Ch.4141. Meanwhile, at the Pantheon

Meanwhile, at the same time.

In the celestial palace, a shared domain of the major gods of the Divine Pantheon (old) and their subordinate deities in the divine realm.

In this Divine Pantheon where 12 major gods and over hundreds of mid to lower-ranking gods gather for meetings, right now…

*Astraea-Justitia, Goddess of Justice and Judgment

“Phobos, you are the problem!”

“That’s right! That’s right! That’s right!”

*Phobos, God of Fear, Coercion, and Submission

‘Damn it… that accursed pedophile psycho bitch… she should be busy having fun in her shota harem!’

Phobos, one of the 12 major gods comparable to a permanent member of the UN Security Council, the God of Fear, Coercion, and Submission, was now…

The subject of a trial led by Astraea-Justitia, Goddess of Justice and Judgment, and Vulcanus, the Blacksmith God.

The circumstances of the case were simple.

After Phobos’s slum district and part of the Holy City were devastatingly destroyed by some minor deity of revenge or whatever.

A meeting was called regarding the direct attack on the Holy City.

Of course, in the Divine Pantheon, notorious for poor relationships despite being classified as divine family members, political maneuvering more elaborate than modern politics took place.

After arguing for a long time about who was at fault and who should be held responsible, they finally reached a conclusion in a closed meeting of just the 12 major gods.

“Phobos is at fault.”

“Yes, indeed. Phobos is the root cause of this situation.”

“…What?”

They decided to conveniently shift blame to Phobos as the fundamental instigator who allowed that insignificant creature to become an avatar of a minor god and run amok, and for failing to properly manage his followers.

“Does this make any sense? I wasn’t even in charge of the Holy City’s security in the first place?!”

Naturally, Phobos, suddenly facing the prospect of taking all the blame, expressed fierce opposition and declared that he would certainly not comply with the results of such a hasty administrative decision.

Therefore, if this had been a typical closed meeting of the 12 major gods…

Since openly fighting without dignity would benefit no one, they would have simply picked some random minor deity as a scapegoat, and Phobos would have gotten away with just a week of probation.

But this time, that wasn’t possible.

*Juno-Shala, Goddess of Home

“Phobos. We all witnessed it. That this entire situation was triggered by your follower.”

First of all, the cause-and-effect relationship in this incident was far too clear.

Most of those present had directly witnessed that his follower, causing trouble unnecessarily, was the cause.

Additionally, news that the Holy City, which had never been attacked before, was attacked and destroyed had spread to the colonies.

The colonies, or what should be called provinces or protectorates, were becoming agitated by the situation that had unfolded.

With rumors spreading that the city was attacked for unknown reasons and the perpetrator wasn’t caught, a stone of doubt had been cast on the reputation of the Rom Empire, supposedly the world’s strongest nation.

Add to this the public opinion that Phobos had always been excessively troublesome while using the temple as a shield, along with his politically weak standing among the 12 major gods, the situation deteriorated uncontrollably—

“…Fine, I do deserve some punishment.”

In the end, Phobos judged that he couldn’t just let this situation slide either, and he finally admitted his guilt.

But to blame everything entirely on Phobos was a bit much given the scale of the incident, and politically, punishing a god of the 12 major deities also carried risks.

Moreover, while Phobos was indeed the instigator as he admitted and couldn’t be completely absolved of responsibility, pinning everything on him might earn his resentment.

Therefore, after various secretive political and shady deals and negotiations, an agreement was reached that Phobos would receive a formal trial in the Divine Pantheon’s official court with a symbolic punishment for show… or that was the plan…

“Another disaster, damn it!!!!!!”

Not long after that major incident in the Holy City, this time an industrial city—which could be considered Vulcanus’s core multi-territory and second headquarters—was completely destroyed.

“What, where?”

“Industrial city… that place?”

“Really? Really that place?”

Unlike the Holy City, which was formally a neutral zone with all members of the Divine Pantheon as guardian deities, when a god reached the middle ranks of the Divine Pantheon, they typically had towns or cities where they served as guardian deities.

Most of these cities existed to gather followers for their faith, and in some sense, they subtly rejected outside faiths.

At the same time, they raised soldiers to use in case of civil war.

Therefore, when an outside city was destroyed, it usually meant a competitor’s power had been weakened, so while expressing condolences outwardly, most would secretly rejoice and mock the one who couldn’t protect their city…

“If that place is gone, we’re all screwed!”

“…Damn, we’re doomed! I had weapon orders placed there!”

“What about the iron ore? The iron ingots I was supposed to purchase?”

The fact that the industrial city was destroyed was enough to throw them into panic.

In most cases, there’s a prejudice that gods’ personal cities aren’t particularly important or developed… but there are exceptions.

Neptune’s port city, a key strategic point directly involved in the Mediterranean hegemony.

Ceres’s agricultural city—the goddess of earth and agriculture—which supplies all the vast amounts of food consumed in the Holy City.

Additionally, the commercial city ruled by Hermes, god of commerce, travel, and wanderers, which is the transportation hub of Rom Empire civilization.

And the pastoral city managed by Pan, god of shepherds and livestock—which supplies meat and leather.

The Holy City is a massive consumer and producer group, but since it cannot produce raw materials, it constantly imports vast resources from outside.

If these cities disappeared, there’s a possibility that the city would cease to function immediately.

And among these important cities, the one that had crumbled helplessly this time was none other than the industrial city, one of the massive pillars that made the Rom Empire a hegemonic power.

In truth, the immediate disappearance of this industrial city doesn’t cause immediate problems.

The Holy City has plenty of large production districts, so moderate-scale weapon orders or metal tool production is still possible, and industrial cities aren’t the only places with mines.

Originally, any reasonably sized village has a blacksmith.

For everyday needs, most problems can be solved there, and daily situations can be managed reasonably well even without an industrial city.

The real problem is that the means to obtain mass-produced weapons for legion soldiers from the industrial city has disappeared.

Why did the Rom Empire become such a great empire?

The gods of the Divine Pantheon? Excellent mages? Great priests? Warrior-level strategic weapons?

Of course not. The fundamental reason the Rom Empire grew from a city-state with the Holy City as its entire territory to today’s hegemonic power and great empire is its system of mass-producing consistently excellent legion soldiers.

In tribal societies, armies typically consist of a few exceptional mid-level warriors and militia-level rabble, but the Rom Empire is clearly different.

While producing 7th-rank veteran soldiers might be difficult, they mass-train 8th-rank competent warriors as soldiers.

Particularly, they openly distribute basic mana operation techniques—usually kept secret by tribal elites—allowing most warriors to use mana, and some even become mid-level warriors on their own.

Supporting these excellent legion soldiers’ qualities are mass-produced metal armaments, just like the soldiers themselves.

Quality metals and iron ore from the industrial city’s underground mines are processed through division of labor by craftsmen of above-average skill, producing excellent quality weapons and armor for legion soldiers.

In tribal societies outside the Rom Empire, metal weapons are so scarce and rare that often only tribal chiefs can wield them,

and for lower-rank warriors who haven’t awakened their aura yet, a good weapon is the best way to increase combat power.

Even a 7th-rank barbarian who grew strong surviving harsh environments would have no chance against several legion soldiers armed with scutum (rectangular shields) and spears.

Therefore, with the complete evaporation of this important facility that produces almost all weapons supplied to the army, along with the annihilation of the resident craftsmen…

Someone had to take responsibility for this major accident that could shake the Rom Empire’s hegemony, and the target was none other than…

*Vulcanus, God of Blacksmiths, Creation, and Crafts

“It’s you, damn Phobos!”

“Punish him! Punish him! Punish him!”

“Ha, hahahahaha!! Hahahahahahaha—haha…ha…”

The unlucky Phobos, who unfortunately had this additional responsibility thrust upon him in such a situation.