Whether You Call Me a Guardian Dragon or Not, I’m Going to Sleep

Even after the hero went to paradise, the world changed rapidly.

There were various changes, but the first thing to mention is... public safety.

The world that had become chaotic due to the appearance of monsters was calmed down by the hero's exploits.

Humans, who had been helplessly beaten by monsters, began to recognize monsters as creatures that could be hunted after seeing the hero beat them up.

Hmm, I didn't think it would turn out that way and just sent the hero on adventures to drive out somewhat powerful monsters...

Well, if the result is good, anything is fine, isn't it?

So humans began to hunt monsters, and for monsters with power that individuals could not hunt, they began to form armies and move.

To hunt considerably powerful monsters, soldiers professionally trained for combat were needed, not an army of conscripted farmers, and this led to the fostering of professional soldiers.

The fostered soldiers not only strengthened the nation's military power but were also mobilized to maintain public order during times when there was no war or monster hunting.

Well, there were security guards before, but there was a huge difference between the former security guards who only managed entrances and exits without professional military training and the security guards aimed at maintaining public order.

In any case, with the increase in the number of such security guards, not only were monsters invading human territories repelled, but the number of security guards patrolling the main roads also increased.

This improved the safety of the roads used by humans.

Previously, pilgrims of the Temple of Life had secured the safety of the roads while on their pilgrimages... But frankly, the world was vast, and the number of Temple of Life pilgrims was limited.

Moreover, not all pilgrims were dragons, so human pilgrims often faced danger.

Well, even those human pilgrims had enough strength to defeat ordinary monsters.

In any case, by utilizing military forces for public order maintenance and road security when not in combat situations or monster extermination, the traffic situation for humans and various sub-races began to improve.

In the past, most traveling merchants had to carry large loads on their backs or pull handcarts, but thanks to improved road security and the development of the livestock industry, merchants began to appear pulling carts drawn by oxen or horses.

As a result, the flow of logistics began to become smooth, and with the influx of traveling merchants, items that could not be delivered before began to be delivered.

The ones who benefited the most from the widely distributed goods were... the lizardmen who made papyrus, the mages of Procyon who made scrolls, and the dwarves who sold iron goods.

It was mainly regional specialties with limited production that spread widely, riding the flow of logistics.

Elves? They didn't really... Although they did leather crafting with hides obtained from hunting... That's something all hunters do, so it was difficult to call it a specialty product, which is why they couldn't make much money.

Ahem, let's skip the story about elves for now. Let's start with papyrus first.

Before papyrus was supplied, people either carved letters on clay tablets and baked them, wrote with charcoal on wooden boards, or wrote on expensive parchment... But the appearance of papyrus changed everything.

Papyrus was easier to write on than clay tablets, lighter than wooden boards, and cheaper than parchment.

Of course, it was more expensive than clay tablets or wooden boards... but those two were too inconvenient.

Moreover, thanks to the considerable production capacity of the lizardmen, households with some leeway could afford to have one or two papyrus scrolls.

The content mainly written on the widely supplied papyrus was stories.

Stories carved on clay tablets, stories created by people's imaginations, stories from other places brought by pilgrims.

In addition, the number of copies made by receiving and transcribing scrolls written by others also increased.

In this way, papyrus scrolls became primitive books.

However, papyrus also had its drawbacks.

Due to the limited production region, it could not be widely distributed.

However, after the hero's exploits, the flow of logistics became smoother, and the supply range of papyrus expanded explosively.

As a result, people began to write down the stories they knew on papyrus.

Stories of actual events, stories based on the hero's exploits, stories created by human imagination, and stories created out of longing for transcendent beings.

In this way, new mythologies began to be created, other than the existing ones.

Well, among those stories, the most numerous were about... the Goddess of Life. The next most numerous were stories about the hero.

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Perhaps it was because the pilgrims of the Temple of Life traveled around the world and helped people, so the faith in me was expressed through those stories.

As the stories about me increased and the faith in me grew... I was able to discover a new fact.

That humans could artificially create beings through public opinion manipulation.

As a side effect of this, the perception of many humans was overlaid on the existing divine beings.

And the main target was... me.

For example, a belief like this became widespread,

"The Goddess of Life watches over countless lives with her benevolent heart."

As such a belief spread, it would slightly affect me, changing my nature to make me want to care for the lives of the world.

Hmm, for some reason... I used to have only a little interest in things like life, but now I feel a considerable sense of responsibility for life.

Well, there's no rule that says you can't act on existing gods to create non-existent gods. Cloud Whale also gained intelligence and became a diety through that method.

However, I couldn't keep receiving that faith indefinitely.

Not that it's bad, but it's a bit troublesome for me to keep changing myself. I want to remain as myself. If I wear a mask like the Goddess of Life and can't take it off, it would be problematic.

Hmm, a mask? That's right, a persona.

I exist as myself, but I can wear various masks depending on the situation.

With that in mind, perhaps I can hold multiple divine identities at the same time?

By utilizing that, I can receive faith while minimizing the changes that affect me.

I'll continue that thought later.

The distribution of papyrus led to the widespread dissemination of faith and folklore.

Next, let's talk about scrolls. About the scrolls made by the mages of Procyon.

Manipulating magic to cause phenomena was essentially the exclusive domain of mages.

Mages who instinctively moved magic, using it without understanding the principles of the phenomena. That was the feeling with which mages used magic.

To overcome this reality, mages who were researching to elucidate the phenomenon of magic succeeded in transcribing their magic onto parchment or papyrus, and this was the birth of magic scrolls.

As a result, even those who did not know magic could now wield it, and the city of Babel, which was later known as Procyon, the city of mages, amassed great wealth.

After that, there were various incidents, and the Tower of Babel collapsed, but let's move on from that.

Even though Babel became Procyon, it did not affect the sales of magic scrolls.

In fact, thanks to the development of logistics, the mages were able to sell even more magic scrolls, using that wealth to increase the production of magic scrolls, bring in young mages by buying them, and continuously pursue research into magic.

Eventually, they began to elucidate the method of using magic without scrolls.

Mages had instinctively used magic, but they were able to prove it through various theories and turn it into knowledge.

As a result, the basic magic gradually revealed its form.

Of course, since it was only basic magic, it did not have a great effect.

While instinctive magic could create a huge ball of fire, basic magic could only ignite a small flame.

Weak telekinesis to lift objects, creating small orbs of light, producing a glass of water, or creating a breeze - these were the weak magic spells.

However, this was a great first step.

Mages had elucidated the instinctive magic they wielded and established it as theoretical knowledge.

There was the problem of consuming one's own magic to use it, but since all living beings had a certain amount of magic, it was not a major issue.

However, this does not mean that ordinary people who did not know magic could use it. This was only in the context of mages.

Mages who could only create a ball of fire through instinctive magic were now able to create a glass of water through basic magic.

They had elucidated the unexplained phenomena and established them as theoretical knowledge.

This can be considered the beginning of the magic used by humans.