King of Underworld

Chapter 73 A Slightly Different Story of the Underworld – (1)

With Demeter, I crossed the entrance to the Underworld on my chariot.

“I’ve only heard about it in stories, but is that the famous iron ship of Charon…?”

“Demeter?! What brings you to the Underworld?”

We encountered Charon, who was rowing his way across the Acheron River, ferrying souls.

Grr… Grrr?!

“A monster descended from Typhon? Did this kind of thing exist in the Underworld?”

“I infused it with my power to make it a divine beast, so it’s safe.”

We also saw Cerberus, guarding the entrance to the Underworld.

“Pick up that piece of parchment for me!”

“Damn it. With the recent attack from that Gigas monster, the number of souls has increased.”

“We’re running out of living space…”

Demeter, after witnessing the overworked administrators of the Underworld, sighed deeply and spoke to me.

A deep worry clouded her face.

“How can Kore possibly live in a place like this…”

Together with Demeter, I returned to the place where Persephone was staying.

To my surprise, my niece was behaving rather calmly.

Unlike her usual mischievous demeanor towards me, she was quietly weaving.

As soon as Demeter spotted her, she rushed over and embraced her tightly.

“Kore! How lonely you must have been in this cold and dark Underworld. Now that I’m here, we can return…”

“I wasn’t lonely at all, Mother. Don’t treat me like a child…”

“How can you say that when you’re so young, living in this dark Underworld…”

“I’ve eaten the food here, and I want to live with Uncle Hades in the Underworld.”

Persephone pouted and gently pushed Demeter away.

Even though she holds considerable divinity, it seems Demeter’s overprotectiveness is a bit too much.

“Haa… That’s because of Eros’ arrow. The feelings you’re having aren’t normal…”

“I swear by the River Styx, nothing has changed. Even before the arrow, I wanted to marry Lord Hades!”

“W-what?!”

“Haa…”

Demeter snapped her head toward me, glaring.

Swearing by the River Styx—no matter how powerful Eros’ arrows are, they can’t fabricate memories that didn’t exist.

The power of the golden arrow… Instead, it clarifies exactly when a person first fell in love.

Thus… what she said is true.

When someone already in love is struck by a golden arrow…

It likely strengthens their love even more, or rekindles love that might have faded with time…

In other words, while she didn’t fall in love because of Eros’ arrow,

It’s turned her fleeting feelings into an unshakable, eternal love…!

Demeter looked devastated as she stared at Persephone.

In turn, Persephone quietly embraced her mother.

“K-Kore… Why did it have to be the ruler of the Underworld…?”

“Well… Gigas had me by the neck, and Uncle Hades saved me.”

“Gigas grabbed you by the neck? Are you alright? That must have been during the attack on Mount Etna…!”

“Oh, Mother, really. I’m telling you, Uncle Hades saved me right in the nick of time.”

Demeter infused divine energy into Persephone’s body, checking for injuries, and stared at her with a worried gaze.

It’s time to sort things out.

“Whether it’s about arrows or love… The fact remains, since you ate the food of the Underworld, you must stay here according to the law…”

“Hades…!”

“But Persephone, you are the goddess of spring and seeds, are you not? If you stay here permanently, the world’s cycles will fall out of balance.”

The laws of the Underworld were established to maintain balance in the world.

If the goddess of the seasons were to be completely bound to the Underworld, the world above would be in danger.

“Uncle, do you not like me? It’s not because of the golden arrow…”

“I’m sure the words you swore by the River Styx are true. Since you’ve eaten the food, you must live here, but do you understand how important your role is in the world above?”

“Ugh… But still…”

“Think about what I said earlier. You are the goddess who oversees one of the seasons and the seeds of the earth.”

Her eyes drooped, and she spoke in a small voice.

“…Alright. But can’t I go to the world above occasionally? Right?”

Good. Although she said she’ll go “up to the world,” rather than come down to the Underworld occasionally…

Does that mean she plans to spend most of her time in the Underworld?

“I’ll go up when I’m needed as the goddess of spring.”

“Hoo… Compared to other gods who only seek beauty, I suppose Hades is the better option…”

Thankfully, it seems the world won’t lose its spring.

* * *

To share the results of the Olympian Council and discuss Persephone’s situation, I called all the gods of the Underworld to a meeting.

While many gods had already seen Persephone, we still needed to formally introduce her.

“…So, it has been decided that Persephone will stay here periodically.”

“Hehe, let me reintroduce myself. I’m Persephone, and I’m going to marry Lord Hades!”

My dear niece…

“I’m already busy enough, but a new god is always welcome.”

“Tsk tsk… So young, yet bound to the Underworld. It’s true, love makes you blind…”

“Marriage?! Who said anything about marriage?!”

“Anyway, let’s set Persephone aside for a moment. I’ll now report the results of the Olympian Council.”

I conveyed the decision to connect the outskirts of the world above with the Underworld and to have Chiron train heroes there.

I also mentioned that we’d received the Omphalos Stone to facilitate this.

“It aligns with the prophecy, and it seems like a reasonable solution.”

“We’ll need to put restrictions in place to keep the hero candidates from running their mouths…”

“But who will be in charge of this? Does anyone have the time?”

“Let’s place a barrier around the gorge where the heroes will be trained so that they won’t wander into the Underworld.”

Since monsters and Gigantes would come to the Underworld, there would be more than enough training opponents for the heroes.

Fighting against monsters that couldn’t die would surely produce strong heroes.

“But… can humans withstand the aura of the Underworld?”

This was the first problem.

Well-trained heroes might be able to handle it, but how would hero candidates withstand the power of the Underworld?

Only those who’ve died and shed their mortal bodies can come to the Underworld.

Even the outskirts of the Underworld would still emit a deadly aura, harmful to the living.

“The Underworld is a place where even staying for a short while causes the living to wither away.”

“Perhaps a demigod or fully realized hero might endure, but for a mere mortal…”

“If we exert our power, the aura will only become stronger. We’ll need the help of a god from the world above.”

“Uncle Hades, I think I can help with that!”

Just as I was contemplating separating part of the Underworld, Persephone spoke up.

She said she could resolve the issue using her powers as the goddess of spring and seeds?

“Can you manage that? It’s my domain, so it will require a lot of power…”

“If it’s just one small gorge, I’ll be fine!”

“Are you sure about this, Persephone? Even though you’re Zeus and Demeter’s daughter, you’re not one of the twelve major Olympian gods.”

“…It might be too much for a young goddess like you.”

“To neutralize the aura of the Underworld, especially Hades’ power…”

“I can do it! I can’t just sit around doing nothing while staying in the Underworld!”

Although she’s now bound to stay in the Underworld periodically after eating its food, she seems determined to help.

It would be perfect if she could continuously emit her power over the gorge, but it would be exhausting.

Even if I tried to summon another god from Olympus…

No god would want to spend extended time in the Underworld.

The twelve major gods are too busy with their own duties to stay here for long.

“…Alright, let’s head to the outskirts together.”

* * *

Persephone and I arrived at the outskirts of the Underworld, where the hero training grounds would be.

Waiting for me in the massive gorge was Chiron.

“Lord Hades, I’ve heard the details.”

“Yes. As you know, I want you to train heroes here.”

“Hm… I never imagined I’d end up training students in the Underworld…”

“So, is it impossible?”

“There are advantages. If we use the deceased monsters here, they’ll serve as excellent teaching aids.”

The monsters that died and came to the Underworld had received the blessing of oblivion and become as docile as lambs.

Some even became divine beasts like Cerberus, guarding various places in the Underworld…

“Even Python, the one killed by Apollo, is living peacefully here.”

“You mean the giant serpent who was the original owner of Delphi?”

The great serpent Python.

One of the offspring Gaia birthed with Poseidon, Python was the original ruler of Delphi.

Possessing the power of foresight, Python sensed that Apollo would one day kill him and take his place, so he tried to kill the young Apollo but failed.

Later, when Apollo matured into a god, he fired thousands of arrows at Python, eventually killing him.

Python’s wife, Pythia, submitted without resistance, so Apollo spared her and made her a priestess at Delphi.

Of course, the reason Apollo was able to kill Python, the child of Gaia and Poseidon, was…

“Poseidon, Gaia is our enemy now. Her children, the monsters, are included…”

“Hm… He was destined to die, but…”

“The god of prophecy must be on our side.”

It was only possible because of the silent approval of the gods who had sided against Gaia.

“There are also the Gigantes who died, the Sphinx slain by Oedipus, and the sea monster Perseus killed…”

“I’m worried the heroes might complain that it’s too hard. Haha!”

“Um… Uncle Hades. Shall we begin?”

It was time to neutralize the aura of the Underworld.

I signaled Persephone to start, then moved Chiron out of the way.

Rumble… Rumble…

First, I did my best to separate the gorge from the rest of the Underworld.

After weakening the aura to reduce Persephone’s burden, I nodded at her.

At that moment, a bright light burst forth from the goddess of spring and seeds.

Flash—

“Ick…”

At the same time, I could feel her warm and vibrant energy gently enveloping the gorge.

I also saw sweat trickling down Persephone’s neck, along with the ichor dripping from her nose…

“Ugh…”

The place where the heroes would be trained was now completely covered by Persephone’s spring energy.

I could feel a slight awkwardness in the gorge, as if something was off, confirming that it had been successfully neutralized.

But Persephone, having exhausted her energy, collapsed on the spot.

Thud.

I rushed over to her and supported her back.

As I wiped the sweat from her forehead, she smiled up at me.

“Are you alright? You seem to have overdone it.”

“Haa… It’s tiring, but… I’ll be fine after some rest…”

Swoosh—

The goddess of spring, having expended too much power, fell asleep in my arms.

I looked down at the completely vulnerable, yet warm and cheerful goddess for a moment.

“…Lord Hades.”

“Persephone being struck by the golden arrow… It was fortunate for us gods.”

Chiron, who knew the circumstances that brought Persephone to the Underworld, quietly approached.

The reason she used up so much of her energy and fell asleep was surely because she was in love with me.

After all, she had sworn on the River Styx… It wasn’t the golden arrow that caused her feelings for me.

But without that arrow, I wouldn’t have considered bringing her to the Underworld in the first place.

I would’ve dismissed it as a fleeting infatuation from a young goddess.

“…If the goddess of spring didn’t stay in the Underworld periodically, it would have been difficult to train heroes here.”

Though I had tried to ignore it…

Not all who come to the Underworld are victims of rape or tragic love affairs.

There are those who loved each other so deeply that they committed suicide together, or joyfully accepted death on the same day.

“Love is truly… difficult to understand.”

“…Even Lady Aphrodite would struggle to define that emotion clearly.”

To avoid waking the sleeping Persephone, I gently lifted her into my arms, supporting her back and knees.