Chapter 152
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 152
Chapter Title: Divine Deeds and Divine Power
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Divine deeds and divine power.
In Dionysus's feast, where distinctions of status, gender, and age all melted away.
As today's star, Dianes, stepped back a pace with Dionysus for a quiet chat, the new protagonists of the feast were none other than the beautiful victors of the day.
"Ughhh! My son Actaeon. When did you grow into such a fine young man?!"
"D-Dad... M-My face hurts...!"
The King of Thebes, already sparing with his affections, shed tears of joy over his son who had grown into a proud warrior.
-Heracles! Heracles! Heracles!
"Kuahaha! That's fifteen jars down! I hold my liquor sooo well!"
"M-Monster freak..."
"Zetes, you madman. I told you to stop... Urp!"
Someone else was heartily draining a wine jar atop the corpses of those he'd bested in a drinking contest.
"Oh, Eireneia. My beautiful sorceress. Do you know how much I've missed you?"
"...Oh? Who's this? Isn't it the noble prince of Megara who called me a loose whore?"
"Acis! Please, hear me out!"
"Forget it. Just drop it! Whenever it suited you, you insulted me as the lowly son of a pastoral god!"
Aroused by the heroic feats on display before the world today, nobles stepped forward to rekindle old flames, only to be firmly rebuffed.
"Phesileny. What do you think?"
"Don't worry, Captain. Father said it's all clear."
"Mother said so too. Since the bond was severed first by her father, Nemesis won't come meddling in her divine deeds."
"Father was actually furious, saying he couldn't even call that bastard his father."
"Good. Even the gods support our ambitions."
A group of female warriors quietly celebrated having taken one step closer to their ambitions, off to the side.
"Prince Jason."
"Ah, my dear Telomian. You must've had a long journey. How was it?"
"Haha, what would a mere merchant blessed by Hermes, forever counting coins, know of heroes' feats."
But it's my honor to present this to you, Prince. The Iolcos Merchant Alliance supports you, the rightful heir of Jason."
"...Thank you."
"Think nothing of it. Iolcos awaits your return always. With the grand defeat I witnessed today and your valor, everyone will rejoice."
The prince, who had thought his envisioned future distant, silently cheered at the golden key now in his grasp.
Dionysus's feast, where joy and despair, cheers and screams, praise and awe coexisted.
Beneath the scorching revelry evoking a cauldron of madness, a strange movement stirred.
No one noticed amid the drunken frenzy of eating and drinking, but dodging the staggering revelers' feet nimbly, it silently advanced toward its goal.
In the midst of its path, having found the optimal route to its targets, it let out an eerie sound and scattered in all directions.
"Hm? What's that sound?"
"What sound? It's your fart!"
-Kekekeke!
A few sharp-eared satyrs tilted their heads at the odd noise, but that was it.
The things, obeying their master's command, quietly raced toward their targets.
Some in the form of snakes, others as crows.
Spreading silently throughout the feast hall, they lunged at their confirmed targets.
-Shaaa...!
-Caw! Caw!
"Eek!? A snake?"
"...A crow?"
Perching on their targets' shoulders and necks, the pitch-black messengers whispered in unison.
[Run straight to the coast.]
Whispering thus in Dianes's voice, the messengers who had just set the feast ablaze melted into the shadows.
The fifty warriors who heard it slipped quietly from the feast, knowing their long-awaited moment had arrived.
"Acis!"
"No need! It's urgent...!"
"W-Wait. Then go."
"Hey. Heracles. Heading out first."
"...Telomian."
"Yes, Prince. Seems urgent. Safe travels."
"D-Dad!"
"Mm, yes. Go quickly. Hurry back!"
The promised message they'd awaited so long.
The feast behind the curtain called to the warriors who had risen once more after tasting death today.
"...Tch!"
And someone hiding in the forest shadows trailed them stealthily.
"...Impossible."
"W-What on earth..."
That was my beloved sisters' reaction to watching me create familiars with divine power.
Even Eris, goddess of discord, couldn't nitpick and just gawked.
Nemesis, goddess of retribution, trembled at this pure display of authority, devoid of tricks or magic.
"Um... F-First, let's check on things over there..."
"Sit down."
"Yes, ma'am."
By now, Neri's sisters were probably emerging one by one along the moonlit sea path.
I'd casually asked Karyklo to prepare a seaside banquet by Poseidon's shore.
When I sent messengers to Jason and his fifty swordsmen, I also flew crows skyward to check, and as expected, Lady Karyklo had everything perfectly ready.
'At this point, they'll manage fine without me.'
I considered going out in case Neri came too, but recalling how she'd clung to me last night until dawn before collapsing, she probably wouldn't make it.
'Honestly, she was incredible.'
This young body's dormant volcano of desire, once ignited, wouldn't subside.
With the pirate king couple's blessings turning every day into a life-or-death brawl, I'd return to Neri's detached palace at night, unleashing the rebound by ravishing her body till dawn.
Sometimes I'd scoop up Neri who'd come to greet me at the inner gates and take her right there; other times, a sudden kiss from her during a post-meal garden stroll would ignite us, bodies entwining on the spot.
Outdoors was wild enough, but indoors? We barely spoke.
Neri—no, Nesneria's body was an endless abyss like the deep sea, my desire an erupting volcano without end.
It wouldn't overstate to say we spent nearly every moment entwined until the seas calmed and the volcano slept.
"Brother?"
"...Yes?"
"You look kinda sour..."
My face, loosened by memories of our underwater newlywed life up to this morning, hardened in haste, but retribution and discord missed not the subtle slip.
"Huh? I thought it was just the divine deed issue, but the vibe's weird, sis."
"Right? What happened?"
Damn, as expected of the goddess of discord. Sniffing out bait like a ghost?
"Well, I have a lover too, you know."
"What?!"
"Huh!?"
Even two, in fact.
I barely swallowed the latter part.
The moment "lover" escaped my lips, the two goddesses froze like thunderstruck pigeons, wings flapping stiffly.
"Uh... th-that..."
"Wh-what...?"
Staring at me with emotions hard to articulate, like they'd heard tales of cats mating with dogs or fish with birds.
"H-How?"
"...What?"
What did that flying strawberry milk just say?
"...No. Eris. That's not the issue now. There's something else."
True to form as the rational one among us siblings, Nemesis snapped back to senses and steered the topic.
"We'll talk about that later."
Or not?
I couldn't fathom why my much older sisters, with ages dwarfing mine, were so wide-eyed at hints of my love life.
But that wasn't important now.
"So. Normally, only gods with proper divine deeds can manifest authority through divine power, right?"
"Yes! There've been cases of awakened bloodline divine power manifesting as auras, but for a human to sublimate divine power into authority like you? Impossible!"
Even material creation or transformation could occasionally be shown by humans via blessings, like golden-handed Midas or Mestra, daughter of Erysichthon.
But creating spirits or pseudo-lifeforms with one's own divine power, or transforming freely? Utterly impossible.
"Sis, how is this possible?"
"Who knows. In the end, it's Mother's will."
"Isn't that a bit much to fuss over?"
I'd once combined Western magic, divine regression spells, and sorcery devoured from the Blood Cult to forge familiars as summoned guardians.
I couldn't grasp why these Greek goddesses, versed in such "miracles," were so shocked.
"Eris. You made me make apples and snakes to teach divine power control. What was that about?"
"Th-that was... Y'know, for when you become a god someday, just showing how it's done."
Eris stammered under my counterattack.
Her flushed cheeks and wandering crimson eyes betrayed her completely.
From her glance, it seemed she'd deliberately assigned impossible tasks just to mess with me.
"Eris!? You told me never to interfere or peek at your lessons!"
"N-No, really! But he's Mother's son, so maybe he could pull it off...!"
"She's not wrong."
Artemis granted the seed of my divine power awakening.
But Eris's lessons turned that realization into multifaceted control.
Honestly, less her teaching and more my memory, but still.
To sum Nemesis's explanation:
Gods manifesting authority/miracles: Divine power → Divine deed → Cognition → Manifestation.
Me: Divine power → Cognition → Manifestation.
Like a martial artist using internal energy without a dantian.
In my case, divine power blended more naturally with dantian energy than pure internal energy, letting me wield martial arts and authority freely.
Wait. Dantian?
Right. I channel divine power through my dantian.
Precisely, not the lower dantian for internal energy, but the upper dantian touching Baihui.
"Wait, sis. The thing is..."
I explained how I wielded divine power, easing their doubts.
"...Huh?"
"A human's artificially created virtual body substitutes for divine deeds?"
Far from easing, their doubts deepened even more.