On the deck of the merchant vessel fleeing from Troy, several merchants were discussing how the Greek alliance had sailed across the ocean to attack Troy.
They talked about the legend of the Greek army getting lost multiple times before finding Troy, nearly trapped and killed by a storm that the moon goddess Artemis sent, all because Agamemnon once killed one of the goddess's sacred deer.
If Agamemnon had not offered up his own daughter to appease the moon goddess's wrath, the Greeks might still be searching for the gates of Troy.
That storm reportedly raged for several months on end.
Night listened to this familiar myth with one ear while casting his gaze toward the calm, windless horizon, which showed no trace of ever having been torn apart by a storm.
With a single thought, she created a disaster large enough to stop hundreds of thousands of troops and thousands of warships of the entire Greek alliance.
The power of gods truly was omnipotent.
Even having witnessed the destructive force of a dragon and the strength of a demigod, those powers only showed themselves in sheer destruction, with no particular versatility.
Even now he had no idea how those gods instantly turned mortals and even heroes old, into sheep, into stone.
This kind of ability, like an unsolvable rule-based power, if turned on him, could he even resist it?
He had not heard of any hero who possessed a similarly unsolvable ability.
So was this the unbridgeable gap in the hierarchy of life between gods and humans in the Greek world?
Holding onto the thought that it was best not to provoke gods whenever possible, these unsolvable existences.
Little did he know that in terms of attracting gods, he was already sinking deeper and deeper.
Soon enough, the entire journey passed without any accident, no shipwreck, and no storm.
The vessel successfully made landfall on the coast of Mysia.
Because the sea voyage was so unbearably dull in between, Night simply started plucking the strings and playing, practicing the newly acquired musical skills.
He did not expect to gain a following of ordinary people as fans, with even the seagulls on the water flocking to perch on the masts and listen to the music.
This impressive display instantly won the admiration of everyone on board.
The merchants even wanted to invite him to travel with them.
If they could listen to such wonderful music throughout their journey, they would surely feel far more enthusiastic about their work.
However, Night naturally declined politely.
These merchants would only stay on the Mysian coast for a short time before continuing on toward Greece, not just fleeing from prosecution but also bringing Trojan specialties to sell in Greece for a modest profit.
His plan did not involve going all the way back to Greece, so naturally he was not going with them.
At this moment,
Night set both feet on solid ground, standing on this unfamiliar soil, then lifted his head and gazed into the distance.
A kingdom lay ahead.
Though the Mysian coast was not a particularly famous place, the king of the country here had quite a notable background.
Son of the great hero Heracles, Telephus.
The Greek alliance initially landed in the wrong place here and killed a great many people, and Telephus was the target of this visit.
Because of his unique position, geographically caught between Greece and Troy,
The Greeks wanted him to join the march against Troy, but the old king of Troy was Telephus's father-in-law, and so he refused.
Of course,
How much of that refusal came down to Agamemnon bringing troops to kill so many of Telephus's soldiers and civilians? That was another question entirely.
He believed no normal person could feel no resentment over that.
By all reasoning, someone in Telephus's situation would have no reason to help Agamemnon.
In history, Telephus simply chose to support Troy.
But the myth recorded a discrepancy. A god intervened, indicating that Telephus should join the Greek camp and turn against his own father-in-law.
So Telephus found himself a convenient excuse, claiming he had once been saved by a Greek soldier, and joined the war on the Greek side.
If Night had no plan to infiltrate the Greek alliance as reinforcement,
Then among the outside support the gods chose going forward, this king would likely have been one of them.
But now he was here.
And he intended to build himself a completely new identity starting from this place and claim that reinforcement entry ticket for himself.
A certain famous and remarkably bold individual who once successfully convinced a president to attend an event once arrived at this understanding from his time in Earth Online.
He discovered there was a massive bug in real life.
When people dealt with those they encountered in daily life, they generally did not question the other person's identity.
When you fabricate an identity, you know it is fake, and the people around you also know it is fake.
But when the friends and family around them all say it is real, out of trust and the subconscious belief that someone familiar would never deceive them, they start to believe the identity is real.
You yourself also say your identity is real.
And eventually, as more and more people believe in this new identity, even if you personally step forward and declare yourself a fraud, countless people will assume you are joking and come forward on their own to defend and cover for you, finding every kind of reason to prove the authenticity of your identity.
The very people deceived ended up stepping forward on their own to hypnotize and deceive themselves.
This subconscious arrogance, rooted deep in the human ego, made them trust only their own experience, believe only in the truth their own judgment told them, and often overlook the actual lie right in front of them.
Only an identity built this way was truly unbreakable and difficult for anyone to see through.
So,
After stepping onto this island and walking alone for a while to confirm no one was nearby, Night removed his hood, changed into a fresh, dignified, and noble set of clothes he had prepared in advance, and instantly transformed into something resembling a prince.
At that point, even if someone said he was a prince from some kingdom out traveling the world, absolutely no one would have doubted it.
He first made his way on foot to the royal capital.
This kingdom is ruled by the son of the great hero Heracles.
The streets of the capital were under repair.
The damage from when the Greek alliance once stormed the palace and nearly destroyed the place was still visible.
Fortunately, the buildings around the central square remained intact, and there were still many people moving about on the roads, life gradually returning to what it was before the great battle.
To make his new identity convincing, no one was more credible or persuasive to use than Telephus, son of the great hero Heracles.
But
With his current status as a commoner, meeting a king was absolutely out of the question.
Even a fabricated new identity, without anyone to vouch for it, was nothing but empty words and would be very hard to get anyone to believe.
Walking up directly like that, he would probably not even get through the palace gates.
Well, maybe not.
With his current appearance and bearing, the problem was already more than half solved, and he had already thought of a way to handle the remaining half.
To play it safe, Night looked over the distance between the central square and the palace and came up with a plan.
He stepped back for the time being, found an inn in the capital to stay for a night, and while there, gathered some information from the innkeeper.
The next day, he hired a carriage and said calmly to the driver, "Here is one gold coin. Take me to the home of whoever you think is the most destitute person in this kingdom.
Once you find them, the coin is yours."
The driver was immediately overjoyed upon hearing this.
A job this good actually existed?!
Finding people was exactly what he knew best!
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