A mage? A spell engineer!

Chapter 11 Legends of Gods and Creators

There are many gods in the world, and therefore many myths. In the last records, most of the gods have fallen or fallen into slumber, leaving only scattered gods who rarely appear in the world today.

Only priests who practice their divine arts, also called gracious ones, can prove that God's gaze has not left this world. The most gracious called ones occasionally receive divine commands, but this is extremely rare.

Therefore, the priests call this era the "Silent Age".

Different lands and different civilizations have their own mythologies. According to later research, many gods have similar or different names in different civilizations, and some even have two faces.

For example, the god of change and travel is the human god Chulimo before the human altar, and the elven god Thoth before the elven altar. There are also rumors that the unseen god of the Semitic race, the great enemy of the Supreme God, is actually an alias of the Supreme God of Radiance and Order himself, operating in the Sand Kingdom.

People in different regions can draw different star maps under the same sky, but there is only one sun. Similarly, most myths point to a single and definite creator god. Scholars have confirmed that most cultures refer to their creator god as a variant of the ancient Ayurvedic word "Lord of Origin," and depict him as a naked male holding primordial water in one hand and pure salt in the other.

Only a very few tribes believe that the creator goddess is female, calling her the mother of the world. A small number of myths depict the creator goddess as a whole, constantly flowing and separating into all things and gods in the world; as a whole, she must possess both feminine and masculine qualities.

The underground religious group the caravan unexpectedly encountered was called "The Return of the Virgin Mary" by the thief. They claimed to be the mother of the world of faith, proclaiming that she was asleep and would unleash her wrath upon returning to earth, and that only children who returned to the mother's embrace would be forgiven. The thief couldn't explain the specific details, suggesting he hadn't been paying attention during the sermon.

Although he didn't understand why Mother World was grumpy in the morning, preaching the end of the world was a common brainwashing tactic used by cults, and Rorschach was too lazy to investigate further.

As dawn broke, the caravan had barely begun to lighten, and apart from the occasional encounter with the old ox, they hadn't seen anyone else. Mr. Aller finally ordered the caravan to stop and rest for a while.

"According to the thief's description, there are religious activities in Limburg and the surrounding towns, with Limburg possibly being the headquarters." Mr. Aller spread out a map and drew a boundary. "We'll have to camp out early, and my advice is not to stay in any of these towns."

Although it only involved one cult stronghold, this world has magic and divine arts. Regardless of whether the so-called "Holy Mother" is genuine or not, there is no guarantee that other cult strongholds have not received the news.

"Are you kidding me? This cult is operating right under the emperor's nose?" The convoy had only been away from the capital for a few days, which made Singhlev somewhat incredulous.

"What if the cult's goal is to expand into the capital?" Rorschach asked, looking at the map.

"That's ambitious!" Singhlev actually gave him a thumbs up; this guy was a bit off-track.

Mr. Aller put away the map and said, "Whatever the plans of this underground cult, we are just a caravan. Our mission is to avoid trouble and get to Valuwana. I will report the situation here to the merchant guild."

He looked at Hill and then at Rorschach: "Thank you for your help this evening, Your Excellency and Miss Hill. We will need your help again in the future, Your Excellency Rorschach. Our caravan will try to travel along the river, but we will need your water-making magic when we need to avoid towns."

"It's nothing, it's my duty."

"You haven't rested since last night, have you? Please make yourself at home in the carriage."

Rorschach's horse was put into the carriage, and Mr. Aller let Hag rest, taking over the driving himself. As Rorschach got into the carriage, a hairy head popped out—it was Singrev. He pulled out a silver flask and handed it to Rorschach.

"Human wine is tasteless and weak, but dwarf wine is fragrant and potent! One sip and you'll fall asleep."

"Thanks, Singh, but I can't drink strong liquor." Rorschach declined the liquor, but the relief on the silver pot caught his eye. He took it and examined it closely; the exquisite design depicted a strong dwarf and a human warrior clinking glasses.

"This is our first king and your great hero."

Rorschach recalled the mythological epic his predecessor had studied: "The founder of the old empire, the demigod Odoff, carried a large quantity of fine cloth, ceramics, paper and blood-colored fruit wine from the south of the continent, and traveled across the continent to visit the dwarf king in the north. The two kings forged a deep friendship."

When Odov returned to the old empire's capital, he brought back a laden bag of dwarven wine and invaluable metallurgical techniques. With these improved techniques, the old empire defeated its enemies on all sides with sharp swords and forged armor. Odov became a wise and heroic king, spreading knowledge and bringing victory.

Rorschach opened the flask, and a pleasant aroma wafted out. His sense of smell, honed from his engineering background before his transmigration, kicked in, and Rorschach detected a complex and rich ester aroma in addition to the alcohol.

The dwarfs of the northern mountains mostly use tuberous foods to brew distilled spirits, which are rich in esters and have a strong aroma. They don't remove much of the heads, and it's very likely that the dwarfs, who are resistant to poison, are so attracted to the aroma and strength of the spirit that they don't remove it. This spirit is good, and it's good because it has an abundance of fusel alcohols!

Rorschach then recounted the ending of the epic of the Hero King: "The god of wisdom and civilization, jealous of Odoff's achievements in spreading knowledge and the people of the old empire's praise for the wise king, sent his white raven to steal the Hero King's eyes, leaving him to spend the rest of his life in darkness. In the end, the Hero King's sons fought each other for the throne, and the blind old man was powerless to stop it."

The god of wisdom and civilization is one of the deities who has clearly fallen from grace. A common explanation is that his jealousy angered the god of order, the protector of the old empire.

Rorschach sighed, thinking of Odof's return laden with the dwarves' fine wine, and handed the wine jug back to the dwarves: "The god of wisdom has taken the blame for your dwarf king!" That unlucky god could be described as a legendary scapegoat.

"ha?"

"Hey, have you guys forgotten about this guy?"

Another head popped out of the carriage, wearing a hood.

"Oh, that thief!"

Poor Saji had already fainted. His clothes were soaked with sweat and blood, and his face was pale. His thigh wound was wrapped with a piece of cloth torn from his own clothes. He was curled up in the corner of carriage number 3, barely breathing.

"He's no longer of any use, what's the point of keeping him? If I don't use his dirty hands, he won't have a chance to tip me off if I throw him on the street." Singh planned to throw Saji away.

"He was just being pressured into doing dirty work for the hotel owner; he's not going to lose his life," Hill objected.

"We're adventurers! We're doing a job where we could lose our lives at any moment, why should we care about others?"

Rorschach proposed a compromise: "We can leave him with the farmers when we come across them. Whether he gets rescued or not depends on whether his mother is willing to bless him."

"What if we run into that old lady cult and they betray us?"

Rorschach slapped Saji's face hard to wake him up and fed him some diluted salt water. Seeing that he was somewhat awake, Rorschach asked, "Can you read and write?"

Saji shook his head.

The first thing the farmer did upon waking was to urinate in the outhouse. After feeling refreshed, he picked up his breakfast basket and hoe and prepared to leave, but almost tripped over something at the edge of the fence.

"Jenny! Jenny! Old woman! There's someone lying at the door!"

"What? God! Poor child! There's blood in your mouth and on your legs!"

"His tongue was twisted, and his hands were bound. Jenny, he must be an escaped slave."

"Slaves? There are still masters who keep slaves these days! Old man, no matter what, we can't let this child die here."

(End of this chapter)