Greek Mythology: The Spiritual Dominator.

Chapter 338: Waiver and Disrespect

"I abstain."

"I abstain."

"I also abstain."

Her heartbeat slowed down. Sitting in the contestant's seat, Andrea was shocked by the meaning of the voice in her mind. However, almost at the same time, three voices sounded from her side one after another.

Looking for the source of the three voices, the little princess recognized them.

One of them was a scholar from Phoenicia, one was a famous historian and jurist in Athens, and the last one was a prince from Pislas.
The reason why the first two abstained was not surprising. Andrea had heard that they had questioned the historical records. They believed that Prometheus, the fire thief, was actually a respectable and righteous god, unlike what was recorded in the official Olympian books.

As for the last one… Although he was also a prince, he was not as famous as Odysseus of Ithaca. But just from the name of the country, Andrea knew why the other party gave up.

As one of the oldest kingdoms of mankind, Pislach is now only a small country with a few cities and is rarely favored by the gods. According to folk rumors, this is because they once had a king who claimed that the king of gods had robbed his daughter, but there is no evidence to prove this.

Although many people later thought it might be true...it did not affect the decline of the kingdom and its royal family's implicit rejection of the gods.

The reason why these three people abstained was probably because they did not want to speak at the conference against their will, nor did they want to be blamed by the gods. After all, speaking in such an open debate, the gods might not directly punish the contestants for their remarks, but this did not affect what they did in secret.

This was the case in the city of Thebes. At the wedding of the goddess of harmony and Cadmus, the goddess of beauty Aphrodite gave her a gorgeous necklace and silk veil as a gift. But it is not known whether she was very angry about her daughter marrying a mortal. In short, the necklace and veil seemed to be cursed, and all those who wore them had a bad ending.

"Wow—"

As the three finished their words, the meeting place was filled with noise again.

There are no loudspeaker equipment installed in the seats where the contestants are waiting, but there are basically no weak people who can stand here, so at least it is not difficult to make your voice heard farther.

As soon as the topic was announced, three people abstained from voting, which is an extremely rare thing.

"Three of you, I heard you just proposed giving up the competition?"

In the center of the meeting room, the old man was also stunned when he heard this, but he quickly figured out the reason, and then asked in a businesslike manner:
"Do you guarantee that your decision to withdraw from the competition is based on your own will and that you were not persecuted or coerced by any external force? If you choose to give up, there will be no possibility of regretting it midway."

"of course."

The prince of Pislach spoke, and the other two nodded in agreement.

"In that case, the three of you can choose to stay and watch my subsequent competitions, or leave early."

Ignoring the chaotic voices, the old man Modia signaled those who wanted to give up the competition to do as they pleased.

He raised his hand slightly, and melodious music immediately rang out on both sides of the stands, drowning out the noisy discussions under the effect of the magic circle.

The suspended platform in the center trembled slightly and then split into several small circular platforms. Like ships on the sea, they flew across the sky and landed in front of several contestants.

"Now, please come to the stage."

After looking at each other, the few remaining contestants stepped forward, Andrea among them.

She is not the only female contestant, there is also a white-haired old lady among them.

As the floating platform moved again, the contestants arrived at the center of the venue where everyone was paying attention.

"There is no need to introduce your identities. You are either well-known among the nations or have recently proven your abilities in Athens. Everyone knows you and is looking forward to your performance."

"Now, please start. In the name of wise Athena, may everyone show their talents."

There was originally a long paragraph of explanation to introduce the guests, the history of Athens, the reason for holding this conference, and then introduce the identity and reputation of the contestants at once, but Modia now wanted to know what was going on with this sudden change in topic and who changed the content.

So he simply skipped those irrelevant things and directly announced the opening of the competition. According to the rules of a debate, at the beginning of the competition, all contestants had to first state their own opinions.

"…Since the game has already started, let me go first."

There was silence for a moment, and then Odysseus smiled.

He has nothing to worry about, and doesn't mind being the first to speak, let alone his opinions.

As one of the many bloodlines left by the God King in the human world, although several generations have passed, it is impossible for him to oppose the words of the God Court because of some rumors.

"Well, my dear audience, my friends on the stage, the beautiful ladies, and the gods in heaven and on earth."

"As the prince of Ithaca, I am honored to stand here and exchange my opinions with you and explain my views. I would like to thank the priest who came from afar and King Theseus of Athens for giving us the opportunity to gather here. For this reason, I have to do my best to show my eloquence in the hope of adding a little insignificant glory to this grand gathering."

"I have heard that among the wise kings of various countries, there is no king who does not clearly distinguish between rewards and punishments. A monarch like King Theseus will definitely punish those who break their promises and punish those who commit crimes. Only in this way can the interests of those who abide by the promises be protected and the law-abiding citizens be protected from suffering. This is a truth recognized by the world and a justice that does not change with the times. This is also my point of view. I think the disaster and destruction of the Bronze Age was a punishment by the king for those who did not keep their promises and a punishment by the ruler for those who committed crimes. This is reasonable and there is no doubt about it." "Thieves should be imprisoned, and those who do not abide by the rules should be judged according to the law. This is a rule that should be followed by everyone from the nobles of the city-state to the kings of the gods. If such behavior is considered "unfair", then what kind of thing is fair?"

Standing on the platform, Odysseus slowly stated his views, then ended with a rhetorical question and bowed in greeting. In fact, what he said was a summary of the ideas that the God's Court had been promoting subtly over the years.

The bronze humans violated the covenant between gods and humans, so their destruction was justified and legal. Prometheus stole fire, which was against the law, so he deserved to be imprisoned.

It was hard to argue with that, since they already felt that the debate was destined to come down to which of Prometheus's crimes was the worst.

In this era, it was rare to openly criticize the gods, but the guilty were of course the exception. So after Odysseus's opening, the next contestant also stepped forward and began to narrate his own point of view.

······
pop, pop, pop—

The debate among humans has just begun, but the audience is naturally not just the mortals in the venue.

Whether it was Iapetus or other gods who came to the scene, they all watched the meeting silently. In the palace under the sea of ​​Pontonoris, the god of the west wind gently clapped his hands to show his support for the speech of Odysseus in the shadow in front of him.

With the help of the authority of the God King and the temples and believers built on the Acropolis, everything in the venue was reflected and visible in detail in this palace. And Odysseus' speech was naturally transmitted synchronously.

The gods present had no opinion on his remarks. Most of them had nothing to do with Prometheus, and even if they did, they did not think that the gods had done anything wrong in this matter.

Even Hestia felt that Prometheus should not teach humans to deceive the gods... Therefore, Prince Ithaca's speech naturally satisfied the gods, and even the tense atmosphere caused by the golden apple eased a little.

Of course, not much, just a little bit.

"Your Majesty, it seems that your bloodline is still so extraordinary that even after three generations, it can still produce such an outstanding heir. If it weren't for the arrogance of mortals, who would lose their reverence and self-awareness once they get close to the gods, I would even suggest that you invite him here to drink a cup with the gods."

Sitting nearby, Zeferos spoke with a smile, while the God King laughed and said a few humble words.

He could no longer remember which branch of his bloodline Odysseus was descended from, but his performance was pretty good. And the God King could see his thirst for wisdom and fame.

Such a candidate can be a candidate for the championship, he will make the right choice. The others are also OK, no matter who wins, the God King can accept it.

He did not intend to influence the judging of the competition, but in fact, most of the contestants who could successfully come to Athens to participate in the competition, except for the locals, had already been secretly screened... Of course, these gods would not admit it.

As for Odysseus, as the god of the west wind said, although his performance was good, the king of gods did not intend to give him more opportunities to contact the gods.

Since the incident of Tantalus, the gods have learned another lesson, which, in the words of another civilization, is called "If you get close to someone, you will be disrespectful."

Once gods come into contact with mortals for a long time, they will develop all kinds of bad thoughts and do things that cannot be tolerated.

So they no longer allow beings that are not immortal to approach them, even their own descendants.

"The fourth generation of humans have been raised under the guidance of the gods since their birth. They are indeed not as rebellious and rude as the bronze generation."

Nodding in praise, Zeus looked to his left.

The girl, wearing a knee-length dress and sitting upright, was calmly looking at the illusion in front of her, as if this meeting was not taking place in her sanctuary on earth, nor was it affected by the golden apple.

Deep down, if this was not his daughter but a son, and if he did not possess power that surpassed all the gods, Zeus would probably not be able to tolerate her existence.

Even deep down in his heart, the God King still had a trace of fear.

But reason is always better than a vague premonition. Zeus doesn't think that Athena, as a goddess, can really threaten him. But if he can use this plan to teach her a lesson, it's not impossible.

She had to remember who her father and king were, instead of staying in the starry sky all day and hanging out with those unruly gods.

"Athena, my most dazzling daughter, I changed the topic of the competition without your consent. This is my fault."

"But if you want to choose a human to evaluate the gods, then naturally he must use a competition to evaluate another god to prove his ability - but this is the topic I replaced after all, so I promise you that no matter what kind of remarks appear in this competition, I will not vent my anger on Athens."

"Then I thank your Majesty for his kindness."

Athena smiled slightly, not seeming to care much about this. She nodded slightly, and then continued to look at the mortals speaking at the meeting.

At this time, several people had already finished the opening, and only two figures were left in the field who had not spoken yet.

No one stood on Prometheus' side, which did not surprise Athena. Although Athens had always been a land of free speech, mortals' fear of the gods had never diminished.

Prometheus... she had not seen him much. Athena was quite curious about this god who was called "the wise man" before her. After all, in another record of fictional history, they were the bronze humans who were created together.

(End of this chapter)