Chapter 76: Persephone (1)
Pygmalion’s automaton was a monumental incident that inspired countless humans.
What happened on the island of Cyprus spread rapidly — not just among the races living on the surface, but even to the gods.
“Have you heard?”
“Heard what?”
“They say Lady Nyx and Lady Hecate themselves have officially recognized those automatons as a race.”
“What?! Weren’t automatons just props used in plays?”
“Well… I hear that the dolls created by that genius alchemist, Pygmalion, can think on their own — and even bear children.”
“Ha… So humans have taken a step closer to the gods.”
In a world currently enjoying relative stability, the tale of Pygmalion stimulated many races.
To some, it even sounded like proof that humans might eventually reach the realm of gods.
After all, a human had created something only gods were believed capable of creating — a new race.
If ordinary people were fascinated by Pygmalion’s automatons…
…then mage towers, knight orders, and mercenary guilds were shocked in an entirely different way.
“Whoa! Look at these traces. Something left a wound at the very peak.”
“Huh! This is definitely high-tier magic! But wasn’t the recorded battle between a human and an automaton?!”
“Haa… what a pity. If only there were any remnants of that automaton Galatea, we could have studied them…”
“Ah! Haven’t you heard? There’s a rumor she became one of the gods’ chosen.”
The traces of the battle between Njord — one of Poseidon’s human forms — and Galatea deeply impacted many.
Most of all, for those who believed only demi-gods had the potential to ascend to godhood, the remnants of that battle sparked an entirely new possibility.
Thus, many sought the whereabouts of Pygmalion and Galatea… but no one found them.
For Pygmalion’s amusing soul had been taken in by Nyx,
And Galatea had been taken in by Poseidon after the final battle.
***
Just like humans, the incident on Cyprus caused major disruption among the Olympians as well.
For the primordial goddess Nyx — who hadn’t shown herself for ages — had suddenly taken action.
“Of all times… why did the goddess Nyx choose to move now?”
To Hera’s question, Athena — currently the busiest among the gods — replied.
“It may be related to Father Poseidon. The names Njord from the Neptune family and a mage called Katrin have been spreading across Cyprus.”
“Neptune?”
“Yes. It may be one of Father Poseidon’s aliases… though I can’t be certain. Even when I went to inspect the site myself, I couldn’t detect any divine traces.”
“It’s fine. There are things you can tell without seeing them directly. At the very least, Poseidon is definitely involved.”
From the Neptune who appeared during Dionysus’s trial to this Neptune involved in the automaton incident… Hera was getting a headache from the realization that her idiot brother seemed to be entangled in everything.
“Haa… And at a time when even Zeus is busy, that so-called ‘Lord of the Seas’…”
“……”
Athena kept quiet at Hera’s complaint.
‘Father Poseidon is Gaia’s husband as well… so he doesn’t need to worry about Typhon as much as the Olympians do.’
Being the goddess of wisdom, Athena knew how to hold her tongue.
“Then… may I continue with Aphrodite’s report?”
“Ah! My apologies. I suddenly pictured my idiot brother’s face.”
Even as Hera casually insulted Poseidon, Athena maintained her expression as best she could and resumed delivering Aphrodite’s report.
Having listened to all of it, Hera’s expression grew far more serious than before as she reread the written report.
“If this report is correct… that Typhon has acquired a weapon capable of countering Hephaestus?”
“Yes. I asked Hephaestus about these so-called automatons. He said that if the enemy had a sufficiently skilled craftsman, they could indeed counter his golems.”
Hera’s expression darkened even further at Athena’s words.
Why had Olympus been able to remain confident even in the face of danger?
Because they believed there was no area in which their enemies could surpass them.
Typhon might be powerful, but he wasn’t on the level of directly challenging the Protogenoi themselves.
Thus the deciding factor would be the quality and quantity of each side’s forces — and with master craftsmen like Hephaestus, Olympus felt secure.
But now, if Aphrodite had truly been trapped inside her avatar during the Cyprus incident…
“This is far more dangerous than expected. If they can trap gods inside their avatars… Just imagining it is horrifying.”
“Indeed. For now, we must prohibit the gods from freely sending avatars down to the mortal world.”
Hera nodded at Athena’s suggestion.
From now on, even the mightiest gods would find it difficult to freely send their avatars to the mortal world.
***
While the world buzzed with chaos over the Cyprus incident…
Dionysus met with the goddess Rhea, safely lifted his curse, took some rest, and finally returned to the mountain where he originally lived.
“Dionysus!”
“You really… managed to overcome it. Sniff.”
Dionysus joyfully reunited with Ampelos and Silenus, who welcomed him with genuine relief.
“Haha, it hasn’t been that long, yet it feels like ages.”
The satyrs, who had already awakened thanks to Dionysus’s earlier efforts, bowed their heads apologetically and gratefully.
“We’re sorry. Because of our mistake, you suffered.”
“We’ll repay this debt someday. Definitely.”
“Yeah, pay it back someday.”
Dionysus forgave all of them. The matter was already over, and he had no desire to dwell on who was at fault.
Besides, he knew well that there was no point in getting angry at beings who lived purely by instinct — the anger would fade immediately anyway.
“Well, now the only thing left is to soothe Lady Artemis’s anger.”
The moment Dionysus said that, the faces of all the satyrs went pale.
During the time he was gone, they had suffered so much under Artemis that even hearing her name made them dizzy.
Ugh… Lady Artemis…
Aaaaaaah—!!
Dionysus looked at their reactions with confusion.
“W–wait. Why are you like this? Don’t tell me Lady Artemis demanded one of you as a sacrifice while I was gone?”
“No… it wasn’t that…”
“It was something more… primitive, I guess…”
The satyrs couldn’t answer properly, but Ampelos spoke on their behalf, sounding as if he thought they were pathetic.
“It’s nothing serious. No one died, and no one was injured.”
— Uuuugh, Ampelos, you traitor.
— We strip you of your honorary satyr status.
— Go die somewhere. Uuuughhh.
Dionysus watched the drastic contrast between the satyrs’ wails and the calm reactions of his teacher Silenus and Ampelos — and he quickly understood.
‘Hmm… she probably took away their freedom and stopped them from doing anything.’
And indeed, that guess was correct.
When Dionysus had set out to undergo his trial, Artemis had a thought.
If she couldn’t kill those lazy satyrs lying around…
Was there any point to just leaving them there?
Wouldn’t taking away what they loved most be far more effective?
And so Artemis immediately put that idea into action.
She dispelled the plague —
And then took away the satyrs’ freedom.
Specifically, she completely banned anything related to the thing satyrs loved the most: sex.
But most importantly…
She had turned them all into eunuchs.
“Ugh! That’s… kind of horrifying.”
Dionysus grimaced as he heard about Artemis’s other punishments.
As a man, some reactions were instinctive and unavoidable.
Seeing his expression, the satyrs eagerly waited for his empathy —
See? You think it’s terrible too, right?
Hoping he would pity them enough to lift the curse.
“Still… I guess it’s not a huge problem. The satyrs of Mount Nysa were pretty excessive.”
Contrary to the satyrs’ expectations, Dionysus actually concluded that Artemis had chosen a fairly reasonable method.
“That’s true. Even the Hyades nymphs were trembling in disgust. If it weren’t for you, all the satyrs here might have been thrown underground by now…”
“I agree with my student.”
Ampelos and Silenus both nodded firmly, clearly supporting Dionysus’s stance.
“Live as eunuchs a little longer and reflect on yourselves.”
The satyrs fell into utter despair.
Uwaaaaahhhh!!!
To make matters worse, Ampelos went one step further and suggested tossing the satyrs into Chiron Academy to be drilled and disciplined.
Before, as an honorary satyr, Ampelos might have defended them.
But after seeing how much Dionysus had suffered because of their earlier mistake, Ampelos felt he had learned something important.
Leaving the satyrs behind in their pit of despair…
The three of them began discussing how to resolve Artemis’s anger.
“Dionysus, about Lady Artemis’s wrath — we’ve already discussed it among ourselves.”
“That’s right. We can’t keep letting you be the one who suffers.”
Silenus and Ampelos spoke with determined expressions.
The two had already sworn that one of them would offer themselves as a sacrifice before Artemis if necessary.
They could no longer allow Dionysus to bear everything alone.
With faces hardened by resolve, they looked at each other silently, ready to accept whatever Dionysus might say.
‘You know, right?’
‘Yes!’
“Ah, that? That’s already been settled with this — [Charybdis’s Arrowhead].”
“Absolutely n— huh?”
The two froze mid-speech, wearing ridiculous expressions as if they had bitten their tongues.
Dionysus blinked, concerned.
Were they sick?
Of course, Ampelos and Silenus were perfectly fine.
…Or perhaps they were sick — in the head.
— What in the world is that supposed to mean?
— Why are you asking me?
— Isn’t it absurd? We were supposed to resolve Artemis’s wrath.
— I don’t know. But if it has the name of the goddess Charybdis on it… isn’t that some ancient treasure?
— …Usually, yes.
— ……
Dionysus became even more worried as the two turned around and whispered frantically behind his back.
Had Artemis put another curse on them while he was gone?
“Are you sure you’re okay? If either of you isn’t feeling well, then take this—”
Dionysus reached into a small pouch.
Panicking, the two quickly stopped him.
“Hahaha, we’re perfectly fine. Really, my student. Right, Ampelos?”
“Yes! I’ve never been better!”
The two suddenly began doing jumping exercises — “hut-two, hut-two” — like maniacs.
No matter how he looked at them, Dionysus thought they seemed a bit insane… but he let it go.
Well, taking care of those satyrs could drive anyone crazy.
After a long demonstration proving they were “perfectly healthy,” Dionysus finally raised a fist to signal that he’d seen enough. Only then did they stop.
They hesitated for a moment, then asked the question they had desperately wanted to ask earlier.
“Wait. You said we needed to appease Lady Artemis’s anger, right?”
“Yes. So how do you have something like [Charybdis’s Arrowhead]?”
The two bombarded him with questions. Dionysus waved his hand to calm them down.
“I’ll explain everything. Don’t rush.”
“So here’s what happened…”
***
When Dionysus first received the “Blessing of the Mad Conqueror” from the goddess Rhea, he truly felt joy — he had finally overcome his trial.
And Rhea — who, from Dionysus’s perspective, was essentially his grandmother — treated him with special care, knowing he had the potential to become a god.
One of the things she did for him was mediate between Dionysus and Artemis.
“Artemis, dear child. Isn’t it about time you let go of your anger toward Dionysus?”
“…Even if it’s you, Lady Rhea, there are things I cannot tolerate. If you knew what the satyrs did to my forest, you wouldn’t say that.”
“The satyrs?”
Rhea, who had assumed Artemis was merely irritated at Dionysus about something minor, was caught off guard when the satyrs were suddenly mentioned.
What in the world was she talking about?
“Well, you see…”