William was lying down face up on his medium-sized canopy bed with tears rolling down the side of his bandaged face and a sarcastic smile filled with real pain as he said, "I thought my system would give me a cheat. Isn't the system the cheat itself in other isekais? Then how will I overcome the gap between me and a half-giant half-god?"
「Based on my calculations and your knowledge of Giants and Gods, the chance of you winning against the adversary is 0.0000000001%」
"Shut up!" William screamed.
Athena paced around the room with long steps and folded arms. She stopped moving and turned to William to say something but later didn't.
William cleaned his tears and said, "There's the bright side to all this right? My father's currently dying, and the Goddess of Wisdom just arrived. You must have a way to treat him, right?"
Athena suddenly froze and sweat dripped down her face profusely, as she struggled to say, "I-I-I d-d-don't have that knowledge right now…"
"What?!" William stood upright from the bed, "What do you mean you don't have that knowledge right now?!"
Athena, looking embarrassed, pointed at William and defended herself, saying, "I have to limit the amount of knowledge I have when I take on this human form!"
"Then why don't you just transform to your divine form?!" William screamed.
Athena countered, "Don't yell at me! That Evil God's minions looking for you! I found this place because Selene entered her divine form!"
William stood on his bed and asked, "What does that have to do with anything?!"
Athena grabbed her hair in frustration and yelled back, "Urgh! You idiot! Do you know the presence of a goddess anywhere apart from heaven is like a beacon?! What would one think when they see this beacon is in the Fourth Realm where no god can enter?!"
William suddenly became calm then sat at the edge of his bed and asked meekly, "Then…Then what am I to do about my father's condition?"
Athena let out a sigh and sat beside William and said, "Look, William… your father is already years past his time. Right now you need to focus on getting stronger. We only have five years before another rift opens in this realm, big enough to let that Evil God and his army through. Allison put all her hope on you and I know no matter where she is now the hope that you will rescue her is what is keeping her going."
William slouched his back and said, "I... I understand. So, when do we start?"
Athena stood in front of William with her hands on her waist as she said, "Soon. I just need to familiarize myself with this world a bit. In the meantime, I suggest you should say goodbye to your friends because the training is going to be rigorous."
William looked to the window and muttered, "There's no need for that."
"Why?" Athena wondered.
William kept silent for a few seconds before he said, "Because… Because I don't have friends."
Athena burst into hearty laughter with teardrops at the corner of her eyes, "Hahahahah! I know, I just wanted to hear you say it. Ahahahaha…"
William hissed, "Tch. You b*tch."
Athena cleaned her tears as she said, "Aahhh, That was funny. I mean, who will want to be friends with a dumb and disgusting perv?"
William was triggered. He scoffed and asked, "Who would want to be friends with me? Ha! That's rich coming from a goddess that sits with other gods all day long, doing the boring job of watching the measly lives of humans to boost their ego. That room must reek of old hags. I'm sure you all sniff each other's farts. Now that's funny, hahahahahaha!"
Athena didn't retort and just stared at William with a blank expression.
…Wh-Why isn't she countering? William felt like he was put in an awkward situation until suddenly, Athena blinked multiple times and,
"Waaaahhhhh…" She burst out tears that fell like rain and cried out loud, alerting everyone in the mansion.
…
William stood in the greenhouse with a hand on his butt as he said while sounding like one who was holding their tears in, "That girl is really a b*tch. A b*itch, I say. Because of her, Gilde spanked me again. How can she lay her hands on me in Athena's defense when she doesn't even know her? Ouch, it still hurts. Athena is the true evil one."
He grabbed a wooden sword and went to the area of the field where the dummies were, "Come to think of it, I haven't seen any good gods. Selene is a witch and Athena is a b*tch. It doesn't matter anyway. It'll all be in the past after I save Allison and return to my world. I won't be like all those sh*tty isekai where the MC will later give up on the idea of going back to his world."
He stopped and thought …But I will greatly appreciate it if I get to apologize to Father before he passes away. I shouldn't have spoken to him that way. I wish I didn't say those things, now see, I'm regretting it. All he wanted was the best for me. Another person I care about is leaving, again. And again… I have nothing in my power to prevent it. Damn…
He took a deep breath and let it out then muttered to himself, "Right now, all I need to do is focus on getting stronger. For Allison! Hm!"
William swung the wooden sword downward, then he did it again, and again, and again until he reached exactly 200 by noon with great struggle. He gave in to the screams of the muscles in his arms and legs and gave up on the idea of swinging the wooden sword 1000 times and just went to have a nap.
❈ ❈ ❈
The next day, after breakfast, William and Athena were in the latter's bedroom, sitting on the small table meant for kids to play.
They were both stone-faced as they stared at each other. William said in all-seriousness, "I have started following my father's training regimen he prescribed for me."
Athena asked, "That thing you were doing yesterday with a wooden sword?"
William nodded, "Yes. And I need to ask you something, my father can do this amazing movement thing where you won't see his blade move but he has already cut the object a thousand times. How can I perform such?"
"Hmm…" Athena nodded multiple times like she was in deep thought and said plainly, "I don't know."
"What?!" William exclaimed and slammed his hand on the table and added, "But you're the Goddess of Wisdom!"
Athena nonchalantly said, "Must I explain everything twice when it comes to you? Hmph! Unless I see your father do it for myself, I don't know."
"Whaaat? So how will I learn my father's sword skills at this rate?"
Athena sighed and said, "Since it's swordsmanship I might have an idea."
"Really? So how can I learn to move as fast as my father?"
Athena remained silent for a few seconds before saying,
"Ki."