Chapter 58
The three judges of the underworld, the Minos brothers.
Among them, Minos, who was once the king of Crete in life, looked at Hades, the lord of the underworld who judges souls.
"I was making a living by weaving in Athens..."
The name of the sinner kneeling was Arachne.
She was the most skilled weaver in Athens, but she made one mistake.
She boasted that even Athena, the goddess of wisdom, wasn't better at weaving than her.
Naturally, the goddess of wisdom, the patron deity of the city-state Athens, was enraged.
The goddess of wisdom, disguised as an old woman, visited Arachne and suggested she apologize at Athena's temple,
but Arachne said, "I'm not afraid of Goddess Athena's divine punishment, and I can even have a weaving contest with her in person."
"...Then Goddess Athena revealed herself, undoing her disguise."
"The two of you had a weaving contest, right?"
Apart from Arachne's words, Goddess Mnemosyne examined her memories and relayed them to the lord of the underworld.
Minos also shared the memories as a judge.
Arachne and Goddess Athena had a weaving contest in front of people.
Arachne wove images criticizing Zeus's affairs with various goddesses like Leto and Europa, and all sorts of misdeeds and flaws of the 12 Olympian gods.
Surprisingly, Arachne's skill was slightly better than Goddess Athena's,
but because she openly criticized all the misdeeds of the Olympian gods... naturally, she incurred the goddess's wrath.
Athena turned Arachne into a spider, forcing her to spin thread and weave until death.
This was how Arachne's soul came to the underworld.
It was quiet because this was the underworld and one of the Big Three, Hades, was right in front of her...
But regardless of right or wrong, Arachne seemed to hate Athena for turning her into a spider.
The gloomy handsome man, Hades, who had fully grasped her past, opened his mouth.
"Goddess Mnemosyne, please show me Arachne's weaving in detail."
"Alright, Hades."
The goddess of memory read Arachne's memories and created an illusion in the air.
Indeed, befitting the city's best weaver who even beat Athena, the patterns on the cloth were splendid and beautiful, but
"There are scenes of us gods being defeated by Typhon, Zeus's flaws, and... Dionysus killing the king of Thebes..."
Hades' brow slightly furrowed as he slowly examined the weaving patterns that meticulously pointed out the gods' flaws.
Arachne, prostrated before him, froze as if expecting severe punishment.
"But why did you criticize Hestia? She never harmed humans."
"...Well."
"The goddess of the hearth was a benevolent deity who was most concerned about human casualties when fighting Typhon. Do you have any excuse?"
"No..."
After pondering for a moment, Hades tapped the armrest of his chair and came to a conclusion.
"Being arrogant because of superior skill is not a sin. You might not have recognized Athena disguised as an old woman. However, criticizing all the gods in a weaving contest with Athena after she revealed herself was wrong."
Arachne, who had been prepared for the wrath of the underworld's master, seemed greatly surprised.
At this, Minos thought to himself.
'Lord Hades is originally this kind of god. I was also very surprised at first.'
The lord of the underworld, continuing his judgment, maintained a calm attitude even before a traitor who insulted the gods.
If another Olympian god ruled the underworld, Arachne would have been severely punished without a proper trial.
"Of course, you might think being turned into a spider was excessive, but everything you eat and drink was created by us. The olive tree, a specialty of Athens where you lived, was a gift given to the city by the goddess of wisdom, and you were able to weave by the hearth at night thanks to the grace of the goddess of the hearth... tsk."
From what Minos himself had realized, Hades, the god of mercy and the underworld, values fairness above all else.
Unlike other gods who judge the sin of insulting divinity more heavily than the sin of killing humans.
"I'll reduce the punishment you received from Athena from your karmic retribution. I'll also consider the fact that you've already faced death, so my judgment for you is..."
Hades tried to make a careful judgment, setting aside emotions as much as possible even when his kin was insulted.
The punishment for Arachne was neither too harsh nor too lenient.
"Who's the next sinner, Minos?"
"Yes... Next is someone who committed suicide in Corinth..."
The master of the underworld, who was fairer than anyone else,
was truly a benevolent god worthy of sincere worship from Minos, who was once a king of a country.
***
Finally, today's trials are all over.
"Lord Hades, good work."
"Minos. You've done well too. Is it Rhadamanthus's turn to preside over the trials tomorrow?"
Minos, the underworld judge who appeared as a middle-aged man, spoke.
It seems he has something he wants to say to me...
"I heard the newly appointed goddess wished to come to the underworld herself?"
"Are you talking about Menthe? I see you've met her."
"From what I heard, she came to the underworld because she admires you, Lord Hades. If you have feelings for her..."
No, what feelings?
I shook my head at Minos, who suddenly tried to play matchmaker.
"Ah! Lord Hades, do you perhaps have another goddess in mind? Like Goddess Styx or Goddess Lethe..."
"You mean I should take a primary wife first?"
"Ahem. Everyone knows that both of them are aiming for the position of mistress of the underworld..."
"I'm not foolish enough to be unaware of their feelings, and it's ridiculous to think that I, one of the Big Three, wouldn't be popular with the opposite sex."
Poseidon, with his tempestuous personality like raging waves,
Zeus, who rapes women he likes,
As rulers of entire realms, it's impossible for the main gods to be unpopular with the opposite sex.
"The problem isn't with them, it's with me."
"Pardon?"
"Seeing people who were raped by gods and sacrificed in love affairs come to the underworld every day makes me reluctant to marry."
When numerous male gods compete to rape mortals, too many of the victims choose death.
They even kill fiancés or husbands and take their wives.
But are goddesses any different?
All sorts of incidents occur, like killing human men out of jealousy, turning them into animals, or making them fall into eternal sleep.
And all the humans who fall victim to the gods' adultery, love affairs, and rapes come to the underworld and complain to me.
Most of the victims hold deep grudges and don't lose their memories even in the River of Forgetfulness.
"Just today, there were four female souls who came to the underworld after being raped by gods."
"Ah..."
"And the human men who died because they were engaged to women the gods desired..."
I've strictly instructed the gods of the underworld under my rule,
and they themselves are too busy to ever touch mortals.
However, the gods belonging to the celestial Olympus palace,
or those in Poseidon's underwater palace, don't do the same.
"And aren't all the goddesses related to me by blood? Somehow..."
"From a human perspective that's true, but I thought the gods didn't care about such things at all."
Of course, other gods wouldn't care.
Zeus himself had relationships with his mother, sisters, granddaughters, and even cousins.
But I'm reluctant to have relationships with blood relatives.
Aren't Goddess Styx and Goddess Lethe distant relatives too?
"Hmm. Then you won't be getting married for the time being?"
"Probably not. It would be wrong to avoid it entirely, but..."
As I shook my head and put down the documents, Minos asked with a curious expression.
"By the way, won't it be difficult for the newly born goddess Menthe to adapt to the work in the underworld?"
"Well, she's confident, so we shouldn't worry too much. She'll adapt as she goes along."
Originally, humans, nymphs, no, gods are a species of adaptation.
And she worked as a priestess in the mortal world too...
She'll manage well on her own, right?
***
However, at that time, the goddess of mint...
"Goddess Lethe... Do I have to do all of this?"
"Yes..."
She was despairing at the numerous tasks placed before her.
She clearly thought she had ascended to the glorious position of a god,
and would be assigned to assist the handsome Lord Hades by his side...
"B-but do I have to process all these documents by myself?"
"That's just for one day..."
"....#@#$#!!!!"
She thought that as the goddess of mint, she would manage mint,
or use her divine power to help spread mint widely across the world.
She only thought of such things...
"The underworld is busy. Didn't you know that when you volunteered...?"
"T-this much?"
As she slightly lifted the parchment scroll,
the contents written there were tasks that couldn't possibly be finished in just one day.
Managing the soul soldiers residing in the underworld and assigning living spaces for the souls that pour in every day.
The sequential reincarnation procedures for the deceased waiting for rebirth in the fortress after being judged.
Final decision-making authority on the repair and construction of various roads and buildings in the vast underworld.
Mediation plans for disputes among the deceased and preparations against the Gigantes...
Moreover, no matter how you look at it, these aren't tasks suitable for the goddess of mint!
Menthe, who let out a silent scream, clasped her trembling hands and said to Goddess Lethe:
"B-but... I'm the goddess of mint..."
"...? Yes, and I'm the goddess of forgetfulness."
The goddess of forgetfulness tilted her head and answered in the same way.
Menthe froze at her face that seemed to ask what the problem was.
The silver-haired goddess passed by Menthe, who had realized the reality of the underworld, the number one workplace avoided by all gods.
A barely audible sound flowed from her lips:
"If you can't even do this much, Hades won't even glance at you, let alone make you a concubine..."
"Ah! O-of course I can finish it quickly!"
"Oh... Really? Then please take care of this too..."
Thud. Thunk.
It's... definitely not revenge from Goddess Lethe because of the fact that she likes Lord Hades.
As she received the scrolls flying through the air due to the divine power of forgetfulness...
That's what the goddess of mint thought.