The Villain of Ancient Greece

A few days later, on the lush green solitary island.

Evening glow lingered, sea breezes blew.

In her bedchamber, Thetis awoke from slumber with a soft murmur, stretching her limbs within the clam shell.

The sluggishness of her divine power and the weakness of her body abruptly made her aware of her situation. Instantly alert, she sat up with a start, opening her eyes to examine herself and her surroundings.

Fortunately, nothing was wrong.

The neatly arranged clothes on her body, the familiar furnishings within the room, and the complete absence of any traces left by an outsider caused the sea goddess to unconsciously breathe a sigh of relief.

Her tense frame relaxed against the clam shell.

Her wariness dissolved, and toward that certain figure who had left her both irritated and flustered, a trace of goodwill arose.

That little rascal, though somewhat frivolous in manner, at least possessed some restraint.

Truly, he had not chosen to take advantage of her vulnerability.

Her decision to risk saving him had not been in vain.

”Awake? Would you like to come out and have something to eat?”

Just as Thetis was lost in thought, a gentle inquiry drifted in from beyond the hall.

The sea goddess lifted her head, gazing at the several eye-shaped Hermaic inscriptions upon the walls and door panels, each faintly carrying a subtle sense of surveillance.

Her face stiffened slightly, and instinctively, she tugged her somewhat low-cut collar upward, silently grumbling to herself.

Well, restraint existed, but only just barely...

In the open space before the great hall, Lorne heard the sound of the door sliding open as he raised his head to see the graceful figure approaching, reached out to take the rabbit meat roasting golden brown over the fire, and smilingly extended it toward her.

”Here, I just made it. Try some.”

Thetis pressed her lips together slightly, bent down to sit, and accepted the goodwill he had voluntarily offered.

She brought it to her mouth, preparing to taste it as a symbolic gesture.

But as a few savory, fragrant strands of meat entered her lips, the sea goddess widened her mouth and decisively quickened the pace of her eating.

The culinary skill was quite impressive.

Worthy of an attendant deity to Hestia, goddess of the hearth.

Besides, after so many days of slumber, she truly was famished.

”To prevent any unforeseen incidents,

I left a few monitoring wards in your bedchamber. I hope you will forgive the intrusion.”

”Mmm.” Thetis nodded noncommittally.

”Seeing you awake safely puts my mind at ease. Also, I must thank you again for your help earlier.”

”There’s no need for thanks.

Helping you was also helping myself.”

Thetis swallowed a morsel of rabbit, lifted her gaze toward Lorne before the firelight, and spoke with a faint, plaintive tone.

”If you all would simply visit my father and sister’s home less often in the future, I would be immeasurably grateful.”

Hearing these words laced with resentment, Lorne could not help but feel somewhat ashamed.

It seemed he had sheared the wool a bit too mercilessly.

That Sea Queen and Old Man of the Sea had likely not spared Thetis their incessant murmuring.

But complaints were still better than a knife in the back.

Judging by this sea goddess’s words and actions, she clearly meant to represent the household of the Old Man of the Sea in taking the initiative to mend relations with Crete.

After all, the elder brother of the sea gods, Poseidon, remained imprisoned. Atlantis had long since sunk.

The three Hekatoncheires crouched day and night at the thresholds of the sea gods’ homes.

Not long ago, the Gigantomachy had erupted in Thessaly, Poseidon’s former place of confinement.

It was hard not to let imaginations run wild.

At present, the Sea Queen’s household and that Old Man of the Sea, confined to their homes, were likely starting to resemble birds startled by the mere twang of a bowstring, fearful that this was a signal that Zeus intended to move against them.

And in such times of precarious uncertainty, it was even less permissible to hand others a handle against oneself.

Otherwise, a single misstep could bring cataclysmic disaster upon the waters of Oceanus.

For instance, someone like himself, an attendant deity closely connected to several major gods, if anything befell him at sea, the Sea Queen’s household and the Old Man of the Sea, with whom Crete had long held friction, would be the foremost suspects.

When that time came, even with a hundred mouths, he could not talk his way clear.

No wonder this woman, despite having saved him, maintained such a lukewarm attitude.

So after all that, she had been forced into it?

Lorne was caught between laughter and exasperation, yet his expression soon shifted to one of sincerity.

”Next time, next time we can tour the human city-states along the coast. The hospitality would be on me. I guarantee you all will be well entertained.”

Seeing that the man opposite had grasped her meaning, Thetis’s expression softened considerably, and she nodded faintly.

To be frank, since her father was a peacemaker and a man who kept the peace, she had no desire to forge feuds with other divinities either.

Thus, whenever she could lend a hand, she did.

It was best that all parties simply kept to their own affairs, continuing to pass their days in undisturbed tranquility.

Besides, the taste of this roast meat and mushroom soup truly was exquisite...

Thetis set down the skewer in her hand, sipping the savory, rich broth from her bowl, her body and mind utterly at ease.

Yet, just as she prepared to wholeheartedly savor this moment of serene repose, the darkened night sky was abruptly suffused with vast swathes of monstrous, crimson light.

Streaks of dark red lightning smote the sea surface, churning up violent aetherial storms.

What was happening?

Thetis, in the midst of drinking her soup, felt her eyelids twitch involuntarily as she lifted her head toward the ominous phenomena, waves of perplexity rising within her heart.

Splash—! Splash—!

Amidst overlapping, cascading waters, abnormally agitated schools of fish tore into one another in frenzied, savage bites.

Ferocious sea beasts, their expressions twisted, surfaced and charged against each other.

All living things in the water, swayed by the bloodlust, sank into utter frenzy, engaging in desperate, bloody slaughter as if they were soldiers who had downed their ritual wine and charged to certain death on the battlefield, furiously venting upon the foes before them that wrathful will imposed upon them.

”Come out! Show yourself, you sea-spawned mongrels!”

Roaring grew ever more vehement, as a stalwart, towering figure wielding a golden sword stood at the heart of the sanguine storm, striking furiously at the sea surface in wrathful blows.

As the countless inscriptions along the blade shimmered and shifted, crimson ribbons of light fell like sharpened swords, sharp and fierce.

Surging magical force grazed the air, trailing iridescent streams like rainbows.

Utterly beautiful and utterly perilous!

The surrounding seawater churned to a boil; islands along the path collapsed in succession.

The violent tremors reached the very ground beneath the two onlookers’ feet.

——The Sword of the War God!

At this sight, Thetis’s expression changed drastically.

——Ares!

Why would he come to the waters of Oceanus to wreak havoc?

Then, abruptly, the sea goddess seemed to recall something as she shot to her feet, her gaze boring fixedly into the figure before her.

”What did you do?”

”What? Isn’t he looking for you all?”

Lorne blinked, feigning a bewildered, innocent expression, hoping to bluff his way through.

”One can disguise one’s appearance. One can misdirect the origin of one’s identity...”

Evidently, as a Nereid renowned for wisdom, Thetis was not so easily deceived as Hestia.

”You seem to possess some measure of Oceanus’s blessing. And your injury, was it from the divinity of war?”

The sea goddess recalled the scene of their first meeting.

Gazing upon the berserk, raging King of Warriors within the crimson storm, her voice quivered faintly.

”So, what exactly did you do to him?”

”Um, we had a minor altercation...” Seeing concealment was impossible, Lorne resigned himself to confessing, somewhat abashed.

”And then?”

”I accidentally destroyed his incarnation...”

At these words, darkness swam before Thetis’s eyes and she nearly fainted dead away.

What sin had been committed!

Why in the world had my mind gone hot and my feet carried me out the door to drag this plague incarnate back home?

At this very moment, the sea goddess realized she had inadvertently stumbled headlong into an immense catastrophe as she stared at the chief culprit before her, feeling regret searing to the very depths of her being.

(End of Chapter)