Fate: I Heard After Death, You Can Ascend to the Throne of Heroes?

Promise woke up.

When he awoke, he noticed the moonlight streaming through the floor-to-ceiling windows, and upon sitting up, he found his left hand shackled with a silver chain. 

The other end of the chain was fastened to the foot of Hephaestus's bed.

"Don't waste your energy trying to break free; you can't," Hephaestus's calm voice came from above.

She was sitting on the bed, dressed in a pure white nightgown, her legs, seemingly sculpted to perfection, hanging down beside Promise.

On his other side, the maid with long flaxen hair stared at him intently, ready to stop any foolish attempts at escape.

Of course, the maid knew Promise couldn't harm her mistress.

Even though Hephaestus couldn't move on her own, she was still a goddess, a powerful main god.

But appearances had to be maintained, as the maid certainly didn't want to be dismantled.

"This is a special chain I forged. I used it to imprison Prometheus on Mount Caucasus and once bound Hera with it. Even the gods can't do anything about it," Hephaestus said with a slight smirk, her voice tinged with pride.

Promise naturally knew Prometheus. 

He had stolen fire for humans and was ordered by Zeus to be chained to a steep cliff, never able to sleep, his weary knees unable to bend. 

Every day, an eagle would come to peck at his liver, which would regenerate only to be devoured again.

And the chain that bound Prometheus, which could seal divine power, was forged by Hephaestus.

So Prometheus wasn't surprising, but Hera...

"The noble Queen Hera?" Promise blinked his emerald eyes, curiously looking at Hephaestus.

He didn't know Hera had ever been bound.

Well.. it seemed he didn't knew much Greek Mythology. 

Seeing this, the maid was quite puzzled. 

Even though Promise realized he was imprisoned, he didn't seem panicked.

"It seems you don't know," Hephaestus said, her smirk growing as she eagerly began to explain... or rather, boast about her past achievements.

Even though she was tired, the topic invigorated her.

As Promise listened to her story, he finally understood why Athena and the others always said that Hera feared Hephaestus the most among her children.

The story was straightforward. 

After Hera threw Hephaestus from Olympus, she didn't die but was found and raised by the ocean goddess Thetis.

Thetis, one of the 3,000 ocean nymphs and the mother of nearly all rivers and water sources in Greek mythology, didn't follow up on the matter after that.

What Hera didn't anticipate was that Hephaestus grew up to be not only as powerful as a main god but also possessed unparalleled forging skills that even Zeus noticed.

Thus, Zeus brought her back to Mount Olympus.

Upon her return, Hephaestus, due to Thetis's good upbringing, did not seek revenge. 

Instead, she hoped for her mother's recognition and an apology.

However, what awaited her was public humiliation led by Hera at a banquet for the gods. 

Hera couldn't accept that the most imperfect and ugliest of the gods was her daughter, with a limp and a birthmark on her face.

Humiliated, Hephaestus silently left the banquet.

Hephaestus then crafted a beautiful, resplendent throne for Hera, one that perfectly matched her status as queen.

When Hera received the gift, she was immediately captivated and, instantly sat down on it, without a second thought.

And that was a mistake.. 

Just as she did so,  chains emerged and bound her tightly.

Under the constraints of those chains, even the noble Queen Hera lost all her divine power, becoming an ordinary woman. 

Any deity who touched those chains would lose their powers. 

Trying to break them with other divine weapons, like Zeus's thunderbolts or Poseidon's trident, risked harming Hera herself.

So, in the end, Hera had to publicly apologize to Hephaestus in front of all the gods. 

Only then did the gods acknowledge Hephaestus's status as an Olympian main god, and the matter was resolved.

After hearing all this, Promise first glanced at the maid beside him, who had closed her eyes, looking resigned. 

Then he looked at the silver chain on his hand.

"So this chain is..." In this end, he raised his left hand slightly, and the chain made a crisp sound as it moved.

"That's right," Hephaestus nodded. "The same type."

"...Hearing this, I feel somewhat honored," Promise couldn't help but remark.

After all, one was Queen Hera, and the other was Prometheus, the god of foresight and then it was him. 

"Then, does that make you happy?" Hephaestus tilted her head and asked Promise.

However the boy, after thinking for a moment, surprisingly smiled at Hephaestus.

She was momentarily taken aback, then couldn't help but laugh.

Covering her mouth slightly with her hand, she chuckled, "You really are unexpectedly cute and interesting... Did you guess it before you ate that golden apple?"

"In that situation, it was obvious that the golden apple shouldn't be eaten..." Promise admitted honestly.

Though he always felt that the goddess Hephaestus didn't seem as dangerous as Athena and Hera made her out to be, Promise naturally couldn't ignore their warnings.

"Then why did you eat it?" Hephaestus blinked.

The maid beside them also opened her eyes, curious to hear Promise's answer.

"I received the thing I wanted most from you, but I couldn't even fulfill a basic request of yours." 

As he spoke, Promise searched his belongings and took out the pure white feather pen.

Hephaestus hadn't taken it back because they had already sworn an oath.

Seeing Promise's action, Hephaestus understood his thoughts completely. 

After a moment, she asked, "In that case, are you willing to give up your faith in Hera?"

Promise didn't answer, instead, he looked at Hephaestus and then around the room.

"Noble and beautiful goddess Hephaestus, I understand why you chained me, but... why here?"

Looking around the exquisite room and then at Hephaestus in her pure white nightgown with her flawless skin exposed.

Everything about this place screamed that it was the goddess's private chamber!

"Because I need to sleep now," Hephaestus replied, rubbing her eyes. 

Even for her, forging the artifact in Promise's hand had exhausted all her energy.

"But I don't trust leaving you in the care of my dolls... You still have Hades' Helm of Invisibility with you, don't you? I noticed that long ago."

Hearing this, Promise wasn't surprised that Hephaestus had discovered the helm, but...

"Dolls?" He tilted his head, looking at the maid.

"Yes, she is a doll... To be precise, everyone you've seen in the temple so far are dolls I created," Hephaestus said calmly.

"Pandora?" Promise almost instinctively asked.

"They are all defective products, not even qualified to be compared to one of my greatest creations, Pandora..." Hephaestus said, her voice betraying her weariness, her head drooping slightly, looking like she might fall asleep at any moment.

Seeing this, Promise finally became anxious.

In fact, today was the last day he planned to wait in the temple for Hephaestus. If she hadn't come out, he was prepared to leave.

Whether he could leave or not wasn't the issue; he had planned to do so.

Because today was the tenth day.

It was the day Promise had agreed to go to the Underworld to bring Persephone back from Hades to her mother, Demeter, the goddess of agriculture!

"Wait, Goddess Hephaestus, please don't sleep yet! 

Could you help release me first? I need to go to the Underworld to return Persephone to Goddess Demeter! I promise I'll come back after I've done this!"

Upon hearing this, Hephaestus raised her head and looked at Promise with bleary eyes.

"Oh... But what does that have to do with me?"

With that, Hephaestus, who could no longer hold on, yawned and glanced at the maid. 

The maid, understanding her cue, carefully picked her up, allowing her long golden hair to cascade down onto the bed, and gently laid her down.

Thus, Hephaestus closed her eyes and fell asleep right in front of Promise.

The maid, having done her task, glanced at Promise, who was winking at her as if trying to say something, but she ignored him. 

Instead, she seemed relieved, almost escaping the room, and thoughtfully closing the door tightly behind her.

After all, the maid wasn't afraid something would happen.

Rather than worry about Promise making any untoward moves on Hephaestus, it was better to worry about the goddess turning over in her sleep and accidentally hitting the boy.

Didn't they understand the value of the divine recognition of her delicate, flower-like nature?

"Hmm..."

Sitting on the edge of the bed, Promise pulled at the chain on his hand, listening to its crisp clinking sound. 

He looked at the sleeping Hephaestus, bathed in the moonlight streaming through the floor-to-ceiling window.

"So... what do I do now?"

.

.

.