第１２８７堀：海の領域 (Part1)
Dungeon 1287: The Ocean Domain
The Ocean Domain
Side: Fiora
Today, as always, we accompanied Yuki to a meeting with the goddesses Lilishe, Hiren, and Senal, who reside at the Lutea Church in Weed, and now...
“Ah, tea after a meal is truly so calming,” Luna said.
“I agree with that, but weren’t you, Luna, supposedly in your twenties, by ‘setting’?” Yuki asked.
“Don’t say ‘setting’! My body is clearly a vibrant twenty-three-year-old from any angle! But even so, tea is still calming. Though, that’s just a personal preference, isn’t it?”
“Well, I suppose so.”
Yuki was leisurely conversing across the table with the High Goddess Luna, who is the supreme ‘God’ in this world of Arowlith, completely at ease. Honestly, it was an utterly unbelievable situation.
What surprised me was that Yuki’s demeanor was entirely unchanged from his usual self. No, I had heard he would maintain this style even in today’s meeting with the gods, but to be this way even with Luna...
And above all, I was once again keenly aware of something here. That there was no substitute for Yuki. I truly understood, deep down, why all of his wives must protect him with their lives. Unless one could look upon even gods without fear, and treat them equally, the formidable challenges of this world, Arowlith, could not be resolved. How much less, then, were the kings of nations? If there was time to be concerned with such trivial matters, it should be spent executing Luna’s commands.
…Though it might be strange coming from me, who sought his help. I couldn’t help but feel that Yuki shouldn’t have to bother with trifles like some country being in distress.
Now, Yuki’s enemies were either remnants of gods who defied Luna, or groups operating outside the framework of nations, like dark guilds. Neither was an easy opponent to face.
And how crucial it was to gather information beforehand. I understood very well that effort should be focused there. That was why we had the meeting with Lilishe and the others, but it was truly astonishing that, realizing it wasn’t enough, he didn’t hesitate to appeal directly to the supreme goddess Luna herself to obtain information. There was no doubt she was the best possible source of information.
“So, now that we’ve finished eating, had our tea, and settled down, let’s talk about the ocean.”
Yes, that was indeed the topic. Luna had agreed to send the ‘information about the gods’ via email later, so all that remained was the discussion concerning the ocean. But was there a reason, to begin with, to set this aside and postpone it?
“Ah, that’s right. It’s only natural that there are no gods associated with the ocean.”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“It’s not that there’s zero faith connected to ‘ocean gods’ because of fishing, but humans can’t properly approach the sea, which is originally a habitat for monsters. You understand that, right?”
“Well, yeah. I’ve heard there are monsters in the sea, like those from the Old Testament, called Leviathans.”
“Oh, you even have that information. That’s precisely the problem. Well, that’s probably why it’s been left untouched.”
“Untouched?”
“Yes. The ocean is home to many powerful monsters, led by the Leviathan, and it seems that when gods were initially placed there, they were all defeated.”
“““Huh?””” At such an unexpected answer, we too couldn’t help but exclaim. Monsters numerous enough to surpass even gods? I couldn’t help but think that would mean the world’s destruction...
“Ah, I see. Telling humans to fight underwater is just suicidal.”
“Exactly, exactly. In terms of level, the gods are superior, but even so, once dragged underwater, there’s nothing they can do. Well, it might have been different if they had experience in underwater combat, like on Earth…”
“So, the intermediate gods stopped placing ‘ocean gods.’ But was that really alright?”
“Yes. Their original purpose was to have humans worship them. Since there are basically no humans in the sea, they didn’t feel the need. After all, humans are constantly fighting over territory without even attempting to venture into the ocean.”
…Though it’s painful to hear, it means they considered the ocean still too soon for us.
“And then, they deliberately left threats there, using them for self-preservation by claiming they would protect people from them.”
“Ah, I see. So the ocean was essentially under the jurisdiction of the intermediate gods.”
“Exactly, exactly. It’s convenient for creating moderate natural disasters, too. If you look for literature about ocean threats, you’ll probably find some. And then, there might even be ridiculous stories about how the intermediate gods saved the world at that time.”
“H-how can such a thing be allowed?” At such an outrageous method, Yayui couldn’t help but protest to Luna. But I understood her feelings. To capriciously destroy human endeavors, then stop it themselves and demand worship...
“There’s no good or bad about it. It’s perfectly normal for gods to give trials to humans.”
“““…”””
“Oh, you don’t seem convinced, but the intermediate gods’ method of using monsters is still on the gentler side, you know? There are fools who cause natural disasters for that very purpose.”
At Luna’s words, we were all struck speechless. But we understood what she was saying. If the threat was monsters, there was a possibility of resolving it through human effort, such as hunting them down, but when it came to natural disasters, humans could do nothing. It was certainly gentler, we thought, but just to gain worship... These were words that forced us to realize that Luna, before us, was by no means an ally of humanity. That she was, after all, neutral.
“Well, in Japan, they ended up dealing with those kinds of natural disasters too, didn’t they?”
“If they were intentionally causing those, then those gods would be eradicated.”
“We didn’t do anything like that. Or rather, it was humans who started saying strange things like those disasters were caused by snakes or catfish, to begin with.”
“Ah, I see. In a way, it’s self-inflicted.”
“Exactly. And as you can probably tell from what we’ve discussed so far, the ocean is truly a den of monsters. Wooden ships would be shattered to splinters in an instant.”
“Then even the aircraft carrier Luna would be shattered?”