King Of Underworld [EN]: Chapter 9

The King of the Underworld is Tired 9 (9/82)

The Story of Life – (4)

Having finished his story, Zeus vanished in a flash of lightning.

Only then did I call in the gods who had been waiting outside my office.

[Zeus is gone now, so everyone may enter.]

Zeus and I both knew that many were curious about our conversation, but we paid it no mind.

Because we were using divine power to block the sound from escaping.

“Lord Hades, will there perhaps be even more work after the Great Flood ends…?”

“Did Zeus perhaps order something more…?”

I calmly explained to them, who looked tense.

That Zeus had sworn on the River Styx [the river forming the boundary between Earth and the Underworld] that he would never again wipe out the surface world without consulting the Underworld.

And that during the Great Flood, the goddess of wisdom, Athena, and her attendants would be dispatched to help the Underworld.

“Whew… a stroke of luck in the midst of misfortune.”

“I was already worried about the workload, but if it’s the goddess Athena…”

The Underworld became cheerful once more.

Sighs of relief burst out from here and there, and the gods dispersed with slightly brighter faces.

Three days until the Great Flood.

* * *

The day of the Great Flood arrived.

The King of the Gods, Zeus, summoned Boreas, the god of the north wind with enormous wings, in a solemn voice.

“Boreas, from now on, do not stir up the wind, and remain in Aeolus’s cave for nine days. I will hear no objections.”

“…As you command.”

Boreas entered the cave of Aeolus, the wind god who kept the winds confined, and ceased his duties.

Thus, the rain clouds that would fill the sky would never dissipate.

Next, Notus, the god of the south wind, stood before Zeus.

He was the god who symbolized the summer south wind and rain, so he was always drenched.

“Notus! Pour down rain to your heart’s content until I tell you to stop. Even if the lower realm is completely submerged, so be it.”

Notus, with water dripping from his soaked body and wings, received Zeus’s command and touched the clouds in the sky.

Soon, with a fierce roar of thunder, torrential rain began to fall on the earth.

Swishhhhhh-

Iris, the goddess of the rainbow, who had received Hera’s orders in advance, drew water from the Milky Way and added moisture to the clouds.

The day the rain clouds dried up would be when Hera’s command was withdrawn.

“Hermes! Tell Poseidon that the time has come. Athena! Descend to the Underworld with the attendants you have selected in advance and help Hades.”

Hermes, the messenger god, carrying the caduceus [a staff entwined with two snakes, often associated with healing and commerce], and dressed as a light traveler, quickly flew to the sea.

He was Zeus’s son, and also the god of thieves and travelers.

“For the next nine days, if there is any god who helps the lives of those on the surface out of personal feelings, they had better be prepared!”

Flash, rumble!!

Finally, Zeus’s shout, imbued with his power, echoed through the Olympian palace along with the thunder.

Having heard the shout, the various gods were afraid and dared not act rashly.

The King of the Gods had decided to punish the humans, so who would dare to stop him?

* * *

Poseidon, having received a visit from Zeus’s messenger, Hermes, stirred up a massive wave that overturned the land.

The human villages that had sprung up along the coast were instantly submerged to the bottom of the sea.

Next, he summoned all the river gods.

The command that the great sea god gave to the river gods was simple.

“Open all the floodgates and let the water flow as it pleases.”

Among them were river gods who cherished humans, but they could not defy Poseidon’s command and opened the floodgates.

The lives near the rivers were instantly sucked into the deep water.

There, when Poseidon’s trident struck the earth, all the waterways were opened wide by that tremendous power.

A terrifying flood covered the entire world.

In the face of the sudden disaster, it became difficult to even find the shapes of human villages, temples, orchards, and fields.

The humans desperately climbed to the mountaintops in order to survive the wrath of the gods.

“Zeus, Lord Zeus! Why are you doing this!”

“I don’t want to go meet Hades yet! What did I do wrong!”

“How much have I offered to Poseidon until now…”

“Ugh. Pooh, I’m not…”

The humans who escaped the danger of drowning were momentarily relieved, but soon had to scream at the world that had turned into an ocean.

Weak humans die if they miss meals and do not consume water for only a few days.

The only ones smiling in the Great Flood were the sea nymphs, the Nereids.

No human survived the Great Flood that lasted for nine days.

* * *

When there was no land left in the world, the Underworld was busier than ever before.

An uncountable number of souls poured into Hades’s fortress, passing through the five rivers that were the boundary between the Underworld and the living world.

“Lord Hades! The area where the souls are gathered can no longer…”

“Let’s see… next to Elysium [the final resting place of heroic and virtuous souls], I’ll take action right away, so receive them elsewhere for now.”

“The ferryman Charon’s boat has sunk, and souls have fallen into the Acheron River!”

“Send a messenger to the goddess Lethe to salvage the souls and have her help…”

I, Hades, in my office, felt like I needed three bodies just to keep up.

With one hand, I was reviewing reports from all over the Underworld written on parchment.

The other hand was busy exercising authority throughout the Underworld, judging, assigning, and processing souls.

My eyes were busy looking over the entire Underworld,

My mouth was drying up as I answered the messengers’ reports, when the news I had been waiting for arrived.

“The goddess Athena has arrived with the attendants of Olympus…”

“Send the attendants to the goddess Styx outside, and tell Athena to come here immediately, quickly!”

Soon, Athena, wearing full body armor and holding a spear, opened the door to the office and paid her respects.

“Greetings, Hades, uncle, master of the Underworld…”

“If you’ve come, quickly sit down and start working.”

I glanced at Athena and turned my gaze back to the mountain of parchment scrolls.

Of course, it was only natural to move half of the work piled up to the ceiling to Athena.

“This… what is this…?”

“You don’t need the divine status of war to do the work, so take off that armor quickly.”

Athena, as the goddess of war, wisdom, and civilization, seemed to realize the future that would befall her.

With a hollow smile, she fumbled to take off her armor and sat in front of me.

From outside the office, the shouts of all kinds of gods, the busy movements of souls, and the murmuring sounds could be heard.

Fortunately, since the goddess of wisdom had joined the war against documents, we would surely win.

After being buried in a pile of parchment for a long time, Athena, whose face could not be seen, carefully opened her mouth.

“Uncle, if you lend me your name, there is a way to overcome this crisis.”

“If it’s something the goddess of wisdom says, I won’t lose out, go ahead.”

After Athena’s suspicious remarks, I saw her doing something, but I ignored it because there was a lot of work to do.

And after enough time had passed for Charon’s boat to be destroyed four or five more times…

“Lord Hades! The god of war, Ares, has come to the Acheron River!”

Athena, who met my eyes, gave me a knowing smile from between the piles of parchment.

Soon after, a handsome, muscular male god with a cheerful smile entered the office.

He was Ares, the god of war, the son of Zeus and Hera.

“Uncle Hades! Where is the war I must take part in…?”

“Good, if you’re a military god, you’ll be good at commanding, right? From now on, you will lead the souls crossing the Styx River and ensure they get here safely.”

“Yes…? What do you mean? Surely Athena over there…”

Listening to Ares’s words with a bewildered expression was truly a sight to behold.

Athena had sent him a letter while he was lazing around, saying [If you come to the Underworld now, you can participate in a war of enormous scale], so he had rushed over.

She had even guaranteed that her words were true in my name.

So, even though he was suspicious, he had believed it and come…

It was a situation where one god was sorely needed, but I had no reason to consider his circumstances.

“…Athena! You tricked me again, again!”

“I only said that you could participate in the war against work that is happening in the Underworld, is there any problem?”

Ares, who was screaming, was suddenly grabbed by the hand of a low-ranking god who appeared behind him and disappeared.

To be exact, it was because I was glaring at him with both eyes wide open that he couldn’t resist.

* * *

Finally, the long nine days of the Great Flood came to an end.

The gods belonging to the Underworld could finally rest a little, and just as everyone was about to drink nectar, a call came again from Olympus.

“Deucalion, the son of Prometheus, has survived the Great Flood and seeks to revive humanity, so Hades is asked to reincarnate the souls…”

Prometheus, who has the ability of prophecy, told his son about the Great Flood.

So he was able to build an ark and save his life.

But… souls right now, to make humans again right away?

As I briefly focused my eyes and ears on the surface, I could hear Deucalion and his wife, Pyrrha, chattering.

“Hmm… dear, Zeus’s oracle… says that if we want to revive humanity, we must throw the bones of the great mother over our shoulders.”

“Gods! We cannot commit the sin of patricide! Please withdraw the oracle…”

“Wait a moment. Could it be that the mother means the earth and the bones mean the rocks?”

“Ah…! That could be it!”

Seeing them start picking up stones from the floor, I immediately shouted to the gods.

Quickly select the souls to be reincarnated and send them up to the surface.

“Damn it! Isn’t the work over yet!”

“Hypnos! What are you doing putting the goddess Lethe to sleep when she’s collapsed!”

“I didn’t put her to sleep, she just collapsed because she was tired!”

“Select the souls quickly!”

The Underworld, which had been peaceful again, instantly became a scene of chaos.

Meanwhile, on the surface, Deucalion and his wife threw stones to create human forms.

“Huh…? When we throw stones, they become human-like, but why don’t they move?”

“Hmm, let’s wait a little. The gods must be busy too.”

“Souls, move quickly, it’s time to be reincarnated!”

“Did you properly classify those who have committed sins?”

“We are sending them to the living world sequentially!”

The souls that came out of the underworld permeated the human forms according to the guidance of the gods.

Only then did Deucalion and Pyrrha feel relieved and begin to throw stones to their heart’s content.

Thud. Thud. Thud. Thududuk. Thududuk.

Stones fell on the earth without rest and successfully became humans, but…

The gods of the underworld were rather bursting with frustration.

“Damn it! Throw them a little slower!”

“Why are those guys so eager to throw stones?!”

The Underworld is busy today too.