“Praise be to you, Master Zeus,” the man said, bowing as low as his old body allowed. “Praise be to you, Mistress Aphrodite.”
“I hope you will be able to celebrate properly knowing that you’re safe now,” I said.
The man nodded in agreement. “We will, and it would be a great honor if you joined the festivities. But I have another thing I would like to report to you.”
“What would that be, my good man?” I said, trying to sound as endearing as possible. “Is there something else that poses a threat to the village of Melathria?”
“Absolutely not, Master,” the old man replied. “But I think the name does not reflect who we are anymore. We have decided to change the name of our village to Dion in your honor.”
“I am grateful and happy to hear this,” I told him. “Do me a favor, my good man. Before everyone is too drunk to understand what’s being said, gather them all together. I want to talk to my people.”
Aphrodite smiled at me knowingly as the man hurried away. “You know what a town named after you means, right?”
“Everyone that ever moves into the city is automatically added to my follower count,” I replied, a wide grin spreading over my face. “And I believe that your divine powers might just convince more people to move here.”
“That remains to be seen,” she said.
Pretty soon the whole village was gathering around us. Two of the village’s strongest-looking men carried over a heavy-looking table and a couple of steps for me to climb onto it. This was beginning to look a lot more official than I had initially intended, but I wanted to test her theory.
The people immediately stopped talking to each other and turned to look at me as soon as stepped up onto the tabletop. From here, I could see that a big bonfire had been prepared some distance away, with many tables surrounding it.
“Citizens of Dion,” I said, and the people cheered and yelled in celebration.
Pretty easy crowd.
“I call you citizens and not villagers,” I started loudly a few moments later, waiting for the cheers to die down a little before continuing, “for the age of the village of Melathria is over. The city of Dion is going to be one of prosperity. The first city under the absolute protection of the one true god of thunder of all the Greek realms.”
Another roar of excitement surged through the gathered crowds and this time I let it run its course. I could actually get used to addressing mortals.
“Every single one of you,” I continued, “is special. You are the first to come under my protection. There are others who believe in my name, but they do not deserve, nor will they be, the first to come under my wings. You are the chosen ones. Dion is the chosen city. Now let the celebrations begin.”
The screams of the citizens of Dion were momentarily drowned out by the sound of thunder as I sent a bolt directly onto the bonfire, igniting it on the spot. I made sure that the amount of electricity I put into it wasn’t so much that it completely incinerated the wood and also made sure everyone looked at it by pointing at the bonfire right before triggering my divine ability.
I didn’t particularly want to consume another Divinity Point but figured that a display of my power would be the peak of this whole ordeal that Aphrodite’s new approach demanded.
“Well said,” said the goddess of beauty as I jumped down and approached her through the people who were flocking to touch and thank me.
“You think so?” I replied, and jumped slightly as I felt a small pinch on my butt, only to turn and find a young woman smiling at me seductively. “I kind of liked it to be honest.”
“You’re certainly popular with the people,” she said, watching as the woman went back to join her friends, but still occasionally turned around to look at me. “Though the whole thunder thing was a little tacky.”
“Really? I thought it was a nice touch.” I wrapped my arm around hers. “Shall we eat first?”
“I would rather we started moving before the sun went down,” she replied, but headed toward the rising smoke and smell of grilled meats all the same.
“In that case, let’s get something to eat on the go and stock up my inventory too,” I said.
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She nodded in agreement.
“Would you look at that?” I said, shortly afterward. “My new followers replenished me one DP already.”
“So you managed to regain the one you used to light a fire?” she said snarkily.
“But I did it with such style,” I retorted, waving at the man who was responsible for the long series of grills.
“The speech was beautiful, Master Zeus.”
I realized that the old man had approached us again.
“The people of Dion will forever remember it,” he said.
“That was the idea,” I said, and smiled at him. “Was there something else you wanted to talk to us about?”
“I see that you are looking to leave this place in haste,” he continued. “Are you really going to take control of the mountain? Olympus, you said?”
“Yes,” I said, and chuckled. “A lot of renamings taking place around here, right?”
“If it serves Master Zeus, we will change the name of the mountain in all of our maps and documents.”
“What do you know of what lies further up the mountain, my good man?” Aphrodite took her turn in asking.
“Not much I’m afraid,” the man said with a hint of regret in his voice. “We have all heard stories of monsters calling the mountainsides their home. Powerful ones, though I am sure they would be no match for two gods.”
“What kind of monsters?” I asked.
“The stories talk about ferocious beasts,” the man said, and his eyes lost focus as his mind seemed to wander. “Predators that strike as silent as the night falling over the land, and birds whose wings span dozens of feet.”
“What about the top of the mountain?” Aphrodite asked.
“Nobody has ever made it to the top,” the man said, and then considered his reply for a moment. “At least nobody has made it up there and returned to tell us of it. But the beasts aren’t the only things living on the mountainsides.”
“Are there more monsters we should be aware of?” Aphrodite asked.
“Not monsters,” the man said, and looked around him for a couple moments. “There is a legend of another powerful being living up there.”
“An animal?” I asked, my interest suddenly piqued by this odd legend.
“Not an animal,” he replied. “A woman. The legends say there is a goddess who lives on the mountain. A beautiful maiden, though the very sight of her equals death, for she is a hunter and a predator of the utmost skill. She carries a bow and arrow and it is said that she can kill an adult bear with a single arrow.”
“So there’s some kind of ranger lady who likes to play boss in the forest up there,” Aphrodite said, summarizing the situation.
“Not just any ranger lady, Mistress,” the man said. “She is said to be the goddess of the hunt and the protector of all things wild.”
“Thank you for your information,” I said, laying my hand on the man’s shoulder. “Your help shall not be forgotten.”
“It is my pleasure to serve you, Master Zeus.”
* * *
Ultimately, we decided to stick around for the celebrations for about an hour, during which time Aphrodite made sure that her name was synonymous with mine. Every man, woman, and child in the town of Dion knew that there were a couple of gods moving up onto Mount Olympus. And everyone loved her as much as they loved me.
How could they not love her, after all? She was smart, she seemed to care for them, she was the most beautiful being in all the Greek realms… and she was mine. Well, nothing was official, but I’d love to see the poor bastard who would dare lay an eye on the companion of the almighty Zeus.
Having filled our stomachs with grilled meat that had been cooked to perfection, and filled the inventory with all the food we might possibly need while ascending the mountain, we snuck out of the town. At least we tried to, though it proved to be much more challenging that we’d initially thought. No matter how much space the people of Dion seemed to give us, they kept a constant eye on us, and we ended up being escorted out the gates.
“Have you founded a guild yet?” Aphrodite asked as we began climbing up the mountainside.
“Not yet. To be honest, I haven’t even looked at my guild page yet,” I confessed. “Not since I left Mount Orthys.”
“Well, no time like the present,” she said.
I nodded, pulling the guild interface forward.
* * *
You are currently not part of any guilds.
* * *
“As expected,” I said with slight disappointment. “I was thrown out.”
“You mean you didn’t leave yourself after you escaped?” she asked, annoyed. “That’s probably how he knew exactly where to find you, and where to send those horned beasts.”
“No, no, no,” I said, trying to calm her down. “You think I didn’t hide my location from my father? That was one of the first things I figured out how to do as I got older. I didn’t want him to know what I was up to. He was always a buzzkill. I mean, he didn’t always have homicidal tendencies toward his own children, but still he was always far too interested in what others would say about my antics.”
“Are you sure about that?” she asked.
“That’s a given,” I reassured her. “But one of his divine skills is something along the lines of locating people or spying on them. As I understand it, the skill has a long cooldown period though.”
“Long enough for us to climb enough of the mountain to be hidden from him?”
“I hope so,” I said, and pulled up the guild creation page. “I guess I should start a guild now, right? I can take control of the place of power myself but without a guild I wouldn’t be able to do much, would I?”
“I know you don’t need to be a guild leader to lay claim to a place of power,” she replied, “but I’m not sure exactly how it works. It’s not like I know lots of vacant places of power. What I do know is that you and I are climbing the ladder of power together, so you’d better invite me before I make my own guild.”
* * *
Creating a new guild requires a Divinity Level of at least 5.
Do you want to create a guild?
Yes No
* * *
I mentally selected “Yes” and watched as a new set of notifications appeared.
* * *
Congratulations! The guild of Zeus has been created.
You have unlocked 3 guild skills.
* * *
“The guild has been created,” I said. “And I’ve got three new skills too. Damn, I love new skills.”