Hearing Atalanta say this, the Moon Goddess couldn't help but clench her candelabra, staring intently at the green-haired girl before her.
However, Ares, completely oblivious, chuckled, "What a coincidence. Speaking of boorishness, I doubt you'd find a man more boorish than me in all of Greece. It seems we're fated to be apart. A bit of a shame, really."
When he said this, he genuinely felt a little regretful. After all, as a normal man, regardless of whether he truly intended to have multiple wives, being liked by another beautiful girl was always something worth boasting about.
However, neither Atalanta nor Hecate paid any attention to Ares' words. Hecate, at this moment, was looking at Atalanta, lost in thought.
"Never mind."
After a long gaze, Hecate finally withdrew her eyes. She said to Atalanta:
"There's nothing else. You may go now."
Atalanta looked at Ares with a questioning gaze, and he nodded to her:
"Go on, go on. I've arranged everything. Someone will meet you in the city."
Hearing Ares say so, Atalanta said no more. She slung her bow and arrows over her shoulder, tightened her satchel, and then walked towards Sparta without looking back, no longer inquiring about the matters between the two gods.
Watching her gradually receding figure, Hecate snorted and said, "She's truly an obedient follower."
"Indeed, it's a pity she's not my follower, but belongs to Artemis's household."
Ares also looked at Atalanta and sighed thus.
"Do you even understand what I'm saying... Never mind." Hecate brushed the matter aside, then, with an accusing tone, asked Ares, "You clearly saw the magic I cast just now, why didn't you come in immediately?"
"This... I was just thinking, given our current state, it's not ideal for us to meet, is it?" Ares evaded Hecate's gaze and answered softly.
"Hmph, so you transformed yourself to participate in her suitor's race, and even became her Page?" Hecate continued to press, highly displeased.
Even Ares, such a straightforward man, could hear the strong jealousy in her tone. So, Ares racked his brain for a way to appease Hecate, but his mind, usually quick when plotting schemes, was now as difficult to operate as a rusty screw.
Therefore, after thinking for a long time, Ares could only sigh heavily and say:
"I'm sorry, Teacher."
Hecate was also choked by his sudden apology, but just as she waited for Ares's subsequent explanation and comfort, she saw the God of War standing there blankly, looking at her with a vacant expression.
The two looked at each other for a moment, and then the Moon Goddess couldn't help but ask, "Is that it?"
Ares nodded sheepishly.
"You usually have so many smooth words, why aren't you saying them now?" Hecate's eyes welled up with tears as she tugged on Ares's collar and cried, "At least lie to me!"
Ares opened his mouth and replied helplessly, "I forgot my lines."
Hecate angrily swung her fists, hitting Ares. Ares didn't fight back; after all, Hecate wasn't truly angry with him. If she were truly angry, she wouldn't use her fists, but her magic.
After her hands began to hurt from punching, Hecate's anger finally subsided a little. She glared at Ares indignantly and then said, "I'm going back. Do whatever you want!"
"Wait, Teacher."
Ares quickly called out:
"I'll go back with you."
With that, Ares quickly took two steps to Hecate's side, watching her with his hands behind his back.
Hecate looked at Ares suspiciously, then asked:
"Do you have something else you want my help with?"
Ares smiled awkwardly, saying nothing.
Even he knew that at a time like this, stubbornly asking Hecate for help was a bit inappropriate.
However, after thinking for a moment, Hecate extended a hand, palm open, and said to him, "Give it to me."
"Huh?"
"I said," Hecate repeated, "give me the thing you want me to help with."
"Cough, thank you, Teacher. You're so kind."
Ares sighed with emotion as he took out the syringe he had picked up from the Arcadia forest and placed it in Hecate's palm.
"What is this?"
The Moon Goddess picked up the syringe curiously, recalling it carefully:
"How do I remember seeing something similar somewhere..."
"It's been many years."
Ares looked up at the sky and said:
"Remember? Athena arrived in that Wandering Star Starship just after me. There, she used this very thing to extract some substance from a dead Youxing Vanguard."
"Oh, I remember now."
At this, Hecate immediately became interested. She extended a finger, flicked the residual liquid in the syringe, and then asked:
"So what is the liquid in this thing?"
"I don't know either, so I'd like you to analyze it."
Ares said:
"I suspect it's some kind of potion Athena made. Someone who injected this potion was transformed into a monster with a lion's head, a goat's body, a python's tail, and could breathe fire."
"Is that true?"
Hecate had by now forgotten all the unpleasantness. She held the syringe with great interest and then grabbed Ares's arm:
"The facilities here are inadequate. All my things are in the workshop in the Underworld. Let's go, we'll return to the Underworld."
With that, Hecate used the authority she had temporarily received from Hades. With a light tap of her foot, she opened a passage to the Underworld in the middle of the road.
As Ares followed her through this passage to the Underworld with a divine power clone, he simultaneously controlled his High Priest clone in Sparta, arranging Atalanta's accommodation in the city. Once his High Priest clone had settled Atalanta in the orphanage in Sparta, Ares's divine power clone also followed Hecate to the workshop in the Underworld.
Upon returning to her workshop, Hecate immediately left Ares and ran off to analyze the syringe herself.
It proved that the things Athena made were still no match for the Moon Goddess. Ares only waited a few days there before Hecate completed the analysis of the residual potion in the syringe.
She found Ares with a serious expression:
"I have the results."
Seeing her expression, Ares's heart sank, and he asked, "What, are the problems revealed by the results very serious?"
Hecate handed him a stone tablet and said:
"See for yourself."