The Incongruous Boy God
A compass you could actually sail by was absurdly early to appear in an age like this. Even so, these men were my worshippers. If they died wandering the sea for no good reason, it would leave a sour taste.
"Now we won't have to sail by nothing but the stars!"
"Sailing's going to get a whole lot safer!"
"No. This alone isn't enough. And don't throw yourselves into piracy so hard. It's dangerous, you know."
"A true man of the sea fears no danger!"
"From the way you tell it, you're not even turning much of a profit."
"Urk."
"The spirit of a sea-man is all well and good, but you still have to eat."
That remark struck them to the bone. The pirates traded uneasy glances, then asked, carefully.
"All we know how to do is steal... Sailing around is the only trade we've got. So what are we supposed to live on?"
"You've got a compass and you know how to navigate. Live by trade."
"Trade?"
"Yeah. Middlemen are the ones who take the biggest cut. That's how it's always been."
Lemnos Island lay in the northeastern Aegean. Set against the sea lanes joining the Greek mainland to Asia Minor, it was no bad place for a relay trade.
"You mean we buy up Greek goods and sell them over toward Miletus? And sell Miletus goods somewhere else."
Miletus — a port city in western Anatolia. From what the pirates had told me, it was a fairly prosperous place. When I laid out a trade running between Anatolia and the Greek mainland with Lemnos at the center, they nodded.
"And while you're out there, use this to draw maps and sea charts. Evanus. You said you know how to draw a map."
Evanus, who had announced himself something of an elite in the middle of the earlier talk, cocked his head.
"I learned, a long time ago... but what is this?"
"This? Paper."
I had made it along with the compass, once the laboratory was up. As luck would have it, materials fit for papermaking grew wild nearby, so I had taken scrap fiber and discarded cloth off the pirates of Lemnos and turned out a decent batch while I was at it.
Good thing I went to that papermaking day with the teaching assistant from the lab next door, back in my previous life. Professor... I cursed you under my breath for dumping pointless work on me on a day off. I apologize, even now...!!
"Paper...?"
"Yeah. You use papyrus and parchment and the like right now, don't you?"
And they were a nuisance. Needlessly expensive, too. Papyrus in particular was mostly imported, so the value was miserable, and parchment, being made of hide, was simply costly. If leaving a single record meant paying that kind of price, would anyone bother to keep a proper one?
Spread a method of papermaking that was cheap and could be done in bulk, and recording knowledge — passing it on — would grow easy. Knowledge would spread on its own, and human craft would climb fast. It would be a great help in building the civilization I was aiming for.
"You can manage it, right?"
"Ah — I'll do my very best!"
"And pick up some ore while you're at it."
"Yes, sir!"
With that, the pirates were gone. Time I got back to what I had been doing.
I was sitting in front of the laboratory, turning over what to make next, when a voice came.
"So you're Hephaestus, are you?"
An old man, white-haired, neatly dressed. For an old man, though, the bulk of him was... whoa. More important than the size was the immense divine power rolling off him.
"I am Oceanus. Father to Eurynome."
"Then I suppose I may think of you as my grandfather. A pleasure to meet you. I am Hephaestus."
"Well, now. You mean to take me for a grandfather?"
"Would you rather I didn't? Then just some perfectly ordinary elder from around the neighborhood..."
"H-Hephaestus. You mustn't speak to Grandfather that way."
Eurynome stepped out from behind Oceanus's enormous frame, and beside her stood three pretty girls who looked about my own age.
"How could I dislike it? A grandson who gave me a precious gift. And yet... you do possess a strange divine power."
Oceanus's eyes curved, and for a moment I saw the professor who used to look at me back when I was a university student in my previous life. Just as he seemed about to say more, I raised a hand.
"We can hardly stand about talking with honored guests. Please, come inside."
"Well, now. Much obliged."
I brought them in. Thanks to steady work over the past few days, the laboratory had come to look quite respectable.
"What is this chair?"
"A sofa. Furniture I made recently. Please, sit."
At my leave the young goddesses pattered over and sank into the plush sofa. Their faces brightened; it seemed comfortable enough.
"And who are these...?"
"Ah. These children are my daughters. Girls?"
"I'm Aglaia!"
The most spirited of them spoke — a beautiful girl with golden hair and green eyes.
"I'm... Euphrosyne."
The shyest, red-haired and red-eyed.
"I'm Thalia! Big brother!!"
And the youngest-looking, silver-haired and blue-eyed, laughed bright as day and clung to me.
Big brother. She must have heard Eurynome say she meant to take me as her foster son. Still, better than being treated like a stone that had rolled in and shoved the others aside.
"There are so many curious things here. This looks like a tool for boiling water..."
"Oh, you recognized it. Yes. I made it with my authority. It's called an induction cooktop."
I showed them how it worked, and every one of them stared. While they looked around, I lifted a jar I had set to one side. Inside was a reduction of berries and honey the pirates had gathered for me.
"Here. Please, try this."
I brewed a tea from the berry syrup and served it.
"Mom! This is delicious!"
The three girls and Eurynome seemed thoroughly taken with it. While they went on sipping, Oceanus regarded me in earnest.
"Hephaestus. If you wish it, I can bring you to the council of the Titans."
"Me? Why?"
"Because there you would be able to meet Cronus. You may not know it, but Cronus stands even now against Zeus, who leads Olympus."
"I see."
"I am told Hera cast you off... If you mean to set yourself against Olympus, you would do better to take Cronus's hand."
"I don't particularly mean to set myself against anyone..."
"Well, now. You would forgive the ones who threw you away?"
"It isn't that. Zeus's side will win. Most likely. There's no need to pick a fight with the side that's going to come out on top."
"What?! Zeus is going to win?!"
The Cyclopes, craftsmen who forged weapons for Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades. The Hecatoncheires, with their hundred arms. Through them, Zeus would triumph over Cronus in the end. When I explained as far as I knew, Oceanus was aghast.
"How in the world does Zeus —?!"
"That, I don't know either."
Maybe Zeus has a hypnotic mirror lying around somewhere.
"...Would you mind if I looked into it myself?"
"Please do. I'd rather ask it of you. I can't be certain either."
I had been reborn as Hephaestus carrying a modern man's memories, so the myth I knew might not hold in this world. Better to investigate thoroughly.
"Yes. Thank you for understanding..."
He gave a short laugh and looked around. The sight of his beloved daughter and granddaughters lost in the sweetness brought a smile to his face.
"Do you take pleasure in making things like these?"
"Yes."
"A creator, then, and nothing more. Child. You have a powerful strength."
"I know."
"Zeus's Olympus, or Cronus's Titans — either would welcome you."
"Would they? They'll manage the fighting well enough on their own. Do I really need to stick myself in?"
I'll just do the work that's mine to do.
At that, Oceanus smiled wryly.
"Well, now. Neutrality... neutrality. When the weak declare themselves neutral, they are only swallowed. When the strong do it, that is another story."
His gaze traveled over the things I had made.
"With a gift like yours, one may certainly call you strong. Then what are we to do..."
"Are you weak, Lord Oceanus?"
He laughed shortly at the question.
"Hardly."
"Then why not become the rallying point for everyone who wants to stay neutral? A god of your measure ought to manage it."
"Hm...?!"
A look of realization crossed his face. His eyes are open.
"It will take a very fine, very clean piece of politics. It will not be easy, but..."
I cast a little victory charm over the god lost in concentration.
"So you're frightened, is that it?"
Chicken?
True man of the sea that he was, his eyes flashed.
"No! I can do it! If it is I!"
All that confidence looked good on him.
Ding!
"Oh. Is it done?"
I got up and opened the closed door. At once a fine fragrance drifted into the laboratory.
"Hm? What is this lovely scent?"
"I baked a few cookies. Nothing elaborate. The pirates like sweet things."
I had made them half as a test of a small oven shaped by my authority. When I brought them out, every eye turned.
"Please, try one."
Hands reached out, cautious. A moment later the cries came.
"Delicious!"
"A sweet with a flavor this soft...!!"
"How in the world did you make it?!"
"Haha. It's nothing much. Set beside the ambrosia gods eat, it must fall short — but it's edible, isn't it?"
"It's incredibly delicious!!"
"Brother! This is amazing!"
"I've never eaten anything this good!"
The three young goddesses' eyes sparkled. And —
"Hephaestus... how did you make this?! It is truly delicious!!"
Eurynome liked it too. Watching them enjoy what I had made was a pleasant sight.
"Well, now... to bring forth even something like this..."
I smiled at them as they chewed the warm cookies.
"Next time I'll serve you something better. There are quite a few things I still haven't been able to make, for lack of ingredients."
"Something like this... could I receive it as an offering?"
At Eurynome's curious question, I smiled.
"If human technology advances far enough, easily."
Faster and safer than ever before, the pirates of Lemnos reached the port city of western Anatolia. The moment they made Miletus, got ashore, and planted their feet, they bellowed for all to hear.
"Ooooh!"
"Whoa — a treasure like this exists?!"
"Hey, hey! You sailed without a compass? You've thrown away half your life!"
A god's majesty ought to be boasted of. All the more when the god himself had bestowed the thing. The pirates of Lemnos Island held the compass up with perfect confidence.
"This... could we have one too?"
"Our god is merciful beyond measure!! Depending on the offerings you present, you may become his worshippers! Become his, and you can receive one!"
"And the god has commanded a relay trade with Lemnos Island at its center! You lot — if you've goods to sell into Greece, hand them over to us!!"
The merchants found the offer none too bad either. In this age, crossing the sea was nothing short of staking one's life. If someone else would do it in their stead, there was nothing to lose. Merchants crowded in, and the pirates were in the middle of buying goods when a man approached.
"Ahem. You there. I am a scholar of Miletus. A man by the name of Anaxa."
Anaxa was sure of himself. Not only in Anatolia, but even on the Greek mainland, plenty of people wanted him for a guest.
"Oh. That so?"
How were pirates supposed to know that? They took it as it came and thought no more of it.
"A-ahem. Anyway. This compass is impressive enough, but... what is that?"
Something lay rolled atop a barrel. Not papyrus. Not parchment. Under a gaze bright with interest, the pirates unrolled it as if showing off a prize.
"This, too, was bestowed on us by the great Hephaestus. It is called paper."
"Paper!! Might I touch it, just once?"
"Go on, then."
They handed the rolled sheet over as if it were nothing. Anaxa took it, and his eyes flew wide.
It was different from papyrus, different from parchment. But that was not the only thing that shook him. What had been drawn upon the paper — that was what set him trembling.
"Th-this is..."
"Ah. The god told us to draw sea charts and maps!!"
"A map!!"
The god had spoken. Make a map. It ran in the same grain as his own labor to lay bare the origin of the world. Perhaps that god, too, desired the truth of the world.
"Y-you there. Is the god Hephaestus truly so merciful?"
"More merciful than any god, and his knowledge is tremendous besides."
"Even Lorventus, the smartest of us, came to see his own lack in conversation with the god!"
At the pirates' boasting, Anaxa squeezed his eyes shut.
Perhaps. Perhaps, through that god, the truth. He might come to know the world.
"...If I offer tribute to your god, might I receive even a fragment of divine wisdom?"
"If the tribute you offer is pure!!"
That day, Anaxa boarded the pirate ship bound for Lemnos.