CHAPTER 96: CHAPTER 96: ZEUS-CERTIFIED, WORTH TRUSTING [100 P.S CHAPTER]

Eros truly hadn’t expected to encounter those Silver Humans again.

Among them were even faces he recognized from his former life, now transformed into sprites of laughter, running about joyfully.

They laughed with such pure delight, yet Eros couldn’t bring himself to smile at all.

He still remembered the way they had looked at him when he roasted meat in front of them, their eyes filled with longing.

They had been full of desire and passion, gradually evolving from lost clay dolls into budding humans, their lives beginning to burn with purpose.

Unfortunately, time had been too short. In just over half a month, Eros hadn’t managed to fully awaken them.

Now, seeing them once again in the depths of the Underworld left him with mixed feelings.

"Underground laughter sprites, they really are... constantly laughing."

His tone was complex.

These Silver Humans had transformed into something even less human than they were before.

Not just in form, but in spirit.

They had completely lost all bodily desire, becoming sprites that knew only laughter and play.

"Isn’t that a good thing?" Hades asked, watching the laughing sprites frolic in the distance. Her voice carried a trace of envy.

"They don’t have to worry or think about anything. No extra troubles or desires. Even gods might not be as happy as they are."

Eros had to admit, she had a point.

"Yes, for most people, their mental state and lifestyle would be something to envy."

No worries, no sorrow. Just laughter and play all day long.

Who wouldn’t want a life like that?

Unfortunately, Eros was far from most people.

"I just feel that a life like that is meaningless."

He let out a sigh.

"The meaning of laughter doesn’t lie in the act itself, but in why one laughs."

"To laugh blindly and without reason, simply because they are ’sprites of laughter’..."

"If they were born that way, that would be one thing. But knowing they were once human makes me uncomfortable."

Eros wasn’t some benevolent soul who cared deeply about the fate or survival of humankind.

Even the speeches he gave Hera about respecting individual will were just for boosting his favorability at the time.

He was someone who followed desire and impulse, equally likely to become Superman or Homelander, depending on the mood.

But one thing was certain, Eros loved things filled with love and romance.

He enjoyed watching people strive for something they believed in, even if he was the one who placed the obstacles in their path.

He was indifferent to death. Whether someone calmly accepted it or fought until their last breath, he observed it with the same curiosity.

It was the emotions and thoughts embedded in each soul’s final moments that fascinated him.

Just like how he pursued beautiful goddesses, not merely for their beauty, but for the varied emotions and attitudes they held toward him.

That diversity was what thrilled him most. It wasn’t about lust alone.

So these sprites of laughter, devoid of both desire and emotion, were at least to Eros, the dullest things imaginable.

Even if he raised a blade and cut down their companions, they wouldn’t understand grief or loss. They would keep laughing as if nothing had happened.

Had they been born purely for that purpose, Eros wouldn’t have cared.

But the fact that these creatures were once Silver Humans made it unbearable.

He couldn’t help wondering, if he had never met Zeus, would he have ended up like them? A smiling, hollow sprite?

The thought alone made him recoil.

He’d rather be declared guilty, tossed into the River Styx, drifting endlessly...

Even that, clawing his way back as a condemned soul, wandering aimlessly, would be better than ending up like this.

Now he finally understood what Nyx meant when she spoke of the importance of names.

He was Eros—not just the primordial god representing love and desire in the pantheon, but also the Eros of Orphic tradition, the very embodiment of the world’s primal energy.

Be it god, man, or any other form of life, only those with desire and passion could change and shape the world.

It was this very drive that led Phanes to tear open the world egg and be born from chaos, creating the world as it is.

"Yeah... without love, the world is nothing."

Eros muttered softly to himself, which left Hades puzzled.

What was he suddenly on about?

"If you dislike them, I can have them moved somewhere else."

Noticing Eros’s distaste, Hades offered matter-of-factly.

"No need. I was just reflecting on things," Eros replied, shaking his head. He decided not to dwell on the laughing sprites anymore.

He’d treat them as weeds that had grown anew from the earth, just with a few familiar faces.

Besides, the world above had already birthed a more complete version of humanity. Perhaps weaker and more fragile than the Silver Ones, but they suffered more and felt more.

That was worth more.

In the Blessed Fields, Hades led Eros to her current abode in the Underworld.

From a small cottage stepped out a somewhat gloomy-looking girl, exuding the deep aura of the Underworld.

"Lady Hades, you’ve returned?"

Her face had initially lit up with joy, but stiffened when she saw Eros and Persephone.

"Minta, please attend to my guests."

Hades gave the instruction casually.

The girl before them was her only nymph attendant, Minta, daughter of Cocytus, the god of the Wailing River.

Having left Mount Olympus alone, Hades had no other attendants. Minta was the first person she encountered in the Underworld, effectively her first ally here.

"Lady Hades, these two are...?"

Whether it was the dazzlingly handsome Eros or the radiant Persephone, both filled Minta with unease.

Her once-confident beauty now felt plain in comparison.

"This is my friend and guest, Eros. Don’t treat him lightly just because he’s human."

Eros looked at the maid in front of him, wracking his memory before recalling who she was.

Ah yes. The lover of Hades who got jealous when Persephone became queen, and went around claiming she was more noble, more beautiful, and more beloved by Hades...

Eventually, she either got turned into mint by Persephone or was blown to ashes and mint sprouted from her remains.

In short, kind of a clown.

You couldn’t help but wonder if the Greeks just really liked mint and ran with it.

But now Eros understood the story a little better.

Seeing her purely as Hades’ lover was a mistake.

Clearly, Minta had come first, while Persephone was the later arrival.

Amused, Eros now looked forward to the juicy drama that might unfold Hades’s own personal love battlefield.

"And this one..."

Hades took Persephone’s hand and smiled beneath her veil.

"She is the queen I have chosen for the Underworld. Your mistress from this day forward. You must never forget that."

Sure enough, after those words left Hades’s lips...

Eros noticed that Minta’s face, already a little gloomy, turned even darker.

But she forced a smile in Hades’s presence, pretending not to care.

"I see. Lady Hades, it seems you were quite busy on this trip. You must be tired."

She heard what was said, but didn’t really listen. With an excuse, she slipped away to tend to something else.

"Apologies, the accommodations here are a bit humble."

After Minta left, Hades smiled apologetically at them both.

Honestly, if Eros hadn’t seen her earlier snatching Persephone from Demeter in a bold move, he wouldn’t have believed this soft, gentle beauty was the ruler of the Underworld.

Though she bore the scent of death and the aroma of pomegranate blossoms, and looked every bit the dark bride of the dead, her personality made it hard to dislike her.

She was like the gentle widow next door—quietly melancholic, yet warm and understanding in every way.

If not for the requirement that a queen of the Underworld must remain there permanently, Eros might have been moved himself.

Still, it made him curious. Why had someone like Hades gone so far—enraging Demeter to the brink of war—all for Persephone?

Her temperament seemed more like someone who would quietly back down to avoid trouble.

And when something seemed off, you asked.

Having learned this the hard way once, Eros wasn’t going to repeat that mistake.

Once seated, he asked directly:

"I’m honestly curious. Why does it have to be Persephone? Do you really like her that much?"

"Is that your way of volunteering yourself?"

Hades removed her veil and some of her ornaments, revealing a face that bore a resemblance to Zeus. She raised an eyebrow at Eros.

"Or did I misread earlier? Could it be... you actually like me?"

"If that’s the case, I take back my earlier joke."

Okay, correction, she’s not completely soft.

There’s definitely some mischief in there.

"If you say it like that, I might think... you’re just after my body."

Eros replied righteously.

"I think we should start as friends. Get to know each other."

Minta, who had just come back with refreshments, nearly dropped the tray.

What the hell? She had just stepped out for a bit, why did it now feel like the whole world was against her?

Eros glanced at her from the corner of his eye and clicked his tongue twice in his mind.

This girl was destined to lose. Not even a sliver of doubt about it.

No matter how you looked at it, she couldn’t compare to Persephone.

Looks, background, even personality, Persephone, naïve and easy to fool, was simply the better match.

A queen needed to be magnanimous and tolerant, and clearly, Hades understood that well.

"After your body? Hmm... maybe not a bad idea."

Hades smiled, paying no mind to Minta’s awkwardness.

"I’m curious myself. What kind of standards did Zeus use to approve you?"

OG Author Note:

Greek mythological philosophy always placed a high value on human-driven impulses and desire.

In the older versions of the Orphic tradition, Eros was even considered the father of Phanes, the creator of the world.

Perhaps that’s why Greek mythology felt so vividly human.

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