I Became a Slave to a Mythical Shepherd

Episode 88. Odysseus’ story (3)

Helen.

She is the daughter of the great Zeus who rules the sky and the princess of Sparta who came out of an egg.

Although the heroine of the table is Miss Helen, I have never actually seen her face since the banquet started after I had just arrived in Sparta from Ithaca.

It’s funny. To go there, ostensibly as his suitor, and betrothed to another woman before he had even met him.

And as he walked out the door, all the noise in the room died down. There wasn’t even a bird sound.

I won’t describe him.

Human speech cannot describe objects without distortion and limitations.

So any description of him would be an insult to the gods who made him.

(“You are very serious.”)

Seriously, of course. And it was worth it. It would not be fair for that beautiful woman to join the royal family of Atreus, who already had rich Mycenae.

Still, the oath had to be fulfilled.

He nodded at the whisper of his father, Tyndareus, and, as expected, raised a finger toward Menelaus.

That was it.

Atreus’ two sons gained Sparta,

I got married to the most lovely woman.

***

At the last sentence, Penelope laughed and patted Odysseus on the chest.

Odysseus gulped down a drink from his horn, perhaps choked up by the long story, and then I rang the bell and ordered the servant waiting outside the door to bring more drinks.

After drinks and refreshments were served again, the attendant left the room without notice.

When the door closed, it was just the four of us again.

“I am… unlucky.”

Penelope was the first to speak.

“The man named Menelaus was as lifeless as a doll. He was constantly looking back at Agamemnon, his older brother. I don’t know how happy a married life with such a person and older sister Helen will be…”

“Does your wife know? Most of us do not seek happiness in marriage. Not everyone is as lucky as us.”

“It’s a different story than that.”

At my words, Penelope shook her head and looked directly at me. It’s a gaze that somehow makes people nervous.

“I am anxious about a man named Agamemnon.”

Words that seem to penetrate something about Agamemnon. And words of firm conviction.

I slightly revise my assessment of Penelope.

If you think about it, Odysseus’s refusal of the suitors’ demands for 20 years from his expedition to Troy to his return is not possible simply with a pure heart.

It means that the state was maintained after defeating the usurpers who tried to obtain the kingdom for 10 years.

It is a feat that can only be accomplished with that much strength and cool-headedness.

Penelope sighed lightly averting her eyes as if she had read my observing gaze.

“Of course, my uncle, Tyndareus, must have known all of that and planned a marriage alliance with Mycenae.”

Penelope looks upwards as if thinking of something.

“Because the debt owed to the brothers Agamemnon and Menelaus, who lived a wandering life, is large, and the harvest obtained by Sparta after installing them as kings is also large.

I know that this marriage will complete his plans. He won’t live long, so preparing for the grand succession after that.

but···.”

Penelope clenched her fists. At her words, Odysseus nodded and looked at me and Ino.

“So, we have come to warn you.”

Odysseus releases Penelope’s hand and puts his fist on the table.

“I’m sure you know what we mean by all the steps we’ve talked about.”

know.

The Atreus dynasty of Mycenae and the Lacedaemon dynasty of Sparta become one.

And, Agamemnon of Mycenae emerges as the undisputed ruler of Achaia.

The wedding itself was a grand coronation ceremony. The other suitors who were not chosen became servants gathered to swear an oath of allegiance to their new lord, Agamemnon.

“Now Agamemnon is the King of Kings (ϝάναξ) of Achaia. No one can deny him.”

Would that have fulfilled his ambition?

well.

At least it didn’t seem that way, judging from the dubious faces of Penelope and Odysseus now in front of me.

“We, Ithaca, are an island at the western end of Achaia that lives by trade.

Whether it is the land of the Lacedaemonites or the land ruled by the descendants of Perseus, it is not at all welcome when it is put under the feet of a single family and grows in power.”

“Then why did you accept Agamemnon’s deal?”

“Because there was no other option. Agamemnon just made me an accomplice, and without me Agamemnon would have taken Sparta. As agreed with Tyndareos.”

At my question, Odysseus shook his head disapprovingly and clapped his hands lightly, drawing the attention of the four of us.

“Paris, as I said earlier, we have come to warn you, Paris.”

“What do you mean?”

“After the banquet was all over and Helene’s marriage partner was decided, the other daughters of Tyndareus and the daughters of her relatives also found their own mates. Because it was originally like that.

After all those troublesome and trivial matters were sorted out, Penelope and I got married, and the next day, Agamemnon came to visit me.

And I asked about you.”

about me.

“He delicately inquired, as if not wanting to miss even a single grain of truth.

Greed flashed in his eyes. Be careful.”

***

“Hey, look at that! The black smoke is huge!!”

“Ah… That must be the famous forge in Antandros. Was it good that you came to Troia?”

“Iknow, right. The roads around this city are also nicely paved, and it looks completely different than what I was told years ago!

…I want a city like this too. If we try, will Ithaca be able to become this wonderful?”

“If it’s for you, I’ll make an achievement worthy of being in the constellation.”

“It’s for ‘us’. Soon, Ithaca will be ours.”

Penelope remembered. When I first entered the palace of Ithaca, my in-laws, I found that the king, Laertes, was already preparing to hand over the throne to his son, Odysseus.

As soon as they returned to Ithaca after their honeymoon, Laertes would become the former king, she would become the queen, and Odysseus would become the king.

To rule the kingdom with this pretty cool man…

When Penelope leaned out of the carriage window and looked around, Odysseus laughed and pulled her body into the carriage and closed the window.

In the darkened room, Odysseus kissed the nape of her neck.

“Let’s not stray too far. Our friend, the Lord of Antandros, said that he would throw a grand banquet for us in the evening.”

“Then, shall we go to the Temple of Hephaestus, which is said to be gorgeous enough for Hephaestus himself to live in, or the Temple of Demeter, which is said to follow Eleusis’s, tomorrow?”

“Yes, my love.”

Odysseus and Penelope kissed lightly and smiled at each other.

“So, have you achieved all of your goals?”

“Half-way, I guess?”

Odysseus quietly opened the window again to see Paris and Oenone’s horses ahead of them. Curiously, Faris, like the savages of the north, had mastered the art of horsemanship.

“First of all, I’m glad the two of them got along very well. I’m not married yet, so I was wondering if it’s a relationship where we can easily abandon each other.”

“is it so. That alone is a big plus for us.”

The fact that Paris already had a fiancée, a steadfast spouse.

Just by confirming that fact, the two of them had already gained a lot.

there…

“That greedy Agamemnon-nim should check it first before messing around.

Paris is our friend.”

Odysseus laughed with a slight sense of superiority, his eyes wide at the sense of triumph and cunning.

The other people who were beside her saw Odysseus’ eyes and said that they were ominous and that they were afraid of something, but…

It was the agony of cowards who couldn’t tame a lion.

Penelope fell in love with this brave and clever man.

The look he was making right now, that mischievous look captured her heart.

Penelope said, sitting on his lap in the narrow carriage. The breaths of the two collided and created a turbulent current that swayed here and there.

“I am very lucky. I caught a man like you and married him.”

“And your cousin is really unlucky. I had no choice but to catch a man like that.”

“…don’t make me remind you of that fact. Because it hurts my heart.”

“I’m sorry, ma’am.”

“No. are you okay.”

It wasn’t okay, but Penelope gave Odysseus a smile. Odysseus also notices Penelope’s efforts and smiles at her, hugging her.

But even as she wraps her arms around the lovely man’s neck, Penelope is distracted by other worries.

‘Helene.’

My cousin who was born from an egg.

A slightly mischievous, dignified, and kind-hearted older sister.

This is the person who played together between the red pillars of the palace since childhood.

She’s a really bright older sister.

She is a sister who knows how to be confident.

Then, at that moment of choice.

At that moment when she was choosing who would be her husband among countless suitors.

was shaking

with a cold hard face.

In Penelope’s ears, many people comforted Helen that she would be happy, that she would enjoy mighty power as the queen of the most powerful kingdom and the wife of the King of Kings.

She didn’t believe in any of it.

A man named Menelaus, delighted with Helen’s choice, did not immediately approach Helen.

He first turned to the man he called his older brother.

And after Agamemnon nodded, he approached Helen with a bright face.

In that brief moment, Penelope expected something.

seeds of unhappiness.

“Helene…”

When Penelope’s name slips out of her mouth, Odysseus hugs her tightly as if to comfort her.

They head to Paris’s palace.

***

“Those two seem to be whispering something behind their back…”

“Well, it must be something like an impression of the trip.”

“Should I ask my sisters later when I pass by the field?”

“Uh, it’s tempting, but that’s it for now. They are newlyweds.”

“What are newlyweds?”

“The newly married couple.”

“Oh, I see.

We’re not going to get married, are we?”

tall.

Unknowingly, I pulled the reins and stopped Bucephalus.

His face turned red and he looked back at Ino, but when he saw that Ino was also red, he pretended not to know.

“…”

“…”

“I will do it soon.”

“···huh.”

After that, I sped up like crazy. Ino grabs my waist and screams excitedly.

As the wind blew hard and hit my face, the heat that had barely risen cooled down and my thoughts were organized.

“He came to warn me…”

No way.

Originally, the word centralization is hated by everyone except those who belong to the ‘centre’. Because everyone has a lot to lose. In particular, did not Odysseus harbor human resentment toward Agamemnon?

Agamemnon, the ‘king of kings’ of Achaia who dominated Sparta and Mycenae, breaks the delicate balance of power that has been in Achaia so far and tries to seize more clear hegemony.

In order to do so, we must first remove internal and external obstructions.

Among the external disturbances, the first priority to be dealt with is Hittite, the nearest powerful nation.

And in the western periphery of Hittite, the new power that is rapidly changing its power is Troy.

At the center is Antandros.

Antandros is mine.

There’s no reason Agamemnon won’t take an interest in me.

No wonder. Ambitious people always stretch themselves in change… I am the one making the change…

I swallow saliva while repeating that to myself. You feel cold sweat running down your forehead and back.

‘Agamemnon is interested in me.’

‘Helene married Menelaus.’

Obviously, things that should have happened in the first place are happening.

I don’t know how this is going to roll.

Behind my back, Odysseus and Penelope, the ‘conquerors of cities’, will be whispering pushes from their carriage as they enjoy their honeymoon in Antandros.

in my city. as my friend.

By coming in person to warn me about Agamemnon.

Now, among the citizens of Troia, crossbows must be spreading by word of mouth, saying that they are mysterious hunting bows.

Hephaestus blessed the blacksmiths of Antandros, and the city’s forges produce steel that is harder and tougher than anywhere else in the world.

and···

I look up at the sky.

Because there is ‘my’ constellation there.

History never goes the way it should.

Ino hugged my waist tighter.

“Slow down the speed… It’s scary because it’s so fast.”

“huh. I’m sorry, Ino.”

Think again.

Agamemnon is ambitious.

He eventually regained the throne of Mycenae, which had been taken away during his father’s days, and put an end to the fierce skeletal competition. Of course, after he left, Clytemnestra swallowed Mycenae together with Thyestes’ son Aegisthus.

In any case, he is also a resourceful man enough to avenge his father’s enemies and take control of Achaia after arranging the chaos of Mycenae.

Now, through his younger brother, he even has Sparta in his hands. It is only natural that he would soon try to influence each country in Achaia through him.

If you’re interested in me under those circumstances…

Are you trying to antagonize me?

Or, rather, is it to buy favor and favor?

I think the latter possibility is more likely.

Because he is not an ally, and there is no reason to increase the number of enemies.

If so how? How are you going to approach me?

I pondered for a while… and soon I let go of my worries.

It was because Ino hugged me from behind when I was silent for a long time.

Ino leaned on my nervous back.

Fear and anguish are washed away for a while.

Right now, I focus on Ino’s body temperature that I feel behind my back.

Other than that, thinking that nothing matters.