Chapter 133: Perseus (25)
If Perseus had seen Pamphredo showing reverence to Mage Njord, he would have felt puzzled.
Why would a goddess bow in awe to a mere human?
“Lift your head quickly. What if Perseus suddenly comes back?”
“No need to worry. That cutie has definitely left the temple. You know this place is entirely within my senses.”
Poseidon sighed at Pamphredo, who refused to yield even slightly.
‘I knew it would be unsettling…’
With a sigh, Poseidon sat on the throne where Pamphredo had been seated.
If he didn’t, she would clearly remain kneeling with her head bowed forever.
Only after Poseidon sat did Pamphredo finally raise her head, standing before him like a vassal pledging loyalty to her king.
“Yes. I thought you’d notice right away with that eye. I was anxious the whole time.”
“Yes. I didn’t realize at first either, but I understood after using this eye. Still, rest assured—I will never reveal your identity, even if it costs my life.”
At Pamphredo’s grave resolve, Poseidon pressed his forehead as if his head ached.
‘This is exactly why I didn’t want to be found out by these sisters…’
In truth, the Graeae sisters were born as monsters—wrinkled, white-haired old hags.
How should one put it? Neither fully gods nor fantastic creatures—something in-between.
Because of that, from childhood, aside from their mother Ceto and their sisters the Gorgons and Echidna, no one in the world accepted them.
The sea ruled by Pontus went without saying.
When those sisters were steeped in pain, sorrow, rage, and so on, the new king of the sea and god—Poseidon—appeared.
With modern sensibilities combined with divine power, Poseidon naturally held no prejudice against the Graeae sisters.
His curiosity about the difference between gods and fantastic creatures led him to approach them.
—You adjusted their divinity, allowing them to possess dual power as both goddesses and fantastic creatures. Is that right?
“Yes, as expected of you, Lady Atropos.”
—Hmph! Of course you would. Even we sisters couldn’t predict the change in their fate. Who could have imagined a god would do such a thing?
“Yes. It was something no one foresaw. Because of that, our family still worships Lord Poseidon. We fought hard even against Pontus.”
Poseidon stayed silent during the exchange between Atropos and the Graeae sisters.
It was all more or less true.
Back then, Poseidon had simply been curious.
‘No, it doesn’t make sense for children of two Protogenoi to be born as such monsters.’
In the end, that curiosity led to the birth of the Graeae sisters as they are now—both goddesses and fantastic creatures.
As if reading Poseidon’s thoughts, Pamphredo took his hand, kissed it, and said,
“It doesn’t matter what thoughts or reasons Lord Poseidon had. What matters is that so many were saved because of you. For example, Echidna—who was once treated as a monster—is now regarded as a great mother.”
Poseidon nodded at Pamphredo’s words. He hadn’t realized it at the time, but everything had happened in a chain reaction.
While researching, experimenting, and healing the Graeae sisters, Poseidon gained the divinity of [Father of Monsters].
The problem was that this divinity was the very reason Echidna was rejected by the gods.
Until Tiamat rose to the highest among sea goddesses, she had been the gods’ enemy—an absolute monster to be defeated.
For the king of the sea to bear such a dangerous and rejected divinity… well, the aftermath was inevitable.
Moreover, since Tiamat was one of Poseidon’s wives, his position as sea god grew even greater.
—Thinking about that still makes my blood boil. Originally, Echidna was supposed to be Typhon’s wife and give birth to countless monsters!
“……”
At Atropos’s words, Poseidon pretended not to hear.
Clotho had once gleefully told him that Atropos had been raging about it.
‘Ahem… Let’s leave old stories for later. Please take good care of Perseus. He’s quite a good kid.’
Pamphredo smiled at Poseidon’s awkward change of subject and said,
“Yes. I already liked him, but since he’s your priest, I’ll have to adore him even more.”
***
Meanwhile, at that moment, Perseus had entered the green temple of Enyo and the pink temple of Deino, undertaking their trials one by one.
Enyo had hearing impairment, Deino speech impairment—so their trials were related to those senses.
Enyo’s trial was to sense and evade intangible projectiles that could only be heard.
Deino’s was a trap that would inevitably kill anyone who hadn’t awakened silent casting or verbal command.
“Huff… huff… huff…”
Perseus overcame all the trials alone.
Considering most who came here did so in groups, it was clear his abilities had already surpassed a certain level.
Moreover, in the process, his sense of smell and the sense Poseidon had named “Echo” fully awakened.
Of course, to Perseus right now, the overwhelming sensation of “I’m going to die” was far stronger.
“Hngh… So this is what it feels like to have senses blocked.”
“Indeed. Especially for the Graeae sisters, with all senses downgraded, it must have been even worse.”
“Ah! Njord.”
Perseus—who had been resting at the entrance before re-entering Pamphredo’s temple—brightened at the sight of Njord coming to meet him.
“I was worried leaving you behind, but you’re perfectly fine?”
“It’s not that. You’re not worried because you couldn’t get help during the trials?”
“Hehe, that too.”
Poseidon quietly watched Perseus, who was grinning sheepishly in front of him.
He had definitely become sharper in his senses.
Though Perseus seemed exhausted and unaware, his body flinched slightly at the subtle aura Poseidon was emitting.
“Anyway, growth is growth. The Graeae sisters wouldn’t have given you a trial meant to actually kill you.”
“…Yes, I felt that while going through the trials.”
As Njord said, Perseus had sensed it during the trials. There was no malice in the three goddesses’ trials.
To be precise, he could die, but overcoming them would definitely bring gains.
It even felt like the trials were designed specifically to make the challengers grow.
Poseidon nodded at Perseus’s response and patted his shoulder.
“Good that you know. Now let’s go in. The sister goddesses are probably waiting.”
“Ah, yes. Time to finally meet the Gorgon sisters.”
***
The Graeae sisters resembled each other like triplets.
The only differences were their individual disabilities and slightly varying body shapes. Just looking at their faces, it was hard to tell them apart.
Perseus felt this vividly as he saw all three sisters gathered in Pamphredo’s temple.
He hadn’t noticed when meeting them individually in their own temples, but together, the resemblance was striking.
Noticing Perseus’s reaction, the silver-haired Pamphredo smiled and said,
“Why? First time seeing triplet goddesses?”
“Huh? Ah, no. I just didn’t notice in the temples, but seeing you all together, you look so alike.”
“Of course. We didn’t realize it when we were young, but we look incredibly similar.”
[Well, triplets are extremely rare among gods anyway.]
Perseus gave an awkward smile at the three goddesses speaking in their own ways.
It was still strange to see them conversing through their individual tools.
Pamphredo held the eye above her head, Enyo the golden disc, and Deino the small box.
‘It’s a bit awkward to look at… but those tools don’t give off any aura at all. As expected of divine items.’
As Perseus sensed, each tool was far from ordinary.
Forged by Poseidon himself with materials gathered and entrusted to the Cyclopes, the three items each had special abilities.
Pamphredo’s eye could pierce truth and distinguish lies from reality.
Enyo’s golden disc allowed uncovering hidden truths of the world, magic, techniques, or secrets known only to the Protogenoi.
Deino’s box absorbed and released sound. More precisely, it absorbed shockwaves and damage created by sound.
Naturally, with such capabilities, Perseus’s current senses couldn’t penetrate them.
Still, managing to feel even a hint of dissonance during these trials was impressive.
It showed just how far Perseus had come in transcending human senses.
***
Because they liked Perseus and revered Poseidon fanatically, the Graeae sisters gladly told him the location of the Gorgon sisters.
“Hmm… Are you sure about this? No matter how much they’re just shadows of the Gorgons, they’re not beings humans can defeat.”
“Huh? What do you mean…?”
Pamphredo glanced at Poseidon at Perseus’s clueless response.
‘He’s with Lord Poseidon and still doesn’t know?’
Seeing Pamphredo’s look, Poseidon shrugged.
He’d missed the timing to explain earlier and had planned to do it on the way to their garden anyway.
At Poseidon’s reaction, Pamphredo nodded.
If it were other gods, she might have scolded him, but she trusted Poseidon had some plan.
To her, Poseidon was beyond doubt.
“No, you’ll understand once you go and experience it yourself. You have divine weapons and a powerful mage with you. Still, be careful—the Gorgons are different from us. Their eyes are… too good, shall we say.”
Perseus wanted to dig deeper into Pamphredo’s words but simply nodded.
Asking a god twice was an outrageous act only someone as fearless as Njord could get away with.
“Yes. I’ll keep it in mind. Thank you, Lady Pamphredo.”
“Mm. You might actually be able to handle them.”
“That might be true. The gods are watching this closely—unusual.”
[Even now, their stares are so intense.]
Perseus gave a wry smile at Enyo and Deino’s words.
He had known since the Temple of Delphi that some gods were paying him excessive attention.
It would be a lie to say it wasn’t burdensome, but running from those gazes wasn’t an option for Perseus—he had a clear goal.
“Yes. I will definitely handle the Gorgon sisters. Thank you for helping me grow.”
As Perseus bowed once more to the Graeae sisters with renewed resolve,
Njord—who had been beside him—tilted his head and said,
“You do know the Graeae sisters are sisters to the Gorgon sisters, right?”
“……”
Perseus fell silent at Njord’s words.