Age of Gods (First Update)

Alcohol was the best social lubricant between people, and gods were no exception. After Hecate and Athena had drunk several bottles of wine, the somewhat awkward atmosphere vanished at once. Given Ancient Greece’s open-minded attitudes, Hecate shared some extremely shocking things based on her experience and knowledge. Men might have found those shocking remarks rather improper, but Athena laughed so hard she giggled, her long golden curls bouncing mischievously over her shoulders. Warm light and the fragrance of wine filled the room, and even the dust seemed steeped in the sweet scent of sunlight.

Salomon fared far worse. If he had not also drunk some retsina and wine, he might have fainted upon hearing those words. Athena’s temper seemed to have worsened after drinking. She patted Salomon on the head, seemingly trying to correct his shyness, saying that was not a trait a hero should possess. Athena began relentlessly criticizing Salomon, including his little hobbies—2D characters and beautiful schoolgirl idols. She kept poking him with her finger, nearly poking him right off his chair.

After she finished criticizing him, Athena turned back to drink with Hecate. The two goddesses seemed to want more after finishing a bottle of wine, so Hecate brought out her treasured brandy, a fine vintage from Napoleon’s era. After rapidly finishing an entire bottle of hard liquor, they began singing an old poem:

Like a mountain hyacinth,

trampled again and again beneath a shepherd’s feet,

yet blooming purple flowers from the earth.

Just like at the banquets of the Olympian Gods in the old days, Athena had always been the most dazzling one there. She was still the same now, except this time she was not above the clouds or atop a mountain, nor was she surrounded by gods. Electric lights had replaced beeswax candles, organic fruit had replaced golden apples, the endlessly noisy television had replaced magic, and even sunlight had to struggle through the clouds before it could fall upon her. She seemed to be reminiscing about the age of the Olympian Gods, about that noisy Age of Gods.

Their drinking and merrymaking continued from afternoon until dusk.

Salomon took two blankets from the wardrobe and draped them over Athena. She had drunk too much; empty liquor bottles littered the floor, and she was sprawled across the table, sound asleep. After turning off the television, the Arcanist walked outside. He strode along the pebble-paved corridor as black waves roared endlessly with the salty sea breeze. The warm wind of the Mediterranean Sea kept tossing the hem of his clothes, while warm yellow lights scattered along the coast rose and fell with the ridgeline like a flickering Milky Way in the pitch-black sea.

What he did not know was that the moment he shut the door, Hecate and Athena immediately sat upright, with none of the drunken stupor they had displayed before. "He’s adorable. None of the children you raised in the past were as gentle as him." Hecate wore a jealous expression. "Did you know he tiptoed out the door? He really sees you as his mother."

"That is precisely what worries me most." Athena was not pleased by Hecate’s praise of Salomon. "His heart is too soft, like a marshmallow. He might be able to sacrifice himself and kill his enemies, but he cannot bring himself to harm innocent people—perhaps he can, but I do not know when that will be."

"Why must you raise your child into a cold-blooded killer, Athena? I have always thought there was something wrong with that idea. Being a hero does not mean doing something grand. Someone willing to tell bedtime stories to a helpless little girl can also be a hero," Hecate said. "There’s nothing wrong with marshmallows. I like marshmallows. They are humanity’s greatest invention."

"That is different. Salomon is not like other people."

"That’s true." Hecate poured herself another glass of brandy. She closed her eyes and sniffed, wrinkling her forehead as her muddled head cleared somewhat. "His essence is great enough, and cruel enough," said the goddess of magic. "Do you think he will abandon his life to pursue that essence?"

"I don’t know." Athena pulled the blanket tighter around herself, though she was not cold. "Perhaps he will. Perhaps he won’t."

"Which do you hope for? Or rather, do you see him as someone bearing the Holy Marks, or do you see him as the Holy Marks themselves? He is not like the children you taught before. You cannot use the old methods anymore."

"I don’t know. Don’t look at me like that. I truly don’t know." Athena spoke with some hesitation. "Abandoning humanity to accept divinity means becoming some kind of natural law. I do not want him to take that path, but being like the Father God would not be so bad either… If necessary, I think he could still make that choice. The Sorcerer Supreme has already taught him."

"Tsk, those guardians…" Hecate clicked her tongue. Her gaze passed through the wall and settled on the Arcanist nearby. She saw Salomon lift the cup in his hand, half-filled with amber liquor. Hecate watched as the Arcanist raised it, leaned in for a sniff, and then could not help scrunching up his face. After a while, Salomon cautiously stuck out his tongue and touched the liquor in the cup.

"Ptooey, ptooey!" He smacked his lips and shuddered. "God, how can anyone like drinking this stuff?"

"Looks like he has not learned to enjoy adult pleasures yet." Hecate winked at Athena. "When are you going to teach him?"

"It’s the weekend. I thought we were going to eat the tangerine peel duck we agreed on!" Master Wong looked at the Arcanist, who wore a baseball cap and was acting furtively. He rubbed his stomach in dissatisfaction. "You can only eat it once a week. I even skipped a meal today for this. What are you hesitating for? Or are you following someone? I thought we could get some proper rest!"

"Of course we’re going for tangerine peel duck. I even prepared cash." Salomon pulled Master Wong along the edge of an alley, trying his best to avoid being caught on camera. Yet no matter how carefully he moved, he still ran straight into a traffic camera and a dashcam. "Damn it, I’m only doing this to keep a certain Artificial Intelligence from showing up at my door." Salomon rolled his eyes at the traffic camera. "Hey, don’t bother me, got it?"

The camera’s signal light blinked, then it turned from side to side.

"Why are you talking to a camera?" Master Wong asked, baffled. He was not qualified to attend the meetings of the Sanctum stewards and knew nothing about the Artificial Intelligence created by Mr. Finch. Salomon promised to explain it properly while they ate. He had endured a week of United Kingdom food and endless exercises, and he desperately needed the comfort of good food.

Suddenly, Salomon’s newly purchased phone vibrated twice. He took it out, and a text message relayed some information to him.

"What is it?" Master Wong curiously craned his neck toward Salomon’s phone.

"Nothing." Salomon hesitated before showing the message to Master Wong. "Some people have the same destination as us. If we go there now, there is a good chance we will run into them."

"Some wizarding group? There aren’t many spellcasters in Hong Kong. There are more around Qingcheng Mountain; there are only a few fortune tellers here."

"There is a Fortune Teller at that restaurant, but the information that Artificial Intelligence gave me is… Fine, that fortune teller is an irrelevant variable. A team of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents placed an order there, and there are quite a lot of them. If we do not want everything to be sold out, we need to hurry." Salomon looked at the traffic camera. "This sort of approach will not earn my trust, understand?"

The camera’s indicator light blinked again, then bobbed up and down.