A/N: I made a mistake in the last chapter. Nathan is also supposed to have a cooking skill but if I edit the chapter, I'm pretty sure it'll get rid of the paragraph comments so I'm just letting everyone know here. Also, there was a festival in India, namely Diwali, which was why I couldn't upload.
Anyways, I noticed a few people wondering why he wasn't getting any titles even after slaying powerful monsters like the Catoblepas, Cyclops and the Hydra. The answer to that is quite simple; it has to do with how the title itself functions.
A title is a representation of his rep. A title is gained when a sufficient amount of people know of a deed, or the people in the know how are powerful people like Gods. However, a title also encompasses a wide variety of conceptual identity. What that means if basically, to get a title like say, 'Slayer of Ancients' he needs to kill more than just a Catoblepas. Some monsters that is also a 'remnant of the old world' and that monster too needs to be known by people.
The Hydra technically fits the bill, but Artemis doesn't know about that so he has yet failed to gain the title. In all honestly, the title he's the closest to getting is 'Poop Lover' or something lol.
...
Feeling the wind brushing past his skin and hair, Nathan breathed a deep breath. He was on his motorbike, going for another meeting with his editor. The release date for Animal Farm was only a few days away and there were some logistics to cover in the meantime. His upgraded Concealment allowed him to leave the demigod he had picked up at home without fearing for a monster horde forming outside his house.
Speaking of which, Pantheon Lore had allowed him to figure out exactly who Reuben's godly parent was. It wasn't exactly easy, as the perk only told him Reuben was a demigod from the Norse side of the world. But through careful deduction, he had narrowed the suspects to a single target. It was the Norse God of the Moon, Mani. That explained him getting energetic at night and his fascination with moonlight. It also explained his affinity for running, since his dad was always running from Hati.
He pulled up in front of the familiar cafe. He was right on schedule this time around, 5 minutes early as a matter of fact.
He spotted his chubby editor mindlessly sipping on some coffee and he took his seat.
"Right on time." He spoke.
James Haymen scanned his face and checked his watch. He nodded with an affirmative smile and called for the waiter to order another coffee.
"Is it just me or do you seem taller? A lot more muscular too." James raised a brow.
"Benefits of camping I guess. You should try it sometime."
"Camping? A man like me?" He slapped his round belly. "Heh, no thanks. I'm fine with sitting at home and eating my fill everyday."
Nathan shrugged, "Your choice." He continued. "What of the preparations?"
"The copies have been printed. It's just a matter of waiting for it to hit the shelf. Of course, advertising and stuff needs to be done as well."
They talked for some more time. It was a whole lot of adult stuff that concerned profit shares, royalties, advertising costs and future plans about the next novel; 1984.
"Well then, this was surely a productive conversation." James said, picking up the documents and stuffing them into his bag. As they walked out, Nathan noticed was sun was right over them, a whole 90 degrees upright. But more than that, he noticed something on the opposite side of the road. Perched atop a pole was a hawk, watching him intently.
Nathan's eyes narrowed as the hawk flew away with a flap of it's wings.
That's the second time I'm seeing that thing... I need to invest some more into magic and set up some protection barriers around my house.
Nathan bid his editor farewell and was on his way. But as he revved up his motorbike and hit the road, he couldn't shake the feeling that he was being followed. He couldn't notice much of anything really, but the feeling of being watching and tailed was very very real.
There was no real information he could glean as well.
That left him two options.
One, he could lead whoever was tailing him back to his house, or two, deal with it right here and now. His hunter's instincts definitely weren't giving any warning alarms right now, so that was a plus point.
And so, trusting his instincts, he changed his course, heading towards the other side of the city. Half an hour later, pulling into a relatively deserted neighbourhood, he got off and walked into a dilapidated alleyway. Some cats were scratching at each other deep into the alley and wet clothes dripped with water as they hung from wire. Stopping right in the middle of the alley, Nathan turned around.
"Come out. I know you've been following me."
He had always wanted to say that.
"..."
A few heartbeats passed. Then some more. Silence reigned in the alleyway except for the screeching of cats behind him and the occasional pained growl.
Nathan was not sure what to do now.
"...Come out" he repeated. "You've followed me all the way here. Better to face me now than not."
Just then, his senses began to swell. He heard the flapping of wings above him and noticed only now that dozens of hawks had appeared all around him, perched on the wires, balconies and the top of the buildings. One landed right on the entrance of the alley. And then, a deep, guttural growl came from the other end. He heard the cats scurry away in terror and found a lump slowly forming in his throat.
He turned around, and his stomach started to knot in a sense of foreboding.
Wolves, numbering in the dozens had covered the entire alley behind him.
He sensed people approaching from behind and turned suddenly.
In the light filtering from the outside, multiple humanoid shadows walked out. It was only after they were standing five feet away from him that he realized they were all quite small... in fact, they were... pre pubescent girls?
"What?" His mind was taken aback by the sight, right before Pantheon lore kicked in and made him freeze before he could say something offensive about them.
They were the hunters. The Hunters of Artemis.
"Oh god." He muttered under his breath. And as he did so, a melodious voice spoke from right behind him.
"Hello, Nathan Hill."
Slowly, Nathan looked over his shoulder at a young girl. She had shoulder length auburn hair and eyes silver as the moon. Her face was a sculpture of pure, unadulterated beauty the likes of which Nathan had never dared to imagine. The world around him seemed to bloom with silvery light upon her appearance.
And the worst part about it, was Nathan knew exactly who this was.
The goddess of the wild hunt, the moon, midwifery and one of the three symbols of chastity in the Greek cosmology.
Artemis.
...
A/N: A shorter chapter than most. It was supposed to be a 3500 word chapter but I figured this was a good point to split it into two chapters and funnily enough, it's also a cliffhanger so that's that lol.