Fate: I Just Want to Die and Sit on the Throne of Heroes-Chapter 89: Favored by the Gods, Thrice Great Hermes

Chapter 89: Favored by the Gods, Thrice Great Hermes
Rowe finally left.
Carrying the new blessing from the Goddess Athena, he stepped onto the next stretch of his wandering road.
As the pale light of dawn faded and the moonlight slowly withdrew from the sky, Athena sat alone within her temple in Athens, gazing in the direction where Rowe had vanished.
“A… Athena sama… is he back?”
From beyond the thin veil, a purple haired head cautiously peeked in.
“Medusa, come here.”
Athena beckoned gently.
“Yes, yes.”
Medusa still seemed timid, but she summoned her courage and slipped inside. As she stepped into the hall, her eyes swept the empty space almost on reflex. When she found no trace of the young man in linen, a flicker of inexplicable disappointment crossed her face.
“You like him very much?” Athena asked.
“Yes, Athena sama.”
The Earth Mother Goddess, who still looked like a young girl, answered in a soft, careful voice.
“He bears goodwill toward us. It feels just like that adult once did…”
“It seems you remember that very clearly. Do you blame me for it?”
The Goddess of Wisdom reached out and stroked Medusa’s smooth, cascading hair.
“No, I do not blame you…”
“You do not blame me, or you do not dare to?”
Under the shimmering light in Athena’s ruby eyes, Medusa fell silent.
Athena had not told Rowe the full story.
The truth was that she really had banished the Medusa Sisters, forcing them to wander until they reached Gorgon.
Later, when Perseus hunted them, Enkidu happened to arrive and encountered the three sisters.
Enkidu rescued them and brought them back before Athena, persuading the goddess to revoke her original decision.
In this era, lesser deities without a patron god could hardly endure on their own. They would gradually degenerate into monsters, products of an age that no longer recognized them, then be hunted down and destroyed.
Medusa, in particular, was at great risk. Though she was an Earth Mother Goddess, her divine core was incomplete. Without the nurturing divinity of a major god, she would “grow up” too quickly.
Yes.
The legend of the Gorgon Sisters already existed.
It had simply been buried beneath Athena’s hand.
So why had she not told Rowe the entire truth?
Perhaps, just as he had said, it was because she did not wish him to see that stain upon her name.
As Athena gently combed Medusa’s long hair, her thoughts drifted.
After all, this was the first time she had met someone whose wisdom could make even the Goddess of Wisdom herself feel a sliver of defeat.
And a hint of reverence.
“Fortunately, from now on, I will be able to sense his presence at all times.”
Thinking so, Athena could not suppress the joy that rose within her. A faint flush of excitement colored her delicate face.
The blessing she had given Rowe did indeed conceal a hidden function.
She would be able to sense his existence at all times, feel his wisdom wherever he walked in the world.
Wait.
Why can I not feel it?
Athena’s hand, which had been gliding through Medusa’s hair, suddenly froze.
Had he turned the blessing off?
And…
“Artemis, why are you peeking as well?”
She suddenly lifted her head and stared at the pale, retreating curve of the moon that still hung faintly in the predawn sky.
In the Moon Palace, Artemis wore a bewildered expression, as if she had just been shaken awake.
You… who exactly are you to notice me from there?
…
The sea spread out in all directions. Vast waves rose and fell, smashing against dark reefs and throwing up crowns of white spray.
Sunlight danced on the rippling surface.
A small boat slid forward atop those waves.
Though the sea breeze howled past on both sides, its course did not sway in the slightest.
Rowe sat within the boat. Above him, white clouds clustered and drifted like a parasol, shielding him from the worst of the glaring sun. He looked down at the “seafood” that had flung itself aboard, then at the birds that had dropped onto the deck from the sky.
His expression was entirely blank. There was a faint trace of exasperation.
“Enough. That is enough. Stop sending things. A boat this small cannot carry all of it.”
He truly wanted to say that to the gods who were currently “fawning” over him.
After watching Rowe help Ares awaken to righteous war and rise to a higher rank, the other gods had all begun to entertain their own ideas.
They wished to earn Rowe’s favor in hopes of gaining some benefit.
In an age when the Age of Gods itself was beginning to wane, there was no god who did not want to rise another step and grasp a little more possibility.
Hence the scene before his eyes.
Sea gods escorted his passage.
Sky gods shielded him from the harsh sunlight.
The gods of the sea kept the waters calm beneath his boat.
The gods of the winds pushed him steadily toward his destination.
Even the boat itself had been prepared for him by the forest gods, carved from trees on the shore.
To be favored by all the gods without doing a single thing, and in such a ridiculous way…
“Hahaha, you look rather troubled, Esteemed Sage.”
A teasing voice echoed beside his ear.
Rowe did not need to look to know who it was.
“Hermes, are you truly that idle?”
He narrowed his eyes at the newcomer.
“Not at all. As the messenger of the gods, it is my solemn duty to investigate suspicious individuals. I am only doing my job.”
The messenger of the gods, dressed like a wandering bard, sat himself down on the other side of the boat.
“By ‘suspicious,’ you mean the gods showering me with gifts like madmen?”
Rowe pointed at the heap of offerings piling up at his feet.
“Who told you to accomplish something so impressive?” Hermes replied cheerfully. “Helping a chief god to advance is not something just anyone can do. How about you help me advance as well, and in return I will drive off these gods for you?”
If he could promote a main god, then surely making Hermes a main god would be even easier, right?
In short, Hermes’s goal was no different from that of the others.
“Keep dreaming.”
Rowe raised his middle finger at the messenger of the gods.
Leaving aside whether he had truly anticipated the development with Ares in advance, even if he had, the reason it worked was simple. Ares already had that foundation.
Mars and Ares were the same god, merely at different points along the flow of time.
That promotion had been waiting for him.
It was not something that could simply be copied onto anyone…
Hm?
Rowe narrowed his eyes and stared at Hermes.
“I see it.”
Damn it.
What do you see?
Rowe suddenly had a bad feeling.
“The middle finger is a symbol of the Sage’s spirit, and dreams are a manifestation of the mind,” Hermes muttered to himself. “Spirit and mind. Intellect…”
“Reality. Mind. Spirit…”
“Thrice Great. Hahaha. I have achieved enlightenment.”
You have not understood anything.
Rowe was speechless.
Was he not supposed to be the transmigrator here?
So why did it feel like everyone else was the protagonist while he was merely the audience?
However, there was no denying it. Hermes had indeed grasped something.
Rowe realized that Ares was not the only one who possessed a powerful foundation.
The god standing in front of him did as well.
The progenitor of countless schools of magecraft in later eras. The source of unending mystic traditions. The god of Mercury, the Thrice Great God, the amalgam of Hermes, Thoth, and Mercury.
All of that potential rested in this seemingly carefree god before his eyes.
Of course, unlike Ares, who was already a chief god, Hermes could not summon his past and future aspects immediately, even with this newfound insight.
In this world, he was not yet a main god. His divine core could not bear that level of power.
But at the very least, he now understood the path he needed to walk.
“I will keep my promise and help you ward off all further harassment from the gods.”
Hermes rose to his feet, his eyes sparkling with excitement, and then vanished.
The messenger of the gods slipped into invisibility.
Rowe shook his head.
The small boat drifted along with the tide. Far ahead, a dark line rose from the water, slowly growing clearer.
Land was coming into view.
Arcadia lay before him.
He had arrived.
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