— — — — — —
"'Discussion Regarding Punishment for Ryo Yagami's Illegal Cheating During the Godslayer War...'" Indra read the title aloud in a perfectly flat announcer's voice, each word crisply enunciated.
For a moment, no one understood what he'd just said.
That was because every single word had been spoken in a different language.
Arabic. English. Sanskrit. Japanese. French.
He even mixed in Ancient Egyptian, Hittite, and Akkadian.
By the time he was done, the sentence had become such a linguistic mess that nobody could piece it together on the spot.
Then a voice speaking the universal language came from the central round table. "What Indra said was, 'Discussion Regarding Punishment for Ryo Yagami's Illegal Cheating During the Godslayer War"
Indra shot Zeus a sideways glance and rolled his eyes.
Then he smacked his lips thoughtfully. "By the way, Zeus, found yourself a new wife lately? The last one wasn't really my type."
"..."
Several people blinked in confusion before realizing what he meant.
He wasn't simply asking if Zeus had remarried. He was asking if Zeus had a new wife he could borrow.
Zeus didn't so much as blink.
"No new wife," he replied calmly. "But would you like a new husband instead?"
"I'll pass." Indra waved dismissively. "I'm not into bulls or dogs. Too gamey."
The hall filled with chuckles and amused snorts.
Zeus, despite being the obvious target of the joke, remained completely unfazed. He leisurely sipped his tea, only occasionally casting a glance toward Athena.
But Athena ignored him entirely. She sat with her eyes closed, resting quietly without saying a word.
This was all routine.
Ever since the Dawn Era had ended and Little Garden entered a more stable age, the Pantheon Hall, originally established to mediate conflicts between pantheons during campaigns against other worlds, had slowly devolved into something closer to a comedy club.
The discussions nowadays were mostly trivial matters. Petty squabbles. Embarrassing scandals. Things insignificant by ordinary standards but endlessly entertaining to the gods.
That was why Indra could shamelessly crack jokes like this in the middle of a meeting.
Truth be told, the old fox knew perfectly well that most of the lesser gods who weren't even allowed to speak had come mainly to watch his one-man comedy routine.
Zeus's love life had been a recurring topic for years. Anyone with thin skin would've developed a hide of steel after enduring this much teasing.
As for Zeus... he'd never lacked thick skin to begin with.
Anyway, official proposals had long since become little more than excuses for the various pantheons to throw mud at one another.
If they genuinely wanted to solve a problem, the discussion wouldn't happen in the Pantheon Hall. It would take place inside the Dawn Hall at Heavenly Army headquarters.
Athena understood the rules well enough.
Still, Ryo's case was different. It had every chance of stirring up real trouble.
After all, the very name Pantheon Hall reflected the status of everyone gathered here. They were all divine beings, the vast majority of them gods.
Ryo was human.
Athena let out a silent sigh and continued waiting with her eyes closed for everyone to finally reveal what they were really after.
Indra, equally aware of how these meetings worked, casually set down the document in his hand, crossed his legs, and addressed the assembly.
"Well then, that's today's agenda." He shrugged. "You lot can decide how to handle it."
"Before discussing punishment..." Amun-Ra spoke first.
He had been sitting there the entire time, his cold gaze fixed squarely on Zeus, "...Shouldn't we settle another issue first?"
He continued, "If I remember correctly, the proposal allowing humans to participate in the Godslayer War came from someone sitting in this very room. Now that there's a problem, isn't it obvious who should bear responsibility?"
The moment he finished speaking, countless eyes turned toward Zeus.
It had indeed been Zeus who introduced the proposal during the previous Pantheon Hall session.
Of course, the proposal hadn't openly targeted Ryo alone. Officially, it had been framed as: 'Encouraging lower-layer humans to join the Godslayer War.'
The motion had eventually passed after a lengthy debate. But not without conditions.
Participation had to be voluntary. Contestants had to fight under restrictions matching the tournament's rules. They needed sponsorship from a recognized pantheon. They had to possess at least a Four-Digit Spirit Rank. And several other requirements besides.
Taken together, the conditions could basically be summarized in one sentence: Real humans really shouldn't participate.
The fact that every human contestant who actually entered the Godslayer War turned out to be a God's incarnation had left Indra, who served as referee, laughing at the absurdity of it all.
Even so, those had been the official rules approved by the Pantheon Hall.
Now that an unexpected problem had emerged, Amun-Ra naturally used it as ammunition against Zeus.
Faced with a responsibility that genuinely belonged to him, Zeus remained utterly composed. Without even lifting his eyelids or looking at Amun, he replied, "Every step of Ryo's participation complied fully with the established regulations. There were no procedural violations."
"As for his displaying strength far beyond the tournament's intended limits... The Greek pantheon had no knowledge of that."
Amun had been waiting for exactly that answer.
"In that case..." He smiled coldly. "I formally request access to the Central Core's surveillance records."
Indra's eyelid twitched.
"...If that's the case..." He cleared his throat. "Then we'll follow the usual procedure. Let's vote."
The Little Garden Central Core kept records of every Gift Game ever held. The Godslayer War, meanwhile, had been classified by the Central Core as a special open-field Gift Game.
However, retrieving those records required approval from at least two-thirds of the gods present.
_ _ _
"Who's Ryo Yagami? Never heard of him."
"You've been living under a rock? He's the guy who embarrassed Zeus."
"Oh, that human? So his name's Ryo Yagami... wait a second. Wasn't the Greek pantheon the one that sponsored his entry?"
"Hahaha. I got it. Zeus must have tried to set someone else up and ended up trapping himself?"
"Worse than that. I heard the South Area base in the lower layers got wiped out by him. He stepped right into his own bear trap."
"I also heard Amun-Ra tried to recruit him and got his Heretic God body blown to pieces. First God King eliminated from the tournament."
"So that's why he is so eager. Got his balls kicked in, huh? No wonder he's yelling that Ryo Yagami cheated."
"Now I'm curious how exactly this human cheated."
_ _ _
'This isn't good...'
While bringing up the Pantheon Hall's voting system and projecting the ballot before everyone, Indra quietly observed the crowd.
Just as he'd expected... the gods seated below weren't especially interested in punishing Ryo. What they were interested in was seeing exactly how he'd supposedly cheated.
That was the real problem.
Indra stole a glance at Athena.
Without changing her expression, she calmly voted Against.
His heart sank. 'Kid... I hope you were smart enough to cover your tracks.'
Shaking his head, Indra also cast a vote against releasing the records.
Moments later, the results appeared.
92,069 votes in favor.
1,067 against.
Indra didn't even need to study the numbers. The outcome had been hopeless from the start.
Seeing the whispers spreading through the audience, Amun's gloomy expression eased into a cold smile.
He looked toward Indra. "Commander. Please retrieve the records. Let's show everyone exactly how that human cheated."
Indra sighed helplessly.
After a long pause, he formally submitted the request to the Central Core.
A moment later... one translucent screen after another slowly materialized in the air before the assembled gods.
.
.
.