Whether You Call Me a Guardian Dragon or Not, I’m Going to Sleep

The joyful reunion between mother and daughter was set aside, as it was more important to listen to the story first.

"How on earth can mere mortals create a god? I don't understand!!"

Maybelle still seemed unable to believe that the beastmen were trying to create a god. Well, it's understandable that she would think that way.

"If they're just trying to create a special being, not a god, then I can understand it a little, even if it's hard to believe. But to create a god? That's blasphemy!!"

Creating a god.

Spreading biased information to many people, guiding their thinking, inciting them, and applying a specific direction to the collective consciousness to create a new faith.

Through that, either creating a god that did not originally exist, or changing an existing god by overlaying different information.

Was that what the rat beastmen were trying to do?

No, more importantly, where did they learn about such a method? Except for me and Baal, no one else seems to properly know about that.

"It's understandable that you can't easily believe it. But it's what's actually happening."

Ella continued the story while stroking Maybelle's head.

"After the original beast, who was the original god of the beastmen, became the guardian deity of the pantheon under the name Sirius, a great rift occurred in the beastmen's society."

Hmm?

"The spiritual pillar of the beastmen, the god of the beastmen, had disappeared, which had united the diverse beastmen of different species. As a result, conflicts began to arise among the beastmen, even though they were of the same race."

"There's one error in what you said."

"Huh?"

I interrupted Ella's story, and she looked puzzled.

"Error? What error..."

"In your words, you said that after the original beast became Sirius, the guardian deity, the beastmen split apart. But it's actually the opposite."

I recalled the dilapidated temple where Sirius, the original beast, had resided.

The revival of Arcadia was due to Sirius, the original beast. Arcadia's state religion could be considered the original beast, but as time passed, the number of non-beastmen in Arcadia increased, and the number of those who believed in deities other than the beastmen's tribal god, the original beast, also grew.

That's how the diversification of faith occurred in Arcadia.

As faith became more diverse, the beastmen who originally believed in the original beast also tended to believe in gods that were more beneficial to them, and eventually, their faith split into various directions.

Through this process, it was not that the original beast, now called Sirius, turned his back on the beastmen, but rather, the beastmen turned their back on the original beast, who then received the name Sirius.

Well, it's just a reversal of the chronological order, but still.

"Is that so? But the scholars' research..."

"Isn't it possible that the beastmen were unable to record the fact that they had first abandoned their tribal god, and so they distorted the record?"

Otherwise, it wouldn't make sense.

The image of Sirius, lonely and forlorn in that gloomy temple, is still vivid in my mind.

Humans, it seems, leave records in a way that is advantageous to them.

"But..."

"Let's move on from the issue of the veracity of this. What's important now is not the facts themselves."

At my words, Ella nodded slightly and cleared her throat.

"After the beastmen split apart by tribe, we rat beastmen found ourselves in great danger. Even before, we rat beastmen were quite shunned among the various beastmen, and after the loss of the protection of the original beast, the future of our rat beastmen tribe became bleak."

I see. Indeed, beastmen are a highly diverse species. Even among the same beastmen, they would treat each other like different tribes if the species were different.

"We rat beastmen are not physically superior like other beastmen, and our ability to communicate with animals is limited to only small rodents. We have almost no advantages as a race. It was clear that the future of our tribe was dark."

It seems the tribal discrimination that was suppressed when Sirius bound all the beastmen together had now reared its head.

Discrimination never goes away, does it?

"In the face of this crisis, the rat beastmen strived to find ways to secure the future of their tribe. Some tried to find the value of the rat beastmen through interactions with other tribes, while others like me wanted to reveal our individual strength to show that the rat beastmen are not weak."

Hmm. Now that you mention it, Ella had said she was an adventurer in her youth.

So there was that background as well. It wasn't just that she was driven out by her stepmother.

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"In the midst of searching for ways to help the rat beastmen, one ascetic heard a voice."

"A voice?"

"Yes. They say he was a seeker who was practicing deep underground. He heard the voice while practicing in the deep earth."

A voice... a voice, huh.

"The voice was telling him to create a new gods. If the absence of a gods was the problem, then creating a gods could solve it. It said that if they created a gods specifically for the rat beastmen, the standing of the rat beastmen could rise immensely."

That voice sounds suspicious.

Moreover, a voice coming from underground...

Is it that guy again?

"The voice knew many things that even the elderly rat beastmen scholars did not know. The method of creating gods was also taught by that voice."

"So? Did they follow the instructions of that voice?"

"Yes. The rat beastmen had no choice. And so, to create this god, the rat beastmen prepared many things."

Ella continued stroking Maybelle's head, and Maybelle seemed to fall into a comfortable sleep at her mother's touch.

"Just like when she was little, stroking her head makes her fall asleep. I'm glad I don't have to tell her the story that I can't share with her."

Ella continued speaking while continuing to stroke Maybelle's sleeping head.

"Afterwards, the rat beastmen did everything they could to desperately save money and prepare the materials needed for the ritual to create the god. The most important of these prepared materials was... the sacrifice that would become the body of the new god."

Body? Sacrifice? Those aren't necessary to create a god using the methods I know.

What is this? Are they creating a god in a different way than I'm familiar with?

"They paired off the selected individuals, and creating the exceptional child... the sacrifice that would become the body of the new god was also part of that plan."

"The selected individuals?"

"Yes."

Ella stroked Maybelle's head again, and Maybelle slightly moved as if the touch tickled her.

Ella gave a small smile to Maybelle.

"This child was also the most promising candidate to become the body of the god in that ritual. But that would mean sacrificing this child to create a new god. I could not allow such a thing, so I entrusted this child to a safe place."

"That's... isn't that betraying your tribe?"

Ella nodded slightly.

"Yes, it is betraying my tribe. But I wanted to protect this child. From the moment this child was born and wrapped my hand with her tiny fingers, my life became a life for this child. Even if the tribe prospers, if this child is sacrificed, all of that would be meaningless."

Indeed. It seems a mother's love for her child has become greater than her love for the tribe.

Maternal love is truly remarkable.

"Of course, all of these plans were kept strictly secret even from me, the party involved. I didn't know anything either, so if my husband hadn't found out, this child would have been taken."

"Husband?"

"Dad?"

Maybelle, who had been sleeping, suddenly woke up as Ella's story about her husband caught her attention. It seemed the talk of a father she didn't know had piqued her great interest.

"Your father... he was truly a brilliant man. He was the smartest among the young rat beastmen, you know? If it wasn't for this foolish ritual, he might have become a leader of the rat beastmen."

"But, my dad is now..."

Ella shook her head slightly at Maybelle's words.

"To help me and you escape... he's gone."

As Ella spoke, Maybelle's tail also drooped, as if she had become gloomy as well.

How sad.

"But it seems the place he mentioned was truly a safe one. I'm glad our daughter has grown up safely there."

"A safe place? You mean the rural village where I was?"

"Yes. Your father... he said you had to go there to be protected. I didn't know that his old adventurer comrade was a priest in that village, but thanks to that, I was able to entrust you to him with confidence."

Hmm. It seems Maybelle's father had foreseen the future and made such preparations.

It's as if he even knew that I would be sleeping there.