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Volume 2, Chapter 1 – The Beginning of a Dark History

I’ve heard a saying before about how it’s easier to destroy something than create.

It’s a somewhat paradoxical saying that emphasises the difficult of creating things.

Whether it’s buildings, or artwork, or culture, when you create something, a lot of time and effort is needed to do so.

*imouto*

But if I had to add one more line to that──

*imouto*

──it would be that cleaning up after things that you accidentally create are also quite a pain. Including bad things that you’ve accidentally done.

*imouto*

And if I had to add one more line on top of that──

*imouto*

──it would be that if you leave it to somebody else because cleaning up is a pain, there also exists the fear of things getting worse.

*imouto*

The newly erected temple, the Forteran Army that was driven away, the Evil God Followers who ended up saved because of this, and more than anything else, I myself, who had become an Evil God.

There were so many problems that I didn’t even know where to begin, so I decided to create a rough order of precedence, and allocate people wherever I could. There shouldn’t be anything wrong with this line of thinking.

And to me, the point of highest priority was dealing with the fact that I’d become an evil god, and all other matters were lower. Considering this once again, I still think this was correct.

So that’s why. That’s why…

*imouto*

“As our great god’s──Anri-sama’s, servant, I, Pope Harvin, hereby declare, the establishment of the 『Holy Anri Thearchy』!”

*imouto*

I want to believe that this isn’t my fault.

Also, I’d like for you to stop with that name. Very much so.

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The Evil God Followers were taken in on the first surface floor of the temple, and I left their care to Tena and Leonora. Having said that though, I had no intention of worrying as far as the minor details, and the fundamental idea was to have them arrange themselves.

“And so, why did it turn into this?”

“Even if you ask me that… you know?”

“I just passed on the message, 『Gather your followers over there.』 exactly as you said, Anri-sama, but…”

After Tena and Leonora returned to the top floor of the temple, they told me about the details regarding the speech that the Merry Founder──now, the Merry Pope, gave beyond the monitor, but apparently Tena just passed on the message as is. So how did it have anything to do with founding a country…?

“You’ll probably need to ask him yourself… But whatever the reason, now that he’s declared as such, you can’t so easily take it back, you know.”

“I know.”

What’s more, although we declared that we were creating a country, in the end our situation was just that of insisting that it was true. There’s the fact that we weren’t being acknowledged by other countries as well, but that was because we hadn’t created a country yet. We were just a temple sheltering 1000 refugees, without even a single house, so of course it that much was natural.

But since that announcement had already been accepted by the followers, it was too late to say otherwise.

Of course, I could use my position as God to force the decision to withdraw the announcement, but once I considered the chaos that would ensue, I couldn’t so easily take the plunge.

“Why do they know my name?”

“They begged me, 『Please, please tell us!』 so I ended up telling them, but… was that no good?”

I replied to Tena’s worried question with a shake of the head.

There was the fact that I hadn’t forbidden her to do so as well, and since there was the benefit of being more famous and familiar amongst the followers, I had no intention of criticising her. Because right after that announcement, my belly felt full. At the time I didn’t know what was going on and fell into confusion, but apparently, because the announcement had made my name known, the effectiveness of their faith ended up rising, or so I concluded later on.

Having become a member of the Divine Race, I didn’t need to eat, drink, or use the bathroom any more, but in exchange, how full I felt apparently depended on the religious faith that the people of this world had towards me. I guess that’s how it ended up.

Right now I had faith, so I was happy with a full stomach, but if the faith towards me dropped too much, then I’d be stuck with feeling hungry. Not only that, even eating food wouldn’t fill that hunger, so until the faith towards me restored, I’d continue to starve…

Considering this, forming a country might be convenient for me; mostly in the sense that keeping myself famous would fill my stomach. Although, far from solving any problems, the fact that problems had just increased gave me a headache, and I’m worried about the reactions of the other countries too.

I wish is to live peacefully, but I don’t want to suffer and starve either. The ideal would be to maintain a deadlock where I’d preserve just enough faith, while not being invaded by any countries.

Having said that though, just being the Evil God Country would be famous enough, so…

“At least change the name.”

“Why? Isn’t it a fine name?”

“I think so too. And furthermore, the name is already well-known amongst the followers, and so, changing it now would be…”

It’s damned embarrassing. Embarrassing enough to roll about in agony on my bed.

Also, why is an evil god-worshipping country prefixed with ‘Holy’? I seriously want to know.

“It isn’t just the followers, you know. That guy has already sent out letters to every nation, after all.”

Why the heck is he so needlessly proactive!? If it’s already spread that far, isn’t it impossible to change now!?

Letting that country name become known across the land, what kind of shame torture is this?

No, wait, wait, thinking about it carefully, there’s a more important issue.

Isn’t sending something like “We created the nation of the Evil God” to every nation basically the same as a declaration of war?

And in a situation where far from being a “nation”, we’re not even a “village” yet?

“Every country is going to come attack us.”

“Although you can’t let your guard down, for now you’ll be fine.”

I asked Leonora ‘Why?’ with my gaze and… she averted her eyes. Although I’ve become a divine now, my mystic eyes are still in good health. I’m just glad that they haven’t gotten worse though.

“The country right beside ours is the Kingdom of Fortera. Considering what happened the other day, they’ll probably be cautious about invading.”

Well, I certainly did threaten the Forteran Army quite terribly. I guess they won’t invade right this second. Having said that though, just as Leonora said, I can’t let my guard down and it’s just a matter of time.

“For now, tell them that they can use the first three terrarean floors, Tena. Also, I’ll leave the management of the country to that Pope.”

“Yes, Anri-sama. I understand.”

Although I’m worried about choosing the Pope, incredibly worried about choosing the Pope… he was apparently the peacemaker in the cult, and there was no reason to change it. Moreover, I couldn’t think of anybody else for the job.

Incidentally, I’m using the 5th and top layer as another residence, and prepared rooms for Tena and Leonora as well. As for Lili, she’s still too young to be on her own, so she’s sharing a room with Tena. However, Tena became busy recently, so I’ve been looking after Lili a lot of the time. Perhaps that had some effect, because as long as I didn’t meet her in the eyes, she’d seem pretty attached to me. I’m a little moved.

The 4th floor is serving as a line of defence. But the actual stronghold is on the subterranean 31st floor, so it’s fine even if I abandon this place when the time comes.

The dungeon core is still on the 31st floor, and I put a newly divided subcore on the 5th surface floor. In exchange for having a number of its functions sealed, like the ability to add floors, with the subcore I could check for abnormalities in the dungeon even without being on the 31st floor. Only, it didn’t function as a backup, and if the main dungeon core was destroyed, then the subcore would break as well.

I hadn’t really decided on what to do with the 3rd surface floor and below, so I offered it for use by the management of the country. With this place as the base, they’ll probably clear the land around the temple and build a town. Only, I don’t really know much about that, so I left it all to somebody else. While I was at it, I pushed all the exchanges with the Merry Pope to Tena. No, I mean, I am sorry to Tena, but once I think about that guy’s vigour, I’m afraid of meeting him directly.

Incidentally, although they’re surface floors, they’re still part of the dungeon. I made it so that monsters wouldn’t spawn, but I couldn’t stop the miasma. Only, unlike the floors underground, it was open here, so I dealt with the problem by blowing it outside.

*imouto*

*imouto*

“Speaking of which, is it really fine for you to stay here, Leonora?”

We’d stopped the conversation so that I could tell Tena to give instructions to the Pope, but I suddenly had that wonder, and so I asked her.

She’s helped me with a lot of things, but thinking about it carefully, isn’t it bad to be receiving “aid from another country”?

“Yeah, no problems. My country is focused on this place as well, you see. They want know what’s going on. In exchange for letting me stay here for a while, I’ll help out.”

“…Thanks.”

When I thanked her, Leonora combed her hands through her beautiful silver hair, as her face turned a little red, and she looked away.

“I-, It isn’t really anything to thank me for. They’re orders from my country, right? I’m something like a spy, you know.”

If you were seriously stealing information, there’d be no need for you to tell me; would pointing this out to her be boorish?

It was obvious that she was worrying about me.

“S-, Speaking of which, have you grasped the effects of becoming an evil god?”

“About half of it.”

In exchange for not needing to eat, excrete, or sleep, I experienced the fact that I apparently needed faith. I don’t know about my lifespan, but since I’m a divine, I’m probably immortal. My mana and skills and stuff all went up across the board.

Also, although I didn’t need to eat or sleep, it didn’t mean that I couldn’t, so I hadn’t changed my lifestyle rhythm. I want to continue living life like a person to maintain my mental stability, after all. By no means is it because I won’t get fat no matter how much I eat or sleep.

I was scared about what would happen if I used my power as an Administrator, so I hadn’t tried it yet.

“Also, I can change my clothes now.”

“Hah?”

Even with curses on the tantou or robe, since I had become a divine myself, I had overcome them. But it wasn’t like the curses themselves had been dispelled, so I guess it would be more correct to say that even cursed, I alone could equip or remove them.

When I told her this, Leonora replied…

“Sorry to say this while you’re happy about it, but you’ve already become recognised as wearing those clothes. If you change too often, it’ll cause trouble.”

“Why?”

“Well, even if you ask why, if God kept changing their clothing, it’d be unnatural, right?”

…Certainly, I’ve never heard of a god who changes their clothing all the time.

Even when it comes to statues or whatever, it’s normal that they wear the same outfit.

Even though I’d finally been able to change… It seems that I’ll forever have nothing to do with fashion.

Is this also the curse of the Evil God?