16 Finding The Princess

It had been fifteen minutes since Ares left his residence to look for the princess. He rushed and forced herion to run faster.

The princess could die at any time, even a few seconds after the local earthquake occurred. But Ares knew that his new wife was still alive because the bracelet he gave her had a transmitter.

The transmitter indicated that she was still alive but did not knew what her condition was. She could be dying, or broken a few bones. He could have brought home a crippled girl who was no longer beautiful to look at. But Ares was not a heartless man. No matter how bad her condition is later, Ares will make sure she gets good care.

Worst case scenario, she could be dead by the time Ares found her. She was lost in the mountains of Olympus. A place where human-eating monsters roam freely. When the monsters met the smell of humans— they would act like sharks in the ocean when they smelled the blood of their prey.

If the Spartan princess was destined to die before she met Ares—her body would probably be sent back to Sparta. Ares knew that Princess Portia's current position was in Hades' territory. It was the worst place for humans. Because the monsters there are much more ferocious than other areas. In addition, Hades likes to experiment with humans in the name of science.

Herion's steps stopped for a moment and he panicked a little because the two of them met something that gave off an intimidating aura. A cyclops, sitting in the middle of the path while looking at them.

"Get out of the way!" Ares said.

He had to be a bit louder if he wanted to communicate with the cyclops. They were big, scary and so strong. They could uproot trees and their roots with their bare hands. But they were stupid.

The cyclops was male with one big eye on his forehead and wore buffalo skin to wrap around his lower body. Not many of their kind lived on Olympus. They may be monsters but had the intelligence equal to a stupid eleven year old boy.

They are solitary creatures who easily get angry. They do not like crowds so they choose to hide in caves in the highlands and stay away from humans. Sometimes there was a group of hungry cyclops who no longer felt full enough to eat livestock and try to prey on humans.

It was one of Ares' duties as a god. He had to prevent the monsters from running amok in human settlements. The monsters were kept by Olympus to repel and frighten humans. But there's always something out of control.

Humans remember the monsters in legend. Like the nine-headed serpent monster named Hydra who was fought by Hercules, or the Cyclops in the story of Jason and the Argonauts.

Cyclops before Ares did not budge. He seemed almost asleep. Then Ares saw something in his hand. There was a rope attached to something. At first Ares thought it was a wild boar or wolf who had the misfortune to become a cyclops toy. It turned out to be a Satyr, the half-human creature with goat legs.

The satyr looked desperate and pale. Looks like he's been the cyclops' toy for days.

Cyclops, different from the bull monster he met last time. They are much more powerful and troublesome. In addition they were rare species that were not easily reproduced. Hades is always angry and asks for compensation if Ares kills cyclops in his hunting activities.

But Ares couldn't force his horse to enter the dense Pine forest and walked around. The princess of Sparta could be dying. even one second means a lot right now.

Ares chose to leave Herion and continued his journey on foot. The over two thousand year old god was confident in his running speed. He walked through the remaining narrow gap.

"God Ares? You're Ares right?" the satyr spoke.

Ares stopped and turned his head for a moment. He didn't feel sympathetic at all. He was just amazed to know that a Satyr dared to call his name like that.

"Save me," he groaned.

"No, you were caught because of your own stupidity," Ares replied.

"I know, I saw her," he said.

"What do you mean?"

"You're looking for a human, aren't you? A girl? I saw her earlier," he said with difficulty.

The Cyclops was now snoring. Ares and the satyr's conversation didn't affect him at all.

"Where is she?" Ares asked. The transmitter was starting to weaken and he had only a vague idea of ​​the princess's location.

"Help me,"

"Tell me where she is first?"

"Near the cliffs, there are a lot of beehives. She entered the wolves' area. I saw her about ten minutes ago when this damn cyclops swing me around,"

"Alright," Ares threw a dagger at him.

"Free yourself, good luck," Ares walked away.

While running towards the stated location—he also thought about the familiar-looking face of the satyr. Maybe he was one of the god followers but he couldn't remember.

Ares also passed a tame riding horse that was chewing a mulberry bush. He thought it was the princess' horse. Ares caught him and tied him to a tree. The princess was probably not far from there and he thought of taking her home with the horse.

The god of war heard the sound of a swarm of bees above his head. Rather than Cyclops, Ares was probably more worried about the bees. They were not lethal but annoying. They were also difficult to get rid of.

Ares breathed a sigh of relief when he finally saw the princess. Even though they had never met, Ares knew that it must be her. Since she was the only human on Olympus and as per the rumors, Ares recognized her by her unusual golden blonde hair.

"Damn mosquito! Damned Oracle! What did I do wrong to have to accept this fate?'' Ares heard the girl swear while scratching the back of her hand. Did he hear wrong? She should be a meek and graceful princess right? Shouldn't she be cowering in fear while crying right now?

But the Spartan princess is currently walking with annoyed steps carrying a dry wooden branch that was slightly scabs. Ares wanted to remind that the wooden branch was a fire ant nest. But it seems the princess noticed it and threw it on the ground.

"Damn ants! What a really scary forest! The gods living here must be insane! Why don't they just live on a tropical island anyway? Why the mountains? It's barren and cold here. Good grief! I need my mosquito repellent! I could catch malaria here!" Ares was still watching the princess who was now saying a lot of strange things. Although a little confusing and made him frown—the princess's behavior really amused him.

He was grateful that his new wife was still healthy. No limbs were lost. Even though the dust and dirt clung to her body, her hair was still soft and well-groomed.

Ares seemed to have forgotten his main goal. Alastair and the other emissaries must be anxious right now. Ares should have immediately picked up the princess and told them but he couldn't stop observing the princess of sparta.

He barely even noticed when the pack of wolves started to move in to hunt. Jill was their target. When a big wolf confronted the princess— that's when Jill gave up all her remaining courage and ran as fast as she could.

She screamed desperately. Even though she realized there wasn't much she could do—she didn't want to give up so easily.

Ares came just in time and killed the wolf. The other herd fled because they knew that Ares was one of the rulers of Olympus.

The god of war still wore his metal helmet and brushed the blood off his weapon with a broad leaf. He then stretched out his hand.

"Are you hurt?"

The princess looked at him doubtfully, but immediately answered.

"I think I sprained my leg a little bit."

Ares took the initiative to embrace and then carry her. Jill struggled for a moment and felt awkward but Ares didn't care. his high curiosity had made him neglect to be polite. The princess of Sparta asks about him. Ares introduced himself.

"Finally we meet, I am Ares son of Zeus, a god of war," he said after removing his helmet.

The princess's expression changed, her cheeks slightly flushed red. Ares felt it was natural because he knew that she was the bride of the god Ares. He was used to dealing with women who turned awkward and shy in front of him but he didn't lose his confidence.

But this time, somehow her awkwardness was contagious to him. Was it because he regretted being too slow to save the princess? or because of the guilt of having watched the princess's behavior secretly?

Whatever it was, Ares wanted to get to know his new wife better.

"What's that on your hand? Did something scratch you?" Ares asked to break the silence between them. He still had Jill in his arms.

"That—the mosquito bit me, I scratched it because it felt itchy," Jill answered quietly.

Ares smiled at her.

"You're right, we gods should just live on a tropical island. There aren't too many mosquitoes there," Ares said half jokingly. But Jill's face turned pale hearing that, did the god eavesdrop on her when she cursed harsh words? Jill felt like jumping and running to the wolves' lair because of shame.