Dog Among the Gods

"Speaking of fate and the Goddess of Fate reminds me of many things among humans. For example, south of Egypt, there are many Gray People with gray skin. If someone suddenly develops albinism, the Gray People consider that person a monster, fear their existence, and even eat them as medicine. But we mages know that an albino has merely lost something beneath their skin. That is all. It is like some people having an extra layer of mud on their skin while others do not. Are they two different kinds of people? Obviously not."

"Likewise, when I spread books, knowledge of the gods, Combat Skills, and magic throughout Greece, many priests and elders cursed me furiously because they believed that only priests and a select few should be able to wield power. They considered my method evil."

"Similarly, even the porcelain and knives and forks I promoted met with opposition from a minority. They believed that traditional eating practices had been bestowed by the gods, and that my tableware was wrong, merely an attention-seeking gimmick, and a devil that distracted people."

"You see, the Three Fates are the same. They believe that fate is unchanging and immutable, and that they themselves are right. Once someone changes fate, that person is a Defier of Fate, abnormal, and wrong."

"This made me realize that those who oppose the spread of knowledge are not protecting knowledge itself; those who oppose people with albinism are not protecting people; those who oppose new tableware are not protecting tableware, etiquette, or food; and the Goddess of Fate is not protecting fate itself, but their 'old correctness.'"

At the words "old," Pholus's body trembled.

"Old correctness is at most half-correct today. Tomorrow, it may be only one-third correct. Another day later, old correctness will often have become