The Decision of the Last Stand
They say that evil is diligent. Because of one devil who, in everything he did and everywhere he went, calmly committed acts contrary to the established order—yet remained incredibly diligent—all of Greece was being turned upside down.
The woman who should have been a plaything for royal power, returned to the father who abandoned her, and eventually self-destructed through the love she barely managed to grasp, had become the queen of a nation and a hero of her age. The great hero who should have overcome death and loss to grow through hardship was instead growing in the distant future, absorbing the essence of a thousand years of Murim and gaining strength and enlightenment he was never meant to possess.
Furthermore, the demigods who should have wandered the lands and seas, fading away like duckweed, had emerged from the forests to build their own nations, achieving feats they were never meant to attain and making names for themselves. Other demigods, who had been ostracized by humans for their innate blood and forced to hide in the woods, began to learn how to mingle and live in society—a lesson Chiron had failed to teach them.
On top of that, the nymphs residing in the Hero’s Forest, who possessed the primordial spirit, had revitalized the devastated Arcadia in an instant under the command of their queen, Chariclo. The people, intoxicated by the hero’s spirit, regained their strength and fulfilled their duties to cultivate the land. Meanwhile, heroes who could fight a hundred men and great heroes comparable to nations protected the people both inside and outside the borders, rooting out bandits and cultivating the country with excellent governance.
Arcadia. The utopia of this land, as referred to by countless poets and priests, was truly on its way to becoming the utopia of Greece.
And the manifestation of the devil—no, the demon god—who had built that utopia was currently...
“Neri? I was wrong...”
[Hmph! I don’t know! I’m the only one who’s ever sincere!]
I was sweating bullets trying to soothe the wrath of the sea goddess, who was angrier than she had ever been in her life.
It happened when I was caught two-timing(?) with Atalanta, and Neri, furious, had vanished into the sea. It was when the Sea (Pirate) King, having heard that his sister-in-law—whom he cherished like his own daughter—had tears in her eyes, had struck me with a fist like a heavy mace, and we were sharing a drink of beer—no, mead—as men do. The King of the Sea, one of the top three in the world, had patted my shoulder as if he understood everything.
“Even if you’ve taken a beautiful woman as your wife, it’s only natural for a man to have his eyes wander to another beautiful woman. It’s an unavoidable instinct, so I understand it all!”
...Looking back, he was truly an uncle who left me speechless. No wonder he’s been sleeping in separate rooms for hundreds of years.
‘Though I’m not one to talk.’
For reference, the sea queen Amphitrite was no ordinary goddess either. If Hera was elegance and Aphrodite was sexiness, Amphitrite was, perhaps, wild beauty. As Poseidon himself said, her uncontrollable temper and noble beauty were the charms that drew him in even more.
“Thanks to that, every time I cheated, my ship would be pierced by swords and spears countless times...”
“.....”
Poseidon, clutching his stomach as if it still ached at the thought, coughed at my subtle gaze and turned the conversation back to Neri.
“Anyway, for a hero to throw his pride and everything else to the wind and endure even the terrifying fist of Poseidon... I know how you feel about Neri.”
“Ah, yes...”
“However, you will surely attract many more women in the future. And every time that happens, Neri will shed tears, just like Amphitrite did in the past.”
Wouldn’t that queen shed blood, and golden blood at that, rather than tears? Perhaps from the belly of a certain pirate king sitting in front of me, drunk as a skunk?
“You don’t know what to do when that happens, do you?”
“Hmm....”
“No matter what, sea goddesses are all the same. Even if they say they hate you or want you dead, once they give their hearts, they can’t control themselves. They’re all the same, those sisters—even when they’re so consumed by jealousy that they try to kill their rivals and lovers, they end up fleeing to the sea because they’re afraid of being hated by their men!”
If they were gods or at least demigods, it would be fine. But the sea goddesses who loved ordinary humans and fled to the sea like that all met tragic ends.
“By the time they finally calmed their hearts and went up to land to find their lovers, all that remained were the lovers’ tombstones and their descendants.”
A goddess who finally healed her wounds and climbed to the land to find her beloved, only to be met by a cold tombstone. It is said that the reaction of the goddesses who faced that reality was one of two things.
“Either they would throw a fit and follow them to death, or they would wander everywhere looking for a path to the underworld to find their lovers.”
“Oh...”
“Yes, in a word, it was ‘oh’...”
Because of that, whenever one of the Nereids found a lover on land, Poseidon and Amphitrite would be on high alert, anxious and restless.
“If even one of them goes wrong, I won’t be able to face my father-in-law, who is still working hard managing the outer seas...”
If that was the case for the other Nereids, what if Neri, the youngest of them all, went wrong because of the tragedy her sisters had already experienced several times? The sea giant holed up in the outer seas of Oceanus would open those floodgates and bring a tidal wave, turning all of Greece upside down. To prevent such a disaster, I had to maintain a smooth relationship with the goddess Nesneria.
“So listen well. I will pass on the secret method of the Great Sea God, to whom no goddess or woman has ever failed to surrender in thousands of years of history!”
A love lecture from a playboy god who had been nagged for thousands of years. The Heavenly Demon from Korea and the Central Plains Murim, who had respect for elders and the order of seniority hardwired into him, had to politely receive his drink and listen to his brother-in-law and father-in-law’s bone-chilling love lecture all day long.
And today, I was able to confirm the power of that lecture.
“Wow... this is truly useless.”
I wiped my face, looking at the tightly closed door of the goddess’s chamber and, next to it, Tinga’s elite guard, who were biting their lips to hold back their laughter.
Gift offensives, sincere apologies, acting spoiled, bowing my head and waiting... half a day of performing all sorts of embarrassing antics that I couldn’t believe were taught to me by that massive pirate king.
Somehow, it felt like it took twice as much mental energy as cooking Apollo and Artemis. Of course, the tightly closed door showed no signs of opening. My heart only grew colder as I heard the beautiful voice beyond the door grow colder with each passing moment.
“....”
“....”
“I said this to Antaios too, but if you’re going to laugh, just laugh...”
Whether Antaios was serving Nesneria with the utmost devotion, his wife Tinga was personally in charge of Neri’s escort and attendance. The female warriors, who stood solemnly in front of the door like warriors guarding a queen’s chamber, looked like they were on the verge of bursting into laughter at any moment.
‘Damn it, was it a mistake to do exactly as that uncle who sleeps in separate rooms for hundreds of years said?’
For some reason, I had a vision of the blue sea god beyond the blue sky, laughing coolly and giving me a thumbs-up. It was a face with a uselessly refreshing smile that made me want to use the Pacheon Divine Fist, not just a punch!
“Augh....”
“Excuse me, Dianes. What should we do with the gifts you brought?”
Gold and silver treasures that Karkinos and Corineus had farmed from sunken ships, and all sorts of rare liquors and ornaments looted from the active trade ships of the Erytheia archipelago, as if they were offerings for a dragon in the mountains behind us. These were exotic treasures that would have made me a fortune if I had taken them to the Greek mainland, and they were piled up like a mountain in front of Neri’s door.
When I started the gift offensive, Antaios had offered to help, but I had refused all support and collected these things myself, using my own hands and feet, and buying them with my own money.
‘Gifts are all about sincerity! Women are very emotional beings, and sometimes they open their hearts to a single flower rather than a room full of treasure.’
‘Oh... that sounds plausible?’
‘...I once collected a bunch of gold and silver treasures to apologize, and I got beaten up with the very treasures I’d offered, told to go die with this stuff.’
‘....’
I was surprised by the soft-hearted remark that I never expected to come from that pirate king’s mouth, but after the pathetic follow-up, I thought, ‘Of course.’
This time, too, it was ‘of course.’
“....If Neri won’t take them, you all can divide them among yourselves.”
“Oh my! Really?!”
“Then we’ll gratefully accept them~”
The female warriors, who were on the verge of bursting into laughter, gestured toward the door and exclaimed in exaggerated voices.
‘The ones inside say that Neri-nim seems to be softening up!’
‘Even now, when we said we’d divide the gifts, the blanket is moving!’
That was it.
The maids attending to Neri and the warriors in charge of her escort were all Tinga’s subordinates. Tinga, who was so sweet that her tumultuous past was unbelievable, was helping me so that Neri would soften her heart as soon as possible, treating her like a younger sister.
Furthermore, it was Tinga who told me that Neri’s drunken act was because she was anxious that I was only thinking about other things and not looking at her after we came out to the sea.
I felt like my head was being buried deep into the ground for the first time in a while at the sharp, piercing words of the former dragon witch, who was smiling brightly.
“Sigh...”
That’s that, though.
According to intelligence, it seems Neri is softening her heart little by little. Although the reliability had dropped by about 50%, according to Poseidon’s love lecture, which was effective anyway, there was only one method left.
“Phew... I don’t know anymore.”
Whether it worked or not, I had to turn Neri’s heart first. With the mindset of a last stand, I hardened my resolve and retreated for now.
“Ahem, ah, I have something urgent to discuss with Antaios, so please tell the goddess that I am taking my leave!”
“Yes~ I hope everything works out for you~”
“Puhuhuhu....!”
The gazes of the guards seeing me off as I turned around with a subtle smile—those gazes that said, ‘We all know what a bachelor is going to do~’—were far too stinging.