God of Gold and contracts.
Dragonia's announcement of his divinity had the room buzzing and that goes for the internet audience around the world, the major broadcasters, too.
-God of Gold and Contracts? What does that mean?
-Gold? The name is kind of weird.
-It's a bit different from the previous gods of the pantheon, who were more of a light and sea kind of thing.
There's been a lot of speculation in that brief moment, but it's all pointless unless Dragonia declares it himself.
[There are many gods in the pantheon, but I will be able to relate to you more closely. Any believer in the pantheon will be able to receive my grace.]
Everyone seemed curious at Dragonia's confident demeanor.
'In the end, what matters is the Code of the Gods. It's a complementary agreement between a god and his followers that must be upheld——'
President Hobson and many other high-ranking officials focused on what Dragonia's code was, for gold and contracts were so important in a capitalist society that it could have profound implications for the United States.
Soon after, Dragonia proclaimed its own code.
All believers of Gold and Contract can make contracts under divine mediation. Contracts made under divine mediation must be honored. Divine intervention is permitted for contracts that are not honored. Contracts that are unreasonable to either party can be broken during the contract formation phase at the discretion of the priest.
————
————
————
In exchange for all contracts, the faithful will pay 1% of the mediated contract's gold to the Order of Dragonia.
When all the codes were announced, the room began to roar.
Even those who were late in interpreting the codes were clear on what they were saying.
Absolute adherence to the contract.
A 1% contribution to the arbitration process.
The smarter ones intuited that this was a tsunami that would shake modern economic history.
The issuance of contracts of absolute trust, punishable by the God of Contracts himself.
Individuals trading with individuals, corporations trading with corporations, nations trading with nations. The more money you have, the more power you have, the more casually you become a piece of toilet paper, with all the loopholes and legal trappings of modern credit.
But a contract mediated by the Order of Dragonia?
The gods do not discriminate.
They don't punish their followers by classification.
No matter how powerful you are, no matter how rich you are, no matter how many loopholes you cut, no matter how many escape routes you open.
No matter how powerful or wealthy you are, no matter how many loopholes you've carved for yourself.
-That's crazy. Wall Street is going to have a seizure.
-Will they cut off subcontractors?
-This would be more than a revolution, it would be a game changer. The credibility of all contracts would be worth a shred of toilet paper, and only contracts from the Order of Dragonia would be wanted.
It was a contract that gave the underdog an enormous advantage and forced them to trust each other, even in contracts where they didn't trust each other.
In the modern world, even if a civil lawsuit is filed for an unreasonable contract or breach of contract, the trial can drag on for ten or twenty years.
No matter how big or small the amount of money is, the victim is always the weakest in modern capitalist society.
-If you commit charter fraud, you will be punished to the fullest.
-Who needs civilian contracts? Everyone will use Dragonia contracts.
-That's not all. Wage contracts, insurance contracts, subcontracts–all the shitty contracts that the underprivileged can't sue for and can't get away with.
-Use it or lose it contracts with the Order of Dragonia.
-Scammers out of business.
The financial industry—no, it's the most divine thing since sliced bread, disrupting the entire economy of credit that mankind has ever built.
A ploy by Dragonia to garner a massive following and rip them off for a mere 1% fee.
The greedy dragon, who loved gold and silver treasures, was convinced that his divinity and code would dominate the global financial economy.
The more sophisticated human economies become, the more powerful the power of absolute compliance contracts will be.
* * * *
The Christmas celebration was highly politicized, but it was ultimately drowned out by the disruption of the new divinity of Dragonia.
People began to discuss the immense security that could be gained by becoming a member of the pantheon and having their contracts arbitrated by God Dragonia, and even the specificity of Christmas Eve had to be put aside to calculate the impact this would have.
A nightmare for public officials and the world's leading corporations had begun.
Apart from that.
"Karina, there is such a thing as royal dignity, and then there is exposing your back. Put on your father's suit now."
Leon was clinging to his daughter as if he didn't care, even as he represented a faith with enormous ramifications.
"You are persistent."
"How can you just stand by and let that barbaric thing Vulcan make fun of you? If it were on this Earth, he would have been caught a long time ago for harassment!"
"Is there a crime for such nonsense?"
"There are in this world! Just like the demons get beheaded for looking at this king!"
"Don't demons usually rip throats without asking?"
At Karina's sullen reply, Leon grew impatient.
"The skin of royalty is a noble thing. It is not something to be seen by commoners. You may be the Grand Duke of Dragonia, but you are the only royal daughter of the Lionheart King."
"—— is not our hereditary kingdom."
With a look of incredulity on her face, Karina searched for a way to interrupt this conversation, and found President Hobson, who had unintentionally overheard their conversation.
"President Hopson, I don't see the First Lady."
Karina tried to change the subject and brought President Hobson into the conversation.
"Ah, the wife is currently at the villa with the children. As president, I have to take care of things so it's hard for me to spend time with the family."
"Isn't that what public service is all about? It's your duty to serve the people."
"Hahaha, but I suppose it's not like I'm losing out on seeing Her Highness the Grand Duchess of Dragonia, she's so beautiful──"
Hobson made eye contact with Leon, who was giving him an odd look from over Karina's shoulder, and then said apologetically.
"I'd like to introduce you to my wife and children, the Archduke and Her Majesty, I'm sixty-three this year, heh heh heh."
He has a wife, he has kids, and he's old. Come on.
"You're in your prime."
No. I don't believe it.
"Hahahaha— By the way, Your Majesty Lionheart, you look very handsome. The suit suits you really well. All husbands with wives will be wary of this."
President Hobson, trying to keep the humor in moderation and Karina chimed in.
"He's right. Since we have succession issues, you should only spend the night with trustworthy virgins."
'That kind of answer here?!'
Why couldn't you just pass the joke off as a joke? President Hobson gave her a disapproving glance, but Karina was serious.
"Your Majesty, we don't do kidnapping and secret weddings here. Don't you have to uphold the laws of this place?"
'Kidnap?!'
"Ka, Karina—this king is not a horny man who kidnaps women to marry them, and he never has, except for your mother!"
'Did you?!'
"After two hundred years of fighting alone, you're certainly qualified, but there are plenty of decent women around, so why don't you start there?"
"Karina!"
"I also need to produce an heir, so why not find some good seeds?"
"Grrrr—!"
Leon struggled to control his half-bubbling stomach.
Is this really the conversation of a three-hundred-year-old father and a two-hundred-year-old daughter? President Hobson wondered if people didn't change much at that age.
"Hmmm— bad timing for me to find you?"
Just then, a beautiful woman in a snow-white dress with platinum hair strode toward the three of them.
"Hello."
The three greeted her with a short, unobtrusive bow. For her identity was still unknown.
"King Leon. Congratulations on successfully bringing your daughter back."
Meriel, Goddess of Fate, a goddess from another dimension, like the TTG Temple Gods or Dragonia.
"King Leon. Did you like my gift?"
Her gaze flickered to Karina, and she smiled.
* * * *
Amid the bustle of celebration and the proclamation of the Code of the God of Gold and Contracts, Leon was alone with the goddess Meriel.
"You are the one who called me to America."
"I read something about your daughter's fate."
This was the reason King Leon had come here with all his might.
The Goddess of Fate he met in Korea could not decide his fate.
After returning home feeling she was of little help, the second time she contacted him was at Washington Gate, where he was warned that his daughter's fate would be determined by him.
"Fate is easily changed when you tell it all, and it's appropriate to make it happen."
Therefore, Meriel only gave minimal hints and did not add any requirements to Leon's actions. In reality, Leon saved Karina from the dragon curse and reunited with his own daughter.
"I don't think it's just that."
"Have you noticed?"
It's not Leon who answers a smiling Meriel, but the divinity behind him.
[My knight is closer to the divine than anyone else, and I can't hide divine matters from him.]
At Goddess Arianna's words, Meriel took a sip of her tea and relaxed.
"You're right, my mere mortal self cannot be involved with someone of King Leon's stature, but when you're a being like me, it's a different story."
Meriel read Leon's fate, but she could not intervene: her own rank was too low, but his was too high.
She wondered if she could intervene if she were a branch from the great trunk of Leon's destiny.
"Karina Dragonia, I read the fate of the child from King Leon, and I was able to 'intervene'."
In other words.
"I intervened in the fate of the Black Gate in Washington, even though I didn't intend it to be a gate."
She admitted that she was behind the summoning of the scourge of humanity, Black Gate.
"Oh, please keep this off the record, it's a story the US government will not like."
"I'm not immoral enough to leak the word of the gods, but I do have questions."
"I'll answer anything."
"Isn't the US government a longtime ally, and the Goddess could be seen as betraying them."
The Black Gate is a devastating economic blow as soon as it happens.
It creates an atmosphere of anxiety and fear that the country is about to be destroyed, sending people from all walks of life into a panic.
Although the United States has built its diplomacy well enough to attract alliance hunters around the world, it doesn't do so for free.
If word of this leaked out, the U.S. government would feel betrayed to the core by Goddess Meriel.
"I didn't think the Black Gate would be summoned— well, that would be a lie."
Meriel gazed at the Lionheart King before her, and didn't hide the favor in her eyes as she found his presence so endearing.
"I arrived on Earth faster than King Leon and the gods of the Temple of Ten Thousand Gods. May I tell you what I've been feeling?"
"Speak."
"The children of this Earth are self-indulgent and corrupt, more so than King Leon and the Temple of Ten Thousand Gods can imagine."
There was a chill in the goddess's voice, not anger or hatred, but pity and compassion.
"The history of this planet is one of slaughter and persecution of one's own kind in the name of a god, and I'm sure there are many more who have died in the name of gods than there are wars."
"There are many gods on Earth, but they are false, and if they exist, they are absurdly evil. He puts his children through a human sacrifice test, and if he doesn't like it, he fills the whole world with water."
"What about the less civilized parts of the world? They rule in the name of their gods, and they sully the name of god with diabolical acts."
Gods that don't exist.
A god who never shows up and only exists in stories.
A god who doesn't do anything when the world is facing a demonic invasion.
The omnipotent gods of the story don't exert any power on Earth.
"You know I've been on this planet for years, doing favors for the U.S. government, and you know what they wanted most?"
"The defense of the gate——"
"Defense of the gates? The truth about demons and magic stones? World peace, which no one in high places seems to want."
Goddess Meriel felt a twinge of disappointment in the American higher-ups who had been so good to her.
It wasn't anger or hatred, but it was enough to convey patheticness.
"More money, less risk to become a superpower, and bad luck for our adversaries. To quote the catchphrase, make America great again."
She was disappointed but the goddess knew that was the nature of human life. However─
"You appeared, King Leon."
Goddess Meriel's gaze turns straight to Leon.
"The dearly beloved agent of the gods and the rightful king of men."
"I have judged that your ability to establish a proper order is more important than any dealings with allies I have made."
For her sake, the goddess said that it didn't matter if she had to turn her back on America.