Thus, I brought the newly named Yama to the north of the world.

Although he had been promoted to the god of death, his foundation was that of an earth spirit and a mountain god. So, traveling long distances must have been unfamiliar to him.

Transforming into my true form, I carried Yama in my hand and flew north, completing the delivery of the god of death.

While flying north, I heard Yama scream in fright, but I ignored it as it wasn't important.

It must have been something about getting dizzy because we were moving too fast.

Anyway, when we arrived in the north and I set Yama down in front of the gates of the underworld, Yama knelt on the ground and began to bow deeply, looking very moved.

[I now understand the greatness of the earth. I now realize your preciousness. I see that all beings must live upon you.]

"You're being too dramatic."

Hearing my words, Yama just looked at me without saying anything.

Without a word, he just kept looking at me for about 30 minutes.

Thus, I went with Yama through the gates of the underworld, down and further down.

We met the dark spirits cleaning up the fragments dug up by Talos, introduced Yama to Thanatos who was commanding them, and eventually saw Talos, who had dug out all seven layers and was now stationary.

[This is... incredible.]

"Talos is quite impressive indeed."

Although it was a golem created in a moment of folly, its performance was an undeniable truth.

I praised the commendable Talos.

"Now that we have the place, it's time to complete the underworld."

Ah, but before that. I had to check if Yama had properly ascended to the god of death.

The method was very simple. I had a way to know the list of all gods.

GodTalk. The list of gods. Seeing Yama's name appear on that list, I smiled slightly.

"Being able to become a god through some unreal events, a bit of rumor, and manipulation of public opinion. This might be the easiest era to become a god."

The god of death. Yama. His name was fully listed there.

Hmm. Maybe I should just create gods to my liking this way? Thetis, Ifrit, and Sylphid becoming gods wouldn't be bad either.

Well, Thetis and Sylphid will be revered as gods once navigation fully takes off. Just need to plant the seeds.

Ifrit... Maybe I should give it a hand. An unquenchable flame would be a significant merit in this era, but the location of Ifrit was too much of a demerit.

If I distribute fragments of Ifrit here and there... Or perhaps manipulate the situation to cremate dead bodies with sacred flames...

Ah, or maybe introduce Ifrit as the god of flames and forges to the dwarves. Yeah, that wouldn't be bad.

While having such trivial thoughts and looking at the GodTalk list, I saw a name I hadn't seen before.

[Cloud Whale]

What's this now?

A whale made of clouds?

But being on this list means it's gaining faith as a god, right? A cloud whale. What is this?

Humans wouldn't know about whales, right? With their current seafaring technology, they couldn't have seen whales.

Ah, no. They might know from dead whale bodies washed ashore. They could know.

Well, not sure. After all, I'm not the only one who knows the word whale... I had told Shamash and the children various stories.

Maybe the stories I told those children spread to others? Like elves or dwarves.

After all, I unified them under the same language, and elves or dwarves could have heard those children's words... Could they?

Didn't they directly hear it? Didn't they just understand the general meaning?

Then where did the word whale come from? Hmm. Really don't know.

No, maybe by a huge coincidence, they ended up using the same word.

Anyway, what kind of being is a cloud whale? Seeing its name properly listed on GodTalk, it seems to be a god….

Hmm. I'm very curious. Extremely curious.

Although I was in the middle of creating the underworld, I couldn't shake off the rising curiosity.

Cloud whale. Maybe humans saw a huge whale-shaped cloud? Thinking it might be a god after seeing such a shape?

Hmm. I'm curious. I should finish up the underworld, but I can't help being curious. Let's leave the work I was doing aside for now.

It feels like my focus has been stolen by the newly born god while I was dedicated to creating hell, but it can't be helped.

I have to check what kind of being this newly born god is.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The cloud whale I ended up looking for was a giant cloud-like being flying across the calm sky.

It really looked like a whale, similar to a humpback whale.

But its essence was not something soft or cloud-like.

From afar, it looked like a whale made of misty clouds, but only after getting closer could I truly understand its identity.

The cloud whale was a god born from the gathering of numerous souls floating in the sky.

The clusters of souls I had seen while investigating souls and spirits, which had risen to the sky and gathered together.

That cluster had transformed into the shape of a whale and was floating in the sky, revealing the identity of the cloud whale.

Perhaps, due to an excessive gathering of souls floating in the sky, it became faintly visible to human eyes, and its floating shape looked like a giant fish, hence it was called a cloud whale.

Really, how did it come to be like this?

Since I can't completely control all human thoughts, I can't prevent gods from being born this way.

Anyway, I approached the cloud whale.

The cloud whale, a collective of souls born from numerous gathered souls, seemed to lack distinct intelligence.

It just roamed the sky, scattering the souls that made up its body.

Under the sky where the cloud whale passed, the number of newly born children increasing wasn't a coincidence, surely.

Looking at the cloud whale, which lacked any intelligence and was aimlessly floating in the sky, I thought, maybe I could use this cloud whale?

That's because, although souls would be processed in the underworld to be reborn as pure souls…. How to reincarnate those souls was a bit of a concern.

I had thought about simply sending souls to the sky without much thought, but sending souls from the bottom of the underworld wasn't going to be easy.

The size of each layer wasn't small, so much so that it would take a normal human walking non-stop for 7 days to descend one layer.

Maybe if I create a space connecting the underworld and this whale, processing souls would become easier?

Of course, before that, it would be nice if I could talk to this cloud whale.

While continuing to create the underworld, I kept trying to communicate with the cloud whale.

The cloud whale, which only made animal-like sounds, had intelligence not much different from a newborn baby since it was made of pure, untainted souls.

Naturally. The souls making up the cloud whale were pure spirits without a single stain. Souls that had not yet been born.

It was natural that the cloud whale couldn't speak, being made of such souls.

It would be more convenient if the cloud whale could speak, but with intelligence at the level of an animal, it couldn't be helped.

While creating the underworld, I kept talking to the cloud whale using GodTalk.

No, wait.

Why do I have to keep talking to this cloud whale?

There are plenty of other methods.

This cloud whale is a god formed by a massive collective of souls gaining faith.

That faith comes through humans.

By directing that faith, couldn't I transform it into a desired being to some extent?

For example…. A god that exists above, spreading new life all over the world….

Hmm…. Zeus?

No, that was a bit harsh. Comparing the cloud whale, which merely scatters souls here and there, to the worst troublemaker in mythological history.

If the cloud whale had intelligence and could read my thoughts... it wouldn't be strange at all if it grabbed me by the scruff of my neck right away.

After all, the only thing it has in common with Zeus is that it exists above the sky and spreads new life!

Anyway, I should be able to somewhat direct the faith towards the cloud whale using humans.

Like turning it into a deity that grants new children to humans.

I'm sure that would be a better story than a whale that just flies around without intelligence!

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T/N: Btw new cover!