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Encia abandoned her human self and transferred all her legacy to her disciple, Cecil.

A vast fortune, many books, fame and achievements as a mage, and even a significant amount of magical power.

She only kept the bare minimum of magical power necessary for herself, giving all the rest to her disciple.

Thus, Encia shed her human identity and ascended to become the God of Magic, Siantia.

Well, strictly speaking, since she hadn’t yet risen to the Divine Hall, her ascension wasn’t complete.

“Since I’ve even replaced my brain and heart, I can hardly be called human anymore.”

“But even if I change my entire body, if I still consider myself human… am I not still human?”

“Is that so?”

“Of course it is. I define myself.”

“Still, isn’t it a bit strange to keep thinking of yourself as human after ascending to godhood?”

“Then what? Let’s just say I’m a god who used to be human. I don’t put much significance on being human anyway.”

Ahem. Siantia’s calm words oddly struck a chord within me, but for now, I’ll just ignore it.

“Well then… did you say your goodbyes?”

“Yeah. I paid my respects at my parents’ tomb. I told the Elders of Procyon that I’m going on a journey from which I won’t return. And I mentioned that I would pass my ongoing tasks onto my disciple. The handover is all set.”

“Good. So.”

“Are you ready to ascend to the Divine Hall?”

Siantia swiftly turned her head at a voice that came from behind her.

“Tia…?”

“Yeah.”

I stood behind Siantia, smiling softly, and she returned the smile.

“It feels like this is the first time I’m seeing you in person.”

“It’s the first time. Until now, I’ve only communicated through the voice in your head.”

When Siantia ascends to the Divine Hall, she would need someone to guide her. It’s a tricky task to ask the other gods to do.

So, here I was, showing up in front of her myself.

“You look younger than I expected. I thought you’d appear more mature.”

“More mature?”

“But you’re called the Goddess of Life and the Mother of Earth. It feels a bit odd to have such a young appearance with those titles.”

Younger appearance, huh. Well, I can’t deny that. I might change slightly each time I transform, but my appearance as a young girl remains unchanged.

“Anyway, are you ready to ascend to the Divine Hall?”

“Yeah. I’ve mentally prepared myself.”

I reached out my hand toward Siantia, and she slowly placed her hand over mine, gripping it cautiously.

As if to say she wouldn’t let go.

“Alright. Then let’s depart. To the place where the gods reside.”

The sky opened up, and a rainbow descended. A bridge connecting the earth and sky emerged.

After stepping onto the bridge and guiding Siantia’s hand to step onto the rainbow, we slowly ascended into the heavens.

Thus, Siantia, the new God of Magic, reached the Divine Hall.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

“So, what does Siantia mean?”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“The name Siantia that appears in the foundational magic theory. I’m curious about its meaning.”

The girl with glasses took a moment to think, her sleepy eyes focusing before she replied.

“I said there’s a prayer directed toward the God of Magic, right?”

“Yeah. You did mention that.”

“The name of that God of Magic is Siantia. By the way, they’re also the God of Knowledge.”

“The God of Knowledge?”

“The name Siantia, from Scientia, carries the meaning of knowledge. That’s why they’re both a deity of knowledge and magic.”

Upon hearing that, the glasses-wearing girl looked surprised.

“Isn’t that a really important god?”

“Yes, they’re important, but they themselves aren’t really interested in spreading their faith. They even requested to have their name removed from the Divine List.”

“The Divine List… is that the list of gods?”

“Yes, that one.”

The glasses-wearing girl looked stunned by the sleepy girl’s words.

“Can you even have your name removed from that list in the first place?”

“If you ask, they’ll remove it. However, there’s really no need.”

“There’s no need…?”

“Of course! Gods are usually desperate to gain even one more follower. Why would anyone who’s tirelessly trying to spread their name among humans want to remove themselves from that kind of list? Unless they’re an oddball like Siantia.”

“That’s definitely true.”

“The Divine List could be seen as a magazine promoting gods, and you rarely get weirdoes wanting to take their names off it.”

Upon hearing the sleepy girl’s words, the glasses-wearing girl nodded slightly.

Considering how hard the priests in the temple work to secure followers…

“Well, that’s possible only because it’s feasible to secure a stable number of followers.”

“Stable followers?”

“Like mages. There won’t be a mage who doesn’t pray to the God of Magic. And scholars who pursue knowledge would also be praying to Siantia.”

“I see, that means there’s a steady income involved.”

It’s a somewhat cheap summary, but it wasn’t exactly wrong.

“Then, since I now use magic, should I pray to the God of Magic?”

“If you do, I’m leaving the Academy.”

“Why? What’s your connection with that God of Magic?”

“It’s a secret. I have my reasons. Why else would I stay distanced from the other mages?”

The glasses-wearing girl didn’t understand why the sleepy girl felt that way, but since such things weren’t a one-day or two-day occurrence, she just accepted it.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

“This is the Divine Hall…”

As Siantia gazed at the world above the clouds, she couldn’t help but marvel.

The sight of the Divine Hall, where many gods reside, wasn’t drastically different from human cities at first glance.

Except for the fact that it’s a city on pure white clouds, and the inhabitants are gods instead of humans, it looks quite similar otherwise.

“Then… should we make a temple for you to reside in?”

“A temple? That sounds a bit tedious. Can’t I just stay with Tia?”

“With me? Hmm… Since you’ve now become a god, it would be better to have your own temple.”

“A temple? I might need one someday, but for now, I want to live without one. So please, I want to stay with Tia.”

Hmmm… There are plenty of empty rooms in the temple, so it’s not a problem.

Well, giving up a room is no big deal. It shouldn’t be a problem.

“Alright. Since I have several empty rooms in my temple, I’ll let you have one.”

“Thank you, Tia.”

So I returned to my temple together with Siantia.

“Not happening.”

We were stopped by Asherat, whose expression was cold.

“There are plenty of empty rooms. Can’t you spare just one…?”

“Do you really think it’s okay for the other gods to come and go freely in your temple?! This is the temple of the Supreme God! It should have a majesty that’s hard for other gods to approach!”

“Cloud Whale… I mean, granting a room to Sandalphon and allowing other angels to come and go was one thing, but now you also want to give a room to a god who was human?! Is that even reasonable?!”

“No, but…”

“But what?! I’m saying you need to maintain some dignity! Maintain the dignity of the Supreme God!”

Ugh… The opposition is too fierce. What to say in this situation…

“New Model LD… for now a trial pass…”

“I won’t fall for that! You had recently fallen into hibernation, haven’t you?!”

Ugh… Looks like this won’t work.

I let out a small sigh. Asherat’s rejection was too strong for me to find a good argument.

Then…

“Could it be temporary, just until her temple is built? She’s given up everything as a human to become a god, and she has nothing yet.”

Asherat’s conscience pleading. But her stern expression showed no sign of softening.

“Please. Asherat.”

“sigh… Really. You’re too soft-hearted. Alright. I’ll allow her to stay in the Goddess’s temple until her temple is built.”

It seemed like she had resigned herself to saying that. Good. I persuaded her!

“Tia…? That god is… your fragment, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. That’s true, but most of the duties of the Goddess of Life are now tasked to Asherat.”

To put it bluntly, without Asherat, I would have to do the work of the Goddess of Life myself.

And I really don’t want to do that. I’m not interested in listening to the prayers of those humans.

In that sense… Asherat could be considered like a super subordinate.

“I don’t get it.”

“If you look, you’ll find these kinds of relationships.”

It’s a bit disappointing though.

 

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