Demeter's Love (11)
I woke early that morning.
The moment I rose I flew straight to Mestra, delivered one final warning, and relayed Demeter’s wishes. In the end she declared she would abandon her revenge. When I carried the news back to Demeter she was so overjoyed she insisted on holding a festival at once. The nymphs were instantly swamped with work, and the Spartoi fanned out around the sacred grove to spread word of the celebration.
Perhaps because I had borrowed Demeter’s thighs the night before, I felt thoroughly refreshed and my own lust had quieted. Achilles’s lust, on the other hand, was blazing, so I had to take care of that as well. Between one thing and another I was busy from the instant I opened my eyes, and quite some time passed before I could finally join the festival.
Of course, even calling it a festival was generous; compared with modern times it was modest and heavily ritualistic. So much blood had been spilled that the gathering was meant to commemorate the dead. Those who felt guilty clustered before Demeter to offer apologies or present sacrifices, so the mood could never grow truly lively.
“Looks like our work here is finished, then? Some of the Spartoi liked the place enough that a few decided to stay, and the rest said they’ll follow us back to Argos.”
“Having them along will be reassuring. Acrisius 3 will be pleased too.”
“Not planning to take them into the temple?”
“They’re all sturdy young men—there’s work that suits them better than temple duties. I should introduce them to it. That’s what they’re hoping for anyway.”
“That makes sense~!”
Achilles soon grew bored standing still and ran off on his own. Having worked off his morning lust he looked extremely refreshed, whereas I was drained, so I sat beneath an oak near Demeter to rest and keep an eye on things in case anything happened.
“What the…?”
While I watched the peaceful scene unfold, my back began to itch.
“Huh? Hmm? Ugh…”
Scratch, scratch.
I used my mace to rake at my back, but the itchy spot stayed just out of reach, which was maddeningly unpleasant. Nothing had bothered me while I was tangled with Achilles, so I had no idea why this had started. After I had been scratching for quite a while the nymphs could no longer stand watching and came over to ask what was wrong.
“Perseus?”
“What’s the matter all of a sudden?”
“Ugh… my back itches. Something must have stuck to it—it just won’t settle down.”
“Itches?”
“Then we’ll scratch it for you. Turn around a moment?”
“Thank you.”
I turned and bared my back; the nymphs scratched vigorously. Even so the itch refused to fade, and the irritation returned. It was better than when I scratched myself, yet still being itchy made me worry I might have caught some disease.
“Did a bug sting you, maybe?”
“No way. Absolutely not.”
“…Huh? Not that?”
“It’s a bit large to call a bug… hehe…”
“Anyway, it’ll settle soon enough.”
The nymphs scratched, giggled, and vanished. That was extremely suspicious. Their tone suggested they knew exactly why I was itchy, and the moment they mentioned my back even I could guess who was responsible.
Did she carve a mark on me while I was sleeping?
I didn’t know why she would do it while I slept, but for all her gentle looks she was a playful woman; she had probably planned to reveal it later and startle me. It might be wise to practice looking properly shocked when the time came.
I should overdo the surprise a little. Yeah, let’s do that. Everything’s finished now, so there’s plenty of time.
Curious what power the new blessing might hold, I idly tapped my back with the mace and whiled away the hours. Just as the crowd’s mood had finally lightened and laughter was beginning to rise, a new group approached the temple and the atmosphere dropped cold.
“Huh?”
Wondering why the mood had shifted so suddenly, I looked more carefully at the newcomers and understood at once. While the festival-goers kept a mild air, that group alone wore expressions of grief. Moreover, the black-haired woman who seemed to lead them was someone I knew very well.
Rough, short-cropped black hair and red eyes still burning with vengeance. The woman who, only the day before the festival, had received my final warning and declared she would abandon revenge. Behind her walked people dressed entirely in black, flaunting their sorrow, and with a vengeful spirit at their head I recognized them at a glance as the families of the dead thieves.
Mestra came too. Maybe she’s here to apologize?
I tried to interpret it favorably, yet sudden unease seized me; I rose in a hurry and headed that way. Just then Mestra and Demeter were finishing their greetings, and Mestra was explaining who the people behind her were.
“Perseus! Look—Mestra has brought them to pay their respects!”
“Perseus?”
Mestra, clad in black with her companions, eyed me suspiciously. She had already seen my true form when I delivered the final notice, so I shifted into my adult body to greet her.
“It’s me.”
“As I thought…”
She snorted as though a child turning into a man was nothing surprising. Her sharp atmosphere remained unhidden, making me wonder whether she truly regretted anything, yet at least her words and actions were not openly hostile.
“Lady Demeter. Thank you for granting us the chance to atone. The kin of the dead have come to apologize for what was done to you; please forgive us.”
She ignored me completely and bowed only to Demeter. Everyone offering apology in black clothes made the air heavy, yet Demeter alone smiled with genuine joy and accepted them.
“It is all right. Set your hearts at ease. I am a goddess who cannot treat harshly those who acknowledge their sins and beg forgiveness. You need not fear that anything will befall you. That you recognized your wrongs even now and came to apologize gladdens me.”
She laughed softly, clearly pleased. Sensing her good mood, one of the ruffians’ relatives brazenly spoke up.
“Lady Demeter. If I may be so bold, may I ask one thing?”
“What is it?”
“I fear our husbands may receive heavy punishment in the Underworld. What should we do?”
“Ah, my children who have come to apologize. Since your kin have bowed their heads, I shall personally ask Hades that they not suffer heavy punishment. In the first place even I hesitated to impose severe penalties, so Hades too will not treat them harshly. Therefore you need not worry about the dead.”
“Truly?”
“Of course. Raise your heads and rest easy.”
Demeter smiled kindly and forgave both their sins and those of the dead, yet I alone remained thoroughly unimpressed. I was neither a god nor Hades’s lieutenant, so I had no right to judge the dead; still, to me they had deserved to die. Had it been Zeus who was insulted instead of Demeter the story would have been different. One bolt of lightning would have wiped out even the relatives—thinking of that, Demeter’s response felt far too lukewarm.
“B-but, Perseus?”
“It’s difficult for you to seek my help with something like that.”
“But… you’re close with Hades, aren’t you…?”
“If I use my friendship with Lord Hades to arbitrarily rewrite the rules of the Underworld, he will surely grow angry. Even if not, he would be disappointed in me, so please stop asking. Moreover Lady Demeter has Lady Persephone; would it not be better to ask her?”
“But… it will still take time for Persephone to come up…”
“I understand Lady Demeter’s concern as well. After Lady Persephone returns to the surface, receiving the request and carrying it out will take a long while, and in the meantime they will be suffering punishment—so you feel sorry for them, is that it?”
“Yes, exactly. So if you could just…”
“Ahem. Yet it is not as though they committed no sins at all; receiving about a year’s punishment would hardly be strange. I am sorry, but I will absolutely not tolerate letting them off completely innocent. This is stepping into Lord Hades’s domain, so Lady Demeter must understand that much.”
“O-one year… Hmm…”
“It is very short—compared with someone who suffers for eternity.”
“I see… You always say only the right things… No need to doubt…”
Demeter nodded with an awkward expression, acknowledging the sense in my words, then turned to seek the others’ agreement.
“Did you hear? One year. Once that period ends there will be no further punishment in the Underworld, so everyone may rest easy.”
“Then our husbands will still be punished there…?”
“Do not press Lady Demeter. Had this been an insult to another god, lightning would have fallen at once and you yourselves would be dead. Despite that you are forgiven, and the dead are forgiven with short labor in the Underworld—why make such eyes?”
“B-but…”
“Enough talk! Reveal unfulfillable desires even once more and I will cut off your heads this instant and petition Lord Hades to make you eternal slaves of the Underworld! Is there anyone who can still boldly claim that the dead—and yourselves—are wronged?!”
“Ah—we’re sorry.”
“We were foolish.”
“Please, anything but that—!”
They spoke in tones of sorrow or fear, yet their faces soon relaxed into relief. Even after committing the great sin of insulting a god they would receive only a single year’s punishment. Having lightened their burden so cheaply, even my scolding seemed to hold little terror for them.
If it were up to me I’d cut every one of these bastards’ heads off too.
Watching them try to milk something extra out of Demeter even after their crimes, I saw clearly how greedy they were. I had heard that few in this age truly revered the gods, yet even allowing for that their shamelessness went too far. At least the citizens of Argos never sank this low; these people were clearly exceptional in their derangement.
“………If you understand, good. Since Lady Demeter has pardoned both your sins and those of your kin, I will say nothing more. Today is also a festival commemorating the dead, so after offering the tributes you brought, receive hospitality from the nymphs and go. Whatever the dead did has nothing to do with you relatives; everyone will treat you generously.”
“Can we take the leftover grapes?”
“……………”
The instant I finished speaking some madman blurted out his true desire. I seriously considered killing the bastard on the spot, but Demeter stopped me. Without realizing it I had already raised my mace; her pure white hand blocked it.
“Perseus. Broaden your heart.”
“Even so…”
“There will be people who struggle to put food on the table after losing their husbands. Let them take plenty for today. If it is for making a living I will forgive whatever they do with the grapes they take—but if they greed so excessively that it makes everyone’s brows furrow, I will not forgive it.”
At Demeter’s permission everyone bowed. There were even children who could not hide greedy smiles; the sight of that madness nearly sickened me.
“Hah…”
Unable to vent my anger at Demeter, I forced my temper down and looked at Mestra, who had brought them. She still kept her head bowed and behaved without major incident, which only made her more suspicious.
Bringing these bastards—what on earth is she thinking? And that thing on her back…
She had led such people here and still made no effort to hide her hostility, so the object covered by cloth looked all the more ominous.
“Mestra. Raise your head and show me what is hanging on your back.”
“What’s hanging on my back? Ah—this.”
“What exactly is that? It looks quite large and heavy.”
“It is an offering for Lady Demeter. I prepared it carefully to apologize for past matters.”
“Show it.”
“Understood.”
Demeter, standing beside me, poked my cheek and asked why I needed to go that far, yet even so I refused to relax. When the cloth came free a long wooden box that could be carried on the back appeared; the heavy sound as Mestra opened it and seized what lay inside rang clearly in my ears.
Clang!
──A spear!
Why did cold sweat break out the moment I saw it?
My judgment clouded.
My reaction came late.
Yet I knew.
What I had to protect.
“Lady Demeter!”
“Huh? Eek?!”
I should have subdued Mestra, but unknown chills and terror blew the best option clean out of my head. Instead, remembering that my body was hard, I shoved Demeter behind me with desperate haste. She was thrust aside so suddenly that surprise flashed across her face; only after confirming I had pushed her clear did I look forward again—and by then it was already too late for me to do anything.
“Perseuuuuuuuuus!!!!!!!”
“You crazy bitch?!”
The spear tip drove straight at my abdomen.
I stretched both hands toward the shaft to stop it, and in that instant I realized a critical fact.
My mace?!
That was the second mistake.
I should have knocked the spear aside, yet trusting the hardness of my body I had thrown the mace away and reached out bare-handed.
And it’s a trident—?!
I had thought that coating myself in the waters of the Styx meant something this small could never kill me, but perhaps that had been far too complacent. Everything before my eyes slowed as though my life were flashing past. The spear thrust by Mestra’s slender fingertips pierced my abdomen as easily as tofu and sprayed blood; I was bewildered, unable to understand why.
Ah?
My body had been coated with Styx water, yet it had been pierced—by a woman’s hand?
Why?!
Just before the spear tip fully entered and the pain rose to my skull, my bag of wisdom unfailingly performed its duty. Considering the weapons Mestra could possibly obtain, one powerful enough to skewer my abdomen like soft tofu, and that its form was a trident, a simple and entirely convincing conclusion presented itself.
Triaina!
A god’s weapon!
Poseidon’s trident!
“Ugh—ah—aaaargh!!!! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!”
“P-Perseus?! Uwa! Uwaaaah!”
That was as far as I could remain calm.
With the taste of iron rising to the tip of my throat, everything went dark.