Volume 21 Chapter 4, Divine Protection for the Summons

Kousuke was currently on the 81st Floor.

The purpose was to grant Divine Protection to the black wolves.

While he was at it, he also wanted to grant Divine Protection to the white wolves to see what their evolution would be like. He wanted to see if there was any difference between the black and white wolves when there was and wasn’t <Evolution Sprout> present. Naturally, he would compare it with the power of his right eye.

Since there was already some difference between the black wolves and the white wolves, it may not be a strict comparison, but that could not be helped.

It was not confirmed that individuals who were not marked with <Evolution Sprout> did not evolve.

It was known that some individuals evolve without <Evolution Sprout>, so there was no way to know for sure unless it was tested.

That was the reason why he was accompanied by Kouhi.

Though, they did not bring along the interpreter, Collete, with them.

It was partly because Collete was not available, and they considered calling the fairies to help them out in case of an emergency.

Naturally, they knew they might face some difficulties if they relied on fairies, because of how the fairies typically interpret things.

Nonetheless, the granting of Divine Protection to the wolves was completed without any particular problems.

Although Kousuke was expecting some differences from how he granted Divine Protection to Sylvia and the others, not major happened.

He started with the black wolves, those which already had <Evolution Sprout>, and granted it to them one by one.

There were ten of them in total, and it was difficult for him to remember all their names.

At first, he tried to remember them, but he suddenly thought of something else and decided not to do so.

He wanted to see if he could distinguish between individuals when he used the Divine Protection power, as he had done with Peach.

If Kousuke’s prediction was right, there should be some variations in the way each individual used the Divine Protection, which he could use to distinguish them from each other.

He was thinking that it would be easier to remember them by these differences than by their individual names.

What surprised him after he granted them Divine Protection, was that some of the black wolves could already use it.

It was an interesting find, since they were not the first the Divine Protection was granted to. Kousuke did not even know what form of power that individual was using.

Eris had mentioned during their last chat that this was due to his status as a living god.

She said that if his status improves, he would be able to communicate with non-humanoid creatures to some extent.

She also mentioned that even if they could not directly communicate with him, he should be able to understand some things through the power of the Divine Protection.

“I wonder what you are seeing?”

“Kuun?”

He asked while stroking the neck of the wolf who had used the Divine Protection, but of course, the black wolf just tilted its head and did not respond back in words.

It was possible that something other than the sensation of ‘vision’ was being manifested, but as long Kousuke could not hold a conversation with it, he could not verify it.

He had Language Comprehension, but he did not have fairy language. Thus, he was unable to fully interpret what fairies say.

There was an option to have the interpreter interpret through Nana, but he decided not to do so since with two interpreters, it would most likely lead to incorrect interpretation.

After he finished with the black wolves, he granted Divine Protection to the white wolves.

He was only going to grant it to those that had already evolved a second or third time. He wanted to try on more, but he didn’t know the limit of how many he could gramt, so he limited it for now.

After granting Divine Protection to another species, he would grant it to others if he could still do so.

He granted it to 10 white wolves as well, the same as the black wolves.

All the black wolves had <Evolution Sprout>. Except for that, there were no other discrepancies between the two groups of wolves chosen.

Incidentally, there were no criteria for the selection of the individuals. It was a completely random decision.

At first, Kousuke thought that he would select the ones that approached him first. However, when he thought of how some might have hesitated because of their personalities, he decided not to do so. Instead, he walked around and selected them at random.

He did not even ask Nana for her opinion. Typically, she was the one to choose, but Kousuke chose not to follow along this time. Though, by doing so, she made Nana look somewhat sad…

Nonetheless, he pretended not to notice.

It was not that he was being mean to her. He just wanted to trust his intuition.

After he became more aware of his status as a living god, he decided that he should trust his intuition when it came to Divine Protection.

Although he did not know whether his intuition was right or not, the individuals he had granted it to could start to use it soon after he granted it, even with the white wolves.

It was interesting that those that received Divine Protection later, were the ones who started using it first.

Though, there was probably also some unknown reason yet uncovered as to why more white wolves started using it than black wolves.

Nonetheless, these two groups did show that <Evolution Sprout> was not proof in itself that they would be able to use the Divine Protection.

If he had a good understanding of his own power like Eris and the others, even if they were of a different race, he would have given them sound advice, but as a new God, he was limited to what he understood at the moment.

Kousuke watched the wolves for a while, but when there were no notable changes happening, he decided to return to the Administration Floor…. But when he was about to do so, someone tugged at his clothes.

“Kuh~n!”

It was Nana, who was standing right beside him, watching the situation with him.

“… Hmm? What’s wrong?”

At first, Kousuke didn’t understand what Nana was trying to say, but then he noticed that she seemed to be somewhat sad and wanting something.

“…Could it be? Do you also want Divine Protection?”

“Au!”

Kousuke asked, and received a firm reply.

She seemed to understand exactly why Kousuke was giving them Divine Protection.

Otherwise, it might also be that she simply sensed that Kousuke was giving them some kind of power.

[There should be no problem in granting Nana Divine Protection, except for one thing…]

“Hmm. Hold on a minute, I’ll ask Jal first.”

Nana already had Jal’s Divine Protection.

He wasn’t sure if she could receive his Blessing or if it would overwrite it.

Nana waited quietly while Kousuke was communicating with Jal, and as if understanding Kousuke’s situation, she responded immediately.

After the communication with Jal, the answer came back immediately.

It turns out, there would be no issues.

He also wanted to check the difference between Divine Protection and Blessing, but Jal was too busy(?) and immediately cut off the communication.

Kousuke did not find this to be an issue since she had already told him what he initially wanted to inquire about. And, she also made a promise that she would find time in her schedule to have a good chat with him later.

Thus, although their conversation ended pretty quickly, it was still very informative.

However, he had a bad feeling about the situation. Nonetheless, he decided to focus on granting Nana Divine Protection for now.

“I’ll grant it since I’ve received permission.”

“Auu!”

Nana came closer to him, wagging her tail happily.

He tried to grant her the Divine Protection the same way as before, but he felt a power that he did not feel from the others.

“What is this? …Oh, is this Jal’s Divine Protection?”

At first, he wondered what it was, but soon he understood.

It was strange to say the least, but it was like understanding by feeling rather than by logic.

Unlike before, he knew that Jal’s Divine Protection was there, so he gently placed his own Divine Protection on Nana, so as not to interfere with Jal’s Divine Protection.

He didn’t know how or why he could do such a thing when he first tried, but since he could do it, he just thought that it should be fine.

After granting Nana Divine Protection, he checked her status and confirmed that she had been given <Kousuke’s Blessing>.

“This should be fine, right?”

“Au!”

She started licking his cheeks while wagging her tail. It was her way of saying thank you.

“As for how to use it… Just try it in your own way, just like everyone else.”

“Au!”

Nana’s cheerful reply made Kousuke glad he bestowed it onto her.