Chapter 161: The Calydonian Boar Hunt (3)
Under the watchful eyes of Artemis and Poseidon, Meleager grew into an outstanding young man.
Perhaps because of the gods’ gaze upon him, Calydon enjoyed bountiful harvests every year. Precious metals that artifact craftsmen coveted most began to be discovered throughout the mountain ranges.
―See? Prince Meleager really is blessed by the gods. Ever since he was born, there hasn’t been a single failed harvest.
―Hoho, and look at our mines—people are coming from all over to trade with us now.
―Most importantly, I think it’s huge that Lady Artemis allowed us to gather herbs in the mountains. Normally, even going into the mountains to pick herbs was forbidden.
―True, true. Anyway, all of this started after the prince was born. Let’s raise a toast to our prince!
To the prince!
Even those most directly involved could feel it: ever since Meleager’s birth, Calydon had been blessed with endless abundance and steady development.
The kingdom experienced unprecedented blessings and fortunate events on a regular basis after his arrival.
And Meleager himself—the one everyone praised without end—never forgot humility and gratitude.
He could easily have become arrogant, yet every day he disciplined himself harshly.
“Father, we must offer the first fruits of the harvest to Lady Demeter and hold festivals and sacrifices to honor the gods. We should never grow arrogant thinking we achieved this ourselves. By always maintaining humility and showing proper reverence to the gods first, these blessings that have come to us will continue for a long time.”
“Hoho… It seems I can pass the throne to you now. To think someone so young could speak and think with such maturity.”
King Oeneus never dismissed his exceptional son’s advice.
Thus, every year they held festivals honoring the gods and prepared offerings.
Watching it all, Artemis nodded with a satisfied expression.
“Hoho… No one could deny he’s grown well. At this rate, he’d make an excellent priest of mine.”
“Tsk tsk tsk. Always so greedy. A virgin goddess’s priest can’t marry or even take a lover, you know. At the very least, you should ask the boy’s opinion first.”
“Argh! As if I’d forget that. And for a child of his caliber, I could personally relax the rules. I could just choose his marriage partner myself, couldn’t I?”
“Wouldn’t sending him to Chiron be better?”
“Ha! That half-man, half-beast Chiron? I’m clearly superior.”
“Pfft. Where does that confidence even come from?”
“…You little—”
Though the mage and the goddess always bickered while watching Meleager, both agreed on one thing:
His talent and character were more than enough to carve his name into the world as a hero.
***
Led by King Oeneus, the rulers of Calydon gathered to offer sacrifices and hold festivals in honor of the gods.
The citizens of Calydon enthusiastically cheered and supported the sight.
“Hahaha! Even the people are this enthusiastic, and Meleager has grown so well. Our kingdom has nothing to fear next year!”
“Indeed, Your Majesty. Above all, support for Your Majesty is rising endlessly. There are even rumors that those wicked Acarnanians and the Macedonians are jealous of both you and the prince.”
“What?! Could there be better news?! Everyone—raise your cups! Let us joyfully swallow the jealousy of our enemies!!!”
““Yes! Swallow their jealousy!!””
Everyone was swept up in the festive mood and celebrated as always.
But trouble always arises from moments of carelessness like this.
In the midst of the ecstatic festival night, someone rushed in with urgent desperation, searching for King Oeneus.
“Your Majesty! Your Majesty!”
“Umm…? What is it? Nicodemus. Weren’t you with Meleager?”
“Your Majesty! This is no time to be drunk! Something serious has happened!”
“Hm? What are you talking about? Who would dare attack during the festival? Do they think they have more than one life?”
Even at Nicodemus’s urgent tone—Meleager’s attendant and friend—Oeneus responded casually.
Nicodemus, who took after Meleager in having no hint of bad habits, was inflexibly serious and treated even small matters with utmost gravity.
Even now, during a festival everyone was enjoying, he wasn’t here—he had insisted on standing guard at the border with his son.
‘Tsk tsk. I should have assigned someone fun-loving to serve my son—someone more like me. Somehow both of them are only getting more rigid by the day.’
Seeing King Oeneus so relaxed and carefree, Nicodemus finally exploded in fury and shouted.
The current situation was no time for the king to be this laid-back.
“Your Majesty! This disaster happened precisely because you’ve been drowning yourself in pleasure and games!!”
“What?! How dare you—a mere attendant of my son—cross the line like that!”
Oeneus, pleasantly drunk, was utterly dumbfounded by Nicodemus suddenly shouting insults at him.
Had the boy’s inflexibility finally driven him mad enough to yell at the king himself?!
Perhaps associating so closely with Meleager had made Nicodemus forget his place.
Oeneus glared at the shouting Nicodemus and was about to order him seized and imprisoned immediately—
—if not for what Nicodemus said next.
“Your Majesty! While you were here drunk and indulging, the people you trusted omitted the offering to Lady Artemis!!”
“…?!!”
Nicodemus’s cry—mixed with rage, fear, and desperation—snapped Oeneus out of his drunken haze in an instant.
The anger and intoxication drained away, replaced by a cold chill creeping up the back of his neck.
More precisely, he felt the terror of death at Nicodemus’s words.
As king, he understood better than anyone what it meant in this country to fail to present an offering to Artemis.
And the others around the king realized it too.
‘How could something so absurd happen?!’
***
The kingdom, which had been reveling in the joy of the festival, was suddenly plunged into a storm of blood and fear of death.
Meleager, rushing back upon hearing the news, was consumed with rage. He personally beheaded those responsible for overseeing this festival.
“Aaaah! Spare us, Prince!! We—we only made a mistake! Do you think we’re mad enough to deliberately omit Lady Artemis’s offering?!!”
Many screamed in desperation, but Meleager paid them no heed.
Whether they knew or not, the offering to Artemis must never be neglected.
“You blinded the king’s eyes. You embezzled festival offerings. I turned a blind eye when you bought and sold positions for money—as long as those positions didn’t directly harm the state. My father shielded you all. But because of my own leniency… this is what it’s come to.”
Meleager showed no mercy whatsoever.
Among the condemned were members of the royal family and his own relatives, yet he beheaded them without hesitation and confiscated their possessions.
Many involved were executed without exception. Practically everyone who had fawned over Oeneus at his side was now on their way to Hades.
They had all been entrusted with managing and supervising this festival under the king’s trust.
In the blood-soaked royal palace, King Oeneus sat with a grave, ashen face.
Outside, even as pained groans echoed, the king could only remain silent.
There was no excuse—his own greed had brought this catastrophe.
―What are we supposed to do? Can we stop the prince right now?
―Don’t say impossible things. This isn’t an ordinary incident. Anyone among us who’s even remotely involved will struggle to keep their heads.
―But… some of my own relatives are in there!
―Tsk tsk. Then just pray to the heavens. Pray the sparks don’t reach you.
―What?! Isn’t that too harsh? Yes, omitting Lady Artemis’s offering is a crime—but I can’t understand why it’s escalated to this level of severity.
―…You’re one of the newer arrivals, aren’t you?
―Yes? Why do you ask?
―Right… then it makes sense you wouldn’t know. Think about it: this kingdom officially worships two gods. But in truth, it’s the same as worshiping only one. And we have just embezzled the offering to that one god we truly serve.
―…What do you mean?
Moreover, the ministers who shared some responsibility with the king trembled in fear.
If this incident escalated any further, they themselves would also meet their end.
Creak.
The door to the Megaron of the royal palace opened, and Meleager—the one responsible for this matter—stepped inside.
“Your Majesty, I have already punished all those involved in the festival according to their crimes. A few remain, but… more importantly, we must prepare. The divine punishment from Lady Artemis will come soon.”
Meleager spoke in a calm tone, but the rage contained within it was palpable to everyone in the room.
The biggest problem in this crisis was that Artemis’s offering had been omitted—and the people involved had embezzled part of it.
Worse still, Meleager had repeatedly warned his father about this very possibility, yet it had been ignored.
In truth, if responsibility were to be assigned, King Oeneus himself could not escape blame…
“Your Majesty—no, Father. The goddess will not forgive this. If it had merely been an honest mistake, we could hastily offer a substitute sacrifice and later beg forgiveness. But the evidence shows that items prepared for this festival ended up in someone’s pockets. To her, this will clearly appear as deliberate theft of the offering.”
““…….””
No one in the room could lift their head at Meleager’s cold words. It was clear that very few among them were free of guilt in this crime.
Including the king.
“…Do as you see fit, my prince. I have no strength left.”
Above all, King Oeneus could not raise his head. He, too, had been blinded by the endless bountiful harvests.
“Yes. But let everyone here remember clearly: if necessary, we may have to offer even our lives to the goddess.”
After sweeping his gaze over everyone present, Meleager turned and left the palace.
***
Just as Meleager had predicted, Artemis was furious beyond measure.
“Humans dared to deceive me…”
The goddess’s voice was icy, laced with chilling cold.
Not only had those who received her blessings excluded her from their festival—the fact that part of the offering had been pocketed was more than enough to shatter Artemis’s reason.
Even if Meleager—the one she favored—was involved.
“Tsk tsk. Foolish humans never see more than an inch ahead of them.”
Njord, too, shook his head as he watched the people of Calydon—some already beheaded, others having their houses razed—meet their fates.
At least Meleager had acted decisively, preventing Artemis from stepping in personally.
Otherwise, by now Calydon would already be ravaged by curses, plagues, and swarms of pests, with countless dead.
“In that sense, Meleager really is exceptional. He moved before Artemis could explode. Isn’t that right, Callisto?”
“…I don’t think that’s something I should answer, Lord Njord.”
Callisto gave an awkward smile as she placed a teacup in front of Njord.
To her, Njord’s calm demeanor—casually sipping tea and evaluating the situation while Lady Artemis was this furious—was borderline madness.
“Callisto!”
“Yes, Lady Artemis.”
“Forget the tea for now—bring that guy here. My heart wants to slaughter every human in Calydon, but for Meleager’s sake… I will impose a trial instead. Let’s see how those wretched fools handle it.”
Artemis scowled, shot one sharp glare at Njord—who was still leisurely receiving tea—and called for Callisto.
Even with Meleager in the picture, Artemis had absolutely no intention of forgiving them.
However, she could not ignore that the boy had handled the situation appropriately.
Because of that, as a goddess, she had to impose a trial that humans could—at least in theory—overcome.
Otherwise, she would be no different from barbaric gods like Apollo or Ares.
“Hoo… You’re being more rational than I expected. I thought you’d lead a fairy army and massacre them.”
“…Tch. It’s not that I didn’t consider it. I’m just setting my emotions aside for now because of the boy’s actions and handling so far. But why are you so relaxed?!”
Artemis was utterly irritated by Njord’s calm attitude—especially since he had pinpointed exactly what she had been thinking.
This mage might have already foreseen that things would turn out this way.
“Whatever—just hand that over! Callisto made it, didn’t she?”
“…Petty.”
Annoyed by Njord’s carefree demeanor, Artemis snatched the teacup Callisto had given him and drank it herself.
Insolent bastard. Here she was, burning with rage, and yet…