This is the marketplace, where the voices of merchants with good vocals and storytellers sporadically burst out.

In one corner of that marketplace, a hooded man quickly crosses through.

At a glance, the man looked like a traveler.

Even more so in that no one wondered about his whereabouts, and no one was looking for him.

However, the jingling of a pouch full of silver coins and reaching the intersection in just one attempt through the complex streets exuded a distinctly different aura from an ordinary traveler.

Though not as much as the messenger god Hermes, one might say a unique magical power could be felt.

The man, looking around, opened the pouch of silver coins he had received for growing crops on behalf of others.

A low whisper spread through the air.

“Hmm… Should I offer it all to Demeter’s temple before I go?”

The man muttering to himself left the marketplace and entered a small road.

On the path leading to Demeter’s temple, the man hesitated for a moment, then stepped forward as if he had made up his mind.

He hurriedly handed over the heavy pouch of silver coins to the priest of Demeter’s temple, and left like a reed swaying in the wind before the priest could even express gratitude.

It was around the time his shoes had passed the public cemetery outside the city and entered the forest.

“Haah…”

The man took off the outer garment that also served as a hat.

What was revealed was a heavenly face.

Pale pink hair, and golden-brown eyes resembling fertile soil.

At least in appearance, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call him remarkably handsome.

“…!”

At that moment, for some unknown reason, the wind clawed at the man’s hair.

Since it’s unlikely that the god who is the wind itself would newly visit his side, this must be…

“…Lord Hermes?”

The messenger of the king of gods, presumably.

As expected, a god with brown hair appeared in mid-air.

“It’s been a while since I saw you?”

“Lord Hermes, what brings you here of all places?”

“Well, I didn’t come for any particular reason. Think carefully about whose guardian deity I am.”

“…”

The man pressed his lips tightly.

Hermes was basically the assistant to the king of gods, but he was also the guardian deity of wanderers.

‘…I guess I look like a traveler to anyone now.’

It wasn’t unpleasant, but considering his original birth, and why he had come to wander, it wasn’t exactly a treatment to be happy about.

After a silence, the man asked the messenger god.

“Do you also protect other gods?”

“Is that not allowed?”

The messenger god shamelessly answered the question with another question. He nodded towards the city the man had come from.

“That’s the city you came from, right? You were walking without hesitation before going to Demeter’s temple earlier. Do you have the map all memorized in your head?”

“…That’s right.”

“Oh ho. So you had it all memorized anyway?”

“That’s correct.”

The messenger god rubbed his chin as if genuinely intrigued. It was around then that he threw a sudden question.

“Ah, by the way, where are you going?”

“Pardon?”

“Don’t you have a destination? A place to stay?”

“…How could someone who left home of their own accord have a shelter?”

The man self-deprecated. As if he was used to putting himself down in such a way.

Hermes, blinking his eyes, pointed to a clearing where trees were sparse.

It was a hillside lush with wildflowers.

“Then, why don’t you try going over there, to that hillside? It’s pretty with lots of flowers blooming.”

“Thank you for the sightseeing recommendation.”

“Save your thanks. I’m busy, so I’ll be going now!”

The man bowed slightly to the messenger god who left as swiftly as he had come.

His feet, which were originally meant to continue to the next city, turned towards the hill.

Then, a scene far more beautiful than he had imagined revealed itself.

“Oh…”

The man couldn’t help but let out an exclamation. Over a hundred daffodils bloomed under the sunlight as if showing the way.

‘How pretty.’

It made him think of the plateau in Sicily on a spring day, making his eyes sting.

Just as the man bent down to pluck a daffodil.

But…

‘Aren’t daffodils not supposed to bloom now?’

Rumble−!

At that precise moment when the man realized something was off, the ground shook entirely. The man who had let go of the daffodil stem shook like a bean on a tray.

Eventually, his body fell through a large crack that had appeared out of nowhere.

He tried to scream, but someone’s strong hand covered his mouth and eyes first.

Only then did he realize that he hadn’t unfortunately been caught in an accident.

This was an abduction.

Moreover, those who grabbed him weren’t just one person. He fell down the cliff in an instant.

“Huk…!”

After some time had passed, the hand was removed from his eyes.

His vision was still dark. The man turned around, exhaling hot breaths tinged with anger.

“Who are you…!”

At that moment, a pair of a man and a woman emerged from the darkness like smoke.

[If you ask about our identity.]

The one who looked like a death god calmly stretched his arm horizontally behind the woman.

“It’s only right that we answer.”

The woman spread her arms symmetrically to him.

[I am Thanatos, the god of death and son of Nyx.]

“I am Hydra, Hades’ assistant and messenger.”

The man who realized the identity of his kidnappers turned pale.

Thanatos approached the man who was trying to step back.

[We have come to entrust a request to you, the god of fields and sowing……]

“The god of agriculture.”

The face of the man referred to as ‘the god of fields and sowing’ changed like a corpse.

He was about to shake his head vigorously, saying they had the wrong person, but.

[If you come to the underworld willingly, there will be no bloodshed.]

Thanatos tried to placate the agricultural god, anticipating that he would easily deny his identity.

The agricultural god’s eyebrows wriggled like waves. His eyes hurriedly scanned the surroundings.

“Haah…”

There was no way out. A sigh escaped through his lips.

The god of fields and sowing, commonly known as the ‘agricultural god.’

The husband of the earth goddess Demeter and the biological father of Persephone.

“…Are the gods of the underworld usually this violent?”

The man− Iasion opened his eyes straight.

[Calm down. As I said just now, there was no intention to threaten.]

“…Well, I never.”

Iasion crossed his arms as if dumbfounded.

“What is this request? It’s quite out of the blue to say such things after dragging a person here.”

[Yes, of course it must be sudden, but……]

Thanatos continued.

[Come to the underworld and pass on the method of growing the herb silphium for your daughter.]

“What did you say?”

[I’ll say it again. Your daughter, Persephone, is having difficulty growing the herb silphium. As the god of agriculture, we need your advice−]

“…No, before that……”

The agricultural god raised his hand abruptly.

A clear crack crossed his iris that resembled a wheat spike.

“Why is my daughter in the underworld?”

Iasion, with a hardened expression, sharply threw the question.

“…That can’t be possible.”

“Uh, as you know, gods are immortal, so Persephone coming to the underworld is just−”

“No, no…!”

The situation was not looking good.

Just as the flustered Thanatos and Hydra were about to explain again that Persephone was just a temporary guest.

[Wait, listen to everything…!]

The agricultural god jumped into the gap between the cliffs.

* * *

[Wait…!]

“…Excuse me…!”

Persephone, who was pulling out carrots, raised her head at the strange commotion.

‘What’s this?’

Just then, a long and appropriately thick carrot came out smoothly.

It was a high-quality product that made her mouth water with its mysterious sweet scent, but Persephone couldn’t take her eyes off the mountain above the field even as she swallowed her saliva.

A tall man was coming down the mountain like a wild boar.

Oh, perhaps the soul of a wild boar had entered that human body.

Even Thanatos and Hydra were chasing that man, so Persephone stopped pulling carrots and watched the chase with interested eyes.

That wild boar must have died quite unjustly. Otherwise, there’s no way he could have avoided even Thanatos’s hand stretching out from the air.

Hmm, but… Somehow, those nimble movements seem similar to when I tried to escape from the underworld.

‘I guess everyone moves like that when they don’t want to be caught.’

Persephone lightly shook off her thoughts and was about to pull the next carrot stem.

A shadow fell over her head.

‘Huh…?’

Persephone slowly raised her head.

Then the man she had seen earlier came into view.

His appearance was on par with Hades, but of a different type of handsome man.

Tears were swirling in his golden-brown eyes like water in a teacup, and if it were someone else, they might have offered to hide him right away, regardless of what was happening, due to his beauty.

Strange. I shouldn’t have any connection with such a beautiful wild boar.

“Who are you?”

In the end, Persephone asked first in an innocent tone.

Did that question stimulate the handsome man’s heart even more? Delicate teardrops fell from his finely furrowed eyes.

“…Are you dead?”

“Huh?”

“Did you come here because you died?”

…The wild boar spoke!