Not a Bad Conclusion
Once Athena had talked the rest of them around and Hera, speaking for everyone, had declared their surrender, the situation resolved itself in short order.
I had worried that Zeus and Ares might raise hell once they woke, but that concern was made to look ridiculous. The two of them accepted the situation almost at once. From what I heard, however dissatisfied they were, the gap in strength they had felt with their own bodies was simply too vast to justify rising up again.
I looked those Olympian gods over, then approached Eve, who had appeared at some point and was quietly taking the measure of the scene.
"Eve. There's something I've been wondering."
"Yes? What is it, Lady Arche?"
At my call, her eyes turned to me. Holding that gaze, I dropped my voice so the Olympian gods wouldn't hear and whispered the question.
"Those Olympian gods... they are strong, right? Not by my standards. By the standards of Constellations."
If they had overheard, it would have been a considerable wound to their pride, but from where I stood it was something I had no choice but to ask. The Twelve Olympians over there were about to take on the role of Guides for the Constellation Realm in our place. We would help, of course, until the early foundations were fully set, but the plan was that a guide team made up entirely of Constellations would someday form, with the Twelve Olympians at its head.
And that team would not merely be explaining the Constellation Realm. When things went sideways, they would be handling the fighting as well. I couldn't help worrying. If they were Constellations on the weaker side, our plans would inevitably run into trouble.
At the question, though, Eve let out a small, incredulous laugh.
"Don't worry, Lady Arche. At their level, they rank among the strongest Constellations there are. Unless you're speaking of the protagonists of a handful of myths and epics, there aren't many Constellations who could stand against them."
"They're that strong?"
She was rating them higher than I had imagined, and my eyes went wide. These were the same lot who couldn't even land a proper blow on me—who had dropped to a single attack of mine. The thought must have shown on my face, because Eve went on.
"Lady Arche stands on an entirely different level to begin with, so of course they were no match. And the divine power of the lower world and the divine power of the Constellation Realm differ in nature from the very root."
"Aha. So I'm such an outlier that they never stood a chance, and by the standards of the lower world, those guys are outstanding fighters too?"
"Yes. What's more, once they begin residing in the Constellation Realm, the divine power that makes up their bodies will gradually be replaced by the Realm's own. By then, they'll be even stronger than they are now."
"Stronger than me, maybe?"
I asked it half in disbelief, and what came back was an answer steeped in scorn.
"Oh, please. Not a chance. No matter how completely their bodies are rebuilt from the Constellation Realm's divine power, you cannot change what is different at the foundation."
They would grow far stronger than they were now, she assured me, but the notion of them surpassing me wasn't worth half a cent. Hearing that, I let out a quiet sigh of relief. Fortunately, that dreadful future—a revolt of the Olympian Labor Union—didn't look as if it would ever come to pass.
I was still sitting in that relief when the Olympian gods, who had been talking among themselves, suddenly started toward us.
Step. Step.
"Pardon the intrusion. We have finished settling our affairs. Everyone has also accepted that we are to work from here on as Guides of the Constellation Realm. So I would like you to tell us what it is we are meant to do, and how we are meant to do it."
The one who spoke was Zeus, standing at the head of the group.
After losing to me, he had originally meant to switch to honorifics, but I had corrected him. There was no need to go so far as changing the way he spoke. What I wanted was to employ the Twelve Olympians as Guides, not to shove them beneath me and look down on them.
A bystander might ask whether those amounted to the same thing. They didn't. The difference was whether I ground the authority of Zeus, king of the gods, underfoot and took it from him, or whether I did not. Zeus was the king who bound the Olympian gods together. His renown in that role had picked up a few scratches after his defeat at my hands, but he was still their king all the same. I had no intention of stripping away a part he was already filling as their center of gravity, and so—recognizing him as king of the company called Olympus—I had told him not to use honorifics with me.
Which was why he put the question to us in the same tone as before.
And the one who answered, as a matter of course, was Eve—the Constellation Realm itself, and the one serving as my personal aide.
"The work you'll be doing is quite simple, you see. You'll explain the Constellation Realm to the new Constellations who enter from now on, and guide them to the places where they'll stay. Of course, if some minor clash of opinion arises along the way, a fight may break out—but all of that should be well within your strength to resolve."
At Eve's words, a murmur ran through the Olympian gods. I caught the unease rippling in their eyes at the same time, and a thin smile tugged at my mouth. I only had to half-listen to that muttering to know why they were so anxious.
"You don't all need to worry that much. We've got a sense of ethics, you know? A day's work will be five hours, give or take. There's a day off once every six days, and we mean to pay you for the labor, so if there's something you want to eat—or anything else you're after—just say the word. If it's within what we can grant, we'll grant it."
What the Olympians had been fretting over was the exploitation of their labor. But we had no intention of grinding them that hard. What era did they think this was? Run them into the ground like that, and an Olympian labor union becoming a real future wasn't out of the question.
At my words, a hopeful light began to glimmer in eyes that only a moment ago had been swimming with anxiety. In that brightened mood, Hermes—who alone seemed to be turning something over—raised his hand.
"Might I ask one question?"
"Of course. Ask anything you like."
Eve nodded readily. With that permission, Hermes stroked his chin and asked.
"You said that, should it come to that, we would have to subdue Constellations through combat... I have one doubt on that point. Even if we put down by force those Constellations who cannot accept our guidance... will they truly accept the situation so meekly?"
What Hermes was questioning was precisely whether the Constellations who resisted would ever be convinced. Certainly, the Olympian gods suppressing them by force and those Constellations actually accepting it were two separate matters. Eve answered with a small, thoughtful hum.
"Hmm... I imagine they will. From here on, we only plan to appoint as Guides those incoming Constellations who volunteer to help. Anyone who rebels even after being given a second life is, in most cases, simply the sort who cannot bear having someone above them."
"Yes. That does seem likely."
"That kind only listens, as a rule, when you beat them to death. Constellations can't die inside the Constellation Realm anyway, so if you keep pounding them until their wills break, the problem will solve itself."
"...Pardon?"
Hermes let the question slip as if he must have misheard, but that changed nothing.
"And if, by some rare chance, there is a Constellation so steeped in spite that even a beating like that won't break them, Lady Arche need only step in."
Eve added the line while pointing straight at me. Hermes went blank for a moment, as if his thoughts had stalled outright, then let out a dry laugh and stepped back. He had understood it, in a fashion. He clearly had not accepted it.
But whether Hermes came around was a problem that would solve itself once he had spent some time living in the Constellation Realm. Neither Eve nor I paid it any particular mind as we turned our heads, and our eyes landed on Artemis, who had raised her hand next.
"Do you have a question as well?"
"Well... I know it's a little awkward to ask this when we've already agreed to help, but... why did you choose us as the first Guides?"
Artemis's question was abrupt, to say the least. Even so, Eve and I both caught on at once to why she had asked it. She had almost certainly asked because Eve had just said that, going forward, only Constellations who offered to help of their own accord would be made Guides. Read another way, that sounded a great deal like asking why they alone were being forced into the role. No—it was not merely open to that reading. She had asked with precisely that intent.
Athena seemed to realize it as well. She turned toward Artemis with a faintly flustered look. We, however, understood why Artemis had put the question in her mouth. If they alone had been pressed into service as Guides, of course it felt unfair. If anything, I was in a similar position myself, and I sympathized with her completely.
Eve understood the intent just as clearly, and so she answered without a trace of anger or displeasure.
"We chose all of you as the first to entrust with the role of Guide because, among the countless Constellation candidates, there was no one more capable than you. And—Lady Arche did not mention every part of it earlier—since we are forcing the role of Guide upon you, we intend to grant you authority to match."
"Authority, you say?"
The ones who reacted were Zeus, Poseidon, and Ares. At how blatant their interest was, Eve let out a soft laugh and added to it.
"Nothing excessive, of course. But as you will be working from the very beginning for the stability of the Constellation Realm, we intend to grant you a moderate degree of authority—enough that it can still be kept properly in check."
"Now that," said Zeus, "is a pleasing thing to hear. Enough to stir up a motivation I didn't even have."
Reasonable work, compensation to match, and authority besides. The faces of the Olympian gods were no longer tight with the anxiety of the beginning. Faint smiles had even begun to surface as they talked among themselves.
Eve looked them over once, then spoke with a light clap of her hands.
Clap—!
"Then let us leave the proper discussion of a Guide's duties for tomorrow. Today, I'll show you to the place where you'll be resting."
The Constellation Realm's first induction of its Constellations had been an eventful affair from beginning to end. Fortunately, that ceremony drew to a close as a perfect success.