Athena checked her adventurer’s outfit once more in the mirror before leaving Poseidon’s palace.
“Hoo~ I can do this.”
Clenching her fist tightly, she stepped through the front gates with a solemn expression.
Waiting outside were her mother Metis and Metel, held in Metis’s arms.
“You must be careful. Your mother is incompetent and is sending you to such a place…”
“Don’t worry. Poseidon Father even lent me Sleipnir.”
“Yes… of course Poseidon would take good care of you. But be cautious, and then be cautious again. The monsters Lord Pontos sealed away will be crawling all over that place.”
“Yes.”
Still nestled in her mother’s embrace, Athena then looked at Poseidon.
Seeing Athena act so maturely, Poseidon handed her several gifts.
“Alright. When you go there, just say you’re my daughter, like now. I’m the one who locked away their archenemy, so it’ll at least be a little better.”
The gifts Poseidon pressed into her hands were: a pouch, a leaf, a lantern, a glass bottle containing a storm, and a long rope.
“This pouch is Hera’s pouch, Kibisis. You’ll store the springwater in it.”
“The leaf is Demeter’s leaf. As long as something is alive, it will heal any near-fatal wound, and if it’s a god, it will even heal wounds of the mind.”
“This lantern is Hestia’s lantern. It will create safety and a path under any circumstance.”
“This is Amphitrite’s glass bottle. The storm inside is violent and wild, so don’t use it unless absolutely necessary.”
“And the rope is Eurynome’s rope. It measures the depth of the sea. It stretches infinitely and never snaps. Even Demeter’s Adamantine Sickle couldn’t cut it.”
Placing each goddess’s treasure inside Hera’s pouch, Poseidon held Athena’s shoulders and gave his final warning.
“I investigated further, and Nereus says this: under any circumstances, only a young god whose divine name is not yet complete may go alone…”
“So remember this. If danger comes, run. The monsters there are not beings young gods can handle. Understand?”
“Yes. I will remember.”
“Good.”
Poseidon then lifted Athena and set her onto Sleipnir’s back, placing one last thing into her hands.
He had given her the Talaria.
The winged sandals Talaria—symbol of Hermes in the myths—had no equal in performance.
“Always wear them. And I’ll say it again: if it seems impossible, run at any time.”
* * *
After receiving all the warnings and concerns, Athena finished her farewells and took one last look at her family.
Before hesitation could creep in, she hugged Poseidon tightly once, then tugged Sleipnir’s reins and sped off.
When Athena finally vanished from sight, Metis—who had been watching until the end—couldn’t hold it in any longer.
“Hff…”
Seeing Metis cry, Poseidon didn’t comfort her—he scolded her.
“Don’t cry. Your daughter is that brave, and you’re her mother. You can’t be crying now.”
“It’s time to do our part.”
At Poseidon’s scolding, Metis sniffled, wiped her tears, and nodded.
“R-right. Zeus may be persuaded by the other goddesses, but Hades will definitely get involved.”
The moment Metis mentioned Hades, an ominous aura appeared above Poseidon’s palace, as if waiting for its cue.
“Seriously, that guy will never act like a decent person.”
“Decent?”
“It’s something like that. Anyway—he’s here.”
With those words, the army of the dead led by Hades reached the skies above Poseidon’s palace.
Most striking among them were the golden race—destroyed in the war between Poseidon and Pontos.
“Indeed, souls filled with resentment are terrifying.”
Poseidon then put a conch shell to his lips and blew.
BWOOOOO!
With the call of the conch, elite soldiers from the war with Pontos rose with the waves.
“Truly, the waves never rest.”
“I always thought Zeus and Hades would be the ones warring. Who knew it would be us.”
“At least it seems Zeus has decided to trust Athena.”
“He is a father before he is a king. And she is his first daughter—and first son.”
Seeing Amphitrite and Eurynome casually chatting in the vanguard, Poseidon shook his head.
“They talk like that, but they’re worse than I am.”
Then he turned to Metis.
“Metis, endure no matter what it takes. From the way Hades is acting, he plans to shake Zeus thoroughly this time. And if needed, I’ll join in.”
Metis steeled herself at Poseidon’s words and nodded.
A trumpet blast soon followed.
BWOOOOOO!!
* * *
Riding Sleipnir and checking the map, Athena soon realized she had entered a strange sea.
It felt like passing through a shimmering barrier—like opening a hidden door—and then she found herself within a fog-filled ocean.
“So this is the strait that god Pontos sealed.”
Athena slowed Sleipnir down, guiding him cautiously.
Clop, clop.
Except for the splashing sea, there was not a single other sound. Sleipnir’s hooves echoed unnaturally loud in the silence.
The oppressive quiet made Athena uneasy, fear creeping up her spine.
“Sleipnir, can’t you soften your hoofsteps?”
At her request, Sleipnir suppressed the sound of his hooves as much as he could.
Clop, clop…
But Athena did not know.
Even those quiet hoofbeats were enough.
One by one, the eyes of the monsters sealed by Pontos were beginning to open…
* * *
Athena had been riding for a long while when she discovered an island floating alone in the middle of a sea where nothing else existed.
“Ah! There it is.”
She urged Sleipnir forward a little faster toward the island—and at that moment,
Hiiiing!!!
Sleipnir raised his front legs and screamed.
“W–why… what’s wrong…?”
Athena gripped the reins tightly so she wouldn’t fall from Sleipnir’s back, barely calming him down before she looked ahead.
Only then did she notice an old man she hadn’t sensed at all until now.
The old man’s face was grotesque—his eyelids bulged as if he wore glasses, only the upper lip was puffed up like a toad, while the thin lower lip and sharp protruding teeth made him look even stranger.
“Ah… ah… ah. Child… did you come… here all alone…?”
The old man adjusted his voice as if unused to speaking, then asked again in a crackling, radio-like tone.
He even smiled as though trying his best to sound friendly, which only made him more grotesque.
Athena felt that this old man was not in the same space as her—he felt like a presence from a completely different dimension.
Because of that, she wanted to ignore him, but her “wisdom” screamed at her not to do so.
“Ah… well, I’m not exactly alone. I only came here for something on this island, so I got separated for a moment.”
Athena spoke as calmly as she could, pretending not to be frightened.
“Ki-hik… I… see? Children… shouldn’t be left… alone. Kihehehehehe.”
Muttering to himself in response to Athena’s answer, the old man suddenly raised his head, narrowed his bulging eyes, flicked out a long tongue, and asked:
“Ah… children can’t… lie. R…right…?”
“Yes. Of course.”
“I… see…”
With those words, twisting his body and shaking his head, the old man walked off somewhere.
As if he suddenly had no interest in Athena.
Athena didn’t move a single step until the old man completely vanished.
Because her “wisdom” was whispering to her.
That the old man was still staring at her—telling her not to be fooled.
Only when he completely disappeared from her senses, and even her turbulent “wisdom” fell quiet—
Athena finally let out a relieved breath.
Hoo….
She still didn’t know what that old man was, but one thing was certain.
He smelled strongly of blood.
And around his neck were tiny fingernails, as small as those of young children.
Which meant exactly one thing.
“I need to get out of here fast….”
* * *
The spring of the goddess Athena needed to find lay in the center of the island.
Because the island wasn’t large, Athena discovered the spring quickly.
But the closer they got to it, the harder Sleipnir struggled—and around the spring itself was a ring of unknown, pitch-black water.
As if the spring were the center of something.
So she had no choice but to fly alone and draw the water.
“Good thing I have the Talaria. Otherwise I might’ve had to swim.”
She carefully drew the water and stored it in Hera’s pouch.
“This place seems safe. The atmosphere is totally different from outside. Don’t you think so too?”
Hiiing.
“Right. Still, let’s hurry and get out. I feel really uneasy.”
Everywhere on the island and sea, except for the spot where the spring stood, was swallowed by thick fog.
With the goddess’s springwater collected, as well as the mysterious black liquid that wasn’t mentioned in Poseidon’s notes, Athena quickly prepared to leave.
Her “wisdom” had been violently thrashing since earlier.
* * *
After Athena left.
The old man she had seen earlier reappeared about 100 meters from the spring.
Looking slightly more human than before, he spun in circles around the place she had stood, muttering nonstop.
“T-this is… strange? Ch…children… can’t lie… but? How… did she come here….”
At first he spoke with the same crackling tone he’d used with Athena, but suddenly his voice shifted into a clean, earthly one.
“Ahh, could she be a lying child?”
“N…no. That child… looked… innocent.”
“But adults can’t come here.”
““Then let’s go find her and ask!””
The old man muttered to himself—then at some point his mouth tore wider, sharp teeth rising higher than before, drool dripping as he charged in the direction Athena had gone.
Kihihihihiiik!
And after even the old man had left—at the center of the island, where no one remained, the black river Athena had flown over using the Talaria rippled for a moment.
As if deeply disappointed by something….
* * *
Meanwhile, unaware of any of this, Athena kept increasing her speed in response to the anxiety pounding from her “wisdom.”
Clop-clop-clop-clop.
The sound of hooves echoed unnaturally loudly over the fog-shrouded sea.
Despite that, Athena clutched the reins and pushed Sleipnir faster rather than trying to quiet the hoofbeats.
Twitch.
Her “wisdom” was giving her the answer.
Athena herself didn’t notice, but beneath the sea something had already begun to move.
The most active among them was something resembling human hair.
Twitch, twitch.
When that thing sensed Athena’s awareness, it shot out of the sea.
Kieeeeeek!
It was a sea monster with a melted, burned-looking human face and black hair writhing in every direction.
If Poseidon had seen it, he would’ve called it a “nureonna.”
And the moment it appeared—
Boom!
Boom!!
Boom!!!
With sounds like the ocean exploding, the fog blew away and the entire sea filled with writhing monsters.
Starting with the nureonna, then shark-shaped creatures riddled with holes, translucent ghost-whales, a giant turtle carrying a mountain on its back, a crab-bodied creature with a cat’s head—
All kinds.
“Hiiik!”
Still just a young girl, Athena shrieked at their grotesque forms and pushed Sleipnir forward.
“Faster… faster, let’s run!!!”
Fortunately, although the monsters had awakened, all except for the nureonna had not yet locked onto Athena.
More accurately, they were too busy keeping each other in check.
Sleipnir, being an intelligent steed, weaved between them, dodging every creature.
The nureonna lashed out with its hair, but Athena evaded with near-acrobatic movements using the Talaria.
After running for a long time, they finally escaped the cluster of monsters and even shook off the nureonna.
* * *
“Hoo… that was scary…. You felt it too, right?”
Hiiing.
As Sleipnir and Athena finally escaped safely and tried to catch their breath—
Suddenly, a massive net dropped over Athena’s body.
Gurgle.
Dragged underwater before she could react, the last thing Athena saw was an old woman.
Her skin sagged so much it looked like she wore clothes several sizes too large.
Her loose skin rippled with the flow of the water.
And compared to her hideous body and face, her hair was more beautiful than any goddess’s—making her ugliness even more grotesque by contrast.
“Hello, hello little one. Why have you come here?”
Khhk, kuhk.
“There, there. No need to answer. I’m not very curious. What matters is this—your skin is truly beautiful!!!”