King of Underworld

Chapter 32: Sisyphus… The Story of Thanatos – (3)

As soon as Ares made eye contact with the newly awakened Thanatos, he dashed back to the underworld…

And reported everything to Hades.

“Uncle Hades! You won’t believe what Lord Thanatos is doing right now…”

“…?”

Ares, who had expected a fierce battle with a powerful monster that had bested Thanatos, now pouted like a child who had their toy taken away.

When the gods of the underworld realized what had happened, they were outraged.

“What?! So this whole situation was because…”

“And who is this Sisyphus human?”

“Damn it! So Thanatos was just sleeping?!”

“Lord Ares, are you sure you’re not lying…”

“I swear by the River Styx, everything I said is true!!!”

Soon, some of the gods of the underworld ambushed Thanatos as he brought Sisyphus into the underworld.

To be precise, they waited at the entrance to the underworld and bound him with ropes.

“Gah! Hypnos, why are you doing this! Styx, you too!”

“Do you even know how much we’ve suffered while you were slacking off and sleeping?!”

“I heard from Ares that you were even snoring!”

And so, Thanatos was captured and dragged in like a criminal, under the strict supervision of the two gods.

Of course, Sisyphus, stunned by this unprecedented situation, just walked in by himself.

“Uh… Uh… Ah…?”

The only one who welcomed the briefly lazy Thanatos was the ferryman of the Acheron River, Charon.

Even though he had only slacked off for a short time, now he would have to row the boat again…

Thus, before me stood the bound Thanatos and Sisyphus.

Thanatos was tied up tightly with ropes by the angry gods,

while Sisyphus knelt before me, looking dazed and vacant.

“What! You’re making such a fuss just because I took a short nap! I only intended to sleep for a day!”

Thanatos shouted defiantly beside the seemingly brain-dead Sisyphus.

My head ached as if I were Zeus after swallowing Metis.

“Reaping souls must have been quite… exhausting, Thanatos…”

“Exactly, Hades! You understand my troubles well! I really only meant to take a brief…”

At that moment, the other gods standing beside me reacted explosively.

First, Hypnos, who had been traveling all over the world, forcibly putting to sleep the living who had been deprived of death.

“What?! A brief nap? Where do you get off saying such nonsense, Thanatos!”

Then, Moros & Keres, who had similarly suffered while traveling all over the world because their duties overlapped with the god of death.

“Thanatos! Do you even hear yourself?”

“You disrupted the cycle of the world for several days, and yet you speak so lightly!”

Morpheus, who had appeared night after night in the dreams of mortals to warn them against harming life, also chimed in.

“Lord Hades! Thanatos must have conspired with the god of time, Cronus! How else could such a brief period of time…”

Many other gods and overseers also condemned Thanatos for his crimes.

Even Sisyphus, who Zeus had already marked as a criminal, was entirely overlooked.

“You… you insolent wretches! Try working like I do!”

“What! I, too, am busy every day, bestowing sleep upon living beings!”

“And I, too, am endlessly dispatching avatars to give people dreams. Do you know how exhausting that is?”

“We’re all working hard!”

“You don’t think you’re the only one working in the underworld, do you?!”

Indeed.

All the gods of the underworld were always working tirelessly.

Even the highest authority, Hades, only had spare time occasionally.

The busiest of all were, of course, Thanatos and Charon,

but that didn’t mean the other gods were lounging around.

Just look at Morpheus or Hypnos, who worked tirelessly every night, controlling their avatars.

In such circumstances, Thanatos had abandoned his duties for several days…

So the various gods of the underworld had been forced to handle many times their usual workload.

* * *

I waved my hand to quiet everyone down and began to speak.

Because we had to decide on Thanatos’s punishment for neglecting his duties while exploiting Sisyphus.

“First… we need to decide on a punishment…”

“Tartarus!”

Hypnos shouted, veins bulging in his neck.

Though he was the god who bestowed sleep, he hadn’t slept a wink for several days.

“Sending him straight to Tartarus wouldn’t be a bad idea.”

“Yes, disrupting the cycle of life is a serious crime. Hades will pass a just sentence…”

Keres & Moros, who had spent several days on Earth harvesting souls, spoke with dark circles under their eyes.

“It seems too lenient just to send him to Tartarus. How about a punishment where he has to keep placing a stone at the top of a mountain, only for it to fall back down?”

“Morpheus! Now that’s a good idea!”

“As expected of the god of dreams, your imagination is impressive!”

“Tartarus! To Tartarus!”

Morpheus, eyes wide open, spouted insane ideas.

He probably harbored intense resentment because, unlike Thanatos, he hadn’t had a break.

“You crazy bastards! If you were in my position, wouldn’t you have taken the chance to rest?!”

“I would have worked, unlike you…”

“Thanatos! Stop making excuses and accept your punishment!”

“Thanatos to Tartarus!”

As the underworld grew more chaotic, I rubbed my temples and muttered quietly.

I infused my voice with divine power so all the gods could hear…

“Assuming we send Thanatos to Tartarus, who will harvest the souls from now on?”

Ah, silence.

As if they hadn’t considered that, the gods grew quiet.

They all looked at each other uneasily.

“Well, isn’t death akin to deep sleep? Perhaps Hypnos could…”

“Keres, the destructive death you oversee could…”

“Hmm. That’s something we’ll have to think about…”

As expected.

No one was eager to see their workload increase.

Now I could finally state my thoughts.

“Thanatos cannot be sent to Tartarus… Any god who objects should be prepared to take over soul harvesting duties.”

“Ahem. Well, you’re lucky, Thanatos.”

“It can’t be helped…”

“Sigh… How can the one who committed the crime not receive proper punishment? The goddess of justice, Dike, must be lamenting this…”

“Hmph…!”

“Instead, Lord Thanatos will be subjected to additional labor for several days. Also, he will be prohibited from receiving human offerings for a while…”

Considering the grueling workload of Thanatos, the busiest god in the underworld, and the dignity of the ancient god that had existed since the dawn of time…

A few more punishments should suffice.

As Thanatos loosened the ropes binding him and began to rise, his face contorted.

He had just realized that there would be no more vacations for him.

“And for not paying enough attention to your welfare, I will regularly request additional support from Olympus…”

“But Hades, what about that human?”

The goddess Styx, who had been quietly frowning, pointed at Sisyphus.

* * *

I turned to look at Sisyphus, the human Zeus had sent Thanatos to capture.

Sweat drenched his forehead, and he appeared half out of his mind.

“Now, let’s see, your crime is…”

“Gasp..”

“Don’t be so scared. There’s a petition in your favor.”

I reached out and grabbed a scroll of parchment that the goddess Iris had delivered to me.

A petition that the river god Asopus had asked to be delivered to the underworld not long ago.

I handed the scroll to Minos, one of the three judges of the underworld standing beside me.

He slowly examined the contents and began to read.

“Then I shall read it. This is a petition submitted to the Lord of the Underworld upon hearing that the human Sisyphus has been captured…”

The river god had sent me a document detailing how his daughter, Aegina, had been wronged by Zeus and expressing his gratitude toward Sisyphus.

It also contained concerns about Sisyphus being punished by Zeus.

“…Therefore, I plead for some leniency and mercy for him.”

As Minos finished reading the petition, the faces of the nearby gods turned ashen.

“Sigh… Is it Zeus again..?”

“This time, the river god was the victim…”

“Perhaps we should have the goddess Mnemosyne verify whether it’s true?”

I nodded, and soon the goddess of memory read Sisyphus’s memories and relayed them to me.

“Then I will now pass judgment.”

Sisyphus looked up at me with a face that showed a glimmer of hope.

“Attacking the god of death, Thanatos, and disrupting the cycle of the world is undoubtedly a grave sin.”

However…

“But the reason Thanatos came for you earlier than your allotted time was not your fault.”

To be exact, it was because Zeus, having been caught in an act of rape, had angrily sent Thanatos after him.

Still, that didn’t mean Sisyphus was entirely without fault.

According to what I

had discovered, he had planned to evoke sympathy by claiming his wife had not held a proper funeral for him.

But the goddess of memory, Mnemosyne, had sifted through his memories and informed me of the truth.

Deceiving a god wasn’t something a mortal could easily do.

“Your intent to manipulate my sympathy with your funeral is indeed a mistake… But I see that you are considered a good king among the people of Corinth. And as for the greater crime…”

“…Ahem.”

I glanced at the god who had shamelessly raised his head.

Thanatos, who had just spent a few days relaxing in the mortal realm, met my gaze and coughed, quickly looking away.

“…Given that Lord Thanatos had no intention of exploiting you, if you had been brought to the underworld, Minos here would have ruled you innocent.”

“Then…!”

Minos, with an awkward smile, muttered, “Well… considering it involved Lord Zeus, I might have been… Ahem…”

But I ignored that for now.

“Therefore, I will defer judgment on your sins until you have lived out your natural life span and returned to the underworld.”

“…! Thank..! Thank you! Lord Pluto!”

Sisyphus, believing he had been spared, bowed repeatedly in gratitude.

Though he would forget everything that happened in the underworld.

I nodded to Lady Lethe, the goddess of forgetfulness, who then approached Sisyphus from behind.

Along with her, the power of forgetfulness manifested.

Sisyphus would forget everything he had experienced in the underworld.

“Huh…? What…?”

“Oh, and by the way, when you return, I’ll also judge you for the crime of imprisoning Thanatos after he had already fallen.”

I finished speaking as I watched Sisyphus, who was gradually losing his memories.

While it was true that Thanatos had deliberately used Sisyphus, he still had to be punished for imprisoning the god in the palace basement.

When his natural life ended and he returned to the underworld…

He might end up working in the underworld’s outskirts alongside Phaethon for decades or centuries.

“Morpheus, send a message to Olympus and summon Iris to the underworld.”

“What? Why summon the goddess of the rainbow…”

What? A request to send Thanatos because a criminal was here?

“I’ll go to Zeus myself to protest.”

What a load of nonsense.