After Hydra, now to be called Lamia, swore allegiance to Hecate at the Hell Gate, Hecate had Cerberus let her in, accepting her as a formal member of the Underworld gods with her authority as the regent of the Underworld.
Hecate didn't need to report such matters to Hades, who was currently in seclusion. With her own inherent authority, she could freely recruit minor gods to be her handmaidens. She was already responsible for governing the lower goddesses and Nymphs of the Underworld, and Hades had no jurisdiction over them. However, Hecate had never sought handmaidens because Ares was always lurking in her Garden, which was inconvenient, and Ares could handle any errands or strenuous tasks. Those Nymphs under her jurisdiction mostly frequented the Fields of Truth and Hades' Palace.
This time, however, Hydra was forced by Ares to swear a poisonous oath, and her very existence greatly piqued Hecate's research interest. Thus, Hecate personally went to the Hell Gate and exceptionally took this child of Typhon as her handmaiden.
Upon entering the Hell Gate, Hecate led Hydra onward, introducing her to various deities of the Underworld. She met Charon, the ferryman god who rowed across the River Acheron of Pain; Menoetes, who herded Hades' cattle in the wilderness outside Hades' city walls; a large group of Underworld Nymphss called Lamphades, who referred to themselves as "Mormo"; and the three great judges responsible for judging all beings in the Fields of Truth, as well as the twin gods of Death and Sleep responsible for reaping lives and bringing dreams.
Finally, Hecate led her back to her own dwelling, Hecate's Garden deep within the Shorea Flower Sea, where she encountered an unexpected yet logical figure.
Ares, the God of War.
"Grrr—"
Upon seeing Ares, Hydra, like a dog sensing danger, bared her fangs in her transformed state, her crimson vertical pupils wide, staring intently at him, and demanded, "Why are you here?"
"Why shouldn't I be here?"
Ares was dressed strangely at the moment, wearing a white apron and holding a black frying pan, seemingly cooking something. Hearing Hydra's question, he retorted,
"Hecate is my magic teacher. What's wrong with me visiting my teacher's home? Don't make such a fuss."
Hydra looked at Hecate, then at Ares, and then shrieked, "So you two have been having an affair for a long time!"
No sooner had she spoken than Hecate rapped her on the head. The Moon Goddess admonished, "Show some respect to your mistress, or I'll deal with you!"
"Exactly, what do you mean by 'having an affair'? We just have a good teacher-student relationship," Ares said to Hydra, skillfully flipping the frying pan. "Do you third-generation gods and demons only have dirty thoughts in your heads? It's because you always wear yellow-tinted glasses that everything looks yellow to you."
Hydra clutched her head, glancing sideways at the goddess beside her, pouting with a hint of grievance. She had never suffered such indignity, as her strength was undeniable, and no god or human had ever dared to enslave her.
Regrettably, she had now sworn an oath of allegiance to Hecate under Ares' intricate deceptions and schemes. Moreover, she couldn't defeat either Hecate or Ares, who were present.
However, just as Hydra felt wronged, Ares suddenly looked up and called out to her:
"Come, come, quickly sit down. I've prepared a welcome feast for you."
"A welcome feast?"
Hydra, pushed by Hecate, curiously approached the wooden table in the Garden, and was surprised to see it laden with cooked food. Ares was also pouring the last of the food from the frying pan into a plate, and mixing a jar of brewed wine with an appropriate amount of water.
People in the Greek World never drank wine directly. Before drinking, they were accustomed to diluting the pure wine with suitable water.
Of course, Ares learned all these things from Chiron. To bring his human junior sister Medea, Ares had to learn from Chiron how to cook and dilute wine in the ancient Greek World. Now that Medea had completed her studies and returned to her own country, Ares retained this habit. Occasionally, when the mood struck him, he would cook, and the "elusive" Hecate would often join him for a meal.
Now that Hydra had joined their side, to celebrate, Ares "condescended" to prepare a delicious meal for this child of Typhon.
After forcefully seating Hydra at the table, Hecate and Ares moved to the other side of the table and sat down side-by-side. Ares pushed a two-handled jug containing the diluted wine in front of Hydra, then extended his hand to her and said,
"Eat. All of this is prepared for you."
Hydra eyed Ares warily, then extended her head and sniffed the table with her nose, immediately becoming captivated by the aroma of the food.
"So fragrant," she murmured, but fearing Ares might trick her, she restrained herself from acting.
Seeing this, Hecate slapped the table and impatiently shouted, "Hurry up and eat, hurry up and eat! What are you afraid of? If he wanted to trick you, would he need other methods now? Do you still have any room to struggle in front of us?"
"I guess so,"
Hydra mumbled, then reached out and grabbed a freshly baked flatbread from the table.
"Delicious!"
Upon swallowing her first bite, Hydra was utterly captivated by the food. Of course, this didn't mean Ares' cooking was exceptionally good; his culinary skills were only slightly better than those of an average mortal chef, far from matching Chiron, who taught him, or the chef gods who prepared delicacies for the gods on Olympus. However, Hydra's situation was also very special. She usually lived in swamps, where food was abundant, but Hydra only ate raw food, which was even worse than the "Typhon Roasted Beef" Ares had seen before.
Anyone who has raised a puppy knows that once you feed a dog cooked chicken or pork, it becomes very difficult to get the puppy to eat its original dog food again. This was true for Hydra, and it was also true for that beast Cerberus. After Ares fed the multi-headed dog leftovers from Medea and Hecate a few times, it no longer wanted to eat raw meat. For this, Hecate even complained to Ares, saying that Ares had spoiled her pet.
Hydra happily ate the food on the table, quickly falling into a trance. Seeing this, Ares and Hecate exchanged glances, like villains in a TV show, communicating with their eyes. Then Hecate snapped her fingers, pointed at Hydra, and Ares nodded.
The two slowly stood up. Hecate went to fetch a special bronze pot, while Ares retrieved a newly forged, unused long knife from the Tree Palace.
Then, both of them circled behind Hydra, who was engrossed in eating. Hecate's eyes flickered slightly, and she gently asked,
"Lamia, is it delicious?"
"Mmm-hmm-hmm… gulp!" Hydra utilized her powerful serpentine swallowing ability, gulping down the food in her mouth, then nodded emotionally, "Delicious, I've never eaten anything this good!"
"It's good, then that's right," Hecate smiled, placing the bronze pot under Hydra's serpent tail, then softly said, "Then you keep eating. We'll do something, don't mind us."
"Oh." Hydra hadn't noticed the seriousness of the situation yet and continued to reach for the food on the table. But then, she suddenly heard Ares gently say to her:
"Don't move, the pain will only last a moment."
"Huh?"
Splat!
The knife flashed across Hydra's serpent tail, and highly poisonous blood immediately flowed out, running down the tail into Hecate's bronze pot, quickly filling the empty vessel.