Chapter 15
When the words "the goddess Ishtar" and "Secret" came from Seiji's mouth.
The entire hall fell quiet again in an instant.
Every gaze focused on him at once.
Their faces were written over with curiosity and... the fire of gossip.
Though Ishtar was one of Uruk's guardian deities, her terrible temperament was common knowledge throughout the city: capricious, extremely fond of wealth, and prone to handing down "divine punishment" over the smallest things (for instance, someone owning a gem prettier than the ones in her collection).
Toward her, the people had awe to spare and devotion to spare none.
So the chance to hear a few "secrets" about this "problem goddess" delighted them to no end.
And Ishtar herself, standing in the corner of the crowd, blew her top in an instant!
"Hey! You! What do you think you're doing?!"
Her first instinct was to rush over and clamp a hand over Seiji's mouth.
But the moment she moved, a cold, warning-laden gaze swept over from the direction of the throne.
It was that pitch-black King of Knights!
Ishtar's body went stiff, and she forced herself to a halt mid-step.
She had no wish to experience, ever again, the feeling of being blasted point-blank by that terrifying black pillar of light.
"No need to be nervous, Miss Ishtar."
Seiji glanced back and gave her a "reassuring" smile.
"I only want to help you resolve one little worry."
With that, he turned to face the crowd again, his voice rising sharply, full of an infectious force.
"Everyone!"
"Do you know why our great goddess Ishtar has been so glum lately, why she's even cut back on her favorite pastime of collecting gems from all of you?"
"It's because..."
He deliberately drew out his voice, working everyone's curiosity to its peak.
"...she's in debt."
"She's run up a colossal debt that she couldn't repay even if she sold off every last one of her temples!"
...
The whole place was dead silent.
Every face wore exactly the same dazed expression Quetzalcoatl had shown earlier.
In... in debt?
Gods... can be in debt too?!
"Haha... hahahaha..."
After the brief dead silence, a wave of irrepressible laughter burst from the crowd.
"You've got to be joking! The goddess Ishtar is the Lady of the Sky herself!"
"Right, the wealth she owns must be more than all of Uruk put together!"
"Is this man telling a joke?"
But their laughter cut off the instant they saw, in the corner, Ishtar's lovely face, which had gone from white to green, from green to purple, and finally flushed dark as liver, on the brink of dying of shame and fury.
They... suddenly realized...
What this man said...
It seemed...
It was true?
"That's right, it's true."
As if seeing through their thoughts, Seiji smiled and nodded.
Then he began to lay out Ishtar's "dark history," recounting it in measured detail.
"Our lady goddess, not long ago, through a small accident, carelessly destroyed her father's most beloved collectible, that is, the collectible of Anu, the king of the gods."
"To make up for the lapse, she had no choice but to borrow a huge sum from her sister, the Lady of the Underworld, Ereshkigal, enough to buy up Age of Gods gems from several pantheons."
"And the interest on this debt is... doubling every day."
"I did a quick calculation for her."
Seiji extended a finger and sketched a figure in the air.
"Going by her current finances, even if every last one of us people of Uruk, from this moment on, went without food and drink and put all our output toward repaying her debt, it would take roughly... hmm, three hundred years and more."
"So, everyone."
His gaze swept over each person present, and his face took on a "pitying" expression.
"Do you understand now?"
"This Lady of the Sky you worship is herself a poor god, mired in a debt crisis, on the verge of bankruptcy."
"Do you think a poor god who can't even save herself..."
"...truly still has the power to shelter you?"
Seiji's final words drove like the sharpest, most venom-soaked dagger into the "faith" at the hearts of every Uruk citizen present, hearts already worn fragile by the turbulent times!
That's right!
A goddess on the verge of bankruptcy, how is she supposed to bless us with riches?
A goddess buried in debt herself, how is she supposed to bless us with good weather and bountiful harvests?
No wonder!
No wonder lately, no matter how we prayed, we got no response!
So that was it...
So our guardian deity had long since been unable to even save herself!
In an instant.
Ishtar could clearly feel the "power of faith" that had once flowed endlessly from within Uruk into her, now draining away madly at an avalanche-like speed!
Her divine power was waning!
Her divinity was wavering!
"Ah... ah... ah..."
She pointed at Seiji, trembling all over with rage, unable to get out a single word.
This man!
This demon!
He had actually...
He had actually used this pull-the-firewood-from-under-the-cauldron method to destroy the very foundation of her existence at its root!
This was ten thousand times crueler than just killing her outright!
Seiji walked slowly up to her and, under everyone's gaze, reached out and gently wiped away the single tear that shame and fury had pushed to the corner of her eye.
Then, in a tone full of tenderness and temptation, like a lover's, he murmured softly into her ear:
"Don't worry, my dear lady goddess."
"I said I'd help you resolve all your worries."
"A trifling bit of debt, that's all."
He drew from his pocket a massive ruby he had just "earned" from the auction, more dazzling and pure than any gem Ishtar had ever seen, and pressed it into her hand.
"So long as you're willing to become my exclusive goddess."
"Then, from this day on..."
"...all your debts will be settled by me."