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

The moonlight shone through the window, illuminating the sleeping goddess.

Even as she slept, one side of her face was covered by a black mask, hiding her features.

But at such a close distance, with her completely unguarded, Promise had to admit that his eyes found it hard to leave her.

Hephaestus might be considered the ugliest of the gods, but her ugliness came entirely from her crippled legs and the flame-like mark on her face.

To the gods, this made her ugly. And being the child of Hera and Zeus, she was expected to be perfect.

"Should I wake her?" Promise muttered, feeling conflicted as he looked at the sleeping goddess.

After all, he harboured no ill feelings toward Hephaestus. On the contrary, he was very grateful to her.

Receiving such a precious artifact right away and only having to make an oath—one that even spared him from experiencing the pain of the "Rich Woman's Joy Ball"—who wouldn't be confused by that?

"She means no harm to me. Even though she has imprisoned me... I should say, if she does harbor any animosity, it's directed at Queen Hera," Promise whispered.

And considering the history between Hephaestus and Hera, Promise couldn't bring himself to dislike Hephaestus.

"Goddess Hephaestus, if it were any other time, I wouldn't mind being imprisoned by you... Of course, it would be better if we could talk without the imprisonment. But I really have something urgent now. Could you let me go, and I'll return after completing my task?"

Standing up, Promise looked at the sleeping Hephaestus. 

After contemplating for a while, he decided to approach her to wake her up but found the chain too short.

Hearing his words, Hephaestus frowned at the noise and turned over.

Just as Promise was about to say something else, the maid outside the door hesitated, wondering if she should enter to remind him to keep quiet. 

If he woke Hephaestus, she might slap him in annoyance, making imprisonment unnecessary.

Suddenly, Promise noticed the moonlight outside the window vanish as if something had blocked it, plunging the room into darkness. 

More precisely, the moonlight was blocked from his sight, turning his view pitch black.

It was now past midnight, and the appointed time had arrived.

A death's-head moth, fluttering its wings, emerged from the darkness of the Underworld, flying through the window to land before Promise.

Its luminescence activated the magic left by the goddess on Promise. 

Yes, the chain in Promise's hand indeed nullified any divine power, but this wasn't divine power—it was magic.

To be precise, it was the magic left by Hecate, the goddess of crossroads.

As a small magical ripple passed, it did not awaken Hephaestus from her deep sleep. 

She had locked Promise in her room to prevent Athena, Hera, or others from stealing him.

Anyone entering would trigger her divine senses, waking her instantly.

As for cutting off his arm to escape, whether that would work or not, the maid outside the door wasn't leaving and was standing diligently at the entrance.

When a magic circle appeared under Promise, accompanied by a flash of white light, he vanished from the room, transported to the Underworld.

Shortly after he disappeared, the hesitant maid finally pushed the door open to enter.

She was just about to remind Promise to keep his voice down, but when she looked up, she saw the chain was broken in half... In fact, the chain was not broken but was teleported away, and it was still bound to Promise' hand.

After all, it was a creation of Hephaestus, the god of craftsmen. 

Only absolute brute force or divine artifacts like Zeus's thunderbolts or Hades's trident could break it.

Realizing this, the maid was stunned.

Not only stunned, but as she realized Promise had disappeared right under her nose, she felt like the sky was falling!

Whether to wake Hephaestus or not, she knew clearly she was in deep trouble.

Struggling so long, she still couldn't escape her fate of being dismantled!

When Promise opened his eyes and recovered from the familiar aftereffects of teleportation, he found himself in an unexpected situation.

He was inside a temple, which did not resemble the Underworld temple of Hades.

In fact, it didn't look like an Underworld temple at all. 

Above the temple hung a magically created miniature sun, bathing the surroundings in bright sunlight. 

Various beautiful, blooming flowers were neatly arranged around the temple.

The temple seemed rather deserted, as there were only two people inside. 

One tended to the flowers, and the other was a recluse... To be precise, due to a certain goddess's extreme seclusion, if no one called on her, she wouldn't leave her room for hundreds of years, making the temple appear abandoned.

The current vibrant and beautiful state of the temple was entirely due to the efforts of a young girl who had traveled here to study.

Promise quickly noticed her.

She seemed to be in a good mood, humming an unknown tune while watering the flowers not far away.

As he looked at the girl in a light purple dress, her long hair tied in a ponytail, swaying as she moved, Promise felt a growing sense of familiarity.

While he was puzzled, the death's-head moth that had brought him here fluttered its wings and landed on the girl's shoulder.

"Oh, Miss Familiar, you're back! Welcome home," the girl said happily upon noticing it.

The death's-head hawkmoth couldn't respond, but the girl didn't mind. 

Having a companion, even one that couldn't speak, was enough for her.

Though she came here to study, her teacher was notoriously unreliable, leaving her to study mostly on her own.

It was normal to see her teacher only once every month or two.

And in the Underworld, the girl couldn't even remember the last time she saw a living person.

Therefore...

"Miss Familiar, are you trying to tell me something?"

Seeing the moth fluttering its wings as if urging her, the confused girl turned to look in Promise's direction as if sensing something.

The moment she turned and their eyes met, Promise finally understood where the familiarity came from.

Both of them were stunned, eyes widening slightly.

The girl was shocked to see a third person in her teacher's temple!

Promise was equally shocked because he knew this girl very well due to his transmigrator's knowledge.

Her name was Medea...

She was the student of Hecate, the goddess of crossroads, and the princess of Colchis, the end point of the Golden Fleece journey.

Yes, she was the future wife of Jason in the original myth.

Medea was the woman who, struck by Cupid's arrow, fell madly in love with Jason and was granted marriage by Hera.

She was also the notorious betrayer witch in future Greek mythology!

In the original myth, she killed her own brothers for Jason, and when Jason betrayed her, she killed the children she bore with him for revenge...

But none of that had happened yet. 

At this point, Medea was in her purest, most innocent, and endearing phase.

As they stared at each other in shock, neither saying a word, a voice interrupted the silence.

"Damn, I forgot about this!" A black-haired, red-eyed goddess, dressed in a black dress, ran out of the temple in a hurry.

So urgent was her rush that she even forgot to wear the veil that usually covered her face.

When she arrived and saw the two of them staring at each other in astonishment, she realized the situation.

And also realized that she was too late after all!