V1C18

"So instead of introducing yourself to your son, you chose to give him a fiancee instead?" Hearing Erica's question Lucretia nodded while taking a sip of her drink, Erica sighed wondering how this mother of Matteo thinks was totally a mystery to her, Lucretia smiled mysteriously "I deemed her necessary for him when I adopted her, although I did tell her it will be her choice whether she will follow the path I laid for her or not will be her choice"

"Yet you are too scared to confront your son and tell him what happened?" Lucretia smiled wryly, it was her soft spot, but she knew her reasons for staying away so long was becoming invalid, she was simply avoiding him for no reason. "If he figures out my identity on his own I will answer to him, I hope you will not get involved, I am his mother after all" Lucretia gave Erica a stern gaze before smiling, Paolo shook his head 'This woman is simply feeling embarrassed that she has gotten drunk with an old coot and ended up having a child after a one night stand' He thought but would never dare to say it out loud.

Ring!

Paolo checked his phone when he realized the google map application was open with a red dot pointing at South African, North-West Province. "huh?" hearing Paolo's confused voice, Erica and Lucretia came over to see the map, "What is this uncle?" Paolo cleared his throat before answering, "That is the location of Matteo" Erica had strange-looking eyes, "Is it true what Matteo said all those years ago, you enjoy stalking kids?" Paolo almost dropped his phone looking at his niece with a shocked face, even Lucretia began to giggle nonstop seeing this interaction, she was even more interested to hear what Erica meant by what Matteo said.

>\/<

South Africa, North West Province, Pretorius Hunting Ranch. Matteo and Artemis arrived in the middle of a wild zone with trees and bushes scattered in the surroundings and the grass was completely hardened and dried from the heat that radiated from the sun, Artemis who rarely left Europe according to her mythology was quite interested in the current location as she could hear the faint sound of gallops of the blesbuck, there was also the occasional springbuck and other animals running in the surroundings.

"You brought me here then I suppose you already have a target in mind?" Artemis asked Matteo who was gazing in a different direction, "Correct, the target is a Forest Cobra. And there is only one alive in this ranch, the rules for the game is, leave the ranch and you lose, the range will be according to the fences around us. Everything else goes, just don't hurt innocent bystanders since this competition is between you and me-only got it?" Artemis snort but still nodded at the end as she could not contain her calm when facing this boy, Matteo smirked.

Matteo muttered softly, "Come to me, spells of the world carved into the book with disinherited knowledge" Artemis looked at Matteo with surprise as she did not expect him to use this method, "Manifest before me thy wonders and let the world know of the sorceries which is forgotten." Suddenly the grimoire manifested in front of Matteo as he gripped onto the book and held it in his left arm, "You want to start?" Artemis smiled "Full Moon approach, the wolves howl and the shivering of the prey... Let the Hunt begin" She uttered softly as a bow materialized in her hand before she sprinted in a random direction, in the meantime Matteo kept his sight in a different direction where the snake really was at.

'Is this goddess so easy to fool?' Matteo thought while he pulled out his phone to call his father when Paolo answered Matteo could hear Erica was arguing with Lucretia from the tone of her voice, he was not certain but he found himself unable to forget anything related to Lucretia from the moment he first met her. "What is the matter, Matteo?" Matteo could only help but wonder why his father is so composed despite the loudness of those shouts in the background, "I'm currently facing Artemis, did Liliana and Aurora arrive at the Manor?" "Yes they have, they even saved Bruno so everything should be settled... No, hold on... Why the hell are you on the phone while facing a god!?"

Matteo chuckled "I'm having a hunting game with her to determine the winner" Paolo wondered if he heard wrong, "Can you repeat what you just said?" Matteo felt his father was getting old lately, "Old Man we need to have you get checked up, it appears your age is catching up" Paolo almost fell off his chair "You little brat! You dare call your young handsome father old!?" Matteo nodded with a satisfied smile, "Then you heard me correctly" Paolo felt stumped when he heard that, "WHy would you do that?"

"So I can turn her into a subordinate god" Matteo answered, he began to explain a specific spell written in the book which was originally meant for Divine Ancestors but thanks to the book he can skip that part and directly do the ritual to make a Heretic God his subordinate God the only problem would be the fact the god or goddess need to willingly submit to him. "What troublesome stuff you're doing now..." Paolo sighed, "You have a reason for this?" Matteo smirked, "Need an extra card to hold on when we deal with the higher-ups that have been trying to control me" Paolo who heard this nodded thinking it will be quite shocking enough for those old coots to back off, "Very well, I have to hang up as you can hear the ladies are getting even more ferocious so please hurry up"

"Got it" Matteo hung up the phone before teleporting right at the position Artemis was about to start skinning the snake but Matteo would not allow her to, he poured mana into the grimoire as it began to conjure several ethereal magic circles around Artemis which sent off several magic spells while Matteo came towards her, Artemis was surprised to see Matteo would react this fast when she caught the snake but it was still within her expectations.

The moment she noticed she was surrounded by magic circles she immediately placed the snake in her pouch but for some reason, she felt her surroundings were interfering with her senses like there were more magic spells being sent towards her that she did not realize the non-existent weight in her pouch as the snake never landed in her pouch at all because of all of the spells including the sense disruption spell Matteo cast that caused her to not realize what was happening.

a Loud explosion caused a strong gust of dusty wind to blow in every direction causing the animals to flee in fear out of instinct when Artemis leap out of the dusty area where the explosion took place she was confronted by Matteo who stood in front of her with a smirk on his face. Matteo could end the match here since he already skinned the snake with magic but he still wanted to play with Artemis, so he enhanced his body with mana to boost his physical body. "Let's dance"

Matteo took a strong first step leaving behind a shoe print behind as he appeared in front of Artemis when he threw a punch at her face she dodged it by leaning her head to the right, "You--- You dare hit a woman" Matteo smirked, "You're strong and capable, so naturally I will face you head-on as my sign of respect for you" Artemis blushed a bit as she could not understand why this boy could affect her this much, the two of them trading blows while dodging or block each other's strikes.

"As expected of Artemis, as a hunter you are definitely well versed in close combat" Matteo spoke happily till he felt a strong blow in his abdomen but both his hands grasp onto something soft, he was not sure at first what he was holding onto but he unconsciously gave it a squeeze "Ahn!" Hearing this Matteo snapped out of his painful daze looking at the blushing Artemis, "You're dead meat!" Matteo chuckled nervously, "It felt heavenly so forgive me to squeezing them... It was the best I ever felt...no that's wrong since it is my first time"

Artemis felt her head was about to explode ever since she met this strange human, but suddenly Matteo took out the skinned snake and the meat already dismantled along with the poison in a little leather pouch. She had many things she wanted to say but "You cheater! You toyed with my body to distract me! You rouge!" Matteo was taken aback by her sudden words, he could only wonder just how in the world is he suppose to clear this up, "H-Hold on! I already had the snake the moment you tried to put it in your pouch so where did I distract you by touching your body... Although it felt quite amazing"

"You---!!" Matteo smiled wryly at Artemis that was beet red from rage and shyness, it was the first time she was felt up like that, her pride as a goddess did not permit her to be sullied but in the end she still was. "You going back on your words?" Artemis locked her eyes with Matteo's before sighing, "Fine... You win" Matteo nodded feeling proud he tricked the girl as he actually burnt her snake since he already had a skinned forest cobra with him for a while now. Like his old man said, 'Always have a back up'

"You should know the spell to make me your subordinate is going to cause me to enter a hibernation state right?" Artemis looked at Matteo with a different gaze, since it was a man who won against her in the game of a hunt she naturally upheld her pride as a hunter to accept her defeat, "I would not have suggested this if I did not know of this. I chose this option since I did not want to kill someone as beautiful as you"

Artemis snorted but a faint blush still emerge on her cheeks as she nodded before kneeling before Matteo, she began to speak in an ancient tongue while golden runes began to materialize around her and Matteo, it was when she reached the end of her incantation she kissed the back of Matteo's right hand before dispersing into golden particles that penetrated Matteo's body, against his back a woman holding a bow materialized in the form of a black coloured tattoo.

When Matteo realized everything was over he collapses on the ground feeling tired, "To think the memory of the Time God and the spellbook would help me out with this" Matteo spoke with a light chuckle, he tricked a huntress into becoming his subordinate god, if it was found out then it would have been a tad bit dangerous facing a complete berserk angry goddess. "Well it all paid off, I will be sure to apologize and spoil her when she wakes up" Matteo spoke while standing up, he burnt the corpse of the forest Cobra before teleporting to Milan.

>\/<

"Miss Kranjcar, the treatment has been completed" Doctor Colombo reported to Liliana before leaving, Liliana went into the room to see that Bruno's vital signs were stable. Suddenly behind her, a pair of arms embraced her surprising her a bit but the familiar scent made her relax almost instantly as she leaned against his chest, "Never imagined you would know it was me" Matteo spoke with a tender voice causing Liliana to blush as she could not tell Matteo she smells his scent as it will make it sound like he stinks.

"It was a lucky guess" Liliana answered hurriedly, seeing this shy Liliana always make Matteo's day full of smiles as he lightly kisses her cheek, "How is Bruno?" Liliana turned her gaze towards Bruno sleeping in the guest room bed, "He is fine, the doctor managed to treat him on time" Matteo nodded, "ah Welcome home Matteo, you came faster than expected" Matteo turned his head slightly seeing the familiar girl, "You staying over tonight Aurora?"

Aurora smiled, "That is if you would like me to," Matteo thought for a moment, "That depends on your plans if there is none we have a guest room" Aurora pouted while looking to the side, Liliana felt a bit warm but at the same time pity Aurora. Matteo might find her interesting and beautiful but to have a relationship with him was a different thing for him, 'Hmph! I will have you look my way one day' Aurora thought before heading off to the guest room. Matteo, however, thought 'How should I explain Artemis to the girls without having them feel bothered'