211 – The Prophecy of Oedipus
The second day of the temple quest.
We started from the south of Ireland and moved all the way to the north.
I have visited seven places in total, but I couldn’t find the ruined temple that Vivian was talking about.
To be precise, it would be more accurate to say that we do not know.
Based on Dorothy’s knowledge of theology, one could guess that it might have been such and such a temple, but that was only speculation and could not be certain.
Since you can see fish and shells, it must be a temple dedicated to the god of the sea.
Of course, this is a reasonable inference. But isn’t it possible that he’s just a seafood-loving God of Time?
If you hang around with your tail on your tail like that, you can’t help but get confused about what is correct and what isn’t.
In the first place, there was too little information. All that was given was the ambiguous expression of ‘a ruined temple’ and a clue that he must have served the god of time.
It was hard to see even that as a clue that made it easy to specify the correct answer.
Because there are many cases where there are multiple domains governed by gods.
For example, Athena, the mother-daughter of Greek mythology, is justice, knowledge, wisdom, peace, war, civilization, art, law, etc…
It is a god that represents so many realms that it is hard to even count.
In other words, we searched and searched for the god of time, but in fact, it means that there is a possibility that the god whose representative authority is the sea can handle time as well. If that’s the case, the first temple with fish and shells on it might be the correct answer.
The more I think about something, the more lethargic I become. I wonder if this is right, a feeling of skepticism rushed in.
“Um… It doesn’t seem like it’s here either.”
In the end, even the eighth temple was disqualified.
The problem is that even this is not certain. As it turned out, it drove people crazy that this might be the temple we were looking for.
“That, the temple Crow-sama is looking for. You’re really in Ireland, right…?”
Even Dorothy, who had been burning with enthusiasm at first, could not hide her dubious appearance now.
This is a natural reaction. I have already been to 8 out of 11 places. Now, there are only three places left, and it is not known whether they can be found among them.
“···If it’s hard for you, you can go back. I’ll look around the rest on my own. Thank you so much for all the help so far.”
I can’t even guarantee that I’m sure, so I said that.
But at my words, Dorothy hesitated for a moment, shook her head, and declined the offer.
“No! It’s a waste of what I’ve done so far, so I have to see the end! And when I go back to the office anyway, there’s nothing to do. Wouldn’t it be nice to walk around and analyze the temple like this? Besides, just the two of us with Kuro-sama… hehehehe.”
It was very suspicious to see her smiling like a pervert while slurring her words.
For now, I decided to stop here and spend the night again. The remaining four had to be finished tomorrow anyway. Even if I can’t think of the time to go back to London, the schedule will be quite tight.
From noble mtl dot com
Today, as well, I spread a blanket in the middle of nature and started sleeping. Contrary to the troubled mind, the starlight floating in the night sky was shining flawlessly and clear.
As I stared blankly at the sky for a while, I felt someone tossing and turning to see if Dorothy was still asleep. Soon after, a cautious call came from the side.
“Kuro-sama…?”
“Yes.”
“Ah, you haven’t slept yet…”
After that, she was silent for a while, and then she spoke again first.
“Can I ask you something?”
“As long as it is simple.”
“Why are you looking for a ruined temple?”
Didn’t I tell you that? I’ve been following you until now and made you suffer and didn’t even tell you such basic things. Even thinking about it myself, it was rude enough to be absurd.
But when we started talking about it, it wasn’t easy either. If I told it from beginning to end, there was no way they would believe it in the first place, and I couldn’t figure out where to start talking about it because I was trying to summarize it briefly.
I guess I didn’t keep my mouth shut for nothing.
Of course, I didn’t intend to ignore it even though I asked openly, so I guess I’ll just give you a rough answer.
“How much does Dorothy know about God?”
“Yes? Are you God…? I’m not bragging, but I can say that I know a lot more than most people!”
Well, that was an obvious answer. I could guess how sincere she was in her theology, even from a cursory glance at her.
“Then have you ever seen God in person?”
“… Huh? Did you see it yourself?”
Dorothy tilts her head, blinking as if she doesn’t understand the meaning of my question.
Anyway, that’s a common reaction. Although it is a world where fantasy and mystery exist, it was not so popular that ordinary people could easily come into contact with it. Rather, it was common to be reluctant to be involved and avoided, except for a few peculiar few.
If 100 years pass, a generation may emerge that does not even believe that magic exists. At that time, it might be a world that is not very different from the earth in my memory.
After thinking about what to say for a while, I just talked straight away.
“I am actually an apostle of God.”
“Aha. ···To? To!?”
Judging by the reaction, it seems that he has a rough idea of what Shin’s family is. Then the conversation would be easier, but the reaction that came back instead was quite intense.
“Really? Are you really an apostle of God!?”
“…Is that such a surprise?”
Honestly, I couldn’t sympathize with you, so I hesitated and asked again.
There are various gods in this world. What’s the point of being a god in the first place? It’s just that if a person thinks he’s a god and serves him, that’s a god. Even in Hinduism alone, it is said that the number of gods exceeds 300 million. Of course, it’s hard to believe it seriously because it’s just a rumor.
Anyway, if there were so many gods in the world, and if each god had only one apostle for each person, the world would be overflowing with apostles.
However, listening to Dorothy’s overexcited words, my conclusion must have been the wrong answer.
“Sure! How great is the Apostle of God! Being able to make a clan contract is only possible if you have a very high level of divinity! It’s impossible without the name being known to some extent!”
Ah. There was such a condition. So, does that mean that there was a time in Leeds where even the goddess was quite famous at one time? You used to cling to me now and claim that I was your only follower.
“And a follower contract can only be done once, even by a believer! That’s why I can’t appoint that person as an apostle unless I trust him a lot.”
Because of the clear explanation, it was possible that an apostle would be rare. If an immortal being who lives for eternity can’t even pick it up once and get rid of it, of course, wouldn’t he use it as much as possible and save it?
Then the Goddess of Time chose White, the God of Fate chose Princess Victoria, and the Goddess chose me.
Something tickled me that he had written such an important option to me.
I think I did a good job talking to Dorothy. Because I got useful information that I never thought of.
At this point, I decided to ask other questions.
“Then what should an apostle do?”
“Uh… Wouldn’t it be quicker to ask God directly about that?”
“Because the goddess didn’t ask me for anything special.”
To be honest, she asked me to steal. I didn’t feel the need to say it out of my mouth now.
“It is different for each apostle. An apostle is the role of carrying out God’s will instead.”
“The role you play instead?”
“Yes. In principle, God should not directly interfere with the human world. That’s why they usually move passively by using their religion, or they actively intervene by appointing an apostle.”
I see. I nodded her head as she put what she was saying into her head.
After the conversation was over to a certain extent, Dorothy urged me, acting as if she couldn’t stand it.
“So! What does Crow-sama being an apostle have to do with the ruined temple!? Could it be that the god of time we are looking for is…!!”
“No. That’s not it.”
He hurriedly corrected the misunderstanding before it got worse.
“I happened to hear a prophecy. The content was so intimidating that it was difficult to just listen to it and pass it over. So, after digging into the prophecy, it seemed that the god of that time knew the answer, so I started looking for it.”
“I see. Hmm. It’s a prophecy…”
I asked cautiously as she seemed to blur the end of her words.
“Why is that?”
“Do you know about Oedipus?”
“Uh… Aren’t you a hero from Greek mythology?”
“Yes. When he heard the prophecy that he would kill his father and be joined to his mother, he ran away from his house. However, due to the act of trying to run away from the prophecy, he is rather a tragic figure whose prophecy has been fulfilled. We often refer to it as the self-fulfilling prophecy, or the prophecy of Oedipus.”
After the long explanation, Dorothy mumbled his mouth for a moment, then lowered her eyes and said,
“Perhaps Crow-sama… You may be running towards the prophecy right now.”