The silence stretched after the swift refusal.
"Heh, you are calmer than I thought. I can imagine the gears turning in your little handsome head."
"Is it because she is a homunculus?"
Sol knew that Phoenixes, and divine beasts in general, hated or at least greatly disliked unnatural beings. Such as Isis or Lilith. He wondered if perhaps it was the reason?
"Nope. I don't really care about that unnatural vs natural shit or whatever. I mean, who decided it?"
"... Really?"
"Hahaha, I know. It was silly of me. I do know who decided it. Doesn't mean I have to like it. Why should I be forced to hate something or someone without knowing anything about it or them? Do you know what I hate the most?"
"..."
"Having my freedom stripped away from me. I will hate whoever I want and I will like whoever I want. No one gets to tell me what to do or what to feel."
Sol's eyebrows rose at the passionate speech.
"If that’s the case…what is the problem?"
Hathor chuckled before taking another sip of her delicious wine.
"Do you know the second thing I hate the most?"
"..."
"Healing people on the verge of death."
Another heavy revelation hit Sol. A healer who didn't like healing.
Her eyes clouded as she took the bottle and gulped it down.
"I am a good healer, a very good one even. But I am not a goddess, you know? Sometimes I cannot heal no matter what I do. I mean. Even the goddesses aren't omnipotent, right? Otherwise we wouldn’t have had to fight the stupid war."
"..."
"Do you know what it feels like to see a life slip through my hands while I am doing my very best to save them?
Can you imagine my feelings as I face the hopeful family or friends and must announce to them that their loved one died, that I failed?"
Her chest heaved as she spewed the words that had stayed deep in her heart
Sol of course could not understand her pain. He knew that for many doctors, the first true lessons they needed to learn was that not everyone could be saved.
All doctors had to learn this lesson the hard way.
Sighing again, an easy going smile formed once again on her face, hiding her pain away.
"Anyways, I refuse. It isn't even like I am all that necessary. I am more of an insurance, right? The little Isis is pretty skilled with life and death. If you add Nent to support her, the healing will go well."
She had a good point. Sol had barely any reason to urge her. If everything worked out well, he would go to the dragon's territory, succeed the trial, form a contract with Isis, and come back home to heal Lilith.
Sol literally had absolutely no reason to ask anything out of Hathor, even more so since Hathor clearly wasn't interested.
But, he couldn't explain it. At first it was faint. He even thought he was being paranoid.
Now though, he was sure that he wasn't.
Something was telling him, literally screaming at him that no matter what — he had to convince her.
Otherwise, he might regret it for the rest of his life.
Sol didn't remember having any kind of foresight, but the last time he didn't listen to his instincts, he got ambushed by a vampire and a necromancer. He wasn't about to make the same mistake again.
This was why, leaning further in his chair, a determined light shone in his eyes as he said.
"Let's make a deal."
A few hours later, an exhausted Sol flew away from Hathor's palace and began floating high in the sky.
Above him, the moons shone a gentle light on the people on the ground.
Even from up here, he could see them down below, mingling and living their lives.
At the end of the day, be it mortals or magical creatures, everyone had to deal with their own problems. It didn't matter how high you stood up. The scenery might change, but it would still be essentially the same.
'Can I feel fate, or am I only being manipulated?'
Sol remembered the giggle he would sometimes hear in the past. They had stopped not long after he met the goddesses for the first time.
He knew that he hadn't imagined them. One didn't need to be a genius to deduce that the goddesses, or at least one goddess, had a great amount of interest in him.
Luxuria.
Sol bite his lips tightly. It was only after tasting blood that he understood that he had wounded himself.
'I hate that feeling.'
He could now understand why Nent and Hathor hated losing control so much.
Ever present and inescapable — Fate.
What was Fate in the first place? How did it work exactly?
"*Sigh* I am tired."
Sol closed his eyes and thought deeply.
In this world, not everyone was under the control of fate, at least he knew one of them who wasn't.
The thousands spell witch and one of the first three mortals to reach the level of demigod — Ambrosia.
That wasn't all. He had a connection with another one of them.
Isis’ father and The Necromancer King — Anubis.
Sooner or later, he would get answers and for once, he really hoped that those answers wouldn't bring even more questions.
Watching the boy leave, Hathor chuckled as she looked at the now empty bottle.
"Why did you accept?"
Chills spread through the room as a woman entirely clad in silver white robes entered the room.
"Neith! Welcome, welcome. You should have come sooner. My best bottle is empty. It will take some time to make another."
"Answer my question."
The smile that was still on Hathor's face became cold.
"Hey, little shit."
The atmosphere in the room became heavy and sticky and the chill was driven away in an instant.
"This is the last time you are being rude to me. I am your big sis and I am not above spanking respect into you like I did in the past."
Neith flushed at the embarrassing and humiliating memory. At the same time, she exclaimed inwardly.
She had thought that her sister had dulled after all those years of drowning in alcohol and peace but it seemed that she was wrong. In fact, she felt like Hathor was even stronger than she was in the past.
'How is it possible?'
Divine beasts did grow over time. But there was always a limit to that growth. Hathor should have long hit her limits.
"So?"
The threat in her voice was unmistakable. It was clear that if she didn't answer in a way Hathor judged appropriate, she wouldn't escape a beating.
Gritting her teeth, she finally decided that lowering her head was far better than being completely humiliated.
"...I am sorry."
Instantly, the heavy atmosphere vanished as if it was a lie and Hathor showed a warm smile again.
"See? It wasn't so hard, was it? Tsk, tsk. Just because you are a recluse and a training maniac doesn't mean you should forget your manners, right? Now, sit. I am feeling like opening another bottle."
She hesitated a little bit before sitting down. She did not like drinking because she hated the taste of alcohol. Thankfully, Hathor knew that and served her a special blend that was sweeter than normal.
Once this was done, she finally asked what she was curious about. She knew that her sister had not acted as a healer in more than a few hundred years.
Refusing many proposals, even that of divine beasts or demigods.
Why then did she accept the plea of that young boy? Blessed or not, Dragon or not, it shouldn't have mattered for Hathor.
"You are curious, right? Well, we made a bet that really intrigued me."
"What was the bet?"
"Whether something would happen to him before he goes back to the mortal realm."
Neith frowned. This was a rather odd bet. Sol would be accompanied by Nent, one of the most powerful phoenix in the world.
Furthermore, once he entered the dragons' territory, he would be under the protection of the one of the strongest, if not the strongest demigod in existence.
What could possibly happen to him?
"It sounds crazy, right? A probability so small. How could anything realistically happen?"
Her smile became mysterious.
"This was why I made that bet. If anything happens to him, I will act. After all, If something does happen, it would mean that either it was a lucky guess, or…"
"He became able to read Fate."
Neith finished, bewildered.
"You got it. Hahaha! You know what it would mean if it's the latter, right?"
"..."
“Heh, from your expression, I am sure that you totally do. We might be able to assist at the birth of another singularity. One that would match the likes of Anubis, Echidna and Ambrosia."
She was seriously giddy, overwhelmed with happiness. After all—
"I hate many things. But, helping punching Fate in the face is definitely something I would be happy to do."
Neith looked at the happy smile on Hathor's face. The kind she hadn't shown in years and couldn't hear but ask, "What would happen if he was wrong? Above the bet I mean. What price will he have to pay?"
"Hmmm…"
Hathor put a finger under her shin before showing a mischievous smile,
"Guess."
