Chapter 106: Minos (5)
And.
By sheer coincidence, behind Minos’s actions lurked the goddess of discord, Eris, along with a certain male god.
“Heeheehee, look at that fool Minos. He was exuding such a tempting scent to lure us in, and now he’s dragging his own fate straight to ruin.”
Eris giggled with delight. Moros watched her with a deep sigh.
“Sigh… Eris, this is extremely serious. If things go wrong, we could end up bearing Poseidon’s wrath.”
“Oh come now, Moros. As if I’d ever do anything to harm Lord Poseidon. I’m not that ungrateful. I’m just… gently nudging Zeus’s little brat along.”
Moros let out another profound sigh at his sister’s brazen declaration.
He knew Eris was on good terms with Poseidon, but did she even realize that if this got tangled up badly, it could provoke the anger of the entire sea pantheon?
Most likely, his sister borrowing his power for this was either out of resentment toward Zeus… or because some Olympian had insulted her.
Of course, he knew Eris was targeting Zeus, not Poseidon.
The problem was what would happen if they got caught.
Olympus would pin all the blame on him and his sister. Eris already had a terrible reputation and was ostracized by the gods.
If this incident soured things with Poseidon as well…
“We absolutely cannot get caught. Anyway, just looking at that guy’s behavior, he was bound to cause trouble even without us.”
As children of Nyx, the goddess of night, both Moros and Eris held high positions in the divine hierarchy.
Because of that, Moros was prepared—if worse came to worst—to borrow their mother Nyx’s power, all while trying to keep the gleeful Eris from going too far.
***
Bearing the pearl infused with Poseidon’s power, Iris immediately set off to find Nereus and Thetis.
Their dwelling lay deep within the Oceanus Strait—the same place where another sage of the sea, Phorcys, resided.
When Iris arrived at the Oceanus Strait, she was greeted by the sight of raging waves and a full-blown storm.
The primordial ocean of Oceanus, which held the greatest mysteries among all the world’s seas, was never truly gentle, but today it was utter chaos—likely because both Amphitrite and Eurynome were in foul moods.
The current sea was rocked by violent storms and earthquake-like tremors. The mysteries it harbored were frolicking like fish in water, stirring the world into frenzy.
“This might be even more serious than I thought…”
As Iris gazed at Oceanus with a grave expression, Nereus spotted her from afar and shouted,
“Rainbow goddess! Perfect timing! Come help us first! We have to hold them back until Father arrives!!!”
“Huh?!”
“No time to be shocked—hurry!”
“Y-yes, understood!”
Urged on by Nereus, Iris sprang into action without fully grasping the situation.
She calmed the mysteries dancing joyfully amid the waves and soothed the horse-shaped water mysteries that were whipping up the surf.
She frantically pacified mysteries mimicking the forms of the great sea gods—Poseidon, Amphitrite, Eurynome, Gaia, even Tiamat.
While Iris worked to quiet the spirits and mysteries, Nereus was locked in battle with the ice mystery.
The ice mystery, clearly preferring the current turmoil to calm seas, began freezing everything in sight.
This was Oceanus—the sea where mysteries were strongest. Here, even ordinarily cute mysteries grew as powerful as average gods.
Thanks to that, the ice mystery was now unleashing the power of the ancient god Cronus.
The dominion of ice began to seize space and slow time itself.
“Kiiiiiing!”
“Urgh! Calm down, you! Don’t you know how much damage the world suffers when you rampage?”
“Kihihihihit!”
“Hold it together. I’ll ask Poseidon for something fun.”
“Kississit.”
“No. We cannot allow another war. You know the world was half-destroyed once because of that.”
“Sisisisisisisi!”
“What?! You don’t care? You insolent—”
As Nereus struggled to contain the ice mystery, a massive wave-shaped figure approached from the distance.
The wave gently enveloped all the mysteries of the Oceanus sea.
Only then did the water mysteries that Iris had been restraining with a rainbow-made gag finally calm down, accepting her control. The mysteries that had been gleefully playing with the waves, as well as those mimicking the great gods, returned to their original forms.
“Phew… Phorcys, did you safely bring Lord Oceanus?”
Nereus asked with joyful relief to Phorcys, who had appeared with his blue-tinged skin.
“Ugh, this request of yours was the hardest in eons. Sneaking past Amphitrite’s watch to fetch Lord Oceanus?”
Phorcys patted his lower back dramatically, pretending exhaustion while scolding Nereus with a smile.
Nereus returned the jab with a friendly gesture of thanks to his old companion.
“Success! This guy always complains but gets it done. Good—whew, finally… Hey, stop jumping around!”
But just when he thought it had quieted, the ice mystery leaped up for one last romp.
As sections of the calming sea began freezing over again and time slowed, Phorcys hurriedly joined Nereus to help.
“This damn thing’s acting up again. Didn’t I tell you? We should just send it to Poseidon.”
“You and that idea again. Send this hyperactive pest to Poseidon? The whole sea would be left in ruins. Planning to freeze the world solid like the ends of the ocean?”
“Urgh…”
“Just hold on a little longer. Lord Oceanus will be here soon.”
“Oh, Mother Gaia…”
As Nereus and Phorcys struggled desperately against the unrelenting ice mystery that was revving up even more,
Oceanus arrived right on time.
Upon arrival, Oceanus glanced at the ice mystery, gave a wry smile, and waved his hand.
A thin stream of water, like a jet from a water gun, struck the ice mystery.
The wildly rampaging ice mystery instantly turned into a docile puppy and rushed over to Oceanus.
“Good grief, this little one’s still overflowing with energy.”
Nereus and Phorcys let out huge sighs of relief at the finally subdued ice mystery, their tension easing.
They then bowed in greeting to Oceanus, who appeared as the personification of the sea.
““We greet the Primordial Sea.””
Oceanus shook his head at them and said,
“You two never change. Still suffering because of my granddaughter.”
At his words, the two exchanged glances, chuckled, and simply nodded.
Understanding the heart of a father with a daughter—and thinking of his own granddaughter Amphitrite—Oceanus gave a wry smile before turning to Iris, who had been skillfully controlling the water mysteries.
“Iris, goddess.”
“Y-yes! Yes!”
“No need to be so tense. At least I have no intention of resenting Olympus.”
At Oceanus’s words, the highly nervous Iris let out a small sigh of relief.
Since Amphitrite effectively managed the Oceanus sea, she had feared he would share her anger—but thankfully not.
“So, rainbow goddess, take Nereus and go quickly. I need to calm this sea in place of my furious granddaughter. Or would you like to join me in seeing her?”
Iris felt her face go pale at Oceanus’s light joke.
Having once fought the sea goddesses directly over the Argos affair, she knew Amphitrite’s terror all too well.
“Eek! N-no thank you!”
“Hahahahaha!!!”
“I know how scary my granddaughter can be. Don’t worry—it was just a tease.”
Oceanus laughed heartily at Iris’s horrified reaction.
At that moment,
Wooooooong.
The sound of an enraged conch shell echoed, and Oceanus flinched, quickly bidding Iris a short farewell before vanishing amid the waves.
With Oceanus gone, the sea fell silent.
All the rampaging mysteries and spirits now floated peacefully atop the water, and the ferocious waves and storm subsided as if they had never been.
Nereus looked at Iris with an apologetic expression.
“Sorry. I dragged you into something that had nothing to do with you. I hope you didn’t come to any harm.”
“Not at all. The affairs of this sea affect the world, just like Lady Gaia’s earth.”
“I appreciate you seeing it that way. I’ll be sure to tell Poseidon about this.”
Iris gladly accepted Nereus’s apology and held out the pearl Poseidon had given her.
Nereus, upon receiving the pearl Iris offered, nodded as if he had already known.
“Hmm… you already knew. Word that you entered Poseidon’s palace has spread across the entire sea. And that you received something from him too.”
Iris flinched at how astonishingly fast news traveled in the sea.
She had come as quickly as she could…
“Don’t be too surprised. We have many specialists in that sort of thing here. Anyway, it’s been a while since I’ve seen one of these pearls.”
Iris nodded politely but inwardly wondered about the pearl.
Why this pearl?
“Ah, I can tell from your expression you’re curious, but it’s nothing special. Just a king’s order—something like a command to cooperate.”
Iris’s face shifted to “I see” at what seemed far less impressive than expected.
Right now, the priority was getting Nereus and Thetis to Olympus as quickly as possible.
“Then Lady Thetis is nearby, so we can pick her up on the way.”
“Ah! Yes. The faster we go, the better for me.”
“Hmm… true. We’re in a hurry too—especially with Amphitrite and the other goddesses and sea gods in their current mood. Let’s move quickly.”
Having witnessed the state of the Oceanus sea, Iris hurriedly rode the rainbow with Nereus toward Olympus.
The sooner they dealt with Minos’s affair, the better.
However, the pearl from Poseidon that Iris had overlooked was far more significant than she realized.
It was an unspoken command to the sea gods to cooperate with Olympus.
“Farewell, Nereus. Come back and tell us about Olympus.”
With Phorcys’s parting words, Nereus and Iris vanished from the Oceanus sea in an instant along with the rainbow.
“…Hmm. But what is Lord Poseidon thinking? Really.”
***
Olympus fell into silence upon hearing Iris’s report after she returned with Nereus and Thetis.
Some gods frowned at the prospect of more work; others worried that one of the gods’ long-cherished projects might collapse; still others looked forward to the impending chaos and war.
Among them, Zeus—as king of the gods—desired his divine domains of law and justice to flourish across all Greece in the form of orderly governance.
Having created the situation with Minos, he could not evade responsibility and thus viewed the current crisis with utmost gravity.
“At your level, you should be able to convey Olympus’s position effectively. What do you think? We are fully prepared to pay a fair price.”
As king of Olympus, Zeus asked Nereus and Thetis.
Since Poseidon had already conceded once, everything now hinged on these sea gods relaying Olympus’s stance well.
Perhaps Zeus’s earnest plea got through—Nereus replied with a faint smile.
“Lord Poseidon himself has little personal interest in destroying Crete. It’s his close aides who are truly furious right now. So if Olympus sends proper compensation, we can persuade him to some extent. However… that will only happen after King Minos fulfills his promise to Poseidon.”
“Minos’s promise?”
Zeus smiled with joy at Nereus’s words but pondered what promise Minos had made.
He vaguely remembered something about a promise…
“Zeus, it’s about the sacrifice.”
At Hera’s whisper, Zeus finally recalled.
Of course—the pure white bull!
Zeus’s face brightened like a full moon at the realization that the promise was merely a sacrifice.
“So you’re saying that if Minos properly honors his vow to Poseidon, he will be forgiven?”
“That’s highly likely. Poseidon personally doesn’t care much.”
Thetis, listening beside Nereus, added to Zeus,
“Hmm… then you have almost nothing to worry about, Zeus. No matter how much the sea goddesses—including Amphitrite—want to erase Minos and Crete from the map for undermining Poseidon’s authority,
They cannot act while ignoring Poseidon himself.”
Zeus nodded happily at Nereus and Thetis’s words.
“True, my brother is too busy building some casino or whatever right now.”
“Huh? What do you mean? Casino?”
In his overwhelming joy, Zeus let slip something he shouldn’t have. Poseidon had sworn him to secrecy when taking all that gold from his vault…
“Uh… it’s nothing. Just… that.”
“Ahem… Gods of Olympus, as you have heard, fortunately no great disaster will occur. Once this matter is resolved, I believe sending Hermes to offer compensation for undermining the sea’s authority will suffice.”
Zeus hastily switched to formal speech even in the official setting to change the subject, but the gods in the chamber—as well as Thetis and Nereus before him—were already eyeing him suspiciously.
These guys… there was some secret deal behind the scenes!
“Ha… haha… really, it’s nothing.”
‘Poseidon, you bastard—is this why you gave the pearl?’