Regressor Instruction Manual - Chapter 422. Problems From Above (5)

[I… went bankrupt…]

‘What do you mean you went bankrupt?’

[I… went b-bankrupt so… I have nothing… and that’s why I keep… crying… That’s what happened. It’s not what you think. I haven’t fallen… Heuuuk! So please don’t proceed with your plan.]

I wasn’t sure if this could be considered useful information, but I was kind of happy because my assumption was somewhat correct.

A demon’s performance was evaluated based on their contracts, while gods and goddesses would be evaluated based on the people’s faith in them. What she meant when she said that she went bankrupt wasn’t in the monetary sense. It was more like she lost a ton of holy power.

[That’s right.]

‘How could you lose all of your holy power? I don’t understand. Did you splurge or something?’

[What? Y-You bastard! You scummy bastard! How could you say something like that?]

‘…’

[No, no. I shouldn’t act like this… I’m sorry. I’m really sorry… Father Lee Ki-Young, you know you’re my favorite devotee, right? I haven’t fallen, so please don’t proceed with your plan.]

‘…’

The way she got angry and comforted me right away made me feel like I was dealing with a bipolar psycho, and I could definitely say that she had fallen based on her behavior. However, it seemed that a part of her mind was still intact. Anyway, what I was most curious about was why she was contacting me through this method. I thought she needed holy power when creating a quest, but I had never imagined that she would go extremely broke to the point that she couldn’t even create quests anymore.

“…”

[…]

Of course, I didn’t really have to think about it because the one who could give me the answer to my question was standing right in front of me.

“Oh, Goddess Benigoa! Do you know what this humble believer of yours wants to know?” I asked.

[Basic… quests have already been decided. For example, job-change quests and quests you receive whenever you enter a dungeon are managed by the system. Forced Quests and quests sent to individuals are different. We sent those using our own holy power, and they consume an immense amount of holy power. A god cannot interfere with human conflict. That’s the rule, and Forced Quests violate that rule. Of course, the amount of holy power consumed differs depending on the content and the difficulty of the quest. It’s the same for the reward after a Forced Quest is completed.]

‘That’s good information.’

[I already exhausted all of my holy power, and the holy power I borrowed from others—I already used them all up as well. I used them all up for my favorite devotee, Lee Ki-Young… Kgh… the honorary… Whoo… cardinal.]

“It sounds like you’re saying that I’m the reason you went bankrupt. That’s not true, right?” I asked.

[O-Of course… it’s all my fault. All of it… A-Anyway, that’s the reason why I can only communicate through this method. I can’t create a Forced Quest, so this is the only way.]

“There are other gods aside from you. There’s the Elune scum… I think you should have been able to communicate with me through the other gods… It was just temporary, yes, but I want to know why you stopped communicating with me.”

[I-I can explain! It’s the same for the others managing this continent. Elune, Varian, and the other gods all went bankrupt. It’s because I borrowed holy power from them. There were too many situations where I had no other choice… Yeah… even externally… things… didn’t work out. We got caught by the bad guys…]

‘Are you managing the continent by pulling things out of your ass or something?’

[It’s nothing like that, m-my proud Father Lee Ki-Young. And what you said is bl-blasphemy…]

She was denying it, but I couldn’t help but think that it was true.

How were they managing the continent that it ended up in this state? I would understand it if Benigoa were the only one who went bankrupt, but the news about how every god had gone bankrupt was shocking.

I wasn’t sure if this was the appropriate example, but this continent was like a workshop for the beings up in the heavens. They obtained holy power through this continent, and they used that holy power to manage it, so of course, they had to use a ton of holy power. They had to keep the demons in check and deal with nature. Not only that, but if part of the holy power that the priests could wield was the god’s holy power, then it made a lot of sense.

Additionally, the continent already had a reasonable amount of people, so the population wouldn’t increase so easily. Of course, there were many things on the continent that produced holy power for them to acquire, but there was a limit. Despite knowing that holy power was finite, everyone was splurging, so this miserable ending was inevitable.

Benigoa was really crying in grief, but to be honest, this was her fault.

‘I can already see where this is going…’

I wasn’t sure if the heavens had a similar concept, but if the heavens were compared to the human realm, then what happened between Benigoa, Elune scum, and Varian had to be like this… Benigoa borrowed holy power from Elune scum and Varian. Eventually, she got the gods from the other kingdoms involved, and the gods of the continent ended up signing a contract. In accordance with the contract, Benigoa borrowed and spent the holy power of external beings.

I was sure she was enjoying an extravagant life before because she had a boundless amount of holy power, but her extravagant life apparently lasted only for a moment because the holy power she borrowed from external beings was starting to become a problem. She was now facing an issue with the IMF of the heavens.

At last, I finally somewhat understood why Benigoa was being kind to me.

‘She’s worried that her cash cow is going to fail. Amazing. Just amazing.’

I was sure that she was receiving a steady stream of holy power. However, her followers would definitely decrease the moment I talked about how she had become a fallen goddess after being tainted by evil.

In addition, rioters would definitely destroy her statue as a goddess and label her as the goddess of evil. This would only happen if I were to proceed with the fallen Benigoa plan, and even if only half of my plan ended up working out, I would still be a threat to her because she was currently broke to the point that she couldn’t even create a quest anymore.

I wasn’t sure what would happen if the gods completely lost their holy power, but what would happen was definitely bad, no matter how hard I thought about it.

Either they would outright disappear, or they would fall from the heavens…

“Am I right?”

[…]

“My, my… our Goddess Benigoa must be really exhausted right now,” I commented.

[This is why a quick-witted dog…]

“What did you say?” I asked.

[No… I-It’s nothing, Father Lee Ki-Young. The majority of your thoughts are true, but I have always been kind to you.]

“You weren’t kind to me in the beginning, Goddess Benigoa.” I pointed out.

[T-T-That was Elune. Elune was in charge of you, and we changed places in the middle of it. I don’t know the details, and I couldn’t do anything about it either. Think about it, my lovely son, Father Lee Ki-Young! Think about the things I had done for you. I gave you the Light Bomb Potion, a Semi-Mythic job, and many other things! I have no reason to dislike you. With your help, my followers exponentially increased, and you did your best for me as well. We’re a team. E-Elune was in charge of you in the beginning. Really! That Elune scum was in charge of you!]

“He really is a hopeless scum,” I commented.

[I… think that way about him sometimes. He even abandoned his daughter. I never abandon my children, especially people like you. Have I ever disappointed you? We’re a team, after all.]

I wasn’t sure if Elune was really the one who had been managing me from the start but based on his scummy resume, he was more than capable of abandoning people.

[Rumors about Elune are bad anyway. It’s not good to get involved with him, Father Lee Ki-Young. I have…]

“No, I’ll go first,” I said.

[Okay… go ahead. My proud…]

“This isn’t the first time that you talked to me, but it had always been one-sided. Now, you can talk to me, and I can respond to you. I have many burning questions to ask, so I’ll go straight to the point. My first question is—where are you right now? Are you in this goddess statue?” I asked.

[Yes and no. To be exact, I’m not bere. My main body is still up here, but… it’s difficult to explain in a way that humans would understand.]

“Oh, yeah?”

[Where are you touching, you bastard?!]

“You said you weren’t here…”

[A part of me is hidden. A-A part… part… of me is hidden here. It’s because of the bastards who are pressuring me to pay them back, you bas—I mean, our lovely Father Lee Ki-Young.]

“You should’ve told me that from the start. Anyway, I don’t think you can feel anything from this statue. By the way, is this what you really look like?” I asked.

[I look similar to it… It’s made from the memories of the sculptor who saw me in his dream. Was that your second question?]

“No, I was just curious. You’re prettier than I thought,” I told her.

[I-I hear that often… B-But you shouldn’t say things like that. It’s blasphemy.]

“Hm… Anyway, this is my second question. What happens to humans after they die?” I asked.

[What?]

“I asked what happens to humans after they die. I’m really curious. Imagine yourself meeting a transcendent being you had no idea about. I’m sure even you’ll want to ask,” I explained.

[…]

“…”

[Don’t get me wrong and listen carefully, Father Lee Ki-Young. I’m talking in the name of Benigoa, but… even I don’t know the answer to that.]

“What?” I asked.

[I don’t really know what happens to humans. That’s not part of my jurisdiction. There are things we can say and things we can’t. It means that there are things that are top secret and things that aren’t. But that… that doesn’t fall into any of those. I have no idea about that. It’s the same for when all living things die. I don’t know what happens when we all disappear. I don’t know if you trust me, but I hope you do.]

“I trust you.”

[Really?]

“Really. I wasn’t expecting to hear an answer anyway, and I had a feeling you didn’t know. Anyway, you can tell me top-secret information, right?” I asked.

[I can’t. It’d be nice if I could, but I’m not allowed to tell anyone top-secret information. Even if I talk about it, there’s no guarantee that you’ll hear my voice.]

“Damn it. That means you can’t tell me anything.”

[It depends on the question. What are you curious about?]

“…”

[…]

“What’s the reason for bringing us here?” I asked.

[…]

“I’m not criticizing you because I’m really satisfied with my current life. I’m just curious,” I added.

[That’s not top-secret information, but it’s something I can’t tell you the details about. To be exact, we’re not the ones who dragged you here. The ones who dragged you here handed you guys to us, and we just accepted it.]

“What are you talking about? You mean people on Earth handed us to you?” I asked.

[I can’t tell you the details, but it’s true. I know it’s difficult to accept, and I know that it’s cruel for foreigners, but the tutorial dungeons are made for the process of accepting humans. There’s also nothing we can do about it since we can’t accept every human. We acknowledge that it’s a violent method, but it’s not something we can decide. I swear on my name that we had no choice. I’m sorry, but that’s all I can tell you. I can’t tell you… why or how things are progressing.]

“Because it’s top secret, right?” I asked.

[I’m really sorry.]

“About what?”

[About how you got abandoned in this d-dimension… I’m really sorry.]

For some reason, she sounded as if she pitied me a lot.