The King of the Gods, Zeus (2)
A blinding flash of brilliant lightning flooded my vision with pure white.
In that instant, a delicate hand shot forward and covered my eyes, then yanked my head back with a sharp twist.
**Rumble—!**
A deafening crack of thunder swallowed the earth.
The lightning that had bleached the world white gradually faded as time passed.
Only then did the hand over my eyes fall away.
“Benefactor, are you alright?”
“Ah, yes. I’m fine.”
Golden eyes scanned my face.
The one who had shielded my eyes was **Vanessa**.
“I’m sorry for being rude. There wasn’t time to warn you.”
“No, thanks to you I’m unharmed. Thank you, Lady Vanessa.”
Vanessa’s reaction had been flawless. Even a moment’s delay might have left me blind.
The glare of the lightning was so intense that closing my eyes wouldn’t have been enough to protect them.
I glanced sideways and saw Jeanne opening her eyes.
“Jeanne, are you okay?”
“Yes, I’m fine.”
Her clear violet eyes told me she had come through unscathed as well.
**Crackle— Crackle—**
Sparks danced through the air.
I turned toward the spot where the bolt had struck.
‘That’s insane.’
Lightning still lingered, defying the natural order and saturating the space with electric current.
Within that storm, a hazy human silhouette began to emerge.
No— it was the form of a **god**.
At last, the god stepped out from within the lightning.
He took the shape of a powerfully built, middle-aged man with flowing white hair swept back from his face. His eyes glowed with the cold blue light of thunder as they swept indifferently across the surroundings.
“I greet you, Lord Zeus.”
Having met his gaze, Pythia dropped to one knee.
The man was none other than the King of the Gods.
The god of thunder and lightning—**Zeus**.
‘…So this is what a god feels like.’
A chill ran down my spine.
Apollo and Heracles had both been overwhelming, but this presence was on an entirely different level.
Just looking at him made my hairs stand on end.
Every cell in my body screamed a single warning: *danger*.
“Lord Zeus, what brings you to this place?”
“You dare ask me that?”
At Apollo’s question, irritation flashed across Zeus’s previously indifferent eyes.
“You have used **Ignifer** for personal reasons in the mortal realm.”
Zeus’s gaze was fixed on the Sun Bow, **Ignifer**, held in Apollo’s hand.
“A god who must maintain balance should never let emotion dictate the use of Ignifer, Apollo.”
“…But Heracles insulted me first.”
“Was it not you who abandoned your duty first?”
“Well, that is…”
“Do you truly intend to make excuses for neglecting the sacred duty of purification simply because you feared Hera’s wrath?”
Zeus’s voice overflowed with the authority and dignity befitting the King of the Gods.
Since his words were undeniably correct, Apollo could offer no defense.
However, separate from how well he spoke to his children, the one who feared Hera’s temper the most was Zeus himself.
After all, Zeus was the greatest womanizer in Greek mythology—an unrivaled playboy who had taken more than forty lovers while ignoring his lawful wife Hera.
Any beautiful woman who caught his eye was fair game.
Because of that, Zeus was in no position to complain even when Hera obstructed Heracles.
He could hardly step forward to defend a child born of his infidelity in front of Hera.
In fact, he had even named the boy **Heracles**—“Glory of Hera”—by combining Hera’s name with the word *kleos* meaning glory, all in an attempt to appease her.
So when this same Zeus rebuked Apollo in such an authoritative tone, Apollo could only fall silent.
He clearly had plenty to say, but couldn’t utter a word.
Zeus couldn’t support Heracles directly, so he was using Apollo to vent the hero’s madness.
All under the pretext of stopping their fight.
‘Still, just to be safe…’
“I’m sorry, but could you two please step back for a moment? I’ll call you again later.”
Before Zeus could turn his attention toward me, I canceled the summons on Jeanne and Vanessa.
Both women possessed beauty more than sufficient to catch Zeus’s eye.
There was no telling what kind of trouble they might face if they fell into that lecher’s radar.
After all, Zeus was the kind of god who lost all reason the moment he saw a beautiful woman.
Fortunately, Zeus’s attention was currently locked on Heracles.
“Heracles.”
“Yes, Father Zeus.”
“The Twelve Labors I bestowed upon you were trials meant to atone for your sins.”
“I am aware.”
“Yet I hear there are outsiders participating in your trials.”
The blue eyes brimming with lightning turned toward me.
Suddenly, Zeus narrowed his brow.
“You are not the only outsider, are you?”
As if I were not the one he sought, Zeus scanned the area around me.
As though his true target were elsewhere.
‘Good thing I canceled the summons.’
Zeus might have been spying on Jeanne and Vanessa from the heavens before he descended.
Judging by his behavior, it was almost certainly the case.
“Where have your companions gone?”
The very fact that he asked proved it.
“They have returned for now.”
“Is that so? What a shame. I wanted to see everyone who joined the trials.”
Zeus appeared briefly interested, but soon lost interest entirely.
It seemed he hadn’t gotten a proper look at Vanessa or Jeanne.
If he had, his personality would never have allowed him to give up so easily.
“Then next time I shall—”
**Shaaaaa…**
As Zeus continued speaking, the crescent moon on the back of my hand began to glow, releasing moonlight.
The gathered lunar light soon took the form of **Artemis**.
“Artemis? What business brings you here?”
“He is my apostle.”
“Oh?”
At Artemis’s declaration while looking at me, Zeus’s blue eyes flashed.
His gaze, now filled with interest, turned in my direction.
“Was it not you who decided not to take another apostle after Orion?”
“There simply hadn’t been a human worthy of becoming one.”
The term **apostle** referred to someone who had formed a direct contract with a god.
Apollo’s apostle was the priestess Pythia; she wielded his power and received his oracles.
Just as I communicated with Artemis and wielded her unique authority, the **Holy Hunt**.
That aside—
‘First since Orion?’
This was news to me as well.
It seemed my presence in this other world had moved Artemis, who had sworn off apostles, to choose me.
‘…I really hit the jackpot.’
This was the equivalent of winning the lottery.
I had become the sole apostle of a goddess who refused to take any.
The only apostle.
In other words, I held exclusive rights to Artemis’s powers.
If there was only one apostle, Artemis would pour all her attention onto that single person.
Even Zeus seemed surprised; his interest in Vanessa and Jeanne vanished completely.
Perhaps Artemis had appeared precisely to achieve this effect.
She had deliberately drawn Zeus’s attention away.
“Weren’t you here to stop the fight between Apollo and Heracles?”
“Before that, I have one question. Where have you hidden **Taygete**?”
“I cannot tell you that.”
“……”
Zeus’s blue eyes, laden with lightning, fixed on Artemis.
Yet Artemis did not yield even before that piercing gaze.
She had already experienced losing someone dear to her because of Zeus.
“……”
After staring at Artemis for a moment, Zeus’s gaze returned to Heracles.
“Heracles.”
“Yes.”
“The Twelve Labors were originally trials given solely to you.”
“I know.”
“However, the **Moirae** have intervened, and outsiders have joined you.”
Zeus glanced at me before continuing.
“It is the consensus of Olympus that the number of labors should be increased.”
“……”
Heracles remained silent.
Zeus’s words meant he intended to add more trials after they had already been reduced.
“What is your will, Father?”
“Hera proposed adding four more labors, but I have judged that two will be sufficient.”
“I will follow your will.”
Heracles quietly accepted Zeus’s decision.
Though Heracles was the type to act first and think later, the one person he always obeyed was his father Zeus.
However, this was not a welcome development for me.
He wanted to increase an already lengthy list of trials?
‘Is this because of the Gigantomachia?’
The only matter serious enough to make the Olympian gods pay such close attention to Heracles’s Twelve Labors was the Gigantomachia.
After all, Prometheus had prophesied that Olympus would need the help of a “human hero” to defeat the giants.
Olympus was staking everything on nurturing that human hero.
It was only natural that their focus fell on Heracles, who showed the highest chance of success.
And the Twelve Labors were the “test” that would decide whether Heracles would ascend to Olympus.
Since those labors had become too easy, the gods had apparently decided that revising the trials was inevitable.
They feared that if the trials were too simple, Heracles would not grow strong enough.
In my opinion, it was a completely unnecessary worry.
‘Twelve is already plenty.’
If possible, I wanted to skip the remaining nine trials entirely.
And perhaps this was an opportunity.
Zeus was already trying to modify the labors.
That was why…
“Lord Zeus.”
“……”
“Increasing the number of labors will only waste Heracles’s time.”
I interjected into Zeus’s verdict.