Why Hermes appeared here was, of course, because of the deduction he and Loki had made.
All the clues triggered by the Divine Wine pointed toward Demeter.
But gods are still gods. During their investigation, the two main deities realized that the information and clues they were following were being manipulated by someone behind the scenes, someone tugging them along by the nose, guiding them toward a predetermined path.
Who among them wasn't a god with millions of years of experience? Loki and Hermes didn't even need to discuss it.
They simply decided to reverse-engineer the scheme, go along with the hidden mastermind's script and see how far the play would go.
And that led to the scene before them now.
Just as they had expected, the identity of the supposed "mastermind" behind these events pointed toward an acquaintance, the Goddess of Fertility, Demeter.
Under Hermes' calm tone, Demeter's strength left her body. Her knees buckled, and she collapsed to the ground, her eyes overflowing with despair.
"...You ended up as the scapegoat, not to protect Enyo, right?"
It wasn't a question, but a statement.
He had known her intimately for a long time.
Hermes knew Demeter's character inside out. A goddess as kind as her plotting a chain of terror attacks? Hermes could swear on his own divinity that such a thing was impossible.
Which meant… the matter deserved scrutiny.
As a god skilled in schemes, he understood the key details almost instantly. But specifics needed to come from her own mouth.
"…"
"Was it a deal? Or… were you threatened? With your personality, I'd bet that bastard threatened you. No way you'd willingly bargain with him."
Hermes stepped closer, kneeling before her.
Perhaps because she realized everything was already beyond saving, Demeter's defeated voice trembled out:
"...I interfered too deeply."
"…"
"At the time, I was searching for something strange about that god. But because of my reckless actions… my Familia… Persephone and the others were taken hostage."
She must have recalled the scene from back then. Demeter hugged her arms around herself, her complexion pale and distorted.
"He warned me that if I didn't obey, he would kill the children. At first… I refused. I never imagined that monster would actually do it!"
"One child was killed so easily. I faltered. Then another. I shouted for him to stop. Another. I cried… and still another…"
"A lunatic. That guy is a complete lunatic!"
The blood-soaked memories made the gentle goddess' voice tremble with sobs.
Measured in the near-eternal lifespan of gods, humans, children of the lower world, have already reincarnated innumerable times.
But even so, they could not rely on Thanatos' empty promise that "you'll meet again someday."
Death was death.
Such cruelty, especially to the loving, merciful Demeter, was nothing short of torture. A tragedy beyond endurance.
"After proving how rotten he was, he told me this: that I didn't need to do anything, didn't need to kill anyone, just keep my mouth shut…"
Hermes listened like a silent audience member while she poured out her heart, cruel as her story was.
The male god lowered his head. His expression blank. His eyes cold as the coming winter.
"…"
"His cunning lies in how rigorously he honors his contracts. As long as I behaved, he wouldn't kill anyone. But if I did anything suspicious… he would immediately take another child's life, removing any strength I had to resist…"
Every child of a Familia bore a Falna on their back.
Based on the divine blood they gave, a god couldn't pinpoint their exact location, but they could sense their life response.
As long as she stayed obedient, the number of Falna signatures would remain unchanged.
But if she wrote a note, sent a coded message, contacted others, or acted suspiciously, the "count" would decrease immediately.
Day after day, that simple yet brutal subtraction wore Demeter's mind and body down.
"…It was around the time Rakia invaded Ares' territory, I think. Takemikazuchi came to ask me for advice. He said, 'Demeter seems strange, but I don't understand women… so I hoped you could help her.'"
Hermes spoke softly.
Demeter managed a faint smile. "That's… very like Takemikazuchi…"
And that sentence revealed why, despite everything pointing to her, Hermes never believed Demeter was the true mastermind.
It wasn't hard to connect the dots, Demeter had been threatened, coerced.
"But Hermes… if you had approached me because you suspected something, I would've run. To avoid raising suspicion, I would've hidden away. Just like now, isolating myself, avoiding everyone."
"…"
"So by the time you noticed… everything was already too late. Just like now, Orario is probably already in chaos."
Tears finally spilled from Demeter's eyes. She had already realized what the true mastermind intended.
In the end, she had put her own Familia, and the entire city of Orario, on a scale. And it was too late to do anything about it.
"…And then, they pushed you onto the stage, didn't they? That's how it ended up like this."
"Yes. I couldn't see through him before. Even back in the heavens… I never understood how twisted he truly was."
Demeter looked up toward the sky, her tear-stained eyes resolute.
"The true identity of Enyo, is…"
"Dionysus!"
…
Staring at the figure before her, a mysterious person wearing a jester mask and a cloak that hid their form, Loki made her declaration.
She glared at that embodiment of darkness.
"The farce ends here. You bastard."
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T/N: I'll be posting all the chapters, with an hour in between, from later in the day. There may be around 15 more chapters.