Chapter 111
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 111
Chapter Title: Theseus's Jealousy
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Theseus of Wisdom.
If Heracles symbolized raw power as the great warrior of the Heroes' Forest, then Theseus was the forest's grand general of strategy and wisdom.
The cunning commander who, alongside Jason, led an army to rival the great hero Heracles.
Even in the Heroes' Forest, he was always counted among the top handful of most handsome youths, male or female—a natural-born charmer whose charisma drew countless warriors to follow him. He was the prince of Athens.
The prince of Troezen and rightful heir to Athens's throne, he was the center of any crowd, wherever he went. Alongside Heracles, he was always the talk of the town.
Heracles's one true rival, the only man on his level.
That was the hero Theseus. And he was willing to wear the mask of the gentle, wise hero for as long as it took to achieve what he desired.
Even if they were dimwits with barely a tenth of his intellect and strength, these demigods were far more useful than lowly human soldiers. Under his command, they could even take on that monstrous Heracles.
Plus, Jason—while not quite on his level—was a sharp strategist in his own right.
If he carefully brought them all under his control from here on out, they would prove invaluable in reclaiming Athens's throne later.
He harbored ambitions.
The very ambitions dreamed of by all who were born human yet carried a drop of divine blood.
Stepping beyond Troezen's throne to claim Athens's crown, and ultimately ascending to Olympus itself under the gods' blessings.
And taking a beautiful goddess as his bride.
As Zeus's own blood and the unparalleled master of wisdom, he believed without a doubt that this was the ambition that suited him best.
From the moment he entered the Heroes' Forest, he knew.
This was the greatest stage Zeus had gifted him.
Gather capable soldiers under his banner, select a beautiful and powerful woman with strong backing to expand his influence,
secure valuable connections as a member of the Golden Generation, including Heracles,
and take on the forest's commissions to build fame safely.
What could be better?
He was convinced he was the chosen hero—the only one fit to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with that Heracles.
As time passed, the names Heracles and Theseus echoed across every corner of Greece.
Already, letters were pouring in to his mother in Troezen from various kingdoms, promising their daughters and thrones.
The proud but foolish demigods fell under his spell—his refined looks, smooth words, and mounting achievements—transforming into loyal soldiers.
With peers of comparable intellect and talent, he proudly stood as a member of the Golden Generation, his network growing ever more solid.
The elegant girls of divine blood and royal lineage yearned for just a glance from him, and in skill, no one in the forest—save Heracles—could match him.
Everything was unfolding exactly as he had planned.
From some point on, he began having the same dream every night.
The gleaming gates of Olympus flung wide to welcome him, and the beautiful goddess he had once glimpsed from afar greeting him in a pristine white bridal gown.
The journey toward that dream was finally beginning.
But then, a single dark shadow began to creep over his dream.
Dianes.
The nameless minor hero from Pasos.
When he first saw the black-haired orphan who, aside from Heracles, was the only one to match Chiron upon entry, he was shocked and astonished.
But he simply saw it as another strong connection for his network.
No particular ill feelings.
Yet from some day onward, strange rumors started circulating.
"Hey, about Heracles and Dianes..."
"That lunatic Dianes actually took on Heracles..."
"Nah, even against Heracles, Dianes couldn't have gone that far..."
"Heracles got one over on Dianes today, I heard?"
From some point on.
His name, once always uttered alongside Heracles, was being replaced by Dianes's.
And it didn't stop there.
"Did you hear that sound back then?"
"Sound? Apollo save us, after hearing that performance, did it really just sound like noise to you?"
"Aah~ I've thought he was too handsome since the first time I saw him..."
"So strong, so refined, and beautiful to boot..."
Among the beautiful girls and women who had always fawned over him, Dianes's name was now the one on their lips.
"But he endured it..."
His ambitions weren't about mere popularity in some small forest.
His goals weren't those half-baked demigods.
Heracles was a being no mere human could match by nature, and even if Dianes wielded comparable might,
an rootless orphan from Pasos could never compare to him—the legitimate heir to two kingdoms, with deep-rooted lineage.
Besides, all his preparations for his ambitions were complete—save for one missing puzzle piece he hadn't accounted for.
The perfect partner for his mortal life.
Atalanta.
"Yes, far better suited to be Theseus's bride than some pretty half-blood."
Though slowly declining under the gods' curse, Arcadia was a kingdom so prosperous it was seen as a paradise in Greece.
And Atalanta was the king's daughter, so vital that King Iasos was mobilizing an army to lift her curse.
If he took such an Atalanta as his bride and returned to Arcadia, he wouldn't just gain Troezen and Athens's forces—he'd seize Arcadia's vast wealth too.
And that was hardly all.
Her beauty rivaled Aphrodite's daughters and the nymphs of the beautiful woods. Having trained in hand-to-hand combat under Dianes, she had grown so strong that even Theseus couldn't predict the outcome of a fight against her. She matched the goddess of his dreams.
If he hadn't already set his heart on a goddess, he might have kept her as his consort even after ascending to divinity.
But as Artemis's daughter, sworn to chastity and sharp toward men, he had given up—only for her to open her heart to a man.
"I don't like that it's Dianes... but whatever. A strong-headed virgin brute is easy pickings."
And Theseus had witnessed it.
Dianes unleashing merciless violence on her in a secluded grove.
He didn't like seeing the woman who should be his marred, but Atalanta—deeply wounded by her love interest, however nominally—would fall for him with just a gentle smile.
"Women belong to those worthy of using and commanding them, by nature."
More than some savage orphan wielding strange magic and brute force, he—the heir to two kingdoms—could make far better use of Atalanta.
Her immense strength, her voluptuous body, her stunning beauty.
With his mind made up, Theseus made full preparations nonetheless.
He gathered the most beautiful flowers from the garden blessed by Demeter and Persephone, bought the priciest and loveliest ring from Hermes's market,
donned the exquisite clothes woven by his mother in Troezen, and headed to the morning woods where Atalanta always appeared.
And he was rejected.
"What? No thanks?"
"Wh-why!?"
It was the moment Theseus's mask cracked since entering the forest.
She was refusing him? Him—Zeus's blood, the shining general of strategy, heir to two kingdoms, beautiful enough to rival Aphrodite's daughters?
Caught in a scenario his brilliant mind hadn't even considered, Theseus forgot his dignity and raised his voice.
Even as he logically countered, Atalanta furrowed her brow as if he were absurd.
"Obviously, because I'm already Dianes's lover?"
"What? Because of that rootless wandering orphan, you're rejecting me?"
Again, Dianes.
Always Dianes—that black-haired drifter stealing the fame and admiring gazes that rightfully belonged to him just by showing up!
His strength and skills were useful, sure, but he was just a rootless orphan.
"Don't talk nonsense! Over some nobody without roots! I, Zeus's blood, Theseus of wisdom—"
As Theseus erupted in rage,
-Thwack!
Atalanta's fist mercilessly smashed his face.
"Gahhh!"
As Theseus screamed and rolled on the ground, clutching his throbbing head, Atalanta looked down at him with a cold sneer.
"Ha... just like all those sleazy creeps, eyes full of greed. You thought dressing up fancy and confessing would win me over? Especially while insulting my lover?"
"Ugh... then tell me! You'll give yourself to that rootless orphan who beats you black and blue? Reject this Theseus?"
Atalanta stared silently at the tantrum-throwing Theseus, then sighed deeply before speaking.
"Haa~ Dianes really is the only one. The only one who sees my true worth."
With that, she glared at him like vermin and turned, vanishing into the woods.
"Wait! Tell me! I can't accept this! Take me instead!"
The reality he had desperately ignored.
Atalanta's contemptuous eyes laid bare that the hero Theseus had been overshadowed by Dianes. Frantic, Theseus thrashed about.
And he thought.
He had to crush Dianes.
Or the name Theseus would be erased.
But Dianes—the great foe he burned with enmity toward—didn't even register him.
Those black eyes had surely caught his hostility and turmoil, yet he neither sought to eliminate Theseus nor mock him.
No interest at all.
That plunged Theseus's pride even deeper into the abyss, but he turned it into fuel. He devised schemes to oust him, strategies to defeat him, and honed his skills relentlessly.
Slaying mighty beasts, volunteering to play the monster in Heracles's strategy classes to test his tactics alone, pushing himself through grueling days.
One morning, during inspection and awaiting Heracles for morning drills, he spotted black hair falling from above.
He knew instinctively.
Today was the day to shatter the hollow name Dianes and make the hero Theseus shine unmistakably.
But that instinct, that hope, shattered in mere seconds.
A mythic clash evoking the Titanomachy.
A colossal war between two heroes—one he admired, one he envied—that he could scarcely believe they had wrought.
Watching it, Theseus knew.
Or rather, he hoped.
After such a massive battle, even a son of Zeus like Heracles might be fine, but that rootless Dianes must be utterly spent.
Now, with his army, his strategies, and the skills honed through blood and sweat, he could erase that black stain completely.
"Dianes! If I win, stop your unjust violence against Atalanta and set her free!"
He prayed his instincts were true.
Invoking all the gods of Olympus and his idolized beautiful Athena, Theseus declared the duel.