"I thought I'd already made myself perfectly clear." Seiji Fujiwara leisurely withdrew the "God Crystal" and shrugged. "I'm going to replace you. I'm going to take over this world. Divine authority will be mine, royal authority will be mine, everything will be mine."
"And the first step is to abolish that backward, inefficient faith-based economy of yours and establish a God Crystal currency system where I call the shots."
He watched Ishtar's expression, furious yet yearning, wanting to snatch it but not daring to, aggrieved and covetous all at once, so tangled up she looked ready to cry, and he laughed inwardly. The way to handle a textbook tsundere of a money-loving goddess like her was to use the most direct, most brutal method, and shatter her confidence and sense of superiority right at its core, in the very domain she prized and cared about most.
"Since you seem so interested, Goddess," Seiji shifted his tone, the gentle smile returning to his face as if his earlier aggression had been nothing more than an illusion, "why don't we make our first deal?"
"What... deal?" Ishtar asked instinctively, her eyes still fixed on the "God Crystal" in his hand as though pulled by a magnet.
"I'll give you one God Crystal." Seiji smiled, like a seasoned hunter gently tossing out bait no prey could resist.
Ishtar's breath caught.
"And you," Seiji's smile turned meaningful, full of calculation, "only have to agree to one small, perfectly harmless condition."
"From today on, you, Ishtar, Goddess of Venus, will be the exclusive spokesperson for my Temple of Equivalent Exchange."
Exclusive... spokesperson?
Ishtar froze again.
She had never heard this particular combination of words before, but with the extraordinary wisdom innate to a god, she grasped the deeper meaning behind it almost at once.
Wasn't this asking her, the dignified Goddess of Venus, mistress of the heavens, to stand up for this false god, to endorse him, to advertise for him?!
"Don't even think about it!"
Without so much as a tenth of a second's thought, a goddess's dignity made her blurt it out, her voice sharp and furious. What kind of cosmic joke was this! How could she, Ishtar, most beloved daughter of Anu the king of the gods, one of the two great guardian deities of Uruk, the famous little princess of the divine realm, ever become some "spokesperson" for a man of unknown origin and impure motives! If word of this got out, if the other gods found out, how would she ever hold her head up in the divine realm again? What would happen to her face? She'd be a laughingstock among those gossiping goddesses for ten thousand years!
"Is that so? What a pity, then."
A look of profound "regret" appeared on Seiji's face at once. He shook his head, sighed, and made as if to draw that radiant "God Crystal" back into his space.
"Wait!"
Ishtar shrieked it out, almost a reflex, so loudly she startled even herself. Only after the word was out did she realize how badly she'd lost her composure, and a flush of irritation and embarrassment shot across that gorgeous face, spreading from her cheeks down to her snow-white neck, a lovely sight.
A cataclysmic war was raging inside her at that very moment.
One voice was screaming wildly: "Ishtar! Have you lost your mind?! You are the great Goddess of Venus! How can you make such a fool of yourself in front of some false god of unknown origin, over a mere stone! Where is your dignity! Where is your pride!"
And another, louder, more honest voice was roaring: "Shut up! That is not a mere stone! It's the most beautiful, most pure treasure I have ever seen in all the world! It's a miracle! It's the ultimate in art! I must have it! At any cost!"
Her gaze swung wildly back and forth between that dazzling "God Crystal" that seemed to hold infinite power and her own tottering pride, on the verge of crumbling to dust, full of struggle and pain. Reason told her she had to refuse at once, then turn proudly on her heel and cut every tie with this blasphemer. But her instinct, her ultimate craving for "beauty" and "wealth," clutched at her soul like countless greedy little hands, so she couldn't take a single step, couldn't even shift the tip of her toe.
So beautiful...
That "God Crystal" was simply too beautiful...
It was ten thousand times more beautiful than every gem in her temple's collection combined! If she could have it, holding it in her arms to sleep every night, what a blissful thing that would be!
"Ahem..." Watching her so torn, adorable and pitiful at once, Seiji knew the moment was nearly ripe. It was time to give her a way to climb down.
"Goddess, it seems I chose my words poorly." He spoke at just the right moment, his tone gentle, like a considerate gentleman. "'Spokesperson' was indeed somewhat offensive. How about this, let's put it another way."
He took a step forward, a sincere smile on his face. "We are business partners."
Business... partners?
Ishtar's eyes lit up.
That phrasing sounded so much better than "spokesperson"! Partners meant equality, meant cooperation, meant mutual benefit!
"That's right, business partners." Seiji caught the shift in her expression at once and struck while the iron was hot, coaxing her along step by step. "You see, I have the technology to create wealth, and you have unrivaled fame and influence. Our partnership is, you might say, the union of two great powers."
"You won't need to do anything that wounds your dignity. You only need to acknowledge my temple's legitimacy on certain necessary occasions, and along the way... use your professional eye to show the world the true value of God Crystals."
"This isn't submission. This is leading the trend. Think about it, currency personally certified by you, the Goddess of Wealth, how rock-solid would its value be?"
"And in return," he finally played his real trump card, "besides this one as a gift to mark our first meeting, from now on, for every hundred God Crystals I produce, you'll receive one unconditionally as your cut. In perpetuity."
"Of course, if you can use your connections to draw in more big clients for me, or provide some valuable intelligence, such as the weaknesses of other gods, or the locations of treasure vaults... I can give you additional, immensely generous rewards."
"This is how our business partnership will work. So, Goddess, what do you think?"
Ishtar's breath stopped completely.
If Seiji's earlier words had only shaken her, then these words, especially that line about "one out of every hundred," came down like billions of tons of gold, crashing with a thunderous roar onto what little pride and dignity she had left and smashing it to powder, not a speck remaining.
In her mind, the super abacus that belonged to a Goddess of Wealth was already clattering away and throwing off sparks. If this man could truly "mass-produce" such a supreme treasure... then didn't it mean that with a single nod, an endless river of "God Crystals" would come flowing into her vault?! She would become the richest, the most extravagant, the most envied being among all the gods of all the ages!
This temptation was simply... too great! Great enough to make her pack up that nebulous thing called "a goddess's dignity," at least for now, and toss it into the Underworld to feed the dogs.
"...Ahem!" She cleared her throat, forced her back straight, and put on a serious expression that said "I am making this decision only after careful deliberation."
"If... if this is purely a business partnership, and one built on a foundation of equality and mutual benefit..." She paused. "Then this goddess can, with some reluctance... consider it."
"Done." This was exactly what Seiji had been waiting for, and he tossed the "God Crystal" in his hand straight to her.
Ishtar caught it with her divine power, cradling it ever so carefully, as if holding the most precious treasure in all the world. The moment that "God Crystal" was truly in her hands, the moment she felt the pure magic within it, vast as a sea of stars, and its flawless structure of rules, she nearly moaned aloud with pleasure. All her tangled feelings, all her displeasure, all her humiliation were, in that instant, completely replaced by an enormous, unrivaled satisfaction.
Worth it! So damn worth it!
"Now then, my esteemed partner," Seiji said, watching the money-grubbing way she clutched the "God Crystal" with that infatuated look on her face, "there's no time to lose. Our first business event is about to begin."
"Event?" Ishtar came back to herself from her rapture and asked instinctively.
"That's right." Seiji snapped his fingers, and an ornate invitation woven from pure magic, glittering with golden light, appeared in midair out of nowhere.
"In three days, my temple will hold a Divine Auction open to every noble, priest, and wealthy merchant in all of Uruk."
"The lots will be our newest God Crystals, along with a few little trinkets I'll provide, things capable of overturning this entire era."
"And you, Goddess Ishtar," Seiji smiled at her, calculation glinting in his eyes, "will attend this epoch-making auction as the guest of honor, and as the First Chair seller before all eyes."
...
Three days passed in the blink of an eye.
News that "the false god Seiji Fujiwara would join hands with Ishtar, Goddess of Venus, to hold a Divine Auction" swept through all of Uruk like a category-twelve hurricane, thanks to the goddess's own "casual" yet very loud promotion.
At first, most of the nobles and priests sneered at it, convinced it was the false god daydreaming, blasphemy against the goddess, even. But once they confirmed through their own channels that Ishtar, Goddess of Venus, would indeed appear in person, that she would even personally fill the novel role of "auctioneer," everyone's attitude changed.
This... what on earth was going on?
Uruk's guardian goddess was actually going to stand up for some "false god" of unknown origin? What agreement had they reached? Just who, exactly, was this false god?
Driven by intense curiosity, deep suspicion, and a burning desire to glimpse that legendary "currency of the gods," when the day of the auction arrived, Seiji's enormous Black Pyramid temple was packed to capacity. Nearly every person of note in the city of Uruk had turned out.
They looked at the figure on the raised platform at the temple's center: Ishtar, dressed more lavishly than ever, cradling a dazzling crystal stone the likes of which they had never seen, unable to put it down, her face lit up with excitement. They felt as if an invisible hand were grinding their entire worldview into the dirt, over and over.
This world was getting harder and harder to understand.
"Ahem, ahem!"
Ishtar cleared her throat. Serving as an "auctioneer" for the first time, she looked both excited and nervous, but more than anything she basked in the vanity and satisfaction of being the focus of the entire room.
"Welcome, everyone, to the first ever Divine Auction, held jointly by me... and my esteemed business partner, Mr. Seiji Fujiwara!"
"Enough chatter! Now, bring out our first lot!"
As her crisp, rousing voice fell, Medea walked slowly onto the stage carrying a tray of obsidian, like the most elegant of handmaidens. On the tray, beneath the glow of the magic lamps, lay ten "God Crystals," each a size smaller than the one in Ishtar's hands but every bit as brilliant and brimming with magic.
"Opening price, ten thousand shekels! Or the equivalent in grain, slaves, or land!"
Ishtar's voice rang through the great hall like a thunderclap.
A gluttonous feast that would overturn the entire Mesopotamian economic system and completely rewrite the structure of power was now officially underway!
When Ishtar spiritedly announced the opening price, the nobles and priests below immediately stirred with a modest commotion. Ten thousand shekels was no sum any one of them could simply throw away. It was nearly the entire annual income of a middling noble household, enough to maintain a private guard a hundred strong.
To pay so steep a price for ten "stones" that did look quite pretty but had no clear use? Plenty of them wore looks of open hesitation and caution. They might revere the goddess, but where their own cold hard interests were concerned, no one would readily be the first to stick their neck out. The mood fell, for the moment, into an awkward and delicate silence.
Seiji had long anticipated this. You could even say it was written into his script. He sat at his leisure in the most honored shadowed seat to one side of the hall, his slender fingers tapping lightly on the armrest of his throne, and murmured to Medusa, who stood at his side like a gorgeous shadow, "It seems good looks alone aren't enough. They need to see with their own eyes what the true value of these God Crystals really is."
He gave Ishtar on the platform a barely perceptible glance.
Ishtar understood at once. Though it pained her enormously to spend a "sample," for the sake of the bigger cut to come later she steeled herself, picked up a "God Crystal," and lifted it into the air with her divine power.
"I know what you mortals are thinking." She cleared her throat, her voice carrying to every corner of the hall, laced with a goddess's arrogance and showmanship. "You think this is just an ordinary gem? How naive! Your narrow vision limits your imagination!"
With that, she carefully channeled a stream of pure divine power into the "God Crystal."
A deep hum rang out, as if a sleeping dragon had woken. The "God Crystal" instantly blazed with a light more brilliant than the sun, and a visible torrent of pure magic surged out of it like a bursting dam, forming a fast-spinning golden vortex of magic in the air. The density of magic throughout the entire hall shot up several tiers in the span of a single second.
Everyone present, robust nobles and pampered priests alike, felt at the same moment as though their bodies were wrapped in a warm, boundless life energy. Their spirits lifted, their fatigue vanished, and they felt years younger. Some who carried old wounds and hidden ailments were even shocked to find the spots that had ached for years now soothing, wave after wave.
"Do you feel it?!" Ishtar's voice carried a trace of lofty smugness, like a playground king showing off the latest toy to kindergarteners.
"This thing isn't merely currency! It is, in itself, a portable, enormous, concentrated source of magic! To possess it is to possess an inexhaustible blessing of the gods! Whether you use it to aid your laughable little magecraft training, to strengthen those scrap-metal weapons of yours, or to set up wards to protect your families, its effects far surpass any material you've ever known! This is the power of a new era!"