Late Afternoon - Late Spring : Kingdom of Kaelallan

Walking away from the grandmaster, it was time to check out the rest of the floor.

-Literally one book on religion will do. I'll take anything that has to do with the gods..-

Maybe it was because I came from earth where it was hard not to hear about religion, but not being able to find a single mention of it in a massive library was starting to get on my nerves.

Looking through the rest of the floor, I simply didn't find anything. -Only one bookshelf left..-

Scanning the shelves, I didn't have much hope, but right in the corner of the bottom shelf was 'The Goddess of Harvest'.

My eyes lit up as I went to pull out the book but.. -Good lord this book is old..-

The pages in it were decaying and had become so fragile that it would simply turn to dust if I moved too quickly.

On the outside of the book, there was a strengthening rune. Presumably, it was there to keep the book from decaying as quickly which would be why it's still in one piece, but even it was so old that it had stopped working.

Slowly pulling it out as gently as possible, I found a small artifact resting next to it. -A silencing artifact..-

It had long since stopped working as well but it definitely helped to preserve the book. -I’m surprised that someone from this world realized you could use those artifacts to help preserve things..-

Being as careful as possible, I opened it up to the first page.

It started like a novel, like a story, but as I read through more of it, it became more informational.

The book was talking about the Goddess of Harvest and how incredible she was as a god. People all throughout the continent worshiped and praised her.

She was a goddess that would bless the land of those that prayed to her, allowing for better harvests and for food to be more available.

After a while, the humanoid races no longer needed to stick together for food or protection from monsters and began to split up.

Over time, they each started to build their own nations, each praising and hailing the Goddess of Harvest as their savior, but at one point in history, it all changed.

Several thousand years ago, the Goddess of Harvest disappeared. Blessings ceased to reach people and not a single prophecy was sent to the priests.

The goddess simply went silent and the continent fell into a dark age.

Plague started to spread everywhere with no cure, and without blessings there wasn't enough food to go around.

The plagues and famine that spread were unrelenting. No matter what races people were, plague and starvation saw them as the same.

People would die in droves in this age, death spread like a fog and people prayed in desperation, but their prayers were never reciprocated.

Overtime people lost hope in the goddess and completely abandoned their religions. Some races started to blame each other for the plagues and started massive wars.

Those that blamed the goddess for their problems believed the goddess had died or simply stopped caring, while others suspected she became evil or wanted to reset the world.

With varying conspiracy theories, people started turning to other gods and religions, most of which shared a similar fate.

Eventually, the nations that were at each other's necks lost manpower and needed to focus on their own survival.

Massive empires and cities were abandoned and collapsed over time.

Foliage began to overtake the kingdoms with towering walls, returning the stone used to build them back into the ground.

Nature once again started to retake the lands, reclaiming cities and towns all around the continent.

Once the plagues finished passing over, huge kingdoms were left with tiny populations so food was no longer a problem.

Some races started to slowly figure out what was needed to farm and harvest good crops without the need of blessings or gods, while others found other new gods to worship for blessings.

The humanoid races once again started taking separate paths with the exception of some 'race havens' as the book called them.

They were nations in which there is no discrimination and every race lives equally. They were havens where everyone would work together in order to lift up their community.

The next page, unlike past ones, was only partially full. The text read:

'They have been working well together so far. The population of Kurush is only around 500 currently but it is prospering greatly. The citizens have managed to put aside their differences and work well together so far.

If all goes well, Kurush will grow again and re-occupy the Lost City of The Bay, allowing for better defense from monsters and more food from fishing.'

At the bottom of the page, was a small footnote with sloppy handwriting:

'I am nearing 66, so as a human in this age, I am extremely long lived. Although I likely don't have long to live, I have one final wish.

At some point in the future, I want this book to reach someone who it can help. I also wish for this book to be used as a warning to keep history from repeating itself in the future.

If I don't continue after this page, it means I have passed on to the other side, but before that, I wish to engrave a name into history, Grace Kurush.

Long Live The Queen.'

I slowly flipped the page which revealed blank pages. -He didn't make it..-

Gently turning over the book and checking the back cover, I tried to look for the author's name but couldn't find anything.

-Well..- I closed my eyes and lowered my head. -Whoever you were, I hope you were blessed with many good lives..-

Although my little prayer was a few thousand years too late, -I hope wherever his soul is, he finds peace..-

Opening my eyes, I sat there staring at the book.

Although it wouldn't ever necessary for me to come back to it since reading it once was enough for me to memorize it completely, I was tempted to make a copy with better runes to preserve it once again.

-I guess it wouldn't hurt..- Focusing on my mana, I quickly created a new book. I figured paper would decay too quickly, so I made the book out of steel with the pages being made of a thin aluminum alloy with the text being engraved into the metal.

The sheets were still flexible and although it looked odd, with a simple strengthening rune, it would far outlast even the most resistant of materials.

After fixing the rune on the original book, I didn't change anything else and put it back on the shelf as it was.

-That was worth it..-

It was frustrating not finding any information on religion up until now, but this book was packed full of juicy info. Although it was closer to a book about history, the small bits of information on the gods it did give, were pretty valuable.

Getting up from where I had been sitting, I picked up the new metal book and started walking out.

Turning around the edge of the bookshelf, I noticed the loli grandma sleeping with a peaceful look on her face.

-I’m glad she likes the blanket.- "Well it's gotten late, how about we leave Ilios?"

"Huff!" Giving a muffled bark, he got up and trotted to my side.

His happy trot put a smile on my face as I started walking down the stairs.

-I wonder how Father is doing.. I hope his meeting is going alright..-