The people outside Aiden’s door looked desperate. Most of them were believers of the temple, which made sense why they were here.
The sun had yet to rise, but the fact that these people had made their way here at this ungodly hour to seek his help was telling enough.
Of course, Aiden was not going to refuse to help them. It was the perfect time to spread his goddess’s name far and wide.
"I understand your situation. Give me a minute and I will be out to help you."
Aiden promised the people before he headed inside to tell his goddess what was happening and where he was going. But Lady Apophis was already awake and making her way toward him.
"I heard what happened. I will come along with you to the village. My blessing will keep this disease away from you."
The goddess sounded worried for Aiden and it felt nice to hear her worrying about him.
He was already taking the spices every day, so he was sure he was immune to the disease already. But being with his goddess was a blessing he was never going to ignore.
Aiden’s goddess curled around his wrist and he quickly headed out to follow the villagers back.
There were a lot of presences along the way, but his goddess’s presence kept them at bay. He was sure that she had helped these people reach the temple without any accidents as well.
As they reached the village, Aiden noticed the aura of death surrounding the place. It was so thick that it was making it hard for him to breathe.
Moreover, the aura and pressure he often felt from the temple had lessened considerably, indicating that people’s faith in the local religion was fading fast.
"Sir, the medicine?"
Aiden quickly handed over the medicine he had and carefully instructed everyone on how to use it. They all prepared their own glasses quickly and headed out to hand them over.
Sighs of relief were heard from everywhere as people were quickly cured of their ailment. It was a race against time now.
"These villagers are trying very hard. I can feel their blessings flowing into me. Hence, I shall give them a blessing in return."
Goddess Apophis had a golden heart and she decided to help these people out with her limited power. It allowed the villagers to keep working until all the households were covered.
The handful of people who had come to Aiden gathered around again to thank him.
"Sir Priest, thank you for your help! We did not know what would have happened if you had not been here! Perhaps, we would all have died. Ah, you and Goddess Apophis saved us all!"
The chief spoke in a soft yet grateful voice and the others nodded to show that they agreed.
Aiden welcomed all their praises for his goddess, but he could not help but feel as if something was wrong here.
Wasn’t this the temple’s territory? Why were they not helping the village?
"Did something happen to the temple and its priests? I did not see them among the people who were helping..."
Aiden spoke carefully so as not to offend anyone. His goddess had just started getting recognition and he would rather not jeopardize her progress.
But the anger on the locals’ faces told him that he had no need to worry about a thing.
"Those cowards ran for it as soon as the disease broke out. They called it an ’act of god’ for acting against him and closed their doors to us. No one is going to believe in them and their cause anymore!"
The fact that everyone in the village had reached this conclusion was impressive. They were all acting as a single unit this time and their faith in Goddess Apophis was increasing by the second.
’Looks like waking up early and complying with the villagers’ demands worked out well. But I have a feeling the temple won’t stand still for much longer.’
Aiden knew what losing followers could do to a god. So he was sure the temple would not stay silent for much longer.
After all, followers were the most important existence to gods and temples, and no god would wait around for someone else to snatch them up first.
...
"Hey, how close are you to getting a name and becoming a ’god’? Do you know how hard we are working to spread the disease? Soon, the whole village will be asking for your favor!"
"Tsk, you know how I am doing already and you still dare to ask? Don’t you have any shame left?"
Inside the village temple stood three priests. They were a ragtag group chased out of their god’s domain and forced to fend for themselves. While doing this, they had discovered a way to gain their own power and forge their own path.
And it all happened when one of them helped out some travelers and earned their goodwill.
From there on, they found a remote village and decided to settle down. Over the next ten years, they managed to gather a following and convince people that praying to them would change their lives.
This disease was the final step in their plan, where they would perform the miracle of curing everyone. But then those spices had shown up and ruined everything. As a result, the temple had been forced to increase the intensity of their attack, making it so that the people had no choice but to seek their help.
Only...it had backfired on them badly.
Not only were the people not interested in hearing them out, but they were even turning toward the other goddess’s side.
"I can feel my influence fading. More and more people are starting to resent me because I am asking for donations and money to help them. At this rate, we might lose everything."
The one who was the closest to getting a ’name’ panicked and nibbled his nail, and the others could not help but do the same after hearing his words.
"We cannot sit back and do nothing. Let’s prepare for our comeback! We will show them all who they should be praying to. A novice god would not stand a chance against us!"