King of Underworld

Chapter 58: The Goddess of Mint, Mente – (2)

Among the three judges of the Underworld, Minos, once the king of Crete during his lifetime, gazed at Hades, the lord of the Underworld who presided over the souls.

“I used to make a living weaving in Athens…”

The name of the criminal kneeling before them was Arachne.

She had been the most skilled weaver in Athens, but she made one crucial mistake.

She boasted that even the goddess of wisdom, Athena, was not more skilled than her in weaving.

Naturally, the goddess of wisdom, the patron deity of the city-state of Athens, was enraged.

Disguised as an old woman, Athena approached Arachne, advising her to apologize at Athena’s temple, but

Arachne responded, “I’m not afraid of the goddess Athena’s divine punishment; I could even compete with her directly in weaving.”

“…And then, the goddess Athena revealed herself.”

“I suppose the two of you had a weaving contest. Is that right?”

As Arachne recounted her story, the goddess Mnemosyne read her memories and conveyed them to the lord of the Underworld.

Minos, as a judge, also shared in those memories.

In front of an audience, Arachne and the goddess Athena held a weaving contest.

Arachne depicted scenes of Zeus committing adultery with Leto, Europa, and other goddesses, and exposed various misdeeds and scandals of the Twelve Olympian gods in her tapestry.

Arachne’s skill was surprisingly slightly superior to that of Athena.

However, because she had openly criticized the Olympian gods, she inevitably incurred the wrath of the goddess.

Athena turned Arachne into a spider, condemning her to spin threads and weave until her death.

This is how Arachne’s soul ended up in the Underworld.

Though the Underworld was quiet, and she was directly in front of the three great judges and Hades himself,

It was clear that Arachne, regardless of right or wrong, harbored deep hatred for Athena, who had turned her into a spider.

The somber, handsome Hades, having grasped all of Arachne’s past, opened his mouth to speak.

“Goddess Mnemosyne, please show me the tapestry Arachne created.”

“Understood, Hades.”

The goddess of memory read Arachne’s memories and conjured an illusion in the air.

As expected from the most skilled weaver in the city, who had bested even Athena, the tapestry’s patterns were splendid and beautiful, but…

“It depicts our gods being defeated by Typhon, exposes the scandals of Zeus… and shows Dionysus killing the king of Thebes…”

Hades’s brow furrowed slightly as he examined the tapestry, which openly criticized the gods.

Arachne, who was kneeling before him, seemed frozen, as if she were bracing herself for a severe punishment.

“But why did you criticize Hestia? She’s never harmed any humans.”

“…That is because…”

“The goddess of the hearth was the most concerned about human suffering during the battle with Typhon. Do you have anything to say in your defense?”

“No, I don’t…”

After a moment of contemplation, Hades tapped the armrest of his chair and made his decision.

“Pride in one’s exceptional skill is not a crime. It’s possible you didn’t recognize Athena in her disguise as an old woman. However, it was wrong of you to criticize all the gods during the weaving contest with Athena after she revealed herself.”

Arachne, who had been expecting the wrath of the lord of the Underworld, looked greatly surprised.

Minos thought to himself:

‘This is exactly how Lord Hades is. I was quite taken aback myself when I first encountered him.’

The lord of the Underworld continued his judgment with a calm demeanor, even in the face of a major criminal who had insulted the gods.

If another Olympian god were ruling the Underworld, Arachne would likely have been sentenced to a severe punishment without a proper trial.

“While you might think turning you into a spider was excessive, consider this: everything you eat and drink is made by us. The olive tree, a famous product of the city of Athens where you lived, was a gift from the goddess of wisdom to the city. The warmth of the hearth that allowed you to weave at night was a blessing from the goddess of the hearth… Tsk.”

Minos had come to realize that Hades, the god of mercy and the Underworld, valued fairness above all else.

Unlike other gods who regarded the crime of insulting divinity more severely than that of killing a human,

“I will reduce the punishment Athena inflicted on you as part of the karmic retribution for your sin. I’ll also take into account the fact that you’ve already faced death. Thus, the judgment for your sin is…”

Hades, attempting to make a careful and impartial decision, even when his own kin were insulted,

Passed a punishment on Arachne that was neither too severe nor too lenient.

“Who is the next criminal, Minos?”

“Yes… Next is a person who committed suicide in Corinth…”

The ruler of the Underworld, who was more just than anyone else,

Was a god of virtue whom Minos, once a king, could sincerely offer his devotion to.

* * *

Finally, the trials for today were over.

“Lord Hades, you have done well.”

“Minos, you too have worked hard. Is it Rhadamanthys’s turn to preside over the trials tomorrow?”

Minos, the judge of the Underworld, who appeared as a middle-aged man, spoke to me.

It seemed like he had something he wanted to say…

“I heard that the newly ascended goddess requested to come to the Underworld herself?”

“Are you talking about Mente? You must have met her.”

“I’ve heard that she came to the Underworld because she is in love with you, Lord Hades. If you have any feelings for her…”

Feelings? What feelings?

I shook my head as I looked at Minos, who suddenly seemed to be playing matchmaker.

“Ah! Lord Hades, is there perhaps another goddess you have in mind? Perhaps Lady Styx or the goddess Lethe…”

“Are you asking if I’m planning to take a wife first?”

“Ahem. It’s common knowledge that the two goddesses are vying for the position of queen of the Underworld…”

“I’m not so clueless that I wouldn’t know their feelings. It would also be ridiculous for me, one of the three great gods, to be unpopular with women.”

Even Poseidon, with his tempestuous personality,

And Zeus, who forcibly took women he fancied,

Were both quite popular with women, being the rulers of the world.

“The issue isn’t with them, but with me.”

“Pardon?”

“Seeing all the victims of the gods’ rapes and love affairs coming to the Underworld every day has made me reluctant to marry.”

Many mortal women chose death after being raped by the gods, who vied with one another to possess them.

Some gods even killed the women’s fiancés or husbands to take the wives for themselves.

And what about goddesses?

Out of jealousy, they might kill a human male, turn him into an animal, or curse him into eternal sleep—there were countless such cases.

And all these humans, victims of the gods’ infidelity, love affairs, and rapes, come to the Underworld to plead their cases before me.

Most of these victims bore such deep grudges that they retained their memories even after crossing the River of Forgetfulness.

“Just today, four women who were raped by gods have come to the Underworld.”

“Ah…”

“And the number of human men who died just because they were engaged to women desired by the gods…”

I had firmly instructed the gods under my rule in the Underworld to refrain from touching mortals,

And they, being too busy with their duties, adhered to this rule.

However, the gods in the celestial Olympus palace and those in Poseidon’s underwater palace were a different story.

“And aren’t all the goddesses related to me by blood? No matter how you look at it…”

“From a human perspective, yes, but I thought the gods didn’t concern themselves with such things.”

Naturally, other gods wouldn’t care.

Even Zeus had relations with his mother, his sisters, the daughters of his descendants, and even his cousins.

However, I’m reluctant to enter into relationships with my own blood relatives.

After all, Lady Styx and Lady Lethe are distant relatives, aren’t they?

“Mm. So, you won’t be getting married anytime soon?”

“It seems unlikely. Avoiding marriage is not an easy choice, but…”

As I shook my head and set down the documents, Minos asked with a curious expression.

“Come to think of it, won’t that newly ascended goddess, Mente, find it difficult to adjust to the Underworld?”

“Well, since she’s so confident, we shouldn’t worry too much. Once she gets used to it, she’ll manage.”

After all, people, nymphs, or rather gods, are a species that adapts.

And since she worked as a priestess in the mortal world…

She should be able to handle it on her own, right?

* * *

Meanwhile, the goddess of mint was…

“Goddess Lethe… do I really have to do all this?”

“Yes…”

…Despairing at the sheer amount of work piled in front of her.

She had envisioned herself rising to the glorious rank of a goddess,

Assisting the handsome Lord Hades at his side…

“But do I really have to handle all these documents by myself?”

“That’s just one day’s worth…”

“…#@#$#!!!!!”

Since she had become the goddess of mint, Mente thought she would be managing mint plants or perhaps using her divine powers to subtly help spread mint across the world.

But all she could think of was…

“The Underworld is busy. You knew that when you volunteered, didn’t you?”

“Th-this much?”

As she cautiously unfurled a scroll of parchment, she realized that the tasks listed were impossible to complete in a single day.

The list included managing the souls of the Underworld’s soldiers, assigning living spaces to the daily influx of souls, overseeing the reincarnation process of the dead who had been judged and were waiting in the fortresses, making final decisions on the maintenance and construction of various roads and buildings scattered across the vast Underworld, mediating disputes among the dead, and preparing for any potential threats from the Gigantes…

These were definitely not tasks meant for the goddess of mint!

With a silent cry of despair, Mente grasped her trembling hands and spoke to the goddess Lethe.

“But… I’m the goddess of mint…”

“…? Yes, and I’m the goddess of forgetfulness.”

Lethe responded with a slight tilt of her head, as if she didn’t see what the problem was. Mente froze in place, completely stunned by Lethe’s indifferent expression.

As Mente stood there, finally realizing the harsh reality of working in the Underworld—the number one workplace all gods avoided—a silver-haired goddess passed by her.

A barely audible whisper escaped from the silver-haired goddess’s lips as she walked past.

“If you can’t handle this, Hades won’t even glance at you, let alone consider you as a concubine…”

“Ha! Of course, I’ll finish it all quickly!”

“Oh… really? Then take care of this as well…”

Thud. Thud.

Mente desperately tried to convince herself that Lethe wasn’t giving her extra work out of revenge just because she liked Lord Hades…

As she caught another scroll that flew through the air with the power of forgetfulness,

The goddess of mint couldn’t help but think otherwise.