The original Artemis was a goddess of nature.
It was only later that her legend became mixed with that of Selene, and she gained the title of moon goddess.
Just as with Apollo, whose identity as a god of light became mixed with the power of the sun god.
If one looked at mythology not through the lens of myth itself but through the lens of human history, one could observe the evolution of myths to understand and grasp the true nature of Artemis.
She should be a deity who loved nature and protected the beauty of the natural world she cherished.
Fighting for all that was beautiful in the world.
Just as her personal myth described, Artemis's character held both a wild and chaotic side and a naturally beautiful side.
She was a goddess representing the force of nature.
That character was like the untamed wilderness, presenting to people the cruelty and grace that existed side by side.
And now she discovered an incomparably magnificent color.
A color that stirred more love and protective instinct in her than any color she ever encountered before.
Her gaze grew somewhat gentle, like water, and even Artemis herself did not notice.
And the reaction of this virgin goddess was still the more restrained one.
The nine Muses beside her, the moment their gazes landed on Night's face, could not look away at all, as though their eyes were welded in place.
Though they were goddesses of youth and beauty themselves, at this moment they turned exactly the same greedy gaze that ordinary mortals and male gods used when staring at them upon another, roaming shamelessly across his figure as though the next moment they would swallow the person on the ground whole.
The king of the seas, Poseidon, who ruled over the ocean, even cried out in wonder at this moment. "He is like a spirit fallen into the mortal world..."
In this moment, the hearts of all the gods were moved.
Poseidon looked down at the earth with an incomparably burning gaze.
And he felt grief that he did not discover such a beautiful person sooner.
It seems he had now become a member of Artemis's household.
No good. He needed to find an opportunity to take the person from Artemis.
She was a pure goddess who never accepted male devotees.
She probably would not care about a male hero anyway.
To take a filthy and impure male... no, calling that beautiful person filthy and impure was far too much.
To take this male hero away from the side of the pure goddess was also for the sake of the goddess's chastity.
He, as her uncle, could not just stand by and watch Artemis get seduced by that dangerously bewitching beauty.
Therefore...
"!! Beautiful child of man! Would you be interested in becoming my dependent?"
The god-king Zeus's suddenly gentle voice cut off Poseidon's beautiful daydream.
Poseidon: ?
Zeus, you are shameless!!
Stealing someone away from your own daughter!
Ahem!!
It seemed he realized his solicitation was too blatant.
The Father God Zeus, who just a moment ago wore a face of cruelty and cold indifference like a thunderstorm, transformed in the very next instant into a voice so soft and gentle, as though afraid of startling or frightening the child of man below him.
It instantly left all the heroes on the ground stunned.
This naked, blazing display of double standards made the heroes all lower their heads and quickly pretend they saw nothing and heard nothing.
Who would dare question the great god Zeus, the sole ruler of all heaven and earth?
"I know you. You are the hero who plays music every morning at dawn, drawing hundreds of birds to gather.
In the art of music, you are already no less skilled than the nine Muses and my son Apollo.
Such wonderful music should not be buried..."
After Zeus finished giving his reasons, his earlier invitation finally stopped seeming so abrupt and forward.
But Artemis, who slowly came back to her senses at this point, already barely suppressed the fury in her heart and developed clear displeasure toward her own father.
Before she could say anything...
"I am grateful for your kind favor, great Father God Zeus. I am a follower of Artemis, Goddess of the Hunt and the Moon. I ask your forgiveness, but I cannot serve another at the same time."
Down on the earth below, Night spoke in a calm and steady voice.
That immediate and unhesitating refusal instantly left all the other gods stunned.
Including Artemis herself.
The follower of the god-king Zeus held a status far higher than the follower of an ordinary member of the twelve Olympians.
That was the favor of the almighty Zeus, King of the Gods.
Out of all the heroes of Greece who received an olive branch from Zeus, how many could bring themselves to refuse it?
Even those who refused would at least feel their heart move before saying no.
Quite a few mortals who knew full well what a rotten mess Zeus could be still went wild with joy when invited by the god-king, and no small number even eagerly bent over backwards for him.
After all, Zeus was remarkably good to those on his side as the god-king.
He was genuinely lavish with no pretense about it.
He never held back when it came to giving out equipment and power.
No hero could ignore that kind of favor without their heart moving.
And yet Night did it.
Was his faith in the moon goddess truly that firm?
For a moment, after also seeing that face, regardless of his strength or talent, everyone felt an impulse to seize him, even if only to keep him as a decorative presence...
But before any of the gods could act, the God-King moved first and was refused.
The most disappointed at this moment were the nine Muses.
They just heard Zeus say that the beautiful music drifting out from the Greek camp these past few days came from that human below.
And they liked this hero even more because of it.
The added connection of a shared passion made the goddesses' gazes even more infatuated and open.
But if even the great Zeus could not succeed, then the olive branches of goddesses like them, who were not even chief gods, would be even less likely to be accepted.
Of course...
Opposites attract, and like repels like.
The Muses, whose own singing was equally beautiful, hit Sirens with full force.
But toward night, this strikingly beautiful male, they were equally full of aggression, only it became a different and more blatant kind of aggression.
"Griffith, you... you actually refused the great god Zeus's invitation?"
"Do you even know what you just missed? Gulp..."
At this moment Odysseus, who was not normally drawn to men, could not help swallowing a mouthful of saliva at the sight of that beautiful face.
He even began to wonder whether the person before him was still the one he knew.
And King Agamemnon's gaze could not move away at all.
Both eyes went wide!
...?!
Wait, how did he never notice before that Griffith was this strikingly handsome?
At this moment Agamemnon's thoughts were so scrambled that for a single instant he could not help but have that kind of thought.
They already had a treasure like Griffith in their Greece, and yet they still went to fight over Helen.
That was a little unreasonable.
The true treasure was right here beside them all along, and they never even realized it?
At this moment...
As the most beautiful woman and goddess in all of Greece.
The true form of the goddess of beauty sat in the heavens, while a projection of herself remained beside Helen down on earth to keep watch over her.
Never mind the true form up in the heavens.
At this moment the true form still barely held herself together because all the other gods were watching.
The projection below, however, already pressed both hands against her own face.
Her fair and slender legs rubbed together without her being able to stop them.
Her face flushed crimson with infatuated longing as she parted her lips slightly and let out a warm breath, murmuring over and over in a low voice. "Griffith! Ah!! Griffith!
He became even better looking.
After removing the cloak, that radiant and beautiful brilliance..."
Before, she only caught a brief glimpse of that bewitching charm and already could not look away.
The projection, the little alternate self, the princess, had even less resistance.
On top of that, the bewitching charm, as though all self-restraint were stripped away and fully exposed to the open air, suddenly surged dozens of times stronger.
Ah!!
Lost in that bewitching charm, the princess suddenly let out a low and brief shriek.
.
.
.
(End of the Chapter)