I remembered and looked at the first page of the book I was about to put away and it does say something about a god of beauty. I skipped over it, thinking it was just a legend. I don’t understand.
At least from what I remember, this world is monotheistic. I don’t know how much I can rely on this memory, but it’s the same in the game, every temple has the same symbol of monotheism. So I wonder if we need to rethink the question of why monotheism in the first place.
Based on the knowledge of the past life, polytheism starts from the belief in nature. They compare their awe and longing for nature to gods, things beyond human control. Since there is day and there is night, it is rather natural to imagine a day god and a night god.
Monotheism, on the other hand, usually has a founder. It is said that polytheism is born from nature and monotheism is born from the founder.
In this case, the concept of God must exist first, so the basic pattern in the history of civilization is that the concept of polytheistic God emerged from the belief in nature, and from there monotheism arose.
But that doesn’t mean it’s the same in this world. There are miracles of God or magic in this world, so it wouldn’t be strange if God comes down directly and gives power to people. We just have to let it go as fantasy.
I thought that it was because of such a world that monotheism had suddenly emerged, skipping polytheism, and I did not feel any doubts about it.
And yet they still had polytheistic beliefs. What does this mean? I looked at the shelves and noticed something. If this shelf was a shelf that held books related to the country of Zermunbek, then the answers to these questions might also be on this shelf somewhere.
Zerumbek, of which there is no record of magic, and the myths in the books on the same shelf, which show the existence of polytheism. I wonder if there was a similar situation in this world as the Greek and Roman polytheism was destroyed by Christianity in the previous world. In the previous world, one of the main reasons was that it was convenient for those in power to rule, but what if in this world it was because the gods taught them magic?
Um… Mr. Werner?
Oh, I’m sorry.
I’m sorry if I’m making you nervous by being quiet. I think I need to tell you this anyway.
“Lily, you can read the book, but don’t talk about it out there.”
Uh, yes.
I’m counting on you.
“Yes.”
You’ve assured me, so now I have to trust you. The existence of the library itself is a secret from most people, but the idea of polytheism in a monotheistic world has an air of danger about it as well. I didn’t think there was such a thing as the Inquisition in this world, but I’m not sure I can say for certain that there isn’t.
The trial by combat itself hadn’t been held for about 20 years… there’s a good chance that I wouldn’t have known about the Inquisition if it hadn’t been held for that long. I’ll look into it next time.
Let’s put aside our concerns about the Inquisition for the moment. For now, let’s see if we can connect this Zelmbeck stuff with the polytheism. It’s also possible that they’re just different pieces of information that happen to be on this shelf. Unorganized stacks are a real pain in the ass.
“I guess I’ll have to focus on this bookshelf for a while.”
“Well, Mr. Werner… Then perhaps you’d like to take some of my books with you and sit down to read them.
“Yeah. Let’s take a break while we’re at it.”
“Yes.”
I moved to the place where the desk and chair were placed for a break. I’ve brought a book that seems to be a sequel, but I ended up coming back with the book I brought earlier. I wish I could take them home with me.
It’s not like I can eat my lunch box on the bookshelf in the basement, but after half a day of not eating anything, I’m starting to worry about calories and other things. Since there’s no concept of calories in this world yet, I’ve prepared something light to snack on, reasoning that I’ll lose concentration if I don’t have a change of pace. The book is precious, so I’ll let you get away with this bad thing, while being careful not to get it dirty.
So I’m having a little chit-chat with Lily over some baked nuts as a snack. The tree that produces these berries, called Horoual, is a shrub that grows in many villages and is only about three meters tall in my previous life. The taste of the fruit is hard to describe, like a combination of chestnuts and cashew nuts. The slight astringency of the berries makes them addictive.
Because of the high storability of the nuts and the low height of the tree itself, children often collect the nuts as a snack. Even if their parents tell them to collect them, they hide them in their room and eat them secretly. It seems that Mazel and Lily used to collect them in the village of Arlea too.
“When I was a kid, we used to race to see who could collect the most.”
“A surprising side.”
I can’t help imagining Mazel and Lily as kids climbing a tree. It occurred to me that Mazel might have lost on purpose… and he nodded with a wry smile. It’s very like Mazel to let her sister win.
By the way, Mazel’s parents used to serve grilled fruits sprinkled with salt as a snack. I’d rather drink sake than wine if I imagine that.
“What was your childhood like, Werner-sama?”
Me? Yeah, you’re right.
Basically, they have tutoring classes in the morning, and the afternoons are for exercise and training, but there is some time for fun.
We usually had bows and arrows without metal arrowheads and swings, but I remember we used to watch knights race horses, practice musical instruments, and play Valeo and its variants, like the chess games of this world.
“Transform Games?”
“Valeo has a specific move for each piece…”
It is the same as Shogi and Chess, and you can’t use the pieces you have taken. It occurred to me that a game like Shogi, where you can use the pieces you have taken, would be quite popular in this world. I’ll think about it next time.
That’s just it.
“There’s also a way to move pieces using eight-sided dice.”
There is no change in the initial position of the pieces, but the pieces that can be moved are decided at random. In this rule, there is no checkmate, and the winner is the player who takes the king directly. The number of pieces is different from that of the previous chess game, so you need an eight-sided dice.
The dice are rolled at each move, and the number of the dice determines which piece can be moved. 1 is a pawn, 2 is a knight, 3 is a lady knight, 4 is a magician magician, 5 is a priest bishop, 6 is a queen queen, and 7 is a king king king. 5 is a monk bishop, 6 is a queen queen, and 7 is a king king. 8 is a redraw, but if 8 is played twice in a row, the player must make a move pass and the opponent must make a move. I’ll skip the piece movements.
You can’t move a piece unless the dice rolls to the piece you want to move, so you can aim directly at the king with a 2, but only 1 and 3 roll, or some such complication occurs. It’s a very troublesome game in which you have to rely on luck as you chip away at your opponent’s pieces.
“There are other details, though. Want to give it a try?”
“Yes, I’d like to try.”
The rules of the game are hard to explain in words, so the best way is to try. With that in mind, I take a sip of my wine.
The canteen I brought here is made from a wailing deer called the Crydeer, a demon with horns or spines or something sharp growing out of its back as well.
Deer usually squeal, but this one is closer to “roaring” so loud that it makes the emergency bells of a previous life seem almost cute. It’s a sound that will make your attacker duck while he runs or fights back.
The air sacs they use to make their roar are very strong, and the liquid in them doesn’t have a strange taste or smell, so they’re used to make water bottles. Their meat is delicious too, but they’re such demons that they’re hard to hunt and these pouches are just as expensive as their meat. I can only say that I’m an aristocrat in this part of the world.
“Speaking of which, what else did the book say?”
“Well, in the first volume of this series, there’s a creation myth, I guess you’d call it. It’s about how the world came to be.”
“Oh… What’s the story?”
I’m not really interested in the stories of God that are preached in churches, but I am somewhat interested in the stories of polytheism in this supposedly monotheistic world.
And it’s human nature to want to tell someone what you know. And since I told you to keep it to yourself, you can’t tell anyone else, which can be stressful. I’ll be a good listener here.
“First, the greatest of all the gods created many worlds.”
“Mmm-hmm.”
I’m in the middle of a proper study, so I can’t help it. It’s like I’m having a picture book read to me, but I don’t care.
But still… Multiple worlds… I wonder if there’s a concept of a demon world or something, or if there’s a previous world somewhere… I can’t stop thinking about that.
“So the Great God decides to leave each of the many worlds he’s created to his own children. He decided to entrust each world to one of his children.”
God, don’t just make something and throw it away.
“There’s going to be a world of winners and losers.”
“I don’t think so.”
I say it jokingly and Lily starts laughing. The conversation resumes as I’m thinking about how stupid I am to think of the world mess.
“But they’re all different worlds. It didn’t say what the differences were, but I heard that the first God created many different worlds.”
I wonder if he was experimenting with something. And then he throws it all to the kid… he seems so lazy. Maybe he’s just enjoying his slow life. I’m suddenly jealous.
“So many worlds. I guess that’s how this world was made.”
I guess you’re right.
It’s a different world with magic compared to the one before, that’s all I can say. In that sense… it’s a way to get your head around the fact that there’s more than one world. Hmm? Something’s bugging me.
I mean, isn’t there some important information hidden in this? Myths are more likely to be made up when it comes to memories of past lives… but in this world… gods are real. Maybe it’s not just a myth.
“The worlds are completely unrelated to each other, and God, who took charge of this world, made many alter egos of himself and divided his power among them.”
“An alter ego. I’d be scared if they all looked like me.”
“That’s certainly scary.”
Lily’s giggling. It’s a bit unusual, though. I’ve heard of people assigning responsibilities to their children… but I don’t remember hearing much about splitting yourself up and dividing your powers in a previous life. I suppose it’s fair to say.
I don’t know if it’s monotheism or polytheism in this case. It depends on whether you think of the alter ego as a different god or the same god. It’s going to get complicated, so it’s probably best to keep Lily in the dark for now.
“It was supposed to be about how the gods of this world divided their power and that’s how this world began. After that, it’s the story of how each god has interacted with people.”
“I see. That’s interesting.”
But whether it’s true or not is another matter. It’s a fantasy world, so there’s a possibility that the writer made a mistake in writing it down, even if he heard it directly from the god.
But there’s a couple of weird things that stuck with me. I’m stuck on them, but I can’t quite put my finger on what’s stuck. I guess I don’t have enough information. I’ll try to remember for now.
