King of Underworld

Chapter 144 The Final Proposal

After proposing to Styx, Lethe, and Persephone, I went directly to Acheron’s ferryman, Charon.

As always, he was transporting souls across the river.

“…Charon.”

“Ahem, Hades, listen here. I didn’t let that mortal cross Acheron on purpose, not at all. But the poor soul was begging me with tears streaming down his face, and his lyre’s music just… it tugged at my heartstrings, made me recall all the years I’ve suffered on this river…”

“Charon.”

“The moment he played that lyre, all my painful memories from this job just flooded back. If you understand my situation, then surely you’ll…”

Charon knew full well that letting a living mortal pass without permission was his mistake, and he was clearly trying to excuse himself before I even got a word in.

Eventually, he noticed my expression wasn’t changing and fell silent.

“Since you allowed a living mortal to cross the Acheron, there will be no other god assigned to the Acheron for the next year.”

“…Understood.”

Enjoy working alone for a year, Charon.

Without assistance from Olympus, he’ll have to handle any disruptive human souls by himself, steering his boat and maintaining order all on his own.

As if realizing the weight of his punishment, Charon opened his mouth to speak.

“Ahem. So, what happened to the mortal? Knowing you, I figured you might have killed him on the spot.”

“I didn’t kill him. I’m not so heartless.”

“…? Really?”

“I was planning to propose to Persephone, or rather Kore, and I couldn’t show such a ruthless side to her. I’d prefer not to make her think ill of me.”

Charon’s eyes grew wide as I spoke. Why so surprised?

“What! You’re finally getting married?”

“Yes. I’ve proposed, to Kore and to a few others as well.”

“You proposed first? You, the most guarded god in all of Olympus? That’s more unbelievable than hearing that Thanatos is on vacation…”

“…Shall I make it two years instead?”

Charon promptly clamped his mouth shut.

He does this sometimes.

* * *

After my talk with Charon, I went to find Mente.

Despite being a low-ranking goddess from a mortal nymph, Mente had frequently voiced her willingness to be with me, even if only as a concubine.

But that was never my intent.

Favoring one goddess over others would be unfair, and I had resolved not to do such a thing.

Not to mention, I was already committed to spending my life with more than one goddess…

Mente had mentioned visiting friends in the mortal world, so she was likely near Mount Etna, where Typhon’s body is bound.

Suddenly—

“Hades! It’s an emergency! Typhon’s body is acting up again on Mount Etna…!”

“Mente?!”

I had been preparing to head to where I assumed Mente would be, but she rushed in with alarm in her eyes.

Her hair was in disarray, and she was panting from having run so fast.

“I was relaxing with my friends for the first time in ages, when suddenly, a pillar of fire burst from Mount Etna’s summit, and there was an earthquake…!”

Typhon on a rampage again… It had been quiet for some time, but perhaps Gaia had whispered another warning to him, foretelling his impending defeat. Or maybe this was just a periodic eruption.

With lava spewing from the crater…

“I’ll go there immediately.”

“Please, let me come with you! I didn’t have a chance to check if my friends were safe…”

* * *

Just in case, I also took the Kynee and headed toward Mount Etna.

As Mente had described, Typhon’s body was indeed thrashing about.

From the mountaintop crater, flames erupted violently, sending thick black smoke billowing across the sky.

Rumble…

Sensing the impending disaster, animals fled in all directions, while nymphs who lived near springs and in the surrounding vegetation hid in fear.

Typhon’s rampage was shaking the very earth.

“Hades?”

A goddess who had been pressing her hand against the ground in concentration looked up at me.

It was Demeter, goddess of the earth.

“Demeter. You’re here as well?”

“The nymphs pleaded with me. I was nearby, so I came immediately.”

“Have you discovered anything? Did someone deliberately provoke Typhon?”

“It’s unclear. Even if Gaia whispered something to him, I would have no way of knowing. The Gigantes can’t leave their plains, and the Titans are either imprisoned or held far below in your Underworld…”

Rumble…

At least Demeter had been quick to find it. Thanks to her, the earth itself was restraining Typhon’s movements, pressing down on him.

“Mente, you should go check on your nymph friends now.”

“Oh! Yes, I’ll be quick!”

As Mente leapt from the chariot and darted off, Demeter, still kneeling with her hand against the ground, spoke to me in an unexpectedly cold tone.

“Who is that low-ranking goddess? Surely, you’re not planning to court someone like her before my daughter?”

“I already proposed to Kore.”

“…Did you? As it should be. Listen well, then. She loves making flower crowns of yellow blossoms in spring and enjoys running through the meadows…”

There, amidst the chaos of Typhon’s rampage on Mount Etna,

I listened to Demeter’s commentary on Kore’s preferences and favorites. Quite an odd conversation to have in such a landscape.

A future mother-in-law… no, my sister imparting her knowledge about her daughter, my soon-to-be wife.

“Hades? Are you listening? If Kore sheds even a single tear because of you…”

“…I understand. Enough.”

Her worries truly know no bounds.

But I suppose it’s natural, given that her daughter is about to be married.

* * *

Once Typhon’s thrashing subsided, I returned to the chariot, where Mente was waiting, and we prepared to leave.

Mente, chattering away beside me, seemed to be in particularly high spirits after reuniting with her nymph friends from her days as a mortal.

“…and they even prayed to Zeus afterward.”

“Mente, it’s rare to see you this happy.”

“Oh… heh. The Underworld keeps me so busy, and it’s been ages since I saw my friends…”

Understandably so. After all, nymphs are beings bound to nature itself.

As long as the nature they inhabit remains untouched, their lifespans far surpass those of humans.

“They all looked just as I remembered them. Although some are gone…”

“I see.”

“The dryads passed because their trees were destroyed. But since I am a goddess of the Underworld, I can visit them when I wish…”

Had I not met Mente by chance, she too would have eventually passed away and arrived in the Underworld.

And I would have remembered nothing about mint, even in my faint, fleeting memories of a previous life.

But mint… the scent of mint held a special place in those memories.

“Mente, did you know?”

“Know what?”

“The plant you created, mint… in some human lands, people use extracts from it daily to maintain oral hygiene.”

“Really, Hades? I thought humans just chewed fragrant sticks or feathers, or used strange powders.”

“Haha! You wouldn’t know; it’s very far away.”

With the chariot’s speed whipping her green-blue hair in the wind, Mente wore a puzzled expression.

Of course she wouldn’t know—it’s a place too distant even for my powers as a god of the Underworld to reach.

“If such a place exists, I’ll have a lot more followers there! Perhaps I’d even be more revered than you, Hades. Haha!”

“Indeed. In that place, you would have more followers than even Zeus.”

“H-haha… really? Does that mean I’d be more… important than you?”

The people there—no, the people all over the world—use mint in their toothpaste every day.

If Mente had descended to my former life, she may well have been worshiped.

Seeing her eyes widen in wonder at my words, I lightly pinched her cheek.

“Ouch!”

“Careful, or a bug will fly into your mouth.”

“Ugh… You never used to tease me like this, Hades. You’ve grown more playful.”

Mente looked at me with a small pout, rubbing her cheek.

Am I really more playful than before? I’ve never heard such a thing from the other goddesses.

But I am very comfortable around Mente.

Perhaps it’s because the scent of mint revives memories of a past life, or because, even when she was a nymph, she neither feared me nor saw me as anything other than myself.

Since becoming a goddess and joining me in the Underworld, she has stayed true to her nature, always helping me…

Maybe that is what I found so charming about her.

Clop, clop.

“We’re here. You can step down.”

“Huh? Hades, aren’t we going back to the Underworld?”

“No, we’re exactly where we need to be.”

Whoosh—

I brought the chariot to a stop, and Mente and I disembarked in a peaceful meadow with a soft breeze blowing.

The area was secluded—no humans or nymphs around.

Just a vast mint field I’d secretly cultivated with the help of others, unbeknownst to the goddess of mint.

A refreshing aroma wafted through the air, carried by the gentle wind.

Mente, who had just stepped down, looked around, her long hair flowing, and breathed a quiet exclamation.

“Wow… it’s all mint, everywhere…”

“That’s why I chose this place.”

“Um, for…?”

“It seemed like the perfect spot for a proposal.”

…!

From my chest, I took out a delicate bracelet and carefully slipped it onto her wrist.

The bracelet, crafted from living mint leaves, climbed gently up her arm, its green hue complementing her own.

“You may be the goddess of mint, but that plant is also a part of me. These flowers here will always turn toward where I am.”

“Hades…”

“I love you, Mente. Will you marry me?”

“Yes… sniff.”

Standing close enough for our lips to touch, Mente’s scent filled the air—not the refreshing mint fragrance I’d always known, but a sweetness so intoxicating it felt like a whisper just for me.