"That is the hero Griffith, dear goddess of love!
If you have been watching the mortal world these past few days, his name would already be familiar to you."
Hermes had planned to drag it out a little and use the information as leverage to get something out of the goddess first.
But this Hermes, the very god later celebrated as the deity of lies and deception, of cunning theft, whose mythological record showed an exceptionally sharp mind and quick reactions, completely fell apart the moment Aphrodite smiled at him.
He launched into eager, enthusiastic storytelling, showing off everything he had heard, already embellished and polished by the mortals below.
And so,
A Nibelungenlied trilogy, combined with the epic version of Kratos the old man, was narrated out through Hermes's vivid eloquence.
His voice, enhanced by god-level eloquence, could sway the natural world with ease. It could give life to inanimate things and make them real. It could impart to the unlearned knowledge that a lifetime of diligent study could never fully grasp.
With that level of power behind his words, a story that was already unrecognizable from the original became something even more vivid and dramatic, since Hermes deliberately added flourishes and extra tension to show off, filling in the gaps with sweeping rises and falls.
When Hermes's voice spread farther and farther, gradually, many gods in the heavens all heard this big-mouthed one and could not help but be attracted by the stimulating story described in his mouth; one by one, they could not help but listen in fascination and become obsessed.
The goddess of love, Aphrodite, in particular, had a glazed, dreamy look in her eyes, her imagination painting pictures of this great hero, desire rising past the point of restraint, her gaze going soft and liquid.
Ah, when did the world, unexpectedly, produce another such outstanding hero?
Then she felt a small twinge of disappointment when she pieced together from Hermes's account that the great hero was apparently the grandfather of the young man below.
That would make him quite old by now.
Although the opponent's physique perhaps still remained strong and alluring, compared to sleeping with an old man, Aphrodite still preferred youths much more.
That is to say…
The most delicious food had already passed its expiration date.
However…
The age of the young man down below seemed just right.
Especially when thinking that the other party carried the bloodline blessing of such a majestic hero's descendant, it became even more stimulating.
What started as an offhand glance at the young man's appearance and his noticeably different behavior from the other heroes,
Had now become something more.
The goddess of love and beauty, who had a particular fondness for defiling innocence and leaving her mark on pure things, was naturally drawn the moment she noticed him.
And after Hermes's enthusiastic pitch,
She was even more interested.
Just as Aphrodite was about to ask Hermes for more about the young man himself, a tremendous crack of thunder rolled across the sky.
Hermes, who was in the middle of boasting, suddenly shivered hard.
He gave an awkward laugh and said to the love goddess:.
"Our great heavenly father got angry…!
Bad… I cannot delay here any longer.
That… Aphrodite, let us chat later!
Once I finish reporting the intelligence to the Father God, I will come back. …"
Boom!! Another crash of thunder.
Zeus had clearly run out of patience.
He knew Zeus had already grown impatient.
Hermes did not dare hesitate any further; he did not even finish his words. The next moment, the whole person disappeared from the spot. Only a few seconds later did he leave behind a gradually fading afterimage. That was the symbol left by speed too fast.
However, Aphrodite, on the other side, had already completely lost interest in Hermes.
She was not someone who waited.
Having developed a strong and growing curiosity, Aphrodite had thoughts of descending to the mortal world herself.
Hearing it from someone else was all well and good, but experiencing it firsthand was always the better choice, wasn't it?
Her interest in Night was climbing at a startling rate.
Climbing fast enough that even the goddess herself didn't notice that from the very first look at Night, she had felt an unusual and immediate sense of familiarity and warmth.
As though something in him carried a connection to her, something that felt like it had always been there.
(The blessing of Rome's land.)
And because of the attraction from this aura, the goddess of love even failed to notice that Night still carried the protection of the sun god Apollo and the moon goddess Artemis on his body.
The goddess hadn't been watching the mortal world these past few days and hadn't picked up Night's other information.
She did not know that Night was still the favored one of her arch-rival, the moon goddess.
In their approaches to love, the two of them stood at complete opposite ends of the spectrum.
.
.
.
And on the other side, Night, who did not know in the slightest that he had already been targeted by a fickle loose bus goddess, and even because of Hermes's big mouth, had attracted even more gods' attention and noticed his existence.
Of course… even if he knew, he would not develop the slightest interest in Aphrodite.
Even for someone as difficult to reach as Artemis or Athena, the chaste goddesses, Night wouldn't deliberately spend time pursuing those hard-to-crack figures, but as a man, claiming he felt nothing toward so many outstanding, beautiful, and entirely different goddesses would be an outright lie.
But Aphrodite, the so-called most beautiful goddess in all of Greece, could strip naked and lie down right in front of him, and he still wouldn't be interested.
Unlike those heroes who made no distinction and played the field freely, he absolutely could not tolerate being with someone whose personal life lacked any restraint, someone who passed between anyone and everyone like an open door, unless...
(Unless we ww her)
At this moment, Night used the power of music to blend his voice and presence completely into the surrounding air.
By disrupting the flow of air and affecting the peripheral awareness of those around him, he became invisible without a trace.
As a result, aside from the gods above, even though he walked through the camp as openly as if taking a leisurely stroll, following directly behind the herald,
Not a single person noticed him.
Just like this, following Talthybius all the way, he moved deep into the interior of Agamemnon's camp until finally, in a particularly secluded and hidden corner, he spotted a standalone structure.
Different from the tents outside, this building was distinctly out of place, as though it had been specifically constructed to hold someone prisoner.
Seeing this, Night's eyes lit up.
At this time the herald Talthybius still had no idea at all about his action of leading the wolf into the house.
Inside this place, Night spotted Agamemnon's other herald, Eurybates.
When Talthybius brought a meal to Eurybates, the man, who had clearly been hungry for some time, started eating immediately and in large bites, exchanged a few parting words with Talthybius, and then left the area.
Night didn't pay attention to where Eurybates went. Most likely he headed to Agamemnon's side to switch shifts.
At this time his gaze rested more on that special building.
Inside he was already ninety percent certain the person being held there was Briseis.
The remaining ten percent of uncertainty was simply because no theory should ever be stated with complete confidence.
One never knew what ridiculous possibility might appear.
And if he wanted to know the answer, he might as well go and uncover it personally…!
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