At this moment, looking at the harmonious coexistence of the goddess of wisdom Athena and the snake-haired monster Medusa before him, a strong sense of absurdity churned in Lorne's heart, as if a disjointed sense of time and space was tearing at his perception.
However, he quickly understood the reason behind it all.
Athena was the supreme goddess worshipped by humans, and naturally, her perspective needed to be considered from a human point of view.
In the original history, the adult Medusa, after countless persecutions and massacres, had a heart frozen over, falling into madness, with no warmth or kindness left to speak of.
A beautiful priestess of Athena.
After being defiled by the god Poseidon in Athena's temple, Athena, instead of punishing Poseidon, cursed Medusa by turning her hair into snakes and making her face so terrible to behold that anyone who looked directly at her would turn to stone.
In some versions, even the two elder sisters who protected her met a tragic end, devoured by Medusa herself.
Thus, by that time, the snake-haired monster had completely lost control and become a great calamity upon the sea.
From the human perspective, she naturally became a target that needed to be eliminated.
But now, the young Medusa still retained the light in her heart.
After escaping persecution and pursuit, she came to the city of Knossos, where she felt rare warmth and, in return, showed kindness to those humans around her who treated her well.
All of this, Athena, who was secretly observing, must have seen clearly.
Given the temperament of this goddess of wisdom, she naturally wouldn't arbitrarily label the young Medusa as a "disaster." Instead, due to her kind attitude toward humans, Athena came to like this adorable child.
'So, it turns out I was the one with preconceived notions, worrying over nothing.'
Realizing it was nothing but a false alarm, the previously anxious Lorne couldn't help but feel amused after sorting through his thoughts.
At this moment, with the misunderstanding resolved, Athena clapped her hands and turned around, bringing the topic back on track.
"Alright, we've talked enough. It's time for us to go."
"Wait!"
However, her plan was once again interrupted.
This time, it was still that male voice.
Athena seemed to understand something, slightly narrowing her eyes, her expression growing cold.
"You're unwilling?"
In an instant, an invisible pressure swept over, making one feel submerged deep beneath the sea. Lorne, being the first to bear the brunt, froze, hurriedly shaking his head in denial.
"No! Absolutely not!"
"Then why won't you come with me?"
Athena pressed on relentlessly, cold-faced as she stepped closer and closer to Lorne.
Seeing that he had no way to escape, Lorne gritted his teeth, then decisively pulled a certain figure next to him into the middle, guarding her firmly in front of him.
"Because of Lady Hestia!"
"Huh?"
Suddenly made into the third wheel, caught between them, Hestia looked up in confusion.
Lorne took a deep breath, looked seriously at the goddess of the hearth before him, and solemnly spoke.
"Lady Hestia, you forgot—my debt to you hasn't been repaid yet!"
No way—if the soft approach doesn't work, he could only resort to playing his trump card early.
So it was about the backyard... Hestia suddenly understood and subconsciously nodded in agreement with this established fact.
"Yes, that's right…"
"Is it a big shortage?"
Athena looked toward Hestia and asked casually.
There were only about a dozen left...
As her wrist was suddenly squeezed, the goddess of the hearth jolted, straightening her back, and blurted out without thinking.
"A lot! A whole lot!"
Athena was slightly startled, then a smile appeared on her face again. She looked at Lorne and Hestia in front of her and spoke leisurely.
"No problem. I'll cover the rest. After all, he's going to become one of my subordinate gods—his problems are mine."
Her calm voice carried an invisible pressure.
The man and goddess holding hands broke into a sweat at the forehead.
"That wouldn't be right. Mistakes I've made—I can't possibly let you shoulder them. You've already helped me enough."
Lorne softened his tone as much as he could, giving a dry smile while politely refusing.
Beside him, Hestia swallowed hard and backed him up with a drifting gaze.
"Y-Yeah, it's best to repay one's own debts. It wouldn't make sense for a god to serve a human…"
Athena didn't reply, instead studying this pair, debtor and creditor—who had instinctively leaned toward each other, with an amused glint in her eyes.
How long has it been? A few months at most?
Not bad, Auntie. I really underestimated you…
Facing the invisible pressure from the goddess of wisdom, Lorne was sweating buckets but had no choice but to bite the bullet and stay the course.
Becoming Athena's subordinate god certainly came with many benefits.
But there was no helping it, compared to Medusa, the lightning rods hanging over his head were far more dangerous.
The rebellious son who should've died, conspirator plotting to overthrow Olympus, arrogant blasphemer, wanted criminal in Atlantis…
Any of these charges, once revealed, would be enough to land him in deep trouble.
And going to Olympus, hanging around with the chief gods every day, would drastically increase his risk of exposure.
Moreover, becoming Athena's subordinate god would basically mean sticking close to this battle-monster of a "big sister," whose scheming mind rivaled a beehive.
In that case, his blasphemous mission would be nearly impossible to carry out, and keeping his secrets long-term might be wishful thinking.
If she ever caught a slip, his fate would be completely in her hands—life or death decided on a whim.
Even though he was the younger brother, he had no intention of staying a little brother forever, trampled underfoot.
As these thoughts churned, Lorne sneaked another glance at Hestia beside him.
As for the other one…
Sensing something, the goddess of the hearth turned her head, and the guilty conscience in her eyes was almost impossible to hide.
Her gaze held a kind of clear, innocent stupidity.
Lorne gave her a reassuring smile, gently tightening his grip on the hand in his palm, silently conveying warmth, support, and encouragement.
Yes, this is exactly what I need!
With all her scheming, Athena is nowhere near as easy to fool as Hestia.
This hearth goddess is simple-minded, easy to deceive, rarely involves herself in worldly matters, and spends all her time tucked away in her little house experimenting with recipes—she's the perfect human shield.
Though he had no idea why she had suddenly switched sides at the last minute and spoken up for him, choosing her was absolutely the right call.
Moreover…
In his memory, it was the god of wine who had seized Hestia's divine seat to force his way into the Twelve Olympians.
Those future records undoubtedly hinted that this path had high potential.
Besides, when leaving the island, he had already blown up a pile of gold coins from his teacher Circe.
This hearth goddess was the type to stay holed up in her personal space all day, obsessed with cooking.
She didn't seem to care much about her divine status either.
So maybe…
Lorne pondered quietly, his gaze toward Hestia flickering with a shameless gleam.
For some unknown reason, Hestia suddenly felt a chill run down her spine and shivered.
At that moment, seeing her aunt's flinching, anxious reaction, Athena, who was misreading the situation, withdrew her scrutinizing gaze and let out a helpless sigh.
"Well, since Aunt says so, I won't push it."
Hearing her grandniece no longer intended to pursue her betrayal, Hestia felt like she'd been granted amnesty as she instantly let out a long breath and broke into a wide smile, warmly taking Athena's hand.
"Let's not talk about that. You must be hungry after coming all the way from Olympus at this hour, right?"
Then, without waiting for Athena to decline, Hestia reached behind her and yanked Lorne, who was trying to sneak away, back to the front, singing his praises loudly.
"Not gonna lie, Lorne has an amazing understanding of cooking and seasoning. We've developed tons of delicious recipes together. Let him whip up a bowl of noodles for you later—with our new sauce blend. Guaranteed to be amazing!"
Athena could tell her aunt was trying to make amends, so she smiled and nodded in agreement.
"Alright. But no scallions."
In an instant, Lorne's face twitched, and he instinctively swallowed hard. Then, cautiously, he asked:
"Th-then… do you eat beef?"
"Of course I eat it. Isn't that one of the offerings you humans most commonly dedicate to the gods?"
Athena gave the nervous-looking cook in front of her a sideways glance, clearly confused by the question.
Lorne let out a long sigh of relief, as if he'd been granted a royal pardon, nodding repeatedly.
That's good, that's good.
He had really been afraid of triggering some kind of instant-death flag—like after bringing out the bowl of noodles from the kitchen, Athena would smile sweetly and say, "I don't eat beef," and then pull out the Spear of Victory and skewer him into a sieve.
(End of Chapter)
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