Era of the Gods (3)
No, why the hell is he talking about Gaia’s mate or whatever? More than that, he was just dissing me hard, calling me grandma and all! So why’s he suddenly spouting nonsense about being my mate?? Don’t tell me it’s some grandma fetish?! Grandma?! GRANNMMAAA?!?! That’s not a thing that should exist!
Ah, hmm. Come to think of it, Greek mythology had quite a bit of that. Gaia in Greek-Roman myths married her son Uranus and gave birth to Cronus, then married her great-grandson and grandson Poseidon... and even had kids with Zeus. Not a god, but still. Greek myths were insane—not just sibling or mother-son incest, but even marrying your grandma. Way too scary.... Thank goodness this world doesn’t have incest myths that extreme.
Ahem. Pulling my wandering thoughts back. I let out a small sigh as I looked at Baal, who seemed oblivious to what he’d even said.
A guy who wants to be king of the gods, and he picks a fight when he’s supposed to be convincing the others? Especially with kids who lose it easily when it involves me. Thanks to him, the kids were all frozen stiff. Even Shamash, who had some rapport with Baal.
“Ga...ia...?”
The frozen atmosphere thawed at Shamash’s puzzled murmur.
“What’s a Gaia?”
“Maybe one of the newly born gods?”
“Hmm...”
The kids looked like they had no clue what Baal meant. Perfect! Since Baal named her himself, the kids wouldn’t know what it refers to!
Great! If I just let it slide like this, maybe we can gloss over it!
Right then, Baal opened his mouth.
“Gaia is none other than— ”
“Since this guy’s the god of the heavens, he named the vast earth of this world Gaia. He probably wants to birth a new goddess of the earth or something...”
I quickly cut off Baal before he could say more and rattled on.
“No, that’s not it—mmph mmph!”
“Come to think of it, that massive continent in this world didn’t have a proper name. Why not use his idea and call the whole earth Pangaea?”
I desperately kept talking, clamping Baal’s mouth shut to stop him. I had no idea if this ridiculous excuse would fly, but it was worth a shot!
And my clumsy cover-up...
“Hmm. Indeed, the heavens’ counterpart could only be the earth.”
“Yeah! The image of sky and land meeting to form the world!”
“Come to think of it, the giant continent making up this world never had a name. Pangaea. Sounds good.”
...somehow worked. The kids bought it without pushing back.
Phew. Thought we were totally screwed, but it pulled through.
“But don’t we already have an earth goddess here?”
Ifrit grinned mischievously and glanced at Sagarmatha beside him.
“Don’t like punks.”
“Too bad, squirt! The highest mountain hates you!”
“That’s why the mate I want isn’t— ”
“Okay, that’s enough. We’ve got a lot to discuss; can’t waste time on chit-chat.”
I wrapped my tail around Baal’s neck again as he tried to speak, yanking his head back. If he blurted out that Gaia was my title right now, this barely salvaged situation would blow up, and my grand plan to make him king of the gods would shatter from the start.
I had to push through somehow!
“Anyway, I’m thinking of making this guy king of the gods. Curious about your opinions.”
“Hmm... Do you need our opinions? Or do you want us to back him with our power?”
I replied calmly to Shamash’s question.
“I don’t want you backing him with power. Just evaluate if he’s fit to be king of the gods.”
If I just grabbed some random newborn god and declared them king... well, these kids would probably go along out of respect for me. But that wouldn’t do. The throne of king of the gods is too weighty to decide lightly. A king chosen so casually would cause problems later for sure.
Convincing these kids to acknowledge him was the right way.
“An evaluation?”
“Yes. If he passes your evaluation and earns recognition, doesn’t that make him worthy?”
My children, born from natural phenomena. They’d existed as gods before the new ones were born. In short, the first-generation gods. They had overwhelming power compared to others, the ability to wield natural forces at will. If they acknowledged him, the rest would follow naturally.
“Hmm... An evaluation... But we don’t know much about him.”
Sylphid said with a slight pout.
“I’ve talked to him a bit since we crossed paths, but if you’re asking if he’s king material... Hmm. Not sure.”
“Yeah. Don’t know him.”
Shamash and Sagarmatha chimed in. Hm. Asking for an evaluation when they knew nothing was probably premature.
“Then how about this?”
Thetis spoke up in the awkward moment.
“We don’t know him, and you want to make him king, right, Mom?”
“That’s right.”
“Then... why not give him some trials so we can acknowledge him?”
Trials?
“Not exactly trials—more like tests. If he clears them well, we acknowledge him.”
Hmm... Tests, huh. Like Hercules’ labors?
“That might make things easier.”
“Yeah, a king of the gods should handle any challenge.”
The other kids started agreeing with Thetis. Definitely better than demanding blind acceptance. Maybe I rushed things too much. Probably because Baal’s sudden Gaia-mate bombshell threw me off.
Maybe.
“So, what happens now?”
Baal, plastered to my side, asked in a small voice.
“The kids will give you tests. Clear them, and they’ll acknowledge you.”
“Tests? Hmm. Sounds annoying...”
“But clear them, and you’re king of the gods. Worth it, right?”
Baal thought for a moment, then nodded slightly.
“Yeah. I’ll do it.”
Good. Baal’s at least a little motivated now. It all hinged on what tests the kids came up with.
“Then let’s break for now. We need time to think up tests.”
“Agreed.”
“We rarely all gather like this; I wanna eat Mom’s delicious food!”
“I’ve been craving veggie dishes. Fresh, crunchy ones.”
“Wait, is it okay for the plant goddess to eat veggies...?”
“The elves eat too much meat... I’m kinda sick of it. Gotta fix those kids’ picky eating...”
Delicious food, huh. Now that I thought about it, this was rare—my kids together without their dragon bodies.
“Alright. It’s been a while, so I’ll make something proper.”
Time to treat them to dishes this world can’t offer! And slip in a plea to keep an eye on our aspiring king of the gods!
A few days after that hearty feast for the kids and Baal.
The kids came to me, each with a test in mind. For some reason, they looked smug and confident. Like they were competing over who could make the toughest one.
Hmm. Not good. If the tests are too hard, Baal might just quit midway.
“Oh! Mom has to give a test too!”
“What? Me too?”
“Yep! We all agreed it’d be unfair if only we did!”
I didn’t prepare anything! This is too sudden!
“Of course, figuring you wouldn’t prepare, we brainstormed one together!”
The other kids nodded at Shamash’s words.
Don’t prepare stuff like that!
“The test in Mom’s name is perfect for the goddess of life!”
Hmm. Ominous vibe.
“The No-Kill Trial! He can’t harm any life while clearing the other tests!”
No-kill... No-kill... Ugh... head hurts... No, more than that—no-kill? If a test requires killing something, wouldn’t that contradict it? Is it okay to give tests like that?
“Ah, we picked our tests carefully to match. No ones requiring killing.”
“Hmm. Then it’s fine... I guess...”
No, wait. Without limits on what counts as ‘life,’ stepping on a bug on the road disqualifies him. Gotta tweak this.
“Let’s add conditions to the no-kill scope.”
“Conditions?”
I nodded slightly and said,
“Limit it to humans and demi-humans. Animals and monsters are fair game.”
“Beastkin are half-human, half-animal—what about them?”
“Beastkin are demi-humans too.”
That’s beastkin discrimination, Sylphid.