Chapter 682: Chapter 119: The Value of the War God Mountain’s Top Card Chapter 682: Chapter 119: The Value of the War God Mountain’s Top Card Several months later, Athens.
The port was lined with ships of all sizes, anchored, as fierce winds from the Aegean Sea whipped up the creased surface of the water into surging waves.
The sky was overcast with dense clouds, and the oppressive rumble of muffled thunder occasionally emanated from the hanging mists, casting a gloomy pall over the entire Peloponnesian Peninsula.
This damned weather looks like it’s going to keep us from going out to sea again today.
A fisherman with somewhat graying hair but a robust figure reluctantly lowered the canvas sail, secured the ropes, and then walked ashore. He leaned back against the statue of the Goddess of Victory, her golden wings poised as if to take flight, his drifting thoughts inevitably turning to bygone days.
These days, the life of a mortal is challenging.
You have to watch out for Magic Beasts on land, storms at sea, and be wary of divine punishment…
Even as someone who belongs to the city-building nobility with Divine Blood, you must be cautious with your words and deeds, lest you unwittingly displease some vindictive deity, whose inflicted disasters can cause enough trouble to leave everyone in the city-state reeling.
If you’re not careful, even the snakes, insects, rats, and ants in the city will suffer alongside you.
But ever since the Divine War that took place on Olympus, the deities of the Upper Realm have had their powers limited, and their temperaments have gradually become more restrained. They have even become much friendlier to mortals like us to cultivate their faith.
Because of this, mortals on earth and each city-state have enjoyed a period of peace, without having to worry about waking up each day to find a deity at their door, who for some unknown reason, may just decide to wipe out the entire population.
In those years, as long as one was willing to work hard, even commoners like me with no special skills or noble birth could eat their fill.
Continue to work hard and you might even save some money to send your two boys to the Academy of Athens to learn some crafts and knowledge, gradually moving into the inner city to make a living.
And all this was thanks to the grace brought by the Wisdom Goddess Athena, Dionysus, Hestia, the Goddess of Justice Themis, and numerous other benevolent deities.
They restricted the authority of the deities, regulated the actions of the nobles, and devised universal laws, bringing order and fairness to a world that was otherwise rotten to the core.
But the good times didn’t last. After a few years of peace, disasters began to strike across the land.
The tsunami in Troizen City, the Beast Tide in Arcadia, the Magical Pigs in Calydon…
And the most ferocious of all, the Gigantes.
During that time, it was as if we were thrown back into the dark old days, with Magic Beasts, Giants, natural disasters, and malevolent gods… threats to life could be found everywhere.
Every breath of air was a survival from a calamity;
Every awakening was a celebration of another day lived;
Every time you ventured outside was a moment of parting that could be for life or death…
Thankfully, the great ones on War God Mountain truly regarded us as people.
They set out from Athens and pacified the Beast Disaster of Arcadia, suppressed the tsunami in Troizen City, subdued the Magical Pigs of Calydon, and then built a defense line in Thessaly, gathering heavy troops to slaughter those Gigantes that had emerged from deep within the earth clean.
And those deities of Olympus who were worshiped and venerated by various city-states also truly underwent a transformation. They all descended on the battlefield in Thessaly, joining together to eliminate the flesh-eating Gigantes, putting an end to this prolonged natural catastrophe.
Such beings are truly deities!
Deities of such kind are truly worthy of our veneration and faith!
If I need to build temples for Them or make statues, I am willing to give a few more coins to the fundraising priests – what’s that to me but tossing a few extra nets out at sea?
After all, what is a little extra physical effort compared to those deities and heroes who fought and risked their lives on the battlefield?
The old fisherman tapped on the marble pedestal he sat upon and a hint of pride flickered across his weathered face.
Speaking of which, the stone for the statue of the Goddess of Victory, Nike, was one he had hauled from the mountains overnight.
What’s more, his two sons, who had studied at the Academy of Athens, had both participated in the Divine War in Thessaly and had each been awarded a medal called “Olympians.”
Thinking about this, he looked up to the sky where lightning flashed and couldn’t help but spit contemptuously.
They let the Gigantes blockade their doorstep, too scared to show their faces, only cowering in the sky – what sort of Divine King is that?
It’s outrageous that He still enjoys the most offerings during the Great Sacrifices every year!
As the old man was inwardly sneering, the trees on a distant mountaintop shook and flocks of birds took to the sky in alarm.
A colossal marble demi-statue, clutching a Thunderbolt in its hand and seated upon a throne, was toppled by hundreds of people using ropes and levers, crashing heavily into the waves at the foot of the cliffs.
Hearing the faint sounds of cheering from the mountain, the old man sitting on the stone pedestal couldn’t help but break into a smile.
Yes, that’s exactly what they should do!
What’s the use of having such an eyesore on the mountain? If anything should be displayed, it should be our Goddess and the great God of Wine!
In high spirits, the old man stood up and went home, ready to pick up a pickaxe and head into the mountain.
Since I can’t go out fishing today anyway, I might as well collect a couple of fine marble slabs to later offer to the priests in the city.
After all, the new gods will surely have use for these statues.
If I’m lucky, those priests will pay a handsome fee, which is much more than what I could earn from fishing.
The old man, with a wily and mercenary expression characteristic of the common folk, shouldered his stone-picking tools and left the house.
Meanwhile, atop War God Mountain.
The radiant Artemis, with a beast skin belt tied round her waist, emerged from behind a door, stretching leisurely and tossing a couple of bones through the Magic Circle Diagram.