They all call me an Outer God.

Chapter 53 The Doctor Appears
As she spoke, Lia pulled a crumpled tissue from her pocket and wiped her face. Seeing the tissue getting wet, she threw it directly into the trash can next to her.

"This is no longer a situation we can control, and we might even get ourselves into trouble."

"You're right, we'd better find somewhere to hide."

Steyr wholeheartedly agreed with Ria's idea, then thought to himself, "If this day really is the day of a god's death, then those sea people are very likely His followers, and their purpose in appearing here is to avenge Him."

"It's not that simple. Since there are legends about the Great Rain Festival, that event must have happened a long time ago. And if you want revenge, you can just massacre the town nearby. There's no need to go to such great lengths."

As mentioned before, they need to reproduce and create their own civilization. If I were one of them, I would have only one purpose right now.

Ria closed his eyes, wiped away the excess water and scales, and threw them hard on the ground. Then, he took out a kerosene lamp and lit it, his face becoming sinister in the lamplight.

"We have endured for too long. Our homeland has been occupied by a group of hostile foreign tribes. I am not reconciled."

I will destroy the Church of the Sun, and not only that, I will resurrect the Lord of faith.

For this, they would not hesitate to sacrifice their entire tribe and civilization as a price.

……

"How fitting! On this day, He reappeared His image, and on that sea was our former homeland."

At the top of the Church of the Sun, a three-meter-tall merman opened and closed its dorsal fins, stretching out its webbed feet to try to touch the inverted abyss, but no matter what it did, it could not reach it, and could only grasp the raindrops flowing from that phantom.

"He was weeping for his own bones and for his family."

The merman closed its eyes, its brows furrowed with resentment. It had waited far too long. If it weren't for the radiant sun protecting this place, it could have wiped out Grani long ago, and even taken down the Gekoso Mountains in the north.

"My Lord, the raging storms are all for your will, and even the sun itself cannot stop your resurrection this time."

"I swear to [vague vocabulary]—resurrected from the depths of the frigid abyss..."

Its teeth were clenching, making a "crunching" sound, and it was chanting an unknown prayer. It reached out to poke the church roof with its spear, but the next second, it was suddenly kicked out of nowhere.

"boom!!!"

That kick was incredibly powerful, sending it flying from the church rooftop into the wishing fountain in front of the church.

"who!?"

"Wow!"

The merman rose from the pool in a fit of rage, his pupils shrinking to pinpoints, but he could only see two dark shadows of crows on the roof.

Faced with that dark figure, it was alarmed and lost its footing, falling back into the pool: "It's you... the bird-beaked doctor of the Keeper of Secrets."

"Ah, you've been too restless these past few days; even the doctor can't stand it anymore."

The bird-beaked doctor named Gro flexed his wrists a few times and patted his companion on the shoulder.

"What should we do, James? This place might not be good for the patient's recovery. Should we transfer him to another hospital?"

"It doesn't matter, my patient will die in two days."

"..."

"You're really carefree."

"Isn't this all what the prophet predicted? I'll see if he dies in a couple of days. Actually, I don't think Kelcha will die so easily, but your patient isn't someone to be trifled with either. I've heard that he has an extremely high compatibility with the [prophet] meme, and any prediction he makes never goes wrong."

In other words, Kercha might really be finished, hahaha.

Why are you so happy?

“Hey! Because I don’t think there’s anything that can kill Kelcha. He gives the impression that he can live for a very long time, long enough that even after you and I are gone, he will still be alive.”

Gro remained motionless: "Strange assessment. I heard that your patient is critically ill, and it's hard to say whether he'll live to see this time next year."

"Then you just wait, Gro."

“I still stand by my opinion. Nothing can easily kill a patient in front of a veterinarian, except for disease. But we exist to cure ‘disorder syndrome’.”

"In the next two days, we will deal with those blind beasts who dare to attempt sacrifice."

……

Meanwhile, Ria and Steyr had completely retreated into the tavern, found a seat, and were drinking alone in silence.

What puzzled Steyer was that Ria would put the cost of a drink on the table for every drink she had.

"I didn't expect you to be so honest. In this situation, even if you dine and dash, no one would find out. It's already humane of us not to let them take all the wine."

Ria shook her head and continued to place a few more Swarths on the table, with a kerosene lamp on the table for lighting.

"For me, the process of giving money to others is joyful, and of course, it is also joyful when others give me money."

"I don't understand the thought process of you black market merchants."

Steyer downed a glass of wine, slammed it down, and, somewhat bored, walked over to where the brass band used to play. He picked up a guitar, strummed it, and deafening music immediately erupted.

"So this place has an echo!" Steyer looked excitedly at the stage behind him. The stage was semi-cylindrical, with curtains covering the circular part, and behind it was the backstage preparation area for the brass band.

He picked up his drumsticks again, intending to hit the drums. It's said that playing the guitar while hitting the drums, or even playing the guitar while frantically pounding the drums with the saxophone, makes a person look even more idiotic.

Ria didn't stop him, but continued to place new Swarths on the table in the direction of his "music," stacking the coins into a pyramid shape and then knocking them down. The sound of money colliding with money was enough to make anyone tremble.

“This might be what ‘amusing ourselves to death’ looks like, Keltzer. The outside world has become like that, yet we can still find our own fun in the pub. We have to toast to our spirit of entertainment!”

"Then we must have a drink."

Ria held up her glass and looked at Steyr from afar, the foam in her glass being cleared away.

He was two days away from his prophesied death, and two days later would also be the day the Great Rain Festival ended.

"Thinking about it, there's still something to look forward to... What killed me, and how will I end this bizarre... dream?"

Ria rebuilt the coin pyramid, and with a push, "crash, crash," all the coins collapsed.

He yawned and slumped back in his seat, gathering the coins under his arm, not a single one sticking out.

After some time, Ria suddenly stood up and staggered toward the outside of the tavern. Steyr quickly asked him what he was doing.

Ria pointed to the tavern door.

(End of this chapter)