Chương 148: Assembly Of A Thousand Deities
It wasn't long after Ouranos' decree had been issued that deities started to pour into Babel. Quite a few of them had already been a part of the crowd, so it didn't take long for them to make their way through. Some others arrived from different parts of the city, often accompanied by some of their more outstanding familia members that opened up paths through the crowd through which they could proceed onwards.
For the few lonesome deities - or the deities without any strong children - that wanted to attend, the stronger familias that had been hired by the Guild escorted them to the unfathomably tall tower in the middle of the plaza. This wasn't to protect them, though. After Ouranos' 'little display', even the most reckless amongst mortals wouldn't dare to raise their fists against these seemingly immeasurably powerful beings, at least not in the short term. At the moment, the only goal was to chaperone the deities to their meeting place in a timely manner.
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"Oh, you're already here, brother?"
His eyes widening in pleasant surprise, Aparctias sat down next to his fellow member of the Anemoi, Kaikias. The two of them and their familias were extremely close-knit, but occasionally, they would still go their own ways. This morning had been one such occasion.
The hall that they found themselves in at the moment was actually the one that was commonly used during the Denati. Just like the meeting room that had been utilized when Isaac's fate had been decided upon, there was a round table in the center of the hall, having just enough space for 25 people. Aside from that, however, there were many rows and tiers of seats arranged like in an amphitheater. In total, there were about 2,000 seats - truly a huge number, and one that had never been filled in the around a thousand years since this Babel's construction.
"I attended the protest with my children. They seem to be really smitten with that Blackshaw kid, so…"
With an awkward smile, Kaikias shrugged. He truly felt conflicted about the behaviour of his familia members. He had only recently descended to the Lower World for the first time and didn't yet personally see any issues with how matters had been handled by his fellow deities, but he also didn't want to cause too much trouble for his children who had been working so hard to put food on their table. Therefore, he allowed them to indulge themselves, and followed along.
'That scary kid is too lucky. Even my brother's girls show affection for him, despite there already being a divine beauty at his side… tch.'
A bit of jealousy couldn't help but crop up in Aparctias' heart, but it was quickly extinguished by the fear that threatened to overwhelm him every time that he thought back on how that especially annoying fellow deity had been treated by Isaac.
'Speaking of, that guy's name was Ferthur, right? Is he going to attend too?'
While he was making some casual small talk with his brother, Aparctias scanned the crowd, searching for a familiar head of blue hair - and he didn't have to look for long. Amongst the 200 or so deities that had already gathered here, the one who had undergone Isaac's selfless reproductive organ removal surgery in the past was present, the expression on his face an extremely dark one. There was no doubt that his emotions were in deep turmoil.
'If I were in his shoes, then I probably wouldn't be faring any better. After all, the one who humiliated and hurt him is being praised as a hero by the mortals right now…'
Shaking his head in pity, Aparctias dispelled these thoughts and glanced at the round table in the center of the hall. From what he had learned over these past twelve days, only a total of eleven deities were currently qualified to be seated there - one of them, of course, being Ouranos, the head honcho of this part of the Lower World.
So far, seven of these eleven had already shown up: Ouranos - as always present in his hologram form - Freya, Demeter, Hephaestus, Ganesha, Set and Dian Cecht.
That last god was one whose attire stunk of opulence. He wore a silken white robe with far too many golden trimmings and nearly all of his fingers sported expensive rings with various gemstones embedded within them. To make matters worse, he even had the absurd habit of carrying a hefty bag of valis with him at all times, flexing it at everyone who made the mistake of shooting him a glance.
Despite his white hair and wrinkles, he had quite the sturdy physique for an old man. There was a confident smirk on his lips at pretty much all times, and his grey eyes were especially crafty. He seemed to think considerably highly of himself - and for a good reason. After all, his Dian Cecht Familia was the foremost medicinal type familia of the city.
It didn't take long for two more of the seats to get occupied, by Ishtar and Loki. Although she hadn't made any attempt to arrive early, the goddess of beauty had still come far too timely for her liking. When those who had been at the last meeting shot her amused gazes, she snorted unhappily and ignored them. As for the trickster goddess, she still sported her mischievous grin, but she couldn't entirely hide the dread deep within her eyes from these people that had known her for far too many years.
"Angrboda?"
In response to Hephaestus' question, Loki shivered slightly and nodded, then proceeded to ignore any and all attempts to address the topic any further. Soon, nobody at the table brought it up again, although some most definitely would have wanted to. However, because this same development had already played out far too many times, it was old news by this point, therefore it wasn't that interesting, especially compared to an official gathering like this, one that had a certain primordial god presiding over it.
Still twenty minutes before the deadline that had been stated would arrive, the last two of those who were qualified to take their seats at the round table finally made an appearance. However, due to the much longer distance that they had had to traverse, nobody made a fuss.
The two were men, with one barely looking a day older than a late teenager, and the other being the spitting image of a burly, hardened sailor. Respectively, they were Sancus and Lir.
"We hurried here from Melen as quickly as we could, but it still took a while. I'm glad that we still made it in time. We have your familia's Nine Hell to thank for that, Loki."
Sporting a charming and innocent smile, the young Sancus addressed the barely mentally present goddess. He wore a simple but pricey scholar's robe made from exotic blue cloth and carried a heavy leather-bound book with him at all times - his business ledger. Every part of him was prim and proper, but none of it appeared unnatural or over-the-top. His short brown hair was a little wavy but well-kempt, and his yellowish-green eyes sparkled with purity.
With Divinities relating to trust, honesty and oaths, he had found it remarkably easy to establish a huge trade network that extended all over Peira and provided Orario's citizens with the opportunity to purchase many goods that they would otherwise only get their hands on with extreme difficulty. While Sancus occasionally lost out to certain merchants who flouted the rules and didn't operate above board, his sheer competence still made him stand out and excel.
In the recent few decades, he had been mostly focusing on opening up new trade routes via the sea, even exchanging goods with some other continents. Of course, his own familia could only take care of the business-related matters. As for the one who provided them with protection and the necessary seafaring experience? That was the man that he had entered the hall with.
After the Poseidon Familia, the Lir Familia was the second most prominent when it came to anything related to the ocean. Lir's sole Divinity was the Ocean and it was of similar rank to that of Poseidon. While the latter had obtained a few minor Divinities, Lir had always been the kind of deity who went all-in on something that he had decided upon. Sadly, despite his single-minded pursuit of one sole Divinity, he had never been able to outpace his rival. Ever since the Poseidon Familia had left Orario to chase the lofty goal of exterminating all monsters in all the oceans, the Lir Familia had swallowed up their old businesses and grown exponentially. But even before then, they had still been renowned enough to be hired by the Sancus Familia - the two familias had been in a partnership ever since.
Lir wore what looked to be little more than rags compared to everyone else, who was far more luxuriously dressed. That was only because he helmed his ships frequently, braving the elements directly, resulting in his clothing turning the worse for wear. His previously red pants had become washed out and had clearly been patched up in numerous places, while his white shirt and black waistcoat jacket were quite shabby as well. Still, he could have just prepared another set of clothes for more formal occasions, couldn't he?
Age-wise, Lir looked to be around 50 to 60 years old, but his full beard that reached all the way to his chest didn't even have a single grey hair yet. Even the rest of his very short black hair was the same. Although he didn't interact much with the others, his deep-blue eyes still scanned every other deity in attendance carefully.
"No problem. Glad you made it here in one piece."
Despite the fact that her treasured Riveria was being praised by the most genuine deity out of this whole bunch, Loki still couldn't bring herself to express much excitement. As a veteran of the social battlefield, Sancus quickly picked up on this and avoided any further interactions with her, because he realized that it was just 'that time' again. There was simply no use in wasting too many words on the red-haired goddess whenever that was the case.
Around ten minutes before the announced deadline, nearly a thousand of the seats in the hall had already been taken. While not every deity in Orario would bother showing up, at least 90 percent were already here. Only a few stragglers were left. Amongst them was a certain god of wanderers who had been profiting off this protest shamelessly.
Right as he entered the hall, Hermes stopped for a moment, causing the short goddess behind him to be caught unawares and run into him.
"What the heck, Hermes?! Don't just suddenly stop walking!"
Glaring at him unhappily, she pushed past him and beelined directly towards a group of her friends, sporting a displeased scowl.
"Sorry about that, Dia!"
After hurriedly apologizing for his mistake, Hermes returned to the entrance of the hall, stepped outside for a few seconds, then entered it again. Once this short, odd display was over, he quietly and obediently made his way to a free seat that wasn't close to anyone particularly chatty and sat down, deep in thought.
'I'm sure I didn't imagine it - someone is using a Magic derived from my Eyes of Hermes to observe this place. Well, everything but this hall, to be exact.'
As the one whose Arcanum the Magic had been fashioned after, he was generally far more perceptive to it than any other gods. Aside from him, nobody would be capable of detecting it at all, because it had been seamlessly integrated into the natural mana that pervaded the entire Lower World itself. The only reason as to why he had even noticed something amiss was that a certain magical formation was protecting this assembly hall, keeping all foreign mana at bay. This had alerted him to the usually imperceptible difference in the mana, and he then belatedly realized that nearly all of Orario had been under someone's surveillance for… well, he didn't know for how long. At least the entire day, that was all that he was certain about.
'It can't be a coincidence that I felt someone obtain a Skill or a Magic related to one of my Arcanums 18 days ago. That was the only time in the last few hundred years, too, so there can be no mistake. But who could it be? For them to have already mastered it to such an astonishing degree, and to be able to encompass such a huge area…'
All of a sudden, he thought of a possibility and wanted to laugh out loud - however, his current location made him suppress this urge. Instead, he simply smiled widely.
'I'm a fool, aren't I? It's obvious, after all. There is only one person who has grown by such a staggering amount in the past few weeks, and that is Isaac. If he was the one who obtained it, then the unfathomably quick advance in proficiency and the extensive mana reserves needed to support the Magic while it covers such a large area… they would all make sense. Of course, it can not entirely be ruled out that some other adventurer at Level 7 or above is the one responsible, but for them to almost master the Magic this rapidly… it's highly unlikely. Isaac, Isaac… every time that I think I've approximated your true capabilities, you surprise me again…'
Silently chuckling to himself, Hermes waited for the show to begin.
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The second that it turned 12 p.m., the doors connecting the rest of the tower to the assembly hall closed. They entered a state in which they couldn't easily be opened again until four hours had passed. Any and all potential latecomers would have to wait outside, with no opportunity to participate in the assembly. Ouranos had given them a deadline, and they had missed it - such treatment would therefore be their fate.
Taking a glance at the 1,127 deities in the hall, Ouranos nodded to himself, before reinforcing his voice with a tiny amount of his own Divine Energy, silencing the subdued chatter in the process.
"Thank you all for gathering here on such short notice. I believe that most of you are aware of the circumstances that have led to this emergency assembly. In the case any of you are still out of the loop, the first half an hour will be spent on explaining the detailed circumstances to you, as well as to present you with any and all information that you need to be aware of in order to make a proper judgement. With that said, please begin, Set."
During the time that they had been waiting, the old primordial god had delegated the simple duty of bringing everyone up to speed to Set, who appeared to be the most reliable of the bunch that had been present at the time. As someone who had attended the meeting that had decided Isaac's fate, he was more than qualified to give a recap of it and to showcase the evidence from back then.
Not entirely happy about the role that he had to play, Set heaved a deep sigh and then stood up, before bowing slightly.
"I shall. Let us start at the very beginning…"
During the next ten minutes, the god rattled off the details about Isaac's deeds, before finally pulling out a certain memory crystal and playing the recording that was stored within. Ouranos had had a Guild employee hand it to him some thirty minutes ago.
For the second time, Isaac's crime of slaying a goddess was shown to a group of deities, only this time, their numbers were manyfold greater. Surprise, shock, horror, disgust, excitement and fascination appeared on the faces of the various gods and goddesses, but none of them caused a huge disturbance.
Set's explanation continued after the recording had been shown. Eventually, he ended it all with the following words.
"Due to Isaac Blackshaw turning himself in, having no apparent intentions to avoid the consequences of his actions, most of us were won over by his brave and admirable demeanour. Because he had not killed an innocent deity, but unlawfully judged a guilty one instead, we decided to let him get off with a warning. A slap on the wrist, so to say. The punishment that we decided upon for this young hero was a month of solitary confinement while his deeds would be published. It's been ten days since then, and more than a million mortals have assembled to plead for his release, amongst other things. This ends my summary. A period of open discussion shall now begin. If one of you has something to say, you can speak up now. But please make sure to avoid interrupting each other. We want this all to proceed in an orderly manner."
Amongst those that had been listening, two particular gods had grown exceedingly pale - of course, they were Aparctias and Kaikias. Although there were some others that had picked up on the fact that Isaac could surely not be as heroic as he was currently made out to be, these two had been present when the young man had violently assaulted their fellow deity.
Ever since then, that benevolent, well-meaning smile on Isaac's face had occasionally haunted their dreams. Although he hadn't sported it to such an overblown degree the time that he destroyed Petbe's mortal vessel, it had still been present - and now that they subconsciously associated it with the slaying of a deity, it left an even deeper shadow in the two's hearts.
'A hero? What a joke! That man's a madman, nothing more! Why are some of us vouching for him!? Are they blind?'
Right as Aparctias was about to speak up, Kaikias hurriedly grabbed his arm and squeezed it, causing some clarity to return to the more impulsive wind god's mind. A bit calmer, he turned to face his brother, his gaze full of questions.
"Don't say anything. There is far more going on here than meets the eye."
Whispering quietly, Kaikias cautioned him, a clear hint of worry all over his face. Still a bit confused, Aparctias asked him to elaborate, and so he did, whilst keeping his voice down as much as possible.
"It's not actually important if the Blackshaw kid is a hero or a madman. What is of far more significance is the incensed state of the mortals, and their wishes. We have to appease them, or those of us who have come here to experience mortal life - in other words, most of us - won't be pleased. Also, I bet that some of the round table, and possibly even Ouranos himself, are in on… something… and want to achieve some sort of goal. I just can't tell what it is."
Aparctias opened his eyes widely in shock as he heard this, and his heartbeat accelerated. He had never even considered whether there could be something greater at play here, but now that he thought about it… it was all too suspicious! Hadn't the populace become enraged and organized a protest far too quickly? Hadn't the choice to publicize Isaac's deeds been an irrational one? After all, if the Guild had never told anyone, then the public would never have been any the wiser…
All of a sudden, everything related to this situation, and even many matters that had no connection to it at all - at least on the surface - came to the flabbergasted wind deity's mind. Was he growing paranoid? Or was all of this really a huge conspiracy? But… how? And who was behind it!?
Yet again, a familiar smiling face came to mind, causing him to shiver involuntarily.
'Don't tell me…'
Searching for invalidation, he turned to face his brother again, but the complicated emotions in Kaikias' eyes made the cold shiver that had already been running down his spine turn up a notch in intensity.
The two were far from the only ones who smelled something foul at play here, but most simply didn't have enough information to figure anything out, or were not as overly paranoid as the two wind deities. Some suspected that Ouranos wanted to change some of their rules and laws, and had manipulated the public into staging a protest after a useful opportunity had presented itself. At most, a few theorized that Isaac was just a pawn of the elderly god, one that had been used to kick off this entire sequence of events. Still, nobody dared to vocalize these suspicions, because at the end of the day, they were just that: Suspicions.
In stark contrast, most deities merely took everything that had been presented to them at face value, and a considerable amount of them were quite… simple, to say the least. Whether that be because they just wanted to unwind and left all their responsibilities back in Heaven, or since they just weren't the brightest bulbs of the bunch, that depended on the individual. In any case, to make a ruckus now would only evoke the furious opposition of that majority, so of course, none of the smarter deities risked such an outco---
"You fools! Don't let that monster in human skin pull the wool over your eyes!! The Blackshaw brat is no hero, and not commendable in the least. I have no doubt that he would have killed Petbe even if she had been innocent, and some of you might even fall victim to his vile deeds in the near future!"
With 'righteous' anger burning in his eyes, a certain blue-haired gentleman rose from his seat and shouted into the crowd. He was the first one to speak up after Set's explanation had come to a close, so of course he attracted everyone's attention. Up until now, the rest had, at most, been whispering with their neighbours, or been in deep contemplation.
"What an idiot! Why would he risk speaking up now? Doesn't he realize that he's just painted a target on his back? Even if what he said has some merit, his choice of words is far too venomous, and his timing couldn't be any worse. What an unlucky guy…"
Murmuring softly, Aparctias yet again shook his head in pity. Right as he was about to lament Ferthur's fate further, his brother's shaking voice entered his ears.
"Unlucky? This… w-what if this is all a part of the plan? The B-Blackshaw kid… he is that vindictive!?"
Kaikias' eyes were rippling with terror as well as paranoia, and he was gripping his seat's armrests so tightly that his knuckles had turned pure white. He couldn't tell whether he had gone too far down the rabbit hole, but wherever he looked, he saw that young man's fingerprints. His web was all-encompassing, and Kaikias couldn't help but feel like even his own actions and thoughts had been a part of a big plan all along. His breathing accelerated for a while, then he finally managed to discover a shred of sanity in the mental ocean of madness. He hung on tightly, as if his life depended on it.
'That's right, there is no proof for any of that. I'm just overthinking things. Still, it's undeniable that the Blackshaw kid has had some part to play in all of this. From now on, we really have to live by what I said before: Never, ever offend or mess with Isaac Blackshaw, no matter what!'
SUY NGHĨ CỦA NGƯỜI SÁNG TẠO 
Shiro_the_Hero
Shiro_the_Hero You've now finally be interoduced to all of Orario's most important/influential deities. Well, at least on a macro scale, and ignoring those operating in the dark... but that's still something, right? xD
For some reason, I love writing parts of the story with Aparctias and Kaikias in them, so I'm glad I got another chance this time~
All this rambling aside, I hope that you enjoyed this chapter! \o/
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Check out my novel series "Reincarnation Cycle's Unfortunate Bug" on Amazon:
-> https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CYHGRR8M/ <-
Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/sh1ro
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Shameless self-promotion aside, I hope you have a wonderful, fantastic day!! o/
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