The Filthy Whore Without a Trace of Shame
"It is done. This should be enough..."
With that, Aphrodite tucked the dagger at her waist and murmured the words with grim determination.
She had been born into this world only a few months ago. Even allowing for the rapid growth typical of a god, she was still young enough to be called a child.
And yet, setting that aside, ever since she had decided to prepare for the journey to Tartarus, she had been training in weapons with unrelenting focus.
Even with the gods’ prodigious talent for learning, swords and blunt weapons simply had not suited her at all.
The only things that were even remotely usable were archery and the dagger at her waist.
Of course, compared with Hephaestus, let alone Thetis or Nerites, her combat strength still lagged far behind. Even so, she had done everything she could to master what she could.
She had stubbornly refused Hephaestus when he told her, "You should just stay home and not go to Tartarus."
In a situation like this, even if she couldn’t bring enemies down herself, she at least had to avoid becoming dead weight and grabbing someone’s ankle like she had during that Poseidon incident.
With that tiny shred of confidence, Aphrodite glanced around at the others beside her.
Kedalion stood there gripping the hammer she had finally finished, her face set with resolve.
Nerites and Thetis were equipped with the sword, water whip, and armor they had received from their father, Nereus.
And then there was Hephaestus, who had completed what could only be called full battle readiness, wearing the armor he had made with his own hands and his beloved gauntlets as his primary weapons.
The place before them was nothing less than the abyss itself, and yet, with her friends beside her, Aphrodite felt strangely reassured.
So she followed behind Hephaestus and began walking toward the passage that had opened before them, leading to Tartarus.
At that moment,
Still utterly unaware of the presence hidden in the darkness, watching them from the shadows—
...I guess there’s no helping it. If it’s come to this, I’ll have to...
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
We passed through a storm of hot steam. It stank foully, like some kind of natural gas rising from an oil field, and the moment we were through it, our eyes—dressed in black robes to match the local style—were opened to a world far larger than anything I had imagined.
“So this is...”
“Tartarus...”
A colossal underground cavern stretched out beyond sight. Within the darkness draped over that endless void, only a bizarre, faint blue light made it possible to distinguish the mountains, cliffs, and the black river winding through the land.
If humans had stood here, they would have been swallowed by terror from the very sight of it, their minds slowly eroded with every step they took.
But none of us here were affected by that kind of darkness.
Four of us were gods to begin with.
The remaining one was a Cyclops, which still counted as part of the divine race.
For beings like us, who could easily see through darkness, simple blackness was no obstacle at all.
“What’s that light?”
“The remnants of the dead. Fragments of souls worn thin over countless years remain like embers and burn quietly like that.”
“Hmm...”
“I expected something like this, but the lighting itself is still profoundly unholy...”
Even from the first thing we saw, it was obvious that this place was a world completely unlike the one above.
With our caution sharpened to a blade, we followed Kedalion’s lead and carefully headed north.
“If I remember correctly from the books I read, Tartarus is divided into two regions. Is that right?”
“Yes, that’s right, Nerites. I’ve never been there myself, but my mother... um... that woman taught me the same thing.”
Tartarus was split into north and south.
The northern highlands were the domain of Tartarus, the god of the abyss, centered around the Street of the Abyss and the surrounding settlements.
And in the southern lowlands lay the realm of Nyx, the goddess of night, centered on a place called the Dwelling of Night.
Of the two, the place with any degree of brightness at all was the north, where we were headed now.
Of course, “brightness” only referred to the amount of light reaching the area.
In practical terms, the cries of the souls called sinners rang out from the northern region.
“Well... if by brightness you mean sound brightness, then I suppose that’s not entirely wrong.”
The moment Thetis heard the tormented screams already reaching our ears, she said with obvious disgust.
Though nothing could be seen, the sound alone seemed to explain exactly what the words hell on earth meant.
Our brows twisted before we knew it, and we advanced carefully toward the Street of the Abyss.
“There’s quite a lot here. I did read that the population was sizable, but I didn’t expect this much.”
“The problem is that most of them are dead souls...”
At first glance, the residents looked no different from ordinary people or animals.
Whether they simply failed to notice our presence or didn’t care, I couldn’t tell, but the way they went about their lives without paying us any mind didn’t seem all that different from the human villages of the present day.
The only thing that gave them away was the faint translucence of their forms, proof that they were not living beings but the dead.
Following the busy stream of souls, we finally reached the entrance to the Street of the Abyss.
At the crossroads of multiple roads and gates stood the guards, who seemed to be the city’s watch.
They wore black robes over their uniforms and black helmets from which blue flames spilled in the eye sockets.
“Those are them... the Abyss Guards.”
A kind of public authority controlling law and order in this place.
That was the official role, at least, though in truth they were practically the nobility of the abyss and a close faction beneath Tartarus himself.
Individually, their power amounted to little more than that of a lesser god or a fairy, so from our perspective they were nothing more than trash mobs. But if we provoked them in the wrong way here, there was no doubt the whole area would explode into chaos like a kicked hornet’s nest.
So for the time being, we kept our bodies tucked as much as possible among the crowd and moved toward them.
“But even if we do that, won’t they still recognize us? Didn’t that little girl say the Abyss Guards can easily tell the life force of the living apart?”
Aphrodite’s question was laced with concern.
My answer was short and certain.
“If they do, then there’s nothing we can do about it.”
“...?! H-Huh? Wait, don’t tell me...”
“It’ll be over quickly.”
If we were caught, I’d just handle it fast and clean, like a proper man should.
With that, I tightened the strength in my gauntleted fist and took the lead, using my massive frame to hide the others as I slowly approached the guards.
Then—
“Make way for the procession!”
“Do not interfere, and all of you get back!”
“Huh?”
Sudden commotion burst from another road.
The dead halted in their tracks, and we, too, stood still for the moment and naturally turned our heads in that direction.
A moment later, a single figure came into view.
A woman riding in a splendid carriage and moving forward in a noisy procession under the protection of the guards.
Black hair, black eyes,
and black clothing that made her seem lavish to the point of decadence.
Save for her pale skin, she looked like someone had carved out a piece of night itself.
At the same time, aside from the eye area, she gave off a strangely similar impression to Kedalion.
That woman had to be...
“M-Mom...”
Kedalion’s voice trembled as the word slipped out.
And then I could see it.
Written across the little girl’s face was a single emotion...
Longing.
Just then—
“...!”
For an instant, the woman in the carriage turned her gaze this way.
Kedalion hurriedly lowered her head and clicked her tongue.
“Tch...”
...
Frowning, as though suppressing something complicated, Kedalion ground her teeth with naked fury.
“That woman... how could she... how could she leave her family and...”
The father who was still presumably bound in chains as a slave, and her own life, full of suffering on the surface—everything stood in such bitter contrast to hers.
Even if she was his own flesh and blood, it was impossible not to lose one’s temper at the sight of her living lavishly after betraying her family.
And the rest of us, watching the scene beside her, felt the same way.
“Not exactly a pretty sight.”
“Wow, she’s even more shameless than I expected.”
“What a filthy bitch. To parade her adultery so proudly like this! A dirty whore without even a trace of shame—how can there be such a vile woman in this world?”
“...”
It was a bizarre feeling, hearing the woman who had been far nastier in the original myth explode in the most intense rage here.
Still, I spoke in a calm voice to my enraged companions.
“Calm down. What matters right now isn’t that woman. It’s getting into the Street of the Abyss.”
Thanks to the procession drawing everyone’s attention that way, the guard around this entrance had loosened up.
This was our chance to get inside.
So I quickly settled my furious companions and headed straight for the entrance.
But then—
“Hold it right there.”
“...Tch.”
“...Gulp.”
A guard suddenly called us to a stop just as we were about to pass through.
I clicked my tongue softly at his diligence, which had not slackened even amid all the commotion, and gathered fire into my gauntleted fist, ready to land a hot one square on his face.
But then—
“Take this.”
“...?”
Instead of trying to arrest us or picking a fight, the guard handed us a small scroll.
For a moment, we froze in confusion, and the guard, sounding mildly annoyed, said, “What are you waiting for? Take it. It was requested by your companion from the Dwelling of Night.”
...
The guard urged us again in a low voice.
When I took the scroll, he no longer paid me any attention and merely watched the road ahead.
So, contrary to all expectations, the situation ended with a hollow thud.
Feeling both relieved and puzzled, we first moved to a secluded corner within the Street of the Abyss and carefully examined the scroll.
“If it’s the Dwelling of Night, then they mean the children of Nyx, right? The ones locked in a power struggle with Tartarus over control of the abyss...”
“Looks like they probably mistook us for people on their side.”
“Well, most of them are dead souls, and we’re the only living ones here. I guess that could happen.”
We had entered secretly with Styx’s help in the first place.
From their point of view, it would be normal not to imagine that anyone had come from the surface at all.
“Hm? Then isn’t that strange? Aren’t those people under Tartarus? Why would they hand this to the god of the Dwelling of Night, who could be a potential enemy?”
“Hmm... maybe those guards are rotten on the inside, just like they look on the outside.”
“? What are you talking about, Thetis?”
“There are things like that. Anyway... if we check what’s written inside, won’t we understand the details?”
With confusion, curiosity, and caution all mixed together, we read the contents.
And then—
“Nyx...?”
“Why is that woman’s name showing up here again?...”
Just as the name of the woman who was currently the center of that noisy procession came up, our confusion deepened, and we kept reading.
And then:
- Nyx.
Tartarus’ toy.
Currently residing in a luxurious mansion on the black riverbank at the outer edge of the Street of the Abyss.
Spends about seventy percent of each day here, and once a day makes a procession through the Street of the Abyss on the way to Tartarus.
*P.S. The mansion’s defenses are light.
Total combat strength: two guards.
If you plan to attack, do it right after the lights go completely out.
“H-Hephaestus... could it be...”
“...”