Chapter 42

Rosetta finished her broadcast and had already served the dishes for Phoenix and his friends. She heard her holopad ring and found it strange. 'No one should be calling by this time,' she thought.

At first, she thought it was her sister and considered not picking up. She could always call her back.

She ended up taking out her holopad to see who was calling. Her face brightened a bit when she saw the caller. 'How could I forget I have his number as well,' she thought as she picked up the call.

"Rosetta, are you free this weekend?" Mark said almost immediately.

Rosetta blinks in surprise. "Good evening?" she said.

Mark laughed a bit on the other side of the holopad. He realized he was being too rash. "Good evening, Rosetta," he said.

Rosetta smiled. "This weekend?" she said, sighing and thinking for a while. "I don't know, let me ask for a day off from my employer," she said. "I'll let you know before midnight."

Mark silently hoped that Augustus wouldn't give Rosetta the day off. He doesn't want her to get involved in this conflict.

"Alright, I'll wait till then," he said. "Bye."

"Bye," Rosetta replies and she ends the phone call.

Mark sighed when Rosetta ended the call. He was in love with Rosetta since the first time they met. He always imagined that their reunion would be beautiful, like bumping into each other in a mall having a cup of coffee together, or going on some fancy date.

The fancy date did happen, but it was because he had no choice, Rosetta just happened to be an employee of the son of his employer's enemy's son. Brian who is a partner in crime just happened to be Rosetta's brother-in-law.

They weren't close, heck, they hadn't even spoken to each other more than two times, and it was very likely that she wouldn't want to speak to him.

And that's where he comes in. He was Rosetta's old friend. It would be perfect to set up a date scenario for both of them and slowly lure out information from her.

Lucifer was satisfied with dinner yet again. Desert was a smoothie, Rosetta said it was good for his body, and hopefully, he would get taller before the age he stopped growing.

This almost made Lucifer cry, there's no way he's ever going to grow again.

He returns to the study room with Athena, Apollo, and Artemis. He created his clones and they began to work on the first assignments. He joined them when he was finally done with his side of the assignment.

A clone disappeared and he absorbed the knowledge and then continued from where it stopped.

"What are you doing?" Athena asked.

"Two days ago assignments," Lucifer replies. "I'm almost done learning how to animate," he said.

Athena raises an eyebrow at him. "You know you can just pay a specialist to animate it for you, right?" she said. She also saw the two clones using a 3-D printer. "You can also pay someone to do that for you as well," she said.

"No, I mustn't," Lucifer said. "If I do so then how would I prove my worth to the teachers teaching me?" he said, fiercely.

'If only the teachers truly felt that way,' Artemis thought looking at Lucifer pitifully.

Apollo too looked at Lucifer pitifully.

"What's with the way you looking at me?" Lucifer said.

Athena proceeded to explain. "Lucifer, the teachers don't care if  you did your work yourself or not, they only care that you submit it and a computer marks the efficiency of your work."

"That's not true," Lucifer said laughing a bit, brushing aside what Athena had said.

"It is true," Athena said. "Teachers haven't been taking their jobs seriously for almost two millennia."

"The 3-D creation you are making, the teachers wouldn't care how well you did it. As long as it looks a bit like what you intended to create then you have the mark, the animation as well, as long as it has your voice saying the thing and you are at least forty percent accurate, you have the mark," Athena said.

Lucifer didn't want to believe what Athena, before she said, "How many students around you have you seen concentrating in class?"

"I don't know," Lucifer shrugs. "I don't pay attention to those who don't concern me," he said in a carefree voice.

Athena raised an eyebrow at him. "Whatever," she said. "I am not going to lecture you on what you should not do. But don't be surprised if after all that you've done, the person who scores higher than you, work would be shabbier than yours."

"You might even discover that forty percent of your classmates won't do the assignments because they are simply lazy," Artemis said, and Apollo nodded in agreement.

"What do you know?" Lucifer said, then realized what just said. They know a lot they've been guiding the humans for millennia while he was imprisoned in the Dark Dimension.

"I'll do whatever I want then learn my lesson from heartbreak," he said, as he continued to do his work.

'This isn't going to end very well,' the three gods thought.

"I'm bored," Apollo said groaning out loud.

"Are you done with your assignment?" Artemis asked.

"Yes," Apollo replies stretching back. "I finished a while ago," he said.

"Why don't you play some music for us while Artemis and Lucifer work," Athena suggested.

"Are you done already?" Lucifer said in surprise. "What of the other works, like two days ago assignments?"

"I can always make it happen," Athena replies before proceeding to create a 3-D copy of the tectonic bomb Lucifer was trying to create.

"Don't copy what I'm doing," Lucifer said, before proceeding to hiss at her.

Athena raised an eyebrow at him, then handed the 3-D model to Lucifer. "You keep it then, take it as a gift," she said.

Lucifer didn't want to accept it until she said, "You either accept it or we turn in the same work."

Lucifer sneers at her a bit before accepting the 3-D model of the tectonic bomb. "I appreciate your gift," he said.

Athena smiled proudly when Lucifer accepted her gift. "Apollo play your lyre, please," she said.

Apollo summons his lyre, and a bright light appears, temporarily blinding Lucifer. "Apollo," he said.

"Sorry," Apollo said, then he began to play the lyre and started to sing.