GOD OF DECEPTION Chapter 7 - The Birth of a Religion

Chapter 7 — The Birth of a Religion

By morning, Erald had completely lost its mind.

People bowed every ti I walked past.

Children followed around like I was so celebrity.

Soone even placed flowers outside the room I slept in.

Honestly?

Humanity really hadn’t changed across worlds.

Give people one dramatic miracle and suddenly they start building religions.

Which was... unfortunately accurate in this case.

I sat near the window of the small guest room while staring at my phone battery.

7%.

Terrifying.

My greatest divine artifact was approaching death.

Fantastic.

I needed electricity.

Imdiately.

Minor problem:

this world was dieval.

No outlets.

No generators.

No civilization.

I rubbed my forehead tiredly.

The adrenaline from last night had finally faded, leaving only exhaustion behind.

Everything still felt unreal.

Gods.

Faith.

Divine authority.

Corruption.

Saintesses.

Another world.

And sohow, in the middle of all that chaos...

I had beco part of the system.

A knock interrupted my thoughts.

"Kaiser?"

Elena’s voice.

Interesting.

Yesterday she called "divine one."

Progress.

"Co in."

The door opened slowly.

Morning light illuminated her silver-white robes softly.

Without the chaos and tension from last night, she looked different.

Calr.

Still beautiful enough to destroy concentration, unfortunately.

Her blue eyes studied quietly.

"You look tired."

I laughed softly.

"I fought a corrupted monster yesterday."

"You barely fought."

Rude.

Technically accurate.

But rude.

I leaned back in my chair.

"You ca here just to insult ?"

A tiny smile appeared on her face.

Very small.

Gone almost instantly.

But real.

Interesting.

"I ca to talk."

Now that sounded dangerous.

Elena stepped inside and closed the door behind her.

The atmosphere imdiately felt more serious.

She walked toward the window slowly.

"The shrine remained active all night."

I nodded slightly.

"Good."

She looked directly at .

"No. Strange."

Ah.

Back to suspicion.

Of course.

"Lady Seraphine has been weakening for years," Elena continued quietly.

"But after your arrival..."

She hesitated slightly.

"...her divine presence stabilized."

Interesting.

So the effect was stronger than expected.

I folded my arms thoughtfully.

"Perhaps hope itself has power."

Elena stared at carefully.

"You say things that sound simple until people think about them."

That might’ve been the nicest insult I’ve ever received.

I smiled faintly.

"Occupational hazard."

"Godhood is an occupation?"

Oh no.

Accidental joke detected.

I coughed lightly.

"This era is different from the past."

Nice recovery.

Probably.

Elena sat across from quietly.

For several seconds neither of us spoke.

Then she asked softly—

"What are you really?"

Direct hit.

Honestly?

I respected her persistence.

Most people here saw miracles and instantly stopped questioning everything.

But Elena kept looking deeper.

Dangerous girl.

I considered lying again.

Then stopped.

Complete lies were risky.

Partial truths were safer.

"I’m soone who ca from very far away," I answered honestly.

She narrowed her eyes slightly.

"The upper divine realms?"

"...Sothing like that."

Not technically false.

Again.

Elena sighed softly.

"You avoid questions beautifully."

"Thank you."

"That wasn’t praise."

"Still accepting it."

To my surprise, she laughed quietly.

A soft genuine laugh.

And suddenly the atmosphere changed completely.

Less interrogation.

More normal conversation.

Interesting.

Very dangerous developnt for my heart.

Elena looked out the window afterward.

"The villagers already started praying to you this morning."

Ah.

Right.

Religion speedrun.

"How many?" I asked.

"All of them."

I blinked.

"...All?"

She nodded.

"Even the hunters spread stories during the night."

Of course they did.

My torch attack was probably already becoming: "Holy celestial fire descended from the heavens while divine battle music shook the earth."

Honestly?

The music part was still funny.

I sighed deeply.

"This escalated quickly."

Elena looked genuinely confused.

"You saved them twice."

"By accident."

She stared at silently.

"...You purified corruption accidentally?"

Okay fair point.

That did sound suspicious.

Before I could answer, loud chanting suddenly echoed outside.

Both of us froze.

Then ca another voice.

"Praise the God of Technology!"

Oh no.

No no no.

Absolutely not.

I rushed toward the window imdiately.

And nearly died from secondhand embarrassnt.

Villagers had gathered around the central shrine.

Sobody had painted a symbol onto cloth banners.

A terrible symbol.

It looked like soone tried drawing a circuit board from mory after severe head trauma.

Children carried small wooden torches while chanting enthusiastically.

"The God of Technology protects Erald!"

Chief Rowan stood nearby trying and failing to control the situation.

My religion had spawned overnight.

Fantastic.

Absolutely fantastic.

Elena walked beside quietly.

Then—

to my horror—

she started smiling.

Actually smiling.

"You find this amusing?!" I whispered.

"A little."

Traitor.

The villagers suddenly noticed at the window.

Chaos erupted instantly.

"Lord Kaiser!"

"The divine one appeared!"

People started kneeling again.

I closed the curtains imdiately.

"Nope."

Elena laughed again softly.

God, that sound was dangerous.

I pointed accusingly at her.

"This is your fault sohow."

"How?"

"I don’t know yet."

"That seems unfair."

"Probably."

For the first ti since arriving in this world...

the situation almost felt normal.

Almost.

Then the warmth inside my chest pulsed again.

Stronger than yesterday.

I frowned slightly.

The divine authority within was growing continuously now.

And unlike before...

I could actually feel information flowing into my mind.

Instincts.

Understanding.

Concepts connected to my authority.

Technology.

Innovation.

Knowledge.

Communication.

Interesting.

Very interesting.

It was like my divine core was naturally evolving based on belief.

And because the villagers barely understood technology...

their imagination filled the gaps.

Which made my authority broader.

Potentially much broader.

That was both exciting and horrifying.

A sudden knock interrupted us again.

Chief Rowan entered nervously.

"Forgive the interruption, Lord Kaiser."

His eyes moved awkwardly between and Elena.

Oh no.

No misunderstandings please.

I already had enough problems.

"The villagers request permission to build a shrine in your honor."

I stared at him.

"...A what?"

"A shrine."

No.

Absolutely not.

Way too fast.

I had only existed here for like two days.

At least wait a week before starting organized religion.

Chief Rowan continued nervously.

"They insist your miracles saved Erald."

Elena crossed her arms quietly.

Watching my reaction carefully.

Smart.

She wanted to see whether I enjoyed worship too much.

Unfortunately...

part of did.

That realization bothered more than anything else.

Because every ti people believed in ...

I beca stronger.

Faith literally rewarded manipulation here.

A dangerous system.

Very dangerous.

I looked toward Rowan carefully.

"If they wish to pray..."

The warmth inside my chest increased imdiately.

"...then let them pray for hope."

Nice answer.

Wise answer.

Emotionally safe answer.

Honestly I impressed myself sotis.

Chief Rowan looked deeply moved.

"Such compassion..."

Please stop making sound holy.

I’m improvising.

The chief hurried outside afterward.

Almost imdiately, cheering erupted again.

Elena looked toward thoughtfully.

"You’re careful."

"I’m surviving."

"That too."

She walked toward the door slowly before pausing.

Then quietly asked—

"Do gods ever feel lonely?"

The question surprised .

A lot.

Elena kept her back toward .

Her voice sounded softer now.

More vulnerable.

"People worship gods," she continued quietly.

"But they rarely understand them."

Ah.

This conversation wasn’t about .

It was about her.

About Lady Seraphine.

About watching her goddess weaken while everyone slowly abandoned their faith.

I answered honestly.

"I think power probably isolates people."

Elena remained silent.

So I continued.

"But I also think being worshipped isn’t the sa as being understood."

The room beca quiet.

After several seconds, Elena looked back toward .

Sothing warm existed in her expression now.

Not devotion.

Not suspicion.

Connection.

Dangerous.

Very dangerous.

Then suddenly—

the silver symbol on her hand flashed brightly.

Elena’s eyes widened.

"What happened?" I asked imdiately.

She looked toward the shrine outside.

"Lady Seraphine..."

Her voice sounded shocked.

"...she wants to et you."

Silence.

I blinked slowly.

"...Excuse ?"

Elena looked just as stunned.

"Gods normally never request etings directly."

Oh.

Wonderful.

Perfect.

Exactly what I needed.

Because pretending to be divine around villagers was one thing.

Pretending around an actual goddess?

That sounded like an excellent way to die horribly.