Chapter 2 - Perseus Abyssos (ἄβυσσος) (1)
City-states of this era were, by and large, places meant to protect people from external enemies. They were often called a polis (πόλις), though that term really only took hold after Rome conquered Greece. In the present age, any settlement where people gathered with their backs to a wall for defense against outsiders was generally called a polis, so hearing the word and automatically picturing a proper city was a mistake.
In this fantasy age where the mythic elements remained fully intact, none of the modern knowledge I possessed lined up at all. Wanting to pin down exactly how far this place had developed, I compared it against the timeline of the world I came from and searched my bag of wisdom, but—as I had half expected—it was completely useless.
It matched neither the Greek Archaic period, the Classical period, nor Hellenistic civilization. The temporal axis of the place I knew and the one I now inhabited were wildly out of sync. Calling it an entirely new world was probably more accurate. If I used my old home as an example, it was as if someone had taken only the mythic aspects of that place and built a brand-new world of Greek mythology around them.
So, to put it in a single easy-to-understand sentence…
「The Earth was actually flat.」
I’ll get to the Earth later. What they called “external enemies” here referred to the monster Typhon born of Gaia, and the assorted monsters Typhon himself had sired. There didn’t seem to be any official names for them; their forms and natures were all over the place, and anything that looked dangerous to humans simply got labeled an external enemy.
Things that resembled Medusa, things that resembled giant snakes, oversized beasts—stuff like that.
……Should I be grateful the enemies weren’t human?
Unlike the Greek myths I knew, the Titans who had started the Titanomachy, the Gigantes who had started the Gigantomachy, and even the Cyclopes whose dispositions had flipped (*1) were all still alive and well. On top of that, they appeared to be locked in political opposition with Gaia, who was generally on bad terms with Zeus.
I had only heard the current state of the myths through rumors rather than from the Twelve Olympians themselves, but the rumors were so widespread they passed for common knowledge, so they were probably accurate. Monsters really did appear, and it was shaping up to be a thoroughly troublesome age in every respect.
Wasn’t this exactly the kind of mess that explained why the present was called the Age of Heroes?
Ha. This place was hell.
“Hoo! Hoooooo! Hyaaaaaaaaah!!!!”
Crack—!
“Magnificent, my lord!”
Faced with an era so thoroughly botched that I had to wonder what the Twelve Olympians had even been doing, I roared at the sky as if spitting curses. My booming cry sent the grass in the rear courtyard rippling outward from me in waves, and the Argos soldier facing me made no attempt to hide his respect.
“Is that all for today?”
“Yes, my lord! It is!”
“……In that case.”
Light shimmered and my field of vision shrank again. The adult form I had worn until moments ago melted back into that of a boy. The soldiers ringing us immediately began poking the broken-necked corpse with their spears, checking whether it was truly dead.
Twitch… twitch…
A massive purple-skinned bull lay in the rear courtyard, blood pooling beneath it as rigor mortis set in. Until just now I had been facing the monster the soldiers had dragged in, one-on-one, and settling the match.
“How does it look?”
The moment I returned to boy form and the light settled, I asked politely. The soldier, still startled by the transformation, answered with careful respect.
“Y-yes! Pasiphaulos (*2) is definitely dead! Superb work, my lord!”
“When we try to kill the thing it rampages for days even among our own ranks! Honestly! Without Lord Perseus we would have been in a real fix trying to deal with it!”
“I hope I haven’t been a burden.”
“Not at all. This power exists precisely for times like these. Besides, you and I are comrades fighting to protect our families from external enemies, are we not? If any other troublesome monsters turn up, feel free to bring them without hesitation.”
“Hearing you say that puts our minds at ease.”
The man who appeared to be the soldiers’ commander had the corpse of the bull-monster called Pasiphaulos carried away, then turned back to me. Wondering if he had another request, I greeted him with a smile; he quietly lowered his head and whispered.
“Pasiphaulos hide fetches a very high price. Since Lord Perseus strangled the beast by the neck, the quality is guaranteed. What would you like done with it?”
“I’d like to ask first why you’re telling me this.”
“You disposed of a monster we would normally have had to struggle day and night to kill, so I wanted to show a little consideration of my own. Everyone in Argos—myself included—knows Lord Perseus would never put such a thing to impure use, which is why I speak of it.”
“In that case I’d like half the drachma (*3) from the hide to go to the soldiers, and the other half to the citizens’ livelihood. Would that be acceptable? If the sum seems short, I’d prefer the soldiers’ hard work be rewarded first.”
“We are grateful for your generosity, yet…”
The commander shook his head. The sturdy man with brown hair and round eyes refused my proposal.
“Elder, why refuse?”
“Lord Perseus has a fine way of thinking, so I’d rather see what you prepare for the citizens. A single good meal is enough for us soldiers—would you use the rest for the people?”
“…Hmm.”
I readily agreed. I summoned a servant, introduced her to the commander, received the hide from him, and ordered her to sell it. She was one of the cleverest among the servants Danae kept, so I trusted her to handle it well—and because I suspected she might get a few clever ideas of her own, I gave her a warning in advance.
“I’m saddling you with a tiresome job, so feel free to enjoy a little luxury with the proceeds—just don’t make it too conspicuous.”
“I shall keep that in mind.”
Perhaps steeling herself against any such temptation, the servant and the commander vanished from my sight. Reflecting that the commander was the most decent man I had met so far and feeling grateful for the encounter, I suddenly took a jolt from behind.
“Hm?”
“Big brother!”
The one who latched onto my waist with a gleeful laugh was, of course, my little sister Atalante. I had just finished killing a bull and was bare from the waist up, dripping with sweat, yet she showed not the slightest distaste and clung to me affectionately.
“I’ve told you again and again not to run like that—it’s dangerous.”
“Sorry~!”
The way she beamed at me as she hopped back looked like a girl born of the sun itself, but it also meant she hadn’t listened to a word I’d said. I fretted over what she would be like when she grew up, yet I couldn’t bring myself to scold Atalante over something so small, so in the end I said nothing.
“Heeheehing~! Heehee~!”
“I stink of sweat—don’t cling.”
“It’s fine~!”
Aigoo, who on earth is going to snatch this child up?
She was the sort of kid who could sprout family affection even where none had existed. While I sincerely hoped she would find a good husband someday and accepted her affection, Danae came swaying her golden hair from afar and, with a jealous look meant only for me, pinched Atalante’s ear and tugged.
“Atalanteee?”
“Eek! Eekyaaah! That hurts! Mother?!”
“We still have guests, and while everyone else is busy you’re off playing here by yourself—enjoying yourself, are you?”
“Eeyang, I’m sorry~! I’ll go right back~!”
“Hurry!”
“Yes—!”
There was no real need to scold her that hard. Apparently she hadn’t liked the sight of bare-chested me with Atalante stuck to me, so she packed the girl off into the temple. As Danae said, the temple was busy, so Atalante didn’t seem to find it strange either.
“You’ve finished the work… then?”
“Yeah.”
With Atalante gone, Danae dropped the motherly mask and lowered her speech even further, using the tone she reserved only for me. She still seemed unused to it and blushed every time she spoke, yet there was nothing in her manner that truly disliked it.
Twisting that body of hers and acting shy… is she doing it on purpose? She’s no blushing virgin in first love, and if she looks at me like that…
Danae stood with her arms folded under her chest, face flushed crimson. Whether it was the pose or not, those heavy, swaying twin orbs stood out even more. Even though I had just finished hunting a bull, her dewy eyes and fidgeting manner stirred my lust, and my body grew of its own accord.
“Wah?!”
Seeing me enlarge again, Danae looked startled yet flushed even deeper. After all, my body growing meant I was aroused at the same time, so she understood my inner state without a word.
“The sun’s still up… we can’t just…”
Even as she said it her gaze dropped to my lower abdomen—how well this woman understood a man’s heart.
“To a boy younger than herself… like this…”
“Hya?!”
“You like being forced, don’t you?”
“Ahh… I’m sorry…”
I caught Danae’s wrist, lifted it, and pressed my cock against her navel. Feeling the heat of my member against her belly, she forgot the mother’s face entirely and kept apologizing. It was a reaction I’d seen often enough lately that I felt not the slightest pang of conscience.
“Sorry for what? For being a filthy woman who gets wet for her own son?”
“Don’t torment me like that… it’s still morning… and I’m busy right now even if I want to…”
“Ah, that’s true enough. Things have been hectic lately.”
She wouldn’t refuse me outright to the end, yet she really was in a bind; her eyes flicked toward the temple. That drained my own momentum, so the instant I released her wrist I shrank back into a child’s form.
“Aaah…”
Danae’s disappointed voice rose high.
……Had she actually wanted to be ravished?
“Please don’t look so disappointed. Instead, tonight… leisurely… just the two of us…”
“Y-yes… yes yes…”
Apparently she had no intention of hiding her true nature come nightfall; she nodded repeatedly and pulled me into an embrace. Her large breasts pressed against my face, cooling the fevered skin.
“Really… what a little rascal… Lately I can’t even tell which one is the real you…”
“The big me who delights in tormenting Mother, and the little me who behaves politely and does his work—both are me.”
“What a bad boy… But then… I’m a bad mother too…”
Her green eyes, which had been fixed on the temple, flickered restlessly as she checked the surroundings. Then she quietly led me into a shaded spot and sank to her knees in front of my lower half.
“I saw you working earlier. Have you… built up a lot?”
“I have, yes.”
“Then… shall I do it like usual…?”
“Honestly… what a woman you are…”
Matching Danae’s lewd behavior, my body abruptly grew again. Growing, shrinking, growing, shrinking—my body was awfully busy.
“Then I’ll take the liberty once more today.”
“This way… with your words…♡”
Danae knelt politely before my lower half, opened her palms beneath her chin, and parted her lips. I drew out my cock and lightly rested only the glans on her tongue.
“Shall I go?”
“Yeshhh…”
At once the urethra heated and it came out.
A long, streaming trickle.
“Aum—♡”
Danae sealed her lips tightly around the urethral opening and drank it down.
Sploosh, trickle, sploosh…
“Gulp, gulp, gul—p♡”
Even though a large volume was flowing—perhaps all the moisture I had absorbed before work was coming out at once—Danae swallowed every drop without difficulty. She kept her palms under her chin in case any spilled, yet not a single droplet escaped.
“Gulp, gul—p, mmm~? Slurp… slurp… shluuurp…”
Once it was all out she sucked the inside clean, making sure no residue remained in the urethra. At first I had felt resistance to this kind of play, but the refreshing emptiness afterward left no aftertaste, so lately far from resisting I had actually begun looking forward to it a little.
Not a play ordinary people would understand.
And I hadn’t asked for it!
Important enough to say twice.
I did not ask for this!
Danae was a woman who found joy in offering everything she was to her son. This particular fetish seemed to have formed during the half-year I had lain unconscious. While nursing her unmoving son’s body, the incestuous desire and the act of devotion itself had become arousing to her; before I knew it I was being entrusted with this sort of thing.
“Shluuurp… phew~! All cleaned up. Any discomfort left? If there’s still something…”
Danae’s expression grew a shade more dangerous. Having already started sucking, she looked ready to forget her duties and beg for sex, so I instantly shrank back into a child.
“Aaah… why…?”
“Why? Because you emptied me cleanly with nothing left, that’s why.”
“R-really? But… th-that… just in case… again…?”
“Wasn’t it Mother who said the temple work was busy? Honestly, how lewd.”
“……Ugh?!”
Realizing her own slip, Danae’s face turned scarlet. Embarrassed at having unconsciously begged for sex, she fled into the temple in a flash. I saw her off, shook off my now-refreshed cock, and headed for the jar I had left in the rear courtyard.
Even out here the lively bustle of the temple pricked my skin. I scooped a ladleful of the water I had drawn earlier and dumped it over my head, washing away the sweat. Soaking my body in cool water under the hot sun felt wonderful—until I glanced down between my legs and noticed a thick rouge mark, the kind prostitutes used, stamped squarely on the glans.
Hmm. That was Danae’s lip print.
Had she marked her territory because this was her property?
I wondered why she would do such a thing, then the answer came at once. The only person she might feel jealous of was Atalante; nothing else came to mind.
Jealous of her own daughter? Really, what a bothersomely cute woman.
Treating it as a gift from Danae, I decided to leave the kiss mark stuck to my glans for the rest of the day. As a result my lower half itched all day long, yet it wasn’t unpleasant. After all, that night I would vent the lust on the very body of the woman who had left the mark, so it remained a pleasantly ticklish sensation instead.
*1) The three one-eyed giant brothers who gave Zeus the thunder and lightning that made him “king of all gods and men.” While some Cyclopes live as wise herdsmen, others appear as man-eating monsters; the latter type is called the Cyclops Polyphemus and features in the epic Odyssey, the homecoming tale of the Trojan War hero Odysseus.
*2) A name combining Pasiphaë, queen of Minos, and the Minotaur. She is the woman who fell in love with a bull and, with Daedalus’s help, finally mated with it (bestiality).
*3) The name of the currency. It is called drachma, drachmi, drachma, and various other ways, but here we have decided to call it drachma.