Chapter 38

Chapter 38 – The Victory Of The Heavenly Demon...

“.....”

“.....”

Hermes froze with a bright smile.

Watching this, I silently shouted, “Nice!”

The infirmary was enveloped in silence, filled with mixed emotions.

“Hmm?”

“What is it?”

When I smiled innocently as if I knew nothing, Hermes tilted his creaking head with effort.

“So, um... Ah! You were asking where Perseus’s treasure vault is? Wow. That friend was indeed a great hero. The sword that beheaded the unfortunate Medusa...”

“Is the person who sent you quite high-ranking?”

This sly messenger god wasn’t even trying to hide it; he was just blatantly diverting the conversation.

Honestly, his reaction alone almost gave me the answer, but I decided to push a bit further.

“It seems it’s not an oath of Styx. If you were in a situation where you shouldn’t speak, you would have twisted this to make people suffer.”

If he played such word games, it could lead to big trouble if the news reached the person later.

Moreover, his eloquence and scamming skills wouldn’t work, or even if they did, the aftermath would be unmanageable, making it impossible to even think of carrying out the plan.

“Well, um, that is...”

“It means that the matter involving me is quite critical between that person and Lord Hermes. Moreover, it has been confirmed that the person who dressed up Atalanta beautifully and gave us the mysterious elixir is the same person who sent you.”

Honestly, the matter related to Atalanta was half a gamble.

Asclepius praised the remaining few drops of the potion, calling it a magical power far beyond the level of modern medicine. Atalanta had given him the potion and brought it with her excessively beautiful, well-suited twilight-colored clothing.

After a series of such events, suddenly, the messenger of the gods ran to the infirmary—not somewhere else?

Wasn’t it too much of a coincidence?

So, with a hint of curiosity, I threw a question mixed with various hints.

As expected, this was also a bingo.

“If the person who dressed up Atalanta, the person who handed her the potion, and the person who sent you were all different, you wouldn’t be this flustered.”

If he himself had intervened or helped Atalanta, his reaction would have been different.

Perhaps he would have smirked and sarcastically said that only one answer was possible.

Wouldn’t he have tried to confound it with another bizarre riddle?

“Aha...”

“Wh-what is it again?”

“That person was watching my duel with Hercules, wasn’t he?”

In other words, their eyes might still be directed here.

That’s why Hermes couldn’t play word games, even to escape the situation.

“So, shall we summarize? You, the messenger of the gods, an eminent member of the twelve Olympian Gods, find it uncomfortable to mention this directly, and, therefore, can’t turn to riddles. If that person watched my duel with Hercules and was satisfied enough to bestow a beautiful woman and a magical elixir...”

Sometimes, it’s the simplest and most convenient to crush everything with overwhelming force.

In reality, after unifying the entire Heavenly Demon Cult under my command and starting the conquest of the Central Plains, no one dared to face me head-on. It was only natural.

But before reaching such a position, how many troublesome people did I have to face and deal with?

Especially before he became my strategist, Gwi Hyun-sa, who tested me by proposing all-night debates, and Godly Ghost, who gave me headaches with his elusive riddles among the Twelve Godly Demons.

And when I conversed with Hermes, I realized he was of the same kind as them.

People who take extreme pleasure in mocking others with riddles and tricks, in short, twisted individuals.

And the best way to deal with such individuals was to refute them using the same methods.

‘Of course, Hermes is almost completely tied up this time.’

Even if it might upset Hermes, the reason I was pushing this hard was to drive the nail in.

“...I need to change the question.”

“What?!”

“Oh...! I really underestimated you!”

Even as Hermes exaggeratedly smacked his forehead as if he had been struck, he didn’t seem genuinely upset.

“Are you not offended?”

“Huh? Me? Why would I be upset?”

At my question, Hermes shrugged his shoulders as if he found it amusing.

“Whether human, hero, or otherwise, those who grovel at the name of a god are far better. It’s much more fun to play with someone who charges in like that. In that sense, you’re really an interesting guy!”

Like a pro gamer who just narrowly lost an exciting game, Hermes was laughing heartily.

“Well, that’s a relief.”

“Yes... Her Majesty the Queen was right indeed. I was worrying for nothing.”

Hermes, nodding as if he had confirmed everything he needed to, looked somewhat refreshed.

“As you said, the queen of the gods, the goddess with beautiful eyes, has been watching over you. If you didn’t know, make sure to thank her later.”

“Of course, is there any offering she likes that might get my head cracked if I give it?”

“An offering that would get your head cracked... That’s a new expression? Interesting!”

Indeed, 21st-century Rift-style vocabulary might be a bit much for a pristine era where the worst insult was a crow taking something away.

Watching Hermes, who was excited like an elementary school kid over swear words, I decided to be a bit cautious.

“Well, let’s see... Lady Hera does not refuse any sincere offerings. However, your poems are currently in vogue on Olympus. Write one as splendid as the one you wrote for Father and offer it along with a fat cow.”

“...Poems?”

Did I ever write a poem?

As I pondered for a moment, Hermes frowned as if it were absurd.

“Why, don’t you remember the poem you offered at Ares’s temple with the wild boar and the one you offered to Father Zeus?”

“Oh! That? Why?”

When I first went to the temple of Ares, the god of war, I had such thoughts.

Though I am like this now, in my previous life, I was the Heavenly Demon of the Heavenly Demon Cult, the high priest of Asura, the god of war and combat.

The world might be different, but when going to greet the military god of this land, just tossing a sacrifice and leaving didn’t seem right.

So, I improvised using the Heavenly Demon poems and idioms I memorized long ago, and offered them with the sacrifice.

Were they trending on Olympus?

I had a feeling that something tremendous was happening somewhere I didn’t know...

“Grrrr...!”

“Oh...?”

As I was savoring a very peculiar feeling.

Hermes, with a playful look, threw another bombshell.

“How about the news that the goddess of the moon, filled with anger, ran to her brother’s temple with tears in her eyes?”

“What?!”

Damn it.

The sacrifice wasn’t the problem now.