Freya nodded. "You heard me."
Loki frowned. "...Alright. I'll bite. Give it to me straight. In full detail."
"Of course." Freya set her glass of wine aside and said, "I'm telling you since you are the closest equal I have in Orario."
"...I'm flattered to finally hear that. But you're not telling me that to flatter me, are you, Freya?"
"That's right." Freya nodded. "The plan is simple. Bell and Hestia will challenge me and my Familia to a War Game for 'me.' They will do so to win me outright, proving to my children who desperately desire my attention that they lost. A clean victory. But afterwards, they will lose their anchor. I'm certain quite a few will follow me to Hestia's familia. But for the others, they'll be at a loss. I would like you to take them in, if you could."
Loki slowly blinked. "You're kidding."
Freya stared with that soft smile.
"...You're not kidding." Loki set her glass of wine down. "Freya." She leaned forward, completely serious. "Are you telling me that you're going to give up being a goddess for a mortal? For one man? No, for a man that Hestia has already taken?"
"No. I'm not giving up anything. I'm giving everything to Bell. All that I am, all of me. And that necessitates letting go of everything that I was until now." Freya smiled. "But I'm not completely selfish. I know how this will affect Orario. So that's why I'm here to talk to you."
Loki stared at Freya. Then she slowly said, "You've gone mad. No, were YOU charmed instead?"
Freya laughed. "Maybe. But rather than charmed..." She gently placed a hand over her heart. "...I think it's more that I've finally found myself. And it's in a life with them. Not in the luxury or covetous behavior I've had until now."
They were words that Loki would never have imagined coming from Freya.
If it was from that shrimp... from Hestia, Loki could accept it.
But Freya?
...And yet, here she was. That perfect Goddess of Beauty, looking like a newlywed wife tying up her loose ends before moving in with her husband.
Which, now that Loki thought about it, was exactly what this was.
After a few moment of silence, and a few chugged glasses of wine later, Loki slammed her hand on the table and said, "Fine! I'll sort it out. But!" She pointed at Freya. "If you're going to make yourself the prize in some War Game, you'd better not do it half-heartedly! We all know that if you don't do it properly Orario's going to hell and a hand basket when your crazy fans flip it upside down."
"I'm aware, Loki." Freya smiled. "Rest assured. I'll have my Odr win me properly. So just make your own arrangements to cleanly take over as the number one Familia in Orario."
Loki stared at Freya and then sighed. "...You're actually serious about this. Man. That's weird. All this time, and it just took one guy..." She laughed. "Well. I guess that Bell stole the shrimp's heart too, so it's not THAT ridiculous a stretch..."
Freya nodded. "Our Bell *is* exceptional."
"And you're already saying 'our' Bell, huh?" Loki chuckled. "Well, fine. But since we're talking business, let's be clear. If you really want me to take over, then tell me what you know, Freya. What's going on in Orario that I need to account for?"
Freya paused. "...Well. I have my suspicions. Chief among them..." She leaned forward and then said, "Loki. How much do you trust Dionysius?"
Loki frowned. "Blondie? Not very much. ...Why?"
===
Miach's apothecary, a little ways from the Hestia Familia Church.
It was a normal morning. Due to their efforts in aiding Orario after the recent incident, Miach and Naaza had gotten more business. Paired with the meticulous research that Naaza had performed after Bell pointed out there was a minimum efficacy ratio, they were finally breaking even between production costs and sales.
Even so, it was still a bit tough. But it looked like everything was going well.
So, that morning, Miach had gathered his supplies as usual and was beginning to produce the batch of potions for the day.
And then he noticed the envelope on the floor at the entrance. One sealed with Hestia's insignia.
"...Hm?"
Miach stared at the envelope a bit and then put the supplies down on the nearby counter. Afterwards, he picked up the envelope and opened it.
It was a letter. That much was clear. And at first, he thought it was from Hestia.
But the handwriting was clearly not hers. As for whose it actually was...
"...Freya?"
The note was brief. Just a quick thanks for making sure 'her treasure' was safe.
But the number of zeroes on the check behind the letter wasn't.
Miach's eyes widened. "This..."
It was more than enough to pay off the debt for Naaza's prosthetic arm. Not only that, it was enough to let them float for a month and take losses. Buffer room, something they never had.
"But..."
Miach held the check with mixed feelings. The total amount of valis there...
It was coming from the Freya familia, so it wasn't like it was a drain on their resources. Still, for something as simple as helping a child in need...
Naaza walked in, stifling a yawn. "Morning- Hm?" Her light brown dog ears immediately perked when she saw the check in Miach's hands.
Miach froze and tried to hide it. "N-Naaza. This is-"
Before Miach could react, Naaza had already closed the gap and pulled it out of his hands. "...No way." A grin crossed her face and she said, "We're finally debt free!"
"Naaza, no. We cannot just-"
"Miach, yes. This is a gift. A proper gift for your kind actions. You're finally being rewarded for everything you do. So, as your familia's captain..." Naaza winked and said, "I'm cashing this in."
"Naaza? Naaza!" Miach's eyes widened as he saw Naaza sprint out the door. "W-Wait! Let's talk about this...!"
===
After an eventful morning and a long scolding by Eina, I made my way back home to our church.
"I'm home... Hm?"
Usually, when I called out, at least someone answered me. But surprisingly, it looked like the place was empty.
"Huh. Maybe everyone's sorting out their routines?"
We all WERE settling into our lives here at the Hestia Familia.
And it wasn't like I could expect everyone to be home all the time when I came back.
It was a bit surprising though.
After walking inside to the main hall, I found a series of notes left for me.
---
[Welf]
Took Pyrrha out to go shop for materials. Working on new armor.
[Ryuu]
Mama Mia and Syr convinced me to keep doing part time. I've taken a few of the girls with me. It will keep them busy and their mind off other things.
[Hestia]
Off to work. Mother-in-law went out with a few of our newest family members to train them. Be good while we're gone, Bell!
[Selene]
Apologies, Bell. I intended to stay home to watch Fina, but the little princess wants to explore. We've gone out to wander through Orario. I'll keep her safe.
P.S. Don't worry, Daddy! I'll bring back something cool!
---
"Huh." I blinked, having finished reading all the notes. "Well. I guess that works out."
It was rare these days to have time to myself, what with all the new members as well as the fact that the church was fairly cramped, even if it had been renovated.
Still...
"Alright then." I cracked my fingers. "Let's do some good old testing."
I'd squared away all the red tape for the War Game on our end, as well as the Familia things.
All that was left was to prep myself for the clash.
To that end...
I pulled out the cube that Welf had made me from my inventory. "Hm... this is definitely a growth-type item..."
I felt a similar energy from it that I did from my Falna. The only difference was that it was a mishmosh of different energies.
Still...
"Might as well double check my status and see what I can do before the big day comes."
Since we got to set the date, no matter what the Apollo familia chose as the format, I was going to declare the match to start immediately after.
Mostly because it would force them to scramble, AND because they had no right to refuse.
Plus, the drama would ensure the other gods would peer pressure Apollo into doing it... not to mention that the god himself seemed to be the prideful sort.
I idly tossed the cube up and down in my hand and said, "Pride is so ever often the downfall of gods, after all... But enough about that. What the heck is this?"
Welf didn't give me too many details. But he implied it was something that would be more permanant. Plus, a few cursory tests had shown it could turn into various weapons as I desired them. So...
"Hm..."
I had an interesting hypothesis to test.
First though, my status.
I reached into my inventory and pulled out a copy of my status from my last update.
---
[Bell Kranel]
Lv. 2
Strength: I 0
Endurance: I 0
Dexterity: I 0
Agility: I 0
Magic: I 0
Energy Manipulation: E
Compilation: E
[Magic]
Quantum Magic: Instant Magic
Crafting System: Auto-Magic/Instant Magic
experiences, and materials may be used to supplement any deficiencies.>
[Skills]
Liar's Phrase - Reality is nothing more than the lies we tell. Growth is determined according to the user's will. External influences are subsumed and overwritten.
Storyteller's Refrain - Allows the user to impart a portion of their experiences onto another.
Beloved Prelude - Love born of the everlasting flame warms your heart. Beloved by a goddess of flame, all abilities enhanced at the start of battle.
Fairytale Ending - Love is a myth that does not change in your heart. Beloved by a beautiful goddess of war, abilities do not decline through the course of a battle.
---
I really needed to test the newest skills. I was definitely planning on relying on those in the future, and if they did what I thought they did...
Well, there was a ridiculous synergy between [Beloved Prelude] and [Fairytale Ending].
The first skill was clearly meant to be a temporary buff that declined as the battle progressed. But because of the second skill, I would ALWAYS be at that level until the battle is over.
I was curious on just what degree "all abilities enhanced" meant. If it was something like a flat addition to stats, that would be incredible. But if it was a multiplier... that was even more ridiculous.
The former case gave me a baseline I would never fall below, while the latter made it so that my 'limit' was my baseline.
...Also, if [Fairytale Ending] worked like how I anticipated it did, it meant that I could use any buff I wanted and I didn't need to sustain it. If there was someone who could buff me, for example, they wouldn't need to continuously recast or even sustain the buff. They just needed to use it once, and it would stick... at least through the battle.
And depending on the decay rate of the buffs AFTER a battle was concluded, if there were successive battles...
'A complete snowball effect.'
Now that I was thinking about it, I was kind of itching to rush into the dungeon.
If my hypothesis was correct, I would become the ridiculous sort of person who got exponentially stronger the more battles I came across. A literal one-man army.
And if I could DEFINE what a battle was... like if declaring a duel counted as one instance of a battle...
"Yeah, this is going to be ridiculous later. I can sense it. But for now..."
I held the cube in my hand and focused. "...Let's see if this counts as a material to 'supplement any deficiences' in my crafting- Ah, I should name you first, right?"
I stared at the cube and then hummed. "Let's call you... Void Archives."
Although it wasn't the golden cube that I was familiar with, it looked pretty similar, so good enough for government work in my book.
"Now..." I tossed the cube up and snatched it, imagining Gungnir. "Come, Gungnir."
A ripple of runes spiraling through the air. A crackle of crimson lightning, followed by flashing silver. And then a silver spear riddled with crimson runes appeared in my hands.
> Gungnir (Replica) has been crafted using the soulbound item, Void Archives.
> Notice! Although durability remains the same as the original, the parameters of the replica's abilities are one rank lower.
> Please increase the rank of the materials utilized to raise the replica's abilities.
"Hoh?" I idly spun the replica of Gungnir around and said, "So it's like Tracing, but better. ...Welf is going to be sooo jealous." I laughed and then clenched my hands, imagining Void Archives back in the cube form.
There was a flash of light and then Gungnir vanished, turning back into the... crimson cube?
"Huh." I stared at the somewhat ominous crimson cube in my hands. "...Feels like a chaos-aligned Tesseract. ...Eh, it's fine." I placed it back in my inventory and said, "Good, evil... all of it depends on the intent. And love is beyond both anyway, so we're fine."
Now, with THAT done... I still had Greed in my inventory, so-
"U-Um!"
I paused, hearing a timid female voice call out to me. Turning my head towards the source, I saw a beautiful young woman with long blue hair and a white robe standing at the Church's gate.
"A-Are you Mister Kranel?"
I blinked. "...Yes?"
"C-Can we talk? My name is Cassandra Ilion and I have... I NEED to talk to you!"
"...Uh, sure." I walked over and unlocked the gate. "...But just to be clear... this isn't anything romantic or anything, right?"
"W-What?"
"Okay, good. Just checking."
You never could be too careful about raising romance flags...