Next week

During the past week the atmosphere in Mount Olympus stayed pretty much the same with no noticeable change.

Everyone continued their routine, the responsible gods worked as usual, the lazy ones continued to laze around and skip work, and so forth

Even today could be considered a normal day for Zeus the king of Olympus and his son Hermes who met as they usually did for Hermes to do his report.

At least that’s what it seems for most, but in the room, the atmosphere was a little tenser than usual, but nothing extraordinary as they thought to have everything nearly under control

“So! How is it going?!” Asked the imposing and muscular figure of Zeus seated on his throne as he caressed his white beard

“Everything is going well so far!” responded Hermes the messenger god,

“As Serea expected even though she said that she trusted her and asked her to find those who shifted allegiance from her to you she made sure that she was followed by either inconspicuous animals hidden on her path or by other minor gods usually ignored,” explain Hermes to his father who was listening with attention

“Yes she has also been following me when I leave the palace and to the human world,” he said to his son

Seeing the pressing look that his son was sending him he followed

“Do not worry after my discussion with you I took precautions and personally inspected the palace of Argos there and used my powers to infiltrate the minds of the people there, her suspicion doesn’t come from there.”

Zeus affirms to his son to reassure him but he was unsuccessful as for Hermes it just brings another question

“If not from there, then where does that come from,” continued Hermes

“I found where her suspicion came from,”

“Where!?”

“A new temple has been built in the city of Argos dedicated to Hera and fertility, I met one of the prestress of the temple who was walking in the street by accident once, Hera noticed me from her later on,” he explains his finding

“I see, so does she already know of your relationship with Messenia the queen of Argos then knowing your liking for queens and princesses…” asked Hermes again

“Like I already said I went through the minds of the people in the castle, so no, it seems she has opted for the option of placing eyes around the city and proceeding slowly to pinpoint my exact location after all if she acts too abruptly I would notice her, it’s not the first time that we employ that strategy,” said Zeus as he explains the habit of his wife

“I see that’s good for us then, luckily for us, Serea knows Hera even better than you father! We would’ve fallen in her trap without her warning,” affirmed Hermes relieved from the information he heard,

They now had the answers to all the questions that plagued them

“So now all we have to do is to formulate a plan…” he said before he and his father and king started to plan what to do,

After about half an hour of discussion

“Sometimes the simplest plans are often the best, we are just going to let Serea uncover all of our people and truthfully report her findings to keep her confidence we can always convert them into our people later with Serea on our side,” he explained what he had prepared

“Are you sure this isn’t going to create trouble, all of those gods discovered, some of them know that Serea was on our side if just one talk…” Zeus interrupts his son’s thinking

“There are many ways to make sure that they don’t say anything, plus I will make sure that the punishment isn’t too severe and reward them for their loyalty later,”

“And what about Messenia how do you plan to resolve that issue?” Hermes asked before continuing his “The fact that she doesn’t know who your mistress is this time right!”

“Indeed, Hm,” after a second of reflection he found another solution to that problem

“I’m just going to find another woman to be my mistress, so that Hera reports her hire on her,” he explains how he intended to sacrifice an innocent person to save his mistress

“Isn’t it a little dark, the queen will without a doubt kill her!”

“And!” he asked in an indifferent tone not finding anything wrong with what he just said

“Nothing…” responded Hermes after all it wasn’t like it was the first time that they sacrificed people for their benefit and desire

“Report what we decided to Serea but make sure not to be spotted, it will jeopardize everything, now I need to go I have other matters to attend to, do you know that some of the monsters on the surface are more active lately, some even attempt to climb Olympus,”

“If there is so much trouble you shouldn’t take that much time taking care of things like that, I could’ve resolved it myself,” said Hermes questioning the priority of his father

“Oh it seems that I shielded you so much that you think that you now can deal with Hera by yourself huh, well I assure you Hera is much more troublesome to deal with than a few monsters,”

After the father and son went away one of the walls in the room started to move before revealing an opening from which Maeron and Hera both got out,

“Seems like things are indeed going as you expected, how were you able to trick them like that,” Asked Hera intrigued by the way he was able to put Zeus on the wrong path effectively lowering their guard

“Because it was true, I made sure that he coincidently crossed paths with one of your priestesses, and with just a little tweak in her mind everything was fixed, after his investigation, he naturally found her et voila” Maeron explained to Hera how he was able to trick the king of Olympus

“You really thought about everything huh,”

“Someone like him will more easily accept that it was a coincidence rather than the fact that he was spied on without even noticing it,” he reasoned

“I see, you indeed have an answer to everything, and even have a way to stroll through Olympus like it is your backyard, that’s scary,”

“I have something that I wanted to ask you Hera,” looking at her in the eyes

“Your son Hephaestos…”

“What about him?!” she asked a little annoyed

“…I know that you don’t like him but will it bother you if I were to kill him,” he demanded seriously while looking at her in the eyes

“W-why, what did he do for you to- to want to kill him,” she asked Maeron hiding her anxiety the best she could

“Nothing really, I don’t have anything against him, in fact I quite like him,” Maeron responded sincerely

“Then why do you…”

“Because of his divinity,” he responded before she even ended his sentence

“I want it, I will perfectly complement my own power and my vision, things will move a lot more smoothly with it,” after Maeron explanation he could see a conflicted expression appear on Hera’s beautiful face

“I- I would prefer if you don’t kill him he is my son after all, don’t you have a way to extract his power without killing him,” she responded to his hint of care

“I thought that you hated him,” he questioned after all even after hundreds of years their relationship was nearly as bad as the first when she him out of Mount Olympus not caring if he died

“Well I guess that after all that time I ended up developing a sliver of affection for him” Looking at her Maeron could see that she was sincere

“Well I guess that I can try another approach,” he replied and could immediately see her visibly relax

‘If she is reluctant to even let me kill Hephaestus there is no way she will accept me killing Ares,’ Maeron thought

“I will use something like a honey trap maybe, plus it’s true just outright killing him can have a very negative impact if discovered,” he reasoned

‘Both of her sons are more important to Olympus than you want to accept, Ares is nearly as strong as his father and in the right circumstances can equal him and has the potential to surpass him, it is one of the reasons why his father despise him, he is just to stupid to realize it,’

Turning around and creating a portal in front of him he continue to reflect

‘Hephaestus, him I can easily recruit him, he has so much going against him,’ Walking into the portal in front of him with Hera by his side he continues to think of his grand plan

‘I can freely start recruiting in Olympus now and as planned I must start with her’ She really is indispensable for the next step.

Your gift is the motivation for my creation. Give me more motivation!
Creation is hard, cheer me up!