— — — — — —
Near the summit of Mount Olympus stood a breezy Greek pavilion.
"Nothing wrong with the tea leaves, right?"
Sitting on a stone bench, Hephaestus prepared a pot of tea with practiced ease and looked toward Ryo.
"Much appreciated."
Ryo had no objections. He could drink either alcohol or tea, but habit made him lean toward tea most of the time.
Hephaestus handed him the freshly brewed cup, his expression gentle.
"This water comes from a spring born from the Fountain of Life. The Celtic Pantheon sold it to me back when they still existed. These days… you could call it a discontinued product."
"Oh? Then I definitely need to try it."
Ryo lifted the cup and took a small sip.
The warm tea flowed down his throat and instantly transformed into a rich surge of life energy, nourishing his entire body.
Deep within his cells, the damage left on his hands from the Hydra venom he had applied earlier rapidly repaired itself. In the blink of an eye, his hands returned to normal—if anything, they were a little stronger than before.
Ryo sighed in admiration.
Neither the water nor the tea leaves were ordinary. Something that could still benefit someone at his four-digit level was extremely rare in Little Garden.
"If you like it, take a few hundred tons back with you."
Hephaestus smiled warmly.
'Is this how rich people make friends?' Ryo's mouth twitched slightly. 'Four-digit treasures measured by the hundred tons…'
Everyone in Little Garden said Hephaestus was rich.
Before today, Ryo had no idea just how rich. Now he did.
This guy didn't just own a mine—his mine was practically the size of a universe.
Ryo had every intention of refusing such blatant temptation. But by the time he snapped back to his senses, a Gift Card storing nine hundred tons of Fountain of Life water had already ended up in his hand.
"You seem pretty happy."
Ryo tucked the Gift Card away and glanced at Hephaestus.
"You could tell?" Hephaestus looked surprised, then nodded with a wry smile. "Well… my conflicts with those brothers and sisters of mine aren't exactly a secret."
''Conflicts' is putting it lightly…' Ryo thought.
In Little Garden, Hephaestus had long held the number one spot on the list of "most miserable god." He'd been there for ages without ever dropping from the ranking.
The family drama was legendary.
Still, Ryo carefully hid the sympathy on his face. The last thing he wanted was to offend the man—especially after just accepting such an enormous gift.
"Go ahead and laugh if you want," Hephaestus said with a chuckle, shaking his head lightly. "Honestly, if my mother didn't still give me a little warmth… I'd probably have found a way to leave the Greek pantheon long ago."
He paused, then added, "You've heard of the Roman Pantheon, right? I'm the financial backer behind them."
Ryo silently inhaled.
The Roman Pantheon.
A group said to have inherited the system of the Greek Twelve Gods.
In Little Garden they existed as well—but unlike the Greek gods, they mostly resided in the upper layers of the three-digit domain.
Which meant Hephaestus stood behind twelve three-digit gods.
That wasn't just wealth anymore.
In terms of numbers alone, the Roman gods could already rival the Greek pantheon.
Ryo frowned slightly as he looked at him. "It's hard for me to imagine someone like you still putting up with that kind of treatment."
Hephaestus sighed. "I was only one step away back then. Zeus escaped by pure luck."
"You know how much power he accumulated at the four-digit level. I only had that one chance—and it still failed."
"Afterward, the Twelve Roman Gods were gradually forced up into the upper layers by Zeus. That made it impossible to try again."
He gave a strained smile. "But at least it made him wary of going to the Upper Layer easily. That counts for something."
'So you really did try to assassinate Zeus…'
Ryo forced his expression to stay calm.
Even without the details, he could imagine the scene.
Twelve gods surrounding Zeus.
No wonder Hephaestus said it came down to luck.
Something unexpected must have happened—otherwise Zeus wouldn't have escaped from twelve opponents at the same level.
He must have been one step away from celebrating at Zeus's grave.
If Ryo had been there, he might've even contributed the soundtrack—maybe force Aphrodite to dance on the spot.
Still…
'So this is the Greek pantheon, huh?' Ryo thought.
Fathers cuckolding sons, sons killing fathers.
What a wonderfully "loving" family.
'Thank goodness I grew up under the Japanese system. The Greeks are brutal.'
At that moment, Hephaestus spoke again.
"Don't tell anyone about this. At least within the Greek pantheon, besides Zeus, Athena, my uncle Hades, and my mother Hera, no one else knows."
"Got it, got it." Ryo paused, then nodded knowingly.
So Ares, Aphrodite, Hermes, and the rest were still in the dark.
Hephaestus clearly wanted to deliver a devastating surprise to that adulterous pair someday.
Understandable.
Ryo might enjoy watching the drama, but he had no interest in meddling in someone else's family feud.
As far as he was concerned. If he ever ran into the real bodies of Ares or Hermes, he'd try to kill them.
And Zeus? If he had the chance, he'd absolutely take him down.
Anyone else who didn't provoke him… he wouldn't bother with.
"Anyway, back to business."
After a bit more idle chat, Hephaestus clearly lost interest in reminiscing.
"The reason I asked you here today, Mr. Ryo, is that I'd like to buy the rest of the scorpion poison you have."
"You're not planning to—"
Ryo raised an eyebrow and pointed toward the Temple of Zeus behind them.
Buying poison inside Zeus's own home… to poison Zeus?
That was almost too funny.
"Exactly." Hephaestus nodded.
Ryo frowned slightly. Considering the gifts he'd just received, he decided to offer some honest advice.
"With all due respect, he's already on guard. It won't be easy to catch him off guard again."
"That's fine." Hephaestus smiled faintly. "He can't stay on guard forever. And he knows I'll try to buy poison sooner or later."
"I'm doing it in front of him on purpose—to remind him he should always be wary of me."
'Psychological warfare…'
No wonder Zeus was so strong. Anyone who had to live with Hephaestus constantly messing with his nerves would either get stronger… or die early.
Ryo sighed inwardly, then took two small bottles of powder from his Gift Card.
"This is all I have left. About thirty grams total—enough for maybe three doses."
All of Ryo's poisons had been purchased on the Dimensional Forum using points.
He'd bought five batches for a total of 5,000 points.
He'd originally kept them for training Scorpio Saint techniques, so he couldn't bear to use them earlier and instead used them to intimidate Zeus.
"That's enough."
Hephaestus nodded slightly.
Then golden spheres of light appeared in his palm.
As they emerged, they began orbiting around him like a cluster of stars.
"These are Limit Authorities I purchased through various channels," he said. "Have you heard of them?"
"I have," Ryo replied, "special agents who are just one step away from becoming full Authorities. With the right opportunity, they can evolve further and become true Authorities."
"They're the finest among authorities—something three-digit god-kings chase obsessively."
"And only a handful of gods can actually strip their own Limit Authorities and turn them into transferable gifts."
Ryo looked at the golden spheres.
There were nearly a hundred of them.
This level of wealth was almost impossible to comprehend.
Just how had Hephaestus made so much money?
Were craftsmen really that profitable?
"I'm one of those special gods," Hephaestus said with a sigh. "Otherwise Zeus wouldn't have asked me to forge his thunderbolt."
He paused, a hint of nostalgia crossing his face.
Back then, he'd been young.
When his father gave him the most beautiful daughter—Aphrodite—as his wife, he thought it meant Zeus valued him greatly.
Turns out Zeus just wanted him to craft a divine artifact tied to authority.
And Aphrodite? Just payment.
Then again…
Considering those two had already been fooling around behind his back at the time…
If you really thought about it, maybe he had been the one cuckolding Zeus.
Ugh… Better not think about it.
Hephaestus shook his head and looked back at Ryo.
"You understand how valuable these special authorities are. I'd like to give you three of them—but I have an agreement with the gods."
"Within a hundred years, I can only sell one authority to the same person."
"But this time, I'll bend the rules slightly. In exchange for the poison, you can pick one."
"Are you serious?" Ryo's eyes lit up.
"Of course." Hephaestus smiled.
"Go ahead. Choose one."
Ryo nodded.
Then he looked up at the nearly hundred golden spheres floating overhead.
After a long moment of careful observation—
He reached out toward one of them.
.
.
.