Chapter 52: Divine Beast Lord, God Loves the World
After a round of "physical therapy," the little boy's lung was clinicaly removed by Shirazawa's blade. Immediately following, Shiro arranged for Miracle Magic; the wound healed in an instant, and a brand-new lung grew back.
The woman was stunned all over again.
Shirazawa nodded calmly. "Your child is fine now."
"...Thank you. May I ask... are you messengers sent by the Goddess?" The woman finally came to her senses.
"Uh..." The two looked at each other; they didn't understand a word. But regardless, nodding was the right move.
"Ah, yes, yes, yes!"
The woman was ecstatic, kneeling before them and kowtowing. "Thank you! Thank you for saving my child!"
"Ah, yes, yes, yes!" The two synchronized once more.
...
And so, the woman led the now-energetic little boy back toward the town. she was going to tell everyone about the glory of the Divine Beast and make sure everyone, like her, came to show gratitude to these two messengers!
Shiro and Shirazawa followed her at a distance, but a bad premonition began to stir in their hearts...
"Where are we going next?" Having done a good deed for the day (Virtue +10), Shiro was in a pleasant mood.
"How about... going to see the town?" Shirazawa suggested. With this incident as a foundation, entering the town shouldn't be a problem.
"This..." Shiro hesitated.
Seeing this, Shirazawa slapped his own head. He almost forgot—this girl has extreme social anxiety; she doesn't dare go where there are too many people.
"Or, let's just scout the vicinity first and see if there are any high-quality experience packs to harvest?"
Shiro let out a sigh of relief and nodded in agreement. Thus, the two loitered around the area.
...
"Strange, where did all the bandits around here go? Did they all reform and go straight?" After wandering for a day, Shirazawa hadn't found a single trace of a bandit, which left him feeling quite frustrated.
"Uh... maybe, perhaps, well..." Shiro stammered, finally squeezing out a sentence. "Mostly... I probably cleared them all out already. Ehehe~"
Shiro rubbed the back of her head, giggling awkwardly.
Shirazawa: "..." Suddenly, his annoyance vanished. So the bandits had already been converted into experience points for the two of them; no wonder he couldn't find any.
"Well, whatever. At worst, we'll just go to a town further away to look."
"Mhm." Ending their day of exploration, the two found a large tree to rest. A quiet night passed.
...
"Wah—Aze! Aze, wake up! What is going on?"
"What's wrong?" Shirazawa rubbed his sleepy eyes and looked around.
At the foot of their tree, they were surrounded by a dense crowd of people. Every single one of them was kneeling as devoutly as a pilgrim, incessantly chanting something.
"Divine Beast Lord, please grant your devout believers divine grace..."
"Divine Beast Lord, please save my poor child."
"Divine Beast Lord, please..."
The two looked at each other, lost. Shiro quietly took two steps back, trying to distance herself from the crowd. In her past life as a shut-in, any gathering of more than three people made her too nervous to speak. This situation was clearly exceeding her limits.
Shirazawa sighed and stepped in front to shield her. Feeling the warmth from Shirazawa, Shiro calmed down significantly.
"Watch my performance in a bit," Shirazawa whispered.
"Mhm..."
He took a deep breath, slowly took a step forward, and gazed at the crowd. His voice was solemn and majestic. "God loves the world. I am the messenger under the Goddess, come specifically to save you all."
His voice was loud, intimidating the entire scene. Shiro stood behind him, secretly stifling a laugh. *These people shouldn't be able to understand 'Spider-speech,' right?*
Sure enough, the believers looked up, their faces filled with surprise and confusion. However, there are always those who can "brain-canon" all sorts of strange things for themselves.
"It's an oracle! The Divine Beast Lord has sent down an oracle!"
"The Divine Beast has manifested! Wonderful! Long live the Divine Beast Lord!"
...
Hearing the excited shouts of the believers, Shirazawa quickly waved his scythe to interrupt them. "Devout believers, offer up your prayers. God is with you!"
"Holy Light Magic: Dawn Radiance!"
"Charity!"
White light cascaded down, illuminating every devout believer. They instantly felt refreshed and filled with strength! The believers cheered, weeping with gratitude.
"Thank you, thank you for the help of the Divine Beast Lord!"
"Goddess bless us, you are truly great!"
"My child is healed! Long live the Divine Beast Lord!"
...
Shiro: "..." This move... he's actually got some skills!
Shirazawa looked triumphant. "How was that?"
"You look like a total cult leader right now!" Shiro couldn't help but roast him.
Shirazawa: "Hmph!" Even though he was being teased, he was very happy. So this is what it feels like to play a "holy man" and receive the praise of the masses! It was actually kind of interesting.
"Divine Beast Lord, please accept my gift of thanks."
"Please, you must agree, you must accept my gratitude."
Following Shirazawa's performance, the pilgrims came one by one to offer their prepared gifts. Shiro looked at the growing pile of delicious food in Shirazawa's hands, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. Delicious food that used to require so much effort to obtain was now coming to them so easily.
"Aze, you're amazing," Shiro praised.
Hearing this, Shirazawa tilted his head up proudly. "Of course."
For the next period of time, the two lived in a shrine built for them by the believers. Every day they enjoyed the delicacies sent by the faithful; life couldn't be more comfortable. Of course, they didn't forget the purpose of this trip: learning the Human language.
Through analyzing the speech of the believers, it only took three days for the two of them to master the human tongue. They could even communicate with the believers without barriers—though that required the "Telepathy" skill, as spiders cannot physically speak human words.
Shiro was too socially anxious, so she spent every day hiding in the shrine eating and drinking. Shirazawa was much more active.
"The Goddess says she wants to eat suckling pig, roasted steak, roast chicken, roast duck..." Through Telepathy, he told the crowd what they wanted.
"Did you hear that? An oracle! It's an oracle!"
"Yes! We will get it for the Divine Lord immediately!"
"Yes, the Divine Lord can have whatever he wants!"
...
Under the enthusiastic support of the crowd, the original offerings of fruit were replaced with more delicious meats and various pastries. The entire shrine wafted with the scent of food, making one's mouth water.
"Aze, I want roasted sweet potatoes."
"Sure, I'll arrange it."
"Thou, listen to the teachings of the Goddess, for she grants thee supreme glory. Bring roasted sweet potatoes, and the Goddess shall bless thee."
Shirazawa pointed at someone randomly. That person, upon hearing this, immediately ran toward the town with immense gratitude.
Shiro: "..."
She suddenly started to wonder what Shirazawa did in his past life. Was he the head of a pyramid scheme? This process was way too practiced.
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[Quest Completed = 3]
[Bonus Chapters Achieved = 3]
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[Ptreon.cm/Prince_of_LanLi for 50 adv chs. 20% discount right now. Throw spirit stones to this humble one *dogeza*.]