Love and Fate

I tried to keep my appearance without showing any reaction to the revelation that the mortal that Artemis had been looking for was me, or at least that was what Oberon thought was according to her own words.

"Hm, I see so, because the prophecy that Artemis-sama just said is the main reason Artemis-sama went to the mortal realm and came to Orario. Did Artemis-sama find this mortal name, Orion?"

Artemis, who always smiled warmly at him at every moment of their encounter, was the first time Oberon could see Artemis were furious gaze toward him. At that time, he realized his great mistake.

"There is one thing between being secretive and being an idiot, Oberon. Do you think I am some kind of stupid goddess? An airhead? Which One!?"

Seeing the sudden outburst of Artemis Oberon, I couldn't help but look at her with widening eyes. It should be obvious that the person she was looking for was just in front of her from how Sera behaved and the strange magic and power I had, but I tried not to pay any attention to it because I knew this would happen. 

The only thing that Oberon could do was lower his head and apologize to the goddess of the hunt who stood in front of him.

"I am sorry, Artemis-sama; it's not that I look down on you or anything. I'm just not sure what your reaction will be when I tell you bluntly, I did kill a god…"

The spell of 'Banamathr Ooss' indeed was not only powerful magic but an eye-catching spell, which is probably the reason why the gods tried to find the one to use that magic that had not been used for thousands of years, according to Aunt Hyrmyr. Oberon was sure he could protect himself, but not other people that close to him, and it would bring great stain to the elven races in the eyes of the gods.

'That time I had no choice but to use it... or there is another choice.'

"If you are thinking of regretting your decision, I will smack your head hard."

Artemis just stood close to Oberon, and both of their gazes were Mets. I knew she was bluffing when I could see she was already clenching her fist, ready at any moment to smack my head.

"I will not regret my decision. I just need to rethink more about my choice before taking drastic action."

Artemis then sighted back to her calm, warm demeanor once again and back to her seat once again.

"For a genius like you, sometimes you are thinking like a stupid person. Iduun is doing her best to ensure every god and goddess that you are not a monster that kills a god without any reason, and it will be a disgrace to her if you think you are wrong."

Every single word that was spoken by Artemis was filled with a bit of anger in her voice.

"I understand. Thank you for reminding me, Artemis-sama, and I will apologize to Iduun-sama myself. Before we continued, I had to ask if that word that Artemis-sama spoke was a prophecy. And who is Orion?"

When Oberon asks those questions, Artemis's face turns red, and she tries a bit to avert her gaze from Oberon. Even though he is aware of their story, there is a chance that it was not what he thought because, in this world, gods and goddesses sometimes don't match the things he knows from their mythology.

"I-It was just a prophecy being told by every goddess Tyche that I met. I tried to deny it at first because I was vowing to keep my purity, but her reputation is never wrong, and the thought of prophecy that one day I will meet a mortal who will be my internal love."

Oberon had mixed feelings and outer confusion after hearing her explanation.

'An internal vow—is that the same as a marriage!?'

I tried to calm myself and think clearly.

"From what I see and understand, Artemis-sama thinks I am that mortal? Even my name was Oberon, not Orion?"

Artemis just shook her head and replied with a warm smile.

"Orion is not a name, but it is a title that I would bestow upon the person who will be my love. If we are looking at the word that came from the prophecy, the person that I had been looking for was you, Oberon."

'It indeed matches the prophecy; utter it kind of….'

"My apologies, Artemis-sama. I had to put this bluntly. So, you decide to love someone that you just met days ago and decide to make a vow to him because of prophecy?"

Oberon used a cold tone this time without realizing it when he said the word 'prophecy'.

"I am sorry, Oberon, but I did use Argi as an excuse and force you to break the rule by the guild to spend a bit of time with you... after spending the time with you I know for sure that this feeling came from my heart, not from mere 'prophecy'."

Artemis then sat with her arms crossed, went silent for a moment, and continued with a suspicious eye.

"However, it seems my Orion had so much responsibility, and I could see you capture a couple of women's hearts already, and there is one certain goddess with red hair who behaves strangely."

Knowing he had lied or avoided the conversation made the goddess of hunt angry; the obvious choice he had was to tell her the truth.

"A- All I did was cure Hephaestus's right eye."

(Slam!)

Artemis lost her grip on the cup because she was stunned by the truth that was just being revealed by Oberon. It was indeed unbelievable for her, but when she started going silent for a moment and tried to link the dots, it could explain everything, and the first words that came out of her lips were.

"How?"

"It took a lot, I mean a lot, a lot of mana to be able to wipe out disease."

"Disease? Not a curse?"

"As far as my understanding, it was not a curse because, from the record, it had been caused by a virus. A virus is a small living thing that causes discomfort in your body; for example, common flu was caused by them, and from how effective it was, my guest was right."

Artemis then rubs her forehead because she now realizes how serious the situation is, and she is clearly upset that this kind of important thing was kept from her.

"Hephaestus had been suffering for such a long time because her dissected right eye was shunned by most of the goddesses and especially the gods. Hestia did help her find any gods that could cure her; because of that, she met many gods and goddesses, but she always came back empty-handed… Can you imagine, after more than an eon of suffering and being saved, Oberon?"

Oberon did remember clearly how loud and long it was when the goddess of forging cried. At that very moment, I realized how monumental my step was in curing her, not only for her but for me as well.

"I know, and I am glad I did cure her, but at the same time, it put me and Hephaestus in complicated situations."

Artemis just shook her head and spoke.

"It's all fated to happen... I should say this: I sincerely thank you for curing one of my friends, Oberon."

"I am just glad everything is working as I intended it to…"

Oberon's grip on both arms and in his mind is that there are so many things he must do before committing to any romantic relationship, and the word prophecy is something that reminds him of Hitogami.

"I don't want someone's love because of prophecy, and it may be hard to believe this, but I am not sure to be able to protect anyone yet."

("Master, please don't be harsh to yourself; you are already changed. You are not Rudeus Greyrat the magic god anymore; you are Oberon Aendryr Wishe.")

("Thank you, Siv; you said the same thing as Orstrid does, but I think this guilt is better to be kept so I do not repeat the same mistake as I did.")

This world, for Oberon, was still foreign, even though he spent his childhood learning and understanding it. The monster was not something that was the same with people or kingdoms, thanks to his crazy advantage of magic knowledge and sword technique; however, the gods are different.

Then I felt a familiar warmth on my left hand. It was Artemis's gentle arm once again reaching my hand.

"You are indeed the opposite of Zeus Oberon, and I hope you never change. I want to know who Orion is, and it seems better than I expected, but *sigh* other than Hephaestus, I believe Sera has already had affection for you from how she reacted when I grabbed your hands fufufu~."

"I-I would like Artemi-sama not to tease her too much. She needs to be strong to protect herself and her people until the time I slay the One Eyes Black Dragon."

Artemis's grip becomes much stronger when I mention the monster that had been hunting the Gekai for more than a thousand years, and she already knows that the most powerful god Zeus, and goddess Hera's children were all annihilated without any survivors.

In his past world, no monster could probably be struck with fear like the one-eyed Black Dragon, other than Behemoth, the monster who had such a massive size that his remains could be used to build a city, even so, that Monster only wandered on the desert continent of Begaritt and rarely attacked anyone.

"Now Artemis-sama understands there are many things I have to do in the present and the near future."

'I had to eliminate all the potential threats first...'

"As goddess of hunters, I spend my time always seeing my prey and learning their behavior, fear, and strength... What I felt from the pulse on your arms was like the pulse of an animal consumed by fear."

"!?"

Oberon tried to retract his hand, but her grip was strong.

"I don't know what happened to make you scared to have someone you could love. Gazing toward the potential future, the future indeed could possibly prevent a catastrophe from happening, but if you keep an eye on that future, your present self and people close to you would suffer."

Artemis then stood from her chair and went to a gold-haired elf who still froze with eyes widening in his current self. From Oberon's eyes alone, Artemis could know what he felt. Artemis then started pulling Oberon's head closer to her chest, so close that Oberon could hear the goddess's heartbeat.

"Orion, that responsibility of yours can't be carried by yourself. You may not realize that your struggle could cause the people close to you to suffer. I see myself when you are on your bed, and many people who care about you are all blaming themselves for saying they can't do anything to ease your burden."

Artemis then brushes Oberon's hair gently with her arms. Siv, who watches, looks stoic, but tears clearly drop from her eyes.

"…I just fear losing someone and becoming a monster who thirsts for revenge."

Artemis tightened her hug so that I could feel her breasts press on him.

"*sigh* If you worried so much about turning berserk, then I promised you that if that case happened, I would hunt you down and give you a couple of smacks with my bow until your senses were back again…"

Artemis then released her hug and gazed close to my eyes with a serious gaze.

"After all, I did help goddess Hera hunt Zeus and beat him to oblivion, so I had a pretty good record in my hand dealing with that."

Somehow Oberon felt her reassurance more like a threat, and it made him chuckle because that was exactly what Eris did to him whenever he did something bad; she was always there to give him a heavy smack, or to be precise, a slash.

'Maybe being her Orion wasn't so bad.'

"Please do so, Artemis-sama. I can't thank you enough. I feel most of the weight I felt... It felt much more bearable."

"I am glad to hear it now. I know what your problem is, and from my perspective, it will be solved if you rely more on people close to you. I had to break my vow of purity first before we could continue; for that, I needed Hestia's power."

Oberon was hasty at first, but he had to know.

"Does that mean Artemis-sama did love me?"

Artemis, who stood, just giggled and said,

"Of course I did. fufufu~ I am not sure how you know that after all the talk we had."

Hearing that, Oberon's heart skips a bit.

"However, the same as you, I had something to do first. Many small villages need me and my children to help defend them from the monster attack, so I am sorry I can't stand by your side yet."

"That's unfortunate, and *sigh* It took time before my people could accept God's presence, but as I said, it will take less than hundreds of years. I could promise that."

("We will make sure Master's dream comes true.")

("I know you all will, Siv.")

"Fufufu, I am sure you will, but I believe there will be plenty of goddesses and girls who will approach you. It is not that I do not trust you to be faithful, but your behavior of helping others will be a magnet to other goddesses and mortals, and you should already know that we, the goddess, can't bear any child things that I know were important for you as a noble to have a successor."

Oberon could feel the sadness in her voice because he understood that, unlike elves, who were hard to bear children, the gods were different; in this case, it was 'impossible'. Flora was already doing some research about elf fertility and found a couple of reasons, but she needs further research first.

'If I had Clif Senpai's demon eye ability, I could find the problem and solve it. I think I need to reinvent an X-ray machine or something close to it.'

"I will find a way to fix that. I promise you that. It is not an impossible task because, after all, I managed to cure Hephaestus; I don't know how many years or centuries to find the way to make the impossible possible."

When Oberon uttered that word, Artemis was speechless, and at the same time, her face was completely red, and somehow Siv's stoic face turned red, and her lips struggled not to smile.

("M-master…")

"S-sure… By the moon, my heart has never beaten this hard before… I want to laugh, but somehow when you say that it becomes more visible, however.

Artemis went silent for a moment while gazing at the glowing lake. I then went to her side. Artemis leaned her body against me. I never expected that the goddess, knowing to despise a man, would behave as she did, and if I told anyone, they probably would never believe me, and the gods and man would be jealous of me.

"I am sorry for being selfish."

I just shrug it off with a short laugh.

"Mother already warned me about it, and we both just get caught up in the moment."

"You may not understand the difference between a prophecy to a mortal and a prophecy to a god, Oberon. The mortals think a prophecy is a fate for you all to happen, but it's not the case for you because something amazing about the mortals is that they can prevent it from happening. Of course, death is something that will not change."

Hitogami did mention something about fate, but the ability to change fate was something that a couple of people had called 'Strong Fate', and he did find some references he found on the ruin of the dragon tribe.

'I wonder if I am still categorized as a mortal with a strong fate.'

"But we, the gods, are different. When the prophecy comes to a god, it will become our fate. We could try to prolong something that happens, but we can't change it. I saw myself as the goddess Hera, who instantly went to Zeus' side and became his wife. Even though Hera despises him so much, you will understand when you learn about what Zeus did in heaven. After meeting my own fated person, I could feel what Hera probably felt that day, so I know you are my Orion, as my very soul told me."

'There is no way she was wrong... then.'

"To be honest, I know what I have to do, but I am not sure I will be able to bear the jealousy of the gods and mortals yet."

With a wry smile written all over Oberon's face, it seems Artemis thinks the same because she is well aware of the kind of chaos it would cause in the circle of the gods and goddesses' community if a virgin goddess surrendered herself to a mortal. It made her worried about Oberon's safety, knowing how the Jealous gods and goddesses are.

"We should keep this relationship a secret, at least for now, and the truth is, I don't want to be hated by Hephaestus, Sera, Loki, Riveria, and Freya for stealing the first start."

"I understand."

Artemis leaves her embrace and gives Orion a second kiss on the cheek.

"Then I should go back before it's too late; I don't want Iduun to become more upset."

As Oberon escorted Artemis back to the surface, one of his servants, Hilda, smiled toward the goddess Artemis and bowed gracefully.

"My apologies, Artemis-sama. I had to borrow Master a bit; there is an urgent matter."

"Sure, then Oberon sees you on the surface, and please come home safe with others."

"I will be Artemis-sama."

As Siv escorts the goddess, Artemis Oberon just watches the goddess while recalling his time with her; it is something that makes him feel warmth the same as he remembers his best memory with Sylphy. Seeing her master smile, Hilda understands that Artemis has become one of the most important people for her master, but she feels a bit jealous of the goddess who was able to make her master feel so happy. Then Oberon tried to recall his calm demeanour once more and gaze toward the deep red eyes of his servant Hilda.

"Is something happening, Hilda?"

"There is a movement in Ryumilua Master."

'If I remember, King Larfal already ordered the Ryumilua noble to stand down...'

Oberon already pays attention to the noble of Ryumilua and sends a couple of Automaton to keep close eyes on them because his father did tell him that among the nobles that possibly could cause trouble was the noble that governs that forest, Ryumilua, since the head of that family was still too young and inexperienced.

"Mother should be able to stop them from advancing further."

Most people there live in peace because they are surrounded by a lake, and the land connecting them was guarded by my father and even the enemy passing by. Thanks to a lack of the need of manpower, Ryumilua always sent their best soldier for the kingdom, either to be a royal guard or a secret tree guard.

"They are not marching on land; instead, they are using a boat with a small number and going to the west. From the wind speed they use, it should have arrived on land at dawn close to the small fishing village called 'Karuna'."

"Karuna?"

'What are they going to do there? It's just a small village.'

"What kind of people are aboard Hilda?"

"There is one boat with six passengers; all of them are combatants, and according to the sighting, the leader matches the description of the name 'Rhys Therel'."

When Oberon heard that name, all the reasons he thought were pointed to one only reason they were heading west. Oberon started to bite his lips in frustration, knowing how stupid he was to do such a thing. If not stopped quickly, it would just make a bad impression on the Elven people.

"Hilda You will go with me to stop them and send a message to Sera. I will be back a bit late."

There is a teleportation circle close to their location, and with flying magic, Oberon should be able to reach them and stop them from further advancing.

"As your command, Master."

'Now, should I report this to Riveria? ... No, I must know for certain of their goal first.'

~ (Third POV) ~

Alv Mountain is the living blood that feeds the elven kingdom, and it gives life to other kingdoms and small villages with its water. Ryumilua really benefited from the lake itself; not only did it feed the secret tree, but it also gave a barrier for anyone to come to their forest.

However, that blessing given to the people who live there never had any chance to meet any outsider isolating themselves and their view of the other race. A ship sailed on the calm lake, only pushed by the wind, and their path was illuminated by the moonlight. Just on the watch tower of the ship, a female young elf watched the surrounding lake shiver because of the chilly air.

"This mission was so stupid."

The young elf was always mumbling about the order the noble gave to sail the big lake to the west, unaware of where they would arrive and what they were going to do. As her eyes gazed forward, an abnormal fog came in front of them.

"Fog!"

She shouted to the below passenger, even with her small lung, and woke everyone. As they were all awake, they clearly saw fog coming their way. The captain who led the group at once knew that there was something weird about the fog; it came in the opposite direction of the wind.

"Linia."

Suspecting enemy magic, the captain gazes toward the mage.

"It's a magic Rhyst-sama."

"Everyone gathered! Ready your weapon! Lion, keep watch of your surroundings! What is this smell? a blood smell?"

As the fog started to engulf the ship, the passengers started to get nervous and watch their surroundings with fear while the mage started chanting wind magic and shooting it just in front of the ship.

"Wind blast!"

When the path is cleared by the strong wind magic being cast, to their astonishment, two humanoid figures are standing above the water, blocking their way.

"Oy, oy, we are still in the middle of the lake. Who is that?"

"Prepare your arrow!"

The two larger figures start aiming their arrows toward the figure. As they get closer to the figure, they see two masked figures, one with long ears, clearly an elf with silver hair, but beside him is a human with dark hair. The temperature, already cold, started to drop dramatically, followed by the ship fully halting to a complete stop, making the passenger fall forward.

The first person who noticed what happened was the elf on the watch tower, gazing with widening eyes at the ice that just appeared out of nowhere, halting the ship in a complete stop.

"Lion!"

The shouting of her name brings her back.

"Ice… Ice!"

As a girl shouted ice, the captain went to the side of the ship to confirm what Lion just shouted. To his astonishment, the ship was indeed surrounded by a block of ice. In their minds, it was not possible to use magic because no magic circle light appeared in front of the masked figure.

"C-captain."

"W-h!! W-what happen…"

The captain couldn't move his body and tried to glance forward; however, the fog blocked his vision, and the figure escaped from their detection. Then the fog started to get thin in front of them.

((!!))

In front of them, two masked people stand in front of them. From their ears, they know the long white-haired man wearing a fox mask is an elf, but the woman beside him is not an elf.

"W-who are you?"