After Artemis left, Asterios stayed with Hephaestus for another two days before bidding him farewell to return to Pelion Cave.
Hephaestus had grown quite fond of this child, with whom he got along like a grandfather and grandson, and before Asterios left, he grabbed his hand and said: “Since you’re already here, don’t leave empty-handed.
Look at the items on these shelves; pick one you like and take it with you.
How about this!
Here is what we’ll do: after you pick one, I will imbue it with the concept of my divine power.
That way, it will be great for you to carry for self-defense in the future.
It also sounds impressive to say it is one of the divine armaments given to you by the Fire God, Hephaestus.” Hephaestus acted just like an elderly man from the East; the reluctance and other emotions on his face were no joke.
At this moment, he genuinely wanted to give Asterios something good, both as a keepsake and to provide some help for Asterios’s future.
“Really, there’s no need, old man.
I will come often, and we can drink together again then.
Don’t worry, I can travel back and forth very quickly.” Asterios held his hand, speaking words of comfort and farewell.
Both the man and the god felt a sense of reluctance to part ways at that moment.
Hephaestus finally let go of his hand, then stepped back a few paces before raising his hand to wave at Asterios, signaling him to go.
He would be content if Asterios just came to visit him in this dull place whenever he had the time.
“I will, old man.” As soon as Asterios finished speaking, his body vanished completely in a flash of golden light.
Hephaestus raised an eyebrow, only then realizing that the kid probably wasn’t joking about coming often.
Good heavens, so he was capable of Teleportation at this level.
“Athena’s son, he truly is extraordinary…” Hephaestus muttered these few words softly, then stopped thinking about it.
In the past, his relationship with Athena had been quite good, until he lost his head and caused trouble.
That led to Athena never coming to visit him again, though that was his own fault.
Afterward, he cast these distracting thoughts from his mind and returned to his temple, where he could continue to pass the time and look forward to Asterios’s next visit and their time together.
Asterios, meanwhile, had already arrived at the foot of Mount Pindus and climbed up to the entrance of Pelion Cave.
His junior fellow apprentices saw him return and immediately came over to greet him.
After Asterios acknowledged them one by one, he saw the half-side of a pig hanging at the cave entrance.
Was this cured item actually hanging there to continue air-drying?
What was going on?
“What is going on here?
Why is something like this hanging here, and why hasn’t anyone said anything?” Asterios asked the surrounding junior apprentices, feigning displeasure, but the others just smiled at him, which only left Asterios even more confused.
Finally, the favorite, Pollux, stepped forward.
She came to Asterios’s side and said to him: “Senior Brother, you don’t know, but this is a gift sent by your sweetheart, Atalanta.
She is grateful to you for saving her life last time, so she specifically cured the meat herself and sent it here, asking us to thank you properly on her behalf~” Once these words were spoken, Asterios could no longer maintain his expression.
The anger he had been feigning was cast to the nine heavens.
The expression on his face shifted rapidly between surprise, joy, and astonishment.
After a while, he walked over to the hanging cured meat, stared at it for a moment, and then turned and rushed down the mountain.
“He, what is he…
what is wrong with our Senior Brother?” Castor was shocked by his Senior Brother’s sudden speed.
He had previously thought that Atalanta was already incredibly fast, but could his Senior Brother really be even faster?
“Sigh~ someone sent a gift to show gratitude; how could our Senior Brother hold himself back?
He must immediately find a way to get a return gift, right?
Our Senior Brother, ah~ sigh~ this is a good opportunity to get closer to her, but when I went down the mountain a while ago, I asked around, and it seems that big sister made a vow to Lady Artemis to remain chaste for her entire life.
That is a troublesome matter~” Orpheus finished his long speech as if he were singing, and the others really didn’t know what to say after hearing this.
To swear to remain chaste for life to Lady Artemis, one of the three virgin goddesses?
This was indeed a difficult situation to handle; they wondered how their Senior Brother would struggle with this.
Meanwhile, Asterios had already arrived in the forest.
When the strongest overlord of the forest saw Asterios approaching, it knew it could not escape.
Therefore, it had no choice but to fight, galloping on its four hooves and charging fiercely toward Asterios.
This was the only chance of survival for the strong wild boar; if it did not fight, it would surely die without a place to be buried, with absolutely no chance of survival.
“The great holy sword that can cut through anything!
Holy Sword!” Asterios dodged the charge with a sidestep and immediately swung his hand like a blade.
A golden radiance cleanly separated the wild boar’s head from its body, and blood splattered across the ground.
Asterios dragged it directly to the riverbank and began to clean out its internal organs and blood.
He worked with incredible speed; once everything was cleaned, he immediately hoisted the huge wild boar onto his shoulders and headed toward Atalanta’s village.
At this moment, Atalanta was on a haystack, polishing her arrows.
She usually recovered these from her prey and polished them repeatedly; she often used a single arrow for a long time before discarding it.
This was how she cherished and maintained her equipment, and she always did these things very seriously.
However, just as she finished polishing the arrow in her hand and set it down, lifted her head to wipe the sweat and catch her breath, and prepared to polish the next one, she saw Asterios walking toward her, along with the dressed game on his shoulders.
She stood up, jumped directly, and landed in front of Asterios.
Pointing her finger at him, she scolded: “Are you an idiot?!
I sent you a gift to thank you for saving me!
Although I don’t want to admit it, if I had been alone that time, it definitely would have ended poorly!
But what are you doing now!?
Do you want to make me owe you a favor, you brat?!
” She scolded him with great force, but if her Adoptive Father or Chiron were here, they would likely feel that Atalanta was acting coquettishly.
This child’s skill at saying the opposite of what she meant had improved again; it was quite amusing.
“Accept it, accept it.” Asterios’s voice was a little soft at first, but his tone grew more intense as he spoke.
Atalanta was overwhelmed by his presence; a sense of shame and annoyance rose in her heart, causing her to step back slightly.
She had never expected herself to have such strange feelings at this moment.
“I can’t carry it!
What exactly are you trying to do, you guy?!
Are you trying to humiliate me?!
” Atalanta gritted her teeth and stamped her foot, but could only continue, “Take this thing to my house!
Eat at my home today, I’ll cook it for you!”
Maybe it’s not a big deal now… maybe it will be later.
“And If you’re enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!”