TGS - Chapter 65
Chapter 65: God Power Field
As a modern person who once could read myths from all over the world without leaving home, Lotus was no stranger to legends of gods participating in human wars.
Vast inland continents, island nations on the sea, and the distant East.
Nowhere was there a lack of human imagination about gods aiding them in battle.
However, the most widespread myths were mostly about gods using human wars to wager on victory and defeat. Some wars were even instigated by the gods for various reasons.
A long and protracted war might have been initially triggered by a small dispute between gods.
And now, at what seemed like a relaxed and ordinary gathering of companions, the God of the Sky told Lotus—
Gods are born from humans, and they are drawn into conflict because of humans.
Born and awakened from the will of a civilization, gods are inextricably linked to a nation from the moment they appear. When they receive worship, they must bear the responsibility of protection.
Otherwise, what would be the meaning of a god's existence in the world? To simply sit in a temple and gaze down upon the millions of people who sustain them?
Lotus composed herself and said calmly to the King of the Gods, "En, you said one of the purposes of this banquet was to tell me these things. So, what is it that I need to do?"
She then turned to the Goddess of Love and Desire. "This must be the 'serious business' Adia mentioned when she notified me."
"It is indeed about this matter."
Adia clapped her hands lightly.
Lotus's eye twitched. She almost began to worry that a divine war was imminent, but she hadn't experienced the so-called "epiphany on the day the war begins," so she temporarily set that concern aside.
In that case, was this a preemptive measure?
As expected, Adia shook her head. "Human wars are frequent. Until the day that is truly designated as the beginning of a war to the death, no one knows which dispute, raid, or battle will become the start of it all."
"However, it's best to be prepared." En lowered his head and picked up another of the Earth Goddess's special cookies. "Once Nierde wakes up, we'll take you there."
Lotus glanced at the God of Wisdom.
The latter was still staring at his wine cup in contemplation, and there was no telling when he would recover from his powered-down state.
Under the celestial light, in the pavilion on the lake, the major gods set aside the ornament-like God of Wisdom and started a tea party.
The main topic of their idle chat included memories the gods had retained over the long ages—past events worthy of being shared.
Lotus listened with great interest. Many of the stories had taken place hundreds of years ago, and from the reactions of the major gods, they had probably been discussed as topics at past banquets.
Retelling them now was simply a way to let Lotus know as well.
After a round of stories, even a few of the Death God's ravens hopped out and performed a pantomime, vividly recreating a scene of the Death God judging souls in one of his incarnations.
Telling these stories took two days and two nights. The sky in the Kingdom of the Gods had no day or night cycle; it looked the same now as it did when they began.
However, the God of Wisdom remained offline.
The King of the Gods finished the special pastries one by one. The Earth Goddess looked at the empty plates and wine bottles and said regretfully, "I should have made more."
En actually agreed. "Your skills have improved again, Suojia."
Judging by their expressions, both gods were serious.
Is this the unparalleled power of the Sky and the Earth?
Lotus couldn't help but feel a sense of solemn respect.
The divine serpent's gaze shifted from the empty plates. Perhaps the King of the Gods' youthful form sparked some association, for the Earth Goddess asked with a hint of curiosity, "Lotus, have you ever baked cookies for the human you're raising?"
Lotus paused, then shook her head.
"No cookies, what about other pastries?"
"...None of those either."
"Then I suppose you haven't cooked meals for her either." The Earth Goddess shook her tail in disapproval. "That won't do. If you haven't fed her, how can you call it raising her?"
Is that so?
The Goddess of the Yilu River thought for a moment and suddenly realized that despite living in Solancia for so long, she had barely even seen the cooking utensils of this era.
Lotus was very skilled at cooking, but only with modern, sophisticated, high-tech cookware. If she were placed in front of an ancient Solancian stove, she would probably have to figure out how to even start a fire.
Adia, however, remembered a scene she had once witnessed through the eyes of her white rabbit and burst out laughing. "Stop it, Suojia. It's that little princess who's raising Lotus. She grilled fish for Lotus; my messenger saw it all."
Lotus: "..."
She was surprisingly unable to refute it.
Under the silent gaze of the Snow Goddess incarnation, Adia laughed merrily. "A slip of the tongue. It should be called an offering, right?"
Hearing this, the Earth Goddess's serpentine eyes widened, and she looked at Lotus as if she were an irresponsible pet owner.
Is this how you raise a human?
With this little episode, the major gods' attention shifted back to the princess, which also served to bring the God of the Sky, who hadn't participated in the earlier discussion, up to speed.
En, in the shell of an infant, listened with the gravity of an elder and suddenly asked, "That princess, what's her name?"
"Alyu," Lotus said. "Alyuin."
En: "Is that so?"
He nodded and said no more.
The major gods wanted to know how Lotus got along with the little princess.
It was something they would never do, and because they couldn't understand or empathize, they were all the more curious.
Lotus rubbed the ceramic surface of her wine cup with her fingertips. She felt there was no harm in talking about it. The feeling was somewhat akin to showing off, like saying, "I have a super cute cat at home, let me tell you all about her," but it was also very different.
After all, no matter how cat-like the princess was, she was still an independent person.
"Alyu was very smart even as a child, and very well-behaved..."
Lotus slowly sifted through the fragments in her mind. Looking back, she was surprised to realize just how many memories she shared with Alyuin.
She picked and chose the parts she could talk about and recounted them briefly.
Just as she was about to mention how the princess disliked drying her hair and always wanted her help to dry it, Lotus paused and skipped over that part.
It was too childish. Alyu surely wouldn't like her bringing up such things as conversation topics. The side of her she only showed to Lotus didn't need to be known by other people or other gods.
Yes, protecting her right to privacy?
Midway through, the Sun God offered his opinion: "I can't quite imagine it, but from the sound of it, raising a human seems quite interesting."
It was only interesting to hear about. If these major gods were actually asked to interact with humans, they would politely decline—their detached indifference toward humans was the inevitable result of their combined divinity and nature.
Adia, the Goddess of Love, rested her chin on her hand, her smile deepening.
However, she said nothing.
The God of Wisdom's power outage lasted for half a month, so the banquet naturally continued for over half a month as well.
For gods who normally didn't need to sleep or rest, this wasn't a particularly long time.
Lotus couldn't help but focus more of her consciousness on her physical body in the mortal realm. During this time, the caravan had long since left the small town where the princess's coming-of-age ceremony was held and had arrived at a major nearby city.
However, the noble powers in this major city belonged entirely to Horst.
Alyuin faced three waves of assassination attempts here. Not only was she unharmed, but she also ordered her personal guards to throw the assassins' bodies over the walls of the city lord's mansion under the cover of night.
The city lord was furious but dared not speak out.
The caravan did not stay in the city for more than a few days before setting out on its journey again.
"Your Excellency Lotus, I heard you had returned, so I came to pay my respects," a subordinate water god said from outside the pavilion.
Lotus returned to her senses and gave a gentle nod. "My apologies. I left abruptly last time without explaining anything. I must have caused you trouble."
The subordinate water god quickly waved his hands. "Not at all!"
Over the past several days, a steady stream of subordinate water gods had come to visit the pavilion.
Some had been at the banquet originally and, seeing Lotus engaged in lively conversation with the other major gods from a distance, had not approached rashly, waiting two days before coming together.
Others hadn't attended the banquet at all and had rushed over only after hearing the news from their colleagues.
There had originally been another powerful subordinate water god who had presided over the affairs of the water pantheon during the long ages before Lotus awakened.
But after Lotus stabilized her divine position, this subordinate god had no choice but to remain in his temple to reorganize his divine power, a task he had yet to complete.
Lotus gathered her thoughts. Just as she sent off one of the subordinate gods who had come to pay respects, she turned her head and saw the God of Wisdom, who had been motionless for half a month, suddenly look up.
He nonchalantly set down his empty wine cup and gave Lotus an apologetic nod. "Please don't mind me. This happens a few times a year."
Lotus smiled. "It's nothing."
She was now quite used to the unreliability of gods. What were three or five malfunctions a year?
Adia stood up, clasped her hands above her head, and stretched languidly.
"You're finally awake. Let's go, Lotus. We'll take you to the place of birth."
The so-called "place of birth" was actually the stone platform where Lotus had first arrived in the Kingdom of the Gods. It was also where gods other than those born of humans came into being.
Upon arriving, the major gods each walked to the edge of the stone platform, taking their positions at different points.
The Earth Goddess was a bit different. She slithered over slowly, her entire serpentine body coiling there. Her massive form seemed somewhat small compared to the whole stone platform.
The moment the gods took their places, beams of distinctly colored light shot out from beneath their feet or tails, eventually converging at the center of the platform to form a slowly rotating pattern.
It resembled an eight-pointed star with a missing corner.
Lotus understood and walked toward the empty space to the due north.
A frost-blue beam of light flowed from her position into the center of the platform. The next moment, the star chart blazed with light, and lines formed in the missing section of the eight-pointed star, completing the pattern.
The "eight missing one" that Adia was always talking about was literally eight missing one.
Only with the integration of the power of water was the pantheon's star chart truly complete.
Lotus saw a transparent, bubble-like film rise from all sides of the floating island, like a hemispherical barrier, closing directly overhead.
The celestial light shone down, and the transparent surface shimmered with a magnificent iridescent halo, like a colorful soap bubble in the sun.
"This is a barrier. You can also call it a God Power Field."
Lotus was far from the King of the Gods, but the infant's delicate voice still rang out clearly around her.
"It exists not only in the Kingdom of the Gods but also along the borders of Solancia. We reinforce the God Power Field periodically. When gods from other civilizations launch an attack, it will provide protection at the first moment."
Lotus: "Before I awakened—"
"It was always in an incomplete state, but it was sufficient."
Lotus: "I see."
En maintained a serious tone. "It's no big deal that it was incomplete. A few hundred years ago, we all failed to wake from our slumber and missed a scheduled reinforcement, and it still didn't malfunction. Don't worry."
Lotus: "..."
At a time like this, don't use such a serious tone. No amount of seriousness can hide the fact that the major gods collectively overslept!
This pantheon is really in danger.
Lotus realized this once again.
Although reinforcing the God Power Field was a serious matter, it didn't actually take much time.
After the barrier was fully completed, the Snow Goddess incarnation prepared to leave. Adia clicked her tongue and sighed, "Go on, go on. There's nothing else to do after reinforcing the God Power Field anyway."
Hearing her say this, Lotus stopped and asked suspiciously, "Really?"
Adia: "Of course—look, even Emute has left."
Lotus turned her head and saw that the Death God, Emute, was indeed already flying away, surrounded by his ravens. The raven orchestra was playing a reluctant farewell tune that could be heard even from a great distance.
Only then did Lotus feel at ease.
She bid farewell to the major gods and leaped from the edge of the floating island.
The pure white, fur-trimmed edge of the Snow Goddess's cloak traced a captivating arc through the air.
When this incarnation rushed back to her mortal residence and returned to her main body, Lotus sat for a moment to adjust, then stood up, preparing to find the princess.
Alyuin had gone out alone that day to the slums, and Lotus's main body had not followed.
Calculating the time, she should be back by now.
Lotus went to Alyuin's door and knocked lightly.
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