Chapter 395: Neji's Divine Grind
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It's been three days since Neji came to this world, and he hadn't influenced that many things. Still, the bit he did, he was expecting a reaction soon.
"The church sent you to look for Asia, but then you vanished. Wouldn't that be causing any problems? Should I expect some more angels to come?"
Neji, Raynare, Asia, and Sisty were present inside their new hot spring. They were in the water, resting and relaxing, as Neji chatted with Raynare in a deep calm voice.
"I think not."
"Why so?"
He was leaning against the inner wall of the spring, his eyes closed. But Raynare's answer made him open one eye to look at her.
"I… was not really that important to the fallen faction. I was just a nobody. Those priests who spotted Asia had sent a warning message to the church, and luckily I was the only one who received it. I didn't spread the news because I wanted to have all the credit for this mission, so I took off in the air and came to find her."
Raynare added, "Now that those priests who spotted her are dead, and we have essentially vanished unless they spot Asia again we are free to roam around. Because they'd assume both I and Asia have been killed by the devils, as it is their territory after all."
Neji just gave a nod and closed his eyes again. A breath later, Raynare asked him a question.
"On that note, my lord, is there any special reason you chose this area to operate in? I can understand that it may be beneficial to stay in the vicinity of the two sisters of the Satans, but isn't it more beneficial to go to some secluded area and claim its church? It should help you regain your powers faster."
Neji's eyes spread open. He stared at the open sky for a moment, the distant stars that twinkled at him.
Could that work? Thinking about it for a split second, that idea seemed fine. The best way to grow the synchronization would be to add his face to the word [God]. As was the case with most Gods of other religions, when one said Shiva they had an image in their head. In that case, if he went to any random church and proved he was God, his sync should increase.
Dammit, he should have thought of that by himself. He would have missed Raynare if he-
Neji paused. He sat up straight and looked at Raynare. Right, of course. He could kiss her right now.
"Raynare,"
Neji raised his right arm towards her, as she blinked and her body rushed at him with a telekinetic force.
Her face was read this whole time, sharing a bath with her God, as was the case with Asia. But now she seemed to fume, while Asia gasped, staring at the scene, causing Sisty to cover her eyes.
Neji wrapped a hand around Raynare, feeling her curves as she shivered due to his touch. His other hand went under her chin, gently pulling her towards him as he stole her lips.
"Mmhmmm~"
It was a light kiss, yet the angel dirtied the water with her love juice, her body shaking as he released her, standing up.
She only calmed down when she noticed he wasn't hard down there even after kissing her. She knew her worth, and expecting her useless self to give him a boner seemed like a heinous act, but for a moment it stung her feminine pride as she saw it. Then she ignored it and basked in the glory of her lips that suddenly felt and became holier than any other parts of her body.
"All right, girls,"
With a thought, a golden portal went from his feet to head, drying his body and also wrapping him with clothes. His white hair was long again, his vibe divine.
"Go to sleep. Or enjoy your night doing whatever. I probably won't be back tonight. See you tomorrow."
Then, he vanished, leaving them to wonder about his whereabouts.
* * *
Admittedly, Tsurugi no Otome was an odd name for a woman born in Europe such as her. In fact, she didn't even know Japanese.
From the stories she heard, she was named this way by the church, and by the pope of that time who happened to be Japanese. She had no memory of that man, as he had died not long after that. From a young age, she was raised to be the pope of the entire country of Romania.
Only a few years ago did she fulfill that duty, which too had been a prophecy called by the pope who had named her. People said that man had seen her fate and pushed her towards her best path in life, and while she used to agree with it before these days she was starting to doubt it.
Not even once had God listened to her prayers. Sure, some of her prayers came true, but for some reason, she felt in the depths of her heart that it wasn't God who was replying to them. Just to be clear, she didn't think the one replying was the devil, or anyone of dark nature, the one who replied seemed holy enough. However, they weren't God.
The world was in shambles; people were living like fools. They called themselves Christians but didn't act likewise. They had no fear of God, they committed heresy with no regret, and despite some of these fools claiming to be Catholics, they thoughtlessly committed heinous crimes.
What had the world come to, she spent her days wondering.
She knew the existence of magic, devils, and angels, and she had even met a few. She actually had met a few, and for that reason alone did she believe that some supernatural force did exist in this world. Fate must also be real too. However, she couldn't be sure if God was real — because what in the hell was he doing if he was real?
Sighing, Tsurugi picked up her glass of tea and took a sip. It was a little annoying to precisely put the cup to her lips every single time, blind as she was, but she was used to it by now. Her other senses were honed by the passage of time so that she didn't miss her sight that much.
"Hmm, does that mean you weren't always blind?"
If it was anyone else, they may have to spit the tea out in surprise. Not that she was not surprised and shocked by the voice, as there was supposed to be nobody else in this little resting place in the garden, where she was sitting inside at a table. It was a voice she didn't recognize either, but even she had to admit it was a charming one.
Gently, she put down the tea. Once again, someone else would start by asking who they were, but she chose to answer his question first.
"I was not. When I turned five years old, the new pope sacrificed my eyes. I do not know the reason, and was told that the pope who named me had demanded my eyes to be sacrificed if my fate that he saw was to come true."
"Ah, I see."
She felt the distinct movement of his head as he nodded thoughtfully. Tsurugi moved to the question she had.
"May I ask whom I am conversing with?"
"Oh. It's me, God. Good evening."
"...."
Tsurugi had been distinctly monologuing if God was real or not. Suddenly, this person claimed to be God. The natural reason of a pope would be to call forth everyone to hunt this heretic down, and for a moment she too wanted to do that. Instead, she sighed.
"Are you an atheist, perhaps with the media? Or one of these new social media influencers who are so active? Fuuuh… Listen, while I don't mind atheists, it's not very polite to barge into the church and speak heresy. As this is a Christian country, the government would punish you if I so report."
"Interesting lines of thought. I want to go into those, but I find it peculiar that you are saying you will report me when you can't even see me. Isn't that quite bold of you?"
"...Guards."
Frowning slightly, she called for the guards gently. She was not a mere pope, she was a mage, and so while her call was gentle it should have been carried through the entire church.
Yet, there was no response.
"Guards?"
Once again, there was no response even after she waited for a bit. She did not make the futile attempt of a third call. She came to realize this person was not a normal human.
Yet, he couldn't be a devil either. If a devil claimed to be God, even Satans would be faced with heavenly tribulations. The laws of this world still went like that. Another reason why she hadn't fully given up her belief in God.
In that case, who else dared claim to be God?
"I know what you're thinking right now, and I understand why you'd think that way. I have a request; would you listen?"
"Go ahead."
Tsurugi remained calm and answered. If this person had any intention of hurting her, she had few things she could do. She was a mage sure, but she was not exactly a fighter, at least not without a sword. Currently, she was empty-handed, with nothing but a teacup in her hand so she took another sip.
"I need you to call me my lord, can you do that?"
"Never."
"I see."
Her answer was firm, and his reply didn't sound like he gave up. She felt a gentle shift as she felt his hand press down on her eyes. She was wearing a white blindfold as usual, and if she wasn't blind by default she would have been unable to see anything due to this blindfold.
She didn't feel any threat as he touched her, well not that her skin was touched. There was a gentle shimmer of light before he withdrew his hands backward.
'Wait,' Tsurugi blinked. 'Light?'
She couldn't see. She was not supposed to. She did sense the light mana, but when she described it just now, it wasn't based on sense, no… it was from the feeling of sight.
Gently, before she could make a move, her blindfold was torn apart by a kinetic force. The white cloth fell, as the world of light greeted her for the first time in two decades.
"Ah…"
And the first thing she saw was the face of the man she had been conversing with till now.
"Good evening." said the self-proclaimed God as he waved at her, wearing clothes that only royalty could afford. "I am Neji, but I'd prefer my lord from you."
* * *
Of course, fixing her eyes alone was not enough to convince her. She couldn't just call anybody her God, that'd be heresy and also break her entire faith system.
However, this at least made her a lot more approachable. If there was one thing that Neji had no lack, it would be resources. As in mortal resources, food, money, and all that common things.
Wrapping his hand around her waist, very gently, he teleported around the country. He fixed people's disabilities, healed chronic illnesses, cured cancer – and a lot of other things.
Neji dropped a few thousand tons of food to orphanages, to the truly hungry, and gave money to the homeless. With a touch, he fixed roads and bridges that the government didn't want to fix, and with a breath he revived dead forests.
Throughout the entire process, Tsurugi's calm façade slowly crumbled. A mage as she was, aware of the supernatural, she was aware of the limits too. These were not the doings of a mage, and obviously not the work of a devil either.
"As for why I have been silent-"
Neji had tried to explain why God was not that active, to give her a version of the story he told Raynare, but the priestess just threw herself to his feet.
"No, no, it's alright, my lord, it's fine."
She hugged his leg, her face a mess, as she cried to her heart's content. She wept, and she begged for forgiveness.
Neji felt a bit weird. It was odd to see a woman he had only met suddenly feel this close to him. It was not just her, but Asia and Raynare too. The moment they accepted him as their lord, as the connection was created between them, he felt just how much they felt for him.
It was sad. Because unlike them, he was doing this for only one reason.
Progress Bar: | 4.34%
To see the bar go up.
Tonight was a harvest.
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