Chapter 60 - Like An Amoeba
Chapter 60 - Like An Amoeba
Joren woke up the next day and sure enough, he felt pain from his mangled arm.
'Damn that demon and that hundred-faced freak!' he internally cursed after remembering Gyges' smug look.
After getting a night of rest, his mind restarted and began to think-
"Hey, I was pretty reckless last night…"
It must be the tendency to make a fool of those sinners that made him act like a villain.
'No, I'm not the bad guy here… right?'
Although he understood what they were going through without experiencing it himself, Joren was pretty pissed at their request to push Megaera down. He just has to put a middle finger towards them. That's the best he could do.
What can he do in that situation? Joren could only spout words and he thinks that it's pretty pathetic.
'I really want to shut their mouths off!'
At the same time though, it would be pretty dumb to get closer and pick a fight he have zero chance of winning. After some thinking, he let it go. Thinking about it the other way around, what could they do?
Unless something major happened, they would be stuck there forever to suffer. Since they've been there a long time already and even though they really want to get Megaera but couldn't, there's no reason to be scared of them getting out and searching for him.
That would just be an irrational fear and unnecessary anxiety.
So, Joren stood up and stretched himself. He looked at his mangled hand and found that it dyed a part of the bed dead.
"Wow… if I was a normal human, I would've died from blood loss already…"
Losing a lot of blood only made him tired. That got him thinking, just how much immortal is he? At what point is it fatal to kill him? If his head was severed? If his blood was completely drained?
Joren has no idea but wouldn't want to try it. What's good about having an undead body is that he just has to rest and regain the lost energy. He thinks that if he rest enough, he would recover his hand as a whole again.
'So I don't have to worry about completely losing half of my hand for the rest of my life, huh?' he sighed in relief but he wasn't that worried that much in the first place considering that he recovered a whole arm before by drinking Virena's blood.
After some more thinking, Joren chose to find some fitting clothing to cover his hand and fortunately, there was a bandage within one of the large closets there. Is this really a guest room? He thought.
After wrapping his hand, he went out to see one of the ashen-skinned maids waiting for me.
"Good afternoon, Sir, I was tasked to wait for you and bring you to the Lord. Please, follow me."
The maid said to him but Joren could feel a different aura around her.
'Why am I bowing my head to this lowly lesser undead!? And he made me wait until afternoon when he's supposed to wake up in the morning!'
Joren was thinking if he could read minds from people's aura now.
Leading him back to the dining hall, Joren found that they were already halfway through eating.
"Oh, you're finally awake."
Hades, in his tall and stern form, greeted Joren as he was eating. He glanced at the maid and she understood, bringing Joren to his seat which is also his position last time.
"Good afternoon, Joren Vierei."
A fair lady closest to Hades then sat up. Joren knew her. She's the one who angrily stepped into the dining hall last night and was able to shout at the Lord of the UnderWold so she should be Persephone, Queen of the UnderWorld and wife of Hades.
"Good afternoon… sorry I woke up late." Joren looked to his side and saw that Thanatos was not there this time. However, there's another ashen-skinned girl seated in the middle of Allecto and Megaera.
She didn't greet him or even spare a look at him. Compared to Megaera and Allecto, she's the most 'gothic' of them. With dark eyeliner and lips, it's natural to her ashen skin.
"No, it's okay, your body needs a full rest, right? You slept late last night after all since Hades still hosted a midnight feast instead of accommodating a room for you first. I apologize in his stead."
Persephone was the only person who called Hades by his name in front of him. Meanwhile, Hades looked like his pride as a man was getting chipped away in front of the guest. He was so used to it that he didn't think it would be embarrassing in front of a guest.
"So, tell me," Persephone let out a beautiful smile, accentuating her stunning appearance. Joren couldn't help but freeze for a moment. She's a real Goddess unlike the Furies who are another species altogether.
"What's so special about you?" she asked, stunning Joren who was already chewing on his food.
"Persephone, I think that's a rude way to ask a guest to introduce himself." Hades intercepted but Persephone just glanced at him before turning to Joren again.
"How are you more than just a lesser undead?"
'Why are you eating on the same table as us, Gods?'
That's the message that Joren was getting from Persephone's words while at the same time, directed to Hades too for letting this lesser undead in.
"I don't know, I've never thought of myself as special." Joren asked while chewing on his food. The energy to recover his arm really took a toll on him and being in front of another delicious feast, he couldn't control himself.
"Now, now, Persephone. Joren is the only one who had the guts to entertain our family. Even Thanatos rarely visits us."
Hades answered as well.
"That's not enough." Persephone only replied in a cold voice that even struck Hades.
But it was not her fault. A God's position is truly higher than any other being.
It's like humans eating on the same table as dogs do. No, a lesser undead to a God is farther than a dog to a human.
It's like an amoeba eating with them. Maybe that's why Tisiphone is not even sparing him a glance while Persephone only talked to him because Hades specifically let this amoeba in to eat with them.
Normally, she would just cast him away with a flick of her finger if she found him not suiting her sight.
"It's fine, he might not be worth today but he will after he passes my tests." Hades said with pressure.
"A test? Why?" Persephone wanted to continue with 'why would he get this opportunity?' but just didn't bother to continue speaking about someone so insignificant. If any lesser undead gets a chance to try Hades' trials, then anyone could.
Is the palace a testing center?
"He wants to take Allecto's hands and I'm willing to give him a chance." Hades answered with a lower voice than before.
Persephone stood up with wide eyes as Hades expected.
"You're willing to give this… thing a chance to take Allecto's hands?! So, everyone can have Allecto then!? What do you think Allecto is!?"
She then looked at Allecto herself.
"Why aren't you saying anything?!"
"We've already talked about this last night, Queen," compared to how she acted last night, Allecto seemed more accepting today that even Hades sensed something wrong, "as long as he gets to finish the Lord's tests, he will be worth it. But if he couldn't, well, he's as good as my slave."
She said, letting others think of it as a metaphor.
Megaera just rolled her eyes.
"Are you serious?"
Both Persephone and Tisiphone looked at her with questioning eyes. Normally, Allecto would be the one who will deny this the most.
"Yes, the Lord's words are the Lord's words. If anyone could pass the Lord's tests, then that person is worth it. It's simple." Allecto tried to wrap it as simple as that but Persephone was unable to accept it.
"How is that simple? I thought you had that amazing guy, Alexander Great?" Persephone asked.
"No, Queen, that guy's a fake… again." Megaera entered the conversation.
"Eh, really?"
Persephone was visibly shocked.
'Are these two blood related?' all of them thought but thinking about it, yeah, they are actually blood-related.
Persephone is a child of both Cronus and Rhea, and one of the many grandchildrens of the five primordials whereas Allecto is a daughter of Nyx, a primordial herself. Just like Hades, Persephone is their niece but she acts like her mother.
No one questions it anymore.
"Yeah, I don't want to talk about it. Everyone on the internet deceives me!" Allecto gritted her teeth, remembering it.
"Calm yourself." Persephone knew about Allecto's anger issues, being a Goddess of Anger herself, so she coldly reminded her.
"Hm…" Allecto just squinted her eyes and continued eating.
Tisiphone was finally convinced to spare a look at this lesser undead. What did he do to make the high-profiled Allecto tolerate his existence?
'He's not cute, if he was, I would've understood…'
Tisiphone's curiosity was piqued.