Chapter 84: Namu San, Actually Stingy! (Extra for Alliance Leader Feng Chen Yin's stamp)

In the year 612 of the Star Alliance Calendar, June 15th, for the rear mountain of Central Tiresen, it was largely a very special day.

On this day, a Western religious war was staged here!

Goddess and demon confronted each other from afar!

Each side exerted all their tricks! They aimed to shatter the other's preconceptions!

One side upheld the belief that gods should remain in the divine realm! When you meet a deity, you should be respectful and obedient.

The other side, feeling merely passing by, resented being nagged and kicked!

A fierce war of words erupted!

The concrete exchanges were: "If you're capable, come over!" "If you're capable, come down!" "I am a god!" "I am still a demon! Come down!"

At a glance, it was judged as children squabbling, although one side was a pretentious nasty thing.

Obviously, this nasty thing is Aomo.

He didn't understand why the other side was so hung up on the concept of 'staying in the divine realm', since the textbook said the three goddesses were Western deities, with no need to make it so Eastern‑ritualistic.

Since a thousand years ago, she loved to wander everywhere, manifesting holiness all over, leaving many records; this shrine was mostly built by others, and according to the few fragmented records seen earlier, the shrine was even torn down by them themselves.

So why bother acting like an Eastern deity, drawing lines to confine oneself?

Aomo didn't understand, but that didn't matter!

The important thing is, having seen her psychological burden, why should he follow her words?

Mentioning gods reminded him of the dire omen he drew in Heaven Gate City, and wickedness rose in his heart instantly! This was to fight fire with fire.

Attack! Rebound! Attack! Rebound!

Seemingly furious, he was actually delighted beyond measure; from the initial dissatisfaction, his mind turned into pure mischief, just to savor the dark pleasure of seeing the other side furious.

Ah... this is no good, no good, it's already worse than the joy of watching someone without an umbrella on a rainy day.

Aomo thus warned himself, and before the other side truly became upset, he spoke up first to end this childish quarrel.

"Alright, I'll come up, but you must promise not to lay a hand on me!"

The first battle after Heaven Gate City was beating up a goddess—too weird; is that the boss's boss? Moreover, it's uncertain whether one could even win.

Aomo is still, by nature, someone who dislikes trouble, let alone the fact that the opposite sex's thoughts are always hard to fathom, especially when they're in a bad mood.

Like a gambler drowning sorrows in drink, he sits alone at your neighboring table, letting you guess the outcome of the match on the screen.

The actual win or loss doesn't matter; what matters is that you'll always end up with a ruined mood.

The result is either mocking ridicule or a furious clenched fist.

You always have to face one of them.

Of course, the source of this bad mood seems initially directed at oneself, and the one worsening it—can be confidently said to be oneself.

So Aomo also prepared himself mentally to reap what he sowed, and furthermore dispelled that antagonistic demonic transformation.

Then, after taking a step, he heard the other side say:

"It depends on your performance!"

His steps halted there.

Aomo stopped and asked, "Then what kind of performance would be considered satisfactory?"

Such an evasive reply—so‑called 'judging by your performance'—hardly isn't 'being kicked down the steps for stepping with the left foot into the shrine'.

Given the length of these steps and the slope of the mountain path, Aomo felt anyone would gasp and shut their eyes; although he thought the goddess wouldn't be that vicious, who could say for sure before it actually happened?

Lacking self‑awareness, ignoring the strength differences between two kinds of beings, one inadvertently invites calamity—the stronger the existence, the more prone it is to make such a mistake.

This is also a major reason why some trainers are sent to the hospital by horse girls.

Aomo is very aware of this, let alone that he truly didn't see clearly the other side's earlier kick.

After his bloodline awakening enhanced his eyesight, he could clearly see the explosive stances of Narita Taiho and Grass Wonder, yet he failed to catch that one jio of the other side.

Purely by anticipating the move early and preparing, with extremely fast nerve reflexes supplemented by the burst speed of demonization, he managed to withdraw to the present world and dodge that kick.

He really didn't dare consider the possibility of being genuinely kicked by the other side.

But after he asked that, the other side fell silent.

Correspondingly, Aomo also fell silent due to the other's silence.

He thought, 'Is this question really that hard for the other side? Even if they hadn't thought about it, they could improvise, right? Unless even improvising is hard to utter.'

Hard to utter, but that's still okay......

"Alright, alright, no need to force an answer, uh... I'll come over first, okay?"

Slightly gathering his usual thoughts to avoid offense, Aomo tentatively adopted a earnest demeanor of truly meeting a deity, stepped up the stairs steadily, after re‑crossing the torii he turned again and bowed slightly toward the horse girl with purplish‑black long hair.

Acting as if nothing had happened before, he reset his purpose from 'investigating the torii' to 'visiting that horse girl'—this is Aomo's reconsidered performance after setting aside guesses about the other's alleged unspeakable difficulty.

"Is that so?"

He lifted his head to gaze anew at the horse girl, and Aomo asked thus.

It was then that he suddenly noticed what he had missed at first sight—or perhaps the other side's intentional release now—caught by his spiritual perception.

Thus, at that moment he perceived a certain bulky, massive outline.

That was the outline of a heroic steed, and because of its utmost heroism it even showed a hint of otherness.

Rather than calling it a horse, it's more like a aberrant beast with a horse's shape; almost instantly, Aomo thought of the word 'monster'.

Although it was pinched away the moment it appeared, it still left him a sufficiently deep impression.

He even felt that, with this, he needn't ask for the other's name.

Yet, out of caution, thinking that he hadn't truly grasped the aspects of the three goddesses, lest he mistake the basics for the peak, he still asked:

"Does this performance satisfy you, and may I know your name?"

"It's passable, I suppose."

The horse girl, no longer leaning on the torii but having taken two steps forward, suddenly halted and turned her head to look at him.

He immediately understood, stepped to follow, then saw the other party nod in satisfaction and continued walking, saying, "As for the name, since you can see the gate, you're qualified to be granted an audience with us."

You must properly receive this grace; remember my name is Dali Alabo, understand?

Of course, Your Excellency Alabo.

He guessed correctly.

Aomo wasn't particularly surprised, but he still pretended to be flattered, after all the other party quite enjoyed it.

Dali Alabo, chief of the three goddesses from another world.

It is said that he is the paternal ancestor of the purebred horses among 95% of today's horse girls, which also best matches the exaggerated, almost 'horse-beast' silhouette Aomo sensed not long ago.

But the murals in the history books really have no reference value at all—Aomo muttered to himself.

The goddess on that mural shares the same style as the three-goddess statues at the school gate, both robed and with hair coiled up, their faces rendered rather vaguely, not as detailed as the colors in church stained glass.

Even if the Dalilah Arabian in the church stained glass is blonde, the reality shows a purple-black long-haired figure wearing very ordinary clothes, ordinary enough to be mistaken for everyday summer attire on the street.

This really makes it hard to regard her as a goddess, especially now that beauty standards have risen quite a bit.

Even if she is the goddess herself, without dressing up she blends into the crowd.

If it were Aomo, he would gladly accept such a natural disguise.

But this goddess clearly has a more unrestrained and hot-tempered nature, and she carries a lot of divine dignity, hoping others will treat her reverently.

The reason for her earlier silence also became clear: this kind of demand should be left for 'mortals to understand on their own, rather than being told directly'—that's how Aomo interpreted it.

If we follow this line of speculation, we could even explain why this shrine still exists and why she stays here.

Not being treated as a goddess on the street also makes it inconvenient to vent freely; after a few such incidents, the goddess would likely withdraw, and at times like this, a place of religious architecture that naturally inspires awe and seriousness becomes her last hope.

As for why the other two goddesses weren't seen—most likely they don't have this problem.

Not all deities like to put on airs; in fact, as the Holy Terra Federation has developed to this point, those still clinging to divine dignity are extremely few.

Otherwise they'd end up like her, finding a place to withdraw.

Occasionally, a certain chuunibyou netizen seen online might actually be an old deity seeking self-esteem in the online world.

But such withdrawn deities have a good side: having not seen people for a long time, when they finally do, their demands are rather low.

Otherwise, given Aomo's later mutual provocations, although there would still be some room for maneuver, at least it wouldn't end after just one round.

Look at this—it's turned an old maiden into what she is now.

Silently following his steps from the torii to the main hall, Aomo concealed his offense toward the deity while observing this actually small shrine; when the other party stopped, he stopped as well, finding himself standing before the offering box.

"How much money did you bring?" Dalilah Arabian suddenly turned to look at him.

"……" Aomo stared at her in silence.

At other times he might have been more generous, but these past few days he's been stingy, especially since the trainer's wages aren't even being advanced.

Thus we output: Thus we output: QiuChuan chairman used to be easy to talk to, but this particular matter is pressed down hard; clearly, under public opinion she puts on an act of not caring how money is spent.

He felt he was being targeted.

But even if he badmouthed Thus we output: Thus we output: QiuChuan chairman, it couldn't help with the present situation, so before she got annoyed, he quickly thought of a line: "I heard the offering customs in the Jidong area are quite particular."

Frankly, I've been using Ye Guo Reading lately to read books and stay updated, switching sources, with many read-aloud voices, available on both Android and iOS.

He used to have only a small liking for Jidong culture, mostly critical and generally dissatisfied, but at this moment he was genuinely grateful for the occasional miscellaneous knowledge he'd come across.

"To invite a good omen, one throws in coins of five hundred yen or less, because in the Jidong language the 5-yen coin sounds like 'yen' (fate), symbolizing forming a bond with the deity and attracting good fortune."

Having said that, Aomo said no more, just emphasizing his stinginess.

He didn't bother to mention what the analogous '50 yen' or '100 yen' signify, nor the most taboo '10 yen' representing 'no fate'.

"Do you have any? I can feel you do!"

"……"

Aomo didn't know whether to stay silent because the other party didn't realize the problem, or to stay silent because she was using her divine power to sense whether he had any coins.

But after a brief silence, he added:

"I don't have any Jidong coins in my bag, but I do have several Terra Federation coins, with denominations far higher than 5 yen, and there's no auspicious saying attached to them."

"What does it matter how many coins there are!" the goddess's blatant grabbing attitude was already undisguised, yet as she spoke she unexpectedly blinked and said in a strange tone, "Isn't there still one coin?"

Dalilah Arabian's gaze fell on his briefcase.

"Moreover, it truly gathers many thoughts, all quite heavy; you might as well toss it in directly to dispel disaster."

Heavy thoughts……

"Will keeping it bring disaster?" Aomo asked.

"Not exactly, but I feel ordinary people wouldn't like something attached to a bunch of miscellaneous thoughts, especially when it includes heavy ideas; they'd surely find it inauspicious."

Dalilah Arabian spread her hands, looking at Aomo's tightly furrowed brow: "If you've never felt anything odd, then those miscellaneous thoughts are your own."

"How about throwing it in to purify it?"

"No need." Aomo shook his head and took out his terminal.

"Suit yourself, but if this won't work and that won't work, are you just not wanting to do the basic offering?"

"No, it's already 612 years; I think we should keep up with the times."

Aomo said, pulling up the terminal's light screen.

"The wealth put into the offering box is originally an offering to the deity, but since the deity is right beside us, we might as well skip this step."

Aomo said, turning off private mode so Dalilah Arabian could see the QR code appearing on the screen.

"I've already converted the Jidong 5-yen unit; can the goddess scan the code?"