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The city of mages. Procyon was thriving.

Thanks to a book written by Sia, the overall level of mages improved, and their numbers increased, so it’s only natural for Procyon, where mages gathered, to prosper.

Just looking at the size of the city, it’s grown more than four times larger than it was 300 years ago, with various buildings built outside the city and many people coming and going.

If we talk about the biggest change in Procyon, it would have to be the establishment of the Magic Tower.

Originally, mages who studied similar types of magic formed a research group, which scaled up into a magic school. As the power of the magic schools solidified, mages felt the need to gather in one place to conduct research.

Thus, they built a grand tower to serve as their Magic Tower.

Hmm… Why a tower? Why that of all things? Even before it became Procyon, when it went by the name Babel, they were building towers, and now they’re doing it again!

I’m not sure, but… maybe they just think it’s good to build a tower? Or is it the arrogance of mages wanting to reach the sky that compels them to build towers? Or could it be that there was a tower during the Babel era, and they want to imitate it?

Well, there doesn’t seem to be a problem of having to bring the tower down like during the Babel times, so… I decided to just let it be.

Anyway, the Magic Tower that was created merged with the Procyon Council, and many tower leaders became the elders overseeing the overall operations of Procyon.

The seven largest Magic Towers became the ones to decide the direction of Procyon.

Well, really, it was just the council’s duties shifting over to the tower leaders.

But at least the tower leaders had actual control over their mages, unlike the council which was treated only as an honorary position with weak authority.

Among the buildings rolling along just fine in Procyon, there was one that caught my attention.

That building where many people came and went was… the library.

A library so enormous that it wouldn’t lose out to any other Magic Towers.

According to the founder’s intention to gather all the knowledge of the world, it collects countless books, making it a grand library.

The founder of that grand library was… Sia’s disciple, Cecil.

Cecilia Marigold. It seemed that the grand mage known by that name was the founder of the grand library.

A disciple of Sia being a grand mage… Hmm… I guess that’s not too strange. Since Sia ascended as the God of Magic, she transferred everything she had to her disciple, Cecil.

Included in all that was Sia’s magical power. Although her initial magical power was lacking, it was filled by having outstanding abilities compared to other mages, so…

It was only natural to refer to her as a grand mage.

Anyway, the now grand mage who became an object of envy among other mages resolved to carry on her master’s legacy by gathering all the knowledge of the world.

Cecil gathered all of Sia’s inheritance and her own fortune to build a grand library, starting to collect books from all over Procyon and the world to store in it.

Many mages called Cecil’s actions a waste of money, saying she was throwing it into thin air, but she continued to collect books.

As many years passed, and Cecil’s black hair turned white.

The grand library she created transformed into a cradle of knowledge gathering all the knowledge of the world.

But Cecil was not satisfied with that. Knowledge that isn’t utilized is no different from dead knowledge, and books without readers are nothing but bundles of paper.

So, Cecil opened the door of the grand library for others to use it.

Of course, it wasn’t open to just anyone.

You either had to pay a small registration fee, donate books to the grand library, or register someone with the will to learn as a member of the grand library, allowing them to read books in the library.

Such members covered the operating costs of the grand library, stocked donated books, and shared knowledge with those who yearned for it.

“Well, you can’t check books out of the library, and if you damage any books, you’ll lose your membership immediately.”

“Oh, is that so?”

As soon as I entered the library, I responded casually while looking at Sia, who appeared like a ghost.

Now that I think about it, Sia was the goddess of knowledge, to the extent of turning her temple into a library.

“How did you come down to the land? Aren’t gods not able to descend recklessly?”

“All libraries double as my temple, so I can come and go like this. Plus, since I’m of human origin, I’m less affected by such restrictions.”

Hmm… Is that so? Well, a god of human origin must have originally been on the ground… so they might be a little different from other gods.

But… how did she notice I was here?

“How did you know I was here?”

“It’s bad to wander into the library while leaking magic like that, Tia. You woke up from hibernation and didn’t even come to see me.”

“Sorry about that. But I thought it would be problematic to stay in the Divine Hall any longer.”

I’m not going to be anyone’s slave! Why do I have to create divisions to share the work? It’s all to have some fun!

Right now, that division is pressuring me to work. I’m definitely the main body, but I’m being outdone in spirit… Why is this happening?

“Hmm… Asherat can be a bit scary.”

“Still, seeing her suffer under the heavy workload makes me feel a little sympathetic. Why don’t you help out sometimes, Tia?”

“Help out…?”

Doing Asherat’s work? Hearing the prayers of those who pray to the Goddess of Life?

I could, but… it would be incredibly exhausting.

“If you want to, that is.”

“But if I don’t unwind my feelings now, it’ll be even harder later. Wouldn’t it be best to help out, even a little?”

Ugh… I really don’t want to work. I really, really don’t want to…

Ugggh. It can’t be helped. Asherat is probably quite angry because I ran away. So calming her down might be necessary.

I really, really don’t want to work, but… if Asherat were to go on strike, that would be a much bigger problem.

Just when I was trying to push down my unwilling heart.

“Master! There you are!!”

Someone appeared from behind Sia.

A woman who looked like a mage with black hair. I’ve seen this woman before…

“Cecil?”

“I think it’s the first time we meet face to face, Tia.”

Cecil, Sia’s disciple, looked just as young as she used to… Actually, seeing as she doesn’t appear to be human anymore, perhaps not quite the same.

Anyway, Cecil smiled softly at me while maintaining her youthful appearance.

“Sia? Your disciple…”

“Yep. I asked the gods of the underworld to take care of her.”

“Making a deal with the gods of the underworld…?”

From what I can tell, it seems Cecil has transformed into something like a messenger of the gods.

“Well, that’s thanks to Cecil’s trial resulting in her going to paradise. Instead of entering paradise, she ended up serving me.”

“The underworld gods really allowed that, huh?”

“I made a deal. To secretly mix some books in the library about raising awareness of death among humans and gaining some knowledge to improve their trial outcomes.”

“Indeed…”

The underworld still looks like it’s struggling.

“Master. It’s about time to head back.”

“Oh, right. I understand. Then, Tia. I’ll head back to the Divine Hall first. While it’s nice to explore the world, don’t keep Asherat waiting too long. Even her patience has its limits.”

After saying that, Sia left with Cecil back to the Divine Hall.

Hmm. Asherat’s work… There’s no helping it. I wanted to investigate the world a bit more.

I should meet Ifrit first and think about it.

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“You seem to be at peace.”

“Mom. I heard you fell into a deep sleep. When did you wake up?”

“I just opened my eyes recently. It hasn’t been many days.”

In the few days since then, I managed to explore the world to some extent, but.

“Is that so? Hmm. I’ve been ignoring the Divine Hall, so I didn’t hear much about you.”

Ifrit seemed to be doing quite well.

Since very few people cross the scorching desert to visit, aside from lighting some of the flames they detached in Procyon, there wasn’t much else for them to do.

Unlike the other children, there aren’t any tribes to be responsible for.

“Now that I’ve woken up, I came to check on you guys. From what I see, you seem to be doing just fine.”

“Yep. I don’t have any responsibilities like the others.”

Such easy-going words from Ifrit, who was in the lightest position.

“Oh, by the way, Mom. Did you hear? Shamash is doing something a bit interesting.”

“Something interesting?”

“Yeah. What was it again…? He said he’s training humans to pass judgment in his place?”

“Humans who pass judgment…? You mean judges?”

“I’m not sure of the details. One thing’s for certain, he wants to transfer his work to humans.”

Shamash’s work…? Transferring the judgment to humans?

Hmm… That’s right! That isn’t strictly a job Shamash must do! He’s trying to hand it over to humans!

I’m so envious! I’m so envious! I can’t pass on my duties as the Goddess of Life to humans! How can Shamash just hand over his work like that! I’m so envious!!!

Alright. Let’s go see Shamash. I need to listen to the full story from him!

 

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