Marvel Magic Case Files

Chapter 312 The Age of Gods (First Update)

Alcohol is the best spice of life, even for gods. After a few bottles of wine, the somewhat awkward atmosphere between Hecate and Athena vanished. Given the open-mindedness of ancient Greece, Hecate, drawing on her experience and knowledge, uttered some truly shocking remarks. These shocking statements might not seem so appropriate to men, but Athena was amused and giggled, her long, golden curls playfully bouncing over her shoulders. The whole room was filled with warm light and the aroma of wine; even the dust seemed to have absorbed the sweet scent of sunshine.

Salomon fared much worse; had he not also drunk some pine resin and wine, he might have passed out after hearing those words. Athena seemed to have become even more irritable after drinking. She patted Salomon on the head, seemingly trying to correct his shyness, saying it wasn't the kind of character a hero should have. Athena began to relentlessly criticize Salomon, including his hobbies—anime characters and schoolgirl idols—poking him repeatedly with her finger, almost knocking him off his chair.

After her scolding, Athena turned to Hecate and they drank. After finishing a bottle of wine, the two goddesses seemed to want more, so Hecate brought out her treasured brandy, a fine vintage from the Napoleonic era. They quickly finished the entire bottle of spirit and then began singing poems from the past:

Like a hyacinth on a mountain,

It was trampled on repeatedly by the shepherd's feet.

But purple flowers bloomed on the ground.

Like the banquets of the Olympian gods in bygone days, Athena was always the most dazzling. She is now, but this time she is not atop the clouds or mountains, nor is she surrounded by gods. Electric lights have replaced beeswax candles, organic fruit has replaced golden apples, and the incessant noise of the television has replaced magic. Even the sunlight struggles to penetrate the clouds to reach her. She seems to be longing for the era of the Olympian gods, for that noisy age of the divine.

The drinking and merrymaking lasted from the afternoon until evening.

Salomon pulled two blankets from the wardrobe and draped them over Athena. She had drunk too much; empty bottles of liquor littered the floor, and she was now fast asleep, slumped over the table. The sorcerer turned off the television and went outside. He walked along the cobblestone corridor, the black waves crashing and the salty sea breeze churning his clothes. The warm Mediterranean wind whipped at the hem of his garments, and the warm yellow lights along the coastline undulated like a shimmering galaxy in the dark sea.

Unbeknownst to him, the moment he closed the door, Hecate and Athena immediately sat up straight, showing no signs of their previous drunkenness. "He's so adorable. None of the children you've raised in the past have been as gentle as him," Hecate said with a hint of jealousy. "Do you know he tiptoed out the door? He truly treats you like a mother."

“These are my biggest concerns,” Athena said, not pleased by Hecate’s praise of Salomon. “His heart is too soft, like a marshmallow. He may be able to sacrifice himself to kill his enemies, but he can’t bring himself to harm the innocent—maybe he can, but I don’t know when.”

"Why do you insist on raising your child to be a cold-blooded killer, Athena? I always feel there's something wrong with your thinking. Being a hero doesn't mean doing great things. A person who is willing to tell bedtime stories to a helpless little girl can also be a hero," Hecate said. "There's nothing wrong with cotton candy. I like cotton candy; it's one of mankind's greatest inventions."

"That's someone else, Salomon is different."

"That's true." Hecate poured herself another glass of brandy. She closed her eyes, sniffed, and creased her forehead, clearing her groggy head a little. "His nature is great enough, and cruel enough," the goddess of magic said. "Do you think he would abandon his life to pursue his nature?"

"I don't know." Athena pulled the blanket around herself tighter, though she wasn't cold. "Maybe, maybe not."

"Which do you want? Or rather, do you see him as someone with a stigmata, or as a stigmata itself? He's not like the children you've taught in the past; you can't use the old methods anymore."

"I don't know. Don't look at me like that, I really don't know," Athena said hesitantly. "Abandoning humanity and accepting divinity means becoming a kind of natural law, and I don't want him to go down that path, but it wouldn't be bad if he were like the Father... If necessary, I think he can still make a choice; the Sorcerer Supreme has already taught him."

"Tsk, those guardians..." Hecate clicked her tongue, her gaze passing through the wall to the arcane mage not far away. She saw Salomon pick up his cup, which was filled with amber-colored liquor. Hecate watched as the arcane mage raised the cup, brought it close to his nose, and then couldn't help but frown. After a while, Salomon cautiously stuck out his tongue and touched the strong liquor in the cup.

"Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey!" He smacked his lips, shivered, and exclaimed, "Good heavens, how could anyone like to drink this stuff?"

"Looks like he hasn't learned to enjoy adult pleasures yet," Hecate winked at Athena. "When are you going to teach him?"

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"It's the weekend, I thought we were going to eat the tangerine peel duck we agreed on!" Little Wang the sorcerer said, looking at the secret sorcerer wearing a baseball cap and acting suspiciously. He patted his stomach in dissatisfaction. "You can only eat there once a week, and I even skipped a meal today. What are you still hesitating about? Or are you following someone? I thought we could finally get some rest!"

"Of course we're going to eat tangerine peel duck, and I even brought cash." Salomon pulled Little Wang, the mage, along the alleyway, trying to avoid being caught by cameras. But even with his careful movements, he still bumped into a traffic camera and a dashcam. "Damn it, I'm only doing this to avoid being bothered by some AI." Salomon rolled his eyes at the traffic camera. "Hey, don't bother me, you hear me?"

The camera's signal indicator flashed and then began to rotate left and right.

"Why are you talking to a camera?" Little Wang asked, puzzled. He wasn't qualified to attend the Temple Deacons' meetings, and he knew nothing about the artificial intelligence created by Mr. Finch. Salomon promised to explain properly while they ate; he had endured a week of British food and endless exercises and desperately needed the comfort of good food.

Suddenly, Salomon's newly bought phone vibrated twice. He took it out and a text message told him some information.

"What's wrong?" Little Wang asked curiously, peering into Salomon's phone.

"It's nothing." Salomon hesitated for a moment before showing the text message to Little Wang the mage. "Some people are heading to the same destination as us. If we go there now, we're very likely to run into them."

"Is it some kind of sorcerer group? There aren't many sorcerers in Hong Kong, but there are more in Qingcheng Mountain. Here, there are only some fortune tellers."

"There's a fortune teller in that shop, but the AI's message to me is... well, the fortune teller is irrelevant. A team of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents placed an order there, and they have a lot of people. If we don't want those items to sell out, we need to hurry." Salomon looked at the traffic camera. "This method won't earn my trust, you understand?"

The camera's indicator light flashed again, then swung up and down.

Please vote for me!

(End of this chapter)