Orario.
When Freya finished her story, quite a bit of time had passed, and the room fell silent. All I did was rub my temples and barely manage to keep my eyes from rolling. Why? Well, it wasn't for nothing that I thought of Mistiora, because they were roughly similar, but with slight differences.
As it turned out, from birth, Freya possessed an abnormal charm, which she herself hatefully calls a curse, which in principle did not affect me due to my circumstances. And as soon as she stepped outside, for example, everyone she met wanted either to get her attention by any means necessary, or to sleep with her, or to take possession of her altogether.
As she herself put it, this curse is capable of 'destroying the world', although, in my opinion, this was an exaggeration, because someone would have intervened in what was happening. I mean, one of the gods.
In any case, because of this curse, she was locked up even in the Upper World, let alone the Lower World. The Tower of Babel is a kind of cage from which her own Family did not want to release her, except for Ottar, given his past. Thus, her current existence could essentially be described as a 'thing' — beautiful, expensive, desirable, but still a thing.
And what could Freya want in her circumstances? Of course, sincerity and, as funny as it may sound, humanity. That is, she wanted to be seen as a person, not a goddess, a piece of meat, and so on down the list. And, being the goddess of love, she never knew true love.
In addition, she was looking for her destined husband, whose name coincided with that in the correct human history. The reason for this was simple: no tricks with charm and everything else that brought her only pain and suffering worked on him. He, in turn, would love her sincerely, which was what Freya wanted and dreamed of.
What could I say, summarizing all this?
I finished my ninth cup of coffee, then looked at Freya, who was barely holding herself back, but still waited for my words with hope and supplication in her eyes.
The goddess appeared before me, holy shit, a collection of clichés from a typical anime harem. Not that it disgusted me, because, after all, Freya was a living being sitting in front of me right now. But that didn't change the fact that she had practically every cliché: she's special, she suffers for a long time, she needs to be saved, no one understands her, and so on.
In theory, Morgan could be included in this category, but unlike Freya, she took matters into her own hands, didn't rely on fate, and didn't give up, even if it ended sadly.
Oh, yes, she also believed that I was her 'Odr', because her first question confirmed her suspicions, according to her, of course.
I rubbed my temples again, then glanced at Freya, who, noticing my movement, straightened her back, clutched her dress, and practically glued her gaze to me.
- "As you said earlier, I am a stranger," I began. "And that meant that this very 'Odr' must be somewhere in this world, and perhaps you haven't met yet. However, if you recall my previous visit here, you were watching Lady Hestia's child, weren't you? It seems you even interfered with his development. After all, that monster was chasing him exclusively. And..."
- "How much longer do I have to wait?!" she interrupted me, raising her voice sharply. "He may be my Odr, or he may not! My charm may work on him, or it may not! You're different! You... You...!"
In response, I slapped her, which instantly ended her hysterics and was replaced by a stunned look in my direction.
- "Calm down, Lady Freya. You're not a little girl to behave this way," I said softly. "Take control of the situation. Stop sitting here, twitching slightly on rare occasions, waiting for your 'fateful' salvation."
I paused and, placing my hand on her cheek, healed the reddened spot.
- "You're like Morgan, because her story is pretty much the same," I continued, but in a friendlier tone. "But she took her fate and sent it to hell, starting to do what she thought was right. Of course, it didn't end well, but did she regret it? Only partially. She regretted that things didn't turn out the way she wanted, but she didn't regret the choice she made."
I removed my hand and, picking up my coffee cup again, took a sip while Freya placed her hand on the healed spot.
- "Besides, you have relative freedom, and she didn't. After all, resisting your own nature and the will of the planet is usually a tragic business," I added. "Just run away from the city, travel, or something like that. You're a goddess, after all."
In response, Freya stared at me silently for a few more minutes, slowly rubbing the spot where she had been hit, until she finally laughed. It was charming, cheerful, and sincere.
- "First your wife hit me, and now you," she said, wiping away a tear that had formed from laughter. "I guess you're the only ones who have ever made me feel positive emotions when you hurt me."
- "A masochist?" I raised an eyebrow. "No, thanks. I've got more than enough of those."
- "And you wouldn't want me to join them?" she asked mischievously, as if the recent tantrum had never happened.
- "An obvious question with an obvious answer," I rolled my eyes, which made her smile again. "In any case, I still have a couple of questions I'd like answered. And no, they're not about you or relationships."
- "Boo... You'll never get a girl's attention that way," Freya commented with feigned offense in her voice and on her face, to which I simply shrugged. "Oh, well. What questions do you..."
She didn't have time to finish, because suddenly the whole city shook, and a huge amount of blood-red magical energy with black streaks rose into the sky. It looked like an endless number of tsunami waves of different sizes gathering in the sky above the city and forming a vortex. And the power of this vortex continued to grow and grow, as did the feeling of 'dirt' emanating from its energy.
Panic instantly broke out in the city, affecting not only mortals but also gods, who ran out of their homes and stared at the sky. Some of them immediately took up arms and headed for the Tower of Babel, apparently for an urgent council and further planning.
Some of the lesser gods instantly fell to their knees and began to weep, unable to resist the power of the whirlwind, which also affected most mortals. And it was from them, those whose will was too weak, that thin streams of scarlet energy emerged, which were instantly picked up and sucked in by the whirlwind.
Within seconds, the whirlwind had grown so large that it completely obscured the sky above the city and several kilometers beyond. The sunlight that had been shining before was replaced by an ominous storm of scarlet lightning, crimson flames, and black spots sparkling within it, like ink.
This spectacle, as well as the lights that automatically turned on and then went out a moment later due to the pressure, caused cries and wails to rise throughout the city, drowning out even the noise on this floor of the Tower of Babel. But I was only interested in the center of the vortex, where magical energy was rapidly concentrating.
And yes, Griselda's signature was right there, along with True Longinus.
- "Wow, she's gone wild," I whistled, watching the initial stage of the Beast's birth.
- "What is this?" Freya asked seriously, completely shedding her image as a mischievous and cheerful girl. "Judging by your tone, you know the answer."
- "I know," I smiled. "And that's why I suggest we get to my questions quickly. They will partly determine when I intervene."
- "Intervene?" she asked in surprise. "But you're mortal, and..."
- "And yet, given the circumstances, only I can save the situation, if, of course, it becomes necessary," I said and glanced at the city again. "By the way, I advise you to evacuate, as I do the rest. When she is born, I don't think any of you, even with Arcanum, will be able to do anything to her."
- "Evacuate? We can't do anything?" asked Freya. "You underestimate the gods, Ro..."
- "You overestimate yourself," I smiled. "Anyway, here are my questions. What do you know about the Tower of Babel and Yahweh's motives when he built it? Also, have you heard a very tempting whisper offering to make your dream come true, hm?"
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