The Engineer and the Alien
If I had to describe him with a single word, it would be a volcano. Not just any mountain, but a massive, active volcano—the kind that scorches the earth with heat ready to erupt at any moment and proves its existence with a deep, resonant rumble that shakes the very ground.
He wasn't built like Heracles or Ares with their bulging, over-the-top musculature, but he was a sturdy man. Beneath his light traveler's clothes, one could see the dense, compact muscle of a craftsman. His hair was a reddish-gray, reminiscent of volcanic rock, tied back haphazardly with a cord, and his thick, unkempt beard looked like a tangled thicket of thorns.
But what truly caught my attention were his eyes and his hands. His gaze, flickering like molten lava, churned with an endless, restless creative urge, and his hands trembled slightly, constantly drawing and erasing invisible patterns in the air.
There was one more thing that piqued my curiosity: his appearance.
Contrary to the legends that claimed he was so hideous that Hera threw him away the moment he was born, his face possessed a certain dignified, heavy charm—provided one managed to tame that wild hair and the thorny beard.
How should I put it? If Ares were a bit more composed, and Athena were a man locked away in a dark study, they might look something like this.
Behind him stood his trademarks: the Golden Maidens, waiting upon him with demure grace. Except for the fact that they were made of gold from head to toe, they were so exquisitely crafted that one might easily mistake them for human.
"A pleasure. Your name has been reaching even this secluded workshop of mine lately. I am Hephaestus."
"I am Dianes. I, too, have found my long journey far from dull, thanks to the blessings of the great smith-god."
-Chirp?
I gestured toward Corynetes, who was perched on Hephaestus's shoulder, and offered a playful remark. Hephaestus’s eyes widened in surprise, and he soon burst into a hearty laugh.
"Hahaha! This little fellow is quite the character! He’s so bold that he tried to crawl into a half-finished Corynetes, claiming he’d turn it into a divine artifact rivaling Astrapē!"
"...Ah, about that."
I had been so surprised to meet him that I’d momentarily forgotten the fact: Corynetes was originally the weapon of Periphetes, Hephaestus's son. Though he was just a minor thug whose name I barely remembered, Corynetes had mentioned that the guy was Hephaestus's offspring.
"Oh, don't worry about it. Periphetes... even to my eyes, that boy was an insolent fool. He was blinded by greed and brought only harm to this world. I am merely grateful that you sent him to Hades's side before he could commit a sin grave enough to be cast into Tartarus."
"Ah, I see..."
Right, Periphetes. That was his name.
To me, he was just a bastard who dared to touch my steed, but to Hephaestus, he might have been a painful thorn in his side. I had been worried about being held accountable for his death, but unexpectedly, Hephaestus was thanking me.
Thanking me for killing his son before he fell into the abyss. Perhaps it’s because the afterlife here isn't just an abstract concept, but a literal place.
'Still, Greece is a brutal place...'
Or perhaps it was just proof of what a degenerate Periphetes really was. After all, he was the one who plotted the insane scheme to drug Atalanta and ravish her...
"I am grateful that you have chosen to be understanding."
"Think nothing of it. I speak from the heart."
"....."
".....Ahem!"
I had only meant to break the ice with some small talk, considering the man before me was the world’s greatest artisan—the Smith-God—and an Olympian deity. But with that single, light move, I had already gauged what kind of person Hephaestus was.
'Usually, those who dedicate their entire lives to one craft become vulnerable in every other field.'
Of course, there were those rare, insane individuals who were masters of one thing and excelled at ten others. But generally, whether they were warriors or craftsmen, those who achieved greatness through absolute immersion in one field tended to be average or worse in everything else.
'I... am a bit different.'
I was the type who had been remodeled into a jack-of-all-trades before I even stepped into the Murim world.
Even in the powerful clans, the young masters or senior members might learn a bit of statecraft alongside their martial arts, but artists and craftsmen were notoriously helpless outside their specialties. Especially when it came to interpersonal relationships.
And this was no exception for the most famous blacksmith in history, the smith-god who had ascended to the Olympian throne.
Look at him. He’s trying his best to maintain a heavy, dignified posture, but his lava-colored eyes are wandering, clearly wanting to say something but unable to spit it out!
'...Is this it?'
It was time for the Heavenly Demon’s Patent: Mara-Tongue Technique to shine.
'Hephaestus, craftsman, extreme introvert, island-dwelling hikikomori, ultimate engineer, Greek mythology, Aphrodite, Ares, infidelity, Athena, etc....'
It took me exactly three seconds to pull the useful data from my mental database and weave a narrative.
"Lord Hephaestus, I had a deep conversation with Lady Athena not long ago."
I started with a gentle smile, the kind that lowers the opponent's guard by ten points regardless of whether they are a man or a woman, all while masking my own true intentions.
"W-w-what?! Lady Athena?!"
Hephaestus, who had been trying to act all stoic, immediately started shifting in his seat, his focus locking onto me the moment Athena’s name dropped.
'...Bingo.'
How should I put it? It felt like throwing arrows in a game of Tuho, and every single one was landing perfectly in the high-scoring zone.
"She was truly a beautiful, wise, and courageous goddess. She expressed a desire to have an in-depth discussion about the strategies, tactics, and martial arts of my homeland, Hyperborea, someday. I, too, am looking forward to it."
"That is indeed her scholarly spirit. The idiots here in Greece are blinded by her beauty and fail to recognize the brilliant soul and mind behind it. As expected of the great hero of the waves!"
I sensed it. This was a big catch—no, the biggest catch in history.
The woman he likes, the field he loves, and stories about her that he didn't know. These were the kind of baits that a craftsman of his type couldn't possibly resist. How could Hephaestus not be hooked?
This familiar, chilling sensation. It had been a while, but it was time to return to the Wind-Tongue... no, no, the Mara-Tongue that seduces the Buddha.
"I say this only to you, Lord Hephaestus, but my homeland is far wider and more vast than this place called Greece. Countless gods and humans have written history there as well, and among them were many divine weapons that even my masters and I couldn't help but marvel at. Some were even incredible armaments that could completely overturn the tide of a battle! I’m sure Lady Athena would be wide-eyed with wonder!"
"Oooooh! S-such a magnificent civilization exists beyond the treacherous outer seas! Enough to surprise Athena herself!"
Let me give an example. Imagine an engineer working hard on his coding in his room, and suddenly a UFO lands on his roof. If an alien stepped out of that UFO and showed him the sights of a hyper-futuristic civilization and introduced him to technologies far beyond the modern era, what would happen to that engineer?
Hephaestus had spent thousands of years forging all sorts of divine artifacts in Greece, and he was the owner of futuristic concepts like Talos, the bronze giant, and the golden maidens. But I was a traveler from a future far, far beyond the one he had reached.
Even the small fragments I had seen and heard would be a culture shock of epic proportions for Hephaestus.
And on top of that, he could even appeal to the woman he secretly harbored feelings for?
How could he possibly resist?
'...But I have to control the intensity.'
I realized this during the Hero’s Forest Festival incident—the Amor Fati incident—which I’d buried as a dark history. My martial arts were one thing, but the technologies and visions of the future I knew were literally ahead of their time.
If civilization and technology were meant to climb stairs step by step, I was currently standing on a much higher floor, looking down. If I were to sprinkle that technology and data onto a smith-god and master technician who could easily digest, implement, or even vastly improve upon it using his own methods?
In the 21st century, a single ballad had famous musicians acting like they were on drugs. If I unleashed 21st-century military history or military tech onto an engineer who had single-handedly pioneered robotics... I couldn't even guarantee what kind of monster would come out of his workshop.
'Keep it moderate.... Yeah, let’s stick to the Three Kingdoms level.'
There are plenty of wondrous weapons in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, too. Like Zhuge Liang’s wooden oxen and flowing horses, or his repeating crossbows...
Just as I made up my mind and was about to continue, Hephaestus suddenly raised a hand to stop me.
"Wait a moment. It would be a waste to listen to such precious stories with a dry throat."
At his gesture, the golden maidens standing behind him fumbled in the air, and before I knew it, they had placed a large wine jar and a golden table filled with all sorts of appetizers in front of us.
"It is a honey wine made from Thetis’s secret recipe, which I brew as a hobby. Let’s have a drink while we talk!"
-Gulp!
A room sweltering with the heat of a lava god, and before me, a chilled honey wine with ice crystals floating in it.
There was no resisting this.
"One day, while I was leading my group across a mountain, I encountered an elite force raised directly by the emperor of an empire. The weapons those bastards were using were..."
....What the hell, as long as I don't go into modern tech, it’ll be fine, right? It’ll be okay.
* * *
"So! A three-stage combination is ROOOOMANCE! That is what I’m saying!"
"Indeed! It is ROOOOMANCE!"
....It’ll be okay, right?