He was carrying almost no luggage at all. Other than the lion skin he always kept on him, he had not even brought a change of clothes.
After all, this was Greek myth. If he wanted food, he could simply get it from the animals in the forest. If he wanted to wash, any river would do. Even his sweat carried no trace of foul odor.
So whether he was dirty or not was hardly worth mentioning.
…
The journey still began with Mount Cithaeron, a mountain that held extraordinary meaning for Tia. As he crossed it, the barrier belonging to Dionysus still hung high in the sky.
When viewed through eyes infused with magical circuits, it looked exactly as it had the other day.
The only difference was the patches of black vapor and drifting skulls that occasionally floated through the air.
It was as though a few extra bricks had been added to some sinister banner of souls. Perhaps the so-called wine god had once again held some ritual festival somewhere, harming more living beings.
The gods had given much to the human world.
But through their desires, they had also brought it much ruin.
Tia could not help asking himself a question.
What, exactly, was Olympus like?
…
Above the clouds, at the summit of Mount Olympus—
Athena's avatar slowly descended toward one of the twelve divine residences that belonged to her. This was one of the resting places of the Olympian gods, a resplendent palace forged by Hephaestus, god of fire.
The snow-white owl came to rest upon an olive branch by the entrance. The glitter of countless gemstones had been piled into wards meant to prevent hostile窥视. Powerful spells had been laid upon them, driven by divine power and meant to endure unchanged for eternity.
In Athena's eyes, that sturdy old craftsman was nearly omnipotent. Beyond forging weapons, he was also responsible for the construction of the divine palaces.
It was almost entirely by his hand that the dwellings of the Olympian gods had been built. He had achieved it by repurposing the ruined remains of the divine machines destroyed after the White Titan.
"Sword, cloak, bow, and breastplate."
Athena counted off the items Tia needed, considering whether those were truly the weapons he wanted.
The number of divine artifacts in her own treasury was not particularly large, so the types she could offer were limited.
She would have to ask Hephaestus to forge them.
But…
She glanced toward another of the twelve great divine seats, toward the palace surrounded by rising tides and restless surf—that was Poseidon's temple.
Athena still remembered what Tia had said before:
"Athena is inferior to Poseidon."
Even knowing it was a lie did not mean she could not use it as an excuse to pick a fight. She had long been displeased with that fish king. This was a perfect chance to settle old and new scores together.
And besides, forging divine weapons required raw materials, so—
[You want to explore Olympus, but with your current abilities, that is completely impossible. More importantly, powerful spells there block all窥视.]
[Then, at that moment, you suddenly think of Athena.]
[In myth, the divine equipment you used during war was bestowed upon you by Hephaestus, Hermes, Apollo, and Athena herself.]
[But the current you has not received the favor or blessing of any god besides Athena, and you do not believe your present self is worthy of catching the others' notice.]
[You cannot help wondering what method Athena will use to obtain divine weapons for you.]
[You soon cast that thought aside. Speculation is meaningless. Better to focus on the road ahead.]
[Reaching Mount Pelion and meeting Chiron as quickly as possible is what you should be doing now. Solving the problems in your hands is one reason for your urgency, but to a large extent, it is also because sleeping rough and living off the land is deeply unpleasant.]
[You cross the forested region of Mount Cithaeron. The smell of the lion skin drives off some of the beasts lurking in the woods.]
[You continue onward. As far as you can see, there is still only endless forest. Fortunately, someone unknown once carved out a path through the woods, and signposts at the forks point the way.]
[You keep moving, following the rough direction. Though you have no true sense of direction in the forest, walking straight ahead at least keeps you from straying too far.]
[But this time, you hear a faintly discordant sound.]
"Lady Athena has made rather too much commotion this time…"
A careful, delicate voice drifted from the crossroads ahead. Tia himself stood just around the bend.
His steps on the soft humus made no sound at all. The instant he heard someone speaking, he immediately lightened his tread.
Pressing himself against a boulder, he peered ahead through a gap in a pile of scattered rocks.
Through those crisscrossed cracks, he made out the two unexpected visitors.
One was a scantily clad woman sprawled carelessly against a moss-covered tree trunk, utterly without decorum. A silver bell hung from one ankle, and as she swung it impatiently, it gave off a small, mocking chime.
At her fingertips dangled a cluster of grapes so dark a purple they were nearly black. When she crushed them, violet juice ran down between her thumb and forefinger, carrying a sickly sweetness in the moonlight.
She broke the silence first, letting out a hiss-like laugh like a serpent flicking its tongue, her narrow eyes curving into dangerous crescents.
"Exactly. That barbaric woman suddenly went mad and declared war on Poseidon for no reason at all. I heard several supposedly indestructible shrines were smashed to pieces."
The woman seated opposite her, meanwhile, held herself as upright as one of the columns of the Parthenon.
Her eyes were lowered slightly, her hands neatly folded on her knees.
Even chatting idly in the forest, there was not a single crease in her snow-white robe. A soft, gentle aura surrounded her, mild as flowing water.
"Mr. Hephaestus is definitely going to be angry…"
"Yes, that old man is rather frightening when he gets angry…"
The two women looked at one another and smiled.
As for Tia, spying from the side, he recognized them both.
The revealingly dressed woman on the left was most likely the goddess of indulgence from myth—Kakia.
Her role was to lure noble "heroes" into the boundless sea of desire, corrupt them, and let them die as ordinary, fallen men.
The one on the right should be Arete, the goddess of virtue. She tested "heroes," tempering their hearts through painful trials until they became great heroes known by all.
They were probably local gods born after the White Titan—beings akin to nature spirits. In the original myths, after all, they only ever appeared in the legends of Heracles.
So in terms of raw combat power, these naturally born spirit-goddesses were certainly far beneath the third-generation Olympians.
But in terms of the roles they played, they were among the most troublesome goddesses imaginable.
[You feel a headache coming on, because their appearance means you are about to be forced to choose a path.]
[You want to run. You remember all the miserable things Heracles went through after choosing the road of virtue.]
[You once thought that if these two goddesses did not exist, perhaps that predetermined road would never come.]
[In a sense, they seem to decide your future.]
[You want to delay this moment as long as possible, because of your agreement with Athena. No matter what, you will have to choose that thorn-covered road of virtue.]
[You rise onto your toes, preparing to slip away.]
[But just as you are about to move, you suddenly see the two goddesses standing right in front of you.]
"I…"
-------
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