A supporting character in a romance anime? I became a god using a rat talisman.

Her social anxiety instincts told her that there was no one there.

No one means safety.

So while the villagers were busy catching the students who were running towards the exit, Michiyo plunged headfirst into the high-temperature tunnel that even Kazama Chiba couldn't stand.

A sharp-eyed villager spotted the pink glint disappearing into the darkness.

"That pink-haired girl ran into the mountain path! Quick, after her!"

The two villagers immediately turned and ran after them.

"Forget about that one who slipped through the net!"

The village chief glanced at his watch and waved his hand impatiently.

"That path leads to the vent of the subterranean fire; the temperature is so high that even iron can melt. That girl will surely die if she goes in; don't worry about her."

"The auspicious time is approaching. Let's send these captured animals to the altar first."

Now that the village chief had spoken, the two villagers were happy to have some peace and quiet, since no one wanted to go into the sauna.

"Yes!"

And at the circular altar.

Kazama Chiba was studying the exact location of the stone statue when she suddenly heard a series of noisy cries and heavy footsteps coming from the passage behind her.

"Huh? You're back so soon?"

Although he wasn't interested in the so-called ritual, it would be quite troublesome to explain if the villagers saw him doing it.

So Kazama Chiba used the Illusion Card to conceal her figure, and at the same time used the Wind Card to levitate in mid-air, flying up to find a VIP viewing spot.

Afterwards, a large group of villagers dressed in black escorted more than twenty crying elementary school students and a female teacher out of the main passage.

The scene resembled a swarm of black ants carrying their prey onto a dining table.

"This is what they call the Mountain God Festival? Why are there children among the offerings?"

Kazama Chiba looked down at the group of elementary school students being driven onto the stone bridge by the villagers and began to doubt whether she had made the wrong guess. Were these people really worshipping Ultraman Tiga?

The female teacher leading the group was now in a sorry state.

Although the punch didn't break her nose, it did leave her face covered in blood. Despite the terror on her face, her eyes showed that she hadn't completely given up the fight.

"You bunch of lunatics! What exactly do you want?!"

"Bringing a bunch of kids to a place like this is illegal! The police will come sooner or later, and then none of you will escape! Is it worth it for a god that doesn't even exist?"

Upon hearing this, the village chief, who had been facing away from everyone, slowly turned around.

“Foolish city woman. In this sacred place, there are no laws, only the will of the mountain god.”

"Everything we do is to appease the mountain god's anger and to bring that 'Great Harmony World' back."

He waved his hand, signaling his men to surround the group of children.

"Alright, enough talk. Drive all these lambs to the middle. The auspicious time is almost here. Don't keep the mountain god waiting."

"What exactly do you want?!"

The female teacher looked at the villagers around her, who had fanatical eyes and were holding sticks, and stood in front of several frightened students who were crying.

The village chief extended a withered, twig-like finger and pointed to the rough murals on the surrounding rock walls.

"Of course, we're going to offer you up to the mountain god."

Chapter 71: The Village Chief's Oral Account

The female teacher looked in the direction he was pointing.

When she saw the contents of the murals, she burst into tears. What mountain god? These murals were clearly depicting Ultraman fighting monsters, just like the ones shown on TV!

"Are you blind? This isn't a depiction of a mountain god at all! It's a scene from a TV show! It's a tokusatsu drama, a TV program for kids!"

"The things you worship are nothing but modern costume dramas. Even a three-year-old knows they're fake, yet you treat them as gods?"

"There are no mountain gods or monsters in this world! Please, release the children! We'll talk about anything, no matter the price!"

The female teacher even offered to show video evidence on her phone to prove that it was all a modern-day entertainment program, and begged the villagers to let them leave.

However, this rational explanation of science did not lead to the villagers' sudden realization.

On the contrary, the village chief's face instantly darkened, and a kind of blasphemous rage burst forth in his cloudy old eyes.

"Ignorance? Fiction?"

"What do you know? This is a divine oracle! It is the truth passed down from our ancestors! What tokusatsu drama? That's just a blasphemous act by mortals outside who have glimpsed a corner of the truth but cannot understand it, so they can only turn it into entertainment programs. But can that cover up the truth that the mountain god once ruled this land?"

"The truth? What truth?"

To ensure this foolish outsider died knowing why, the village chief pointed to the mural and, with a fanatical expression, explained the story behind it.

"Once, the Mountain God descended upon this land. Although He brought disaster, although He ate people, and although He destroyed houses, that was the happiest time for humankind!"

"What nonsense are you spouting?!"

The female teacher stared wide-eyed, completely unable to comprehend the old madman's thought process.

"You do not understand!"

The village chief waved his arms, his face contorted and fanatical, as if he were immersed in some sacred memory.

"At that time, everyone was filled with fear. It was precisely because of this fear that we united and became equal! There were no poor people, no rich people, no deceit or treachery! Before the absolute terror of the Mountain God, all humankind was equal!"

"There's only one thing we need to do: survive! To survive, we can share our last bite of food with our neighbors! To survive, we can selflessly keep warm with one another!"

"That kind of unity, that kind of society without selfishness, without calculation, only with the pure will to survive... that is true harmony! It is the nobility that such despicable creatures as humans can only show when facing annihilation!"

His voice grew louder and louder, echoing through the cave.

The female teacher was clearly stunned by this fallacy, but she still instinctively retorted:

"That's because everyone was almost wiped out! They were forced to do it! And besides, didn't that giant of light defeat the monster? He saved humanity!"

"Saved humanity? Hahahaha!"

The village chief laughed so hard he almost cried, as if he had heard the funniest joke in the world.

"That's a curse! That giant is the root of all evil!"

The old man's finger suddenly pointed at the Ultraman in the mural, who was striking a cross-shaped beam pose, his eyes filled with resentment.

"He arrogantly sealed away the mountain god, taking away the absolute violence that maintained order! And then what? He just packed his bags and left, leaving us with nothing?"

"It's comfort! It's a poison called peace!"

"Without man-eating monsters, humans have started eating each other! For a few acres of land, for a few women, yesterday's brothers who would fight to the death are today killing each other over a piece of land and a sip of water!"

"Villages fighting each other, nations fighting each other! Exchanging children to eat, fighting amongst themselves... Isn't that hellish scene more terrifying than a mountain god eating a few people?!"

The old man turned around and stared intently at the female teacher.

"So the giants didn't bring peace, they brought destruction! They unleashed the beast called greed within humanity!"

The female teacher was startled by the sudden roar and shrank back slightly.

But she was, after all, highly educated and attempted to refute this using historical materialism.

That's sophistry!

"The essence of war is the uneven distribution of resources! It's the insufficient development of productivity! It has nothing to do with whether there are monsters! Even if there are monsters, humans will still fight amongst themselves! That's human nature! Blaming all of this on a... a fictional giant is like throwing the baby out with the bathwater!"

"Humanity? Bullshit!"

The village chief gave a cold laugh.

"What resources? What humanity? In the era of the mountain god's rule, none of these nonsense existed! Everyone shared the same fear, the same humility, and the same equality!"

"As long as we feed Him, He will fall into a deep sleep. As long as we sacrifice a few people every now and then, the rest of us can enjoy peace! Isn't this kind of sacrifice, which comes at a cost, a thousand times more worthwhile than that endless, bottomless infighting?!"

"But what about humanity now? Do they have any bottom line in the wars they wage? Do they have any limits on the number of people they kill for so-called interests? The weapons you've created are a thousand times, ten thousand times more efficient at killing people than mountain gods!"

"In comparison, the Mountain God is simply the embodiment of mercy!"

"..."

This series of fallacies and heresies left the female teacher speechless.

She felt an absurd sense of powerlessness when faced with a group of fanatical believers who had completely abandoned the logic of modern civilization.

This group of people is beyond saving.

It's like a cross-channel communication between two species.

They have a self-consistent closed-loop logic in their minds, and any foreign ideas are like viruses to them, heretics that must be eliminated.

Because in this closed and extreme environment, in the hearts of these villagers who have been brainwashed for thousands of years, this is their truth.

"It seems you've run out of things to say."

The village chief snorted coldly, seemingly losing interest in continuing his sermon.

He turned around, put his hands behind his back, and resumed his previous cold and sinister demeanor.

"Now that you understand, then get on your way obediently. It is an honor for you all to become the fuel that awakens the Great Order."

He raised his hand and made a cutting gesture to the villagers around him who were already itching to act.

"The ceremony begins. First, throw that reckless woman down there to whet the appetite of the Mountain God."

"Yes!"

Several burly men approached with sinister grins.

Suspended above the cave ceiling, Kazama Chiba watched all this and almost burst out laughing.

Goodness, is this what they call Stockholm Syndrome?

According to this old man's logic, as long as everyone becomes a slave, there will be no class oppression, right?

With this kind of thought process, it's a waste of talent that he's not involved in pyramid schemes.

Although he saw that logic as full of flaws, it was quite convincing to fool many people in that specific historical context.

It's like the classic trolley problem: is it better to kill one person and save five, or do nothing and watch five people die?