Greed: All For What? - Chapter 1571: Free Food.
The Tree Father is currently standing in front of the demon god of Lies. He is in his high elf form, which he thought should be easily identifiable since elves are one of the most common races in the high heaven realm. But he wasn’t recognized here.
Apparently, they haven’t seen a humanoid being with golden hair, golden eyes, green skin, and brown fingernails.
He thought to himself, “It seems the high elves haven’t invaded this world en mass. Or is it that the demons don’t know much about the invasion?”
The Tree Father wasn’t fooled by the illusion show put on by LIES. He could tell that LIES, like most demon gods, is a large mass of energy. It is just that the energy of its existence causes hallucinations, mirages, and illusions. He can see the true form of the demon god because they are about equal in strength.
The Tree Father replied. “I am a god.”
“What do you mean you’re a god? Do you mean like the Tyrants? The Tyrants call themselves gods too.”
The Tree Father clarified, “I mean like the gods that rely on faith.”
LIES asked in confusion, “Aren’t those all dead? The Tyrants killed every god and banished every religion in the realm.”
The Tree Father spread its arms wide and said, “And yet here I am. I am not dead, am I?”
LIES snorted, “I wish I could believe you.”
That’s the major issue right now. It is also caused by the fact that the two of them have about the same strength, so LIES can’t be certain that the strange newcomer is telling the truth. If LIES is not sure then it means it can’t believe anything the Tree Father says.
LIES told him, “If I can’t believe you then no one will. If no one believes you then you get banished. Or killed. Most likely killed. I don’t know what you are or how the Tyrants conjured you but their efforts is going to go to waste on you.”
The Tree Father did what he could do to alleviate the situation. “I can help the inhabitants of this place by healing them. I am the god of life which means not only can I cure illness, I can also improve fertility, health, and general happiness.”
He can’t assure the demon god of the truth of his words but he can assure it of his usefulness through actions. He doesn’t know for certain why the demons have allowed people from the realm to live in their abyss when they should be hostile to all lifeforms including themselves. But he is certain that it can’t be for charity.
Which means they must be gaining something from this arrangement. If he can prove his usefulness to enhance their gain then he might be allowed here. But that’s not the reason why he said those words.
His suspicion of the selfish motives of the demons helped him come up with those words. He was able to narrow down the many possibilities that his future selves presented to him. Then his reaction from the future self that said those words made him decide to say those words. As expected, LIES was tempted by the strange newcomer’s words. But it wasn’t swayed. This is because it knows that temptations usually prelude a downfall. It couldn’t be more clear on that as a demon god.
It wasn’t going to change its mind, but it said, “Prove your worth.”
It said so as if to give the newcomer a chance. But it was just saying that to stall for time as it called for its partner to come so that they can deal with the Tree Father together.
The Tree Father spread his arms wide. He rose to the sky and began to shine. His body lit up, and he produced a green light that shrouded the entire abyssal plane.
Every living thing that the light touched was healed of their sickness and became healthier. Even the major incurable illness, sin sickness, was healed. The purple spots on their skin receded and disappeared completely.
Everyone was surprised and happy. Only the demons were not happy. They hated his aura to their bones. It proved that the Tree Father was a god, and demons instinctively hate gods. In fact, they want to eat gods.
The demon god of LIES didn’t know what to do now. It wanted to rush forward to fight and eat the strange newcomer. The newcomer was that tempting. But it also became extremely cautious because it knew that there’s no such thing as free food. Especially not food that is as powerful as itself. It must cost him something to acquire it.
Imagine the kind of day it is having. It was up the mountain, watching demons and mortals interact and lie to each other. Then it had to wave some of its tentacles to discourage the Supreme Tyrants that were chasing after the newcomer.
Then it met the most confusing creature it had ever met. At first, it thought the newcomer was lying. Now it knows that the newcomer is a long-extinct race of beings. Not only is it not extinct, but it has also grown into something that can help it evolve.
So it wants to eat the newcomer, but it is also very cautious because this whole thing feels like a scheme against it. It can’t figure out what the purpose of the scheme is, but it knows that a god should know how demons will receive it when it appears in front of them. And yet, the newcomer came.
So it couldn’t make up its mind about what to do with the newcomer. The Tree Father, on the other hand, was still carefree. He retracted his power and returned to his perfectly harmless state. No one can tell what strength he possesses in this state. It is a result of his perfect control over power.
The Tree Father spoke as if he weren’t in the den of murderous beings that wanted to kill him. “How about that? That should prove my usefulness and my identity. I doubt the Tyrants will be willing to use someone like me as a spy. I think they would rather have me killed.”