"You're saying… even the gods can't answer the question that troubles you?"
At that moment, the silver-haired girl narrowed her eyes slightly, her gaze sharpening with scrutiny.
She was clearly not satisfied with what she saw as a mere excuse.
After all, it was rare for her to extend an invitation—and rarer still for anyone to refuse it.
"Of course!"
Lorne nodded and answered without hesitation.
The silver-haired girl crossed her arms in front of her chest, pursed her lips and sneered, "Oh? Then why don't you share your so-called problem with me, let's see what kind of mystery even the gods can't solve."
Faced with such relentless pursuit, Lorne raised both of his hands in surrender.
"It's not some earth-shattering dilemma, really. I'm just deeply curious about the world."
"I want to know… why is it that when a ship sails in from the distant sea, we always see the mast before the hull?
Why do apples fall to the ground, and not float upward?
Why is it that objects dropped from the same height always land at the same time?"
A barrage of seemingly whimsical questions struck, freezing the confidence and pride on the girl's face.
Why do we see the mast before the hull on a distant ship?
Why do apples fall instead of rise?
Why do objects objects dropped from the same height hit the ground at the same time?
(The heck..well, remove air resistance..I don't know, what kind of brain this author has. Let's just assume.)
Now that these everyday phenomena had been followed by a single "why," the silver-haired girl found herself stunned, never having considered them from this angle.
Weren't the rules of the world supposed to be just that, rules?
And heavier objects should fall faster than lighter ones, shouldn't they?
So why do they hit the ground together? What kind of logic is that?
Soon enough, rather than answering the original three questions, she found herself tangled in even more confusion. The deeper she thought, the more her mind became a whirlpool.
After half an hour of mental struggle, the girl finally lifted her head, frustrated and baffled.
"…Fine. I can't figure it out for now. But even if you knew the answers—what would it change?"
"To humanity," Lorne said, raising his head to gaze at the sky before lowering his eyes to the earth, then finally fixing them ahead with quiet depth,
"—the world itself is the greatest riddle."
"If we can uncover the truth of things, understand their essence,
then perhaps we can grasp the meaning of life,
touch upon the realm of concepts,
and eventually solve all mysteries—
even glimpse the soul itself… and glimpse immortality."
Of course, he was fooling her with questions even he didn't know, but whether she believed it or not, Lorne was proud of himslef.
After all, he himself believed that he had shared something profound.
"...!"
Looking at the man talking in front of her and listening to the grand concept, the silver-haired girl's beautiful face was shocked at first, and then she came back to her senses, her eyebrows gradually gathered, and she let out a low, cold snort.
"Immortality? Arrogant fool. Do you intend to challenge the gods?"
"Oh, no no—far be it from me to do that,"
Lorne chuckled awkwardly, waving his hands, his tone light and casual, but there was a depth beneath his voice that lingered.
"I just believe that what the gods created… was meant to be the beggining of the humanity, not our end."
"As creations, isn't it in our excellence that the greatness of the gods is best reflected?"
—The greater humanity becomes, the more glorious the gods who created them appear?
Hearing that, the girl paused for a moment, as if recalling something… then couldn't help but laugh.
"You're… frustratingly persuasive."
"You flatter me. I'm merely speaking the truth,"
Lorne blinked innocently.
"Well then," The silver-haired girl huffed, rolling her eyes at him before extending her right hand forward, voice soft but clear.
"Tritogeneia. That's my name…"
In that instant, Lorne's eyelid twitched involuntarily.
The silver-haired girl, as sharp as ever, raised a brow and narrowed her violet eyes once more.
"You know who I am?"
"No, no, I just thought your name sounded… elegant. Unique…"
Under her quiet, penetrating gaze, Lorne helplessly raised both hands in surrender and confessed with a sheepish grin.
"Uh… okay, fine. I'll admit—it's just a bit long and hard to remember."
"Oh, is that so? Then just call me Pallas."
She nodded slightly, gave him a calm look, and added with a touch of nonchalance.
"Alright, Miss Pallas…"
Lorne accepted quickly, exhaling in relief, as though remembering a name was the hardest thing he had to do all day.
But the little Medusa, who was still being held by his hand, suddenly felt a patch of slick dampness and stickiness from his palm.
At this moment, after hearing the two names in succession, despite his calm exterior, Lorne was soaked in cold sweat.
Because the name "Tritogeneia"—meaning "the third child of Zeus, after Artemis and Apollo" was rare and ambiguous enough to keep people guessing about the girl's true identity.
But "Pallas"? That name appeared far too frequently in Greek mythology.
Because it was one of the most well-known epithets of the Goddess of Wisdom, Athena.
That's right, the girl standing before Lorne was none other than the true owner of those temple offerings: the Goddess of Wisdom and War—
Pallas Athena.
The very same legendary figure who, according to myth, was his half-sister, and whose combat prowess was utterly off the charts.
Although Lorne had already suspected that the girl in front of him might be no ordinary mortal, perhaps a demigod, or even a god walking among humans, he hadn't expected that after sneaking into her temple, stealing her offerings, and talking smack about her nearby, he would run face-first into the real deal.
The odds of that were worse than getting hit in the head by a meteor.
Thankfully, just as Hecate had once told him, the [Dice of Randomness] embedded within him, an artifact of pure chance, would not only drive him to rebel against fate and the gods but also cloak his essence, making it impossible for the gods to discern his true identity.
Otherwise, this goddess famed for her wisdom would've realized he was a son of Zeus as soon as she saw him.
"Ahem… it's getting a little late. How about we go grab a meal?"
Lorne steadied himself and offered a friendly suggestion to the divine being sitting across from him, even as his mind raced in overdrive.
Feed her. Run. Take Medusa and get as far away from Minos as possible.
After all, this goddess in front of him was far too dangerous.
Just that one slip-up earlier might already have tipped her off.
If he were to stick around too long, and she'd surely dig up his secrets.
But before he could mentally scan through the nearest fast food joints to make a quick escape, Athena simply chuckled and shook her head.
"If anyone's paying for the meal, it should be me."
"Huh?"
"Even though I solved one more riddle than you, I couldn't answer your final three questions—so that makes me the loser."
Athena explained casually, then pointed toward a nearby home at the end of the street.
"I was on my way to visit a friend. She should have dinner ready by now. Let's go together."
Upon hearing that, cold sweat trickled even more furiously down Lorne's back.
If someone was close enough to Athena to be called a friend, it was almost certainly another god.
And most likely… one of the Twelve Olympians.
Sure, the Dice of Randomness could keep his true identity hidden, but facing two major gods at once?
Lorne felt like he was about to spontaneously combust under the pressure.
So if he could at all avoid this dinner invitation, he definitely would.
"Ahem, it might be a bit rude to impose on your friend unannounced like that, wouldn't it? Maybe I'll pass this time…"
Lorne forced a smile, trying to politely decline.
"Next time! My treat, I swear!"
"Oh?"
Athena squinted, still smiling—but her expression shifted abruptly.
"Very well. Then I guess the wager's off. Guards? Guards, where are the guards? There's a suspicious—"
"WAIT, WAIT! I'll go, okay? As long as you don't mind, I'll go!"
Caught red-handed and totally at her mercy, Lorne broke into a full-body sweat and quickly grabbed Athena's rising hand to stop her, reluctantly accepting the invitation with all the dignity of a man biting down on a lemon.
"That's better…"
Seeing the slippery guy in front of her succumb obediently in her hands, Athena showed a satisfied smile on her face, raised her hand forward, and made a gesture of invitation.
"Then come, friend…"
At this point, whether you stick your neck out or try to hide, the blade's coming either way.
Lorne figured he might as well stop overthinking it.
So, grabbing little Medusa, he strode boldly toward the home Athena had pointed out.