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[Translator – Seraph]
[Proofreader – Draxx]
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Chapter 56
“The Labors have changed.”
It was early morning, and those were the first words Hercules spoke when he visited the store.
I could tell that Moirai had granted my request.
Though, of course, the one to act was none other than Hercules himself, and the condition remained firm: only someone who did not possess the ‘Thread of Fate’ could help.
I already knew this, but I asked again to be certain.
“You mean the nature of the Labors has changed?”
“The dreams came to me. They delivered my father’s will.”
“You mean the Oneiroi, then.”
“Yes.”
When Hercules spoke of dreams, he was referring to the Oneiroi, the gods of dreams who conveyed Zeus’ will.
Oneiroi, embodiments of dreams themselves, were often employed by Zeus as his private messengers.
Though they were used more often to sow discord than to simply deliver messages.
Zeus manipulated mortals through dreams.
Even the fateful misjudgment made by the Greek coalition during the Trojan War had been the result of Zeus’s meddling via dreams.
The Oneiroi were personal messengers tools Zeus used at his own discretion.
The official messenger of Olympus, however, was someone else entirely.
That official messenger arrived in Mycenae later that very morning.
Chirp chirp─chirp chirp─
As birds sang and Helios’s solar chariot heralded the dawn, a new day began in Mycenae.
The golden roof of the royal palace gleamed brilliantly beneath the morning sun.
The sprawling gardens overflowed with fragrant blossoms.
Guards stood alert in scattered formations, heavy spears in hand, while ministers bustled through the colonnades.
Then, all at once.
Whooooosh─
A sudden, violent gust swept down from the sky.
The wind coiled through the royal palace, stirring the stifling morning air, and everyone instinctively turned their eyes to the heavens.
There, with the sun behind him, floated a boy.
He wore a golden cap adorned with feathers.
In his hand was a staff entwined with two serpents.
On his feet winged sandals that shimmered with light, trailing faint glimmers each time they cut through the air.
He descended gently, as though strolling through the sky.
Palace ministers and royal guards starred in stunned silence at the spectacle above.
I, too, hidden among the ministers, gazed up at the boy.
***
As soon as his feet touched the ground, the air seemed to lighten.
A soft breeze swept through, rustling leaves and prompting birds to sing.
It was as if the very world welcomed his arrival.
The boy looked around, golden eyes gleaming mischievously under the sunlight.
His gaze held the playfulness of a trickster, but they were certainly not the eyes of a human.
Naturally.
The boy was no mortal. He was a god.
His eyes searched the crowd, as if looking for someone until they found me.
Those golden eyes curved as his lips parted slightly.
─It’s you.
The wind whispered in my ear.
─The child who twisted Zeus’s will.
“……”
I gave no answer.
There was no need to. The boy already knew what my answer would be.
With a small smile, he averted his gaze.
And then, he spoke.
“Eurystheus, king of Mycenae, hears and obey the will of Olympus.”
His voice flowed like a gentle breeze, yet echoed with a deep, resonant power.
“I am Hermes, herald of the gods. I come bearing the will of Zeus.”
The Herald of the Gods.
Messenger of Olympus.
The voice of Hermes, god of travelers, rippled through the royal palace of Mycenae like a wave.
King Eurystheus stumbled out in a panic and fell to his knees before Hermes.
“E-Eurystheus obeys the will of Olympus.”
He must’ve been caught off guard, perhaps roused from sleep his disheveled appearance was proof enough.
“Where is Hercules?”
“I am here.”
Hercules stepped forward with unwavering composure, standing proudly before Hermes.
As if he had already foreseen this moment.
Hermes gave him a sly smile and opened his mouth once more.
“I shall now deliver the will of Zeus.”
Thoom.
The caduceus, a staff entwined with two serpents struck the ground.
“The conditions of Hercules’ Labors have changed.”
Fate had begun to shift.
***
The message Hermes brought was simple.
A supporter may now aid Hercules in completing the Twelve Labors.
However, this support must come from someone untethered by the laws of fate and Hercules must remain the central actor in all things.
If Hercules himself determines the situation to be unavoidable, then no one, not even the supporter, may interfere.
‘A rule made for Iolaus, perhaps.’
In the myth, Hercules enlists the help of his nephew Iolaus in the slaying of the Hydra.
It was a fixed point in Hercules’ story, a fate predetermined by the Moirai the Fates and one that could not be altered.
After hearing Hermes’ declaration, Eurystheus asked.
“You mean… someone who is not bound by the laws of fate?”
“Correct.”
Eurystheus looked bewildered.
And rightly so even the gods themselves could not act freely outside the bounds of fate.
In essence, it was no different from saying no help allowed.
A clause with no real reason to exist unless there was someone who truly wasn’t governed by fate.
But Hermes offered no further explanation.
Just as suddenly as he’d appeared, he vanished, soaring into the sky.
‘He’s practically covered in relics.’
That was the impression I had of Hermes.
That same afternoon, after the herald departed and the changes to the Labors were made clear, Hercules began preparations to leave for the swamps of Lerna.
And he looked different.
Gone was the shirtless warrior who flaunted his strength.
Now, draped across his torso was the pelt of a lion specially tailored by Vanessa and slung across his back were a great bow and a longsword.
“How do I look?”
“It suits you well.”
With the lion’s pelt draped over him, this finally felt like the Hercules I knew.
After all, the Nemean lion’s skin was the very symbol of Hercules.
“Benefactor, we’ll see you in the swamp.”
“Lord Seojun, I’ll meet you later.”
Vanessa and Jeanne gave their farewells and vanished.
Their presence was bound by cooldowns, so they had to conserve time as much as possible.
“Shall we go, Hercules?”
“Yes.”
Hercules and I departed from the General Store, just the two of us.
Leaving behind Argos, the southern megacity of Mycenae, we made our way to the Lerna Marshlands where the Hydra resided.
By the time we arrived, night had already fallen, and the surrounding forest was cloaked in darkness.
The atmosphere was heavy and grim, the kind that made even beastly howls echo more menacingly in the dark.
But turning back wasn’t on my mind.
“Let’s begin with some reconnaissance.”
“Recon?”
“They say the Hydra is a nocturnal beast. If we want to catch sight of it, now would be the perfect time.”
“You make a good point.”
Hercules agreed.
If we were going to slay the Hydra, we needed more precise information on it first.
And since it slept by day and roamed at night, this was our best chance to observe it.
To prepare for any unexpected developments, I summoned Vanessa and Jeanne once more and explained my plan to them.
“Hmm, so you want to observe it in secret?”
“Yes, exactly.”
“Benefactor, please take my hand.”
Vanessa extended her hand to me.
“?”
Puzzled, I nonetheless carefully took her offered hand.
The moment my fingers touched hers, I felt a soft, smooth warmth and then Vanessa clasped my hand firmly.
I was surprised but only for a moment.
“Huh?”
A strange sensation washed over me.
It felt as though I had vanished.
No breath, no warmth, not even the air around me...
My entire existence seemed to blur.
I looked at Vanessa, startled, and she smiled sweetly.
“As long as we’re touching, I can share my ability with you.”
“Ah, I see.”
I hadn’t known that there’d never been a reason to try until now.
It felt oddly awkward to be holding hands like this, though.
“Jeanne, please take my other hand.”
Vanessa offered her remaining left hand to Jeanne.
Jeanne looked displeased, as though something about the situation rubbed her the wrong way, but reluctantly took Vanessa’s hand.
“If everyone’s ready, let’s go.”
“Understood.”
And so, holding on to Vanessa’s hands, we set off toward the Lerna Marshlands where the Hydra awaited.
The forest was so dark it was hard to tell the surroundings apart.
Not even the chirping of insects could be heard, let alone the sound of animals.
It was as though the entire forest had fallen into a profound silence.
“Benefactor, watch your step. There’s a rock ahead.”
“Thanks.”
With visibility so poor, I relied on Vanessa to guide my steps.
We walked deeper and deeper how far, I couldn’t tell.
Eventually, Hercules came to a stop.
“We’ve reached the swamp.”
A thick mist coiled around our feet. Beyond it lay the swamp.
The Lerna Marshlands, cloaked in pitch-black darkness.
Only the faint, bluish reflection of moonlight lit the scene, glimmering against the marshland’s decaying trees.
“Benefactor.”
Suddenly, Vanessa gripped my hand tightly.
Her gaze was low, fixed intently on the swamp as if she sensed something lurking there.
And then.
Bloop, bloop—
Strange bubbles began to rise from the water Vanessa had been staring at.
The dense fog that blanketed the swamp began to shift and squirm.
Slither, slither...
Something moved beneath the water.
The dark water rippled, and slowly, an enormous shape began to emerge.
One by one, massive serpent heads rose from the depths.
It was a beast with twelve heads.
“Grrrrrr…”
The heads snarled in different directions, each moving as if it had a will of its own.
Twelve pairs of gleaming red eyes glowed ominously in the shadows.
From their gaping maws drifted a deadly, acid scent poison.
This was no ordinary monster.
Even if one head was severed, two more would grow in its place an existence that had transcended death.
A deathless beast unleashed upon the world by the evil god Typhon and Echidna, mother of all monsters.
It was the Hydra.
Slsshh, slsshh—
The swamp’s surface rippled as the Hydra’s massive body began to move forward.
As it did, a dense fog spread across the swamp, swirling with its motion.
I held my breath and swallowed hard.
‘This is beyond anything I imagined.’
Its breath, its blood, its spit, its very body.
Everything about the Hydra was poison.
Burning it wouldn’t be nearly enough.
And just like that, our reconnaissance was complete.
Once we exited the swamp, Hercules spoke.
“I’ll go bring my nephew.”
“…To fight that thing?”
“It won’t be a problem.”
Even after witnessing the Hydra, Hercules remained unfazed his confidence in his nephew unshaken.
And I understood why the moment I met the man.
“It’s an honor to meet you, Lord Hercules.”
A towering physique. A body carved from muscle.
Standing before me was another Hercules.
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[Translator – Seraph]
[Proofreader – Draxx]
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