Tokyo Soft Rice King.

"Damn it... Stop asking, stop asking! My head is about to explode! I want to know too! How can I give you an answer?!"

"I didn't expect you to give me an answer, meow. In terms of knowledge, you're not as knowledgeable as Xiao Dezi, meow. How could you possibly know something that even Xiao Dezi doesn't know, meow."

"Yes Yes Yes……"

"I'm just telling you that I'm curious about these things, and while gods do share some common characteristics, the differences between individuals are quite significant. This makes me even more curious about the true nature of gods, just like how what influences you humans is your genetic makeup and the environment... so what influences gods, meow?"

"Isn't it faith?"

"Faith is more like 'food' to us, which can be converted into 'energy'. The more energy we have, the more things we can do, which means we have more power. But faith doesn't actually change our thoughts, meow. However, according to the origin, gods also have a sense of identity, meow. For example, the god called Susanoo has a strong sense of justice, meow, and he also likes to play with swords, meow."

"So it's about identity recognition? So the gods are actually 'role-playing'... just able to do the same things as the characters they play."

It incorporates an OC (original character) imagined by humans, and uses human faith as energy to gain the same abilities as the original character.

"Yes, but that's not the essence of a god, meow. Gods should also have a 'blueprint' with the same genes as humans, meow, so this meow wants to know..."

Kurowei paused for a moment, then changed his self-reference.

"I would like to know."

Her voice still sounded young, but it contained a powerful quality.

"What am I, really?"

Chapter 328 Something Important Was Stolen

Having learned of Kuroo's purpose, or rather... ideal? pursuit?

In short, Kuroba Akira realized that his god was not just a lazy cat who only wanted to lie down and do nothing, and his almost non-existent sense of awe began to grow a little.

However, Kuroba Akira couldn't offer much help with her lifelong pursuit.

After all, he was just an ordinary person. Exploring the nature and origins of deities was completely beyond his capabilities, so it had to be left to the most cutting-edge scientists, historians, folklorists, and perhaps even theologians in those fields…

In reality, Kuroo didn't expect anyone to give her the answer, which is why she left her hometown and went to Tokyo, the center of Japan, to observe humans and her fellow humans, accumulating rich experience and knowledge, all in order to one day find the answer.

After learning about Kuroo's purpose in coming to Tokyo, Akira Kuroba then asked another question that he had been curious about but had never had the chance to ask.

"Then, Kuroo, why did you revive us, people from another world?"

This is something that Kuroba Akira cares about a lot.

Surely they didn't just revive a few people because they were bored?

In those isekai (another world) toilet paper novels, the reasons for being transported to another world are very perfunctory. The most common ones are things like, "The protagonist was a good person in his previous life, but good people don't get good rewards and he lived an unfortunate life. So now you are given the chance to go to another world to have a second life with cheat codes."

There are also examples like gods having a quota for time travel, and in order to fulfill that quota, the protagonist is resurrected in another world. These are all very casual reasons, and some don't even give any reason at all.

However, Kuroba Akira felt that Kuroo probably didn't just resurrect people randomly, because the transmigrators did have something in common, and their numbers weren't that many.

Based on what we already know, it seems that Kuroo resurrected the people from another world in order to choose her own successor.

Perhaps she can only choose her agents from this type of person? Is this also a limitation imposed by the gods?

"There are actually two reasons, or rather, there are 'two stages'... But the reasons are different from what you think, although there are limitations on the agents appointed by the gods, the limitations on me are not so great, because anyone who has lived on Shikoku Island since ancient times and is from a family that worships me can be my agent, of course, 'Yomi Returnees' like you, Shiroko, are also qualified, me."

"So, you mean, Kuroo, you didn't need to resurrect the dead in the first place just to find a substitute?"

"Well, actually, I don't even need an agent, because no matter what, I'm a 'household name' deity in this country, and I've long since passed the stage of needing an agent to 'promote' meow."

Promotion is alright... to be precise, it's missionary work.

Indeed, the existence of the proxy is similar to that of the 'chosen leader', which is used to increase the fame and influence of the gods.

However, Kuroo's real name, Izanami, the goddess of the underworld, is indeed a deity known to everyone in Japan, and is even quite famous worldwide.

Such a deity, who can be written into Japanese history textbooks, certainly doesn't need an agent.

"That's right, meow. In fact, I've only chosen three agents so far."

One is Grandpa Kobayashi, another is myself, so who's the third one?

"The first one was the person who established a family that worshipped me in Shikoku for hundreds of years, what was his name again... um... I forgot, meow."

"Forgetting is going too far! They've been worshipping you for hundreds of years! You're so heartless!"

"Tch, I just did the same thing as you, Little Whitey."

"The same thing as me?"

"Trade Meow".

"I've chosen him as my successor and promised to grant his family protection, allowing them to become local daimyo and gain greater power and influence. In return, this family must do their best to build my shrine in a more distant place, so that my range of activities will also expand."

"I see! Expanding your territory! That's why you, Kuroo, can have a shrine in Tokyo, where land is so expensive!"

"That's right, meow. And it's not just me doing this. This practice started in the Warring States period. Many gods did it, meow. There were even foreign gods fighting for territory, meow. Anyway, the fact that humans are fighting each other is also related to the support of the gods behind them, meow."

"I suddenly feel like rereading the history of Japan's Sengoku period..."

This is practically a war waged by agents of the gods!

"Later, when the Warring States period ended, some members of that family became officials and built my shrine in the capital. So I left Shikoku with them and never returned to Shikoku after that."

"Never went back?"

"Yeah... Anyway, there's nothing to do back there, especially since that place is getting more and more deserted as times change, so what's the point of going back?"

Isn't there a saying like that?

"Better to be the head of a snake than the tail of a dragon..." But it seems that Black Tail doesn't think so.

Kuroba Akira felt that if it were him, he would definitely have given up... No, that's not quite right.

After all, compared to Kuroo, Kuroba Akira's age and experience are too shallow. The mental structure of a god who has lived for thousands of years should be completely different from that of humans.

For Heiwei, living a monotonous life in his hometown might be the most meaningless thing. In fact, many people think the same way, which is why they go to big cities to make their way in the world.

"If that family's bloodline hadn't been broken, they should still be in Tokyo right now."

"Isn't it the Tomita family? Isn't your shrine managed by the Tomita family?"

Mentioning the surname Tomita made Kuroo's tone turn sour; judging from how fiercely she had attacked Tomita Hoken earlier, she truly disliked that person...

But it should be aimed at Tomita Hosen alone, not at the Tomita family, because Kuroo is very friendly to Tomita Haruka.

"No, no, the Tomita family was originally the family of the Shinto priest who was assigned to manage the shrine. The Tomita family did manage it for a long time, and they did a pretty good job. Although they didn't manage to expand or establish branch shrines, they didn't lose their incense offerings like some shrines that encountered some changes. It's already quite good that they were able to maintain a shrine in Chiyoda..."

Judging from Kuroo's final tone, Kuroba knew that Kuroo was about to say "but".

"But, the previous generation produced a despicable fellow, meow..."

"Mr. Faquan?"

"That's right, meow! But actually, the main responsibility for his problems lies with Xiao Dezi, meow."

"Is it also related to Grandpa Lin?"

"That bastard Faquan is Xiaodezi's student, meow. A guy who's going to be a god in the future has become an atheist student, meow. Don't you find that hilarious, meow?"

"Pfft... Now that you mention it, it does sound pretty absurd."

But Mr. Kobayashi probably accepted the existence of gods later on, since existence is justified, and he probably wasn't the kind of stubborn person.

"Little Dezi has changed a lot. At first, he absolutely refused to believe in my existence and even went against me. It really made me so angry!"

Kuroo's tone sounded angry and complaining, but Kuroba Akira could tell that she actually missed that time very much.

Although Mr. Kobayashi may not have fulfilled his responsibilities as an agent, he and Kuroo must have gotten along quite well, otherwise Kuroo wouldn't have been so deeply influenced by Mr. Kobayashi and would have started to view things dialectically.

"We've gone a bit off-topic, meow. Where were we, meow?"

"There are two reasons for resurrecting the dead, but neither has been mentioned yet."

"Oh, right, meow, the reason for resurrecting the dead, meow... Actually, the main reason is to fulfill people's wishes, meow, which is also the wish I've received the most before, meow."

"what……"

Yes, that's the simplest and most direct reason.

Kuroo is the goddess of the underworld, so there must be people who, out of longing for the deceased, ask her to resurrect their loved ones or relatives, even though the legend says that resurrecting the dead is taboo... but there will definitely still be people who come to her to pray.

"So actually, I've resurrected many people in the past, but those people, although they had never seen a god in their previous lives, had very confused memories after coming to this world because of the fusion of their souls. But after seeing me, they believed in the existence of gods and quickly integrated into this world, so in the past I thought that only my resurrection power was the orthodox resurrection power, meow."

So that's how it is; it's a limitation of the times!

In the past, most people believed in the existence of gods, so they would never have the absurd idea of ​​'traveling to another world', or even the concept of 'another world' or 'parallel world'. Instead, they would feel that they had truly been resurrected.

As for the differences in experiences between the two worlds, they will probably be ignored as dreams or something.

Then, the miracle of 'resurrection' became the main means for Blacktail to collect faith.

"No wonder you said there were two stages of reasons. This was your reason for resurrecting the dead in the past, right, Kuroo? So what's your reason now?"

"The reason for this has to start from when I met Xiao Dezi."

"I'm also very interested in that. Kuroo, you must have revived Grandpa Kobayashi in the first place because of reasons from the past, right?"

"That's right, meow. But at the time, I was actually looking for someone to act on my behalf, meow. The Emperor at the time changed my shrine into an Inari shrine without my permission, which almost led to my shrine being taken away, meow. So I wanted to find someone to resolve this matter, meow."

"Then why not find the family that helped you build the shrine in Tokyo... Oh, you forgot the family's name, how forgetful you are..."

Hearing Kuroba Akira's clearly disdainful tone, Kuroba poked his ear hard with his little paw and yelled.

"What kind of tone is that, meow! So what if I forgot! I haven't been back to my hometown in ages, meow! And I don't even know where that family in the capital went. I don't have the power to find anyone with that kind of authority, meow! It's better to resurrect a dead person to appoint a successor, and that way people will know that my shrine isn't an Inari shrine, but a shrine dedicated to a greater god, meow! Isn't that killing two birds with one stone, meow!"

"Yes, yes, so... you resurrected Grandpa Kobayashi back then, right?"

"Nonsense, that was the first time I used the power of resurrection after leaving Shikoku... But I didn't expect that times have changed and the people I resurrected have completely changed. Little Dezi... Lin Dewan is completely different from the people I resurrected before, meow."

That's definitely different. The concept of dialectical materialism has emerged, and people's understanding of deities has changed.

"Xiao Dezi doesn't believe in the existence of gods at all, meow. Then, through his own investigation, he figured out the truth about the resurrection ability I possess, meow. It turns out that the place I connect to when I resurrect the dead is not the legendary 'Yomi Hirasaka' at all, but another world that is similar to this world, meow... I was shocked, and it was from that time that I began to question my own existence, meow."

"So, it seems that Grandpa Kobayashi was your mentor, Kuroo?"

"You could say that, meow... Anyway, ever since then, I've changed my opinion about the power of resurrection, meow. Then Xiao Dezi said that his future people will definitely be more knowledgeable and know more than him, and may even completely overturn this world. He told me to use the power of resurrection cautiously, meow. I agreed and told him that I wouldn't use the power of resurrection while he was alive, meow."

Kuroo secretly interrupted the sharing of her thoughts, not transmitting all of her ideas to Kuroba Akira.

In his interactions with Tokuman Kobayashi, Kuroo realized that he was the 'fool,' like an idiot who knew nothing and had wasted all those years of his life.

Shame and curiosity led her to follow Tokuman Kobayashi, a completely incompetent proxy, and witness firsthand his eventful life.

He brought a new idea to the world... an idea that had never been born in this world before.

From then on, Kuroo harbored a slight fear of the power of 'Return to the Underworld'.