I said,

“Even if we claim the Demon King sent the oracle, the rain won’t stop.”

“What?”

“You know. This rain is something Adin is bringing with the power of the Celestial God. Unless that power is weakened, it won’t end.”

“……”

“Shouting that Idria’s oracle is false doesn’t mean we are denying the Celestial God. The rain will keep falling. Until humanity, in its panic, brands me a fake.”

Everyone’s faces turned grim.

I continued in a soothing tone. Nᴇw ɴovel chaptᴇrs are published on noⅴelfire.net

“So, I thought of starting like this. The Celestial God is driving humanity in the direction it wants through this so-called divine punishment of a flood.”

“……”

“They call it divine punishment, but in the end it’s nothing more than blackmail. A god threatening mankind.”

Everyone nodded.

Neril followed up on my words.

“So you’re going to frame it as: is threatening humanity really the proper way for a god to act?”

“Yeah. At this level of rainfall, crops must already be suffering. Barns collapsing, logistics disrupted, the economic damage will be enormous.”

“……”

“Even if no one dares to say it aloud, the frustration must be boiling inside. I will be the one to give voice to it. And then…”

I felt my throat dry and swallowed.

With a slightly low voice, I went on.

“And then I will ask everyone. To believe not in the Celestial God, but in me.”

“Huh?”

“I will ask them to believe that I can put an end to the rain.”

“Will that really work?”

I nodded firmly.

“Of course. The oracle declared I’m a fake hero. It said as long as humanity believes I’m the true one, the punishment will continue.”

“……”

“So if people believe that I, a mere human, can stop this rain, then that itself means they have rejected the oracle. And that means…”

“That they no longer believe in the Celestial God.”

Exactly.

There’s no need to openly cry out that the Celestial God isn’t a real god.

By believing in me as the hero, humanity will, unknowingly, deny their god.

[Quite a crafty logic. But it’s convincing.]

‘Yeah. The problem is, how many people have to believe I’m the hero before the rain actually stops?’

[…]

‘Come to think of it, I could see other people’s fame through my screen too, right? Can I check the Celestial God’s fame that way?’

[Probably not.]

Trail said that, and pulled up the screen.

It read:

Celestial God / Total Faith: Unmeasurable

I clicked my tongue.

Then suddenly a thought struck me.

‘Don’t check under “Celestial God.” Try again with the name Adin Press.’

[Huh? Ahh. I see!]

The fame piled before the Celestial God is called “faith.”

What piles before the name itself is fame.

The screen rose again.

Adin Press / Total Fame: 1,210,000

“Gasp.”

I instinctively drew in a breath.

Everyone turned their eyes on me.

“Mr. Mide, what’s wrong?”

“I was wondering how much of the god’s fame I would need to reduce before the rain would stop. So I checked how high Adin’s fame is first.”

“And?”

“It’s over 1.2 million.”

“…But Mide, your fame is…”

Yeah.

My current fame is 430,400.

Serein let out a groan.

“That’s nearly three times the difference.”

“I wasn’t expecting it to be close. But I thought it would be less than double.”

“There’s no helping it. A god’s name carries that much weight.”

I calmed my murmuring companions.

Then spoke with resolve.

“I have got a feeling.”

“Hm?”

“If my fame surpasses Adin’s, the rain will definitely stop.”

“Why are you so sure?”

“What makes a god a god? Because they are the one and only, irreplaceable being.”

But if my fame surpasses his?

Then he is no longer the only one.

Someone will be standing above him.

The moment my fame overtakes Adin’s, he will lose his divine power.

And the rain will stop.

“This crisis… it’s also the greatest opportunity we will ever get.”

“……”

“There’s no other way to overtake Adin’s fame, unless the entire continent is drowning.”

“……”

“It’s a gamble, yes. But the stakes are massive.”

I looked each one of them straight in the eyes as I went on.

“Let’s do it.”

----------------------------------------

The Berman territory sat on the coast, where most of its people lived as fishermen.

The catch there was the greatest in the continent, practically the lifeblood of its economy.

But for the past two days, not a single ship had set out.

Norman, a fisherman renowned for his skill, was now drinking in the middle of the day with nothing else to do.

Gulp.

After draining a strong drink in one go, he looked out the window.

Swoooosh.

The downpour was so heavy he could hardly see a few meters ahead.

“Damn it. Never seen rain this bad in my life.”

Across from him, his drinking buddy replied.

“Looking at this weather, tomorrow is hopeless too, huh?”

“Tomorrow? At this rate, it might never stop raining.”

“No way.”

“You serious? Did you forget the oracle just yesterday?”

His friend fell silent.

Norman raised his voice.

“This is all because of those northern bastards.”

“Hmm.”

“I always believed Sir Kaeld was the real hero. That Mide bastard is just one of the Demon King’s lackeys. That’s what the first oracle said, wasn’t it?”

“But the second oracle said…”

“That second one was clearly made by the Demon King. But because the northerners kept worshipping Mide, in the end the Celestial God grew wrathful.”

From Norman’s perspective, such grievances made sense.

For the people of this land, who had faithfully believed the Celestial God’s oracle, this was unfair punishment.

They were suffering heavenly wrath simply because others foolishly believed Mide was the hero.

His friend only gave a bitter smile.

And then…

—Greetings, everyone.

My name is Mide Mohan.

A voice suddenly echoed through the tavern.

Not only Norman and his friend, but everyone inside froze mid-drink.

Norman stared at his friend with trembling eyes.

“Did he just say… Mide Mohan?”

“I heard it too.”

“D-Did he hear what I said just now? You know… the bad-mouthing.”

His friend barely held back a laugh and replied.

“Didn’t you read the official notice from the lord this morning?”

“What?”

“It said Lord Mide would be addressing the flood, and that arrangements had been made so his voice could be heard anywhere in the territory.”

“……”

“And after all that trash you just talked about him, now you’re shaking like a leaf?”

“Hey. Everyone curses the Emperor when he is not around.”

With a terrified face, Norman awkwardly raised his glass again.

Meanwhile, Mide’s voice carried on.

—I imagine you’re all deeply worried after a full day and night of rain.

But what you should truly be paying attention to is not the rain itself, but the content of the oracle that came before it.

In that oracle, the Celestial God declared me, Mide Mohan, a fake hero.

If it ended there, fine.

But no, now it claims that those who disbelieve will be punished, drowning your lives and happiness under this rain.

Even if such downpours last just a week, humanity’s future will be ruined.

How are we to interpret this?

How should we interpret the fact that the Celestial God himself is dragging humanity toward ruin?

Even if the Celestial God truly believes I am fake, this is the wrong way to go about it.

Instead of tormenting you, He should descend and deal with me directly.

Why is it not done that way?

Why not punish me, the one at fault, instead of tormenting these innocent people?

Norman almost found himself nodding at those words. He barely managed to restrain himself in at the last moment, but he couldn’t erase the doubt that had already crept up in his heart.

‘That makes sense. If Mide really is a fake, then why doesn’t he punish Mide directly? Why is he tormenting us?’

-Some might say this:

How could lowly humans possibly understand the supreme will of a God?

That’s true. I, and all of us, cannot know the will of the God.

But isn’t the reverse just as true?

Does the Celestial God truly know the suffering and sorrows of humankind?

The grief of a man who loses his job because of a downpour. The sorrow of a farmer who sheds tears over his flooded fields. The frustration of a fisherman forced to sit idle, staring out at the sea because he cannot set sail.

That last line especially struck Norman’s heart.

And the next words from Mide did more than strike his heart.

-I will stop this rain.

Norman and his companion looked at each other.

“D-did you hear that just now? The Hero said he will stop the rain!”

“You were saying Mide was a fake just a moment ago…”

“Damn it. If he really stops the rain, what does it matter if he is a fake hero or not?”

“Hmm. Let’s listen a bit more first.”

-No, let me correct that.

It’s you who will stop the rain. Your wishes will drive away the clouds that darken the skies. I’m not asking much of you.

There’s no need to resent the Celestial God. No need to deny Him, either.

Just believe that I can dispel this rain. And then witness it.

See for yourselves the moment when you saved yourselves from crisis!

Rejoice.

Rejoice in the fact that you protected yourselves with your own strength.

Thus ended Mide’s speech.

“……”

“……”

Norman and his companion fell silent.

They weren’t the only ones.

Everyone in the tavern was silent.

Their eyes flicked about, watching one another.

Swoooosh.

The only sound was the rain outside, hammering against the ground.

----------------------------------------

When I finished the speech, I turned around.

My companions greeted me with warm smiles.

Swish.

Neril deactivated the communication orb.

I asked,

“How was it?”

“For me, I liked it.”

“Well, Neril noona likes everything Hyung does anyway.”

“Adwin. Your smile is getting a lot slyer lately. You were so cute when you were a baby.”

“You have never even seen me as a baby.”

Xenia spoke up.

“Honestly, I don’t know. I’m not sure how effective that speech was.”

“……”

“No, I do think it was a good tactic. You didn’t make humanity outright deny the Celestial God. From the common person’s perspective, it’s easier to think freely if they don’t feel the burden of rejecting a god.”

“Mhm.”

“But it still wasn’t the best.”

She was right. My speech hadn’t been the best.

Serein picked up the thread and hit the core of it.

“The best option would have been if you had stopped the rain first.”

“……”

“Without all the talk, if you had just used your power to clear the skies, humanity would have exalted your name.”

“That’s impossible for me, that’s why I had to use this method.”

“Yes. I was only saying it out of regret.”

I shrugged.

“I never expected to overturn my fame with just one speech anyway.”

“Huh?”

“I will give the same speech tomorrow, and the day after. Of course, I will keep refining it, making it sharper and more polished.”

“Ah.”

“Humanity has believed in the Celestial God since the dawn of history. How could one attempt to shake that faith succeed in just a day?”

Everyone nodded.

I asked Trail,

‘What’s my fame like right now?’

[You just finished your speech, how could there be a big change already?]

‘I’m not expecting anything huge. I just want to check the trend.’

[Hmm. Wait a second.]

Tap.

A screen appeared.

“……?”

I had to rub my eyes.

Soon my body trembled, and heat rushed up to my face.

Offense noticed my expression and asked tensely,

“Wh-what’s wrong?”

“……”

“You just checked your fame, right? What’s the result? Why are you making that face?”

Instead of answering, I scanned the screen again.

Mide Mohan / Total Fame: 450,400

Adin Press / Total Fame: 1,100,000

My fame had risen.

And Adin’s fame had fallen.

The gap was still enormous. But right now, the size of the gap wasn’t the point.

Trail spoke with a deep sigh of relief.

[At least the direction is right.]

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