Ludicrous God

[Grayfia's POV]

As expected Hephaestus-sama went along with his promise and showed up at the party, according to Layla he doesn't like attending such events but he still attended nonetheless. The Olympian got flooded with flattery, greetings and requests until his gaze settled on us.

"It is our joy that you're here, Hephaestus" Sirzechs held Layla by her waist and said those words standing close to our group, it seems he noticed that the Olympian was looking for us.

"Sirzechs, it has been a long time… I believe the weapons I smithed for your peerage are still working properly?" The God flaunted with confidence, not expecting a negative answer, if any of his weapons were to malfunction; that would be a huge disappointment.

"They are in spending condition, particularly Souji's sword. What brings you here? it is odd to see you out of your domain" Sirzechs' inquired, his gaze switching between Hephaestus and master as if he had the answer already, as for master? he is having a shrimp.

'I should coat myself in shrimp cocktail for master during one of our evenings, that would be going a little too far, right'

Leaving aside my deranged thoughts, Hephastus-sama thew a gaze towards the master.

"The reason is naturally the Golden Dragon God, Lord Richter".

Master merely nodded and in front of everyone present, opened big... he's not going to let me go now, right? not that I care... as far as I'm concerned, master won't be eating by himself anymore. I don't even mind feeding his dragon form with a huge steak.

A maid has to do what a maid has to do; I sighed in joy and placed a shrimp in his mouth, making sure to leave my finger on his tongue for a moment as he licked the sauce out of it, I don't care how arousing we look, I'm loving this.

The first time I did it… his affection for me increased by five points. I just don't care about our public image as long as he enjoys it.

"Hehe, enjoy yourself are you?" Hephaestus-sama chuckled while Sirzechs grit his teeth as for Layla, I wonder why she was looking at my master like she wants to take my place.

"You have no idea, God~ Hephaestus, right? Your divinity is quite settled" It was odd to see Richter-sama praise someone.

"And yours is so overwhelming I feel like kneeling..." The man added with a smile of his own.

"Don't do that in the middle of the party, we're here to enjoy ourselves, not for proposals" Master rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"I imagine where you come from… gods beg for the opportunity to worship you and get your blessing, am I right?"

'They actually beg, queue and try to plunder my master's treasures... I think you're too far from the mark, Hephaestus-sama' I thought, nevertheless his words interested me, as master's apostle, I don't know yet what my role is.

"You'd be surprised to know that I have no queue of personal worshippers, this beautiful maid you see here is my only apostle," He remarked and I felt the need to push my chest out in pride.

"Is your authority… treasures? wealth?" The god inquired, all of the satan's ears perked up.

"Quite close".

Hephaestus-sama rubbed his chin looking at master deeply until his gaze settled on his hair; he had a eureka.

"Eh? N-No way, gold!?" He asked in disbelief.

"Indeed" Richter-sama was even more surprised at God's reaction.

"How did you even manage to do that, Lord Richter!? that's insane..."

"Oh? so you've got an idea?"

His astonishment garnered the attention of the whole room.

"Why is it so impressive, Hephaestus?" Ajuka stepped forward with a frown, beside him was Sandalphon.

"Many factors Ajuka. In order to gain authority and attain godhood; one must be quite knowledgeable about the aspect that one seeks to dominate. That usually involves comprehension and more often than not, sentient nature…" His words confused many, even Richter-sama seemed confused by his wording.

"What I mean is something beyond innate talent, Godhood is deeply connected to a God's spirit... if a person understands a concept to the utmost, but his spirit is not capable of accepting the law he preaches, that person will be unable to attain Godhood... that is the reason why there are so many peak existences that have yet to attain it"

"I see..." The green-haired satan was even taking notes.

It made me wonder why I managed to become a Demon Goddess, was it during the trial? my nature changed and my spirit became compatible? I had to die many times; even slaughtering my loved ones aside from resisting the memories of thousands of demons; it would be a lie to say that my spirit wasn't moulded that day.

"What I mean to say is… taking all this into consideration; it is way easier to become the god of wealth or the god of treasures than what he achieved, The God of Gold! you must have understood gold, material-wise, its composition and formation, also… it's influence in the world as a whole; only after achieving such an unbelievable understanding of a concept, can one actually attain Godhood and receive faith through that authority".

Richter-sama frowned and looked at his palm.

'Is anything wrong?' I asked him.

'What he says is mostly right, but at the same time... wrong, perhaps this universe works differently from Helius. It is impossible to attain the Primordial Status without a Primal Spark. It is the sign of Helius itself having acknowledged you as one of its pillars...'

'I see...'

'Remember, in your case, it is not different. Within you is the heart of the Primordial Demon; an entity acknowledged by Helius... your main law will always be darkness even if you do not desire to thread upon it'.

I nodded, deciding to leave this topic for later. Darkness is something I can feel, but not something I can identify myself with.

"I can sense your primary divinity is smithing... an art worthy of worship. I don't think that's an easy authority to gain either… your skills must speak for themselves" Richter-sama spoke once again, the seriousness of his words diluted by the cherry he was eating.

"Thanks for your compliment, Lord Richter. But, I can't even begin to comprehend the amount of worshipping you must get and the faith that it carries. Your strength must be abysmal".

"What do you mean?" Sirzechs inquired with a deep frown, perhaps trying to understand what the power that obliterated him was.

"Well, as the god of smiths, volcanos and a lesser authority of fire; I receive power according to the desire of humans for those concepts. Back in the day, my prestige was bigger as smiths were famous in the land and hand-to-hand combat warfare grew destruction among skirmishes. But nowadays, I'd receive more faith if I became the god of engineers~ I'm afraid that's a path beyond me, but Ajuka may be able to trail upon that path" He shrugged his shoulders and complimented the green-haired devil king.

The man in question shook his head repeatedly in helplessness.

"Interesting…" Sirzechs' nodded, shooting master another glance while Layla did much the same, I noticed that she released herself from Sirzechs, but was still standing dutifully by his side.

"In Richter-sama's case… his divinity is gold… assuming the scope of his authority is the whole world… then… you can assume every single being in the world worships him!"

!!!

"W-What?!"

"That is how it works… gold is the synonym of money, the fundamental aspect of riches and wealth; the necessity and desire of any mortal be it poor or rich. The poor want it, the rich want more. That's why I said… to be the god of gold is even greater than being the god of wealth. People do not worship wealth, they're short-sighted, instead, they worship immediate money and profit. That translates to gold, even to this day… I'm sure back during the primaeval wars Lord Richter would have received even more power through faith as there were no papers as today, instead, there were gold and silver coins. But even now he should still be getting an abysmal power from it~"

He looked at Richter-sama who merely nodded and opened his mouth again for me to feed him, what a powerful yet naughty dragon I have for a master.

"And what is the use of this faith, Hephaestus-sama?" The black-haired girl approached and her eyes immediately locked master.

Albedo Astaroth.

"The use? that's diverse… in my case, the more faith I obtain from my authority as a smith, the stronger weapons I can craft… most cases of faith make said god stronger within his field. If one is the god of fire, for example, being worshipped by all of those that generate fire, will make his fire stronger. Burning a greater flame, greater heat and long-lasting though the aeons… all of its attributes increased or decreased depending on how much he's worshipped. In Richter-sama's case, well; gold is still a metal... not as durable as tungsten or other metals, but under the overwhelming amount of faith he garners, I imagine there shouldn't be many things stronger than it; not only that but the primary aspect of gold is its value, that means that with that much faith, Richter-sama's gold must be the purest in existence, am I right?" The god smirked and looked towards master, who merely nodded and set his gaze on the black haired girl.

"Do you not mind your secrets being exposed, son-in-law?" Fia asked master with concern but he shrugged once again.

"They're not secrets. Perhaps, if someone with more knowledge explains my existence to you. You will all stop seeking death and wasting my time with useless bravado~"

His words made the room silent again. I sighed, master doesn't know how to speak to people at all, the banquet is going to get sour again!

"There is also another reason why I attended today, Lord Richter. Would I be allowed to request one of your scales?~"

!!!

Killing intent immediately enveloped the whole hall.

"Do you have any idea what you're asking for, Hephaestus?" I hadn't seen master this angry since the first time we met, my killing intent resurfaced as well.

Asking master for one of his scales was akin to asking him to tear his skin off.