Cerberus and the demon who was shadow cloaking Zach disappeared into Zach’s shadow.
Zach looked at Victoria, Aria, and Ninia with a smile on his face and asked, “So? Any comments?”
”I am honestly surprised by the numbers of followers you received,” Aria commented.
”I am too. But hey, having followers and worshippers is a different thing. If they only follow my religion and don’t worship me, it won’t change anything.”
”True.” Victoria nodded and said, “Is there a way for you to know who is worshiping you and who is not?”
”Currently, no.”
”But what if they only take advantage of the perks of joining your religion and never worship you?” Ninia asked with an anxious look on her face,
”I will never know,” Zach replied with a sigh.
”Isn’t that bad? You will be losing many resources like that.”
”True. But there is nothing I can’t do. And to be honest, I lived among humans, and I didn’t expect much from them. Even if half of them worship me, I am content. And besides, I can’t force them to worship me even if they join my religion.
And… I don’t know how the soul powers increase when they worship me. I don’t know the ratio and proportionality. I don’t think it would work if I forced them to worship me. They must do that out of loyalty and faith or fear.”
Zach uttered in a solemn voice.
Aria stood beside Zach and muttered, “I never needed such things, so I can’t help you much with it.”
”I know.” Zach smiled at her and said, “You worry too much. Remember, this is my problem to solve. You do not need to feel bad or sad if you cannot help me. Just because we love each other doesn’t mean you should expect all kinds of help from your partner.”
Zach turned to Victoria and said, “It’s just like a scenario where an engineer girlfriend asks her doctor boyfriend to check the blueprints. No matter how much he loves her, he can’t do that. He may try to help her, but he won’t be able to actually help her.”
”I understood that… in a hard way…” Victoria nodded.
”Same…” he said with a short sigh.
Zach was about to call a shadow to help him get up, but he stopped when he saw someone was still in the garden even after the summit had ended.
”Hmm?” Zach squinted his eyes and recognized the person right away.
It was Misha.
”That’s Misha. Aria, call her for me.”
”Urg… why me…? I have a feeling that she doesn’t like me. So even if I call her, she will ignore me.”
Zach raised his brows in confusion and wondered, ‘What happened between Aria and Misha? Weren’t they getting along just fine?’
”I will call her.” Victoria walked to the edge of the stage and placed her hands over her mouth before loudly calling out Misha’s name.
Misha squirmed a few times as though she wasn’t sure if she should go there or not, especially after her fight with Kayden.
However, she eventually decided to go there.
”Hey….” she said awkwardly while getting on the stage.
”Sup? If you were here, then you should have informed any of us. You would have gotten a special seat,” Zach said with a grin on his face.
”I was actually planning to do that, but some things happened last night, and I slept late. Thus, I woke up late and arrived here when half of the summit was done,” she said with a weary sigh.
”Some things?” Victoria quoted ‘things’ with her finger and teased Misha with a grin on her face. “We know what you and Kayden were up to.”
”Argh!” Misha rolled her eyes and said, “It’s not what you are imagining, really.”
”If that’s the case, then why is Kayden not here?” Aria asked with a judging look on her face.
Misha gritted her teeth and took a deep breath before smiling at Aria and replying, “He didn’t want to come.”
”That’s weird. Isn’t he Zach’s best friend?”
”Leave it, you two,” Zach quipped. “We shouldn’t interfere in someone else’s household. And you girls wouldn’t want that either, am I right?”
”…’
”….”
Neither of them could say anything in response.
”So, Misha? How was the speech?” Zach asked jokingly.
”It was good.”
”Oh? Then do you also plan to join my religion?”
”Sure.”
Zach was grinning a while ago, but now it had vanished.
”I was just joking. Please don’t join my religion. It would be weird to have my sister worship me,” Zach quivered with a disgusted look on his face.
Misha’s face twitched from the corner as she heard that.
’Why do I always get so angry when he calls me his sister? I am not your sister!’
Misha then recalled Kayden’s words where he accused Misha of loving Zach.
’No… way… right? There is no way I love Zach. I mean, I do love him, but as a friend. I don’t love him romantically, right?! Argh! This is all Kayden’s fault for messing with my head! Now I feel conscious of Zach!’
”Why not? I want to worship you and get the advantages of joining your har— religion!”
’What’s wrong with me?! I was going to say ‘join your harem’, wasn’t I?! This is bad! At this rate, I will fail the mission!’
”Well…”
Misha squinted her eyes and said, “So are you telling me that you will help the strangers who are nothing to you but not your childhood friend?”
”Hey, I didn’t say that. Don’t put words into my mouth.”
”You asked me to not join your religion. Which is the same as saying you don’t want to help me.”
”Oh, come on~” Zach groaned and said, “Why do you always twist words of—”
Zach stopped when he sensed something approaching him at a crazy fast speed.
====
Total players in the game- 1,481,825
0 new players logged in.
8 players died.
***
Thanks, @SpeedDemon266, for the gift!