Chapter 115
"Oh my, isn't it uncomfortable to bow your head like that?"
At the soft voice, I slowly raised my head to face the goddess before me.
Jet-black hair like mine, black eyes, and black wings like the god Thanatos.
The goddess in a flawless, beautiful black dress exuded beauty like an artificial sculpture.
As if asserting that this is what the beauty of a living being should be, while not being a living being itself.
Swoosh-
"That's right, you may raise your head. After all, you're my descendant too, aren't you?"
"I understand, Lady Nyx."
The Night Goddess looked at me with eyes full of interest.
And beside her, the Hecatoncheires brothers, bowing their heads without making a sound.
"Hmm... My children all spoke with one voice. They asked me to help you, no, us, against Gaia's threat."
"......"
"Were you that afraid of Gaia? Hehe... How cute. How pitiful."
Is that attitude of covering her mouth slightly while speaking mockery? Or is it from pure sentiment?
The sentiment of the Protogenoi, the Mother of Night, who is equal to Uranus...
"Yes. To be honest, I am afraid of Lady Gaia."
"Oh my! This child. Just a little joke..."
"Lady Gaia has mass-produced monsters called Gigantes because we imprisoned the Titan gods in Tartarus, and she also gave birth to the powerful being Typhon. We want to defeat these monsters and gain Lady Gaia's approval, but we've also considered the possibility that she might continue to be hostile towards us until the end."
The Night Goddess, Lady Nyx, is less merciful than Gaia when angered.
The primordial night is extinction and death. Another name for Lady Nyx is the Mother of Death. After all, her son Thanatos is the god of death...
I glanced at the black goddess's eyes.
Those black eyes that had been expressionless while freely joking with me until now.
"...Is that all?"
"......"
"If that's all, relying on my children's request and my personal favor, I cannot help you."
Of course, she would respond like this. The conditions are far from enough to involve a Protogenoi.
However, there is one thing... that I can rely on.
"If you help us, I will make sure that more people chant your name, Lady Nyx, than any other Protogenoi."
"Hmm?"
"My temple is also a place that enshrines almost all the gods that exist in the underworld. I will create a statue of Lady Nyx in the place of honor there, and make those who know the grace of the Night Goddess praise Lady Nyx every day."
Originally, the adoration of mortals wouldn't be able to move a Protogenoi.
However, Mother Earth Gaia and the Night Goddess Nyx are different from other primordial gods in that they have more contact with humans.
They would probably be more interested in mortals than Lord Tartarus, who exists only here, or Lord Erebus, who is darkness itself.
The black goddess, who had been pondering my words, opened her mouth.
"Ah, humans. Those noisy mortals who are always loud every night when it should be quiet."
"What...?!"
"Rather, how about this? If we sweep away all the noisy humans that exist in the living world... the quiet night will return as it was before, and I might feel inclined to help you. Of course, this should include those who serve you as well."
Is she serious?
***
I looked at Lady Nyx but couldn't discern any change in her expression.
No emotion or fluctuation could be felt. The intentions of the primordial god, personified natural phenomenon, were unreadable.
Why did she say such a thing? Is it a test for me?
But there's no reason for her to test me using humans.
Does she really prefer the quiet night and want to sweep away all the noisy mortals?
"Why are you silent? It should be an easy task for you."
"......"
"Those mere living beings, you can just create them again, can't you? Like that race you once exterminated with a great flood."
It is indeed an easy task. Any of the Olympian Twelve would be sufficient to exterminate the mortals.
Compared to Gaia's threat, the extinction of humans is indeed a small price to pay...
And it's true that they can be recreated.
Humans can be recreated by having anyone save one human and throw stones over their shoulder.
Didn't we create humans in the first place to give birth to heroes because of the threat of the Gigantes?
No matter how much I appear to be the most merciful god to humans among the gods,
I too am immortal. My family, my siblings are more precious to me than humans.
But...
"Great God Pluto! We beseech your mercy!"
"May our son who died on the battlefield be happy in the underworld..."
"Thanks to the mint that the merciful god sent to this world..."
"Pluto, please protect me..."
I didn't want to betray the expectations of those who believe in me, pray, and sing of mercy and justice even now.
The priests who didn't leave my temple even under the threat of the mad King Oedipus, the believers who seek my mercy.
The judges who pray to judge fairly using my name and authority. The terminally ill patients who hope for peace after death...
It's not to maintain the title of the god of mercy that humans have given me.
It's not because I want to be revered by maintaining the hypocritical pretense of favoring humans over my Olympian family.
"I'm sorry. I cannot exterminate humans again."
"...?"
I simply didn't want to show a capricious attitude towards mortals like the other gods.
The reason I can say such words in front of a Protogenoi is probably because of this.
That must be it...
***
Just when I thought I had failed to bring the Night Goddess to our side,
I heard laughter that seemed to have burst out after being held back.
"Pff... Pfft...! It was just a joke. Why are you reacting so seriously?"
"What..."
The pressure I felt until just now was gone, and the Protogenoi smiled at me.
Her beautiful smile brightened the surroundings, but I couldn't smile along.
Was it really a joke? They say the Olympian gods are capricious, but are they more so than the primordial gods including Gaia?
What she just said to me might have been just a momentary whim...
"My children all said that Hades, the king of the underworld, is the most fair and merciful among the Olympian gods... and worth helping."
"That's too generous an assessment."
"I was just curious because I heard you cherish mortals very much, so don't take it to heart."
Pluck-
The black goddess plucked a feather from her black wing and held it out to me.
A feather containing quite powerful divine power, befitting the body of a Protogenoi.
As I received it with both hands, Lady Nyx, who was stroking her hair, continued speaking.
"Take that feather and go to the god of the sky. That, no, she will recognize it at a glance."
"Could it be..."
The god of the sky is Zeus. But if it's "she," there's only one being that comes to mind.
Uranus, who lost her male genitalia to her child and is treated as having lost her masculinity, becoming a goddess.
A Protogenoi like Lady Nyx and my grandfather.
Now the exiled god of the heavens. The one who held world hegemony before Cronos.
"Yes. Uranus who became a goddess. Explain all this to her and... if you bring back her token to me, I will help you."
The reason she gave me her feather was to help me communicate with the exiled God Uranus.
No one knows what he, who had his genitals cut off by Cronos, will think when he sees us.
This is a test. It's asking whether we Olympian gods can really gain Uranus's favor.
Since he knows we drove out Cronos, I think we might be able to persuade him if we explain well...
"I understand. I will definitely persuade Lord Uranus."
"Hehe... I'll be looking forward to it."
It's one mountain after another.
To bring back the token of another Protogenoi, and the god of the heavens Uranus at that...
***
After Gaia's grandson, now called the king of the underworld, Hades, left...
Nyx closed her eyes and sank into darkness in her dwelling at the deepest part of Tartarus.
The hegemony of this world, the conflict with Gaia, the extinction of species... all of this was irrelevant to her.
Just as the river flowing in front is pushed back by the water coming from behind,
The changing of generations is a natural flow of the world.
But she had little intention of interfering with Gaia's attempts to stop it.
Until recently... that is.
"Mother."
"Is that you, Eris? You came today too. Last time it was Thanatos who came to plead..."
"Just once, if you would listen to my son-in-law's words..."
"Um... are you there?"
"Keres. What brings you here, you who work hard harvesting souls?"
"I'm here for the same reason as Eris who came yesterday. Please, just once..."
Nyx's children periodically tried to persuade her.
While she hadn't given much thought to Hades before, she became curious seeing everyone speak highly of him.
There shouldn't be a single deity younger than Hades among her children.
Does this mean he has won everyone's hearts? This young, even childish, grandson of Gaia?
Curious, she switched places with Hemera, the goddess of day and her daughter, and came out to the sky.
From the dark night sky above, the primordial goddess looked down.
Selene, driving the moon chariot, was wandering above the clouds... and further down, mortals could be seen.
The living beings created by the Olympian gods, including Zeus.
Small beings praying with clasped hands under the night sky.
Nyx followed only the stories related to Hades, the lord of the underworld...
"God Pluto. Today too, we praise the grace of the mint leaves you have bestowed upon us..."
"Lord Pluto. Your fairness and mercy..."
"Don't cry. Even if I go to the underworld and am embraced by Pluto, don't worry. He..."
She could find numerous humans praying to him.
Sincere faith. The fairness of judgment passed on the dead. God of mercy and justice.
Not a single human criticized Hades.
Even though he rules over the underworld, an object of fear... the evaluation was biased towards the positive.
Nyx's hobby, which she never told anyone about, was observing the beings under the night sky.
Pluto... no, Hades, whom everyone spoke of with one voice, was indeed a child who greatly cherished mortals as her children had said,
And he was a being worth testing at least once.
If he brings back Uranus's token, she would gladly help Olympus.
Of course...
"Mom, which god creates the night sky?"
"Hmm... it's the grace of someone called Lady Nyx."
"Lady Nyx? Is she stronger than Lord Zeus?"
"Uh... probably not. Lord Zeus is the king of the gods, isn't he?"
"I will create a statue of Lady Nyx in the place of honor there, and make those who know the grace of the Night Goddess praise Lady Nyx every day."
It was absolutely not because there were humans who considered her below Gaia's grandson.