The Hestia Hymn (ὕμνος)
The temple servants had invited Hestia to the sanctuary. Since the goddess of the hearth was not the kind anyone would hate, the servants gathered the temple people, held a feast, and welcomed her with open arms. Hestia smiled brightly and sang with the children. As she called each child’s name, she promised to watch over them from the heavens so they could live a better life, and she showed even more love for the orphans.
She was noble.
She was also lovely.
So this was what it meant to be the goddess of the hearth, Vesta.
Our temple servants had seemed to hold back some respect when dealing with Artemis before, but things were different now. Hestia was a goddess anyone could truly respect, and no one dared to disregard her. She always took care of her servants, leaving me with no worries whatsoever.
Thanks to her, I overdid it a little.
When I came to my senses, it was morning, and her beautiful melody woke me up.
‘With Hestia here, I bet she said she wouldn’t practice music today…’
Even in my hungover state, my adult form wouldn’t unwind. Right beside me, Achilles was embracing me fully naked. I worried for a moment that I might have made a mistake in front of the goddess, but thankfully there was no trace of that.
“Who’s been working so hard since morning… Everyone’s so impressive I don’t even know who’s who…”
I stood up, asked the servants for help, quickly freshened up, and stepped outside. A boy holding a broom caught my eye—he was working hard even at dawn.
“Brother.”
“You’re already awake.”
He had golden hair and turquoise eyes, skin covered in freckles. In the past, his eyes had sparkled with mischief or cunning, but now they looked empty, like they had lost their light. His speech had also softened. Anyone could tell this was my cousin, Sisyphe.
“Working since morning… I told you it was okay to take it easy today, right…?”
“There’s Hestia-sama here, so I didn’t want the temple to be dirty. That’s why I ignored your words and kept working…”
“I’m not scolding you. I know how hard it is for you after losing your memories, but don’t push yourself too hard. On the contrary, I worry you’ll hurt your body, so take it easy.”
“Yes. Then I’ll finish this work and leave.”
“Yeah, sure.”
—It felt strange.
After losing his memories, Sisyphe had been reborn, but even before that his intelligence had been above average, so I had tried to guide him in a better direction. But thanks to my influence, he had become a boy who read the room faster than others. He was far too clever. I worried that maybe the old wickedness was still stacked inside him. When I realized I had gone that far, I thought I must be a fool for worrying.
‘Now I understand why King Acrisius worried about me…’
Even if memories were gone and everything had changed, the old impression remained. His intelligence had only grown, so I had no idea how he would judge my past once he heard it. Even if he was sharpening his blades for revenge someday.
‘He really was a wise king after all.’
But he had simply failed to raise his son properly.
That was all there was to it.
“Are you awake?”
“Hestia-sama…”
I set aside my worries about Sisyphe and headed to the temple backyard. The children were happily singing, and at the center Hestia clapped her hands to keep the rhythm. She was enjoying the moment with such a joyful smile that I almost hesitated to join, but when she called out to me, everyone stopped singing and rushed over.
“Perseus-sama!”
“You’ve grown so big! You’re enormous!”
“Let me carry you on my back like last time! Please!”
“Whoa, wait.”
Since I had taken off my accessories, transformation was impossible, so I made the children step back. Hestia had been so much fun that she clung to me with more childish antics than usual, and I caught her as the goddess of the hearth faced me.
“I’m sorry I came down so early. I hope our children didn’t cause any trouble?”
“Of course not. They’re all so smart and well-behaved—I had a wonderful time teaching them. I wonder where you found such children. Don’t worry about it.”
Hestia smiled with a twinkle in her eye as she laughed softly. The image of the virgin goddess I had imagined in my head had turned into reality before me. She spoke in a tone that lowered herself to my level as a human, bowing repeatedly, and especially with the children she looked more maternal than anyone else. Even my own mother, Danae, would have to give her one hand.
‘If she hadn’t broken her vow of virginity, she would have been in big trouble.’
She seemed like a goddess I could respect, just like Hades and Demeter, so I bowed my head too. I had sent the children off with the servants to have breakfast when she mentioned she had come down to the mortal realm. She said she had come because she had accidentally heard our singing.
I had always wanted to invite Hestia someday to talk, and I had done this precisely because of that. I never imagined she would descend so quickly and I was at a loss. I had planned to prepare everything after raising the children so they could sing even better. It had truly been a coincidence, and she told me everything I wanted to know.
‘I thought Artemis wasn’t coming down, but with Zeus she couldn’t, right?’
That lifted one worry off my shoulders, but then a bomb dropped.
“Also, I have brought a gift to donate to the museum.”
“Eh.”
“It’s from Zeus-sama himself, so of course you’ll accept it?”
“Y-yes, of course I’ll accept it… But what exactly is it…?”
Hestia raised a flame into the air, and from the huge bonfire floating in the sky, objects began to pour down. From somewhere, ancient weapons and monster specimens that were hard to see in this era rained down—the relics of heroes and the traces of monsters. The temple servants who had rushed out late from the commotion couldn’t hide their shocked faces.
“Perseus-sama… what is this…?”
I quickly straightened my face at the servants’ questions.
“Zeus-sama entrusted Hestia-sama to deliver the weapons of heroes and traces of the past to us. We’re sorry for making everyone work so early, but bring everyone over here right away and move this. Also, we don’t punish people for small mistakes in daily life, but anyone who damages these items will be severely punished, so stay alert.”
“Ah, okay!”
“Understood!”
“Everyone, gather! Work, work!”
The sudden incident was handled without any reluctance, as everyone was already used to it. I was grateful. I hadn’t expected the museum to be filled with such things, so I secretly adjusted my schedule.
‘Sorry to the construction workers, but I’ll have to expand the size a bit more.’
Since Zeus-sama had sent the things, the workers probably wouldn’t show any reluctance either. I informed the servants to tell the workers about this. Of course, they would be treated better because of their work, so I made sure not to forget to reassure them about that.
“Every time I come down I’ve noticed how busy you always are, Perseus.”
“……”
The goddess who had just dropped off the things wouldn’t say something like that, but…
Ah, I forgave Hestia.
“Is that how it looks? I feel guilty because I think I live too luxuriously. Thinking about the construction workers outside now, their sweat must be shining even more, don’t you think?”
“Labor doesn’t require sweating all the time. Even women who raise families have their own hardships, so you’re just working harder from inside rather than outside.”
Hestia, being the goddess of that side, spoke with the utmost respect for temple work. Especially since we had many female servants, there was probably something that caught her eye.
“Hestia-sama, how long do you plan to stay?”
“Oh? You don’t like me coming down?”
“No, no~! It’s not that! The fact that the goddess comes down so often leaves me at a loss! Recently I met Demeter-sama… Until just the other day, Artemis-sama was here… and now Hestia-sama…”
“You left out Apollo, Hermes, and Hades.”
“And Hephaestus-sama! If you put it that way, it seems I’ve met quite a lot of them.”
I smiled awkwardly, and Hestia’s smile widened even more.
“Being loved by so many people, you can show off your shoulders proudly. This task too, Zeus-sama is looking at it very favorably, so it’ll surely turn out well.”
That would be nice, but hearing her say that didn’t sound like a good sign. If no one interfered and stayed quiet, maybe, but when Hestia and even Zeus were involved and someone was saying such things, where was a human who could stay calm? Especially for someone who knew even a little about Greek mythology, the atmosphere felt very bad.
‘What’s going on? Am I about to be struck by lightning and die?’
I hadn’t treated Zeus badly at all…
Just in case, maybe I should increase the offerings.
“Why?”
“No. Since Hestia-sama came down, I was thinking what we’d do today…”
“You don’t have to worry about it. It’s a rare break, so I’d like a quieter rest than yesterday.”
“A rare break, you say?”
“The amount of offerings rising to Olympus has increased lately, so I’ve been struggling to manage them… and since Zeus-sama deliberately sent some down, it’s probably a short break…”
“Ah, I see.”
Though it wasn’t exactly a gift, she was clearly pointing at us. We brought offerings to all the Twelve Gods almost every day, and the one in Olympus who handled them was probably Hestia, so it wasn’t hard to imagine how much she must be struggling.
‘She can’t handle that amount alone, so she must be receiving help… even so…’
I stopped imagining. And of course I couldn’t reduce the offerings, so there was no point worrying unnecessarily.
“Then I’ll try to make today as quiet as possible. If your heart changes, please let us know anytime. We are always ready to make Hestia-sama happy.”
“It’s fine. Such words are enough to make me happy. Today I plan to spend time with the children, so don’t worry.”
Even though she was the virgin goddess, she loved children very much. She said she would sing with our choir again today. From what I saw, unlike with Artemis, leaving her alone wouldn’t cause any problems with the goddess, but somehow my instinct prickled toward the bad side.
‘Even in this good atmosphere, why do I feel so suffocated?’
The warning of a commotion.
It seemed like a very big problem would arise.