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Wanderer Judge.

They are priests serving the God of Light and Justice, as well as holy knights, who also discern sins on behalf of the light.

In their eyes shines a brilliant light, and only those who are to be judged by that light can be seen.

They carry the sacred laws written in their law codex on their backs, striving for every sinner in the world to receive fair judgment.

So, sinner, do not try to escape the light.

No matter how deep the darkness, you cannot avoid the light.

What you can do is simply repent for the sins you have committed.

– A guide for adventurers exploring the world.

Chapter of Divinity. Section on the God of Light and Law, Justice.

—-

The world is vast, and humanity is plentiful.

Humans are increasing, and as their desires grow, how many more sinners do you think there will be?

Those who steal a piece of bread unable to endure hunger, those who steal objects they don’t possess, and those who, unable to suppress their fury, harm others with sharp objects.

To judge all such sinners… Shamash was far too busy.

Even if he is the God of Light, capable of surveying the world in the blink of an eye, it’s only natural to feel overwhelmed with work.

That’s why.

“I’ve decided to delegate work!”

“I see.”

Shamash thought of passing his duties onto humans.

“Of course, I won’t just hand it off to anyone. I’ll select only those who follow my intentions closely.”

“Selectively?”

“Yes. Appointing judges who have completely memorized the codex, discern right from wrong, and understand personal circumstances to pass judgment. This would drastically reduce my workload!”

“Indeed.”

Shamash’s task is to pass judgment according to the law. There’s no issue with delegating that task to humans.

Unlike me! I have duties I can’t offload to humans! How could I pass on the prayers meant for the Goddess of Life to a mere human!

At least I can count on my fragment, Asherat, to take on some.

“Though I’m still in the process of teaching, I’m sure they’ll grow over time. I’m writing laws for them, after all.”

“Laws?”

“Yes. I plan to add content to the codex established with my mother long ago. There’s an almost endless variety of sins humans commit, and one small tablet won’t be enough to record them all.”

Human sins… hmm. There are many varieties. Truly, they commit every imaginable type of crime.

Documenting all their sins isn’t an ordinary task, that’s for sure.

“If I nurture judges to handle my duties, the number of those receiving flawed judgments in places I cannot see will decrease. This is also for the benefit of the sinners.”

“So, what’s your true desire?”

“I want to take a break!!!”

Though pretending to be nonchalant, it’s impossible to fool me.

Not even a radiant face radiating light can hide those dark circles! And those oddly frizzy hair ends! Plus, the eyes of a god losing their light!

While trying to mask exhaustion with a façade of brightness, Shamash couldn’t hide the signs of fatigue from this mother!

“What’s this?! There are too many humans!!! They’re committing every sin under the sun!! I gave them a law codex, and they find ways to exploit its gaps!!! On top of that, judgments differ slightly by region!!! What’s going on?! This is just too much!!”

Boo-hoo! Shamash sobbed. It’s a bit jarring to see someone looking like a noble blonde lady sobbing, but…

Well, it’s cute, so I can overlook it.

I gently patted Shamash’s head as she cried on my lap.

“You’ve been through a lot.”

“Hoo-wahh!!! Mooooom!!!”

“Go ahead and cry as much as you want. Lean on me.”

Isn’t this a privilege of being a mother?

After a while of accepting Shamash’s tears.

“Phew. I feel better now.”

“You recover quickly.”

“Busy schedules will do that. If I don’t recover quickly, I fall behind on work.”

That’s quite the pitiful reason.

“Anyway, once I’ve finished training the judges, I should have a bit more leisure time. After that… I plan to gather the children I’ve neglected somewhat.”

“The neglected children?”

At my words, Shamash nodded slightly with a stern expression.

“Yes. The children known as Spirits of Light.”

Gold dragons who followed Shamash. Spirits of Light who lost themselves and wander the world.

I feel like neglecting them wouldn’t be a problem… Honestly, it seems she doesn’t care too much about the other children either.

At least Thetis or Sylphid seem to somewhat care and treat them like subordinates… Ah, Ifrit also seems to do something for them occasionally.

Sagarmatha? That child doesn’t seem particularly involved. The Earth Spirits seem pretty annoying.

“Of course, I’m not caring for them without purpose. I plan to have them assist me in return.”

“Assist you?”

“Yes. I’ll have them serve as overseers, checking if the judges are doing their jobs right by traveling the world in my stead.”

“Overseers, huh…”

Indeed, it’s necessary to ensure that judges giving rulings are doing their jobs correctly.

Those appointed judges are, after all, still human, and they can’t completely abandon their desires. There may be cases where they accept bribes to soften their judgments or collude with local commoners.

In such cases, it’s best for Shamash to personally verify, but it won’t be easy for her to check on all judges alone. It appears she plans to use the Spirits of Light for that purpose.

“Not a bad idea.”

“Exactly! Plus, I can finally look after the neglected Spirits of Light!”

Maybe it weighed on her mind that she hadn’t been caring for the Spirits of Light until now, as Shamash let out a quiet sigh of relief.

“And I’d like to make one suggestion.”

“Yes? What’s the suggestion?”

“How about not keeping the judges in one place?”

“Judges?”

At Shamash’s words, I nodded slightly.

If judges make rulings from one location continuously, issues might arise.

Even if the Spirits of Light are evaluating the judges, there might be those trying to exploit this arrangement by avoiding the eyes of those Spirits or individuals looking to take advantage of gaps in the law based on the judges’ traits.

To resolve such issues, judges should be moved around. Kind of like roaming judges from the old North American West.

In other words… Wanderer Judges? Something like that.

It might be a bit tough for the judges, but.. their work is significant enough to bear that hardship. It can’t be helped.

“Shall we just call them Wanderer Judges?”

“Wanderer Judges… oddly sounds kind of nice. I’ll use that name.”

Judges wandering the world. Hmm. That does carry a nice feel.

“Oh, speaking of which, Mom’s believers… the pilgrims of the Church of Life were travelers of the whole world too, right? We can have them follow the same routes as those pilgrims.”

“With the pilgrims? That’s true in a way.”

The travel routes formed by the pilgrims wandering the world were shaped by their steps.

If they walk along those paths, it’d ensure they reach every corner of the world.

“Plus, if we’re with the pilgrims, traveling safely would be assured.”

Right now… there aren’t that many dragons left in the Church of Life, but a few upper-tier ones remain… and the level of the priests from the Church of Life has overall improved.

Even the average monster has become strong enough that they can’t deal with the pilgrims. Traveling with those pilgrims will surely guarantee safety.

“When that time comes, I’ll be counting on you to take care of my judges, Mom.”

“I’ll make sure to talk separately to the Church of Life. Just in case, the judges you’re raising should have enough strength to defend themselves.”

“Um… Should we?”

“Of course. If judges enforcing the law don’t have the power to protect themselves, wouldn’t the wrongdoer want to harm them? Even if you and the Spirits of Light are doing your utmost, the difference between having the power to defend oneself and not is like heaven and earth.”

“That’s… definitely true. Got it. It may take a bit longer to train the judges, but… the judges we’ve nurtured should never fall victim to sinners.”

So, thus began the moment the Wanderer Judges, those bearing the mission of the God of Light, Justice, and Law, were born.

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Wanderer Judges. Those who carry the mission of Shamash, the God of Light, Justice, and Law.

In their quest for justice, they’ve even forsaken their own names.

Only those who hold a heart to implement justice, write down the laws they will bear with their own hands, fully memorize their contents, and train their bodies to wield the divine powers granted by the God of Light can qualify as Wanderer Judges.

The law codex they carry is not only a book containing laws for giving judgments, but it’s also a shield that cannot be harmed by blades, a bludgeon that strikes down sinners, and a medium for performing divine magic.

Do not oppose them, with a codex in one hand and a sword in the other. Unless you want to be blinded by the light they invoke.

– A guide for adventurers exploring the world.

Chapter of Divinity. Section on the God of Light, Justice, and Law.

 

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