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EP.197

So the six gods started writing the names of the gods on a huge papyrus.

“First, let’s exclude the gods we need to save, and also the ones we have to kill. What about the ambiguous gods… what do we do with them?”

“Yeah. Annihilation.”

“Sagarmatha, that’s not right.”

“But it was simple.”

With an expressionless face, Sagarmatha merely gave a thumbs-up.

“Well, I agree it’s simple, but that would be troublesome. Hmm… not easy.”

“Let’s do this. We’ll generally categorize them as either killed or demoted. If any of us want to defend that god, then we can talk about it.”

“Defend?”

“Yeah. Defend. The one who defends should state their main reasoning, and then we can discuss and choose. Surely, there’s a few gods everyone wants to save?”

Most nodded at Shamash’s words.

Besides the rare cases where a god was completely isolated from others, gods usually built relationships with other gods.

“I wouldn’t care if they all vanished.”

Except for Thetis.

“Thetis can’t help it. A new continent has risen, and the currents are all messed up, so she’s been busy trying to stabilize things.”

“Yeah. A disaster.”

“But you must at least have a few close gods, right? Like another god of the sea.”

Thetis frowned at that.

“Most aren’t strong enough to come to my place, and the one who did is that bastard’s brother. Poseidon.”

“Ah… yeah. Then there’s nothing that can be done.”

It was a widely known fact that the Olympian gods had terrible personalities, with the worst being their leader Zeus and his brother Poseidon.

Naturally, they were among the names on the list of gods who needed to die.

Naturally, those gathered here were well aware of that infamous reputation.

“What’s this nonsense about a political marriage to rule over all the seas? Truly foolish, I say. Most of the currents are already under my control.”

“Mm. Sounds tough.”

“Shamash, don’t you have young gods following you in Olympus?”

“Mm. The Sun and Moon gods, those kids? They’re not that bad… but there are countless gods claiming to be the sun and moon gods. It’s like each faction has one.”

“Mm. That’s true. There’s way too much overlap.”

Nods of agreement spread across the group.

“Why do humans believe in so many different gods? Even just the one overseeing the single sun has multiple forms… it’s truly troubling.”

At Sylphid’s grumbling, Yggdrasil nodded slightly.

“Because they’re humans. They can’t roam freely across the world. Of course, they wouldn’t know about gods in different places.”

“But our mother and us are well-known to almost all humans, right?”

“Half of us are race gods.”

Gods of elves. Gods of dwarves. And the gods of all seas, and mermaids.

The gods responsible for certain races were indeed well known to humans.

“Ifrīṭ and I are already widely recognized gods among humans.”

God of light, justice, and law, Shamash.

God of flame who purifies the sins of the deceased by burning their bodies, Ifrīṭ.

These two were well-known deities among humans.

“Mother needs no introduction. I guess Sylphid is the least-known among us.”

“But fishermen do believe in her a lot.”

“Half and half with Thetis.”

At Yggdrasil’s remark, Sylphid only puffed out her cheeks.

“Okay, enough chatter. It’s time to work.”

With that, Sagarmatha, who had been silent, prompted everyone to nod and focus on categorizing the gods.

Thus, they sorted out the gods that had harmed humans and compiled a list of those that needed to be spared.

“But what’s Mother thinking right now?”

Shamash spoke in a low voice.

“Mother’s thoughts?”

“Yeah. Honestly, Baal losing his body and heading to the Underworld was on him… he wanted that, right? He could have been resurrected any time but chose to forfeit.”

Ifrīṭ nodded slightly at Shamash’s words.

“That’s true, but it seems Mother didn’t see it that way.”

“I thought for a bit… maybe Mother wishes to reduce the number of gods and manage them directly?”

“Mother, directly?”

At Yggdrasil’s words, Shamash nodded and added.

“Without Baal, and once we’ve cleaned out the factions of each god, the number causing problems would drop too. Plus, much of Mother’s work was delegated to the fragments… maybe she wants to become the king of gods herself?”

Everyone showed varied reactions to Shamash’s statement.

Some thought it plausible, while others felt she would have already orchestrated a purge if that were the case.

Though there were different opinions, no one thought it impossible.

“I don’t think so.”

In the midst of it all, Sagarmatha spoke up.

“Mother wouldn’t want to become the king of gods.”

“Then why is she reducing their numbers?”

Sagarmatha closed his eyes for a moment, choosing his words carefully.

“I think she got angry at the gods who didn’t follow Baal, the king she established. She might feel her authority is crumbling. As a result… she could think the gods will become an obstacle to life in this world.”

Sagarmatha spoke longer than usual, and Ifrīṭ followed up.

“Ah! Now that you mention it, Mother did say she hated the gods.”

“Hated the gods?”

“Yeah. She said they torment other lives.”

At those words, everyone fell silent.

After all, they were gods themselves.

“But, she’s a god too, right?”

“Yeah, but she stands in the position of taking care of life. Isn’t it pitiful for the lives that suffer because of the gods?”

“Yeah. That makes sense.”

“But… does that mean she hates us too? I only punish humans regarding trials.”

Everyone fell silent at Shamash’s words.

“Yeah, there’s no big problem for me.”

“I-I too! I’m just busy taking care of elves!”

“Hmm… should I start helping drowning people more often…?”

“I mean, I burn the bodies of the dead to lessen their sins… doesn’t that actually help life?”

“I-I… um… ugh…”

Only Sylphid struggled to express herself properly.

She wasn’t a god responsible for any race, let alone one that provided significant help to others.

Actually, she had been known to create storms out of boredom to sweep the world away.

“It’ll be okay! Mother is kind! She won’t hate Sylphid!”

“Yeah. Trust Mother.”

Thetis and Sagarmatha desperately tried to encourage Sylphid, but her expression remained downcast.

“Let’s just finish what we need to do first. We can’t guess what Mother is thinking anyway. Plus, she’s very kind to us. Let’s assume she won’t hate us.”

“Yeah.”

With a droopy face, Sylphid nodded quietly.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

“So, what are you going to do from here on out?”

After Nyx’s question, I fell into deep thought.

“Um. What to do…”

First, reduce the number of gods. Uh…

Honestly, I didn’t have much else planned.

I was extremely annoyed that my established king of gods was defied, and my authority was rejected… hmm. Sure, I wanted to be petty and take a stab at that irritating figure, but after some time, I realized that authority didn’t mean much to me.

If I valued authority, I would have simply made myself the king of gods in the first place.

So, it was just… um. To put it simply.

I was just angry that things weren’t unfolding as I expected.

I wanted to delegate the work to the fragments and have Baal manage the gods so that I could leisurely wander the world, but that plan fell apart.

So, I was just annoyed.

That’s why.

“I need to reduce the number of gods, first.”

Unchecked gods are like ticking time bombs, after all.

Handling them before they explode is what’s best for this world.

“The number of gods needs to be reduced… yeah, there are definitely too many gods in the world. At the very least, I hope the Olympian gods get cut down a bit.”

“The Olympians. That was where the one you had a spat with just now was the leader, right?”

“Yeah. Zeus was originally a fragment of Baal, and after Baal’s demise, he absorbed the power and authority left behind. There are probably no stronger gods besides the Ancient Gods and the Mother of Life.”

Hmm. So he’s that strong? I thought he was roughly as strong as a decently powerful dragon based purely on his strength.

Well, it seems dragons might be stronger than gods. They were born much earlier in the age.

“Then until the list of gods we need to eliminate is complete… um, how about we stay here? It would make me feel better if the Mother of Life is around.”

“Sorry, but I plan to roam the world until that list is finished. The list of gods is tremendously long, so it won’t wrap up in a day or two.”

Ah! Right! Among the items made for Baal, there was a papyrus scroll with the list of all gods.

If I had that, wouldn’t it help the kids a lot in creating the list?

“Speaking of which, didn’t Baal have a scroll that contained the list of all gods?”

“The Divine List, you mean? Yes, I have that.”

“Good. Later, pass that item to the kids. It should help them a lot.”

Nyx nodded slightly at my words.

And it was about a month later, when Sylphid came back with the draft of the Dead God’s List, that she was left speechless by the endless length of the Divine List Niγx had given her…

Unfortunately, that was a rather unimportant thing.

 

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