Chapter 196: The Mercy of God (1)

The Liquor of Anecdotes.

A technique that melts humans to create giants.

In the idea of merging multiple individuals into a single one, there was no space for the dignity of life.

Living beings reproduce and expand their descendants.

But the technique of Heaven went in the opposite direction to that natural structure.

Through the life record, the life expectancy of the faithful was controlled, and when the population increased, they were integrated as giants to keep the number stable.

If that was the will of Ra, then the Liquor of Anecdotes was the central system that sustained Heaven.

Shirone and the others gathered around the table to discuss.

After witnessing the cruel thinking of Heaven, the tension was more intense than ever.

The first thing was to decide what to do about Peophe.

If she reported them to her superiors, Kanya’s house would not be safe either.

“We have to leave now. Peophe will bring more reinforcements.”

Kanis supported moving.

Peophe was not particularly strong, but she was only one year old.

They did not know what abilities other fairies might have, so it was better to avoid combat.

“There is no need to worry so much. Shirone is a Nephilim. According to the law, Nephilim are not subject to it. A fairy cannot harm him.”

Kanya, as a believer, firmly believed in the law.

But no one answered.

Since they arrived, they understood that a Nephilim was not omnipotent.

He was free from the law of Heaven, yes, but precisely because of that, interfering with it provoked more violent reactions.

“Shirone, you decide. We will follow your will.”

Amy gave him the choice.

From Heaven’s perspective, heretics were an impurity.

If they wanted to try something, they could only use Shirone as the main figure.

“It will be better to spend the night here. I do not think Peophe will betray us. She has no reason to. Besides, we have the metagate. If the worst happens, we escape.”

Shirone trusted Peophe.

She was eccentric, but she reduced Kanya and Lena’s sentence to one year.

She did not seem like someone who, having enough intelligence for self-criticism, would let emotions worsen the situation.

What truly worried him was Kanya.

Tomorrow, her mother would receive the Liquor of Anecdotes.

For a human being who had lived obsessed with individuality, merging with others was terrifying.

“Now I understand why you did not want to talk about the Liquor of Anecdotes. But Kanya, do you really accept it like that? What I saw…”

“I know. It is unfair. I know it too.”

Kanya admitted it easily.

For someone who until recently had called it a sacred technique, it was a strong statement.

But Shirone did not find it strange.

Faith and emotions are not the same.

“I am not stupid. If I said I never doubted, I would be lying. But what does that change? If you do not believe in God, you die. If you believe, you obtain eternal life. There is no choice.”

For the first time, Kanya pronounced the word death.

She knew that death existed even in Heaven.

“If you are going to stay, I will prepare a place for you to rest. Come.”

When she pressed a button on the panel, a side section of the building opened and another structure flew over and connected with the house.

Shirone and the others looked at it in surprise.

Kanya explained that most families possessed several units.

“Hehe. The meca like to receive guests.”

Her smile hurt Shirone.

***

That night, Kanya and Lena shared a bed.

Their hearts were beating so strongly that they could not sleep.

They did not cry.

Each waited for the other to start first.

After turning around for a while, Lena turned over.

“Sister… tomorrow Mom will no longer be here?”

Kanya looked sadly at her younger sister, who would lose her mother at such a young age.

She gently stroked her hair.

Then Lena said something unexpected.

“If it is Shirone… I can give him to you.”

Kanya slightly frowned.

There was surprise on her face, but also something touched by truth.

“What are you saying? Shirone is a Nephilim. How could I share my life with someone like that?”

“But you would never go out with a heretic. And someone like Shirone you will never find again. This is your opportunity. You have to take advantage of it.”

Kanya held back her tears.

She understood her sister’s heart perfectly.

Tomorrow their mother would no longer be at home.

Lena wanted to fill that emptiness with a new family.

“Hehe… but you also like him, right? If Shirone were my husband, you would not be able to stand it. You would be jealous of me every day.”

“No! I am serious! If it is you, I can give him up!”

Kanya smiled.

Both knew that nothing would happen with Shirone.

It was just a nighttime conversation between girls.

Lena curled up like a cat in the rain.

Kanya hugged her and kissed her forehead.

“Do not worry, Lena. For me, you are the only one.”

Lena’s eyes slowly closed.

Thus passed her final night.

***

Shirone and the others were resting in the room that Kanya had prepared for them.

Too many things had happened in a single day.

Not even among friends did conversation flow.

Each one was lost in their own thoughts.

Tess pretended to cry and said,

“What if we go back now? Too much has happened in just one day. Honestly, this is exhausting.”

Everyone was thinking something similar.

How many battles had they faced in barely twelve hours?

And each enemy was absurdly powerful compared to the original world.

It was not only the fatigue.

The secrets of Heaven seemed endless.

The overload of information made them dizzy.

Kanis spoke.

“We cannot. We have come this far. Arin and I must go to the Seventh Heaven, Arabot.”

If they had only wanted to visit Shamayin as tourists, they would not even have tried to come.

Once in Heaven, they could not recover the metagate.

The price of the ticket had been, literally, an ancient artifact.

Amy hugged her pillow and turned around.

“But Arabot is where God lives, right? It must be the hardest place to enter even in Heaven. How are we supposed to get there?”

“I will take care of it, so do not worry. If you are afraid to go, stay here waiting.”

“Oh, really? Now you openly despise us? What if we just go back first?”

“That would be even worse. If we activate the metagate here, the memory resets. It is single-use. If we stay, there would be no way to return.”

Amy hit the floor with the pillow and sat up abruptly.

“Huh? Does it really work like that? Then if we want to return, we have to take you with us, right?”

“Of course. You had not understood that until now, pumpkin?”

“Pumpkin? Have you ever seen a pumpkin as beautiful as me?”

“Yes. I think the one attached to your neck is one.”

Amy ground her teeth.

She did not know whether it was a compliment or an insult, but Kanis had silenced her.

Shirone hugged a pillow and sat down.

“I also do not intend to go back yet. But Kanis, we must use the metagate at the right moment. If we have other things in our heads besides surviving, we will hesitate at the decisive instant.”

“Bah, I already know that. Leave it to Arin. If the situation really becomes dangerous, we leave without caring about anything.”

“But there is something that worries me…”

Tess lay on her side, resting her head on her hand.

The curve of her body, from head to toe, was overwhelming.

‘She is an adult…’

‘Tess is an adult.’

The gazes of the younger ones focused on her, but Tess, accustomed to it, paid no attention.

“Here, how do they control life expectancy? Does a god who can manipulate it at will really exist?”

Everyone became thoughtful.

“I think it is magic. When we fought against Sister Marsha I felt something similar. It seems that for magic nothing is impossible.”

Without a doubt, Clay Marsha’s ability surpassed imagination.

But Amy, who had fought alongside her, shook her head.

“Hmm irregularities outside the norm. Reducing life might be possible depending on the price and conditions. But eternal life? No magic can extend life. That exceeds the human limit.”

“Oh really? I feel like there must be some method… hmm.”

Arin spoke then.

“Why does everyone see it so critically? Maybe Ra really is a god. He might not have created the world, but at least he could be a being close to divinity.”

“That is also strange. If he were truly a god, why would he need names to manipulate life expectancy?”

As Amy said, the name is only a designation created by humans.

Thinking that an entity dependent on human language is divine made no sense.

Shirone intervened.

“Besides, does the Liquor of Anecdotes not seem evil to you? Whatever the reason, it treats human life as an object. Maybe Ra is only adjusting life expectancy to administer Heaven. The very idea that a god administers the world sounds absurd.”

His friends noticed Shirone’s negative tone toward Heaven.

Good and evil are human concepts, changing according to the environment.

Making a value judgment required extreme caution.

Tess said,

“But we cannot do anything. It is the life they chose, their culture. And religion is an idea with an absolute position within a culture.”

“It is not religion. We ourselves said that Ra is not a god.”

“That does not matter. Even if he is not a god and is a dictator, it does not matter. Ra controls life expectancy. What is more important than that in a religion?”

Shirone seemed to want to respond, but finally remained silent.

Amy, watching him, understood that he was still searching for a way to save Kanya’s mother.

She liked that part of him.

But now they had to be cold.

“What do you plan to do, Shirone? Tomorrow the Liquor of Anecdotes will take place. As Tess said, it is the decision of the faithful. We cannot intervene just because, according to our standards, it seems unfair.”

“But Miro said she denied the law.”

“Shirone, that is…”

“I know. I am not trying to justify myself with her words. It is just that I am starting to feel something similar. I think now I can understand her a little.”

He remembered what he heard in Nor’s Refuge about Miro.

Even though she denied the law, the old man’s mother said she did not hate her.

If the faithful were nothing more than beings who obey Ra, how should that be interpreted?

What did Miro see and feel in Heaven?

The only certain thing was that tomorrow Shirone would also have to choose.

Perhaps Miro was not wrong.

***

First Heaven, Shamayin.

Department of Administration of the Faithful, Branch 73 of the Fairy Realm.

The department where Peophe worked was located on the outskirts of Shamayin, near Purgatory.

In the gigantic tree called the World Tree, hundreds of houses rose, and among them small fairies flew like larks.

Peophe went deep into the World Tree.

The residence of the department chief was much smaller than a human house, but for that same reason it appeared delicate and luxurious.

When she entered, the chief, Igirin, was sitting with her wings folded.

She wore dark makeup around her eyes, and on her cheeks a design of golden vines shone.

She was a fairy born from authority.

But beyond that, by age she was an adult unreachable for Peophe.

And her beauty made even other fairies admire her.