The Outer God Needs Warmth

Chapter 58

The first world gradually changed.

Since all the harvesters were concentrated in the Anselus Kingdom, I can’t know every detail precisely.

But I can tell how the situation is flowing to some extent.

A semi-Holy God Church movement started in the Anselus Kingdom.

From the harvesters’ perspective, not everyone in the Anselus Kingdom hated the Holy God Church.

Rather, it was more of an outlet for frustration. After two years of devastating famine, people who were completely exhausted needed a place to vent their anger.

However, they didn’t start by attacking the Holy God Church directly. At first, it was just verbal criticism.

But the timing was terribly bad. Of course, the people rose because of the timing, but the Holy God Church was also filled with people who were on edge.

The famine was a time of suffering for all life.

It’s like how being struck when you’re already sick makes you even more annoyed — the Holy God Church decided to aggressively suppress other religions.

A directive with that intention arrived at the Anselus King from the Holy God Church headquarters.

But the problem was that it depicted the Anselus Kingdom as if it were an enemy state.

The king summoned all the nobles and held a meeting. He opened the letter from the Holy God Church during that meeting.

The contents of the directive stated that the Anselus Kingdom’s king and nobility should offer nearly everything as tribute, and that all religions other than the Holy God Church should be thoroughly suppressed within their own borders.

The king and the harvesters were all in a bad mood.

In other words, others were also highly likely to be upset.

And in reality, the Anselus Kingdom responded by ignoring the Holy God Church.

Despite everything, many people refused to separate from the Holy God Church because they had believed for too long.

Moreover, although it was technically ignoring them, they did send some tribute and bowed their heads, so it was essentially compliance.

But the Holy God Church sent another directive, demanding everything as specified.

And several times.

In the end, the directive even included a threat to excommunicate the Anselus Kingdom.

From the king's perspective, there was no money to pay it all. To pay tribute, he would need to squeeze the nobles. But I, watching from a distance, knew that this would cause a rebellion.

Moreover, due to the famine, squeezing the people was an impossible situation.

While trying to manage diplomacy and ease the internal discontent, the harvester king grew more and more haggard. He was a strong man, but eventually, he couldn’t bear it and fell ill.

But it seemed that the Holy God Church didn’t care. In the end, the king’s younger brother took over, and it felt as if the kingdom was drowning in debt, with constant pressure on the king’s brother.

And the demands weren’t for gold or silver, but for food.

In the dire situation, Anselus Kingdom couldn’t make a decision and one year passed.

The famine wasn’t over.

It was the third year of the famine.

The forests were devastated, and there was no grass in the fields. Reports of people eating other people began to surface, and starvation deaths started happening in the capital.

Then, the king’s younger brother, who had been acting as his representative, gathered people in the capital’s plaza, announced the demands of the Holy God Church, and declared that the kingdom could no longer endure.

It was effectively a declaration of disaster.

But the people already had an alternative.

Yes.

In the midst of extreme hunger and the resignation that only death remained, a few reached out to me.

And I told you that someone with special abilities would appear, right?

A person who could turn stone into bread appeared.

Originally, he was a harvester who was only known to a few people in the capital. Once he discovered his ability, he desperately kept it hidden for fear of having it stolen by those in power.

He went to the king’s representative and suggested that they worship a new god. However, the king’s representative asked him, recalling that the god had died that very day.

The harvester, after claiming he had received his blessing after the god disappeared, convinced him that the Outer God hadn’t truly vanished.

The king’s younger brother believed it and decided to follow another god.

In a single day, the state religion changed.

It was already a time when the nobility was starving to death. The miracles of the Outer God spread like wildfire.

Looking at the situation, Martin and the former knights and priests of the Holy God Church had been dragged in by the fact that they had seen the Outer God up close.

They said the Outer God had truly returned.

But Rebecca denied it.

She said she was just a vessel for the Outer God.

I don’t know what Rebecca is thinking.

If she knows everything I’m thinking, then she knows that I’m an evil monster.

If I say this here, the slightly distorted fact might be corrected.

For example, how a person changes when they lose warmth.

Then, the illusion of the Outer God would be shattered.

But I don’t have the power to control this situation.

So, I had no choice but to hold my breath and watch.

And then, Rebecca spoke the truth that she knew.

The Outer God desires warmth.

She is watching people from the perspective of those who have received the blessings.

And she used horrific methods to summon the Outer God.

She spoke about the events when her heart was ripped out and she was in the Future Hope Church until she died.

And she said the Outer God saved her as she was leaving.

Martin asked hesitantly.

“Is that... resurrection?”

“Yes. Put your ear to my chest. You won’t hear my heartbeat. After I died once, I couldn’t die again.”

Martin was extremely uncomfortable. His gaze kept shifting to Rebecca’s chest before quickly falling away. Then, Dakota turned towards her.

“I’ll do it.”

Rebecca, who had been watching Dakota carefully, smiled broadly and opened her arms.

“Oh, are you a little child? Alright. Come here.”

When Dakota approached, she embraced her. Dakota’s ear touched her chest. Instead of hearing a heartbeat, there was a sound of something spinning.

The heart I had swapped out for her is still there.

As Dakota tried to push herself up, her body didn’t move backward despite the effort.

“What?”

As Dakota was about to ask, she heard a soft whisper in her ear with a faint breath.

“The one who cannot say their name. You’re listening, aren’t you?”

Rebecca whispered into Dakota’s ear, holding her close. The one who cannot say their name.

That was probably referring to me.

“We’ll meet again.”

And with that, she let go of Dakota. Dakota touched her ear with a confused expression. Rebecca laughed and then addressed the people in the room.

“Well then, let’s move for the Outer God. I came here for that purpose.”

Everyone looked at Rebecca with confused expressions. But soon, as Rebecca started explaining, their expressions changed.

That’s the method I know. I edited the principles of how a religion spread in one world to fit this one.

Along with that, a prayer was born.

I took the prayer that had been referenced to torment Hyungkeshni and inserted myself into it, modifying it to fit the Outer God Church.

At least she knows what I’m doing, and she’s acting in accordance with it. She knows that stealing warmth from people is harmful but continues with the actions.

I don’t know why.

Dakota seems unaware, but I sensed intense hatred in Rebecca’s face. She must have grown to hate the world.

Well, that’s enough.

I decided to keep watching as I looked forward to how things would unfold in the first world.