Chapter 141
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 141
Chapter Title: The Queen's Gift
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Imagine the princess character from a fairy tale. Close your eyes and picture her.
Soft reddish-gold hair that took after her father and mother equally, and jewel-like brown eyes sparkling with vitality and affection.
Wearing a Greek-style Doric chiton gifted personally by the goddess of weaving, draped over her body white as flawless jade instead of a frilly dress.
She exuded the ideal harmony of girl and woman in her fresh beauty, with a charm that softly soothed people like a spring breeze carrying flower petals—as if it were the most natural thing in the world. She looked like a budding little sister at times, a loving big sister at others.
Amid that blend of youthful innocence and elegance, her every word and gesture carried an unmistakable nobility and grace that evoked the lingering afterimage of the queen who had enchanted me time and again.
Before the main festival began, this noble and beautiful being had come at the gods' request to fetch me, introducing herself as Hebe.
"I've heard so much about you from Mother and Brother. Hehe, you're just as fun as they said."
"Ah, y-yes..."
Hebe, the goddess of youth whose name cropped up reliably in myths despite her low profile.
No matter how she'd been passed down orally into the 21st century, her name and title here in Greece were not to be taken lightly.
She wasn't prominent in myths, but she was one of Olympus's purest bloodlines—alongside Ares—one who truly deserved the title of the gods' princess.
I'd heard she was the goddess overseeing the gods' banquets, favored by the king and queen of the gods, and also in charge of their food, ambrosia, and nectar.
Apparently, even Asclepius owed her quite a bit.
He got godly wine and food through Apollo or Hermes sometimes, but it was all possible because this princess turned a blind eye.
And this subtly famous goddess showed unreserved curiosity and fondness toward me, sticking close by my side and delighting my ears with her pleasantly melodic voice.
"Mother called you a sage harboring profound wisdom and cunning, while Brother and Uncle praised you as a warrior fearless of the world. But I think I'll introduce you to them as a delightful musician."
The goddess Hebe tossed playful praise with a gentle smile.
Her fresh, pure smile held not a trace of mockery—only genuine affection that surprised me with its sincerity.
"Uh, um. You're too kind."
Even with praise from such a beautiful goddess, I couldn't just bask in it and scratched my head awkwardly.
About an hour had passed since I'd gotten carried away, belting out songs with the group in the heat of the moment, forgetting I was just a visitor.
Stepping back now, I wondered if I'd gone too far.
There was this longevity village in Bulgaria or Greece where countless elders lived long lives, and the secret was organic yogurt.
But then the average age started dropping because sweet Korean Yoplait imports flooded in.
Maybe what I'd done was like smuggling forbidden strawberry yogurt into that peaceful Greek village of long life.
Ancient Greece, where most songs were slow chants better called poetry—hymns to the gods or heroic ballads, with no hooks to speak of.
Into this pristine, crystal-clear zone without a single catchy tune, I'd hurled modern pop full of 16-bit EDM, special effects, and flashing lights.
And calling Hestia for a volcano show? That felt like overkill now...
I tried comforting myself that trot wasn't modern pop or K-pop, so it aligned somewhat with festival music on a broad scale.
But seeing those two hundred musicians—who hadn't touched a drop—get high on the vibe and turn into a party in seconds made me question what I'd unleashed.
If just two hundred sober band members went wild, what chemical reaction would hit when real drunk, blackout-crazy Greeks got blasted with frenzied EDM...?
I had to shove the mad festival scene forming in my head aside.
The bus had left long ago...
"Above all, it was so cool how you led with that overwhelming performance yet dove right in to party with everyone without hesitation! As the banquet organizer, I humbly request you show that skill at Olympus's feast too!"
"Hahahaha..."
True to her title as goddess of youth, Hebe sparkled innocently with praise.
Seeing her praise—what might become the black mark of my life—in eyes and a face so like the queen I'd admired, my atrophied conscience poked at me sharply.
(For the record, that vestigial organ was called a conscience.)
Under the chattering guidance of this gentle goddess of youth, we walked through the woods when suddenly a familiar energy swept over me.
It was the barrier's aura I felt whenever my dear queen personally attended to enjoy the music.
"...Ah, so the gods have set up their own spot."
"Yes! By the way, tons of gods and goddesses clearly saw that feat with the black storm earlier. Even Lady Artemis graced us with her presence!"
"Lady Artemis too...?"
"Yes! She seemed a bit displeased, but... as one of the proud Twelve Olympians, she must have been impressed by the heroic qualities you'll show leading Greece alongside Heracles!"
Hmm, somehow I doubt impressed was the word... more like groaning.
Artemis, the world's most beautiful toy that fell into my lap.
I'd neglected her for over two fortnights while distracted by Nereids at sea, but my sporadic curse messages ensuring she'd come to the hero tournament had paid off.
First time trying curse magic, so I wasn't sure it'd work.
Plus, sending from the ocean depths—hit or miss, so I'd spam whenever I thought of it.
Judging by her reactions back then, she was probably losing her mind by now.
'Well, self-inflicted. If she holds out to the end, maybe summon her quietly at the festival's tail end.'
Dionysus's festival lasted about a week, I'd heard.
Participants drank till sunrise, slept till sunset, then drank again in blissful madness.
And the god of wine and festival king decreed by divine word: anyone killing the vibe during festivities—regardless of age, gender, or status—would be turned into a pig for dinner snacks.
The closer I got, the fiercer her curse's reaction would be, so while I partied and worked busy for a week, that haughty moon goddess would yo-yo between heaven and hell endlessly.
She might even crash my bedroom before the week was out.
"What has you in such high spirits?"
"Ah, Lady Hera."
As I happily pondered how to handle that lofty goddess,
Hebe and I had already arrived at the queen's residence where she'd invited me.
It was still bright midday outside, but the sky was dyed warm twilight hues as the queen of the heavens commanded.
Framed by that heavenly twilight halo, the queen welcomed me softly.
"Your Majesty, as you commanded, I've escorted hero Dianes."
"Hebe, no need for such formality before Dianes. His mother is my teacher and goddess, and soon he'll be my younger brother and the disciple inheriting my teachings."
"Won't he soon be an uncle to you, like Poseidon?"
...Uncle?
This bizarre bombshell made Hebe and me exchange glances.
Suddenly, the goddess of youth had a dark uncle, and I had a goddess as a niece.
"Did I say something odd? Why the faces?"
"N-no, Mother... Uncle...?"
"This feels profoundly weird somehow."
I knew bloodlines meant little to gods, but the queen's queenly my-pace pushes sometimes left me dizzy.
"Hm... Sit first. Looks like you've been busy with fights and more."
"I sowed the seeds, so I reap them."
As the queen said, I'd stirred up plenty through this big event.
Nesneria and her nymphs arriving soon aside, the wine festival fearing backlash from my EDM toss, Jason and his Argonaut thugs turned total fans, kings' persistent interview requests, Asclepius's murder threat, Artemis training, etc...
"Should've just holed up in Pasos farming. Tsk."
The prophecy tying me to Nesneria was set in stone long ago, killing any hope.
Still, glancing at my quest list of epic quests one after another, present exploration points had no choice but to pile up.
Like an invisible hand working hard behind the festival's eat-and-party facade.
"What? Ahahahaha!"
"Nee?! What do you mean?!"
Hearing my sincere lament, the queen laughed uproariously lounging sideways, while the gods' princess jolted mid-pour of my wine.
"Ah, thank you."
"Y-yes, enjoy... Wait, thanks aren't the issue now!"
She looked younger than me on paper, but strictly my senior, so I accepted the cup politely with both hands.
True head server of the gods, she reflexively smiled brightly at my manners, but gawked at my fluent deflection like it was absurd.
"Don't you know how hot a topic you are on Olympus? Over half the Twelve already have eyes on you—especially Brother Ares and Uncle Poseidon...!"
"Hebe, enough. He's always like this. Quite unique, isn't he?"
"Eee... Mother, but..."
After laughing heartily, Hera gently stopped Hebe's machine-gun nagging.
"It's because he's like this that I can entrust my final memory to him carefree."
"Mother..."
Final memory?
Inheriting a memory?
"...Pardon, Your Majesty? What's that mean?"
Already reeling from the self-summoned disasters weighing on my head like a migraine, what quest was this lady piling on now?
Gracefully fielding my dubious stare, the queen declared with a subtle smile.
"Zeus is off somewhere unseen, and with today's feats plus Poseidon and Ares's endorsements."
"Above all, on this day my half-divine blessed one has made his name across Greece. To my priest, my friend, my hero—I wish to entrust the divine duty I've long upheld."
How about that?
The gods' queen made her loving bombshell declaration, still elegant and beautiful as ever.
But why?
Why did that lovely smile look like bait leading to a hellfire pit?