The Goddess of Mint, Mente - (2)
The three judges of the Underworld, the Minos brothers. Among them, Minos—who had been king of Crete during his mortal life—gazed at Hades, the Lord of the Underworld who judged souls.
“I made my living in Athens by weaving…”
The sinner kneeling before him was named Arachne. She had been the most skilled weaver in all of Athens, but she made one fatal mistake. She boasted that even the goddess of wisdom, Athena, was not superior to her in the craft.
The goddess of wisdom, patron deity of the city-state of Athens, was naturally furious. Disguised as an old woman, Athena visited Arachne and advised her to apologize at the goddess’s temple. But Arachne replied, “I fear neither Athena’s divine punishment nor her judgment. I could even challenge her to a weaving contest myself.”
“…And that was when the goddess Athena revealed her true form.”
“So the two of you had a weaving contest. Correct?”
Independent of Arachne’s words, the goddess Mnemosyne examined her memories and relayed them to the Lord of the Underworld. As a fellow judge, Minos also received those shared memories.
In front of the people, Arachne and the goddess Athena competed. Arachne wove scenes depicting Zeus committing adultery with countless goddesses like Leto and Europa, along with the various misdeeds and scandals of the Twelve Olympians. Astonishingly, Arachne’s skill was slightly superior to Athena’s. However, by openly mocking the gods’ wrongdoings… she naturally incurred the goddess’s wrath.
Athena transformed Arachne into a spider, condemning her to spin thread and weave until the day she died.
That was how Arachne’s soul had ended up in the Underworld. Since this was the land of the dead and the three chief gods—especially Hades himself—stood right before her, she remained quiet. Yet regardless of right and wrong, it was clear that Arachne harbored deep hatred for Athena, the one who had turned her into a spider.
The gloomy, handsome man who had seen through her entire past finally spoke.
“Goddess Mnemosyne, please show me the tapestry Arachne created in greater detail.”
“Understood, Hades.”
The goddess of memory read Arachne’s recollections and projected an illusion into the air. True to her reputation as the greatest weaver in the city who had bested Athena, the tapestry’s patterns were dazzling and beautiful. However—
“There are scenes of the gods being defeated by Typhon, Zeus’s scandals… and even Dionysus killing the king of Thebes…”
Hades slowly examined the tapestry that laid bare every shameful act of the gods. His brow furrowed slightly. Arachne, prostrated before him, froze solid, clearly bracing herself for a severe punishment.
“But why did you criticize Hestia? She has never brought harm to mortals.”
“That is…”
“The goddess of the hearth was a benevolent deity who worried most about the suffering of humans during the battle against Typhon. Do you have any excuse?”
“…None, my lord.”
After a brief moment of contemplation, Hades tapped the armrest of his chair and delivered his verdict.
“Being arrogant about one’s superior skill is not a crime. Failing to recognize Athena disguised as an old woman is understandable. However, challenging the revealed goddess Athena to a contest and then criticizing every single god was a grave mistake.”
Arachne, who had been prepared for the Lord of the Underworld’s fury, looked utterly shocked. Watching her, Minos thought to himself,
The Lord of the Underworld continued his judgment with a calm demeanor, even in the presence of a criminal who had committed high treason by insulting the gods. If any other Olympian had ruled the Underworld, Arachne would have been sentenced to heavy punishment without a proper trial.
“Of course, turning you into a spider may seem excessive. But everything you ate and drank was something we created. The olive tree, the pride of the Athens where you lived, was a gift bestowed upon the city by the goddess of wisdom. And the fact that you could weave by the warmth of the hearth every night was thanks to the benevolence of the goddess of the hearth… Tsk.”
From what Minos had come to understand, the god of mercy and the Underworld, Hades, valued fairness above all else. Unlike the other gods who weighed the sin of insulting divinity far more heavily than the sin of killing humans, his lord was different.
“I will deduct the punishment you received from Athena from the karmic retribution for your sins. I will also take into account that you have already faced death. Therefore, my judgment upon you is…”
Even when his own blood relative was insulted, Hades excluded emotion as much as possible and rendered a careful verdict. The punishment given to Arachne was neither excessive nor insufficient.
“Who is the next sinner, Minos?”
“Yes… The next is someone who committed suicide in Corinth…”
The Lord of the Underworld, fairer than anyone else, was a benevolent god worthy of the sincere faith that Minos, who had once been a king, could offer.
The day’s trials had finally come to an end.
“Lord Hades, you worked hard today.”
“Minos, you worked hard as well. Is it Rhadamanthus’s turn to preside over the court tomorrow?”
The judge of the Underworld, who appeared as a middle-aged man, spoke to me. It seemed he had something else he wanted to say…
“I heard that the newly ascended goddess wished to come to the Underworld herself?”
“You mean Mente? It seems you’ve met her.”
“From what I understand, she came to the Underworld because she is in love with you, my lord. If you have any interest in her…”
What interest? I looked at Minos, who had suddenly taken on the role of matchmaker, and shook my head.
“Ah! Lord Hades, do you perhaps already have a goddess in mind? Perhaps Goddess Styx or Goddess Lethe…”
“Are you asking if I plan to take a primary wife first?”
“Ahem. It is common knowledge that both ladies are aiming for the position of mistress of the Underworld…”
“I am not so foolish that I would fail to notice their feelings. Besides, it would be ridiculous for one of the three chief gods like myself to lack popularity with the opposite sex.”
Whether it was Poseidon, whose personality surged like violent waves, or Zeus, who raped any woman who caught his eye, any chief god who ruled over an entire realm was bound to be popular with women.
“The problem lies with me, not with them.”
“Pardon?”
“Seeing the countless victims of rape by gods and those sacrificed in romantic tragedies arrive in the Underworld every day has made me hesitant to marry.”
When numerous male gods competed to rape mortals, far too many victims chose death. Some gods even killed the victims’ fiancés or husbands before claiming the wives. And were the goddesses any different? Driven by jealousy, they killed human men, turned them into animals, or plunged them into eternal sleep. All sorts of tragedies occurred.
And every human who suffered from the gods’ affairs, romantic entanglements, and rapes eventually came to the Underworld and poured out their grievances to me. Most of the victims harbored such deep resentment that they refused to forget even after drinking from the River of Lethe.
“Just today, four female souls who were raped by gods arrived in the Underworld.”
“Ah…”
“And the number of human men who were killed simply because they were engaged to women the gods desired…”
I had strictly warned the gods under my command in the Underworld, and since they were already overworked, they never touched mortals. However, the gods belonging to the heavenly palace of Olympus or the underwater palace ruled by Poseidon were not so restrained.
“Besides, aren’t all the goddesses related to me by blood? So naturally…”
“From a human perspective, yes. But I was under the impression that gods paid no heed to such things.”
Of course other gods wouldn’t care. Zeus alone had relations with his own mother, his sisters, his descendants’ daughters, and even his cousins. But I found the idea of being intimate with blood relatives rather distasteful. When you thought about it, even Goddess Styx and Goddess Lethe were distant relatives.
“Hmm. Then you do not intend to marry for the time being?”
“It seems that way. Avoiding it entirely would be wrong, but…”
I shook my head and set down the documents. Minos asked with a curious expression.
“Now that I think about it, won’t the newly born goddess named Mente find it difficult to adapt to the work of the Underworld?”
“Well, since she was so confident, there’s no need to worry too much. She’ll get used to it eventually.”
Humans, nymphs—no, gods in general—were creatures of adaptation. And since she had already worked as a priestess in the mortal world… she should manage on her own, right?
However, at that very moment, the Goddess of Mint was…
“Goddess Lethe… Do I really have to do all of this?”
“Yes…”
She was staring in despair at the mountain of work piled in front of her. She had clearly imagined that after ascending to the glorious position of a goddess, she would stand by the side of the handsome Lord Hades and assist him…
“B-but do I have to handle all these documents by myself?”
“That’s only a single day’s worth…”
“….#@#$#!!!!!”
She had become the Goddess of Mint, so she had assumed her duties would involve managing mint plants or using her authority to subtly help spread mint throughout the world. That was all she had imagined. Yet—
“The Underworld is busy. You knew that when you volunteered to help, didn’t you…?”
“T-this much?”
When she cautiously flipped through the scroll of parchment, the contents written there were clearly not something that could be finished in a single day.
Management of the soul soldiers residing in the Underworld and the allocation of living space for the endless stream of incoming souls every day. The sequential reincarnation procedures for the deceased waiting in the fortress after their trials. Final decision-making authority over the repair and construction of roads and buildings across the vast Underworld. Mediation of disputes between the dead and preparations against the Gigantes, among other things…
No matter how she looked at it, none of this seemed like work suitable for the Goddess of Mint!
Mente let out a silent scream. Grabbing her trembling hands, she spoke to Goddess Lethe.
“U-um… I am the Goddess of Mint, you know…”
“…? Yes, and I am the Goddess of Forgetfulness.”
Lethe tilted her head and answered in the same manner, as if asking what the problem was. Faced with that innocent expression, Mente froze on the spot.
The silver-haired goddess passed by Mente, who had finally realized the harsh reality of the Underworld—the workplace every god avoided at all costs. A faint murmur escaped her lips.
“If she can’t even handle this much, Hades won’t even spare her a glance, let alone take her as a concubine…”
“Hah! O-of course I can finish it quickly!”
“Oh…? Really? Then could you take care of these as well…”
Thud. Thump.
It definitely wasn’t that Goddess Lethe was taking revenge because Mente liked Lord Hades… or so she told herself. As she caught the scrolls flying toward her from the air, propelled by the power of forgetfulness… the Goddess of Mint thought exactly that.