The G.o.ds have their own ranking.
The highest of them all is the Creator of the world.
The Creator made the land and sowed the seeds of life.
Then he created Heaven for himself to live in and watched as all kind of creatures were being born in the world below.
The Guardian G.o.ds of various lands are the most familiar to humans.
Humans worship them in the churches and, by changing people’s belief into power, they bestow their grace upon the land.
A Guardian G.o.d, who, for some reason, lost all of his believers, loses his power.
On the other hand, those, who managed to gather people’s faith on themselves while not being a G.o.d, won’t become one.
It’s easier for a tree, rock, or a king of the forest to become an object of worship.
There are also times when an immaterial phenomenon or a creature of fantasies materializes as a G.o.d through the means of faith.
The previous G.o.ddess of the Silverlight territory was an example of that.
She was loved by the citizens and worked to create the best environment in return.
However, on a certain day, she suddenly lost her G.o.dly powers.
It wasn’t like the believers lost their faith.
Despite that, she couldn’t summon the rain and couldn’t protect the land from gradually drying out.
Shortly, the Silverlight Barony became uninhabitable and the people went away.
Without people, there was no faith.
In the end, she couldn’t even materialize herself anymore and her consciousness dimmed.
The Silverlight Barony became just a name on the map.
However, two hundred years later.
A single juvenile demon settled in the church and made the time flow again –.
The midnight church didn’t have much light except for the moonlight seeping through the stained gla.s.s.
However, only one place illuminated by the moonlight showed signs of activity.
The place where there was the altar once.
A big bed with a canopy occupied its place instead.
「Supi……supi…….」
「Funyu…….funyu……..」
On that bad, there were two cute little girls calmly sleeping as they used a big slime as their hugging pillow.
Both of them had long silver hair and white skin.
Their beautiful bodies reflected the moonlight as they shined brightly in the dark.
The two resembled each other greatly but that’s how it was supposed to be.
After all, they were sisters.
Biological weapons created from the Great Demon King’s genes.
They were called Iris and Eclipse.
Despite their lovely appearance, they had almost inexhaustible amounts of magical power and, if they wished to do so, could easily destroy humanity.
That being said, they won’t get anything from doing that and it’s not as if they had a violent personality.
Instead of that, they were devoted to sleeping and filling their stomachs with tasty things.
However, there was something in that place that frequently interfered with their peaceful sleep.
An earthquake.
「Funyu…….it’s another earthquake, Big Sister Iris」
「Punii……」
「……Just what is it everyday and everyday?………No matter how good I’m at sleeping even I will wake up when the ground shakes beneath me」
Iris rose her body, pursed her lips, and complained towards the ground.
Eclipse languidly rubbed her eyes saying to『Shaking, bad』 the ground.
Then, the big slime『Punigami』wobbled in discontent.
Most likely not because of them, the earthquake immediately. That being said, it was an everyday occurrence.
When they sleep at night, it shakes hard enough to blow the bed away then quickly stops.
Mysteriously, the shaking didn’t spread beyond this church.
When it was brought up with Sheryl and the rest, they said there was no such thing.
Even more, 「You were probably dreaming」Marion made fun of her.
Not only she couldn’t sleep but also was made fun of, she reached the limit of her tolerance.
Iris decided that it was about time to unravel the reason for all the earthquakes.
「The ground shakes, which means there is something beneath. Magical power search! 」
Iris released her magical power towards the ground. It was detection magic. In the past, when Iris just arrived at the hill, she discovered an underground water source.
Detection magic should quickly reveal the reason.
Or so she thought…….
「Un……there is nothing abnormal……..」
「I’ve used detection magic too but found nothing」
Eclipse muttered in puzzlement.
「Punini」
「Eh? What if the source isn’t in the ground but above it? It can’t be」
「Puni!」
Punigami bellowed in anger.
It seems he couldn’t bear his idea being rejected without even trying.
「………..But isn’t it weird for the cause to be above ground? 」
「Punipuni!」
「Big Sister Iris. We should at least try examining it. After all, there was nothing underground」
「If even Eclipse says so…….」
She had no reason to reject Punigami and Eclipse, so she expanded the scope of her detection magic above the ground.
It won’t be of use anyway, she thought.
However, Iris’ intuition was off the mark.
「There is someone inside the church!」
The villagers are strictly prohibited from approaching this church.
In the first place, it was in the middle of the night.
Even Sheryl and the rest had no reason to come here.
Despite that, besides Punigami, Iris, and Eclipse, there was an aura of 『someone』else.
「Ah, it’s true. There is someone」
Eclipse, who did the same thing, said in an easygoing voice.
However, Iris wasn’t so carefree.
After all, she was a NEET. Shut-in. With a social phobia.
Is there were someone else in the church, she would hide behind Eclipse and Punigami and tremble.
「It’s alright, Big Sister Iris. It’s not a human」
「I-It seems so……not only that, it doesn’t even have substance. A being of conscience? It’s here, this much I can understand but I can neither see it nor talk to it…….」
「Heey. Why does it seem so weak? I can disappear anytime. Won’t it be possible to see it if we share some magical power? 」
「Un…..it does have such an aura. Let’s try it」
Iris headed the aura and poured some magical power into it.
Then, its silhouette really appeared.
It had an appearance of a person.
It wasn’t that big.
Of course, it was bigger than Iris and Eclipse but not big enough to be an adult.
14-year-old girl by human standards.
Before long, the blurry silhouette became clear and even colored.
In that way, the girl completely materialized.
Long pink hair. Long water-colored dress. A well-built figure.
Seeing the girl suddenly appearing in the moonlight, Iris and Eclipse had their gazes stolen.
The scene was straight out of fantasy.
However, as the girl lifted her eyelids and spoke, the fantastical atmosphere was immediately blown away.
「Hey, you lot! Who do you think you are to replace my altar with a bed! You even deceived the villagers…….the Guardian Deity of the Silverlight Barony is me, Muriel! 」[1]
The girl, who introduced herself as the Guardian Deity, shouted so and pounced on the bed.
When Iris and Eclipse casually dodged sideways, Muriel dived headfirst into Punigami.
「Nowa, what is this slime? It feels good」
「Puni?」
Muriel clung to Punigami as shed swung her legs around on top of the bed.
Her ident.i.ty was unknown.
She probably had some circ.u.mstances since she lost her substance.
However, whoever she is, she doesn’t look particularly smart — such was Iris’ first impression of Muriel.
ReferencesShe tends to end her lines with no ja, in case you are wondering about the t.i.tle. ↩