A Slightly Different Underworld (2)
The sound of footsteps echoed through the halls. As I carried Persephone in my arms back to the citadel, I felt a faint stirring against my chest. It seemed she had recovered enough to regain consciousness.
"Mmm... Where am I...? Ah!"
"You're awake. I'll set you down soon, so bear with me a little longer."
Overwriting another god's domain with my own power is no simple task. It is the same reason Gaia finds it difficult to meddle in Thebes, which overflows with my worshippers. Even as one of the three chief gods, covering Athens or Delphi with my influence is far from easy. Not impossible, but it drains a considerable amount of energy.
Yet a deity whose divinity falls short of even the Twelve Olympians dares to touch my realm? Even if she had only adjusted a portion of the Underworld, it should have been anything but simple. The only reason it was possible at all was because she was Persephone, born of Zeus and Demeter's bloodline. Had my niece not been present in the Underworld, the Twelve Olympians themselves would have been forced to neutralize its energies.
"Uncle Hades... to think you'd hold me so tenderly like this... Does this mean you've finally decided to marry me?"
"Just stay quiet until I put you down and focus on recovering your strength."
The goddess in my arms offered a weak smile as she teased me, but her face remained deathly pale. She likely couldn't even lift a single finger right now.
When I examined the Underworld's energy she had neutralized and the power she had expended...
"This isn't a one-time affair. You'll need to infuse it with power once every six months or so to keep it stable."
"Then that means I get to be held by Uncle Hades once every six months?"
"...Since you've done this for me, as often as you like."
The spring energy Persephone had poured forth did not last indefinitely. In time, the Underworld's own energies would erode it again, eventually returning everything to its original state.
"Heh... Hehehe..."
"What are you giggling about? For the time being, you won't even be able to use your divine power properly."
"I just... like how things are right now..."
"Sigh..."
When Persephone looked up at me with that bright, beaming smile, the corner of my mouth must have lifted without my realizing it. My niece, still nestled in my arms, gazed up with a startled expression.
"Eh?! Didn't you just smile?"
"...You imagined it."
I laid Persephone down in a suitable chamber and returned to my throne, closing my eyes. From this point forward, I needed to prepare to deliver oracles to the mortal realm and begin training heroes.
A few days earlier, Zeus had taken Morpheus with him, declaring he would deliver an oracle directly to the king of Thebes. I would need to give advance notice to the priests of my own temple. Training equipment and supplies had to be placed in the canyon... And since the heroes' food would need to be supplied from the mortal world rather than the Underworld, that matter required attention as well...
The priests in the mortal realm were going to suffer for a while.
"Are you the current high priest? I summoned you because I have instructions to deliver."
"Th-this is! Lord of the Underworld...! Command me!"
The current high priest was an elderly man. Observing how the faces and positions of the mortals I remembered kept changing made me keenly aware of the relentless flow of time, but...
"I will connect the Underworld and the mortal realm, using my temple as the starting point."
"Y-yes?!"
There was no time to dwell on such sentiments. The high priest was visibly flustered by the sudden declaration, but I ignored his reaction and continued.
I explained about the snake monsters, the Gigantes... the training and oversight of heroes, the oath of silence sworn upon the River Styx, and...
"...That is all. The finer details will be settled after you consult with the king of Thebes, who will receive Zeus's oracle in a few days."
"I shall obey your command in all things. God of Mercy, Pluto!"
"One more thing... Erect a statue of Persephone, goddess of spring and seeds, daughter of Demeter and Zeus."
"Does this mean... the Goddess of Spring will reside in the Underworld?!"
"It simply turned out that way. She now belongs to the Underworld as one of its goddesses."
I conveyed only the appropriately limited information to him in Thebes and severed the connection. No matter how devoted a high priest of my temple he might be, there was no need to reveal every detail of the gods' affairs.
This particular high priest seemed to possess remarkably strong faith. Connecting to the mortal realm and conveying my will had been unusually easy. It felt as though the worshippers' devotion grew stronger with each passing year...
"Hades-nim! This is a letter from Goddess Demeter addressed to Goddess Persephone!"
From Demeter, Goddess of the Harvest and Earth
To my beloved daughter, Persephone
— Your Mother
"...There's no need to bring it to me. Deliver it to Persephone directly."
As I sat quietly upon my throne, the tasks kept pouring in.
"Next, those who arrived in the Underworld still carrying memories due to powerful grudges have been using disrespectful language toward the gods..."
"Inform the Goddess of Forgetfulness, Lady Lethe."
"The god Eros, tasked with punishing the Underworld's worst sinners, has submitted a petition saying he no longer wishes to draw his bow..."
"Did he beg to be released?"
"Um... not quite that desperately."
"He still hasn't learned his lesson. For the time being, do not relay any more of Eros's messages."
"Additionally, the legitimate son of the Lord of the Seas, God Poseidon—God Triton—has arrived and sends his greetings..."
"Guide him to the audience chamber and bring nectar."
I handled each matter the herald brought, one after another, and thought to myself that this was what the Underworld was supposed to feel like.
Those who wish to become heroes, head to Thebes.
Oracles from the Olympian gods descended upon the mortal world. They reached Apollo's temple in Delphi and Athena's temple in Argos...
The single collective message the Olympian gods delivered to the lower realm was this: those who wished to become heroes should make their way to Thebes.
It was a short oracle of only one sentence, yet it greatly stirred the hearts of every young person who dreamed of heroism.
After the widely renowned teacher of heroes, Chiron, had been killed, many believed the path to becoming a hero had been severed... Yet perhaps because the recent rampage of enormous snake-bodied monsters had swept across all of Greece, the number of aspiring heroes overflowed.
"Does that mean I can train there and become a hero?"
"Lord Apollo said the name of those snake monsters that killed Lord Chiron is Gigantes."
"They say Goddess Athena descended in Athens and slew the Gigantes herself?"
"Monsters that only heroes can face... Perfect! That's exactly the kind of challenge I want!"
Moreover, since all the gods had spoken through oracles, the conclusion was obvious.
"If I go to Thebes, I can enter the gods' favor!"
"Those chosen there will receive blessings, divine weapons, and become true heroes!"
"Just like Perseus of Argos...!"
Dozens of hero aspirants poured into Thebes every single day. With people of every gender, age, and talent flooding the city, Thebes entered an unexpected period of prosperity.
"Your Majesty, the number of people who passed through the gates today alone..."
"The city's population is surging rapidly."
"The commercial district is becoming overcrowded. We may need to consider expansion..."
While the explosive population growth threatened shortages of supplies and facilities, this was a city blessed by Pluto, god of wealth. The Theban royal treasury remained perpetually full, and not a single person went hungry.
The city's specialty and signature product—mint—spread across the world through merchants who passed through here.
"So this is mint. They say it's Pluto's grace, eh?"
"It's perfect for tea leaves, and if placed upon a funeral bier, it masks the scent of death."
"It's also useful for headaches or blocked noses... There's no explanation except that it's mercy granted by Pluto to us mortals."
Naturally, worshippers also flocked to the Temple of Pluto in Thebes. They marveled at the temple's majesty, marveled again at the statues of the various gods belonging to the Underworld, and finally...
"Wait, why is there a statue of the Goddess of Spring inside Pluto's temple?"
"Ah, this one?"
"Isn't Lady Persephone the daughter of the Earth Goddess Demeter and Lord Zeus?"
"Kekeke. That's because... Pluto got struck by one of Eros's arrows and brought her down to the Underworld!"
"What?! Eros's arrow?"
"Otherwise, how could the noble and lofty Lord of the Underworld suddenly fall for the Goddess of Spring?"
The misunderstanding that Pluto had kidnapped Persephone spread just as quickly.
The question of who the mistress of the Underworld might be—a figure who had not existed when the temple was first built—gradually grew into a major topic of speculation.
"Indeed, for the God of Mercy to bring the Goddess of Spring to the Underworld, it must have taken Eros's arrow."
"Since the Zeus of the underworld is Pluto himself, no matter how hard Goddess Demeter fought, it was probably futile..."
"Doesn't Eros's golden arrow stir feelings even between those of the same sex?"
Worshippers who venerated the newly arrived goddess who had not originally belonged to the Underworld also appeared. They were the ones who believed the tale that Pluto had loved Persephone so deeply he had taken her to the Underworld.
"O Hera of the underworld who enjoys Pluto's favor, please grant us a bountiful harvest this year..."
"Still, since the four seasons remain normal, she must visit the surface world from time to time, no?"
"She must truly be beloved by Pluto."
However, those who regarded Persephone as the mistress of the Underworld soon met fierce opposition. Many worshippers asked what all the numerous goddess statues that had existed in the temple from the beginning were supposed to represent.
"No, Lady Persephone is nothing more than one of Lord Pluto's whims!"
"Just among the statues here we have the Goddess of Forgetfulness, Lady Lethe, and the ruler of the River Styx, Lady Styx..."
"Then what about Lady Mente, who created mint, became Pluto's priestess, and ultimately became a goddess of the Underworld?"
"Just as Lady Hera is Zeus's lawful wife and Lady Amphitrite is Poseidon's, the mistress of the Underworld is..."
"Actually, isn't it possible there is no single lawful wife? Maybe it's only our own assumption..."
"Nonsense! That's the real nonsense! How can the one who rules an entire world have no one by their side?!"
"That may be true, but Lord Pluto is so terribly busy with countless duties..."
It was the ancient Greeks' characteristic love of debating utterly pointless matters on full display. In the end, the wide open plaza in front of the Temple of Hades...
Transformed into a place where worshippers of the Underworld gathered daily to passionately debate who Pluto's true queen might be.