Chapter 54 54: A Promise Made

Everyone had secrets and those secrets held people back, restricting their freedom. A long time ago, one of the chief gods had not liked this restriction.

Being a goddess of freedom, she had wanted her children to be free. So, she used her power to create a chief priestess that would protect her children's freedom. She had created a society that was void of secrets and restricted no one.

The goddess finally succeeded after generations of isolating her people and inculcating her values in them. And then her practice bore fruits and her children became the first society to have no sense of restriction.

She was ready to share her joy with the world but the outside world did not accept her ideals or her children.

To them, the idea of freedom was to restrict their thoughts and keep things to themselves. They saw her children as an infection and took advantage of them.

Soon her children became marginalized and the goddess could not take it anymore.

So, she gave her children a last blessing of freedom and power and disappeared from this world. The group of these descendants was what became to be known as Hermits.

They were an isolated society happy in their confinement but had their roots everywhere. And it was because of the blessing that granted them knowledge and power. It was the only reason they were able to remain as a separate entity.

As the current priestess, Athena had seen all kinds of truths. The thoughts and knowledge of the chosen 'representative' of their goddess were passed down intact. As such, she had most of the memories of her past ancestors.

But she was sure she had never seen such a shocking truth before.

As soon as her partner of the past night took off his facade, his brown hair turned green and his brown eyes turned red. The handsome face was still there but now it was much more recognizable.

'The grandmaster. To think that the person I spent the night with was the grandmaster, huh? But it makes sense why I could not pick up any aura from this person.'

Normally, humans were unable to hide their aura but the grandmaster was different. He was the pinnacle of power and was capable of all kinds of amazing feats.

"Now that I have shown you my secret, I expect you to keep your mouth shut regarding this. Shall we go ahead and discuss my request further?"

Keith, no, the grandmaster gestured toward her couch and Athena nodded her head numbly.

She could still not believe that her night partner turned out to be the grandmaster. It was an honor and Athena views to take this secret to her grave.

"O-Of course. Kindly take a seat. Would you like tea? Coffee? Water? Anything?"

Athena had not been nervous until now but her nerves decided to act up all of a sudden. The knowledge of this man's true identity was too much for her.

........

Keith's heart was beating a mile per minute. He was afraid of Athena's reaction and how strong it would be.

It was a big shock to find out that the man you had slept with the night before was the grandmaster after all.

But Athena took it way better than Keith had expected her to. She blinked a few times but then offered him a seat.

"No, I will not have anything. Rather, I am short on time so I would like to settle our business as soon as we can."

Since Athena was nervous as well, Keith decided to cut short the chase. It helped Athena calm down and she snapped into her business mode.

"So, what can I help you with? Since you paid such a heavy price already, I will do you a favor without charge."

Keith was surprised at the generous offer. He had been ready to give out more secrets and knowledge about the future if it was asked of him. But Athena had not asked anything from him.

'As the saying goes, don't look a gifted horse in the mouth.'

"You people have extensive information networks, right?" Athena nodded, "then, I want you to buy an identity for me. It should preferably be someone with no family and also no record of noted death. If the person matched my physical features, even better."

Athena's eyebrows went up the more she heard from Keith. She waited until it seemed like the grandmaster as finished speaking and then she asked her question.

"May I know the reason why you are asking something like this from me? As far as I know, you are the grandmaster. There should be nothing that you should not be capable of doing. Your hold powers are the strongest in the world, right?"

As Athena knew, everyone had secrets but her society was based on an open system. She did not believe in hiding information. But she was also aware that she would not be able to force this man to tell her his secrets.

Grandmaster looked away for a few minutes and his face was covered in a vial of ice. Athena instantly backed down as soon as she noticed this.

She had pushed too far.

But that was what Athena thought. In reality, Keith was trying to come up with an excuse to give to Athena. He wanted to sound cool but also vague. It would be better if Athena did not get what he was saying.

"There are some things a person needs to get done no matter what. I am not an exception to this rule as well. Let's just say that I need a new identity to attain my freedom."

That, more than anything, caused Athena to pause. As the priestess of the goddess, she could not ignore such a request.

No matter what kind of person came to their society, they were promised freedom and liberation. It even applied to someone like a grandmaster.

Besides, this man had already paid her the price so Athena could not back down now.

"I understand. Since you want me to form a new identity for you, I will do so. But it might take some time to match your requirements. How do you want me to contact you in the meantime?"

Athena wanted to go with the grandmaster but she could not leave her dwelling. She was the priestess and she was responsible for her people.

But it seemed like the grandmaster was the grandmaster and he had a solution for her problems. He even seemed to know about their group's exclusive technique.

"That should not be a problem if one of your other members accompanies me, right? As I am aware, your tribe can share senses and information. Since you cannot leave this place, you can send someone else with me."

Athena never expected this solution to come up and her first instinct was to deny the grandmaster's request.

She knew from her centuries of knowledge just how easy it was to take advantage of them. But then she reconsidered.

Anyone else would have been a problem for Athena to trust but this was the one and only grandmaster. Not only had powerful but he was also known for his fairness. And above all, he had participated in the Hermits' ceremony the night before.

By all means, that made the grandmaster a member of their society.

"If you were anyone else, I might have had you thrown out for suggesting such an outlandish suggestion. But I am willing to trust you. I shall pick someone out from the tribe to accompany you."

Athena had a few warriors in mind for this opportunity. Some members of her tribe were getting restless while staying in this small desert.

"Actually, can I choose the person who will accompany me back? There is someone, I noticed yesterday who might have the potential to become great with some training in the future. I would like to offer that person a chance to follow me."

Athena was surprised once again by the grandmaster. By all means, this was an offer people generally did not make to Hermits.

"If you are worried about my chosen person's mental well-being, then rest assured. I promise to protect the person I will talk along with me."

The grandmaster seemed to have seen through Athena once again and she admitted her defeat. She could not beat the grandmaster when it came to insight. He was in a league of his own.

And since the grandmaster had such a strong insight, Athena was sure he knew what he was talking about.

"Very well then. You can choose your traveling companion on your own. No matter what your choice is, I will not hinder you anyway in the future."

Athena promised this to the grandmaster and he had a subtle smile on his face. Athena suddenly had a lot of work to do and no time to rest. She needed to start looking into this new identity business as soon as possible.