Chapter 120: Machia (7)
Athena seemed to have completely lost her will to fight.
Even when I got right in front of Athena, she just looked up.
I squatted down in front of her and brought her to eye level.
“Do you feel like talking now?”
“… “You’re so crazy.”
Harsh words are still coming out of his mouth, but he is in no mood to fight.
I said.
“I told you to keep things simple. “I have no intention of fighting.”
“…”
Athena looked at me with a face that had a lot to say. As if my words were meaningless.
So what.
Athena said with a half-given look on her face.
“So, get away from Medusa?”
“As expected, you call me by that name.”
“That’s right, there’s a reason for me to use the pseudonym he made up on his own… “No, wait, did you know her real name from the beginning?”
Oops.
“… “No, I don’t know.”
“You just answered like you knew.”
“I was just bluffing.”
Athena glared at me with suspicion.
I just keep a calm face.
Athena sighed as she seemed to have given up on her reading.
“… Well, anyway, what on earth does that mean?”
She shakes her head.
“This is Pantemonium. From the moment you dragged me here, there is no way either of you can leave. Well, now I know it’s me.”
Athena shrugged her shoulders, pointing to her own world that had been erased.
“So there’s no need to make such a request. “Once we finish Pantemonium, Medusa’s curse will disappear.”
Athena seemed to have already accepted her defeat.
I lowered my weight backwards from my squatting position and slumped down.
I think the story will be a bit long.
“That’s troublesome.”
“… ?”
“I told you to step aside, I didn’t tell you to die.”
Athena’s eyes narrow at my words.
“I must retreat from Medusa, but not die?”
“Okay. “Because you have a job to do.”
Athena opened her mouth as if she was dumbfounded.
“Do you know the situation now? You probably know what pantemonium is. “One of you has to die here.”
“Of course I know.”
“Then what should I do? “Would you please lock me here instead?”
“That is also a way. “Do you want to give it a try?”
At my words, Athena’s lips thinned and she raised her hand.
She reached out her hand towards her erased space and tried to do something of her own, but it didn’t seem to work as she wanted.
Is she trying to restore the world? Athena bit her lower lip.
“… “It would be quicker to kill me.”
“Unless I can do something about your abilities, I can’t kill you either.”
Then Athena lowered her hand and lowered her chin. Shakes her head.
“It doesn’t work either. I am the loser in this pantemonium. “It’s crazy, though.”
Athena didn’t look upset for saying that.
‘Restoration may not be impossible.’
My power is not to hurt or break things. It’s close to erasing. So, if you try to restore the world with the concept of recovery, it will not be easy. It would be better to create a new one.
That kind of change in thinking is necessary, but there’s no need to tell you.
“That’s what I said. “There is something that must be done.”
“What are you telling me to do? It’s enough for Medusa’s curse to disappear. You can kill me too, who was a thorn in your eye. “What more do you want?”
I tilted her head at those words.
“Why are you such a thorn in my side?”
“… No? “You’re the one who petrified Medusa?”
“That’s Medusa and Kala’s situation. “It’s none of my business.”
I thought it was such an obvious answer, but Athena blinked her eyes with her strange face.
“… “Didn’t you fight me because you fell in love with Medusa?”
“What are you talking about? “I’m helping you because it seems useful.”
These days, my colleagues and I are like this: Why do they look at Medusa and me that way?
The feelings I have for Medusa are almost similar to the feelings I have for the Athena I am watching now.
Yes, actually.
“And you too.”
“What… ?”
“The disappearance of Medusa’s curse is not enough at all. “I don’t want you to die either.”
“Whether you want it or not, I’m going to die here. “That’s what pantemonium is all about,”
“I can take it out.”
Athena’s eyes blinked at my words.
Soon his eyes changed to look at something strange and he asked me again.
“… “You can free someone trapped in the Pantemonium?”
“Okay. “I already tried it.”
“Lie. I can not believe it.”
“It’s okay if you don’t believe it. “If I take it out, that’s it.”
Athena lowered her gaze a little this time. Her pupils fluttered. A face that looks like confusion and agony.
You see I don’t have to lie here. It seemed like he was picturing in his head the situations that would occur if what I said was true.
“So what I’m going to say from now on will proceed on the premise that I will get you out.”
“… Nonsense.”
“In return for taking me out of the Pantemonium, tell me about Poseidon.”
Athena raised her head at my words and looked at me.
“… I can’t contact Poseidon right now. “I can’t say, but Poseidon is in a bit of an awkward situation right now.”
“Know. “I saw it on the way here.”
I know that Poseidon cannot interact with any gods right now.
He said that some gods like him are now sealed.
But Athena seemed surprised in another way.
“On your way here, aren’t you from this country?”
“I am not from this continent, let alone my country.”
“… “You are from the continent of Palind!”
Okay. Do you know that now?
There Athena looked me up and down with a sour face.
“Black hair, black eyes, a very languid face…”
And then, really only then, did he take a close look at my face and body,
“You, you are Frontier de Roach! It was Frontier!”
“… “Are you really the goddess of wisdom?”
It’s not that the information wasn’t delivered, it was that I received it but didn’t recognize it.
This is the moment when Athena’s nickname becomes questionable.
But Athena was confused.
“Oh, no, but I heard that he has enormous muscles, the thickness of his arms are the same as a woman’s waist, and he also has a beard?”
“… “There’s some strange information mixed in.”
When you hear it that way, it seems like you’re talking about Renzo.
Oh, could it have been mixed with information about Renzo? Come to think of it, we haven’t seen each other since the war. After the war, of course, they will come to kill me, so it is best for me not to meet them, but thanks to that, I don’t know what they are doing now.
“And you said you use hammers, swords, spears, and bows, and that there’s always something like black smoke or fog billowing out?”
“That’s half true.”
Of course, these are all weapons I use, but I don’t carry them around on my waist or back. But Athena must have thought so.
And black smoke always blooms. It seems like it has a gloomy aura. This may be a description of black cloth, but it is not always used.
“Anyway, what I want is not Poseidon’s current position or situation. “We need something more fundamental.”
“Fundamental? For example?”
“Something like a weakness.”
Athena immediately frowns at my words.
“Do you think I will tell you Poseidon’s weakness?”
“You have a weakness. “That was a really good answer.”
Athena’s face turned red at my words.
I feel like I am increasingly moving away from the Goddess of Wisdom.
Besides, I can answer that question.
“And of course I think you’ll let me know.”
“Why, why did I do that?”
“You hate Poseidon.”
“… !”
Athena opened her eyes wide at my words.
Medusa was cursed because of her relationship with Poseidon.
I don’t know how much the story here matches the myth I know, but it is undoubtedly true that Athena was so angry that she cursed Medusa. Because Medusa’s current situation itself is proof.
If so, she would have the same amount of anger towards Poseidon.
Athena is a goddess. It is not the type that fundamentally excludes humans. Still, she goes so far as to curse, so I wonder what her feelings are toward Poseidon, who wants to retaliate that much but cannot.
“… Are you planning to fight Poseidon?”
“I will if necessary, but I don’t want to fight as much as possible. “Because there is a high probability that I will lose.”
“… “There is a high probability of losing.”
Athena looked at me with tired eyes.
With the look in her eyes, it seemed as if she was saying, ‘Of course I’m going to lose, so what nonsense are you talking about?’ But she didn’t say it out loud.
“Of course you support. What are you talking about.”
Spit out of her mouth.
It was just a little late.
“Anyway, these are the terms of the deal. How is it?”
“… “If you really want to save me from being trapped in the Pantemonium, I’ll agree to a deal.”
“Good.”
I stood up. The transaction was complete, so there was nothing more to say.
Athena asked after looking at me.
“… “What if I don’t keep my promise?”
“Everyone asks that.”
I tend to believe that transactions are based on trust. Of course, you have to have doubts, but you can’t start with just doubts.
Besides, there is nothing to worry about this time.
“You are God. “Not the devil.”
“… Huh?”
“I will keep my promise.”
“You’re like some kind of kid’s joke…”
“Just worry about yourself more than that.”
I pointed it at Athena, simulating her gun with her finger.
As if Athena realized the situation she was in, her throat trembled.
“I will come back as soon as possible, but my pantemonium is not easy.”
“… What are you looking at me for? “The power of the human soul doesn’t matter even after a few years.”
“… But.”
I apologized for underestimating Athena.
After all, it is God. She is not a nameless god, but Athena is so famous that almost no one who knows Greek mythology knows her.
Athena, goddess of wisdom and war.
“Bael was on the verge of losing his mind in just a few minutes, but you will be different.”
“… Well, wait—”
Hook
Athena was erased.
“Oh.”
I couldn’t listen to her until the end.
Because I thought I had the last word.
“… “Well, it doesn’t matter.”
Athena spoke confidently herself.
It’ll last for a while.
* * *
I returned to the original world. It meant I was completely victorious.
And then what I did was:
“…”
“… ?”
The first thing was to understand the situation in front of us.
In front of my nose, barely within breath distance, there was a pair of thin eyes blinking.
However, those eyes, which should have been fascinating by nature, were already stained and trembling as if tears were about to fall at any moment.
I looked at it for a while and then said.
“… Ah, you are the president. Hello.”
“…”
As soon as I spoke, Carla’s big eyes got even bigger, her already red face became even redder, and her lips slowly closed and then opened again.
“… This.”
“This?”
“Please let me go for now, Mr. Frontier… !”
Hmm?
Then I realized I was holding Carla’s face with both hands.