Chapter 39: Aphrodite
"Well, what do we have here?" she exclaimed, hopping off the bench and skipping toward him with a playful grin.
"Ah, hi." Cassian replied awkwardly, he was unsure of how to react to her.
"Oh, no need to be so stiff. I don't bite… much." A suggestive look flashed across her face. "I am Aphrodite, the Goddess of Beauty, and who might you be?"
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"Cassian Suncrest. It's nice to make your acquaintance lady Aphrodite." He dipped his head slightly.
"A pleasure to meet you, Cassian!" Aphrodite leaned in closer, her eyes gleaming with mischief. "You know, it's not every day I run into someone as striking as you. Brilliant, white hair. Muscular build beyond that of many elves. And those utterly exotic and captivating eyes, that give you an air of mystery and danger. Mmh, you push all of my buttons perfectly." She practically purred out as she stalked around Cassian, eyeing him up.
'Hmmm, what to do, what to do. Eh, fuck it, might as well have a little fun.' Cassian flashed a brilliant smile and returned the compliment. "Thank you for the compliment, dear goddess, I must say, you are breathtaking yourself. You have the most wonderful green eyes I have ever seen, like glimmers of emeralds shining in the sun."
'Maybe a bit cheesy, but hey this is practically a medieval world. And when in Rome…' And to prove him right, Aphrodite's cheeks gained a shade of pink dusting.
"My, my, good with his words too. I may have just stumbled upon a precious treasure." She gave him a captivating smile. A smile that immediately charmed the entire street, even without Aphrodite actually using her charm on them. Such was the power and beauty of a Goddess of Beauty and Love.
But she paid them no mind. No, her entire focus was on the young elf before her. One that had truly captured her undivided attention. Stalking forward, she gently laid her hand on Cassian's cheek and caressed it. Her charming presence completely concentrated on him.
'Ohhh, my god!' Cassian felt himself stumble a bit as his mind reeled.
'It seems not even he can resist me. Well, what can I say, my beauty is transcendent.' Aphrodite thought with pride and smug.
But she was mistaken. Her charm, which was weaker than Freya's had zero effect on Cassian. No, what made him double-take, was the enormous malice that rolled over them as soon as she touched him.
'Ohh, fuck, she's watching! Of course, she's watching! I got so used to her gaze that I forgot for a minute.' Cassian panicked. 'Unless I want Ottar coming down on our head like a sack of bricks, I think it's best to not push my luck any further.'
"What do you say, my precious Cassian, would you like to accompany me for dinner?" Aphrodite intoned breathily, but suddenly found her hand empty and only touching air.
"Ahh, I'm sorry lady Aphrodite, but I am very busy right now, so I must decline." Cassian spoke quickly while emphasizing with his hands.
"W-what? D-did you just reje- no, of course not. It must be something truly urgent. Then how about we meet up tomorrow evening? I know this amazing restaurant. It gets my engine revving like mad, and maybe you could help me calm it down?" She put on a pleading look, filled with as much adorableness as it was suggestive.
Cassian was actually having a very hard time right now, and that had nothing to do with being mind-controlled. Here was a goddess of beauty practically throwing herself at him. What kind of red-blooded man would reject such an advance? And yet the intensified bloodlust he was sensing provided more than enough motivation to extinguish his overdeveloped libido.
"Ah, maybe some other time, my lady? I am quite busy for the foreseeable future, so I am unable to accompany you." Cassian put on as polite a smile as he could manage while sweating from the gaze boring holes through Aphrodite's head.
"W-wha – Tha- no- what?" It seemed that Aphrodite's brain was incapable of processing rejection and had glitched.
"Well then, I'll get going now." Cassian quickly tried getting out of there, but apparently, that was enough to bring the goddess out of her stupor and she quickly latched on his hand.
"No! You can't! This isn't how it's supposed to work! You can't just-" Unaccustomed to being rejected, all of the previous elegance Aphrodite had, flew out of the window. Now she looked like a crazy ex being unable to let go.
'Lady please, for your own continued health, get lost!' Cassian started prying her hand off. "Goddess, please don't make this more difficult than it needs to be."
"Okay then, you asked for it!" Then she flashed a brilliant smile that made the knees of the audience quiver and give out, as she unleashed her full charm on Cassian.
There was no way she would accept this. She was a goddess of beauty. Wouldn't she become the laughingstock of everyone, if they found out, she got rejected by someone? A mortal no less!
She knew that maybe it was a bit wrong to abuse charm like this. But she was being far too emotional to properly process that at the moment.
Cassian felt a pressure on his mind, for lack of better words, but it quickly vanished as it came, leaving him completely unaffected.
'Well, that's the extra confirmation that charm doesn't work on me. Good to know.' Cassian thought as started turning away. "Goddess, would you please let me go now?" He didn't want to accidentally hurt her.
Aphrodite's eyes widened in disbelief. "Wait... what?" She stared at him, momentarily speechless. "Did that just—did you just resist my charm?"
'Why is she openly announcing that?' Cassian glanced around, unsure how to respond. "I'm sorry?"
She stomped her foot, her demeanor shifting rapidly from seductive to petulant. "That's impossible! No one ignores Aphrodite!" Her cheeks flushed with frustration and shock. "You should be falling over yourself to spend time with me!"
Cassian raised his hands in a placating gesture. "I didn't mean any offense. I just have other matters to attend to."
She crossed her arms defiantly. "This isn't fair! You're supposed to be smitten like everyone else!" Aphrodite huffed, her earlier grace replaced by a childish sulk. "Why isn't it working?"
Feeling increasingly awkward, Cassian tried to ease the tension. "Perhaps you're having an off day?"
She shot him a glare but then paused, considering his words. "An off day? Me?" Her expression softened slightly as she pondered the possibility. "No, that can't be it."
Cassian took a cautious step backward. "Well, regardless, It was a pleasure to meet you, my lady, but I must be going now. Bye!"
Aphrodite watched Cassian run away with her mouth wide open and her brain overloading.
Her brain finally processed the ludicrousness of Cassian's suggestion 'An off day?! That's impossible! A full-powered charm is supposed to be completely impossible for mortals to just shrug off! What the hell?!'
And her brain promptly shut down, as the ridiculousness of the situation fully hit her, and she fell to her knees.
It was only after a couple of minutes that a member of her familia, Harmonia, found her on the ground.
(Image)
"Eh? Goddess, why are you on the ground?" She asked confused and went to help her up.
Aphrodite's mind finally managed to reboot.
Shame and embarrassment were the first emotions that hit her, soon followed by anger, but all of it quickly turned into intrigue.
'A mortal that is immune to charm? But that shouldn't be possible, and yet here we are. Ohohoho, well isn't that extremely interesting?' She started smiling in a creepy manner, freaking her familia member out.
'What in the world happened to her? Why does she have that creepy, obsessed smile on her face?' Harmonia got goosebumps on her body.
Never in her life, had she gotten rejected and blown off so thoroughly, especially by a mortal! "Hehehehe, challenge accepted."
Chuckling to herself and thoroughly frightening her familia member, Aphrodite started walking away with a determined gleam in her eyes, completely oblivious of the recovered crowd that had just witnessed the whole soap opera.
Rumors would soon start circulating about how a goddess of beauty had apparently gotten heartbroken as her mortal boyfriend dumped her in the middle of the street.
Something that Cassian would dearly regret in the future.
--- Cassian's Workshop ---
'Damn, that was intense.' Cassian finally made it to his workshop and slumped down the wall as he relaxed.
After resisting Aphrodite's charm, the bloodlust and malice he was feeling from a certain crazy goddess, transformed into apparent great delight and desire.
Cassian was content with that. At least he knew that she wasn't angry and about to unleash a horde of first-class adventurers to hunt down all offenders to her mood.
'Even if I have to bear the stupid amount of lust I am feeling being directed at me right now, ugh.' Complain he did, but his feelings on the matter were the complete opposite secretly, deep in his heart.
'Okay, enough with that. With Aphrodite dealt with and Freya placated, I should get to what I came here to do.' Getting off of the wall, he started walking around the forge and starting it up.
As he did so, he considered the gear he needed to make for the Takemikazuchi familia. So far, only two of them came forward with what they wanted, encouraged by their god.
They were a bit hesitant, knowing that they were practically getting a freebie at their god's expense, but after a scolding and a lecture form Takemikazuchi, about how it was his duty as their god to provide them with the best he could, and how they would be able to keep each other safer with better equipment, that hesitation pretty much vanished and they became bolder.
The ones who came forward first were Ouka and Mikoto.
Mikoto wanted a Katana, no surprise there, although differing from Kurogane would be a little bit longer. When she took it for the dive, apparently, she immediately fell in love with it and was amazed at how easily it sliced everything in front of her. She had nothing but praise for him after they met again. From what Takemikazuchi told Cassian, she rarely got this excited about anything other than hot spring baths.
Ouka on the other hand asked for a big double axe. Cassian first wondered if he was trying to take advantage of the fact that he would be footing the material costs, but quickly realized that Ouka was too much of an oaf to be cunning at things like that.
He didn't give Cassian too many details about how he wanted his axe to be shaped, as he wanted to "Leave it to the expert" in his words, so that gave Cassian more freedom in terms of his work with that.
The forge properly started and heated up, materials all ready, Cassian started putting the metal in the furnace to melt it down. He was using the Under Coral again. He had come to appreciate the metal quite a bit, due to its middle ground of being both decently affordable and good quality.
'Although, I suppose I can start thinking about purchasing higher quality metals now that we have the income for it. I still have proper armor to forge for myself, though it will be something on the lighter side. A full plate doesn't really suit my agile fighting style.'
With that, he started forging earnestly. He wanted to finish the Katana today, before going back to the inn, though he might have to stay up a bit late.
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Okay, quick question. Does anyone have any idea, when the Artemis Familia was wiped out by Antares? I tried searching for it, but couldn't find anything about a time period. I wanted to know because I'm contemplating whether to have the cast assist and save Artemis and her familia from Antares, or have them already be dead and for the cast to simply go deal with Antares.
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