Chapter 93: The ‘Casual’ Moon Goddess Artemis
Although she had never truly seen Rowe before, in Artemis’s heart there had always been a shadow of him.
It was an image pieced together shard by shard from Enkidu’s stories.
To some extent, that shadow was also the key factor that shifted the god called Artemis from a purely mechanical existence into a god with something resembling human emotion.
Just as Rowe had already confirmed, the machine bodies of the Greek gods in this world had, after being heavily damaged by the Star Hunter, gradually gone out of control and disappeared into Imaginary Number Space.
Somewhere in those two or three millennia, the Artemis Enkidu met had just lost her divine machine frame. Only a humanoid terminal remained.
Her mechanical nature had not yet faded. Her divinity was still immense. But if she wished to maintain this human-shaped vessel, she needed to understand what “human” meant.
At that time, every god chose a different path.
Ares immersed himself in the Spartans’ thirst for battle.
Athena listened to the words of the wise and learned from intellect.
Apollo walked the path of people of justice and light.
Artemis was different from all of them.
She chose Enkidu, who had just arrived in Greece and was already revered as a “Saint,” and took her as a teacher.
That pure and unstained girl.
The one who had crossed the sea.
Surely someone like that understood human nature.
“Human nature… To be honest, I do not understand it very well either. But I do know that once a person has someone they miss, they can keep moving forward.”
That was what the beautiful girl said the first time they met.
So, following those words, Artemis planted the seed of “longing” in her own heart.
She assembled the silhouette of that longing.
And now, facing Rowe in the flesh, she could not help herself.
“This is wonderful. It really is you, Lord Rowe.”
Pressing her entire body against him, the Moon Goddess, with her tall and graceful figure, trembled with joy. Her fair arms wrapped around Rowe’s chest, squeezing and deforming it against her.
Rowe glanced to the side.
Through Athena’s blessing, he instantly traced the cause and effect and understood the entire story.
He could only feel a weary sort of helplessness.
Enkidu definitely had not expected things to turn out like this.
Atalanta, for her part, was completely stunned.
Hadn’t they just said this man was a Sage? The beloved friend of Lady Enkidu?
So why was Lady Artemis suddenly hugging him like this?
Why…
So confusing.
So very confusing.
Atalanta felt dizzy.
“Goddess, please do not press yourself against me.” Rowe spoke at last. “We are not actually that familiar.”
His voice faded away.
At the same moment, his figure vanished from her arms and reappeared a short distance away.
The Moon Goddess’s embrace closed on empty air.
“How cruel.”
Artemis folded her arms across her chest, her movements sinking further into her own softness. She crossed one long leg over the other and looked up directly at Rowe.
“I am Artemis.”
“I can still recognize the Moon Goddess.”
Rowe sounded perfectly serious.
“After all, I just finished beating Ares, God of War. That is your brother, is it not?”
“What? Do you want to try me as well?”
“Is that not going a bit too far?” Artemis’s expression shifted to wounded sorrow.
“Compared to you, I am not excessive at all, Your Excellency Moon Goddess.”
Rowe smiled.
Of course he had no intention of punching the Moon Goddess for no reason.
He simply wanted an excuse to keep his distance.
This was not the way he wished to die.
There was a difference between provoking a god and “provoking” a god.
Besides, after failing to die so many times, his mindset had changed in subtle ways.
Reckless self-destruction clearly did not work.
Then he might as well choose how to die.
That way, once he did reach the throne, he could at least carry his memories and bonds up with him intact.
“Too much, Lord Rowe? Are you refusing my feelings because of Lady Enkidu?”
Artemis let out a strangely desolate sigh.
“Lady Enkidu would not mind…”
Enkidu truly would not mind.
But Rowe did.
At that moment, the air rippled faintly. Light and shadow gathered like drifting snowflakes, and a new figure condensed out of them.
“Artemis.”
Her plain white robe fluttering, the Goddess of Wisdom from Athens arrived with a decidedly stormy expression.
Athena had seen Artemis’s every move.
They were both virgin goddesses.
How could this woman be this shameless?
She, Athena, had been the first to try and recruit Rowe. Even if it had not quite succeeded, the pride of the Goddess of Victory would never allow someone else to “poach” him afterward.
It had nothing to do with romantic feelings.
It was purely a matter of dignity.
Athena appeared.
Rowe quietly let out a breath of relief.
It seemed this ally was still reliable.
By invoking the blessing she had given him, he had not only traced the roots of Artemis’s actions, but also correctly anticipated that Athena would intervene.
He had believed from the start that the Goddess of Wisdom would come.
With her power, he could cleanly withdraw.
No matter what, Enkidu was at a critical juncture. It was best not to start a fight here.
He must not disturb her.
“Ah… Athena?”
The Moon Goddess turned her head and looked at her.
Her eyes became perfectly clear and still, like a lake without ripples. For just a heartbeat, there was a flash of playful mischief in them.
“Why are you in such a hurry?” she asked, feigning innocence. “Could it be that… Ah, my apologies. I did not realize.”
“…”
Athena calmed down almost at once, but she had the distinct sensation she had just walked into a trap.
She forced herself to smile.
“What you imagine has nothing to do with me. What matters now is this.”
She clapped her hands once and grinned.
“Artemis, my friend, what exactly do you intend to do to the person under my protection?”
Artemis tilted her head slightly.
Her expression was the very picture of “I do not know what you are talking about.”
But they were both goddesses and had known each other for a very long time. There was no way Athena did not understand what she was implying. Artemis was deliberately twisting the nature of Athene’s relationship with Rowe.
Virgin goddesses had to maintain their purity.
That was the oath they had sworn to Zeus, King of the Gods.
So Athena had to clarify her stance.
If she stepped in rashly, Artemis could simply use that to distance herself as well and pretend nothing had happened.
In the end, for all that they had once been mechanical gods, they were never lacking in cunning.
Even if Artemis always wore the air of an innocent girl.
The Goddess of Wisdom refused to be dragged onto that battlefield.
She did not say anything that matched Artemis’s speculation.
Any indecent or ambiguous implications were entirely the Moon Goddess’s own invention and had nothing to do with her.
“Lord Rowe, please come with me.”
Athena turned her gaze away from Artemis and fixed it solemnly on Rowe instead.
At that moment, she looked every inch the Goddess of Wisdom and War: composed, resolute, her silver hair and crimson eyes lending her a heroic air.
She reached out and took Rowe’s hand, ready to lead him away.
Atalanta was completely stunned.
This was the first time she had seen two goddesses tug-of-warring over a “mortal.”
Rowe glanced at Athena’s hand.
He could not shake the feeling something about this situation was slightly off.
“That will not do, Athena.”
Artemis stepped in front of them.
“This is my sacred domain in the mortal world. I cannot allow you to simply walk out with him.”
“And you say Lord Rowe is your agent?”
“Of course, Artemis. Lord Rowe still carries the blessing I granted him.”
Athena’s words stopped abruptly.
At the same instant, a ray of moonlight fell upon Rowe.
The Moon Goddess smiled, radiant and beautiful.
“In the name of Artemis…”
“My beloved one.”
“From this moment on, the bright moon shall serve as your eyes and your hands. It will always shine upon and support the path you walk.”
After declaring this, Artemis turned her eyes to Athena and blinked playfully.
“Apologies,” she said, “but now he also bears my blessing.”
Athena: “…”
They were gods, after all.
To bestow blessings like this…
Was that not a little too casual?
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Fate: I Just Want to Die and Sit on the Throne of Heroes-Chapter 93: The ‘Casual’ Moon Goddess Artemis
Chapter 93
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