"Oh? So you're disliked by those women too?"
Perseus laughed at Asclepius' words:
"A kindred spirit! What did you do to them?"
Orpheus covered his face with his hand and whispered embarrassedly, "He went in, took off their clothes, then sniffed them for a while, and after all that sniffing, he asked them why they didn't stink anymore."
When Orpheus said this, everyone, including Heracles, looked at him with an expression as if they were looking at a pervert, but Asclepius was very open in the face of such gazes. He spread his hands and said bluntly:
"I just wanted to know what kind of medicinal formula they used."
"So did you find out?"
Perseus asked.
"No."
Asclepius shook his head with a regretful expression:
"These people have no spirit of dedication to medicine, tsk."
"As for that method, we do know it."
Perseus leaned close to Asclepius and whispered to him:
"After all, the one who solved these women's troubles is our Goddess."
"Oh? Really?"
Asclepius said to Perseus with an excited expression:
"Then tell me quickly!"
Hearing him say that, Perseus, instead, turned around and leisurely flipped through his roasted fish. Asclepius was stunned for a moment, then asked:
"Alright, then Perseus, what's the price?"
"The price, of course, is to join our sect and believe in our Goddess Athena."
Perseus stated directly.
Although his main purpose in getting on the ship was to tarnish Athena's reputation among the Heroes, he also had to be careful not to overdo it. If he went too far, Athena would surely personally "clean house", and he also had to ensure his value to Athena.
A useless subordinate is of no use to someone like Athena who wants to accomplish great things. Ares still wanted to thoroughly embed his "Perseus" avatar as a chess piece within the Athena group. If Perseus couldn't accomplish anything significant on this expedition, then Ares' plan would likely fall through.
Of course, Ares couldn't directly push a Hero like Asclepius into Athena's camp. There was a reason why he chose to make this request to Asclepius.
Although Ares didn't have deep contact with Asclepius and didn't understand him, as his father, the God of Light, Apollo, paid close attention to his son.
According to him, this kid was a typical unbeliever; in his mind, there was only medicine, no theology. To figure out a medical problem, he could even rebel against his father's religion without thinking. In the current situation, he could certainly join a religion without hesitation, and then rebel against it without hesitation.
As expected, when Asclepius heard the price Perseus offered, he immediately replied without thinking:
"Okay, I agree."
But upon hearing Asclepius' words, Atalanta, who was nearby, suddenly stood up. She glared at Asclepius and angrily said:
"Asclepius, you—"
"Hey, he wants to join a religion, why are you so anxious?" Perseus asked Atalanta when he saw this, "Are you his father, Apollo?"
"You have no idea." Atalanta pointed at Asclepius and said, "This guy already joined our Artemis sect before to get a few herbal remedies!"
"So that's how it is."
Atalanta was Artemis' most loyal follower and supporter; her love and yearning for Artemis even surpassed Artemis' own. Therefore, seeing Asclepius, an Artemis devotee, apostatize on the spot, she naturally couldn't tolerate it.
However, Asclepius looked at Atalanta with an indifferent expression and said to her:
"Why are you so anxious? Artemis is my aunt; she won't care about such things. She's not anxious, so why are you anxious here? Have you even met her in person?"
Asclepius had no intention of showing off, but these words took on a different meaning when heard by Atalanta. She stood up abruptly, her face filled with intense jealousy and anger, and she cursed at Asclepius:
"Do you want to die? Are you insane?!"
"But you really haven't met her, have you?" Asclepius said indifferently, "Don't worry, Aunt won't care about such small matters."
After speaking, he turned his head to Perseus again and said:
"Come, let's talk about the faith of Goddess Athena."
"Great!"
Perseus slapped his thigh, then pulled Asclepius aside and began to whisper, their posture and expressions as if they were not talking about a sacred Goddess, but rather some scandalous, unspeakable affair.
And Atalanta, still furious, wanted to confront Asclepius, but Medea, with a bitter smile, held her back and persuaded her to calm down.
With Heracles watching here, it was impossible for her, Asclepius, and Perseus to actually fight.
After Perseus gave Asclepius a brief rundown of what was required of an Athena cult follower, Asclepius immediately slapped his thigh and defected to Athena's sect.
He was a lone wolf, so he simply went into the forest, found a tree, carved Artemis' emblem on it, and communicated with Artemis through it, telling her the whole story himself.
And to Atalanta's immense chagrin, Artemis not only actually responded to Asclepius, but also very leniently agreed to his request. After the communication was complete, Asclepius walked back triumphantly, glanced at Atalanta, and then went directly to Perseus to receive his baptism and join Athena's sect.
And after Asclepius joined the faith of Athena, and symbolically offered a roasted fish cooked by Perseus on the beach as a sacrifice to Athena, Perseus then told him the secret recipe for the perfume used by the women on Lemnos Island.
"So that's how it's done…"
After Asclepius obtained the secret recipe, he lost interest in faith and sects. He sat alone to the side and began to ponder Athena's method for making the perfume:
"This way, I could create something like 'aromatherapy'…"
"Excellent, young man, you truly have talent." Perseus sat beside him, patting his shoulder and saying, "Once you develop this therapy, you can teach it to our compatriots in Athens, so they can treat people in other city-states in the name of Goddess Athena. This way, the Goddess's renown will surely spread."
"Hmm?" However, when Asclepius heard Perseus' words, he asked in surprise, "Why would I give this therapy to the people of Athens?"