The Tale of Eros and Psyche - (1)
The Athos Mountain expedition had achieved a half-success despite Gaia's trap. That was the conclusion I reached. It was a shame that Chrysaor of the Golden Sword had escaped, but given they had fallen into one of Gaia's schemes to begin with, the outcome was not bad. Still, something about Orion's death felt off... Apollo's divine beast, that crow, had moved in such a way? The creature's intelligence was far from dull. It should have easily predicted the path of the golden sword pursuing it from behind.
"Lord Hades. About that hero who just died after dealing with Orthus..."
"You mean Orion, Poseidon's son."
Persephone, who had been watching the mortal realm with me, spoke up with clear curiosity on her face. She had pestered me to let her observe the expedition too, and once permitted, she had watched with surprising focus. The desperate struggles of mortals were merely fleeting entertainment for the gods... Well. It was simply a difference in perspective, I supposed.
"When I visited the Olympian palace last time, I learned something while looking down at the lower world."
"What was it?"
"He was hunting on the ground with Sister Artemis. She seemed to cherish that human a great deal..."
So Persephone had finally visited the Olympian palace. Until she met me, she had never even attended the banquets held there. Now that she was known as my wife, Demeter must have felt safe enough to allow her to attend. So the human Artemis cherished was Orion... That explained why Apollo's divine beast had behaved so strangely. Still, mere suspicion was not enough to question the sun god. Punishing my nephew based solely on circumstantial evidence would be excessive interference.
"So... I'll remember this fault and deliver a proper scolding all at once later."
"Pardon?"
"It's nothing."
Apollo had been quick to assist me when I descended to fight Cronus, yet this matter left me rather disappointed. He probably thought it was just one insignificant human... Of course, as one of the Twelve Olympians, Apollo had plenty of reason to think that way. At their core, gods looked down on mortals. He must have assumed that if things went wrong, he could simply blame it on his beast's mistake.
He was supposed to be the god of reason, yet whenever it involved love or his sister, all reason flew out the window. How should I educate such a nephew? And how would Poseidon, who doted on his children, react? After all, if Apollo hadn't intervened, the entire expedition would have been wiped out. Poseidon might feel uneasy but let it pass... No, that was impossible.
I stroked Persephone's hair as she sat beside me and gazed back at the mortal realm. The Macedonian kingdom's army had arrived late, joining forces with the heroes to finish off the remaining monsters and clean up the battlefield.
"Heh heh..."
Orion would soon arrive in the Underworld, along with the countless other brave souls who had died there. By now they were probably being led along by Thanatos's hand...
"Lord Hades, the goddess of the moon has come to the Underworld!"
"Artemis has come to the Underworld? Send her in."
Yes, it seemed the feelings Artemis harbored for that human ran quite deep.
"Uncle Hades... please... revive Orion...!"
I looked down with some discomfort at my niece, who had suddenly dropped to her knees before me and begun pleading. This niece, with whom I had neither a particularly bad nor particularly good relationship, was now shedding clear tears onto the floor as she begged me.
So the feelings you held for that human, Orion, ran this deep? For a lofty goddess to come all the way to the Underworld, kneel, and plead like this... Had they truly been lovers? Even a goddess who had sworn herself to chastity could not escape the emotion called love.
"You know very well that such a request is impossible, don't you?"
"But... we loved each other. Brother Apollo must have noticed and deliberately killed him..."
"Sigh..."
So Artemis had reached the same conclusion I had. Even so, I could not revive him.
"Are you bringing this up because of the time I revived Tantalus's child?"
"Yes... Uncle, you revived a human who met an unjust death, so please..."
"That was an exceptionally horrific crime, and because he was a complete victim, I returned his soul to the living world."
Tantalus's incident had enraged nearly all the gods. The perpetrator himself was suffering eternal torment in Tartarus, and the kingdom he had ruled was left in ruins. It had been such a grave matter that I had made an exception...
"In Orion's case, that exception cannot apply. He chose to join the expedition himself and died as a great hero at the tip of Chrysaor's golden sword."
"It wasn't the golden sword... It was Brother Apollo who..."
"...Even if Apollo did kill that human, I cannot revive him."
The goddess of the moon continued shedding tears from her beautiful face. Even if Apollo had indirectly caused the death, the dead remained dead. This was not something I could grant simply because Artemis begged. Still, Orion was a great hero who had slain Orthus, Typhon’s child. If it was merely a matter of appropriate reward for his labors...
"You may leave now. I regret the death of your lover. The only thing I can do for you is..."
"...?"
"Return to Zeus and tell him that I requested Orion be made into a constellation. It would not be bad to eternally honor a great hero engraved in the heavens."
"Yes. Thank... sob... you..."
"If you wish, I can arrange for you to meet Orion once..."
After our conversation ended, the goddess of the moon bowed to me and left the audience chamber. It seemed her sorrow had eased somewhat, which was fortunate. She appeared at least somewhat comforted by the fact that her lover would be immortalized in the stars. Since he had slain one of Typhon’s children, making him a constellation was a fitting achievement, and Zeus would likely raise him into the heavens without complaint. Perhaps Poseidon could find some consolation in that as well. At the very least, I hoped he wouldn’t be so enraged at Apollo that he dragged him down into the depths of the sea.
Just in case, I should probably send Zeus a few words about punishing Apollo...? I would need to think about it a little more.
At the very moment Hades and Artemis were conversing in the Underworld, in a corner of the Olympian palace...
A mother was scolding her son, while the son was vehemently refusing something. It was a quarrel between the winged young god Eros and his mother, Aphrodite.
"I won't do it! No matter what you say, I refuse, Mother!"
"Eros, even Hades wouldn't say much if you used the golden arrow for something like this! Why won't you listen to me!"
To understand how this situation had come about, one needed to look back a little.
In one kingdom of the mortal realm lived a beautiful youngest princess named Psyche. She was so extraordinarily beautiful that humans worshipped her as a goddess who had descended to the present world. Rumors even spread that she was more beautiful than Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty and love. Those who believed the rumors had begun neglecting the sacrifices offered to the goddess.
"I hear Princess Psyche is actually the daughter of Goddess Aphrodite?"
"Indeed. How else could one explain such beauty?"
"I've never seen the goddess in my life. Don't you think Psyche must be far more beautiful than Goddess Aphrodite?"
The rumor that Psyche was Aphrodite's daughter was only the beginning. Eventually, in the kingdom where Psyche lived, dust began to gather in the temple of the goddess of beauty and visitors stopped coming. Naturally, this earned Aphrodite's fierce wrath.
"Just who is this insolent wench who dares steal my glory?"
When Psyche neither corrected the rumors nor showed any humility, instead seeming to enjoy them, Aphrodite's anger grew even greater. Thus the goddess of beauty resolved to deliver divine punishment through her son Eros...
"Shoot that insolent girl with a golden arrow and make her fall in love with the most repulsive human imaginable."
"...I don't want to!"
"What did you say?! You refuse to shoot a mere human with an arrow?"
"Last time I shot a golden arrow carelessly and Lord Hades caught me! I had to keep shooting arrows for ages!"
That was right. Eros, who had been practicing his archery and accidentally struck Persephone, had been dragged down to the Underworld. Fearing he would be dragged back there again to work, he shook his head even at his mother's command.
Returning to the present, Aphrodite was desperately trying to persuade her son while Eros wore a sullen expression. The goddess of beauty was doing everything she could to convince her child to shoot Psyche with the golden arrow.
"Eros. Hades only pointed out the location where you were practicing archery. He never said anything about you shooting someone, did he?"
"But..."
"Think about it carefully. The reason Hades got angry was ultimately your irresponsibility with arrows you can't even control yourself. He won't say anything if you deliberately shoot a human with divine punishment."
"Ugh... But what if he does! I don't want to go to the Underworld again and shoot arrows at those weird mortals!"
"Are you saying you can't even shoot one arrow when this mother’s temple is falling into such ruin? When my glory is being trampled in that kingdom?"
Aphrodite approached the distressed Eros, who was clutching his head in agony, and gently coaxed him. If Hades had seen this scene, he would have said there was no need to go so far for a single human who wouldn't live very long anyway. But at this moment, the enraged goddess was filled with determination to deliver the punishment she desired.
"So, Eros. If Hades questions you, just say I ordered it. There. Now hurry and go shoot the golden arrow."
"...R-really? You'll take full responsibility...?"
"Yes, say I ordered it and go already!"
In the end, Eros, persuaded, took the magic arrow and headed toward the mortal realm. He was probably also a little curious to see Psyche's face, which was said to rival his mother's beauty.