Once Persephone had his accord, she stood up and walked toward her closest while grinning,
“Let’s play a little game, shall we?”
Opening her closet wide, she turned to face Sol,
“So? What tickled your fancy?”
Sol gulped, heat spreading through his body.
In this closet, uniforms of all kinds could be seen.
Nurse, maid, bikini armor, sexy lingeries, kimono, qipao, cat ears and tails, Nun, and so on.
Knowing what Sol was wondering about, Persephone murmured, “I like role-playing.”
She swept her hair and asked once again, “So, which one?”
This time Sol simply shook his head.
“Why is there a need to choose one? We have all night to try them all.”
This promised to be a very interesting night.
[Highland Mansion.]
While Sol was enjoying an agreeable moment, someone else was being swamped in paperwork.
“Grandfather, you really won’t help me?”
Sitting behind a thick stack of paper, Athena asked softly.
Meanwhile, sitting in the place reserved for guests, the duke was sipping gently the tea that had been prepared by one of Athena’s spirits, Aegis.
The way Athena treated Aegis and Nike, two of the three spirits his granddaughter was contracted with, had been one of the reasons Try had thought that she was into women.
Even though he wasn’t against love in any form, he had been quite troubled when he thought about the matter of a future heir.
But at least he didn’t have to worry about that anymore.
Athena was exasperated by her grandfather’s nonchalance and could only go back to work.
On her head stood an owl who was quietly reading each document as Athena went through them.
“There is a mistake in the account of what must be paid to the deceased soldiers’ families.”
Athena and Tyr’s expressions darkened.
Neither of them doubted the owl’s words. After all, even though it lacked combat power, its computing power was unmatched.
“They dare!?”
All nonchalance vanished from Tyr’s face as he stood in anger. His body was trembling so much it seemed that he was about to have a stroke.
Athena wasn’t much better.
The fight against the Wings of Freedom thankfully did not particularly affect the civilians.
But many soldiers died on this night. Soldiers who fought to protect their homes while believing that their families would be taken care of after their death.
This was the reality. Few if any people would join the army out of simple patriotism.
People joined the army because of the many advantages it provided.
One of which was the handsome reward that should be delivered to the family of the dead.
Even though it was nothing more than a few Lust Gold coins, it was enough for a normal family to live a few years without having to worry about food and clothing.
Tyr understood very well, that money was a meager consolation for losing one’s son or daughter but even that meager consolation was taken away?
Looking at the owl with a fierce expression, he asked, “Can you trace who are the culprits?”
The owl scoffed, how an owl could scoff and show such an expression of disdain was something beyond Tyr understanding but he had long since stopped trying to understand.
“Of course I can. What do you take me for? Those guys are clearly greedy amateurs. Still, even if we trace them, we have actually no authority to arrest them. They should be from the financial department and some nobles who don’t understand the situation.”
Athena nodded.
Even the greediest of nobles should understand that now wasn’t the time to play around.
A change of power was about to happen and such changes were always accompanied by a cleansing.
All the high-ranked nobles were busy sweeping off all the skeletons in their closets to avoid being made an example of.
They knew how dreadful a change of power could be.
But, there were always some fools who thought they were smarter than everyone else.
1% of them were really smart and got away without a problem. But the other 99%? Not so easily.
“How do you think the prince will act once he receives this information?”
Athena asked her grandfather. She knew that nowadays, the decision-maker was the prince.
Giving a confident smile, Tyr assured, “He is still a little soft, but I am sure that the punishment they will receive will be harsh. Death penalty is impossible, but losing a few feathers will be the minimum.”
Tyr may be a soldier who disdained to use schemes, but he was still a Duke. Disdaining to use them didn’t mean that he didn’t use them when he had to.
He understood that things such as corruption were impossible to completely erase and in fact, he wouldn’t have minded if only a very small part was taken away.
These were the sort of unspoken rules in any job.
In fact, the amount of money given always took into account the little part that would be taken away so as to not affect the families of the deceased.
But from the number the owl showed, it was clear that those bastards went way past the red line.
Athena gave a complicated glance at her grandfather, “You seem to really believe in him.”
Tyr nodded, “Of course. It’s like this boy was born for it. On the first day, everything was a little slow. Looking at him struggle with all the paperwork and decision was honestly both pitiful and funny. But nowadays, he is like someone with few years of experience. Of course, there are still some parts that need to be worked on but it’s really incredible.”
“I guess being a Blessed really helps.”
Tyr did not miss the bitterness in Athena’s voice and he could understand it in a way.
He had not said it, but it was honestly a little scary how fast Sol absorbed knowledge. It was the same with his father and grandfather.
Even though Neptune lacked martial talent, in everything else he was a monstrous genius.
Still, “Of course, being Blessed really helps. But...Do not put everything on his blessing. Do you know what I found the most admirable about him? His skewed sense of pride?”
“Skewed pride...? What do you mean?”
“Hahaha. Why don’t you try to observe him and understand yourself?”
“You mean…”
“Indeed. At the next meeting, you will replace me and also present the problem.”
“But…”
Athena understood what this meant.
Sol was unofficially the king. All he lacked was the ceremony that should be held once he came back from the Astral world.
Showing herself as the representative of the Highland family in a reunion with the other 3 or rather 2 Ducal houses as well as the king could only mean one thing.
“I am not ready.”
She always sort of knew that she would be chosen. In fact, this was basically a certainty since long ago.
“*Snort* You have been dealing with most problems in this house since 2 years ago. Even on the battlefield, I have been progressively giving you more power while going into obscurity.”
“But...They call you the god of war! Everyone respects you so much. How could I take your place?”
She couldn’t understand why he was in such a hurry.
A fatherly smile lit up Tyr's face as he walked toward her and ruffled her hair gently after the owl hastily left her head.
“Then, you just have to become their goddess of war and victory.”
(AN: Athena’s three spirits were shown in Ch 63. Nike, Aegis, and Sirin. To be honest, even I had forgotten their names. Had to verify my docs to see the notes I left XD. Athena will play an important role during the war.)
