Although Alaric didn't understand why the magic for communicating with animals worked on Mejed, while the magic for communicating with humans did not…
When he thought of ancient Egypt's various gods with canine heads, wolf heads, jackal heads, cat heads, falcon heads, crocodile heads… and so on, he felt somewhat relieved.
Egyptian gods had particularly strong bonds with divine beasts. Perhaps this Mejed god had somehow been classified by the rules as a divine beast.
In any case, as long as communication was possible, there was no problem.
Thus began the bizarre conversation between Alaric and the Mejed god.
"So, why exactly did you appear in my room?" Alaric asked.
"Me-me… jie… Mejed… me!" Mejed gestured wildly.
"Because of Nitocris? So, seeing a stranger like me get too close to her made you worried?" Alaric confirmed.
"Me!"
Mejed nodded.
"So you approached me to keep an eye on me?"
"Me!"
Another nod.
"You really care about her, don't you."
"Jie… de… jie-me… me!"
Mejed hopped about as it explained.
"You think you're her guardian deity? But shouldn't a pharaoh's guardian god be Horus?
Or maybe Anubis, after all, Nito carries the Underworld Mirror Grimoire, which belongs to Anubis's power." Alaric found this a little strange.
"Me… de! De! Jie-me." Mejed looked dissatisfied.
"Huh, so your Egyptian gods are that laid-back? Completely hands-off, is that it…? And if none of them care, why do you want to protect Nitocris?"
"Me-me… jie… de… Mejed!"
Mejed's eyes took on a nostalgic look.
"I see… Nitocris is the only pharaoh who ever offered sacrifices to you, huh. To end up like this, you're really a failure for a subordinate god of Osiris…
Don't tell me it was just because she thought you looked interesting and sacrificed to you on a whim?"
"Me! Jie! De!"
Mejed's eyes turned furious again. It even jumped up, trying to ram Alaric with its head.
"Whoa, whoa, did I hit a sore spot? What a petty god, you won't even let people say it?"
Seeing Mejed fly into a rage, Alaric laughed and started chasing it around the room.
After quite a while, realizing it couldn't catch Alaric, Mejed finally plopped down on the ground in a huff.
"What, not chasing anymore?" Alaric asked.
"Me!"
Mejed turned its head away, clearly indicating it didn't want to talk to him.
"Alright, alright, don't be mad. I won't tease you next time." Alaric walked over and patted Mejed's smooth, white head.
Honestly, the texture felt pretty nice.
"Jie?"
"Of course it's true. I said I won't tease you, so I won't… though you really do look incredibly funny, hahaha…"
Seeing Mejed up close, those eyes that looked like an elementary schooler's drawing, and that body like a white bedsheet, Alaric still couldn't help laughing out loud.
"Me!"
Being mocked by Alaric, Mejed truly got angry this time. It charged forward with all its might and successfully headbutted Alaric.
"Ow, ow, ow! That hurts! You petty god, you really hit me?!" Alaric rubbed his slightly dizzy head, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
Sure enough, this Mejed god was basically just a strange-looking little animal, pure and simple.
"Me-me!"
Perhaps because it had successfully headbutted Alaric and reclaimed its divine dignity, Mejed looked rather pleased.
"Alright, alright, I give up." Alaric smiled and patted it again, and the atmosphere between them seemed much less tense.
"So then, since you're protecting Nitocris, why don't you help her? That child… the hatred in her heart has been tormenting her all this time."
"Me! Jie! Me… me-me, de-me-de…"
Mejed lowered its head, its eyes turning sorrowful, even showing those "drawn-on" tears again.
QAQ
"Is it because of a god's duty, not being allowed to interfere with humans at will?" Alaric nodded. "That's admirable. Mejed is a responsible god."
"Me-me!"
Seeming to feel understood, Mejed immediately brightened up.
Then, as if wanting to say something more, Mejed began hopping up and down in front of Alaric.
"Me… jie-me! Jie! Me-me… jie, me, de! De! Me-jie-jie! De… me!"
"You mean… I'm very strong, so you want me to help Nitocris, help her fulfill her wish?" Alaric pointed at himself. When Mejed nodded, Alaric smiled.
"Don't worry. Like you, I care deeply about that child too. I'll help her… but I won't help her directly. Instead, I'll pass my power on to her.
That way, when she takes revenge with her own hands, she'll probably be happier, right?"
"Me! Jie!"
"You agree with me? Thank you."
Looking at Mejed before him, Alaric suddenly thought of the power it had shown earlier, its concealment.
That Mejed god, looking like someone draped in a white sheet, actually governed the domains of "concealment" and "invisibility."
Covering the body with cloth was a well-known symbolic image in mysticism, representing hiding one's form from sight.
A Mejed god like this naturally possessed formidable power in that regard.
An idea formed in Alaric's mind.
Like a shady man tempting a girl, Alaric leaned closer.
"Me?"
Sensing Alaric's ill intent, the Mejed god shrank back into the corner, its eyes weak and helpless.
"Don't worry, I'm not planning to do anything to you," Alaric said with a wry smile at the perceptive little thing.
"I just want to ask, do you want to use your power to help her get revenge?"
"Me? Me! Jie! Me… me-me!"
"Relax, I'm not asking you to personally take action," Alaric explained. "I mean another way.
Teaching Nitocris the power you used earlier, your invisibility.
My magic is too different from Egyptian divine arts; it'd be too hard for her to learn quickly.
But your power is different, also Egyptian divine arts. It suits her perfectly, doesn't it?"
"Me! Jie-me! Jie… me-de!"
Mejed still shook its head.
"I know, I know, you can't bestow power at will. I'm not asking you to directly give her your power," Alaric continued.
"My idea is to study your power, break it down into Egyptian runic spells, and in the end, I'll make it something that can be cast through magic.
Then I can teach her to use it. What do you think?"
"Me! Me!"
"So you're agreeing?"
Alaric was delighted.
He had planned that after helping Nitocris, he would use the queen and the Egyptian priests' mastery of runic spells to learn Egyptian-style magic.
But with a chance to learn magic directly from an Egyptian god right in front of him, how could he possibly let it slip?
Even if that god wasn't very strong.
PS:
The setting of simplifying divine arts into runic spells, then converting runic spells into magic, comes from two sources.
One is the Runecaster from D&D. This class exists among dwarves and giants. I originally thought it was an advanced class for mages, but later found out that Runecasters are actually divine spellcasters, which shocked me at the time…
The other source is Norse runes. These famous magical runes originate from Odin, the chief god of Norse mythology, which was also one of the inspirations.
Combined with the broader idea found throughout global magical lore: many mystical traditions originate from faith in gods.