Better Than the Old Days — 3
An academy for the scholars was going up, and with it the quarters that would house them. Enormous stones rose on pulleys. Scholars and laborers crowded around plans drawn on paper, arguing over every line. Saws coupled to waterwheels turned trees into timber, while other wheels ground wheat and barley into flour.
I was watching it all, laying out the development plan for Lemnos Island to Lorventus, when Anaxa edged closer and asked, careful as a man approaching a live forge.
"And, my god—what are we to do from here?"
He wanted a direction for the scholars. I smiled. It was the question I had been waiting for.
"Let's come at it from a pragmatic angle. What actually benefits people? What actually makes their lives easier?"
If humans live well, my life gets easier too. I needed hands that could make the things I wanted, and I needed the tribute they brought me to keep growing.
"I'll teach you what I know, and what I've worked out, as far as I can. But you can't be satisfied just swallowing it whole."
I pointed at the pulleys the laborers were using.
"As you already know, I improved the old pulley. Thanks to that, the workers can shift heavy loads without breaking their backs."
"That is so."
"But is that really the end of it?"
"That is..."
"Is there a more efficient way? A way to do it with even less force? Think on things like that. Paper. Pulleys. Waterwheels and canals. And everything I make after this—and everything you make."
"You are saying we should take the knowledge you have granted us and research new techniques upon it."
"Right. I can't put my hands on everything myself."
If that had been the plan, I would have just lived off my own work and called it a day.
I said it flat. Anaxa thought for a moment, then asked.
"Then, my god. A temple for you..."
"I told you before. Don't build me a temple. I don't need one."
"No! Why not?!"
"My god! That will not do!!"
Anaxa—and Lorventus, who had been listening in silence—both reacted as if I had set the plans on fire.
"A temple displays a god's majesty! It is the foundation upon which his faithful multiply!"
"Yes! If the world is to know how great you are, ought we not raise a grand statue and a grander temple?"
Any other god would have shown off his dignity that way. I didn't have to. I could be worshipped without it, so why waste time, labor, and resources on something useless?
"It's enough if I have people who throw themselves into advancing technology and seeking knowledge. As for where I live, that laboratory over there suits me fine."
"M-my god..."
"We're clear, then? Work hard from here on."
"Hm?"
People had begun gathering on Lemnos Island.
Among the scholars who assembled beneath the name of pragmatism, quite a few were wealthy. Perhaps that was why something unusual had turned up in the tribute.
"This is... jade?"
"Jade?"
Aglaia, who had come to play, tilted her head.
"A gem they also call jadeite. Oh... and the quality looks pretty good."
"Wow. Hephaestus, you know that too?"
"I can cut gemstones. I can tell the grade of an ore just by looking at it."
"Huh? Really?"
"You never heard I made a golden eagle?"
Aglaia's eyes sparkled. She looked at me.
"Do you need a golden eagle?"
"Yes!"
"All right."
I took some gold from the storehouse and made her an eagle of victory. She seemed to like it a great deal.
"Hehe. I love it."
"That much?"
"Yeah. You hardly ever make things for the gods."
"Uh..."
"Besides the chairs you gave us, have you made anything for gods instead of humans?"
"Fair point."
Lately I had been obsessed with nothing but human technology. I needed to think about the gods as well. And if I was going to start somewhere, it had to be Lord Oceanus.
I owed Oceanus, Tethys, and Eurynome more than I could easily count. This was a good chance to pay some of it back. There was no shortage of gold, silver, and raw gemstones among the tribute. I could make something suitable.
"Looks like I ought to make something for the gods this time."
"Wow! Then you'll make something for me?"
"I have to make something for Grandpa and Grandma first."
Don't you know elders come first, you brat?
The Confucian dragon inside me—the one that lived and died by respect for one's seniors—let out a roar.
"I'll make things for Lady Eurynome and for the three of you as well, so don't worry."
"Really?"
"Yeah. Things no one has ever seen."
I settled Aglaia down. She had worked herself into such a state of anticipation that it took some doing to calm her and send her off. Then I headed for the tribute storehouse.
Materials, I had in plenty.
"Yeah. This is the one."
And so I set to work with the jade and gems that had been offered up.
A few days later, I carried what I had made to Lord Oceanus's temple.
"...Hephaestus. What is this?"
"A Jade Heated Mat."
Oceanus and Tethys stared at the mat I had brought, plainly thrown. From whatever Aglaia had told them, they must have expected some sort of ornament.
"We are grateful for anything you make, but how does one use it?"
"Lie down on it, first, if you would."
"Lie down? Where—oh. Ohhh?!"
"Haaa... I'm melting..."
"I made it with the authority over fire that I hold."
The two elder gods, stretched out on a jade mat that breathed heat by the power of fire, looked profoundly satisfied.
"This... this is a tremendous treasure...!! So warm, and it feels as though the aching places are slowly being healed..."
"No god anywhere will possess a treasure like this...!!"
Watching the customers this pleased, I felt a maker's pride.
"If you press up there, the heat grows stronger."
Old folks like it hot enough to sear them, so a way to adjust the temperature seemed the better design. Sure enough, both their faces had gone very bright.
"Thank you, my boy..."
"It's nothing. I'm receiving a great deal of help from you and Lady Tethys as well."
Thanks to their permission and their protection, reports had been coming in that recent voyages were steady. Merchants moved more freely, and Lemnos Island was growing into a hub of intermediary trade. The tribute they offered was plentiful, and the quality was rising. My life had gotten easier.
"It's a token of thanks, too, so please don't feel burdened."
"Yes..."
I smiled at the two of them and opened another box.
Inside were bracelets of jade and gold, set with other gems besides.
"These are for Lady Eurynome."
"Oh my! There was something for me, too!?"
"Yes."
She had been sparkling at the boxes as if she were only casually hoping. Now she took hers with open delight.
"I sealed my authority over fire into them. Go somewhere cold, and you won't feel the chill."
"Heavens...!! You're giving me a treasure this precious?!"
"Haha. I'm always in your debt, Lady Eurynome. And these are for my little sisters."
"Waaah!!"
"Big brother~!"
For the young goddesses glittering with expectation at Eurynome's side, I fastened bracelets and necklaces of jade and gold.
Everyone looked satisfied.
"I'll be counting on your guidance from here on."
At this rate, I ought to be able to keep my head down and just work for a while.
A great mat that held its warmth even in the deep sea, and unwound every ache of fatigue the moment one lay upon it.
Word that Oceanus had acquired a new treasure spread quickly.
Was it simply that they wanted a look?
Gods and nymphs began coming to Oceanus's temple in numbers unlike anything before.
"Lord Oceanus. Is that the enchanted mat of rumor?"
"It is. My grandson made it for his grandfather and grandmother."
And what joy in the world compares to boasting of a grandchild? All the more when the grandchild is capable.
"But that fellow isn't your grandson by blood, is he?"
"Now see here!! Our Eurynome regards that child as her own son, and the boy regards us as family in turn!!"
Oceanus's gaze turned sharp enough to cut. One god flinched, shoulders jumping. He shrank in on himself—living proof that a gentle man's anger is the more frightening.
Another god stepped closer.
"But does that god not attend the banquets?"
"The boy is terribly busy. He rarely comes to feasts."
It was then that Eurynome and her three daughters entered the banquet hall.
"Good heavens."
"How can ornaments be that beautiful..."
Eurynome and her three daughters were famous for their beauty, and what set that beauty off all the more were the ornaments of green light.
"I have never seen a green that vivid."
"Where did they find gems like those, and however did they work them..."
Goddesses and nymphs came forward, unable to master their envy. To possess a precious thing that others cannot obtain is, in itself, something to be envied.
"Ah, these? Hephaestus made them. He is as good as my own son. Hehe. Busy as he is, he still made one for each of my family, you know."
"What a splendid son.... I envy you."
"If you wouldn't mind, might you introduce us? I should like to commission ornaments from the gems I have."
"Well. The child is so very busy... Lately, among humans, they even call him the god of technology."
"The god of technology?"
"Yes. Oh my. You haven't heard?"
If boasting of a grandchild is a joy, boasting of a child is its equal. Eurynome, who thought of Hephaestus as her son, spoke with perfect confidence.
"He spread the method of making paper among humans."
"Oh my, oh my. Is that true? At my temple the humans have been offering paper as tribute, and we have been using it. It is simply wonderful!!"
"Yes! Yes! Among the nymphs under me, some have even received pictures that humans drew on paper!"
"And not only that—he made something called a compass, didn't he? They say human voyages have become ever so much easier because of it."
"Yes. Thanks to that, the tribute has increased as well."
"Ahh... and all of this is that god's doing...!!"
"It's truly incredible!!"
Beneath the gasps of gods and nymphs, Eurynome looked thoroughly delighted.
Her three daughters—the young goddesses who were as good as sisters to Hephaestus—were no different, boasting to the other young gods and nymphs.
"Big brother Hephaestus is really amazing!"
"He treats us sooo well~! He gives us lots of delicious things!"
"He knows so much! Even the way to make pudding—Hephaestus came up with that!"
The three girls' endless bragging was more than enough to make the other young gods and nymphs envious.
"Wow... I want to try the cookies too..."
"Is this pudding really that good?"
"Mother got some as tribute last time and I ate it, and it was really delicious...!!"
"Heavens. To think even the way of making those delicious, precious cookies was something Lord Hephaestus spread...!!"
The three sisters, now the center of the young gods and nymphs, were having a wonderful time. It was pleasant to be looked at with envy, and pleasanter still that they admired their big brother, Hephaestus.
While his name was spoken among gods and nymphs in the Deep Sea Temple, and his fame piled higher—
"My god! How is this?"
"Oh. This one's pretty decent. All right—wipe it, tighten it, and oil it. I'll refine a bit more iron. Then we'll join them and build the thing properly."
—its hero, Hephaestus, was living another day as a hardworking engineering grunt.
