Chapter: 163
“The God of the Sky?”
After hearing my story, Hwangdongqing’s expression morphed into one of bewilderment.
Well, it’s only natural. If someone claims to be searching for an unheard-of god, anyone would have that kind of reaction.
It might sound like a ridiculous fairy tale, but my intuition was telling me there’s something significant about the King of the Gods.
“Do you have any concrete clues?”
“Thanks to a fragment of a small stone tablet I’ve obtained, I’ve started looking, but otherwise, I have no clues.”
“No clues at all? I can’t believe you even thought of searching for something like that.”
“My intuition insists that there’s something important tied to this name.”
Hwangdongqing’s expression turned a bit skeptical regarding my words.
“Just intuition, huh… Hmmm… Honestly, that’s hard to believe, but it seems like there’s some strange power to your intuition.”
Hwangdongqing smirked and nodded.
“Shall we place our bets on this reckless gamble?”
“Hmm… I know it’s a bit inappropriate for me to say this, but are you really okay with that? Honestly, the chances of finding anything are quite low.”
“Eh, my life has already been a series of bets, so adding one more won’t make much difference. And this forgotten god… Hmm. There are many forgotten gods, but the title of the King of the Gods really catches my interest.”
Hwangdongqing broke into a hearty laugh and said,
“The chances of success may be slim, but if we succeed, immense honor and wealth could come our way, doesn’t that make it worth the gamble?”
I nodded along with those words.
Like Hwangdongqing, I, too, was using this insignificant fragment of a stone tablet as a clue to kick off my investigation.
That’s why I understood how he felt.
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Baal and Shamash set some rules and communicated them to the gods.
They had seemingly thought this through, and to summarize the gist of the rules:
1. Prohibition of indiscriminate descent of gods to the human world, except for gods whose main body is on earth.
2. Direct combat between gods is prohibited, especially the act of directly robbing another god’s faith.
3. Drawing boundaries between cultural spheres and prohibiting gods from invading other cultural spheres where their faith does not exist.
Using believers to spread faith was not blocked, so exerting influence over other cultures that way was still fine. Anyway, it seems that’s how things were organized.
It appeared that because the gods created so much trouble fighting one another, even the mostly non-belligerent gods welcomed these rules.
And…
“There will be punishments from Gaia for any violations. Why is this even here?”
“But Gaia is a goddess recognized by all the other gods. If Gaia punishes someone herself, wouldn’t the other gods have to accept it?”
Shamash, who stood behind Baal, nodded in agreement. This guy… is using me…
“Mom. Can’t we just kick this guy out?”
Sagarmatha, who seemed genuinely fed up with Baal, started to grumble without even looking at him.
“Just when Mom and I were having a moment, now he’s brought Shamash too, ruining our time. I really hate this.”
“Sagarmatha, calm down. This is necessary.”
“But… I just don’t like it. Shamash too. Why is she here to mess up the special time just for Mom and me?”
Sagarmatha, unusually chatty today, was quite the troublesome child.
“It’ll be over soon, so chill.”
“Okay… Just get it done quickly.”
I calmed Sagarmatha by allowing her to rest her head on my lap and then asked Baal and Shamash,
“Let’s finish this before Sagarmatha gets even angrier. So, how are the gods doing now?”
“Thanks to the new rules, they’ve calmed down a bit. Conflicts have stopped, and they seem focused on consolidating their power.”
“That’s good to hear.”
Less conflict between the gods is a plus. Hmm.
“But there was one request that came from the gods…”
“A request?”
“Yep. A request. And it’s for Gaia.”
“A request for me? From the gods?”
Those guys, what annoying task are they trying to dump on me now?
“What kind of request is it?”
“Um. The gods want you to give them names.”
“Names?”
Baal nodded slightly.
“No, suddenly names? Didn’t the other gods already have names?”
That doesn’t make any sense. There can’t be gods without names…
Hmm, are they just asking me to give them new ones? To ditch their current names?
What’s up with that? Can’t they just keep using their own names? They all should have names already.
“What a bother.”
“Sagarmatha.”
I covered Sagarmatha’s eyes again as she started grumbling.
Seems like she really can’t stand Baal.
“They said if you grant their request, they will faithfully obey the rules.”
“Why can’t you just do it directly, Baal? I’m too lazy for this.”
“They want Gaia to name them. They wish for the supreme god to bestow a name upon them.”
At those words, I let out a soft sigh.
“The supreme god? But Baal, you’re the king of the gods.”
“Even though I am the king of the gods, it’s hard to deny that I pale in comparison to Gaia. She had significant power even before I existed, and she has way more believers.”
No, that was back when there were no other gods around…
Hmm, is this some first-mover advantage thing? How annoying.
I’ve already massively reduced the number of pilgrims, and it still feels like a lot. Ugh…
“It’ll be a bit annoying, but please, Gaia. And if you name them, I think we can leverage that to keep the other gods in check. Didn’t you say before that your true name holds incredible power? Seems like the other gods want to get a slice of that action.”
Hmm. Well, that was a jab I made at Baal before. So it got turned into a rumor and sprouted a bit.
Well, it’s only a minor annoyance, so I guess I can live with it.
“Anyway, compared to the stuff I’ve done before, this is nothing. Just bring me the details of the gods who want new names, and I’ll see what I can do.”
It’s a hassle, but it can’t be helped.
This is the name you asked for. Just deal with it.
I’ll probably slap a bunch of names from gods in another world onto them.
“I really hate this.”
I ignored Sagarmatha’s low murmur. Yep.
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
“So, when can I get into the archive?”
“When? Hmm… I’m gonna need a permit, so it should be ready by tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow? That’s quick.”
Hwangdongqing chuckled and stroked his beard.
“It’ll take a little sleight of hand, but I’ll get the permit, and you can use it.”
“Me use Hwangdongqing’s permit? Is that even possible? I don’t have a beard like yours, and I happen to be quite tall.”
“I’ll let your discriminatory remark slide this time. And the dwarven archive isn’t the kind of place you’re imagining.”
So it’s not just a regular library?
“You’ll find out tomorrow.”
I just gave a small nod to Hwangdongqing’s words.
And the next day.
“Here, I got the permit. You can use this to access the archive.”
What Hwangdongqing handed me was a thin, flat stone tablet. A smooth, jet-black surface about the size of an open book. Hmm. What on earth is this?
“I’ve handled all the necessary processes, so you just need to press the button next to it.”
Following Hwangdongqing’s instructions, I pressed down on the small bump next to the stone tablet.
Vwoooosh.
The black stone tablet began to glow.
“What is this…?”
“The pinnacle of dwarven technology. A data slate… Think of it as an information processing board. Of course, it’s classified, so keep this secret.”
Classified, huh… I’ve certainly never heard of such a thing being in dwarven possession before.
“Press the book-shaped icon on the first rectangle that pops up. Then tap the white area at the top and enter what you’re looking for in the area below; it’ll search for relevant titles based on what you enter.”
Following Hwangdongqing’s advice, I awkwardly fiddled with the stone tablet.
Smooth letters materialized on the slate. Let’s start by searching for information on mythology.
Mythology. The world’s myths and legends. The primordial myths and the Seven Gods. The Goddess of Life. The Pantheon (495th year of the Empire edition). You know, the usual.
This feels pretty nifty.
“Selecting a title from the list will automatically display the contents of that book. To cancel the book and go back, just press the arrow at the bottom.”
Following Hwangdongqing’s instructions, I tried out different options on the slate. The screen flipped rapidly; this is one cool device.
If humans had something like this, libraries would be obsolete!
“That information processing board is connected to the archive, so take your time to explore. It runs on magic, so if you run out of power, you can recharge it with the mana stones in this pouch. Just press the small groove at the back and it’ll recharge automatically.”
Just as instructed, I spotted a small groove at the back. Charging with mana stones—how fascinating.
“Well, I’ve got my own business to take care of, so I’ll be leaving. Hope you have fruitful findings. Oh, and needless to say, don’t even think about taking that slate out of Nidavellir. There’s a tracking spell on it, so the dwarven assassin squad will come after you.”
With that, Hwangdongqing left the room, leaving behind the slate and a pouch.
Hmm. I need to curb my greed. This strange device will surely take some getting used to.
And thus, I began to search for various information through the dwarven data slate.
First, let’s dive into the mythology recorded by the dwarves.
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