The instant Seiji Fujiwara pressed that enormous ruby, with what seemed like an eternal flame burning inside it, into Ishtar's hand, her entire divine being felt as if it had been scalded by that searing, pure magic.
The smooth touch, the perfect cut, and the magic contained within, so vast that even a goddess like her felt her heart pound with fear...
Ishtar could be one hundred percent certain that the "value" of this gem far surpassed the combined total of every collectible in the treasury of her temple.
And that man had just...
handed it to her offhandedly, like passing along a rock from the side of the road?
"You..."
Ishtar lifted her head and looked at Seiji Fujiwara's face, that gentle smile resting on it, and for a moment she had no idea what to say.
Shame, fury, bitterness...
All those negative emotions, the moment they brushed against the purest, most primal sense of "possession" this gem brought, were diluted by no small amount.
"Well? My dear lady goddess, will you consider my proposal?"
Seiji's voice, like the finest hypnotist's, was full of irresistible magic. He leaned close to her ear and continued in a low murmur only the two of them could hear:
"Becoming my exclusive goddess means a great deal more than simply clearing your debts."
"Imagine it. Gems like this one, you could eat them by the handful every single day, like candy."
"I could even build you a palace of pure gold and jewels, more magnificent and more radiant than your father Anu's celestial temple in the heavens."
"You'd no longer need to flatter those ignorant mortals to maintain your divinity, no longer need to listen to their tedious prayers."
"All you'd have to do is stay in your palace every day, dress yourself up beautifully, admire your treasures, and enjoy my offerings..."
"...and be a canary, the most beautiful one in all the world, kept in a cage by me."
"Well? Doesn't this job sound a great deal easier and more pleasant than serving as a thankless guardian deity?"
Every word out of Seiji's mouth was a poisoned arrow wrapped in honey, striking with precision at the softest, greediest part of Ishtar's soul.
He didn't deny her desire, nor did he try to change her.
Quite the opposite.
He chose to "acknowledge" her, to "satisfy" her, even to "indulge" every last one of her desires.
What he intended was not to "conquer" this goddess.
It was to use endless "wealth" and "luxury" to thoroughly "corrupt" her, to turn her from a lofty "god" into a beautiful "pet" who could never again leave anyone but him.
This was a form of "mental control" far more sophisticated, and far more terrifying, than any magecraft.
"I... I..."
Ishtar's breathing had grown rapid beyond measure.
Her mind was a tangle of chaos.
Reason told her that this man before her was a demon through and through. Every word he spoke was steeped in venom. To accept his offer was to surrender the dignity and freedom of being a "god."
But...
But...
That future he'd described...
It really was... so tempting...
Countless gems to admire every single day...
Never again having to read the expressions on mortal faces...
Living in a palace forged of pure gold...
"...I... I won't... fall for your trick..."
It took every ounce of her strength to force this rebuttal out through clenched teeth, and even to her own ears it sounded utterly pale and feeble.
"Is that so?"
Seiji smiled.
He didn't bother to keep persuading.
Instead, in front of everyone, he snapped his fingers.
"Medea."
"Yes, Master."
"Distribute the gifts we've brought to all our friends of Uruk seated here."
"As you command."
Medea waved her hand with elegance.
The next second, in the hand of every noble and merchant present, a small, exquisite coin purse forged of gold appeared out of thin air.
When they curiously opened the purses, every last one of them sucked in a sharp breath.
Inside each purse lay three dazzling, top-grade rubies, of almost exactly the same quality as the one Seiji had just given Ishtar.
"This... this is..."
"O gods! For... for us?!"
"This is... this is far too generous!"
The crowd erupted in an instant.
The way they looked at Seiji Fujiwara was no longer mere "fervor."
It was something close to "worship," adoration of the most extreme kind.
A "god" who could hand out wealth of this caliber as casually as passing out flyers.
Just how immense, how bottomless, was his "fortune"?
And Ishtar, watching this scene of money squandered like dirt, was struck completely dumb.
Within her, it was as if a great dam built from "pride" and "reason" had, in this moment...
been hit by a money storm of countless gems surging in like a flash flood, like a tidal wave, and...
with a thunderous crash, was breached.
"Very well, everyone."
Seiji clapped his hands, drawing everyone's attention back to him.
"Today's auction ends here."
"Should any of you remain interested in my goods, or in trading with me..."
"...you are welcome to visit this humble temple of mine anytime."
"My doors are always open to friends of value."
With that, he paid no more mind to the upper crust of Uruk, whose hearts he had thoroughly bought. He walked once more to the beautiful "poverty goddess" standing there with her soul in tatters.
He reached out and gently stroked her smooth twin-tails, long and dark as the night.
Then, in a tone full of possessiveness, as though he already had her exactly where he wanted her, he slowly said:
"Now, my dear Miss Ishtar."
"Are you still going to refuse my goodwill?"
"..."
Ishtar fell silent.
She raised her head and looked at this man, the gentle smile on his face, but in the depths of his eyes, absolute control.
Then she lowered her head and looked at the enormous ruby in her own hand, still radiating its alluring glow.
In the end...
she slowly bowed that once-proud head, the head that had never deigned even to acknowledge the King of Gods.
And in a voice thin as a mosquito's whine, full of bitterness and... submission, she softly said:
"...I... I want... a golden palace, taller than Gilgamesh's Ziggurat... and more magnificent..."
"No problem."
A victor's perfect smile spread across Seiji's face.
"As you wish."
He knew.
This canary, the most magnificent and most proud one above the heavens.
From this day on.
had fallen, completely, into the cage of "wealth" he had so meticulously crafted for her. Into his golden cage.
...
...
The "Divine Auction" drew to a close.
Uruk's high society was utterly set alight.
Those nobles and merchants who'd returned laden with spoils could hardly wait to "show off" and "spread" word of everything they'd seen and heard at the "False God's Temple," along with the "divine blessings" they'd received with their own hands, whether life potions or those dazzling gems, throughout their respective circles.
In no time, the name "Seiji Fujiwara," along with his "Temple of the Equivalent Exchange of All Things," became the hottest, most mysterious, and most coveted "holy site" in all of Uruk.
The common people no longer crept in to worship out of mere curiosity or despair.
Instead, in organized groups with clear purpose, they began carrying their most precious household possessions out to the black pyramid beyond the city walls, hoping to strike a "deal" with that generous and powerful "god of trade," one that might change their fate.
And Seiji turned no one away.
To those who could produce sufficient "value," he would grant the corresponding "goods."
To the destitute who had nothing, he offered another "choice": Offer up your "faith," become my most devout believer, and you too can receive a "blessing" enough to keep you fed and clothed.
In the span of just a few days, through this "combination punch" of carrot and stick that precisely gripped the hearts of every social class, Seiji Fujiwara had, without spilling a drop of blood, seized over thirty percent of Uruk's popular sentiment and faith firmly in his own hands.
Uruk, this city-state that had stood for thousands of years with its royal power and divine authority fused into one.
For the first time, there appeared a third-party "center of faith," vast in scale, belonging neither to Gilgamesh nor to the old pantheon.
...
Uruk, atop the Ziggurat.
High Priestess Siduri, her face grave, was reporting to Gilgamesh upon his throne about the earth-shaking changes that had swept the city over these past few days.
"...My King."
"By our count, at least forty percent of the city's populace has now begun to worship that god of trade alongside us. Of those, nearly ten percent have abandoned their faith in us entirely."
"And this figure continues to grow at a... truly frightening pace."
"There are also some... unstable signs within the army. Many soldiers are privately discussing the divine medicine that new god possesses, the kind that can heal grave wounds in an instant."
"If this continues, I fear..."
Siduri did not finish her words.
But the worry in them was already plain.
That man was shaking the entire foundation of Uruk's rule from the very roots.
Yet Gilgamesh, having heard all of this, kept that same expression on his face, still as an ancient well, absolutely rational.
He merely raised his head slowly, his ruby eyes that could see through the future gazing calmly at Siduri.
"Siduri."
His voice was dignified and steady.
"Are you afraid?"
"...! No... I wouldn't dare!" Siduri's body gave a sudden shudder and she immediately dropped to one knee. "I am only... worried for the future of Uruk!"
"There's no need to worry."
Gilgamesh slowly rose from his throne and walked to the edge of the Ziggurat, looking down upon the city below, his city, where a drastic transformation was quietly unfolding.
"The masses are ignorant. They are blinded by the gains before their eyes, seduced by false miracles. This is humanity's base nature, and it is also the proof of why they are human."
"What a true king must do is neither to pander to their ignorance nor to forcibly forbid their choices."
"It is, having seen through all of this, to still choose to protect them."
His voice carried an absolute confidence, and a loneliness, of one who had perceived everything.
"That man is indeed a very interesting variable."
"The methods he employs are indeed quite ingenious. Even I must admit he is efficient."
"However..."
A trace of the absolute arrogance of the "Oldest King" flashed in his eyes.
"...he has also made a most fatal mistake."
"And that is, he believes Uruk can be bought with gain."
"He believes the human heart can be measured by trade."
"He doesn't understand it at all."
"What this city, this nation, has relied upon to stand to this day has never been the protection of gods, nor the rule of kings."
"It is... the unyielding will and glory... that makes humans human!"
With that, he turned and looked back at Siduri.
"Convey my command."
"In my name, Gilgamesh."
"...Invite that god of trade to dine with me here atop the Ziggurat, at noon, three days from now."
"Tell him..."
"that I am very interested in the future he has painted."
"I wish to have a good talk with him."
Surprise flickered in Siduri's eyes.
She hadn't expected the King to choose such a "peaceful" approach to make contact with the other party.
But still, without hesitation, she chose to obey.
"Yes! I understand, my King!"
...
Soon enough, the "formal invitation" from the King of Heroes arrived at Seiji Fujiwara's temple.
Looking at the "invitation" in his hand, written in the most magnificent cuneiform upon a clay tablet, a smile he'd expected all along spread across Seiji's face.
"Oh? Finally can't sit still any longer?"
Beside him, Ishtar, who had already changed into a set of "divine consort" attire even more magnificent and more revealing, studded with gems of every color, that Seiji had "designed" for her with his own hands, immediately leaned in and said with a face full of disdain:
"Hmph! That golden Pikachu's clearly been scared out of his wits by your methods! Trying to sue for peace with you this way!"
"Master! You absolutely cannot go!"
She grabbed Seiji's arm, her face full of tension.
"That guy's specialty is setting traps for people! The top of the Ziggurat is his home turf. It's bound to be riddled with all sorts of traps!"
"If you go, you'll definitely come out the worse for it!"
After these few days of "sugar-coated bullet" assault, and the temptation of the "golden palace" Seiji had promised, already under construction beside the temple, this goddess of the sky had thoroughly planted her backside on Seiji Fujiwara's side.
She had even begun, of her own initiative, to scheme and plot for her "new master."
"Relax."
Seiji smiled and pinched her cheek, full of springy give.
"Of course I know there will be traps."
"But..."
In his eyes glimmered the excited light of a chess player about to deliver "check."
"...who said the one stepping into the trap has to be the prey?"
"Perhaps..."
"...it'll be the hunter?"
He stood up and casually tossed the "invitation" into the brazier beside him.
Then he gave his orders to the Feathered Serpent god behind him, and to Saber Alter.
"Quetzal, Alter."
"Get ready."
"Three days from now..."
"...we tear it down."
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