Chapter 54
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 54
Chapter Title: The Moved Arbiter
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Nemesis, empowered by her divine duties and powers, could read the fates entwined with the arbiter who had rushed toward her.
And while leisurely strolling across the night sky, as the arbiter appeared atop her hand and she examined the fates connected to him, she pondered.
A human who wielded power akin to her own.
And the wastrel son of Poseidon, who, out of jealousy toward him, had cursed him behind his back and even attempted to violate his lover—none other than his half-sibling, Poseidon's sister-in-law and the sister of the sea queen Amphitrite.
Whether he knew it or not, it was only natural for this foolish blood kin of Poseidon, who had insulted her mother, to meet his ruin.
Yet among the parties involved in that fateful punishment, the black-haired little hero who wielded Nyx's power captured her attention.
Yes, Mother must occasionally descend to the mortal world to savor some pleasure.
Still, for demigods of Nyx's lineage like them... I worry if a child born of human flesh can truly bear the immense power of such a mighty Protogenos.
But since it was an act of the great Mother herself, she must have encountered a fierce love after countless eons.
That's why she personally lay with a human to bear a child.
With such understanding, she resolved that she ought to occasionally visit and look after this child, who must suffer great hardship amid those illustrious heroes in the Grove of Heroes, despite having no prior bond with them.
That was all she thought.
But then, having pierced through the sea god's interference and finally come face-to-face with the Primordial Night Mother after so long, the ancient one dropped a bombshell declaration that struck her mind like lightning.
A demigod born from intimacy with a human? No—the Protogenos herself had personally molded a human from clay and set him forth into the world?
The first generation of humanity, closest to primordial Chaos, possessed power that threatened even the gods and boundless potential that menaced even Titan King Hyperion. The current king of the gods, Zeus himself, viewed those faithful and pious humans—even the Titan gods—as threats and sent Pandora to bring about their extinction.
In their stead, the vanished humanity's blood and flesh were used as materials by the seer Prometheus and his brother to mold a new humanity, thereby creating the present world.
This marked the beginning of the world now called Greece.
Yet for a Protogenos closest to primordial Chaos—the most powerful in this era and the one who interacts most frequently with the world—to personally mold and release a human into it...
It was no wonder the Fates had wailed in agony, and Death, the ferryman, and the dream spirits had recoiled in horror.
If that child ever emerged into the world, what storms would he bring to this Greece?
Just imagining how many fates would be overturned by that upheaval made her feel weary.
...As expected.
After her mother's thunderbolt-like declaration, they arrived at the sea god's palace, where a tiresome back-and-forth ensued with the ruler of the Mediterranean.
Why were these old gods of Olympus—who were far younger than her, no less—so obsessively devoted to their own demigod offspring?
Every time that scoundrel Orion boasted unwanted tales of walking on water at age ten or subduing pirates at fifteen as if it were his defense, while the sea god subtly threw flirtatious glances her way, Nemesis wanted to praise herself for not drawing her Scalesword.
In the end, the punishment for harming her cherished follower and Amphitrite's youngest sister was unavoidable.
But Poseidon earnestly pleaded not to take his life.
Of course, he wouldn't want to lose a blood descendant who might become the protagonist of the Great Prophecy like this.
However, the sin of insulting her mother and her brother was not light.
She had notified him to endure even a punishment cruel enough to make the sinner wish for death itself, and then hurried on her way.
Eris, the goddess of strife and discord, was the younger sister her mother had personally entrusted to her.
And the disciple whom Nemesis, wielder of the Scalesword and arbiter of justice, had personally driven to the brink of oblivion in the abyss to train.
Yet this human brother, mere years after birth, was overwhelmingly overpowering Eris.
Even she, who had intervened to stop it, had no choice but to yield to the divine power emanating from her young brother.
She wondered what authority her mother had granted this young brother—and how he had lived to wield that authority more masterfully than any god.
Fortunately, Eris's interference had halted the siblings' duel.
But if that final strike from her brother had clashed with her sword of judgment... she couldn't gauge who would have been left standing in the end.
'High probability it would have been me.'
Yet recalling her brother's final strike, which had seemed to gaze upon the abyss where Mother slumbered, even that certainty grew hazy.
"Sister?"
"Hm? Did you call me, little brother?"
"Well, about that sword form of yours earlier, when it unleashed that brilliance..."
...What does it matter?
Sister.
Was there ever such a beautiful title?
Her impudent youngest sister always sang wooden-statue songs whenever she saw her, only calling her "sister" when she wanted something.
The other siblings showed interest in nothing beyond their own divine duties.
Yet when this freshly baked, honey-bread-like little brother called her "sister" in his sweet voice, it warmed her heart like sitting by Hestia's hearthfire.
Jet-black hair just like Mother's, a face so refined that if dressed properly, he could pass for a sister rather than a brother. Even skin as white as hers.
Not only had he blocked her sword—which could rival Ares or Athena—parried it, and dragged her into a full confrontation; his martial prowess was extraordinary.
His eyes were equally sharp, able to discern her sword forms and discuss them.
A new companion who recognized the sword she had honed alone for endless ages, and an endearing little brother to boot.
Even a stern arbiter sometimes yearned to simply exist as the goddess Nemesis.
The black-winged Nemesis felt a surge of affection for this brother she had just met.
"That sword form is both a sword technique and my authority—the Sword of Judgment."
"Oh... Sword of Judgment... A blade fused with authority?"
Look at those eyes brimming with pure admiration, pure longing!
Eyes shining with genuine passion and respect for martial arts, incomparable to her pitch-black sister!
Beyond her affection for her young brother, those eyes dazzled Nemesis, who was surrounded by dark siblings and an even darker sister.
"Hehe, do you want to learn it?"
"Sister, what use is saying it? It's like a thirst that doesn't fade no matter how much I drink."
"Little brother, once you awaken to your divine duties and authority, you'll grasp it in time.
That's why we came all this way to help. Oh dear, you've got some dust."
As she casually brushed off the dust and stroked that silken jet-black hair...
Oh my...!
The soft texture reminded her of her own infancy, when she had just been born and fallen asleep wrapped in Mother's hair; her lips trembled with a smile.
"Hey! Wooden statue!"
-Crack!
For the voice of strife and discord to steal her healing moment, a vein bulging on her snowy forehead was only natural.
"...Eris? Has your backside recovered already?"
"Eek! Th-this maiden of discord won't flinch at such threats..."
As the Scalesword, restored to its full glory, slowly rose, the interloper crumpled again.
But the sinner wriggling at Eris's feet caught her eye once more.
"...Sigh, no helping it. Little brother? We've delayed a bit under the pretext of carrying out our duties,
but if we linger longer in Chiron's sanctuary, those loose-lipped gossips and leering eyes from Olympus will surely find us."
"...I know exactly who you mean without you saying."
Her brother smirked and nodded, clearly aware of the owner of those loose lips.
His face screamed with questions piling up like mountains, but he accepted it wouldn't do to let Hermes see, lest they both grow annoyed.
"My, already so composed at your age. Eris, take a page from his book."
"Hmph! Aren't you going to get to work!?"
Where had those centuries gone?
Under Eris's urging—which made her seem even more immature compared to her young brother—Nemesis reluctantly turned her gaze.
"For now, little brother, I'm sorry, but at Poseidon the sea god's entreaty, I can't take his life."
"Huh?! Sister, what are you saying!? He insulted Mother! I heard it clear as day.
Something about lowly gods and mongrels, and even that he'd just shake his hips a few times with a pathetic little deity like her!"
"Mmph!?"
The sinner, eyes and mouth sealed as if denying it went that far, writhed beneath Eris's foot.
But it no longer mattered.
"Enough. Do you think Mother would bat an eye at such an insult?"
From the beginning, the Protogenoi were gods without sacrifices, gods without blessings.
Their very names were scarcely known on earth; only lifelong priests devoted to the gods' genealogies whispered of them faintly.
Be that as it may, the sin of heedlessly invoking a god's name was grave.
"Sinner, son of Poseidon—Orion. The punishment decreed upon you is the final mercy."
With the declaration of punishment, the jet-black Scalesword swung in an instant.
But the scoundrel's head did not fall.
Only the emblem of Nemesis—a balance scale with black wings—seared black upon his forehead.
"Gaaahhh!!"
The final mercy.
The sinner is blinded and silenced.
And left with only the clothes and shoes he currently wears, he is condemned to wander ceaselessly until his strength fails.
No human in the world will dare shelter a sinner marked with Nemesis's seal upon his brow. No god will grant a crumb of bread or a sip of water to the vagrant who committed great sin.
Only if, when the sinner's strength is spent and he nears death's door, someone shows him mercy once—then fate deems his life permitted, and the punishment ends.
"Most die before mercy ever finds them."
"Mmph!?"
As the burning forehead quieted and the jet-black emblem of Nemesis etched itself in place,
Orion vanished in a blur.
"Oh right, what about that rabble?"
"Them? By the time I arrived, three were already dead without even corpses left.
The last one, some wizard-looking runt, lost his mind and ran off into the sea alone.
Drowned."
"...I see."
In any case, the sinner's punishment was complete, and having fulfilled their duties, it was time for them to depart.
"Are you... leaving?"
"..."
"Oh my..."
Seeing her brother scratch his head, regretful yet unable to hold them back, Nemesis and Eris both smiled involuntarily.
But today was not the end.
"Don't be sad."
"Y-yeah! Mother said so, and there's so much I have to teach you!"
As the two goddesses flapped their wings and comforted him that parting was not farewell, their youngest smiled brightly and nodded.
"Alright, see you later. Sister! Eris!"
"Yes! I'll visit soon. Wait for me, blood of Nyx!"
"Hey, wait! Why am I just 'Eris'...!"
Thus, with a lively farewell to the end, Nyx's children parted on warm terms.