"You're a dog belonging to my original self, aren't you?"
Never doubt the wisdom of the powerful, for wisdom itself was one of the key measures of strength.
Without astonishing wisdom, that fishing-village boy who had once walked along the beach in the Mills Goddess's footprints could never have ultimately embarked on the path to godhood.
Earlier, Kallen had merely laid the groundwork with a few deliberate coincidences. There was very little trace of contrivance; it had all felt quite natural.
But Lord Dar had not simply assumed that the young man before him was a kindred spirit with a matching temperament and experiences. Instead, he had immediately realized that this young man very likely had some connection to him.
Because Lord Dar knew very clearly just what he was.
He was a god. His long life had given him terrifying experience, and his prolonged position at the top had granted him an unimaginable breadth of perspective.
Still, when Lord Dar said those words, Kallen was somewhat dazed.
Lord Dar had guessed correctly.
He had grasped the truth of the matter almost perfectly, as though looking in a mirror, but... he had it backward.
Someone had indeed become a dog, but it was not the young man before him. It was his original self-which, in fact, meant him.
But Lord Dar could not be blamed for reaching the opposite conclusion. Kallen's existence was an exception to begin with, and the only comparable exception that could currently be found lay in the descriptions of the God of Order's birth in the Light of Order.
On top of that, Kallen had had a special grandfather by his side back then, a grandfather who had no desire to become a Temple Elder or serve his god up close, who wanted only to rebel