A few weeks later.

.

.
"Hmmm~~~~. Ottar? Could you give me your opinion on my outfit as a man?"

"I´m...sorry...I can´t."

"Mouh, why not?"

"Please cover yourself more, Lady Freya!"

"Heith is right, this probably shows too much skin."

"But I´m covering my face?"

""This isn´t the issue here.!""

It was a very pleasant morning in Orario again and one of the days when Freya had slept in her room in Babel. This night she hadn´t been alone in her bed. To give Heith some time off and to help her recover, Freya had invited her and hugged her like a living body pillow. Which made Heith very, very happy.
Even when they only slept, Freya had whispered words into her ear that Heith didn´t even remember. But she felt so energetic this morning! Also, to see the face of her sleeping goddess as the first thing in the morning, to see Freya defensless and vulnerable, this was something that Heith would never forget.

Of course Freya was actually awake at this moment. But she had decided to give Heith this moment. Heith wasn´t sure what to do, she had leaned down to take a closer look at her goddess´ face. In that moment Freya had opened her eyes, smiled in a special way at Heith, then put her right hand on the back of the head of the surprised healer and pulled her down. To receive a kiss from her goddess let Heith squeal with happiness.

Freya had seen what a toll the work took on Heith again, that was why she forbid any training the afternoon before and let Heith have a nice evening and a peaceful night. For the next week, the training was also canceled at Folkvangr. Freya didn´t ask her children to take a small vacation, she forced them to do it.

And right now, Freya was dressing for the day. She would visit a certain place, where they sold food and drinks. Since she wanted to go incognito there, she put on her hood and veil. But Freya was Freya and even when she was pretty smart and cunning, she had a surprisingly innocent and naive side on her.

Freya thought that her current outfit was the perfect disguise. And even when most of her body was covered, she had an enormous cleavage! It even looked like she tried to cover everything, so that her chest would even stick out more this way. But she didn´t do that on purpose or even with a naughty thought. Freya just felt well like this, it was something she did subconsciously as a Goddess of Beauty.

Neither Heith nor Ottar really had the heart to tell her this. That their beloved goddess seemed to be too "dumb" to understand that she mostly exposed her chest like that. It was the same with her cooking, no one had the heart to tell her how horrible it was. Heith could bear with it, keeping her poker face and healing herself afterwards. Allen would claim that this wouldn´t change his love for Freya, while he groaned and went to the ground. Ottar could mostly bear with it due to his level seven status. The only one who was ever able to eat and digest Freya´s food was Bell.

.
Heith was the only one that currently looked at Freya and even she had flushed cheeks. Ottar stood with his back to her, he wouldn´t look at his goddess when she was changing clothes. And since Heith was a woman, Freya didn´t think too much into it when she changed in front of her. Which made Heith embarassed, happy and very weak in the knees. On this morning, Heith was thankful for being born and alive.

It would take them a while, but eventually Heith was able to convince Freya to close her cloak completely. The goddess complained that this suffocated her a bit.

But Heith was right with her words.

"Lady Freya, people will get distracted by your beauty. If the only thing possible to see from your skin is that much of your chest, they will notice who you are in a matter of seconds. Because only you can be so beautiful. You won´t be able to achieve your goal today."

"Hmmm...I guess you´re right. What do you say, Ottar?"

"I agree with Heith. Your beauty is too brilliant and shining, it will distract everyone involved."

"Hm, alright, you two are right, I guess."

Due to her outfit now, Ottar wasn´t the strongest being in all of Orario and the world anymore.

It was the button that did it´s best to hold the cloak together at the front.

When Ottar opened the door for her, Heith followed behind Freya. The goddess smiled in a special way, like the perfect queen.

"Let us go, it is time...for war."

.

.

Currently, Freya was at war with a big part of Orario. And these people didn´t even know about that. But was she fighting whole familias? Maybe the Loki familia, her big "rival"?

No, Freya fought only against some people.

All of them women.

And she fought in her special way.

Freya had decided to give up on Bell, due to losing interest because of his slowly changing soul. And since she knew that Ryu was deeply in love with Bell and he attracted to her, Freya would do her best to bring them together. Bell was someone she held dear, Ryu was her best friend. So in her special way, they belonged to her. And no one was allowed to mess with what was hers!

So Freya had called her high executives together and handed out orders. Due to the informations she got as Syr, by asking a few innocent questions to Bell. As well as other sources of informations, Freya now had a large list of names. Names of women.

All the women that had contact with Bell. Due to her network of agents, so her high executives, Freya had spied on them, to find out their usual behaviour and daily routine. So she could look at them when they were close to Bell, talked to him, looked at him. All that so she could see how they saw Bell, how they felt for him. To see who was attracted to him in any way.

All...to eliminate them.

To eliminate every threat possible for Ryu to get Bell. Of course she had trust in Ryu to win Bell´s heart, but she also knew how slow Ryu could act. The question was, how to eliminate these women as a possible rival for Ryu?

It was easy. Let them sleep with the fishes was out of question.

No, Freya would use her very nature against them. Not to charm them, that would destroy all the fun. No, she would use what made her who she was. She was a Goddess of Love, Fertility, Beauty and War. Many people tended to forget that she was also a trained and skilled warrior, the Queen of the Valkyries.

So in what way would Freya take care of them? Easy, make them fall or get together with someone else! The list was pretty long, if there was even the slightest chance of attraction in any way, Freya would put this name on the list.

So far she had Hestia, Lily, Haruhime, Cassandra and Aisha on the top of the list. While Freya couldn´t see Hestia´s soul, she knew from her behaviour that the virgin goddess loved Bell and not in the way a deity loved their followers. For Lily, Haruhime and Cassandra it was quite obvious, she had seen at the party in the Hostess how their souls reacted to Bell. Then there was this amazon Aisha, who liked to tease Ryu.

Only I am allowed to do that and maybe the others from the pub.

Bell had beaten Aisha in the past, so it was easy to see that she was after him. For Hestia, Lily and Haruhime, Freya would find someone to get their attention.

Then, a bit lower on the list, were members of Loki´s familia.

Namely, Ais, Tiona, Lefiya and...Riveria.

With Riveria Freya wasn´t sure, but the elf had been nice to Bell, so there was a chance. Riveria was probably the hardest to get out of the picture, because the adult elf didn´t seem to be attracted to anyone really. And since she was a princess and radiated royalty, who to get for her as a partner? Freya could maybe picture Hedin, but the future would show that. For now the wasn´t a threat.

For Lefiya, she was a typical tsundere and acted a lot like Horn when it came to Bell. Freya had to get her out of the picture and the perfect candidate was already there, since Lefiya was very much attracted to Dionysus´ black haired elf. There was something strange about Filvis, but this wasn´t Freya´s problem at the moment. She had to act secretely, to let these two elves spend more time together.

Then there was Loki´s amazon, Tiona. She really liked Bell, Freya had even heard at the pub during a party, that Bell was completely her type, which rang an alert in Freya´s head.

Dangerous!

The last one of the Loki familia was Ais Wallenstein. She was a strange one, maybe a bit attracted to Bell. But while she didn´t seem to be that dangerous, Bell had been in love with her in the beginning. At least he thought it was love. This made her dangerous, so Freya had to get her out of the picture too.

Then there were a few women from other familias...and the dungeon.

Hermes´ elf, Laurier. Dian Cecht´s saint, Amid. And the Xenos siren, Ray.

Freya had seen that Laurier was very, very attracted to Bell.

Elves really are a naughty race, to fall so heavily in love.

In Amid´s case, Bell had been nice to her and she was friendly to him. This was already dangerous enough for Freya. Surely there would be some nice guy in her familia, that was just to shy to act for now.

About the siren, Ray, Freya had to think about it. Souls of monsters looked different thatn these of mortals, but Freya would find a solution.

Freya would eliminate every possible threat for Bell and Ryu one by one. At the same time she would have her fun to bring couples together. Now that she had decided to become Ryu´s wingwoman, Freya got a taste of doing these for other people as well.

She was a Goddess of Love and Fertility after all.

While Freya started to form plans for the various girls and women, she also had to meet Bell "by chance" to talk to him. He was troubled and confused by his feelings and Freya knew he didn´t have anyone to talk to and get some advice. So who would be better than a neutral Goddess of Love, who happened to cross his way and give him some tips and her opinion?

As usual, her plans were flawless!

Horn and Ottar agreed with her, so it had to be true. Not that they had the heart to disagree with her. While Ottar did that sometimes, right now she just had too much fun with it.

Ryu, I´m helping you from the shadows, the rest is up to you!

A time of fun awaited Freya. That was why all of her high executives helped without complaining, because they saw how much fun and joy she found there. Also...with Bell being out of the picture, a rival for Freya´s love was taken care off now. The only ones that would get a bit troubled because of Freya´s shenanigans and plans, would be Hogni and Hedin. Both for different reasons.

.

.
"I´m off then, until later."

"Thank you, Bell."

Haruhime smiled when Bell left their home, it was his turn to buy ingredients for today´s dinner again. She had offered him her company, but Bell knew that Haruhime still had much to do in the house, so he declined with a smile. Also, he preffered it to go alone, Bell had much to think about.

And no one to ask for advice.

His feelings were complicated and unknown. So far since he came to Orario, he had fallen for Ais in the moment he saw her and she rescued him. At least he thought it was love.

Was it not?

He met plenty of other women during this half year in Orario, friends, foes and others. And now, something had changed in his heart. Ever since he returned from the 37th floor and more after the party afterwards. Whenever he closed his eyes to go to sleep, it wasn´t Ais that he saw anymore, it was Ryu.

Only Ryu.

And when he thought about Ryu or talked to her, it felt different from his feelings before for Ais. Bell had heard that people could fall in love with someone else over time, but he didn´t think this wasn´t the case. It...just felt different. He couldn´t really describe it, but his feelings for Ryu were different from those to Ais. Bell still looked up to Ais a lot, he wanted to become strong and stand next to her, fight together with her.

He also wanted to be Haruhime´s hero and protect her, so that she would never again become so desparate. Bell wanted to be there for his familia and friends. Nothing of these feelings had changed. But now...when he thought about Ryu...

His heart skipped a beat and he almost missed a step.

What is wrong with me?...

At first Bell´s steps led him to the dungeon. The ingredients he had to bring were all found on the 18th floor. Not only did they use them for dinner, but they also sold some of them to the Hostess of Fertility. Gods loved food made with ingredients from the dungeon, since they had rarely the chance to get their hands on them. Especially since Hermes delivered an old looking package to Bell, with various notes from the dungeon. Hermes said he didn´t know from who exactly the package came, just that he was asked to deliver it to Bell. Of course that was a lie, Hermes knew where it came from. The package was a secret gift from Zeus. And the notes...were made by Bell´s aunt in the past. Not for Bell, she made them for herself after she searched many spots in the dungeon for special food.
All to bring her beloved sister something nice to eat. According to Zeus´ letter to Hermes, this package belonged to Bell, because it was related to his mother. And Zeus made one thing clear, if Hermes would open the package to look inside or take something out, or any other person doing that, the Wrath of Olympus would come over him. This wasn´t a hollow threat for Hermes. While Zeus couldn´t use his Arcana on the surface, there probably would be a time when Zeus and Hermes would be back in heaven. And the old god never forgot or forgave something like that.

Not that Hermes would break the trust of his deliveres. The reputation of "Delivery via Hermes" was very important to the god. And Bell deserved to have something of his mother, even when he didn´t know about that.

And so, Bell now knew about spots with dungeon gifts that almost no one else knew about. And something about a hidden, natural hot spring in the dungeon, with a few weak monsters close to it. A fact that let Mikoto scream and squeal in joy, she really wanted to go there, with her familia and the others! That was the reason why Mikoto had joined the Takemikazuchi familia on their small Expedition today, to locate and confirm the existence of the hidden hot spring. Also that Mikoto could take a small, first dip into it.

.

.
Heith noticed that Freya smiled like a happy child under her hood. So much that Heith had to cover her own mouth with a hand, looking with tear filled eyes to the side, crying in bliss.

She is so cute!

Freya really thought that her disguise was perfect, since no one approached her. It really might be due to her disguise. Or the fact that Ottar, the king, walked behind them. With his towering body and expression similar to a brick wall, no one dared to approach them. Not even other gods came closer right now, they just wondered what Freya was up too. Heith couldn´t believe that her lady could really be that innocent and clueless. But she was happy to discover another lovely side of her.

"Hehe~~ See, Heith? I knew my cover is perfect."

"Of course it is, lady Fr-"

"Sht!"

Freya put a finger on her lips. "Not my name or they will discover the truth."

Heith cried again, she was just too cute and adorable right now. Ottar actually thought the same, but he kept his poker face and glared at anyone that might think about approaching them. If it were only Freya and Heith, people actually wouldn´t might notice who she was. While Heith´s appearance, with her flaming red hair, was quite unique in Orario, barely anyone knew her. She spent most of her day in her small hospital after all. When she was outside, Heith just enjoyed her time alone or sometimes with Horn. No one in Orario knew that they belonged to the Freya familia and Heith was glad about that.

People tended to hold back a lot when someone belonged to the Freya familia. And when it was Heith´s day off, she wanted to relax.

Freya wasn´t only busy with enjoying her obviously perfect camouflage and thinking about her plans. She also secretely looked at the soul of every man they came across, maybe she would find someone that was or would be interested in Heith. Since the young woman obviously didn´t have anyone in the familia she liked, Freya would look somewhere else. Heith deserved to have a partner and the chance to have children in the future, in case she wanted that. She wished the same for all of her children.

But especially for Ryu and Bell!

Thankfully they finally arrived at their first location for the day.

"Ottar, can you wait outside? I think some of them might get scared of you."

"As you wish."

Heith opened the door for Freya and followed her inside.

.

.

Bell not only went down to the 18th floor to pick up dungeon gifts, also to meet with the Xenos for a short moment. They were currently in a hidden cave on this floor, to investigate something together with the Loki familia in secret. They explained to Bell everything about Knossos, Fels told them to do it. Their talk went on for a while, but then he had to continue with his job to pick up things. The Xenos also knew about some of the hidden spots.

Thankfully he had one of the big backpacks that Lily owned. Bell stayed with the Xenos for a few hours and talked, but at some point it was time for him to go back to the surface again. While he was on his way back, a few monsters on the 18th floor clashed with each other for some unknown reason. Bell tried his best to evade it, due to that me moved further into a certain direction.

"Oh, Belli!"

Bell turned his head when he heard a familiar voice. The voice of a cheeky amazon, a good friend of Haruhime. It was Lena with a group of other amazons.

And they all reacted to Lena´s voice.
"It´s the Rabbit Foot!"

"The record holder?!"

"Get him!"

"Huh?!"

He turned his head and saw a horde of amazons running towards him, with the exception of Lena, she had her eyes on Bete after all.

Oh not again!

This happened from time to time, he was a strong adventurer and well known in Orario. Aisha for example made to secret that she too wanted Bell, even Haruhime´s friend Lena said that if she weren´t already in love with someone else, she would be after Bell too. Bell immediatelly made his alias honor, he dashed off with the speed of a vorpal rabbit. There was also a chance that a few of these amazons were those that he blasted away during his assault on the home of the Ishtar familia. While he was fast, they wouldn´t give up on a good prey.

So he did his best to evade them, even climbed a tree when he had to. Bell moved from tree to tree, until he was sure he had escaped them. Even then he waited for a few moments.

"Who´s there?!"

"Hu-!"

Bell suddenly lost his balance, someone from below threw something and cut the branch he stood on right off. Without a chance to hold himself, Bell fell down and right into the small lake below.

In these few seconds, Bell had a strong sense of Déjà-vu.

With a loud splash, he went into the water, coming up again, coughing and spitting water.

"Someone else who wants to take a bath?"

He looked up when he heard a voice, it was a female voice. Rubelite eyes met green ones as Bell stared at the person in front of him, it was a woman.

Probably in her mid twenties, with a cold, stern expression on her beautiful face.

And beautiful she was indeed! Even despite or because of that cold look!

Bell remembered something his grandfather had once said to him, it had a charm of its own when a woman looked at you like that.

Now he understood him!

Not that he was into these things... Bell preffered elves...a certain elf. And now that he saw such a glare in front of him, he had to admit that Ryu´s cold stare also had a charm on it´s own. He liked all of Ryu´s expressions, when she was angry, when she smiled and even how she looked embarrassed on the 37th floor, after he had tricked the barbarian and she shouted out very embarrassing stuff. Not that he would ever try to make Ryu embarrassed on purpose, but she was just too precious. Like everything about Ryu had become very charming recently.

It took Bell a few seconds to notice something, she was completely naked!

Bell didn´t really understand how this situation came to be, he just ran away from a horde of amazons and hid on top of a tree. Now he knelt in a shallow lake, with a naked, wet from her bath, woman in front of him!

And she looked at him with this cold stare, he rememberred the moment when he accidentally saw Ryu during a bath on this floor. Now that he thought about it, it even was the same lake...

Argh! Curse you for teaching me this is nice, Grandpa!

No matter how hard Bell tried to fight his own eyes, they betrayed him, the instinct of an adventurer forced him to check his "opponent". He felt bad to do that out of instinct with an unknown woman, one thing fell into his eyes immediatelly.

Bell really wished he wouldn´t have seen that.

But it weren´t her wonderful breasts, nor her flat stomach, the nearly divine thighs...Bell really had a thing for thighs, mostly elven thighs... His eyes refused to wander to her sacred place, yet at the edge of his field of vision he noticed some red hair, if he wanted to or not. Her curves could easily match Aisha´s body, she also had an aura of a young adult around her.

No what drew Bell´s eyes in was the giant scar on her body. The upper part started in the middle of the valley of her breasts, went down until it nearly reached her belly button. Below her breasts it also went to both sides. It almost looked like a star form. When she heard a noise from edge of the lake, she turned halfway around for a moment. Bell noticed that she had a scar on her back that looked exactly the same.

From what he heard so far from Amid and other adventurers, this looked like something big has pierced her body once. And it wasn´t her only scar, there were strange round burn scars in a few places of her body, as if she was hit by something round that burned, one was even at her right temple. He almost wanted to cry when he saw that. To see such a beautiful woman scarred like this...then she turned to him again, her breasts swayed slightly and Bell snapped out of his thoughts. He noticed again that he couldn´t only see her scar, but also that she was naked.

"Sorry!"

Bell immediatelly turned to the side and closed his eyes.

"I didn´t try to peep on y-"

"What? It doesn´t bother me when you want take a bath too."

"Huh?!"

"That´s what you came here for, to take a bath, right?"

"I a-"

"But why are you bathing in your clothes?"

"I.."

"Weirdo."

Bell wanted to cry, the situation was too weird and too much for him! And now this beautiful woman, who didn´t seem to feel ashamed, called him a weirdo!

"I didn´t come to take a bath!"

"Then why did you jump into the water in your clothes?"

"I fell because something destroyed the branch I was standing on!"

"Oh, that was me. I thought you were a monster or an attacker. So you came to climb on that tree? Do you like climbing trees? There are a lot here on this floor."

"I don´t!"

"Then why did you climb up there? I see no other reason."

"I-"

She stared at him for a moment with her usual expression, then Bell noticed something truly beautiful. The woman´s expression changed into a slight, teasing smirk and her voice sounded a bit different, not so emotionless.

"Or did you come to peep on the beautiful me?"

"I didn´t! I would never try to do that!"

"Is that so? Why are you looking away?"

"Because you´re naked!"

"It doesn´t bother me, I´m bathing anyway. Also I have a beautiful body, there is nothing to be ashamed off."

Her expression and voice returned to the emotionless one.

"So if you didn´t come here to take a bath, didn´t try to peep on me, why did you come here?"

"A horde of amazons chased me..."

"Why?"

"They shouted something about a strong man."

"Ah, they wanted to snack on you."

"Please don´t say it like that..."

"And?"

"And what?"

"Are you a strong man?"

"Ahm...I guess?"

"Hm. By the way you should strip down."

"Pardon?!"

"No I won´t pardon. It is extremely unpolite to talk to someone in the bath, without bathing with that person."

"I can´t follow your logic!"

"I´m a bath expert, trust me on this. Also, your clothes are drenched, you will catch a cold like this."

"I can´t just strip down and bath with you!"

She sighed. "What are you, a child?"

"No! That´s exactly the problem!"

The woman shook her head. "Do you fear you might attack me once you´re naked? I would understand it if the beautiful me would make you all horny."

She grinned suddenly. "So come at me!"

"I didn´t get horny!"

"Strip down already and sit down. I won´t look."

"Irgh...r-right..."

Bell didn´t know what to make out of this very strange situation. He started to strip down and threw his wet clothes to the side, where they could dry on the gras. Suddenly he heard a whistle.

"Wow, impressive. You definetely aren´t a kid, you´re man enough to let elves faint if they saw that."

Bell squeaked in embarrassement and hid his crotch with his hands.

"You promised you wouldn´t look!"

"I didn´t promise. Also the great detective that is me could tell right away what you were hiding in there."

"Eeeeep!"

He sat down hastily, she grinned over her shoulder to him.

"You sound like a girl, almost like an elf."

Then her expression returned to neutral again. It was a bit weird for Bell to listen to her and see her expression. For some moments it turned almost cheerful, before it returned to normal and her voice changed then a bit.

"Hah~~ Bathing really is the best. Though I prefer hot water over a forest bath, but a bath is a bath, right?"

"Ahm...yes?"

Bell heard that she leaned back and enjoyed the water, he refused to face her.

He gulped. How did this situation happen?! I don´t even know her! Why are we taking a bath together?!

But somehow her logic had sounded flawless.

"Why are you looking away and why are you so red? Oho? Have you fallen for me already?"

"Huh?!"

She splashed a bit water at him. "I´m joking."

Both went quiet for a few moments, then she continued.

"My eyes tell me that you´re an adventurer, a strong one. At least level four."

"You can see that so easily?"

"Not all of it, but you just admitted it."

"Mmmmh..."

"Hehe, to easily fool you like this, to be expected of m-Irgh!"

Bell dared to turn his head and looked over his shoulder. The woman sat leaned forward, a hand pressed onto her head and she looked like she was in pain.

"What´s wrong?!"

"Headache..."

She made a face, then she slowly took her hand away. "It´s better now."

Bell tried to make the situation less embarrassing. "Ahm, I´m sorry if that is too personal, but may I ask your name?"

"My name?"

"Yes."

She looked confused for a few moments.

"It´s...it´s...I..Al...I...Revis."

"I´m Bell, Bell Cranel."

Revis nodded.

"I have to go now."

"Hu-"

She just got up and turned away from Bell, he hastily looked away again. Revis looked at this backpack, which lay on the gras, a few fruits had fallen out.

"On a fetch quest for dungeon fruits, hm?"

"Yes."

"I hope you left some for me. Be-Irgh!"

Bell couldn´t resist, he looked at her again, he only saw her from behind but even so he saw that she pressed her hand against her head again.

"Are you in pain?"

"Just headache, it comes and goes."

"Oh, I hope you will get better, Ms. Revis."

"Nnh, thanks."

"Ahm, may I ask, to which familia do you belong to? You´re an adventurer too, right?"

She stopped in her movement and looked to him over her shoulder. "Familia? Adventurer?"

"Yes, you´re an adventurer, aren´t you?"

"Oh...yes...of course. I can´t tell you about the familia."

"Oh, sorry. I guess that was too personal."

"And which familia do you belong to?"

"Hestia familia, I´m the captain."

"The one they call Rabbit Foot?"

"Yes?"

"Hm, strange alias, really looks like you´re a weirdo."

Ack! That hurt...

Revis dressed herself and took her sword.

"Alright, was a good bath and a nice change to have someone to talk to while bathing."

And then, with a completely neutral expression, Revis...winked. "See ya."

Bell could only follow her with his eyes, against his will a thougt came up in his mind.

Redheads were something else...

Did this really just happen?

.

.
Around this time, the Hostess of Fertility wasn´t filled that much, there were only a few people, since they would soon start their break before noon. The waitress that greeted them first was a pretty cheerful young woman, with grey hair and eyes.

"Weeeeeelcome to the Hostess of Fertility or the Benevolent Mistress, whatever sounds better for you! Would you like a table for t- Oh!"

Freya raised her face enough to look at the waitress.

"Hello Syr."

Syr smiled brightly, first at Freya then at Heith.

That Freya got greeted here by Syr was part of Freya´s cunning plan. Of course Mia already knew about everything, since Freya had talked to her in secret. It was rare that Horn played the role of Syr these days, mostly Freya did it. But for today it was necessary that Freya and Syr were present here. She did that a few times in the past, so that people would never be able to assume that they were actually one and the same.

"A table for two would be nice and I would like to talk to Mia."

"Alrighty~~ I will get Mama Mia, Anya can you take care of the customers?"

"Comin´ Nya."

Anya didn´t need to come close enough to see behind Freya´s disguise, she knew her smell. The normally happy-go-lucky and cheerful cat girl stopped a few steps away from the goddess.

"Lady Freynya..."

Freya finally took off her hood. "Hello Anya."

"Meow..."

The goddess smiled gently. "I hope everything is alright for you?"

"Mmmh..." Anya nodded slightly.

Freya smiled again. "Then I´m glad, would you show us a table?"

"Nya...here."

It was to be expected that Anya would be troubled and hold back when Freya was there. Their relationship wasn´t the best, but at some point Freya had to start when she wanted to change that.

"Ehehe~~ You really grew up, my cute little kitten."

"Meow...mmmh..."

Anya startled when Freya suddenly hugged her from behind, whispering softly while she held her child.

"I´m happy that you are alright, Anya. That you found friends and have a pleasant life, Syr told me a lot about that."

"Lady Freynya..."

Freya giggled, blew softly into Anya´s ear and let her go.

"Do you know Heith already?"

Anya shook her head. Heith was four years younger than Anya and had only joined the Freya familia after Anya partially left. Of course Anya had heart about the Vana Mardoll, the Golden Witch, of her familia. But she never met Heith personally.

"Heith tends to work a bit too hard and much, so I forced her to take a bit time off. She really is a sweetheart, I hope you two can get along."

Anya and Heith looked at each other, not saying a word.

"Oh and Heith will soon start to work here part times."

"Meow?!"

"Huh?!"

Heith was as shocked as Anya.

"Lady Freya, that´s the first time I hear about this! I don´t remember to agree to this."

"Heith, do you trust me?"

"With my life."

"Then believe me when I tell you this will be good for you, to get some fresh air."

"Mh.."

"And Horn works here too part times."

Freya noticed that Anya shivered a bit.

"Anya, my cute little kitten, you don´t need to be afraid. I won´t interfere with the pub, I just saw how good the work here is for you, so I thought it could help Horn and Heith too."

Anya nodded, then she leaned down when Freya waved her closer, the goddess whispered into her cat ear again.

"By the way, Allen watches the pub whenever he has time. Or rather, he watches over you. No matter what he says or how he acts, your big brother loves no one in this world more than you, not even me."

Anya´s eyes widened when she heard that, small tears appeared in the corners of her eyes. Thankfully Mia appeared now, so that Anya had time to calm down.

"Good day, Mia."

"What brings you here?"

"I would like to eat something with Heith, then make an order and offer you Heith as a new part time employee."

Mia already knew all that, Syr had told her in private before.

"I can always use more hands here."

Freya giggled. "And in case someone gets hurt, my precious Heith is the strongest healer in Orario."

Dian Cecht would contradict this statement. But Freya believed that her Witch was stronger than the so called Saint, the one with a body made for sin.

"What do you want to eat?"

"The chef´s special, whatever it is. I just know that everything you make is delicious."

"And your order?"

"I would like to order two things."

Now Mia raised an eyebrow, Freya only told her about one special order before. While the goddess took a breath, Ryu came with a tray to the table, placing glasses with water in front of Freya and Heith. It was custom around this time to do that, so that the customers could drink some water while they waited for their actual drinks and the food.

"Oh my.~~ You must be Ryu Lyon, Syr´s friend."

Ryu blinked surprised.

"Hehe~~ Syr told me a lot about you."

"To you, Goddess Freya? Why?"

Syr...Horn...appeared fromt he kitchen again. Freya made a surprised and shocked face.

"Oh no...did she never tell you?"

Syr made a sad expression. "Freya...did you just blurt it out?"

Freya had decided that for her plan, they had to add something to Syr´s story. Anya already knew this detail from the past, but she never spoke about it. So Horn, as Syr, explained to Ryu that her circumstances were similar to Anya´s, that she had trouble with the familia and worked here now because of that.

Ryu looked at Mia. "Did you know about that?"

"Of course I did, she asked me to keep an eye on Syr and Anya, so that they´re safe."

To Freya´s surprise, Ryu smiled slightly, even when the news shocked her. "You´re really kind, Mama Mia."

Mia looked at Freya again. "So, what to do you wanted to order?"

"I would like to eat the super chef´s special in two weeks, it´s my "birthday" after all."

With birthday, Freya meant the day she came down to earth.

"This is expensive."

"Money doesn´t matter."

"Hm, will be complicated. I need the special water for that."

"Do you know where to get it?"

"No, only that it comes from the 18th floor."

Mia actually knew where the spring for the special dungeon water was, Freya told her in advance, since Ottar found it in the past. All for Freya´s plan.

Mia turned to Ryu. "I have a job for you."

"What is it, Mama Mia?"

"Since she wants to eat the super special, I need you to go to the 18th floor and look for a hidden spring. It is said that the water there is the best water in the world."

"Alright, but why me?"

"How often do you think Anya, Chloe and Lunor were in the dungeon?"

"Oh, right."

Freya started to chuckle, she laughed enough to let her chest move a bit. This movement was too much for the poor button that had tried it´s best to keep her coat closed. With a popping sound, the button gave in an shot away. Chloe had the bad luck to turn around a table this moment, right in the direction of the scenery. The opening cloak and the sight of Freya´s chest, halfway exposed, shocked Chloe so much that she couldn´t evade the button, which hit her right on the forehead.

"Unya!"

Freya smiled at Ryu, who looked shocked and devasted when she noticed the cleavage. "I heard you need to have a lot of luck to find the water...and a lot of common sense. Do you have that?"

The tips of Ryu´s ears turned very slightly red when she glanced at Syr, who whistled innocently and looked away.

"I will do my best to find it."

"Maybe you know someone with much luck who can help you?"

One person came immediatelly to Ryu´s mind. Freya saw the sudden pulse of Ryu´s soul and smiled in her head.

Gotcha. All according to plan.

Mia spoke again. "And the second thing you want to order?"

"I will soon hold a party of the gods, I want to follow Apollon´s idea to also invite the captains of the familias, or someone else in case the captain doesn´t have time. And since many of my children are quite...rough...I would like to ask you if you could lend me your staff for the evening. It won´t be held at Folkvangr of course."

"I need my staff for my pub."

"I wanted to ask you too, Mia. To be the chef cook for the evening."

"Hm.."

Mia didn´t know about this part of the plan before, but when no one else looked, Freya winked mischievously and nodded slightly towards Ryu.

"I will pay double from what you normally earn during a day and an extra bonus for your staff members."

When it came to extra pay, most staff members heard that immediatelly. Syr beamed all over her face when she came closer.

"Mama Mia, please say yes!"

Freya´s plan was obvious, she wanted Hestia to come with Bell to the party. There he would meet Ryu, so she could service him during the evening and have a nice chat. Freya knew enough about love, her plan would surely succeed.

"Hm, alright, I will keep the pub closed for a day, this way it can get renovated."

Freya smiled. "Thank you, Mia. Heith and Horn will show you the maid uniforms for the staff later."

Ryu blinked when she heard that. "Maid...uniforms?..."

"Of course, you can´t work on that evening in your normal uniforms."

"Irgh..."

Syr beamed to Ryu. "Come on, Ryu! You will surely look cute and adorable!"

"Syr..."

Syr leaned closer to Ryu and whispered. "And I bet Mr. Bell will like this sight."

"Mmmhh..."

Ryu couldn´t resist when Syr looked at her like that, with her special puppy eyes.

.

.
The event on the 18th floor had shaken Bell a bit. On one hand it made sense to wait and let his clothes dry, on the other...why didn´t he just hide among some trees?! Why did he bath with that shameless woman?! But...what if the amazons found him while he was hiding? Naked on top of that?

He returned a few hours later to the surface, while he was strong enough to go down and up on his own, as a level four, he had to be careful with the enormous backpack. At least he got everything he was looking for. And the event distracted him a bit from his current problems.

If he just had someone to talk about this, someone who knew about love, had experience.

He wandered a bit through the city, so that he had time to think. Bell didn´t move into a special direction, he just let his feet guide him somewhere. Since he was so deep in thoughts, Bell didn´t notice the black shadow that followed him, moving along the rooftops. Normally Allen was pretty pissed when he had to spy on Bell, but now that he knew it was to get Bell a woman, which would lead to exterminating a rival when it cames to Freya´s love, he was all in for it. Allen was also in thoughts, so he didn´t care much about Bell, more thinking about Freya´s order.

For the party she was throwing, he was one of the people who would provide security. Which meant...he and Anya would be in the same room. Allen didn't have to think about whether Freya was planning something, she had told him straight to his face. Just as Freya would work to eliminate Ryu's rivals one by one, she would also work to ensure that Allen and Anya would slowly get along again. Of course, Allen would pay close attention to his little sister at the celebration, not wanting any drunk god or mortal to come near her. After all, she was only level four...

There would also be members of the Ganesha familia. They would provide the open security, while a few of Freya´s children would watch from the shadows.

Eventually Bell stopped at a point, set down the backpack, leaned his arms on a small railing and sighed. On the side he noticed that this was the place where he had talked to Ryu, where she told him she was unable to look into his face at the moment and ran away.

Was it just coincidence that his feet led him here?

Bell just looked straight ahead, lost in thought, for a while.

"Oh my, isn´t that Hestia´s captain?"

He turned his head when he heard a female voice behind him. It was a goddess, so gorgeous that many men and women would imediatelly fall in love with her. She was accompanied by a young woman with flaming red hair. The color was different from the strange woman that he had seen today.

"You´re, Lady Freya."

"Indeed I am. And for me it looks like something is troubling you."

"You can see that?"

"Easily. I´m a goddess."

"Oh."

"And my trained eyes tell me, you worry about feelings. Feelings of affection."

Bell looked surprised, could she really see that easily through him?

"I´m a Goddess of Love."

Oh...right, that makes sense, I guess.

Freya turned to Heith and whispered something to her, Heith nodded and remained there, while Freya came closer. The goddess also leaned at the railing and smiled to Bell.

"Would you like to talk? I assume you have no one to ask, otherwise you wouldn´t stand here and sigh."

"You can see all that just from a glance?"

She smiled again. "Of course. Love is my domain."

"I..."

"If you don´t want to talk, that is fine. But love is a complicated matter and you´re young. Sometimes a neutral voice can help with a problem."

Not that Freya was neutral in any way.

"But...why would you help me, lady Freya?"

"Why wouldn´t I? You´re Syr´s and Anya´s friend. Both are precious to me. Also, you´re pretty interesting at the moment, the rising star of Orario. But what is most important, as a Goddess of Love, I can´t ignore a troubled young man. I help my own children wherever I can. So ask me if you want."

She showed him an open, friendly smile, a smile that reminded him very much of Syr. While Freya didn´t have romantic interest in Bell anymore, she still considered him as a friend.

"Alright...where do I start?..."

"Just talk, if you´re forgetting something, it will come to your mind while you talk, I have time."

Heith could see that Freya already had a lot of fun, she herself kept enough distance to not eavesdrop on them, that would be rude. She saw how Bell started to talk, Freya nodded now and then, asking a question here and there, but mostly letting him talk. It took easily an hour, Heith was a bit curious what it was about.

In the end, Bell bowed towards Freya.

"Thank you so much, lady Freya!"

"Ehehe~~~ You´re welcome, young Bell. Now go and don´t let your familia and Hestia wait too long. If she finds out that I kept you busy for so long, she might get mad with me."

"Yes!"

Heith watched how Bell took up his enormous backpack and jogged away. Freya saw Heith´s curious glance.

"If you want to know what this was about, I taught Bell the difference between admiration and feelings of affection, or love."

Freya was now one hundred percent sure, Bell was falling in love with Ryu. And what he felt for Ais Wallenstein was something different, he felt affection for her, but because out of admiration and a crush because she had saved him. But his growing feelings for Ryu were something different, something much stronger.

Unknownst to Bell, his skill Liaris Freese changed a bit on his back. The feelings of love were there, but the target of his feelings had changed. And in a way, it got even stronger.

And due to Freya´s intense words, Bell would now dream about Ryu even more.

.

.
At the next morning, Bell got surprised when Hestia called him down and to the door, there was a visitor for him. To his surprise, it was Ryu, wearing her uniform, with Syr next to her.

"Oh, good morning you two."

"Morning, Mr. Bell!~~~" Syr´s smile rivaled the sun, as usual.

"Good morning, Bell."

Syr looked a bit surprised and shocked, that Ryu got so daring to call Bell by his first name only...in front of her!

"What brings you here? Do you want to come inside?"

Ryu shook her head slightly. "We don´t have time for that. We´re out shopping and made a small detour. I would like to ask you something."

"What is it?"

Syr...Freya...could see how much Bell´s soul started to pulse when he looked at Ryu and talked to her. It looked like her words started to work. Ryu´s soul was exactly the same.

Hah...you two are so cute!

"Mama Mia gave me a task. I shall bring something from the 18th floor of the dungeon, something that isn´t easy to find. I got told you need someone that is lucky for that."

Syr grinned. "And Ryu immediatelly thought about you, Mr. Bell!"

Bell´s cheeks felt a bit warm and his heart happy. Ryu coughed to cover her slight embarrassement.

He blinked one time. "I will gladly help you."

"Really?"

"Yes, since it´s you who is asking me."

Ryu blinked again, now her cheeks felt a bit warm. Syr squealed in her mind.

.

.

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Author´s Note: I wrote that the story will be different from the first version. Now I know more and more volumes of the light novels came out. As you can guess from this chapter, I will go with Omori´s original idea for Revis, that she is Alise. And yes this will hurt Ryu, a lot. You will see how it will turn out.