The Story of Asclepius - (2)
"Very well done. Next time, I’ll see you on Olympus."
"...?!"
Squeal...
Goddess Artemis gently stroked the fur of the revived boar, then departed with her sacred beast. Although carrying out the goddess’s command and escaping divine punishment was a favorable outcome, Asclepius couldn’t feel entirely at ease.
Unlike breathing life back into someone who had only recently lost it, this time, the boar he treated had been clearly and definitively dead... Whether he had the potential to become a god of medicine or not, wasn’t this certainly something that would anger Lord Pluto?
"Ughhh...!"
Asclepius possessed the greatest medical knowledge in Greece. Having absorbed Chiron’s medical knowledge in just a few years, his mind raced, trying to find a way out.
No matter that it was at Artemis’s command—what if he alone bore the punishment for this wrongdoing? Although Lord Pluto was a merciful god, resurrecting the dead without permission was a significant transgression. Anyone entangled with the gods rarely met a good end, and he was no exception... He had to think of a way out.
One sliver of hope was that the violation of divine territory involved the Underworld.
Pluto was a god of mercy and fairness, granting fair judgment to both the wronged and the guilty after death...!
Wait, was he even responsible for reviving that boar? This had all come about solely due to the "forceful request" from Goddess Artemis.
Asclepius’s eyes glimmered with renewed vigor.
"Yes. I’ll head to Thebes and confess at Lord Pluto’s temple. If I answer truthfully, surely the god of mercy and fairness will forgive me..."
Without delay, the hero of medicine bought a horse nearby and set off for Thebes.
He needed to reach Pluto’s temple and explain everything before the god could pass down divine punishment.
This is the Underworld.
As all humans imagine it—a terrifying and truly eerie place...
"Who messed up and put a male soul into a female body this time?"
"Last time, a soul was reincarnated with memories still intact. What’s causing all these errors?"
"Obviously, it’s the gods lounging around above the clouds. We don’t make these kinds of mistakes..."
"Hold on, we need to report this to Lord Hades immediately."
"Tsk tsk. Olympus lounges around all day, unable to process even these simple matters quickly."
Here, grim gods toiled diligently night and day.
Some shuffled through countless documents, others managed souls with commands, and yet others used divine power to relieve their exhaustion...
As I watched the usual daily work unfold, I was also receiving reports.
"Lord Hades, now that Hercules, the hero of prophecy, has ascended as the god of strength and valor, the hero training grounds in the Underworld should be closed."
"Hmm. Tell Persephone that there’s no longer a need to neutralize the Underworld’s aura. Thank her for her efforts as well."
"I’ll send Chiron and the monsters back to their original places. But what should we do about the remaining heroes there?"
"Make them all swear by the River Styx to keep silent, then send them back to the surface. They’ll be the final class. Inform Olympus of this and proclaim it to all the gods of the Underworld."
I closed my eyes and focused, turning my gaze toward the world of the living.
Among my numerous worshippers, one stood out, the most devout and familiar.
It seems my influence is growing, as these devotees aren’t so rare.
Is that Theseus I see? There’s someone in Argos, and near the sea—why would there be someone there, when Poseidon has strong sway over that area?
Ah, I found him at last.
I conveyed my words through the mind of the old high priest at my temple in Thebes.
"Are you the high priest... now?"
"This... This voice...! Could it be Lord Hades?!"
I sensed his shock as he immediately prostrated himself on the spot.
"The hero training grounds in Thebes are to be closed. Convey this as it’s the decision of all the gods."
"Yes, I will deliver your words!"
"Of course, if there is someone near who has the potential for heroism, there will be no sign from the heavens."
"Understood!"
As I was about to end the connection and return to work, the high priest hastily spoke up.
"Please, wait a moment, Lord Hades!"
"...What is it?"
"This morning, a man named Asclepius, said to be the greatest doctor in Greece, has been begging for forgiveness for resurrecting the dead. Please, have a look..."
Simultaneously, a subordinate deity in the Underworld also brought a report.
"Lord Hades, a message from Lord Minos at the Underworld’s court. One of the monster souls meant to arrive hasn’t come. He suspects Lord Thanatos may have fled once again."
What now?
I turned my attention to the subordinate who had just given the report.
"Set that matter aside for now. Inform both Lord Thanatos and Lady Mnemosyne that I’m looking into it."
"Yes? Yes... Understood."
"Pause all other reports. It seems a mortal may have come back to life."
I heard murmurs speculating that Lord Thanatos must have fled again, or perhaps that Charon had been neglecting his duties.
Returning my focus to the high priest, I listened to his plea.
"A mortal named Asclepius is confessing at the temple, claiming that he resurrected Goddess Artemis’s sacred beast due to his own mistake."
"Asclepius?"
"Yes! He is reputed as the greatest healer in Greece, and I hear there are even misguided fools who worship him as the god of medicine!"
I had heard of him, and he was somewhere in my memory... Wasn’t he one of the heroes in the Argonauts’ expedition?
It seems I’ll need to examine his memory as well.
"I’ll borrow your body briefly to speak with him. Allow that man named Asclepius into the temple."
"...Yes, yes! It’s an immense honor!"
Swoosh—
With that, I descended into the body of the high priest and gazed at the mortal named Asclepius.
In the body of a nearby priest, the goddess of memory, Mnemosyne, had also descended.
Recognizing the divine presence in the high priest’s eyes, Asclepius immediately bowed low, pressing his head to the ground.
As the greatest doctor in Greece, it seemed he could discern divinity just by looking into my eyes.
"This unworthy sinner is in the presence of the Lord of the Underworld!"
"Whether you are guilty is for me to decide. First, explain your circumstances."
"Yes! I..."
He explained his story in detail.
He had resuscitated a man who had stopped breathing after drowning, which led to rumors that he could revive the dead.
Goddess Artemis heard those rumors and appeared, asking him to revive the boar of Calydon, and so he treated it. To his shock, it truly came back to life.
Thinking he might have defied my authority, he had immediately come here to confess his guilt...
Hmm. It didn’t sound like he was lying, but I still needed to verify.
When I glanced at the goddess Mnemosyne, who had descended into the priestess’s body, she nodded as well.
So... he truly had revived a dead being?
He was as close to breaking into the Underworld as Orpheus, who had tried to save a soul.
Looking at him again, I could sense that he was closer to divinity than to a mere demigod.
If he had revived a completely dead being, he had achieved a feat worthy of a god.
"...It’s true. Reviving the dead without my permission... You have committed a grave sin."
"......"
"Ordinarily, such a crime would warrant immediate execution. However, considering that you came to confess, that it was under Artemis’s coercion, and that you had no explicit intent to breach my domain, I will spare your life."
"Thank... Thank you! Lord Pluto!"
"However, remember this. If you revive the dead even once more, you will be dragged to Tartarus."
With those words, Asclepius, who had been bowing low, lifted his head cautiously.
His eyes, belonging to a hero skilled in the medical arts, reflected curiosity rather than fear.
"Um... Lord Pluto..."
"...?"
"I once treated someone who had stopped breathing after drowning. Is that not considered reviving the dead?"
Heroes are all the same. Slightly arrogant, honing their craft to approach divinity.
This relentless pursuit of mastery, even at the risk of their own lives, is a shared trait of all heroes.
Of course, this didn’t count as reviving the dead. Faint memories from my past life reminded me.
That act was simply cardiopulmonary... artificial respiration... or something. Essentially, it was a medical technique to save someone on the verge of death.
R𝑒ad latest chapt𝒆rs at freewebnovёl.ƈom Only.
"Rescuing those knocking on the doors of death does not count as a crime."
"Oh...! So I truly wasn’t reviving the dead...!"
"But from now on, do not even perform that act. Your medical skill surpasses Apollo’s, so you could accidentally resurrect someone."
"Understood! Then, may I write down what I’ve just learned in a book...?"
"...I have no objections."
As I cut the connection and returned to the Underworld, I turned to observe Thanatos in front of me.
The old god with black wings darted his eyes back and forth nervously.
"Thanatos. Why didn’t you inform me that a soul had been revived? I had to hear it from other deities."
"...Did that happen? I didn’t know."
"Don’t lie."
"Truly, I didn’t know. Do you have proof?"
I stared at the god of death, who was feigning innocence before me.
Sigh... as if he were some minor deity.
The god of death who knew exactly when, where, and how every soul in the world died, yet claims he was unaware?
Utter nonsense! He might as well say he was subdued by a mortal.
"Fine... For now, retrieve that boar’s soul, as it was one of Artemis’s beasts."
"Tsk. Does it matter if one boar soul doesn’t come to the Underworld...?"
I heard Thanatos’s grumbling as he left the audience chamber, shoulders slumped.
I hadn’t mentioned which soul it was... Yet he clearly referred to the boar?
Well, well.
Just as I thought, he knew all along but preferred not to deal with it.