The Gods' Interest
By now, people were gathering not only from Miletus, but from the Greek mainland itself.
"Hoh. So this is how you lay a channel..."
"A waterwheel can be built in a shape like this, too."
Craftsmen had come to see the waterwheels and water channels with their own eyes.
"So this is how paper is made?"
"Trees of this sort grow all over the mainland as well... We could make paper there, too."
Others had come to look at the paper and learn the method.
"To think farm tools could be made this way..."
"Isn't it a waste, using precious bronze on farm tools?"
"Our great god says he'll be making them of iron before long."
"What!? Isn't iron even more precious?"
"The god says iron will grow common soon enough."
"Oooh! Lord Hephaestus is incredible!!"
Some departed marveling at the craft, intent on carrying what they had learned back to the mainland. Others settled on Lemnos Island outright. And so the island began to develop at a startling pace.
"Every time I visit, there seem to be more humans."
"Oh. You're here?"
I had been deep in research with the scholars in the laboratory, and I looked up with a smile to greet Aglaia. She came toward me at an easy stroll, the jade bracelet I had given her always on her wrist, and let her gaze wander over the room.
"Hephaestus. Do you know people have been talking about you a lot lately?"
"Hm?"
Was this the workplace classic — 'people have been talking about you'?
"Why would they be talking about me?"
"As a merciful, wise god. Word is you're becoming known as a god that humans actually worship."
"Ah. That kind of talk."
Every human who arrived offered me tribute and went on about the merciful god. I had tried to stop them. They kept at it anyway, so I had taken to leaving them be.
"I'd rather they skipped the useless rites and just did more work."
"Ahaha. Aren't you pushing the labor a little hard?"
"It's necessary work. Anyway, what's going on? You look like you've got something to say."
I set down the papers I had been reading and caught Lorventus's eye. Quick on the uptake, he slipped inside and returned with something to drink and something to eat.
"So, um. They're holding a banquet at Grandfather's temple this time."
"Oh? Should I attend?"
"Yeah. It'd be nice if you did. You always skip everything except the family banquets."
"That's true."
Whenever a banquet was held, an invitation found its way to me as a matter of course, and Eurynome or Aglaia would even come in person to ask me along. There was always too much to do, though, so more often than not I stayed behind and sent food in my place.
"Yeah. So... I was hoping you'd stay by my side this time."
The projects I had been preparing were more or less finished. All that remained was talking things through with the scholars and the farmers, working out which methods would squeeze out the highest efficiency. That did not strictly require me, which meant I had time to spare.
"All right."
"You're going to say no agai— huh?!"
"What?"
"No, I— I thought you weren't coming!!"
"You came and asked me yourself. How am I supposed to refuse?"
"You've been refusing this whole time!!"
Does this girl not know the words 'lip service'?
In any case, once she heard I was coming with her, Aglaia was overjoyed. Watching a pretty girl bounce around that happily warmed something in my chest.
"Then! Then! Can I arrange the clothes you'll wear?!"
"No."
"What?! I— I have really good cloth! The finest linen!"
Linen: cloth woven from flax. Linen was perfectly fine, of course, but...
"Hold on."
I stopped her mid-excitement and headed for the offering storehouse. When I brought a length of cloth back out, her eyes lit up.
"Wh... what is this?! How did you make it so soft!? It looks incredibly expensive!!"
"Got it from a bug."
"A bug?"
"Yeah. Hmm... come with me. I'm researching it right now."
I led her over. In a small house near my laboratory, the women of Lemnos Island were at work.
"Lord Hephaestus!!"
"The silkworms are growing well!"
"Yeah? Good."
"Those mulberry trees... was that what you called them? These little ones absolutely love them!!"
The women laughed, bright and full of energy. Aglaia, at my side, only looked bewildered.
"Silkworms? Mulberries? What are all of those?"
"About a year ago? Merchants from Miletus offered up some things they said they'd gotten through trade. You know jade? They said they got that trading with them, too."
"The East? Where's that?"
"I don't know either. The place of origin isn't really the point."
"Fair enough... so? Is that... this?"
"Yeah. See the white ones? That cloth was made using these."
"Whoa..."
I had only ever attempted it from what I had seen on YouTube, so there had been a fair amount of trial and error. Still, it had worked in the end. That was what mattered.
"There is nothing the god does not know!! To think thread drawn from this insect's cocoon could make cloth so fine...!"
"I only showed you how to raise the bugs and how to use their cocoons."
The women knew cloth-making better than I did. I had given them the rough method, attached a few scholars, and they had figured out the rest on their own. This was why one-click auto-farming was the greatest thing ever invented.
"Woooow..."
"Give it time, and we might make it even better."
"It's so much nicer than the fine linen we received as offerings..."
"I'll give you this. Make yourself a dress."
"Huh!? R-really?!"
"Yeah. I can throw on whatever, but... you said you want to become the goddess of beauty. Shouldn't the clothes you wear be precious, too?"
"...Thank you! Big brother!"
"You only call me big brother at times like this."
I took the cheeks of the Aglaia who had thrown her arms around me and tugged them out long and silly, then ordered the women to bring the silk they had just made. A moment later, a length of truly fine cloth came out.
"Woooow!! Then, Hephaestus, you should too..."
"Ah. Like I said, I just like comfortable clothes."
Clothes cut from cloth this expensive did not suit a researcher who had to run between worksites. I preferred something I could throw on without a second thought.
"But if you wore nicer clothes too..."
"Want me to make you some jewelry to match?"
That convinced the visibly discontented Aglaia in a single stroke.
Of late, the gods who attended Oceanus's banquets shared a single curiosity: who, exactly, was Hephaestus?
"The name Hephaestus is spreading among the humans."
"Yes. Even among the nymphs who follow me, quite a few are curious about him."
"Every human who has met him in person sings his praises."
"Even so, going to see him ourselves feels a bit..."
Once you were a god, calling on another god — a young one, at that — to ask him to make things for you was a matter of face. And so they confined themselves to envy. Yet everything the gods of Oceanus's faction brought out at each banquet was enough to draw gasps from the divine. Curiosity was inevitable. What kind of god was this Hephaestus?
"Did you hear? Did you hear? They say Hephaestus will appear at the banquet Lord Oceanus is hosting!"
"Oh my! Truly?!"
"Yes! I simply must attend this one!"
Eyes sparkling, the goddesses hoped once again that an invitation would arrive. When it did, they made straight for the Deep Sea Temple.
"...Oh..."
"Good heavens..."
They could only marvel. It was the dress Aglaia was wearing.
"L-Lady Aglaia. That dress — what on earth is it...?!"
Not even the finest linen could have looked softer, or more noble. The cloth's quiet luster and inherent luxury were more than enough to set off Aglaia's beauty. And that was not all. The splendid ornaments at her wrists, her ears, and her throat were brilliant enough to dull the treasures the goddesses themselves possessed.
"Hephaestus made them for me!!"
"Heavens. A craftsman of this caliber?!"
"The humans call him the god of craft... To think he possessed knowledge like this as well..."
The goddesses' eyes shone. With an artisan this extraordinary, this was no longer the time to fret over something as petty as face.
"But Hephaestus is..."
"He should be coming in any— oh. He's here. Hephaestus!!"
Aglaia smiled bright as light and waved, and the boy who entered the banquet hall walked in with a perfectly flat expression. The goddesses who saw him tilted their heads.
"...This aura...?"
"It's the same as the gods of Olympus...?!"
Oceanus was a Titan, and so was Tethys. Because Hephaestus kept their company, everyone had assumed he too belonged to the Titan line. He did not. The divine authority rolling off him resembled the Olympians far more than the Titans.
"Hahaha! My thanks to all of you for attending a banquet in honor of my granddaughter!!"
Oceanus emerged on a roar of laughter. At the sight of him, the gods offered hurried greetings and put their question to him.
"Lord Oceanus. Hephaestus... he isn't a Titan?"
"You all felt it, didn't you? That's right. He is no Titan."
"Then..."
"Political talk of that sort hardly suits a banquet for my granddaughter."
Oceanus grinned and spoke at his ease, sweeping his gaze over the gods around him.
"Come! All of you, enjoy yourselves!!"
The gods were curious. In the end, they asked nothing more.
Cronus lifted the report. Humans, of late — the thing called paper, made by creatures who had once been nothing but livestock, was better than he had expected.
"Humans truly are useful livestock. To think they could produce even this. So they drank my blood and gained wisdom after all."
A cruel, arrogant smile cut across his face as he set the paper report down.
"Even after I bring Zeus down, it would be wiser to let them keep this much wit."
"L-Lord Cronus."
"Hm?"
"The knowledge of how to make paper... it did not come from the humans."
"What are you saying?"
"To be precise... it is a god called Hephaestus. Of late, the humans have taken to calling him the god of mercy and knowledge."
The god who followed Cronus spoke with careful deference. At those words, Cronus burst out laughing.
"Ha!! Hahahaha!! Of course! As if mere livestock could ever have made such things."
He laughed for a long while, then tapped the table with his fingers.
"I should like to meet him."
Cronus had begun to take an interest in Hephaestus.
And Olympus was no different.
"...Hephaestus?"
"Yes. Zeus."
The final battle with Cronus was not far off. Zeus had succeeded in winning the Cyclopes and the Hecatoncheires to his side in preparation for it, and still he thought it was not enough. He had ordered the gods beneath him to seek out any deity worth using, and so he turned his attention to the words of Hestia, a goddess he trusted.
"Who is that?"
"A god who has recently come to be worshipped among the humans."
"Oho. Is that so?"
"Yes. And... well..."
Hestia hesitated, then spoke with care.
Zeus's heavy brows twitched.