Chapter 60
Pellene led Promeon deeper, and deeper still, into the inner parts of the palace. Promeon had earnestly begged to see where Pellene lived, and so she opened the way especially for him.
Of course, it was a secret from the other gods. If they were to learn that she had allowed a mere mortal human into their palace, not only Promeon but Pellene herself would not escape punishment.
Promeon knew this and still pleaded, and Pellene, who did not want to disappoint her precious friend, took the risk and invited him into her home.
“This is the detached palace where I live. To reach the main palace, you’d have to go even deeper inside. But I don’t want to go there. I’m not on good terms with the gods who live there.”
To be precise, they persecute me one-sidedly. Pellene swallowed the rest of her words to preserve her pride.
No matter how dear a friend Promeon was, she did not want to expose all her shame before a mere human.
“I see. You don’t need to force yourself to go. Thank you for guiding me this far, Pellene.”
Promeon spoke gently. Standing on the open terrace overlooking the garden of the detached palace, he slowly looked around and asked innocently.
“The flowers are so beautiful. You brew liquor from the nectar of those flowers, right?”
“Yes, that’s right. The fragrance is wonderful, isn’t it? That scent comes out when the nectar is fully ripe. It means harvest time isn’t far off.”
“I see. What about that tapestry? The one hanging on the wall—what does it mean?”
“Ah, that’s an offering. A very skilled human presented it to me before. It depicts the scene of the twelve chief gods defeating the children of the earth in the past, woven into cloth. Isn’t it impressive?”
“Yeah, it’s impressive. Then what about that vase? Was that also an offering?”
“No, this one is a gift. I received it from my mother last year.”
When Promeon pointed with innocent eyes to the pottery on the opposite wall, Pellene followed his gesture with her gaze.
As she stood with her back to him, cheerfully explaining, Promeon slipped his hand into his pocket.
Quietly, he took out a small sphere and placed it in his mouth, waiting. He subtly rolled his tongue and hid the sphere behind his teeth, then opened his mouth.
“Pellene.”
“Hmm?”
Pellene, who had noticed nothing at all, turned around with gentle eyes. Promeon did not waver before that affectionate gaze. Without hesitation, he lunged.
“Ugh…!”
When the strongest hero among humans grabbed her jaw and forcibly pried her lips open, the lesser goddess was helpless in that instant.
Promeon held Pellene and pressed his mouth to hers. It was not the tender, affectionate action of lovers, but a literal act of overlapping mouths, forcing something inside.
He shoved the poison pellet he had been holding in his mouth into hers, and Pellene swallowed it without realizing. Soon, horrific pain surged through her and her vision blurred. Gasping, Pellene collapsed.
“You… why… Promeon… what…?”
“I’m sorry, Pellene. I’m truly sorry.”
Promeon cradled her crumbling body in his arms and whispered desperately. His eyes were full of anguish. Seeing the expression of genuine suffering on her friend’s face, Pellene felt even more at a loss.
“But you’re a god. You won’t die from something like this, right? Even if it’s a deadly poison to humans, to you it’s just a sleeping drug. You’ll only lose consciousness for a while.”
“What are you saying… how would you know that… it hurts, it hurts…!”
Pellene let out a thin scream. Promeon’s face twisted into a bitter smile.
“The fact that you still have the leeway to say it hurts is proof that you’ll be fine. The poison you just swallowed—if a human had taken it, they’d have died instantly.”
Bastard, as long as I don’t die, everything’s fine?! Pellene wanted to scream, but she no longer had the strength. Her eyes slowly closed, and the goddess fell into a deathlike sleep.
That was the last time Promeon and Pellene met. The friendship between human and god ended in betrayal.
But that was only the end of their first bond, not the end of the long, stubbornly lingering ill fate that followed.
A long time later, Pellene regained consciousness. At least, Promeon had not been entirely wrong.
Because she was a god and not a human, she did not die even after swallowing what would be an extreme poison by human standards, and she eventually awoke in perfect physical condition.
But that “perfection” was limited only to her body. Her heart and mind were in ruins. Confused emotions and filthy thoughts tangled together, distorting everything.
Not long after Pellene awoke, other gods came to arrest her. Without understanding why, she was brought before a court, and there she heard words like a bolt from the blue.
“W-what did you say? Just now, what is that supposed to mean…!”
“Don’t pretend you don’t know. No matter how much you try to protect him, it’s useless.”
“No, that’s not true! I don’t know anything about this! He would never do something like that!”
“The evidence is sufficient. No matter how much you deny it, the fact that he is a thief does not change.”
Promeon, the strong and brave hero of humankind. He had brazenly infiltrated the palace of the gods and stolen numerous divine objects that had previously only been occasionally given to humans as gifts.
The vast piles of precious herbs stored in the main palace’s warehouse, the palace blueprints and weapon designs kept in the archive, and above all, the eternally burning flame of the central altar, which the gods cherished most.
While Pellene slept, Promeon first plundered the flowers from her garden. By swallowing their nectar, he temporarily gained power equal to that of a god.
From then on, his theft proceeded without a hitch. He went straight to the main palace, looted the warehouse and archive, and then went to the altar.
Using the weapons he had stolen from the warehouse, he defeated the lesser gods guarding the altar, sliced off a fragment of the flame and held it in his mouth, gathered the remaining treasures, and fled.
He had already been the strongest among humans; after consuming the nectar of the flowers from which the gods brewed their liquor, there was no being who could rival him.
That day, the gods were not only physically robbed, but their pride was grievously wounded. And they needed someone to vent their anger on.
“I didn’t know! I really didn’t know he would do that!”
And so they chose Pellene. The weakest among them, the most suitable and easiest target to make a scapegoat.
“I’m being wronged! I’m a victim too! He poisoned me! He forced me to sleep and did all of that while I knew nothing! I didn’t help him!”
“Enough with the excuses. In the end, didn’t you help him? You were always soft toward humans, and in the end you even invited one of them into the palace. Can you deny that you opened the way for him?”
“I didn’t know, truly…!”
“Silence. Saying you didn’t know is nothing but an excuse. Whether you did it knowingly or unknowingly, the fact remains that because of your actions, we all suffered harm.”
“Don’t make me laugh. What did I do so wrong…? If you’re going to talk like that, what about Promeon? He’s the root cause, isn’t he? I was just used by him, so why am I the only one being punished?”
“He will pay for his crimes separately. Do not misunderstand and think we are persecuting you for personal reasons. This is a fair trial, and those who sinned are merely receiving appropriate punishment. You, and that human both.”
“Ah, haha, fair, you say…? Personal reasons, you say? Really?”
They had looked down on her her entire life, trampled on her for thousands of years.
They had never treated her as an equal, simply because she was born a lesser god—yet now they spoke of law and fairness.
Pellene laughed like a madwoman. With laughter more desperate than tears, she burst out laughing before the chief gods who looked down on her like an insect. Seeing their gazes grow colder, she laughed even harder.
“They were right about you. You’re all unbelievably unlucky. That’s why you got robbed in the first place.”
At last ceasing her laughter, Pellene sneered coldly and fixed her gaze on her biological father, seated in the highest, most dazzling position there.
“You won’t last long on this land. That’s why you’re so anxious, isn’t it? If you’re this furious over Promeon stealing a few weapons, that’s really serious. It means humanity’s power has grown so much that just a single act of theft is enough to threaten a reversal of the situation, isn’t it?”
“Be quiet! You’re a criminal, yet you talk too much.”
“Right, I’m a criminal. I became one because I was foolish. I trusted a friend, got used. But if you look at it that way, you’re all the same. You’re all fools. The era when humans called our names in prayer and obediently offered sacrifices is over.”
The cracks had begun long ago. Promeon and Hermane merely drove the final wedge as leaders of change.
A race that was not truly absolute transcendents, merely called gods because they were somewhat superior, had already reached the twilight of its prime. Soon, a new group would rule this land.
“Humans will soon seek a new religion. I don’t know whether they’ll choose other beings as gods, or make gods of themselves. Either way, they no longer need you.”
Pellene spewed words that were neither clearly curse nor prophecy. In truth, she herself did not know.
But she desperately hoped that her final words would remain as a curse and come to pass.
With her last scream, she lost her life. Even a god, whose flesh could not be torn by ordinary weapons and whose bones would not break no matter how hard one tried, could not withstand the severe lightning of the supreme god.
The supreme god who wielded lightning and thunder pierced his daughter’s body with a sharp, massive bolt. There was no mercy in his eyes. Pellene was crushed like a clay doll.
Thus ended the ancient goddess Pellene. She was, rather, glad. If annihilation was her punishment, she could accept it willingly.
‘I’m tired. I’ve lived too long. We live far too long. Enviable humans—you barely manage a few decades….’
That is why you desire long life and immortality, while gods like me instead yearn for rest.
We are truly a foolish race, each desperately coveting what we ourselves lack.
The sensation of her entire body being shattered by her father’s lightning was horrific, but the sense of liberation was greater than the physical pain. Pellene closed her eyes with joy.
But that joy was only a fleeting dream.
