Capítulo 78: The Gift of Hermes
[T/N: 2xChapter]
At the nightfall of the same day.
Temple of Hephaestus, in Hephaestus's room.
Under the light of flames illuminating the room, Jason is looking at beautiful Hephaestus dressed in simple white clothes with an awkward look on his face.
Obviously, Jason has guessed that there must be some kind of deformity behind the masked part of Hephaestus's face, due to which she has been thrown out of the Mount Olympus, but he still feels that objectively speaking, at least the unmasked part of her is as beautiful as any other Goddesses he has seen till now.
But this is not the reason behind the awkward look on Jason's face, rather it is because, at this moment, he has once again encountered a familiar situation.
Because, currently, Hephaestus is sitting on the bed with her golden curly resting on her shoulders and is gently patting her legs with her exquisite arms, motioning Jason to lie down.
After all, Athena has obviously informed Hephaestus about this along with naming the four Goddesses, including herself, who have done it, and no matter how lonely Hephaestus might have been till none, at the end of the day, she is also a Greek Goddess...
"Goddess Hephaestus..."
"It is teacher, not Goddess." Hephaestus corrected emphatically and softly.
"Then, Teacher Hephaestus... I will sleep, I promise you, I will really sleep obediently!"
Hephaestus's amber eyes stared directly at Jason, then after being silent only for a moment, she began speaking in a soft voice: "Athena, Hestia, Artemis..."
"No, Goddess of Moon Artemis hasn't done it, I really haven't done it with Goddess Artemis!" Jason hurriedly denied it.
Hephaestus paused for a moment, and continued with an unchanged expression: "But still, you have given a tribute to Artemis, but my tribute, you still haven't given it to me."
Hearing this, Jason opened his eyes wide and looked at Hephaestus in disbelief, because he just never expected that Hephaestus will use the fact, of him not directly mentioning the real tribute, like this
Obviously, Hephaestus sensed this from Jason's surprised gaze, so Hephaestus slightly lowered her head to avoid his eyes, but still, she didn't stop speaking.
"And there is Hecate too...I'm also your teacher now, or you don't actually want to..."
"No, teacher Hephaestus, please don't say it, I was wrong, I understood, I was really wrong!" Jason raised his hand, then helplessly walked to Hephaestus and lay down on her lap.
Still, after Jason lay down, the corners of Hephaestus's mouth rose slightly but visibly, then with her delicate looking fingers, she began lightly combing Jason's blonde hair while stroking him.
And all this was naturally soon followed by the pleasant, beautiful, and soft singing of Goddess Hephaestus.
So blond-haired and emerald-eyed Jason dressed in pure white clothes once again fell asleep under the coaxing of a goddess.
******
It is just that, this time, Hephaestus had not left like the others, and stayed with Jason until he woke up.
But when Jason woke up, upon looking at Hephaestus with golden hair hanging over her shoulders and half of her face being illuminated by the morning sun, suddenly, the face of the queen Hera, which he has learned through the portrait drawn by Chiron upon the repeated request of Jason, appeared in his mind.
Therefore, immediately, Jason subconsciously got up from Hephaestus's lap, but then, he noticed Hephaestus's face flashing with obvious regret due to him leaving her lap.
"Cough, well... Teacher Hephaestus, can you teach me the skills of crafting today?"
So, Jason quickly changed the subject.
But Hephaestus gently shook her head gently while saying: "I probably cannot... But if you really want to learn today, I will throw him out."
Hearing this, Jason couldn't help showing a puzzled look.
But soon, Jason got the answer to his doubt.
"Hey, Jason!"
In the hall, the blond god wearing a feather hat, Hermes greeted the expressionless Jason with a smile and said: "Long time no see... ah, in fact, it has only a few days."
"But I really didn't expect that you would actually become Hephaestus's student. If the Queen of Gods Hera learned about this..."
While saying this, looking at Jason and Hephaestus in front of him, Hermes subconsciously remembered the last two times he has seen the dignified and graceful Queen of Gods Hera rampaging in the temple due to being angry at Jason.
After all, Hermes obviously believes that Hera both hates and fears Hephaestus because Hephaestus had once succeeded in capturing Hera into almost eternal imprisonment.
Actually, before Hephaestus returned back to Mount Olympus and became one of the Olympians, she had once crafted an extremely beautiful and feminine-looking throne that fully matched the identity of Hera as the Queen of Gods.
Then, Hephaestus had put it on the side of a road that Hera usually passes through.
And upon noticing the exquisitely built throne, Hera was naturally attracted to it and decided to sit on it.
But once Hera sat on it, the prebuilt mechanisms in the throne got activated and imprisoned Hera on it while simultaneously blocking her divine power, making her feel incapable of even struggling.
And regarding this, all Gods, including God King Zeus, failed to free Hera from the imprisonment of the throne, because even Zeus concluded that if he destroys the throne with brute force, it would surely seriously injure Hera, whose divine powers had been blocked.
Therefore, finally, the Gods had to reach out to Hephaestus, who freed Hera from the throne in return for a few things, including becoming one of the twelve Olympians.
And although Hera was finally freed from the imprisonment, the sense of powerlessness she had experienced at that time due to her divine power being blocked naturally had a considerable impact on her.
Therefore, due to this, now Hera almost subconsciously avoids Hephaestus.
But naturally, Jason is unaware of this.
After all, although Jason remembers many myths from Greek Mythology, it doesn't mean that he remembers each and every one of them, and this one of the Myths that Jason doesn't remember.
Moreover, this event has been very humiliating to Hera, therefore, although almost every god has laughed at this in private, very few gods have the courage of spreading it among the mortals, and those gods, who have this courage don't have any interest in doing so.
Still, although Jason doesn't know what exactly Hermes is thinking about, upon looking at Hermes in front of him, Jason was unable to prevent his eyelids from twitching and subconsciously showed an expression on his face that is loudly screaming: 'You are the most troublesome existence!'
"Oh, little Jason, you are really making me feel so sad!"
And upon noticing Jason's expression, Hermes made a very exaggerated look of heartache, and said to Jason: "It's my fault, I used to think we are good friends!"
"God Hermes, please don't award me something as great as being your good friend. It is really frightening for me to bear the weight of having a friendship with you, the great God Hermes."
Hearing this, Jason smiled and replied in similarly exaggerated words.
"Yeah, so cold, little Jason, you have become..."
But before Hermes had finished speaking, Jason, obviously not willing to have longer contact with Hermes, interrupt him with a polite smile and asked in a very polite tone: "God Hermes, may I ask? … Could it be that there is news about Io?"
Obviously, Jason asked this, but the barely hidden meaning behind is naturally: 'If you have the news then tell me and leave, and if you don't have any news then leave and look for it.'
"No, recently, I've been very busy."
Hermes couldn't help sighing while saying: "While hiding from Queen of Gods Hera, I had to deal with the tasks given by the God-King Zeus... But now, I can completely leave this matter to you. ."
Hermes said with a look of relief.
Actually, Jason already has an artifact given to him by Athena to guide his way.
And now Jason has also gotten an artifact to block Hera's perception, which Athena had entrusted Hephaestus to build.
So now Hermes can really hand over this matter to Jason, without having to worry about Jason being discovered by Hera.
Therefore, upon Hermes saying this, Jason also quickly understood it and guessed that the reason Hermes has come here is to remind him.
At the same time, Jason also guessed: 'Although till now Hermes might have been really looking for Io, it is also obvious that Hermes had been waiting for this moment from the beginning, due to which he found me soon after confirming from Hephaestus that my matters at this place have basically ended.'
"I also know a little about Io's matter... Athena had mentioned it to me."
At this moment, Hephaestus, who had been silent for a while, suddenly said in an indifferent and light tone: "She is now being guarded by the hundred-eyed giant Argos, and the hundred-eyed giant is not an enemy that Jason can now deal with."
"After all, at Hera's orders, it has even killed the monster Echidna! "
Barely a few humans know much about monster Echidna, but almost every God knows that Monster Echidna is the wife and mate of the Father of all Monsters, Typhon.
And all Gods know that most of the strong monsters who have appeared on the land, such as Chimera, Cerberus, Nemean Lion, and many others are her children.
And Hephaestus obviously knows that Echidna was much stronger than all her children.
Therefore, Hephaestus believes that even if the hundred-eyed giant Argos killed the Monster Echidna while she was sleeping, it is enough to show his powerful strength.
"In the past, I probably wouldn't have cared."
Then, Hephaestus, while looking at Hermes and said in a straightforward and faint tone: "But now, he is my student, a student of Hephaestus."
"And since you see this as his tribute to you, what about your return gift... It can't be that you haven't yet prepared, right? "
The faint words made Hermes, who was under the gaze of Hephaestus, feel an invisible pressure regarding what he has been planning.
"Don't worry, I have already prepared the return gift... After all, even if you don't mention it to me, Athena will definitely not let this child work in vain!"
So Hermes hurriedly explained, and at the same time couldn't help glancing at Jason while thinking: 'My goodness, I admit it, you are really talented...'
'One of your teachers is the one who does not belong to Sky, Land, or Underworld but is still respected in all three places and is regarded as a unique and special existence among all the Gods, Goddess of Paths, Hecate.'
'Even your other teacher, Chiron has the blood of the previous God-King and has mentored many great Greek heroes.'
'And now, there is one more, Hephaestus, the Goddess of Smithing, who can even build a throne that can almost eternally imprison the Queen of Gods Hera.'
'Among your three teachers, none of them are simple...'
'And it hasn't even been long since you have left the mountain, and if you continue to grow like this, even if Hera finds out that you have walked out of the mountain, I believe, finally, knowing Hera, although she will grit her teeth, she will indeed stop targeting you!'
Hephaestus nodded slightly after hearing Hermes say this but how could she miss the deception hidden in Hermes's words, which for her is as clear as it can be.
"Since you have prepared the gift, take it out, I want to see it."
"Well, this..."
Hermes showed an embarrassed expression, and under Hephaestus's frowning gaze that is showing that she expected such a response, Hermes hurridly explained: "No, I have really prepared a gift, and it is a gift that is truly worthy of this child's efforts."
"Because the gift is a magical flute that is strong enough to make even the hundred-eyed giant Argos fall asleep, and it is almost as strong as my companion divine artifact!"
"And this magic flute was actually given to me by God-King Zeus... but on the way here, I encountered a little accident, and it was robbed by someone else!"
"And now..."
Upon hearing till here, just when Jason was feeling a bad premonition in his heart, Hermes turned his head to look at Jason and continued: "The other party has specifically asked me to let this child, Jason meet him, then he will personally hand over the magic flute to Jason..."
"Who?" Hephaestus asked with a frown.
"...God of Light, Apollo."
[T/N: For the next few chapters, I feel like they should be read together, so I will post today's scheduled chapter tomorrow too along with the rest.]
REFLEXIONES DE LOS CREADORES 
GlaiveIris
GlaiveIris Do you know, the Automata described in this story are not completely fictitious and created by the original author; in Greek Mythology, even after ignoring Pandora, there are many records of Hephaestus creating Automata, such as golden dogs to guard the palace of Alcinous and Talos, a giant bronze man to protect Crete.
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