Chapter 103: Minos (2)
Thus Minos continued to offer his earnest sacrifices day after day.
When the rites finally passed the one-week mark, not only Minos himself but also the citizens of Crete and the court officials watching him were on the verge of collapse from exhaustion.
“Shouldn’t we stop that boy Minos now?”
Europa wished with all her heart that she could make him quit immediately.
Mermaids and mermen had suddenly appeared in droves, and even the sea nymphs with whom she was personally acquainted had brought nothing but ominous tidings.
None of the news reaching Crete was good.
“Hyacinthos, speak your mind. In my opinion, the fact that the sea gods are paying attention to us cannot possibly end well.”
At Europa’s question, Hyacinthos—the highest-ranking minister of the realm and known as the Presbytes, the “Wise Elder”—bowed deeply before cautiously opening his mouth.
What he was about to say could become a weakness for Europa herself.
“Yes, Your Majesty. You are correct. The whims of the sea gods have always brought only suffering to us humans. However… there is an even greater problem: Prince Minos is of Zeus’s bloodline.”
Silence fell over the assembly watching Minos as the Wise Elder Hyacinthos once again raised the ever-thorny issue of bloodline.
This matter of lineage had been endlessly debated and was a hopelessly tangled knot, yet Hyacinthos had brought it up anew.
“Your Majesty, Elder Hyacinthos speaks truly. I hate to say it, but no one can serve both Lord Zeus and Lord Poseidon at the same time.”
“Exactly. Look at the precedents. Our ancestral states that tried to play both sides were swallowed by the waves and destroyed.”
““He is right.””
Once Hyacinthos—the wisest man on Crete—had spoken first, every elder, magistrate, and minister pleaded with Europa.
Europa clutched her throbbing forehead as the circumstances that had brought her to Crete became a problem once again.
She had never imagined she would have to suffer another headache over this.
“Why must the gods torment me like this…?”
***
Unlike the anxiety and dread on the surface, the sea gods remained largely didn’t care.
More precisely, they knew perfectly well that Europa had been Zeus’s lover and that her sons were Zeus’s children, but they simply didn’t mind.
“As long as the line of allegiance is clear, why would we be angry?”
“True. Lady Cybele, Lady Athena, Lady Persephone, even Lady Metis—all of them were Zeus’s wives or children, weren’t they?”
“Exactly. Lord Poseidon himself doesn’t care, so it’d be weird for us to butt in.”
“But what if they openly declare they serve Zeus?”
““Then it’s annihilation!!!””
That was how the sea gods saw it: bloodline didn’t matter; only whose side you were on.
“So you’re telling me to acknowledge Minos as king?”
While the sea gods were watching Minos, Poseidon was meeting a messenger sent down from Olympus.
The messenger knelt before Poseidon, trembling violently, struggling to deliver Olympus’s message.
“Y-yes… well… Olympus was wondering… if it would be acceptable… for Minos to become ruler of Crete… yes.”
The messenger stuttered several times but did his best. Truth be told, facing the lineup before him made him want to faint on the spot, but he had come in Hermes’s stead—his life’s greatest regret.
Poseidon closed his eyes in thought at the message, but the goddesses beside him—Eurynome, Psamathe, Pherusa, Calypso, Pronoia, and even Tiamat who had stopped by for a visit—all radiated open displeasure.
—Hmph… This is my first time dealing with Olympus, but they are remarkably arrogant. Pressuring us just to put Zeus’s son on the throne.
“Hik! N-no, that’s not…”
“Not what? Crete is clearly our territory. You want to make Zeus’s little brat king of our land and say that’s not it?”
“…Well, rather than that—”
“Both of you, enough. They probably just mean ‘let Minos live.’ Isn’t that right?”
“Y-yes, that’s exactly—”
“But why phrase it as ‘make him king’? I really don’t understand.”
“…”
The substitute messenger was being verbally pummeled. If Tiamat and Eurynome attacked openly, Psamathe and the others were sniping with silky sarcasm.
Only after the poor messenger’s brain seemed to have turned to white ash from the barrage did Poseidon’s palace finally fall silent.
Poseidon let out a hollow laugh at the messenger who now looked like nothing but cinders remained.
“Good grief, Hermes is getting craftier every day. So he’s coming himself now.”
No sooner had Poseidon spoken than the messenger’s bag opened on its own, and out stepped a figure wearing winged cap and winged sandals.
“Hahaha! You knew all along?”
“Tch, of course I did. Sending a low-rank errand boy for something like this? That alone was suspicious.”
“Hahaha…”
Hermes scratched his cheek with an awkward laugh and quickly scanned everyone in the hall.
“…So you all knew from the start.”
“Yes,” Eurynome answered as the representative, and every goddess present nodded in unison. “Consider every word that poor messenger just heard as being spoken directly to you. And be sure to deliver them to Zeus as well.”
Hermes inwardly nodded in agreement.
‘Good thing I sent that guy first. If I’d walked in myself, I’d have been torn to shreds. Gotta keep using him as a meat shield from now on.’
While the half-dead messenger would have fainted in horror if he’d heard that thought, Hermes casually pulled out Zeus’s official letter.
“Very well. This is Lord Zeus’s formal missive. Allow me to read it.”
The shameless, brazen attitude was truly worthy of Zeus’s son.
***
By now nearly two weeks had passed.
The ministers, elders, senators, nobles, and even Europa herself had reached the absolute limit of their patience.
“Lord Poseidon, grant me the throne. If you send me a bull from the deep sea, I will sacrifice it back to you and build a temple in your honor, worshipping you forever!”
—Forever!!!
As Minos and his followers chanted the final plea, the sea before them suddenly split.
Out walked Poseidon.
Wearing black sunglasses, flip-flops, a loud Hawaiian shirt and board shorts.
Every single person offering the sacrifice froze solid.
Not only had Poseidon actually appeared, but in that outfit…
And, of course, their reaction was exactly what Poseidon had hoped for.
“Hmm… yep, the reaction I was expecting.”
While Poseidon was enjoying himself, the people of Crete finally understood what it truly meant to hold their breath in terror.
At that moment,
POSEIDON!!! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!!!
A thunderous roar echoed from the sea, and a massive wave surged up and slammed into Poseidon.
SPLASH!
“UWAAAAAHH! What the hell, Eurynome!!”
Only when they saw the sopping-wet, drowned-rat Poseidon yelling at the ocean did the islanders and Minos snap out of their stupor and throw themselves to the ground in prostration.
““O great God of the Sea!””
Watching mortals bow before a drenched man in a Hawaiian shirt, if anyone in the heavens above had witnessed the scene, they would have agreed it was one of the most absurd sights in history.
***
Feeling the waves still crashing behind him, Poseidon lazily waved a hand at the prostrate crowd.
They needed to stand up for anything to actually happen.
At his gesture, every bowed body rose upright. The elders’ aching knees and backs were healed, the maimed grew new limbs, and the healthy became even stronger.
“Service.”
““Oooooooh, Lord Poseidon!!!””
Just as the people were about to fall into deeper prostration and shower him with praise,
Poseidon grimaced and cut them off.
“Enough. Spare me the flattery. We’ve all got places to be, so let’s get to the point.”
The people of Crete, once again thrown off balance, had no idea how to react.
Gods weren’t supposed to be this casual… but they also never cared about human convenience.
Poseidon ignored their confusion and continued, figuring there was no point in over-explaining anyway.
“Right, let’s make this quick. Minos, I accept your terms. I will give you the most magnificent bull from the sea. Sacrifice it to me, and you will become the undisputed king of Crete.”
Unlike the still-dazed crowd, Minos’s sharp mind instantly grasped the situation.
The sea god disliked empty ceremony and clearly had little personal interest in them.
Overjoyed, Minos simply bowed deeply and politely, nothing more.
“Thank you, Lord Poseidon. I will surely offer the bull you grant me, along with a sacrifice that will satisfy you.”
Poseidon stared straight at the cunning Minos and gave a small nod.
As expected, the man was exactly what he’d thought, but Olympus had vouched for him, so he’d have to wait and see.
Poseidon waved his hand once more and returned to the sea.
Moments later, the frozen crowd erupted into thunderous cheers for Minos.
“Our king, acknowledged by the gods!”
“Glory to Crete!!
“Long live King Minos!!!”
With that fervent roar, even Minos’s two brothers had no choice but to accept him.
His insane gamble had succeeded. No one could oppose a wager of this magnitude anymore.
“Since Lord Poseidon himself has acknowledged you, you are indeed the rightful king.”
“But don’t ever try to deceive a god, Minos.”
“We brothers know your lie, so how could a god not see it?”
Hearing his brothers’ warnings, Minos sneered inwardly.
‘Hmph. Losers daring to lecture me. If the god acknowledged me despite knowing my lie, doesn’t that make me the truly chosen son of heaven?’
Minos’s face was filled with a different kind of ecstasy: the belief that a god had endorsed his deception.
Only the Moirae knew what calamity this would eventually bring upon Minos and the people of Crete.
***
Deep beneath the sea.
Poseidon sat on his throne, thinking about Minos.
“No matter how I look at it, that guy is definitely going to cause trouble.”
Having seen Minos’s face in person, Poseidon was certain: the man would do exactly the same things he did in the myths.
And as if proving Poseidon’s hunch correct, he suddenly sensed someone arriving before his palace.
“Seriously? Is this really something that warrants you coming in person, Clotho?”
With Poseidon’s words, the eldest of the Moirae sisters appeared: Clotho, the spinner of the thread of fate.
“It’s been a while, Poseidon. I’m still grateful you stepped out of the Typhon affair at the end.”
“Spare me. I already got paid for that. More importantly: is that Minos guy really so important that you’d come yourself?”
“Well… rather than him personally, it’s because he will be the very first king to rule a nation strictly according to law and order.”
“That guy?”
“Yes. He will be the starting point of a nation where everyone is equal under clear laws, not a place where the strong simply do as they please according to raw desire.”
Poseidon finally understood why Clotho had come.
He hadn’t expected the troublemaker-looking brat to carry such a weighty fate. Even though the Age of Heroes had begun, the world remained largely the same.
In a world where superhuman beings existed, strength naturally came first. The weak had no recourse but to pray to the gods. Introducing strict, impartial law was so rare it was practically nonexistent.
“But there’s still a problem. There’s no god who can actually enforce that strict law.”
Clotho nodded in agreement at Poseidon’s biting remark.
He was right. At present, no god of law and justice existed. There was Themis, goddess of divine order, but she governed only the fundamental laws that held the cosmos together: nothing more, nothing less.
“Don’t worry. With the birth of Minoan civilization, the true Age of Heroes will soon leap forward, and a god of law and justice will appear.”
“…You’re really allowed to tell me that outright?”
Poseidon was puzzled by Clotho’s unusually blunt words.
The Moirae sisters never spoke this openly.
“Hehe. If it gives you a reason not to destroy Minos and Crete, spilling this much is nothing.”
“Tch! I don’t destroy things indiscriminately. I only do it to those who commit unforgivable atrocities.”
“Exactly. And that Minos is going to commit an unforgivable atrocity.”
Poseidon was momentarily speechless. As expected, the events of the myths from his previous life were going to repeat themselves.
‘Well, what Minos did in the myths was definitely worthy of death. He only lived because he was Zeus’s son, that’s all.’
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