The King of the Underworld is Tired

Chapter 144: The Final Proposal

After proposing to Styx, Lethe, and Persephone, I went straight to Acheron’s ferryman, Charon.

As usual, he was busy ferrying souls.

“…Charon.”

“Ahem! Look here, Hades. I didn’t let that human pass on purpose. No, that human was shedding so many tears, pleading desperately, and his lyre playing… it touched my heart…”

“Charon.”

“The moment I heard that music, memories of all the hardships I’ve endured here just came flooding back. If you could understand my feelings…”

It seemed he was well aware of his mistake in letting a living human pass without my permission, as he launched into a string of excuses before I even questioned him. I listened to him for a moment.

After a pause, Charon looked at my unchanged expression and fell silent.

“…Since you allowed a living human to cross the Acheron, there will be no other god assigned to the Acheron for the next year.”

“…Understood…”

Let’s see how you manage on your own for a year.

Just like before Olympus started providing help, you’ll have to row the boat while dealing with troublesome human souls one by one.

I’d like to chain you here for a year, but if I did that, there’d be no one left to row the boat.

After a brief glance at me, Charon cleared his throat and spoke.

“Ahem. So, that human… what happened to him? Knowing your personality, I thought you might have killed him.”

“I didn’t kill him. I’m not such a ruthless god…”

“…? What’s come over you?”

“I’m proposing to Persephone—or rather, Kore. I can’t show a merciless side if I’m going to do that, can I? I don’t want to get on my wife’s bad side either.”

Charon’s eyes widened as he heard my words. What’s with that shocked expression?

“What?! Are you finally getting married?”

“Yes, I proposed. To Kore, and to a few other goddesses as well.”

“Wait, you proposed first? The god known as the most impenetrable in all the gods had a change of heart? I’d sooner believe Thanatos had a free day…”

“…Should I make it two years?”

Charon clamped his mouth shut and turned his head.

Sigh… he does this from time to time.

* * *

After finishing my talk with Charon, I headed to Mente last.

Though Mente always made a habit of asking me to take her as a concubine, perhaps because she was a low-ranking god from a mortal nymph’s origins, I wasn’t keen on the idea.

I didn’t want to stir up conflict by favoring any one of them unfairly.

Not when I didn’t have only one goddess to spend eternity with, anyway…

Mente mentioned she was going to visit her friends in the mortal world.

Then, she must be somewhere near Mount Etna, where Typhon’s body is sealed.

Thud.

“Hades! Something terrible has happened! Typhon’s body is rampaging again at Mount Etna…!”

“Mente?!”

Just as I was about to head to where I suspected Mente would be near Mount Etna, she suddenly burst in.

She was clearly out of breath, her hair disheveled as if she had run all the way here in a rush.

“I was relaxing, catching up with friends, but then pillars of fire started rising from Mount Etna’s summit, and there was an earthquake…!”

Typhon, on a rampage. The creature’s been dormant for a while, and now he’s acting up again.

Did he receive some whispered prophecy from Gaia, sensing that his defeat is near? Or is this just one of his periodic fits?

If lava is erupting from the crater…

“…I’ll go immediately.”

“Please, let me come too! I didn’t even have time to check on my friends…”

* * *

I also brought Kynee, just in case, as we headed to Mount Etna, and just as Mente said, Typhon’s body was indeed on a rampage.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Flames were erupting fiercely from the summit’s crater… black smoke engulfed the surroundings.

Rumble…

Animals, sensing disaster, scattered in all directions, and nymphs who lived near plants or springs anxiously hid themselves.

The tremors from Typhon’s tantrum were unmistakable…

“Hades?”

A goddess with a serious expression, her hand on the ground, turned to look my way.

The goddess of the earth, Demeter, was here too.

"Demeter. So, you’ve come as well."

"The nymphs were begging me. Since I was nearby, I came right away."

“So, did you find out anything? Like if someone deliberately provoked Typhon…”

“I’m not sure. If Mother Earth whispered something, I’d have no way of knowing. The Gigantes can’t leave their plains, and the Titans are either being punished or imprisoned in the Underworld, under your realm…”

Rumble…

So she hasn’t discovered anything, then. Still, it’s a relief Demeter found out quickly.

She’s using her power to forcefully suppress Typhon by pressing down on the earth.

“Mente. Aren’t you going to check on your nymph friends?”

“Oh! Yes, I’ll be quick!”

Mente left the chariot and hurried off, while Demeter, still with her hand on the ground, spoke up.

Her voice was oddly cold.

“Who is that lower-ranking god? Surely you’re not thinking of choosing her over my daughter, are you?”

“I’ve already proposed to Kore.”

“…Is that so? Of course you should. Listen closely: she likes making flower crowns from yellow flowers every spring, and she loves to run around the fields…”

In the middle of the chaos near Mount Etna, as Typhon rampaged and all was in turmoil…

I spent the time listening to Demeter talk endlessly about Persephone’s preferences, her likes, and other trivial matters.

Boom!

With a landscape fit for Hephaestus’s wrath as the backdrop, it was hardly the time for such talk.

Mother-in-law… no, my sister… talking to me about my niece—no, my wife’s—preferences.

“Hades? Are you even listening? If Kore ever suffers because of you…”

“…Yes, yes, I understand. Enough already.”

She really worries a lot.

Then again, it’s her daughter’s marriage, so it’s understandable.

* * *

After Typhon’s rampage, which had gone on for some time, finally settled down, I returned to the chariot with Mente, who had also returned. We headed off somewhere once more. 

Beside me, Mente was happily chattering away. It seems seeing her old friends from her time as a nymph brought her joy.

“…So, back then, she even prayed to Lord Zeus.”

“Mente. It’s been a while since I’ve seen you this happy.”

“Ah… Hehe. The Underworld is busier than I thought. And seeing my nymph friends again…”

That’s understandable. After all, nymphs are beings tied to nature.

As long as the nature they inhabit isn’t destroyed, they have much longer lives than humans.

“They all looked just as I remembered. Although… some friends have disappeared…”

“I see.”

“My dryad friends died because the trees were destroyed. But since I’m a deity of the Underworld, I can visit them whenever I wish…”

If by chance I hadn’t met Mente, she, too, might have come to the Underworld after her life ran out.

And I would have forever forgotten about mint. Though occasional memories of my past life come to mind, the scent of mint... peppermint, was a little more special.

“Mente, did you know?”

“Huh?”

“The plant mint you created— in some human countries, they use extracts from that plant daily to keep their mouths clean.”

“Really, Lord Hades? I thought humans only used fragrant branches, feathers, or strange powders.”

“Haha! It’s a very faraway place, so you wouldn’t know even if I told you.”

With the speed of the chariot, Mente’s teal hair fluttered as she made a puzzled expression.

Of course she wouldn’t know, it’s an incredibly distant place… a place even my power as a god of the Underworld cannot reach.

“If such a place really exists, then my faith would increase quite a bit! There might even be more believers for me than for you, Lord Hades. Hehe!”

“Certainly. In that place, you might have more followers than even Zeus.”

"Heh… hehe. Really? Then, at least in that place, I’d be… more… than Hades… haa…"

Since people all over, no, the entire world, used mint-infused toothpaste daily, if Mente in her current form had appeared in my past life, she might have been greatly revered.

Seeing Mente’s wide-eyed expression of pure belief, I playfully pinched her cheek.

“Ouch!”

“You’ll catch bugs in your mouth.”

“Ugh… You never used to do that. You’ve become much more mischievous.”

She pouted, rubbing her cheek as she looked at me.

Hmm. Really? Have I become more playful? I don’t think I’ve ever heard that from other goddesses.

I do feel quite comfortable around Minthe.

Maybe it’s because of the scent of mint that brings back memories from my past life, or perhaps it’s because, even when she was a nymph, she didn’t fear me excessively and saw me just as I was.

Now, even after becoming a goddess and coming to the Underworld, she helps me with the same, unwavering spirit…

She’s like a comforting, kind… younger sister, in a way.

Maybe that’s exactly why I find her charming.

Clop-clop.

“We’re here. Get down.”

“Huh? Lord Hades. Weren’t we returning to the Underworld?”

“This is the right place.”

Whooosh—

I stopped the chariot and got down with Mente in a quite plain where a gentle mountain breeze kept blowing.

It was a quiet place, with no humans… and no nymphs.

And a mint field I had secretly cultivated with the help of others, without the knowledge of the goddess of mint.

A wonderfully refreshing fragrance wafted on the wind, surrounding us.

As she stepped down from the chariot, Mente looked around and let out an exclamation, tucking back her long hair.

“Wow… it’s all mint here?”

“That’s why I chose this spot.”

“Huh?”

“I thought this would be the perfect place… to propose to you.”

…!

I gently took out a bracelet from my chest and slipped it carefully onto

 Mente’s wrist.

The bracelet, made of living mint, softly curled around her wrist, wrapping her hand delicately.

“You are the goddess of mint, but it’s also a plant that represents me. The flowers that grow here will always face the direction I’m in.”

“Lord Hades…”

“I love you, Mente. Marry me.”

“Yes… sniffle.”

The scent radiating from Mente, who was standing so close that our lips nearly touched, was,

this time, not the refreshing aroma of mint… but a deeply sweet fragrance.