CHAPTER 2
ALONE INSIDE A SANDBOX
There was a thunderous sound.
Like a silver cord snapping.
Like the groan of a parched throat.
With a splendorous, desolate tone, it made everything tremble.
It sounded like the roar of the ocean consuming whatever lay within reach.
Or perhaps it was the rumble of boots marching in thunderous lockstep, so unified it could be mistaken for the footfalls of one giant creature.
It was the sound of subjugation.
It was the sound of domination.
It was the sound of the ultimate beauty that outshone everything.
A truly terrifying, miserable thing.
The die was cast, rolling on the ground, surely soon to be crushed underfoot.
And then…
Something flares up.
The burning sensation flowing across my back feels like it’s trying to protect my body from some terrible threat. After a great clash, that looming presence pulls away.
The sound of a yearning burning.
The sound of resistance against a divine will.
A fight against domination and intrusion, like a golden flower blooming defiantly atop the tallest peak.
There is no kindling.
There is no ash.
Sparks are flying.
But in the depths of the hearth, a golden hope is still burning strong.
In the impenetrable darkness, my body is embraced by the eternal flame within me.
And yet…
Why am I so uneasy?
Why does it feel like I’m the only one who’s been left behind?
I’m standing all alone in a boundless darkness.
I’m surrounded by people who refuse to turn and look at me.
The warm flame crackles and burns in solitude.
My consciousness, firmly in the grasp of fear, slowly begins to surface—
“Ugh…”
A terribly raspy groan escapes me.
Opening my eyes and blinking several times, the first thing I see is a high ceiling.
A slender ray of light touches my cheek, slipping in through a small gap in the curtains.
My head is still hazy as I sit up, letting the sheets slide off my upper body.
“Where am I…?”
The room is massive. There’s a table and chair with intricate curved legs, as well as a big closet, and a magic lamp resembling a sconce. The bed I’ve been sleeping in is incredibly comfortable, and I can tell the rug running across the floor is soft and luxurious by just looking at it.
This almost feels like a high-class hotel—the exact sort of place you’d never find me in as a member of a familia shouldering a crushing amount of debt.
But even so, something is…
I can’t explain it, but…there’s a sort of lived-in feeling to the space that convinces me this isn’t actually a hotel.
It feels more like someone’s personal room than a guest room. I take another look around, still disoriented.
Why am I in a place like this? I desperately try to remember, searching for some kind of clue.
“…! Right, I was…!”
I was attacked.
Lyu and I encountered the city’s most powerful adventurer. My breath catches as a sudden burst of tension seizes my body.
But then where am I now?
Was I kidnapped?
Is Lyu safe?
Tamping down the rush of questions that welled up, I silently slip out of bed. I’m dressed in nightclothes I don’t recognize. There are no restraints, and I can move freely, but I can’t find any of my gear. Or the Hestia Knife.
Realizing that my gear probably got seized, I grit my teeth and carefully check to make sure there’s no one else inside the room. Then I stealthily approach the window, where the morning sun is lancing in.
“…A field…?”
Peeking out ever so slightly, I see an enormous lawn…a great field.
Beneath the expansive blue sky is a sea of green, and in the distance I spot a stone barrier that resembles a castle wall.
…I don’t remember ever seeing a place like this.
It makes me wonder if I’m even still in Orario.
There are no bars or anything on the window, and there doesn’t seem to be a lock on it, either. It’s almost disturbing how easy it seems to be to get out. But I can see what look like a couple of adventurers milling outside the window. I would definitely get caught trying to leave that way.
I quickly give up on escaping through the window.
“That just leaves…”
I look at the one and only door leading out of the room.
After staring at it for a long moment, I make up my mind and walk over to it. Putting my hand on the doorknob, I exercise extreme caution and open the door silently.
“…Where in the world is this?” I murmur in shock as I step out of the room.
The wide and long hallway is an elegant white, the sort of magnificent corridor that belongs in a literal castle.
While I’m still wondering what sort of crazy place I’ve been carried off to, someone suddenly calls out.
“What are you doing?”
“!”
The voice scares me so badly, I forget how to breathe for a moment. Reflexively spinning around, I see a figure standing there that has become incredibly familiar over the past few days—a blond white elf.
“M…Master…”
Hedin is standing there by himself. I assume he emerged from one of the branching passages. I didn’t notice his presence at all—though I guess that is only natural, since he is a Level 6 adventurer. He can easily slip out of my sight whenever he feels like it and pummel me into submission with a casual punch or kick. He made that painfully clear more times than I care to remember during our lessons.
And there’s no chance that he would help his pupil out of the goodness of his heart. I mean, he is utterly cruel and tyrannical, but more importantly, he’s part of Freya Familia!
“Guh…!”
Am I going to be caught? Does this mean I’m going back to that room? Also, why was I abducted in the first place?
I can feel sweat already coating the back of my neck as we stare at each other for a few moments…Then with a glance like he’s looking at sewage, he breaks the silence.
“Wash that dirty face of yours at once. We’re going to breakfast.”
…………….Huh?
At first, I simply don’t understand what he’s saying.
“…Wait, breakfast? Wh-why…?”
“What are you talking about? Does there have to be a reason for the sun to rise? Eating in the morn is a given.”
“E-ehhh…? Pardon me, Master, but what are you talking about? Did you hit your hea—”
“Are you mocking me, you foolish rabbit?”
“Ngh?!”
He suddenly closes the distance without a noise and hits me with an all too familiar kick.
I mean, yes, it’s true that eating breakfast in the morning is perfectly normal, but…!
Even as I groan in pain, I’m also a little bit relieved. I mean not that I’m happy to be kicked or anything…but Master hasn’t changed at all.
At the very least, there’s no sign that we’re enemies now. I still have no idea what’s going on, but this has helped my uneasy heart feel a little better.
…I still can’t shake the feeling that something is off, though.
“Finish your preparations and let’s get going.”
Master’s coral eyes stare at me through his glasses for a long moment, and then he turns around.
All I can do is purse my lips and quietly follow him.
Then another kick comes my way as Master says, “I said to finish your preparations, you waste of space,” before having my entire head dunked in a tub filled with water. He doesn’t let go of my head until he’s done.
I get dressed in something that resembles battle gear and generally cleaned up before following after Master.
Hestia Familia’s home, Hearthstone Manor, is easily luxurious enough to be called a stately mansion, but it can’t even begin to compare to this place. It goes without saying that the interior is spacious, but the silver-and-gold decorations are breathtaking. My feet sink into the lush carpet, my jaw drops when I see the enormous chandelier dotted by magic-stone lamps, and my eyes shoot open as we come to the broad, palatial staircase. While I’m preoccupied with taking in the scenery, we reach our destination—the sort of magnificently huge hall that exists only in stories.
“Did you just wake up?”
“You ought to be ashamed for sleeping in.”
“Coming late like some bigshot, rabbit boy?”
“You’ve been getting cocky lately, rabbit boy.”
The interior is filled with lines of long tables set together, measuring maybe fifty meders long. Sitting there with their legs high off the floor are four identical prums.
Bringar, the Gulliver brothers.
By this point, I’m at a loss, not to mention shocked to run into first-tier adventurers of the city’s strongest familia.
“Hey, finish the tomatoes, Dvalinn.”
“Come on, Alfrik, tomatoes for breakfast is torture. You take it.”
“Quit screwing around. And, Berling, quit copying him!”
“No, I’m trading mine for your dessert.”
“That’s even worse! Hey, don’t even think about it, Grer!”
“Pass, pass, pass.”
“At least make up an excuse!”
“““Pleeeeeease, Big Brother Alfriiiig.”””
“I’ll kick all of your asses!”
The identical brothers are passing around a plate full of red vegetables while arguing in identical voices.
If I didn’t know any better, I would’ve assumed this mundane morning scene was playing out between clones.
…Wh-what’s going on…?
This is like that cozy, at-home feeling deities are always talking about…
I start to doubt my eyes at the odd and unexpected scene of those terrifying first-tier adventurers.
“Screw it! Bell, you eat it! Punishment for sleeping late!”
To top it all off, Alfrik calls me by name.
“““That’s not right, Big Brother.”””
“I don’t want to hear that from you guys! And you’re pissing me off with that tone!”
Ignoring that I’m frozen in my tracks, the four prum brothers continue their rambunctious, childlike argument.
“Four sons of fate, shared of soul, ’tis inevitable that breaking morning’s fast would descend into a furor…”
“H-Hegni…”
“A fine aurora, is it not? Will you not abrogate thy prohibition of gluttony?”
The dark elf left a single seat’s gap between himself and the prums, and he is primly eating with a knife and fork.
Hegni lightheartedly addresses me, as if the furious battle that unfolded the other day had never happened—no, it’s more than that. This makes it seem like he’s not shy around me anymore.
If I had to guess, he’s probably saying, “Good morning. Won’t you have something to eat?” or something like that…
“The hell are you standing around for? Finish your food and get your ass out on the field.”
The last to speak was a cat person with black fur.
Vana Freya, the man named Allen Fromel…is glaring at me, ordering me to sit with his piercing gaze.
Master doesn’t say anything as he takes his seat at the table.
“…?”
I’m befuddled.
Just absolutely dumbfounded. It’s so bad that any nervousness I might’ve had before has been totally blown away. That surreal feeling is gone, too. For a brief moment, I just stare at the maids gracefully passing out the food before one pulls out a chair clearly meant for me.
Are you telling me to eat at the same table as you? A rival familia?
Of course I’m shocked.
“Oi, what are you doing?”
“What’s with that look on your face?”
“Do you hate the idea of eating breakfast with us that much?”
“It’s a bit late to feel weird about it now.”
“Ye heretic who knows not fear, thou who art heralded as Record Holder.”
The four prums and the dark elf all chime in together.
This is wrong.
Something about this is terribly wrong.
The way they act as if it were totally natural that I would sit at the same table as them.
“Wh-where—!”
My shout echoes loudly in the hall.
The first-tier adventurers all turn to me. I’m on the verge of being overwhelmed by the pressure as my voice almost cracks.
“…Where is this…?”
When I ask that question, a flurry of dubious stares home in on me.
The ones who answer are two of the prums…I think Alfrik and Dvalinn.
“Our home, obviously.”
“What would you call this hallowed realm other than Folkvangr?”
Folkvangr…?
Then this really is Freya Familia’s home?
I was kidnapped and taken away to another familia’s base?
But…But still…even if I understand the situation now, I still can’t get rid of the weird feeling that’s been plaguing me.
I feel a slight chill as I wrench my lips open, and questions pour out.
“Why was I taken away?
“Why did you attack me?
“Is Lyu safe?!”
Silence.
Quiet.
Hush.
Sound recedes from the hall. I’m the only one who’s been shouting. The mood in the room makes it feel like I’m the one who’s losing his mind. Everyone is looking at me weirdly.
“Thou art not a princess held hostage, nor is there any need to abduct you.”
“Are you still half asleep, dumbass?”
Hegni and Allen rattle off their replies.
“And who is Lyu?”
“I think I heard somewhere once that’s another word for dragon.”
“A dragon? You friends with a monster or what?”
“Training aside, we haven’t attacked you at all.”
The three younger brothers cock their heads in confusion while the eldest brother addresses my questions directly.
“Your doubts don’t make any sense. What have you been talking about?”
And I can feel Master’s piercing gaze again.
“You are a follower of Lady Freya and fell for her at first sight. That makes you a member of Freya Familia.”
Time stops.
My heart forgets to beat. It feels like everything’s slipping away.
I don’t understand what he’s saying. Why would he say such an absurd joke?
“Wha…what are you talking about…? I-I’m part of Hestia Familia! I’m not Lady Freya’s follower!”
As I lose my nerve and shout reflexively, the mood changes in an instant once more.
“The hell’d you say?”
“That’s an insult to Lady Freya…Is this an act of insubordination?”
Allen and one of the prums look ready to kill.
“No, wait. Something’s off.”
“As stupid as the rabbit is, he isn’t fool enough to not pay our goddess the proper respect.”
Two more prums quickly speak in restraint.
“There is confusion in this one’s eyes…a tyrant of the outer realms has visited. Signs of upheaval gleam in the night sky.”
“That almost seems comprehensible without making any sense at all. Translate, Hedin.”
“He is saying perhaps the boy’s memories have been corrupted. He may be in a state of confusion because of a powerful external shock.”
Hegni, Alfrik, and Master are debating about my seemingly strange behavior. But they’re the ones openly saying absurd things, so why don’t any of them doubt themselves?
Why do they all think I’m the strange one?
What are you even saying?
What in the world is going on here?!
“I-I was picked up by my goddess, Lady Hestia! I haven’t converted or anything!”
“Don’t be absurd. Isn’t Lady Freya the one who granted you your blessing when you came to this city?”
I stop breathing after Alfrik answers my shout with a quick counterargument—the only one who has ever granted Bell Cranell falna is Lady Freya. There is no trace of fabrication or doubt in his eyes as he states it like an immutable truth. I feel like I might keel over at any moment.
“Did you hit your head while training too much?”
“Or did some other familia cast a fearsome spell on you?”
“You’re the one in charge of watching after him, right, Hedin? You have any idea?”
“As if I can keep an eye on this fool around the clock.”
The younger prum brothers and Hedin are bickering as I subconsciously back away a step. An alien fear rises from the pit of my stomach.
These people are scary!
“Call Heith. She should be in Babel right now. Get her to check if there are any abnormalities.” The moment that order is given to the stunned maids, I give in to the terror overwhelming me and start running.
“!”
I can hear voices calling me back.
But who cares?
Ignore them. Don’t listen.
They’re first-tier adventurers. They can catch up and capture me in an instant if they feel like it.
So I have to run. Run away fast and escape this nauseating place as soon as I can!
I sprint out of the hall in search of an exit. Rushing through the palatial home, searching for the outside, I burst through the doors of the massive entry hall.
“Ngh…?!”
The first thing I see are warriors battling.
The top of the hill where the palace stands provides a commanding vantage point to look across the field. In the sea of green where rings of flowers sway in the breeze, there are dozens of adventurers clashing. The battle cries and weapons intertwine and split the blue skies.
I’ve heard of this place. This…is where Freya Familia conducts death matches day and night at their familia’s home! Their grueling internal struggle, the process of pushing themselves to ever greater heights in an attempt to earn the favor of their goddess.
It was one of the reasons why Freya Familia stood at the very top of the city to this day.
Gender, race, age—none of those things matter here. Everyone’s blood flows freely, their fighting spirit firm and unbowed as their blades meet again and again.
I’m overwhelmed by the sheer intensity and almost stop dead in my tracks.
What should I do?
I can’t escape without reaching the walls surrounding the training field. Is there some way to get out without being seen? No, it’s impossible.
And there’s no telling when Master or the others might catch up with me!
I sprint down the hill, hoping to force a breakthrough.
“Bell! Wandering out here so late! And unarmed to boot?! Are you looking down on us?!”
“…?!”
As I cut through the field past where they are fighting, a half-prum pulls back from the scrum to slash out at me. Wielding two blades, he calls out to me with the familiarity of someone who knows me very well.
“Don’t get ahead of yourself just ’cause you’re Level Four now! I’ll still go a few rounds with you and leave you begging for mercy like old times!”
I just barely manage to evade his attack as I break out in a cold sweat.
It’s terrifying to be treated so familiarly by someone I’ve never met before. Rather than face him head-on, I almost take a tumble as I slip past.
I pump my legs as hard as I can and make a break for it.
All of a sudden, the other warriors clashing nearby notice me and charge with their weapons in hand.
Fight!
Fight!
Fight Bell!
Feeling their eyes and rage focus on me, I shake my head, rejecting them even as they call my name. “I don’t know you! I don’t know you at all!”
I launch myself forward and leap over the imposing gate, where guards stand at the ready, clearing it in a single jump.
“Haggh, hagh, hagh…!”
I’m sprinting through the shopping district.
After breaking out of Freya Familia’s home, I find myself in the south of the city.
It seems like the Goddess Festival ended without a hitch, and members of the Guild are starting to help people clean up by carrying away the trolley carts packed full of harvest goods and taking down the street stalls. Seeing the vibrant and bountiful decorations disappearing evokes an emptiness befitting the end of a festival…but this isn’t the time to be dwelling on that.
I still haven’t caught my breath after escaping from the top-tier adventurers. Because I forced my way through, my clothes are torn here and there. I almost look like an escaped convict.
My heart is still pounding, and I can’t stop sweating. This slithering unease rising from the pit of my stomach makes my skin crawl.
I want to reassure myself as soon as possible. I want to forget this disgusting feeling as soon as I can.
That’s why I’m running to find the goddess and everyone.
To my home…!
“Agh?!”
Rushing forward in a desperate attempt to escape this unease and anxiety, I don’t look where I’m going and end up ramming into a passerby on the street.
I stumble a bit but catch myself.
The sturdy person I ran into also managed to avoid getting knocked down. Before I have a chance to frantically apologize, a very familiar voice raises a complaint.
“That hurt! Where’re you lookin’?!”
Mord!
Seeing a familiar face, I feel an inexplicable wave of relief wash over me.
The gruff-looking veteran adventurer is glaring at me just like he always does—right up until he recognizes me.
“R-Rabbit Foot?! From Freya Familia?!”
Fear seeps into his voice.
“ ”
I started to smile in relief, but my expression freezes in place. My cheek twitches awkwardly.
Not noticing my internal chaos, Mord collapses into apologies.
“I-I’m sorry! I didn’t realize it was you!”
“Mord, money! Your money!”
“Give him whatever you have on you and convince him to forgive you!”
His usual companions, Scott and Gyle, fly into a panic as well.
The reason is simple.
They’re scared of me—or rather, they’re scared of drawing the ire of the city’s strongest familia!
“Y-you’ve got it wrong! I’m not Freya Familia!”
“Wh-what are you talking about?! I-I’m begging ya here, please forgive me!”
“It’s not a matter of forgiveness or not! It’s me, Mord! Don’t you remember all the times you beat me up? All those weird things you taught me? And all those times you helped me?”
“I’ve never, ever done anything like that! Please don’t try to pick a fight with me!”
When I see how they’re looking at me like I’m a complete stranger, I start to lose it. I step forward, grabbing Mord’s stout shoulders, but no matter how much I plead, everything I say is misunderstood. In fact, Mord is whimpering as if to say that I’m the one who is misunderstanding things.
I can see in his eyes that he is well and truly terrified of me, a human significantly smaller than him. He’s barely holding himself together.
“Please forgive us!”
Gyle and Scott are doing their best to stop me while clearly getting more and more unnerved.
The people around us start to notice, and my position is getting more and more questionable.
“What are you doing?!”
As I stand there petrified like someone who wandered into the wrong neighborhood, a voice suddenly reaches my ears.
A single half-elf coming over to us.
I don’t how to react.
“We’re in the middle of cleaning up after the festival! What exactly is going on here?!”
She’s wearing a suit with black pants. Her glasses sit atop the familiar well-proportioned face, just like always. She steps away from the rest of her coworkers with a dignified air. She is the very model of an earnest Guild employee as she attempts to do her duty and bravely mediate the adventurer street dispute.
“Miss Eina!”
I shout her name.
If it really is her, then…
Miss Eina, who has watched over me from the moment I became an adventurer…Surely she of all people wouldn’t believe the crazy idea that I’m part of Freya Familia!
Her emerald eyes widen when I call out to her, and she flashes an awkward smile that instantly puts my heart at ease as she replies with a question.
“Pardon, but have we met somewhere before?”
Crack.
This time there’s no mistaking it.
I can almost hear the weak sound of something giving out, like glass cracking. My world has been turned upside down. My eyes can’t see clearly anymore.
Everything and everyone around me is twisting and turning.
“…….Y-you…don’t know me…?”
“Of course I do! There’s no one in this city who doesn’t know the name of the record holder. It’s just…I was surprised you knew my name.”
She smiles.
There’s no mistake. This is Miss Eina.
That’s the same smile I know so well. But she’s saying that she does not know me.
“…Mord and them, were messing with me…even though I’m a member of Hestia Familia, they…”
“…? I was not aware that you had converted, Mr. Cranell.”
She doesn’t call me Bell.
No, it must be because we’re out in public. She’s just maintaining her professionalism as a member of the Guild.
That’s all.
That has to be it…
“…You are my adviser, right?”
“Eh?! How could I possibly advise you?! In fact, Freya Familia makes a point of not using the adviser system…”
She denies it.
It’s a total rejection of what I know.
And she’s sure we’ve never met before.
“M-Mr. Cranell…? Is something the matter…?”
Mord and his friends catch their breath after I let him go. The people around us, including Miss Eina, are all looking concerned as I turn pale.
I don’t understand.
Why is my voice trembling?
Where am I?
What is this terrifying dungeon I’ve somehow stumbled into?
I don’t know. I don’t understand anything.
“…………..Wh…who am I?”
My mouth goes dry.
Like diving off the cliff, or stepping up to the noose, or casting aside my weapons in the face of an unbeatable monster, I finally ask the question that I’ve been avoiding this whole time.
Miss Eina has a confused look on her face as she replies like it’s obvious.
“You are Mr. Bell Cranell of Freya Familia.”
It feels like I just slammed into the canyon floor after taking a leap of faith.
“You received the blessing of Goddess Freya and achieved the world’s fastest level-up, demonstrating your heroic potential to all.”
The rope tightens around my neck. I stop breathing.
“As you stand on the verge of entering the ranks of the first-tier adventurers after half a year, no one would deny that you have earned the title of einherjar.”
Fearsome fangs and claws tear into my body, consuming every bit of me.
—And just like that, Bell Cranell came to a stop.
Who am I?
Where am I?
When am I? What happened? And why am I so cold?
Even with so many eyes watching, there isn’t a single person who knows me.
Not even the woman standing right here who’s always helped and supported me like an older sister.
The sacred flame covering my back crackles, burning in solitude.
“Well?” Alfrik asked inside the great hall Sessrúmnir, located deep within Freya Familia’s home, which Bell Cranell had recently fled.
Allen was tracking the boy, keeping him under observation. Alfrik and his brothers were sitting in their chairs, looking across the table at the white elf.
“…It’s proceeding more or less according to the goddess’s divine will,” Hedin announced as he adjusted his glasses. “Aside from that foolish rabbit, every person and deity has been charmed and had their memories altered.”
The three younger prums concealed a shudder at his emotionless response.
“Scary.”
“Yes, truly terrifying.”
“She is our goddess, but it’s dreadful still.”
And then they spoke in unison.
“““Because she could not twist Bell Cranell, she twisted the entire world instead.”””
That was the whole of it.
That was the source of what was isolating the boy, and the true form of the aggression that Freya had carried out.
“It’s understandable that Bell Cranell would be confused.”
“The entire last six months have effectively been erased.”
“Hestia Familia’s Bell has been erased from the memories of the populace and replaced with a version of him that is a member of our familia.”
That was the dominion of beauty, the culmination of its power. At times, it manipulated, at times it led to destruction, and at times it puppeted the enthralled. Beauty alone could transform the entire mortal realm even without resorting to using arcanum. It could even grasp people’s very souls.
Extreme beauty was said to be a thing that could bewitch with its mere presence.
“More precisely, it’s not so much altering memories as using charm to wish those memories into being. ‘Don’t acknowledge the human who was a follower of Goddess Hestia,’ ‘believe that Bell Cranell has always a member of Freya Familia’…the people and deities who have been enslaved by Lady Freya are merely following those orders.”
Alfrik shuddered as well as he corrected his brothers.
The charm of the goddess of beauty did not have the power to transform people, let alone the world. However, it could create loyal servants out of all those who had been enthralled.
Mortals and deities alike were deceiving not only Bell, but themselves as well in strict obedience to Freya’s royal decree.
It was essentially a form of autosuggestion.
But while the logic and process were different, the results were the same.
It was very much like every resident of Orario had their memories altered.
“Those friends with whom he shared joy and sorrow, those benefactors who had supported him from the shadows…they have all forgotten those eternal bonds and killed the boy who resides in their memories.”
Hegni, the only one standing, closed his eyes as he murmured.
“The hare has fallen into a wondrous land…a lonely world where no matter how far he might run, no one will come looking for him.”
“Ghhh?!”
Bell sprinted away from Eina and the group that had gathered around him.
Unable to face the reality before him, he gave in to a primal fear and was consumed by panic. He surrendered himself to the impulse to find someone, anyone, who knew him.
However…
“Look, isn’t that Freya Familia’s—”
“It’s Rabbit Foot!”
On every street, corner, avenue, and alleyway…the mood of the bustling city was distant and cold.
“Ghh…?!”
Whispers rippled through the crowd, like echoes in a forest.
Bell recognized the feeling.
He was now the focus of the same sort of attention that the masses often placed on the Sword Princess, the flower that bloomed so far out of reach. It was not remotely the sort of gaze that the Little Rookie had ever experienced before no matter how popular he got.
It wasn’t simply fear. Envy and excitement were also present.
The word for it was awe. The sort of unexaggerated awe that came with being one of the strongest followers.
No it’s not!
I’m just imagining things!
Screaming back at himself, Bell averted his eyes from the pedestrians, shopkeeps, and even adventurers who opened the way for him as he ran.
“Bell Cranell’s fate was decided from the moment Lady Freya decided to use her charm.”
Alfrik’s voice filled the Sessrúmnir.
On the final day of the Goddess Festival—yesterday—Freya felled Orario with her beauty.
“Her charm extended to all of Orario.”
Every person in Central Park who saw her, every person who heard her voice via the magic-stone speakers—they were all charmed. Those who were asleep or unconscious were not spared. The voice of the goddess of beauty could slip into their bodies and shake them to their core whether they were conscious or not.
The vast majority of people did not even realize they had been enslaved by beauty and were going about their lives none the wiser.
“I’m sure this must be a nightmare for him.”
“The entire world changed around him in the span of a single night.”
“It would be fair to feel just a little bit of pity for him.”
Dvalinn, Berling, and Grer spoke in the same voice.
“““After all, he doesn’t know a thing, so there’s no way to find out the truth or even begin to understand what’s going on around him.”””
“Why…why?!”
As expected, Bell could not control the bewilderment and unease eating away at him as he kept running.
A mere mortal incapable of fully understanding a deity could not begin to imagine a goddess bending the entire world to her will, transforming a whole city without even using arcanum.
Bell Cranell possessed an unblemished soul, but no matter how pure he was or how much he strove to grow, he would never be able to plumb the depths of a deity.
“Ah, Bell. What are you doing in a place like this?”
“Eh…? Wh-who?”
The person who finally managed to stop Bell was an unfamiliar, beautiful woman. Her hair was a faint red, and she was wearing a white outfit that resembled battle gear in design. Confused, Bell realized who she was.
“Who…? It’s me, Heith. You know, the healer who always heals those injuries you’re always getting. I’m out on an errand at the moment.”
There was a valkyrie emblem embroidered on the shoulder of her white outfit.
Freya Familia.
He turned pale, and her beautiful face took on an almost doll-like appearance in his eyes.
“I bought some sweets while I was out. Would you like one?…Wait, you’re not a fan of sweets, right? I should have bought something salty, too.”
Someone he did not know at all knew intimate details about him.
The terror that came with that realization far surpassed what he had felt earlier.
“Ugh, ahh…?!”
He involuntarily backed away and started running again.
The woman watched without emotion as the boy ran away from her.
“The power of charm that can overpower even other deities…We were prepared to fall under her charm as well, but…”
“More precisely, we were charmed. And then it was undone, thanks to Lady Freya’s ichor that resides within us.”
Freya’s charm was almost entirely indiscriminate.
Any who beheld her or heard her voice would fall under its sway. There was no method for limiting the effect or choosing not to target certain people.
That was why before they attacked Hestia Familia, when they heard Freya’s divine will, all of her followers had accepted their fate. They had demonstrated their loyalty and would not begrudge being twisted to her will if that was what their mistress so desired.
However, right now, the members of Freya Familia were able to recall information from before the change.
Hedin attempted to explain the process to Alfrik, asserting that their goddess must have activated her ichor, releasing them from her thrall using her divine power.
“But thanks to that, we can share in the setting our lady desires, so that’s convenient,” Dvalinn mused.
They had been charmed, had the setting Freya devised input into their memories, and were subsequently returned to their senses. Because of that, Freya Familia was perfectly capable of performing the role that Freya demanded. They could all act as if Bell Cranell were always one of them without having to expend any energy getting their stories straight.
“‘Bell Cranell came to Orario half a year ago.’”
“‘There he was picked out by Lady Freya, quickly grew in strength, and has currently reached Level Four.’”
“‘And both inside and outside our faction, Rabbit Foot has been the subject of speculation that he is under consideration to become one of the core members of Freya Familia.’”
That was the current story in Orario and the ordeal assailing Bell Cranell on all sides. The young adventurer would be unable to confirm anything as he was tossed about by the world around him.
“Ghh…Lord Miach! Nahza! Daphne! Cassandra!”
In his rambling dash, he encountered the precious comrades with whom he had fought alongside many times. A certain healer god was out with his whole familia to assist with the cleanup now that the festival was over.
“Mhm? If I recall, you are…”
“Freya Familia, Lord Miach…Also known as the record holder, this is Little Rookie…no, it’s Rabbit Foot now, isn’t it…?”
“What business does a candidate for the top tier of the city’s most powerful familia have with us?”
“—?!”
Miach cocked his head as if it were their first meeting.
Nahza looked at him the way she would at a stranger.
Daphne did not hide her wariness.
Bell had been battered by despair, leaving his whole body twitching as he set off at a run once again. In his rush to get away, he never noticed Cassandra, who turned pale and went speechless, as if seeing an impossible dream come true.
“Lord Takemikazuchi! Ouka! Chigusa!”
It wasn’t long before he found the war god and his familia intervening in an argument between the members of two familias. Bell ran over to them and frantically grabbing Chigusa’s shoulders.
“Eep?!”
“What are you doing?! Get away from Chigusa!”
“…One of Freya’s children? You seem to be behaving rather familiar. Have we met somewhere before?”
“…?!”
Chigusa recoiled from him.
Ouka swatted his hands away irately.
Takemikazuchi looked at him dubiously, observing him carefully, clearly on guard.
Even here Bell tasted despair.
He was gasping for air, and his heart was racing.
No one.
Not a single person knew the Bell Cranell who was part of Hestia Familia.
The reality was that even deities, supernatural beings, did not remember him.
The seed of doubt that he, a mere mortal, might be the one who was wrong began to sprout, cornering him even further.
Despite being a mortal, Bell alone had managed to resist the authority of Freya’s charm, and because he maintained his normalcy, he was branded a heretic in a world that had gone mad.
“This the first time I’ve seen the true power of her charm.”
“Lady Freya had always hidden such great power, never using it.”
“Naturally. It’s a deformation of the world, the same desecration of the mortal realm that the sublime empress so despises.”
Hegni firmly answered the younger prum brothers’ comments.
Freya Familia could easily crush ten thousand armies on the field.
However, their Goddess Freya could bring those same armies under her control without ever fighting them.
She could quite literally end everything if she was of a mind to do so.
Steal a throne, construct a paradise, rule over the whole of the mortal realm.
Everywhere her gaze or voice could reach, that was her domain.
The force of her charm could even ensnare her fellow deities, and it truly frightened them.
—A world-commanding witch beyond any beauty who ever brought a country to its knees.
That was the true form of Freya, the goddess of beauty.
However, despite possessing absolute power, Freya did not attempt to trample the world beneath her in order to amuse herself, but more than anything, out of a respect for the mortal realm.
She understood that her dominion was hollower and more boring than anything.
What value was there in things that were gained through no effort? And just how much emptiness was that worth?
A charmed world that merely moved as she wished was a dead world.
That was why Freya had never attempted to bind the mortal realm to her will before.
It was taboo for her.
“…However, she broke that prohibition. That is simply how much she desired that fool…Bell Cranell.”
There was a certain piece of information that she had received from a former follower of her fellow goddess of beauty Ishtar.
“Charm does not work on Bell Cranell.”
He was unmoved by Syr, nor would he submit to the love of the goddess. Because of that, instead of changing him, Freya changed everything around him.
She twisted the world to isolate him.
In order to claim him. To make him hers in both body and mind.
The Sessrúmnir fell silent at Hedin’s words.
The predominant feeling in most of the warriors’ eyes was jealousy. The rest displayed only unwavering loyalty.
The elves were silent, eyes closed as the four prums responded in unison.
““““All shall be as the goddess wills it.””””
“Goddess! Everyone!”
The boy finally met Hestia Familia for the second time.
“Nghh!”
Bell!
The moment he appeared before her, Hestia, who remembered everything, wanted to shout to him.
Hestia Familia was walking along the spiderweb of streets that branched off from the main road in the southwest part of the city.
Lilly, Welf, Mikoto, Haruhime, and Hestia were helping out with the cleanup after the Goddess Festival, just like so many others—or rather Hestia was using that as a cover to investigate how the world had been rewritten, and she was falling deeper into despair the more she learned.
That was when Bell appeared before them.
As if drawn to each other, like two lonely sparks of sacred flame, they succeeded in the worst possible chance meeting.
“White hair, red eyes…Freya Familia’s rookie star?”
“Wh-what does the city’s strongest familia want with our tiny one?!”
Welf looked suspicious, and Lilly’s voice betrayed her agitation as she responded cautiously. Bell looked pained, as if a spear had just been thrust through his heart.
Hestia also felt a sharp pain in her heart, as if she had been cut by a sword.
Bell’s red eyes wavered, as if crying unseen tears while desperately searching for his place in the world. All he wanted was to return to the family that now looked at him like an enemy.
“E…every…one…”
Ahhh, I have to rush over to him.
I have to hug him close.
He’s trembling like a lamb.
This must hurt him so much!
But—she could not.
“L-Lilly…! You remember when you became my supporter, right…?”
“Lilly would never have become your supporter!”
The prum girl rejected him, not understanding what he was saying at all.
The boy’s heart was grievously wounded by the words of his first comrade, the partner with whom he had first formed a party.
“Welf! You made weapons for me…!”
“Sorry to say, I don’t recall ever taking a request from you. And I doubt you’ve ever held something I’ve made.”
The blacksmith pushed back coldly as if being sold a bill of fake goods.
The boy instinctively looked down at his body, but he did not have any of Welf’s equipment on him.
“Mikoto! During the war game…when you helped me…!”
“…I don’t remember Freya Familia ever having a war game…”
The rigidly dutiful Far Eastern girl expressed bewilderment, certain that there was no reason she would have ever interacted with him.
Even though he had helped her save her old friend standing beside her, her bluish-purple eyes didn’t contain even a trace of recognition.
“Haruhime…! All the times we talked about heroic epics…!”
“P-perhaps we met in the pleasure quarter…? However, I’m no longer a prostitute…”
The renart girl was clearly scared.
Possibly because of the pain and repressed memories of her time as a prostitute, she trembled and hid behind Mikoto, scared of a man she was meeting for the first time.
With every word and action, they were badly hurting Bell.
Hestia wanted to vomit.
Her familia was hurting that precious boy so terribly.
She felt like she might slump to the ground and scream until her voice gave out.
Stop already!
Please stop!
Please don’t hurt that boy any further!
Hestia desperately wanted to cry out.
But even so—she could do nothing.
“Ghh…!”
Her eyes alone beheld two shadows.
Perched atop a nearby building and positioned in a dark alley to the side respectively, the boaz warrior and the cat person who was violence incarnate were even now watching Hestia.
—Hestia was in the exact same situation as Bell.
She alone had not fallen to Freya’s charm.
She, one of the three vestal goddesses of the heavens. As a deity of purity and chastity, like Athena and Artemis, she had the power to reject the goddess of beauty’s control.
The reason that Hermes could so confidently state that she alone could resist in the moments before Freya subjugated the city was because she was the virgin goddess Hestia. With great exertion, she was capable of neutralizing the power of Freya’s charm.
And because of that, she was being watched.
They’re watching…no, they’re telling me! If I try to reveal anything to Bell, they’re going to kill everyone…!
The city’s strongest and fastest adventurers were revealing their presence in a way that only Hestia would notice.
The former had been watching Hestia all morning, and the latter had been tailing Bell since he left Freya Familia’s home.
Their cool, placid eyes were a warning and a message. If Hestia broke her promise with Freya, they would kill Welf, Lilly, Mikoto, and Haruhime without hesitation.
Allen was especially dangerous.
While he had sworn loyalty to Freya, he clearly had no patience for the farce he was being forced to endure. Even if killing Hestia Familia broke Bell and guaranteed that his soul would never truly become Freya’s, that was no skin off his back.
Hestia wasn’t allowed any contact or communication with Bell, public or otherwise.
Until Bell’s conversion or until his heart willingly turned to Freya, she would always be under watch.
“………”
She desperately wanted to walk over to Bell and hug him, but she could not allow him to realize that. Hestia stared at Bell, who was deep in his own struggle.
He looked like he was on the verge of losing what little strength he had left. No matter how much he asked or how much he pleaded, everyone would reject him. The very act of reaching out would only harm him further, and his mind was already near collapse.
There was not even a shadow of the powerful and reliable Level 4 adventurer left.
His fight with the minotaur, the deadly struggle on the eighteenth floor, the war game, the conflict with Ishtar Familia, the Xenos incident, and the excursion to the deep levels—he could never have overcome all those adventurers, trials, and tribulations by himself.
Bell Cranell had overcome them with the help of his comrades.
Even now, everyone spoke of how miraculous Bell’s growth had been and heaped praise on him for his accomplishments.
But that was all wrong.
One look past the adventurer facade, Bell was still just a fourteen-year-old boy—a human like any other. And Hestia was the only one who understood that.
He could be hurt and confused when he had no one to turn to. Abandoned and alone, he would become truly vulnerable.
Bell was terribly scared of losing the people in his life after having been separated from his grandfather. The reason Bell had stood back up no matter how much he suffered was because of the support of so many irreplaceable people.
Because of all the people he had met along the way.
And having those same connections rejected at such a fundamental level without explanation was making Bell emotionally unstable.
“…Goddess…”
There was only one place left for him to turn to in the end.
His red eyes were looking at her.
He was pinning his final hope on Hestia. His gaze seemed so fragile, so weak, that it might shatter if anyone so much as breathed on him.
Her hands were trembling, hidden behind Welf and the others.
Everything inside her withered, like a bone-dry desert.
The five members of Hestia Familia clustered together and stood apart from the boy wearing battle gear—Freya Familia’s uniform, leaving a deep and impassable line between them.
“…Let’s go…everyone…”
What expression was she making right now?
Had she managed to erase her emotions, successfully hiding her feelings from Bell and wounding him even more in the process?
“You shouldn’t get involved with Freya Familia…”
Had her performance been enough to satisfy Freya’s followers?
“Ahhh—”
Thud.
She could hear the sound as the boy slumped to his knees as if the last few threads holding him up had finally snapped.
But Hestia failed to notice as she was already walking away.
She was too focused on making sure her mask did not slip as Lilly and the others followed, obeying their patron goddess’s will.
“Goddess…Goddeeeeess!”
The boy’s sobbing voice pierced her. Haruhime and the others turned back in shock, but Hestia did not dare.
Her trembling fists were drenched in sweat.
No—what she assumed to be sweat was blood. Her nails had broken the skin. She did not know how long she had been bleeding, but she did not care.
Hestia believed she had no right to cry.
As a feeling of disgust welled up within her, the goddess of the hearth had turned away the hand of a supplicant for the first time ever.
She had rejected the hand of the child she loved more than any other.
I don’t remember anything that happened after that.
Barely conscious, almost like a mindless puppet, I only just realize I’ve been brought back to Freya Familia’s home at some point. The only thing the vague jumble of memories can tell me is that Allen took me by the hand.
I’m filled with this emptiness I don’t know how to describe. It’s like…a hole opened up in my heart. By the order of Master and the others, I get my body checked.
“This is a curse.”
That’s the first thing I’m told after a long examination.
“…A curse…?”
“That’s right. You’ve been implanted with false information and are experiencing a sort of confusion.”
I’m sitting in the chair I was put down into as the healer explains her diagnosis.
I can barely squeeze out a hoarse voice, my head still not really moving.
My body goes cold…and unease numbs my limbs, like a warmth spreading through my body.
“Wait…Wait a second…that’s…”
I can’t accept it.
Of course I can’t.
No one would be able to just nod their head and quietly agree if someone told them that all of their memories were fake and that they had forgotten their real self.
There’s no way I’m a member of Freya Familia…!
“Considering you are cursed, it might be a little harsh to say this, but…it would be for the best if you accept reality sooner rather than later. I’m sure you experienced some painful interactions with a lot of people, right?”
“Th-that’s…”
“There are many examples of curses that disrupt and disturb memories. And without some specific ability, there is no guarding against curses.”
I can’t respond.
There’s nothing to say.
The healer is closing off every escape route I might have in a kind and gentle voice, but she’s right. No one knew me.
No matter how much I tried to assure myself that what I know is real, everyone I met rejected me.
And if the world has decided to deny me, then even if I actually am right, I would still be wrong. If everyone in the world agrees, then white is black, light is dark, and sanity is madness.
I can’t breathe. My chest hurts.
The healer’s red hair shifts as she shrugs kindly.
“All that being said, having false memories of someone else implanted in you is particularly cruel. Where did you get such a nasty curse?”
Curse…? Is that really what this is…?
My memory, my time with my goddess, all the people I had met…that was all a lie?
I can hear a limp sound of something slumping over as the world in front of me grows dark.
No, it’s not the world. It’s my vision.
My eyes.
My heart.
“For the moment, we have to report this to Lady Freya.”
“Yes, we must uncover whatever villain would make a fool of our familia and make an example of them.”
“Where is Lady Freya?”
“Babel, I’m sure. With the boar.”
We are in an infirmary room like the reception hall of a castle. Along with me and the healer are all the first-tier adventurers of Freya Familia from this morning.
Master, Hegni, Allen, and the Gulliver brothers.
While I’m losing my mind, the prum brothers are talking with each other. Their gaze turns to the healer.
“Heith, hurry up and fix it.”
“If it’s a curse, then breaking it is a healer’s job, right?”
“Please don’t be so unreasonable. My specialty is treating wounds. Curses are well outside my wheelhouse…And I doubt this curse can be broken by your average healer. I don’t know if even Dian Cecht Familia would be able to handle it.”
The healer, Heith, answers with a grudging shake of her head.
Their conversation almost seems like it was planned out in advance, but there aren’t any inconsistencies. It doesn’t look like an act, and it doesn’t feel like a lie, either.
If anything, it’s almost like they had shared their memories before this conversation currently taking place around me.
“Dian Cecht Familia…Dea Saint, huh.”
“I don’t like the idea of owing an outsider any favors, but there’s no other way.”
“I don’t like the idea of going to that much trouble for a rabbit that screwed the pooch, but there’s no other way.”
“And he’s Lady Freya’s favorite.”
““““Argh, who asked you?””””
These people are saying whatever they want about me, but I can’t respond. I still want to reject the reality in front of me with every fiber of my being.
Master and Hegni are watching me silently, while Allen looks like he might snort in annoyance at any moment.
Finally, the healer…Heith reaches her hand out to me.
“It’s my responsibility if I can’t heal you, so I’ll be the one to go make the request. We’ll get Dea Saint to examine you and pray she can break the curse.”
I stare at her hand reaching out to take mine.
…If it’s broken, then what?
I absolutely don’t want to believe it, but if, hypothetically, I really am cursed right now…would I forget everything if the curse was broken?
Goddess, Miss Eina, Lord Miach, Nahza, Aiz, Syr, Lyu, Mia Ahnya Chloe Runoa Lilly Lady Demeter Lady Hephaistos Welf Tiona Tione Bete Finn Riveria Gareth Mikoto Ouka Chigusa Lord Hermes Asfi Lefiya Mord Gyle Scott Bors Lord Takemikazuchi Lady Loki Daphne Cassandra Haruhime Aisha Ruvis Dormul Rai Fina Ruu Mother Maria Winne everyone everyone everyone!
If I found out that everyone I’ve ever known and everything we’ve done together is all fake…if that was all a lie, then…?!
No.
No!
NO!
Before I realize it, I leap out of the chair, swatting away her outstretched hand.
“Oww…”
“Ah…I-I’m so…sorry…”
I reject her, out of fear of getting my real memories back—no, out of fear of losing my memories.
I’m sure that’s how it looks to Alfrik and everyone else around me.
Heith, who is looking at me carefully as I stand there petrified, finally sighs.
“This is a serious case.”
The corridors of the home really are elegant and ostentatious, just like a royal palace.
From the windows that rise taller than I stand to the pillars embedded with rich statues and a beautiful inner courtyard that looks like it might’ve actually been cut out of the heavens, the interior design is based on a grand and magnificent white color. It’s almost like I’m wandering through a dream I can’t wake up from.
After leaving the infirmary, I’m walking down empty halls, unable to speak, and my expression still lifeless.
“This is your room.”
“………”
“Stay here until Lady Freya returns.”
Master stops at the door and turns to look at me.
My room is the same room that I had woken up in earlier.
I have no choice but to go into the room he led me to. I don’t have anywhere else to go.
Even if I went back to Hearthstone Manor, no one would welcome me in.
No…the real reason is actually…
This isn’t your home.
Get out!
I’m scared of being told that.
I wouldn’t be able to stand back up again if I heard that.
“…Master…”
I look up, pleading for some sort of support from the elf.
But he does not say anything to me.
His coral eyes looking at me through his glasses seem to be saying “I have nothing to say to you if you’ve lost your memories.”
My head hangs weakly as I look at the ground, walk past Master, and enter the room.
“………”
There is nothing missing. It’s the sort of room that might be expected for a member of the city’s largest faction.
The room’s interior is spacious, of course, the ceiling unnecessarily high, and it’s hard to even imagine what might be missing among the furnishings. To have a room like this after being a member of such a small and insignificant familia…there is no way I can relax. The picture inside an extravagant frame on the dresser contains only me.
But at the same time, I notice something.
I felt it when I woke up this morning, that the room has a lived-in feeling to it. There are traces of someone living here.
It’s fairly well kept, though not perfectly tidy.
There are items retrieved from the Dungeon displayed with pride on a shelf.
Several heroic epics that I told someone I loved.
There are all sorts of clues strewn about, as if a copy of me lived here once.
Is this really where Bell Cranell lived…?
“Ugh…!”
I stagger and press both of my hands to my mouth, fighting back a wave of nausea.
After retreating a few steps, I look up, greeted by the figure of an adventurer in Freya Familia’s uniform reflecting back at me from the mirror on the wall.
“Ghh…”
I’m deathly pale, and my lips are twitching as I turn to the closet.
Grabbing the doorknob, I slowly open the door.
“…My gear?”
There are clothes stored there along with several pieces of equipment.
A knife, a baselard, a shortsword, and a greatsword.
For protection, there are light armor, gauntlets, greaves, and various spirit cloths.
…All the sorts of gear that I’ve used.
My hand trembles as I pick up the knife sitting on a rack. It’s scary how well the grip fits my hand.
It’s a custom-order weapon designed to perfectly fit the size of my palm and the length of my fingers. The armor is the same. It’s all precisely measured.
A full kit perfectly suited for the adventurer Bell Cranell is lined up before me.
But there is no gear inscribed with Welf’s mark.
And there is no Hestia Knife.
“…Uuaaagh…”
My voice quivers, and my throat threatens to clamp shut right then and there.
It’s not just the gear. There’s no trace of the me who belonged in Hestia Familia. Only the Bell Cranell of Freya Familia.
I feel sick. My legs start to tremble.
A me I don’t recognize is staring back through the mirror.
I can’t slump to the floor or even collapse on the bed. I just stand there beneath a red light shining through the window.
Outside, the sun is setting in the west, and twilight is coming.
Hestia was walking by herself.
She had separated from her followers. They seemed worried, so she had lied about having business with a god that she couldn’t put off.
“Bell…? Who are you talking about, Lady Hestia?”
That was what Lilly had responded after they had woken up last night.
After Freya’s alteration, Hestia had crouched, struggling to steady her senses. That had been without doubt the most intense and destructive charm ever unleashed on the mortal realm, and even with the force of her vestal divinity, she had still been shaken by its passing. When she was finally able to stay steady on her own two legs, the sun was starting to set, and everything had already changed.
The people around her were enjoying the festival as if nothing had happened, and Hermes was nowhere to be seen. The gravestones of weapons that had been erected around her were replaced by the unconscious bodies of her followers.
When she dashed to their sides in a panic, she discovered they weren’t hurt at all. Shortly after, they started waking up.
It didn’t take long to realize they had forgotten everything that had happened.
About the attack by Freya Familia…and about Bell.
“For Freya’s power to be this…”
Hestia was stunned, realizing that all of Orario had been transformed into Freya’s sandbox.
After returning to their home, she tried to confirm the situation in a way that did not rouse her familia’s suspicions, but in each case, Bell had disappeared entirely from their memories. Lilly had been saved from Soma Familia by Welf, Welf had made Mikoto’s weapons, and Mikoto had saved Haruhime all by herself. Their memories were all conveniently modified, all missing the one crucial figure linking them all together, and there were more than a few contradictions, but none of them noticed any of those inconsistencies. They continued to mistakenly believe that there was nothing strange about it at all.
Their thoughts were all being forced to conform to a strict rule set, a clear sign of the aftereffects of being charmed.
None of them felt anything off about the current Hestia Familia even though it could not possibly have come into being without Bell.
Hestia and Bell’s familia no longer existed.
“Gah…!”
Paying no heed to people around her still busy with cleaning up after the festival, Hestia clutched her head and almost screamed. Rage, sadness, emptiness, powerlessness—she wanted to vent it all in a violent shout.
Bell had surely experienced that same urge countless times already.
Put into the same position he must have experienced every time he agonized over such adversity, Hestia could finally grasp the depth of his pain, but that was little comfort. The boy whom she so wanted to understand was not there anymore.
“Hestia? What happened? What are you doing in a place like this?”
“…! Hermes!”
Hestia’s face swung up when she heard that voice.
There stood the god she had wanted to meet when she had been out with her familia and investigating things under the guise of helping the festival clean up.
“Hermes…about yesterday…”
“Hm? Yesterday?”
“Umm, do you…happen to remember anything…?”
“You’re being a little vague. There’s no need to hold back with me. We know each other better than that.”
Hestia, who had not been charmed and still retained her senses, was even now being watched. And she would probably continue to be watched going forward as well to prevent her from endangering the sandbox that Freya wanted to maintain.
Surely someone was listening to this very conversation. She had to watch what she said. Hermes was all smiles while Hestia carefully chose her words and finally asked her question.
“…Do you know Bell?”
“Bell? Come on now, of course I know him.”
For a brief moment, Hestia felt a rush of hope when she heard him reply in that bright, cheerful tone.
“He’s one of Freya’s followers. The record holder who’s the talk of the city!”
“Ghh…!”
And it was immediately replaced by despair.
“Reaching Level Four in half a year is unheard of. But it’s a beacon of light that could signal that the prayers of the mortal realm, and even our greatest wish, might be fulfilled. The world demands a hero, right?”
Hermes, who had given her advice and support up until right before the world changed, the trickster god who knew the identity of the parent who had raised Bell. She had approached him in the hope that if it was him, then just maybe—but it was not meant to be.
Talking so cheerfully about Freya’s possession, he had clearly also fallen prey to her charm. Just as he had feared in the moments before the city’s alteration.
“When the time comes, give this to me!”
Hestia clenched the fragment of torn paper hidden in her hand—the note Hermes left himself.
If I mess up the timing, you’ll become my enemy…This is what you meant, isn’t it Hermes? You, Hephaistos, and all the others…The moment I’m out of line, you’ll end up turning against me…?
The people and deities under the influence of Freya’s charm would erase anyone and anything that posed a danger to Freya’s sandbox. If Hestia handed Hermes the note that he had furiously written to himself right now, the moment he became suspicious, his familiar expression would disappear and he would capture Hestia. Hermes had foreseen that exact scenario.
But that meant there was no one she could rely on.
Hestia had no way to break out of the situation at present.
Just like Bell, she was all alone, isolated in the palm of Freya’s hand.
It was mate in one on the board.
“That’s Freya for you, though, finding a follower like that. They don’t call her a collector of souls for nothing.”
“………”
“Still, though, I’m surprised. I wouldn’t have expected you to talk about him so familiarly.”
“………”
“When did you get to know him that well…Hm, Hestia? What’s wrong? You aren’t looking so good.”
Hermes started to look suspicious after talking so cheerfully.
It hurt to even look him in the eye, so Hestia looked down.
“…It’s…nothing…Nothing at all…”
“Hestia?”
“Sorry, Hermes…I’m going now.”
She left Hermes with lifeless, wraithlike footsteps.
Wandering the lively streets was painful. She hated the cheerful laughs erupting around her. A city that didn’t know her Bell just made her sad.
And Bell had been hurting all this time.
That fact alone was unbearably heartrending.
She was trapped in a dead-end alley, with something so very precious to her stolen away. Unable to advance in any direction, Hestia was at a total loss on what to do.
Then she noticed something.
“…That’s…”
When she glanced up, she felt like she saw a figure she recognized far, far above her.
Hestia stopped moving, and after a brief, uneasy moment of hesitation, she started heading in that direction.
Remembering the path they had taken—her, Bell, and one other—she climbed the stairs that reached the top of the enormous city walls.
“………”
She was standing there alone.
Her golden hair rustling in the autumn breeze.
It was a beautiful yet lonely scene.
“Wallenwhatsherface…”
“…Lady Hestia…?”
It would be funny if it were not so tragic.
If it were not for Bell, the two of them would have had nothing to do with each other, or perhaps they would have had an entirely different relationship, and yet they were speaking with each other in the same way as they had just the other day.
It was so absurd, such an unreasonable situation, that Hestia tried to laugh, but she could not bring herself to do it.
“What are you doing here?”
“…I don’t know…”
“You don’t know?”
“Yes…I don’t know…why I came here…or what I was hoping to find…or who I was hoping to meet…”
Aiz seemed to be struggling with that question herself as she answered.
Sensing the undercurrent of her emotions, Hestia was hopeful for a moment that she might possibly remember Bell, but she was soon disappointed.
Her beautiful golden eyes were etched with a glimmer of silver.
That silver gleam was proof that Aiz had fallen prey to the charm, too.
Considering even deities had been enslaved by it, too, there was no logical reason to think a mortal might have escaped the yoke, no matter how special she might be.
Hestia scolded herself.
Quit getting your hopes up and do what you need to do.
“…Do you know Bell?”
“…? Do you mean Freya Familia’s Bell Cranell…?”
Hearing her refer to Bell that way was beyond disheartening.
She was surely still being watched; Warlord was out there observing her every action in a way that the Sword Princess wouldn’t notice.
Hestia forced herself to continue even with that knowledge.
“I’m asking you…please don’t show yourself in front of Bell.”
She did not know how Freya’s eyes and ears would judge that comment.
But she could not let that stop her.
Since she could not change anything anymore, the least Hestia could do was prevent Bell from suffering as much as possible.
If he were pushed away by Aiz, the idol he adored, he might not be able to resist the goddess of beauty’s charm anymore. He might lose the protection of his skill and fall right into Freya’s clutches.
Hestia was worried about that, terrified of it.
“Me…?”
“Yes…”
“Why…?”
“I can’t tell you…”
“………”
“………”
“………”
“………”
“……Okay…”
“Sorry…and thank you.” Hestia’s voice was barely audible as she stared down at the dark shadow stretching along the stone pavement below.
Outside the city wall, the sky was already growing dark.
The fleeting twilight lit the girl and goddess alike.
Inside the city walls, the sun was already set.
The setting sun painted everything a beautiful, heartrending crimson.
Many stopped what they were doing to admire the beauty of the moment.
“…There it is. The profile of Bell Cranell.”
In the northwest of the city, Guild Headquarters on Adventurer’s Way.
Eina pulled several documents from a shelf full of paperwork and folders.
Something seemed strange about Mr. Cranell when I met him…There should be no reason for me to ever interact with the city’s most promising new adventurer, but…he called my name so desperately…
The Bell Cranell she had met during the day was still on her mind. She couldn’t stop thinking about his deathly pale expression, so she had gotten permission from Misha and come back to headquarters alone. She didn’t believe what he was saying, but she decided to look into his records.
“…Still, what could it be? I shouldn’t know him…but I can’t seem to let it go…”
More than anything, it felt like there was something in the depths of her heart that was pleading with her.
It was a maddening impulse that she could not explain. An ominous, mysterious feeling that she knew she had to act on. She pursed her lips as she moved away from the shelf.
There was hardly anyone left in Guild Headquarters. Everyone was busy with cleaning the streets.
Both the file room she had left and the office where her desk was located were deserted. Thanks to that, there was no one to scold her for flipping through the files while she walked to her desk.
“Bell Cranell…Fourteen years old, male. Human. Registered as an adventurer half a year ago, no indications of having received falna before entering Orario. Currently a member of Freya Familia…”
Sensing the presence of a small handful of people staffing the counters in the lobby and a few other workers scattered around the building, she skimmed the adventurer’s profile.
It was all exactly as she remembered. There was nothing strange about his files or the sketch of his likeness accompanying them.
Wait.
“…There are signs it’s been altered…?”
Eina had decided to sit down and examine the documents closely, but she stopped and stared at the papers, not even realizing she had reached her desk already.
She could see some traces of various modifications, including the section detailing the familia he belonged to.
If she didn’t know better, she would have suspected a member of the Guild had swiftly rewritten the documents during the night.
Was that a real possibility…Was someone faking Bell’s history?
Was he not mistaken when he called her name?
Just as Eina had that thought…
“—No, there aren’t any signs of modifications. Mr. Cranell has always been part of Freya Familia—”
A silver gleam flashed in her emerald eyes as she murmured those hollow words to herself.
Her expression blank, Eina couldn’t properly see what was right before her eyes.
The charm Freya had placed on the entire city was simply that powerful. It did not steal away their free will and humanity. Even though Freya had decided not to hold back and do whatever it took to make Bell hers, she had no intention of turning everyone into lifeless puppets.
Even as she scorned her work, that was the final line she refused to cross out of respect for the mortal realm. The people of the city would be able to continue to going about their lives to a certain degree.
The rules she had laid down were simple—misinterpret anything regarding Bell Cranell.
That was all.
And if they felt any suspicion about the setting Freya had created or felt there was something strange about an aspect of his path that she had not managed to alter, those stray thoughts that conflicted with her rule would be forcibly corrected. Or rather, the people in her thrall would correct themselves. Just like Eina had, they would not even notice their senses being twisted.
Freya’s control did not even allow them to realize what was being altered. In that sense, her plan was airtight.
“…Ugh…”
However—
Eina’s head ached. It felt like she was being split in two.
Her feelings toward the boy she had helped raise for the past half a year warred with the power of Freya’s charm. The repeated episodes of cognitive dissonance came with a heavy cost, and it caused Eina to stagger.
“Agh…Oh no…”
The stack of books on her desk collapsed, scattering all over the floor.
Her thoughts still unsteady, Eina frantically started to clean up the mess.
Not understanding why she had so many things scattered all around haphazardly when she was usually so neat, she picked up a book…
“…Huh?”
Time stopped. She slowly blinked and looked at the cover again.
The Koine written on the cover said, BELL CRANELL’S ADVISER JOURNAL.
Eina always kept a record of the adventurers she advised.
In order to track all records of their activity in the Dungeon and for future reference to make sure that none of her adventurers died. The journals for the elf Ruvis and dwarf Dormul were lying somewhere in her apartment, too.
So why did this journal have Bell Cranell’s name on it?
She didn’t understand. Her thoughts came to a screeching halt. She was gasping for air. It was unmistakably her handwriting. Why did she have something like that? And why had she subconsciously tried to throw it away along with that pile of documents? Why had she tried to make it disappear?
Why?
She didn’t know. She didn’t understand.
But her trembling hands slowly opened it.
After forcibly negotiating with the upper levels of the Guild, I’ve become Bell Cranell’s—Bell’s adviser. Rose and the others are betting on him. While he may not have any talent as an adventurer…I won’t let him die! Just like always, I’m making a journal starting today.
The pen strokes describing her first encounter with the boy overflowed with annoyance.
It recorded how she had lectured him on the first day they’d met, when she had given him the Guild-provided gear.
I can’t believe him! Not listening to a word I said and going all the way to the fifth floor?! Not only did he almost get himself killed but he even wound up running around the city covered in blood! Bell is a meek boy, but he has moments where he gets too ahead of himself. I’ll have to watch him even more closely. Still, though, falling for the Sword Princess on first sight…is he going to be okay?
She flipped through page after page.
Even when she erupted in righteous fury, her notes were always filled with concern for him.
Defeating a minotaur by himself and reaching Level 2…this doesn’t make any sense. But that boy just might end up being an amazing adventurer after all. At the same time, I’m terrified he really might get himself killed over nothing if I take my eyes off him…You always put me on edge, Bell.
This time it was about the boy’s level up, the anticipation and excitement, and also the pervasive unease. Here was the record of a boy that Eina did not know. The charm quickly went to work.
To her eyes, the records in the journal ceased to refer to Bell regardless of what was on the page.
I raised my hand against him for the first time. Attacking an adventurer, becoming hated by the city, and not telling me anything. I slapped his cheek like a fool. Even though I should be the adult. I acted like a child. But…it’s lonely. It’s so mortifying, Bell. I want to help you. If something is troubling you, then…I want to support you.
But her hand refused to stop turning the pages.
She could see spots where it looked like droplets had splotched the ink.
And at the same time, tears were falling quietly from her emerald eyes.
I can’t. I can’t anymore. I harbor a corruption unbefitting the elf blood running through my veins. And it’s because of an adventurer I’m charged with advising of all people…! It’s unpardonable! Shameless! And I’m supposed to be a Guild employee, the ones who keep business and personal separate above all! Apologize! Apologize to Goddess Hestia! Ahhhh, mother, please scold me. Please hold me in judgment, Lady Riveria. I mustn’t embrace these feelings, and yet…
I love him.
Her eyes were pouring.
She could not even register who the boy written of in the journal was, but the tears did not stop.
There was no sadness, joy, unease, or even a smile on her face. She was expressionless as the tears continued to fall.
It’s too late now, but I realized that I don’t know anything about Bell outside of his adventuring. Also, when did this turn into a love diary?! The Dungeon records are still being recorded properly, but!!!! Graaaaaah!…But that’s just how much I [frantic eraser marks]
…I don’t want to forget. Whatever may come. Even if he dies. Or even if I die before him…I don’t want to forget these feelings.
Eina turned the page.
She kept reading, crying all the while without understanding anything.
And when she attempted desperately to reach out for the feeling deep in her heart that was still pleading with her, she heard a voice.
“Still seeking it out even though you cannot even recognize what it is you want…Truly intriguing, but that’s a miscalculation on my part.”
“!”
A hand reached over from beside her, picking up the book.
Eina turned her head in shock to see a person—no, a goddess—standing right beside her, cloaked in a robe to hide herself. Peering beneath the hood, she saw smooth, alabaster skin. And then seeing the silver, jewellike eyes, Eina gasped, realizing who it was.
“G-goddess Freya…?”
Ignoring Eina’s confusion at her presence, Freya confirmed the contents of the book that Eina had been riffling through so intently.
“It would be one thing to miss something like this if the target was one individual, but with an indefinite, wide-scale charm, gaps are bound to appear…particularly around those who had especially strong feelings toward him. It’s good I noticed.”
The goddess murmured to herself before suddenly looking up.
“For a powerless girl like you to be able to resist me…I’m jealous. It’s almost as if you’ve formed a bond with Bell.”
Freya smiled.
It was a quiet and enchanting smile.
Eina felt a chill run down her spine for some reason. She couldn’t move.
“I’ll be taking this.”
“Ah…”
“It’s okay. I won’t throw it away. I promise.”
Clutching the book to her chest, Freya took a step away.
Eina immediately tried to extend a hand after her, but she was stopped by a silver gaze. That alone caused her body to spasm.
Eina had no way to know, but it was a powerful, direct reapplication of Freya’s charm.
“My children will come later to take that pile of documents. You should go back now. Forget all of this.”
“………Yes, ma’am.”
Glancing down at the books scattered at her feet, Freya turned her back.
Entranced and obedient to her beauty, Eina nodded emotionlessly.
No lamps were turned on. The room was lit only by the fading rays of the setting sun.
Eina stood there limply, and once the goddess had disappeared from sight, she murmured quietly like someone slowly waking.
“What was I doing…? I have to get back to Misha and the others…”
And, of course…
“Huh…? Why am I crying…?”
…Eina had lost the reason why tears were streaming down her cheeks.
Click. Click.
Footsteps echoed on the dark stairs before sinking into the darkness below.
Holding the half-elf’s book, Freya descended the stairs without being stopped by anyone. And at the end of the stairway, she reached the underground altar, where four torches burned. The stone chamber resembled an ancient temple.
“Unsurprisingly, it seems I could not bend you, Ouranos.” Freya flashed an oddly sweet smile at the old god sitting atop his large stone throne in the center of the hallowed space. “In addition to your position as one of the great gods, you are protected by this underground altar. My charm could not reach you. In fact, I can’t even say whether voices from aboveground can even be heard here, no matter how loud.”
“…Freya…”
The towering god replied solemnly, the light of rationality shining in his blue eyes.
He looked down from his seat at the goddess of beauty, who had approached without concern, knowing full well that the god before her was not under her sway.
“Do you intend to charm me as well?”
Unlike during the Goddess Festival yesterday, she was already inside his chamber and incredibly close. If she used her charm now, even a formidable deity like him would be unable to resist. From the moment he had been unable to prevent her from entering his chamber, she controlled his fate.
“Of course not. You are more crucial to the safety of Orario than any other being. If my seduction caused a disruption in your prayers, I would lose everything.”
“………”
“Besides…Hee-hee, I doubt your expression would change in the slightest, even if I did charm you.”
Freya laughed teasingly as Ouranos’s eyes screwed up tight.
Orario was the lid on the great pit that endlessly spewed out monsters, and Ouranos, its founding god who offered up prayers to the Dungeon, was both the most crucial deity in the entire city and the keystone upon which the whole mortal realm rested. Were his prayers to be disrupted, it was entirely possible the destruction of Orario might follow.
In other words, from the start, Freya had never intended to charm Ouranos.
The downfall of the city of heroes could not be allowed.
Only wicked deities whose end goal was absolute destruction and ruin would desire such a thing.
No matter how much Freya might act the part of a proud and haughty queen, she and they were not the same.
“What is your goal, Freya?”
“Do you need to ask? I broke a taboo in order to get what I wanted. Nothing more.”
“Bell Cranell…”
Ouranos was always tracking the course of events in the city through Fels and others he relied on, and he had learned of Freya’s divine will through Hermes as well. Beneath his unchanging expression, and while sympathizing with the boy who had been tossed about by the currents of fate, he also sighed ever so slightly. He saw now that the boy really was a parting gift from that Zeus.
“Then why have you come here?”
Ouranos could not move from the altar where he offered up his prayers to the Dungeon.
The limbs who acted on his behalf, Royman and the rest, had already fallen to Freya. There was nothing Ouranos could do. Just like with Hermes and Hestia, he had lost the moment he failed to prevent Freya from activating her charm.
Or more precisely, it was not just Ouranos who had lost. Every deity had been bested.
“I thought I might come to bargain with you, this city’s creator.”
The dictator who could not be moved by anyone’s orders lowered her hood and looked Ouranos in the eye.
“Do not interfere.”
“What?”
“If you can promise me that, then in exchange, I will advance the exploration of the Dungeon in one fell swoop.”
Ouranos’s eyes widened as the goddess ignored his question and laid out the contents of her proposal.
“Until now, I have been content to leave matters to Ottar and let my children do as they pleased, but if you accept my proposal, I’ll give the order. I will tell my whole familia to challenge the Dungeon as one.”
“…!”
“That means advancing into the unexplored territory, of course, but also beginning the preparations for slaying the black dragon.”
Reaching the end of the Dungeon that was the root of everything. And the completion of the last of the three great quests that were the wish of the mortal realm. Freya was saying that if Ouranos was willing to accept her terms, she would begin to seriously address those tasks.
There was no mistaking that if Freya Familia, a group that prioritized individual strength above all, began to challenge the Dungeon as a united whole like Loki Familia, then the rate of exploration would increase dramatically.
At its heart, Freya Familia only moved based on their patron goddess’s whims.
All of its members had had their hearts stolen by Freya and considered her grace to be their salvation, which was precisely why they spent all of their time kicking each other down in a never-ending quest to win her love. However, if they were to become unified behind the orders of their goddess…
“I will complete the machia.”
There was no lie in her declaration.
Even Ouranos, so staid and unflappable, could not help betraying his shock.
“…You, who lost to Hera and became bound to Orario? Why now?”
Freya was as fickle as the wind.
Ever since Zeus and Hera’s downfall fifteen years ago, she had fulfilled her duty as a deity in Orario, but she had never seriously applied herself to achieving any common goals. Between her followers’ free spiritedness and her familia management, she despised prioritizing others’ goals over her personal interests.
“Because I found what it is that I want…my Odr.” What changed all of that was an incredibly simple and ordinary thing.
The reverent, proud, but almost fragile smile and features of a girl crossed her face all at once.
“I want Bell. His body, his heart, and his soul as well. Yes, Bell alone is enough. If I can have him, then I don’t care about anything else.”
“………”
“So if you can turn a blind eye to this one transgression, then I can swear that it will not cause Orario any harm. Besides, this is the best way to go about it, don’t you think?”
An instant later, the enchanting smile of a witch appeared.
“If I forcibly steal Bell away, there will assuredly be a price to pay. Whether it’s Hestia’s children or Hephaistos and those who would take her side. But this way, no one has to be hurt.”
That much was true.
Her twisting the entirety of the city to her will was not something that could be praised. It was assuredly wrong. But from the perspective of mustering the total combat potential of the city, her method did not have any major downsides. No skirmishing or war games had broken out. The masses had simply had their memories overwritten, and everything could more or less be settled peaceably.
And on top of that, if Freya Familia were to apply themselves to the task of speeding up the exploration of the Dungeon, that was certainly a boon to Orario.
“Other than my followers, the only ones in this city who retain their memories from before I acted are Bell, Hestia, and you, Ouranos. Just the three of you.”
“………”
“If my sandbox were to fall, then you three are the only ones who could be responsible.”
So don’t try anything funny.
No plots, no contacting someone outside the city for support. Just sit back and let it happen.
That was Freya’s unspoken warning.
In order to nip that one in a million possibility in the bud, she had personally come down to Ouranos with her offer.
“Today has been really rough, you know? My children and I were going all around the city to tie up loose ends.”
“………”
“I asked the children I charmed to take care of altering Bell’s history as necessary, but there were naturally some spots that got overlooked. Just now, in fact, one of your children was beginning to suspect the modified records.”
She opened the journal she had taken from Eina and flipped through the pages.
While she had told Alfrik and the others to say that she was in Babel for Bell’s sake, she had been out and about putting the finishing touches on her meticulous setting.
“My charm didn’t reach down into the Dungeon, so every adventurer in the Dungeon yesterday did not have their memories modified.”
“…You’ve filled that gap now?”
“Yes. I’ve tracked down every adventurer we could confirm and charmed them. Even the residents of Rivira.”
Freya was arrogant in her diligence.
For much the same reason she had not charmed Ouranos, she knew there was no purpose in unnecessarily provoking the Dungeon. While almost everyone had been enjoying the Goddess Festival, there were still some adventurers in the Dungeon on that day who had not fallen prey to her charm. But she had already crushed that concern with incredible zeal.
She had manipulated adventurers to call the residents of Rivira on the eighteenth floor to the surface to be charmed. Some of Loki’s children were on an expedition to the deep levels, but she did not send her followers that far down. There was too much risk of missing them and passing in the night, considering how expansive the labyrinth became at those depths.
There was no rush. They could be dealt with the moment they returned to the surface. And on top of that, she had extended her control to the town of Meren not far from the city. So it was safe to say that none of the places that were closely tied to Orario because of proximity would notice anything out of the ordinary.
Her charm worked on mortals and deities alike, and all under her control had been ordered to inform her of any possible discrepancies that might disrupt her sandbox. Anyone who began to doubt that Bell was a member of Freya Familia would immediately be discovered.
That was why her follow-up had been so meticulous. Freya was completely serious about entrapping Bell in her sandbox.
“And I even got my hands on this.”
Freya pulled out a small vial. Much like Status Thief, this was an illegal item that could be obtained only on the black market. But it was an extraordinarily rare item, and there had been only one in all of Rivira. Freya had prioritized obtaining it over even approaching Ouranos, which was why she had put off seeing him for so long.
“I’m sure I missed a couple spots here and there, but…I can use Hörn and the others to patch them up.”
There were no holes in her plan. And any that might exist would be quickly corrected. And of course, her intention in explaining all of this was to rob the old god of any choice but to accept her offer.
Her beautiful silver hair glimmered like the moon in the dark chamber.
“I’ve shown my whole hand. I believe I’ve demonstrated my sincerity…so, let’s hear your answer, Ouranos.”
Ouranos silently accepted the gaze fixed upon him and heavily closed his eyes.
“Regardless of what I wish for, I am called the founder god of this city, and as such, my good faith efforts must be in service to those who would live in this city. Therefore, Freya, I cannot consider your barbarous course of action to be just.”
“And?”
“…However, it’s also true that I cannot stop you now. So do as you please for as long as these eyes remain closed.”
Ouranos’s final answer was silence.
While not accepting her outstretched hand, he promised to become an unmoving statue.
“Hee-hee…You really are a crafty god.”
A faint smile crossed Freya’s lips as she turned on her heels and leisurely took her leave, as if knowing from the start that it would end like this.
All that remained in her wake were the four flickering torches and the old god who had closed his eyes.
“…I can’t believe it…”
A short while after the goddess had left.
There was a shudder from the darkness gathered in the corner of the chamber, and a single mage appeared.
“Is it true, Ouranos…? Not just me, but every being in the city has been charmed…”
At the foot of the steps leading to Ouranos’s seat, Fels stepped out, radiating shock from head to toe.
The black-robed mage who served as Ouranos’s right arm had been standing by vigilantly, listening from outside.
However, despite hearing everything from start to finish, Fels still could not fully grasp the situation.
“Even after hearing all that, I still don’t feel any different. Almost like no matter what I hear, I would just write it off as nonsense…No, I suppose I can’t objectively see myself being bound to Goddess Freya’s will as I am right now.”
“That is what it means to be a goddess of beauty. That is Freya’s power.”
“A forcible misapprehension of reality and warping people’s perceptions…Would even I be forced to become your enemy, Ouranos?”
Though Fels’s robe could block all abnormal statuses and even curses, it was impossible to resist Freya’s charm. The mage had already been ensnared by her powerful influence, and the moment Ouranos made any furtive moves, Fels would transform into a mere drone who would calmly report back to Freya. Because of that, Ouranos did not respond, merely keeping his eyes closed in accordance with his promise to Freya.
Fels shuddered. Even the formidable mage could not separate conscious and subconscious impulses.
Automatic submission.
The magic Freya had cast on the city was kind in a sense. Impenetrable and unbreakable, but also a curse more heinous than any other.
“I’m sure no harm will come to the city, just as Freya said. There is nothing I can do but remain a spectator for the time being. As to whether that extends into eternity…is up to Bell Cranell.”
Behind his eyelids, the old god saw the figure of a lone boy.
The twilight fades, and the last motes of light turn to shade as darkness covers the city.
The sky is clear, but the stars seem far away. Wisps of clouds have made the moon hazy and indistinct tonight.
A terribly long day is coming to a close as night finally arrives.
“Lady Freya has returned. Come.”
At the same time the door to my room opens, I hear Master’s command. I’ve just been sitting on the edge of my bed, so I quietly stand up.
I follow behind him like an unresisting prisoner.
“………”
“………”
Master doesn’t say anything. Nor do I.
We just walk down the pale moonlit corridors in silence. The palatial home is quiet. Not just inside, but all around the estate.
The enormous Folkvangr is surrounded by a large wall. Despite being in the middle of the fifth district, located in the south portion of Orario along with the shopping district, these halls are far removed from the noise and bustle of the city.
Even though the lively atmosphere of the Goddess Festival has only just dissipated, the silence that clings to the walls here makes it feel all the more secluded from the outside world.
Would it be an exaggeration to say it feels like a giant prison?
“…Master…Hedin…”
I correct myself, not sure how I should refer to him, but Master responds without turning around.
“What?”
“…Do you know a person named Syr?”
All of a sudden, his footsteps stop. He slowly turns around.
“…Who is that?”
“A human girl…she works at a tavern called The Benevolent Mistress…”
“………”
“She should have some connection with Freya Familia…Is there someone like that here…?”
Even in this impossible-to-understand situation where no one remembers who I really am, there are several other things that keep bothering me. This morning, when I asked about Lyu, Alfrik and his brothers didn’t seem to remember her.
So then what about Syr?
What about the girl who disappeared after I hurt her? What became of her?
I’m desperately clinging to hope as I ask Master, but he returns an inscrutable look.
“There is no girl like that here. There is only our goddess.”
The answer I expected shatters that strand of hope.
I look down, not even managing a simple “I see” in response. I’m disgusted with myself and the total resignation I feel after confronting a world so different in every way from the one in my memories.
Master looks at me for the briefest moment before he sets off again.
He leads me first to the enormous dining hall that sits at the center of the mansion on the first floor, where he brought me in the morning. Once we’re through there, we enter a hallway that continues straight north. Then it’s across a covered walkway that passes through a heavenly courtyard and onward into the heart of the home.
The sheer size of these unfamiliar places makes me feel incredibly small and far from home. All I can do is follow after Master to the highest floor of a structure that stands alone.
“Lady Freya, as you requested.”
“Enter,” a soprano voice sings from behind the closed doors.
My heart quivers in my breast as two women wielding spears who must be guards open the doors. Propelled forward by Master’s gaze, I nervously step into the goddess’s room alone.
“Welcome, Bell.”
There is no throne inside.
The owner is sitting there on an elegant couch situated in the center of the room. Strands of glimmering silver the same color as her eyes flow down her back. Those locks of hair twinkle like a sea of stars, and her irises gleam like precious jewels.
The rest of her figure bathed in the glow of moonlight could only be described as beauty incarnate. This tranquil deity discards her bewitching demeanor as she turns her gaze to me alone.
“…Lady Freya…”
Those words are all that manage to make it past my dry lips.
The room of the goddess who controls the city’s largest familia has fewer things in it than I imagined. I’m sure part of that impression comes from how large the room is, but the only furnishings that really catch my eye are a canopied bed, a bookshelf, and an intricately ornamented dresser and mirror. The floor is a white stone that has just a hint of blue to it, with a luxurious carpet running across part of it. Several columns of matching stone support the ceiling.
It’s spacious and grand, like a throne room that’s been transformed into a personal chamber.
The chandelier hanging from the ceiling isn’t lit. Only a dim magic-stone lamp set on a small round table beside the couch and the pale glow of the moon through the window provide any light.
“I’m sorry I could not make time immediately. We goddesses are busy with various errands in the aftermath of the Goddess Festival.”
“………”
“I’ve heard the story from Hedin and the rest. That you don’t remember us?”
“………”
“And that you believe you are the follower of some other goddess.”
I remain silent from start to finish as Freya speaks. I haven’t moved since coming to a stop in the middle of her room. She stands up and walks over to me.
The sounds of her heels are muffled by the carpet. She stands in front of me, just a little bit taller than me as she reaches her right hand toward my cheek.
My shoulders tremble, and I reflexively step backward.
“…I thought they were joking at first, but it seems it’s true.”
I purse my lips, and the goddess smiles slightly, as if troubled by the situation. She seems so kind. Her tone is gentle. It’s nothing like the detached and aloof attitude she always seemed to have the few times I saw her before.
I take a deep breath, trying not to let myself notice that it’s exactly the sort of behavior a patron goddess might reserve for her followers.
“Am I…really a member of Freya Familia…?”
“Yes. I was the first to see you.”
“Then…I was always fighting at your side…?”
“That’s right. On the field here and in the Dungeon. You struggled like a restless rabbit. You were always pushing yourself, balanced on a knife’s edge…and in truth, I was often worried about you.”
Lady Freya answers my tense questions in full. And her last comment is spoken in a whisper, as if sharing a secret.
Deep inside, I’m flustered at seeing the goddess of beauty act like that, but I quickly suppress it. It doesn’t seem like she’s lying at all. But she is a goddess. She could probably lie in a way that a mortal like me would never see through, or otherwise hide falsehoods deep within half-truths.
For just this moment, I brush aside the impiety of doubting a goddess and make my request.
“Then…could you please give me some proof?”
I’m beyond stunned and confused by these strange circumstances.
No one remembers the me who’s a part of Hestia Familia. They all believe I’m the strange one. Ever since I was denied at every turn and then left alone in that room, I’ve spent every waking moment thinking, desperate to grasp the situation.
And this is the method I came up with to confirm whether my memories are real.
“Please update my status.”
This is the most definitive proof of a connection between a follower and their patron deity.
Falna—a contract and a blood tie.
Every follower, without exception, has a status inscribed on their back using a deity’s ichor. And only their patron deity can update it.
I’m Bell Cranell, Lady Hestia’s follower.
The time I spent with her is not a lie.
I’ve been waiting for this moment where I could be alone with Lady Freya in order to prove that once and for all.
“Here and now…!”
No other deity can update my status. If I can prove that my back bears Lady Hestia’s blessing, then even if I can’t explain why everyone else’s memories are different, I will at least have some small evidence to support my claims.
I lean forward, like an adventurer holding out a lantern called hope in the murky darkness that shrouds everything from sight.
“—I don’t mind, if that’s what you’d like.”
Meanwhile, Lady Freya doesn’t show any sign of agitation as she easily accepts my request.
“Wha…?”
“Heith, a needle.”
Lady Freya rings a bell, and the healer who examined me enters the room.
Bowing her head exaggeratedly, Heith holds an extravagant, jeweled tray up to the goddess.
Lady Freya pricks her finger with the sharp silver needle, and blood quickly beads on the tip. My heart pounds as I watch her move without a trace of hesitation.
It can’t be. Really?
No, this isn’t right. It can’t be. I have to make it clear. I’m not the one who’s wrong. I quickly remove my shirt with trembling hands—
I’m fighting against my wildly beating heart as I strip down and bare my chest.
Guided by Lady Freya, I sit in the chair set just in front of the couch.
“I’ll do it just like always, so don’t move.”
I shudder at the whisper in my ear.
Just as my mind goes blank, a drop of liquid falls on my back.
—gh?!
I can feel it the moment her finger touches my back. The feeling of someone accessing my blessing.
It’s the same pulse that I felt every time Lady Hestia updated my status.
It’s a lie. It can’t be. This should be impossible—but even as I freeze with my back to her, Lady Freya is freely running her finger across my back.
The moment didn’t last very long.
“And done.”
As if handing down a death sentence, Lady Freya reaches from behind me, handing me a single piece of paper.
I take it with trembling hands.
Bell Cranell
Level 4
Strength: A843->846 Defense: A812->871 Dexterity: A881->895 Agility: S928->935 Magic: B767->769
Luck: F Immunity: G Escape: I
“Ghhhh?!”
The full contents of my status that Lady Freya shouldn’t know about, as well as properly updated numbers. My heart feels like a hand is squeezing it tighter and tighter. The exaltation that’s filling my body is a merciless confirmation that my abilities really have gone up.
“Your endurance has really improved. Has Hedin been working you hard again?”
While I’m at a loss for words, Lady Freya places the needle down on the round table.
I don’t respond to her comment. I toss away the paper and turn around.
Leaving my clothes behind, I struggle to move as I stumble over to the mirror.
“ ”
There, the reality that greets me is crueler than anything.
Turning my back to the mirror, when I look over my shoulder, the sight that meets my eyes is a set of silver hieroglyphs.
The ancient glyphs are not in the familiar shape of a sacred fire. Instead, they’re in the form of the lady.
It’s not Lady Hestia’s falna—it’s Lady Freya’s!
“That can’t…”
Hammered by the immovable reality, I collapse to my knees.
There we go.
At that moment, Freya heard it.
The sound of his suspicions cracking and shattering.
That steadfast heart he had only barely been holding together finally fell apart.
In her heart, Freya hid a smile as she approached the pitiful child.
“It’s okay, Bell.”
“!”
The boy was kneeling on the floor, and she hugged him from behind. His body trembled as if an electrictrifying current shot through him while she wrapped both arms around him, drawing him close and giving him no chance to run or refuse.
Her voluptuous bosom pressed against his frail back.
Ahh, I can hear his heart beat.
A throbbing, rhythmic terror. This was undoubtedly the tone of the soul dearer to her than any other.
She suppressed the urge to nibble his earlobe, to bring her lips to the nape of his neck, to have their hot breaths entwine and become one until the lines separating them disappeared entirely. And then she whispered.
“I understand your fear. And your despair, too. I also understand that you can’t accept everything all at once.”
“Wha…?”
“So please don’t destroy yourself. Your body is so cold. Please don’t tremble so…don’t be scared.”
She murmured the words that he wanted to hear, allowing him to feel her heartbeat, like comforting a baby.
The boy had lost everything he knew and had no place to call his own. Taking advantage of his vulnerability, she drew close to him, offering warmth.
There was an incredible amount of tension in his body, but slowly yet surely, he relaxed ever so slightly.
I was right to get the Status Snitch from Rivira.
That had been the trick that had broken his confidence in what was real.
Just as he had suspected, his back still bore Hestia’s falna, because he had not yet converted. No matter how much she might try to isolate him through the strength of her charm, she could not change that fact. It would only serve to feed his suspicions.
And so, Freya had used a magic item.
Status Snitch was far rarer than Status Thief.
Created by combining the ichor of several different deities who presided over a great many things, its effect allowed a deity other than a child’s patron deity to update a status.
An item for updating the status of some other deity’s child was something with no apparent benefits and many, many problems in most situations, but it could be a solution for followers trapped by a malicious patron deity, and its original use was for various clandestine purposes like recruiting spies and luring new recruits. Given its predominantly nefarious uses, it was despised by the upstanding deities who managed the network of familias, and exceedingly few of them were ever manufactured.
It required Status Thief to be used first in order to unlock a status, but once that was done, a drop of the Status Snitch’s crimson liquid was enough to update abilities—however, it could only update abilities. It didn’t allow for the development of magic or skills or a level-up.
Freya, who had spent the entire day taking care of all the possible points of failure in her charm, had also gotten her hands on Status Snitch and used it to catch Bell unaware.
By whispering in his ear when he was turned away, she had created an opportunity to quickly use Status Thief and then Status Snitch. As soon as the stage was set, she had used her own ichor, so that after the update, her mark would remain on his back for a time.
Using all those cumulative effects, she had managed to deceive Bell.
“Even if isolation is all you experienced, I won’t let you be alone…it’s okay.”
She whispered softly again and again, continuing to share her warmth with him.
Before long, his breathing, which had been coming fast and shallow, slowly began to return to normal. In the process of helping Bell regaining his composure, she had imprinted her compassion into his mind, laying the groundwork for the future.
Freya smiled.
It wasn’t a derisive or scornful sneer. Just a joyous smile as she positioned herself at his side.
“Are you all right now?”
“….Y-yes…”
When his body had finally stopped trembling, Freya reluctantly restrained herself, releasing him from her embrace.
When she stood up, Bell also tottered to his feet. His eyes were averted, staring at the floor. However, his earlier wariness was beginning to recede. But only just. It did not disappear completely.
Freya’s eyes danced, though, satisfied with that for now.
“Bell. Can you tell me a story about yourself?”
“Eh…?”
“The you who isn’t my follower. Could you tell me about your memories?”
Bell’s eyes shot open as he looked up. His expression revealed the confusion he felt, wondering why she would ask something like that.
Freya looked down at him with a motherly gaze.
“No matter how much I might say you’re part of our familia…It’s still hard to believe, yes?”
“I-I mean…”
“That’s not something you need to worry about. If I were in your position, I’m sure I would be just as confused, and I doubt I would be able to trust anyone either. That’s why I want to hear your story. Can you tell me about yourself? The version of you who I don’t know?”
“………”
“I won’t deny you, whoever you might be. Of course, I want you to remember my love…but if it hurts you, then you don’t have to force yourself. What is important to me is the you standing in front of me right now, and the future.”
Not a single thing she had said was a lie. What’s more, she had given Bell a convenient proposition.
At the very least, he would not even begin to guess at the scope of Freya’s divine will. And surely the one and only being who didn’t reject him would seem like someone he could rely on for the moment at least.
It was fine if it was temporary at first. She just had to make it permanent later.
“Today Ouranos called me in. He said it was about time we make some more progress in the Dungeon.”
“Eh?”
“It pains me to ask this when your memories haven’t come back yet, but…I would like you to train with the others during the day. I don’t want to risk losing you in the Dungeon.”
“………”
“When that’s done, though, let’s chat some more. Like this. Just the two of us.”
“….Yes…ma’am…”
Bell did not have a choice.
He had spent the entire day being turned away everywhere he went. He had no other place to stay. Freya Familia were the only ones willing to accept him as a comrade. Even if he wished otherwise.
Freya put her right hand on his cheek. This time he did not pull away. His body jolted and shuddered like a frightened animal, but he allowed her to caress his cheek.
“I’ll see you tomorrow night.”
“………”
“Or would you like to sleep together tonight?”
“N-no thank you!”
“Hee-hee, what a shame…A lot has happened, and I’m sure you are tired. Go back to your room and get some rest.”
“Y-yes, ma’am…thank you very much…”
Bell broke their locked gazes and turned away as he answered her. He had experienced a far too long and turbulent day; any other answer was beyond him. It must have been a challenge to even think.
He approached the door with unsteady steps, and when he crossed the threshold, he looked back.
When Freya met his gaze with an affectionate smile, his red eyes wavered and he looked away again.
This time, he departed and silence fell in her chamber.
“—Heith. Starting today, accompany him in a way such that he does not notice, and report his every action during the day to me.”
“Yes, Milady.”
“And Hörn.”
The healer and chamberlain entered the room in Bell’s place.
The latter’s shoulders twitched when her name was called. Freya cast her a sidelong glance.
“Do you remember the promise you made with me…What would happen if Bell discovered your lie? You may no longer contact him. I will not allow you to appear before him anymore.”
“…Yes, Milady.”
“Instead, you shall become me, and I will have you work for a while. I was at it all day, but I couldn’t take care of every last inconsistency. I will allow you to use my charm, so whenever you discover any cracks, fill them. Pay special attention to any children who come in from outside the city.”
The right half of Hörn’s face was covered by her long, gray hair, but her left eye widened in shock.
She could use transformation magic to become identical to Freya with the sole exception of being unable to access arcanum. That meant that she was perfectly able to charm people using the visage of the goddess of beauty, though its force and precision paled in comparison to the original. Freya had in effect ordered the girl who could become a near copy of her to complete the finishing touches on her sandbox.
Just one step outside Orario, the knowledge of Hestia Familia’s Bell Cranell was still alive and well. And Orario, hailed as the center of the world, was constantly welcoming travelers and merchants who freely came and went as they pleased. These visitors might feel something off about the twisted reality that the people of Orario perceived, which might in turn feed Bell’s suspicions.
Consequently, they needed to be handled.
Hörn would apply charm in coordination with the gatekeepers, Ganesha Familia, who were already under Freya’s command. She also intended to have Hörn handle any more people who had slipped through the cracks from her citywide address yesterday.
Information was meant to be overwritten.
Once word spread outside the city walls that Bell had become a member of Freya Familia, that would become the truth. Even if they felt some minor discomfort about it, everyone in the city would answer in the affirmative no matter how many times they were asked.
If nothing else, over time the official story would seep into the public consciousness.
Whether it was true or not, the phrase “Bell has become a member of Freya Familia” itself was crucial.
Charged with manipulating that truth, Hörn started to speak and hesitated several times before finally voicing the thought troubling her.
“Will…you really not punish me, Lady Freya? I dared to lie to you, plotting to kill Bell Cranell by mine own hands…”
“I shall not punish you. There is no greater punishment than that for you, right, Hörn?”
“Ghh…!”
“I will not aid you in assuaging your feelings of guilt, and I do not doubt your loyalty. So devote yourself to my service henceforth.”
Hörn felt equal parts awe and fear as her goddess saw through everything with those silver eyes.
She had still not received any censure. Even though she had resolved herself in her attempt to kill Bell Cranell, she still felt the blasphemous sense of having betrayed her patron goddess. The girl suffering from emotions with no release lowered her eyes.
“Yes, Milady…”
She accepted Freya’s command with a barely audible voice.
“Hörn shall return to being my attendant from today.”
“With all due respect, Milady, Allen and the others will surely make their displeasure known,” Heith said.
“Tell them I have allowed it.”
The healer bowed deeply in accordance with her mistress’s divine will. Then Freya’s gaze shifted, looking at the door to her room.
Her thoughts turned to the boy she had so cruelly cornered.
What do people do when faced with an impossible reality…? At first, they will cling to their own view, but in time, they will gradually come to doubt themselves.
Bell’s mind was still unstable.
He could not trust anyone while suffering from the pressure and unease of an overwhelming and immeasurable solitude.
No matter how much Freya and her familia might try to explain that they were comrades, he would be unable to accept it.
So then, what to do?
It was simple. He needed someone who understood him.
Freya would be the only person in the world who understood him. The only one who did not deny him, who accepted him for who he was, and who empathized with him. By doing that, his childlike heart would easily begin to waver, and he would willingly bite into the sweet apple even if he knew it to be poison.
“I will continue to hurt you, Bell. And every time you are hurt, I will hold you. And heal you. I swear it.”
The goddess smiled, her expression betraying no emotions.
“I’m sorry, but I made up my mind, so I won’t hold back any more.”
Her name was Freya.
The ruthless and free-spirited goddess. The witch who knew both the miracles and the poison of love better than any other.
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