Zeus, the god of the sky, god of thunder and lightning. The most powerful god especially with his destructive lightning bolts capable of annihilating entire cities and leveling mountains.

He defeated his father Kronus; Lord of Titans, Ruler of Mount Othrys, King Cannibal, The Crooked One.

Primordial foes such as the feared Typhon, youngest of the Mother Earth Gaea, were conquered and imprisoned in the depths of Tartarus.

Dubbed the King of the Gods, Ruler of Olympus, All father of Heroes, Lord of the Sky, etc, etc.

Zeus is no doubt the most powerful god in the current day and age.

However, even the strongest gods have their own weakness.

His weakness was Artemis.

...

A man and a woman were standing face-to-face in a grandiose area.

A portion of the woman's auburn hair was braided around her head like a crown. Two smaller braids fell beside each side of her face while the remainder of her hair flowed down naturally behind her back.

A cold majesty emitted from her spectacular silver eyes that were extremely reminiscent of the moon.

The beautiful sight of them could only seen from afar like how the physical moon and the earth were so far apart. Otherwise, you might actually die if you were caught staring.

If it was a normal person you wouldn't die for staring, but the lady-in-question was none other than Artemis herself.

As it turns out, gods were not the smartest creatures in the world.

Especially, when it came to beautiful women.

You would think the risk of death would dissuade men from approaching her, but if anything it made Artemis even more popular within the divine realm.

Her popularity was already high due to her drop-dead beauty, but it completely skyrocketed after her vows of celibacy.

Marriage proposals and attempts to bed her, easily numbered in the thousands.

Anyone who tried to contact her definitely did not have the purest intentions.

Adding to the fact that her father was known womanizer with hundreds of children. It's no wonder that Artemis was extremely cold and disgusted with men.

Despite their familial relationship, their current appearance couldn't really describe them as such, as the pair stared at each other.

Zeus seemed happy to see her, but the same could not be said about Artemis.

It looked like she was ready to stab him in the chest and gouge out his eyeballs.

Of course, it was impossible for Zeus to miss the death stare that his little girl was giving him, but it happened so often that he could easily ignore it.

Therefore, he chose the most correct option.

Feigning ignorance.

"What happened for my little princess to visit me today?"

"Father," Artemis said with a cold tone.

Seeing her father act like this, it only caused her face to grow even colder than it was when she first entered to the point where Zeus could almost see cold mist emanating behind her.

"Princess, what's wrong?" Zeus asked in a caring manner. "Are you okay? You don't look too good right now.

He did not succumb to the threat, the great Zeus would never back down.

"Sweetie, your father is reeaaaalllly busy right now. Quickly, tell daddy what's wrong!" He said in his most innocent voice.

Artemis's face went completely dark as if she had seen the most heinous thing she had ever seen in her entire life.

"Father. Cut the act."

Zeus decided to yield to the woman.

"Alright. What do you need sweetheart?"

Although Artemis hated being called these affectionate names, she decided to ignore them this time.

"You know why I'm here."

"..."

There could only be one thing that his precious daughter could possibly want to see him for and that was: the male.

It was the only reason she had because Tartarus knows that she would never come see him on her own time unless her life depended on it.

Zeus let out a sigh of resignation.

"You want a different guardian, yes?"

"Yes. It is unnecessary."

A crease appeared on Zeus's forehead.

"Just because it is a male doesn't mean he's useless."

"Father. There is no need-"

"Yes. There is a need."

The mood began to get heavy as Artemis felt a force pushing her eyes down to the ground. Zeus began to get really angry.

"It was only one time. I was just careless."

"Careless? You almost died!"

"Father! Please. You know how much I hate men."

"And what's wrong with a man protecting you?"

"You know I hate men! Father. If it was a woma-"

"I know. And that's why I am doing this. I am doing this for your own good." Zeus retorted strongly.

"You can't do this!"

Zeus knew that forcing a male into the Hunt was like a fate worse than death for Artemis, but he had no choice. It had to be done.

But how did he know if that male was capable or not?

Well, he didn't.

The only thing he trusted was Hecate skills.

As much as he hated to admit it, Hecate was indeed a very skilled and powerful sorceress.

Witchcraft is a mysterious force with vast avenues and branches. Not even he knew how deep the rabbit hole of magic really was.

And what better to use that vast complexity of magic for, but to protect his precious daughter.

It was the greatest plan.

If Zeus himself didn't know how she would be protected how would anyone else know?

And although he absolutely hated seeing Artemis suffer, it was a small price to pay for her safety. He would give her a million male guardians if it meant that she could be safe for a millennia.

"Yes. I can, and I will. There will be no room for discussion."

"But-"

"No. My decision has already been made."

"Males are-"

"Silence." Zeus roared with the power of lightning charged in his voice, "As King of the Gods, I command you to accept him into the Hunt. This is the end of this discussion. Do you understand?"

"..."

His eyes glowed with the fierceness of a thunderstorm, asking if he had to repeat himself.

"Yes, father." Artemis said dejectedly with her head down. Her face was crumpled with dissatisfaction.

"This will be a good learning opportunity for you. Besides, you have already inducted him into the Hunt, so I don't see the issue that you have."

"That!..."

Silence preoccupied the space again.

Indeed, Percy had spoken the Hunter's Oath, but Artemis did not expect him to keep his oath. It was more of a precautionary measure to dissuade him from making a move on the girls.

Her name was suddenly called with a voice full of affection, both stunning her and breaking her train of thought.

"I know that I haven't been the best dad in the world but believe me when I say that I just want you to be safe. So could you please listen to this old man?"

Artemis did not say anything, so Zeus just took her silence as affirmation.

"It hasn't even been an entire day since the kid has been summoned, and you already want to get rid of him. Just give the boy a chance."

"Yes.."

"Make sure to teach him well because I'm sure you remember saying something along the lines of 'I'll teach you about the world'."

Artemis did not expect to hear her father say that embarrassing line and couldn't help herself from letting out a dumb sounding, "Huh?.!"

"You have be more open minded and use that time to let go of your hatred of men. It would kill two birds with one stone." Zeus made a pondering expression with his hand holding his chin.

The tips of her ears turned red due to sheer embarrassment. "Father! I can't believe you were watching me again! We have been over this!" Artemis exclaimed.

"Ahem. Ahem. To be fair, I had to make sure everything went smoothly."

Her face wore an angry expression with one of her eyebrows raising as if she was asking, "Oh~, were you now?"

Zeus laughed awkwardly.

"Er. Of course, I was making sure that the summoning went well! That giant light beam gave me some trouble from all those annoying local gods! They were complaining about this and that, demanding some sort of explanation. Bah!"

"I don't care. How many times do I have tell you to stop stalking me!"

"It's not stalking, I'm just making sure you were alright. You're still young after all."

"I am not! I'm almost 1900 years old! I am not a baby anymore."

(Note that the maturity rate of gods compared to mortals [in my world] is around 100:1 so let's say her "real age" is around 19)

"You are still one to me."

"I hate you father!"

She no longer wanted to talk to her father, so she stormed out.

But before she left her father called out, "Show me that you've learned something from him and I'll think about it!"

After Artemis left, a lavish chair appeared behind him.

Zeus fell onto the chair so naturally that it looked like that he had done it about a million times before.

He covered his eyes with his arm as he let out a long sigh.

The sound of a fire crackling soon entered his ears.

He knew exactly who it was, but his arm felt as heavy as lead as it rested over his eyes.

"Why is it so hard?" Zeus said in an exhausted voice. "All the things I do is for her own good! I don't understand why she doesn't get it."

A soft and gentle voice replied, "Brother, sometimes you're too dishonest about your feelings."

"She has to get over her hate for men somehow."

"You're still doing it."

"Doing what?"

"Saying excuses."

"I would never make excuses."

Hestia rolled her eyes. "Mhm. When centaurs fly."

Zeus shot back, "Hey, I can do it if you really want me to."

Pretending to be frightened by the prospect, Hestia exclaimed, "Oh no! Poor Chiron! How do we save him!"

They shared a small laugh before the atmosphere was broken by another long sigh.

"I don't understand her," said Zeus, "It's for her own safety, why can't she recognize that? Why can't she think things logically?"

"I think~ you should let things happen at their own pace," she said patiently.

It was clear that Zeus was confused, so Hestia kept talking.

"Artemis is still young god with her own problems. You were like that too, once upon a time."

"Exactly! I'm her father, and she only gives me the cold shoulder!"

"It's okay, she'll come around eventually."

"What if she never does?"

"... Don't worry, she will."

"But, I'm worried."

"About what?"

"The guardian."

"What about him?"

"What if he hurts her?"

"I'm not sure, but I doubt it. Hecate is very good at this kind of thing."

"Is she?"

"I don't know," Hestia responded after a brief moment of silence, "I don't know anything about magic."

"..."

Hestia giggled at his reaction and said, "If it makes you feel better, I'll make sure little Artemis doesn't get hurt. You can count on big sis!"

"Yeah... Thanks."

There was no response except for the soothing sounds of the soft embers.