Chapter 134: Perseus (26)
Amid the awkward silence, Perseus forced a smile and exited the cave.
Fortunately (?) the Graeae sisters didn’t seem to react much.
—Tsk tsk tsk, is it fun teasing a child like that?
“Hey, but it’s kind of funny, right? Boldly declaring you’ll kill your own sisters from the same womb.”
—……
—I guarantee you’ll get stabbed in the back someday.
Poseidon paid no attention to Atropos’s ominous words.
He had too many reservations ahead to worry about every little thing.
More importantly,
Poseidon looked at Perseus walking far ahead.
Though he had teased him a bit, Perseus’s growth was certainly fast.
No ordinary human had grown at this rate before.
“But whether he can survive in the Gorgons’ garden… that’s another story.”
—I don’t know that either. That place is a divine domain.
“Hmm…”
***
Unaware of whatever Poseidon and Atropos were saying behind him, Perseus walked quickly with his face still slightly flushed.
“Njord, hurry up!”
“Good grief. Tease him a little and now he’s scolding me.”
“It’s not that. Don’t look at me like that.”
It was true he felt a bit annoyed by Njord’s teasing, but more than that, the fact that the end was in sight made Perseus oddly impatient.
The location of the Gorgons the Graeae sisters had told him was an island in the Oceanus Sea.
Normally, humans couldn’t easily set foot in the Oceanus Sea, but the feather the Graeae sisters had given as reward for the trials, combined with Athena’s compass, clearly pointed to the destination.
Above all, Perseus was Poseidon’s priest candidate.
That meant the Oceanus Sea was far easier for him than for other humans.
It was a domain ruled and managed by Poseidon’s wife, Amphitrite.
“If things go like this, there really is hope.”
With that thought, Perseus looked at the compass with eyes full of anticipation.
***
When Perseus had overcome all the trials of the Graeae sisters,
Athena was facing a headache-inducing situation.
“It’s been a while, Athena.”
“…Lady Ceto.”
“Oh my, a god who intends to kill my children still addresses me with respect?”
“……”
The being she faced was Ceto.
Athena sighed as she looked at her soldiers and attendants behind Ceto—bones broken, wounded, groaning.
They had probably tried to stop Ceto’s intrusion and ended up like this…
‘Idiots. I told them to just let someone like her pass…’
Despite her calm face, Athena wanted to sigh at Ceto, whose eyes burned like flames as she stared back.
She had expected this reaction the moment it became necessary to sever the Gorgon sisters’ heads…
But the response was more intense than anticipated. Above all, it was absurd that not a single Olympian god had come out despite the situation escalating this far.
‘Even if Lady Hera, Lord Zeus, Demeter, and Hestia don’t come out, what about the others…’
The chief gods might stay silent due to their relationship with Poseidon, but the rest were unbelievable.
‘Phew… We’ll see after this is over.’
Thinking that, Athena drew the sword at her waist.
It would have been good to have the shield too, but she had already given it to Perseus.
“Lady Ceto, you need to think a little more rationally. Above all, right now the Gorgon sisters are no more than shadows, aren’t they?”
“…Shadows or not, they are my children. So, Athena—stop that brat yourself. Otherwise, I will personally take the life of that illegitimate son of Zeus.”
Seeing no room for compromise with Ceto, Athena tightly gripped her sword and took her stance.
No matter what, she couldn’t just let Perseus be killed.
Regardless of the Moirai’s prophecy, since Zeus had secretly ordered her to protect Perseus to some extent, she had to do so.
“Unfortunately, there’s no helping it. From my position, I can’t let Perseus die.”
“……”
Boom!
Ceto’s white whale lunged at Athena with its massive body in a surprise attack.
Guh!
With that, Athena swung her sword, and a great battle began on Olympus between a colossal white whale and a sword-wielding woman.
***
While Athena was dealing with Ceto,
Perseus was crossing the sea by ship. He wanted to use Hermes’s talaria, but it was impossible.
In the Oceanus Sea, all magical tools and items lost their power.
The talaria—originally a divine artifact—might have been unaffected in theory, but Perseus hadn’t reached the level where he could fully draw out its power.
Thus, he had no choice but to travel by ship to reach the Oceanus Sea.
“Njord, at least we’re fortunate there’s a ship that sails the Oceanus.”
“Hmm. People often misunderstand this part. They think no one can set foot in the Oceanus Sea. That’s wrong. The real problem is that the path is impossible to know—because of the capricious natural environment.”
The moment Njord finished speaking, a sudden storm broke out 300 meters away from Perseus’s ship.
“Looks like the sea mysteries are playing tricks again.”
Perseus flinched at the sight.
If they had been just a little closer, they would have been caught in it.
As if understanding Perseus’s thoughts, the captain—who had gladly offered his ship—stepped out to reassure him.
“Hahaha. Don’t worry too much. There won’t be any accidents. We made proper offerings before setting sail. And none of the people on this ship have done anything to anger the sea.”
When Perseus had come down from the Graeae sisters’ cave in the Atlas Mountains and visited the nearest port, every sailor had panicked.
No one wanted to go to the Oceanus Sea.
After searching and searching, he finally met this captain at what would be the Casablanca port in modern terms.
The captain was a human-merfolk hybrid and had no fear of the deep sea.
Moreover, his crew—seemingly veterans of dangerous voyages—readily accepted Perseus’s request.
“Really? But from what I studied, the Oceanus Sea is even more capricious than the gods. Elementals and mysteries are similar yet different—elementals can be tamed by humans and other races, but mysteries are the untamable essence of nature.”
Perseus’s concern was reasonable.
Right now, most of the storms and lightning raging nearby were caused by mysteries.
Above all, mysteries were like untamed wild animals compared to elementals.
Even gods could only control them—natural essences in pure form?
While elementals and mysteries shared the same essence, they were as different as a house cat and a wild one.
The captain—smiling warmly at the young priest who had clearly studied hard—explained.
“That’s right. Mysteries are even more capricious than gods. But look—Lord Poseidon’s priest is right here in front of me. We didn’t come deep into the Oceanus Sea without thinking.”
Perseus looked even more puzzled at the captain’s words.
“What do you mean? Even if they’re mysteries, I’m just a priest…?”
“Hmm… From the gods’ perspective, you see…”
As the captain pondered how to explain to Perseus’s innocent reaction, Njord—who had been listening quietly—stepped in.
“To put it simply, this place is Poseidon’s domain—his territory. The normally unruly mysteries are only allowed to play here with permission. So as long as you—Poseidon’s priest—are on this ship, the mysteries show at least some respect.”
The captain nodded enthusiastically at Njord’s explanation.
“Hahaha! Exactly like this guy says. We sailors serve different sea gods, so it’s hard to say it outright, but this mage puts it simply. Hahaha.”
“Huh? But Lady Euryte—priestess of Cybele—said Lord Poseidon is the highest…”
“Huh? Ah, that’s true. But among us sailors, there’s an unspoken rule. For example, if you believe in Amphitrite, you can’t believe in Zeus. Sailors serve only one god their entire lives.”
Perseus found the captain’s words fascinating. The fishermen back on his home island all simply believed in Poseidon.
As Perseus fell into thought, the captain smiled and continued.
“No, no. It’s just a harmless superstition—don’t take it too seriously, Lord Priest. It’d be burdensome. Of course, if an oracle comes in Poseidon’s name, we follow it. But normally, it’s about what we do and whom we follow in daily life. To begin with, I heard from a merfolk I know that Lord Poseidon himself encourages it.”
—That’s right, lads!
—Yes, Captain!!
Perseus looked at the captain and crew with a fascinated expression.
But amusingly, from what he had learned of Lord Poseidon’s personality, everything the captain said made perfect sense.
According to Dictys, Poseidon originally had no interest in the surface world anyway.
Chatting like this, several days passed during the voyage.
Finally, Perseus’s party reached the island the compass guided them to.
The island was enormous.
Trees several times larger than those on land stood everywhere, and strange-sounding birds flew in the sky above.
Kuwewewewek!
Above all, there was no dock suitable for anchoring the ship.
Splash!
“Phew. Lord Priest. I checked underwater—there’s a river that the ship can barely enter. What should we do?”
Perseus pondered the captain’s report after checking the river—no proper harbor existed.
Looking at this vast unknown island, entering by ship didn’t seem very safe…
Kieeeek!!!
At that moment, a massive three-headed eagle circled overhead, letting out eerie cries.
“…Let’s go in for now. We don’t even know how big this island is. And above all, that thing overhead seems to see us as prey. What do you think, Njord?”
“I’m fine either way. But the island feels roughly 637,000 plethron (about the size of modern Seoul—605.2 km²). Probably 1.5 times bigger than Athens. Anchoring the ship in the sea and searching on foot might take forever.”
At Njord’s words, Perseus made a firm decision.
“Captain, let’s head to the river.”
Perseus didn’t want to waste time in a jungle the size of Athens.
Kieeeek!
And the fact that the strange creature overhead was targeting them also weighed on his mind.
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