God-Slaying Ledger (2)
With that, the six gods began inscribing the names of the gods onto a massive sheet of papyrus.
"First, exclude the gods we need to keep alive, and the ones we have to kill. As for the ambiguous ones... what should we do with them?"
"Yeah. Total wipeout."
"Sagarmatha. We can't do that."
"But it was simple, right?"
Expressionless as ever, Sagarmatha simply gave a thumbs-up without a word.
"Well, I agree it's easy, but if we did that, we'd be in trouble. Hmm... this isn't simple."
"Then let's do it like this. Default to killing or demoting them, but if any of us wants to defend a god, we'll discuss it."
"Defend?"
"Yeah. Defend. The defender states the main reasons, then we share opinions and decide. Everyone's got a few gods they want to save, right?"
At Shamash's words, most nodded. Unless a god had holed up completely out of touch with others, gods naturally built relationships with each other.
"I wouldn't care if they all vanished."
Thetis was the exception.
"Well, can't be helped with you, Thetis. A new continent rose up and wrecked the ocean currents, so you've been busy fixing it non-stop."
"Yeah. Disaster."
"But don't you have at least one friendly god? Like another sea god or something?"
Thetis scowled at that.
"Most aren't strong enough to reach me, and the one who did? That damn brother of mine. Poseidon."
"Ah... yeah. Nothing we can do then."
It was widely known that the Olympian gods were a rotten bunch, but the worst were the leader Zeus and his brother Poseidon.
Naturally, they topped the list of gods marked for death. And naturally, everyone gathered here knew their infamous reputations all too well.
"What kind of political marriage conquers all the seas? What an idiot."
"Most currents are already under my control."
"Hmm. Tough break."
"Shamash, didn't you have some young gods following you in Olympus?"
"Hmm. The sun god and moon god kids? They're not bad... but there are countless gods claiming to be sun or moon deities anyway. Every faction has at least one."
"Yeah. Too much overlap."
Everyone nodded in agreement.
"Why do humans believe in so many different gods? Even for the one sun, there are multiple overseers... it's a mess."
Sylphid grumbled, and Yggdrasil gave a small nod.
"Because they're human. They can't roam the whole world freely, so it's natural they don't know gods from other places."
"Mom and us are known to almost all humans, though?"
"Half of us are racial gods."
God of the elves. God of the dwarves. God of all seas and mermaids. Gods tied to specific races were well-known even to humans.
"Ifrit and I were already famous among humans to begin with."
Shamash, goddess of light, justice, and law.
Ifrit, god of purifying flames that burned the bodies of the dead to absolve their sins.
These two were widely recognized by humans.
"Mom goes without saying. Sylphid's probably the least known among us."
"Sailors believe in me plenty!"
"Split half with Thetis."
Sylphid puffed out her cheeks at Yggdrasil's words.
"Yeah. Enough chit-chat. Time to work."
At Sagarmatha's quiet interjection, everyone nodded and focused on sorting the gods.
And so, they compiled the list of gods harmful to humans and the ones worth sparing.
"But... what is Mom thinking?"
Shamash murmured softly.
"Mom's thoughts?"
"Yeah. Honestly, Baal lost his body and went to the underworld by accident... but it was basically what he wanted, right? He could've revived anytime but chose to give it up."
Ifrit nodded slightly at Shamash's words.
"True, but Mom doesn't see it that way."
"Which got me thinking... maybe Mom wants to reduce the number of gods and manage them directly?"
"Mom directly?"
Shamash nodded faintly at Yggdrasil's question and continued.
"With Baal gone and the gods' factions purged, fewer troublemakers left. Plus, Mom's delegated a lot via spirit clones... so maybe she wants to become the gods' king herself?"
Reactions varied. Some found it plausible; others thought she'd have purged and ruled already if so.
Varied opinions, but no one deemed it impossible.
"My thought. Different."
Sagarmatha spoke up amid the debate.
"Mom won't be gods' king."
"Then why reduce their numbers?"
Sagarmatha closed his eyes briefly, choosing his words.
"Mom's mad at gods who didn't follow her chosen king, Baal. Maybe feels her authority shattered. So... thinks gods will obstruct life, this world ahead."
Rarely verbose from Sagarmatha. Ifrit followed up.
"Ah! Mom said she hates gods."
"Hates gods?"
"Yeah. They torment other lives."
Silence fell. They were gods too.
"But Mom's a god?"
"She's the guardian of life. Pities lives suffering from gods?"
"Yeah. Plausible."
"But... does Mom hate us too? I only punish humans in trials."
Silence again at Shamash's words.
"Yeah. No big issues for me."
"M-Me too! Just busy with elves!"
"Hmm... drowning victims at sea. Maybe rescue more often..."
"I burn corpses of dead to ease sins... helps lives, right?"
"I, I'm... uh... ugh..."
Only Sylphid couldn't speak up. Not a racial god, not hugely helpful to lives. Worse, she'd whipped up typhoons out of boredom, ravaging the world.
"I-it's fine! Mom's kind! Won't hate Sylphid!"
"Yeah. Trust Mom."
Thetis and Sagarmatha hurriedly encouraged her, but her face stayed downcast.
"L-let's finish the work first. We can't guess Mom's thoughts. And she's always kind to us. Let's assume she doesn't hate us."
"Yeah."
Sylphid nodded with a wilted expression.
"So, what will you do next?"
At Nyx's question, I sank into thought.
"Hmm. What to do..."
First off, reduce the gods' numbers.
Hmm... honestly, nothing else comes to mind.
I was pretty pissed that they'd rejected my chosen king of gods and undermined my authority... but after venting by lopping off some ugly bastard's head, time passed, and I realized authority meant jack to me.
If it mattered, I'd have made myself king from the start.
So, bluntly... I was just mad the situation didn't go my way.
I'd dumped work on spirit clones, handed god management to Baal, and wanted to leisurely watch the world drift by. That plan crumbled, so I got angry.
That's it.
"First, thin out the gods."
Unmanaged gods are like ticking time bombs. Better defuse them before they blow—for the world's sake.
"Thinning the gods... yeah, there were too many. Olympus gods especially—good riddance."
"Olympus. Where that guy who argued with you leads?"
"Yes. Zeus was originally Baal's fragment. After Baal vanished, he absorbed Baal's leftover power and authority. Excluding ancient gods and the Mother of Life, few are stronger."
Hmm. That strong?
I figured his power was decent dragon-level at best.
Well, dragons outclass gods anyway. Born way earlier.
"Then until the hit list's done... how about staying here? I'd feel better with Mother of Life around."
"Sorry, but I'll tour the world till it's ready. The list's enormous—not a one-day job."
Ah, right! Among things I made for Baal was a papyrus scroll listing every god.
That'd help the kids a ton.
"Speaking of, didn't Baal have a scroll of all gods?"
"The Pantheon Roster, yes. I have it."
"Perfect. Give it to the kids later. It'll help."
Nyx nodded slightly.
And about a month later, the fact that Sylphid, delivering the first draft of the God-Slaying Ledger, was utterly dumbfounded by the Pantheon Roster's endless length... well, regrettably, it wasn't that important.
