"My emotions were being controlled?"
Hephaestus stared at Bell in shock, hoping to see some hint of a joke on his face—but all she saw was seriousness.
"Yeah."
Bell didn't try to hide anything. Just now, he had indeed felt himself unconsciously influencing Hephaestus's emotions—and even absorbing them.
"Hephaestus, take a look at this."
"An update sheet?"
Hephaestus looked puzzled as Bell handed her the paper. But under his urging gaze, she still started reading. Soon, she spotted something unusual.
"Seven Deadly Sins? Is this a newly awakened skill? Why didn't I notice it earlier?"
The question made Bell scratch his cheek awkwardly.
"Maybe because we were both focused on 'Godslayer' at the time."
At the mention of "Godslayer," a faint blush rose on Hephaestus's face. She forced herself not to dwell on that development ability and instead turned her focus to Bell's new skill.
"Ahem! Bell, tell me about this new skill first."
It was obvious that Hephaestus wasn't ready to talk about "Godslayer"—at least, not yet. The more pressing matter now was this new skill.
"Hephaestus, look at the first description under the skill."
Prompted by Bell, Hephaestus shifted her eyes to the first listed ability under "Seven Deadly Sins."
"'Pride'? That's it?"
She stared at the entry in disbelief. Compared to Bell's other skills—which might be broadly defined but still had clear explanations—this one only had two characters: "Pride." No context, no clarification. Nothing.
Bell didn't offer an explanation. Instead, he brought up something else.
"Hephaestus, do you remember what was on your face?"
"Of course I do. That thing... Wait, don't tell me your skill is connected to that?"
After a slight delay, Hephaestus finally caught on. Bell gave a small nod.
"I think there's a direct connection."
He raised his other hand, and black mist—thick and fluid like ink—swirled into view.
"The 'Envy' I removed from your face was absorbed by me. After I got this skill, 'Envy' immediately tried to come to me on its own. Even the safeguards I'd set up didn't work at all."
He drew a rune in the air, but the inky mist passed straight through it, not even slowed down.
This scene left Hephaestus stunned. She couldn't help but ask,
"Bell, didn't you seal that thing away before?"
"Yeah... I really thought I had sealed it. But now I realize that so-called seal was just wishful thinking. 'Envy' and 'Greed' weren't sealed by me at all—they stayed in the bottle because I wanted them to."
Hephaestus looked utterly incredulous. But Bell understood her reaction—after all, he had felt exactly the same way when he was forced to face the truth just moments ago.
"But my condition has been this way since I was born. How could it possibly be related to your skill?"
Bell nodded slightly. He had the same thought. Considering how Hephaestus had existed for billions of years, there really shouldn't be a direct connection between them.
"If it's not because of a personal connection between me and the Seven Deadly Sins, then there's only one other possibility. The Seven Deadly Sins are real, and I just happened to encounter them."
"A coincidence... That's too much of a coincidence."
No—if this was the kind of coincidence tied to 'Pride', then maybe it wasn't a coincidence at all. Bell looked at the sins he now carried and couldn't help but feel that the chance of it being mere coincidence had grown.
As someone who had been reincarnated, he naturally possessed traits of 'Pride'. Anyone reborn into a world they were once familiar with would inevitably develop a sense of pride. The most basic form was the feeling of being 'different from everyone else'.
The Seven Deadly Sins weren't something unique—many stories referenced them. In this world of Danmachi, claiming the Seven Deadly Sins didn't exist would be unrealistic. Otherwise, how would Freya use Lust to control people?
The Seven Deadly Sins did exist—but unlike normal authorities, they couldn't be wielded like divine powers. Gods could command authorities, but the Seven Deadly Sins were like a poison that even gods couldn't purge.
Wasn't the 'Envy' covering half of Hephaestus's face exactly like poison? Even divine power couldn't eliminate it—it could only be tolerated.
'Then, is what Freya uses not actually Lust, but something similar—like "Charm"?'
That was definitely possible. Hestia had mentioned before that nearly every love goddess possessed the authority of 'Charm', though the extent and mastery varied from one goddess to another.
As Hephaestus's confused gaze turned toward him, Bell finished his mental storm of deductions. His expression carried a bit of hesitation—the odds of this being coincidence or someone's setup weren't vastly different. But the coincidence still seemed slightly more likely.
"Even if it feels a little too convenient... Hephaestus, do you know anyone who could've manipulated things behind the scenes?"
"Hmm..."
Hephaestus furrowed her brows, thinking hard, but came up with nothing. Eventually, she could only shake her head slightly.
"I also think the chances of this being someone's doing are nearly zero. Your identity is still a mystery to all of Orario. If Freya or Loki were capable of this, they would've taken you long ago."
"No other gods could've done it either. Even the ones who developed the Falna System wouldn't be able to pull this off. Every child's magic and skills are tied uniquely to them. In other words, no skill or magic is exactly the same."
"To arrange for a Genkai child to awaken a specific magic and skill? That's just not possible."
After ruling out the possibility of interference, Hephaestus also began to feel that coincidence was the more likely explanation.
It might really seem like some grand design, but when everything was considered, it wasn't something gods could achieve. Once the impossible was eliminated, the seemingly implausible coincidence became the only answer that made sense.