At this moment.
Inside the cave.
Having confirmed his next target, Lorne's eyes flickered as he asked tentatively.
"If that is the case, would it be possible to gather those individuals favored by [Destiny] onto the War God Mountain in advance and have me personally guide them?"
"I would advise you strongly not to do that."
Hecate shook her head and gave a sincere warning.
"As I told you, destiny is not forever unchanging. Their experiences shape their existence and determine their future. Once you intervene too heavily, you may very likely influence or even strip away the [Possibility] within them, reducing them to ordinary people."
Lorne was someone who took good advice.
He firmly kept Hecate's reminder in mind.
Seeing this, Hecate gave a satisfied nod and added in a measured voice.
"Furthermore, the three Moirai have already set their eyes on you. If you openly interfere by force and bring about changes beyond what [Destiny] can tolerate, there is a very real possibility of bringing all three of them onto the stage.
Even if they cannot directly move against you at that point, they can influence the people gathered around you and cause all your previous efforts to come to nothing."
"So even though you now hold the standing of a chief God and can surpass the other Gods in the mortal world, to be safe, when you walk among mortals, it is best to do so in incarnation form."
Listening to this earnest and heartfelt counsel, a trace of suspicion rose on Lorne's face. "Why are you telling me all this?"
In his impression, this grand-teacher of his was hardly the saintly sort who considered other people's wellbeing.
"Because you already created one [Impossibility] that surpassed destiny's calculations."
Hecate looked steadily at the most outstanding student before her, letting the admiration in the depths of her eyes show, and spoke with unhurried ease.
"You are stronger than me. Perhaps you can also go further than me."
Now that things have reached this point. The two of them were now firmly bound together.
Cooperation benefited both. Separation harmed both.
Endlessly scheming against and wearing each other down would very likely result in mutual destruction, which would only end up benefiting the three Moirai's side.
Although she presided over the authority of scheming, perhaps certain ways of thinking also needed to change.
Lorne looked long and deep at this teacher of his, then gave a relaxed smile.
"Don't worry. I should not disappoint you."
'I hope so...'
Hecate murmured under her breath, watching her student walk gradually further away into the darkness until his figure disappeared beneath a flood of starlight.
"Meh?"
In the corner of the cave, two goats licked their rough tongues and produced a confused syllable, tilting their heads to examine the female two-legged creature before the stone pillar who seemed to be muttering to herself.
Looking at those demon horns and yellow-brown pupils, Hecate's body stiffened and her expression froze.
A moment later, a mournful cry from a certain Hell Queen echoed through the cave.
"Lorne you little rascal. Take them away! Take them away!"
---
....
"Achoo!"
A certain disloyal grandstudent standing on the mountain path felt an inexplicable chill run down his back and let out a heavy sneeze.
"Who?"
Lorne snapped his head around to look at the dense forest behind him.
"Quick reflexes."
Accompanied by the rustling of branches and leaves, a goddess with purple hair and golden eyes walked out from the forest.
"Oh, it is you, Sister Ma." Lorne's tense body relaxed slightly as he raised his hand and rubbed his somewhat itchy nose, then asked casually. "Where is Eris? Did you not go after her?"
"She got away from me."
"That woman actually slipped away from you? That does not seem right."
"There's nothing I could do. Zeus intervened."
Athena spread her hands with some resignation.
At the time, she chased Eris all the way out to the Ocean of Oceanos and had almost driven the woman into a dead end.
But completely unexpectedly, dark clouds suddenly gathered over the sea with lightning and thunder, and bolt after bolt of thunderbolts fell from the sky, cutting her off from Eris.
In the end, the Goddess of Discord used the cover of the storm clouds to successfully slip away and dive into the primordial birth sea.
"However, even though she was not kept, that woman should not be able to come out and stir up trouble again for a while."
At this point, Athena, done describing the sequence of events, raised her hand and produced a glossy black feather to salvage her dignity.
Looking at the fresh bloodstains still on the shaft end of the feather,
Lorne felt a sympathetic chill run down his back.
Without needing to think about it, Eris's newly grown feathers had most likely been plucked bare again.
"Sister Athena is mighty!"
After delivering this timely compliment, Lorne gave a dry laugh and turned to leave.
"If there is nothing else, I will be heading off first..."
However, before the words were finished, a fair and slender hand lightly rested on his shoulder as a quiet voice reached his ear.
"Her account is settled. What about ours?"
'As expected. There is no Greek Goddess who does not hold a grudge.'
Lorne muttered with resignation, and faced with that smile-that-was-not-quite-a-smile, quickly turned his eyes in thought and spoke with gravity.
"I just went to see Hecate and made a major discovery!"
So saying, he told Athena the full details of the War God Mountain's situation over the past few days, as well as the content of his private conversation with Hecate.
"Destiny is not the exclusive possession of the Gods.
The hearts of the people can also be condensed into it? Interesting..."
Brilliant light flashed continuously in Athena's bright eyes as an eager smile rose on her face and she murmured quietly.
"It seems there is a need to put the matter of selecting saints onto the agenda as soon as possible."
In addition to the titles of [Lady of the Labyrinth], [Goddess of Magic] and [Great Mother Goddess], Athena also held the title of [Mother of Heroes].
Because many of the heroes in Greek mythology who successfully passed destiny's trials and accomplished great deeds owed much to the guidance of this Goddess of Wisdom.
"I feel the same."
Lorne, having successfully navigated around the death trap question, was in considerably better spirits with noticeably lighter tones.
And just as the two were talking, a white snowy owl cut through the dense forest and landed on Athena's shoulder.
Athena patted the little creature's head, opened the bamboo tube hanging at its ankle, took out the note inside, and lowered her head for a look.
Then those bright eyes narrowed slightly as her gaze turned playful.
"It is a letter from Aegeus."
Aegeus was the son of the former king Pandion, grandson of the demigod Cecrops, and the current king of Athens.
However, because Athena herself governed directly and many Goddesses shared power, this king of Athens was not a particularly prominent figure.
Lorne took a few seconds before the name came back to him.
"What is it. Does he have something urgent?"
After the divine war, Athena's true form went into slumber and Lorne took over the duties of the three Goddesses, becoming Athens's actual power holder.
That usually well-behaved King Aegeus had bypassed Lorne, his temporary superior, and sent a letter directly to Athena.
This very likely meant he encountered some trouble he could not resolve on his own and specifically needed to consult Athena, the chief God he worshipped.
The facts proved exactly this.
Athena gave a nod, holding the note between her fingers as her gaze flickered quietly.
"Aegeus has a son. His name is Theseus."
Lorne's eyes narrowed slightly upon hearing this.
Theseus.
The future king of Athens.
One of the most well-known heroes among the early heroes of Greece.
According to legend, the Athenian king Aegeus had no sons.
Because of this he greatly feared his brothers, who had fifty descendants and harbored hostility toward him.
Driven by this intense sense of crisis, Aegeus wanted to secretly remarry without his wife knowing, hoping to produce a son to comfort his old age and inherit his throne.
So he confided his thoughts to his friend Pittheus, king of Troezen, hoping for help.
As it happened, Pittheus had just received a divine prophecy saying his daughter would have no public marriage yet would give birth to a son of great renown.
So Pittheus decided to secretly wed his daughter Aethra to Aegeus.
This Athenian king married the Troezen princess Aethra, spent a secret time together, then returned to Athens, left tokens behind, bid farewell to his newlywed wife, and instructed her thus.
"If the Gods bless us and give you a son, please raise him quietly without letting anyone know who the child's father is.
When the child grows up and becomes strong, have him bring the tokens and come to Athens to find me!"
Later, the Troezen princess indeed conceived and gave birth to a child named Theseus.
As Theseus grew into a brave and capable youth, he took the weapons and tokens Aegeus left behind and set out on the road to Athens to find his father.
After many twists and turns, father and son were reunited.
Theseus, who had done good deeds and eliminated evil along the way and established considerable merit, naturally and smoothly succeeded to the throne of Athens as king.
Everything up to this point seemed quite perfect.
But the problem was that Troezen was Poseidon's territory.
The Troezenians regarded him as their city's protective God.
And Theseus's mother and grandfather had publicly claimed he was the son of the Sea God Poseidon...
Lorne ran the relevant information through his mind and spoke in quiet contemplation.
"So Aegeus is questioning this child's bloodline and identity?"
"That is correct. He wants me to go verify the truth, to prevent Athens's royal authority from being entrusted to the wrong person."
Athena gave a nod, a trace of teasing passing through her eyes.
No wonder.
Poseidon's reputation was simply too far-reaching.
That protective God of Troezen was the very symbol of total indiscrimination.
As long as it was female, he would charge right in.
Aegeus had gone so many years without a child.
He went out for one trip and suddenly had an illegitimate son.
It was only natural to suspect he had become someone else's unwitting substitute.
On top of that, Poseidon had always wanted to develop Athens as his own sacred land and had tried various methods to infiltrate Athens's royal authority.
Aegeus had no choice but to be cautious, and proactively consulting his chief God was also to avoid greater problems down the line from entrusting things to the wrong person.
"It seems I need to make a trip."
Athena spoke quietly, raising her hand to summon a stabled winged horse.
Lorne stepped forward, helped her straighten the saddle, and spoke with some resignation.
"There have been too many matters lately. Once I finish dealing with the work currently on hand, I also need to travel among the city-states in incarnation form, seeking suitable bearers for the saint cloths.
So I am afraid I cannot go with you."
"Do not worry. Something this minor I can handle on my own."
The Goddess of Wisdom, accustomed to going it alone, gave a reassuring wave of her hand, then seemed to think of something and looked at Lorne with a smile.
"By the way. When traveling outside, using a new identity is the safer approach. Have you prepared a pseudonym?"
"Not yet."
"Let me give you one then. How about Pegasus!"
"Ahem, ahem..."
Lorne receiving his new cover identity coughed violently, involuntarily struck by a memory he would rather have kept buried, and looked at Athena with an expression full of subtle strangeness.
'Pegasus? Seiya?'
'Could this really be a coincidence?
Or had she been secretly looking through his memories?'
"Pegasus. It is decided!"
However, as Lorne raised his head and saw Athena swing herself onto the horse, commanding her mount with a teasing expression as she flew up into the sky, he suddenly realised something.
Question: What is [Pegasus] known for?
Answer: Being ridden beneath the Goddess Athena...
'To hell with buried memories!'
This was clearly Athena still bearing a grudge over what he did to her at the wedding banquet and specifically choosing the name [Pegasus] with its loaded implications to strike back.
'No matter how bold you are, no matter how clever you are.
Aren't you still being ridden beneath me?'
Lorne stood in place, worked it all out, and his expression went as dark as the bottom of a pot.
(End of Chapter)