The Tale of the Temple of Pluto - (3)
In the end, a suitable compromise was reached.
"What you see beside you is the goddess Lethe, who governs the River of Forgetfulness, and the one who rules the Styx..."
"Then did the god Pluto marry both of them?"
"The Styx goddess, who swore an oath by the Styx..."
The statues of the goddess Lethe and the goddess Styx were placed next to my own statue in the temple.
And the two goddesses were looking at it with satisfaction.
"Um, um. This is indeed right. We are, after all, in a relationship that has produced a child. How could you leave me out? Next time, I must be included..."
"Styx... what child are you talking about? If we go by that logic, then the child of Hades and Hephaestus would be a... a...!"
"Ugh! Please don’t mention that weapon that tormented Quine!"
How did it come to this?
Was it the goddess Lethe, who boasted about her statue being placed next to mine?
Or was it the goddess Styx, who begged how she could be left out after hearing that story?
And Quine is mine...
It didn’t even end there.
"This is Morpheus...?"
"Whoa! Why is the statue of Thanatos here?"
"So, all these gods live in the underworld?"
Yes, in the end, other gods also asked for their statues to be erected.
Thanatos, who approached suspiciously while clearing his throat...
Hypnos, who hinted that sometimes humans fail to recognize him...
"No, no matter how you look at it, this is too much...?"
"Could that be the... goddess of revenge...?"
Yes, the statues of the goddesses of revenge were also made.
Seeing their very intense reactions, it seemed humans were pleased as well.
Clearly, it was Hades' temple, yet the humans, distracted by the numerous statues around, finally regained their senses...
Only then did they start to kneel and offer their prayers.
"Uh... let's pray first."
"Will praying to the goddess of forgetfulness make painful memories disappear?"
By the way, I never expected so many believers would gather like this.
I should have used this method to exert influence in the mortal realm much earlier.
Thus, a busy day passed with believers coming and going in the temple...
"Hades, today there were no stories about the monster Gigas."
The high priestess of my temple, Parona, finished her daily duties and offered a prayer.
It was a bit sad to see her eyes darkened from the sudden increase in work.
She had to inspect those who wished to become priests of Pluto,
Command the personnel sent by the royal family due to my oracle, and oversee offerings, among other tasks.
The workload given to her was quite heavy.
After all, my temple had only one priestess, so it was understandable that Parona would bear a lot of burden.
After finishing her prayer, Parona collapsed onto her bed.
"Haah... today was tough..."
Still, a priest who directly sends faith to me can intervene in the mortal realm through their body.
Quietly, I infused my power to relieve her fatigue.
Vitality flowed through the invisible thread of faith connecting Parona and me.
"Ah... the fatigue... Thank you, Hades."
Work hard tomorrow and bring me information about the Gigas.
The next day, the god Hermes visited the underworld.
"The messenger of all, Hermes, has arrived, uncle!"
I wonder if he has news about what actions are being taken against the Gigas in Olympus?
With a lively face, he reached into his robe and pulled out a couple of scrolls.
"Most of the gods of Olympus gathered for a meeting. My father had a serious expression the whole time."
It seems the gods were summoned upon hearing news of the Gigas, which poses a great threat to us.
The possibility of war breaking out again was predicted, and they discussed how to issue an oracle to humans to search for the Gigas.
Poseidon, the god of the sea, commanded his subordinates to check the coastlines and riverbanks,
And hundreds of eagles, sent by Zeus, scoured the world.
Other gods, including the nature god Pan, also searched the land, but...
"No traces of that Gigas monster have been found at all. I walked around until my sandals wore out..."
Wait, do sandals really wear out? The inventions of Hephaestus are truly unfathomable.
I briefly glanced at the winged sandals Hermes was still wearing.
And Hermes said that according to the analysis of Athena, the goddess of wisdom, the Gigas that was killed by Cadmus likely moved alone...
However, it was also possible that Gaia sent it out to observe the gods' alertness and reactions.
"If Poseidon and Demeter were to overturn the land, they would come out, but... the lives of humans..."
This is why we are at a disadvantage in the fight against the Gigas.
"That seems to be the problem. We have things to protect."
"That is true. The situation is different from the Titanomachy that occurred before your birth."
The war against the Titans was a total war where the opposing divine factions fought with all their might.
But now, there are lives to protect, namely humans.
One might think that if humans die in the fight, they can just be remade, but...
The gods who have already formed attachments in this world cannot make such decisions lightly.
Many gods, like Cadmus and Harmonia, share love with humans.
Just look at how many children Zeus has with human women...
Even aside from that, it is not easy to ignore those who always pray to and offer faith to them.
Punishing an entire land is one thing, but punishing a single village or nation is acceptable.
"I have already given orders to the nymphs and lesser gods. They are to contact us immediately if the Gigas is found."
And Apollo also delivered an oracle at the Delphi temple, informing humans of the dangerous monster's existence.
It seems other gods have taken measures as much as they can.
"Then I will take my leave! I must also visit Demeter now!"
"Let us meet again."
"Hades, please bestow your grace upon the new priests."
As Hermes left, I heard Parona calling for me from the mortal realm.
Inside the temple, several people in black robes were kneeling before her.
It seems the high priestess Parona has chosen her helpers.
As they all bowed their heads and clasped their hands, I felt a sincere faith being conveyed.
Good, they all seem to have been chosen properly.
If they were just pretending to pray or feigning belief in me, I would notice right away.
"Thank you..."
"Oh... this is...!"
"Are you recognizing us as priests?"
The black divine power wrapped around their bodies, sharing fragments of strength.
It alleviated some minor ailments and granted the authority to inform Parona or me if a priest were to die.
I also bestowed some blessings of wealth, so they wouldn’t be greatly outmatched by the priests of other gods.
Especially against the followers of Dionysus, who spread around Thebes.
Gathering followers in Thebes, where Dionysus has established himself, felt like invading a playground of my nephew...
The great hero Cadmus of Thebes and Semele, the daughter of Harmonia,
And the demigod Dionysus, born of Zeus, eventually ascended to the position of one of the twelve Olympian gods.
At that time, the twelve thrones of the gods already had their owners...
But Hestia, the greatest benevolent goddess of Olympus, yielded her golden throne to Dionysus.
It was a problem that he would take revenge several times if humans treated him rudely during his ascension to godhood,
But there was no way to force the god of wine and madness to behave gently.
I recall the memory of Pentheus, the king of Thebes, who met his death due to my nephew's displeasure.
"I am truly wronged! Hades, I only did it for the people of Thebes..."
".... Yes. For now, drink a little more of the waters of Lethe and then speak..."
"Ahhhh! Mother!! Dionysus!!!"
Pentheus, who was killed by his own mother in a frenzy, was so filled with resentment that even after crossing the River Lethe, he still retained his memories.
It was quite pitiful to see him scream as if he had caught the madness of Dionysus.
Even Thanatos, who was bringing him to the underworld, wore a bitter expression...
"Take it easy... Take it easy. Your madness is hard for ordinary humans to bear."
".... Since you say so, Hades, I will be cautious."
I said this, so he would restrain himself a bit...
But can the god of madness really suppress his madness?
Honestly, I thought it would be quite difficult even as I spoke to him.
"Hades...!"
"What is it?"
While I was continuing to observe the mortal realm, this time the goddess Lethe called for me.
The emotion reflected on her beautiful face was one of confusion and worry.
"I bestowed blessings upon the believers, but... I think I made a mistake...!"
With her and the goddess Styx's statues being erected alongside mine, many humans began to mistake us for a divine couple.
Thus, when they prayed to me, many also prayed to their statues beside me...
"Sometimes, believers ask me to erase bad memories... So I erased a little..."
I glanced at the mortal realm for a moment.
"Who are you?"
"Oh dear! Father... don't you remember me? It's me!"
"Get away! Don’t grab strangers!"
"I heard you were going to pray this morning, so why...?"
A white-haired old man was arguing with a middle-aged man, and it seemed they were father and son, but did the old man not remember?
"I just erased a little because he prayed for me to erase his bad memories..."
"How much of that old man's memory did you erase?"
"I made a little mistake... I started from the most recent memories and erased about 30 years..."
Oh my...
Goddess, how could you erase 30 years?
It seems she made a significant mistake while bestowing power to the believers.
"I need to quickly ask the goddess Mnemosyne to restore his memory."
"Ugh... I only touched it a little because he begged so earnestly..."
In a past life, this was surely called... forgetfulness? Dementia?
Feeling the guilt of having harmed the mortals, I grabbed Lethe's cheeks and stretched them.
The soft skin of the goddess stretched and followed my touch.
"Ahhh! What are you doing...?!"
"When bestowing blessings upon mortals, always be careful. Especially since humans can only live for about 100 years at most, you must be even more cautious. Thirty years of forgetfulness is a great disaster for them, even if it seems short to us gods..."
As I began to scold her unconsciously, perhaps I was starting to resemble the goddess Styx.
"Ah, I see..."
Though I didn’t pinch her ears, why did they turn so red?