Thus, Sia, who ended up staying in my temple, said:
“I can’t believe I’m actually seeing gods I’ve only read about in books. It’s overwhelming!”
“It’s nice to see such enthusiasm.”
“Yes! I feel like becoming a god was a good choice!”
As she began to fill her curiosity by meeting numerous gods, for Sia, who was both a mage and a scholar, the new environment known as the Divine Hall was more than sufficient to satisfy her thirst for knowledge.
The gods she spoke to were also intrigued by the appearance of a human-born deity and enjoyed conversing with Sia. It was a win-win situation since they were all having a good time together.
“Did you say your name was Vulcanus? I’ve heard you’re the god of inventions and blacksmiths! I believe you used to belong to Olympus, the faction of gods!”
“Yes, that was long ago. Now… now I have no relations with them.”
“Is that so? But the records clearly mention the name Hephaestus…”
“Th-that’s… my dark history… I’d like you to forget about that…”
Are you sure you’re enjoying this…?
Anyway, while Sia happily dug into the dark pasts of the other gods, some gods felt a bit uncomfortable. However, realizing that I was behind Sia, they didn’t express their discomfort.
Besides, even though Sia was rummaging around here and there, she wasn’t causing any major accidents. She was merely solving her own curiosities.
So there shouldn’t be any major problems.
…There aren’t, right?
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
The god of magic, Cientia. Sia blended in among the gods of the Divine Hall.
Enjoying conversations with the other gods, and relishing the joy of weaving their knowledge into books, the other gods began to accept Sia as just a human-born deity who loved to listen.
After some time, when Sia’s temple was completed, she went ahead and remodeled the interior to create a massive library, immediately starting to fill it with the books she wrote.
Due to her turning an entire temple into a library, there was no space to rest, causing Asherat to endlessly grumble about how one of my temple’s rooms was always occupied.
Anyway, Sia was storing a multitude of gods’ knowledge, history, and other information in book form within her temple.
But that… doesn’t seem like something the god of magic should be doing? Wouldn’t it rather fall under the responsibility of the god of knowledge?
So, when I asked Sia the reason for creating a library, she said:
“A library? It’s just a hobby.”
“A hobby?”
“Yeah. A hobby. To be honest, I expected that I would get to encounter diverse knowledge when I became a god and arrived at the Divine Hall…. But there’s nothing!”
The gods don’t create libraries, you see. Most think it’s enough to just remember what they know.
Of course, there are some lost pieces of knowledge because such gods ended up getting kicked from the Divine Hall.
“There aren’t any gods who want to go through the hassle of writing in books. Since gods won’t die from external factors, they don’t feel the need to record the knowledge they possess.”
“But that’s not right! Knowledge must be preserved and maintained to be passed on! That’s the reason books exist! To convey one’s knowledge to others!”
With that, Sia took a moment to catch her breath and exclaimed:
“So! I turned my temple into a library! To preserve more knowledge! To share a lot of knowledge!”
Sia boldly declared this. However.
“Are there any gods using that library?”
The gods are beings wrapped up in their self-esteem and narcissism. They are arrogant beings who don’t easily accept the knowledge of others.
Would those gods even want to read books with other knowledge in them?
“Well…”
Of course, no gods were using Sia’s library.
No, they probably didn’t even know there was a library! Gods generally don’t pay attention to anything that isn’t directly related to their divinity.
“You do know that books without readers are just piles of paper, right?”
“Ugh…”
“Collecting and preserving knowledge is a good intention, but using your temple for a library no one uses… doesn’t that seem troublesome? Maybe you should restore it to its original state…”
“If there are people who use it, then that’s enough, right?!”
“People…?”
“As long as there’s a library meant for someone to use! It doesn’t have to be gods!”
What on earth is she talking about? Who besides gods would use a library in the Divine Hall?
Or so I thought…
“How about it, Tia! We have a lot of visitors!”
Before I knew it, Sia’s library had become a popular place.
However.
“This… this isn’t being used by the gods, is it?”
“But many people are using it.”
What Sia chose was… to make a library not for the gods but for those seeking knowledge.
In other words, it was a library for those on the land.
“Of course, not just anyone can use the knowledge of my library!”
“You have restrictions?”
“Of course. The entry fee is one book. Among those who offer a book, I select those who desperately need knowledge and allow them to read my books in their dreams.”
“In their dreams?”
“Yeah. In their dreams. Since I can’t give them the real thing.”
Ah, that’s why there were those hazy figures grasping the books in Sia’s library.
Bringing the human consciousness to the library through dreams to allow them to read. It feels like a library within a dream.
“Thus, I can store the books offered by these humans in my library and let them read. This way, even without writing a book, my library expands. Of course, I do set a limit on the number of users.”
With Sia’s confident declaration, I found myself unable to respond.
Hmm… In the end, I guess I’m going to get scolded by Asherat.
Ah, speaking of which, I still have a wish ticket left for Sia…
Whatever the case, it seems I won’t be able to kick her out of the temple. Yes.
Wait a moment. So what does Sia intend to use her wish ticket for?
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
“Mom, who is this human?”
One day, Sagarmatha suddenly appeared in my temple, occupying one of the rooms while Sia was engrossed in writing a new book, speaking softly.
“Sagarmatha? What brings you to the Divine Hall?”
“It was quiet with you, Mom, so I wondered if something was up.”
So you think it’s normal for me to stir up some trouble just because I’m quiet, huh?
I sometimes enjoy a bit of quiet too! Like in hibernation! Or hibernation!
“So, who is this human?”
“A human? She’s a goddess, despite appearing like this. Though she’s human-born.”
Sagarmatha looked at Sia again and shook her head slightly.
“To us, she just looks like a human pretending to be a god.”
“Well, that’s how it might appear in your eyes.”
Since my children were treated as novices by the other gods, it goes without saying that Sia, being human-born, faced the same treatment.
“Still, a god born of a human… just like that beastman from earlier. I feel like you have a soft spot for different forms of life, Mom.”
“Is that so? I didn’t intend to do that myself…”
“Whether you intended it or not, your thoughts seep into your actions.”
Hmm. But as the goddess of life, isn’t it okay to favor life? Shouldn’t it be natural for the goddess of life to cherish life?
“Well, considering the reduced number of gods, it feels a bit wrong to increase the number of gods again.”
“One or two gods should be fine, don’t you think?”
“Only by number, perhaps, but the issue lies in what the other gods will think. They might hold resentment towards human deities being created when they’ve practically halved their own numbers.”
Indeed. There’s a possibility they could see it as discrimination.
Not to mention the added burden of favoritism towards life.
“Well, if they want to grumble, they can. The residue of such discontent is their own freedom.”
And besides, I already laid out enough distractions for them to vent their frustrations.
As long as they don’t voice their grievances too much, there shouldn’t be any issues.
“Hmmm. If you think that way, then I won’t make a fuss about it.”
Sagarmatha said that and quietly approached me.
“Still, don’t focus solely on humans. I’d like you to occasionally pay attention to us too.”
“Is that what’s really on your mind?”
I gently stroked Sagarmatha’s head as she leaned against me.
Whether she’s an ancient god, a god of dwarves, or the tallest mountain, to me, she’s simply a cute child.
After all, don’t parents sometimes want to spoil their little ones?
So, for a brief moment, I just continued to gently stroke the head of Sagarmatha as she quietly whined.
“Oh, right. I had one more purpose for coming to find you, Mom.”
“Purpose?”
“Yeah. Purpose.”
What purpose could lead the heavily-footed Sagarmatha to come directly to the Divine Hall?
“What is it?”
“I feel like something’s up with Sylphid. So I wanted to ask if you knew anything.”
“Sylphid?”
Is something happening with Sylphid?
“Sylphid always patrols the world, bringing winds around this time every year, but… this year, she only sent winds and hasn’t shown up…”
“Hmm… I don’t really know anything.”
Is she tied up in something? Or is she enjoying her freedom as always?
That’s… quite suspicious!
“Well, if you don’t know, then nobody does.”
I feel a bit worried. Is she causing some sort of trouble somewhere?
“I guess I’ll need to look into it.”
“Yeah, please. Mom.”
It’d be faster for me to search for her than it would be for Sagarmatha to wander and look for her.
