Chapter 87
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 87
Chapter Title: Chapter 87
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 87
Chapter Title: A Quiet Night and Nereid's Visit
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A quiet night, murmuring waves.
After finishing divine power class early for the first time in ages, I could finally return to my comfortable room after so long.
An incredibly spacious living room with two bedrooms! It even had plumbing for anytime baths and a flush toilet—the height of modern insula living.
With the extra income from my recent work with Hestusias, I'd stocked it with all sorts of furnishings, making it feel truly like my own home.
That desolate wasteland where I'd barely clung to life against twelve demons.
Thanks to Nektar's full recovery, the lessons weren't overly grueling, but as a demigod still bound to a human body, the mental exhaustion was no joke.
I quickly washed up, summoned a light heat to dry my body and hair thoroughly, feeling fresh and light.
Wearing light sleepwear—just loose pants-like bottoms—I flung myself onto the bed.
"Phew... this is nice."
The moment I sprawled out on the king-sized bed, my mind flooded with thoughts of the sisters I'd just met: the beautiful goddesses Nemesis and Eris.
In Zeus's temple, they'd drilled into the orphans: don't clash with gods or nymphs, don't even cross paths. If you do, shut your mouth until they've passed.
Back then, I'd brushed it off thinking nymphs must count as divine too, but even amid that, the ones with the worst infamy were Nyx's bloodline.
Among them, the most dangerous goddess to avoid at all costs: Eris, goddess of strife and discord.
No hero of lofty renown, no god of mighty divinity escaped ruin if she took notice. Every conflict and war on this land stemmed from Eris's divine deeds, hand in hand with Ares.
Don't dare utter her name. Don't even glance her way. And never praise her.
But when the lid came off...
She was just a perpetual slacker, a pink cat-sized furball who rubbed up against me whenever the mood struck her.
Of course, as an ancient goddess born of Nyx's lineage, a faint aura of discord clung to me whenever she got close.
But with karma as pitch-black as mine, that was hardly enough to set me ablaze.
"Come to think of it, even if Eris sowed strife and sparked a war, could it really top the chaos of the Great Righteous-Demonic War?"
Greece's landmass alone dwarfed the Central Plains by several times.
The Murim Alliance and righteous sect fools who'd charged at me howling "Demon scum! Kill him!" numbered well into the hundreds of thousands.
Even if Greece's largest polis mobilized every last citizen, it wouldn't match the imperial army's might—and that's without counting the righteous idiots I'd personally smashed, easily breaking past 100,000.
"...Am I seriously the god of strife and discord?"
The Guixian Scholar's reports always mentioned populations flowing in units of tens of thousands...
"No, don't go there."
It'd make me feel like some raving warmonger or bloodthirsty maniac.
Anyway, I was far past the point of fearing that adorable little strife gremlin.
Her antics were downright cute once you got past the rocky start.
And then there was the other one.
The upright goddess I truly called "big sis": Nemesis.
If Eris was shunned and tabooed by every Greek for her divine role and temperament, Nemesis had the opposite problem: humans who called her down were the ones ostracized, questioned for what horrors they'd committed to summon her.
The stern arbiter. Guardian of justice.
For such a goddess to descend personally—what unspeakable atrocities had they wrought?
From what Nemesis told me, even the most grotesque lunatics whose crimes defied explanation had their sins and names laid bare by her power.
Then her pristine sword of judgment severed the sinner's neck. The corpse was denied burial anywhere, shunned by corpse-devourers, rejected by Mother Earth herself.
And the soul plummeted into Tartarus's bottomless abyss, tormented eternally.
Two who looked alike yet were polar opposites.
Though their paths diverged, both commanded Greek fear and reverence. Unworshipped deities, equated wholly with their divine domains—truly great gods.
Yet the true lesson from my time with these goddesses? This body's hitting puberty hard, axe fever raging wild.
"Nngh... no, but still, those reactions were..."
Even in Greece, where affections transcended gender, age, race, and blood ties in every direction.
They'd fallen for me after just a few days?
If some other guy spouted that, I'd call it delusions of grandeur and tell him to shove off.
But Eris's tomboyish face flushing in my grasp...
Nemesis fluttering her wings regretfully as she traced the formation I'd laid...
Those sights planted seeds of "maybe" and "could it be?" in my mind.
"But still... we're kin—er, gods—so it's not about blood or flesh, right? Gods don't care much for blood anyway?"
Gods had no DNA, and for me, they were beautiful goddesses first, family second.
The idea that they fancied me secretly thrilled me.
No matter their infamy or divine roles, they embodied "goddess" with sacred beauty and distinct charms.
While others cowered in terror, these mighty goddesses blushed at my words, my gestures—swinging between joy and sorrow. It swelled even this weathered soul with pride.
A male conquest rush, a deep satisfaction.
No man alive could resist the thrill of such ethereal beauties taking a shine to him.
But alongside that manly fulfillment came bewilderment flooding my head.
Why they reacted that way to me was secondary. The kicker? I already had two lovers by sheer accident.
"Maybe I should quit agonizing over it..."
It wasn't like their feelings were confirmed. Fussing like some hormonal middle-schooler over "what if this" or "what if that" was downright pathetic.
A bitter smile crossed my lips amid the wave of self-loathing, sleep tugging at me.
-Knock knock!
"!?"
Someone was rapping on the balcony door.
Were my sisters here to drag me off for impure thoughts? But through the half-open door flickered white hair.
"Neri?"
"Yup! You came out!"
Nesneria, the sea fairy with ocean-blue eyes sparkling bright.
The beautiful nymph who always popped up out of nowhere at the oddest moments, drawing smiles from me.
Her sudden visits weren't new lately.
Ever since I started lessons with the three gods, she'd somehow slipped the forest's tight security to seek me out every night.
"Wait, you're here again? How'd you even get in?"
The nymphs' forest was a fortress against constant little heroes sneaking in.
I'd nearly gotten skewered just going to see her.
A chilling thought crossed my mind—had this little one offed a few nymphs with the skills she'd swiped from me?—but she waved her leaf-like hands, putting me at ease.
"Ah~ us going out is fine. Aunt Karyklo sneaks off with Uncle Chiron all the time, right? The other sisters head to forests and rivers every night too. Gets boring otherwise."
"Oh, got it."
Incoming intruders? Guarded to the teeth. Outgoing nymphs? Free as birds.
Made sense—nymphs had blooming love lives. This wasn't a cram school; no need to bar night strolls.
"See? Nice, huh? Happy? Your pretty wave sister came in person. Feel free to brag."
Her proud head-tilt on that kiddo face drew an involuntary chuckle.
Her impulsive stunts and uncharacteristic boasting meant she'd picked up something weird from her sisters again.
"...What'd your sisters tell you this time?"
"Yup! They said when a guy's worn out, you gotta hug him tight in bed so he's full of energy the next day, no fatigue."
Her arms spread wide like wings—a clear "hug me now" invite.
What on earth did those wave sisters want from their baby sis?
"Alright, you win. I surrender."
Not like I'd ever beaten her anyway.
Am I surprisingly easy?
With that idle musing, I scooped Nesneria into my arms and tumbled onto the bed.
She sank into the feather-stuffed mattress with a delighted squeal.
"Hee hee hee..."
"Sigh. Whatever."
In the gods' barrier, time flowed far slower than the outside world. In just over a month, I'd shot up, sprouting a young man's build overnight.
My frame, once just a smidge larger than hers, now cradled her like a little sister—even hugging her tight left plenty of room.
"Whoa... Dia, when did you get so big? And firm!"
As if just noticing the change, she rubbed her face against my chest, giggling.
"Yeah, wonder that myself. You're still so tiny."
"Eh? Tiny?"
"Tiny, right?"
I looked maybe early twenties at a glance. Nesneria? Mid-teens tops, like a middle-schooler.
In a word: jailbait. Touch her funny, and it's crime time.
Wasn't kidding Ares when I said she was too small to stir anything.
Yet her ever-fixed blue gaze, that innocent face flashing rare dark glints—they disarmed me too.
But for this pure-hearted kid trekking here just for me, throwing up a wall felt cruel to my conscience. And she wasn't the only one I cherished that way.
This close contact was our greeting, our sign of affection.
But my "tiny" remark left Nesneria looking utterly soul-crushed.
"Eek... s-so that's why even when I visit every day..."
"Huh?"
Her eyes went saucer-wide in shock, then she slowly buried her face in my chest.
I didn't catch her exact words, but one thing was clear: she was sulking hard.
"Hiiiing!"
Like a woodpecker clinging to a tree, her spindly limbs locked around me, headbutting my chest with her forehead.
It didn't hurt a bit, but I was utterly baffled—and embarrassed.
"Easy there, princess. Doesn't even tickle."
"It hurts! I don't care!"
I gently soothed her flailing tantrum, but the sea princess stayed puffed-up and pouty, refusing to let go for a good while.
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