Chương 21: The Price of Faith

"Faith?" Nerez asked, leaning against the railing. The two had stopped on a small bridge over one of the many streams that flowed down through the city of the five peaks.

"Yes. Why? Are you deaf?" Cerys shot back, hands on her hips.

"It just seems a little strange to me. I would've associated faith with the spiritual energy of gods... Or is that precisely why it has economic value?"

"Of course. Faith can be converted into SPE through a reverse temple in your domain," Cerys explained, raising a finger as she puffed out her chest, proud of her knowledge. Nerez covered his mouth to keep from laughing. If he annoyed her, she would stop explaining things, and he had no intention of losing the encyclopedia he had just acquired.

"Wait... They could've explained all of this to you at the Palace of Concord!"

"I'd rather hear it from you. The less I have to do with the other gods, the fewer problems I'll have."

"Tch... don't get used to it."

"But then, do mortals who believe in the gods give them faith? Is that how the economy works?"

"Not exactly. Temples and altars are what send faith to the gods," Cerys explained, raising a finger again to emphasize that point.

"And of course, it depends a lot on how large each one is and how many believers it serves."

"I see, it's a lot more complicated than it looks..."

"By the way, one SPE is roughly equal to ten units of faith."

"So it takes ten units of faith just to make one unit of spiritual energy... but how much faith do altars and temples give in the first place?"

"I don't know about temples. But I heard that even a small altar has to serve an entire community before it can send any faith to its patron god. And only then does it contribute around one unit of faith a month, I think..."

"In other words, one person's faith isn't even enough to make a single 'unit of faith'... And personally, I don't know if I'd want to visit a community with an altar to the god of death..." Nerez let out a sigh and lowered his gaze to the stream.

"To begin with, I doubt there are many of those... I guess I'm destined to be poor," he mused, one hand on his chin.

"Then again, it's not like I need many comforts in a cave."

"I do! And who do you think has to feed me too?!"

"I feel like I adopted a pet..."

"Dare say that one more time!" Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

"Haha, sorry, sorry."

"Tch... for your information, gods of death have important temples in all the major cities of other worlds."

"Yes, I know, and that's a lot more normal. It's just the altar part that gives me chills for some reason..."

"Aren't you the god of death...?" Cerys sighed.

"Besides, aren't you going to sell that fruit of Yggdrasil? It's worth 50, 000 faith, isn't it?"

"Now that you mention it, you're right. If it grants 5, 000 SPE, that means it's worth 50, 000 units of faith... wow, that's the equivalent of 50, 000 altars..."

"And before I forget, besides temples, there are other ways to obtain faith, or even spiritual energy directly. Things like controlling sacred objects and holy places, among others... Are you even listening to me?! Who do you think is going to all this trouble to teach you all this?!"

"Ah, sorry. I'm in the middle of an important transaction, so don't distract me for a second." Nerez worked his way through the holographic screen with a serious expression while holding the Yggdrasil fruit in his free hand.

"I'm going to...! I'm going to...! I'm going to bite you!" And then she doesn't want anyone calling her a pet... The transaction was instantaneous. The fruit vanished from his hands, and his bank account... divine account? swelled considerably.

"Relax. I'll buy you something as an apology."

"It had better be something good."

"I'm poor again..." Both of them were wearing new clothes, their purchase also having been made through the Godscript itself, which had a section specifically for trade. Trade with whom? That was a mystery. But just as the Godscript organized the information of the cosmos and presented it in a way he could understand, maybe it did something similar here, converting energy into materials, or vice versa.

"Nobody forced you to spend all your faith on clothes..."

"I absolutely was!"

"By whom?!"

"How am I supposed to buy the cheaper version of something when the more expensive one so obviously offers more? Common sense forced me!"

"..."

"The magical and physical protection this outfit gives is off the charts! And it isn't even armor... Protection means safety, and safety means peace of mind!"

"..." He was now wearing a fitted long coat that split from the waist down. Golden embroidery ran across it and matched his eyes perfectly, though it was actually made from a metal Nerez had never even heard of. The same went for the legendary beast with the unpronounceable name from which the main material had supposedly been taken. The outfit also included gloves, so he would not accidentally touch skeletons (important to Nerez), along with pants and boots.

Everything was made from the same black material as the coat and matched perfectly.

"And you can't complain. Your new clothes weren't that much cheaper, even though they use a lot less fabric..." Cerys's outfit was actually rather similar to his, made from the same black material and styled like a uniform. In her case, though, the embroidery was silver, and the outfit consisted of a short-sleeved jacket, a pleated miniskirt that ended in a V-shape, and long boots that rose above her knees.

She was also wearing gloves, but hers had silver knuckles and left her fingers exposed past them, so she could better feel her weapon (according to her).

"Tch, don't be stingy," Cerys retorted, spinning once to show off the outfit.

"Not only does it have excellent defense, it also boosts my attack and mobility. Your enemies will fall a lot faster now!"

"What enemies?! The cave's bats? Mice? Snakes?"

"That's what I'm feeding you for dinner!"

"Ha! In wartime, I learned to eat all of that and more! Though I seriously doubt you know how to cook... But leave it to me, I'll make you a delicacy from another world, literally."

"No, thanks..."!!

"Ah! Urk! Huff... huff... We finally caught up to them... huff... huff... High Arbiter!"

"Ugh... huff... well done... Dililei... huff..."

"J-just... Dili... huff... is fine... High Arbiter..." Two breathless figures had appeared at the near end of the bridge, a tall man in glasses and a girl with disheveled hair. Both wore mediators' uniforms, though theirs seemed to indicate a higher rank than the one who had attended them at the Palace of Concord, especially the man's.