"Fi-fight?" Hermes asked, his mouth twitching. "Brother, we have no grudges, why would I fight with you?"
"Ah, I'm telling you, I'm not very smart, and I don't understand your twists and turns, but I know Apollo is the God of Prophecy, and if he says you stole his cattle, then it must be true." Ares shook his head. "Besides, we are all Zeus's son. Regardless of whether we have a feud, we can always communicate with our fists."
He grabbed Hermes's shoulder, not allowing the young god to use his speed to escape, then showed Hermes a sinister grin: "Before I came, I heard you invented an interesting sport here in Arcadia, it seems to be called... boxing? I'm very interested in it, why don't we two brothers practice now? If you can beat me, then this whole Apollo business will be over, alright?"
Hermes looked at Ares's strong, chiseled muscles, then at his own arms, thin as kindling, and quickly shook his head.
"Hmm? Don't want to fight me? Right, it would be too much bullying you to fight me." Ares turned his head, exchanged glances with Apollo, then smiled: "Then let the victim, Apollo, fight you. How about that, hmm?"
Hermes looked at Apollo again upon hearing this. The latter happened to brush his golden hair, more beautiful than a woman's, with his hand, revealing strong muscles beneath his sleeve that were as perfectly proportioned as a Greece sculpture. Hermes thought for a moment, then still shook his head desperately.
"Neither this nor that, then what do you want?" Ares grabbed him, then thought for a moment, revealing a look of surprise: "Could it be that you want to take on both of us by yourself?"
"I don't—" Hermes was interrupted by Ares before he could speak. The latter burst out laughing, patting his back as he laughed and said, "Oh, oh, I misjudged you. As expected of Zeus's son, to have such spirit! How about this, if you really want to take on two, then I'll decide for Apollo. Regardless of win or loss, we'll consider this matter settled!"
You want me to die—
Hermes's eyes widened in fright, and the observing Goddess Maia also anxiously rushed forward, pulling Ares's arm and shouting, "God of War, no!"
"Go away, Auntie, do you also want to box with us?" Ares slightly raised his arm and pushed Goddess Maia aside: "I don't hit women."
After pushing the Goddess of Wind and Rain away again, Ares simply pressed both hands on Hermes's shoulders, firmly gripping his body, and leaned down, saying, "Don't make us wait too long, I'm very impatient. If you're not quick about it, I'll lose my temper, and I won't be responsible for what happens then."
After he finished speaking, his fingers tightened, pinching Hermes painfully.
Feeling the creaking sound coming from his shoulders, Hermes quickly pleaded, "I surrender! I surrender!"
"So you admit you stole my cattle?" Apollo looked at him and sneered.
"I just thought it was fun..." Seeing Apollo's clenched fist, Hermes quickly shouted again, "I didn't touch your cattle except for sacrificing two to the gods! They're all safely in the cave where I was born!"
"Hermes." Zeus's voice sounded again. He said, "Quickly return the cattle to Apollo. Don't do this again next time."
After he finished speaking, Apollo, Ares, and Hermes and his mother all felt a powerful will disappear from the place. The King of Gods had already left.
"Little thief, hurry up and take me to get my cattle!" Apollo urged Hermes.
The Goddess of Wind and Rain, Maia, wanted to follow, but she was stopped by Ares. Intimidated by the God of War's fierce might, she dared not continue to follow and could only watch helplessly as her son was taken away by two fierce male gods.
Ultimately, this matter was originally Hermes's own mischief. Even Zeus had stated that Hermes should return the divine cattle, so Maia's further opposition would be useless and would only needlessly incur the displeasure of Ares and Apollo, the two main gods.
Under Hermes's guidance, Ares and Apollo each grabbed one of his arms, directly escorting him to a hidden cave at the foot of Mount Arcadia.
The entrance to this cave was very narrow, only allowing two people to pass side by side, but it was quite spacious inside, with a large open area. The more complex inner caves were even divided into areas such as a living room and bedrooms. Not long ago, when the Goddess of Wind and Rain, Maia, was being pursued everywhere by Hera for having an affair with Zeus, it was in this very cave that she secretly gave birth to Hermes.
Apollo's divine cattle were also here. Seeing his herd, the God of Light released Hermes and walked to the cattle to count them. He found that the number of divine cattle was indeed as Hermes had said: he hadn't touched any of them except for the two sacrificed to the gods.
Hermes himself was a deity, so there was no need to wonder who he sacrificed to. In the entire world, only the King of Gods, Zeus, was worthy of receiving sacrifices from another deity. This was why Zeus had appeared and spoken earlier, intending to make Apollo and Ares give up their revenge on Hermes and his mother, giving him, the old father, some face.
"You've seen the cattle, can I go now?"
Seeing Apollo finish counting the cattle, Hermes struggled slightly, looking eagerly at Ares, and asked.
"No, brother." Ares smiled, "This matter isn't over yet. You stole the cattle, and we'll pretend the sacrifice to the gods didn't happen, but you can't make us come all this way for nothing."
"Exactly." Apollo also walked over, nodding in agreement with Ares's words upon hearing them. "The amount isn't important, but you have to give some compensation, right?"
As they spoke, the two main gods, like two petty thugs, pressed the junior Hermes against the cave wall, holding him so he couldn't leave.
Hermes desperately cried out to his father in his heart, but Zeus completely ignored him. It seemed the King of Gods also approved of Ares's and Apollo's statement.
So, the God of Thieves could only sigh inwardly, then pulled out a tortoise shell from his embrace. This tortoise shell had strings on it, looking like a musical instrument.
"Oh?" Apollo's eyes lit up when he saw it, and he quickly asked, "What is this? A zither?"
"This is a musical instrument I invented, called a lyre. I made it from a tortoise shell and sheep intestines." Hermes looked at the tortoise shell in his hand, somewhat reluctantly, but still silently handed it to Apollo: "Can I offer this as an apology?"
"Yes." Apollo patted his shoulder, then took the lyre made from the tortoise shell and played a few simple notes with great fondness, his face full of joy.
Hermes hadn't even had time to breathe a sigh of relief when Ares's face suddenly appeared in front of him, asking anxiously, "What about mine? What about mine?"
"Uh, Brother, as for yours..." Hermes scratched his head in a bit of a dilemma, whispering, "I don't seem to have anything else on me..."
"How can that be?" Ares pointed to the winged shoes he was wearing on his feet, "I think these shoes of yours are pretty good."
"You can't have these!" Hermes bent down in a bit of fright, protecting his shoes: "These are my lifeblood!"
"Then you still have to show something," Ares said disappointedly.
Hermes thought for a moment, then snapped his fingers: "Then how about this?"
As he spoke, he reached out and suddenly summoned a golden staff. The head of this staff had a pair of wings, and two snakes were coiled around the staff.
"This magic staff was a toy my mother gave me." Hermes reluctantly handed the magic staff to Ares: "It has the magic to make people fall asleep. Do you think this will do?"
Ares snatched it, weighed the snake-coiled staff in his hand, then laughed, "Ha, it feels pretty good. I can use it to hit people later!"
After speaking, he released Hermes's shoulders and patted his head at the same time: "Good, kid, you're quite sensible. When you come to Olympus in the future, I'll look out for you!"