Chapter: 157
“The king of the gods. That name is Baal.”
A snippet of writing engraved on a small stone fragment I got from an old man caught my eye.
The gods would never tolerate another above them, and there couldn’t possibly be a king among such arrogant gods, yet the ancient fragment of the stone tablet boldly denied this fact.
Should I trust the widely accepted truths? Or should I believe this tiny, humble stone piece?
Rational thinking screamed for me to throw this insignificant stone away, but my gut instinct was shouting that something was off.
It was proclaiming that the truth held within this stone was far from ordinary.
So, I embarked on a journey to investigate the stone fragment in every way I could think of.
The material? Marble. Magic analysis showed that the stone tablet fragment dated back to the era when gods strolled the earth—the age of the gods.
The time when the archetypes of countless myths scattered around the world actually existed.
Was this tablet that spoke of the King of the Gods holding onto truth or a lie? I couldn’t easily guess.
But… it was definitely worth looking into.
If I could unearth what went down in that time, when countless gods coexisted with humans—where records and artifacts are practically non-existent—immense wealth and fame might just waltz right into my life.
First things first, uncovering the truth about the King of the Gods, Baal. If the King of the Gods is indeed the highest among them, that would be the Goddess of Life, but… for now, let’s set that Goddess aside.
What I need to find right now is the existence of the King of the Gods buried in forgotten history.
Since the name Baal is the only clue, let’s dig through the scattered myths around the world looking for Baal or any similar names.
If luck is on my side… I might just stumble upon another clue.
—
And so, the coronation was wrapped up.
Baal did leave quite a mess with his last words, and even Sagarmatha erupted in volcanic rage, but hey, it’s all over now. Right?
After calming down the stormy Sagarmatha, scolding Baal was the next logical step.
“Baal, wasn’t that last comment a bit unnecessary?”
“But I needed to declare that it belongs to me!”
“To everything in this world?”
It almost echoed the words of some pirate king who seemed to have left everything behind somewhere, but let’s not dwell on that.
“Anyway, the coronation went off without any major issues, right? That’s what counts, doesn’t it? The gods in the square didn’t raise any objections either.”
“Of course not! After the coronation, they all scattered off to check out the pantheon! But Sagarmatha was furious!”
I’ve never seen that child this ticked off before. They say a quiet person is terrifying when they get angry, and that totally holds true for gods, too.
But what exactly fueled Sagarmatha’s anger? Was Baal’s comment the trigger?
Since Sagarmatha usually keeps to herself, I have no clue. Was she just annoyed by Baal’s words?
Thanks to that, I ended up having to spend some time hanging out with Sagarmatha to mellow her out… Hm. Just chilling together to calm her down? These kids are really easy, and honestly, it makes me worry a bit.
What if some bad guy sweet-talks them? They’ll only accept other gods, so…
“What’s a King of the Gods supposed to do?”
“Um, well…”
I fished out the tightly rolled papyrus scroll from my pocket and handed it to Baal.
“This is a list of every god’s name in this world. Memorize them all.”
The scroll, thick and hefty, contained a ton of names. It started with Baal, and the names went on and on, seeming endless.
I mean, it’s a magical scroll, so that’s expected. I had a spell cast to automatically update the names of all the gods linked to this infinite scroll, using Godtalk, so as long as that exists, it will always stay updated!
The only issue? Our names, mine and Baal’s, aren’t on the list—but that’s a minor detail. Who actually wants their name on their Messenger friends list anyway?
For Baal, I just omitted him. He doesn’t need to be on a list he’s going to look at himself, right?
“All of this…?”
“It’d be great if you could memorize everything, but just try to remember as much as you can.”
At my words, Baal dropped one end of the scroll, and it began unfurling endlessly down to the floor.
“How am I supposed to memorize all of this?!”
The scroll continued rolling around the divine throne like an uncontrollable snake.
If I leave it be, there might not be any space left around the throne, so I better grab hold of it.
Using my magic, I stopped the endless scroll and it automatically rewound itself.
“How can I possibly memorize this many names?!”
“Can’t you do it?”
“No way!”
Well, this is going nowhere. Great.
“In the first place, what king knows every single subject’s name? Being a king doesn’t mean they have to memorize everyone!”
“Hmm… thinking that through, you’ve got a point.”
There are gods for every small hill and stream, and memorizing each one would be pretty challenging.
That’d be no different than a human trying to remember the names of tens of thousands of subjects.
Oh, but nowadays, populations have grown quite a bit, even surpassing a million.
“Then just carry this scroll around and refer to it. Try to remember the names of the more influential gods.”
“Ugh… such a hassle. But what choice do I have? I’ll give it my best shot!”
That’s the spirit! It’s all about the effort, after all.
“By the way, did you give this scroll a name?”
“A name? Didn’t really think of it, to be honest.”
“What! That won’t do! Everything touched by Gaia’s hand is extraordinary, even the tiniest thing! You must give it a proper name!”
Hmmm, fair point. It might hold true by human standards. I’ve seen that obsidian spear I fixed for the lizardmen still being treasured like a gem.
“Alright then, how about Directory of the Gods?”
“That’s too plain and straightforward! Hmm… let’s go with The Pantheon. Since it’s a list of all gods, calling it the Pantheon fits!”
T/N: So, can you help me clarify? What does “만신록” (Manseonrok) mean? “Directory of All Gods”? Does it align with “Pantheon” in English?
Oh, it’s a similar term to “Pantheon.”
Well, it doesn’t really matter. From here on out, it’ll belong to Baal, so it’s probably best for him to name it however he likes!
—
The Pantheon is the place for all gods.
That’s why it’s said all information regarding gods can be found there. So, to investigate the god Baal, my path was undeniably tied to the Pantheon.
Of course, since the Pantheon is a realm beyond the reach of humans, conducting a direct investigation is impossible.
However, there are some gods who cherish humans and enjoy sharing their knowledge with them.
Among the things they share, there’s even knowledge known only to the gods.
The list of gods, known as the Pantheon, is one of those.
This list, said to be edited by the Goddess of Life, contains the names of countless gods, but the gods are only allowed to access a portion of it.
The copy handed down to humans is even a smaller fraction of that.
Humans pieced together their own list of gods using bits of the lists they received.
While it surely pales in comparison to the original held by the Goddess of Life, being able to somewhat consolidate the gods’ lists by region is already a great fortune for humans.
Such directories of gods were overseen by the Church of Life, but greedy individuals sometimes leaked bits of it for a handful of silver coins. Well, for someone like me who conducts somewhat dodgy investigations, that’s actually quite a blessing.
I spent some money to collect as many Pantheon lists as possible, ranging from thousands of years old to the most recent documents.
Initially, I thought I might just be throwing cash down the drain, but after meticulously studying those lists over time, I managed to unearth a few findings.
First off, the name Baal didn’t pop up among the myriad names of gods.
Nor was there any mention of a “King of the Gods.”
In the numerous Pantheons, the names of countless gods came and went, but Baal’s name was completely absent.
At first, I felt an overwhelming disappointment.
Could it be that the god Baal isn’t real? Was my quest pointless?
In that moment, a spark of inspiration surged through my mind.
What if the god Baal truly existed and was indeed the King of the Gods?
Maybe he didn’t appear on this list not because he wasn’t real, but because he simply didn’t need to be on it.
Just like the well-known Goddess of Life, who is also absent from this very list.
Could it be that the title of the King of the Gods didn’t need to be on that list either?
With that thought lingering, I dug into the list again, checking out the multitude of gods and what they presided over.
Surely, if he were the King of the Gods, he would oversee something fitting.
Then, in the countless lists of gods, there would surely be something left without a presiding deity.
There were gods in charge of various elements, the World Tree, sacred mountains and seas, vast plains and flowing rivers. Storms even had gods listed as their overseers.
But there was one glaring absence.
The Sky.
In mythologies from all over the world, with their myriad systems, there simply wasn’t a God of the Sky. Almost as if that position was meant to be left empty.
So, if Baal existed, and if he were the King of the Gods…
He would be… the God of the Sky.
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