Chapter 135: Ch 134: Final Decision

The people who had tried to disrupt the peace of the village shook in their boots as they looked at Caelion and Lumi’s expressions. They could tell that they had made a mistake coming after them and this village, but they still felt justified in carrying this out in the name of their god.

"W-We are not wrong here. Our god—"

Lumi blasted a small jellyfish near the man’s face, causing him to let out a startled yelp and then faint from shock. She could only shake her head at that and look back at Caelion.

"Well, we can bundle them up nicely and take them back to Priest Aiden for now. He can decide what to do with them."

And thus, the decision of what to do with these people was left to Aiden now.

...

Aiden threw the new captives into the same cell he had thrown the other captives he had without a second thought. They all huddled together like scared kids as they looked at Aiden with their wide eyes.

"What is wrong? Are you too scared of me? There is no need to be. I promise I will not harm you...for now."

Aiden promised as he looked at the cowering people in front of him. He felt like they were far too scared of him for no reason.

After all, all he was going to do was probe them a little here and there so that they would spill their secrets. But that was hardly a reason to fear him, right?

"P-Please spare us. We did not mean anything by what we did. We will work hard and—"

"I don’t really care if you will work hard or not. I just want to know what your and the Church of Prey’s plan is regarding my goddess. So, if you would be so kind as to tell me without much fuss."

Aiden looked at the Church’s followers with a smile on his face, and they nodded.

"All we wanted to do was scare you a little and make you lose followers. That way, our god could have devoured you all and—"

Sigh

"So this came down to war? I am not surprised. If a war is what you want, then a war is what you will get."

Aiden made a decision as he nodded to himself. But the captives in front of him looked beyond shocked at his words.

"You want to go against God Steller? You will be crushed. He’s a god—"

"Who’s at Regional Level, right? Well, my goddess is not far behind. I bet we can hit that level in just a few more days."

The second Aiden said that, he heard a notification from the system.

[Current Mission update: Educating the followers. (Complete)]

[Mission Criteria: Opening a School and educating 1,000 people]

[Reward: 1% Divinity]

[Additional reward: 0.1% Divinity for every 10,000 people educated]

[Current students: 1,256]

[Current Divinity: 3.75%]

[Goddess Apophis has exceeded 10,000 followers]

[Current Divinity: 5%]

[Goddess Apophis has evolved into a Regional Goddess.]

The timing could not have been more perfect, even if Aiden tried. He felt like even the system and the world were on his side with this.

He was also ready to take on any god head-on.

The Church of Prey, who still thought of him as a weakling, could not help but look at him as if he had lost his mind.

"Have you gone mad? You truly want to take on the Church of Prey as your enemy? You will be crushed—"

"It will be the church first and then Goddess Serenity. The world will know my goddess’s name once you two are subdued. Don’t you think so?"

Aiden issued this challenge to the captives, who could only look at him as if he had lost his head. They opened their mouths to complain, but ultimately decided against it and shook their heads.

"This is blasphemy. We will not stand for it—"

"Then don’t. It is your own choice whether you want to follow me or not. I will take my leave now. Good luck staying stuck in this cell."

The captives protested and tried to get out of the cell, but it was impossible. After all, Aiden had used the system to create this place. It won’t be taken down so easily by these fools.

And now that he had issued a challenge to the Church of Prey, he would need to make sure to keep the fire burning as well.

...

By the end of the day, everyone knew that the one behind the academy attack had been the Church of Prey, and the agitation against them started to increase.

Aiden received more and more handwritten letters from the students and other residents of his territory asking him to do something about them. Even other smaller gods who were being oppressed by the Church of Prey started to show their support for Aiden. Seeing all this, Aiden could not help but chuckle.

"Looks like the Church of Prey had incurred a lot of hatred from the local people, and now they have turned their backs on it. But that was to be expected. If you don’t play nice with others, then it will come back to bite you in the ass."

As for Aiden? He did not need to play nice. His territory had something that everyone coveted, and it caused the others to be nice to him.

But one thing was clear—since Aiden had all this support, he could not afford to fall. And that meant that he had to keep his eyes open for the enemies.

"Are you going to participate in this war personally?"

Aiden looked at his goddess with an amused expression. He could understand why she was asking this question.

"Goddess Apophis, are you afraid that I might get hurt? Then, there is no need to be afraid. I already have a plan for this fight."

Aiden assured her, but the goddess still did not look relieved by his reassurance.