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[Translator – Seraph]
[Proofreader – Draxx]
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Chapter 62
“We greet Lady Artemis!”
The moment Artemis appeared, Iolaus dropped his poker cards and dropped to his knees on the floor.
Boom─!
When that massive body hit the ground, the entire General Store shook as if struck by an earthquake.
“Sir Seojun, who is that?”
“That is Lady Artemis, goddess of the moon.”
“A goddess, you say?”
“Yes.”
“So gods really do exist…”
Vanessa and Jeanne both stared at Artemis with wide, astonished eyes.
They had never seen a god before, only Hermes had shown himself to me and Hercules, so this was their first time witnessing a true deity.
I, too, was silently stunned by Artemis’s sudden appearance.
‘How did she get in?’
The General Store wasn’t an ordinary space.
Only those I permitted could pass through its door and strictly speaking, the General Store didn’t belong to the realm of Greek mythology. It was a space governed by rules of a different world entirely.
A domain with laws distinctly its own.
And yet, Artemis had appeared there without any warning.
Unable to suppress my curiosity, I asked her:
“How did you come here?”
“Wherever moonlight dwells, I can manifest.”
There, her sigil, a glowing crescent moon shone faintly.
It meant she had manifested through me, with whom she had forged a contract.
The fact that such a manifestation could even occur within the General Store was unexpected.
I asked another question, wondering aloud:
“Even if the world itself changes… can you still appear?”
“What an intriguing question.”
Artemis raised a brow.
She seemed to be lost in thought for a moment before answering.
“Crossing worlds comes at great cost, even for me.”
“So… it is possible?”
“In theory, yes. If my children call for me, I can appear briefly even across realms.”
Artemis nodded solemnly.
“It would be easier if there were a divine vessel.”
A divine vessel is referred to a corporeal body capable of housing the goddess Artemis herself.
Even without such a vessel, Artemis could manifest in another world, provided she paid a heavy price.
But even then, she explained, such a presence could only be sustained for a limited time.
A ‘god’ was, after all, a crucial cog in the machinery of their own world, one of its foundational axes and could not leave it unattended for long.
As expected of a god, the restrictions were incredibly strict.
And the burden fell solely upon Artemis herself.
Still, from the way she spoke, it was clear that she was more than willing to make such sacrifices for the sake of her children.
How she interpreted my thoughts, I could only guess.
But Artemis gave me a teasing smile.
“Are you worried you might never see me again?”
“Yes, that’s part of it.”
Holy Hunt was an awakened ability granted to me by Artemis.
There was a chance she might grant me more powers in the future.
But if I were to part ways with her, that possibility would vanish.
And yet...
“In that case, you need not worry. We can still meet from time to time in my flower garden.”
“Even if I’m in another world?”
“You still carry my moonlight, do you not?”
Artemis pointed again at the back of my hand.
“As long as that moonlight remains, you will always be able to find me—wherever you may be.”
==
[Mark of Moonlight]
—Moonlight never fades, even in the dark.
==
The moonlight on my hand was both proof of my contract with Artemis and a kind of entrance pass to her flower garden a divine domain under her control.
“I wonder what kind of scenery your world holds.”
“You can see it?”
“Sometimes. That is, if you allow it.”
‘So that’s what it was.’
It made sense now why Artemis, knowing I was an outsider, had granted me her divine power.
Wherever the moonlight touched, she could peer through my hand and witness the world beyond.
One of Artemis’s intentions in forming this bond was to observe this other world through my eyes.
For a god who lived through eternal time, there could be no greater amusement than sightseeing across worlds.
Of course, this wasn’t a one-sided arrangement.
‘If anything, I’ve gained more from it.’
In exchange for letting Artemis peek into my world, I could wield her divine power.
As I continued my conversation with Artemis, Hercules cut in.
“Artemis, what brings you here?”
Just as he had with Hermes, Hercules showed no particular deference to the gods.
Being the son of Zeus and a demigod himself, it wasn’t surprising.
Strictly speaking, he and Artemis were half-siblings.
Perhaps that’s why Artemis didn’t stand on ceremony with him either.
“No need to be on guard, Hercules. I’m only here to visit my deer.”
When Artemis looked toward Taygete, Hercules didn’t press her further.
As the goddess of the moon, Artemis was also the protector of forests and wildlife.
And Artemis hadn’t come alone. Beside her stood another deer.
It looked like an ordinary one, nothing unusual at all.
With the other deer in tow, Artemis walked up to Taygete.
“You’ve done well.”
She gently stroked Taygete’s head.
Taygete responded by nuzzling into her hand as if to say she had been waiting for this moment of recognition.
Then, a soft green light began to pour from Artemis, enveloping both Taygete and the other deer.
And then something incredible happened.
─────
The once-ordinary deer began to grow golden antlers from its forehead, and in moments, it had taken on the exact same form as Taygete.
To the naked eye, it was now impossible to tell the two deer apart.
“My goodness, Lord Seojun. That deer just transformed!”
“This isn’t just an awakening. It’s more like... a miracle.”
Jeanne and Vanessa looked astonished, still processing the divine wonder they had just witnessed.
Honestly, from my perspective, those two were just as irregular and supernatural as any god.
Still, anyone would be stunned watching an ordinary deer transform into a golden-antlered sacred beast.
“We’ll meet again.”
Amid the stunned stares, Artemis vanished with the now-transformed golden-antlered deer—leaving only those parting words behind.
That again\ likely referred to the moment she would return to retrieve Taygete.
Once I showed Taygete to the king of Mycenae and received approval that the trial was complete, Artemis would come for her.
“Let’s head to Mycenae.”
As soon as Artemis disappeared, Hercules began preparing to depart.
“I shall escort you.”
Iolaos, who had remained kneeling, rose to his feet.
His chariot, pulled by monstrous horses, was already waiting outside the trading hall.
“We’ll see you both in Mycenae.”
“Lord Seojun, take care.”
“If anything happens, just call us.”
Jeanne and Vanessa saw me off warmly. I dismissed them from the summons afterward.
There wasn’t enough space in the chariot for them anyway.
Not that I wanted to subject them to the experience in the first place.
Iolaos’s chariot had, at best, a horrendous ride quality.
Think of a Disco Pang-Pang ride doubled.
[PR/N: It is a ride where you sit in a circle on a disk-shaped device and it spins and shakes strongly while playing music played by a DJ.]
Still, it was better than clinging to Hercules’s back.
“Lord Seojun, please board.”
“Thank you.”
With Iolaos even going so far as to open the door for me, I climbed into the chariot.
***
Once aboard, the ride to the royal palace of Mycenae was quick.
My backside still throbbed from the jarring ride, unsurprisingly.
That evening, Hercules entered the royal audience hall to report the success of the task.
—T-Task complete!
As always, Eurystheus, hidden inside his bronze jar, declared the mission complete without even looking at the deer.
Originally, that throne should have belonged to Hercules. But Hera’s schemes had stolen it away and given it to Eurystheus.
And now, he lived every day in dread of the possibility that Hercules might strike him down.
“Didn’t you say you wanted to keep the deer?”
—...It’s fine. Take it.
Though he had once claimed he would keep the golden-antlered deer for himself, it seemed Artemis had paid him a visit and shattered that will with a divine threat.
“What’s the fourth labor?”
—You are to hunt the boar of Mount Erymanthos.
“Erymanthos?”
Hercules asked again, clearly taken aback.
And rightly so Erymanthos was a famous place.
“Do you even realize that the mountain is Artemis’s hunting ground?”
Yes, it belonged to Artemis, goddess of the moon.
The boar wasn’t just any wild animal. It was a divine beast, a phantasmic creature Artemis had released to protect her sacred territory from being defiled.
So Hercules’s reaction was justified…
—Yes, I know. That is the fourth labor.
“Hmm. Understood.”
It was a troublesome task, but Hercules still led Taygete out of the audience chamber.
When we returned to the royal residence assigned to us, Artemis appeared once again.
This time, she arrived through the moonlight pouring in through the window.
She had come to retrieve Taygete.
But before she could speak, Hercules addressed her.
“Artemis, I have to hunt your boar.”
“No.”
Artemis refused flatly.
“I won’t allow it.”
The boar of Erymanthus was her guardian beast.
More than that—
“Hercules. Are you planning to trespass into my hunting grounds?”
“If that’s the labor assigned to me.”
Her eyes froze cold.
Even faced with the frigid fury of a goddess, Hercules stood silently, unmoved as ever.
But in his eyes, faint flickers of red madness glimmered.
This was exactly the kind of confrontation the goddess Hera would have hoped for.
She had included Artemis’s creatures in the Twelve Labors for this very reason.
Artemis was a goddess who would not retreat for anyone if it meant protecting her children.
And of course, Hercules knew that.
The real Hercules, the one before the madness, would have tried to find a peaceful resolution.
But the one who stood here now, still bound by Hera’s curse of madness, could not.
Otherwise, they wouldn’t have reached this standoff.
“Let’s capture it alive.”
Both of their gazes turned to me as I spoke.
“Capture?”
“Yes.”
I nodded in response to Artemis’s question.
“Just like with the deer I’ll make sure we bring it back unharmed.”
“Hercules, will you go along with that?”
“Fine. I’ll bring back your boar without harming it.”
Hercules didn’t look thrilled by the plan, but he didn’t object either.
It was still better than outright conflict with Artemis.
“Very well. But I won’t help this time.”
Her blue eyes were on me now, not Hercules.
Capturing Taygete had only been possible because of the power she had granted me.
“Understood.”
I gave a small nod.
Unlike Taygete, who had hidden herself away, the guardian boar of the mountain wouldn’t be hard to find.
We had secured Artemis’s permission—but the next day brought an unexpected complication.
“You’re saying you can’t remove Hercules’s madness?”
“I’m sorry. I thought I could, but whenever I purify it, it just... comes back.”
“This isn’t your fault, Jeanne. Hera’s the one responsible.”
Jeanne looked genuinely remorseful, but she had no reason to apologize.
This was Hera’s doing from beginning to end.
According to Jeanne, every time she purified the madness, something or someone immediately filled it back in.
That someone was almost certainly the goddess Hera herself.
For now, at least, Jeanne could keep Hercules’s madness from exceeding a certain threshold.
But still…
“We’ll have to deal with this sooner or later.”
According to myth, Hercules was supposed to purify his madness through an oracle at the Temple of Delphi, and then receive the Twelve Labors from Zeus.
But in this world, things had gone awry and Hercules had never been cleansed of his madness.
The priestess of Delphi had rejected Hercules’s oracle.
Even in the myths, the Pythia of Delphi once refused to grant Hercules his oracle. But that had only happened when his madness had already reached its peak.
Enraged by the rejection, Hercules had tried to steal one of Apollo’s sacred relics from the temple the Omphalos, the stone that symbolized the center of the world.
Naturally, Apollo, god of the sun and patron of Delphi, did not sit idly by.
He descended to the mortal realm, and clashed with Hercules.
And then—
Zeus himself descended.
The king of the gods, lord of thunder, came down to mediate the battle between god and man.
But this Hercules, the one before me now, had never experienced any of that.
Still, that didn’t mean I could just leave him be.
Because no one knew when his madness would explode.
Even now, I could see flickers of that madness in his eyes.
Jeanne might be suppressing it for the moment, but there was no guarantee she could keep it contained forever.
Hera’s curse kept feeding that madness, filling him up again and again.
And once it overflowed once it burst it would be over.
Hercules had once slaughtered his own family with these very hands under that madness. There was no reason to believe I’d be exempt if it happened again.
The moment Hercules became an enemy that was the absolute worst-case scenario I had envisioned.
After all, Hercules was a monster who had once waged war against the gods themselves.
A berserker Hercules...
Even imagining it was horrifying.
After some thought, I turned to him and said:
“Let’s go to the Temple of Delphi.”
Purifying the madness had to come first.
Even if it meant witnessing the descent of Zeus himself.
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[Translator – Seraph]
[Proofreader – Draxx]
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Chapter 62
