Chapter 386: The Favor of the Gods (6K — Please Subscribe)

On the western side of the Elda Territory, on a patch of fresh scorched earth that had been roughly cleared, a somewhat crude altar had just been finished being erected.

Nine dark-grey megaliths formed the altar's base, and upon them, in pale bone-white pigment, were depicted nine ancient astrological charts.

Blue-glowing metal softened amid the shriek of flames; the molten metal was gently poured out, snaking along the altar's surface before gradually solidifying into intricate, ancient runes.

The mysterious runes interwove, gleaming with an eerie blue fluorescence under the sunlight.

The enormous altar had three tiers in total, each one slightly smaller than the one below, forming a stepped structure.

At the center of the topmost tier sat an irregular black shard — a fragment of the Heroic Spirit Pool.

Although the Heroic Spirit Pool shard was only a small portion of the original, it was by no means small in itself — otherwise, Herbert would have had no way of bathing inside it with Valentina.

Its surface was pitted and uneven, emanating a faint, eerie glow, and at the same time giving off a startlingly mysterious aura.

Bolstered by the altar, this aura was continuously amplified, shocking everyone present.

"So this is the altar for communing with the gods…"

Miss Mise, who had been invited to observe, had hidden most of her body underground, poking out only half a head, and like a stool, perched her miniature puppet atop her head.

The puppet stroked its chin, nodding thoughtfully: "I clearly don't sense much magical fluctuation, yet it can still establish contact with a deity — how truly marvelous!"

Although she had lived in the human world for a long time and conducted much business, she had not had much contact with the Church of the Gods.

The Church of the Righteous Gods would not accept an aberration like her, and having too much contact with the Miss Xie Shen Church carried the risk of inviting trouble.

This was her first time witnessing a divine altar with her own eyes.

What an eye-opener.

And not to mention the mushroom merchant Miss Mise, who found it impressive without quite understanding why, even Joanna, a member of the Church of the Gods, was stunned by the sight before her.

It was just that the point of her astonishment was a little different from Miss Mise's.

She simply couldn't understand it.

As the saying goes, laymen watch the excitement, while the professionals see the trick of it.

Joanna couldn't fathom why such a crude altar before her could actually work.

Miss Mise assumed that such a crude altar was the norm and didn't find anything special about it.

But in truth, even the lowest-grade altars were several times more elaborate than the one before them.

Lacking materials, lacking proper form, so rough and wild that it would even make her think it was some shamanic altar of a wildland false god.

Crude — truly far too crude.

Yet somehow, this simple altar that left Joanna baffled had truly established contact with a deity.

If she had prepared such an altar, the Goddess of Ice and Snow would not only refuse to acknowledge her, she might even descend punishment upon her upon learning of it afterward!

Mm, the specific punishment would probably be ignoring her prayers for half a year.

As for why the punishment was only half a year long and not longer, that was probably because after half a year, Hecate would herself be unable to resist taking the initiative to contact Joanna.

Yes, at most half a year, the Goddess of Ice and Snow would, unable to restrain herself, take the initiative to break the ice.

Don't ask why — ask and the answer is that cat-goddesses with wanderlust are all like that.

Petting a cat is an art.

If you please it today, it might cold-shoulder you tomorrow.

But if you ignore it for a long time, it will come trotting over on its own, tail up, rubbing against your shins.

Dealing with this kind of goddess is the same.

Actively currying favor with Her might win affection, or might earn dislike — there's no guarantee of receiving favor.

But if you ignore Her for a long time, She will very likely come to you on Her own, to see what exactly is going on with you.

Of course, it's easy to say, but not everyone has the courage and the qualification to act that way.

If you tease a cat too hard, at worst it scratches you, leaves a mark on your body, you get a shot, bleed a little, and it's resolved.

If that doesn't work, you can also send it away.

But the goddesses of this world can truly descend divine punishment.

Remember — goddesses are mostly the type to hold grudges.

And cat-goddesses with poor brains are the cream of the crop among such types.

At least Joanna did not have the courage to tease the Goddess of Ice and Snow; she had no desire to lose the goddess's favor.

Of course, the fact that deep down she wanted to convert to the Goddess of Winter was another matter entirely — that was called aspiring to progress!

"Sigh…"

After a moment's thought, Joanna let out a deep sigh, able only to attribute the miracle before her to two words — favor.

Herbert was loved by the gods.

Upon him rested a vast favor she could hardly imagine.

This seemingly harmless white-haired youth was deeply loved by the deity he served.

Truly enviable.

Behind her, the group of priestess girls mostly thought the same.

They gazed enviously at Herbert's vigorous, upright, slender figure, sincere envy and admiration flashing in their eyes.

Envious of such extravagant favor, admiring that he possessed the qualification to be favored.

A deity's affection is never without cause; upon Herbert there must surely be some shining point unknown to them, yet appreciated by the gods.

"…"

In the ranks, the God-blessed Eunie wore a particularly striking expression, different from the others — her small mouth slightly parted, blinking repeatedly.

The Goddess of Winter also cast Her gaze over at this moment.

Even She could not help but marvel at the favor bestowed upon Herbert.

This favor had already far surpassed the limit a God-blessed could receive, approaching that shown to a Divine Child.

Only toward one's own offspring — and especially the most beloved offspring — would a deity lavish such care.

Yet She had long since confirmed that Herbert's body carried not the slightest trace of divine bloodline; he was not the descendant of any deity.

Herbert was no divine child.

Then, for what reason exactly was he so doted upon by that deity?

Her puzzlement over this question only deepened the Winter Goddess's interest in the secrets Herbert carried.

She truly was very curious.

Very well, young man — once again you have successfully caught my attention!

But so as not to alert the quarry, Yufimi did not reveal herself; instead she concealed herself even more carefully.

At least for now, She had no desire to lightly come into direct conflict with that deity of unknown identity.

As for whether She would, in the future, step onto the stage to fight over Herbert — that would depend on how things developed later on.

"In the future I'll need to let Yunier have more contact with Herbert; their relationship isn't intimate enough yet."

Although the Winter Goddess wished to bring Yunier and Herbert closer together, She would not manipulate her body into doing anything.

"Mm… let her keep getting along well with that Teresa — they're good friends to begin with, after all."

"Following this kind of development, she'll naturally have more contact with Herbert."

……

Of course, among the stunned crowd, one person had to be excluded.

Herbert looked at the altar before him, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly; he wasn't very satisfied.

"Tch, why does it feel like it's not quite working?"

Logically speaking, the altar's raw materials should all have been higher-grade magical materials.

For instance, swapping ordinary stone for purified obsidian coated with frost-giant blood, or swapping the ordinary pigments used to depict star charts for magical pigments made from dragon-bone powder…

Herbert had planned it that way at first — pretty bold, wouldn't you say?

But later on, he gave up anyway.

The high-EQ way of putting it: Herbert is an animal-rights activist; he is unwilling to slaughter innocent living beings for his own selfish interests.

The low-EQ way of putting it: no money.

Conditions were limited, so he could only make do with roughly similar materials.

Anyway, for this summoning, what mattered was the other parts — not these "channels" for communicating with the deity.

He didn't need the altar at all to communicate with the deity.

Because the deity was right here.

She had no need to be summoned; She had long since cast Her gaze here — mm, in truth, She had simply never left.

If it weren't for keeping up appearances, Herbert wouldn't even have needed to prepare an altar — he could have had Nie Nasha summon the heroic spirit directly.

This "summoning" altar was nothing more than for show, so as not to startle the others.

"Mm…"

Herbert hesitated a moment, and asked inwardly: "I say, isn't this being a bit too stingy? Should I add a few more things?"

Even he felt — going about it like this, wasn't it a bit too perfunctory?

And then…

Herbert got ruthlessly roasted by Nie Nasha.

【"What are you talking about?"】

Nie Nasha replied, none too pleased: 【"That's plenty, alright? It's not some important ritual — just waking up a few heroic spirits. Why make it so complicated?"】

It wasn't any big deal.

Herbert twitched his mouth and muttered inwardly: "Ah, I was just thinking of chasing after some sense of ceremony, giving you a little emotional value."

The first cup of milk tea in autumn, the heartfelt little gift on Valentine's Day, the year-end little summary at the close of the year, the deeply affectionate confession on an anniversary…

Isn't that all the emotional value you lot want?!

【"I already said I don't need it."】

As a result, the meme-loving Young Lady, who had never fallen into a consumer trap, ignored Herbert's good intentions and punched his "moral blackmail" right back at him.

【"What emotional value? What sense of ceremony? I haven't the faintest idea what you're going on about."】

She dismissed it with a scoff: 【"Besides, it's for me, not for anyone else — if I think it's fine, isn't that enough?"】

Herbert thought it over and reckoned the words were rough but the reasoning held.

True enough.

Anyway, since the gift-receiver hadn't said anything, the gift-giver shouldn't fuss over it.

He gave a soft little "oh."

"Oh…"

Still, aside from the logic, having your kind intentions rejected—it was hard to feel happy about it.

【"……"】

Sensing Herbert's low spirits, Nie Nasha hesitated a moment and, unusually, explained: 【"Herbert, I'm not complaining about you — it's just that this really isn't necessary."】

【"If you really want to give me something in the future, of course you can — I'll gladly accept it."】

If Herbert wanted to give Her a gift, Nie Nasha would of course gladly accept.

Good intentions are a fine thing; no one dislikes a person with good intentions, no one dislikes the feeling of being loved by another.

But that thoughtfulness should be spent where it's useful.

When giving a gift, the most important thing isn't moving yourself — it's whether the other person likes it, whether they need it.

Writing a little essay of over ten thousand characters to give someone a deeply affectionate confession, exhausting yourself half to death, looking the picture of boundless devotion — but that only fools children.

But in truth, the effect of that kind of gift is far less satisfying than a gift that the other person actually needs.

Catering to their tastes — that is the true key to gift-giving.

Moreover, those who truly love you will never accept your one-sided sacrifices without any burden.

They will feel for your efforts, be moved by your sincerity.

Most importantly, they will also respond, giving you an equal return.

Rather than brushing you off with some high-sounding words, or some cheap gift tossed together carelessly.

【"However, I hope you'll choose something else, not this kind of meaningless ceremony."】

【"Rather than wasting resources on these useless things, I'd much rather you use them on yourself, raise your strength as soon as possible, and then fulfill our agreement sooner."】

Eh?

Herbert blinked, not expecting that he'd actually been lectured by Nie Nasha on this point, and nodded rather helplessly.

"Uh, since you put it that way… well then, let's do it the way you say."

He spread his hands and said helplessly: "Here you're the boss right now — it's a gift for you anyway, you call the shots."

Not only was Herbert not angry, he actually found the current situation rather amusing.

He hadn't actually felt unhappy just now — he'd just been at a loss for words for a moment.

As a result, after Nie Nasha's careful little explanation, he was rather caught off guard instead.

Something felt off.

Getting all serious and proper like this — what's with the perfect-housewife act?

Where did my irreverent little female gremlin jester go?

Give her back!

Whoever you are, please get out of Nie Nasha's body right now!

And just as if she'd heard Herbert's inner cry, Nie Nasha — who'd been in devoted-wife mode a second ago — broke character on the spot and returned to her jester essence.

【"Hehe~ That's right! I'm the boss!"】

She let out a rather cute little strange sound, hummed smugly, and quickly pressed: 【"Well? Are you moved? Did you suddenly fall in love with me?"】

【"Did you? Did you?!"】

In response, Herbert, in a good mood, went along with her and chimed: "Love you, love you, love you to death."

【"Look, my acting has improved again! Hehe! Hahaha!"】

As if she could no longer keep up the act, she burst into smug laughter.

And listening to the wild, smug laughter in his mind, the corners of Herbert's mouth curved up slightly, and he laughed softly as well.

"Heh."

Considering how cute Nie Nasha was this time, the fact that he'd caught the slight guilt and shyness in her voice — he'd let it slide for now.

Rather than saying Nie Nasha couldn't keep up the act, it was more that she'd suddenly realized what she'd just done, and was using loud laughter to cover her embarrassment.

Herbert was kind-hearted, so this time he wouldn't expose her little trick.

He raised his head, looked at the gradually darkening sky, and nodded slightly.

"Mm, it's about time."

It wasn't far now from the dusk hour Nie Nasha had requested.

【"Hahahaha, cough cough cough… mm, I'm all ready, we can start anytime."】

He turned his head, nodded with a smile to the half-horse Young Lady standing quietly at the side with lowered eyes, holding a cloth bag: "Sophia, go on, go wake your kin."

Sophia lowered her head and replied respectfully: "As you command."

She walked forward slowly, stepped onto the altar, opened the cloth bag in her hand, and poured out its contents.

One after another, amber-colored soul crystal cores, with fine silver light swirling within, slid from the bag and gently dropped into the pool water.

And the instant the soul crystal cores made contact with the pool water, the entire altar shuddered violently!

Wooooong—

Those originally still runes suddenly lit up, like ignited torches; the light raced along the rune paths, quickly spreading outward onto the scorched earth around the altar, forcing the watching crowd back.

After the last soul crystal core was dropped in, the Heroic Spirit Pool suddenly erupted with a dazzling burst of light.

That light, like a massive pillar, shot straight up into the sky, scattering the mist and illuminating the wasteland.

The crowd stared dumbly at the scene, never expecting such a huge commotion to suddenly erupt.

And those shocked by this upheaval were far more than just the people present!

Though the light faded quickly and didn't travel far — only illuminating a few li in every direction —

the very instant the light appeared, deep in the heart of the Misty Mountains, several figures shuddered violently.

!!!

They vaguely sensed something, and their gazes snapped toward the direction of the light, as if piercing through layer upon layer of mist.

Those ancient, lifeless gazes, in this moment, seemed to come alive — a fierce gleam bursting forth!

Those excited eyes were like lost wanderers who had, after long wandering, finally seen the waymark guiding them forward.

"That is…"

"That feeling again!"

"Our Lord…"

"Are You still here?"

"Our Lord!"

They were stirred for a moment, wanting to rush toward that direction, to welcome the return of their god.

But just as they were about to move, it was as if a basin of cold water had been poured over them all at once, and they fell into a halt in unison.

"……"

They froze in place, thinking, hesitating, and finally gradually fell silent; the light that had kindled in their eyes slowly went out.

They had been disappointed too many, too many times.

They no longer wished to be disappointed once more.

Moreover, in their hearts, there were not, perhaps, no other thoughts.

So many years had passed; the god was no longer the god of the past.

And they, too, had long since ceased to be the "they" of the past.

……

【"……Oh? Not a single one coming?"】

Nie Nasha silently sensed the situation for a while, unsurprised by those fellows' reaction, and gave a light, cold laugh twice: 【"Heh heh, you lot of fellows, just you wait — sooner or later you'll regret this."】

As for those people's "betrayal," She was not surprised, but neither did She feel particularly pleased.

She could understand their thoughts, but still could not forgive their choice.

She, after all, was also a goddess who held grudges.

Nie Nasha was in a good mood today, and, rare for Her, took the initiative to extend an olive branch, generously bestowing a god's favor, and actively gave them one chance to mend their ways.

Who could have known that they would completely refuse to accept the kindness!

Hmph.

You lot just wait for me.

When the time comes, I will definitely make you fellows pay a bitter price!

【"Enough, never mind them; it's time to get down to business now."】 Nie Nasha grumbled for a while in Her heart, but the great deal of work did not stop.

She smelted those discarded soul crystal cores, changing their form, awakening the slumbering will within them.

At last, the change began.

The dispersing pillar of light transformed into countless tiny specks of light, which began to gather in midair, forming a massive cocoon of light.

That cocoon of light kept swelling, as if it were alive, breathing without cease.

A moment later, accompanied by a deep, low rumble, the cocoon of light suddenly shattered.

Crack crack crack… Boom!

Countless rays of light scattered outward like meteors, like a sky-wide shower of resplendent blossoms.

Within the light, several dozen figures gradually appeared — one after another, resurgent spirits descended in silence.

They wore different garments: some clad in armor, some in mage's robes, others in leather armor…

Moreover, although the spirits kept human form, not a single one was human — every one was a non-human race.

Elves, dwarves, halflings… among them were also two centaur spirits, the same as Sophia.

Their strength was not great; the strongest among them was only high-tier, having never stepped into Legend.

But when the spirits gathered together, the impact they exerted was far, far greater than that of a single Legend-tier powerhouse!

Clearly, at this moment they stood with eyes closed, quietly upon the altar, yet the surrounding air trembled faintly.

Because what they represented was not mortals, but the will of a god!

A gentle breeze brushed past, causing those spirits with closed eyes to slowly open their eyes.

"……Mm?"

"Who is it?"

"Who is it that has awakened me…"

They slowly opened their eyes, gazing in puzzlement at the world they had not seen for so long.

The spirits felt they had forgotten much, but still remembered the emptiness before they had fallen unconscious.

They had once been very unwilling, unwilling to fall asleep like that.

And then…

The gazes of all the spirits stopped; they saw an unfamiliar figure.

A slender youth stood quietly beneath the dim yellow evening clouds, smiling gently at them.

"Who?"

"That is…"

No.

There was simply no need to ask.

Even though the appearance had already changed.

They could still recognize that figure.

Without need of any words or instruction, the spirits rushed down from the altar at the same time, kneeling prostrate before that figure.

This was the god they were to follow!

Even though Her appearance had already changed, even though they themselves had already forgotten the past.

They would still follow steadfastly behind Her, prostrate at Her feet.

"My Lord…"

The spirits shed tears of emotion, heads bowed, sobbing.

"You have finally returned!"

They had not been abandoned.

The god still lovingly favored them, this flock of lost lambs.

"Returned?"

The white-haired, grey-eyed deity lowered his gaze, looking down at the servants prostrating on the ground, the corners of his lips lifting slightly into a faint smile:

"No, this still cannot be called a return."

Such a return was still far, far too distant from the future he had once promised Nie Nasha.

"However, although it is still far from enough."

Herbert smiled slightly and said softly in his heart: "But at least, another step has been taken toward the goal."

(End of this chapter)