But those were stories for the later.
For now, Night quietly followed the herald Talthybius.
As the heroes threw themselves into preparing for the battle that stirred their blood,
All of it was witnessed by the gods above.
Many goddesses frowned.
Unlike the more openly free-spirited Aphrodite, goddesses like Artemis and those of similar disposition had long grown accustomed to watching heroes display this kind of shameless behavior, even as they felt no warmth toward it whatsoever.
Fortunately,
Not every hero was this vulgar, driven entirely by their lower bodies, eager to sleep with another man's wife.
Among those heroes who completely ignored the suffering king of Sparta, knowing full well Helen was his partner yet still volunteering with such obvious enthusiasm, it was clear that enthusiasm had nothing to do with doing the Spartan king any favors.
None of them had been this eager on the battlefield.
The heroes' little schemes were hardly hidden from the gods, and there was no need to hide them anyway.
Among male gods and heroes alike, acting according to one's desires seemed to be considered something to be proud of.
Artemis, for her part, was relieved that her own follower was still unhurriedly wandering around the camp, exactly as before, pure and untouched as ever, utterly unlike all those others.
Like her, in that way.
Not for nothing did she step in when Agamemnon tried to move against him earlier.
Night wasn't doing anything in particular right now.
But precisely this not doing anything stood out among the gods as remarkably distinct, a kind of principled independence that set him apart.
Suddenly one of the goddesses looked at the divine messenger, Zeus's youngest son Hermes, the one who knew everything that happened everywhere and asked.
"O Divine Messenger Hermes, who is this handsome young man walking on the ground with silver-white hair shining like the moon?"
Hearing the words, Hermes, who had just completed his investigation back from the Mysian coast, looked up to find it was the goddess of love, Aphrodite, doing the asking.
It was said that the most beautiful woman among all humans in Greece was Helen.
Then without any doubt, the most beautiful among the goddesses was Aphrodite.
Not only did she have breathtaking beauty, she also held the divine authority of beauty itself, and under that authority her very nature radiated beauty far beyond what any other goddess could match.
However, this goddess, in the aspect of debauchery and unrestrained behavior, was something other goddesses were far unable to reach.
Clearly,
Aphrodite developed a little bit of interest in that handsome figure on the ground.
Born from the sea foam, with porcelain white skin, golden hair and blue eyes, and a face and figure representing the most perfect standard of ancient Greek feminine beauty,
Her beauty was like light shimmering at noon, pink cheeks like peach blossoms, a cascade of golden curls that caught the light, and eyes that held the deep blue of the sea within them.
Every male god in the heavens had felt drawn to this figure.
Hermes was no exception.
When this goddess was fucking around with Ares and was discovered in the act of adultery by her own husband, the god of fire and forging, at the window, exposing the whole thing in front of everyone,
Not to mention others, even Apollo, who saw the goddess's perfect form, felt his mouth go dry and desire stir inside him, though he refused to admit he could be attracted to such a fickle, loose woman.
To cover up the embarrassment of his ugly desire in his heart, he had once asked Hermes what he thought of Aphrodite.
And Hermes at that time was very frank, without any avoidance, and boldly and directly spoke out the thought in his heart.
"I would stake my head on it, that any man who got to be with the beautiful goddess of love, even wrapped in three extra chains, even scolded in front of all the goddesses, would still consider himself the luckiest man alive."
Obviously, Hermes counted himself among those men.
Hermes, who originally planned to go find Zeus to report back, upon seeing the inquiry of the goddess of love, immediately became excited and instantly turned into a bootlicker, enthusiastically shouting loudly,
"You really asked the right person, beautiful goddess of love ah!
I just completed the task assigned by the father god, which was investigating the news about the hero Griffith who came from the Mysian coast!
Nobody in all of Greece knows more about that man than I do.
A descendant of the great hero Kratos's bloodline!!
The descendant of the warrior who once accomplished the great deed of slaying the dragon and bathed in dragon blood."
Hermes used the fresh intelligence he just gathered as his way of getting the goddess's attention.
And upon hearing such an explosive legend… the descendant of the dragon-slaying warrior? The warrior who bathed in dragon blood?
A strange brilliance flashed in the love goddess's eyes, and she immediately developed even more interest.
Seeing the goddess's gaze drawn toward him, Hermes grew even more excited.
He knew perfectly well the goddess was showing interest in a human male, but not one of the male gods who understood Aphrodite's nature would worry about that.
Their enthusiasm for pursuing her had nothing to do with winning her heart.
It was mostly a desire for the greedy pleasure of sharing the bed and having one night of joy with her.
In Greece, the gods each had their primary domain of authority, but beyond the main domain representing their core power, most gods also held a host of secondary roles.
Apollo was both the god of light and the god of the arts, and later absorbed part of the sun god's authority as well.
Many gods had overlapping domains between them.
The moon goddess Artemis, the goddess of love Aphrodite, and the queen of heaven Hera were exactly like this.
All three held authority over aspects of marriage.
If divided into primary and secondary, then the queen of heaven, Hera, controlled the largest part of the authority.
The other two followed after, one presiding over the purity of maidens before marriage, the other presiding over the desires of women in marriage.
These were both extensions derived from their own core natures, serving as guideposts for how mortals approached marriage in their lives.
Those who embraced lifelong purity and rejected marriage altogether would seek out Artemis's temple.
Those who chose to indulge the body and release their natural instincts, more often than not married women who had lived with it long enough, would frequently visit Aphrodite in worship.
The nature of a deity was reflected in the nature of their devotees.
Aphrodite, as a noble goddess, played very wildly; and if she took a liking to someone, even a mortal had a chance to have a passionate night with her.
This was how Aeneas, future ancestor of Rome, came to be born of a union between her and a mortal man.
Without question,
In terms of appearance alone, Night was in no way inferior to Anchises, the Trojan royal who once slept with the goddess Aphrodite herself and who was the father of Aeneas.
Once when in Rome, Night was also admired by mortals, handsome to the point that it made one feel ashamed of one's own inferiority; the Anchises in the myth was nothing more than this.
No, at this time in the goddess of love's eyes, Night was even a bit more attractive than Anchises.
Due to the musician's temperament, Night in non-war times shed the wild side of the warrior, became more gentle, and had more of a youthful sense.
And in all the records connected to the goddess, even though Aphrodite had many lovers throughout her life, the type she loved most was exactly this kind, a handsome young man with that youthful quality.
Much like her most cherished lover among them all, the plant god Adonis.
"I have a soft spot for innocent and sincere ones. Hermes, stop teasing me. Tell me. Who is that young man?"
.
.
.
(End of the Chapter)