Myths Reawakened

In the bedroom, Filomina lay on the bed with the comforter covering half of her body, her face buried in a white pillow. Her long blonde hair covered her delicate shoulders and smooth back, her skin as fine as an oil painting.

“Wake up, a pervert has barged into your bedroom.” Wayne shook her.

“I’m catching up on sleep, bastard,” Filomina said lazily without looking up. “Quiet.”

“Mina, I need to ask you a serious question. Do I seem like the Anointed One to you?”

“What’s the Anointed One?” Filomina cocked her head in confusion.

“He’s... how do I put it? Someone who’s among the most holy even in Heaven.”

“Right...” Filomina chuckled and sat up to pull him in by the neck, kissing him on the cheek. In a gentle voice, she said, “Now get out and stop messing with me.”

“Okay.”

Wayne went downstairs, turning to Hesione and Hestia with wide eyes. “I asked. Even my closest lover finds me incorrigible, and I’m not angry about it because she’s right.”

“No, she hasn’t overcome her desires,” Hesione insisted. “It’s because she’s in the dark that she cannot see the light, and that’s why she doesn’t understand your greatness.”

“How does that have to do with darkness? Even with the light off, I’m still great in bed.”

“...” x2

Hesione’s eyes twitched. When Wayne turned to her, she hurriedly interrupted whatever inappropriate remark he was going to make, “Anointed One, why don’t you ask Auriel and the others what they think?”

“Is that really necessary? I can already hear their laughter.”

Right.

Hesione had to agree. She heard their laughter, too.

“See? How could someone not even the Seven Sacred Virtues see as the Anointed One be the Anointed One?”

“No, the Anointed One should be the one pondering about and defining the Seven Sacred Virtues!” Hesione said seriously. The Heavenly Father preceded the Seven Sacred Lance, so the Anointed One came before the Virtues, too. The order had to be maintained.”

“...”

That was even worse. The Seven Demon Lords would invade Heaven for a licensing fee for the Seven Deadly Sins, only to tragically find out that they were considered the pirated version.

Wayne shook his head. Although he held contempt for Heaven and the Church of Heavenly Father, they were on the side of justice at the end of the day, and they had been maintaining and stabilizing order. If he became the reason the reincarnated angels failed to find the Anointed One to the detriment of Heaven and the Church of Heavenly Father, it would be too serious a crime.

Self-awareness was important. He was audacious enough to pretend to be the Anointed One for kinky roleplay with Hesione, but not to fool the world. Aside from the fact that he would become the worst villain and demon when the real Anointed One showed up, the fact that he was taking on the role alone would have a devastating effect on the Anointed One’s image.

“I’m not the Anointed One. Someone else is.” Wayne patted Hesione on the shoulder. “I’ll look for the true Anointed One for you. Until then, do not spread false rumors to Auriel and the others. Neither you nor I can take the consequences. Do you understand?”

“I do!” Hesione nodded seriously.

...I hope you actually understand.

Wayne sighed. Checking his watch, he said, “Let’s go. Hestia, you, too. I’m going to a meeting at Buckingham Palace. If there’s still time, we’ll arrange another card game.”

“Śār, I’ve lost so much that I’d have to sell my body,” Hestia said petulantly. She didn’t feel bad about selling her body, but it felt terrible that her body wasn’t properly used. The Śār would rather waste his essence on the clergywoman than share some of it with her.

“Hestia, she is Hesione.”

“Śār, there’s no one else here.”

“...” x2

***

Banquet hall, Buckingham Palace.

Once again, a meeting was held at the same long table, attended by the same vermin. But two chairs were added, and Bedfrith wasn’t around.

“Unbelievable. Bedfrith was a demon lord? I’ve bought him a meal!”

“So? I’ve eaten at his place!”

“I’ve held a conversation with a demon lord of Hell. The thought of it makes me shudder even now.”

“Well said!” Forest nodded. “Anyone would panic about this. Remembering how I’ve insulted the demon lord for stealing my tobacco business made my heart pound. Do you think I’ll go to Hell for that?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. You will go to Hell even without the demon lord’s curse.”

“Well said!”

Amid the chatter, Queen Sophelia, Auriel, and two Thrones took their seats. Gerar and Vilkul weren’t in attendance. The former had gone wherever he had gone, while the latter was busy looking for the Anointed One.

They had arrived on time rather than ten minutes late.

That, however, didn’t stop Wayne from being late. Scowling, Auriel waited half an hour before the annoying pretty boy and his father—the older pretty boy—showed up. The son was born out of the father’s essence. The old pretty boy’s face alone told Auriel that he was no better than Wayne.

Auston didn’t look old. Judging by appearance alone, he appeared only a few years older than Wayne, so when they were together, they looked more like brothers born to the same parents. The well-informed knew that they were biological father and son, though.

The meeting last night was held by Bedfrith, Auriel’s lackey. After the humiliating mistake on his part, Auriel wasn’t going to take the same risk. The Queen’s confidant, Yvette, was the coordinator today.

Yvette was used to the task. She established the basics with her opening remark: Bedfrith was a demon, and Sir Pedro and Mr. Wayne had put on an act to expose the demon.

The agenda was simple. The meeting was meant to recognize Auriel’s and Wayne’s achievements and commend Sophelia and Auston for being good leaders. All the nonsense could be summarized with one line: everything would continue as usual, and the current order would remain unchanged.

The Lando family still had the final say. The Queen was still the Queen, enjoying the glory and esteem of the royal family.

The vermin could hear the unspoken words. In last night’s psychological and physical warfare, the Lando family had taken down the Queen’s support. The Queen’s side thus surrendered unconditionally, and they reconciled with a shake of hands.

Pedro turned out to be Śār Auriel, and Wayne, Śār Hesione. Saint George’s blood was revealed to originate from another supreme being—Śār Mikhael.

The vermin felt proud by association. It was their great fortune to share the same space with the Śārim from mythological stories. They felt like their sins were being cleansed, allowing them to go to Heaven.

At the same time, they couldn’t stop looking at Auston with envy. His son was a Śār, so Auston would surely receive privilege once he was in Heaven. They served him in the human world, and even after he ascended to Heaven, they still had to serve him. Why was Auston so good at producing offspring when they were all cut from the same cloth?

There was nothing interesting about the meeting. Those who were seeking fun among the vermin were disappointed. Auston, too, felt bored. He messaged Wayne and asked about the black cat.

“How’s Monica?”

“Nothing unusual,” Wayne said. “She’s just like a regular cat, an energetic cat who loves pooping everywhere.”

During the day, Monica would try to capture Snow, going after the owl despite their similarities. At night, Monica would spend her time with Julia and Do. She had quite the stamina.

Also, Wayne now had pictures of her taking care of her business. The whole set of printed photos was safely stored in his personal storage.

It was thanks to the ever dependable Veryl.

“Is she really the Goddess of Death?”

“Who knows? But she seems quite used to living at my place. She isn’t running back to the Lando Estate.” Wayne then changed the subject. “Did anything go wrong during the party at the estate yesterday?”

“Yesterday...” Auston’s lips curled up. He knew what Wayne was worried about. With a smile, he asked, “If you’re so worried, why don’t you have a look yourself? Tsk, it’s quite a dramatic scene. Are you sure you can manage your time well enough?”

“It’s not as bad as you make it out to be...” Wayne huffed. Filomina and Mona/Hesione were with him yesterday, so while there were a lot of girls at Lando Estate yesterday, not a lot of them were involved with him. In addition to the three magical girls, there were only Ottilia and Anastasia. That was a number he could count on one hand.

See? He stopped when he should, so he wasn’t a scumbag.

Wayne knew his white moonlight well. Anastasia never fought unless she was faced with Senna’s provocation. She would only enter the scene as a bodyguard rather than calling herself Wayne’s girlfriend. Ottilia, on the other hand, did have a competitive streak. With her earlier beef with Veronica, whatever drama that had unfolded had to be centered around them.

“The Holy Maiden candidates for the Church of Nature are exposed. Silvia recognized them...”

Auston explained what had happened yesterday. Two of the vengeful spirits were Silvia’s competitors the year she was a candidate. She recognized them and guessed who the others were.

One of the vengeful spirits, Liesbet, was a mischievous one. She wore Flora’s skin before Silvia and ended up getting punched.

The revelation depressed Silvia. The church felt truly hopeless. But with this many beautiful ladies present, she quickly put on a smile and asked about every single one of them, including Isabella, who had been eating nonstop, and Sukra, who had been lying down.

While it was somewhat chaotic, Silvia came out on the happy side.

“How about you? Are you happy?” Wayne perked up. “Did you ask the previous Darkness Knight to teach you swordsmanship?”

Auston fell silent, ignoring the topic. He remembered unhappily the beating he had received for no good reason. Afterwards, Vichy also mocked him. When asked, she just said that someone had told her to do all that.

She didn’t say who had made the order, and Auston wasn’t going to waste his effort.

“By the way, since when are you that close to the Church of Sun and Church of Moonlight?”

“I’ve always been close to the churches!” Wayne shrugged. Vera and Valkyrie came from the Church of Sun, and Kristen and Filomina came from the Church of Moonlight. His close ties to the two churches were entirely normal.

“No, the Holy Maidens of the two churches showed up, too.”

“???”

Confused, Wayne asked Auston to tell him more. It didn’t take long for him to piece things together.

Back in Palis, he had provoked Corte and Galen before leaving, telling them to seek him out at the Lando Estate. After contacting their goddesses, the two Holy Maidens found their way to the estate as the oracles instructed.

“That’s what happened...”

Wayne’s eyes lit up. The Goddess of Sun and the Goddess of Moonlight had ordered their Holy Maidens to throw themselves at him and invest in him. He had told them about the Goddess of Darkness and Twilight Despair, emphasizing Darkness’s investment. If the two goddesses wanted to win, they had to put more chips on the table.

Here came resources for him!

“Where are the two Holy Maidens?”

“They left at noon with Kristen and Vera. They might be heading to your place, or the head offices of their churches.”

“Alright.” Wayne rubbed his hands together with a lecherous look on his face. Others would’ve thought that he was in a rush to tumble with the Holy Maidens.

Auston didn’t assume that. He said with a frown, “You were already entangled with Death and Darkness, and now you’re getting involved with Sun and Moonlight. Aren’t you worried about biting off more than you can chew?”

He suggested Wayne pull away as soon as he could. Fence-sitters throughout history had always met similar fates. Being someone’s slave was fine, but serving several goddesses as their personal slaves would only end with Wayne getting cut to pieces.

“True.” Wayne sighed. “I’ve treaded on ice my whole life. Do you think I could get to the other side?”

That told Auston that Wayne had dismissed his advice. He rolled his eyes, giving up on convincing Wayne. On the bright side, perhaps Silvia would become more important, which would make him more important, too. It would be a good thing.

Hesione glanced down at Auston with sympathy. The Anointed One’s father in the human world, I hope you’d continue to love your wife once you learn the truth.

After the meeting, Wayne rushed out of the venue without delay, heading toward his residence. Halfway there, he realized that Hesione wasn’t following him.

“She won’t defy my order, will she?” Wayne frowned, turning to Hestia. “Go attend the meeting between the reincarnated angels and keep an eye on Hesione. If she brings up the Anointed One, interrupt her.”

Watching Hestia go, he shook his head in resignation. He had told Hestia the truth, but she still didn’t believe him. She truly was stubborn.

“That’s not a bad thing. Being an idiot is a good thing, and she’s also absolutely loyal to me. Perfect.”

Wayne got into his black sedan and drove toward his residence.

It was empty.

“Where did all of them go?”

“Master, learning that you’ve stayed the night at Miss Filomina’s place, Mistress Kristen rushed over there.” At a moment like this, it was Veryl who took matters into his own hands.

“How did Kristen know?”

“Miss Vera guessed it.”

“Tsk, as expected of Senior. She’s even bedded my spy into submission...”