"How do you view the gods?"
"The Gods of Navia."
Qin Ran did not answer directly, but asked a question in return.
After speaking, however, he emphasized "Navia" once more.
"Sacred and powerful."
"And..."
"Always fighting, openly and in secret!"
After giving the answer everyone knew, Aitelinna added that last remark softly.
Even though she could no longer contact the Gods of Navia, habits formed over so many years were still hard to change.
In fact, had the person before her not been Qin Ran, Aitelinna would never have uttered a single disrespectful word about the gods.
Once she said those words, a glimmer of understanding came to the priestess of the Thorn Temple.
"You mean...?"
"Yes."
"It's very possible. And everything happening now may well be unfolding according to that one's plan."
Qin Ran nodded.
"But that doesn't make sense!"
"There's no reason to destroy all of Navia City!"
"That's Navia City we're talking about-the city that houses twenty-five temples!"
Aitelinna shook her head in bewilderment.
"Perhaps that one thought twenty-five was too many?"
"They fight openly and in secret, just like humans."
"So..."
"What would be so strange about them developing the same greed as humans?"
Qin Ran looked at Aitelinna with a smile.
Clearly, as a native of this world, Aitelinna found that answer difficult to accept at first.
She was certainly intelligent and ambitious.
But her intelligence and ambition had always operated within a framework, never extending beyond it. Once something went beyond that framework, it became difficult for her to accept.
Yet deep down, Aitelinna believed Qin Ran was right.
With that thought as her starting point, Aitelinna immediately came up with another possibility.
"Do you think all of this could have gone beyond that one's expectations?"
"He arranged everything and planned everything, only for