Alaric's words made Athena's eyes shine.
"You're right," she said.
"I really don't need to care about them. Why should I fear them? Staying on Mount Olympus for so long has completely bound my thinking with the gods' rules.
What exactly was I afraid of?"
After saying that, she asked,
"Then what should I do if my conflict with the gods escalates? If we openly oppose each other, what should I do?
At present, I don't yet have the ability to wage a full-scale war against them."
Before Alaric could answer, she immediately gave herself the answer.
"Then my only option is… to unite with a force capable of opposing the Olympian gods.
The old gods won't work, having long lost their divine offices, they've become too weak and no longer possess the strength to challenge Olympus.
The only one who can help me is the magical pantheon, the Goddess of Magic, Hecate."
"You agree with me, don't you, Mage, believer of the Goddess of Magic?"
At this moment, Athena looked at Alaric with eyes brimming with the light of wisdom, her aura as the Goddess of Wisdom fully on display.
Worthy of being the Goddess of Wisdom.
She had already reacted.
Her intellect allowed her to sense something amiss in Alaric's words, after all, not just anyone would dare to incite a god to oppose the Olympian pantheon.
Athena knew that throughout Greece, most people held deep reverence for the gods.
Even the strongest demigods were no exception, and even those who opposed the gods still feared them.
But Alaric?
Unlike anyone else, his attitude toward the gods was simply, indifference.
It was neither reverence nor fear, but a pure willingness to regard the gods as beings on the same level as himself.
Only with such an attitude would he dare to comfort Athena so directly, to casually criticize the gods, and to discuss how she should deal with them.
Previously, Athena had been affected by her emotions and overlooked all of this. But once she emerged from that emotional state, she immediately perceived the truth.
"As expected of the Goddess of Wisdom, you saw through it," Alaric nodded, then dispelled the magic concealing himself.
Upon seeing Alaric's true form, Athena stiffened.
The scene from years ago, when Alaric had unfolded his Reality Marble and nearly annihilated the entire Olympian pantheon by himself, instantly resurfaced in her mind.
She still vividly remembered how Alaric had summoned two beings of Creator-God rank back then.
"How is this possible… y-you're actually that person…" Athena murmured in disbelief. "Someone like you, how could you appear here? I can hardly believe it."
"But I'm here," Alaric shrugged.
"Heh… hehe," Athena laughed self-mockingly.
"For someone as powerful as you to personally go undercover among the Argonauts… their plans never fooled you in the first place. No wonder they failed…"
Alaric noticed that Athena said "they," not "we."
This proved that although Athena had seen through Alaric's identity and his purpose, his objective had still been achieved.
He had successfully deepened Athena's aversion toward the Olympian gods.
The evidence was that she subconsciously separated herself from the rest of the gods in her words.
But Alaric shook his head.
"No. Even if I hadn't gone undercover, they still wouldn't have succeeded," he said with absolute confidence.
"True powerful mages have never appeared in Greece. You still underestimate our strength."
"Yes… ever since Hecate's apotheosis, we've never truly understood your power," Athena sighed in agreement.
"Then, you went to such lengths to infiltrate the Argonauts and reveal the truth to them, what is your fundamental objective?"
"Our objective?" Alaric replied without concealment. "Naturally, it's to make more people oppose the Olympian gods, including them."
Then he looked directly into Athena's eyes.
"And including you."
"So that's how it is," Athena said calmly. "Then should I feel honored?"
"You certainly can," Alaric smiled faintly. "Among the Olympian gods, there aren't many worth drawing over. You're one of them."
"I understand."
At this moment, Athena was remarkably straightforward.
With her emotions no longer clouding her judgment, her wisdom and decisiveness were fully revealed. Combined with Alaric's earlier influence, her thoughts had clearly shifted.
"Indeed, compared to Zeus and his lackeys, you are more like-minded with me.
To them, mortals are nothing more than toys, while you are the ones truly willing to grant mortals power. So, what do you ultimately intend to do?"
This question was crucial, as it determined the foundation of their cooperation.
"Our goal is simple," Alaric said plainly. "That is to allow mortals to survive properly even without the gods. They don't need so many 'leaders' above their heads, mortals should be governed by mortals themselves. The gods should no longer interfere in mortal affairs."
These words were extremely bold, utterly shocking.
In the Age of Gods, deities ruled every corner of the world. The entire Earth was the territory of the gods, and all mortals revered them without exception.
Yet now, someone dared to declare that mortals should rule themselves, that gods were unnecessary. To anyone who heard it, such words were heretical in the extreme.
Listening to Alaric, Athena suddenly burst out laughing.
"Hey, hey, have you lost your mind?" she said. "To say such things right in front of a goddess…
Do you not even try to hide it? Aren't you afraid I'll execute you on the spot? You may be strong, but Hecate isn't here to grant you divine power."
"Of course I'm not afraid," Alaric shook his head. "I believe Goddess Athena is different from the other gods.
If it were any other deity, even Goddess Hestia, I wouldn't speak so frankly. But Athena is different.
All along, you've rarely granted mortals things directly. Instead, you prefer to teach them skills. I believe that you and I share the same goal."
After hearing Alaric's words, Athena broke into a radiant smile.
His words had truly struck her heart.
Or rather, her tireless efforts to aid mortals over the ages, her greatest expectation of them, had finally been understood by a mortal.
The joy this brought her overflowed beyond words.
Nothing could move her more than such understanding.
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