Brain bloom

"Then I'll wait for you here... and I'll ask for a few more snacks. Oh dear, I used to hate this awful place and always wanted to destroy it, but now that I've taken over, it's all thanks to you, the coffin bearer."

Dandelion gave a bright and cheerful smile, then waved goodbye to Mori.

Soon, the coffin bearers were escorted away by the Pope, who had come to greet them, along with a squad of the most elite guards. They all kept their heads down, trying to steal a glimpse of the dressed-up God, yet fearing that their eyes would be burned by Him.

"Go to the city wall, observe the crowd, then speak, make your request... Finally, take this opportunity to test that long-held concern..."

After mentally reviewing the pre-planned procedures once more, Mori Toki finally banished the last trace of worry from her face. Even her slender frame exuded an imposing and dignified aura.

To deepen this point, she tried to look at the Pope with an untamed gaze.

"From now on, I will not tolerate your rudeness."

"...Uh? You mean?" The withered, sweating pope felt unprecedented pressure.

Sen remained silent, his delicately curved index finger pointing at the ground beneath their feet.

The Pope's eyes remained full of doubt, and Sen Shi hesitated to offer an answer. The closer they got to the city wall, the deeper their doubts grew. The Pope desperately tried to decipher Sen Shi's thoughts, and before they knew it, they were near the wall, where they could even hear the torrential rain pounding on millions of people.

Only then did the Pope realize the truth.

“We will remain below, awaiting your call, until you grant us permission,” he said humbly.

"Ah."

Sen felt relieved because the other party finally understood.

Although she should indeed be a high and mighty god, spouting arrogant words.

But to shamelessly drive them away, and to make it clear that "you are not worthy to stand at the same level as me," she didn't have the courage yet... And would the ghost of that first pope be watching her clumsy and immature state of mind at this moment? Mori pondered, trying to dispel the slight panic in her heart.

She took a deep breath and slowly walked towards the city wall.

That thousand-meter-long, three-meter-wide wall that separates the secular world from the religious holy site will become her stage.

Her figure appeared.

But instead of looking down at the crowd, they were looking up, because the thundercloud worms and a swarm of cumulonimbus worms, which had somehow drifted in from nowhere, were engaged in some kind of terrifying revelry above the sacred ground. Moritoki had been so focused on sewing that he hadn't noticed anything amiss…

The torrential rain pounded the city relentlessly; it was truly terrifying.

Helpless, Mori took on the title of the coffin bearer, making his own divine name shine in the world.

She had no money to squander, so she could only rely on her mental strength to get by.

But as the power of the true god flowed into her body, Mori suddenly realized that some unseen power, yet belonging to her, was acting as fuel for her divinity… This feeling was like the one she received when she tore apart a guardian created from a traveling soul while exploring the depths of the ruins, saving countless lives that had been devoured…

Perhaps this was the power of faith—her intuition whispered.

And beneath the city walls—

As if struck by lightning, everyone straightened up, forgetting their exhaustion. Even the anxiety of waiting so long and the cold from the pounding rain were no longer a problem.

The thundercloud insect noticed that Mori was staring at it, and then it was questioned by a powerful and authoritative aura from above: "Where did you find this cloud to dare to party over the heads of my people?"

Helpless, it hastily ended its unsatisfying cloud-making spree and obediently moved to the top of her head to serve as a backdrop. The rain cloud insects dared not complain and quickly flew away.

What seemed like a crackdown on prostitution to Sen Shi was a different kind of miracle to the more than three million believers:

Behold, the Most High God has revealed himself.

She extinguished her raging anger and dispersed the torrential rain that had swept the world.

Like a southerly wind blowing in, the sky is clear and blue.

The dark world regained its brilliance because of her, like the afterglow of the setting sun.

She bathed in it, standing at the highest point.

Its form appears small due to its height, yet it is as magnificent as a mountain that reaches the dome of the sky.

"The gathered crowd will question your heart. If you believe in me, you need not fear." She spoke, her voice as crisp as a green apple. "Some have erred, but it was due to the corruption of evil gods. God knows, and it was not the errant's intention."

Before her eyes, the cries of the crowd, as fine as sand, never ceased, yet the voice of God remained clear and pure.

She forgave and understood the suffering of ordinary people in a way that ordinary people could comprehend.

“But I will still bring down punishment, otherwise there will be no justice in the world. I will establish an ironclad rule, and if you follow it, there will be no more sins. If you cannot follow it, or even despise it, then the darkness of the night will devour your soul.”

The calamity-bringing thunderclouds, now tamed by her, flickered and roared.

The word of God, and that intriguing ironclad rule, extinguished the thunder—

"From this day forward, I require you to obey: remember, you are forbidden to eat strawberries again!!"

……

Afterwards, Mori felt utterly ashamed. How could she have been so foolish as to say such nonsense in front of over three million people? But it was too late; she had truly deprived people of their right to eat strawberries.

Many people are trying to understand the meaning of this ironclad rule. Perhaps it means that she deprived humanity of one of its pleasures so that humanity would reflect on itself. Or perhaps it's something else entirely; strawberries are one of the sacred objects of the divine garden, and the coffin bearers can no longer tolerate the desecration of mortals.

It wasn't until a piece of news gradually spread that people realized these reasons were all nonsense. It was simply because the person who carried the coffin was a being with strawberries growing on his head year-round, and strawberries, a popular fruit, had always been consumed...

"Can't you add one more rule?" Dandelion asked Sen at the banquet, "...to prohibit people from picking dandelions indiscriminately, and to blow on them as soon as they're picked up..."

“Blowing it doesn’t help spread the seeds… um…” Mori shrank his neck, subconsciously thinking that his princess was implying something.

"Some dandelions were killed by humans before they were even mature."

"Well... we'll just have to wait until next time. It wouldn't be right to have another strange law added out of nowhere."

Dandelion shrugged and dropped the matter. Besides, after the restoration of the Kingdom of Flowers, a winged cloud would bring down many of the Dark Ones, forcing them to reshape their bodies and reincarnate their souls. It was impossible to expect all beings of the four seasons to be respected.

Mori's speech to the believers, except for the strange ending, was a great success. The crowd was appeased; they could go home and have a night of wild excitement, and order would be restored the next day. It was just a one-day hiatus; the capital could handle it.

Those who unfortunately fell ill from the rain were also healed by the choir and herbs of the Holy Coffin Kingdom under her personal arrangement. In a magical, idealistic world, these were not problems, so Mori was able to eat her dinner at her leisure.

Besides this—taking this opportunity, Mori Toki also figured out something that had troubled her for a long time, something related to the power of faith.

Volume 1, Chapter 378: The New Knights

She is the true God, that is undeniable.

Although Mori Toki still doesn't understand whether her soul, born in the universe created by the Primordial God, is the interest generated by the Eden Bank, she does indeed possess the divine title of "Coffin Sender".

Gods are constructed from faith. Previously, to maintain her divinity, she consumed things like gold coins and spiritual energy. But after coming into contact with other true gods, she discovered that something was amiss.

The true God should be even more powerful, and the power of faith should be even greater.

More than once, Mori doubted whether he was capable of receiving the so-called "power of faith".

But in the very beginning, while exploring the ruins of Silvermoon City, she tore apart a so-called guardian, saving many suffering souls from being devoured. At that time, her divinity was witnessed by the souls, and she gained much faith for her successful rescue... Back then, Mori didn't know what this power was called.

Only now is she certain that her question has been answered.

Through her speech announcing the Strawberry Law, she indeed gained a considerable amount of faith power. It is stored deep within her soul, and like spiritual power, it can be freely controlled and can also serve as fuel needed when using divinity.

This proves that the power of faith does exist, and she can receive it normally.

Any faith generated from something she does personally will naturally be attributed to her.

So—it's a bit strange that not even a trace of the faith power that should have flowed into her was present.

The existence of this little guy, Fufu, proves that even if the true god lies in someone else's pocket, dozing off, doing the hard work of seasoning, he can still gain faith, but the coffin bearers don't have this treatment...

She had reason to suspect that the faith that should have flowed to her had been intercepted and used for other purposes.

With a sigh, the answer became clear. She looked up at the stained-glass tower, finally having a reliable explanation for the many questions that had lingered until now.

It was the first pope who painstakingly elevated her to divinity who withheld the faith—perhaps for some unknown long-cherished wish.

"Senshi, what's wrong? Is the food not to your liking?" Dandelion asked, tilting her head and noticing Senshi's blank expression.

Mori shook his head and gave a smile that said, "I'm fine."

"That……"

"I hope humanity won't dawdle. I want to speak with the top figures in this country as soon as possible... When that happens, I'll ask about the first Pope first, and then we can discuss the Kingdom of Flowers. Is that alright, Princess?"

“Of course.” Dandelion nodded without hesitation. “Because you brought me to this country, and this is your territory. You have the right to decide everything. Although we are compatriots… I will respect all your will… Hey, don’t look at me like that. I’m not that bad or unreasonable.”

Sen's eyes lit up, as if he had grasped a lifeline.

A long-awaited opportunity has arrived!

"You said I have the right to decide everything, and you will respect that!"

"Uh... I said it, so what?" Dandelion narrowed her eyes, sensing that Sen Shi had ill intentions.

“Then let’s change what happened before, and make it so that you actually kissed my strawberry, how about that? You have to respect the wishes of the owner here.” Mori Toki raised this issue with great anticipation.

"Haha—no way."

"...Why?"

Her smile was masked by frost: "The customs of the Four Seasons are above all else. Even if I can respect your opinion, the customs of the Four Seasons don't care about such things. Anyway, you kissed me twice."

Changing this fate is still a long and arduous task... Looking at the dinner in front of him, Mori let out the heaviest sigh of his life.

……

This was quite an extraordinary dinner.

Strictly speaking, it was the best meal Mori had ever eaten in her entire long life, both lifetimes combined, since she was summoned to the silent world. It was better than any acclaimed woodpecker master or Dandelion's private kitchen.

When the cook was instructed to prepare dinner, he didn't know what dishes would satisfy God. So, he simply poured all the skills he had honed throughout his life into every detail.

The result was a "Hundred Birds Feast" consisting of a total of 121 dishes.

After discussing the customs of the four seasons, Dandelion shared some interesting stories she had heard with Sen.

“When you were enacting the strawberry law over there, I asked around and found out that the chefs here seem to hate birds, so they spend their whole lives researching how to cook birds.”

"……Um?"

"Think about it, Master Neil is a woodpecker, but he's hailed as the world's best chef. The chefs in the Holy Coffin Kingdom must be very competitive... so they started specializing in cooking birds."

Mori laughed, thinking that this chef's skills were far superior to those of that broken woodpecker.

Then, with practiced ease, she used her gilded and engraved silver knife to slice the perfectly roasted pigeon in front of her, and then put small pieces into her mouth. It was truly delicious…

"You can only eat a small piece."

"Ah."

Although it was wasteful, the dinner consisted of 121 dishes in total, and she could only eat a small bite of each one, otherwise the coffin bearers would die from overeating.