"I'm sorry what?"Stella almost didn't believe what she was hearing
"We said that your existence here is tainting goddess Freya!"
"I can guarantee that if Freya herself found my existence here a problem she wouldn't have allowed me to be in the building for as long as I did."
The three people in front of her must have been acting on their own she highly doubted that Freya even knew she existed much less found her a problem.
Stella was going to try to de-escalate the situation but if they attacked first then there would be no problem!
"Look I moved in a few days ago, If you want to buy the building from me I don't mind selling it but you would have to wait for me to find a new place to buy first."
"BUY IT FROM YOU?! Are you deaf, did you not hear what I said? You are to leave the building NOW or else!" one of the 3 goons screamed
"Or else? I highly doubt Freya would want to start something with the Loki familia, I might not be a major member but I doubt that it would be able to just pass by unseen.
Stella was trying to get these 3 goons to leave, but she did want some live subjects, and with her being unable to enter the dungeon currently, self-defense could work.
The 3 goons drew their weapons and rushed at her, Stella quickly moved back into her lab and readied the frost focus. As the first goon rushed through the door with a sword in hand she quickly blasted him with the focus.
Stella hit the man's left shoulder and she watched as the ice quickly spread locking his arm in place. The second blast hit his face causing what looked like immense pain as his eyes shrunk in size as they froze.
The first guy screamed as he dropped to the floor holding his eyes with his one functional hand. The second guy rushed in shortly after swinging at her with his mace, Stella moved into the attack tanking the hit, and kicked the guy before quickly changing to her fire focus.
The enemy looked surprised as his mace bounced off her, but Stella quickly pointed her wand at him and fired. The attacker was engulfed in flames, not even letting a scream out before he dropped to the ground.
Stella didn't see the 3rd guy come in yet but was pleasantly surprised at how quickly it took down the 2 goons attacking her. Heading outside she saw the 3rd guy dead with Ottar standing over him.
Stella knew who Ottar was there was nobody who didn't know, the only level 7 adventurer. She feared that maybe he was mad that she accidentally killed 2 of his familia members and that he would do something.
"Thank you."Ottar spoke
"I killed members of your familia though?"Stella was thoroughly confused
"They were causing trouble." Ottar said
"I- how?"Stella stuttered out
"They did things to try to impress my goddess that she did not like."Ottar explained
"Do you mind if I have the bodies?"Stella asked
Stella was freaking out in her mind, she assumed that they were killed for attempting stuff like what they pulled but did not expect the punishment to be death. She could use the bodies for experiments in an attempt to find a cure.
"Yes, do with them what you want."Ottar stated
Stella quickly dragged the bodies into her lab, throwing them into her storage bag, while making sure Ottar wasn't looking.
"I am being told that goddess Freya wants to meet you."Ottar said
"Can I decline?"Stella did not know how Ottar knew that Freya wanted to meet her, but did not want to meet the goddess that was famed as the most dangerous.
"No."
Ottar then turned around and walked towards Babel, with Stella following shortly after. Stella had heard about the Freya familia and Freya herself, her familia was like a cult with all members in constant conflict with each other vying for the favor of their goddess. Freya wasn't much better, she was said to be able to charm people by simply having them gaze on her form.
Stella had heard that Freya lived at the top of Babel, she had been in Babel before while browsing the shops that were on the lower floors, she had never been to the upper floors because they were owned by certain familia.
Upon making it to the top floor of Babel she followed Ottar down a hallway before turning into a room with a chair facing a balcony overlooking orario. In the chair was Freya, and Stella could feel the charm pull at her, it felt like Freya could solve all her problems and give her everything she needed, but that feeling faded shortly after.
Stella didn't know what was going on but the charm around Freya disappeared, and now she just looked really pretty woman, nothing more.
"I've been told that you dealt with some of my familia members that were causing trouble."Freya said
"Yea they tried to take the building I bought, I didn't mean to kill them on purpose."Stella explained
"Yes, Ottar said you easily got rid of them with your magic. I am sure you could put that magic to good use in my familia, why don't you join me?"Freya said
"How did you know about my magic?" Stella replied she hadn't seen Ottar speak since they left the lab.
"A magic tool that allows for communication between wearers telepathically, you didn't answer my question though."Freya replied
"No I can't, I am already in the Loki familia and I owe them quite a bit for helping me out. Sorry though." Stella said
"You should join my familia, I can guarantee that it will be worthwhile."Freya stated as her eyes glowed for a second
"I will have to respectfully decline goddess Freya I wouldn't be able to even if I wanted to."Stella could feel the tug of charm for a split second before it vanished again.
"Very well then, enjoy the rest of your day."Freya said
After her meeting with Freya Stella was escorted out of Babel before Ottar went back in. Stella decided to head to Twilight Manor seeing as she hadn't been back there for a few days.
She made her way up to Loki's office to ask a few questions about Freya and to see if she would update her status.
"Hey Goddess Loki can you update my status now?"Stella asked
"I can, where have you been though? You have been gone for a few days, almost thought you went back into the dungeon."Loki asked
"Oh yea, I bought a place that I could use as a lab because my room was too small. I did have a meeting with Freya after defending myself from some of her familia members though."Stella replied
"YOU MET WITH FREYA?! Are you crazy, did you fall for her charm? Are you one of her slaves now?"Loki exclaimed
"Yea Ottar brought me to the top floor and everything. Also about the charm stuff, I felt it at the start but it disappeared did she turn it off?"Stella replied confused
"No Freya cant turn her charm off, it's a permanent thing and you resisted it?! Did she ask anything of you?"Loki was really surprised
"She asked me to join her familia after hearing from Ottar about the magic I can do, and on that note, I learned a way to do some magic!"Stella answered
"You declined Freya's request? I wish I could have seen her face. Here is your status though."Loki said
Strength: 223 G -> 456 E
Endurance: 147 H -> 323 F
Dexterity: 124 H -> 304 F
Agility: 154 H -> 351 F
Magic: 99 I -> 563 D
Magic: N/A
Skills:
Natural Thaumaturge: You are a natural-born thaumaturge! Understanding and learning thaumaturgy is much easier for you.
Discernment: You have a keen eye! You can more easily find out the properties of an object.
Tainted: You are infected by the taint! You are able to boost your abilities to ridiculous levels by using the taint inside you. All magic cast by you is naturally chaotic!
Curse of Primordia: Cursed by magic! You are incapable of using mana this includes being used to fuel spells, your spells have increased output by a large amount.
Taint-Suppressant: The taint inside you doesn't like outside elements invading your body! Outside forces have a harder time affecting your body, charm, poison, or disease resistance can be built up. Charm: S Poison: I Disease: H
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Word Count: 1451
A new skill! If anyone has a better name that would be great, I couldn't think of anything good. Disease resistance also builds up against Taint, so now taint is fighting itself!
I have been rereading both Danmachi manga and realized that the stuff about Falna that I stated is pretty much common knowledge... Whoops! On a side note my computer is struggling to write in google docs. I write in google docs before proofreading and doing touchups on inkstone before posting. I will still post daily, but it bothers the heck out of me!