I hid the tremor in my eyes at Poseidon’s words.
Not all gods left this land.
Somewhere still, gods remain, like the Poseidon before me now.
"......That the gods remain on this land is too great an honor."
Words I can say only because Poseidon stands above me, and I am bowing my head.
If he could see my expression, he wouldn’t take those words at face value.
[Hm. It is not so glorious a thing.]
"What do you mean?"
[The gods who remained on this land are not without scars from the war.]
As Poseidon said this, he raised his nape to show me.
There, though hard to see, a very small scar sat when measured against his massive frame.
For something with a body the size of a house to fuss over that, I thought, but of course I betrayed no sign of it.
"Which profane wretch dared wound Lord Poseidon’s body?"
[I do not know.]
"......?"
I had no reply for that brazen statement.
[This was at the very end of the war—humanity’s final counterblow. Every god who stayed on this land bears this wound. Yet no one knows how this wound was inflicted upon the gods. And it was done simultaneously.]
A wound that struck every god remaining on this land.
"When the gods gathered, something delivered a massive shock."
[No, not so.]
I had thought it an obvious conjecture, but Poseidon shook his head.
[We were all in different places. We believed the war was won. It happened in an instant. When all had returned to the domains they were originally to guard, the gods each received such a wound. The location differs for each. I was wounded in the nape; another god at the flank; another in the chest. Each was, in itself, no great attack.]
Indeed, even to my eyes it was not a great wound.
On a body like that, with a wound like that—perhaps some blood flowed, but that would be all.
Whether gods bleed, I do not know.
Whether gods bleed, I do not know.
[But after receiving this wound, a problem arose.]
"What is it?"
[The body was bound. To this place.]
"......!"
At that I shut my mouth in surprise. I nearly let out a cry of admiration.
After a single breath, I said,
"......So that is why you remain here."
[Yes. The other gods as well. All gods remaining on this land have their feet bound. A wound that time cannot erase, no matter how long it flows.]
A technique that, while striking gods simultaneously in disparate locations, also sealed their movement.
I cannot yet guess what it was, but clearly humanity did not suffer total defeat then.
If those mighty gods have become, on this land, nothing more than large, stuck-on spirits, it is a sight to savor.
"Is there no way to undo it?"
[Who knows. Even the nature of the attack has yet to be uncovered. And even if we wish to learn it, most gods have gone to the world of salvation, and the ones remaining are bound. An enemy they may be, but the deed was truly artful.]
So most gods on this land are in circumstances similar to Poseidon’s.
'Poseidon said he was wounded the instant he returned to his own domain. Then the other gods are likely bound to their original domains as well.'
If so, whenever I head to some place, I can either circumvent it, or prepare in advance and seek it out on purpose.
The problem is I don’t know which gods still remain on this land.
"......Lord Poseidon."
So I said,
"Would you teach me? The gods who still remain on this land."
[And what would you do, knowing that.]
"If I hear each of their stories, I might discover a method to undo that binding."
[Useless. What the gods themselves cannot sever—how would a human manage it.]
"Of course it is beyond me. But I can listen. To the voice of a god who, after long years, has discovered something."
[......Ho.]
"Another god may have contrived some hint or countermeasure. But with a bound body, it would not be easy to convey it."
[You mean that you will do it in their stead. To take up the role of gathering the gods’ voices?]
"Yes."
At my words, Poseidon stroked his chin, as if to think for a moment.
To add weight, I spoke one more line.
"Perhaps my pilgrimage was arranged for this very purpose."
In my experience, gods like the word “destiny.”
No—strictly speaking, they like when humans are led by destiny.
Poseidon believes I am on a pilgrimage to lands I have never trod; therefore, my saying that our meeting is some form of guidance should be plausible enough.
[......Heh.]
After a brief silence, Poseidon let out a low laugh.
[Very well. If a human would follow a god’s guidance, it would be comical for a god to bar the way.]
I hid a smile of triumph.
Then Poseidon said to me,
[But there is a condition.]
Somehow I knew.
Gods do so love their conditions.
"What is it?"
[There is one on this land who possesses a god’s power, yet did not intervene in the war. Had that one been there, victory would have been easier. Find him and bring him to me. I would like to look upon that face and ask what he was thinking.]
Cold sweat ran down my back at Poseidon’s words.
Possessed a god’s power and yet did not take part in the war. A bystander, then.
"Were not all gods, like Lord Poseidon, bound to their places?"
[That one is no god.]
......Possessing a god’s power, yet not a god.
Surely not.
As if reading my thought, Poseidon said,
[A bastard with human blood mixed.]
"......A demigod."
[Even that title is too generous for him.]
Poseidon seemed to harbor considerable antipathy toward him.
Known to Poseidon, capable of exerting massive influence in the war between gods and humans, mixed blood of god and human.
By my knowledge, very few come to mind.
One of them came out of Poseidon’s mouth.
[Heracles.]
The very name that should not have come up.
[That is his name.]
"......I see."
I swallowed, trying to bear the weight of the name.
Zeus, or Odin, or Poseidon here before my eyes are surely powerful and fearsome foes.
But they are gods. From experience I know they cannot easily lay hands on me unless they descend directly.
Heracles is different.
In the game, no one ever met Heracles, but he was one of the few hopes for clearing it.
In a game where gods exist, it was only natural to believe Heracles existed; if we could gain his help, we believed we could clear it. So many gamers scoured the Falind continent for Heracles.
But to me now, who has learned part of the world’s truth, Heracles is an enormous potential threat.
The demigod trait makes it impossible to know whether he sides with the gods or with humans. The fact that he stood by during the war only amplifies that suspicion.
...If he becomes an enemy, he both possesses a god’s power and bears the exploits of a hero, and he lacks every penalty gods suffer in this world.
An unequivocally strongest enemy.
"......Understood."
I bowed deeper and said,
"I will bring Heracles before Lord Poseidon without fail."
[There is no need to make him an enemy. He may be a friend, or a companion, if you like. Your task is only to bring him here. Do not risk your life.]
Poseidon spoke as if worried for me.
Of course, I had even less intention of making him an enemy—than of making myself an enemy of Poseidon.
***
"......That’s the gist of it."
Having received Poseidon’s permission to pass Agoris, I relayed the situation to the others.
Those on deck like Elodie would have caught the gist of the exchange, but it’s better to organize it and say it once more.
For reference, the reason Poseidon blocked our path—so he claimed—was protection.
Just as the outside of the Falind continent teems with monsters, Agoris rages with demons. If ignorant humans set foot there, the outcome is obvious, he said.
......So he prattled, but it’s absurd.
Before we met Poseidon, we were attacked six times. It’s only because everyone on this ship is strong that we made it through; an ordinary vessel could never have withstood those assaults.
Especially that absurdly huge whale—it could swallow a ship in one gulp.
To issue “warnings” to save humans, and then send assaults that plainly kill them—nonsense.
"Then what was the real purpose?"
Elodie asked.
"Probably that people from Falind not learn the exact location of Agoris."
"Why?"
"Because they tasted bitterness in the war."
When I saw the ancient script written in Manggot, the opening of the war clearly took place on the Falind continent.
I don’t know whether people then knew of Agoris’s existence, but their exchange would not have been smooth. The appearance of Olympus was recorded separately as well.
In other words, Falind at the time fought the war without cooperation from Agoris. The result was foregone.
Yet even so, many gods headed to the world of salvation, and gods like Poseidon are stuck in place. They must feel the danger of humanity. They must also know that the more we unite, the worse it is for them. Thus, from the outset, they do not want the two continents to meet.
"So once we arrive at Agoris, I plan to find Heracles somewhere on that continent. Apart from Poseidon’s request, he’s someone we absolutely must meet."
"Heracles......"
At my words, those around me fell into thought.
As famous as the name is in the previous world, no one here is ignorant of it.
Only, even more than Thor—who has a tangible weapon in Mjölnir—Heracles is a more distant tale. Whether he truly exists or not is unknown; he is a figure of legend if legend, a being from a fairy tale if fairy tale.
"Are you going to comb all of Agoris?"
"No. That’s the last resort."
Gamers already tried something like that on Falind. Even so, no one “confirmed” that Heracles did not exist on Falind. That’s how vast Falind is. Even as a game, people couldn’t give up hope.
There is no guarantee Agoris isn’t larger still.
"People in Agoris should know Heracles better than those in Falind. There will be books or records about him. We start by researching those."
Just as Falind resists monsters, I’ve heard Agoris fights demons.
If they have held out this long against the demons’ power, then the people of Agoris are no less capable than those of Falind. There should be ample material for study.
"We’ll need ongoing research."
"Right. Where books and records are abundant, where devouring them isn’t seen as strange......"
As I organized my thoughts, I suddenly turned my gaze.
At the end of my gaze were Pielot and Mei.
"......Somewhere a reckless student and a little kid can live decently, and, with luck, earn a kind of credential and receive support—someplace with a library, a cafeteria, and dorms would be ideal."
