Chapter 9: The Tale of Life - (4)

Zeus disappeared with a flash of light after finishing his story. Only then did I call in the gods waiting outside my office.

[Zeus has left now, so everyone can come in]

Both Zeus and I knew that many were curious about our conversation, but we didn't mind. We had used divine power to block the sound from reaching outside.

"Lord Hades, is it possible that even after the great flood ends, the work will increase..."

"Did Lord Zeus perhaps order something more...?"

I calmly explained to them with their tense expressions.

Zeus swore by the River Styx that he would never again sweep away the surface world without consulting the Underworld. And during the great flood period, he would dispatch the goddess of wisdom, Athena, and attendants to help the Underworld.

"Phew... a silver lining in this misfortune."

"I was worried about the workload, but if it's Goddess Athena..."

The Underworld became cheerful again. Sighs of relief erupted here and there, and the gods dispersed with slightly brighter faces.

Three days until the great flood begins.

***

The day of the great flood.

Zeus, the king of gods, called Boreas, the god of the north wind with massive wings, in a solemn voice.

"Boreas, from now on, do not raise any wind and stay in Aeolus's cave for nine days. I will not hear any objections."

"...I will obey your will."

Boreas entered the cave of Aeolus, the wind god who confines winds, and ceased his duties. This ensures that the rain clouds filling the sky will never disperse.

Next, Notus, the god of the south wind, stood before Zeus. As the god symbolizing summer's south wind and rain, he always appeared drenched.

"Notus! Shower rain to your heart's content until I tell you to stop. It's fine even if the lower world is completely submerged."

Notus, with water dripping from his damp body and wings, received Zeus's order and touched the clouds in the sky. Soon, with a powerful thunderclap, torrential rain began to fall on the earth.

Shhhhhhh-

Iris, the rainbow goddess, who had received orders from Hera in advance, drew water from the Milky Way to add moisture to the clouds. The day the rain clouds dry up will be when Goddess Hera withdraws her command.

"Hermes! Tell Poseidon it's time. Athena! Go down to the Underworld with the pre-selected attendants and help Hades."

Hermes, the messenger god holding the caduceus, a staff with two intertwined snakes, and dressed as a light traveler, quickly flew to the sea. He was Zeus's son and also the god of thieves and travelers.

"For the next nine days, if any god helps the life on earth out of personal feelings, they'd better be prepared!"

Flash, Boom!!

Finally, Zeus's power-infused shout echoed through the Olympian palace along with thunder. The various gods who heard the shout were too afraid to act rashly. Who would dare to stop when the king of gods had decided to punish humans?

***

Poseidon, who received a visit from Zeus's messenger Hermes, raised massive waves that overturned the earth. Human villages on the coast sank to the bottom of the sea in an instant.

Next, he summoned all the river gods. The great sea god's order to the river gods was simple.

"Open all the floodgates and let the water flow as it pleases."

Among them were river gods who cared for humans, but they couldn't dare disobey Poseidon's order and opened the floodgates. Life near the rivers was instantly sucked into the deep waters.

When Poseidon's trident struck the earth, all waterways opened wide with its tremendous power. A terrifying flood swept across the entire world.

Human villages, temples, orchards, and fields became unrecognizable in the sudden disaster. Humans desperately crawled to mountaintops to survive the divine wrath.

"Zeus, oh Zeus! Why are you doing this?"

"I don't want to meet Hades yet! What have we done wrong?"

"After all the sacrifices I've made to Poseidon..."

"Blub. Blub, I'm not yet..."

Humans who escaped the danger of drowning felt momentary relief but soon had to wail at the world turned into a sea. Weak humans die after just a few days without food and water.

Only the sea nymphs, the Nereids, smiled amidst the great flood.

No human could withstand the nine-day great flood.

***

When there was no land left in the world, the Underworld was busier than ever before. An uncountable number of souls flooded through the five rivers at the boundary between the living world and the Underworld, towards Hades' fortress.

"Lord Hades! The area where we've gathered souls can no longer..."

"Let's see... it's next to Elysium. I'll take care of it right away, for now, receive them elsewhere."

"Charon's ferry has sunk, and souls have fallen into the Acheron River!"

"Send a messenger to Goddess Lethe to rescue the souls and have her help..."

I, Hades, in my office, could use three bodies and still be short-handed. With one hand, I was reviewing reports coming in from all over the Underworld written on parchment. The other hand was busy exercising authority throughout the Underworld, making judgments, assignments, and trials for souls.

My eyes were busy surveying the entire Underworld. My mouth was drying up from answering messengers' reports when I heard the news I had been waiting for.

"Goddess Athena, along with Olympus's attendants..."

"Send the attendants to Goddess Styx outside and tell Athena to come here immediately, quickly!"

Soon, Athena, in full armor and holding a spear, opened the office door and paid her respects.

"I greet the lord of the Underworld, Uncle Hades..."

"If you're here, quickly sit down and start working."

I glanced at Athena and turned my gaze back to the mountain of parchment scrolls. Of course, it was natural to move half of the work piled up to the ceiling in front of Athena.

"Um... this is...?"

"The aspect of war goddess isn't necessary for this work, so hurry and take off that armor."

Athena, true to her nature as the goddess of war, wisdom, and civilization, seemed to realize the future that awaited her. With a wry smile, she fumbled to remove her armor and sat down in front of me.

From outside the office, all sorts of gods' shouts, busy movements of souls, and murmuring sounds had been heard for a while. Fortunately, now that the goddess of wisdom had joined the war against paperwork, we would surely be victorious.

After being buried in parchment piles for a long time with her face not visible, Athena carefully opened her mouth.

"Uncle, if you lend me your name, I have a way to overcome this crisis."

"If it's the wisdom goddess speaking, I won't lose out. Proceed."

After Athena's suspicious statement, I saw her doing something, but I ignored it due to the overwhelming amount of work. And after enough time had passed for Charon's ferry to break four or five more times...

"Lord Hades! Ares, the god of war, has come to the Acheron River!"

Athena, meeting my eyes, gave me a wise smile from between the piles of parchment.

Shortly after, a handsome, muscular male god with a cheerful smile entered the office.

It was Ares, the god of war and son of Zeus and Hera.

"Uncle Hades! Where is the war I must fight..."

"Good, as a war god, you must be good at commanding? From now on, you will guide the souls crossing the River Styx and send them here."

"What...? What do you mean? Surely Athena over there..."

Listening to Ares's bewildered expression, it was truly a spectacle. Apparently, Athena had sent him a letter saying [If you come to the Underworld now, you can participate in a war of enormous scale] while he was idling, so he rushed here.

She even guaranteed the truth of her words in my name. So even though he had doubts, he came believing...

In a situation where we're short one god, I have no reason to sympathize with his circumstances.

"...Athenaaa! You, you tricked me again!"

"I only said you could participate in the war against work happening in the Underworld, what's the problem?"

Ares, who was wailing, suddenly disappeared, grabbed by the hand of a lesser god who appeared behind him. More precisely, he couldn't resist because I was glaring at him fiercely.

***

Finally, the long nine days of the great flood ended. The gods of the Underworld could finally rest a little, and just as everyone was about to drink nectar, another message came from Olympus.

"Deucalion, son of Prometheus, has survived the great flood and wishes to revive humanity, so Hades should allow souls to be reincarnated..."

Prometheus, with his prophetic abilities, must have told his son about the great flood. So he was able to build an ark and save his life. But... souls? They want to recreate humans right now?

I focused my eyes and ears on the surface for a moment and heard Deucalion and his wife Pyrrha talking.

"Hmm... dear, Zeus's oracle says... if we want to revive humanity, we should throw the great mother's bones over our shoulders."

"Oh gods! We cannot commit such a filial sin! Please withdraw this oracle..."

"Wait a moment. Could 'mother' mean the earth and 'bones' refer to rocks?"

"Ah...! That could be it!"

Seeing them start to pick up stones from the ground, I immediately shouted to the gods. To quickly select souls for reincarnation and send them to the surface.

"Damn it! Is the work still not finished?"

"Hypnos! Goddess Lethe has collapsed, what if you put her to sleep!"

"I didn't put her to sleep, she just collapsed from exhaustion!"

"Hurry and select the souls!"

The Underworld, which was becoming peaceful again, turned into chaos in an instant.

Meanwhile, on the surface, Deucalion and his wife created human forms by throwing stones.

"Huh...? When we throw the stones, they take human form, but why aren't they moving?"

"Hmm, let's wait a bit. The gods must be busy too."

"Souls, move quickly, it's time for reincarnation!"

"Did you properly classify those who committed sins?"

"Send them to the living world in sequence!"

Souls from the Underworld seeped into the human forms following divine guidance. Only then did Deucalion and Pyrrha feel relieved and start throwing stones freely.

Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud-thud-thud. Thud-thud.

Stones fell incessantly on the earth, successfully becoming humans, but… The gods in the Underworld were rather furious.

"Damn it! Couldn't they throw a little slower!"

"What's the rush with those two scattering stones like that?!"

The Underworld is busy today as well.