I've Possessed Persephone - Chapter 73

“……Sigh.”

Hades, having heard the whole story from them, let out a very, very deep breath while holding his wrinkled forehead.

“You…… believed Hermes’ words?”

“I’m sorry.”

“That guy ran away in advance, perhaps fearing that the arrow might be directed at me. You were deceived by that guy, who is also the god of lies and deceit?”

Oh, oh wow. His voice is too low, is this okay?

It’s more frightening that he’s not yelling.

He’s not nagging loudly like Demeter, and it’s creepy when a kind and generous person gets angry calmly.

“Wait, wait, Lord Hades. Please wait a moment.”

“……Why are you doing this, Persephone.”

“That, well, don’t I also have some responsibility for being caught not properly growing the silphium……?”

“Don’t make excuses for them.”

Even at Persephone’s question, Hades firmly shook his head.

“You are not my subordinate, and I let it slide because it ended up being helpful, but this is different. They broke the rules established for the peace and safety of the Underworld.”

“…….”

“Those rules are also for your sake, so you must never overlook them. Please understand.”

Wow, even though I said it as cutely as possible, look how he rejected it right away!

‘What do I do about this.’

If you think about it, it was Lord Hermes who tricked them, and those people are only guilty of being innocent……!

It was then that the sound of footsteps was heard.

“Your Majesty, please calm down.”

It was Iasion with a faint smile on the corner of his mouth.

“……God of Agriculture.”

“It’s my fault.”

He calmly continued his explanation.

“Although our first meeting was quite violent, the Reaper and the Hydra revealed their identities and tried to explain the situation to me. At that time, we were at the boundary between the Underworld and the living world.”

“…….”

“However, upon hearing the news that my daughter was in the Underworld, I became frantic and ran like a bull. It’s ultimately my fault for coming down to the Underworld.”

“…….”

“So, apart from opening the boundary between the Underworld and the living world, I don’t see any other faults of theirs.”

Hades looked at Iasion with a rather pained expression, but Iasion just kept smiling as if nothing had happened.

In the end, it was Hades who raised his hands first.

“……Yes, it’s also wrong to interrogate subordinates in front of others. With Persephone’s precedent, I momentarily lost my reason as well.”

“It’s a good attitude. I’m so moved to see you becoming a king, Your Majesty.”

“…….”

Hades smacked his lips in displeasure.

……The nuance of the conversation was somehow strange.

‘Do they know each other?’

It seems like Father is somehow adoring the great Lord Hades?

‘The title “Your Majesty” is also unique? Even if he’s a king, not an emperor, I heard they use “Your Majesty”, but everyone else calls him Lord Hades or the King of the Underworld……’

If they had talked a little more with each other, she could have found out what kind of relationship they had, but the two stared at each other for a while and then nodded.

“God of Agriculture, Iasion.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“I apologize on behalf of my subordinates for humiliating you.”

“Not at all.”

Iasion glanced at Persephone and then turned his head back to Hades.

“As long as my daughter is here anyway, and as long as the request is to ask how to revive withered plants, I would have come to the Underworld anyway.”

“Then will you stay in the Underworld?”

“Yes, for now.”

Hades rubbed his brow.

“Persephone, you know that this person is the God of Agriculture, your biological father.”

“Yes.”

“……Would it be okay for you to be with him?”

Persephone, a glass cannon about to be disarmed – ah, not glass anymore – blinked her eyes at Iasion, who had been fidgeting his fingers for a while.

He seemed happy to meet his daughter unexpectedly, although he turned his head away as he seemed to be more introverted than he looked and was flustered.

Then there was no reason to refuse.

“Of course!”

Besides, there were things she wanted to ask when the two of them were alone.

* * *

“Hmm……. So, where is that silphium field first?”

After the commotion had been roughly settled, Iasion fidgeted in Persephone’s field.

Persephone, who had been observing her father’s face, suddenly asked.

“Can I ask you a question before you complete the request?”

“Sure.”

“Really?”

“……What do you want to ask that you’re like this?”

Iasion laughed as if deflated.

“Why did you live apart from mom and me?”

“…….”

“You seem to like me so much though.”

It was then that his smile froze like ice.

Iasion stiffened with a smile on his face. He closed his eyelids firmly to hide his trembling eyes and spoke in a small voice.

“……I didn’t abandon you and your mother.”

Aha, so that’s why he had been fidgeting nervously. Persephone gestured with her eyes as if to tell him to explain more.

“Hmm, I mean, your mother and I had a good relationship, but something big happened and we ended up living apart.”

Persephone’s gaze turned sharp as she stared intently at Iasion.

After gauging whether what he said was sincere or not, Persephone broke the silence first.

“Is that “something big” the prophecy given to mom?”

“……What?”

Iasion abruptly raised his head.

“Prophecy……? What’s that?”

“Are you trying to hide something?”

The moment he reflexively blurted out an answer that didn’t make sense, Iasion realized that if he lied in front of his daughter, he would be crushed on the spot.

Because Persephone was cracking her wrists while smiling.

Iasion, who had been stammering with a smiling face while sweating profusely, finally handed over a small apology, saying “I’m sorry…….”. He continued.

“H-how did you know? Did your mother tell you?”

“No, well. She told me when I came to the Underworld. She said that until now, you had paid attention to me and it was okay, but now you wouldn’t be able to, so be careful.”

“…….”

Iasion’s mouth gaped like a goldfish. After sighing several times, he gently sat down next to the field ridge.

“……I left after the prophecy was given.”

Persephone also plopped down next to him.

“The prophecy given to your mother was that the person she loves would die, right?”

“That’s right.”

“Leaving you, the weakest of the three, we divided our roles. I was to find a contingency plan in case you “died,” and Demeter was to protect you full-time.”

“…….”

“And that decision was made when you were very young, so you have no memory of me.”

After finishing his words, Iasion rubbed his bangs and asked Persephone. Very carefully.

“Do you understand?”

……”Memory,” he said.

If she had only lived with her father when she was young, it made sense that she wouldn’t remember well.

‘But until I met him directly like this, I couldn’t even recall the simple name “Iasion,” let alone find it familiar?’

Come to think of it, there were a few times when I tried to remember like now but couldn’t……

‘Once after I had a meal with Lord Hades and gave up trying to recall my father’s name, and the second time was when Cerberus said “a certain name.”‘

It was at that moment that lightning flashed through Persephone’s mind, which had been immersed in a sea of thoughts.

‘Should I try using my divine power?’

It was her divine power that had drawn out Cerberus’ longing.

Perhaps it was also her divine power that could stimulate her blank mind.

“Persephone?”

“…….Hmm.”

However, when she actually gathered divine power in her palm, the amount was still only a trickle.

Persephone looked at Iasion once and smiled brightly.

“Shall we look at the silphium?”

It didn’t seem like a problem that could be solved right away.

Since she had asked one question for now, when her divine power was sufficient, yes. She would try next time.

* * *

Silphium.

A precious panacea and spice.

If this is fed to livestock, their meat becomes top-grade, and if the extract is added to a dish, it produces an exquisite flavor.

As if reflecting its notoriety, this herb is very difficult to grow. Even in the world above, it only grows in one region.

“……It’s over-nutrition.”

Iasion, who had been touching the stem of that precious plant, easily concluded.

“It received too much nutrition. That’s why it’s withered.”

“……Then how do I revive it? I’ve already used divine power as fertilizer.”

“Hmm, that’s true. We can’t remove the divine power that’s already been absorbed.”

“Umm…….”

Persephone pouted her lips.

It was only the other day that she explained to Lord Hades that she had paid too much attention to the daffodil pot, and now she made this mistake.

Will these guys eventually have to be pulled out and discarded?

Persephone, who was swallowing tears in her heart with gloomy thoughts, was about to bow her head.

“There’s no other way…….”

Iasion pulled out an oak piece from his bosom.

The end was wrapped in oil-soaked cloth as if used as a torch. After tapping the ground to remove the blackened cloth, he began to draw hieroglyphs around the field.

“What are you doing?”

“Magic.”

“……What?”

Persephone alternately looked at Iasion and the characters he was writing with puzzled eyes.

“It’s magic to release some power. It will take a day or two like this. Until then, the silphium will have to endure.”

“Oh…….”

“Why?”

Iasion, who had been writing characters around the herb field, raised his head.

“Did you learn it from Hecate by any chance?”

“How did you know?”

“Isn’t Hecate the representative goddess who uses sorcery or magic?”

“That’s right. Our daughter is smart.”

For a moment, she wondered if it was okay for the God of Agriculture to use magic or sorcery from foreign countries – Hecate’s homeland was not mainland Greece – but, well…….

If that was the case, it made even less sense that he had been wandering around until now.

Persephone decided to interestingly observe the power of a magician she had never witnessed before.

Iasion, who had finished all the measures in no time, fluttered his cherry blossom-colored hair.

“By the way, are you managing all this by yourself?”

“I have a slave, no, a worker.”

“How many workers do you have?”

“Just one.”

“Only that many?”

Iasion looked around with surprised eyes.

To be fair, Persephone’s field had become quite large now.

She had barely called it a vegetable garden, but she might have expanded it a bit because she was happy that the vegetables were growing well.

“Yes, that’s the number of fixed members who come to work almost every day. There are many who come often to help though.”

Hydra was not a worker, and although she often received help from Thanatos, he had many other tasks.

Needless to say about Asclepius, who wasn’t interested in the surroundings, or Hermes, the messenger god.

Hades was the best civil servant who reflected the complaints well, but he was still lacking as a worker.

“Then, anyway, you’re saying that you and one other person manage this field…… What kind of guy is he?”

Persephone, who had been reading the black writing, asked.

“Then, would you like to go and meet him with me after this is done?”

Her eyes looked far away, toward the firmly built bronze gate.