Chapter 186: Heracles (11)
“Master, but… did they really allow us to come in? It feels like a lot of steps were skipped compared to normal nobles.”
“I can’t say for sure, but some powerful families think that kind of openness shows their own authority. Like, ‘It doesn’t matter who comes in.’ That kind of mindset.”
“Ooooh! This little brat is more impressive than I thought. Hey kid, I like you! From now on this big sis will take even better care of you.”
“No thank you Auntie, I’m fine.”
“…Eek!”
“Sis, calm down. Right now we’re here as invited guests.”
The group instantly started causing a commotion.
If trouble broke out here, the one who would feel ashamed would be Poseidon.
After all, he was the one leading the party.
“Aresia, shh! Be quiet. We haven’t even been officially invited yet.”
You could tell just by looking at the people glancing over warily.
And even as they passed through the wide outer castle and entered the inner castle where the family members lived—
The noisy Aresia and the family young master provoking her were more than enough to draw every eye around them.
Strangers who were also loud inevitably stood out.
“Oh my, the troublemaking eldest son has brought quite lively guests.”
Just as Poseidon—wanting to avoid any more attention—was about to use some kind of trick,
A beautiful woman appeared, accompanied by several guards and attendants.
“Mother.”
“Huh? Mom? Who? Where?”
“Sis, probably the blonde woman standing at the very front.”
“Really? She looks so young and pretty? That person gave birth to this cheeky little brat?”
Everyone—including the previously rowdy Aresia—couldn’t hide their surprise at the woman’s appearance.
No one would ever guess that the elegant lady standing at the front had a nine-year-old son.
“Fufu, thank you. It’s embarrassing to be called young and beautiful by such youthful and lovely people. I am Alcmene, of Perseus’s bloodline—the mother of that Alcides over there.”
“Ah, nice to meet you. I’m Njord, from House of Neptune. You could say I’m the master of those two.”
Alcmene approached and bowed politely in greeting. Considering that heads of noble houses or their ladies rarely did such a thing, it was somewhat surprising.
Because of that, Poseidon couldn’t hide his startled expression.
Above all, Alcmene gave the impression that she already knew about his human identity as the mage Njord.
“Seeing you in person is really fascinating. I had heard rumors about the mage, but I never imagined you would look so young.”
“Hm? What do you mean by that?”
“Ah, Lord Njord is somewhat well-known here in Thebes. Our family is a bit more sensitive to information since Alcides frequently runs away.”
(‘…That means not only Thebes, but any house with real power has planted people in the black market.’)
Poseidon once again looked at the woman in front of him with fresh eyes. As far as he knew, Amphitryon was often away on battlefields, which meant Alcmene was effectively running the household.
In short—the woman Zeus had desired was far more than just a beautiful face.
The fact that she had been driven out of Mycenae, settled in Thebes, and built the family to its current strength was entirely due to Alcmene’s own capabilities.
(‘No wonder Zeus chose her and she gave birth to Heracles.’)
“Then, shall we continue the conversation inside? This way, please.”
Whether she knew what Poseidon was thinking or not, Alcmene guided the group.
***
The conversation with Alcmene ended surprisingly quickly.
They had just been assigned rooms and needed rest first.
And since the first topic was Alcides’s unauthorized disappearance, their group had naturally been pushed to a lower priority.
“More importantly… why do you and I have to share the same room?”
“Because Master is our master, obviously?”
“Considering our level of strength, it would be difficult to leave people like us unsupervised.”
Poseidon nodded at Aresia’s simple reply and Penthesilea’s cool-headed assessment of the situation.
Yes—if he were the head of the house, having one Hero-rank and one Archon-rank person in the same place without supervision would definitely be a concern.
Of course, neither Alcmene nor anyone else in the black market knew their exact levels.
Such things were only known to those who had a very close relationship with them—or if they chose to reveal it themselves.
Still, even without precise knowledge, some things were obvious. For example—that Aresia was like an uncontrollable beast.
And for uncontrollable beasts, it was wiser to keep them together with their so-called “master” mage.
After all—he at least considered himself somewhat civilized(?).
‘Above all, anyone keeping a close eye on Thebes’s black market would naturally know about the Aresia and Penthesilea sisters.’
Even if nothing else, Aresia’s name had been ringing in his ears nonstop while he was in the black market.
“Sigh… Fine. Since we’ve ended up like this anyway, there’s no helping it. I’ll just have to keep you two under control.”
“Yes yes, I don’t really care~.”
“I will only follow you, Master.”
Poseidon barely held back another sigh at the sight of Aresia already sprawled across the bed answering carelessly.
At least the younger sister Penthesilea wasn’t a troublemaker like her…
“Right. Penthesilea, I’m counting on you. And now that we’re outside, you don’t have to call me ‘Master.’ Just call me Lord Njord. Outside the black market you’re not slaves—we’re essentially hired workers.”
“Yes, Master.”
“Yes, Lord Njord.”
Poseidon barely suppressed yet another sigh at the completely opposite responses of the two sisters.
***
Humans were unaware of it, but…
From the moment Poseidon—as the mage Njord—entered Alcides’s family estate, the gazes of several gods began to fix upon the mortal world.
The Huntress locked her sharp eyes on the mage.
The origin of magic let out a sigh, already lamenting what trouble he would cause next.
The three sisters of Fate began furiously working the threads of destiny that had started spinning again.
The goddess who balanced the scales of the world watched with a pleased expression.
The goddess of abundance and earth looked on with her usual calm gaze.
The eyes of gods who had once been connected to Njord in some way began pouring down upon the Amphitryon estate in Tanagra.
***
Alcmene, the matriarch who was completely unaware of this fact, simply sat across from the mage Njord with a teacup, leisurely discussing future plans.
“The tea tastes excellent. There are few who can brew it as well as my attendants.”
“To be compared to the attendants of someone like Lord Njord… Hieronymus’s salary will need to be raised.”
“Haha, you flatter me too much. I’m merely a wandering mage.”
“Is that so? If Lord Njord says so, then it must be true.”
“…….”
Sitting before Alcmene in his guise as Njord, Poseidon couldn’t help but wear a slightly sour expression.
For some reason, the woman in front of him had been acting as though she knew something from the very beginning.
Even though Alcmene was Perseus’s granddaughter, there was no way she could know about him—someone whose existence had never been recorded…
And yet it was equally impossible for her to know he was actually Poseidon.
Hmm… He didn’t know the reason, but since he had already decided to accept Themis’s request, it might be better to think positively.
“Then… would it be all right for me to become Alcides’s master?”
With that, Njord returned to his original purpose and asked.
Having seen the sprout of talent, he genuinely wanted to teach the boy—and he was curious.
In the future… between Athena and Heracles, who would be stronger?
Of course, the fact that things seemed to be going exactly according to Themis’s will left a bad taste in his mouth.
“Yes. How could I possibly refuse? Above all, I believe someone like you, Lord Njord, is the perfect person to guide Alcides. My husband is often away at war and rarely returns, so I’ve been worried beyond words. And that child… perhaps because of his bloodline? From the moment he was born, his emotions and judgment have been different from ordinary people like us. That’s why I wanted someone like you to educate him.”
“…Then I’ll take him under my wing.”
Njord still wore a slightly uncomfortable expression at Alcmene’s reply, but he let it pass.
It was a little strange for her to speak so openly about family matters to someone she had just met…
Especially since she had subtly mentioned Alcides’s bloodline at the end. There had to be some reason for that.
Above all—he had no desire to dig deeper and end up annoyed.
“Yes. I leave him in your care.”
***
Alcides, now exactly nine years old, had been born with senses and thinking far beyond ordinary humans even from infancy.
Superior physique, intellect, perception—things impossible for a newborn were effortless for him.
By age two he outran adults. His strength was many times greater. His range of awareness covered the entire estate.
Reading, writing, mathematics, logic, music, martial arts, magic, curses, poisons, alchemy—knowledge that would take others a lifetime to master in even one field—he surpassed all the family’s renowned teachers in just three years.
Considering Amphitryon’s reputation and Alcmene’s lineage, the teachers they hired were all extraordinary figures—yet he outstripped them all.
Around age six he awakened mana on his own. By seven he had mastered it. By eight he began creating entirely new things.
Alcides wrote new literary works, invented new mathematical formulas, and developed original techniques in music, martial arts, magic, curses, poisons, and alchemy.
At nine, he had reached the stage of testing his strength in the most dangerous place in Thebes—the black market’s coliseum district.
Perhaps because of that—the child had always felt emotions like joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure only faintly.
Since birth, he rarely experienced feelings of enjoyment, fear, or sadness.
That was likely why he kept sneaking out to places like the black market…
Regardless, this child—who was practically superhuman—had, for the first time in his life, begun to feel intense emotions.
“Guhk!”
A deep groan of pain—too profound to have come from a mere nine-year-old—echoed across the training ground.
“Uahahahaha! Still far too weak, brat!!”
“…You should at least consider my age before saying things like that, Auntie.”
Yes—Alcides was, for the first time in his life, feeling the emotion of anger as he looked at the woman before him.
The lion-maned woman was unbelievably irritating. Enough to make him feel genuine frustration for the very first time.
“Kekeke, what’re you gonna do about it? The world isn’t kind enough to go easy on you just because you’re a kid. That’s part of skill too. Or maybe you should go cry to your master and beg cutely? ‘Hic hic, Master~ Please cast more magic for me~ I can’t do it with my skills~’ or something.”
Grind.
The sound of Alcides’s teeth grinding could be heard.
Normally he wouldn’t have fallen for such provocation… but the woman standing before him had reached mastery at a similar age to him. In martial arts especially, she possessed talent comparable to his own.
“Sigh… You’re going to die, Auntie.”
Perhaps that was why Alcides found Aresia the single most infuriating person in the world.
Explosive mana surged from Alcides’s body, forming a faint silhouette.
Up close, it looked somewhat like a lion cub.
“Huh? Kid, what’s that thing behind you?”
Without answering Aresia’s question, Alcides closed the distance in an instant with a surprise attack and swung his fist.
Normally such a surprise attack wouldn’t have worked—but the move he had just used was a no-telegraph ambush technique he had developed through dozens of spars with Aresia.
He would have preferred a fair frontal fight, but if he wanted even a single clean hit against the woman in front of him—he needed something faster, stealthier, and more explosively sudden, with no preparation.
That was the realization Alcides had reached after rolling on the ground countless times.
A wild-beast-like mana combined with the technique he had seen from Njord in the coliseum fused into an attack that flew toward Aresia’s head at the speed of sound.
“Die!”
KABOOOM!
Did Alcides’s attack land?
A deafening explosion like a bomb going off rocked the training ground. The earth shook, and the entire building trembled.
However—
Amid the scattering dust in the training yard, what could be seen was a small figure hanging limp—and the one stepping on him while roaring triumphantly.
“Um-hahahahaha! Still waaaay too weak, brat!!!”
What stood there was the unsightly figure of a lioness trampling a tiny lion cub.
“…I’m going crazy. Do you really have to be this vulgar? He’s only nine.”
“Sorry, Master. My sister is just… far too belligerent.”
“Penthesilea, I told you to call me Lord Njord.”
“Yes—but when it’s just us, it doesn’t matter, does it, Master?”
“…….”
Njord looked up at the sky—Alcides unconscious, Aresia roaring with her foot on the boy, and Penthesilea standing there expressionlessly saying only “yes” to everything.
“What sin did I commit in my past life to end up like this…”
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