I had the woman right under me, just one simple flick of a limb from doing her in or at least disabling her for a bit. At that very moment, I could not afford to focus on anything else but my incapacitated enemy, yet at the same time, I was able to hear her name, along with my own. The other possible enemy knew this woman and called her Aphrodite. But there was only possible Aphrodite I knew of, my brain filling in the details I learned during my travels with Persephone about this primordial.
Still, I had no idea whether she was an enemy or not. All I knew, was the fact, that she was supposedly somewhat strong, given her disposition.
"Miss Arachne, my name is Hades and I apologize for that woman, she can be quite headlong," explained the presumed king of the Underworld, slowing down and eventually keeping his distance away from me.
Which was a great way to let me know, that he was here to talk, rather than fight. Yet, it still could be a ruse, in order to get me to relax and force me to make a mistake.
"Sir Hades," said Persephone, confirming the man was indeed Hades, my future employer.
"Good to see you again Persephone, and once again apologies for Aphrodite, she will behave... Right?" said the now-named Hades in a mildly authoritative voice directed towards the woman under me.
"Hmmm, yes," Aphrodite said, yet her voice was not exactly of a person contemplating their improper behavior.
If anything, it was the exact opposite, as she seemed to be enjoying her current situation, way too much. And yet, the circumstances finally weighed on me as I carefully stepped away from the woman, making sure not to hurt her in the process, especially now that I knew who she was.
I was quite lucky, not thanks to Being X, that the initial misunderstanding and subsequent incident with Aphrodite was cleared without any recuperations for me, given that the primordial woman was technically my new boss's boss. If Hades was CEO or a branch manager, then Aphrodite was the franchise founder and de facto retired owner. Although my perhaps overly aggressive approach, even if it was at the time justified, bore no negative consequences for me, rather it seemed to impress Aphrodite. Which, of course, did not paint the best picture about the woman, given how thrilled she was by that act of violence.
Nevertheless, I was not going to complain, as long as she did not decide to wage some unreasonable war on someone and volunteered me to the front lines. No, as long as I got my safe rear-line position in the Underworld, sorting human souls I would be content with my boss being a war maniac.
"If I may," said Medusa, sounding somewhat uncertain about the whole ordeal.
"Yes dear, go on," said Aphrodite turning her wolfish eyes towards my close acquitance.
As it seemed, Aphrodite was not only a war maniac but also a different kind of beast, at the same time. In fact, just this one look would put all of Sappho's advances on me combined to shame. Although I had to acknowledge, that my poet mentioned the primordial woman in several of her works, in quite the spicy manner, so to speak. This, of course, meant that I would have to keep Aphrodite away from Medusa since unlike my soldiers I could not keep her on a leash, especially since my acquaintance did not appreciate this kind of conduct.
"I just wanted to know, why are you here, Lady Aphrodite?" asked Medusa, backing away from Aphrodite without realizing it.
"I concur with Miss Medusa," said Persephone, who unlike my acquaintance stepped several steps forward, her curiosity driving her into the open maw of an ever-hungry wolf.
Persephone's carelessness was, while alarming, understandable especially with how imperative was the answer to Medusa's question. After all, Aphrodite was certainly not supposed to be here. And even if she posed no danger to my person or to Medusa, something else might, which of course depended on what, the thing that drove her to the Underworld, was. At the same time, based on the brief I was provided by Persephone during our travels, about this primordial, she was rather willful I simply did whatever she wanted. Although as a successfully retired businesswoman, she had all right to do so, as her business was being taken care of by her children. Even if some of their practices were less than reputable.
"Listen up, Arachne! I need you to," said the primordial woman turning suddenly towards me with urgency.
"Aphrodite, we should probably let them settle in the Underworld first and then explain, and both Misses Gorgons should come with us as well," said Hades.
"Curse you, Xemha," mumbled Aphrodite, but otherwise dropped the matter, for now.
Apparently, there was a situation at hand. Yet, with nothing to go by, I could at most speculate. But given the nature of my new employment being hidden from the rest of the Hades's relatives, I could assume, that there might have been an information leak and someone from Olympus learned about the job offer from the Underworld. Therefore in such a case, it might be likely that Zeus would get involved, wanting to have revenge on myself or Medusa, or perhaps even have inappropriate relations with either of the Gorgons, or both.