Time passed.

During this time, various things happened, but nothing too important, so I will briefly explain and move on.

The priest, who had discovered that the cause of the epidemic that had taken the lives of his wife and child was the unattended corpses, asked me about the method of disposing of the bodies, and I simply said,

"Just burn them."

Since the unattended corpses that were not properly handled had caused the epidemic to spread, if there was no time to bury them, it would be better to burn them.

However, humans were quite reluctant to cremate the bodies and have them cremated. Is it because they think of it as desecration of the dead? Even if the bodies are buried, they will rot and only the bones will remain.

Therefore, I spread a little rumor.

[Offering the deceased's body to the sacred flame can alleviate some of the sins the soul is burdened with. However, the sacred flame burns eternally deep within the volcanic depths of the scorching desert, where human feet cannot tread.]

While I'm at it, I'll also do a bit of reputation work for Ifrit.

That child is also a bit pitiful to be alone, so it's not a bad idea to spread a feeling like the sacred flame that burns away the wickedness, right?

[While not as much as offering to the sacred flame, burning the dead body to leave only the bones can also alleviate a very small amount of sin.]

When it says "a very small amount", it should be read as an amount that has almost no influence on the verdict.

Well, ultimately, the purpose is to burn the bodies to prevent the epidemic, after all.

If the bodies of the dead could be buried immediately, there would be no need for this, but not all bodies can be buried in time.

For example... in times of war.

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

Humans and other subraces continued to spread their influence.

The most widespread are humans, and the beastmen living mixed in with them.

The elves spread out in the great forests centered around the World Tree, and the dwarves burrowed into the mountain ranges around Sagarmatha like ant nests.

The lizardmen did not expand their territory significantly due to the problems of humidity and temperature, but thanks to the first-mover advantage, their current territory was still quite extensive.

As for the giants... their numbers had increased, but there were only a few hundred of them. Despite the vast individual territories, their small population made their territory embarrassingly small compared to other races.

Dragons? Most of them were pilgrims worshiping me as the Goddess of Life, or some were holed up in caves and not coming out.

The reason they were holed up was either to protect their eggs or hatchlings, or simply because they liked to be reclusive. That's about the gist of it.

Thanks to that, dragons didn't really have any defined territories.

In this way, each race continued to expand their territories.

But they can't keep expanding forever. Habitable places are limited, and most of them are already occupied by other races.

Inevitably, war broke out.

No, wait, so far, war has only broken out among humans! Even though they are humans, they have not yet declared war on other races!

The rugged forests and steep mountains served as natural fortresses for the elves and dwarves, and the cold of the giants' territories was too harsh for humans to easily venture into.

As for the lizardmen? Even their young can shatter rocks with their bare hands, so would humans be foolish enough to wage war against them? You could call such humans suicidal.

In the end, the only ones humans can wage war against are other humans.

While the population had increased significantly, the profession of professional soldiers or mercenaries had not yet emerged, so the only option was to conscript adult males to form an army.

In this situation, each city-state could only muster around 300 to 500 troops.

By making promises of support to allied city-states and gathering reinforcements, the result was an average of about 1,000 troops clashing in these wars.

Since iron weapons were still rare, even among the commanders, most of the armaments were still at the bronze or stone age level. Armor was, of course, pathetic, with only crude armor made of bone fragments or thick leather.

Yet, these meager armies were still wielding violence against each other.

Un. As expected, the greed of humans knows no bounds and they repeat the same mistakes.... No, the full-scale war has not happened yet! They have been fighting in a way that looks like a power struggle and ending the fight halfway!

Since each adult is precious in this era, the increasing casualties in the war are not desirable for either side. The wars have been fought in a way that looks like a power struggle and then ended.

Furthermore, since they are still at the city-state level, their ethnic or national identity is not yet firmly established, so they have not engaged in wars of annihilation against the other side! It has been more like a power struggle between them!

Looking at these humans, I let out a small sigh. Is it right to prevent the war?

Isn't it a natural fact that just as fights arise between humans, wars also break out between cities and states?

Even if I have the power to stop them, is truly stopping these wars the right thing to do for humans?

I don't know. The history of humans is the history of war. The development of humans is the development of war.

If I were to stop all such wars, wouldn't human society just be stagnant?

I let out a small sigh. Sigh... At times like this, I regret having a distinct personality.

If I were a mechanical god, I might have just processed the given tasks and moved on. Hmm.

I don't know. I really don't know which is better.

In such cases, the right answer might be to just... let go, step back, and observe.

Anyway, I averted my gaze from the humans and various subraces who were starting such fierce battles.

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

After finishing the Afterlife, I, now a bit more free, started making an item.

An item to carry out a task I had put off for a long time.

An item to catch that troublesome child again.

It was like a fishing rod to lure out Erebus, who is hiding somewhere underground.

I even imbued it with the ability to track, capture, and imprison Erebus specifically, so that he can never escape.

You might think it's too much, but it's Erebus who went too far! That foolish child committed acts he should not have, blinded by the power of the wish.

He even split the scales I had lent him out of fear of having them confiscated, and because of that, I felt pain for the first time in this world.

No, it wasn't the first time. I felt pain in my wings when I was first born into this world.

Anyway, Erebus was the one who did wrong, so there's no problem with me doing something too extreme.

Therefore, I grasped the fishing rod I had created.

This fishing line made of the same darkness as Erebus should be able to penetrate the earth and catch the hidden Erebus.

And since I've also added an auto-tracking function to chase Erebus, if I just cast the fishing line into the ground, I should be able to catch that foolish child.

Then... shall we go fishing?

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

Erebus had existed as the darkness deep underground since he gained self-awareness.

The earth beneath, where not a single ray of light shines, is Erebus' domain, where only darkness exists.

Therefore, I have been patiently waiting with the fishing line made of darkness cast down. To capture Erebus.

The child, whom I have gathered, taught, and raised.

Well, if that child has any sense of self, he won't be easily caught. But if I keep the fishing line cast down, I should be able to catch him eventually.

A considerable amount of time has passed.

The priest who served the Goddess of Life has passed away and moved on to the Afterlife, and in accordance with my instructions, has become the administrator of the upper layers of the Afterlife. Yet the fishing line I cast down remained motionless.

Even after the faith in the sacred flame spread and a religion worshiping the sacred flame as a god was born, the fishing line remained motionless.

Even when a princess from the east journeyed to the Afterlife to revive her deceased father, the fishing line remained motionless.

How much time has passed since then?

At the point when the city-state of Arcad merged the surrounding city-states and was reborn as a proper kingdom, the fishing line began to move slightly.

Has it finally found Erebus? I quickly grabbed the fishing rod and started reeling in the line. After reeling it in for about a day, I was able to see what was hanging at the end.

Finally... I can catch that foolish son who has given me so much trouble.

"Huh?"

I looked at what was hanging at the end of the fishing line.

Instead of Erebus, who was supposed to be tracked and captured by this fishing line, there was only a faint darkness.

Uh... Hmm... So...

"Erebus?"

The faint darkness did not even respond, only twitching at the end of the fishing hook.