Demeter's Love (12)
"Hahahaha! Perseus! You miserable little pest! How about that? Never in your wildest dreams did you think I'd stolen something like this, did you?!"
"Me—ugh, w-wretch… Mes…tra…"
"I wanted to torment Demeter! If I could just make her angry enough to wither the whole world—if everyone on earth would come to hate her for it—I would have been so happy! But you kept getting in my way!"
"Ah… ah…"
From behind me came the sound of Demeter's dizzying, shuddering breath. My eyes were squeezed shut and I couldn't see a thing, yet somehow my mind remained crystal clear. I understood with absolute certainty that her goal had never been to kill Demeter—it was to strip away her divinity, to diminish her.
"You realized it was a god's spear, and still you end up with your gut run through by it! Ahaha! I'd heard you were a brilliant hero who sailed with Jason on his expedition, but in the end you were just a human like me!"
Mestra's shrieking made my head throb. Even like this, I couldn't help wondering how she'd managed to steal Poseidon's spear. Even if he was fond of women, he wouldn't have simply handed over a weapon like that—had he known and simply kept silent?
I can't figure out Poseidon's angle. Trying to think just makes my head spin, my stomach churn, and the irritation is off the charts.
Just holding onto the spear took everything I had. Since my consciousness was still sharp, I focused on listening carefully, determined not to let go of the shaft.
"Huh? Perseus?"
"……Tch."
"What's going on?!"
Thankfully, from far off came the sound of Achilles charging toward us. The nymphs, finally grasping the situation, screamed as well—and so did Demeter's devotees.
Mestra, you were smarter than I gave you credit for. I never thought you'd prepare something like this. But I'm a man with far too many attachments to this world! I am absolutely not going down that easy!
Achilles's eyes had gone wild, so this woman would be subdued any second now. But if I let myself relax at the thought of a comrade's help and pulled the spear free, it could endanger Demeter's body—so I kept the tip buried in my abdomen and refused to release the shaft.
"I stabbed you that deep and you still have this much strength…?! Kh—let go! I was going to stab Demeter next!"
The panic in her voice was extremely satisfying to hear.
"Me—s…traaa—!"
The effort put strength back into my throat, and I managed to roar that I was still very much alive.
"You half-dead corpse of a man!!! Getting in my way to the bitter end!!!!"
Apparently she'd prepared a backup plan as well, because this time Mestra shouted toward the others.
"What are you all standing around staring for?! Either one is fine—just stab someone already!!!"
"B-but still!"
"We never agreed to stab a goddess!"
"Then kill Perseus at least! This bastard is the enemy who murdered your families!"
So they didn't have the courage to stab Demeter after all—the moment she switched the target to me, they came charging right in. Achilles's footsteps were very close, but she was still a few strides short of stopping them.
"Urgh!"
"For our dead father!"
It didn't matter.
My body was coated in the waters of the Styx.
"Th-the blade bent!"
With a clean, satisfying sound like scraping against stone, the ones who'd thrown themselves at me stumbled backward.
"Lady Mestra! There's something wrong with this man!"
"The swords won't go in!"
"His skin is like rock!"
"This bastard just won't stop being a nuisance!"
Nothing but Poseidon's spear could wound me, and they were all in an uproar over it. In my defense, it should have been like this from the start. If it had been an ordinary trident instead of Poseidon's spear, none of this would have happened.
"Hoo…"
Even in the middle of all this, a little of my strength came trickling back.
So not everyone agreed to join Mestra's suicide charge?
I opened my closed eyes and watched carefully to see exactly what these idiots were doing. People in mourning clothes—apparently never expecting Mestra to go this far—ran to the nymphs and hid themselves, insisting they'd never intended anything of the sort. Meanwhile the vengeance-obsessed ones clinging to me had no idea what to do next and stood there flustered. The latter group seemed genuinely furious with me, but they still lacked the courage to stab Demeter, so there was no real command structure left.
It hurts, but I don't feel like I'm going to die.
I used the opening to calmly pour strength into myself. Demeter's breathing behind my back had grown so rough she was on the verge of exploding—I needed to settle this chaos quickly.
"Urghk!"
And so, enduring the pain, I pulled the spear free. It hurt so badly my vision jumped high, but I recovered almost at once. The agony truly lasted only an instant, and afterward only a strange freshness remained—even I had to admit my body was in an abnormal state.
"Perseus! Have you lost your mind?!"
"Ghhhmm……!!"
Achilles came running up beside me late, spear in hand, still debating who she ought to stab—and all the while my belly kept getting better. Even after being run through by Poseidon's spear, I hadn't felt like I was going to die, and it seemed that had been the truth after all.
"Wh-what? What's with this guy! Why is he still alive?!"
My condition left Achilles stunned, of course—but Mestra, the one who'd stabbed me, went especially wide-eyed with shock. The moment Poseidon's spear was pulled free, she'd been about to drive it into Demeter and kill her—only for the man who'd been impaled on a god's weapon to plant himself firmly on two feet and block her path. She must have been beside herself.
I lost a lot of blood… In this era that should absolutely be a fatal wound… So what the hell is going on…?
I'd bled so much my throat felt parched and scratchy. Even so, I still didn't feel remotely close to dying; what bothered me more was how filthy and unpleasant my lower half felt, soaked in blood. The iron stench mixed into the blood was so thick it made me nauseous. I wanted nothing more than to throw myself into clean water and swim right that second.
………?
By this point, even a fool would have noticed.
Demeter's power?
Some immensely powerful force was clearly protecting my body. The moment I recognized it, a sound I'd been unable to hear until now rose from my own belly.
Sarararak, sarak, sarak…
I hurriedly looked down at the wound again. The plants and flowers that had been clinging to the soles of my feet were crawling up into my abdomen like insects, packing themselves into the open hole. It hadn't bothered me before, but now it itched terribly—and once they'd completely filled the puncture, the greenery transformed into flesh, leaving nothing behind but the blood I'd already spilled, as if nothing had ever happened.
Tap-tap.
Wondering if it was only surface-deep, I pressed it again—but the sensation of living flesh was vivid, and not the slightest trace remained of the plants that had filled it. It was unmistakably part of my own body.
"How are you fine?! That was a fatal wound!"
"Beats me?"
"You hateful bastard! Getting in my way to the very end! Aaaagh! I wanted so badly to kill you at least—!"
Fwoosh-sh-sh-sh!!!!
While I was muttering inwardly that under normal circumstances I'd be a dead man, the damned woman abandoned the spear and launched herself into the air. Everyone had gone slack-jawed at my sudden recovery, and she seized that opening to transform into an animal and try to flee.
"That bitch! She dares punch a hole in someone else's gut and then run?!"
Achilles hurriedly shifted into a javelin-throwing stance so she wouldn't lose Mestra—but that wouldn't do.
"Don't."
"Why not?!"
"If we kill her, we won't be able to explain ourselves to Lord Poseidon. I'll fly after her and bring her back—you just subdue these ones."
"But stiiill~!"
"Ah-ah. Just do what you're told."
"Uuuuugh~!"
I could hear Demeter's breathing behind me, but I had no leisure to look after her. Before Mestra could get too far, I hurriedly transformed into an owl, shot into the sky, and snatched the crow she'd become right out of the air.
"Aaaagh!!! Perseuusssssss!!!!!"
She was fairly fast herself, but unfortunately for her I was using the feathers of a divine bird, so the performance gap was enormous. For every single wingbeat that lifted her once, one of mine carried me three times as far—there was no contest.
"You insolent little wretch! You actually went and did it!"
"Hyaaaaaaaa!!!!!"
Rage had flooded up into her throat until she couldn't even form words, shrieking like a madwoman—but she couldn't escape my talons. I flew back the way I'd come and flung her down into the center of the sacred grove like so much garbage. She hurriedly returned to human form.
"U-kh, aaagh, uwaaakh…"
She had no serious injuries, but being slammed into the ground must have hurt; the way she teared up was genuinely ridiculous. Here I was with a hole punched through my gut, and she was throwing a fit over something that trivial—the heat rose in me so hard I had to forcibly restrain the urge to wring her neck.
Fortunately the sacred grove quieted down quickly. A few people who'd joined in Achilles's venting of her temper died during the subduing, but since no one was screaming or raising a further ruckus, it was over almost at once. The ones who'd rushed me died at the hands of the Spartoi with resentful looks on their faces, while those who hadn't taken part in the disturbance were thoroughly searched by the nymphs in case they were hiding weapons.
"Young master! Is your belly all right?!"
"I'm fine—just tie that woman up nice and tight somewhere. No killing her, and no torture either. Watch her thoroughly so she can't transform into an animal and escape. I'll be taking her to Lord Poseidon later, so wash her up if you can manage it."
"Understood! You there—nymphs with nothing better to do, get over here and help me!"
I gave the order to the Spartoi who'd run up to me, and they dragged the collapsed Mestra off into the distance. Originally I hadn't planned to go this far, but she'd brought it on herself, so she had no room to complain. I sincerely hoped she'd stop causing any more trouble and just quietly disappear back to Poseidon's side.
It was supposed to be peaceful, and in a single moment this place reeks of blood.
I picked up the blue trident lying on the ground and scowled. Divine weapon or not, it didn't seem like something I could wield—the second I grabbed it, my stomach lurched. Achilles must have found the look on my face alarming, because she came rushing over at once; only when I raised my palm to signal I was fine did she finally relax.
"Are you really okay? Your stomach? Whoa—it's completely healed? How'd you do that?"
"Lady Demeter bestowed a blessing on me… somehow or other… blech… ugh…"
"Ahh… I knew something felt off."
"More importantly, this spear…"
"Hmm? What's this? ──Uwek!"
Even Achilles the spear-wielder couldn't handle the thing; her face twisted at once. Unlike me, she didn't have a pouch of wisdom, so she hadn't understood what the spear was—until she touched it herself and finally realized.
"This is…?! P-Poseidon's…"
"I'm going to return it to Lord Poseidon along with that unwelcome woman. I can't trust anyone else with it—will you hold onto it for me?"
"Got it!"
Poseidon's spear. It was a legendary armament that ordinary spearmen—hell, even most heroes—would never so much as get to touch.
"Never thought I'd end up holding something like this… No wonder my head was hurting… Uurk—?!"
She must never have expected to receive such a thing; the way she bounced along and then abruptly tripped was genuinely funny. Ordinarily I would have laughed at the sight, but I was in no mood to smile. The festival had been ruined, irritation had me on edge, and when I thought of the goddess who had to be even angrier than I was right now, I had no idea how I was supposed to soothe her.
"Lady Demeter."
"Perseus…?"
Supported by the nymphs, Demeter rose to her feet. Only moments ago she had been prepared to pardon someone's sins and forgive everything—and even so, she'd nearly been made the target of vengeance. Her expression was deeply troubled. I worried she might suddenly burst into tears and was fretting over how to even begin speaking to her—but then she looked at me, and color returned to her face in a way that felt somehow strange.
"Y-your belly is all right? There's nowhere that feels wrong? This is the first time I've ever bestowed a blessing on someone else, so I had no idea what would happen…"
"I'm fine. More importantly, are you all right, Lady Demeter? After everything that's happened…"
"Never mind that! Never mind—more importantly, are you really okay?! Hmm?!"
"Ah, yes."
She stroked the place where I'd been stabbed, searching obsessively for any remaining hole. Even with half-dried blood smearing her palm, she showed no sign of distaste, and the nymphs tried to restrain her.
"Perseus says he's fine, so please stop~!"
"Your hands are covered in blood~!"
"But… if there's a wound somewhere… I'm so afraid he might suddenly collapse…"
"Was this blessing from you, Lady Demeter?"
"I was so worried you might die… that I bestowed it in secret… I prayed to my authority and laid a blessing so that you wouldn't die anywhere plants grow… I-I'm so glad… so glad… truly, so glad…"
I wiped away the bloodied spot to show her no wound remained, and offered my thanks. My own carelessness was largely to blame, but who in the world could have predicted Poseidon's spear would come out of nowhere like that? Without Demeter's blessing, I would absolutely have died.
"Th-that's right! What about that child? Where did that woman go?!"
"Mestra, you mean? I've locked her up along with the spear so we can hold Lord Poseidon accountable later."
"You locked her up?"
"Hm? Ah, yes. Given your nature, Lady Demeter, I thought that would be preferable."
"Sh-shall I kill her?"
"Pardon?"
"If you were to kill that child, you'd earn Poseidon's scolding… but then… if I kill her, that means there wouldn't be a problem… wouldn't it…?"
"?"
"Where is she?"
"Just a moment. Lady Demeter?"
"Tell me where she is. I'll kill her this instant."
"Uh, uh-huh? Why are you suddenly like this?"
"Ah…"
Only belatedly did she realize what she'd said, and she hung her head low. I was genuinely stunned—I never expected words about killing someone to come out of Demeter's mouth. After displaying such boundless mercy, it couldn't be that her patience had simply snapped now… so why was she acting like this?
"I'm sorry… Please forget what I just said…"
Whatever change of heart had come over her, Demeter was led away by the nymphs' hands and vanished from before me—and just like that, the festival was ruined. She said they would hold it again later, but by then I wouldn't be here. At the very least, before leaving this place, I'd hoped everyone could part with gentle smiles—but even that wasn't something that went according to my wishes.
What a sour ending.
Cleaning up corpses instead of a festival.
And even so, night arrived without fail—the world really did turn in the most ridiculous ways.