The King of the Underworld is Tired

Chapter 147: The Story of Asclepius – (1)

Asclepius.

He was the child born from the sun god Apollo and the Thessalian princess Coronis.

However, while he was still in Coronis’s womb, she had an affair with a mortal man. When a crow brought this news to Apollo, he killed Coronis.

The crow, with its white feathers, also burned black under Apollo’s gaze as punishment for delivering the message.

Thus, Apollo retrieved the newborn Asclepius from Coronis’s corpse, noticed his talent, and sent him to Thebes.

This was the beginning of Asclepius learning medicine from Chiron in the underworld.

“As expected. You truly have the talent, just as Lord Apollo said.”

“…?”

“You couldn’t grasp the art of wielding weapons, but your medical skills are more outstanding than anyone's.”

And so, abandoning sword and spear, he focused solely on accumulating medical knowledge and soon surpassed Chiron.

Heroes fighting to the death in the underworld often became subjects for him to practice his medical skills.

Snap!

“Aaagh! Asclepius, you lunatic!”

“Oh, is this not the right way? Then, if I turn it the other way…”

Snap snap!

Although he made many mistakes, he grew smoothly.

“Here, please wear this face covering (mask) when you go outside. In dusty areas, dust can gather around the chest area…”

“It feels a bit stifling, though.”

“When a child eats and suffers stomach pain, give them the decoction made from the herbs I prepared…”

“Asclepius! The king urgently requests your presence!”

“Is it his feet bothering him again?”

“…How did you know that?”

“It’s a recurring ailment that can’t be completely cured. Here, take this care guide…”

While other heroes traveled around slaying monsters, Asclepius wandered through Greece, treating the sick.

“The medicinal properties of mint, which Lord Pluto bestowed upon the mortal world, are truly remarkable… Hmm.”

“Teacher! As you advised, we’ve prepared the body of someone who died from the plague…”

“Did you properly get permission from their parents?”

While other heroes trained to achieve great deeds, he continued to research and expand his medical knowledge.

Thus, the people’s perception of Asclepius grew to be…

“The master of healing, Teacher Asclepius.”

“Greece’s greatest physician, who can cure any illness?”

“Isn’t he even able to revive the dead? I saw him touch a man’s chest who wasn’t breathing, and he came back to life…”

“Remember the tale of how he revived a man who drowned? That was truly incredible.”

“Maybe he has such powers because he’s Apollo’s son.”

He was acknowledged solely for his medical skills at the hero training grounds of the underworld, serving as the physician of the Golden Fleece expedition.

Everyone in Greece respected his medical skill, comparing it to Orpheus’s music.

Many even seriously believed that he could bring the dead back to life.

In truth, according to Hades’ past-life memory, all he did was perform CPR on someone who wasn’t breathing after nearly drowning, something easily understood by 21st-century standards.

However, the medical knowledge of this era hadn’t developed to that level.

Eventually, the rumor spread far and wide that Asclepius could revive the dead,

and in some rural areas, he was even revered as the god of healing.

“Are you the mortal called Asclepius, said to revive the dead?”

“…Who are you?”

“I am Artemis, and Apollo is my brother.”

Naturally, this rumor even reached the gods of Olympus.

* * *

Thud!

Asclepius stared blankly at the enormous corpse of a boar thrown in front of him.

It was a massive beast, dead and bleeding all over.

This was the very boar that had been wreaking havoc in Calydon.

“It was a sacred beast I raised. It was hunted down by human heroes, but I obscured their vision with mist and retrieved the body.”

“But why have you brought it here, goddess…?”

“I’ve heard the rumor that you can bring back the dead. Revive my sacred beast.”

“The boar from Calydon…! So it was you, goddess, who sent it?!”

In truth, Artemis had no intention of reviving her sacred beast that she’d sent to Calydon.

It was natural for a god to be angry with mortals and to impose a fitting punishment called a “divine task.”

Artemis was no exception to this fundamental principle.

She had intended to let the heroes struggle against the boar and then, if it was killed, issue an oracle telling them to perform the proper rites in sacrifice.

‘Still, they’re just mortals. How dare they slaughter my sacred beast at first sight? I’ll make this human revive it and send it back.’

Exactly.

The boar Artemis sent as divine punishment was killed by the heroes in an instant.

That was the problem. Divine punishment wasn’t supposed to end like that…!

If punishment directly from the Twelve Olympians ended merely due to the heroes’ “valiant efforts,” it would be embarrassing.

If things ended this way, it would damage the goddess’s pride and dignity, even making her vulnerable to the ridicule of lesser gods.

‘This time, I’ll imbue it with the power of madness and the moon so it won’t be handled so easily.’

Of course, hearing an abrupt command from the moon goddess to revive the dead left Asclepius in shock.

Sweat broke out on his forehead, and his hands shook.

“Goddess Artemis! I do not possess the ability to revive the dead.”

“Many people have seen you revive humans who couldn’t breathe, so why lie?”

“If you mean the one I saved from drowning, there’s been a misunderstanding. I have no such power.”

“Do not lie. Humans are not gods. If they cannot breathe, they die.”

While gods excelled in their own domains, they lacked detailed knowledge of areas outside their realm of influence.

No, it could be said that he didn’t need to prepare at all. The power of divinity, an all-encompassing force, took care of everything. 

Artemis, the goddess, was not Apollo, the god of healing.

Of course, if someone had seen firsthand the humans that Asclepius supposedly brought back to life, they would have noticed they weren’t truly resurrected.

But, having grown accustomed to demigods and gods performing all kinds of miracles—and having recently seen the hero Heracles ascend to godhood—Artemis thought it possible that Asclepius might indeed be able to revive the dead.

The greatest hero had become a god of strength, so why couldn’t the greatest healer revive the dead?

“If you truly haven’t brought someone back from the dead, swear upon the River Styx, and I’ll believe you.”

“That is…”

Asclepius couldn’t answer.

In truth, he himself did not fully understand the precise principle behind reviving those whose breaths had stopped.

All he knew was that if he breathed new life into a human whose breath had stopped only recently and got their heart beating again, there was a chance they might revive.

Asclepius was unsure whether he had truly rescued a soul from Thanatos’s grasp or simply pulled someone back from the threshold of the underworld.

Looking at him hesitating, the goddess Artemis chuckled softly.

“I won’t hold you accountable for lying to a goddess—as long as you treat my sacred animal with utmost sincerity, of course.”

* * *

“But, Goddess! The dead fall under the domain of the god Pluto! How could someone like me trespass into his realm?”

“Did you think I hadn’t considered that?”

Despite Asclepius’s desperate protest, Artemis’s smile didn’t fade.

Annoying mortal. A god commands, and you should simply obey.

“Lord Hades did not punish you for reviving the dead.”

“That’s because I didn’t actually bring anyone back from the dead…”

“No. In my view, your level of healing skill has already surpassed that of my brother. You might very well aspire to the divine domain of medicine.”

“…?”

“My guess is… it’s because you, who have the potential to become a god of healing, were the one to perform the healing. That’s why you weren’t punished for bringing someone back from the dead.”

In truth, Artemis didn’t care whether this mortal would eventually face punishment.

The important thing was that he could revive the dead.

Her brother Apollo’s son? Hmph. Whether Hades punished him for reviving the dead or not was of no concern to her.

Maybe Uncle Hades would give her a little scolding, but that was something she could bear.

Having never once worked in the underworld, the goddess Artemis sincerely believed this.

“Hmm…”

At the goddess’s certainty, Asclepius’s gaze wavered.

But how was he supposed to revive a creature like that monster, which wasn’t simply breathless but pierced through its whole body?

“Do your best to heal it. With your ability, you’ll surely be able to save my sacred beast.”

“…Understood.”

In the end, unable to refuse the goddess’s command, Asclepius began examining the boar.

Since the goddess was watching closely, he had no choice but to treat it with all his effort.

He pulled out the embedded spear and sword, wiped away the blood…

Used medicinal herbs to stimulate healing, and bandaged the wounds to seal them…

“This… like this…”

Slide. Swish.

Asclepius’s “treatment” continued for quite some time.

Yet he himself never expected that the dead boar would come back to life…

“Graaahk…”

‘…What? Why is it alive?’

What on earth was this? The boar, clearly dead, had come back to life.

It was a feat incomparable to simply reviving a breathless human.

The explanation was as follows…

Heroes were those who had not only reached the limits of human potential but even surpassed them.

Orpheus’s music calmed storms,

Idas’s bravery did not falter even before the sun god,

And Atalanta’s archery was so renowned that even the gods regarded it highly.

Then, what about Asclepius?n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

In Greece, he was recognized by all as a master of healing, and there was no doctor who could compare to him…

In fact, there were already rural villages that revered him as a god of medicine.

Just as Orpheus had surpassed Apollo with his music,

Asclepius’s healing skills had long since surpassed Apollo’s.

In the world of human medicine, his name held absolute authority,

And the fame he’d gained for bringing the dead back to life was comparable to Orpheus’s renown for calming a storm on the quest for the Golden Fleece.

Moreover, his father was Apollo, and the goddess of the moon, one of the twelve Olympians, believed he could indeed revive the dead.

In short, he was a demigod with the accomplishments, skills, fame, and devotion of a god.

This inevitably led to an elevation in his standing…

“You did very well. Next time, I’ll see you again on Olympus.”

“…?!”

Ultimately, he truly achieved the feat of bringing the dead back to life.