Love and Fire - (1)
Lately, Gaia has been unusually quiet. Could it be because the aspiring heroes who had gathered in Thebes finished their training and returned to the mortal world, where they’ve been busy slaying monsters? Or perhaps it’s thanks to the items I gave them—each one infused with Dionysus’s power—to prevent them from falling into Gaia’s madness. Chiron must have been aware of this too, since he mentioned putting extra effort into their mental training.
“Lord Hades, Lady Demeter and Lady Persephone have arrived at the entrance to the Underworld.”
“It’s about time for Persephone… Let them in.”
The messenger approached to report that it was time for Persephone’s annual descent. After a short wait, the doors to the audience chamber opened and the two goddesses entered. Demeter, with her chilly expression, and beside her—a golden-haired beauty who came running straight toward me.
“Uncle Hades! I missed you so much!”
She threw herself into my arms with a soft thud. I hesitated for a moment, wondering if I should dodge, but one sharp glance from Demeter made me decide to simply embrace her. Seeing me accept her daughter, Demeter’s eyes softened at once. She used to be so fiercely overprotective…
“Huh? You’re accepting me so easily now? Heehee…”
“It’s been a while, Persephone. I understand, so please step aside for a moment.”
I gently set the beaming girl down beside me and turned to Demeter. The goddess of the earth stood with her arms crossed. Only after meeting my gaze did she finally speak.
“Hades. You probably received word from Olympus by now.”
“If you’re referring to the document saying they want to send Hephaestus down here because he caused an accident, then yes.”
I slid out the official letter Zeus had personally written and sent to the Underworld. The handwriting was so wildly scrawled that anyone could tell it had been written in a fit of rage.
“Brother Hades, I know the Underworld is extremely busy, but Hephaestus has caused a major incident, so for the time being, could you—”
I had no idea what the incident was, but an extra pair of hands in the already overworked Underworld was always welcome. I had immediately sent a cheerful letter of approval back to Olympus, but now…
“So, what brings the goddess of the earth herself all the way down to the Underworld to speak with me…?”
“That very incident is the problem! That fool tried to rape Athena, failed, and then got Gaia pregnant!”
“What kind of nonsense is that, Demeter?!”
What in the world had happened this time…
The full story Demeter told me was as follows.
Athena had visited Hephaestus’s forge inside the Olympian palace. The goddess of wisdom had come to ask the god of blacksmiths to craft her a fine weapon. Apparently she was furious after her own temple had recently been attacked by a chimera.
“Hephaestus, perhaps a shield and a spear—”
“Hooook… Athenaaaa!”
Hephaestus, who had been coldly rejected by Aphrodite and living in lonely solitude, had attempted to rape Athena after being overwhelmed by her beauty. But Athena was not only the goddess of wisdom—she was also the goddess of war.
“Hah!”
“Eh?! Uwaaaagh!”
Crash!
She had thrown the would-be rapist over her shoulder and hurled him away. However, the impact caused some of Hephaestus’s semen to splatter onto Athena’s thigh… and she had wiped it off and discarded it onto the earth.
“So Gaia, the Earth Mother, gave birth to Hephaestus’s child, and Athena is temporarily raising the boy?”
“Exactly! And that boy takes after his father so perfectly that he even tried to rape a goddess who had sworn eternal chastity—”
The real reason Zeus had flown into a rage and sent Hephaestus to the Underworld was probably not the attempted rape of Athena. We are currently in a state of open hostility with the Earth Mother Gaia. There is no telling what schemes she might concoct now that she has suddenly given birth to her great-grandson’s child. An unnecessary provocation—nay, an outright insult—against a powerful enemy. Or perhaps it was simply the act of rape itself.
She wasn’t a complete enemy, which was why I had still used respectful titles for her—she is both Demeter’s and my grandmother. And yet she had conceived a child with my nephew Hephaestus…
“Hmph! So now you understand why I came all the way down here, yes? Once Hephaestus arrives in the Underworld…”
“Ah… yes. I will make sure he cannot approach Persephone at all.”
Thankfully, Demeter’s words had snapped me out of the dark spiral my thoughts had been falling into. So she had come both to see Persephone off and to ask me to keep the blacksmith god away from her daughter.
Wait a moment. If Hephaestus’s semen had landed on the earth and impregnated Gaia… didn’t we have our own goddess of the earth right here? The very Demeter standing before me.
I glanced briefly at Demeter’s belly, but it showed no sign of pregnancy. Still, it would be best to hear it directly from her.
“But aren’t you also a goddess of the earth? Are you all right—”
“Ugh! Must I really say it out loud that I was spared because I do not hold complete dominion over the earth?!”
“…My apologies.”
Demeter’s face flushed bright red as she huffed and puffed for a long moment before storming out of the Underworld. Persephone, who had just learned the true nature of her cousin the blacksmith god, approached me, then—
Hop.
She quietly climbed onto my lap as I sat on the throne and gave me a seductive look.
Hmm. She’s still quite clumsy compared to Aphrodite…
“Hehe! Lord Hades! Since even Lady Gaia gave birth to Uncle Hephaestus’s child, surely it’s fine for us too, right?”
“…Your mother really should have seen this.”
Why on earth is she calling him “uncle”? He’s your half-brother… no, cousin… damn it, my head hurts. I should stop thinking about it.
“Ehehe… Didn’t you miss me?! I thought about you every single day!”
Why did you drop the “uncle” title, my dear niece? And stop… rubbing yourself against my arm like that.
After sending Persephone off to an appropriate chamber, some time passed before two gods arrived in the Underworld.
“Great-uncle Hades, it has been a long time.”
“Greetings…”
One was a muscular male god with slumped, utterly dejected shoulders and his wrists bound—Hephaestus. The other was the goddess of the moon, Artemis, who followed closely behind as if keeping watch to make sure he didn’t try to escape.
Judging by the way Artemis kept shooting Hephaestus contemptuous glares, the news had clearly spread throughout the Olympian palace. Most of the gods probably already knew the full story of the incident.
“I’ve already heard everything. Artemis, you may return now.”
“Ah… and…”
“Did Zeus give you a message to deliver to me?”
Artemis’s sharp voice echoed through the audience chamber as she kept her head bowed. Since Athena—who, like her, had sworn virginity upon the River Styx—had nearly been raped, she probably couldn’t treat this as someone else’s problem.
“Yes. Father told me to relay this to you: ‘Use my brother however you wish.’”
Hephaestus’s face grew even darker. But no matter how I looked at it, wasn’t this entirely his own fault?
“Tell Zeus I received the message. You may withdraw.”
“Understood, Great-uncle.”
Before leaving, Artemis shot the gloomy blacksmith god one last fierce glare. Perhaps because of the crime he had committed, he merely avoided her gaze and offered no response whatsoever.
“…Hmph!”
Thud, thud.
Once Artemis had returned to the surface, I spoke to Hephaestus. The moment my mouth opened, his well-trained muscles twitched as if he were a piece of rotting meat.
“Hephaestus.”
“Yes, Great-uncle.”
“Just what were you thinking? Athena is a virgin goddess who swore chastity upon the River Styx. And you tried to force yourself on her without even a proper marriage.”
“That’s… I was wronged!”
What could he possibly mean by “wronged”? He had tried to rape her and failed… I stared at him in disbelief as Hephaestus burst out in frustration.
“It was clearly Uncle Poseidon who told me that the reason Athena was coming to the forge was because she liked me…!”
“Ah.”
I understood the moment I heard it. Those two had never gotten along in the first place. During Poseidon’s rebellion, Athena had been invited to join but refused. Poseidon had relations with Medusa, whom Athena then turned into a monster. They had even fought bitterly over who would claim a certain city in the mortal world.
The people of that city had chosen Athena, who gifted them an olive tree, over Poseidon, who gave them a horse. In the end, she had won. The name of that city was Athens—the place with the most devout followers of the goddess of wisdom.
“So Poseidon tricked you in order to humiliate Athena… Tsk.”
“I believe so as well. But no one would listen to me.”
“Of course they wouldn’t! Who would believe the words of a man who tried to assault a goddess the moment she entered his forge and then failed?”
“Th-that’s…”
Hoo… Calm down. Just calm down. I’m not sure if this is right. No. This is an educational issue. It’s highly likely he learned this behavior because of Zeus’s endless womanizing. On top of that, he has yet to even share a bed once with his wife Aphrodite. The eldest son of the supreme god Zeus, the god of volcanoes, fire, and blacksmithing, reduced to this state… Truly, the future of Olympus looks very bright today.
“Summon Eros, who is in charge of torturing serious criminals.”
“Yes!”
After waiting a short while in the audience chamber with Hephaestus, a young male god entered, dripping ichor from his fingers. The moment he crossed the threshold, the god of love immediately prostrated himself.
“Lord Hades, I have reflected deeply and—”
“Eros. Teach Hephaestus the work you’ve been doing, then you may return to Olympus.”
Eros’s face brightened at once, his eyes widening like saucers. The exhausted, wilted expression he had worn just moments ago vanished without a trace.
“Thank you! Lord Hades! Even if Mother orders me, I swear I will never do it again! Really!”
“Gr-Great-uncle.”
“What is it?”
“Must I really be assigned to torturing criminals? If you could at least give me some work as a blacksmith…”
“If you keep spouting nonsense, I’ll tell Zeus to transfer your affiliation to the Underworld permanently.”
The root cause of the attempted rape of Athena was ultimately Hephaestus’s loneliness. Having Aphrodite as a wife yet being unable to satisfy his desires had probably driven him to this.
“Then I shall take my leave…”
“Please follow me, Lord Hephaestus!”
I watched the two of them leave the audience chamber, then pressed a hand to my forehead. Wait… If he’s so easily swayed that he would try to violate a goddess who swore chastity, what if a beautifully adorned Gaia appeared before him? Wouldn’t he switch sides? Especially now that they’ve even had a child together. If things continue like this… Hmm.
Since I can’t force his wife Aphrodite to love him, perhaps I really should arrange a divorce and find him a new goddess?
“…Hephaestus.”
“Yes?”
I need to put an end to this tiresome marriage problem of yours once and for all.