Thus, the final question was issued, and the next morning dawned.
Rarely, Artemis, I, and all the Female Priestesses had breakfast together in the dining hall.
In a friendly atmosphere, everyone was chatting with those around them, and just as the bottoms of our plates began to show,
Hermes burst through the door and entered.
Then, he informed us that he would return here to the Temple on the final day, five days from now, and tried to leave again.
I stopped him by the sound of pulling out my chair as I stood up.
“Ah! Master Hermes, won’t I be committing a violation by seeking an answer from someone else while you’re gone?”
“And so?”
“I thought it would be better to leave a guardian or some kind of servitor behind before you go.”
“Hmph, you’re a strange one. You hesitated not at all to give advice that disadvantages yourself…”
“Since Master Hermes has challenged me fairly, I have no intention of stepping back.”
“That’s enough. I don’t plan to keep any strict watch anyway, so feel free to find answers as you see fit—whether on your own or from others.”
With an answer colder than ice itself, Hermes departed from the temple in an instant.
Seeing his rather anxious back retreating,
I realized that throwing a few meaningless questions would simply be rude, so I shut my mouth and returned to my seat.
“Is Master Hermes not handsome even though he hasn’t washed his face yet?”
“That’s right. How does his greasy hair look so stylish… He reminded me of Lord Apollo.”
“Exactly! Exactly! …But where is he rushing off to?”
“How should we know?”
The idle chatter of the Female Priestesses seated at the back table somehow drifted into Artemis’ ears.
Then, our Lady Goddess shook her head as if something bothered her.
“That dummy, what does he think he’s handsome for!”
“Ugh!”
“Ugh?? Who’s this? Come out here, you disgusting thing, who’s making gagging noises!!”
“Y-Yes!!”
“I-I’m sorry, Lady Artemis.”
As always, our Goddess began the day by troubling the Female Priestesses who had nothing to do with it.
Accordingly, as if in sync, the Female Priestesses started cautiously rising one by one to quietly slip away from the dining hall.
“I-I’m sorry! It just startled me so much, I accidentally made a gagging sound…”
The Female Priestess, kneeling and wiping her hands back and forth on her knees.
Seeing her weeping form, Artemis smirked at the corner of her lips, reminding me somewhat of the wicked Hera.
“You’ll get it next time, do you understand?”
“Y-Yes!”
“Go on then.”
“Thank you! Thank you, Lady Artemis!”
The Female Priestess, finally granted mercy, bowed repeatedly and quickly exited the dining hall.
As we watched the flustered back of the Female Priestess, Lady Artemis confidently placed her hands on her hips in a show of pride.
But from my standpoint, watching all this from behind, it was nothing more than a pitiful sight.
“Well, Ark? This is what we call disciplining subordinates. Only a goddess can do this.”
“…Oh, yeah. Impressive.”
At the half-hearted compliment that I could barely choke out, she grinned sheepishly,
But then, probably realizing that it wasn’t proper, she coughed faintly in an attempt to maintain her decorum, and elegantly returned to her seat.
Then she glanced at the now empty rear dining table and turning her head, she stared at me.
“Hey, Ark.”
“What?”
“But where has that guy gone?”
By ‘that guy,’ Artemis must have been referring to her younger brother Hermes, who had just announced his return five days from now.
Leaving his position during the final task of the Fourth Labor is something that can only happen under extreme circumstances.
“Perhaps he’s gone to Mount Calinice?”
“Mount Calinice…? Oh… Lady Maia?”
“Right. Since this final task will definitely cause us to lose someone precious among us.”
After the Great Olympian Games,
I spent the entire day after returning to the temple investigating Hermes.
It was supposed to be preparation for the task, but I ended up discovering some quite interesting things.
Uncommonly peculiar things.
Every god possesses a city where their followers are gathered.
Some gods, like Artemis, have only one such city,
and others like Athena own dozens of cities, where her followers practically overflow.
But Hermes…?
He had none.
Not even a small city.
He merely lived in a corner of Zeus’ capital city with his followers.
Isn’t that strange?
Even Hestia, who loves peace, has several cities,
yet Hermes, as one of the Twelve Olympians, has no city of his own?
Here something seemed off.
An aroma so sweet, it could lure even ants.
I meticulously searched through the register of buildings and land,
and was able to find just one possession belonging to Hermes,
Mount Calinice.
I’m sure Hera would have reached the same conclusion.
Hera, having noticed something odd, surely would have thoroughly searched Mount Calinice.
And she must have discovered that Maia, who was reported dead, was hiding on this mountain.
As a result, Hermes was forced to confront Hera, who had taken his mother hostage.
Knowing that he might never see his mother again,
Hermes probably wanted to spend the remaining five days with her.
“You have to admit he’s quite the tough case. How could he think of hiding his own mother away in the mountains for thousands of years?”
“To avoid Hera’s wrath, I guess. But once exposed, it really left him stuck between a rock and a hard place, though.”
“So what? Did he go to Lady Maia expecting his own defeat?”
“Rather than expecting, it might just be precaution, right? Everyone feels uncertain at times.”
“Is that so? You don’t seem particularly anxious yourself.”
Artemis pointed at me with her fork.
Thinking about it, I guess I’m calm, aren’t I?
“Why am I so composed?”
“Ark, you haven’t already found the answer, have you?”
“Find it? Far from it—I haven’t even grasped the gist of it. What makes you say that?”
“But why are you so calm? Usually, you’d be fidgeting restlessly, your eyes darting around nervously… You’d end up doing something fruitless in an absolute panic.”
Am I really perceived this way by Artemis?
It’s hard to call it wrong, but it’s also a little off to call it right.
“But honestly, no solutions come to mind. As you say, this problem seems too perfect.”
“You’re not going to give up, though, right?”
“Of course, not.”
Seeming somewhat satisfied with my answer, Artemis nodded while rising from her seat.
After laying down her fork, she grabbed the doorknob to leave the dining hall.
“Artemis!”
“What?”
“Do you… believe in me? That I can solve this final question?”
At that, Artemis lifted her index finger and gently pushed up her lower lip.
Pausing a moment to think about what to say,
“I’m not sure if you’ll solve the problem, but I do know you stubbornly like me, don’t I?”
With that, she tilted her head slightly to the side and flashed a charming smile.
“Huh! What is that supposed to mean?”
“Anyway, do your thing~ I’m going hunting.”
She raised and waved her bow in hand and hurried out of the dining hall.
Alone in the dining hall, I tilted my head back to look at the ceiling and slightly curled my lips.
You stubbornly like me?
Surely, what she was conveying was, “Even if you fail to solve the final puzzle, I know you wouldn’t give up on liking me.”
Isn’t this her own way of cheering me on, perhaps?
“Alright, let’s give this a try then.”
Stretching my arms up and taking a wide yawn, I headed to my personal office.
—Four days later.
“Ugh! I don’t know! I don’t know!”
Bang! Bang! Bang!
I slammed both fists on the table, releasing my stress.
I’ve spent four days wrestling with the difficult content of the final question,
yet I’ve been unable to find a clear answer, leaving me in an excruciating state of frustration.
Just how frustrating is it that when I grip my hair in desperation, strands of it fall out?
“How did the deceased Argos come back to life and walk around? It doesn’t make sense, does it?”
I paced back and forth around the room while muttering my dissatisfaction alone.
“Maybe it was a split personality? No, no, that’s impossible—it’s still just one body.”
“Or did it happen like in Doctor Rios’s case, where they accidentally stumbled upon an antidote to wine poison at home? It sounds plausible…?”
I gave myself a hard smack on the head.
Thud!
Plausible? That’s forbidden territory—absolutely forbidden.
I’ve never achieved anything by uttering those words.
And relying on coincidence has no solid basis whatsoever to be the answer, especially since there hasn’t been a single mention of the serum.
Think harder.
There has to be a hint in the story Hermes showed me.
Arghos and the little girl must definitely…
Knock, knock, knock.
That’s right, at that moment.
Someone was knocking on the door of my personal office.
Before I could even respond, Rachel, a Female Priestess of Artemis, entered with teary eyes, looking like she would cry at any moment.
“Rachel? What’s wrong? Why are you crying?”
“Hu-hu-hu… P-please, Master… Could you help me?”
“What is it? What’s wrong?”
“My stomach… my stomach hurts.”
What kind of bizarre request is this?
If your stomach cramps are so bad, you should just go to the city and see a doctor immediately.
Why would you come to me?
“Take some leave and see a doctor right away. Why waste time coming here? Hurry to Luna.”
“But…”
But Rachel stood there, unable to act, her feet stamping restlessly.
“Why?”
“Ah, Lady Artemis said I have to go mountain boar hunting with her in 30 minutes, so she didn’t let me…”
“What???”
What… the…
I’ve joked about our goddess being a handful before, but I thought she had a good heart despite her antics.
But this crosses a line.
Dragging someone who’s sick to go hunting?
It’s not just difficult—she’s outrageous.
“Rachel. Go to Luna immediately.”
“B-But…”
“I’ll take care of the after-math, so go to the doctor quickly.”
“Neh… a doctor? A-ah… understood.”
Rachel tilted her head, clearly not fully understanding my words,
but reassured by my assurance to be responsible, she quickly left the temple and made her way down the hill.
“Such a handful… still, this time she’s gone too far.”
This cannot be left alone.
While troubling the Female Priestesses as usual is one thing, this time she needs a serious reprimand.
Setting aside my contemplation of the final question temporarily, I headed to the audience chamber where Artemis was staying.
As I entered and opened the door, Artemis ignored me completely as she cleaned her newly made bow with a towel,
letting out an annoying laugh that sounded something like ‘uh-he-he-he.’
“Hey! You troublemaker!”
“Wha-, what? Hey! Did you just call me a troublemaker? I told you I don’t want to hear that word!”
Artemis, whose trigger was pulled, lit up with anger and approached me step by step.
And without fail, she pulled her right leg back to kick my shins.
I quickly stepped back like a nimble squirrel and dodged her.
“Wha-? You dodged?”
“Be quiet! Artemis, I’m really disappointed with you this time.”
“What? Suddenly, what nonsense are you talking?”
Keeping my serious expression unchanged, she finally sensed that something serious had happened and asked with a heavy heart.
“It’s about the Female Priestess Rachel. She came to me, crying and in pain because her stomach hurt. She was in pain, but you didn’t send her to the hospital.”
“Eh? In pain? Stomach? Her?”
Artemis asked, cutting the words into pieces like a fool and emphasizing each point.
She’s shameless.
Let me dig deeper and teach her a lesson.
“I heard everything. Rachel has a stomachache, but you, to satisfy your own desires, tried to drag her along to the hunt?”
“Wha-? Wha-? WAH!!! That girl really did! I’m so wronged!”
“When a person is sick, let them rest. The Priestess here are not insignificant people who deserve such unfair treatment.”
“Shut up!! Stop it, you idiot!”
She readied her right leg once more.
Hmph, kicking my shins again?
Won’t hurt, won’t hurt.
I dodged again with another step back, keeping my eyes on her raised right foot as it flew toward me.
However, her right foot rapidly flew toward me at high speed but suddenly stopped, like a car hitting a red light.
“Huh?”
“It’s a feint, you dimwit!”
Focusing on her right foot was my mistake.
Taking advantage of my lowered head, Artemis leaned her upper body forward and slammed a headbutt straight into my crown like kicking a soccer ball.
“Ah!”
Clutching my forehead, I rolled around on the ground,
and only then, it seemed her委屈 (frustration) was slightly relieved. She blew a raspberry and crossed her arms.
She pointed to her own stomach with one hand while looking down at me,
“Rachel, it’s not this ‘stomach’!”
“Kuh… Ah- my head. What are you talking about… it’s not that stomach?”
“My younger brother grows fruits in the orchard, and it turns out there are pests eating the apples, that’s why she’s making such a fuss!”
“!!!”
“The pests eating the apples! And I personally sent high-quality insecticide that’s harmless to humans to her younger brother, and yet you dare, digging a hole for yourself criticizing me!”
“Stomach… stomach… stomach…”
Her explosive anger, like a volcanic eruption.
However, now, I can’t see even a trace of her anger.
The pain from the headbutt has already dissipated.
The ‘stomach.’
One of the fun words that preschoolers learn.
There are three basic interpretations of the word ‘stomach’ that are often used.
1. The stomach of eating fruit.
2. The stomach of sailing a ship.
3. The stomach of a person.
Therefore, we can only figure out what the other person’s ‘stomach’ represents through contextual clues.
And Rachel,
generally, when you say “my stomach hurts,” you’re referring to the third interpretation of a person’s stomach, right?
Who says eating fruit’s stomach hurts normally?
You’re the one that made me misunderstand unnecessarily, causing me to ram into Artemis.
We’ll see.
Once she returns, I’ll teach her a lesson for about an hour.
Homophones require clear explanations to avoid misunderstandings on the other person’s side,
And I’ll engrave this truth deeply in Rachel’s bones personally.
Hmm…?
Wait…
Homophones?
The meaning of 독주( độc酒) is definitely poisoned wine.
But does the word 독주(毒酒 ) have other meanings…?
“Homophones… Homophones… Poison wine… Poison wine…”
“What, what? Are you babbling like an idiot… Are you… very hurt?”
Artemis, worried but not wanting to get close, took a few steps back and cautiously observed my condition.
I slowly stood up, zombie-like, approaching her and firmly grasped her shoulder with my hand.
“Wha-!”
“Artemis.”
“What, what is it? If you do anything funny, you’ll regret it.”
“Poison wine! It’s poison wine!!”
I joyfully hugged her and started hopping around.
That’s right.
Argos survived because he consumed the ‘solo performance,’ meaning he drank poison wine and didn’t die.
