I Became a Slave to a Mythical Shepherd

Chapter 25

Episode 25. three goddesses

“I… I am…”

What should I do?

…a reincarnated person? You say you’re from the 21st century? Do you know a country called Korea?

Isn’t it all meaningless? Can they understand what I’m talking about?

After I evaded my words, the goddesses spoke up again.

[Your answer is not important.]

[For mortals cannot answer what they do not know.]

[That’s why it’s called mortal.]

“Then why…”

[Because you tried to run away.]

At those words, I bit my lip.

So, does that mean you should have stayed still?

i know the future As far as I know, the war lasted 10 years. In the meantime, Troia is destroyed and countless heroes and soldiers die.

And the ‘unimportant people’ that Homer did not record would have died even more.

Because I’m here to judge.

[Go back.]

The goddess who spins the thread says.

[Go back and give the apple to the goddess you are supposed to give it to.]

“Ha, but…”

[I can’t go against it. Originally, you were born that way.]

This time, the goddess who was winding the wheel recited.

[As if it were a hawthorn tree, everyone had to put their roots in the ground and sprout their leaves toward the sky.]

And the goddess who cuts the thread rose from her seat.

[good. Go, open the promised door. Lead your country to its destiny.]

I didn’t say anything.

“Are you the one who kept me ignorant of my name… and everything else?”

[okay.]

[If I hadn’t done that, I would have run away like now.]

[I don’t know why, but you actually said that.]

Saying so, the goddesses point to the thread of my destiny.

A thread in which two strands are entangled and connected into one.

I don’t know where the original Paris went, but now I am Paris. I was born in a completely different world, lived and remembered a different life, and flew here.

[It was very… cumbersome, but it doesn’t matter now. You will have no choice but to follow your destiny.]

“What if, if you refuse…?”

[…Humans cannot imagine eternity.]

[That’s why you dare to show such pride.]

[The stillness and silence you saw before will continue.]

[A fugitive trying to escape fate. Why do you hold on to vain hope?]

The world stops, and only I live and breathe.

Whether a thousand or ten thousand years pass, my father will be fixing the feathers of an arrow, and my mother will be holding an axe.

[forever.]

“…”

I bowed my head.

[What would you do?]

Even if I refuse here, they can always wait for my will to change. Literally, forever.

In fact, there are no options.

“…please send me back again.”

In response to my answer, the goddesses waved and beckoned.

The small wind that arose as the hand gesture brushed against the atmosphere does not weaken, gathers and resonates with each other, and soon turns into a huge storm and covers my eyes.

“Turn it off…”

As I lie down to keep my body from flying away, the images of the three goddesses in the cave gradually blur.

[Remember, Son of Priam.]

[Fate is always with you]

[You are always in destiny. Destiny is also within you.]

Before I could answer the question of Seon dialogue, the lantern, the only light source that lit up the cave,

Hook, it went off with a sound.

I closed my eyes…

floated again

…Twelve thrones, twelve gods, three goddesses, and a golden apple.

I’m back.

Hephaestus, who was standing hesitantly in front of me, looked at my face and seemed to have guessed what I had promised.

“Hey···”

“I am fine.”

Responding to Hephaestus’ worried voice, I stood up. The other gods of Olympus, unaware of the situation, looked at me and Hephaestus with puzzled expressions and whispered something among themselves.

I sent Hephaestus back and fiddled with the golden apple that returned to my hand.

[I haven’t even given a proper explanation yet.]

Zeus, the king of the gods, pointed to the golden apple in my hand and said,

[What was written there?]

“… it was written ‘to the fairest goddess’.”

[okay. The goddess of sanctity, the goddess of wisdom, and the goddess of beauty all claimed ownership of the apple, so we wanted to make the most beautiful boy the judge of this dispute.]

Zeus stroked the beak of an eagle that flew over his shoulder and continued.

[Therefore, we leave you to judge, son of Priam. You will be able to know who is the most beautiful of the three and who is the most qualified person to possess the golden apple.]

Of course I know

The three goddesses promise various rewards in order to entice Paris into offering the apple to them.

Hera offered mighty authority, Athena a great victory, and Aphrodite offered love with the most beautiful person as conditions. In the end, Paris chose Aphrodite with the third reward.

Aphrodite later made Paris fall in love with Helen, enraging Helen’s husband, Menelaus, and his brother, Agamemnon, and the two eventually rallied the Greek forces that had come to retrieve Helen and waged war against Troy.

That’s the start.

As far as I know, Hera stepped out first.

[Even though you are a prince, you are not the eldest after all. Priam’s eldest son is especially good and noble, so you have no chance.]

Hera approached me, waving the red hem that symbolizes power. She put on a gorgeous crown, and underneath it, with a graceful gesture befitting a crown, she lowered her head and met my eyes.

[I’ll give you everything. I will give you kingdom, wealth, and power. you know i can do it You are young too, but you must have ambition, you too want greatness, you too…]

A crown is placed over my head as Hera gently beckons. My clothes change from coarse burlap to soft cotton, and when I look back I see a huge map and tens of thousands of people.

[…you’ll want these.]

The map wriggles. My kingdom was a small town, but gradually it stretched out without knowing the end, and it became bigger than Alexander’s Macedonian Empire that will come in the distant future. You will rule the whole ‘world’ that the Greeks thought of.

[If you wish, all of that will be yours.]

Hera laughs and withdraws. Next to me was Athena.

[In the end, authority is insignificant.]

Hera always spoke in a low voice and in a volume that would not be heard by others.

[Do you know what my Godhead is?]

“…wisdom and war.”

[As for the most serious ones, yes.]

Athena spoke to me while holding the spear.

[I will give it to you.]

Wisdom, and victory in war.

[Actually, it’s because those two things go together.]

Athena took off her helmet and put it on my head. Athena’s hair shines brilliantly in black. It’s nonsense. ‘It shines in black light’ is an overstatement.

But she shone. Not flashy, but intense.

Every time Athena laughs, I feel a pleasant tingling sensation through my helmeted head. It is the moment of enlightenment, the feeling of intellect.

[You will know how to win in any blind battle. Because you will become the wisest among men. Your army will always win. And, as always happens to the victor, honor and glory and power will follow.]

In the next moment, my field of vision expands.

···no. It seems to have become clearer rather than expanded. Do you feel as if the blurry film covering your eyes has disappeared?

[That is wisdom.]

[Can you see? Can’t you see the world around you more clearly, even to the finer details? It feels like opening your eyes for the first time. A wise man never misses something important. So don’t be caught off guard and don’t ruin the plan. Therefore, victory follows.]

It’s true. Numerous observations about the current situation are constantly coming into my head.

Increased judgment. Even if the fearful and painful feelings that have been beating me up to now don’t go away, I dare not come close to my thought process.

I recognize my purpose,

decide my way

and judge

[I will give you this power…]

Athena’s words don’t matter. I turned my nerves off there and expanded my inner thoughts.

‘…what if I choose Hera?’

What if you become a powerful king and protect Troy? Then war itself might be avoided.

It reminds me of the crown, people, and powerful empire Hera showed me for a while. A moment of great exhilaration passes through my mind.

Hera is a powerful goddess. It could make all Zeus’ illegitimate children as happy as they made them so painful.

As long as I do not break the sacred marriage covenant, cheat or commit blasphemy, Hera will remain my ally forever, making my enemies, Paris’s enemies miserable, and protecting Troy.

Conversely, what if Athena was chosen and the war won?

What if, even if a war broke out in Troy, everything went smoothly and the invasion was defeated in the end?

Now, with this power, this ‘wisdom’, it seemed like it was possible without difficulty.

Among other things, Athena is the god of war.

And in the mythology I know, Ares has never defeated Athena. Even if the vengeful Aphrodite seduces Ares into trouble, I may be safe under Athena’s protection.

Yes, there are definitely other ways.

Ways that might be better.

In the eyes of modern people, Paris’ choice was romantic, but not rational.

When I was an elementary school student, when I read learning comics while listening to children scream at the dentist, I lamented, ‘Mom, why is Paris so stupid?’

Maybe there are better options out there. There are three routes, and Hera and Athena’s offer is clearly more attractive than Aphrodite’s in dealing with the crisis of Troy’s fall…

[Little boy.]

Then, taking off the helmet, someone sneaked up to me.

Through the hem of her pink tunic, she shone like an ivory statue.

Certainly, the most beautiful person I’ve ever met… no, a goddess.

It is Aphrodite.

[I can’t give you anything great. Surely those fools would have promised you all sorts of riches and honors, huh? Instead, I’m more insignificant… and I know what you’ll like more.]

Aphrodite rises.

Brilliant light breaks behind his head as the sun beats right behind him. Her hair changes constantly, from golden to black, from crimson to milky, moment by moment.

[Since you are a boy, since you do not yet know love, I can give you more.]

I barely endured being taken aback by Aphrodite’s words.

Would Aphrodite think that I am nervous and shy?

Or will it read the fears in my heart?

[You are mine.]

Aphrodite hugged me.

…And pretending not to be surprised at the unexpectedly firm reaction, he whispered in my ear.

that whisper,

Even more than when I first met Hephaestus,

More than when I first set foot on Olympus and suffered,

It was more painful.

[I will give you the most beautiful woman in the world. Oh, except for me, of course.]

Aphrodite picked me up in her arms and carried me to the balcony. Floating birds and docile animals stare at me with curious eyes.

And Aphrodite’s finger points to the ground.

[Look.]

And through the sea of clouds, the scenery on the ground is visible.

And lands I did not know, cities and castles between mountains and hills I did not know. A festival was held there, and crowds of people gathered in the streets and chanted something.

In the huge royal palace there, girls my age, who seem to be a little older than me, frolic among the pillars painted in red and blue. They also threw flowers and shouted someone’s name.

“Aphrodite, supreme beauty!”

“Give me a beautiful woman!”

“Please make that white, soft-skinned young man love me…”

[Everyone wants that. The beauty, the love, the sweetness it will give.]

So please don’t tell me shut up and send me home

[Can your heart be filled by ruling over all of Asia? Will I be happy by cutting the heads of countless heroes and insulting their corpses?]

At the end of the festival, Aphrodite watched the naked men and women biting each other’s lips.

[They are means, not ends. The true purpose of life is ‘beauty’.]

Aphrodite pronounces each syllable and phoneme of the word ‘beauty’ as if savoring it. That made me suffer even more.

Because he knows what Aphrodite will say in the future.

[I’ll give it to you.]

Holding my face, facing me, looking straight into my eyes, lightly breathing into my face.