7장 - 달은 바보가 분명하다(5)
Whether I had followed my orders out of loyalty or because the enthusiasm of the devotees had been truly immense, the rumor of holding a festival that day spread faster than the gossip that I had become king. The scattered crowd that had gathered for the trial in Agora ignited a massive bonfire blazing high into the sky.
At first glance it was just an ordinary campfire, but by gathering the idle children and making them craft sunlike wooden decorations, we forced them to chant Apollo’s name. We named the enormous blaze “the fire of Apollo,” endowing it with sacred meaning. Since such a colossal flame was impossible to overlook, everyone approached it with fear yet hid no joy in the savory juices that filled their mouths.
Truly, a beautiful and scorching fire.
A chorus of cheers and laughter.
That was why it was called a festival.
In this place, unlike the gloomy reality I had lived in before, the people knew how to laugh with their whole hearts when they were happy. They had been worse than modern men when they fought without thinking, but the fact that they could lay bare their true feelings and giggle meant that part of it was better than I could have imagined.
“I was ready to rush things and didn’t expect it to turn out so well. Honestly, I thought it would be possible to roast and share the meat, but throwing a full festival was out of the question. Who would have guessed that every single person who tried to stop us would rush over to help?”
“It’s all because of your usual conduct. You should be proud and show off your shoulders—happy now?”
“Hmmm…”
Buck-buck-buck.
Danae scratched my head with an affectionate smile. Her expression was just a little flushed, so I knew her lust had built up. After I came back, we had many chances to overlap, but Artemis and Atalante’s watchful eyes had kept us from truly satisfying each other. I could hardly blame Danae for her mood.
“Why… why are you looking at me like that?”
“Nothing. It’s nothing. Right now I’m in a child’s form, so I don’t want to do anything excessive. Mother, please restrain yourself as well.”
“Ugh… you’re so mean…”
But despite that, she blushed openly and left with a satisfied smile, as if she thought I was good. To calm her passion she helped the servants and moved busily, and before long she disappeared from my view. Just as I expected, the golden-haired Artemis appeared and pouted her lips.
“Perseus~? Why are we holding such a huge festival just for Apollo and the others? We even scattered all the hunting game Atalante and I caught!”
“If we left it, it would spoil. Even preserving it had limits, and I thought it was right to seize this chance and ask Apollo-nim for help. Am I wrong?”
“Forget that—why Apollo in particular!”
“Then is there someone else who can help? Tell me who.”
“Well, if I search…”
“A bit?”
“Right! There’s definitely at least one!”
“Oh dear, then I guess I have to list the reasons.”
“Reasons?”
Every time I held out my hands and explained calmly, Artemis spread her fingers as if it were easy to understand.
“One. Zeus-nim and I fought, so there’s no way he’ll help. Two. Hera-nim already had a bad relationship with Leto-nim, Artemis-nim’s mother, ever since she tormented her cruelly. We can exclude her. Three. The other gods secretly do bad things and complain when I point out an example, but among the ones I used as examples, Poseidon-nim was there, so we can exclude him too.”
“Hah! How did you know it was Poseidon?!”
“I got hurt by him recently, remember?”
“Aah…?”
“Don’t give me that look. In the Argo expedition he helped speed up the ship, so I don’t really resent him.”
Anyway, I kept talking.
“Four. Demeter-nim was at her most depressed time, so she couldn’t help. Five. Athena-nim, Zeus-nim’s clever daughter, was on the side of blaming Artemis-nim from the beginning.”
“You really know everything! You even got Athena?!”
“I’m not too early to be impressed. Six. Just like when I used Poseidon as an example, Ares-nim is definitely causing chaos somewhere. Seven. Aphrodite-nim is at odds with the virgin goddess Artemis-nim, so she won’t help in the first place. Eight. Hermes-nim is a prankster who’s only watching the situation. Nine. Hephaestus-nim has no interest in this sort of thing in the first place and is focused on his own work. He might not even have heard the rumor that Artemis-nim would be banished to the surface.”
“Too bad! Hephaestus was there by chance! But if he hadn’t been there, you wouldn’t even know I fell!”
“That’s probably right.”
“Then what about Hestia-nim?!”
“Ten. Lastly, Hestia-nim is the sort of person who respects everyone, so she’s loved by many. But she has no interest in power struggles, so she can accept love without burden. Therefore, even if they hear the story, I’m confident she won’t offer help.”
“Ah…”
Since I was speaking in the tone I knew better than the gods who lived on Olympus, Artemis stared at me with a strange expression, dazed, then recovered her energy.
“Y-you’re so full of yourself! You’re just like Athena!”
“Is that so? I rarely hear stories about Athena-nim, but that’s surprising. I don’t think Athena-nim would like a flatterer like me very much.”
“It’s not a joke, right?”
“Whenever I say something, you check my feelings. This is sincere. Why would I like a guy like me? When I first offered gifts, I didn’t have the courage to shake the hearts of Athena-nim or Artemis-nim.”
Her eyes burned with “This bastard really thinks that?” after hearing my honest words. I hadn’t said anything strange or lied about my lack of confidence, so I couldn’t understand why she didn’t believe it.
“You’re not lying, but why are you acting like this? If you keep looking at me that way, I’ll get angry too. I’ll show you what happens when a brat playing adult suddenly changes and rolls around on the floor crying like a baby. It’ll be embarrassing for me, but Artemis-nim would be even more ashamed, and are you really okay with that?”
“You? Ugh, just imagining it makes me want to die, so let’s stop! I’ll tell you why I said that!”
“What did you say that made you say that?”
“Actually, Atalante likes you a lot. Remember Glaucus the owl? When that guy had his feathers plucked, he cried so hard that an earthquake hit Olympus?”
It seemed she was talking about the time Demeter gave me Athena’s divine feather Glaucus. It must have hurt like hell because even thunder and lightning were caused.
“Ah, that. It was noisy, wasn’t it.”
“Thanks to that, Olympus was in chaos, but Athena just laughed it off so easily, huh?”
Was that really true?
Maybe it wasn’t a lie and I was suspicious.
“If I say it like this it sounds arrogant, but I thought I had a certain closeness with the people up there. But Athena-nim said she loves me and yet I’ve never been able to meet her.”
“She obeys her father’s orders well. Zeus told him not to interfere too much on the surface, so he can’t contact you and is restless. How funny it must be to see him in that state?”
“It’s hard to imagine since I’ve never seen her.”
Even our temple has a stern statue of Athena. Just imagining her in such a restless state makes me want to laugh.
“Funny? It’s funny, isn’t it~?”
“Hahahaha! Ah, really~! Don’t say that! I’m afraid I’ll get punished.”
“You’ll probably scold me, but not you, right? Because I like you so much, don’t worry.”
Though it was something Artemis spat out, it was surprisingly useful information. I decided to tuck it away in the back of my mind, and while trying to flatter her a little, the flow of watching the festival together became natural. Luckily there was no problem on my side, and the meat-roasting story that came up among the excited men led to a foolish show.
Men in ancient Greece loved debates. Modern men also often end up in foolish discussions when they gather to have fun, so it seemed the same here. Someone would bring their secret sauce made at home and boast about it while eating, and another would set off a fun show with a fire display.
“The atmosphere is good, but we should have called them sooner.”
“Who? Apollo?”
“The musicians or poets who sing for that Apollo-nim.”
“Oh, the one who just left is coming back.”
Just as we were talking, the servant who had gone to fetch the poet came running in a hurry. I wondered how many he had called to make him this late, but even then I couldn’t hide the chill in the air.
Ring-ring-ring, ring-ring-ring, riing~!
The beautiful lyre sound I had heard recently brushed my ears and gathered the gazes of the chatting people toward one point. The lyre player swept his beautiful golden hair—impossible to achieve with dyes—and showed off his beauty that was both masculine and feminine at the same time, then shouted loudly.
“O-! My dear friend said that there must be a poet wherever there is music! Also that there must be music wherever there is a poet! If there is neither a musician nor a poet there, they warned that they would eventually be just human at that point! Aaaah, how could I not come running to the request of a friend who said such a thing?! If Orpheus is not at this festival honoring Apollo-nim, I will eventually be just human at that point! Yet I reached here following the stars and fate, so it must clearly be the guidance of the gods!”
Riiriring~!
He poured the clear blue of his eyes into the galaxy with the beautiful lyre sound as if expressing his mood. The image of expecting the sun to fall from that sky was like an innocent child, and the way he ran without hesitation at his friend’s request suited a real man.