King Of Underworld [EN]: Chapter 27

The King of the Underworld is Tired – Episode 27 (27/82)

The Story of Phaeton – (1)

This is the Underworld, the place mortals fear most, where unavoidable death awaits.

It is also where Hades, one of the great Three Main Gods who rule a part of the world, resides.

“Hmm…?”

Because of that, all sorts of things happen here.

Unimaginable and bizarre events occur, but…

Whoosh!

“What is this…!”

No one would have ever thought the Underworld would be illuminated so brightly.

“Hades! Hades! Light has entered the entire Underworld!”

“I see it too!”

The goddess Lethe rushes into my chambers in a flurry.

I quickly dressed and went outside to assess the situation in the Underworld.

“What… what is going on?”

“Has the god Apollo descended into the Underworld…?”

“What nonsense! That couldn’t happen unless Zeus’s lightning struck the Underworld!”

“That can’t be! Where is Lord Hades?”

The souls were as bewildered as vampires in the sunlight, something only seen in 21st-century creations from Hades’s past life.

Of course… the usual Underworld is so deep that no light ever reaches it.

There are Hestia’s hearths [sacred fire pits dedicated to the goddess of the home] in various places, and faint lights can be seen, but that is very little.

Most of the Underworld is dark, pitch black, and cold.

“This is definitely the god Apollo’s wrath!”

“Maybe Zeus is fighting with Lord Hades!”

The entire Underworld was instantly thrown into chaos.

The souls were running around, and the administrators were trying to calm the situation while searching for the gods.

But were the gods calm?

“What in the world is going on!”

“Hades! Have you perhaps argued with the god Zeus?”

That was not the case either.

Starting with Hypnos, the god of sleep, rushing into my office…

No, Lady Styx. I haven’t.

“Only Zeus could do something like this…?!”

Well, we need to quickly resolve this situation.

“Morpheus, go down to Tartarus [the deepest abyss of the Underworld] immediately and check if the Titans are properly confined!”

“Yes, yes!”

Next, I ordered the administrators of the Underworld to calm the chaos among the people as much as possible.

Also, since no other abnormalities are felt except for the light, I dispatched a lower god to the Overworld to see if there was anything wrong…

“Kuh-heuk! Lord Hades!”

…? I just sent him to check the Overworld, why is he already back?

“H… Hades! The sun… the sun is close!”

What are you talking about.

* * *

The lower god who went to check the Overworld was scorched in various places and was leaking ichor [the ethereal fluid that is the blood of the gods].

The sun is close, what on earth are you saying.

“Helios is driving the sun chariot close to the ground! The Overworld is already hell (Tartarus)!”

“That can’t be… is it the work of Apollo, another sun god?”

Helios.

The son of the Titan gods Hyperion and Theia, he possesses the divinity of the sun.

He was able to maintain his position as a sun god jointly with Apollo because he drove the sun chariot that even Zeus could not handle.

Of course, during the Titanomachy [the war between the Titans and the Olympian gods], his sister, the moon goddess Selene, and the goddess of dawn, Eos, sided with us, but,

Anyway, that Helios has never stopped driving the sun chariot.

“But this is definitely not the power of the god Apollo! The horses of the sun chariot were rampaging!”

Always rampaging divine horses with their whole bodies on fire?

I believed in Helios’s ability to perfectly drive the sun chariot until now.

Helios, who was driving the sun chariot, was caught in Aphrodite’s enchantment…

Or was attacked by the Gigas [giants born of Gaia (Earth) and Uranus (Sky)]… or what else could it be?

Fortunately, before long, the dark clouds hanging over the Underworld… no, the light began to recede.

As it returned to the usual dark Underworld, the souls and gods breathed a sigh of relief.

“The light is receding again. What on earth is going on.”

“How about sending an envoy to Olympus to find out?”

“The situation has calmed down, but…”

“No need, I brought the culprit.”

The gods, who were sharing their opinions, turned their heads towards the deep, resonant voice that echoed in the hall.

There stood Thanatos, the black-winged god with a murderous expression, carrying a soul that looked like it had just died.

* * *

That soul is the culprit who just brightened the Underworld?

As everyone’s attention focused, Thanatos frowned and continued speaking.

“…A soul who was struck by Zeus’s lightning and fell from the sun chariot to his death.”

“First… Mnemosyne, I ask for water from the spring of memory.”

A male soul who looks to be only in his late teens or early twenties at best.

With flamboyant blonde hair… somehow, he resembles the god Helios; could it be?

“Huh! Wh… where is this? I was clearly…”

“Yes, kid. This is the Underworld. Did you drive the sun chariot instead of Helios?”

“Th… the Underworld! Then, as expected…!”

“Immediately confess in detail how you came to be here. Everything, including the reason you fell from the sun chariot to your death.”

The soul, who had been unable to come to his senses for a while, opened his mouth at Thanatos’s roar.

“I… I am Phaeton, the son of Helios…”

I listened to the story that the soul was telling.

Phaeton, who grew up without a father, only with his mother.

When Phaeton became an adult, his mother told him that his father was the sun god Helios.

So Phaeton left home and, after many travels, found his father,

And his father, the god Helios, in his joy at meeting his son… swore on the River Styx [a river in the Underworld by which the gods swear binding oaths] that he would grant him any wish…

“The River Styx… eugh…”

As soon as he said that, the goddess Styx next to me groaned as if she had guessed something. Most of the gods also seemed to realize the cause of this situation.

To hear the story to the end, I gestured to Phaeton.

“Yes… I made a foolish choice there… I asked my father, who had sworn on the River Styx, to let me drive the sun chariot.”

“What?! You crazy human…”

“Ha! That’s a chariot that even Apollo or Lord Zeus can’t drive! And you, of all people…”

“Did you even listen to Dionysus’s whispers [Dionysus is the god of wine, theatre, and religious ecstasy]?”

The horses of the sun chariot can only be controlled by Helios.

There was no way that Phaeton, who was either of great divine lineage or raised as a human, could handle it.

It was obvious what would happen if the sun’s position became too close to the ground.

The Overworld must now be full of burned corpses and withered trees.

If Zeus hadn’t thrown lightning to destroy the sun chariot, all the lives in the Overworld might have died…

“…That’s how the horses went wild and the ground was completely… eventually, I was struck by lightning from the sky and came here.”

Phaeton, who seemed speechless, sobbed softly.

He finally met his father, but lost his life because of a ridiculous request; it’s truly unfortunate.

“Hoo… I will postpone your judgment for a while. Wait over there for now.”

But regardless of that…

The sin of plunging countless lives into suffering must be severely punished.

For now, souls who died in the Overworld are constantly pouring in, so I sent Phaeton to the side.

His fate will be decided shortly.

* * *

After a while, in heavy silence, Phaeton knelt with his head bowed, awaiting judgment.

Before him was Hades, the god of the Underworld, sitting at a large desk.

A low voice flowed from the gloomy-looking god and pierced Phaeton’s ears.

“…I will deliver the verdict.”

As the other gods watched in unison, silent, as the judgment of the sinner who had greatly affected the Overworld was delivered,

Only Hades discussed his sins.

“The damage you have caused to the Overworld with your childish actions is truly enormous. The rivers dried up from the heat of the sun chariot you could not control, and countless towns and castles burned, and countless lives were lost.”

The son of Helios, with his head bowed, could only shed tears.

He made no plea.

“Ignorance is not a sin. But the responsibility for that ignorance must be borne.”

Phaeton was prepared for a great punishment.

He himself had seen the scenes of the lives on the ground dying from above the rampaging sun chariot.

“Aaaah! Apollo! Save me!”

“Too hot… my skin… is burning…”

“Water… water…”

“Zeus… why…”

He had seen hundreds, thousands of people begging for their lives and being cooked alive.

That’s not even counting other plants, animals, nymphs, and various life forms.

Although he had not even imagined that such a result would occur when he drove the sun chariot,