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As Alfia stared in surprise, Takumi reached out and took her hand. That slender, smooth palm hardly looked like it could unleash force that split steel and stone.
"[Recover]."
A pure white glow wrapped her. In a heartbeat, Alfia's frail body returned to full vigor. Feeling the rush of life surging inside her, she parted her lips, stunned.
"Th-this… Takumi, how did you do that?" She squeezed his cheek as if to confirm reality. She'd been on death's door—and her condition came from within.
Neither Heith of the Freya Familia nor Orario's top healer, Amid, had been able to treat it. And yet Takumi just touched her, and she was fine. The shock to Alfia felt no different from seeing him sprout wings and fly.
After letting her pinch his face a bit, Takumi rubbed his cheek and answered, "Alfia Mom, I didn't cure you. I reset you to a younger baseline. The root of your weakness is [Talent–Calamity Offset]. If we don't remove that skill's side effects, the symptoms will flare up again. Of course, if it does, just find me—I can return you to your initial state immediately."
With that, Alfia understood. The road to her end couldn't be halted—but he could pull her back every time. Which… was essentially the same as not dying, wasn't it?
"Takumi, how do you even have a healing spell this broken—no, and how do you know my skills? Do you have some sort of appraisal? Did you already join a Familia?" Alfia fired off questions, curiosity burning. The "child" she'd raised—only half a year away from her—was now someone she barely recognized. The novelty left this "mom" both restless and delighted.
Takumi shrugged. "Haven't joined a Familia yet. You can think of these abilities as innate."
"Don't use that casual tone for something that tramples common sense!" The genius of talent herself, Alfia, felt a sharp sting of frustration. Compared to the monster before her, her own talent might not even register. Yet parallel to that frustration was a swelling pride—because Takumi was her child.
While Alfia thrilled inside, Takumi asked, "What about Meteria Mom? She isn't in the Freya Familia?"
He scanned the hall but didn't see Meteria's silhouette—what he did see was Freya herself gliding onto the landing, her peerless face fixed on him with undisguised, smoldering affection.
Hearing his question, Alfia explained, "Meteria's with the Hephaestus Familia now." Meteria's gift wasn't as dazzling as Alfia's, but she was still a Level 6. She disliked fighting and preferred logistics; when the Hera Familia disbanded, Hera recommended her to Hephaestus.
"I see. Still, Meteria Mom, honestly… you two hit a crisis and both kept it from me. You should've told me sooner."
"Of course she thinks the same way I do. And who knew you were a monster!" Alfia grumbled, then couldn't help ruffling his hair.
Takumi now stood taller than her; that hard-cut physique and god-tier looks could topple any woman's composure. Even as she insisted she was his mother, the long-stilled heart of the maiden inside her beat faster.
Seeing the two still chatting, Freya could no longer sit still. With graceful steps she came to them, a bewitching smile on her flawless face. "Alfia, this is your child, Takumi, yes? What a splendid boy. Are you interested in joining my Familia? If you are, I will spare nothing to mature you. That is my promise as a goddess."
At her personal invitation—and the lavish terms—members of the Freya Familia burned with envy. Most of them had joined under the goddess's charm, yet even so, Freya had never treated them so gently, hadn't even met many in person. And the goddess they adored was… adoring someone else.
For a moment, quite a few hearts cracked. They couldn't blame Freya. They didn't dare blame Alfia's child either. In the end, they could only swallow it.
But the instant Freya made her bid, Alfia stepped between them. "Freya-sama, I don't want you coveting this child. He will not be your plaything."
Even before her current main god, Alfia showed not a hint of capitulation. In her heart, Takumi outweighed Freya a hundredfold.
"Alfia, I bear Takumi no ill will. He will be my hero. I—"
Freya rushed to explain, but Takumi spoke first. "For now, I won't be joining any Familia, Freya-sama. I accept your goodwill—but I want the right to choose."
Freya fell silent. Behind her, one adventurer snarled, "How dare you—this is Freya-sama's invitation, you—"
Before he could finish, Freya whirled, fury flaring hot enough to ignite the air.
"Silence. You will not insult him!" Her command snapped like a whip. "Expel him from the Familia. I don't want to see him."
As she finished, a thread of radiance lifted from the man's back—Freya's divine mark, the Falna she'd granted. "Freya-sama, you can't! I love you, I—mmf!" Feeling his god's power leave him, the adventurer sobbed, only to be seized by Ottar and hurled out of the mansion.
In the almost congealed air, Freya declared, "I respect Takumi's choice. None of you will voice objections. If you are displeased, you may leave my Familia at any time."
To Freya, so long as she could obtain Takumi, even dissolving her entire Familia was trivial; the two were not on the same scale. Facing such iron command, the remaining members bowed their heads as one. They loved Freya—enough to obey any order she gave.
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