The Witness to the Turmoil — Heracles
Upon hearing from Iason that Dianes had arrived within a stone's throw of Corinth, Heracles momentarily set aside his restless thoughts and leaped from the cliff, landing with a heavy thud.
And, as expected.
Dianes, who had been busy turning the face of a man with a slippery expression into a bloody mess and systematically snapping the limbs of the soldiers who dared to rush him, greeted them with wide, surprised eyes.
"Dianes! You're late!"
"The Erymanthian Mountains were noisy, so I suspected it was you."
"Heracles? Iason? How did you two get here?"
"We can talk about that later. But who is this man that Thanatos and Hermes are currently betting on, wondering who gets to take him?"
"Oh, this?"
According to the story, Phrisos, the younger brother of the current King of Corinth, Phrybos, had suddenly attacked Dianes, demanding his arrest, only to taste bitterness in return. It seemed he held a deep-seated grudge, but since Dianes couldn't recall who he was, he was in the middle of forcing a confession out of him.
"...Heracles. Is it that funny?"
"Don't you find it funny? If you had ears, you would've heard it. He brought a handful of pathetic mercenaries and tried to threaten *that* guy?"
Heracles couldn't stop laughing, thinking that if one wanted to meet Hades, there were far easier ways to do it.
"Ugh... H-how... Do you heroes have no pride..."
"Shut up. You're the kind of man who would dislocate his jaw laughing at Erysichthon."
'Though, honestly, Phrisos's confidence isn't entirely baseless.'
As Dianes himself often said, even a stray dog has the advantage on its own turf. No matter how foolish he might be, he was, after all, a blood relative of the Corinthian royal family who had received the throne from Zeus. Even Heracles could not disregard the royal authority granted by Zeus as long as he lived under the god's laws, and he had to show a certain level of courtesy to the royalty of a kingdom.
For a son of Zeus to defy the laws of Zeus was a sin of rebellion—an act of disobeying his father's command and rejecting the god's divine name.
'Though, of course, after the warning of the Cocytus ended, that wouldn't have mattered.'
If the arrogance had continued after that...
'To enlighten the foolish is also the duty of a virtuous man. A single strike, resembling the thunder, shall blow away the delusion!'
These were the words inscribed in the teachings of the heavenly deities of Mount Sumeru that Dianes had left for him.
However, Dianes was a traveler from another world who went even further than Heracles.
No law of this Greece could force his thoughts or actions. Dianes was a madman who would strike back at any command, no matter how high the god who issued it, if it did not align with his own subjective judgment.
-Crack!
"Aaaaaaagh!"
The arms of the decurion, who had been the last to draw his sword and resist, were snapped backward. The onlookers gathered in front of the city gate stood at a distance, focusing all their attention on every single movement they made.
"Is it... really him?"
"It's him. Even Zeus of the underworld couldn't possess hair like that night sky."
"My goodness... They say his beauty would surprise even Aphrodite..."
"Are you sure he's a man? How can a man have a face like that?"
"Quiet! That man is the guide of the turmoil, the one who cut down two giants!"
"And... he's the one who caught Poseidon's trident and enthroned the Queen of Arcadia, right?"
"They say he rode a giant crab, crossed into the land of the giants, and brought them to their knees."
"He took the son of Typhon, Geryon's shepherd dog, the two-headed Orthrus, as his familiar. When we crossed the Erymanthian Mountains last time, that two-headed dog ran over and protected us when we were about to be killed by bandits."
"A demigod closer to a god than anyone else."
"A warrior who fears not even the gods."
"The night-tide that brings ruin to enemies and peace to the subjects."
-Dianes!
Envy, admiration, and awe. The natural whispers that arise when common folk see the one who leads them and makes them dream surrounded him. The women blushed, dreaming of a sweet moment with him, and young children's eyes sparkled with admiration as they laughed, mimicking his movements with their tiny fists.
'Truly, a hero.'
However, the man who wore the voices of the admiring commoners like a cloak simply brushed off his hands and turned his steps toward those waiting for him.
'My, how cold. Or is it that he's just free?'
Usually, no matter how powerful a hero might be, once they receive such attention and their fame begins to soar, they are naturally swept away by it. Whether crushed by it or intoxicated by it.
But Dianes acted as if such fame meant nothing, moving according to his own discipline without a single entanglement.
'...Damn it. He's cool, isn't he?'
While Heracles smiled bitterly in admiration, Dianes walked over and asked, looking back and forth between Iason and him.
"What brings you two to Corinth?"
"Hahaha! How long did you think you could keep us apart!"
"...What?"
When Heracles laughed boisterously and threw an arm around his shoulder, Dianes frowned, asking what kind of nonsense he was spouting. But realizing this wasn't the time, he sighed deeply and turned his attention back to Phrisos, who was lying at the feet of his horse.
"Right, let's hear the details later."
"Are you planning on cooking this guy?"
"Eek?! D-don't tell me. Are you a cannibal...?"
Does that royal brother with the slippery face even think before he speaks? Iason and Heracles lamented in unison.
"Oh, Zeus help us."
"What is this piece of shit talking about?"
-Thud!
If the face Dianes had made while looking at Iason and Heracles was one of annoyance and confusion, the brow that furrowed in an instant was filled with irritation and anger. Fortunately, perhaps because Dianes's reason remained, or perhaps because he had other plans, it ended with a light kick to the stomach.
Heracles saw it.
A faint smile remained on that face, which was overlaid with annoyance. Heracles also hid a quiet smile, seeing that smile—the smile of a child hiding his true intentions to play a fun prank.
"Hey, Master. Still, this is the country of Oedipus and his kin. Take it easy on him."
"...I shall show leniency."
As he whispered that while brushing past, his black eyebrows twitched slightly, perhaps surprised that his intentions had been read, or perhaps surprised by the title of 'Master'. However, Dianes soon smiled small enough for only him to see, nodded, and picked up Phrisos.
"The royal brother Phrisos, you say? Let's go to the master of this land and weigh the rights and wrongs. As it happens, I had business with Oedipus anyway."
"W-what did you say?"
"And I've been thinking about it. I know where I've seen you before."
Dianes is a hero. But that is only because the world shows reverence for his divine rank and calls him a hero. He himself had never called himself a hero, nor had he ever affirmed that he would become one. That is why he would smile so wickedly and not overlook even a petty person.
"L-look at that face. How is he a hero?"
"And you, giggling while looking at that, are you heroic?"
"Shut up. But who is that person over there?"
While Dianes was busy interrogating Phrisos, the gazes of Heracles and Iason naturally fell upon the mysterious woman who had accompanied Dianes.
'Ho... quite something?'
'She's a woman with a strange atmosphere. Who is she?'
"...."
Even at Heracles's question, the woman, who had been staring only at Dianes's back, slowly turned her head and looked down at the two.
Yes, she merely looked down at them. Her eyes were similar to Atalanta's, but a deeper crimson.
"!?"
"!!"
Yet, that alone was enough to grip Heracles and Iason in a sense of crisis that was hard to describe.
-Rumble!
-Whoosh!
The thunderbolt of the Heavenly King, which he had polished by skipping meals and sleep, growled on Heracles's hand, and the murderous wind of the Hell Realm imbued Iason's sword.
"...."
Even though the fist and sword that could collapse mountains and cut down armies were aimed at her, the woman sitting on the white horse did not move a muscle. Even the horse that carried her merely stared at them with its blue eyes.
Usually, by this point, the two heroes would have entered a combat stance and then felt embarrassed by their misunderstanding, lowering their weapons. But their spirituality, deepened by receiving teachings that transcended the ages, rang an alarm that the crisis they instinctively sensed was by no means a misunderstanding.
"H-hahaha. Dianes, you crazy bastard. Where did you snatch up a woman like this again?"
"...Indeed. She is truly a dream partner chosen by Aphrodite."
Heracles let out a joke with a stiff face, and Iason twitched his lips in agreement, but the blood-red eyes shining brightly from behind the veil covering the woman's face merely curved slightly.
"Hmm... As expected of heroes with deep learning. You have an eye for things."
No, is she even a woman? She was an ordinary, plain woman with no aura or divine power felt. But the depth and mysterious presence glimpsed in those eyes were by no means human.
Fortunately. The joke they threw seemed to be a quite satisfactory answer to the mysterious woman, as she nodded, turned her eyes, and looked at Dianes again.
"Child of Zeus, disciple of Chiron. As a reward for your satisfactory answer, I promise you this. I shall ensure that at least one miserable fate avoids the path you heroes walk."
"...Excuse me?"
"Enough with the small talk."
Having said something incomprehensible, the woman turned her head and quietly closed her mouth as if she had always been that way. As the sense of crisis receded like an ebb tide, Heracles and Iason hesitated and lowered their fists and swords. But one thing was certain: that woman was no ordinary woman, and Dianes had once again stolen the heart of an extraordinary woman without even knowing it.
'...I don't know much. But one thing is certain.'
'Yes, could there be a greater prophecy than this?'
The two turned their eyes away from the woman and were convinced. As they had expected, this journey would surely be an adventure beyond imagination! A grand adventure worthy of a hero, worthy of a warrior, was waiting for them!