Even though the heroes on the ground were picking their fighters,
The gods held the veto power.
So the final lineup still depended entirely on what appealed to them.
The vote among heroes was nothing more than a formality.
Very quickly, several prominent candidates were put forward.
Among them were Hector, Achilles, Great Ajax, and the Amazon queen Penthesilea.
Almost all the nominations were famous demigods.
Athena nominated her own chosen follower, the brave and powerful Diomedes.
She actually wanted to suggest Griffith take the field as well, since she had been watching him for some time now and had developed real admiration for him.
But in fact she had no standing to openly help Griffith make a name for himself.
For those with courage, this contest was not a disaster but the best possible opportunity to build a legend and achieve something lasting.
What disappointed Athena was that neither Apollo nor Artemis, the two gods with the closest relationship to Griffith, seemed to have any intention of speaking up.
Just as the gods were in the middle of a lively and heated discussion, a figure walked in from outside.
It was the goddess of beauty, Aphrodite, back in a hurry.
The moment she entered, every divine gaze in the room fixed on her and couldn't pull away.
The light in the heavens seemed to grow a little warmer.
Apollo and Helios, both holding solar authority, felt mildly insulted.
Aphrodite had barely stepped inside before she let loose a smile more brilliant than the open sea, and with those expressive, laughing eyes, she looked across the assembly of gods and said:
"In the name of the goddess of love and beauty, Aphrodite, I nominate the hero Griffith!!"
The moment that most beautiful of goddesses spoke a name not one of them recognized, the entire divine assembly went silent.
"Hero, Griffith? Who is that?"
A god murmured in confusion.
But others suddenly remembered something.
They had heard that name before.
Back when Hermes was bragging to the goddess of love.
"That is the descendant of the great dragon-slaying hero Kratos?!" a god blurted in a low voice.
The voice was quiet, but everyone present was a god.
Their senses were far beyond human, and every one of them heard it.
A descendant of the dragon-slaying hero?
That instantly drew the attention of more gods who had no knowledge of Night.
At that moment, among the assembled gods, the expressions of the god of light Apollo and the moon goddess Artemis both changed.
"I object!!" Artemis said.
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At the same time, on the ground…
Heroes also started to vote and select the candidate in their hearts.
Many heroes even started to canvass votes on the spot, promising many war spoils.
Some weak heroes did not have confidence they could obtain the final victory and thus withdrew from competing for the position of the one to fight.
And compared to the powerful Greek heroes' side, although the heroes on the Trojan side were also quite a few, the top heroes were really not many.
Finally, besides the inevitably appearing Hector, this strongest hero and the filler-fixed candidate Paris.
On the Trojan side, the final gazes unexpectedly all looked toward a valiant and heroic, petite female warrior.
"The queen of the Amazons, Penthesilea, if the enemies who come out to fight are all half-god heroes.
"Among us, only you, who are also a half-god, can block them a bit."
Hector recommended Penthesilea.
This strong female warrior, who completely covered her appearance under an iron helmet, making one unable to see her face clearly, possessed healthy wheat-colored skin and curves with ups and downs.
Don't look at her body, which as a female appeared far thinner than male heroes, but recently on the battlefield she already used her own strength to make everyone recognize this powerful allied reinforcement.
The remaining heroes, when they heard that Hector recommended her, also all nodded and acknowledged that the other party had the qualifications to participate in this decisive battle.
No one looked down on her because of her identity as a woman.
At the same time, if Penthesilea won the final victory, even if she obtained the final war trophy...which was Helen, she would not do any damage.
After all, no matter how beautiful Helen was, the Amazon queen did not have lesbian traits.
And Paris was even happier to see such a candidate.
After all, among the participants on the Trojan side, if his own elder brother obtained the final victory, with the elder brother's character he definitely would not compete with him for Helen, and the remaining one, if it was Penthesilea, this woman would pose even less of a threat to him.
And this Amazon queen also did not refuse.
Thus, the Trojan side quickly decided on the candidate and sent it to the god Hermes.
On the Greek side, the pool of potential fighters was enormous.
Demigod bloodlines were hardly rare among them.
Aside from Achilles, who wasn't present, Odysseus, Diomedes, and Great Ajax all made no secret of their eagerness.
Even Agamemnon felt a twinge of interest, though in the end he no longer had that drive to put himself on the line, and he wasn't willing to step onto the field personally over Helen.
Beyond those familiar faces, many other heroes Night recognized from the banquet, figures who would later have legendary names, threw themselves into the running.
Among them was the reckless little Ajax, a complete madman who later, with no regard for Athena's protection, chased Apollo's priestess Cassandra into her own temple and raped the other party
The same one who, during a sea storm, taunted Poseidon directly, boasted that not all the gods of Olympus combined could kill him, and was then promptly killed by an offended Poseidon with a single wave. A clown.
There was also Tlepolemus, another son of the great Heracles, who in terms of sheer recklessness was no less extreme than the little Ajax.
(He killed his own uncle, was chased by his brothers, fled as a fugitive, eventually made his way to the Trojan War, and was there killed by a spear from Sarpedon, one of Zeus's sons on earth.
That kill was the only notable achievement Sarpedon ever had, since he was later killed by Patroclus, the very weak friend of Achilles who couldn't even hold a spear.
Thinking about these well-known names, whose records and quality were already obvious at a glance, and who were now arguing loudly with first-tier heroes like Diomedes over a spot in the lineup,
Night recalled their rather unimpressive battlefield records and felt, well..quietly speechless.
Heroes of this composition fighting for a slot in the duel, with no real self-awareness about their actual strength, were not rare among the Greeks.
Being demigods, with divine blood flowing through their veins, many of them simply assumed they were far stronger than any common mortal.
But if Night was being honest, if most of these particular heroes actually stepped onto the field, as long as the Trojan side didn't put out Paris, almost any named Trojan fighter might be able to handle them in sequence.
In the end,
The Greek side continued arguing without resolution and still hadn't produced a final list of three.
After the vote, it turned out a significant number of heroes just voted for themselves.
The smaller heroes and minor kings who felt they had no real shot gave up and sold the favor by casting their votes for the most persuasive orator in the room, Odysseus, after he made them generous promises.
So Odysseus secured one slot.
Excluding Menelaus, who was a fixed entry, one slot remained.
For the remaining powerful heroes, nobody wanted to offend any of them, so the undecided votes that didn't want to go on a hero's own behalf were simply all sent to Odysseus.
When Hermes returned to find out the situation, even he was at a loss for words.
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(End of the Chapter)