Birds of a Feather

"Why?"

Hestia hesitated for a moment, and finally stopped, turned her head and looked behind her, frowning and asking.

She wasn't exactly clever, but she did listen to reason.

Lorne handed her one of the filled cups of fruit wine, gazing out at the night sky over Knossos City, which was now bright as day and spoke slowly:

"If you appear on the battlefield, Poseidon will have a reason to interfere."

"So what? With Nike and the Aegis shield, he might not even be a match for Athena!"

Hestia's brows relaxed, and she spoke confidently.

Clearly, she held great expectations and trust in her grandniece's combat prowess.

Lorne raised an eyebrow, his expression somewhere between amused and sarcastic.

To be honest, although he knew Athena was the goddess of war and probably the strongest goddess beside the primordial ones, but her opponent wasn't an ordinary chief god..

That was Poseidon, brother of Zeus.

In many myths he was as powerful as the king of gods, himself.

Putting aside his character and what king of scumbag he was, the fact that even the king of the gods, Zeus was wary of him usurping the throne of Olympus, showed that he was far from weak.

If a battle erupts between Athena and him, Lorne wasn't actually sure, who would win.

Moreover this was the sea!!

His domain.

Not to mention, even if we assume that Athena could beat Poseidon to the ground..

"Then what?"

"What do you mean?"

Hestia responded reflexively, but saw that Lorne's expression had already turned cold, his tone now tinged with scorn.

"You don't really think Crete is only facing Poseidon, do you?*

"…?!"

That unexpected counter-question left Hestia stunned for a moment.

"Do you remember why Athena descended early from Olympus in the first place?" With a meaningful reminder, Lorne looked at the vast sea under the night sky and said faintly, "Poseidon's favor is not so easy to repay."

Instantly, Hestia caught his implication as a shock ran through her mind, and her face paled.

"You mean Ares and Aphrodite might also be involved?"

"What else?"

Lorne shot a sharp look at the goddess who was only now catching on, and snorted.

"Not long after the mess on Mount Olympus ended, the Temple of Poseidon took action against Crete. King Minos has been making trouble for so many years, but Poseidon has not come to punish him. It happened at this time. Don't you think it's just a coincidence?"

".…"

Hestia had no rebuttal. She could only redirect her frustration toward her shameless relatives.

"They actually hooked up with each other! Shameless!"

"Ares, as the god of war, has always coveted the mantle of victory. Aphrodite was once publicly shamed by Athena, when caught cheating. With those grudges and interests tied together—and with Poseidon just recently backing them—it's no surprise they teamed up."

Lorne paused, then added calmly as he looked at Hestia.

"Otherwise, with Poseidon's personality, he wouldn't have held back this long only to act now unless he was confident in total victory."

"So it's just ganging up on the few! Then we can call Artemis and Hephaestus to help too!"

Hestia clenched her fists in indignation, standing up for her grandniece.

"You think you're the only one who can call for backup? Ares' doting mother Hera, and Hermes, who just slept with Aphrodite, aren't exactly bystanders.

And I haven't even mentioned the whole mess of ocean gods lurking in the corners of Oceanos!

Poseidon doesn't just represent himself—he represents a faction.

Get it?"

Lorne gave a sarcastic chuckle, glaring at the goddess whose heart was softer than her even her large soft flesh.

"Why do you think Hephaestus lost last time even when he was in the right? Isn't it because of this?"

Then, looking at Hestia's still-displeased face, he added in a lower tone:

"Besides, Thetis—the sea goddess who raised Hephaestus, is still beholden to Poseidon.

And I've heard that Artemis' beloved twin, Apollo, has had disputes with King Minos of Crete. So tell me: do you really think your so-called allies are willing to step in for Athena and Minos?"

"..."

Faced with the ironclad facts, Hestia asked herself a few hard questions and immediately fell silent.

Indeed, knowing her siblings and nieces and nephews as she did, there was no guarantee any of them would actually step up.

"If solving this problem were as simple as calling in reinforcements or picking a fight, the goddess of wisdom would've handled it long ago.

Why would she need me to explain anything to you?"

After a thorough analysis, after dispelling Hestia's impulse to show off her IQ, Lorne advised earnestly.

"On the contrary, only by prohibiting the participation of the Olympian gods can the Minoans face this storm with a slight chance of winning.

This is why I have to talk so much nonsense with you..."

"So, you are watching me tonight?" Hestia suddenly realized.

"Took you long enough," Lorne muttered, rolling his eyes. "You think I'm watching you tonight for fun?"

Realizing she'd almost made a huge mistake, Hestia looked a bit sheepish.

However, with the increasingly dull roar on the coastline and the sound of flesh being torn apart, the essentially kind-hearted goddess of the hearth could no longer sit still.

She gently poked her self-appointed babysitter and asked in a quiet voice:

"Then... what do we do now?"

"Wait."

Lorne glanced at her, giving the simplest answer possible.

Hestia hesitated and spoke. "But—"

"This is just the first wave — a probe. If the people of Minos can't even survive this small wave without divine intervention, then even if you help them now, they won't survive the next time. Or the one after that."

"If they want to live, they need to fight with everything they have first. Only then should they ask for the gods' help."

Lorne spoke lightly, and his purple eyes were filled with calmness and insight far beyond ordinary people.

After all, he was a person who had experienced death twice.

Look to yourself first, then ask the gods?

Hestia was shaken by his words, and she immediately woke up and extinguished the reluctance in her heart.

Only now did she begin to understand why Athena had always taken a "hands-off" approach to the people of Minos, watching them grow, stumble, and fall... but never rushing to catch them.

Now, her confusion seems to have been answered by this sentence.

It wasn't indifference. It was trust, and a lesson.

Children grow up. A mother is not their nanny forever.

Lorne's voice pulled her back:

"Such a big thing happened, and Athena didn't show up in Crete, nor did Poseidon and the Atlanteans. There were only these sea beasts that were hard to catch on the sea...Doesn't that tell you something?"

Seeing that Hestia's granite head was finally enlightened by one point after another, Lorne muttered a few words, then looked at the holy mountain dotted with stars in the distance and spoke faintly.

"If I'm not mistaken, our goddess of wisdom should be on Mount Olympus now, trying to prevent Poseidon and the Atlanteans from interfering."

"Actually, before she left, Athena said she was heading to Olympus... to deal with the politics."

Hestia, who knew some of the inside story, nodded slightly, and looked at Lorne with an increasingly strange look.

He guessed it again? This guy's like a worm in someone's gut, can he read minds or what?

No wonder Athena was so eager to make him her attendant god. These two were like they'd been cast from the same mold, practically twins!

Wait a minute… twins?!

"So… are you even listening?"

A cold, drawn-out question snapped Hestia out of her spiraling thoughts. She came back to her senses in a trance, looked at the face in front of her awkwardly, and nodded like a chicken pecking at rice.

"Yes! Listening! I'm listening!"

Lorne, already immune to her scatterbrained antics, remained expressionless and reminded her once more:

"What I'm saying is—until the situation becomes clearer, don't act rashly. Otherwise, you might make things worse."

"Got it! Definitely!"

Hestia nodded with great sincerity, looking like the perfect obedient student.

With that final warning given, Lorne yawned and stood up, heading upstairs.

Left standing there, Hestia blinked blankly. "Where are you going?"

"To bed. Gotta get some proper rest…"

Lorne waved lazily without looking back, his voice drowsy.

"Tomorrow morning, someone will probably come knocking, offering us breakfast. And I bet it'll turn into another day of headaches and hard work."

Someone's treating us to a meal? Why don't I know anything about this?

Hestia scratched her head, utterly confused.

But the moment Lorne opened his bedroom door and disappeared inside, she suddenly snapped to attention and bolted up the stairs.

"Wait! Did you figure something out again?!"

BANG!

The door shut and locked in one smooth motion, sending a clear message: Not answering that.