Agamemnon looked at the scene and finally said, "Then that's settled.
Moving on to the matter of the first plan. The invitation for the duel has been sent to the Trojan side, and they have agreed.
Witnessed by our great father Zeus and all the gods, the sacred duel will begin tomorrow afternoon!
All heroes must be present!!"
"All of us?!" The heroes responded in surprise.
"That's right! Including Odysseus and Griffith, all of you are going.
The Trojan side agreed to the duel, but they requested a three-match format!
The winner earns the right to the most beautiful woman in all of Greece, Helen!"
When Agamemnon finished, a wave of shock moved through the room.
What started as a one-on-one between Paris and the king of Sparta had turned into a team format?
Wait, wait, wait...
Odysseus spotted a gap in Agamemnon's announcement.
The matter of Achilles's armor was a tragedy that could not be undone.
Better to stop dwelling on it and look ahead.
What caught Odysseus's attention now was something else entirely, something far more appealing to a man.
In Greece,
The things that kept heroes running toward them never changed.
Divine weapons, wealth, glory, and of course, the one element that could never be left out: a beautiful woman.
Odysseus asked, "Not Paris specifically, and not Menelaus, but the winner? King Agamemnon, I think this needs to be made clear."
...
"It is the will of the gods. Our duel received the blessing and acknowledgment of the gods, who agreed to serve as witnesses.
But in order to make the contest more challenging, each side will send three heroes into the ring rather than one.
The hero who wins the most bouts will be declared the victor, and as the spoils of victory, he may do with them as he pleases."
.....
At that point even Agamemnon felt a faint stirring of interest inside and made no specific requirement that the hero who obtained the spoils must return them to the original owner, namely, his own brother, the suffering king of Sparta.
Or rather, no man with a pulse could honestly feel nothing toward Helen.
Back when Helen came of age, how many young and handsome princes and heroes went to vie for her hand and were turned away, nearly coming to blows over it? In the end, it all went to his younger brother instead.
Agamemnon had his own thoughts on the matter.
All spoils won by the heroes on this battlefield should rightfully have a share set aside for him.
He was the king of all these heroes.
It was that way with Briseis, and this time would be no different.
On the other side, Odysseus and the other heroes heard Agamemnon's words, and the look in their eyes became predatory and glinting.
Menelaus, the suffering king of Sparta, suddenly felt like something was very wrong above his own head.
His expression was very unhappy.
The spoils obviously meant Helen, and given the nature of these heroes, would anyone who actually got their hands on her ever give her back?
On the other end of the room,
Night kept his expression completely still while internally cheering.
Magnificent!
The gods said they wanted to increase the challenge, but it was obvious they got curious and wanted more entertainment.
They were actively making sure Greece and Troy would tear each other apart to the very last.
This was not goodhearted arbitration.
They might as well have written shameless troublemakers across their faces in large characters.
What a bunch of rotten gods.
If Night remembered correctly,
Helen herself was actually the daughter of the great god Zeus, a demigod born after Zeus had a fling with the queen of a human kingdom.
For the gods to dare make that kind of promise, they clearly had Zeus's blessing.
Using your own daughter as a prize to be passed around.
Was that something a person with any decency could do?
Absolute animals.
Though thinking about it, this was Zeus, who also arranged for his daughter Persephone to be married off to Hades and then transformed himself into the shape of his brother Hades to have sex with his own daughter afterward.
This supposedly omnipotent, supreme divine king, praised endlessly in mythology, was probably some combination of a cucked psyche and completely out-of-control impulses.
As the one who quietly orchestrated all of this from behind the scenes,
Zeus.
Thinking about how during this war multiple principal gods had already come down to earth disguised as human heroes, it was entirely possible Zeus himself would transform into some hero alias and personally restage his underworld chaos drama.
If told he would do exactly that,
Night would believe it completely.
And then Agamemnon announced that all heroes were required to attend as moral support, which was also a divine request, giving every hero the chance to participate.
Night neither agreed nor disagreed.
He would just adapt the plan to fit the new circumstances.
The original plan of staying in the camp to find Briseis and continue working on Achilles had taken a hit.
But Achilles was already found and even persuaded.
That left only the matter of Briseis.
The herald's earlier presence also gave Night further grounds for speculation about where she was being held.
He had enough time to verify that going forward.
And so,
As all the heroes went back to prepare, and no small number of more indulgent heroes were barely holding themselves back, genuinely considering competing for the chance to get their hands on the most beautiful woman in Greece,
Never mind the ordinary heroes and minor kings.
Even Odysseus and Diomedes at this moment had already forgotten the bitter humiliation from earlier and were preparing with complete seriousness and excitement.
Whatever happened to the rule that wise men don't let themselves fall for beauty?
Watching Odysseus bolt away in a hurry, Night shook his head, then turned to say a word to Ajax before heading out alone, only to find Ajax also wearing that unmistakably restless expression.
Before Night could get a word out, Ajax blurted urgently, "Griffith, I just remembered I have urgent business with Achilles. I'm heading out first!!"
And Ajax was gone too.
Night watched the direction he took, which was the complete opposite of where Achilles was actually secluded.
"....."
So, none of you people are capable of behaving yourselves?
Have none of you ever seen a woman before?
Yeah, she might be the most beautiful woman on the planet, but still...
Fine.
Watching everyone file out, Night noticed Agamemnon's herald Talthybius had just finished saying something in Agamemnon's ear and started heading out as well.
He passed Night and shot him a pointed glare on the way.
Clearly, this guy was still holding a grudge over what happened earlier.
Night showed nothing on his face but added the herald's name to a mental list with great satisfaction.
When the time came to leave, this one would be dealt with too.
If he were genuinely the Greek hero Griffith Lista, he might need to worry about someone this close to Agamemnon making his life difficult.
But he was a mole.
If they were the enemy, you dealt with them and moved on.
He wasn't planning to stay here long anyway.
At this moment, Night had absolutely no way of knowing how many more dramatic scenes would unfold because of his butterfly effect, sending the story further and further off course.
Including the legendary scene of Agamemnon shouting on the battlefield: Griffith, save me!!
Agamemnon: Even bearing the honor of all Greece, even holding Troy single-handedly with one arm,
I, Agamemnon, remain undefeated and unrivaled!
Not even Achilles is half my equal! In the glory days of the undisputed king of kings, lord of all lords, feared by all men, commanding countless heroes!
By the end, abandoned by everyone, looking back in that last moment, he discovered every single one of them was a traitor.
Among all of Greece, only Griffith could be trusted!
Griffith, my savior!!
And even the gods who had been supporting him from behind the scenes...
(End of the Chapter)