[3rd POV]
Hebe is the Goddess of Youth, and she also serves as the cupbearer at the banquets of the gods on Mount Olympus.
Like Ares, she is the daughter of Hera and Zeus, making them brother and sister.
By the way, Hera married Hebe to Heracles, who was the strongest hero in Greece. In other words, the future strong and big hero, Heracles, would be both Ares' brother and brother-in-law.
"Then quickly bring my sister in."
Ares immediately ordered upon hearing the words of the lesser god.
After his command, two nymphs, who served the God of War, led the beautiful Goddess of Youth, Hebe, into the temple.
He didn't act proud and immediately descended from his throne and went to greet her himself.
"Hebe, my sister."
Ares asked, "Why are you in such a hurry to come see me?"
"Ares."
Seeing Ares approach, Hebe seemed to breathe a sigh of relief and asked, "My brother, where were you yesterday? You actually missed the banquet that Zeus personally called."
"Me?"
Ares replied, "I wanted to train myself, and I went to the earth yesterday to find some monsters to fight. What's wrong?"
He lied to Hebe.
In fact, he had spent the whole day on Mount Olympus, studying forging techniques with Hephaestus, and hadn't left Mount Olympus at all.
Hebe carefully observed his expression and then said, "It seems that you didn't go to do anything for our mother, Hera. That makes me feel better."
After speaking, she told Ares about what had happened the previous day.
It turned out that just yesterday, one of Zeus' multiple wives, Leto, had entered labor and would soon give birth to a child for Zeus.
As a result, the relationship between Zeus and Leto was exposed to Hera.
Ares and Hebe's jealous mother, Hera, naturally continued her tradition of persecuting the "mistress."
She had somehow heard a prophecy stating that the children of Leto would be more talented than the ugly Hephaestus and the rude Ares, and that made her even more jealous.
Then, she sent out a monster under her command to chase Leto, preventing her from giving birth on earth.
Now, those monster were chasing Leto, and the purpose of the banquet Zeus held yesterday was to have other gods try to persuade Hera.
Unfortunately, Hera was too angry and unwilling to listen to anyone. Upon hearing the name Leto, Ares immediately understood.
Leto was the mother of Apollo, the God of the Sun, and Artemis, the Goddess of the Moon.
As for whether Apollo and Artemis were more talented than Hephaestus, it was hard to say, but in mythology, they were certainly considered more impressive than Ares.
He knew he had to get along well with Apollo and Artemis for his plans.
Apollo held important divinity, such as prophecy, healing, and music, while Artemis held moon, hunting, wild animals, and children.
He could learn a lot from them once he built a good relationship with them.
Moreover, the Goddess of the Moon, Artemis, was a character in the mobile game Ares played in his past life on Earth.
If this goddess were born here, Ares might be able to figure out if this world was the same as the one from his game based on her looks.
After briefly considering the relationships involved, Ares said to Hebe, "I see. In that case, I'll go persuade Hera."
"Persuade?"
Hebe was taken aback, then said in surprise, "Even Zeus can't do anything about her right now. How are you going to persuade her? You know what our mother is like."
"Well, the fact that Leto is about to give birth is already decided, and as Zeus's son, I'm sure you don't want us to have bad blood with our future siblings just because of our mother's issues, right?"
Ares shrugged, "As for Hera, I am her most favored son. I think she'll listen to me after I explain things."
Since it was on the way, Ares decided to have his nymphs bring a gem stored in the temple and stop by Hephaestus to have him make a beautiful brooch for Hera as a gift.
Once the brooch was finished, Ares took it and went to Hera's temple.
Ever since learning of the prophecy about Kratos's destruction, Ares had been plotting his survival plan and writing down three different plans.
The best plan, of course, was to activate the black pendant's ability to travel through time and space and directly escape to another universe, disappearing without a trace.
However, this plan couldn't be executed due to a technical problem, so Ares had to focus his efforts on his second plan for now.
The second plan was to build good relationships with all the gods on Mount Olympus, becoming a likable and helpful figure who could solve any situation.
He would also find a way to ensure that other gods wouldn't see him as a threat.
Afterward, Ares would find the magic to fake his own death to escape the danger without dying with the other gods.
As for the last plan… Ares thought about pretending to be loyal to Kratos when Kratos attacked Mount Olympus.
However, this plan was not foolproof.
It might work if it's Kratos in Ragnarok, but now this upcoming bald demigod is driven to madness and might not even talk to him before being killed.
Therefore, Ares was trying to talk to Hera because it was part of his second plan.
It would be the best opportunity if he could get close to Artemis and Apollo.
He arrived at Hera's temple and asked the goddesses who served Hera to go inside and tell her he wanted to see her.
After a few minutes, Ares received Hera's permission to enter the temple.
Even though Hera was burning with anger, she wasn't so mad that she refused to see her own son.
After entering the temple, Ares quickly saw his beautiful and enchanting "mother" seated on the golden throne in the magnificent hall.
Hera was as stunning as ever.
If she weren't so incredibly beautiful, Zeus, an old pervert, would never have been willing to share his power by marrying her as his queen.
Hera's mood was clearly not great.
When Ares entered the temple, she was staring intently at a pool of water in the center of the hall.
Ares casually glanced at the pool and saw a massive poisonous serpent, a Python, chasing something across the sea and riding the waves.
That should be the legendary serpent, Python, sent by Hera to hunt down Leto and her children, Apollo and Artemis.
However, Python didn't seem to be in very good shape. It had encountered an extremely powerful storm and massive waves out at sea.
While these weather conditions were nothing for a monster capable of tormenting gods, the storm was making things harder.
This was clearly Poseidon's doing.
After seeing Leto being cruelly persecuted by the monster, Poseidon felt pity and used his authority to block Python in the sea.
Of course, this was just for show and behind the scenes, Zeus had likely told Poseidon to do it, and Poseidon was just the one taking the blame.
Queen Hera could only vent her anger toward gods of the fourth generation, like Ares or her unfaithful husband, Zeus.
If she dared to direct her wrath at Poseidon, the God of the Sea would definitely not hesitate to put her in her place.
Poseidon wasn't afraid of anyone, even Zeus, and how could he be scared of a woman who only gained power through Zeus?
This is why Hera was so furious now.
Ares guessed that before he arrived, Hera had likely been staring at Python the whole time, shouting, "Move! Move!" in helpless rage.
Seeing Ares arrive, Hera's expression finally softened a little, and she asked: "Ares, my child, are you here to make this shameless woman suffer and vent your poor mother's frustration?"
Ares hesitated momentarily, then knelt on one knee and said: "No, Hera, I have come to ask for your forgiveness for Leto."
To be continued...