Zog stared intently at the old man and the young man before him, trying to figure out what they were planning.

It was no exaggeration to say—

He couldn’t figure out a single thing.

He’d once watched a TV show where the male lead could tell if people were lying by reading their micro-expressions.

He tried to learn it, but failed.

When he was a budding adolescent, he confessed his feelings to a pretty girl in the class next door.

When she said, "I hope we can still be good friends," she touched her nose.

He had retorted with full confidence, "You’re lying! You touched your nose! You like me!"

Their relationship did indeed move to the next level.

They couldn’t even be friends anymore.

It was only after replaying the scene in his head that he realized she might have touched her nose because she was embarrassed.

’So yeah, learning things from TV isn’t very reliable. If it was, I wouldn’t have only learned those two words of Japanese after all these years.’

The pair in front of him were still droning on with their spiel about the Goddess’s wisdom and universal love.

The young Priest’s eyes reminded him of Elsa a year ago. It was that look of someone who had just declared their major—completely clueless about what the field was actually like, but still full of hope for the future.

Of course, Elsa wasn’t like that anymore. She was thoroughly mercenary now, having emerged from the mud completely stained.

The old Bishop, however, looked far more dangerous. He was constantly smiling. He was either a genuinely nice old man or a purebred schemer.

But since he’d climbed all the way to Bishop, Zog was leaning toward the latter.

"Unbeliever, while your game’s application of Magic is... a bit delicate, it is not entirely impossible for it to receive the Goddess’s blessing."

The Bishop got to the point, his "amiable" smile crinkling his entire face, squeezing his eyes into thin slits and making one wonder if he could even see.

"Tsk." Zog clicked his tongue. ’Leave it to an educated man to make a shakedown for protection money sound so elegant.’

’The Goddess’s blessing, my ass. Your Goddess is omnipotent, but she’s short on cash, is that it?’

’This wicked old man is rotten to the core.’

Zog started wondering if there was a way to get rid of this Bishop.

The problem was, dealing with the Bishop himself would be easy. The key was that the Church really did have powerful backers. A direct confrontation was a losing battle.

That Holy Knight from the Judgment Court last time wasn’t high-ranking, and his identity was shady anyway. So when the Fishmen drowned him, that was that.

But a regional Bishop was different. If something really happened to him, the fallout would be huge.

’What if they use a Twelfth Ring Scroll this time?’

As if sensing Zog’s hostility, the Bishop continued, "The Church doesn’t wish to stop the spread of games on the Continent. Rather, we want to use games to spread the Goddess’s teachings."

With that, he introduced the young Priest beside him. "This is Priest Andrei, one of the most accomplished among the Church’s youth in the study of our sacred texts. He has a grand ambition to promote our doctrines by creating a game."

Priest Andrei stood up, his gaze resolute. The young Church lad stood at attention.

"I want to learn the techniques for making games. Your game’s interpretation of the Holy Professional class moved me, and I hope you will allow me to take charge of creating a game."

Zog hadn’t expected that his hodgepodge of Holy Professional stereotypes would actually get a real Holy Professional’s approval. ’Stereotypes truly are the distilled wisdom of the masses.’

"So, would you be willing to share your magical knowledge related to games? The Goddess blesses all benevolent souls who are willing to share their knowledge."

’The Magic for making games isn’t some monopolized technology, anyway; it’s all the result of Illusionists’ work. Besides, the Zog Group is openly hiring, so it’s only a matter of time before the tech becomes widespread.’

’If games become popular throughout society and the market blooms with a hundred different genres, my own games will reach a wider audience. Besides, I’m quite curious to see what kind of games the people of this world can design.’

Still, he really wanted to say something snarky. ’Doesn’t the Goddess know everything? Go ask Her.’

It was purely a Dragon’s grudge.

"Hehehe, of course you can learn the game-making techniques," Zog said, his rational side taking over. "But as for putting you in charge of making a game... frankly, it’s not that I don’t want to cooperate with the Church, it’s just that we’re short-staffed right now."

The Zog Group was developing multiple games at once and was facing a severe production bottleneck. A fighting game, a rhythm game, a platformer, and a side-scrolling action game were all in the pipeline.

"Manpower... while the Church cannot offer a direct solution at this time, we can provide a small bit of funding."

The Bishop held up one finger.

"Oh, well... while we do need the funding, Ten Thousand Gold Coins for game development..."

"One million."

"In that case, if we work hard to arrange the manpower, I suppose it wouldn’t be impossible."

"In cash. Deliverable right now."

"Your Excellency, you truly understand the industry! Elsa, take Priest Andrei to the development team. Get his initial concepts for the game. We can start immediately."

’I’ve never seen a client like this in my life. It’s just making a game, what’s the big deal? As long as I make my money, if the final product is a piece of crap, well, I can only wish the Bishop the best of luck.’

"After the Church’s game is finished, I hope it can set a new standard for the industry."

"Of course."

"No, Unbeliever, you misunderstand my meaning. The Church’s idea is to use this game as a template to define the regulations that all future games must adhere to."

The Bishop’s tone suddenly shifted.

"Those that satisfy the regulations will be certified as works blessed by the Goddess and can be widely distributed. Those that do not will be deemed as using Magic for entertainment that violates the commandments and will be boycotted by all believers."

Zog’s pupils dilated. ’Holy crap, so this is what they were after.’

’From the very beginning, what the Church wanted was to be the review board, right?’

’That’s not "setting a standard," that’s selling indulgences! When it comes to being shady, the Church takes the cake. They could have just robbed me blind, but no, they had to cook up a righteous pretext.’

Zog could already foresee the future of the game market going down the drain.

’No, there has to be a way to take the Church’s money without handing over the entire game market.’

’Coincidentally, it’s been hard for Flying Red Middle to penetrate the market of devout believers. I can make a special edition that’s "Church-approved" to break into their market. As for the regularly released games, they can stay just the way they are.’

’Mr. Tree-man taught me well. When someone comes in threatening to tear off the roof, maybe you can get away with just opening a window.’

"I have a suggestion. Why don’t we create a platform specifically for playing games that spread the Goddess’s teachings? That way, both believers and unbelievers can get what they want. And the Church can receive more offerings from the faithful here."

The Church called the money handed over by its followers "offerings." The sheer pomposity and shamelessness of it made Zog, an insatiably greedy capitalist Dragon, feel inadequate.

’Looks like my moral standards still have room to fall.’

’I’ll just consider it giving up a portion of the profits to capture the conservative believer market.’

’It’s the Otherworld version of the Apple App Store. To get to Apple’s users, you have to accept Apple’s cut.’

’Otherwise, you can’t get into their ecosystem.’

"That works as well, that works as well." The Bishop smiled, gave a Church salute, and then grasped Zog’s claw in a secular handshake.

"Then it’s settled."

Zog smiled on the surface, but inwardly, he was cursing the Bishop’s entire family.

’Sooner or later, I’ll have Flying Red Middle infiltrate the entire Church! I’ll stick a Red Middle Launcher in all of your special-edition games!’

The Bishop left the game store with Priest Andrei.

"Your Excellency, why did you agree to get involved with games? Just yesterday, didn’t you think I was violating the commandments?"

Priest Andrei asked the question he had been holding back for a long time.

The Bishop stared blankly in the direction of the Holy Mountain. "It was a divine oracle from the Goddess. She revealed to me that we must get involved in the game industry."

"A divine oracle!" Andrei exclaimed. It had been one hundred and thirty-four years and two hundred and twenty-eight days since the Goddess had last bestowed an oracle.

Some within the Church had even begun to suspect that the Goddess had vanished.

Now that a divine oracle had descended, it would surely unite the Church once more. But... why would it place so much importance on games?