Legend Management Bureau Chapter 136

[ … words ]

Not only Du Yu, but all the immortals dropped their jaws in shock.

Since ancient times, they had only heard of “martial arts tournaments to win a bride,” but now there was a “legend-based marriage tournament”?

“That’s not right, sister,” Du Yu said, his brows furrowed tightly. “I was almost beaten to death by that Cavendish just now, and you didn’t even move a muscle. If I had died, wouldn’t you be a widow?”

“Hehe, if the deity protecting you couldn’t keep you alive in such danger, it only proves that your level ends there. I won’t sympathize with a rabbit.” Ramla slowly shook her head. “Your strength is more than just this, right?”

“Strength?”

Du Yu only had one sentence he wanted to say in his heart: ‘I don’t have a lick of strength!’

Looking at these four foreign ambassadors, they truly came to Huaxia with their own motives, only to coincidentally gather together.

Chada’s goal was to kill him, Ramla’s goal was this “legend-based marriage tournament,” and the Indian monk Warang’s goal was to make him give up his current job and reincarnate.

Looking at it this way, wasn’t Shiranui Asuka the most innocent one of the bunch?

He helplessly turned back to look at the Queen Mother of the West, with only one thought in his mind: ‘What does this exchange conference have to do with demonstrating the might of a great nation or a competition between immortal realms?’

But now, the arrow was nocked on the bowstring and had to be fired. He had built the new Legend Management Bureau with such great fanfare; he couldn’t back out right when he was about to enter a legend, could he?

“Sigh…” Du Yu felt mentally exhausted. “Forget it, forget it… Sister Qianqiu, is the legend of ‘Athena, Goddess of War’ ready?”

“Just about!” Dong Qianqiu replied. “If you’re ready, go lie down on the machines.”

“As expected.” Ramla nodded. “You truly won’t back down, just like Ares.”

“Ares, the God of War?” Du Yu paused. “Don’t bring up people who have nothing to do with this. Tell me what went wrong with your legend first.”

“Du Yu, I have it all planned out. If things go smoothly, I can soon bear you a bunch of children. Then, we can have them intermarry to birth an army, and that way we can overthrow Zeus and conquer Mount Olympus.”

“???”

Du Yu stood frozen in place like a statue, unable to move a single muscle. Even the light in his eyes vanished. His entire state could only be described with one word: crashed.

“Senior… Senior Du Yu, what’s wrong?” Shiranui Asuka shook him gently.

After being shaken by Asuka for a good while, Du Yu finally snapped out of it, as if his system had just rebooted. He sorted out his thoughts and asked, “Did I just hear some wild words? Why did I suddenly lose my memory?”

“Oh, just now Sister Chada said…”

“Alright, alright!” Du Yu hurriedly interrupted Shiranui Asuka. “Don’t repeat it.”

Then he turned back to look at Ramla.

“Sister, is there something wrong with your head? Setting aside your treasonous talk about overthrowing Zeus, why do you think close relatives can intermarry? Are you interested in learning a little about modern medicine?”

This time, it was Ramla’s turn to be confused. She stared blankly and asked, “Why can’t close relatives marry? Why can’t they have children?”

“Huh?” Du Yu hadn’t expected Ramla to be so self-righteous about it. Suddenly, he was at a loss for words.

“In Greek mythology, Cronus and Rhea were brother and sister. Cronus not only married Rhea but also fathered Zeus.” Ramla smiled faintly as she looked at Du Yu, adding, “Zeus and Hera were also brother and sister, yet they gave birth to Ares, the God of War.”

“Huh?!” Du Yu’s eyes widened completely. His understanding of Greek mythology was limited to merely knowing the names. He never expected this mythology to be so incredibly messy. Were they all just interbreeding within the same family?

“Senior Du Yu…” Shiranui Asuka paused for a moment before saying, “Although modern medicine proves that inbreeding leads to unhealthy children, there was no such concept in ancient times… Izanagi and Izanami were also siblings, and they created the entirety of Fusang…”

“????”

Du Yu was about to crash again.

“If we are talking about ancient times, there indeed was no such taboo.” The Queen Mother of the West chimed in from her seat. “The two great gods Fuxi and Nuwa are also said to be a brother and sister pair who created humanity in our legends. The Genealogy of the Spring and Autumn Period states that Huaxu gave birth to a boy named Fuxi and a girl named Nuwa.”

“Hold on a minute, let me process this for a second.” Du Yu waved his hand. The information he had heard today was somewhat shaking his core worldview.

After thinking about it for quite a while, Du Yu realized he couldn’t make sense of it at all. Then, a string snapped in his mind—Du Yu simply stopped thinking entirely.

“Sister Qianqiu, let’s hurry up and start,” Du Yu said, lifting his head with a blank expression.

“Oh…” Dong Qianqiu gave a slight nod and brought up the interface for the legend.

“The problem with this legend…” Before stepping onto the machine, Ramla turned to Du Yu and said, “Is that Zeus wants to take Athena as his wife. However, apart from being the Greek Goddess of War, Athena is also the Goddess of Wisdom and a virgin deity. She cannot be defiled, let alone marry anyone.”

“Zeus wants to take a wife?” Du Yu asked with a weary look on his face. “If I remember correctly, Zeus and Athena aren’t brother and sister, right?”

“Oh, of course not.”

Du Yu gave a slight nod. “That’s good.”

“They are father and daughter.”

“…”

Du Yu’s expression didn’t change in the slightest, as if he had already become completely numb to the shock.

“You Greeks… are truly wild,” Du Yu remarked. “So wild it makes my scalp tingle.”

Du Yu rubbed his forehead with one hand, doing his absolute best not to dwell on these matters. “Hurry up and start. Let’s just get this over with.”

The three of them lay down on the teleportation machines.

“God of Huaxia, do you really want me to go with you?” Ramla asked. “I would much rather see you complete this legend on your own, so I can have a reason to marry you.”

“Please, don’t say another word.” Du Yu shook his head vehemently. “We have a saying in our country: ‘Those with different paths cannot make plans together.’ You and I have completely different worldviews, so we definitely cannot be together. My worldview has been utterly shattered by you today…”

Ramla simply chuckled and said, “They say men like to pretend to be cold and aloof lions, and it seems that’s actually true. You just want to show off in front of me, don’t you?”

“???” Du Yu was stunned. “From which sentence did you gather that I wanted to show off in front of you?”

“Then let me make this clear beforehand. I will only answer your questions within the legend, but I won’t lift a finger to help you.” Ramla’s expression looked exactly like she was gazing at a lover. “You have to show me how capable you are.”

“Just start already, I don’t want to speak anymore…”

…

Time: 406 BCE.

Location: Greek Realm, Temple of Athena.

Characters: The God of Legends and two attendants descend.

The moment the three opened their eyes, a gentle sea breeze caressed their faces.

They stood in a structure with no walls on any of its four sides. The building was supported by numerous white pillars, allowing the breeze from the nearby sea to blow directly beneath the eaves, creating a very comfortable atmosphere. In the center of the entire structure stood a massive statue of a woman.

The sky was brilliantly blue, and the sea stretched endlessly wide.

A voice as pleasant as wind chimes echoed behind them.

“Wow… you guys…”

The three paused, not expecting anyone to be behind them.

Turning around, they discovered a young woman standing straight behind them. Like Ramla, she was dressed in revealing clothing, but her appearance was incredibly striking. Her pale skin held a faint rosy tint, and her golden hair cascaded in beautiful curls reminiscent of sunset clouds, reflecting the seaside sunlight.

“Holy crap!” Du Yu exclaimed. This had to be the most beautiful European woman he had ever seen. He stepped forward almost involuntarily and declared, “You must be Athena! Just like the legends say, you are truly far too beautiful!”

“Athena?” The blonde girl cried out in alarm. “Please don’t make such jokes. You are not praising me; you are blaspheming the great goddess.”

“Not Athena?” Du Yu blinked. “Then may I ask who you are…”

“May the goddess bless you. My name is Gorgon, a priestess of the Temple of Athena.” Gorgon offered a slight bow to the group before continuing, “I saw you suddenly appear before my eyes just now and thought it was the descent of deities.”

“I am indeed a deity,” Ramla slowly spoke up. “God of Huaxia, please don’t mistake her identity. How could such a filthy mortal possibly be Athena?”

Hearing this, Du Yu immediately grew displeased. What was wrong with being a mortal?

He was just about to lose his temper when Gorgon nodded repeatedly and said, “This deity speaks the truth. I am a filthy mortal and cannot be compared to the great goddess Athena.”

“Huh? You aren’t angry when she talks about you like that?” Du Yu asked in confusion.

The girl named Gorgon ignored Du Yu and turned to ask Ramla instead.

“May I ask what kind of deity you are, and could I know your name?”

“I am the God of Legends, Ramla. Zeus is hosting a banquet for the gods this time, and I am on the guest list, so I came here to wait.”

“So it is the God of Legends.” Gorgon bowed to Ramla once more. “Before Hermes arrives to pick you up, I will bring out the finest food to entertain you. Please wait a moment.”

‘Wow,’ Du Yu thought to himself, realizing he had just learned a new trick. Ramla had actually descended using her true identity. It seemed that because she constantly wandered through various legends all year round, the gods already knew her. He wondered when he would ever get to enjoy such treatment.

In no time at all, Gorgon brought out assorted silver trays laden with various foods, and she also produced fine wine to treat the group. There was only one dining table within this colossal temple, so the few of them sat on opposite sides and enjoyed the meal.

Though labeled as fine food, it consisted merely of bread, fruit, and a small amount of roasted meat, while the so-called fine wine was just ordinary grape wine. By modern standards, this was as plain a meal as one could get, but when Du Yu thought about it, this was four hundred years BCE, making it extravagant enough.

The group casually picked up some fruit to eat. Du Yu had no idea who exactly they were waiting for.

“The incense offerings at this Temple of Athena are quite prosperous,” Du Yu commented. “Why are there so many people coming to worship?”

They had only been sitting for a few minutes before they spotted many Greeks arriving to pay their respects, though the majority of them were men.

“You are mistaken.” Ramla shook her head and said, “These men are not here to worship Athena at all.”

“Then they are…?”

“They are here to catch a glimpse of that filthy Gorgon.”

“You…” Du Yu looked slightly displeased. “You keep calling her ‘filthy’ in every other breath. What exactly is wrong with that girl?”

Ramla gently swirled the silver cup in her hand and replied, “I might have forgotten to tell you, God of Huaxia. Aside from ensuring that Athena doesn’t marry Zeus, our ‘main quest’ this time also involves helping her kill Gorgon.”