"We're not as depraved as you think."
"We?"
"I meant me."
Realizing her slip of the tongue, Hephaestus calmly corrected the implication in her words.
Just as she suspected. Freya now felt a sharp pang of sour frustration.
Today was a very special day for Freya.
She had finally met the child she longed to see the most.
For this occasion, she had specially chosen her banquet gown and even rehearsed their meeting in her mind countless times.
And just as she had imagined, the child answered her questions perfectly. Freya had now confirmed—this was the encounter she had been seeking in Genkai.
But serious complications followed soon after.
Particularly when Hephaestus confronted her directly—also because of that child.
Freya knew the child was undeniably captivating, but Hephaestus suddenly becoming a rival was giving her a major headache.
Especially after learning that both Hephaestus and Hestia had already taken the first bite... Freya's jealousy was boiling over.
'Oh my god.'
Hermes casually backed away from the center of the conflict to a safer distance.
Listening to the three goddesses bickering over one person, Hermes had no interest in watching the drama unfold. Instead, it felt like fire and gunpowder were about to explode before his eyes. If he didn't get out of the way soon, he might end up in the crossfire.
Once he'd made it to a safe spot, Hermes cautiously wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.
'Even facing Hera never felt this dangerous. A fight between goddesses is definitely not something ordinary people can handle.'
At that moment, Hermes couldn't help but feel a little sentimental.
'Bell-kun, you're really something else. Most people would be lucky to survive pissing off one goddess... but you managed to provoke two. Hell, you even laid hands on both of them.'
'If Zeus found out... he'd probably die laughing.'
At first, he thought even Zeus would be shocked by this mess. But thinking about Zeus's personality, Hermes was sure that old pervert would just laugh and say, "That's my grandson!"
Still, Hermes knew full well that being caught between three goddesses was no joke. One wrong move and he'd be stepping on a landmine—and then it'd be game over.
After answering Freya's question, Bell had left the banquet courtyard and stepped outside for a break.
"This is such a pain."
Bell knew perfectly well that Freya's questioning wasn't over.
'Unless Freya gives up completely—but will she really?'
'In the original story, she even used her powers to charm the entire world. It's hard to imagine her just backing down now.'
Now that he had caught her attention, expecting her to let go of her obsession was unrealistic. And that question she just asked clearly proved she was targeting him directly.
Sure, he could have lied—but would that even work? He had to think about what might happen if he pushed Freya too far.
If she decided not to play fair, things could spiral out of control.
Maybe Freya wouldn't be able to catch him—but Bell had no doubt that she would throw Orario into chaos.
As for whether she would really go that far... Bell didn't doubt for a second that a yandere goddess with the authority to charm the world was absolutely capable of doing just that.
'I absolutely can't let things get that far.'
Right now, all he could do was find a way to stabilize Freya.
'If the original plan had gone smoothly, things wouldn't have ended up like this.'
Bell sighed inwardly.
If everything had followed his initial plan, and Freya hadn't pulled so many tricks, he would've been able to keep up his air of mystery and limit her actions.
He had already earned the Excelia to reach Level 5. All that remained was pushing his Level 4 stats to their limits. Once he officially reached Level 5, even if Freya wanted to act, she would've lost the upper hand. The initiative would be entirely his.
Unfortunately, plans never keep up with change.
The situation had already spiraled out of his control.
Even if he couldn't dictate how things unfolded from here, he could at least try to keep it within a tolerable range.
'And then there's the problem of Freya's Familia.'
Bell sat on a bench just outside the courtyard, one leg crossed over the other, propping his chin with a hand as he observed the movements of Freya's Familia.
After he left the inner courtyard, Freya's Familia had sprung into action. Everyone, Ottar included, had begun searching for him inside Twilight Manor.
"This is even more troublesome than I imagined."
Bell let out a quiet sigh, unsure whether they'd keep tailing him like this in the future.
"...!"
The Cat People had scoured nearly every inch of Twilight Manor, yet found no trace of the kid. It was as if he had completely vanished.
"He didn't vanish. He's right under our noses."
The white elf Hedin was absolutely certain that Bell Cranel was still within the search area—they just couldn't visually detect his presence.
He pushed his glasses up lightly.
"If we were in the Dungeon, it might be a little easier. But this is Loki Familia's territory, and during a banquet no less. Trying to find that kid without drawing attention from the locals is far too difficult."
If there weren't so many people around, Hedin could've just blasted the area with magic and flushed him out by force.
Unfortunately, this was Loki Familia's domain.
Their goddess had been invited to the banquet—no matter what, they couldn't risk bringing shame to her with reckless behavior.
"What about magic that isn't offensive? What about perception spells?"
"Perception magic... that's even rarer and harder to come by than attack magic. Besides, you can't even be sure it'd pinpoint his exact location."
"Tch... kid's got legs, I'll give him that."
Both Allen and Hedin looked visibly frustrated. But faced with a target that couldn't be directly sensed or seen, there was little they could do.
Even though they were certain Bell Cranel was still within range, the fact that neither vision nor magic could detect him was a serious problem.