Chapter 17
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 17
Chapter Title: Chapter 17
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 17
Chapter Title: Heracles' Challenge
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I wondered why he wasn't saying that.
"Let's reintroduce ourselves. Nice to meet you, Dianes of Pasos. I am Alkmene's son, Alkmene's Son.
More famously known by my epithet, Heracles."
"...Nice to meet you too."
Alkmene's Son—better known by his epithet, Heracles—the budding hero's first impression had been utterly wretched, but seeing him up close like this, I couldn't help but inwardly acknowledge why this guy was hailed as a great hero.
Limbs brimming with vitality, eyes sparkling with inspiration and spirit, and a sturdy, handsome face to top it all off.
Anyone would look at him and nod, thinking, Yeah, this kid's going places.
And though he was surely still a boy under twenty, his towering frame—head and shoulders above me—and muscles evoking a Greek statue made me unconsciously nod again, thinking, If this guy isn't Heracles, then who is?
"Anyway, some thrilling story seemed to be unfolding, so... what's the deal?"
Was this brazenness another hero's virtue?
Heracles brazenly admitted to eavesdropping on what was meant to be a private tale, leaving both Asclepius and me speechless.
"...Sigh, sorry about this. He's the one guy in this forest I couldn't cure back to normal."
Asclepius shot Heracles a glare laced with reproach, like he was staring down a thunderbolt-headed rascal.
But Heracles paid it no mind, fixing his gleaming eyes on me.
"From the looks of it, you won't quit until I spill, even if I tell you to zip it, right?"
"You got it. Kuh, Teacher Chiron was spot on. Soul brothers connect without words."
Who the hell called us soul brothers?
With him staring at me like he was about to shoot lasers from his eyes, screaming Tell me already!, was there any other conclusion?
Boisterous or just simpleminded—I couldn't tell.
Anyway, the audience had grown from one to two, but to make the party on time, I figured it was best to just spill the beans quick.
I took a sip of the grape wine Asclepius offered to wet my throat, steadied the mood, and resumed the tale.
"Ahem. My oldest memory is of a vast wasteland.
There, I learned various martial arts and skills from twelve masters."
It wasn't wrong.
It was true that, across my past lives and reincarnation, I'd taken the Twelve Demonic Gods of the Samdochon River as my masters.
An endless wasteland crafted by their demonic power, where grim reapers couldn't find me.
That place marked the start of my second life—and the rise of the Heavenly Demon who would unify the martial world.
"Looking back now, it probably wasn't this world. Likely that other realm the Greeks call Hyperborea."
"Hyperborea! Y-You're a Hyperborean?!"
Hyperborea.
In Greek myth, the unreachable end of the world and beyond.
The natives there—other gods and humans—were called Hyperboreans by the Greeks.
They believed chill winds from beneath Hyperborea brought winter to Greece, and that its people, worshiping different gods, lived ageless in eternal bliss and joy.
"I don't know that much. I just learned martial arts and skills from the twelve masters, and once I'd mastered them all, I opened my eyes in Pasos."
Heracles's eyes flashed, scrutinizing me for lies, while Asclepius's gaze stung my face with sheer astonishment at encountering someone from another world.
I'd embellished a bit to fit this world, but nothing untrue.
"Th-Then it makes sense... That peculiar wind-based martial art and unique aura control...
If it's from Hyperborea, not this world, it all clicks..."
"I hear Hyperborea stays warm year-round thanks to Apollo's blessing... Is it true?"
"Eh, sun rose and moon set like anywhere else. I first heard 'Hyperborean' here, so I don't even know if that's me."
Best to gloss over the details. What I didn't know in depth, I didn't know.
"Anyway, the masters drilled this into me: The knowledge I have—especially internal arts like the ones you asked about, Asclepius—are vital secrets to me and my kin, like our very lives. Don't leak them lightly."
With my shocking origins revealed, plus the masters' injunction, even the mad scientist whitey couldn't pry further. He bit his lip and bowed his head.
"I-I see... R-Really no way around it? At least swear by the River Styx that only I know?!"
"No can do. Those secret arts were made for our bodies and kin. No telling what they'd do to Greeks."
This was a bluff. I'd taught Neri the basic Hainan Sect internal art, and she'd wielded it masterfully.
But give an inch, and starting with this guy, everyone would swarm.
Maybe later I'd pass a few breathing exercises to some, claiming I'd adapted them to Greek constitutions.
"That said, in exchange—sort of—I could teach you the medical arts from my kin's masters."
Internal arts were iffy, but acupressure or acupuncture techniques I'd learned? Fair game.
Still, secrets from Hua Tuo and the Medicine God—rare treasures in the martial world. But the whitey before me was the next god of medicine.
Above all, saddling the origin of all medicine with a huge debt? Even Hua Tuo and the Medicine God would greenlight it.
"Really!?"
Asclepius, head drooping in despair moments ago, leaped up with sparkling eyes.
"P-Please, I beg you! New medicine means progress in the field! It'll save countless lives! Please, teach me!"
"Of course. I'll be in your debt plenty going forward, so let's make it work."
As Asclepius and I shared a warm smile and sealed the pact, Heracles, watching, tentatively raised a hand with a question.
"Um, earlier you said 'martial arts and skills'... So spear's not your main weapon?"
Heracles, as expected.
He hadn't missed the topic I'd been about to probe myself.
"Right. The twelve masters were experts in different fields each.
The spear was what I learned from the one who'd reached the pinnacle with it."
"...So, not just spear—your other martial arts are around that level too?"
"That's right?"
Not just that—as the Demonic Cult's top dog, I'd reigned supreme, absorbing and mastering every art from righteous, evil, and demonic without discrimination. Counting them up, it far exceeded twelve.
Heracles stared at me blankly, as if thunderstruck by my words, then snapped back to life, shooting to his feet with a shout.
"Dianes! Spar with me!"
"...Yeah, I wondered why he wasn't saying that."
Spar?! No thanks!
The clinic buzzed with the two boys' boisterous voices.
From a mountaintop peak overlooking it all, Chiron crossed his arms and chuckled.
"Heh heh, good thing. The kid's made a fine friend."
"Sure is, Chiron. Father's gonna breathe easier now."
Beside the kindly smiling Chiron stood a young man with curly golden hair and a cheerful face, grinning mischievously.
The sandals with fluttering tiny wings and the staff clutched in his hand—topped with twin serpents—the caduceus clearly revealed his identity.
"Nice to see you again, Lord Hermes."
"Hee hee hee, we meet often these days, Chiron? Can't be helped. With Father's eyes—and all of Olympus's—fixed on this forest."
Hermes.
God of messengers, shepherds, and thieves; Olympus's errand boy; master of the winged sandals, Talaria.
The infamous rascal across Greece, friend to travelers.
Chiron's old friend.
"Haha, on account of that Heracles kid, eh?"
"Don't get me started. Every regular divine council, he's agenda-topper. Father's too busy bragging. Hera's fit to burst, and the rest of us—including me—are on pins and needles waiting for her to blow."
Zeus, ever excusing his flings with countless women as prep for the Gigantomachia, and his wife Hera—guardian of marriage, hearth, and family ethics—her rage had become an Olympus staple.
Now, at the tail end of that long scandal history, the human hero for the long-awaited Gigantomachia was born—and Zeus had the gall to name him Heracles, "Hera's Glory."
Hera was in chronic fury mode these days.
"Haha... Better steer clear of Olympus for a bit."
"Wise as ever, famed sage Chiron. Sharp judgment."
Hermes lifted the gourd from his belt to his lips, as if parched.
"Oh, right—the reason I dropped by today... The investigation you requested is done!"
"...About that boy Dianes, then."
Dianes, who today joined Pasos and the Heroes' Forest.
Recalling that massive wind spear from earlier, even battle-hardened general Chiron felt a chill.
A power evoking the gods' own might.
Still immature and weak, that was the extent—but what chilled him was the boy growing by leaps even mid-spar.
"Never thought I'd have another experience like that."
"Hoooh... Chiron says that much? Are we witnessing the birth of two great heroes?"
The old centaur beamed happily—never dreaming he'd see such heroic qualities again after Heracles. What a joyous miscalculation.
Hermes flashed a sly grin and pulled out a notebook.
"Anyway, I looked into that Dianes kid. Whew, the little guy's already drowning in divine favor?"
"Dianes?"
Yep!
Hermes flashed a bright smile and opened his notebook.
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