Chapter: 164
And so, I bestowed new names upon the gods.
Greek mythology, Egyptian mythology, Norse mythology, Indian mythology… they felt a bit overwhelming in scale, to be honest. But, whatever.
I also borrowed names from Chinese mythology, Celtic mythology, and Aztec mythology, slapping them on like they were stickers.
Honestly, if it weren’t for Wikipedia, I would have been in a tight spot. My recollection of mythologies had serious limits. At best, it was just Greek and Roman mythology, a bit of Norse, and maybe some Egyptian.
Of course, the gods that exist here don’t perfectly line up with those from other worlds, so I couldn’t completely assign the names. Like, for example, Zeus or Thor.
For most of the local earth gods, I took names from mythology or snatched up some place names from Earth. Hmm. Interestingly enough, among the named gods, there are quite a few dragons who are worshipped by humans.
Well, maybe it’s because of my influence. Dragons are generally pretty friendly toward other life forms.
Unless they’re attacked first, they probably won’t bother anyone. If humans bow and make a request, those kids are likely to go along with it.
It makes sense that they’d be recognized as benevolent beings and revered as gods.
Anyway, let’s skip over the deified dragons for now.
After receiving their new names, the gods who managed not to stray from their own cultural realms put a stop to their squabbles and began building themselves up.
The biggest faction among these cultural realms is a group of gods who adopted names from Greek mythology and call themselves the Olympians.
Based in Arcadia, and a bit to the west, they settled in several city-states, leveraging their closeness with humans as a strategic advantage, and they exerted their influence as personified gods.
Okay, sure, their closeness to humans led to plenty of mortals earning the gods’ ire and getting hurt, but Baal gave them a stern talking-to about that. So it should be fine now.
By the way, the Olympians were the ones who fought the fiercest in the battles between the gods.
If they hadn’t been brawling so much, the number of gods might have been about 1.5 times what it is now.
Next up are the animal-headed gods causing a ruckus around Ifrit.
These gods were born from beastmen who adapted to the harsh desert environment, and they’ve been given names derived from Egyptian mythology.
They are primarily worshipped by the beastmen living near the desert and a few humans from the mage city of Procyon.
The people of Procyon mainly worship the sacred flame Ifrit, but faith is a personal matter. No one’s going to bat an eye if they believe in other gods too.
Calling themselves the Ennead, they utilized their powers to mimic human magic and performed a bunch of miracles, gradually turning the desert into a more fertile land.
Wow, now that they’ve put a stop to the fighting, they’re doing some pretty good stuff. Since it’s banned to siphon the faith from other gods, they have to expand their own believer base and grow their faith. It’s just natural progression from looting to farming.
Next, a bit east of the Great Forest where Yggdrasil stands, close to the eternally snowy northern ice lands, are the gods who call themselves the Æsir.
These gods are named after Norse mythology.
Maybe it’s the result of being born from tough humans in the brutal northern lands, but they have quite the rough personalities. They’re wedged between the great elven forest to the west, the dwarven Sagarmatha to the southeast, and the realm of giants to the north.
Honestly, it’s hard to say their power is significant, but perhaps that’s why their warlike nature and combat skills can hold their own against gods from other cultures.
Plus, a fun fact… the battleground where the elves and dwarves clash, Betelgeuse, is located near their territory.
Of course, just because they’re the Æsir doesn’t mean they can go around bothering the elves or dwarves casually. If they provoke Yggdrasil or Sagarmatha the wrong way, they’d be utterly obliterated.
Even though they’re a powerful bunch of gods, if you compare them to my children, the difference is astronomical.
So, those three groups are the strongest, and there are gods in the southeastern part of that continent, like Lokāpāla, or Kunlun in the east, along with several other minor gods not affiliated with any group… listing them all would take forever, so let’s wrap it up here.
Oh, come to think of it, there was one rather peculiar god.
The faith of the lizardmen. A god that was born from the twisted faith in the Creator Dragon God and Destruction Dragon God, which gradually seeped into humanity.
In a way, you could say this god is like my avatar. Its name is Quetzalcoatl.
Well, it’s a bit distorted, but maybe because its root is me. As soon as it came to me for a name, it was instantly bound to me.
In a sense… it’s like a duplicate of the duplicate of the Creator Dragon God faith that originated from me. So, it makes sense that it would submit to me right away.
Still, I thought it could be useful, so I reconstructed it, allowing it a certain degree of autonomy, and began passing off tasks to it.
After that, I entrusted it with the management of lizardmen and the humans who believe in the Creator Dragon God faith, like overseeing the lizardmen’s grand warriors or picking the grand sorcerers.
By the way, I made it absolutely clear that they should never perform human sacrifices.
This world operates just fine without human blood and flesh. Such pointless sacrifices? Totally unnecessary!
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
“Hmmm. Is this it? Are we done?”
After the last god I named bowed in acknowledgment and took off, I stretched lightly.
Good. I don’t have to worry about the gods anymore. The rules are set, the territories divided, and it’s naturally forming a system that can manage itself without much intervention from me.
“Great job, Mom.”
“Ah, I’m sorry, Sagarmatha. I’ve been so busy working that I’ve stolen our time together. It’s embarrassing I even provided the venue for other gods’ interviews.”
“It’s all good. Just watching you work was fun enough for me.”
Hmm. I don’t get what’s so enjoyable about watching me work, but if Sagarmatha is satisfied, then I suppose that’s what matters.
“But I had no idea there were so many gods. It’s honestly crazy.”
“It’s thanks to the incredible advancement of human intelligence.”
Humans who’ve gained wisdom question everything and seek out the existence of gods to answer those questions.
To resolve their queries, humans have attributed the existence of gods to all things in nature, resulting in countless gods being born in this world.
Still, that’s relatively few compared to what could be. After all, most of them are gods of natural objects.
In the future, humans might start filling everything with divine presence.
Divine influence will probably touch every human emotion, and every action and thought will have gods behind them.
Hmm. Thinking about that makes me a little uncomfortable. It feels like humans are becoming mere puppets of the gods.
If humans progress a little further from here… will they start rejecting the existence of gods? If they uncover the truth by analyzing phenomena, will they strip away the gods?
If an era comes where gods are denied, then at that point… could I cease to be a goddess?
I really don’t know. That might not be bad either. Instead of being a goddess of life, as a… actually, it’s better to just call myself a dragon. Could I exist merely as a dragon?
Who knows? It’s possible or not—how humans’ future unfolds is still a mystery to me.
I just hope it goes in a positive direction.
“But Mom.”
“Huh? What’s up?”
Sagarmatha, sitting beside me, suddenly took on a serious expression.
“Do you have an ideal type?”
“Ideal type?”
What in the world is this kid suddenly asking?
“Or… are you planning to raise that kid named Baal as your partner?”
“What are you talking about! That’s impossible, isn’t it?!”
Baal as my partner? Absolutely not! Sure, the kid might look a bit cute at first glance, but I would never!
“The thought of a partner has never crossed my mind. So don’t say such things.”
Having a partner isn’t a necessity.
If I absolutely needed a partner… well… still not Baal. Baal is…
That kid is still quite young, you see. At least not until he’s an equal standing with me.
So rather than Baal… what about Erebus…
Cough. Why did Erebus flit through my mind just now?
That troublesome kid who ran off and caused chaos. Why did he pop into my thoughts?
No way. Absolutely not.
“Right? Mom doesn’t think about those things, does she?”
Sagarmatha’s face showed an unusually joyful expression upon hearing me.
Is she really that happy that I’m single?
Well, if I were to take on a partner, that would mean Sagarmatha would get a new dad figure. I guess she might not be too keen about that.
So, I spent some time playfully kneading Sagarmatha’s continuously grinning face like clay, passing the time.
You may also like Mesugaki Tank Enters The Academy
