At dusk.
Three chariots crossed the vast sea one after another and arrived at Sicily Island.
At the camp, cooking smoke was already rising.
The goddess of the hearth, who had stayed behind to guard the base, was actually cooking seriously and properly.
Seeing that the retainer god who had been "abducted" earlier had returned safely, Hestia didn't think too much about it.
She immediately sprang up excitedly from beside the fire and ran over to greet Athena and the others, chattering away as she enthusiastically introduced the new dishes she had developed today.
Looking at that face under the sunset, slightly darkened by smoke, yet faintly proud, Lorne raised a hand to his forehead and complained in his heart.
—With this level of intelligence and alertness, forget guarding a vegetable patch in the future… even guarding herself would be difficult…
—Sigh.
Almost simultaneously, Lorne and Athena shook their heads and sighed, their gazes meeting.
Both couldn't help but smile in amusement.
With just a single exchange of looks, the two completed a high-frequency information exchange right under Hestia's nose.
One on the left and one on the right, showering the hearth goddess with praise for her increasingly refined cooking skills and "excellent" home-guarding abilities, while casually finalizing the after-dinner entertainment.
—It was said that there was a kind of seaweed in the ocean called kombu.
When boiled into soup by itself, or added to food, it could bring out an incredible depth of flavor.
—As for where to find it, Athena, the goddess of wisdom, who had half a lineage from the oceanic pantheon (her mother being the sea goddess Metis) and was both knowledgeable and well-informed, said she might know something.
In the evening, she could take Hestia to look for it.
However, deep-sea diving was dangerous.
To find that kind of seaweed in the pitch-black depths of the ocean, they would need a top-tier gatherer ..a tool person…
And next, without Lorne or Athena even needing to hint further, the hearth goddess, whose brain automatically connected the dots, locked her gaze onto the god of light, who came with his own illumination at night.
Hearing that the goddess he pursued had actually taken the initiative to invite him for once, Apollo was instantly overjoyed and ecstatically, readily accepted the invitation.
In a corner, watching the big fish bite the hook without hesitation, Lorne and Athena exchanged a glance and simultaneously curled their lips into dark, scheming smiles.
Given the uncertainty of the species and the vague location, Apollo diving into the sea to look for that so-called flavor-enhancing seaweed would likely not be easy.
Most likely, he would return empty-handed.
After all, Lorne had forgotten to mention one thing....
Kombu mainly grows in another land, and its environment seems a bit incompatible with the Mediterranean…
Completely unaware that he had been thoroughly arranged, Apollo, who was eager to perform well in front of the goddess, hurriedly ate a few bites of hot food.
Then, without delay, he took the Nine Muses with him and followed Athena and Hestia into the sea to search for that legendary seasoning.
As the three chief gods and several of their subordinate gods gradually disappeared into the distance,
Artemis put down the roasted meat she was halfway through eating, stood up, coughed lightly, and announced solemnly to the surrounding hunting nymphs.
"Looks like tonight we're on watch. You three form groups of three and keep an eye on the nearby waters.
Absolutely don't be like those Muses, getting sneaked up on by monsters without even noticing!"
The nymphs nodded solemnly and, following Artemis's orders, dispersed in all directions, forming an outer maritime defense line encircling Sicily Island.
Once the subordinate gods around them had completely vanished into the night, Artemis could no longer hold back as she grabbed Lorne's hands and once again made a firm, earnest declaration.
"What happened at sea, I really didn't do it on purpose!"
Lorne smiled and nodded just as he had before.
Well..Artemis might be a Yandere in love, the kind who would die for it, but she wasn't a scheming one.
If she wanted something she would take it, so, Lorne didn't even think about it.
But even so, as the primary suspect, Artemis couldn't help repeating herself.
"I really didn't!"
Because of the chastity curse, she actually had more motive than anyone else at the time to silence someone permanently.
Of course, under normal circumstances, even if she had done it, the huntress goddess wouldn't bother explaining herself.
The only thing that could make her so humble and so anxious was a very particular reason.
'It seemed Artemis has fallen much deeper than I've expected.'
No wonder Apollo couldn't hold back and moved against him so quickly.:
Lorne sighed inwardly and nodded seriously once more.
"It was that woman who made the first move!"
Hearing Artemis unceremoniously point the spear at her rival Athena, Lorne couldn't help but feel both amused and helpless.
"If that were really the case, Lady Athena wouldn't have left us alone together."
"…She was helping me?"
Hearing this unexpected answer, Artemis, who had just been secretly reporting on her rival to her lover, froze slightly, her expression turning awkward.
Seeing the timing was right, Lorne smoothly cleared Athena of suspicion.
"See? I told you it was an accident. Only you would take it so seriously."
Realizing that she had been overly insecure, Artemis lowered her head in embarrassment.
At the same time, her view of her rival grew more complicated, tinged with a sense of guilt.
—So I misunderstood her. She's actually kind of nice…
Under the firelight, the huntress goddess shyly looked at her lover and muttered regretfully,
"There are still fifteen days until the full moon…"
For someone as straightforward as Artemis, making a mistake naturally meant making amends.
As she spoke, she licked her moist cherry-red lips, silver eyes gradually igniting with a flicker of fire.
Seeing this, Lorne instantly broke out in a cold sweat and hurriedly pressed down on the Artemis who was about to squat.
"No need to rush this, let's leave it for later…"
Though this kind of compensation was too tempting and extremely stimulating for a man, considering that several main gods had landed on the island...one with more schemes than a honeycomb, another who already wanted him dead—
Plus a whole crowd of subordinate gods tagging along—
For the sake of his life, there was no need to seek momentary pleasure.
There would be time later.
Better to stay steady.
Seeing her lover's attitude, the passionate huntress goddess could only reluctantly give up.
After successfully soothing Artemis, Lorne took the initiative to extend his hand, a faint smile on his face.
"Since we finally have time, walk with me for a bit."
"Mm!"
The huntress goddess nodded earnestly, smiling as she took his hand and pulled her lover along for a stroll through the forest.
Moonlight brushed across the land, while the nearby waves played a rhythmic accompaniment.
Under the night sky, the two figures walked side by side, chatting and laughing, looking like a perfectly matched couple.
In this harmonious atmosphere,
Lorne gradually lowered his guard and quietly appreciated the calm, elegant side of the huntress goddess at close range.
In fact, he was very clear that the rapidly warming relationship between himself and Artemis was the result of the suspension bridge effect.
—The suspension bridge effect describes how, when a person is in a tense or frightening environment, such as crossing a suspension bridge, their heart rate accelerates.
If they encounter someone at that moment, they may mistakenly attribute that heightened heartbeat to romantic attraction, thus developing feelings of love.
Back then, the accidental union and the fear after losing her virginity had jointly given birth to this "love."
But in reality, such a relationship was unstable.
Once the passion faded and the danger disappeared, emotional problems would easily arise.
Therefore, to avoid future trouble, and to avoid someday being casually butchered by a crazed Artemis, after satisfying the body, Lorne naturally needed to steadily build genuine emotional accumulation as well.
So far, everything seemed to be going according to calculation.
—He estimated that, with this level of affection, even if he were to suddenly reveal that he had something going on with Athena, Artemis would probably chop him into fewer pieces.
—Probably.
The couple exchanged a loving smile under the moonlight and continued forward.
At that moment, a team of hunting nymphs responsible for near-shore patrol was resting near the reefs.
Seeing them, Artemis subconsciously loosened her grip on Lorne's hand, intending to step forward and greet them, when a soft snort reached her ears.
"Our goddess is getting more and more shameless. Sticking to that stinky man all day long.
She gets more excited seeing him than a hunting dog spotting a rabbit. What kind of behavior is that?"
Under the moonlight, a hunting nymph with androgynous beauty leaned against a reef, admiring her reflection in the sea, growing ever more satisfied and self-assured.
"If you ask me, since she's got spring on the brain, she might as well give up the virgin goddess position and let me take it."
Hearing such wild words, the two hunting nymphs beside her rolled their eyes, already used to it.
After all, the one in front of them was the daughter of the giant Lelantos and the Oceanid Periboea, making her more noble than ordinary sea nymphs.
As a result, she was extremely arrogant by nature and sometimes didn't even respect the goddess she served, Artemis.
Faced with her companion's loose tongue, the other two nymph attendants couldn't be bothered to respond.
After all, it was just talk…
At this moment, in the shadows, Artemis stopped walking and turned her head to look at her lover, smiling brightly as she asked,
"Is she pretty?"
"…"
Just as Lorne instinctively began running through mental analysis, preparing to answer this death-question with his usual logic, the huntress goddess suddenly changed her tone, her smiling face revealinh a hint of madness.
"The daughter of the giant Lelantos and the Oceanid Periboea… I think her name is Aura, right? Since she wants to replace me so badly, then tonight I'll grant her wish!"
As that hunting nymph's divine name reached his ears, Lorne's eyelids twitched, fine beads of cold sweat appearing on his forehead.
No...why did it have to be her?
Looks like… this is a big problem.
(End of Chapter)