Hephaestus's Request
No one suddenly appeared spouting lines like “I don’t make weapons for kids like you!” as if pulling some narrative trick.
……Hmph.
That was a bit disappointing.
For me, a weaponsmith has that rigid image—the type who only sells their masterpiece after sizing up the buyer. Yet the bald, unattractive men called descendants of Hephaestus were all kind-hearted. They never looked down on me even when they saw my young form, and when they heard my name they looked surprised but treated me with respect.
Among the Twelve Gods, after Hestia, Hephaestus is the kindest and most innocent. His descendants seem to have inherited that disposition; every one of them had guileless eyes. Judging by their appearance, these innocent folk were clearly being protected by the descendants of their sister and younger sister, Aphrodite. If such humans had been released into society, it was obvious they would have been pestered with ridiculous requests.
So it was possible to have Achilles’s armor repaired without any trouble. With the Styx Water we had brought along, I was confident it would become as sturdy a spear as last time. I thought he would make my weapon as well, but that was where the problem arose.
Ah, I figured it was about time this happened.
“You go to the inner room, child.”
“The inner room?”
“That’s right. You may have heard from my sisters, but we also received an oracle.”
Hephaestus’s oracle…
It was the place where the influence of those two gods was strongest, so the atmosphere felt as though they were about to appear right now. After Zeus descended to meet me, I had barely encountered any gods except Hermes or Hades, so I had already sensed it was time to meet the next one.
The places where they tanned hides were scattered about, and I was guided into the largest cave. A suffocating heat pressed against my skin. The heat that made breathing difficult wasn’t from any physical fire; I sensed with the patterns on my back that someone was radiating it through divine power. Even I, who had been blessed by a god, felt this way—so I couldn’t imagine how Achilles would have reacted if he had been brought here.
A normal person would die a hundred percent.
In the legends, when Zeus descended to earth clad in lightning, people died just from seeing him… Was it Semele, the princess of Thebes?
Thanks to my mother Danae I had received Hera’s blessing, so I had been fine meeting gods openly until now. This time, however, even with that protection my body was in danger. Sweat poured down as though I had stepped into a sauna. In the deepest part of the cave something enormous was clanging and spewing flames; its burning eyes turned toward us.
Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh!!!!
“Perseuuuuuus!!!!!!”
The flame giant’s roar shook the entire cave, and a wave of heat slammed into my body.
“Hot! It’s burning!”
Fortunately my skin didn’t scorch, though my fine hairs were singed. The faint glow on my back told me that amount of heat would have incinerated an ordinary person. Even Zeus had hidden his form and descended as an old man, yet Hephaestus apparently had no intention of concealing his divine power.
“Whoops—!”
Despite his massive size and the dignity to bellow at will, his true nature was still Hephaestus. He must not have thought I would be hurt, because he immediately reined in his power and the air inside the cave became more bearable. It was still hot, but he offered no further consideration and thrust his enormous face toward me, chattering away.
“S-sorry! I wanted to meet you so badly I couldn’t stand it! I shouted without thinking because my eagerness got the better of me!”
I’m not a child…
Inflating his size to display his power had clearly been an attempt to boast his dignity. If he weren’t a god I would have scolded him on the spot, but reality offered no such luxury, so I immediately bowed my head and showed proper respect.
“It’s fine. It was simply surprising—an experience one rarely gets—but my body is unharmed. Experiencing the heat of the god of fire that I’ve only heard rumors about is an honor in itself.”
Even though the heat wave had scorched me, my tongue was in top form today. It rattled like a motor. Pleased with my attitude, Hephaestus clapped his hands happily and lowered his great flaming face to peer closely at mine.
“Just as the rumors say—so polite! Hermes bragged about you so much that I wanted to see your face at least once! I still can’t forget the back of the palace Hades showed me while praising you; it made me terribly impatient! Where did this child’s body get such imagination?!”
“I couldn’t lift my head before Lord Hades’s generosity in turning a child’s imagination into reality. Not content with that, the great elder even matched the child’s pace, and upon realizing it after returning to the surface I couldn’t help but feel ashamed.”
“He said he spent a pleasant time and praised you generously! So you can rest assured!”
“I’m relieved to hear that.”
The chuckling flame giant gradually shrank his body and transformed into a human form slightly larger than mine. He was a lame, bald, ugly middle-aged man, yet flames rising from various parts of his body reminded me that this middle-aged figure was Hephaestus himself.
“Child, you may raise your head. I didn’t come down from the mountain to receive your prostration, but to see your face and personally forge a weapon for you.”
“Lord Hephaestus himself?”
“Yes~! That’s right,~! Everyone was making a fuss picking their favorites—how could I just sit still?! Especially before that rascal makes the first move, I decided to strike first myself!”
“?”
Rascal?
“That Ares fellow.”
For a moment I almost nodded in understanding, but I forced myself to maintain a rigid posture. If I nodded here and agreed that the bastard was a rascal, things could turn disastrous.
“I have several mouths to praise the gods, but none to curse them, so please forgive me for not being able to chime in.”
“It’s fine. Hearing you say that, I can tell your character and it puts my mind at ease.”
Everyone kept saying things like that, yet it only made me think they were petty and couldn’t judge people. Whether Hephaestus knew my inner thoughts or not, he kept laughing pleasantly and used his divine power to move the surrounding piles of stone, creating seats and a table for us. He bowed first.
“Come, sit there.”
“Excuse me.”
Even though the seat was carved from cave stone, it wasn’t particularly uncomfortable. Hephaestus and I faced each other. He tapped the table with his proud hammer while telling his story.
“Forging the weapon of a hero I like is always a joyful thing. The descendant of Achilles you brought… I also forged that ancestor’s weapon. Did you know?”
“Lord Hephaestus was abandoned right after birth. But fortunately you were raised by nymphs including Lady Thetis, later recognized for your abilities, and ascended to Olympus—I heard.”
“Yes! You know well! Lady Thetis is like another mother to me. When she asked me to forge a weapon for her son Achilles, I gladly did it. Therefore I feel a deep connection between you and me because you brought Achilles’s descendant.”
It was Adanasia who brought him… In Hephaestus’s eyes, was it the same?
He laughed loudly while reminiscing about old times, then suddenly handed me a stone fragment.
“Recently there haven’t been any heroes I liked enough to forge weapons for personally, but you’re special. If there’s something you want, I’ll grant it, so speak your mind freely. If you have something specific in mind, it’s even better if you draw it directly to show me. Your imagination is too vast to show only to Hades in the underworld.”
It meant to scribble on the stone table he had made. Suddenly the conversation had turned serious, which was disconcerting, but thinking seriously like this only made me worry again.
“Weapons… Especially when I first came to get my first weapon I was excited, but when I try to think specifically it’s troubling.”
“Are you even getting excited at your age?”
“Rather than that… Unlike other heroes, I haven’t learned any techniques, nor have I practiced using weapons…”
“Do you think you have the talent to handle weapons?”
“At best I consider myself at an ordinary person’s level. My body is gifted, but I have no talent. I often shot a bow because of my younger sister, but even that didn’t suit my hand well.”
“Unexpected.”
I also thought it was unexpected. Even as a hero there was nothing outstanding about me. In a fantasy world I had assumed it was normal to boast about famous swords or fearsome magic spears and rampage about, but I didn’t fit that mold at all.
“Still, since you’ve come this far you must have thought of at least one thing?”
As Hephaestus said, there was something I had considered.
“Yes. So I’d like to receive a blunt weapon that’s easy to use. Since I’ve received Lady Hera’s grace and can become an adult, make it somewhat heavy and long. Also, since I’m running a temple, I’d like to engrave a pattern to spread the word about it.”
“Hmm… I see…”
Fortunately—whether I possessed aesthetic talent or not—I drew what I had in mind cleanly. Even though it was scratching on stone, the lines were very neat, so Hephaestus praised that it was easy to recognize.
“This pattern means our Twelve Gods, right?”
“Yes. It would be good if there’s an owl pattern—the symbol of Lord Hades—at the end of the handle. Since it’s placed alone on the opposite side of the Twelve Gods, it can metaphorically represent the underworld.”
“Ho ho~! Clever, very clever!”
Chuckling, Hephaestus boldly declared that it would be finished by tomorrow. When I asked if he needed Styx Water his eyes lit up, so I decided to hand that over as well.
“Then the weapon story is done. May I ask about a personal matter?”
“What story would you like to hear?”
“No, since you’ve come here at this time I wondered if you lot are participating in that as well.”
“If you’re talking about the Argonauts…”
I had nothing to hide, so I answered honestly. Hephaestus’s eyes sparkled. I wondered why he had that look, but it seemed he had something to ask.
“If you know about the expedition you must know about Colchis in detail too, right?”
“I have no intention of showing off knowledge in front of Lord Hephaestus, who has lived from the age of gods to the present, but I know some things. The legends about Jason, Medea who fled there… or the fire-breathing bulls, the dragon guarding the Golden Fleece… and other incidents that happened along the way…”
“You know well. If you know, the story goes fast.”
I grew nervous wondering what he was going to ask. A god asking a human for something was usually not a good sign.
“Unlike the old myths, the Golden Fleece still exists in Colchis. This is a secret fact known only to the legitimate successors of Jason throughout history because the current queen of Colchis, Medea, is hiding it in strict secrecy.”
“W-wait a minute! Is Medea still alive?!”
“Yes. She is a great witch beloved by Hecate. Age is no problem. I don’t know how, but she bred golden sheep and possesses multiple Golden Fleeces, and she enjoys calling Jason’s successors to Colchis with them as bait and giving them trials. She’s a scary woman.”
“Medea felt betrayed by Jason and fled, didn’t she? Then she remarried Aegeus and did cruel things again, fleeing to Colchis… I understand she became queen of Colchis after various twists and turns… but why? Why give them trials?”
“To keep tarnishing the name of Jason who betrayed her to the end. Since it’s the era of descendants, she’s riding the flow of this era and enjoying it in her own way. Isn’t that very witch-like?”
Whoa…
Even from the myths I had known she was a crazy woman, but hearing this she was even more so…
“Even now, but back then, women’s status was low. Moreover, Jason wouldn’t need to say how he viewed a woman who committed the act we gods and mortals most taboo—kin-slaying. Not content with that, she was a witch, and just as she couldn’t hide her true nature she boiled Pelias in a pot and killed him…”
“Are you on the side of the same hero Jason? Or…”
“I have no intention of defending either side. Jason, who married another woman while having Medea, also did a terrible thing. He kicked away the blessing of Lady Hera, the goddess of the family herself. If he had considered Lady Hera’s efforts and cherished Medea to the end, even if she revealed her witch talents, Lady Hera could have protected her, couldn’t she?”
“Yes! Of course!”
When I cut him off, Hephaestus finally brought up the main point.
“You interpreted the myth neutrally well! What I want to ask of you is none other than to get the Golden Fleece from that witch Medea!”
“The fleece? From me?”
“Aaah! Aaah! Don’t be so surprised! Of course, as you said, she’s a great witch with strong cruelty, but currently she only takes interest in Jason’s legitimate successors or those who received his alias, so you can rest assured! If you mention my name and say you came to receive the Golden Fleece, she’ll gladly hand it over, so there’s nothing for you to worry about!”
I was surprised by Hephaestus’s request, but she was ultimately human too. I understood that she wouldn’t want to fight against one of the Twelve Gods.
“I understand—to get the fleece while going to Colchis. But what do you intend to use it for?”
“Chuckle. I’m the kind of man who wins a woman’s favor in this way. As you can see, I’m lacking physically.”
In other words, it was a gift for Aphrodite.
He was trying to improve his married life in his own way……
……Tears were welling up.
“Ahem.”
I hardened my expression, careful not to let it show on my face. Thinking I would accept his request, Hephaestus immediately extended his hand, and from there flames spewed out and flowed into my back.
“Is it really okay to receive this on top of the weapon? I think it’s too much.”
“Don’t be so humble. I still remember that time—when you praised all the gods of Olympus with pretty and proper words. Not content with that, you kept sending offerings even after the first tribute, worked hard to revive the temple even in this era, and I heard you scolded those who badmouthed the appearance of blacksmiths on my behalf. So, even so, how could I not like you? Is there anyone in this world who pleases me like you? I was lucky to meet a clever child that’s hard to see even once in a lifetime, so bestowing a blessing so that your future is bright is something I, Hephaestus, the god of fire, must do.”
Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh!!!!
The large flame that had been spinning around shone like a mirror and showed my back. Because it was the authority of Hephaestus, the flame was no longer hot, and a new pattern of a hammer and anvil was engraved on my back.
“With this, your body won’t burn in flames and will cleanly burn away any approaching evil spells. If something bad might happen when meeting Medea, don’t forget to take it with you.”
“Thank you for your consideration. To repay this favor I will strive to bring the Golden Fleece. Please always watch over me with a strict eye so that I don’t become a lazy pig.”
“An answer unlike a child. Next time we meet I’ll bring the completed weapon, so let’s meet here again at this time tomorrow. Then show me a happier face.”
“Understood. I’ll stay up like a child, looking forward to the gift I’ll receive tomorrow.”
“Chuckle… Kid, you’re cute…”
Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh!!!
Pleased with my flattery, he disappeared very happily with those words as the last. Disappearing by burning his entire body was like a magic show. Fortunately the task he requested wasn’t difficult, and since he had even engraved a pattern in case something happened, I felt it was a profitable deal.
Finally, the fourth pattern……
Hera’s pattern, Hermes’s pattern, Hades’s pattern, Hephaestus’s pattern…
I had no intention of getting cocky, worried I might become a fool intoxicated with power, yet still smiling at the realization that I had grown stronger was because my human nature was ultimately base.