knowledge.
A deity who is beauty incarnate, with the ability to entrance gods and mortals alike.
It looks like the goddess wasn’t kidding. Almost everyone around me is slack-jawed, staring at her. Man, woman, it doesn’t matter. They’re just standing there, as if their spirits have left their bodies.
Mikoto and Nahza are fighting hard against Lady Freya’s influence. Nahza’s eyes are clenched shut as she shakes her head back and forth. Mikoto has turned the other way, but her entire face is blushing. Only Asfi seems to be holding her own. She’s looking out in the middle of nowhere, like a daydreaming kid.
“First Ganesha’s Celebration, and now this one…Freya never comes out in the public this much.”
“H-how do you mean?”
I hear Lady Hephaistos whispering as I struggle to free myself from Lady Hestia’s grasp and ask for clarification. It’s Hermes who clears things up.
“Lady Freya usually stays in her room on the highest level of Babel Tower, rarely showing her face in public. Many of the gods here come to Celebrations just for a chance to see her with their own eyes.”
She doesn’t show her face in public…Well, yes, it’d be difficult to go anywhere if you get that much attention just by stepping outside. Lady Freya might like to be among us, but I’m sure utter chaos happens every time she tries.
Looking at how people react to her now, I don’t blame her for staying up in the tower.
“—”
That’s when her silver gaze falls upon me.
She stops walking and turns in my direction…and smiles.
Ker-tap, ker-tap.
The heels on her shoes echo as she approaches. Everyone in her path makes way, backing out as if pushed by some unseen force. Lady Hestia stops struggling for a moment and watches the silver-haired goddess and her massive attendant walk right up to us.
“So you’re here, Hestia. Hephaistos as well. First time since Denatus, I believe?”
“…Freya, what are you doing here?”
Lady Hestia lets go of me and squares her shoulders directly in front of Lady Freya the moment the other goddess extends a friendly greeting.
“I’m glad to see you are looking well,” says Lady Hephaistos next to my goddess. Lady Hestia looks like she’s trying to hold back a torrent with a cork.
“I merely came to say hello. It’s a rare chance to see so many familiar faces at once, so how could I not make my way here?”
The words roll off Lady Freya’s tongue as she glances toward the small mob of male gods that have assembled around her.
All of them seem to melt as her silver eyes pass by. Lord Hermes is weak-kneed, a dumbstruck look on his face. Lord Takemikazuchi is blushing a light shade of pink and clears his throat with an “ahem.” Lord Miach bows and compliments her by saying, “You are quite beautiful this evening.”
Not a heartbeat later, the heels of the expensive shoes that belong to their female followers find their way to the toes of the male deities. “Gah?!” “Uwoh?!” “Nuah?!” come their yelps of pain. I take a step back.
Once again, her silver eyes alight on me.
Air leaks out of my mouth as those silver spheres draw me in. Lady Freya’s cheeks pull back into an even deeper smile.
She leans forward, extending her arm, and strokes the side of my face.
“—Tonight, will you make a dream of mine come true?”
“—Dream on!” Lady Hestia roars at Lady Freya right in front of me. She slaps Lady Freya’s hand away, her eyes burning with rage. “What are you getting excited for, Bell?!”
“S-s-sorry!”
“Listen up! That goddess is nothing more than a dragon that devours every man within reach! A rabbit like you wouldn’t last two seconds!”
“Yes…!!”
The goddess is overwhelming. My body shrinks away from her without even thinking. It’s almost like she’s unleashing round after round of Swift-Strike Magic, forcing me back.
Her twin ponytails are sweeping out behind her like they’re trying to express just how dangerous the
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