Chapter 8: Olympian Marketplace

"Can I come back?" I instantly replied to Joseph. This did not make much sense. If I am going to be a transmigrant, I should be unable to come back.

"In any situation, as far as it is not an exception, every mortal soul designated to be on a mission by a god would be able to spend divine power and visit the divine realms."

There are plenty of things that Hermes did not explain, and I think I get why Joseph is here with me. He is teaching me the ways and possibilities in case I accept his offer.

"I fear to crumble your explanation, but I do not possess any divine power." I probably know that Hermes will provide it in some way, but I want to hear Joseph's ideas. I hope his answer will not be a dull one.

"When you decide to worship a guardian deity, they will concede a little of their divine power to you. In our case, as we were selected as champions or apostles, we would receive a decent amount of it. However, you can always gain divine power by exchanging it directly with gods or by the common path: praying."

His elucidation was much better than I expected. Some points are getting clearer as time passes. I would not be a pawn of the god directly. Of course, there should be some constraint that will purge my power to prevent abuse or misuse of them. But being able to come back to the divine realm, it is a good bonus. I thought I would be left with my own devices in this so-called Midgard.

"Once again, I suggest you ask those questions to other people. I understand that you are eager to learn more about Hermes and how the work will be performed. So, why don't you wander around Olympus and ask other souls about this kind of employment?"

Zoe appears to have understood something entirely different from what I heard because she stood up so suddenly and resumed her work that it startled me. Joseph was not even looking in her direction, but it scared me.

"I think I should go." I said it glumly, trying hard to hide how bizarre this scene was. Zoe used a magic to make all the tableware float and follow her towards the exit of the dinner hall.

"No, we can resume our discussion. Zoe was being enlightened for free, she knows that this is not why we pay for her services." His tone was akin to disgust, but I did not understand why, the maid did not utter a single word the entire time. She was just sitting there, listening to Joseph's clarifications.

A second after, I hear some noise coming from behind the door. I think the maid did not follow the order so faithfully. Joseph was having a hard time hiding his displeasure.

"Is there a problem with her?"

"No, sir; she will be with us during lunchtime. I think your doubts will be clarified there about her."

"But please — follow me," Joseph said, leading the way back to the main hall.

We walked to the main door, when he opened it, I saw a beautiful garden, it was bigger than the mansion. There was a part on the left with some trees—apple ones, I believe. The right side had a collection of flowers: roses, daisies, hibiscus, lilies, sunflowers, and several others that I do not recall their names. It was very colorful, and the arrangement of flowers was very delicate. Even I, a layman in this matter, marveled at looking at that magnificent place.

"This is the usual reaction to Master Hermes's garden." Joseph said while looking at me, and it was clear that he was measuring my reaction.

"I believe we would return to the temple." I said this while trying to change the subject.

"Oh, sorry. I did not mean to lead you astray. The person who opens the door simply mentally chooses the destination. For me, I can go to the temple, to my house, or to the garden." Joseph was a little down from explaining this; I think he prefers to discuss divine power.

Joseph pointed with his little arm to the other side of the garden. There was a sumptuous gate and, surprise, another caduceus. While looking with more attention, I noticed that there was a carriage over there. I thought they used teleport for convenience every time.

"The carriage will take us to Olympus. Do you have some places that you would like to visit? I recommend the market whose management is completely done by mortal souls or the mortal library." He had a habit of digressing sometimes and getting mad at odd things, but he was clearly efficient.

"The market, then," I replied to his question while walking to the gates.

---

"Would not teleportation be faster?" I questioned Joseph after entering the carriage, which was as opulent inside as it seemed outside.

"For sure. But I think we have the time to leisurely wander around a bit. From the market, we can take a shortcut by the temple to come back."

I did not reply to his comment, I continued to admire the intricate details of the carriage. As well as looking outside, his mansion was surrounded by several fields of crops and grains. It gave me the appearance that I came from a fiefdom from the medieval era.

---

After some time, we reached our destination. Now, I felt that Olympus could be treated as a town. From a distance, I could see the temples of all the major gods, or at least something that indicated where they were. At the city gates, there was nobody to check. We simply passed them, and went straight ahead to the market that was at the city's center.

Joseph helped to get out of the carriage and said, "This is the Olympus main market."

The place was not so big, as it resembled a big fair. There were plenty of shops with people talking to each other while trying to sell their stuff.

"In this first part, the shopkeepers sell food and tools. At the center, there were some shops that dealt with artifacts from several realms, and at the end, you will find people trading services, such as mercenaries and reincarnation offers."

"Do people sell themselves?" Was there some rude treatment in the heavens of the afterlife?

"No, only volunteers. Remember, once one leaves the divine realm, the god can only restraint the divine powers, but not the actions of the individual."

"The mercenaries here will fight and protect against demon incursions; they seldom see up here. But as is very common in other domains, Hermes is close to Olympus, so the last invasion happened a century ago."

"I think even gods have security issues." I tried to crack a joke.

Joseph started to laugh.

I think I scored one point.

"Well, there are evil gods as well as the good ones, so neutral. There are a multitude of constellations."

Almost like a reflex, a chill ran down my spine. I believe that what was cracked was my crude notion about the universe. "Multitude… of gods?"

"This is almost a philosophical question. Is there a border to the universe? Are the divine and mortal realms the only two? I feel sorry, but the Truth is not for everyone." I felt a shiver, like when Veritas appeared. Furthermore, I don't know how, but I felt her presence.

"Anyway, I would like to explore the market. If you excuse me.," I said, while walking away from Joseph, that I had nearly stepped over a landmine. He will start with a long explanation and discussion about the essence of reality.

---

I walked over the first part of the market, and it was exactly as Joseph told me. Most traders dealt with food and supplies, while a minor portion of them discussed contracts and long-term provisions. This is truly the central market of Olympus; if I had more time, I would try to learn more about it.

Most of the merchants with whom I spoke thought that I was lost and were curious about how I made it to Olympus without a guardian deity. It appears that mortal souls give off a kind of vibe of their patron deity once it is chosen.

Another interesting thing that I learned is that I am not bound to a deity; I can switch to any other. Of course, I will probably incur some wrath in the process. However, I would not be entrapped by Hermes forever.

The second part of the market was more interesting than the first one. Here, I did not find anything that might be useful— yet. There were ancient weapons, tomes, grimoires, even odd-shaped eggs from mysterious creatures. As I don't quite understand the business Hermes will offer me, I will refrain from spending anything.

On the other hand, here the vendors were more proactively looking for clients, and I have stashed countless commercial cards from numerous kinds of artifacts. Making a bit of a network was not bad. Unfortunately, I spent almost the entire time lost in small talk with the shopkeepers.

In these conversations, I figured out that the Olympus structure and the pantheon are very similar to the legends of Earth. Obviously, there were infinite realms and countless parallel worlds. One thing common is that everyone assumes that the realms, aka, dimensions, can possess two natures, and they're exclusive among themselves: divine and mortal.

The former is the place where the gods reside, and it is less likely to be subject to causality. It means that miracles are common, but nonetheless, they lead to several problems. The main one is that if anything created in a divine realm, without proper observation of causality, is moved to any mortal realm, a massive rebound is expected.

The mortal realms, on the other hand, are the places where souls are born. After expiring (i.e., when one dies), the soul will appear at the Styx river and will be received by one of Charon's shades. And because causality operates in reverse, anything created in the mortal realm can be carried over to the divine realms. Hence, I have understood the source of the wide variety of artifacts that are being sold at this market fair.

The last, but not least, part of the market is the service section. I quickly skimmed over the stalls, but the vendors did not pay much attention to me. Only one or two came to talk to me, explaining that usually their contracts are with gods that have the means to affect causality and sent someone to reincarnate.

I asked about transmigration, and they said that the causality rebound for such aggressive interference should be outrageous. And everyone here would love such an offer, as they would be able to come back and forth from Olympus to discuss and learn about its world.

I thought that reincarnation would be preferred, as one would have more time to develop their abilities. The service experts explained to me that there are two main contracts for reincarnation: the first, where one goes and is reborn with all memories, and the second, in which the soul goes with only the same potential, but without prior memory that might be recovered along the life. In both cases, the children are treated as apostles or emissaries from the gods, as their mere presence triggers miracles nearby or heals people close to them.

"Imagine baby tears that heal people or raise the dead back. The control of divine power, even for those who are reborn with their memories, only happens after some years of harsh training." One of the vendors explained to me while mentioning to be sure if I would engage in such activity.

Even knowing that you are going to come back to the divine realm—a life in a cage, possible for a century or even more in the case of long-living races—is worse than being punished in Tartarus. Even though, the risks are offset by some perks, like a divine residence for your family or extended punishment for those that aggravate your loved ones, there are plenty of kinds of deals that a god might offer.

I continued my tour by the market, close to 11 a.m. Joseph went looking for me, to ask if I would return to the mansion for lunch. I think that after listening to all those talks, I felt that I was better equipped to answer Hermes proposal.

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