Chapter 120
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 120
Chapter Title: Nesneria's Secret
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Amphitrite.
Goddess of gales and storms, tidal waves.
Poseidon's consort and queen of the sea, originally the great goddess who ruled the oceans after succeeding Oceanus.
Her majesty ranks among the three most powerful goddesses, alongside Olympus's queen Hera and the underworld's queen Persephone.
Like Persephone, the queen of the underworld, she devotes herself mainly to managing her domain, the sea, so her influence on land isn't all that great, or so it's said.
However, to sailors crossing the ocean, fishermen, and pirates, she is revered as a guardian deity—or the most fearsome goddess.
Moreover, according to Chiron's lessons, she turns a reasonably blind eye to Poseidon's philandering, and she's not overly harsh on heroes of Poseidon's bloodline either, which is why heroes descended from Poseidon have higher survival rates than those from Zeus's line.
If you're ever crossing the sea, offer the finest mead from the area—along with well-prepared meat from a hunt you did yourself—and you won't have to worry about deep-sea expeditions, or so they say.
And one more thing.
'She's a goddess who's roamed the seas for ages, so she has a very open personality. If you ever find yourself before her, she actually dislikes it more if you tremble in fear or prostrate yourself flat.'
Chiron, our teacher, had emphasized to remember this without fail—not to jot it on a stone tablet, but to engrave it in our minds.
In this era, theology lessons for heroes are mostly just crash courses in how to deal with gods and basic common sense.
"Ooh..."
"Whoa..."
And a teacher's grace is as vast as the heavens.
Thanks to that, I instantly grasped the scale of this open personality attached to that goddess.
"What in the world is..."
"Wooow!! This is! Big Sis's suuuper favorite villa!"
As Neri said, we were at a villa.
Glancing outside, the moonlit sea surface shimmered far above in the sky.
Looking down, far below, barely visible were Poseidon's statue and the peak of an abyssal volcano lit by deep-sea glow.
Neri and I had arrived in an instant before the massive villa perched atop that peak.
"Woooow!"
"Neri! Even if you go by yourself like that...!"
Just like a kid, huh. Neri dashed excitedly toward the enormous palace doors.
With those tiny hands, she couldn't possibly break them down, but opening them might be another story.
Shaking my head helplessly, I followed—and felt my sense of scale starting to creak.
"No, how big is this thing?"
The villa's grand entrance, where Neri and I arrived in a flash, was nothing short of a work of art.
The door, crafted from blue gems, coral, and white marble, reminded me of the Arc de Triomphe I'd seen in France long ago.
It looked smaller than the palace doors I'd glimpsed earlier, but way more expensive...
"Open the door!"
Before I could even touch it, Neri reached the door and shouted boldly. The massive villa door slid open silently, welcoming us.
"...Magic?"
"Dia! Hurry, let's go! Quick!"
Her eyes sparkling like she'd arrived at an amusement park, Neri grabbed my arm and pulled me forward.
"Big Sis spent 500 years decorating this palace! She said she'd give it to me after my real coming-of-age ceremony and let me peek inside just once! It's like a dream!"
"Ahh..."
She was right—it really was a dreamlike place.
The palace, filled to the brim with softly glowing coral and jewels twinkling like starlight, illuminated the vast villa without being too bright like daytime or too dark like a new moon night.
"This is the garden! This is the walkway! This is the reception hall! This is the swimming pool!"
Neri dragged me around the villa, seemingly having forgotten last night's tears and her earlier embarrassed wriggling.
"Huff... huff... Th-this is..."
That boundless childlike energy overflowing from her, combined with the nymph's vibrant life force surging through the sea—it was all just Neri.
Even for her, showing me the entire villa was too much.
"Anyway, I get it. This place is incredible."
The palace in the Paradise of Transformable Objects and Pleasures in the human realm, built over twenty years by the offerings of a million demon sect followers where I'd dwelled in my previous life.
This villa, gifted to Neri, surpassed even my temple in beauty and grandeur.
Reliefs of the thousand wave sisters adorned everywhere, along with images of Poseidon and Amphitrite protecting and blessing the palace.
And at the center of the villa stood a massive statue of an old god and a beautiful goddess.
"These are..."
"Yeah! Our dad and mom! Cool, right?"
They used to be much bigger than this!
With innocent cheer, she tossed out words that filled me with worry and fear, then continued the villa tour.
"Now I see why you kept saying you wanted to bring me here whenever you got the chance."
The sweeping view of the villa beyond the corridors and walls, and the beautiful seascape rippling even further—it was nothing like the dark, gloomy imagination I'd had.
-Swoooosh...
The endless whispers of ocean currents churning like wind, colorful sea creatures swimming languidly along them.
And twinkling things sparkling like starlight, illuminating the dark abyss.
"Wow!! The sea stars are out...!"
"Sea stars?"
"Yeah! They only come out when Brother-in-Law and Big Sis are really happy, so it looks like she really likes you!"
I figured they were jellyfish or deep-sea fish, but Neri, who grew up in these waters, knew better than my walnut-sized knowledge.
"Neri."
"Yeah?"
"Shall we talk?"
Neri, hanging from the window frame, eyes sparkling at the stars afloat in the abyss.
I sat beside her and smiled awkwardly.
"Uh... um... F-first, the villa tour..."
"I want to talk now."
As expected.
I sometimes got fooled by her childlike appearance and behavior, treating her like a kid, but she was a goddess of the sea's lineage, just like the heavenly royals.
Even if she tried to bewitch me with her innocent demeanor and childish looks, that deep, beautiful essence always shimmered beyond those blue eyes.
What drew me in most was the darkness behind that radiant light.
"But..."
"Neri, no matter what secret or story you're hiding. Nothing you're worried about will happen from me."
Who could fail to love this dual-natured goddess, who held an inescapable purity and a fearful abyss?
And what could make this small goddess, brimming with such beautiful, destructive hues, try so hard to avoid me?
She'd fled into the sea weeping and wailing just from thinking I'd embraced another woman instead of her—yet even now, facing me, she desperately donned her child mask to dodge a real conversation.
Today, I planned to gently peel back those layers.
"Umm..."
"..."
"Ov-over there's..."
"..."
"Hiiing..."
Under my silent gaze, Neri pouted her lips, then finally gave up and hopped right beside me.
"Neri? Let me start..."
"No."
She'd hesitated right up until sitting beside me, but now that she had, she seemed resolved.
She shook her head firmly at my words.
"Me first... I'll say it first."
Even among nymphs, their place in the world varies by type and rank.
From ordinary spirits or fairy-level nymphs to minor deities born of divine bloodlines.
But Nereid nymphs like her sisters were among the most noble even among nymphs.
Heirs to Uranus's lineage, whom even Zeus would step down from his throne and bow his head to as honored guests.
Their mother, Tethys, was foster mother and mentor to countless goddesses, and Queen Hera herself had granted them perpetual access to Olympus.
Foolish mortals merely called them sea nymphs, but they were already goddesses inheriting the divine lineage of holy Uranus, more sacred than any on Olympus.
Manifestations of the thousand sacred waves that even the heavenly Zeus dared not command or touch at will.
One day, an ancient prophet came before them.
The seer before seers to mortals, the creator before artisans. The Titan of prophecy, Prometheus, pursued by Zeus for giving fire to humanity.
When ancient kin fled Olympus's pursuit across the deepest seas to his palace, the great ocean Titan welcomed him with open arms.
But the prophet refused, unworthy as a sinner to enter the sacred palace, and from a spot where his uncle's palace was just visible, he uttered one prophecy before the Titan of the vast ocean and the goddess of clear waters, then vanished.
[The ocean's most precious treasure. Daughters of clear waters and the mighty ocean.
The final ripple of waves none can resist loving, none can escape falling into—if it bears bloodline, that child shall surpass its father, whoever he may be.]
And that day, Tethys had just given birth to a young goddess and was holding a feast.
Only then did the ocean king and queen realize why the great prophet had come with such a devastated, guilty expression.
Soon after, Prometheus surrendered to Zeus of his own accord and fell silent on the final prophecy.
The ocean king and queen could not hide their despair at the future now tangled with the child whimpering in their arms.
In this savage era of fierce beasts and wild monsters.
Their precious, adorable youngest daughter had been born bearing too cruel a prophecy.