The Cloud Whale continued to roam the sky without intelligence.

Hmm. Well, whether it has intelligence or not, what does it matter? As long as it does a good job scattering souls.

But sometimes, I wish it could communicate... Oh well, can't be helped.

It's not like the Cloud Whale will suddenly gain intelligence with a pop!

Wait, hold on... Maybe it's possible?

Since the Cloud Whale has gained faith and a complete form through the belief of humans.

If I use that well, couldn't I turn it into the kind of god I want?

For example... Perhaps the Cloud Whale could have some level of intelligence, or command small birds to distribute souls.

And if I could somewhat set the Cloud Whale's flight path... to fly to the northern end at regular intervals, it would be convenient to hand over the processed souls from the underworld to the Cloud Whale.

I did feel a slight pang of conscience about tweaking the Cloud Whale to my liking... But what can I do? It's not like we can communicate.

If it were a sentient being, I would try to persuade it, but that's not possible with a being like an animal that doesn't understand language.

So, I stopped filling the first layer of the underworld with rivers and headed towards the human world.

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

Humans continued to increase.

There were many who got injured and many who fell ill, but the greatest strength of humans, their numbers, remained constant.

The humans of this era lived in large and small city-states.

To roughly compare... it might feel similar to the polis of ancient Greece.

City-states that traded with other city-states and sometimes had conflicts, gradually growing in size.

Among them, the largest city-state, Arcad, was ruled by the descendants of a human to whom I had once given a crown.

Un. Since I handed over such an object, I should do at least this much. Of course.

I polymorphed into a human form, hid the horns on my head, and even changed my hair color to disguise myself as an ordinary person.

Well, my cute appearance remained the same.

Honestly, I could say it's self-praise, but my appearance after polymorphing feels a bit like cheating.

An appearance that can win favor just by looking. If it weren't for the slightly younger-looking age, perhaps a few cities would have been shaken!

Anyway, I headed towards the entrance of the city-state of Arcad.

A large number of people were being checked at the entrance to enter Arcad. A few armed guards were checking each person.

Most were travelers or merchants, or, ah! There in front, dragons polymorphed into humans were mixed in!

"What is your purpose for coming?"

"We are the givers of life. We travel the world spreading the will of the great one."

The dragon's words seemed to be quickly understood by the guard, who nodded.

"You serve a god, I see. Welcome. Is this your first time in Arcad?"

"Un. It is."

"Then you might not know about accommodations. Our king has built a building for those who serve the same god as you, so you can go to that building. For now, I'll assign someone to you. Penit! Come over here!"

With that, a guard approached his side.

"Escort these people to the temple and return."

"Understood."

Thus, the dragons, led by the guards, were entering the city much faster than the surrounding merchants.

Hmm. It seems the dragons have been visiting this city for more than a day or two.

Well, as they travel the world, doing volunteer work like healing and sharing stories from other cities... There's no reason not to be welcomed.

Moreover, since their true forms are dragons, their strength goes without saying. If bandits attack, it's their lives that should be worried.

Un. Sending dragons on a world tour seems like a good decision!

So, as each person in line was either allowed in or turned away by the guard's barrage of questions, my turn gradually approached.

When the guard in front of me finally reached me, he said,

"A child...?"

He frowned upon seeing me.

"No, why is a child alone? Where are your parents?"

The guard was greatly flustered. Seeing the guard like that, I said a word.

"I'm an adult."

"An adult? Kid. Lying is not good."

"It's true. I don't have anything like an ID to prove it."

Since it's a time when something like a resident registration doesn't exist yet.

After all, resident registration would only be possible in the distant future. It couldn't possibly be done at the scale of ancient city-states.

"Very suspicious, but I guess I have no choice but to believe you. If you do anything even slightly wrong, you won't see the sunlight ever again, so be careful."

"Don't worry. I'm just here to research about the god."

Despite not having proper identification, the guard let me through. Hmm... Is it thanks to my appearance?

Thus, I entered Arcad, the largest city among human cities.

Passing through the wooden walls and gates, what I saw were unpaved large roads and houses made of mud closely situated on either side.

Houses were made by erecting wooden pillars and temporary walls, then applying mud to complete the walls and roofs.

Seeing this, I felt a slight advancement. Humans who used to live in huts have now built such houses...

Moreover, in the central square, a primitive market was taking place with bartering. Hoh... Goods trading is also active...

It was a human city that was developing in quite a good direction, but not every aspect was developing positively.

"Here! Prisoners captured in the last war! They are strong and can easily do any work!"

"You there! Don't you need a pretty female slave?"

I could see people selling humans.

Slavery, huh... Hmm...

Not something I'm fond of, but if I were to strike them with lightning for that... It wouldn't be right, would it?

After all, slavery was a problem that couldn't be eradicated for a long time on Earth. It's natural since the concept of human rights doesn't exist yet.

Not something I'm fond of, but still.

Ignoring the slight dissatisfaction in my heart, I started collecting information about the Cloud Whale while wandering around the city.

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

[A huge whale floating in the sky. Cloud Whale.

New life begins to sprout under its massive body.

Therefore, couples wishing for a new child pray for the Cloud Whale to bestow new life.]

This was all there was to the meager faith in the Cloud Whale.

Hmm... Maybe all naturally occurring faith feels like this.

It's not very specific, so there's a lot of room for intervention.

Thus, I began to spread rumors about the Cloud Whale a little bit.

First, about the Cloud Whale's subordinates.

[The white birds flying in the sky are the subordinates of the Cloud Whale, delivering new life across the continent on behalf of the Cloud Whale.]

The Cloud Whale, with its considerable size and relatively fast speed, was insufficient to distribute souls across the entire continent by itself.

Therefore, let's add subordinates.

Just like storks deliver babies, the white birds would distribute souls in places the Cloud Whale doesn't visit.

Next, let's add some intelligence to the Cloud Whale.

[The Cloud Whale has the intelligence of a child and feels great fulfillment in distributing life.]

For now, let's give it the intelligence of a child. If it's given too high intelligence, it's unpredictable what actions it might take. Let's observe the situation a bit more, with intelligence slightly better than that of a beast.

[The Cloud Whale travels around the world from morning until evening, and when night falls, it heads to the northern sky and sleeps under the night sky.]

This part is to make it come closer to the underworld. Although the underworld is still incomplete, when it's finished, the processed souls will have to be returned to the Cloud Whale.

It would be troublesome if the Cloud Whale's flight path was arbitrary.

[The Cloud Whale is the god of birth. A god that brings forth new life. It is a being cherished by the god of life.]

To solidify the faith in the Cloud Whale, it's better to firmly establish its role rather than attaching various kinds of faith to it.

Hmm. And about the God of Life.... I put it on a leash, just in case.

The God of Life here is .... It's pretty much me.

The dragons that are active as givers of life. I was the one whom those dragons revered like a god.

It would be problematic if I left the great value of life unattended, and some other strange being became a god.

Let's at least hold onto the faith regarding the parts I need to control.

Let's see. Then the faith in the Cloud Whale is...

[A huge whale floating in the sky. The Cloud Whale.

The Cloud Whale, with the intelligence of a child, is a being cherished by the god of life and a god of birth that finds great fulfillment in bringing forth new life.

The Cloud Whale wakes up in the morning, travels around the world until the evening, and when night falls, it heads to the northern sky and sleeps under the night sky.

Always surrounding its massive body are the Cloud Whale's subordinates, the white birds, who act as messengers delivering new life to the world on behalf of the Cloud Whale. It would be wrong to harm them carelessly.

Those who wish for a new child, pray for the Cloud Whale to bestow new life. Then, the Cloud Whale will deliver new life to you.]

Is this it? Good. Now let's spread it.

Thus, the newly completed faith in the Cloud Whale began to spread slowly, bit by bit, but surely throughout the city.