How-not to be an Olympian God!

Chapter 54 - The Cult Of Alex(3)

After that, Athena gave him the Owl Necklace back and he left her tower.

He was extremely excited about trying out blessings for the first time, but he had to carefully think about his next step.

His current goal was to rapidly gain followers, and his first plan only encompassed the minority elite classes and scholars that could actually read his book.

To maximize his appeal to the Greek population, he needed to target places and regions where people were vulnerable and help them.

By doing that, he would increase the quality of life of these populations and influence them into worshiping him.

He knew what his first destination would be.

He sneakily went down to Olep. Along the road, he heard some people discussing amongst themselves a very interesting subject.

"Have you heard of the sacred scrolls that were revealed to the consul?"

"No, what are those?"

"A new god from Olympus, by the name of Alex, granted to the consul invaluable knowledge and a machine that can make 100 scrolls in the same amount of time a scholar could write one scroll...!"

"That's incredible..."

Alex chuckled. He was currently wearing a cloak, but he was considering revealing himself to quickly gain followers but...

'Stay humble.' Alex told himself and resumed his way to his destination.

He entered the consul's palace and made his way to the study directly. The consul wasn't here, but the scholar from the other day was present.

Upon seeing him, he kowtowed and exclaimed, "Lord, I have done as you have ordered me."

"Good job,....?"

"This mortal one's name is Theoserfos, Lord."

Alex nodded and didn't beat around the bush, immediately inquiring, "Theoserfos, do you know of any war-torn regions near Olep?"

The scholar thought of it for a bit before saying, "The cities of Thessaly and Epirus are currently at war and the battles are fought east of the sacred Mount Olympus, past the volcano."

This was comprehensive and satisfactory enough.

"Good job, Theoserfos. Stand up." Alex wished to try something to reward him for his work.

The scholar reluctantly stood up and Alex put his hand on his chest as Athena did when she transferred him Faith Energy.

This man was a scholar, so a blessing from Athena would be the most fitting one.

Alex diverted his power onto Athena's pond and her wisdom specifically, before slowly wielding this energy to transfer it to the man.

He felt a stream of energy go through his arms and leave his body, indicating it was successful.

"Bless you."

Theoserfos's eyes widened as he felt the blessing and he started kowtowing, "I cannot thank you enough, Lord."

Alex wasn't used to people addressing him in such high regard and didn't know how to react, so he swiftly left the premises.

He didn't feel like climbing Olympus again, so he took a turn and followed the scholar's directions.

He chose a battlefront as his first destination because people express strong emotions due to death, blood, brutality, healing, and solidarity in war.

And Alex was also a double god of war, considering he had taken both Ares and Athena's Essences, so he should be able to find a following there.

He sped up using Hermes' swiftness and charged through the terrain.

He could see the dormant volcano in the distance, and Hephaestus lived close by, but this wasn't his destination, as he continued charging straight to the east.

This was an unfamiliar place to him, but he had a good sense of direction.

After a while of senseless running, he heard a strange cacophony.

It was the sound of screaming, and the noise that metal made when it came into contact with other metals.

He followed the source of the sound and climbed up a hill.

When he reached the summit, the sights of war were visible.

Two distinct camps were fighting in a valley. One of the camps had soldiers wearing gray uniforms whereas the other one had green uniforms.

Alex quietly entered the loud scene from the sidelines where a green-robed and injured soldier was resting.

The soldier looked at him with hostility and tried to stand up, but he struggled and resorted to begging for mercy due to his injuries.

Alex wasn't here to kill anyone, so he induced drowsiness in the soldier to lower his defenses and asked him, "So, why are Thessaly and Epirus fighting?"

The hypnotized soldier replied with blank eyes, "A disputed territory in the north."

'Ah, so that's what this is about..' Alex realized.

He put the soldier to sleep and decided to enter the front. As he penetrated the busy frontline where warriors were killing each other constantly, several people tried to attack him, but he easily dodged and put them all to sleep

When he was at the center of the battlefield, where there were the most people, he put his plan into action.

In a large perimeter around him, all of the soldiers, from both camps all started 'mysteriously' collapsing. They were simply put to sleep by Alex.

Soon enough, the battlefield was entirely silent.

Two large horses from opposite sides were heading his way. Alex figured his plan to attract attention was a success.

The commanders of the army from Thessaly, and the one from Epirus, were on the horses, respectively.

They had noticed that all of their soldiers collapsed and came by to investigate the cause.

When they were close enough, they noticed a single man standing. He had handsome features and a muscular body but his multi-colored eyes were the most striking.

It was, of course, Alex, the instigator of all of this.

He took on the most domineering voice he could produce, and exclaimed, "A show of gratuitous violence over mere territory, what an insult to life."

The commanders were cautious and asked him, "S-sir, who are you?"

"I'm Alex, a god from Olympus. I found it insulting for people to take the lives of others over territory and put them to sleep, but the next time a conflict like this happens, they won't be just asleep." The last threat Alex said was entirely baseless, but he should have scared the commanders enough already for them to completely believe it.

Alex believed that there were sometimes valid reasons for war, and the world couldn't be all rainbows and sunshine, but territorial expansion wasn't one of those.

The commander from Thessaly got off his horse, bowed deeply, and asked, "What shall we do from here, Lord?"

Alex replied, "Halt the conflict and split the disputed territory along ethnic or geographic boundaries."

The commander from Epirus gulped but nodded.

Following that, the soldiers were all woken up and told that the war was over.

They were confused but happy about the end of the conflict. Of course, Alex asked them to spread his name and hoped this would gain him a large following.

He proceeded to leave this place and went back to Olep.

Theoserfos was hardworking and in the process of printing more copies of "Ways of Life from Alex of Olympus."

Alex wished to ask him a favor.

"Theoserfos, can you spread the word that all slaves of the surrounding regions are freed under my name, and are to form a city of freed slaves?" Alex wished to gain the support of Greek society's underdogs.

With his achievement in that war, his name would gain more credibility and people would be afraid to disobey him.

Theoserfos looked conflicted, since slavery was such a big part of contemporary society, and for this to all be uprooted in a short amount of time was bound to cause societal change, but he obliged.

After that, Alex would gain a reputation for blessing newlywed couples and they would come from many surrounding cities and towns to receive blessings and spread the doctrine of Alex.

Since all of this traffic caused Olep's economy to prosper even further, his cult among the local residents started to gain much more followers.

Alex then took credit for slaying the Nightmare Lizard, which he really did, and when it was confirmed that it was in fact him, he consolidated his status even further as a god.