Episode 58: The Goddess of Mint, Mente – (2)
The Three Judges of the Underworld, the Minos Brothers.
Among them, Minos, who had once been the king of Crete, gazed at Hades, the lord of the Underworld, who judges the souls of the dead.
"I was making a living weaving in Athens..."
The name of the criminal kneeling before them was Arachne.
She had been the most skilled weaver in Athens, but she made one grave mistake.
She boasted that even Athena, the goddess of wisdom, wasn't better at weaving than her.
The goddess of wisdom, protector of the city-state Athens, naturally became furious.
Disguised as an old woman, the goddess of wisdom sought out Arachne and suggested she apologize at Athena’s temple, but…
Arachne replied, "I’m not afraid of Athena’s wrath, and I would gladly challenge her to a weaving contest."
"...And then, the goddess revealed her true form."
"The two of them must have had a weaving contest, right?"
Mnemosyne, the goddess of memory, observed Arachne’s memories and relayed them to the lord of the Underworld, independent of Arachne’s words.
Minos, too, shared in those memories as one of the judges.
Arachne and the goddess Athena faced off in front of the people.
Arachne wove scenes depicting Zeus’s infidelity with goddesses like Leto and Europa, as well as the many transgressions and embarrassments of the twelve Olympians.
Astonishingly, Arachne’s skill surpassed that of Athena.
However, as her tapestry openly criticized the Olympian gods, it inevitably provoked the goddess’s wrath.
Athena turned Arachne into a spider, condemning her to spin webs for the rest of her life.
This was the story of how Arachne’s soul came to the Underworld.
Though it was quiet due to the setting of the Underworld and the presence of Hades and the three judges right before her, Arachne’s anger towards Athena for turning her into a spider was palpable.
The lord of the Underworld, a gloomy and handsome figure who had seen all of Arachne's past, spoke up.
"Goddess Mnemosyne, please show me the tapestry Arachne made."
"Understood, Lord Hades."
The goddess of memory read Arachne’s memories and conjured an illusion in the air.
As expected of the city's finest weaver, her tapestry was elaborate and beautiful.
"There’s a scene where the gods are defeated by Typhon, along with Zeus’s disgrace... and Dionysus killing the king of Thebes..."
Hades’s brow furrowed slightly as he slowly examined the tapestry that exposed the gods’ misdeeds.
Arachne, still kneeling in front of him, seemed frozen, anticipating severe punishment.
"But why did you criticize Hestia? She’s done no harm to humans."
"...That’s because..."
"The goddess of the hearth was the most concerned about the well-being of humans when fighting Typhon. Do you have any excuse?"
"No, I do not..."
After a moment’s contemplation, Hades drummed his fingers on the armrest of his chair before delivering his verdict.
"Being arrogant due to your skill is not a crime. Not recognizing Athena in her disguise as an old woman is understandable. However, criticizing all of the gods during your contest with Athena was wrong."
Arachne, who had braced herself for the lord of the Underworld’s wrath, seemed visibly surprised.
Minos, too, thought to himself.
‘That’s just the kind of god Hades is. I was also quite taken aback at first.’
Hades, continuing with the judgment, remained calm even in front of a grave criminal who had insulted the gods.
If it were any other Olympian god ruling the Underworld, Arachne would likely have been given a severe punishment without a fair trial.
"One could argue that turning you into a spider was excessive, but everything you consumed, everything you enjoyed, was made by us gods. The olive tree, a gift from the goddess of wisdom, was the pride of Athens, where you lived. The warmth you felt as you wove at night was a blessing from the goddess of the hearth... Tsk."
Minos had come to understand that, above all, the god of the Underworld, Hades, valued fairness.
Unlike other gods who judged the crime of offending divinity more harshly than even murder, Hades was different.
"I will lessen the punishment Athena inflicted on you. I will also consider the fact that you have already died. Therefore, your sentence is..."
Though his kin had been insulted, Hades carefully passed judgment without letting emotion influence him.
The punishment handed down to Arachne was neither too severe nor too lenient.
"Who’s the next criminal, Minos?"
"Yes... Next is someone who committed suicide in Corinth..."
The most impartial lord of the Underworld was, without a doubt,
a benevolent god worthy of the genuine reverence of Minos, a former king.
* * *
At last, today’s trials were over.
"Lord Hades, thank you for your hard work."
"Minos, you’ve worked hard too. Is Radamanthys presiding over tomorrow’s trials?"
The middle-aged judge of the Underworld, Minos, struck up a conversation with me.
It seemed like he had something on his mind...
"I’ve heard that the newly appointed goddess wishes to come to the Underworld herself?"
"Are you talking about Mente? So, you’ve met her."
"I’ve heard that she came here because she’s enamored with you, Lord Hades. If you have any feelings for her..."
What feelings?
I shook my head at Minos, who was suddenly playing matchmaker.
"Ah! Lord Hades, do you perhaps already have a goddess in mind? Maybe Styx or Lethe...?"
"Are you asking if I plan to take a wife first?"
"Well... Everyone knows that both of them have their eyes set on becoming the lady of the Underworld..."
"I’m not so blind that I wouldn’t notice their feelings. Besides, it would be ridiculous to say that one of the three rulers of the Underworld is unpopular with women."
The tempestuous Poseidon and
Zeus, who forces himself on any woman he desires,
as the supreme gods who rule over a world, it’s only natural they’d be popular with women.
"The issue isn’t with them, but with me."
"Excuse me?"
"Seeing those who have been raped by the gods or caught in love scandals arrive in the Underworld every day makes me hesitant about marriage."
Far too many mortals who are victims of rape by male gods end up choosing death.
Some gods even go so far as to kill the betrothed or husbands of mortal women to claim them for themselves.
But are goddesses any different?
Driven by jealousy, they might kill human men, turn them into animals, or cast them into eternal sleep—anything is possible.
And all those humans, victims of the gods’ affairs, scandals, and assaults, come to the Underworld to pour out their grievances to me.
Most of these victims, driven by deep resentment, retain their memories, even after crossing the River Lethe, the river of forgetfulness.
"Just today, four women arrived in the Underworld after being raped by the gods."
"Ah..."
"And the number of human men killed simply because they were engaged to a woman coveted by a god..."
I’ve firmly warned the gods in the Underworld under my rule, and they’re too busy to meddle with mortals anyway.
But the gods from Olympus or those in the palace beneath the sea ruled by Poseidon aren’t the same.
"And aren’t all the goddesses related to me by blood? That makes things... complicated."
"From a human perspective, yes, but I thought the gods didn’t care about such things."
Of course, other gods wouldn’t care.
Zeus, for example, has had relationships with his mother, sisters, daughters of his descendants, and even his cousins.
But for me, forming relationships with my relatives feels uncomfortable.
Aren’t the goddess Styx and the goddess Lethe both distant relatives of mine?
"Then it seems you won’t be marrying anytime soon, will you?"
"Probably not. Avoiding it entirely would be unwise, but..."
As I shook my head and set down the papers, Minos, looking curious, asked me another question.
"By the way, won’t the newly appointed goddess Mente find it difficult to adjust to the work here in the Underworld?"
"Well, she seems confident, so there’s no need to worry too much. In time, she’ll adjust."
After all, people—nymphs—no, gods are adaptable by nature.
And she used to work as a priestess in the living world...
She’ll figure it out.
* * *
But at that moment, the goddess of mint was...
"Goddess Lethe… Do I have to do all of this?"
"Yes."
Mente was despairing at the massive pile of tasks before her.
She had thought she’d been elevated to the glorious rank of a goddess to stand by the handsome Hades and assist him...
"B-but do I really have to process all of these documents by myself?"
"That’s just one day’s worth."
"...#@#$#!!!!!"
She had imagined managing mint, or perhaps using her powers to spread mint throughout the world.
But instead...
"The Underworld is busy. Didn’t you know that when you applied?"
"T-this much?"
When she glanced at one of the scrolls,
the tasks written on it were clearly impossible to finish in a day.
There were assignments like managing the sick souls residing in the Underworld and allocating living space to the daily influx of souls.
Handling the process of reincarnation for the dead waiting in the fortress after their trials.
Making final decisions on road and building maintenance throughout the vast Underworld.
Mediating disputes among the dead, preparing for the Gigantes, and more...
None of it seemed suited to a goddess of mint!
Trembling, Mente clutched the scroll in her hands and turned to Lethe.
"B-but I’m the goddess of mint..."
"...? Yes, and I’m the goddess of forgetfulness."
With a puzzled look, as if she didn’t understand the issue, Lethe replied in the same tone.
Frozen in place, Mente realized the harsh reality of the Underworld, the number one workplace avoided by all gods.
As the silver-haired goddess passed by her, Mente barely caught her whispering.
"If you can’t handle this, Hades won’t even consider you as a concubine, let alone give you a glance..."
"Hah! O-of course, I’ll finish everything quickly!"
"Oh, really? In that case, take care of this too."
Thud. Thud.
Surely, the goddess of forgetfulness wasn’t taking revenge just because Mente liked Hades...
As she caught the flying scrolls with trembling hands, propelled by Lethe’s divine powers,
Mente tried to convince herself of that.
Thanks for the chapter.
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