45 – The Taboos of the Forest
Dinner time everyone gathered.
It’s not as luxurious as the freshman welcome banquet, but if you see the dinner tables set up all over the plaza surrounding Hestia’s huge bonfire, anyone will stick out their tongue.
From soft white bread piled like a mountain, to a salad topped with honey-marinated dates and olives, vegetables and cheese, to a refreshing zajiki sauce made with yogurt, dill and spices, and pasolada, a vegetable soup served with hot seaweed.
And when I turned my eyes to the fragrant smell wafting from the fireside, I could see centaur cooks burning a fire in a large charcoal grill and eagerly grilling all the meat on land, sea and air that could be thought of in this era.
Against the backdrop of a beautiful scene in which the ship shakes itself just by standing there, their teacher, Chiron, summoned the little heroes who had gathered one by one.
As everyone gathered in front of it out of curiosity about what was going on, a small silver girl, who was hidden by the size of a large centaur, was watching them and her eyes twinkled.
“Oh! Who is he?!”
“So cute!”
“Wow… What is it? Are you new?”
“Are you too young?”
“Still, she is really pretty…”
It was around the time I said a word, looking at the innocent silver girl who stood out regardless of her gender.
Chiron introduced her to them with her booming voice.
“Nymph Nereis, the sister of the thousand waves, will be honoring this evening.
This is Nesneria. Welcome everyone!”
“Hi! It’s Nesneria! I am from the sea!”
-…..
The little heroes were astonished.
The muse of the deep sea, the daughter of Oceanus, the old man of the sea, and the beautiful little goddess protected by Zeus and Poseidon, have come here now?
The little heroes who already know the anecdote of Perseus and Andromeda are half worried that if they go against the planting of that little nymph, the whole forest will be swept away by the tidal wave.
In the case of men, half of them are thinking about how to have a conversation with that beautiful nymph.
Women are half jealous of that cute and beautiful nymph and longing to hug her.
The dinner hall fell silent for a moment in astonishment.
But the surprises didn’t end there.
A beautiful calamity, which ran away with quick steps as soon as Chiron’s introduction was over, was captured and embraced by the black-haired little hero.
“hehehe, Dia! Did I do well?”
“…Yes, yes, you did well without being nervous”
Nesneria rubbing her own white cheeks into the face of her Dianes, smiling brightly at her sun.
It was like a brother and sister with a big difference in age, or lovers who grew up together from a young age.
Currently, Dianes has been receiving a lot of attention in the Forest of Heroes, either in a good or bad way.
The little hero who sank Hercules in one blow with mysterious magic.
Most of them gave Hercules, who had reigned as the tyrant of the forest, a refreshing blow.
There were also people who blushed at her beautiful looks that would make her look like a pretty woman if she was dressed up nicely.
There were also those who were jealous of the newcomer who suddenly entered the forest like a rolling stone and took everyone’s attention.
The dinner hall, which had instantly become cordial with Nesneria’s innocent words and actions, was revived again.
In the midst of everyone gathering towards the new faces, Nesneria and Dianes, led by the female team who can’t stop when it comes to cute things.
There were people who could not be together in such an atmosphere and fell away to the outskirts.
“What’s good about a parasitic brother like that…”
“The reason why Heracles was defeated must have been some kind of cowardly magic”
“Honestly, if we knew how, we could do it too, right?”
“If Atalanta boasts that she is Artemis’s daughter like that, is she fawning over that mongrel who doesn’t even know bloodlines?”
In fact, those who witnessed the confrontation between Hercules and Dianes earlier had no choice but to admit Dianes’ inaction, even if they were jealous.
The image of Heracles fighting head-on with his bare hands against Hercules, who overturned his body and made him see blood, turned the ground over and tore the air with only the aftermath of his fists turning his eyes, and anyone can see that he too deserves to become a great hero in the future. Because I was telling you that there is.
However, they hid in a cave in the woods until mid-morning with the wine they secretly stole last night and fell asleep.
“Sniff, leave it alone. Anyway, after a while, it will all be revealed that it is all bluff and fraud.”
“That, right?”
“No matter how much I beat that stupid Hercules, will I be able to compete with the blue giant, son of Poseidon?”
A dark blue-haired giant sitting at the head of the table and drinking from a jug of wine in one hand.
In terms of size and muscle alone, the little hero, comparable to Hercules, nodded to the gangsters’ flattery with his blue eyes sparkling insidiously.
His name is Orion.
He was the son of Poseidon and a hunter with the ability to walk on the sea.
In terms of hunting, he was one of the most talented people in the forest, and he was once mentioned as a candidate for the next great hero despite his sinister and violent temper.
However, after Hercules came in, he ordered him to organize the ranks and attacked him, and the entire gang, including Orion, suffered the humiliation of being paralyzed.
Then, as the heroes of the so-called golden generation, such as Atalanta, Asclepius, Orpheus, led by Theseus and Jason, gathered in the forest, they were naturally looked down upon by everyone.
“Hey, that strong idiot, if I hadn’t been drunk at the time, or if Zeus wasn’t paying attention to him, I would have offered that head to his father.”
– Bang!
The young giant slammed the jar on the table, as if the mere thought of it made him angry.
The gang nodded their heads while pretending not to know the fear that shook clearly in his eyes.
“Yes, it is! Honestly, since I was a child, I will be your opponent who hunted all kinds of beasts and fought pirates in Chios and the Mediterranean Sea on the sea?”
“That wild boar has great strength, but fighting and strength are two different things!”
“Looking at how he pushed Hercules that way even after drinking so much the day before.
If properly attached, not only Hercules, but Theseus and Jason are nothing.”
“Wouldn’t that swindler orphan who didn’t even know who his parents were and pop them up with the fingers of his one hand?”
Feeling uncomfortable with Orion’s planting, the gang did their best to please him, and Orion’s lips twitched in satisfaction at the flattery.
Then he lifted his head slightly and at the end of his gaze were the beautiful female hunter Atalante and the innocent nymph Nesneria like the white waves.
“Hmm… As expected, Atalanta deserves to hang out with a great hunter like me, not a mongrel who doesn’t even know bloodline like that parasitic brother.
And the Nereid nymphs? Joy! Poseidon’s son is here, but the spirit of the sea doesn’t even say hello, and he’s being possessed by a mongrel like that?”
– Fast!
Orion, who had been grinding his teeth as if he didn’t like it, jumped up from his seat as if he had a good idea.
“Anyway… Since the newcomer has only been in the forest for a few days and doesn’t seem polite, shouldn’t we have a big welcome ceremony?”
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At those words, the people around Orion who had been working hard to flatter each other shut their mouths.
Yes, Orion is definitely strong.
Because she was once a man who was said to be closest to the honorable position and the prestige of a great hero to participate in the war of the gods.
However, if there is a fact that everyone knows that he is trying hard to ignore.
No matter how much he rationalizes and blinds himself, the difference between him and Hercules is very stark.
Orion’s gang was looked down upon by other students, nymphs, and even centaurs because of their past of trusting only Orion and causing evil in the forest.
So I had no choice but to stick to Orion even more, so I worked hard to please him, but they weren’t stupid either.
Welcome ceremony.
It was a term referring to the violence they caused in the name of sorting ranks whenever a freshman came.
In the middle of the night, when other gangs are quietly summoned and surrounded, Orion, like a champion in the Colosseum, comes in boasting a huge figure and literally trains the new recruits.
Watching this, the gang members spit or insulted, and Orion literally stepped on the freshman.
The victim couldn’t admit the insult of being messed up like that, so the victim couldn’t say anything to Chiron, and one of the gang was well-versed in magic, so he used a trick so that even Chiron and the nymphs couldn’t find him.
Chiron also had only a grudge, and he could not rebuke them.
For that reason, while Orion reigned in the forest, no one could challenge or oppose him, and he and his gang escaped from Chiron’s eyes and did all sorts of depravity and ran freely.
But when it was Hercules’ turn, Orion, on the contrary, grabbed his broken arms by the feet and begged for his mercy.
All of the gang members who rushed at Orion’s command as a last resort also had to suffer the humiliation of breaking their limbs.
If the power of Dianes heard in the wind right now is even half true…
They might get a taste of Hercules’ nightmare again.
“What? What are those eyes Are you dissatisfied now?”
“Oh no! No way!”
“Ha, but wouldn’t it be a bad day today? Everyone is gathered, and Master Chiron is there…”
The gang desperately tries to convince Orion, but their leader has already started the engine a long time ago.
“Tsk, cowardly bastards. It’s embarrassing that you guys are my subordinates.”
“….”
At the face of Orion who arrogantly laughed at them, the gang lowered their heads and gnashed their teeth inwardly.
‘The map was beaten by Hercules!’
‘I’m desperately avoiding all I can say…’
– Clink!
“Hey!?”
As Orion suddenly threw out the wine jar he was holding, the gang raised their heads in amazement.
Then, Orion was glaring at them with a fierce growl on his red-stained face.
“What are those reactions? You guys can’t believe me right now?”
“Oh no!”
“It’s just, I’m just worried!”
The gang shook their heads desperately.
Orion looked around at them with a satisfied smile at the fear he had for himself that showed on his face.
“Don’t worry. This time, I will definitely make a plan and move.”
As if guided by Athena, the giant laughed sinisterly at the perfect plan flashing in his head, shaking his blue hair.
“No matter how much he ran. They’re just orphans who don’t even know what kind of lower god their parents are.”
The eyes of the giant who said that were directed at the white nymph in the center of the garland, smiling brightly, unaware of anything.