Overgeared

Do you believe in the existence of gods?

This was a question that didn't exist in Satisfy. Gods existed. Traces left by gods were all over the world. Until 15 years ago, some people heard Rebecca's voice. Dominion and Judar, who were bound to Rebecca and worshiped alongside her as the three gods, still gave divine messages to their believers.

Right now, Overgeared God Grid was living with humans. Grid's divine objects had been absorbed into the world and performed all types of miracles.

This was the reason why human gods overflowed. People knew about the existence of gods and they naturally associated gods with great beings. They easily worshiped and deified targets. One of the biggest factors that made the gods feel real was the god of the earth.

Garion, the god of the earth, was sensitive to disasters, especially man-made ones, and protected the land. The land was the most primordial concept that established humans. People felt Garion clearly and relied on him. Even the churches of the three gods revered Garion despite them defining gods who stayed on the surface rather than heaven as heresy.

The land had always been polluted. It was due to the greed of human beings. Every time, Garion protected it. It was God Garion who restored the land that was destroyed several times by the powerful blow of the Sword Saint. Literature describing the relationship between the Sword Saint and Garion was easy to find. Sword Saint Kraugel, who appeared in the current age, lent credibility to the literature. Even at this moment, countless people would be imagining Garion as a kind mother or reliable father and giving offerings.

That great being…

"……"

He was clapping and happy to see Piaro grow up. He seemed to have been watching Piaro for quite some time. Grid felt more uncomfortable than happy. Did Piaro get close to a god other than himself? It was very disappointing. Shamefully, jealousy grew in him. It was a natural feeling.

Grid and Piaro—the two of them had relied on each other. If it wasn't for Grid, Piaro would've lived his entire life as practically a dead man and he would've died plunging into the empire like a moth to fire. On the other hand, the Overgeared Guild wouldn't have grown as quickly as it did now without Piaro.

The pioneering speed would've been slow because they wouldn't have been able to easily handle the monsters in Reidan's desert and they would have struggled with food shortages because they couldn't clear the desert. Due to the lack of influx of new people to Reidan, the infrastructure wouldn't have developed and the supply and demand of troops would've been difficult. The expansion of power wouldn't have been easy.

It was highly likely that they would've experienced a setback against Belial. Hell Gao had lost his body, so the Belial battle was actually the first raid against a great demon. In the most important battle in history, which sharply increased the growth rate of Grid and the Overgeared members, humanity's victory was due to Piaro's sacrifice and performance. If humanity had been defeated at that time, the power of the Yatan Church might've prevailed and the continent might be completely different to what it was now.

Grid, the king of the small Overgeared Kingdom, would've suffered the humiliation of kissing the feet of Mercedes, who came as the envoy of the Saharan Empire. Thinking about it now, it was a reward, not humiliation. In any case…

Grid and Piaro were each other's benefactors. They were together and relied on each other. Thanks to that, they were able to come this far. It was a special relationship like a couple. There was a reason why Grid had chosen Piaro's daughter as Lord's fiancee. Of course, Piaro's daughter was still very young and he had stopped the desire to match Piaro's daughter and Lord due to Irene's opinion that they should marry someone they loved…

In any case, Grid considered Piaro so special that he wanted to be in-laws with Piaro.

"Piaro."

"Your Majesty."

"I said this when you got married, but I respect who you meet and who you have a deep relationship with. I will help you if I can. I don't have any intention of disturbing you."

"……?"

Grid's expression was dark. There was no strength in his voice.

Piaro was just perplexed. He expected to be congratulated for reaching the peak of Natural State when he saw Grid rushing out of nowhere, but he heard something that was completely strange. He tried to figure out the hidden meaning, but it was impossible due to the lack of cultivation. How could a mere ordinary person understand the deep meaning of His Majesty who defeated even the martial god?

"Yes… I know it well. It was thanks to Your Majesty's full support and encouragement that my wife, an elf, was able to make the decision to come to the human world."

"Exactly. I'm not petty. No, I can be petty, but I am generous when it comes to you."

"Yes… I'm also well aware of that. Your Majesty has always been good to me and Sir Khan in the past when you were insignificant and mediocre."

"……"

It might be the past, but wasn't it too much to call him mediocre in front of him? The flustered Grid got to the point. "So why are you so unsettled that you met another god without me knowing?"

"…Huh?"

"You aren't stingy like my past self. So why did you secretly have a deep relationship with a god other than me?"

"……"

Piaro closed his mouth. He had nothing to say. It wasn't because it was difficult to answer, but because he didn't understand.

Grid noticed it. 'Piaro doesn't know?'

It seemed to have been Garion's one-sided voyeurism. Well, it was natural. Piaro was the apostle of Grid, the Overgeared God. There was no god who would court another god's messenger unless they were crazy. Grid didn't covet Raphael just because Raphael was really strong and excellent. Apart from not liking Raphael's personality, an apostle's loyalty was absolute. It was safe to say there was no case of an apostle of a god serving another god, unless they were first betrayed and abandoned like Sariel.

"Um… Congratulations, Sir Piaro. It is amazing to see so much of nature responding only to you. It is like a planet."

"……"

Grid changed the subject. He had a lot of experience wearing the skin mask and pretending to be someone else, so it was easy to manage his facial expressions. He controlled his expression and serious attitude and praised Piaro's development. It was with sincere admiration.

Putting aside his embarrassment, the change in Piaro was enormous. If Braham's magic core expanded like a universe and circulated infinite mana, Piaro was like a planet. It wasn't infinite, but contained various and strong powers in one body. If there was enough opportunity, Piaro would be able to achieve divinity.

'…Divinity?'

Grid belatedly noticed it. Why did Garion show interest in Piaro? It was inevitable, not because of some dark heart.

'If Piaro achieves divinity… the divinity comes from nature and nature implies the energy of the earth.'

Once PIaro attained divinity, he would resemble the god of the earth. Garion was bound to be interested in his position.

"Sir Piaro!" Administrator Rabbit ran over as Grid was silently thinking. Something urgent had happened.

"You've worked hard."

"Your Majesty, can I? I will step aside for a moment." Piaro politely said goodbye and followed after Rabbit. He managed both the army and agriculture, so he seemed to be lacking an extra body. Grid was worried that he wouldn't have time to have a second child.

'A person like Piaro must have many children to make the country prosperous.'

Well, there would be some room sooner or later. It was because Lauel said he started the work of concentrating the military power on Asmophel. Asmophel was also growing steadily. Rather than the capabilities of a knight, he developed the abilities of a commander with the assistance of the 1st Overgeared Army. Grid was told that his stats such as leadership were extremely high and the growth rate was fast because he had the Empire's Military Tactics skill. In the case of a second Great Human and Demon War, the army commanded by Asmophel would be the main force.

'Asmophel should also get married…'

It wasn't just Asmophel. He also wished for Braham, Zik, and Sariel to get married as soon as possible. It was because good children were born from good parents. Of course, there was a possibility that it could be bad, but this was generally the case.

'In that sense, Mercedes should also quickly have a child…'

The ensuing thoughts made Grid's face turn red. He felt his body getting hot and fanned himself, only to suddenly look at his feet.

-Hello.

Small letters were carved into the ground. It wasn't written. It felt like a craftsman, whose profession was to cut stones, had engraved it with passion.

'What is this?'

Grid was startled and wary. It was because these letters had just been created. It wasn't there a moment ago. Who was it? Just as Grid was panicking, the rocks that made up the ground were silently cut. In an instant, new letters were engraved.

-IamGarion.

"…Hah."

The great god of the earth—unlike the other heavenly gods, Garion wasn't involved in politics but only cared for the land. He deserved respect just for being faithful to his role and he was praised as great because he was beneficial to all beings on the surface. Would he be considered equivalent to the world tree that supported the sky? However, it seemed he didn't learn how to add spaces when writing.

'The space is excluded.'

Garion explained to Grid, who was clicking his tongue out of embarrassment.

-Pleaseunderstand.

"……?"

-Longwritinghurts.

"……"

It was good handwriting. It wasn't that he didn't write spaces, it was that he couldn't do it. He also wasn't talking informally because he wanted to. Garion's short words contained many meanings.

Grid was trying to think positively, only to question it. "…Can't you just say it?"

-Can'tdoitnow.

"……"

Grid frowned. Putting aside his understanding of Garion's situation, the tone was somehow annoying. It was the type of annoyance he felt when having a keyboard battle with an elementary school student. On the other hand, Garion was pitiful. He was so anxious about the pain that the earth would feel that he couldn't even write properly…

How heartbroken must he have been every time Kraugel split the land in half?

'Wouldn't he have fainted after Zeratul smashed the ground not too long ago?'

Grid had felt Garion's struggle when he moved through the time of the martial god. Grid admired Garion's feat of restoring the land by dividing into thousands of branches with all his strength and Grid also felt grateful. If Garion hadn't been faithful to his role, most of the people at the scene would've died.

Grid suppressed his anger when he recalled that time and asked in the gentlest tone possible, "So why did you come to me? If you want to take Piaro… that isn't acceptable."

-Whatdoyoumeanbytake?ItwillbebigtroubleifItakehim.

"Why don't you use spaces if you are willing to write that long?" Grid finally snapped in a frustrated manner. He was a Korean who learned and wrote in Hangul, created by King Sejong the Great. Therefore, he was very sensitive to spacing. He often felt uncomfortable when finding typos while reading web novels, but this was a completely different matter.

-I-I'msorry.

He had room to stutter, but not to use spaces? Grid noticed it. This god wasn't normal either.

Just then, Garion revealed his purpose.

-Saveme.