[Hah.]

Thanatos shook his head wearily.

He lowered the fist he had raised to strike down Sisyphus and rubbed his forehead.

[Forget it. If that’s the reward, it’s better not to fight.]

“Why?”

[Who would want to take on more work? I can cooperate with the ruler of the Underworld, but I can’t indulge in your hobbies.]

Thanatos coldly cut off Persephone.

But the young sprout was persistent.

Persephone stood in front of Thanatos with a fierce expression and stomped her feet.

“Hobby? I’ve finally been able to achieve my life goal as a deity!”

[What’s your goal?]

“To have my own home.”

[…]

Thanatos stared blankly at Persephone, who had made a circle with her fingers.

His eyes seemed to say, “What nonsense is this?”

Seeing his indifferent look, Persephone quickly waved her hands.

“Ah, but listen. Once you know what I’m thinking, even you, Thanatos, will nod in understanding.”

[What is it?]

Persephone cleared her throat with a “Ahem.” She raised her hand.

“This grand goal of ‘having my own home’ will surely help me control my divine power that I find difficult to manage, and establish myself as a deity, right? It will also help me adapt to the Underworld.”

[Well, that’s true. A god building a home is similar in effect to humans building a temple. At least you won’t be floundering around here anymore.]

Thanatos tilted his cheek.

[But, so what?]

“The first step to achieving this dream of ‘having my own home’ is tilling this field.”

[If that’s the first step, why don’t you just finish plowing the rest yourself? It seems meaningless if I do it for you.]

No matter how adept the sprout was at stealing nutrients from its neighbors, and even if Thanatos himself had a bad relationship with that person, it was too much to indulge her so carelessly.

‘Since my very existence as death is the antithesis of life, I don’t understand why she’s pestering me.’

Just as Thanatos was about to leave the garden after clicking his tongue, Persephone asked seriously:

“Would you be willing to invest in me, Thanatos?”

“I’m a rookie even Hermes acknowledged. I’ll pay you back double, no, tenfold later!”

Thanatos turned to look at Persephone, who had spread her hands wide.

Normally, he would have dismissed this as absurd bravado, but this was someone who already knew how to bully a prisoner of Tartarus.

Glaring at Sisyphus, who had been secretly enjoying his rest, Thanatos asked Persephone a question.

[Let’s hear your plan. How do you intend to pay me back tenfold?]

“When I become famous as a deity, I’ll acquire a lot of property. I’ll use that to pay you back!”

[You’ll pay me back with property?]

“Yes!”

Persephone let out a sinister laugh, “Hehe,” exuding an undeniable desire.

“When I become famous, humans will praise me, right?”

[I suppose so.]

“If I receive praise, I’ll receive many offerings, right?”

[…]

“That way, I can pay you back more than tenfold, Thanatos!”

She made a circle shape with her other hand as well.

“I’ll even share some of the offerings I receive from humans once I succeed. You don’t have a temple or anything, right Thanatos?”

Persephone held the circles she made with her hands up to her eyes.

Her eyes gleamed – not ‘sparkled’ – repeatedly at the thought of recruiting Thanatos as her talent.

‘So in the end, she’s telling me to cut off my nose to spite my face.’

Thanatos frowned and shook his head.

[I refuse. Regrettably, I’m more of a stickler for principles than even Hades. Originally, I should have stopped you from using the King of Corinth as a laborer, but you seem to control him well, so I didn’t bother to intervene.]

“Aww…”

[You know it’s even more annoying when you look at me with those sparkling eyes?]

Just as Thanatos was about to pass by Persephone,

“Are you afraid, son of Nyx? Of something so trivial?”

Sisyphus snorted.

Thanatos’s gaze, which had instantly dropped in temperature, turned towards Sisyphus.

Sisyphus paid no heed to the blatant hostility pouring out. He shrugged and shouted at Persephone.

“See that, young deity? Even the fearsome title of death isn’t much!”

[…]

“From the start, I’m stronger than that guy who looks like he has no vitality or stamina- Ack!”

In the end, Thanatos’s hand, unable to contain his anger, struck Sisyphus’s Adam’s apple.

Sisyphus collapsed with white foam in his mouth.

Thanatos, who had been coldly staring at him, clenched his fist.

[Preemptive strike, certain victory.]

Startled by the sudden impact, Persephone pointed back and forth between Sisyphus and Thanatos.

“What? Attacking before we start is cheating!”

[I give my all in a duel, no matter who the opponent is. Even if they’re human.]

“Oh…”

Persephone looked Thanatos up and down with eyes full of respect. She nodded as if in agreement.

“That’s right. They say the best defense is a good offense, and the best offense is a surprise attack. So this is what they call elder abuse.”

[That’s right. I only knocked him out without injuring him, so it’s also respecting the elderly.]

Poking Sisyphus repeatedly with her finger next to Thanatos, Persephone suddenly asked a question.

“By the way, where did you learn things like surprise attacks?”

[Why do you think I learned it rather than figuring it out on my own?]

“Just because you look like you might have…”

[…]

Giving up on understanding Persephone’s words, Thanatos added.

[I learned it from Hydra.]

“I see…”

Trailing off, Persephone pointed at Sisyphus.

“Then whose responsibility is this? Is it Hydra’s responsibility?”

[Why?]

“You knocked out my worker with the surprise attack you learned from Hydra.”

[So you’re saying I should take responsibility?]

“Ding dong dang, correct answer!”

Persephone jumped up from her seat and clapped her hands.

“As expected, you’re smarter than Sisyphus!”

It was clearly meant to be a compliment from any angle, but why didn’t it feel like one?

Thanatos’s eyebrows twitched with inner conflict.

Persephone grinned as if not to miss this opportunity.

“Come to think of it, Thanatos, you’re much stronger than Sisyphus, more powerful, and your shadow is cooler.”

She began circling around the god of death like a satellite, rubbing her palms together slyly like a fly.

“And your wings are really awesome, and your skin is as smooth as porcelain…”

[…]

“Plus, your voice is mysterious, befitting the son of Nyx…”

[What’s your point?]

Persephone, who had briefly been possessed by the spirit of a flatterer, smiled brightly.

“So, wouldn’t you be much better at tilling the field than someone like Sisyphus?”

[This is the timeline separator]

To cut to the chase, Thanatos tilled Persephone’s garden after putting Sisyphus back in Tartarus.

He had no choice, as she seemed determined to chase him to the ends of the earth if he didn’t.

As a senior deity from time immemorial, it was also beneath his dignity to keep refusing.

[Is this enough?]

Thanatos put down the plow after finishing tilling the field.

“Hmm-” Persephone looked around and pointed to the edge of the garden.

“Please till a bit more over there.”

[…]

Suddenly feeling very annoyed, Thanatos grabbed the plow with his shadow.

The plow tilled the field instead of Thanatos, floating in mid-air.

Persephone raised her index finger towards the plow floating in the shadow’s grasp.

“No, if you could do it this easily with your shadow, why didn’t you do it from the start?”

[The shadow is for work purposes.]

“But this is about to become work too!”

[Helping you ends today.]

“Aw…”

Persephone pursed her lips like a duck at Thanatos’s firm words.

Moving her protruding lips this way and that, she suddenly stood up.

Then she immediately brought a small wooden box.

“Now I’ll give you a meal. A promise is a promise.”

He was about to refuse, but Persephone took out the food from the wooden box as fast as a squirrel climbing a tree.

“Here you go.”

He wondered what the meal was, but it turned out to be a round bread small enough to hold in one hand…

‘Did she hollow out the middle of the bread?’

The shape was a bit different.

It seemed she had hollowed out the middle of a thick barley bread and filled it with vegetables or meat mixed with sauce.

Observing the unidentified food like a frog, Thanatos asked Persephone.

[Did you hollow out the bread and put salata (Σαλάτα: salad) inside?]

“Yes, that’s right. Barley bread is coarser than wheat bread, so the shape holds up well even when hollowed out.”

[Oh… That’s quite creative.]

“What do you think is in the salata?”

[Parsley and pickled olives, minced meat, sliced cucumber, and diced onions…]

As Thanatos frowned slightly, Persephone added:

“I put plenty of cheese and slightly curdled sheep’s milk, and added some crumbled barley bread pieces I hollowed out.”

[Ah.]

“The cheese is a bit salty so I didn’t add salt, but I did add honey.”

[So that’s why it was sticky.]

“The assertive vegetables shouldn’t misbehave and try to escape the bread. You have to make it moist to keep them in place.”

He didn’t know vegetables had manners, but the idea itself was quite good.

He especially liked that she didn’t waste the hollowed-out bread pieces but added them to the salata to make it softer.

Thanatos stuffed the whole bread into his mouth at once and swallowed the food without chewing much.

“…”

[Why are you looking at me like that?]

Thanatos asked Persephone, who was staring with her mouth open. She glared at the bread with burning eyes.

“I want to eat it in one bite too. I’m confident in my big mouth. Do you know how many olive fruits can fit in my mouth?”

[That’s a new way to commit suicide.]

“…”

[If you want me to draw my scythe, go ahead and try.]

Persephone quietly chewed and swallowed her portion of bread.

Watching her, Thanatos asked a question.

[By the way, why were you going to serve this kind of meal to Sisyphus?]

Persephone’s eyes widened slightly.

Throwing a glance at her, Thanatos continued speaking.

[You do know that the person you were trying to provide food to is a prisoner of Tartarus, right?]

“Ah, yes. Of course.”

[And that he’s the one who deceived the Lord of the Underworld and Death?]

“Uh…”

[You seemed to know all about Sisyphus’s circumstances.]

Thanatos must have seen everything, including how Persephone subdued him by mentioning the prisoner’s past.

Although she was skilled at lying shamelessly, this time it seemed she couldn’t avoid the question.

Persephone nodded lightly as if admitting it.

“Yes, that’s right. I knew everything.”

[You knew and still tried to provide food to a prisoner?]

“…Is that not allowed?”

[…]