Chapter 27
This is the underworld, the place most feared by mortals who must face inevitable death.
It is also where Hades, one of the great Big Three who rule part of the world, resides.
"Hmm...?"
That's why all sorts of things happen here.
Incredible events that humans couldn't even imagine occur, but...
Whoosh!
"What is this...!"
No one would have thought the underworld would be brightly illuminated.
"Hades! Hades! Light has entered the entire underworld!"
"I'm seeing it right now!"
Goddess Lethe rushes into my bedroom.
I hurriedly put on clothes and went outside to assess the situation in the underworld.
"What... what is happening?"
"Has God Apollo descended to the underworld...?"
"Nonsense! This couldn't be possible unless Lord Zeus's lightning struck the underworld!"
"That can't be! Where is Lord Hades?"
The souls were panicking like vampires under sunlight from Hades' past life creations in the 21st century.
Of course... normally, the underworld is so deep that no light reaches it at all.
Although Hestia's hearths are placed here and there and light can be seen, it's very faint.
Most of the underworld is dark, pitch-black, and cold.
"This must be God Apollo's anger!"
"It could be Lord Zeus fighting with God Hades!"
The entire underworld fell into chaos in an instant.
Souls were running around, and administrators were trying to calm the situation while also looking for the gods.
But were the gods calm...
"What is happening now!"
"Hades! Have you had any quarrels with God Zeus recently?"
That wasn't the case either.
Starting with Hypnos, the god of sleep, who rushed into my office...
No, Goddess Styx. I haven't had any such incidents...
"No one but God Zeus could cause something like this...?!"
Well, we need to resolve this situation quickly first.
"Morpheus, go down to Tartarus immediately and check if the Titans are still well imprisoned!"
"Yes, yes!"
Next, I ordered the underworld administrators to calm the people's confusion as much as possible.
Also, since no other abnormalities were felt except for the light, I sent a lesser god to the world of the living to see if there were any problems...
"Ugh! Lord Hades!"
....? I just sent them to check the world of the living, why are they back already?
"L-Lord Hades! The sun... the sun is close!"
What are you talking about?
***
The lesser god who went to check the world of the living was covered in burns all over and bleeding ichor.
What do you mean the sun is close, what are you saying?
"God Helios is driving the sun chariot close to the ground! The world of the living is already hell (Tartarus)!"
"That can't be... Is this the doing of Apollo, another sun god?"
Helios.
The son of the Titan Hyperion and Theia, he holds the divine status of the sun.
He was able to maintain his position as sun god jointly with Apollo without being pushed out because he drives the sun chariot that even Zeus can't handle.
Of course, it's also because he sided with us during the Titanomachy along with his sisters Selene, goddess of the moon, and Eos, goddess of dawn,
but anyway, Helios has never once stopped driving the sun chariot.
"But this is clearly not God Apollo's power! The horses of the sun chariot were running wild!"
The divine horses that are always burning all over are running wild?
I believe in Helios's ability to drive the sun chariot perfectly until now.
Could Helios, who was driving the sun chariot, have been enchanted by Aphrodite...
Or attacked by Gigantes... or what could it be?
Fortunately, not long after, the dark cloud... no, the light that had fallen over the underworld began to recede.
As it returned to the usual dark underworld, souls and gods breathed sighs of relief.
"Now the light is receding again. What on earth could have happened?"
"How about sending a messenger to Olympus to find out?"
"Although the situation has calmed down for now..."
"There's no need for that, I've brought the culprit."
The gods who were discussing turned their heads towards the low, deep voice resonating in the crowd.
There stood Thanatos, the god with black wings, wearing a grim expression and bringing a soul that seemed to have just died.
***
That soul is the culprit who just made the underworld bright?
As everyone's attention focused, Thanatos frowned and continued speaking.
"...It's a soul that died after being struck by Zeus's lightning and falling from the sun chariot."
"For now... Mnemosyne, please bring water from the Spring of Memory."
A male soul that looks to be only in his late teens to early twenties at most.
With brilliant blonde hair... somehow his features resemble God Helios, could it be...?
"Gasp! Wh-where is this? I was certainly..."
"Yes, kid. This is the underworld. Did you drive the sun chariot instead of Helios?"
"The... the underworld! Then indeed...!"
"Tell me immediately how you came to be here. Everything, including why you fell from the sun chariot and died."
The soul, who had been unable to gather his thoughts for a while, opened his mouth at Thanatos's scolding.
"I... I am Phaethon, son of God Helios..."
I listened to the story the soul unfolded.
Phaethon, who grew up with only his mother, without a father.
When Phaethon became an adult, his mother told him that his father was Helios, the sun god.
Phaethon left home and after many travels, found his father,
and his father, God Helios, in the joy of meeting his son... swore by the River Styx to grant any wish...
"River Styx... ugh..."
As he said that, Goddess Styx beside me groaned as if she had guessed something. Most of the gods also seemed to have realized the cause of this situation.
I gestured to Phaethon to continue listening to the end of the story.
"Yes... I made a foolish choice there... I asked my father, who had sworn by the River Styx, to let me drive the sun chariot."
"What?! You crazy human..."
"Ha! That's a chariot even Apollo or Lord Zeus can't drive! For someone like you to..."
"Did you hear the whispers of God Dionysus or something?"
The horses of the sun chariot can only be handled by Helios.
There was no way Phaethon, who grew up as a human despite his divine lineage, could handle it.
It's obvious what would happen if the sun's position got too close to the ground.
The world of the living must now be full of burned corpses and withered trees.
If Zeus hadn't thrown his lightning to destroy the sun chariot, all life in the world of the living might have died...
"...That's how the horses went berserk and the ground completely... In the end, I was struck by lightning falling from the sky and came here."
Phaethon, seemingly at a loss for words, sobbed quietly.
It's truly a pity to lose one's life due to such an absurd request right after finally meeting his father.
"Sigh... I'll postpone your judgment for now. Wait over there for the time being."
However, apart from that...
The sin of causing suffering to countless lives must be heavily atoned for.
For now, I sent Phaethon to the side because souls who died in the world of the living are constantly flooding in.
His fate will be decided shortly.
***
A little while later, in a heavy silence, Phaethon knelt with his head bowed, waiting for the judgment.
Before him sat Hades, the god of the underworld, at a large desk.
A low voice flowed from the gloomy-looking male god and pierced Phaethon's ears.
"...I will now pass judgment."
As other gods watching the judgment of a sinner who had greatly affected the world of the living fell silent,
only Hades discussed his sins.
"The damage you caused to the world of the living with your reckless actions is truly immense. Rivers dried up, countless villages and cities burned, and innumerable lives were lost due to the heat of the sun chariot you couldn't control."
Helios's son, with his head bowed, was just shedding tears.
He made no defense.
"Ignorance is not a sin. However, one must bear the responsibility for that ignorance."
Phaethon was prepared for severe punishment.
He too had seen the scenes of life on earth dying from atop the rampaging sun chariot.
"Aaargh! Apollo! Save us!"
"It's too hot... my flesh... is burning..."
"Water... water..."
"Lord Zeus... why..."
What he saw alone was hundreds, thousands of people begging for their lives as they were cooked alive.
Not to mention other animals, plants, nymphs, and various forms of life.
Although he couldn't even imagine such results would occur when he drove the sun chariot,
he must pay for the sin of killing countless lives.
"I sentence you to hundreds of years of labor on the outskirts of the underworld. That is the karma for extinguishing so many lives."
At least hundreds of years, Phaethon's lips tightened.
But it wasn't over yet.
"Also, you will not be able to reincarnate, and even after your labor sentence ends, you will never receive the blessing of oblivion."
The blessing of oblivion overseen by Goddess Lethe is essential for mortals with limited minds.
There are no mortals who can handle endlessly accumulating memories.
The surrounding gods with tender hearts wore slightly pitiful expressions, but that was all,
they too thought Phaethon's punishment was appropriate.
However, Hades' words were not yet finished.
"...However, considering that your father, God Helios, neglected you as his child."
Huh...?
"And considering that you had no malicious intent and that he rashly made an oath on the River Styx, I will show some mercy."
Phaethon, who had been in despair, unknowingly raised his head to look at the lord of the underworld.
Mercy... he said?