Chapter 10 Humanity
This cunning and shameless thief stole the hearts of humankind.
A gentle breeze blew across the summer night, causing leaves to fall and creating ripples on the lake's surface.
In this situation, Hermes maintained her inner and outward composure and confidence, still confronting the hunting goddess who was looking at her with raised eyebrows, even though she could feel the panic of the nymphs around her, she was not afraid.
Because Artemis was her sister, just as Apollo was her brother.
Moreover, compared to lowering oneself to kowtow in fear and trembling, upholding equality and not fearing power is more popular, isn't it?
“Sister?” Artemis seemed to be pondering the title, her amber eyes fixed on the girl standing before her. “According to you, I should indeed indulge you.”
"But we should also distinguish between good and bad."
Hermes paused, watching as the goddess of the hunt took a silver bow and arrow from the handmaid behind her. The handmaid exuded an aura of locking onto her prey and preparing to strike, and was bending the bow, aiming the sharp arrow at her.
Amidst the increasingly terrified screams of the nymphs, Artemis curled her lips into a smile that appeared both uniquely charming and utterly wicked.
"And I hate it most when others tell me how to do things."
The goddess of the hunt's clear, melodious voice, like the tinkling of silver bells, carried on the wind. As her slender fingers drew the silver bow to its maximum arc, the silver arrow was aimed more steadily at the seemingly adorable but actually treacherous braided girl—her left breast, at the heart made of some unknown material.
Even so, Hermes remained fearless, standing firmly in place, her emerald green eyes fixed on Artemis without blinking.
"Hermes, quickly apologize to Her Highness Artemis and confess your sins!" The nymphs tugged at the girl anxiously, pleading for her: "Your Highness, this child has always been outspoken, and it is indeed her fault, but she is not a bad person. Please have mercy and forgive her!"
Artemis remained silent, as did Hermes.
The two stood facing each other in the cool breeze.
With a 'bang', the long-awaited silver arrow was finally shot from the bow, its coldness as if piercing the air and carrying shards of ice.
A scream rang out, and Hermes lowered her eyes to look at the wound on her right cheek where the arrowhead had pierced her skin. Tiny beads of dark red blood gathered there, and then blood slowly flowed down.
Behind them, the silver arrow was firmly planted in the ancient tree behind the lake. It did not pierce the tree trunk or fall off its surface, but cracks spread rapidly, and even the originally lush leaves on the branches withered and fell instantly.
A mournful, ethereal sound echoed through the area, like the final weeping of a tree in the throes of life.
Hermes was born in Arcadia, and from the moment she was born, she could sense all the living beings that lived there. Everything here was intimately connected to her, as if she and they were symbiotically connected.
When Hermes saw Artemis treating the ancient tree so cruelly, her first reaction was to drop her scepter and run towards the tree. Her winged sandals glided across the lake, until she reached the tree, which was on the verge of death, where she stopped and reached out to touch the poor spirit.
She had long suspected that the goddess of the hunt wouldn't actually harm her, after all, she had Zeus's bloodline, and the other party would definitely have some reservations.
"Does it hurt a lot? It must be so painful..." Hermes' eyes still reddened and tears streamed down her face. She could feel that Artemis's silver arrow had definitely pierced her heart. "I'm sorry, please forgive my willfulness, dear tree spirit, you shouldn't have suffered like this..."
She bit her lower lip, and Hermes' divine power was flowing out continuously.
"I will definitely save you."
Because Hermes was the child and goddess of Arcadia.
Crystalline tears fell to the ground, and the flowers, trees, and plants seemed to sense it, gently swaying in response to her strength.
It's strange. She only knows how to lie and steal, yet when her palms and fingers touch the bark of the tree, the ever-widening cracks slowly heal.
The green light that appeared when the scepter was being manipulated also burst forth from the fingertips, climbing, spreading, and encircling the ancient tree. And so a miracle occurred: the branches and leaves grew lush again, and the tree regained its original vibrant appearance.
Thank you, Hermes.
The call of the tree spirits seemed to come from ancient times, yet it also seemed to have always been by my side.
At the same time, Hermes's facial wounds had healed completely. She stared blankly at the incredible sight before her, then looked down at her delicate hands, never imagining that she possessed such great power.
Moreover, isn't medicine Apollo's brother's divine duty?
Suddenly, the voice of the goddess of nature and the hunt rang in my ears.
"This is the education I'm giving you, my newborn sister."
Hermes blinked, looking through her wet, blurry vision at Artemis beside her, who held a bow and arrow.
The young goddess still had a slight smile on her lips, her aloof brows and eyes softened, and her amber cat-like eyes revealed a hint of approval and satisfaction.
“However, sometimes being too clever can backfire. Remember that, Hermes.” Artemis reached out with her left hand and grasped the deep golden scepter in her five fingers.
Artemis handed Apollo's gift to her truly lovely sister, watching as she rubbed her eyes as if she had just escaped a disaster and breathed a sigh of relief.
Hermes wiped away the last of her tears, gripped the scepter tightly with both hands, and bowed deeply to Artemis.
"Thank you for your guidance, dear sister."
Upon seeing this, Artemis felt a ripple in her heart. She turned her back and walked towards the lake, and the nymphs immediately understood and came to serve her a bath.
The intense gaze from the girl behind him finally faded.
With the help of her maids, the goddess of the hunt removed her boots and clothes and stepped into the water, thinking to herself—it seems that life on Olympus will no longer be so boring.
Since that night, Hermes has come to understand everything.
Instead of blindly searching for Apollo, who came to Arcadia to graze his livestock every day, she chose to venture into other areas of the region. Their mountains and grasslands were not as steep and rugged as those of the Courne Mountains; instead, they were filled with peaceful and idyllic scenery, and the spirits of nature did not often appear there.
That is a dwelling place for humankind.
Legend has it that after Zeus seized power and consolidated the Olympian pantheon, he sent his daughter Athena, the goddess of wisdom and war, and the Titan Prometheus to create new humankind from silver.
This generation of humans differed from the golden humans of the previous god-king Cronus's reign. Because the human world was newly divided into four seasons—spring, summer, autumn, and winter—their lifespans were significantly shortened, and they had to cultivate all the crops on earth themselves. The humans of the Silver Age possessed their own thoughts, had an extremely short adulthood, and rapidly aged and died when they reached a hundred years of age.
Furthermore, they consisted only of men, unlike the gods and elves who had women among them.
Hermes arrived in the land on which the Arcadians depended for their livelihood and found their clothes and houses to be tattered and simple, suggesting that their living conditions were far from ideal. The men worked hard in the fields and herded livestock, and often quarreled and fought for various reasons, with no harmony among them.
Two strong men were arguing over the same piece of land. They were both dissatisfied with Athena's teachings on the equal distribution of effort and reward, because they believed that they had contributed more to the land and deserved a greater and better reward.
Seeing that the two were about to fight, and that the others around them were still indifferent and even cheering them on, Hermes quickly ran over and warned the two men that they should not be so impulsive and rude.
"Who are you?" One of them sized up the child, who looked to be only about ten years old. "You little brat, how dare you interfere in our business? Get out of our way! Or we'll beat you up too!"
Hermes: "..."
Indeed, people in the Silver Age were different from those in the Golden Age; it's clear that the latter were more noble than the former.
Some people, however, suddenly realized the key point.
"Wait, this looks like a girl?" another man who was about to make a move said in surprise. "How can there be a woman? Aren't we all men?"
Could it be that—
Hermes immediately used her divine power to grow rapidly, while recalling Artemis's youthful appearance in her mind.
In just a few seconds, she grew taller and transformed into a beautiful young woman wearing a short skirt.
She still wore her hair in two braids, and those winged sandals were still on her feet.
"My name is Hermes. I was born here and am a goddess." The girl introduced herself with her arms outstretched, a sincere smile on her pretty round face. "I have seen your troubles and suffering, and that is why I have come for you, my dears."
Amidst the astonished gazes of the crowd, she continued gently, "Constant arguments and rude, reckless fights cannot truly solve problems. We need to have a kind and compassionate heart, and learn to live in harmony and help each other."
"So how about you two have a boxing match? The winner takes all, and the loser is condemned. What do you say?"
Everyone: "...Huh?"
How to live in harmony and help each other?
The winner takes all, the loser is condemned?
Goddess, are you sure you mean the same thing?
Things went very smoothly, and after Hermes taught the two men how to box, they actually had a boxing match as she had predicted.
Perhaps it was the thrilling excitement of this action that drew a crowd of people from the area to watch the dazzling competition.
However, after a long time, neither of them had a winner, so Hermes smiled and announced the second match – wrestling.
Very well, the battle is finally over. Hermes raised the victor's arm high and shouted his name.
The man who won the competition flexed his muscles amidst the cheers and applause of the crowd, and even gave the loser, who had been thrown to the ground, a defiant thumbs-down, looking extremely smug and arrogant.
"Trash! That land belongs to me now, you weakling!"
The moment he uttered those words, Hermes, who had flown up, knocked him on the head.
The man clutched his head, staring in bewilderment at the girl in winged sandals holding a scepter, and shouted, "What do you mean by this? Didn't I win, Hermes!"
“You have indeed won, but as I have said, constant arguing cannot truly solve problems. Everyone should live in harmony and help each other.” Hermes was still smiling, but there was an undeniable seriousness and earnestness in her eyes. “Therefore, I will teach you new knowledge, Arcadians, my fellow countrymen.”
She pushed off with both feet and returned to the ground, speaking to the people who were looking at each other in bewilderment on an equal footing.
The omnipotent God refers to the humans He created as His fellow human beings.
"From now on, we must cherish our land even more and unite to face the future together."
So Hermes began a new creation. She invented the ruler, numbers, and the alphabet, and taught people to write and the concepts of weights and measures. She would come to them every day from the cave of Courrenne.
When someone is angry and distressed because their farmland yields no harvest, she will give them a stone statue carved in her own image, and then tell these humans, whom she regards as her own children, "If you encounter difficulties, you can pray to me. If you still get nothing in the end, then whip my statue so that I can respond to your expectations as soon as possible!"
When Athena removed her armor and descended upon Arcadia once more, she saw the people there chiseling stones, carrying marble and timber to Mount Cyrene, where her own trained craftsmen were wholeheartedly building a temple.
In a cold cave at the foot of the mountain, Hermes teaches the children how to make fire by rubbing sticks together to keep warm.
Athena came to Hermes' side and gazed intently at the brown-haired girl gently comforting the human children and laughing with them. A slight feeling touched her heart, and a warm sensation seemed to spread throughout her body.
She always wore her brilliant blonde hair tied back in an elegant bun, and she would wear a beautifully embroidered dress that she had woven herself. When she no longer held the golden spear and the shield of Aegis, the goddess of wisdom and war returned to the appearance of a gentle young girl, and her ivory-white beauty did not diminish her heroic spirit and majesty.
“Hermes.” Athena, being the master of wisdom, easily saw through the innocent nature of her newborn sister. “I heard that you suggested my craftsmen build a sailing ship so that they could travel freely on the ocean and also go to other places to trade.”
Hermes, who was holding her two children and telling them stories, was not surprised by the arrival of the goddess of wisdom and war, after all, Athena had worked hard to help all mankind on earth.
So he nodded to the tall, beautiful goddess and respectfully addressed her as "Your Highness, the Lord God".
Hermes could sense that Athena meant no harm and was a gentle and benevolent goddess, which allowed her to relax and let down her guard in her presence.
“Yes, because humans need to connect with each other, and they can trade what they have to make everyone better off.” Her tone was very serious. This was a conclusion she reached after discussing it with her mother, Maya. Humans in the Golden Age had lived together in such harmony and happiness.
Upon hearing this, Athena's piercing gray-blue eyes melted into warm spring water; she was slightly moved and even sensed the sincerity of the god of deception and theft.
So she said, "I will design sailboats and urge my craftsmen to build them."
This cunning and shameless thief stole the hearts of humankind.
They even volunteered to build a temple for her, devoutly worshipping her and offering her their fervent faith.
For thousands of years, life will continue.
"Thank you, Athena, the best sister in the world! But speaking of which, dear sister," Hermes put the children down and resumed her old habit of visiting relatives, leading the goddess of wisdom by the hand out of the cave, "Why are there only men and no women among humans?"
This question had been bothering her for a long time, because she was also a goddess.
When Athena heard this, she neither blamed Hermes for her rudeness nor refuted the sisterly affection that Hermes was deliberately trying to elicit.
Those soft, boneless hands gently held her five fingers, as endearing as those of human children.
“Because they are very intelligent.” The goddess of wisdom gazed gently at the girl with round green eyes and began to imagine what her mother, who had been swallowed by her father, must have looked like. “The humans here do not have to suffer the pain of childbirth; they are life created by our own hands.”
"This is also... the will of the Father God."
[Author's Note]
According to some sources, in ancient Greek mythology, Hermes invented the ruler, numbers, the alphabet, and fire-making by friction. He was the patron god of various athletic competitions and commerce, and one of the earliest gods who frequently showed benevolence to humankind (although according to some sources, it was Athena who invented ships). It is said that people in other parts of ancient Greece greatly despised the Arcadians because they would whip statues of gods when disaster struck, haha.
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