C101
Shirone felt as if he had been hit in the head with a hammer. It was plausible to believe that this place could be the afterlife, but meeting a god was a completely different matter.
"You're a god?"
"Can't you believe it?"
"Well, I didn't even know there was a god, and if there was, I didn't think they would be so human-like."
The woman smiled.
“Every creature has no choice but to resemble its creator. It is like any object made by humans inevitably contains human thoughts and forms. Plants, animals, mountains and seas all resemble God. But the degree is different. The standard is creativity. For example, a squirrel is more creative than a rock. In that sense, humans are quite similar to gods. And Shirone, among them, you are one of the most god-like people."
The woman reached out and stroked Shirone's face.
“Shirone. Would you like to create a world with me?"
Shirone was confused. Everything was too sudden and unfamiliar. Above all, the woman's words that this place was not the afterlife lingered in his mind. It might have given him a small hope.
"Is there no way to go back?"
The woman looked at Shirone in surprise and shook his head.
"Unfortunately, Shirone, there is no way to go back. Wasn't it your choice to finish your life? Do you want to go back now?"
"No, it's not that. It was definitely something I was prepared for, and if it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have come back to my senses like this. Oh, this... Can I call you like this?”
"Of course. God is just a concept. I don't have a name."
“Then may I ask you one more question?”
"Hehe, anything."
“Why are you lying?”
The woman's eyebrows narrowed. It felt as if the temple was trembling.
"God does not lie. No, God is a being that cannot lie."
If God is omnipotent, lying is impossible. It is because any statement can be changed to a fact. But Shirone read it in the woman's eyes. She was hiding something.
"When I asked if there was a way to go back, you said there wasn't. But that's not true."
"Whether there is a way to go back or not, since I said there isn't, there is no way to go back. That's the reason."
"That's a lie."
"You don't understand, Shirone. I said there is no way to go back. So you can't go back, never!"
"Then let me ask you again. Regardless of your will, what I want to hear is whether there is a way to return to the original world."
"There is no such way!"
“Another lie!”
The woman's shoulders twitched. Shirone didn't miss her reaction. As she panicked, the temple's landscape wavered as if submerged in water.
"Are you really a god?"
It was suspicious from the beginning. Of course, there is no reason why the form of God imagined by humans should be the real God, but even so, the woman's reactions were too human-like.
The woman nodded as if she knew something.
"Shirone. We have different concepts of God. That's why there was a misunderstanding. God is not as sublime as you think. It's just the designer of the world."
When the woman extended her hand, a glass ball floated above her palm. Inside the glass ball, there was a small village landscape with people standing sparsely.
"As you can see, I created this village. It's just a model, of course. But I can move people like this too."
The woman stuck her finger into the glass globe and moved a farmer who was feeding his horse to a nearby field.
"See, the farmer has moved. The change in space means I've given it time. Can you find any difference between this world and the one you lived in, Shirone? There is none. This is what being a god is like. I am now the god of this village."
The woman held out the glass ball in front of Shirone's eyes.
"In the end, a god is nothing more than a designer who can create a dimension one step lower than the one they inhabit. So why does a god feel like an absolute being? That's the fun part. This farmer will never be able to sense the force that moved him to the nearby field."
The woman pulled the glass globe back and supported it with both palms. As she spread her arms wide, the village expanded rapidly, covering the temple.
Shirone looked around. They had suddenly entered the village. The two stood facing each other at opposite ends of a narrow path. The other people remained motionless.
The woman approached the farmer who was tiling the field.
Tags:
Infinite Mage (Novel)
