Phyllis just shuddered as she looked at the smiling old man standing in front of her. Eventually he couldn't stand anymore, he dropped to his knees and hung his head.

'What's the matter? Are you feeling bad?
God, God, God.

　He doesn't seem to understand, so I call out to him.

'Is that intimidating, or is it divine? Could you hold the Even I find it a little hard to look directly at it.
'What? Oh, I see. I thought we were above ground. I'm sorry, I didn't think about it. If you're not conscious, you'll lose power over here.

　 At the same time, the tense and intimidating feeling that I had just experienced disappeared. As expected of a god.

This is going to be fine. How is your daughter?
Yes, yes....

　Phyllis still seems to have a hard time looking up at him. It's not unreasonable. If you show me something like this, I'll have no choice but to acknowledge this man as a real God. Phyllis says, "Does God exist? I think we've answered the question. There is a God.

'It's not a good time to talk here. Is there any room that would be suitable?
'What? Uh, then let's go to the reception room.

　I opened the "gate" and connected it to the parlor. I helped Phyllis, who looked like she was having trouble standing, to sit on the couch for the two of us. I was going to ask them to prepare the tea, but when I went to the hot water room, Cecil-san and Renee stopped laughing at each other. I had no choice but to pour myself a pot of tea and return to the reception room with three cups and some tea treats.
　They were still face to face. God's side was scurrying around the room, but Phyllis's side was still frozen in clink and her eyes were swimming.
　She poured the tea into the cup and arranged the sweets. God sipped the cup and I cut him off just as he finished his sip.

'I have one question for you,'
Hooray. What's that?

　I put the cup on the table and God turns his head towards me.

'Is there such a thing as a god of light, Lars?'
Nobody. To be honest, I've never heard of one. Not only are there no intermediate gods, no lower level gods by that name.

　Wow, busted. Phyllis next to me has a shocked look on her face. That's just as well. I've been assured that the God I believed in doesn't exist.

''Then is there a God of Light?''
I don't know. Well, if you ask me, it would be me. I'm the god of the world. But he is also the God of Darkness, the God of Wind and Fire. It's just that "the god of ..." is basically a low-class god.

　So, does that mean that the God of Love is also a lower level god? For that matter, though, he was quite familiar with the gods of the world. Is that how it is in the world of God?

''So, then, what is this God of Light, Larus-sama, that Ramirez-sama, the Priest of Light, called out to him a thousand years ago...''

　Ramirez, the Priest of Light? Oh, you mean the one who founded the Ramish nation? And he purified the land with the help of the God of Light, right?

I called on him. It's not very often that a man can invoke a god. Well, there are gods that come to us on a whim, so it's hard to say.

　Don't tell me. The Lord has come down on a complete whim.

The story goes that he's not a god. I think it's a spirit. A spirit of light would not be too difficult to summon.
'It's vague. Can't you go back in time and see what happened?
I can do that but it's a lot of work, isn't it? Mostly eagles. To paraphrase what you used to say, even if it's easy to pause the TV that's playing while you record it now, can you find the commercials that were playing on the late night show a year ago in a pile of past DVDs without an index?

　That's a confusing analogy! I know something about it, though! I knew it was a terrible hassle.

'Then what is our doctrine........'

　Phyllis is depressed after being completely denied by God. It's not unreasonable, since what she believed in has fallen apart....

'You guys must be without God, right? Can't we move with our own conviction, with our own will, with our own responsibility? It's okay to let God be your heart. Your parents, your siblings, your lover, your lord, you can believe in them as you believe in them. But don't rely on them. God will do nothing. It is you who will save you. Your power to perform miracles and make the world go round. All we can do is wait and see.

　I think those gods interfere quite a bit, too. They're not as thorough as they say.
　But I'll keep my mouth shut. It's called "what's not said is true. Phyllis is crying herself to sleep next to me. I don't want to be flattered.

I'm not going to be able to say that I've been neglecting them after all. If I hadn't sent Fuyu Yoru, I wouldn't have peeked at it for another ten thousand years or so.

　Ugh! You've ruined it! What do you mean, "We'll just have to wait and see! I'm not watching you! Let go of me! Maybe there are plenty of other alternate worlds to manage, though!

Are you sure you want to...?
If this world is destroyed, it's the responsibility of the people of this world. Basically, the gods won't do anything. Of course, they will take responsibility for the crisis of destruction caused by divine interference. Such as the descent of an evil god.

　I don't want that to come down, though. It's pretty out of the ordinary. The rules are a little bit contradictory.

The basic idea is to get the people of this world to do something about it. Even if a demon king appears and starts to take over the world, we won't do anything about it as long as he's a member of the world. The best we can do is to give him a weapon to defeat the Demon King. Because we don't want to live in a world where people are suffering.

　I see. So that's one way to go if it's not direct interference. But that's just meddling in the affairs of the gods, isn't it? Saying that God doesn't interfere even if the world is destroyed, but giving him a super weapon that can defeat the Demon King. I wonder if they're being overprotective and half-hearted.

You can't keep relying on your parents forever. The people of this world are no longer children. The people of this world are no longer children, they can think and walk by themselves. Then you will have to go through all the hardships and trials by yourself. God is watching over you. Occasionally.

　Sometimes, is superfluous. Well, it's not like I'm being watched at all hours of the day.

''What should I do now........ There is no God of Light, Lord Larus. That doctrine was a trick created by man. Were all our deeds meaningless?
Not for nothing. It is not pointless, if some of you are saved by it. From now on, it's just a matter of doing for the people what you used to do for God. Don't be bound by any dogma.
Yes.

　I don't know if I'm going to change my mind anytime soon. I guess it's like a standard of life that I've always believed in, in case you were wondering. It would be nice if you could free yourself from that spell little by little.

Now then, I have some time to kill. It's not a good idea to stop for too long.

　When the time started to move, it could get weird without us, so we all went back to the audience room for a moment.
　As usual, Amber, Kosaka and the others are still frozen in place. If it weren't for this situation, I would want to play a prank on them, but let's not.

So here's the deal. You are going to have to be strong, young lady. Take care.

　Smiling, the god smiled and disappeared in a grain of light.
　After a beat or so, the amber and the others began to move. They looked at us with a curious look on their faces. The location was slightly different from before they stopped, so it looked as if they moved in an instant.

''........It's like a dream. Did what happened just a moment ago really happen........
It's real. You've met God. What if you don't believe?
...Yes.

　She smiled quietly, and I saw a different glint of will in her eyes than I had seen earlier. I guess I was able to sort it out for myself.
　Then she said a quick apology and left the audience room.
　This was the end of my first round of diplomacy. But then Ms. Kosaka lectured me severely. Well, I admit it was one of the worst diplomatic experiences I've ever had, but I was worried.
　I was a bit worried, so I asked Tsubaki-san to send one of the ninja under her command to Lamish. I left a little bird of a summoned beast with them for telepathic communication, so I told them to call me if anything happened.

　A few days later, I learned that Phyllis Lugit, a Lamish priest, had been stripped of her position and sentenced to be executed for treason.