'So this world also has its own Throne and Counter Force. I should have expected it but it's still odd to think that this world won't have someone like Hercules, or Gilgamesh in existence. Wait, if that's the case then the timeline requirements must be different from Earth then.'
Apollo was stuck trying to understand the logical implications of heroes that didn't exist back at home, even the Lostbelts had a Throne with people he is familiar with. He began to understand this world could be similar to the British Lostbelt in how this and other similar places could be considered a Lostworld that managed to survive.
"Damn it. My head is hurting, I'll think about this stuff later today." Apollo said as he was greeted with the death machine called the Sun. "It's time for me to guard Pallas today, I think I'm with Shining." Apollo could feel a shiver run down his spine when he thought of her, mainly her gaze.
Apollo got dressed with the appearance of a common Joe instead of a bodyguard, sweatpants and a t-shirt with his signature red beaded necklace with a cross attached to it. Apollo made sure to enforce his clothes and body so that if something out of nowhere happened he should be able to tank with little to no issue. He left his room and headed toward the location Pallas is always at, her office.
"Morning Pallas. How's your morning been?" Apollo said he strolled into her office then face planted into the couch.
"Morning to you too Apollo, the morning has been uneventful so far. However you will be joining me not for a stroll around the city but for a meeting I'm having with another nation."
"So Lord Pallas, the main character in this festival, is meeting with someone else. I can confirm that Shining will be your cool deuteragonist while I'll be the gray silhouette of a background character." Apollo said as he stared at the spinning fan.
"Don't be like that. To take yourself down like that doesn't normally lead to a healthy mind." Pallas said as she grabbed a bottle next to her.
"Last time I checked, drinking alcohol non-stop doesn't lead to a healthy body either." Apollo mockingly said as he had an idea on what's inside the bottle.
"What makes you think I'm drinking?" Pallas said as she took a sip.
"Simple, you drink liquor like its water. I've only seen a few people drink like you." Apollo responded as a pink haired pirate surfaced in his memory. "Plus drinking the day of a meeting doesn't sound like a good idea, but that's just me."
"See? You're already doing your job as a bodyguard." Pallas said as she curled her lips.
"Shut up, that's playing dirty." Apollo said as a chuckle escaped his lips. "Actucally Pallas can you explain something?"
"Ask away." Pallas said.
"Who do you look up to? It seems like nearly everyone here looks up to someone, most of them being one of the Twelve Heroes." Apollo asked.
Pallas leaned back in her chair. "I look up to all of the Twevle Heroes, each one for different reasons."
Apollo responded with an expression that conveyed one word. 'And?'
Pallas, seeing that he was dissatisfied, she continued. "However if I had to choose one, then I would say the leader Cyana is the one I look up to the most."
"What reasons do you have?" Apollo asked again.
"From the documents we have she was always described as a demon on the battlefield, her skill with a spear was always compared to the ability to slay not only mortals but have the potential to slay gods and demons alike."
"Impressive, that's one hell of a woman to look up to." Apollo acknowledged.
"Indeed she is. Now I think it's your turn to answer, who do you look up to?" Pallas felt the buzz of her drink hit her again.
"You likely never heard of them since they are only known locally." Apollo said as he continued to look at the ceiling. "I looked up to three people, Sasaki Kojiro, Miyamoto Musashi and Gilgamesh. The first two were known for their swordskills that was stated to rival gods, while the last one was known for breaking humans away from the gods in his region."
Pallas listened to Apollo's words and while he doesn't show it that often over his openly lazy and relaxed personality she noticed something. "Seems like we have something in common, both of us look up to heroes quite fondly."
A small smile appeared on Apollo's face. "I guess we do."
As the two continued to talk the office door opened as an average height woman dressed in her usual black and white attire entered the room carrying her oversized sword/arts staff.
Apollo got on his knees as if praying to a god. "Oh, Lady Shining your presence-
Shining put out her hand. "Morning Lady Pallas and to you aswell Apollo. Might I ask why you are on your knees?"
"I'm only giving the worthy ones my praise, that applies to you as well Pallas." Apollo stated with full seriousness in his voice.
"With that out the way, Shining you came in at just the right time. We are leaving in five minutes." Pallas said.
"Understood." Shining said.
"Loud and clear." Apollo responded.
The Ark
After sometime the trio found themselves in another building for the meeting. They were all inside the room as they waited for Pallas's guest, gladly it appears they didn't need to wait long as the door opened to three people.
"I truly do not wish to keep you waiting Priestess Pallas."
A young man and two other people entered the door. Front and center person had a similar color scheme to Shining. A black coat with an white undershirt, his snow white hair and gray thick tail reminded Apollo of a snow leopard. To complete the package on his shoulder was a bird of similar color.
"It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Silverash, welcome to Minos." Pallas said.
"It's a pleasure to be here during this time of festivities." A small smile could be seen forming on his face. "It's an event that puts a smile to anyone's face."
"I'm happy that you and I hope your guest enjoyed what Minos brings to the world, but with the introductions finished would you like to get right into business?" Pallas asked.
"Of course, business comes first after all." Silverash replied.
The man took a seat across from Pallas.
"Apollo would be ok guarding the door, Shining you will stay inside." Pallas ordered.
"I would like someone to guard the hallway, would you like to send one of your guards outside too?" She asked.
Silverash looked away from Pallas and petted the bird that was now standing on the table, he then looked back up. "I see no reason not to." He turned towards the women carrying a large white shield. "Aurora you will be guarding the hallway with Apollo, Courier you are staying with me."
"Understood sir."
"Loud and clear."
Apollo and Aurora made their way to the hallway. Apollo looked at Aurora and the first thing that caught his eye were no longer the animal features that everyone had but rather the large white shield she carried that had claw-like spikes on the bottom of them. Apollo decided to sit down.
"Like the shield, why the claws?" He asked.
Aurora looked at Apollo. "It's for extra stability, Kjerag is a mountainous nation so a lot of our equipment have claws similar to these."
"Ah, I see. My homeland was quite mountainous too but we managed for a while by using whatever flat land we had." Apollo said as he pulled out another sucker out of his seamlessly endless supply.
As if this was a script a rumbling sound could be heard resonating in the surrounding area. Apollo slowly turned his head to the source of the sound to see Aurora and her face turning a slight shade of red.
"Try this." He pulled out a sucker. "It won't fill you up but it could hold you over till this meeting is over." He tossed the sucker to her.
Aurora quickly caught it but didn't open it right away.
"If you don't want it that's fine but I don't want it back." Apollo said as he stood up. "I'm gonna see if this building is safe, can't be too cautious." Apollo walked towards the end of the hall which was visible from where Aurora is currently standing. He placed his hand on each door placing a spell.
'If I place a bounded field on each door and stairwell I will be able to see each action that happened in that small given area.' Apollo debriefed himself on his plan so he doesn't go over the top later on, but whether he keeps to that is for fate to decide.
This process didn't take him too long as from his connection to certain highly skilled casters back home his ability to quickly get spells out was extremely high. A stupid memory of a certain doctor and famous wizard that would cause nothing but playful pain for said doctor resurfaced causing a small chuckle to sneak out.
Once Apollo was done he returned to his post to see Aurora with a white stick coming out of her mouth, and a very satisfied expression on her face.
"Glad you like it." Apollo said as he took a seat across from her as he pulled out another sucker.
Back in the room the meeting between the two figureheads was still underway.
"So to review the terms we currently have in place. In exchange for Kjerag's materials you like some of Mino's brightest minds and for schooling of citizens that are sent here in the form of a talent exchange program. Is that correct?" Pallas stated.
"Indeed. If things go smoothly and the people of Kjerag's lives are improved it wouldn't be surprising to say that they and you could be hailed as a hero in their eyes and the elders of the nation."
Pallas did her best and ran through as many possible ways this deal could impact Minos and its relationships with other nations.
'Silverash is right however, from what I heard Kjerag is full of resources that wouldn't hurt to have. Plus they are mostly unscarred from catastrophes, if we can figure out how then that could be useful.' After raking her head with these thoughts she finally reached an answer.
"Mr. Silverash I'm happy to say that Mino's will gladly share its knowledge with you." Pallas said as she reached out her hand.
"Then it is a pleasure doing business with you." Silverash replied as he returned the gesture.
Apollo and Aurora weren't doing anything. Aurora simply stood on guard enjoying the sucker while Apollo was sitting down with a medallion in hand.
'So just channel arts into this and it should work, but the problem is that I don't know how to do arts. All that time I was stuck studying magecraft, and teaching, causing me to lack in the art department. Good job Apollo, good job.'
Apollo looked at the medallion and decided to throw logic to the wind and used mana instead of what where arts uses for fuel.
"Ah, so you finally decided to call me. You really do like to take your time."
Apollo heard the voice from last night enter his mind.
'Good Morning Cyana how are you?' Apollo said through his mind.
'Just exploring the city like I do every year. Seeing what my friends and I fought for.' She replied.
'I'm just surprised that I managed to get this thing to work.' He said.
'That's good, but Apollo I need to warn you regarding something,' Cyana said.
Apollo could only let his head drop at the sound. 'Why do I have a bad feeling, shouldn't you go to Pallas, one of the big dogs in this country than a outsider like me' Apollo reasoned.
'Last time I check she hasn't been able to receive this medallion or speak to me.' She replied.
'Touché.' Those Were the only words Apollo spoke.
'Either way you should be on guard, I have a feeling something is going to happen and it doesn't feel good.' Cyana explained.
'What gave you that impression, are you some sort of god to Mino's country?'
'For all intents and purposes I'm the closest thing Mino's has to a guardian deity, but nothing like the other gods of Yan or Kjerag. I heard in stories those beings are truly forces of nature.' Cyana said.
'I hope they are nicer gods than the ones who tend to have their heads in the clouds.' Apollo said as he sucked on another sucker.
Suddenly a pinging sound ringed in Apollo's head as someone crossed the bounded field he placed on the stair cases on all floors. There were a total of five people moving with heavy equipment, those pings came again and again as they ran up the stairs.
Apollo stood up casually as if a threat wasn't coming at all. "Aurora did Silverash bring more guards." As he turned towards Aurora.
She didn't say anything but Apollo could already tell that the answer was 'no.'
"You should get ready, there are some people rushing up each stairwell heavily armed right now." He said as he pulled out pieces of paper with Japanese characters written in black ink, a talisman. He placed one on Aurora's shield.
"What did you just do?" She asked.
"It's to make the shield stronger, I'm doing the same thing to the door, just guard one side and I'll guard the other." Apollo said loud enough for Aurora to hear but not loud enough for the ones in the room to hear. He placed the paper on the door and made sure that sound didn't leak in.
As soon as Apollo finished the enemy was at both ends of the hall, two on one side and three on the other. They wore all black uniforms but the main issues at hand were the balls of fire on both sides hands.
The next instant the balls turned into a square the size of the hallway and were launched at the same time.
"Aurora, get behind me." Apollo called as he quickly threw out two talismans, one in both directions. "Open." Without letting his relaxed expression leave his face he commands the talismans to activate the spell inscribed on them.
Two teal colored transparent barriers formed on both sides, stopping the fire in their tracks.
"It appears that they are pushing a constant stream of fire so the barrier is giving us a breather. Aurora, how are you feeling?"
"I'm fine, nice job on the shield. You said that the others can't hear what's happening out here right?"
"Yep." Apollo responded.
"Shouldn't we inform them of what's happening, Courier and your partner can provide us some back up." Aurora said as she adjusted her shield grip.
"No. We are bodyguards, that means we get our jobs done as silently and quickly as possible."
The stream of fire soon ended but the barrier didn't show a hint of damage.
"Damn how strong is that castor, his arts took all that but it doesn't look the least but charred." One of the people in black said.
"You're going to need flames strong enough to kill a demigod if you want to break through those." Apollo announced. "Aurora, you take those two and I'll take the other three."
"Understood." Aurora got into a stance with the claw on her shield pointed towards the enemy.
Apollo turned his way towards the group he was tasked with. "I'm not sure whether I'm happy or sad that I can't kill you. This tug of war of guilt and pleasure at those actions never seems to not break my heart." He felt a flare in his heart go off.
Apollo mumbled to himself as a memory of a man with gray hair and a white suit he considered a dear friend talked to him.
"Apollo, can I ask you something?"
"What do you need me to answer Maris?" I responded.
"What do you feel when you kill people, I would imagine with all the people you had to kill for me I would feel as if something would change in you, but you seem the same as ever." Maris asked.
I didn't answer as I tried to form one. I thought about it, but only one fact came to mind. "I learned that I'm not what I thought I was."
"So then, what are you then?" He asked.
"I'm only a tool for humanity's future." I said.
Maris didn't speak at first. "I see. Apollo I must thank you for agreeing to my plan."
I could only give out a wholehearted laugh. "It's fine Maris. At the end of the day I'm only a villain in humanity's story."
As Apollo approached the group.
"I'm only a tool, and my job is to be that of a villain."