"You're tempted, aren't you?"
Seeing the hesitation on Freya's face, Shiro teased her.
A proper goddess had the entire Tower of Babel available to her, yet instead of staying there, she ran off to work as a waitress in some little tavern.
Who would believe she did all this purely to find someone?
If finding people was truly her only goal, standing high atop the Tower of Babel and looking down across Orario would obviously be far more efficient.
So the idea that working for Mia allowed her to meet more people was really just an excuse Freya had invented so she could remain at the tavern without feeling guilty about it.
"Besides, don't forget."
Shiro pressed his advantage while Freya was still struggling with the fact that he had seen through her hidden desire.
"You don't actually have the right to refuse me right now."
Strictly speaking, Freya truly could not reject Shiro's request.
The reason was simple.
Not long ago, Shiro and Freya Familia had secretly fought a War Game.
To prevent Freya from going back on her word after losing, Loki had even brought out a special contract normally reserved for wagers between gods in Heaven.
It had been created by Mithra, the god who governed the Authority of [Contract].
The outcome of that battle had been obvious.
Shiro crushed the entirety of Freya Familia with overwhelming superiority, including Mia, who had temporarily joined them as outside support.
Freya remained deeply dissatisfied with the result and insisted Loki had taken advantage of the information gap between them to trick her.
But a loss was still a loss.
No matter how much Freya indulged in the unreasonable behavior typical of gods, the Contract would continue binding her with mechanical impartiality.
According to its terms, Freya was currently effectively Shiro's subordinate goddess.
Naturally, she could not simply reject his "orders."
"Aren't you worried that child might turn out to be the partner I've been searching for?"
Freya spoke through slightly clenched teeth.
"What if I find an opportunity to 'eat' her someday?"
Freya did not actually dislike ordinary life.
But willingly choosing to live like an ordinary person and being forced into it were two completely different things.
So she deliberately raised the threat, hoping Shiro would reconsider entrusting Wiene to her.
"Oh, right."
Shiro lightly punched his palm with his fist.
"You almost made me forget that possibility."
His tone was so relaxed that even Freya found it strange.
She had only been testing him.
Had he actually changed his mind?
Then Shiro extended his right index finger and tapped her forehead.
Freya instinctively sensed something wrong and tried to evade him.
Unfortunately, with her divine power sealed, her physical ability was at best comparable to an ordinary adult woman.
How could she possibly avoid a Level 7 adventurer who had also absorbed Divinity?
His finger touched her forehead effortlessly.
"What did you do to me?"
"Forgive me, Freya."
Shiro somehow produced a handkerchief and wiped nonexistent tears from the corners of his eyes with a grief-stricken expression.
"This is the last time."
Freya immediately began checking her body.
She ran her hands over herself but found absolutely nothing unusual.
There was, however, one thing she could confirm.
"My divine safeguard didn't activate."
Her eyes narrowed.
"So whatever you did isn't a lethal threat."
"It's nothing much. Just a tiny detection device."
Seeing that Freya completely failed to understand his joke, Shiro instantly returned to normal.
The speed of his expression change left even Freya somewhat stunned.
"If a certain kind of thought ever appears in your head, then sometime that same day, through sheer 'coincidence,' the gods of Orario will discover that the famous Goddess of Beauty has secretly been hiding in a little tavern like this and working as a waitress."
Shiro smiled pleasantly.
"I'm sure all those gods with far too much free time would be delighted to come here and offer Heaven's most famous Goddess of Beauty their most sincere blessings."
Freya's exquisite face immediately stiffened.
"Exactly what do you mean by 'coincidence'...?"
Her smile looked increasingly forced.
"Who knows?"
Shiro shrugged.
"Maybe exactly what the word means."
He was not lying.
If Freya genuinely entertained the idea he had warned her about, every god currently remaining in Orario would learn about her Syr identity almost immediately.
As for how they found out...
That was hardly Shiro's business.
After all, this "coincidence" did not involve him personally running around and announcing it.
He had merely increased the probability of a certain accident happening by a tiny little bit.
If those gods still possessed unrestricted divine power, Shiro could probably exhaust all his Magic without affecting so many of them at once.
But who told them to seal their divine power?
Wasn't the entire reason they sealed it so they could descend and seek entertainment?
Shiro was merely helping those bored gods discover a spectacular source of amusement they otherwise never would have imagined.
If anything, once it happened, they should be thanking him.
"Hmph."
Freya snorted.
"Just don't regret this later."
That was effectively her acceptance.
There was no helping it.
Shiro had grabbed gods like her directly by the throat.
Plenty of gods already had shameless reputations among their children after descending to the Lower World.
But choosing to behave shamelessly yourself was one thing.
Having someone else expose your embarrassing secret was something completely different.
If Freya openly announced at a Denatus that she had recently become bored and decided to disguise herself as a mortal waitress for fun, most gods would not think much of it.
Aside from those who already hated her, of course.
After all, this was Freya.
Could working as a waitress really be called labor when Freya did it?
Of course not!
She was experiencing life!
Adding a little spice to the dull monotony of eternity!
But if those idle gods uncovered the truth themselves...
That changed everything.
When someone had to hide their identity and secretly do something, others naturally began attaching strange implications to it.
Even if those gods feared Freya Familia too much to mock her openly, rumors that "Freya secretly has some weird fetish" would absolutely spread throughout Orario.
It was only babysitting anyway.
Perhaps this particular child was slightly unusual, but Freya had raised plenty of children before!
How many members of her Familia had grown up under her watch?
Worst case, she could simply dump the monster onto that elf.
Given the relationship between the elf and the monster, someone as upright as Ryuu would never ignore a helpless child.
"By the way."
Shiro's golden eyes seemed to see straight through Freya's thoughts.
"The whole reason I'm leaving Wiene with you temporarily is because she doesn't have anywhere else to stay."
"Don't think you can just dump her on Ryuu and call it done."
"Unless something genuinely important prevents me from coming, I'll be visiting every day."
Freya's expression twitched.
Shiro knew at least some of the history between her and Ryuu.
In simple terms, while Freya was living as Syr, she happened to discover Ryuu collapsed in an alley after finally taking revenge for her murdered Familia companions.
Freya picked her up and brought her back to the Hostess of Fertility, where Ryuu eventually settled down as a waitress.
Because of that, Ryuu still regarded Syr as her benefactor.
If Freya sincerely asked her to do something, Ryuu would probably have difficulty refusing.
That was also why Shiro had never told Ryuu that Syr was actually Freya.
Thanks to Freya's behavior in earlier years, her reputation throughout Orario was far from clean.
The gods who sincerely believed they had slept with Freya could form a line long enough to circle Orario three times.
Freya could hardly come forward now and explain that those gods had actually fallen under her charm and experienced hallucinations.
As for who or what they had actually slept with...
Maybe it had been empty air.
Maybe it had been some bizarre random object.
Who knew?
If Freya revealed that truth, those gods would absolutely explode.
The severity of the matter was already comparable to Loki deceiving gods into slaughtering each other.
For particularly prideful gods, it might actually be even worse than Ragnarok.
If they could not determine exactly what they had slept with back then, they would never get another peaceful night of sleep.
The moment they closed their eyes, one thought would start echoing through their minds.
'What the hell did I f*ck that night?'
Orario's adventurers might even get to witness a magnificent fireworks display composed entirely of white pillars of light.
Gods staying awake for so long from existential horror that they dropped dead from exhaustion, triggered their divine safeguard, and were automatically sent back to Heaven.
Trying to repair Freya's reputation was clearly unrealistic.
If Ryuu ever discovered that the innocent, adorable girl she admired had that sort of reputation among the gods...
What an upright elf might do afterward was anyone's guess.
Shiro had absolutely no desire to find out what future that path would lead toward.
Perhaps if he explained every detail about Freya deceiving those gods, Ryuu might...
No.
That probably would not improve things very much either.
Whether fraud or sleeping around was worse ultimately depended on the person judging it.
More importantly, Shiro had another reason for not wanting Ryuu to become Wiene's caretaker.
So he turned toward Freya.
"Seriously."
"Do you actually think Ryuu can take care of her properly?"
Freya and Shiro both turned their heads at the same time.
With equally complicated expressions, they looked toward the counter.
Ryuu was crouched behind it, taking care of Wiene.
"Come on."
Ryuu spoke gently.
"Say 'Mama.'"
"Ma... ma?"
"No. Mama."
She carefully exaggerated the pronunciation.
"MAMA."
"Mama?"
BANG!
"Hm? What was that sound?"
Anya turned around.
"Whoa! Ryuu?! Are you okay, nya?! How did you even get yourself stuck in there?!"
She rushed over in panic.
"Hold on! I'll get Mama Mia to save you, nya!"
"You girls are so noisy! What ridiculous thing are you doing now?!"
"Mama Mia! This is terrible! Ryuu got her head stuck inside the counter, nya! Hurry and save her!"
"Hah? How did she even manage that?"
Mia sighed.
"Whatever. Move aside."
She planted her feet.
"Hup!"
Anya's eyes sparkled.
"As expected of Mama Mia! Ryuu, are you okay, nya?"
"Sorry."
Ryuu's voice came out with forced calm.
"I became slightly too emotional just now. Let me rest for a moment."
"..."
Shiro and Freya silently stared at Ryuu after she had somehow smashed her own head straight through the wooden counter and needed Anya to call Mia over to pull her free.
Neither said anything.
Perhaps...
That elf was actually an idiot.
…