(Apollo POV)

24 shattered doll bodies decorated the floor.

In the middle of this wreckage, there were two people, to be more exact, a human and a god.

The human with black skin held a sword in her hand, and even with her heavy breathing and sweat running down her face like a river, she held her sword tightly.

The young God who possessed the equine half was in no better condition than the human; after all, his pale face was more than an indication of that fact.

These were my two students, Casca and Chiron.

1 month was how long it took them to go through the 8 stages.

Every day they would both start and fail at some stage, and the next day they would start from the beginning.

But in the end, they managed it in just one month.

I couldn't help but smile proudly. The stronger they are, the better it will be.

Who knows? Maybe someday they can beat me.

This is interesting!

A part of me loved meeting people stronger than me, and somehow that always made me excited.

I stood up, containing my smile, appearing between them.

Both of my students' legs shook; Chiron managed to stay upright with difficulty, but Casca fell to the side.

My hands moved, and I caught her before she fell to the floor.

"You guys did well." I gave them both a smile.

"Thank you, teacher." Chiron exclaimed with difficulty.

While Casca just muttered a thank you, closing her eyes.

I think I'll have to take care of these countless wounds on my students' bodies.

I thought, leading Casca and Chiron inside the house.

•••

After applying herbs to Chiron to alleviate the pain and help with his recovery, I wrapped bandages on him, while Casca was still unconscious in bed.

As I wrapped a cloth that had been dipped in medicinal herbs around his arm, Chiron looked at me with some strangeness.

"It looks like you have some doubts, Chiron." I said, finishing wrapping the cloth around his arm that had been mutilated by the earth dolls.

For a few seconds, Chiron was silent, almost as if he didn't know whether to ask the question that was bothering him or not.

But in the next instant, he asked the question.

"Why is the teacher, this month, instead of using his healing technique, using herbs to heal us and alleviate pain like now, wouldn't it be much more effective to use his technique?" This question seemed to be stuck in Chiron's throat for the last month.

Chiron was different from Casca, while Casca didn't question any of my actions and saw my words as sacred scripture, Chiron possessed a latent curiosity.

Even though he respected me, if I ordered him to kill someone, Chiron would ask why, while Casca simply pierced the person's throat without thinking twice.

Her loyalty is pretty heavy, but even though it's selfish of me, I can't lie and say I don't like it.

And the same goes for Chiron.

"There really is no shadow of a doubt that it would be much more effective to use [Pure Sunlight] than these herbs; however, how would it help you two?" After Chiron's treatment was completely finished, I went to Casca.

"What do you mean by that, teacher?" Chiron got up in a much better state.

"Simple, if I use [Pure Sunlight], all of my wounds will regenerate almost instantly." I took a green leaf that had a red stem and broke it, placing just the leaf together in the bag full of herbs, and then I continued the explanation:

"But who said this would be good for you? In fact, in your current state, it would be more malicious than beneficial." With a piece of stone, I started to grind the ingredients in the pot.

Chiron's expression was confusing, but he was following my explanation.

"Well, let's get straight to the point: not using my healing technique on you and using medicine to assist your body in natural healing is something that makes your body more resilient and strong, as well as making the body's own natural recovery faster."

With my words, I put the stone aside, held the pot, and walked towards Casca who was lying on the bed.

"Oh! I see, in short, [Pure Sunlight] skips some of the body's natural recovery state going to the final stage, whereas with medicine we go through the entire state thus getting used to and improving our bodies, right?"

It's no wonder he's the wisest Centaur.

"Exactly."

Facing Casca, who was unconscious on the bed, I dropped my knees and knelt, to be at her level.

Dabbing my finger on the ointment inside the pot, I move my finger past Casca's arm, where there is a large cut.

"By the way, you two will rest today, and tomorrow we will get off this mountain since there are places I still want to see."

"Of course, teacher." Chiron exclaimed respectfully and turned around.

"I'll clean up the doll wreckage and collect my arrows." With that word, the Centaur leaves the house.

I looked at Casca who was still unconscious. I had already finished taking care of the visible bruises, but I still needed to apply the ointment to a more intimate part.

The right thing to do would be to wait for her to wake up, but leaving a wound like that, especially on a human body, would be harmful.

I don't think I have much of a choice here.

With that in mind, I gently pulled her shirt up, revealing her torso and chocolate-colored breasts with red buttons at the top.

There was a wound on her torso that went up from her belly and up to her breasts.

And to make matters worse, there were lumps of earth in the wound.

I avoided looking at their breasts as much as possible and began to remove the granite dirt.

Honestly, I think I have to take it a little easier on them.

But I can't stand it when I see their talent being wasted. So I kind of went a little heavy on their training, almost as if I was forcing a flower to open as quickly as possible.

I am someone who does not have desires such as being the strongest, dominating Olympus, or being a god of gods.

Since my past life, I have lacked a life goal.

But even though I'm an empty canvas in terms of goals and desires, I feel a great desire to teach and win over these talented people.

It's almost as if it's greed for talented beings, making me want to have them in my hands.

I let out a light sigh, realizing the slightly darker side I have.

But I ignored it and went back to treating Casca carefully, even though from time to time my hand touched her breast and she let out a slight moan, however, it was almost ready.

I took the ointment and started applying it to the wounds.

The good thing about this ointment is that it will not leave a scar on your body.

"Mn!" A moan escaped Casca's lips, and her eyelids slowly opened.

The first thing her black eyes came to was me; a smile formed on her lips, but then her eyes went down to where she was naked in the upper part of her body.

And I was running my hand over her belly.

Her face instantly turned red, but even so, she didn't say anything.

I have to admit, even for me, this is a little embarrassing.

"Good, you're awake, so how do you feel?" I asked her while, in the most natural way possible, I applied the ointment to her abdomen.

"Hot… I mean, the pain is mostly gone."

Let's ignore the first part.

"Good. What I'm putting on you is an ointment; it might be a little uncomfortable, but try to bear it, ok?"

"That's not bothersome at all." Casca said, with a serious expression, even though the red on her face was not at all convincing.

I just smiled and remained silent.

Our comfortable silence continued for a while until Casca broke the silence at the same time I finished applying the ointment to her.

"Lord Apollo." She called me.

"Yes?!" I exclaimed, helping her get dressed.

"Hmmm…. Sir, would you cut my hair?" Casca ran a hand through her long black hair.

"I don't see a problem, but why do you want to cut your hair?" Casca's hair is so beautiful, it would almost be a waste to cut it.

"...I want to keep it short for a few reasons, one of which is that shorter hair is more practical in battle than long hair, and most importantly, I want it to be kind of a promise from me." Casca had tremendous determination in her eyes.

Finishing putting the shirt on her, I ask:

"What promise would that be?"

"I'm not going to say everything, but when I let my hair grow back, it means I'll be more worthy of being next to someone." Her black eyes fried me with the purest intensity.

It wasn't necessary to be a goddess of wisdom to know who she was talking about.

"I understand; I'll be rooting for you, Casca." I said, with a smile.

"Thank you, Lord Apollo." Casca's smile was as big as mine.

My hand naturally moved to her hair, ruffling it.

"You better rest because tomorrow we will leave Aeolus."

Removing my hand from her hair, I pick up the herbs and leaves, along with some pots, and place them in a leather bag.

"Hmm!" Some feelings of sadness passed through her eyes; after all, this was her home, but it was quickly replaced by a light smile. "Where are we going?"

"That's a good question, but the best part is, I don't know where we're going." I said with a smile, lifting me up. "The only thing I know is that we're heading more towards the northeast."

Half of these nine years or even more I want to spend exploring Greece. Even though human society is just beginning, I want to see this age that can be called the Silver Age.

In the meantime, I was able to find out which era I was in through the Casca.

And the age I was in was none other than the Silver Age.

The Silver Age comes after the Golden Age, which Kronos ruled over.

Kronos was crazy and insane, but it's almost a sin to compare him to my father when it comes to governing.

Kronos, without a shadow of a doubt, ruled over humans much better than Zeus; it's no wonder that his era was called the golden age while my father's era was called the silver one.

In the golden age, there was not even a need for a society as everything was given by God, while in the silver age, it was literally the law of the strongest who commanded, and it was here that the corruption of men began.

Furthermore, what ended the golden age and began the silver age, where human corruption began, was none other than Pandora.

Pandora, in many myths, was the first human woman created by Hephaestus and blessed by the Greek gods.

But that's not by far the most important thing about her. 

The most notable thing about Pandora is that she carries Pandora's box, which basically contains all the evils in the world.

But it is a shame that Pandora's box no longer contains the evils of the world, because Pandora, with her curiosity, opened the box, releasing the evils into the Greek world.

However, there were not only evils but at the bottom of the box, there was hope.

But unfortunately, Pandora closed the box before hope could come into the world.

And after that, she disappeared.

No one, not even the gods, knows where Pandora is.

Maybe she's not even in Greece anymore.

But even so, I want to find her so that she can open the box, allowing hope to be released into the world.

I had my thoughts focused on Pandora until I heard Casca's voice, which took me out of my thoughts.

"It will be a great and fun trip, Lord Apollo."

Coming out of my thoughts, I give her one last pat on the head.

"Rest for now, and tomorrow, before I leave, I'll cut your hair, Casca." I said, turning and leaving the room, while I felt Casca's eyes fry my back.

•••

The next day, very early before we left, I cut Casca's hair, leaving it very short, no longer than the back of her head.

And without wasting time, Casca packed whatever she would take.

So the three of us found ourselves in what would be the house's backyard.

Casca, who now had short hair, approached me and Chiron.

"I'm ready, Lord Apollo." Casca adjusted the leather bag on her shoulder and the sheathed sword at her waist.

"Excellent." I said, raising my hand as I released my divine power, calling Scarlet.

As the flaming equine descended from the sun, pulling the sun's chariot, I only thought about what kind of interesting things I would encounter on this journey.

In a way, a smile formed on my lips.