Chapter 101

Chapter 101: Akasha

In the dimly lit tomb, Vania, huddled in the corner, stared fixedly at the sacred text on the ground in front of her. Her heart was filled with panic, and she even found it difficult to breathe. After much effort, she managed to suppress her restless and anxious mind, but her unease remained.

After learning that she had received a divine revelation from an other god, Vania initially considered turning herself in at the nearby Church of Radiance or fleeing immediately. But then she quickly dismissed these thoughts by slapping her face.

‘No, no, calm down, Vania, stay calm! If I turn myself in, I will definitely have to go to the Tribunal. Once there, the outcome will not be good. The crime of apostasy is too serious; the Grand Judge won’t lessen the sentence just because of my willingness to confess. If I leave now, all that will remain here will be the corpses of heretics and the other team members. My absence would certainly be seen as having led them to heresy and planning this massacre together. Then I would be pursued worldwide by the execution squad… I wouldn’t be able to live in peace…’

Vania analyzed her current situation and realized that neither self-surrender nor flight were viable options. The safest course seemed to be to act as if nothing had happened and return to the church, keeping the fact that she had received a divine revelation from an other god a secret.

Of course, not only must she keep this secret, but the other god must also keep it for her. She was uncertain whether doing so would anger the other god.

The deity’s bestowal of divine revelation upon a believer was a great blessing, and it might even lead to being considered a favored one by the deity. If she received such a revelation and ignored the deity who granted it, returning to the church as if nothing had happened, she could provoke divine wrath!

Even though it was an other god, it was still a deity! An existence not to be trifled with. Besides, this deity had genuinely helped her, although she did not yet know what kind of deity it was. Vania did not want to provoke its displeasure, and if the deity insisted on her joining their cult, she would have no choice.

“Whew… Anyway, let’s try to communicate first.”

With a sense of trepidation, Vania picked up the sacred text again and continued writing on it.

“Excuse me… Unknown Lord, do you have any special requests?”

…

“Requests?”

Looking at the words that appeared on the book, Dorothy scratched her head. Since she didn’t really understand the true nature of the other party, she thought it was not appropriate to make any demands. So she wrote:

“No immediate requests.”

…

‘Meaning that there’s no immediate need to force me to join His church? That’s excellent. I can ask another question next.’

Seeing the response on the sacred text, Vania thought this while continuing to write on it.

“May I ask, Unknown Lord, may I return to the church next?”

Seeing the written characters disappear, Vania waited a moment before the response appeared immediately.

“No problem.”

Seeing this response, Vania felt a wave of relief. This meant that returning to the church would not provoke the deity’s displeasure. As long as she was careful in the future not to reveal that she had received a divine revelation from an other god, she could continue living quietly as an ordinary nun in the Scripture Department, maintaining her previous lifestyle. This was the best outcome!

Although she did not know who this other god was, it felt quite decent. It probably wasn’t an evil deity.

‘It seems that even if I continue to be a Radiance nun, I must always remember this grace. Oh, right, it would be best to ask for the name. If I can confirm which specific other god it is, I can avoid violating any taboos.

Thinking this way, Vania continued to write.

“Please, Great Lord, what is your honorable name?”

…

“Honorable name? What is that? Is it the deity’s name? No… Honorable name seems like a long description of the deity…”

Seeing the new information that appeared on the page in front of her, Dorothy thought back to when she learned letters in the church, where she memorized the Honorable Name of the Holy Mother of Radiance.

If the other party regarded her as some deity, then surely this deity should have a name. Even if she was pretending to be a deity using the system… But this Honorable Name was so long, she couldn’t think of it right away.

With this in mind, Dorothy pondered the nature of the system and then wrote a simple word on the page as a temporary measure.

“Akasha”

…

“…Akasha…”

On the floor of the tomb, Vania looked at the word that appeared on the book, momentarily puzzled. After trying several pronunciations, her confusion only deepened.

“Akasha… A completely unheard-of Honorable Name. No… This sounds more like a name, not like an Honorable Name…”

Vania puzzled over this. Generally speaking, an Honorable Name was a descriptive term for a deity, a word that could convey the nature of the deity. For example, Savior of Radiance, Holy Mother of Mercy, Holy Father of Judgment, Cup Mother, Gluttonous Wolf, Black Spider Queen, and so on…

And the complete form of an Honorable Name used for prayers was often a series of descriptive words, more accurately describing and praising the power of the deity.

But this Akasha… Vania had no idea what it meant. It didn’t seem like a name or a specific term. She was utterly confused after reading it.

‘Might it be… a result of translating a language I don’t know into Prit? I don’t know that language, so I don’t understand its meaning?

‘Using a language I don’t understand as an Honorable Name… Could it be… that this lord is a deity from a lost civilization?

‘Vania thought, as a researcher of scriptures, seeing an incomprehensible Honorable Name naturally made her think in this direction.

“Mm… Never mind, let’s thank them first…”

Then, Vania sincerely wrote a few lines of gratitude on the text and closed it, fastening it to her waist with a leather strap. After scanning the scene around her, she sighed deeply.

“Now I need to send a telegram to the nearby Telegraph Office for reinforcements. May the Lord protect us, hoping they will believe me when the time comes.”

Vania prayed as usual, but after praying, she felt a bit off. She wasn’t sure whether the “Lord” she had just prayed to referred to the Three Saints of Radiance or the mysterious deity from earlier.

Realizing this, Vania found that fully returning to a regular nun’s life might still be somewhat difficult.

…

“Whew…”

Sitting at the desk, seeing the response from the believer, Dorothy breathed a sigh of relief. In a sense, she thought she had gained another source of information or secret transmission, so she might not need to spend money asking Audric about everything anymore.

However, this source was currently not very useful, since the other party regarded her as a deity, and deities wouldn’t answer basic questions from believers. Therefore, she needed to find a better way to communicate to obtain information from the other party.

“Akasha… This word should be unknown to people in this world.”

Dorothy muttered, Akasha was a term from her original world’s Sanskrit, roughly meaning ether. When she chose this name, she thought of Akasha records.

Like the Rosy Cross, this was actually a concept in the mysticism of her former world. To put it simply, it referred to a collection of all information beyond time and space, the ultimate library storing all information, which had appeared in many games, films, and anime.

Since her system was related to information, Dorothy took this name.

However, just Akasha alone didn’t seem like a deity’s name. Perhaps someday when she felt like it, she could complete the Honorable Name.