CH 43

< 43 : Prelude (1) >

A lot of time had passed since I picked Estasia.

During that time, Cuebaerg faithfully earned me karma, and the number of believers who followed Estasia also increased greatly.

Of course, I also needed someone to lead those believers, so I asked Eutenia to appoint a new bishop.

The cult that started with just a few people was now expanding into a large scale.

I finally realized that the game was on track with the drastically changed speed of karma acquisition.

“This is a real idle game.”

I get a huge amount of karma every day without doing anything.

The amount of karma required increased as the level went up, but it was still an amazing speed.

At this pace, I might reach the next level soon.

Maybe I could even create the next apostle in no time.

I bit into the chicken burger in my hand with satisfaction as I looked at the messages that filled the screen.

“This is real food.”

Chicken and burger.

It was a rare combination that was good enough.

They were both delicious on their own, but they were also great together.

As I ate the chicken burger that I bought on my way home and looked at my smartphone, I heard an advertisement on TV.

-“3-stage combined super dinosaur robot! Crush the evil enemies with your powerful strength!”

I reflexively looked at the TV screen when I heard the narration in my ear.

As soon as I got home, I turned on the TV and saw a children’s toy advertisement.

It was a product that combined three dinosaurs into a giant robot.

It looked quite impressive when it showed the combined form.

I always wanted those kinds of toys when I was young.

While I was looking at the dinosaurs behind the robot, a huge dragon figure flashed through my mind.

“Ah. I need to draw a dragon.”

I still had the dragon creature that I failed to draw last time in my mind.

For me, dragons were something like a dream.

I didn’t care if they could combine into a super robot like the one on TV, I just wished I could have one dragon.

I felt a pang of regret for the dragon, and the <Creature Maker> skill under my smartphone caught my eye.

“Should I try making one more?”

The magic that was sealed by the penalty of <Creature Maker> had already returned.

It was possible to use the <Creature Maker> skill again.

I looked back and forth between the skill icon on my smartphone and the three-stage combined super dinosaur robot.

And after some deliberation, I decided to use the skill.

“Please, let it be a dragon.”

There was no reason to hesitate once I made up my mind.

Tap.

I moved my finger and touched the <Creature Maker> skill icon.

As I tapped the icon to activate the skill, the creature creation option appeared on the smartphone screen.

-You used <Creature Maker>.

-Please specify the amount of mana you want to consume.

The first thing that came up was the same as before, a screen to set the mana amount.

I didn’t know how mana affected the creature, but I guessed that more was better.

I adjusted the slider bar to 85%, which was the amount of mana I wanted to use.

It was not all of my mana, but enough to have some fun.

After setting the mana, the next thing that popped up was a window to set the aggressiveness.

-Please specify the aggressiveness of the creature.

The aggressiveness value I set when I created Cuebaerg was 10.

And Cuebaerg was currently destroying everything in sight as he moved.

For Estasia, I set the aggressiveness to 1.

As a result, Estasia did not attack anyone at all.

Looking at these two examples, I thought that too much or too little aggressiveness would result in a weird creature.

“I’ll set the aggressiveness to 4, just right.”

That’s why I set the new creature’s aggressiveness to 4.

Of course, this also applied to the appearance setting that appeared next.

Estasia and Cuebaerg’s appearances were very different.

I had to find a compromise between them.

-Please specify the appearance of the creature.

-The closer to 1, the more ferocious it will look.

-The closer to 10, the more gentle it will look.

Based on my previous experience, I also set the creature’s appearance to 4.

I hoped that this would produce a decent creature with a moderate appearance.

-Please specify the size of the creature.

-The closer to 10, the bigger it will be.

The next item to set was the size.

Cuebaerg was too huge.

And Estasia was about the same size as a human.

Considering these two extremes, I thought it was reasonable to regard human size as 1.

How big should the creature be to get what I wanted?

As I pondered while looking at the setting window, I decided to set the creature’s size to 5.

“Please come out as a normal one.”

All that was left was to see what kind of creature would pop out.

After finishing all the settings, I touched the confirm button and used the <Creature Maker> skill.

Squish.

As I moved my finger to designate the target location, the smartphone screen was wrapped in light and a message appeared in an instant.

-You created [Shadow Beast: Alpha].

-Due to the penalty of <Creature Maker>, you cannot recover the mana you consumed for 24 hours.

-[Shadow Beast: Alpha] reveres you.

-<Karma’s Judgment> converts [Shadow Beast: Alpha]’s actions into your causality rate.

The creature that I made by paying 85% of my mana as a cost revealed its appearance.

The name of the new creature was [Shadow Beast: Alpha].

And the appearance of the new creature that revealed itself was that of a dragon, which I had longed for so much.

Black scales. 

Golden eyes slit vertically.

Horns on the head and wings on the back.

It was a dragon itself, in almost every aspect, that I had idealized.

“Is this a dragon——.”

Except for the fact that it was a baby dragon that looked smaller than Estasia.

My voice stopped as I checked the size of the dragon.

The size of the newly appeared dragon was strange.

I blinked and looked at the screen again.

“——but why is it so small?”

I couldn’t help but wonder at the sight of Alpha, who appeared on the construction site.

I was sure I had set the creature’s size to 5, but Alpha’s size didn’t even look like 0.5.

It was very small for a creature.

There was no trace of the dignity of a dragon.

***

Gilford Proud.

He was the leader of the Gilford Mercenary Corps and the chosen hero of abundance. He was moving to the western region of the empire with his comrades.

The mark of abundance that appeared on Gilford’s arm had been hidden by a gauntlet for a long time.

He didn’t want to be bothered by the temple officials who would notice his mark.

The new artifact that Gilford obtained, Ascalon, also did not emit light unless he used it.

Therefore, there was no difference from before except that Gilford had two swords now.

“Leader. Are we really okay with this?”

As Gilford led the mercenary corps to move, Jenny, the only mage in the mercenary corps, asked him.

There was only one thing that Jenny could worry about at this point.

It was about the mark on Gilford’s arm and the temple of abundance.

Gilford had said before that he wouldn’t go to the temple, but she still seemed worried about their movements.

Gilford patted Jenny’s shoulder and said to her.

“Don’t worry. It will be more helpful for the world if we become stronger.”

“Leader always says to relax, but…”

“And I don’t like being affiliated with complicated places like temples. If I did, I wouldn’t have recruited mercenaries like this.”

“…”

“Isn’t that the same for you guys?”

When Gilford asked the mercenaries around him, they all nodded in agreement.

Among them, the most enthusiastic response came from Gaff, the deputy leader of the mercenary corps.

Gaff spoke loudly enough to echo around him.

His voice was so loud that Gilford and Jenny’s ears hurt from listening to him.

“Of course! Who among mercenaries likes complicated things?”

“Yeah, yeah. It’s better to just use our bodies a bit and earn more money.”

“Besides, most of the mercenaries here can’t even read! What difference does it make if you’re a leader or not?”

“…I can read.”

“And if there’s a problem with the leader, we’ll step in too! Of course, only if you pay us!”

“Our mage is such a smart person, I’m worried he might not be human.”

The mercenaries’ rough laughter echoed around them.

Jenny’s face turned red as she saw the mercenaries laughing at her.

She clutched her staff tightly and trembled.

Thump. Thump.

Gilford’s hand tapped Jenny’s shoulder again.

“Besides, we have such a capable mage on our team, don’t we?”

“Leader…”

“It’s rare for a mercenary band to have a mage with them. Especially such a talented one.”

“Even if you praise me like that… I don’t think you have anything else to offer me…”

“So don’t worry and stay with us until the end. I don’t want to part with good comrades like you.”

Gilford said calmly and withdrew his hand.

As he expressed his will, he continued to walk forward.

At that moment, Ascalon, the sword he carried on his waist, began to emit a bright light.

All the mercenaries’ eyes turned to Gilford as they saw the glowing Ascalon.

Gilford spoke to Ascalon, which was surrounded by a brilliant aura.

“Ascalon?”

-“I don’t want to ruin the good mood, but it seems like we have some trouble ahead.”

“Trouble? What are you talking about?”

-“A little away from here, a minion of the evil god has revealed itself.”

A minion of the evil god.

Gilford’s face hardened at Ascalon’s words.

He had already heard about the appearance of the evil god from Ascalon.

But he didn’t expect to hear about its minion so soon.

“What kind of minion is it?”

-“A cherubim from heaven has fallen to the earth. It looks like a fallen angel.”

“A fallen angel…”

-“The cherubim that appeared on the earth seems to be affecting the heavenly order in some way. If we don’t take action soon, things will get out of hand.”

A fallen angel from heaven.

A minion of the evil god would surely lure people with its wicked schemes.

The image of a fallen angel with black wings flashed through Gilford’s mind.

The evil fallen angel would surely have a powerful force given by the evil god.

As he pictured the fallen angel in his head, Gilford grabbed Ascalon on his waist.

“Do I have to deal with it?”

-“Since it’s related to the cult of the evil god, it would be better for you, the hero, to step in.”

He had said he wouldn’t go to the temple, but he didn’t mean to ignore the evil god’s forces completely.

If he could solve it, he was willing to do so.

If there were people suffering because of the fallen angel, he couldn’t just stand by and watch.

After hearing the story, Gilford decided to face the fallen angel himself.

Hoo.

He let out a deep breath and asked Ascalon.

“How far is it?”

-“It should take about half a month to get there.”

“Half a month. That’s not too far.”

-“What are you going to do?”

“Well, that’s obvious.”

Gilford looked around at his comrades.

Gaff and Jenny. 

And the reliable mercenaries.

They would all fight with Gilford.

Swoosh.

He drew out Ascalon and shouted to them.

“We’re going to hunt down the fallen angel. Anyone who’s afraid can leave right now.”