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Ares's father and mother were heroes from a Different World.
After death, residents of the Human Realm have a certain chance of coming to the God Realm, and the same is true for the countless Different Worlds, though the probability there is relatively lower.
Meanwhile, the different-world heroes who accompanied a goddess in saving a world have, conversely, the highest probability of coming to the God Realm in the future. Some follow the goddess back to the God Realm, and can even settle down there directly.
Ares's parents belonged to this last category.
The two fell in love, no longer wishing to concern themselves with worldly matters, and so little Ares was born.
Dad often said, "When Ares grows up, she must do what she likes."
Mom often said, "There's no hope for me in this life, but thankfully I gave birth to a girl like you. When you grow up, you must become a goddess, a great Goddess of War—not for the sake of war, but a Goddess of War who exists to quell wars. Do you understand?"
Mom was a berserker, fond of fighting and fond of drink.
Dad, on the other hand, was an elegant, gentle man, an excellent cook, and skilled at housework. Every time Mom drank too much, it was Dad who carried her home and brewed Hangover Soup for her.
Ares liked being a goddess, and became the Goddess of War of the God Realm, fulfilling both her father's and her mother's wishes at once. She felt very proud of that.
The Authority of War is among the finest of the first-tier authorities, and one can only fully master it upon reaching A+ rank. Her father and mother were proud of their daughter for this.
But in the end, they passed away, not long after Ares advanced to B rank.
They were God Realm residents who had moved there from a different world, and their lifespans were far shorter than those of true-born Divine Citizens.
Ares actually took after her dad a bit more. On ordinary days, she was, in her own way, a gentle, water-like woman.
Only after drinking did she become like her mother. She... wished... that her dad could take her home just as he had once done for her mom, and brew Hangover Soup for her to drink.
……
Beneath the full moon.
Ares, the Goddess of War, reeking of alcohol from head to toe, stood facing a tree.
Ares looked at the tree, her expression complicated, with a hint of feeling wronged.
"Let me tell you, even if you saved me, I still won't let you off!"
In another direction—
"Lord Ares."
Someone greeted her.
Ares turned her head and saw several blurry figures. "Who are you?"
Hearing this, Vivian stepped forward and bowed, saying, "Lord Ares, I'm the newly promoted Spring Goddess Vivian. We've met before."
Ares had drunk too much, her eyes were blurry, but her memory hadn't quite faded yet. "Oh, Little Vivian, so it's you. Haha, what are you doing here?"
There was no use talking too much with a drunk person—Vivian had experience with this. She propped up Ares's body and began walking.
She said, "My lord, I've come to take you home."
Ares looked up at the moon. "Mm, it is time to go home."
The two goddesses talked as they walked.
Ares asked on her own initiative, "Little Vivian, do you think men look down on women who drink?"
Vivian, dressed in a Clear Spring Robe, said, "Ah, what did you say?"
It was hardly a coincidence that she'd come to the tavern so late to take Ares home.
In truth, ever since Lord Ares, the Goddess of War, had returned, Vivian had been intentionally, or seemingly unintentionally, finding ways to cross paths with her.
Lord Ares had successfully overstepped her rank to Challenge an S-rank Demon King!
Lord Ares had nearly matched the record for fastest defeat of an S-rank Demon King, a record set by the Goddess of Destruction!
The key point was, Lord Ares said that the Three-Tailed Hellhound Demon King, Hages, wasn't killed by her.
Everyone assumed she was just downplaying her role out of team spirit, but Vivian knew this was very likely to be true.
The official report stated that a spatial anomaly in the Water Blue World caused Demon King Hages to completely lose control, which was what made Lord Ares take up the Dragon Slaying Holy Sword on her own initiative.
What caught Vivian's attention most was right at the start... a spatial anomaly in the Water Blue World... only a different world in an anomalous state could possibly hold two gods at once.
The newly promoted goddess Vivian had completed the Final Assessment, gained recognition, and officially joined the ranks of the goddesses.
During the assessment, she was allowed to invite a senior who had mastered a second-tier authority to assist her.
But even now, Vivian could honestly say the second-tier seniors she knew could be counted on one hand. The only one she had any real rapport with was Lord Matthew, who was fond of collecting photos.
In the Goddess World, goddesses who held second-tier authorities were the most numerous, but they were also the busiest.
Cultivate, train, fight; cultivate, train, fight. If completing one rescue mission counted as a newly promoted goddess officially joining the ranks of goddesses, then a B-rank goddess who had just begun to hold her authority needed to go through journey after Journey to Another World to understand her own shortcomings, gradually letting the responsibility upon her shoulders sink into her heart.
They had no time to go shopping or sightseeing. They had to make themselves stronger, stronger, and stronger still, so that the next time they went to a different world, they could reach the Demon King faster, defeat it, and rescue the suffering people of that world from the clutches of the Demon Race.
In other words... facing the upcoming Final Assessment, Vivian only had two Choices: challenge it alone, or hand over a Photo Album and ask Lord Matthew for help.
Taking on a Demon King alone was far too difficult; Vivian couldn't be so irresponsible.
By comparison, handing photos over to Lord Matthew... wasn't so bad, really... (ω)...
The reason Vivian had come to see Lord Ares was to give herself some courage. After all, she had never taken photos with Holy Light effects before, the kind where you changed into many different outfits. Lord Ares had done that before...
"Ah, I'm sorry, Lord Ares, what did you just say? I didn't quite catch it." Vivian's wandering thoughts were pulled back to reality.
Ares, her face flushed red, sighed and said, "I asked you, don't men all look down on women who drink?"
Vivian answered, "Not at all."
In her mind, she automatically replaced "men" with "Lord Matthew."
Among the Photo Selection numbered G27, the one with the most wear from repeated flipping was Lord Ares's drunken photo in a Qipao.
That set ranked second at most in terms of Holy Light level, but it was first in presence, first in aggressiveness, paired with wine that had "accidentally" spilled out. Even now, just thinking about it made Vivian's ears burn.
Meanwhile, the drunken Ares kept questioning, "Then why won't he see me?"
Vivian answered, "Maybe he doesn't want to become famous, and also, he's probably being considerate of your feelings, Lord Ares."
Ares said, "Considerate of my feelings?"
Vivian said, "Yes, you're the goddess who Challenged Demon King Hages, and you're standing right at the doorstep of S-rank."
Ares flung her Arm and said angrily, "I don't need that! And besides, who does he think he is, calling me Big-chested and Brainless?!"
At the time, Ares hadn't been able to tell whether it was a man or a woman, but judging from the tone of that voice, it was more likely to have been male.
Big-chested and Brainless...
Vivian didn't look at Ares—she looked at herself instead. She admitted that, faced with a different-world war, with no experience at all, she hadn't been particularly clever either.
Vivian sighed again.
And Ares's grumbling clearly wasn't something that would be over in just a sentence or two.
"How did he find out?"
"He must have taken advantage of me while I was drunk."
"He relied on his Strength to peek at me."
"He's a thief, a Bastard!"
Having said this, Lord Ares, who usually presented herself as fierce and tough, actually started crying, out of longing for her parents.
Sensing this, Vivian naturally couldn't reveal the truth at a moment like this.
Lord Ares probably still didn't know that Vivian was also one of the people who knew the truth.
Whatever the case, the matter of the Photo Album really couldn't be forced. If Lord Ares cared about it that much, perhaps Vivian could trade two sets of photos to get one set back—that might be Okay.
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