Heroic Spirit Name: Thaumas
Era: Ancient Greek Age of Gods
Alignment: Orderly Good
(Temporary, influenced by legend)
Secondary Attribute: Human
(Temporary, influenced by legend)
Class Affinities Obtained:
Assassin, Caster
Heroic Spirit Parameters (Strength, etc.): Not yet confirmed
Personal Skills: Not yet confirmed
Noble Phantasm Possessed: [Eternal Slumber in the Finale]
Noble Phantasm Rank: C+++
Noble Phantasm Type: Anti-Personnel Noble Phantasm
Maximum Targets: 1
Noble Phantasm Effects:
Plays a lullaby so magnificent that even gods would marvel at it, causing the target to fall asleep until their head is severed!
Affected by [Magic Resistance]. When the opponent's [Magic Resistance] is Rank B or above, the Noble Phantasm cannot take effect, though it can inflict a certain degree of [Slowness] on the target. This effect is ineffective against targets with EX-rank [Magic Resistance].
When sufficient magical energy is available, the Noble Phantasm's power can be enhanced according to the amount of magical energy. In theory, it can affect anything below the level of a god.
Heroic Spirit Quality: C
Heroic Spirit Legend:
A hero unlike other heroes in Ancient Greek legend, he was a disciple of the centaur sage Chiron and a believer of Queen of Heaven Hera.
He advised other heroes to uphold the justice in their hearts, successfully persuading Jason and earning the praise of countless poets.
With his wisdom, he won the Queen of Heaven's favor and helped Jason contend with his uncle Pelias, thus beginning the great journey to reclaim the Golden Fleece.
He also received an oracle from the Goddess of Wisdom, played a tune for Hermes, and beheaded the Nemean Lion amid that moving melody...
Night.
Thaumas sat inside the makeshift shelter, focusing his mind on the mysterious Monument in his head.
Years of effort had finally paid off. He had never expected that an oracle from the Goddess of Wisdom Athena would indirectly allow him to become a Heroic Spirit.
Then again, this was one of the Twelve Labors! If that still wasn't enough, the Hall of Heroes would have long since been empty.
Now that he had become a Heroic Spirit, his goal had temporarily been achieved. Next, he would take a good look around Greece.
Though he could have died immediately, he still couldn't stop worrying about his friends. He wanted to change those tragic endings as much as he could.
Beneath the blazing campfire,
Thaumas came back to his senses and focused on roasting the Nemean Lion's meat.
The meat sizzled on the fire. A drop of hot oil slowly slid down the plump grain of the flesh, intoxicatingly tempting.
"Thaumas, is there anything I can help with?" The burly Heracles sat cross-legged nearby and asked seriously.
"Not for now. Come to think of it, I should thank you for helping me butcher it. It would've been hard to handle such a huge carcass on my own. Leave the cooking to me!"
As Thaumas spoke, he sprinkled on more spices. After all, Ancient Greece did not have many seasonings, and these seasonings were substitutes he had made himself. Their supply was limited as well.
Heracles said nothing more. Thaumas's cooking was famously first-rate; even their teacher Chiron admitted himself inferior.
After descending the mountain, Heracles had missed it for quite a long time.
Thaumas added more charcoal and adjusted the heat. The fire couldn't be too weak.
After all, the Magic Lion's meat was incredibly tough. He just wondered whether it would chip their teeth.
Heracles waited quietly, inhaling the fragrance drifting through the air. He swallowed and unconsciously rubbed his palms together.
At last, after a long wait, Thaumas cut off an entire hind leg under Heracles's eager gaze and handed it to him with some effort.
Heracles grabbed it in one hand, hugged it, and started gnawing on it.
The Magic Lion was enormous, so Thaumas naturally couldn't eat that much. But Heracles was different. He could probably finish the entire thing without any trouble.
Perhaps the King of Knights could compete with him?
Thinking that, Thaumas cut off a piece for himself.
The instant it entered his mouth,
Heat burst across his tongue, filling him with happiness. The meat had been tempered by charcoal fire and was already overflowing with aroma.
It wasn't hard to chew at all! It was unexpectedly tender.
Enhanced by Thaumas's homemade spices, it became even more flavorful—tender, crisp, fresh, salty, numbing, and spicy, all dancing across his mouth at once.
The delicious taste reached the very tip of his tongue, filling his mouth with the fragrance of meat.
Delicious!
"Say, Thaumas, did Teacher Chiron permit you to come down the mountain? You're only sixteen this year!" Heracles asked curiously.
Huh? Why was he suddenly asking that? If Heracles found out he had sneaked down, this senior brother might personally escort him back.
Right, he had decided. Sorry, Jason.
"Oh, that? Jason and I came down the mountain together.
And you don't need to worry about me, Senior Brother. After all, I can already kill the Nemean Lion!"
Heracles's face immediately darkened, and he snarled, "That Jason brought you out here?!"
"Senior Brother, that isn't the point. Besides, the fact that I could come down the mountain means Teacher Chiron has tacitly allowed it. Otherwise, how could I have hidden it from Teacher Chiron?
Oh, right, Senior Brother. What are you planning to do with this fur, claws, and teeth?" Thaumas tried to change the subject.
Heracles did not answer. He put down the roasted meat and pondered carefully for a while, considering how he should teach Jason a lesson.
Only after a long time did he speak again, staring at Thaumas with great earnestness.
"This Magic Lion is your prey, so it should naturally belong to you. I cannot take the glory that should have been yours!"
That was indeed the Heracles Thaumas knew. He had never disdained to seize things by force.
"Senior Brother, it's fine. You aren't taking my glory; I'm sharing it with you. Besides, this was the Goddess of Wisdom's oracle!
If you can't complete the labor, won't that put you in a difficult position?"
After hearing that, Heracles did not stand on ceremony.
"In that case, I'll take the lion skin. But its claws and fangs are sharp, so I won't take them.
Also, this is for you." Heracles took out a tightly sealed medicine jar.
"What is it?" Thaumas asked in confusion.
"Hydra venom.
After defeating it, I used its venom to temper some arrows. I also collected some extra. It's of no use to me for now, so I'll give it to you in exchange for your lion skin."
The noble hero spoke slowly.
Huh? Had something gone wrong?
Thaumas remembered that the Hydra was supposed to be the second of the Twelve Labors. It had happened early.
It seemed someone had intervened. And considering that he had received Athena's oracle, the case was solved.
This Goddess of Wisdom had started arranging things long ago. But how could she be so confident?
Thaumas played a tune, soothing the loneliness of the night.
Unable to understand how Athena had calculated everything, he could only attribute it to the fact that she was a god. As expected, humans found some of the gods' actions difficult to comprehend.
Thaumas smiled and accepted the Hydra venom. If he did not accept it, Heracles would not take the lion skin either.
Thus, the two fellow disciples happily continued chatting, releasing the joy of their reunion after so long apart.
"Thaumas, weren't you afraid when you faced the Magic Lion?" Heracles tore off a piece of meat and looked at him curiously from beside the fire.
"No, because I had a plan. What humans fear isn't strength, but the unknown, right? I understood it. Besides, unlike ordinary people, I'm not afraid of death." Thaumas smiled.
"Is that so? Then how did you defeat this lion?"
"Of course, I used Teacher Chiron's lyre to give it a beautiful dream. It simply never woke up again." Thaumas changed the melody, and a trace of sorrow suddenly entered it before he continued.
"Speaking of which, Goddess Hera gave me a Bracelet. When it died, I heard its thoughts.
"This Nemean Lion had been abandoned by Father of Monsters Typhon from the moment it was born, but all it truly wanted was to live quietly.
"I gave it a beautiful dream. In that dream, no heroes hunted it, no living creature despised it, and everything was so wonderful. That was why it willingly sank into it, even knowing that it was about to die."
"Do you think you did something wrong?" Heracles asked worriedly.
Thaumas answered at once.
"Senior Brother, I was indeed lamenting it, but that was all.
"No matter what its original intentions were, it killed people, and I'm human.
"If it didn't die, was I supposed to die?
"I pity it because we are both living beings. But once that position is set aside, humans and magical beasts are destined to stand against each other. I merely thought about it a little more."
"Looking at it that way, Thaumas, you seem like a saint!" Heracles praised.
"Don't flatter me. I'm not a saint, and I'm not some self-righteous saint either. I'm just a person." Bathed in the firelight, Thaumas spoke slowly.
"What does that mean?" Heracles asked, puzzled.
"Let's put it this way, Heracles. If you met a beggar now, and you only had one piece of bread in your hand, what would you do?" Thaumas thought for a moment before asking.
"I'd give it to him."
"What if you were about to starve to death too?"
"I can't be sure."
"Exactly. That makes you human!
"A saint is someone who, no matter the circumstances, would say, 'He's so pitiful. I must share my things with him.'
"And a vile person is someone who expresses pity while righteously telling others, 'He's so pitiful. Why won't you share your things with him?'
"I don't want to be perfectly good, nor do I respect pure evil. I only want to be a person between gods and beasts! An ordinary person!"
"That's hard to understand. I don't get it." Heracles scratched his head. "Thaumas, Teacher Chiron was right. You really are a contradictory person who thinks too much!"
What could he say? That Teacher Chiron had sharp insight? Perhaps. But that was simply who he was.
Once a person's values had taken shape, they gained a clear direction and became difficult to change.
Orderly Good—this was his alignment. But was it really? Perhaps he was more suited to Neutral.
He clearly did not want to meddle in many matters, yet whenever he faced certain darkness, he could not help wanting to change it with his own hands. A contradictory hero? Probably.
"What about you, Heracles? Have you ever considered similar questions?"
"Not really. I'm not suited to questions full of philosophy like that. Maybe Teacher Chiron would like them. But Thaumas, you really are a good person."
"Then what do you do when you encounter a difficult problem?"
"Lady Athena's world-shaking wisdom told me that when I encounter a problem I truly cannot solve, I only need to use my world-shaking strength."
Damn, worthy of Hercules! One strength overcomes ten thousand techniques!
What an exceptionally direct answer.
Before you continue