Chương 175: Even Freya Wouldn't Dare Do That!

Chapter 175: Even Freya Wouldn't Dare Do That!

When Luke returned to the Loki Familia residence with Ais, the initial treatment for Alise, Kaguya, and Lyra had been completed.

Goddess Astraea, who had been waiting outside, worried, finally saw them.

"Astraea-sama..."

"I... I couldn't bring everyone back..."

Alise, who was particularly seriously injured, was placed alone in a room.

The moment the red-haired girl saw Astraea, she couldn't help but burst into tears.

The regret and guilt that had been suppressed in her heart erupted like a volcano.

Astraea walked to Alise's bedside and sat down, and the compassionate goddess gently stroked the red-haired girl's head.

"You did everything within your power, so you don't need to feel guilty."

"And I believe they won't blame you either."

Under the comfort of her goddess, Alise's emotions quickly stabilized.

"Astraea-sama, Luke has already talked to you, right?"

Gradually calming down, Alise regained her ability to think calmly.

"Yes, he told me everything that happened."

"At the same time, he also hopes that I can take..."

"Take us away from Orario, right?"

Staring at her goddess seriously, Alise's eyes flashed with many complex emotions.

"I guessed he would definitely persuade you to take us away."

"I can also guess that, Astraea-sama, you would definitely agree with him."

"The revival of our Familia... looking at our current situation, it's an impossible task..."

"I know... I clearly understand... but I..."

Astraea put her finger on Alise's lips and interrupted her from saying anything further.

Looking at her goddess's gentle smile, Alise calmed down once again.

"So, what do you think, Alise?"

"Not because of my order to leave the city, but what do you, Alise, intend to do after hearing Luke's advice?"

Astraea's words made the red-haired girl fall silent.

After thinking for a long time, she answered her goddess with a hesitant expression, "I... I don't know..."

Alise's words actually hinted at her thoughts.

No longer "firmly" choosing to revive her Familia, indicating that there was already "wavering" in her heart.

"It's okay to be confused, after all, 'choosing' itself is a very difficult thing."

"Since 'choosing' is so difficult, then we won't make a 'choice'."

Astraea saw through Alise's inner confusion in an instant.

Then, she followed the direction of the red-haired girl's inner confusion and guided the topic to another direction.

"Let's talk about 'trust'."

"...'Trust'?"

"Yes, let's talk about who you trust more."

Looking at the somewhat overwhelmed Alise, Astraea felt both heartache and emotion.

The heartache was that Alise had never shown such a vulnerable attitude before.

The emotion was that once the red-haired girl crossed this hurdle, she would definitely undergo a huge transformation mentally.

"Do you believe that you can grasp hope and create the future, or do you believe that Luke will bring hope to you?"

"'Trust' doesn't need to be chosen, because the answer already exists in your heart."

…

"This mark... Tsk, it's Astraea."

Looking at the faintly visible divine mark on Luke's forehead, Loki clicked her tongue in extreme displeasure.

However, Loki's muttering startled Luke.

His own unreliable goddess was too sharp, right?

She could see through it with just one glance that he was kissed by a goddess?

However, after hearing what Loki said clearly, he understood that Astraea must have left something on his forehead.

'There shouldn't be anything wrong.' Luke muttered to himself.

He had specifically checked before coming back, and there wasn't any strange mark left on his forehead.

Slap!

The hand that subconsciously reached for his forehead was slapped away by the red-haired goddess.

"Really, first Freya and now Astraea, how popular are you with goddesses?"

Loki muttered indignantly while carefully observing the pattern of the divine mark on Luke's forehead.

"This blessing is..."

"Goddess's Kiss?!"

"Damn it, Astraea, you really dared to do this!"

The blessing of the gods was actually the predecessor of Falna.

In the past, when the gods had not yet descended to the lower world on such a large scale, or before the gods had developed Falna after descending, the blessing of the gods was the channel through which the gods bestowed power upon the people of the lower world.

Among these various blessings, the "Goddess's Kiss" could be said to be one of the highest levels of blessings.

It represented a goddess's continuous attention and affection for this person.

Although due to Luke being a member of Loki Familia, Astraea did not attach additional power when bestowing the blessing, this kind of divine blessing itself had special effects.

In Loki's eyes, Astraea's act of blessing Luke even though she knew he was a member of the Loki Familia was a blatant attempt to steal him away.

"Damn it... even Freya wouldn't dare to poach people from me so blatantly!"

Although Loki was angry, she could do nothing about this matter.

Because the blessing of the gods has been superseded.

Once the gods developed Falna, this earlier type of blessing, which was inferior to Falna, fell out of use.

This obsolescence is why there is no explicit rule stating "a god may not bestow their blessing on a child who possesses Falna."

The only existing regulations are "it is prohibited to bestow Falna on a child who already has Falna" and "it is prohibited to bestow Falna on a child from another Familia."

Since Falna encompasses all the effects of the gods' blessings, no god would choose to use an outdated ability.

"That sneaky Astraea, is she trying to piss me off!?"

Loki stared at the divine mark on Luke's forehead.

She couldn't unseal her divine power now, which meant she couldn't erase Astraea's blessing on Luke.

But in fact, this matter didn't cause any substantial loss to either Luke or Loki.

Even if goddess Astraea gave him her blessings, it couldn't change the fact that Luke was a member of Loki Familia.

However, Loki was just unhappy that the other goddess dared to leave their mark on her child.

"Wait..."

"Back then, Freya... don't tell me she had the same idea?!"

Suddenly, Loki felt like she had almost fallen into Freya's trap back then.

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