Fate: I Heard After Death, You Can Ascend to the Throne of Heroes?

"Hestia, why aren't you helping?" Hera, now somewhat angry, turned to look at the goddess standing next to her.

Hestia twirled a strand of her  hair and said gently, "Hera, my dear sister, you're too anxious. The more anxious you appear, the less likely Hephaestus will let that child go."

"What should we do then?" Hera, who was on the verge of tears, said, "He's been imprisoned by Hephaestus for over half a month now. My God, in this short time, how much suffering and pain has he endured? I don't even dare to imagine!"

Hera's voice echoed within the temple.

All the puppets lowered their heads deeply, their expressions painfully constrained.

They couldn't speak, couldn't laugh.

They absolutely couldn't laugh!

Though they wouldn't be dismantled now, laughing would surely get them beaten!

Hestia heard this and didn't know how to respond to Hera.

She felt that things might not be as serious as Hera thought, but she wasn't completely certain.

After all, if it were that serious, Athena should have come out to resolve it.

The matter of Athena spying on Hera's favourite follower, "Promise," had already spread among the gods of Olympus, becoming widely known.

But Athena had not come; she was still staying with Hercules, constantly urging him to head to the Isle of the Golden Apples now, and had even crafted a special bag for Hercules that could hold a large number of golden apples.

One of Hercules' twelve labors was to fetch the golden apples guarded by the Hesperides and the dragon.

Therefore, Hestia had a feeling that Athena was doing this on purpose, deliberately letting Promise stay here so Hera wouldn't have time to deal with the golden apples.

Athena obviously intended to achieve financial freedom after this wave!

"Uh..." On the way back, pushing Hephaestus, Eucleia hesitated for a while before finally saying, "Respected goddess Hephaestus, is this really okay?"

Now, she no longer called her master.

Because when Hephaestus granted her a name, she became a member of Hephaestus' household, even considering herself the daughter of the goddess.

And because of this, Hephaestus replied, "It's fine, don't worry about her."

"But Lord Promise, he..."

"I know; the gift he's making for me is almost done, and when it's finished, he'll leave," Hephaestus answered calmly.

In fact, when she said this, Hephaestus couldn't help but laugh.

After all, just placing the statue in the room and covering it with a cloth, did he really think she didn't know what he was doing?

She was a goddess?

She just couldn't move her legs, not that she couldn't see.

Eucleia lowered her head and quietly pushed Hephaestus through the temple's corridor.

"Don't even think about intentionally damaging that statue," Hephaestus suddenly said, "That's an offering from Promise, understand?"

"I never thought about destroying it; I just feel sad seeing it getting more and more perfect," Eucleia replied dejectedly.

She knew Promise would leave sooner or later, and even if he left, this place had already changed because of him.

But Eucleia was still a bit scared and didn't want to see Hephaestus lose her smile again because of Promise's departure.

"And if Lord Promise leaves, the esteemed Queen Hera..." 

Her voice trailed off.

"It doesn't matter, as long as that child Promise is happy," Hephaestus interrupted her, smiling.

At first, she waited for Promise indeed to annoy Hera.

And seeing Hera almost cry in frustration did make Hephaestus feel quite good.

But the balance in her heart had long since tipped towards Promise.

So now Hephaestus was not waiting for Hera to give in but quietly waiting for Promise to leave.

After a while, when Hephaestus returned to the carving room, the "informant" puppet girl had already hidden the statue for Promise.

Hephaestus even waited outside for a while...

"Teacher Hephaestus, you're back. Who was looking for you?" Promise instinctively asked when he saw the returning goddess.

He could sense that Hephaestus was in a very good mood as if she had just won a victory and let out a lot of pent-up frustration!

Thinking for a moment, Hephaestus' amber eyes reflected the black-haired, green-eyed boy in front of her. 

She finally smiled faintly and said, "It's nothing to worry about, just someone unimportant."

.

.

.

Two days later,

As night fell, the moonlight cast a hazy glow over the ancient bronze temple.

In the quiet carving room, Promise sat in front of the statue he was sculpting, sitting silently for more than two hours.

It was a lifelike statue, sculpted to the same height as Hephaestus.

The maid Eucleia stood beside him. Although Promise had said it wasn't necessary, she was unusually adamant about it.

She looked at the statue and the suddenly motionless boy, feeling puzzled.

After all, this statue, an offering to the god of craftsmanship Hephaestus, was almost complete and could be finished tonight.

In other words, Promise would be leaving soon.

Thinking of this, Eucleia's eyes darkened a bit.

At this moment,

"Eucleia, do you think... will goddess Hephaestus really like my gift?" Promise asked softly, staring at the statue with his green eyes.

The latter was slightly taken aback, then after a period of silence, she smiled wryly and said, "Honestly, I wish I could say she wouldn't like it, so you could stay longer, but... she will definitely like it."

Even if it were a wildflower by the roadside, Promise just needed to pick it and present it to Hephaestus, and she would happily accept it, let alone this meticulously crafted gift.

"I see."

Promise nodded and then stood up with a smile.

Under the somewhat puzzled gaze of Eucleia, he approached the nearly finished statue of the goddess and gently placed his hand on it, then applied some force.

The heavy statue tilted backwards, and Eucleia, in shock, instinctively reached out to save it, but Promise stopped her.

So, finally, only a dull thud echoed in the silent temple.

The gift that Promise had prepared for more than half a month was now shattered by his own hand!

"Lord Promise, what are you doing?!" Eucleia looked at the boy in shock and disbelief.

But Promise, who had just destroyed what he had been making painstakingly, showed no trace of heartbreak. 

Instead, he was smiling.

He didn't explain to Eucleia, turned around, and left the room in a very carefree manner.

Eucleia stood there, not knowing what to do as she looked at the broken statue, feeling flustered and thinking that she might be disassembled by Hephaestus again...

Once again!

She had almost lost count of how many times she had been scared like this because of Promise, feeling it might be better to just close her eyes and not open them again!

But since things had come to this point, Eucleia clearly understood that her goddess must have heard the noise here, so there was no way to salvage it.

Because Hephaestus naturally knew that Promise was about to complete his work, so she had actually been in the room all along, quietly listening to him as he swung his chisel over and over, waiting for him to present the gift to her.

Gritting her teeth, Eucleia finally turned and followed Promise.

Following him, she arrived directly at Hephaestus's door.

"Teacher, are you asleep?" 

Promise gently knocked on the door.

There was a moment of silence inside before Hephaestus's voice replied.

So when Promise pushed the door open, he saw her sitting on the bed.

Her beautiful golden hair cascaded over the white bed, and her amber eyes blinked curiously at the boy who walked in.

Just as Eucleia had anticipated, Hephaestus had seen everything, but she did not blame her for failing to keep watch.

After all, it was clear that Promise had done it on purpose.

So just as Hephaestus was about to open her mouth to ask Promise,

"Teacher, I would like to ask you a favor."

Promise approached her with a smile and said something that made both Hephaestus and Euphrates silent.

"I want to present a statue as an offering to a goddess. For this, I have tried and worked hard, and tonight, I was only one step away from completing it.

But for some reason, looking at the statue, I suddenly felt that it was not something I could present."

"Because that goddess once gave me a precious gift but never demanded anything from me. I believe that if I am to offer a tribute, it should not have any flaws. Even if it is not perfect, it should be the best I can do.

So... Teacher, can you help me?"

He looked at Hephaestus seriously and said, "I hope you can help me complete that offering."

After Promise finished speaking, Hephaestus looked at him with a peculiar expression for a long time before finally responding, "If I heard you correctly, you're asking me to help you carve that gift, and then present it to the goddess?"

"Yes." Promise nodded.

"Let me ask again, the goddess you mentioned, that's me, right?"

"Yes." The latter nodded calmly, not feeling ashamed at all.

Because he was not foolish, he knew that Hephaestus had always been aware of what he was doing.

Initially, Promise had considered hiding it from Hephaestus to give her a surprise.

But due to the shackle on his left hand, he couldn't leave the temple. 

And trying to hide anything from the goddess within her temple was impossible.

So, from the beginning, Promise had been engaging in a knowingly futile act.

Hephaestus wanted to laugh, and indeed she did.

After all, Promise was essentially asking her to help him make a gift for herself.

She was about to agree when she realized the reason behind his actions.

He had stopped at the final step because, after seeing the near-finished product, he felt it was not worthy of presenting to Hephaestus, the goddess of craftsmanship, and his teacher.

"Alright then... huh?"