Pfff
Night and Ajax barely suppressed the urge to burst out laughing, their expressions twisted into something painfully strange.
Given the main purpose of this visit, they still needed to leave Achilles and his friend a shred of dignity.
Night immediately shifted into absolute composure mode and got his reaction under control.
This left Ajax in a difficult position.
He looked at Patroclus dropping the weapon in embarrassing fashion right in front of him, then looked at Night beside him, and his face went red.
His expression was saying one thing very clearly.
How the hell did you manage to hold back your laughter?
I can't laugh by myself here!!
Sometimes if a whole group laughs it passes as a joke and everyone moves on.
One person laughing alone very easily reads as mockery.
Ajax managed to hold himself together with great effort, though the arm gripping his holy shield was visibly trembling.
At this point Achilles also noticed the two arrivals.
His eyes showed some surprise at seeing Ajax, but when they landed on Night, his pupils contracted slightly.
After Apollo's blessing, Night's presence, bearing, and appearance had all changed significantly.
Even Hector, who knew Night best, and Chryseis, who spent days at his side, wouldn't be able to connect this Night to the one they remembered.
But some people are impossible to forget even turned to ash.
It was a feeling like destiny.
The moment he saw Night, Achilles felt a faint ache in his heel, and his mind snapped back to that night of blazing fire.
Their eyes met across the space between them, as though crossing some distance far greater than physical. He saw again that unbroken, resolute gaze.
Full of courage.
In the form of an ordinary person, someone he never would have considered a threat, a fragile mortal body that had still managed to perfectly replicate his most prized and celebrated throwing technique.
"Achilles?" Patroclus's voice came from nearby, and finally pulled Achilles back.
He suppressed his dissatisfaction and forced a smile.
When Patroclus noticed Achilles couldn't stop staring at the hero Griffith, and had even forgotten about his own embarrassing situation of just dropping the spear, and wasn't doing anything to help,
Who exactly was supposed to be his closest friend here?!
Especially with Griffith standing right there, beautiful enough to appeal to anyone regardless of how they looked at things, and Patroclus felt a sudden urgency he hadn't felt before.
Patroclus wasn't impressive in most ways, but his single greatest asset was having a powerful demigod for a friend.
And through that, he had a chance to take a shortcut and become the most destined candidate to inherit Achilles's equipment.
He was not going to let Achilles's attention wander toward another hero right now.
Whether it was Achilles's glory or saving the Danaans, all of it needed him, and only him, for any of it to happen.
And what Patroclus envied most of all was Achilles's Myrmidons.
This army that followed Achilles to victory after victory on the battlefield was Achilles's private force brought from his homeland.
Only by inheriting both the armor and these soldiers at the same time would he become a true little Achilles, and in one stroke become the most brilliant new name on the battlefield, standing equal with all the great figures.
Therefore, he absolutely couldn't allow any accidents to happen..
...
Patroclus turned to Great Ajax and Night first. "Oh, it's you two.
Great Ajax, Griffith.
Did you come to visit my dear friend Achilles as well?
Perfect timing.
As the hero chosen by the wise Nestor, I have already persuaded Achilles to lend me his armor and his soldiers for the battle.
I wanted to share this good news with you both and celebrate together."
...
Nearby, Achilles heard his friend's words and frowned slightly, but in the end said nothing.
Agamemnon, Agamemnon. Put in some effort and keep drawing Achilles's hatred.
He had a feeling Patroclus was staking a claim somehow, over armor that was his own in the first place.
Never mind.
He already agreed to it, and he wasn't going to go back on his word.
What interested him more right now was the identity of the man standing beside Ajax.
Griffith?!
Even withdrawn from the military center of the Greek alliance, Achilles didn't live completely in the dark about what happened in the camp.
Word had reached him about the hero who rode in on a divine deer and caused chaos through the camp.
That was this man?
Achilles was surprised.
On the other side, Ajax heard Patroclus's words and his expression shifted sharply.
This fool already pulled it off?
He said urgently: "You can't put on that armor, Patroclus, not unless you want to walk straight into a death that was fated for you.
Take it off. Now."
Not long ago, Night had just sang a warning to him, how Patroclus would inherit the armor and die on the battlefield, and how that would lead to Achilles following him.
And the prediction already came true this fast?!
Ajax said it and moved to act, reaching for the armor on Patroclus. He could not stand there and watch that terrible prediction play out in front of him.
Although Griffith kept calling it a guess, Ajax didn't believe that for a second.
What kind of guess came out this specific and this real, enough to make even his own instincts recoil in fear?
He trusted the instincts of a hero, the ones sharpened through countless life-and-death moments on the battlefield. Those didn't lie.
On the other side, Achilles and Patroclus's expressions changed drastically, becoming extremely ugly.
They believed that Ajax the Great was trying to steal the armor.
Achilles moved fast and picked up the divine spear from the ground, sharp anger and deep disgust in his eyes.
He never expected even his own cousin to be after his armor, not just competing for it but going so far as to try and rip it off someone.
Just as the misunderstanding was about to explode into a full-blown confrontation, the moment Ajax stepped forward and Achilles's arm rose,
"Stop!!"
Night grabbed both their arms at once and forced them apart with sudden force.
The strength behind it made even Achilles flinch.
Achilles, who had not witnessed or participated in the attack of the divine deer that day, never imagined that this man would possess such terrifying arm strength.
The powerful arm strength that erupted in an instant left them with absolutely no chance to stop her.
"Ajax. Have you forgotten what I said before?
What did I ask you to do?"
Ajax was stunned for a moment, then realized what was happening.
It seems that his actions just now caused Achilles and Patroclus to misunderstand.
But before he could explain,
Night already had the lyre out and started playing.
Music.
Always the best and fastest key for opening the heart of a stranger.
The familiar melody began.
And Achilles remembered the music from that morning, filled with freedom and hope.
The music that woke something in him, that stopped him from feeling so lost and hollow.
"Was that you?"
.
.
.
(End of the Chapter)