Chapter 226
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 226
Chapter Title: Lethe's Negotiation
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"Looks like I'll be visiting this place pretty often."
"You're probably right."
A familiar ceiling... no, it was a familiar view.
A wide-open Greek-style plaza surrounded on all sides.
Below the white marble pillars, seas of clouds roiled, and the sky above was filled with a warm light that might have been sunlight or something like it.
Poseidon and I sat side by side at a table in Athena's divine realm, waiting for its mistress to arrive.
"Tsk... it stings a bit. The blade's bite is pretty sharp. Makes me think of the time I courted Amphitrite back in the day."
"A big lug like you complaining..."
It had healed in an instant, and now there wasn't even a trace left.
Poseidon fiddled with the spot where I'd grazed him, letting out a groan.
"This crow bastard... try rolling through life at my age. You wouldn't know how much it gets on your nerves when even a scratch shows up on your body."
"Fair enough. Even I lived my whole life without getting hit, and the one time I got lightly scratched, it hurt like hell."
What came to mind was the time I'd clashed with the Jinui Guard's Thousand-Man Unit because of that psycho Jeokgal family.
I was the Heavenly Demon who could deflect even Shaolin's Hundred-Step Divine Fist, but I couldn't block every cannonball raining down from all sides in a crossfire.
Still, amid blocking and dodging as best I could, one cannonball finally pierced my defenses and slammed right into my gut...
"How'd it taste?"
"It was the first time I'd taken a hit like that since enlisting. My eyes were watering for real."
No, wait—considering that even a decent martial artist would've been obliterated by a direct cannon hit, wasn't I the weirder one for just groaning about it?
"Heh. A world with weapons like that. Hyperborea truly is some other realm."
Hold on.
Was this really the time for us to be chatting so amiably?
And why was this guy suddenly all relaxed?
"Hey, big bro? Weren't we just going at it like life-or-death over killing your son a minute ago?"
"Hm? Oh, yeah."
"So how come the mood's suddenly all chill?"
"Huh...? Ah! You wouldn't get it 'cause you're still young."
Poseidon furrowed his brow like I was talking nonsense, then seemed to remember my age and nodded to himself in understanding.
"It's just how it is. Once you hit around five hundred, this starts happening."
"What...?"
What Poseidon meant was that while he did cherish his children, thanks to Athena's intervention neither of us had actually lost our lives, so clinging to those emotions any further was just tiring.
Plus, over such a long lifespan, he'd seen plenty of his kids, and fights to the death like this between gods weren't all that rare.
"Truth be told... Otus and Ephialtes may be my sons from my seed, but they were always uncontrollable brats. And they were the ones who crossed the Cocytus first. Honestly, you bear almost no blame."
Hearing the Lord of the Seas mutter this wearily as he rubbed his face down, my bewilderment tried to make a comeback.
"Then why the hell did you kick up such a fuss?"
Should I be honest?
Looking back now with a clear head, I'd probably lost it a little myself. If Athena hadn't stepped in, I'd be pulling a number ticket at the River Styx by now.
Was it a side effect of cultivating demonic arts? Or was I addicted to the thrill pouring out of life-or-death battles?
Maybe I was turning into a true demon—whenever a fight got that intense, I'd yank out the brakes and go berserk...
But this deadbeat dad had been ready to send someone straight to the underworld, so what was his excuse?
"Y-you punk! Try having kids of your own someday! When your brats are all dying right in front of you, your eyes don't spin?"
"If they spin one more time, won't a whole country end up wrecked?"
"This kid won't hold back a single word, huh?"
"Who's the deadbeat who dragged out his earthquake powers just to win against this kid?"
"That's why I said I'd make sure you don't actually die! Better than turning into a boring constellation!"
"Excuse me. People usually call that 'dying.' And I've only been out of the island for half a year— who else are you planning to dump in the sea?"
By my standards of basic common sense—which were thirty thousand years out of sync with his—we were growling at each other again, when I felt a peculiar gaze upon us.
"..."
Cold, piercing beauty, sharp steel-gray silver hair.
Not her usual gold-and-silver armor, but a gray robe emblazoned with an owl.
Like a judge eyeing rowdy criminals in a courtroom, Athena stared us down with an expressionless face.
"Athena... ma'am?"
"Ahem. Y-you're here?"
"Why stop now? Keep going."
She said to continue, but if either of us knew the meaning of tact, we both knew we couldn't utter another word.
"Why'd you go quiet all of a sudden?"
Did you know?
Owls make no sound with their wings when hunting—except the rustle of branches.
The prey doesn't notice the owl until those sharp talons choke its neck.
And it only realizes the owl's presence in that final moment, staring up into those bulging eyes.
Athena's icy gaze evoked just such owl eyes.
Cold, sharp, hiding a bubbling ferocity—the eyes of a beast.
Even the supreme martial artist of the world and the minister of the seas had no choice but to shut their mouths quietly.
"Go on. One of you set aside the dignity of an Olympian Big Three. You unleashed that absurdly mighty earthquake power—not somewhere else, but right near the mountains—in a way that would make even Ares weep.
"Khem! Khum!"
"And the other swung his blade without hesitation at his elder brother-in-law and companion's husband, toying with the defeated in front of countless onlookers with such savage cuts."
"...Namu Amida Butsu."
"And yet you think a mere goddess like me could mediate? By all means, continue."
With that, Athena tossed a scroll onto the table as if she'd given up.
Seeing that fierce glare and the subtle trembling at the corners of her eyes, it confirmed the savage temperament I'd glimpsed before was no illusion.
"What in the world were you thinking?"
"Khem. My son was in danger—how could a father just stand by..."
"They crossed the Cocytus, and no matter the outside interference, backing down would be unbecoming of a warrior..."
"IS WAR A GAME TO YOU?!"
Athena's furious roar echoed far and wide through the lofty heights of her divine realm.
"Giants rampaging, heroes spilling blood—and amid that, an Olympian god and great hero clash, crumbling the earth and triggering landslides! What difference is there between that and the Titans?!"
"Thank goodness hero Jason and Queen Atalanta acted swiftly to evacuate the humans. If I hadn't intervened midway, the land of Arcadia itself nearly collapsed today!"
Athena bellowed at us repeatedly, practically spewing fire.
Was it because she was in the position of mediating uncontrollable gods?
I could see the fatigue and irritation unique to an administrative role peeking through here and there.
She reminded me of Guixian Scholar calling me out when I returned from a night raid.
Was it when I'd accidentally blown up a castle where the righteous faction guys were lying in ambush?
She'd gnashed her teeth back then too, asking what the hell I was thinking causing such chaos.
"Fine. Dianes, let's say this young god gets a pass. Lord Poseidon—what in the world were you thinking?!"
"No, didn't I tell you? You think every father in the world abandons their kids like you do?!"
"Don't even mention my father! And yes, the Aloadae crossed the Cocytus, but you know there's Lethe's Negotiation once victory and defeat are decided!"
"Lethe's Negotiation?"
I'd heard of the Oath of Styx and the Proclamation of Cocytus, but Lethe's Negotiation was new to me.
From the nuance, it sounded like some kind of post-battle armistice...
"...Ah!"
Poseidon let out an exclamation as if he'd just remembered upon hearing Athena.
"No way—you forgot?"
"Khuhm! W-well, at our level, things rarely go all the way past Cocytus... Usually, the loser prepares ferry fare for Charon..."
"Even so, there's things you don't forget!!"
For a good while after, Athena's lengthy lecture on rules and laws, her threats, and Poseidon's awkward coughs continued.
"During the Titanomachy, was there even time for Lethe's Negotiation?! Back then, if you didn't thrust your spear first even by a fraction, you were the one dying!"
"You and Father both—please take a page from Hades!! How long are you going to bring up things from before I was even born?!"
Were they like a chaebol chairman's second-gen heir versus the chairman's brother and major shareholder?
With neither yielding an inch and voices rising, I was the one stuck in an awkward spot.
"Um... excuse me, you two?"
"Oh! What is it, brother-in-law? Speak your mind!"
As I cautiously raised my hand, Poseidon eagerly turned his attention to me like this was his chance.
Athena shot him a glare, but it wasn't enough to pierce the iron hide of the golden sun—no, sea sun—who'd steadfastly sown his seed through millennia of Amphitrite's scoldings.
"So, what exactly is this Lethe's Negotiation? It seems important..."
"Khem..."
"Lethe's Negotiation, you say."
At my words, Poseidon's face fell, while Athena's expression visibly brightened.
"Truth be told, the reason I came all this way was to mediate between you two precisely through Lethe's Negotiation."
With that, Athena placed a single scroll and two stone tablets before Poseidon and me.