The Villain of Ancient Greece

”I want this one!”

”I want that one!”

At the stall, the two little ones couldn’t wait any longer.

They rushed forward excitedly, eager to exchange their tokens for the prizes they had been eyeing.

Their cheerful clamoring instantly shattered the strange silence between the two adults.

Watching the kids still hovering around the table even after receiving their chosen items, gazing longingly at the remaining prizes, Lorne and the silver-haired girl couldn’t help but exchange a smile, speaking almost in sync with mutual understanding.

”So?”

”Continue?”

Then, the two people who reached a consensus stepped forward, and Lorne took out the fifth question from the jar at the signal of the silver-haired girl.

”It’s the lightest thing on earth, yet also the hardest—because it can trap even the strongest person in one place. What is it?”

As soon as the riddle came into view, both voices rang out once again, almost simultaneously.

”—Doubt!”

”—A Riddle!”

Doubt and riddles can cause even the strongest minds to hesitate and become trapped, mentally restrained and unable to move forward.

At that moment, both of them turned to look at each other in surprise.

Their eyes met briefly, and a flicker of mutual appreciation sparked between them, a silent sense of recognition.

A worthy opponent.

The game had just gotten interesting.

”My turn.”

Without waiting, the silver-haired girl took the initiative as she reached into the jar and drew the sixth riddle.

”I do not exist in the past, but I live forever in the future. All living things place their hopes on me. What am I?”

Reading the riddle in front of her, the silver haired girl paused, momentarily at a loss. Her brows furrowed as she tried to think.

”—It’s ’Tomorrow.’”

The soft murmur from behind broke the silence. Lorne, arms crossed, gave a calm and confident smile.

Tomorrow? Of course…

The silver-haired girl thought it over and soon her expression relaxed.

This was a riddle seen from the perspective of humans.

It is because ”tomorrow” exists that fragile lives keep waiting and hoping. They endure present suffering, push through countless obstacles, and create miracles.

”…Your turn.”

The silver-haired girl tossed the clay shard back onto the table and took a step back, gesturing for Lorne to continue.

But this time, her posture was tense, her eyes fixed intently on the mouth of the urn and she could clearly feel the pressure now.

Lorne nodded, subtly angling his body as he reached into the urn, making sure the participant behind him could also read the riddle as soon as it was drawn.

Noticing this small, considerate gesture, the silver-haired girl’s eyes flickered with a trace of appreciation.

Soon, the seventh riddle was pulled out and revealed to them:

”What is something on an ordinary person that decreases every day, but never completely disappears?”

Breath? Life? No… those weren’t quite right.

For a moment, even Lorne was stumped, lost in thought and unable to find the answer.

”—Hope. It’s hope…”

At that moment, a calm, mellow voice echoed from behind.

Lorne’s eyes lit up instantly, enlightenment washed away his confusion.

Of course. For ordinary people, only hope continues to erode slowly under the wear of daily life, yet it never truly vanishes.

Because once hope is gone, even if a person continues breathing, they become nothing more than an empty shell.

And such a person can no longer be considered truly human.

Seems he had fallen victim to overthinking.

Turning slightly, Lorne glanced over his shoulder at the silver-haired girl who had spoken.

For some reason, the silver-haired girl who seemed to be a bystander did not have the slightest joy of successfully answering the question.

Instead, her gaze drifted out over the bustling street, watching the joyful Minos people. Her rosy lips were pressed into a tight line, and a quiet sigh escaped her.

She was remembering something… something from her past that clearly wasn’t so pleasant.

But she quickly pulled herself back from those memories, offering an apologetic smile toward the figure waiting silently in front of her.

”Sorry. I got a little lost in thought.”

Lorne smiled in understanding and gave a casual gesture toward the urn.

”Final riddle. We probably shouldn’t hog all of them, right? Let’s leave a bit of the joy for others.”

”True enough.”

The silver-haired girl let out a soft laugh, stepped forward, and drew the final, eighth riddle.

Meanwhile, Lorne, under the pleading, sparkling gazes of the two little ones, quietly picked out their chosen snacks and toys from the prize table, handing them over with a grin.

In fact, the outcome of this little game no longer mattered to him.

After all, from the very start, what he wanted wasn’t just a free meal, it was an opportunity to ease the tension with this mysterious silver-haired girl, to dissolve the hostility between them, and avoid unnecessary conflict.

And judging by how things had turned out, he’d already achieved exactly that.

So, this little side event had reached its premature conclusion.

After brushing the favorability of the two little ones, Lorne stepped forward of his own accord to watch the silver-haired girl draw the next riddle, assuming a posture of full readiness.

However, one minute passed… then two… and then a full three minutes.

The two of them stood silently in front of the stall, staring at the riddle with an odd stillness. Neither spoke a word.

Seeing this, the two little ones tiptoed curiously and looked at the puzzle on the clay shard.

”I cannot be bought, but I can be stolen with a glance. I am worthless to one, but priceless to two. What am I?”

”Is this one really that hard?”

The two little guys blinked up at the adults who had, just moments before, been answering riddles like a well-oiled machine.

”Ahem…”

Lorne and the silver-haired girl coughed at the same time, a flicker of embarrassment flashing in their eyes.

The riddle wasn’t hard, on the contrary, it was almost insultingly easy for the two of them.

It’a just… the answer...

At last, after a brief deadlock, the silver-haired girl gave in to her own overwhelming competitiveness, turned her head slightly, and coughed softly.

”…It’s love.”

To be more specific, the riddle was clearly referring to romantic love between two people.

In this setting, at this moment, such an answer was… well, delicate.

”Aha, looks like I lost,” Lorne said smoothly, breaking the silence to ease the tension, and flashed a smile.

”So, what would you two like to eat? My treat.”

”There’s no rush…” the silver-haired girl replied with a knowing smile, clearly not in a hurry to let the moment slip away.

Instead, she looked at Lorne with curiosity and amusement.

”You really don’t look like someone who makes their living at sea.”

”People have to eat, one way or another,” Lorne replied with a dry smile, his tone light, though under her violet gaze he felt a little... exposed.

Then, the silver-haired girl’s smile deepened, as if she’d been waiting for this opening.

”Still, using your talents to scrape by on the open sea seems like a terrible waste. How about this—I’ll recommend you for a position at the temple. You’ll have all the snacks you can eat, and the pay is generous.”

Free food and lodging? With a paycheck too?

Little Medusa thought of the wonderful taste of the snacks in the temple that remained between her lips and teeth, and her eyes lit up.

But before her eager head could even pop into view, a hand firmly pressed it back down.

”Thank you for the generous offer,” Lorne said with his usual polite smile, gently declining.

”While the food and pay from the temple might fill my belly, they can’t soothe my restless spirit. Compared to being confined in a gilded cage, I prefer the freedom of open skies and endless roads.”

Join the temple? Are you joking?

The Minos people couldn’t even protect themselves.

Tagging along with them was just asking to get swept up and sacrificed the moment the old gods stirred again.

Since this ship was destined to sink, why would he jump on board.