity.

New beings born from the beliefs of intelligent beings in phenomena that cannot be clearly explained.

Gods that have sprouted anew in the empty void, not in the places where my children and I have taken root.

Their power is infinitely weak, lacking greatly in comparison to the dragons, but transcendental to humans.

Such new gods began to sprout up like mushrooms.

They are not tribal gods responsible for a single race, nor are they beings whose self has manifested from natural phenomena, but merely weak entities born from human faith.

Gazing upon the gods awakening with their faint intelligence, I harbored a small question.

Why were such gods born? The answer to that question had always been within me.

It was really my doing, even if I didn't intend it.

Let's take the example of the sky.

What is that blue sky? What are the sun and moon that float in the sky, and the stars, the clouds and the rainbows?

Before the development of intelligence, humans could only express vague reverence towards the sky.

Over time, as human intelligence developed, they came to accept the existence of gods through me and my pilgrims, and began to understand the concept of superimposing gods onto vague concepts that do not exist.

And so humans began to imagine gods.

In that vast sky, there must be a master of the sky.

Like the Goddess of Life who cares for all living beings, there must be a great god who rules over all beneath the sky.

And the sun and moon that rise in the sky must be treasures gifted by the god of light to the god of the sky.

Normally, the god of the sky should have been born first, and then Shamash the god of light. But what can I do? My children who were born from natural phenomena came into being before the humans.

And so... Humans began to attach the names of gods to everything that I and my children did not already claim.

"I am the god of the sky, Baal!"

I glanced at the sky-haired brat strutting in front of me, then turned my head away again.

"W-Why are you ignoring me!! I'm the god of the sky! I'm great!! Hurry up and pat my head! Praise me! You're the greatest god in this world!"

The sky-colored brat clinging to my side, whining and wailing.

Hmm... The appearance of a new god is a welcome event, but this brat is an unexpected one.

Since it's a young divine being that has just been born, an ignorant and immature god. If I guide and raise it properly, it might turn out alright?

The name Baal is a bit ominous, but... Ignoring whose name it is, since it's quite an ominous name. If I raise it well, somehow it'll work out..."

This expectation evaporated along with the sight of the brat flailing its limbs and wailing in the air, and I let out a sigh.

God of the sky. I guess no returns.