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I heard the furious Asherat wailing from afar!

Asherat attacked you!

Ouch! This really hurts!

I’m dead…

Fortunately, nothing like that happened. Somehow, I managed to appease Asherat’s anger through various means.

By the way, the detailed process of soothing Asherat, who had become as ferocious as a snail somewhere, will be skipped.

Well, it wasn’t even much of a story, so I didn’t feel the need to talk about it.

All I did was… give Asherat a bit of a long vacation.

In exchange, I ended up filling in all the work Asherat left behind, but if I can calm down Asherat’s anger for this price, it’s a bargain.

Honestly, if I were to be stubborn, I could just ignore this and let it slide… But I am a bit worried about the aftermath!

No matter how much Asherat is a fragment created by me, it’s still an entity with its own self. I did create it, but I should respect Asherat’s self to some extent, right?

And… if Asherat gets angry and goes on strike or sabotages something, then I’ll take the blame for it all!

It’s better to give a decent vacation and calm its anger, after all.

“Thanks to that, I’m doing this work right now.”

“This is Tia’s fault.”

“Yes. It’s my master’s fault.”

While I was working hard in place of the vacationing Asherat, Sia and Arthur came along and started bothering me.

No, they probably don’t even realize that just saying that is provoking me…

There’s a world of difference between someone who usually works hard and someone who hardly does but decides to work hard now!

Hmm. Does this mean I’m confessing that I hardly worked so far?

But hey! Back in the day, I really worked hard! Before I completed Asherat as a fragment, I had to handle everything by myself!!! Really, I worked really hard!!! I even had to do most of it on my own without anyone to help!!!

At least now I can pass some work on to Asherat, and since there are other gods around too, I’m feeling a bit more relaxed! If someone told me to go back to how it was, I’d be like, “Are you crazy? No way! That’s a scream!”

Repeating something I’ve already done once is incredibly tedious and annoying. I don’t want to do it twice.

“Don’t interrupt my work and just go away. What’s so fun about watching me work like this?”

“Surprisingly fun? Tia looking so serious while working is funny, and her hands are moving so quickly it’s quite the spectacle.”

“Personally, I like how you respond with a kind expression to the believers’ prayers.”

What is this idiot even watching?! It’s embarrassing!!

“Yeah. That faint maternal instinct mixed with kindness and a hint of playfulness on your face! I quite like it too!”

“Get out right now!!!”

In the end, I had to yell to chase away the two who were interrupting my work.

Honestly… I was trying to get some work done, and they’re causing a ruckus! So disruptive!

Phew. Time to get back to it. I have to fill in the gap left by Asherat while they’re away.

And… even if I don’t want to work, I can do it better than Asherat when I set my mind to it! I’ll show that the main body won’t back down to the fragment!!!

Thus, I poured all my effort into my duties as the Goddess of Life.

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The task of filling in for Asherat wasn’t that difficult. All I had to do was maximize my abilities.

The problem was…

“The work is never-ending.”

The work was multiplying!

No, I’m not kidding; it really was duplicating.

In this world, there are countless living beings, and among them, how many possess the intelligence to pray to a god?

How many requests do they have for the God of Life?

Those suffering from illness or injury pray to alleviate their pain, those desiring children pray for new life, and those on the brink of death hope for a favorable judgment in the underworld.

Not to mention the prayers for crops to grow well, livestock to be healthy and bear young, lots of fish to be caught, plagues to subside, and small trees to sprout… and elf stuff! Pray to Yggdrasil! Not me!!!

Anyway, there were truly a lot of people praying to me.

Really. So many that it was ridiculous.

I mean, the domain I oversee is just too vast! Isn’t this a bit excessive?! There are times when they could pray to other gods!!! Just because I’m the Supreme God!!

This… is too much… Seriously too much… It’s absurd that people pray to me just because they don’t know who else to ask.

Especially those dwarf guys! They say creating items gives life to them and pray to me!!! I’ll listen, sure, but!!! I’ll sprinkle a bit of luck and skill on them, but technically they should be praying to Vulcanus!!!

Anyway, this isn’t sustainable. If this continues, I might become something like a prayer-answering machine.

And while I might manage, Asherat definitely won’t! The processing speed will just not cut it!!!

If Asherat can’t do it, I’ll have to work too!!! This can’t go on!!!

“Therefore, I made it. The Automatic Prayer Classification Device!”

“Huh?”

After enjoying a long vacation for decades, Asherat was confronted with a machine I created… a machine? Something divine? Anyway, I made it as a machine, so I’ll call it that.

“This device analyzes the prayers sent to me and connects them to the appropriate god.”

“Appropriate god? That’s a rather vague expression.”

“But there’s really no better way to put it.”

An artificial intelligence I developed during those decades while handling the prayers, learning which god each prayer suits best… Should I call it divine intelligence since a god created it? Whatever!

This thoroughly trained AI will analyze the prayers and process them automatically! It’s like a telephone operator but for prayers.

Of course, it doesn’t have any function other than classifying prayers. It’s just a machine that does daily sorting. It doesn’t constitute a proper self!

Seeing Asherat, I thought having no self might not be so bad. Yeah. No bothersome work.

“With this device, prayers that randomly hit the Goddess of Life won’t happen!”

“That sounds pretty useful.”

“Right? Just reducing the number of unnecessary prayers will be a huge help. The number of prayers I have to handle should be cut in half!”

Moreover, prayers wishing for children were automatically directed to the Cloud Whale… no, to Sandalphon… Uh, that name Sandalphon is sticking oddly, I keep calling it the Cloud Whale.

Anyway, the prayers from couples wanting children automatically go to Sandalphon.

And prayers from those afraid of the underworld trial are now directed to Hades.

Even if prayers come to me, if there’s a more suitable god for processing, they’ll be directed that way.

This means the prayers that come to me will mostly be from those suffering from injuries or illnesses.

Yeah. Using subcontractors is the best way to handle work! If there’s too much work, sharing is the answer!

“Um… well, since it’s made by the goddess, I don’t think there’ll be problems, but I guess we have to try it out to know for sure.”

“I’m confident. When I tested it, it worked perfectly fine.”

When functioning normally, it felt like about 40% of the prayers that used to flood in would drop! That alone would be enough to breathe easier.

Of course, there’s no way the testing environment and real-world usage would be the same. But after multiple rounds of testing, I think I’ve stabilized it somewhat.

If issues arise, then I’ll truly be at a loss.

And… if this still doesn’t work, I’d considered looking for other methods.

“What’s the cause of sending prayers to the Goddess of Life?

Those are pains! Pains from illness and injury! Destruction… cough! Let’s process it!!

By properly addressing those, the need to send prayers to a god should diminish!”

With that thought, I also considered actively treating others using the priests and pilgrims of the Church of Life.

Of course, I was viewing it as a last resort, knowing that it would increase the burden on the priests and pilgrims, but…

Now that I’ve completed the Automatic Prayer Classification Device, there’s no need to resort to those methods!

“So, let’s try this out for a while and evaluate how it goes. Only by confirming it’s working can I rest easy.”

“Okay. I understand. My heart wishes to take a vacation for hundreds of years, but… well, I’m not the Goddess of Life after all. I can’t take such an extended break. I guess it’s time to get back to work.”

“You’re subtly criticizing me.”

“But it was the truth. What kind of god dozes off for 300 years?”

“What can I do about being sleepy?”

No matter what, it’s hard to resist feeling sleepy. If I don’t get a proper sleep, I feel like something’s rattling in my head.

I can hold out without sleeping, but… I also have a feeling that it shouldn’t be that way.

Thanks to that, I can at least keep a decent sleep schedule.

Oh, and it’s better not to mention I could sleep forever if I decide to. Yeah.

Thus, after enjoying decades of vacation, Asherat began processing her duties using the Automatic Prayer Classification Device.

Maybe it was due to the decrease in the number of prayers, or perhaps because she enjoyed observing the lives of humans over those decades, but her expression was brighter than before her vacation.

Great. Now I can play without doing any work again!!

 

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