by Fujino Omori
She was stationed outside the stadium but could feel the vibrations of the monster’s howls in her skin. She looked over her shoulder at the stone wall between her and the action.
Eina had been assigned this post by the Guild. She and a few other coworkers were in charge of directing fairgoers into the stadium as well as supporting Ganesha Familia’s members.
Monsterphilia was not an event held by the gods just for the fun of it. Ganesha Familia supplied the monsters and tamers for the show, but the Guild itself was responsible for setting up everything else.
It’s not my place to question it, but why is there a Monsterphilia in the first place?
The managers of the Guild approved it. Eina had no input in the decision and simply had to do what she was told. She was not entirely comfortable with it.
While there was almost no risk to the city, monsters should not have been brought out of the Dungeon. Eina would have objected if she could. If the Guild was as concerned with city management and safety as they claimed to be, then they should have done more to restrain the monsters themselves. Declawing them would have been a good start.
The monsters were scary beasts, after all.
The main purpose of this event couldn’t be taming the monsters. It had to be for amusement. Creating this potentially dangerous situation just for fun was something that should have been brought to an end. At the very least, the Guild shouldn’t have been involved. Eina’s thoughts continued through to this conclusion.
“And now… the freak show. That hurts a bit.”
“Huh? You say something, Eina?”
Eina shook her head. A coworker had overheard her grumbling to herself.
Orairo was home to many Familias and their adventurers. This might have sounded like a good thing, but most adventurers were not the friendliest of people. They had a tendency to play by their own rules. Their lack of manners around townsfolk caused a lot of problems for the Guild. It was up to employees like Eina to smooth things over.
In order to reap the benefits of the Dungeon, the Guild had to keep their adventurers in line as well as protect them. This festival was the only way to get the average citizen to see adventurers in a good light, so the Guild turned a blind eye to the danger. It couldn’t be helped.
The words “yearly freak show” still lurked in the back of Eina’s mind. She knew the Guild’s reputation was on thin ice, and the festival was the best way to relieve the pressure.
Just as long as nothing goes wrong…
Fair season always made her nervous. She wouldn’t be able to relax until the final curtain fell. Or maybe she was just too uptight.
Her friends and coworkers complained about not being able to see the show. She was busy contemplating the place of the Guild and massaging her temple.
“No, not here, either…”
“Maybe they’re already inside?”
Hmm?
Someone she knew was walking toward her. It was Bell.
His head was on a swivel as he walked around the outside of the stadium, as if he was looking for someone. The goddess walking next to him must have been the head of his Familia.
Eina took a quick look at her coworkers. Seeing that they were still griping, she figured they could hold down the fort for a few minutes. She walked forward to greet the adventurer in her charge.
“Bell.”
“Ah, Ms. Eina?”
“Bell, who is this half-elf?”
Eina chuckled for a moment at the blank look on his face before making a polite bow to Hestia and introducing herself.
“My name is Eina Tulle. I am a member of the Guild’s secretariat and also Bell’s adviser for Dungeon activities. It is nice to meet you in person, Goddess Hestia.”
“Oh, that’s how you know each other. Bell’s counting on you.”
Satisfied with the explanation, Hestia shook Eina’s hand. Eina gave another bow while Bell watched in silence. He snapped out of his trance and asked a question:
“Why are you out here, Eina?”
“The Guild is in charge of the fair, so all employees have a job to do. I’m an usher of sorts, helping guests to their seats. So did you come to see the opening event, Bell?”
“Not yet, I’m looking for someone, actually. Um, she’s a waitress… but she wouldn’t wear her uniform out here. Ha-ha… Have you seen a human girl who doesn’t have any money?”
“Not too sure I have…”
Eina couldn’t hide a chuckle at Bell’s way of describing the girl. Bell looked away, scratching his head. “Should have known…”
Eina went on to tell him that there was a small entrance fee to get into the stadium, so the chances a girl with no money got inside were slim. Bell nodded and lowered his head in a thank-you.
“Well, then, I’ll keep looking around outside the stadium before heading back to East Main. She might not know about the fee and wind up here anyway.”
“Sounds good. If I see a girl like that, I’ll tell her to wait here.”
Bell bowed one last time and turned to leave. Hestia saw an opportunity to speak with Eina privately and stepped forward once Bell was out of earshot.
Eina was a little confused but turned to face the goddess.
“Ms. Adviser.”
“Yes, what is it?”
“You wouldn’t use your position to try to make a move on Bell, would you?”
Hestia didn’t break eye contact. Eina knew in a moment Hestia was serious.
“I like to keep my personal and professional lives separate…”
“Okay, I’ll trust you.”
Hestia patted her lightly on the arm, a solemn look in her eyes.
Bell, noticing the goddess was not behind him, came back looking very confused. Hestia walked out to greet him before the pair went on their way.
Eina felt like she had been pricked by a needle. She watched the two of them walk away, a trickle of sweat running down the back of her neck.
Massaging her temple again, she went back to where her coworkers were stationed at the base of the stadium.
“What the hell’s going on over there?”
“Complain all you want later, get some people over there now.”
“…?”
The mood had changed; voices were raised everywhere.
Eina’s eyes narrowed as she walked up to the group. “Excuse me, what’s going on?”
“Guild staff stationed at the west gate collapsed for some reason.”
“… Huh?”
“They’re awake, but they’re all sitting down on the job or lying on the floor… Could just be a bad hangover from last night. But everyone’s too far gone to do their job, so we’re sending some more people over there.”
The animal people Guild employee rolled his eyes in frustration.
But Eina felt a cold chill in her chest. She wasn’t just nervous now, her whole body started to tense up.
Am I overreacting…?
Another roar from the crowd echoed over the stone wall behind her. She looked up at the top of the wall, trying to steady herself.
However, a different echo, one from a monster’s roar beneath the ground, reached her ears as well.
It was a dark, dirty room with almost no light.
A single magic stone lamp hung from the ceiling, casting long shadows over everything in the room. Boxes standing a square meter tall lined the dusty, dank storage room. Different types of weapons and items hung on the walls.
Many cages were in here as well. The sound of chains echoed as the beasts inside the cages fought against their restraints. The iron cages were built in a lattice pattern. Monsters stuck their snouts out of the openings, baring their fangs and howling.
The room was under the stadium’s main stage. It was being used as the monsters’ waiting room.
Their cages would be moved to the surface by a staff member when it was their turn onstage. A tamer would be waiting for them when their chains were broken.
“What are you doing?
We’re ready for the next one! Why won’t you raise it?!”
Clop-clop-clop. Sharp steps in high heels echoed off the stone floor outside the storage room just before the door opened to reveal a female member of Ganesha Familia.
She was the team manager for monster transportation. Her assistants never missed a beat, so when the next cage failed to show up on time, she rushed to investigate.
She was ready to scold them, but no one responded.
“W-what’s wrong? Hey!”
Her team members were on the floor all over the room.
The four men she had left in charge were sitting down, leaning against boxes with absent looks on their faces.
She ran to the closest one, fearing the worst. He was breathing. No injuries, either. Going to the rest of the team, they were in exactly the same aloof state. However, they were alive.
The only problem was that all of them looked like puppets that had their strings cut. There was no strength in their bodies at all.
“Ah… ah.”
Monster poison…? No, it can’t be… What the hell did this?!?
All of them were murmuring something. Their faces were beet red. Their eyes weren’t focusing.
She had never seen anything like this. A chill crept through her body as she realized she didn’t know how to help them. How could she cure what she was seeing for the first time?
What happened here…? She stood up and scanned the room, ignoring the howling and thrashing beasts still locked in their cages.
“—”
The air behind her suddenly shifted.
It was not an aggressive sneak attack, more like one friend creeping up on another. There was no intent to harm, which was why the woman was too slow to react.
Someone was standing behind her.
“Please stand still?”
“—ah.”
A quick swish of cloth, and suddenly she couldn’t see.
Her eyes were covered by delicate fingers that were smooth to the touch.
A heartbeat later, her whole body froze in place, limbs shaking ever so slightly.
A sweet smell licked her nose, a soft body pressed against her back, warmth enveloped her skin. All of her senses were paralyzed by a “beauty” she couldn’t see.
It was an overwhelming “charm.”
A “charm” she couldn’t comprehend.
She couldn’t fight back, she couldn’t resist.
Her mind was going blank, thoughts evaporating all at once.
Her freedom was gone.
“Where is the key?”
“—e.”
“The key to the cages—where is it?”
The voice whispered lightly into her ear, but the sound consumed her consciousness. Her head leaned forward, her neck unable to support it.
She could not fight the words in her head, and she obeyed.
Her shaky right arm reached behind her back to grab a key chain strapped to her belt. The keys shook violently in her jittery hand. She raised the keys up to her shoulder.
“Thank you.”
The hands covering her eyes left as the keys were taken from her hand. But her eyes didn’t trigger. The girl did not see anything.
The presence behind her withdrew. Without its support, her knees buckled, and she fell to the floor, landing softly on her rear end.
She had fallen victim to the same “charm” as her team and joined their fate.
“My apologies.”
Freya left the girl behind and walked farther into the storage room.
Guild staff and the “fierce members” of Ganesha Familia had been guarding the west gate. She had rendered them all helpless in order to come this far.
Freya didn’t have the ability to fight anyone. She was just one of the many gods on Gekai. She had no special powers.
But she had her beauty. She literally was beauty itself.
She had a power that couldn’t be controlled by reason. Other gods fell under her spell; humans and demi-humans didn’t stand a chance. She had the overwhelming ability to put anyone in a trance on a whim.
This time she was using it to have a little fun.
The gender of her victims didn’t matter. Their consciousness would leave them; they would forget they had bones to stand on. They became infatuated with her “charm.”
As long as she was careful not to be seen, this level of infiltration was well within her power.
“……”
Freya stopped in the middle of the storage room.
Monster cages were lined up all around her, their occupants howling with renewed vigor. She listened to the explosion of beastly roars around her.
However, as soon as she lowered her hood, all of the beasts went silent.
“……”
Her beauty had ensnared them, too.
Skin the color of freshly fallen snow filled their eyes. Freya’s silver hair and silver eyes hypnotized the monsters into a passive state, their muscles shutting down.
Even vicious monsters were not safe from her “charm.”
“… You’ll do well.”
She looked over all of them individually before stopping at one particular cage.
That monster was covered in a thick white coat of fur. Its arms were massive and its shoulders broad with bulging muscles. A line of longer, thread-like fur that matched Freya’s hair color perfectly ran down its back ends in what looked like a stubby tail.
The wild silverback locked eyes with the Goddess of Beauty, its breathing getting heavier and heavier with each passing second.
“Come out.”
She opened the lid of the cage with the key in her hand.
The monster obeyed Freya’s instructions and stepped out of the lattice cage. The chains restraining its arms and legs jangled at its feet.
She had released a monster. She knew how dangerous this could be.
While she was pulling the strings, little details like that meant nothing to her.
She’d come here for one reason.
That boy is right outside…
Her target was Bell Cranell.
Ahh, but it’s a pity. I wanted to watch him grow a little while longer…
She knew Bell was growing at an alarming rate. She didn’t know why, but she could see he was improving by leaps and bounds.
No one could keep a secret from a god.
… I want to play with him.
Freya laughed to herself like a little kid.
She wanted to play a joke on the one she loved, just as if she were an immature child.
But she couldn’t stop. Her love at first sight was driving her forward like a twinge of pain deep in her chest every moment she couldn’t be with him.
She wanted to see him scared, see him cry, but above all, she wanted to see his courage.
“……”
“Fhaa… fhaaaa…?”
Freya lovingly stroked the cheek of the silverback, its nose flaring with each swell of air. She paused for a moment as a new thought went through her mind.
What if this monster accidentally killed Bell because she let it loose?
She hadn’t thought of that but quickly shrugged it off.
If Bell died today…
I’ll go after him.
If his spirit left Gekai, she would chase it to the ends of time and space.
I will hold him.
Once she caught him, she would hold him against her passionate breasts.
Her eyes glowed with love and tenderness, but her face showed a love of cruelty. An absolutely evil smile unrolled from her lips.
She held the silverback’s head with both hands, evil smile and all. Every muscle in the monster’s body pulsed with energy.
So…
She leaned forward and placed her lips on the creature’s forehead.
Wait for me?
A roar erupted from the storage room.
“Goddess, what were you talking about with Eina?”
“Ah, this and that.”
The goddess and I have already done one lap around the stadium in our search for Syr. Now we’re back on East Main. The streets are emptier now. Everyone’s probably inside watching the tamers at work.
“Hey, Bell. This person you are looking for is a girl, isn’t she?”
“Eh? Ah, yes, with hair and eyes the color of ashes. She looks grown-up and is a little taller than me…”
She wasn’t asking about how Syr looks. Her eyes are only half open, staring at me. She’s not blinking…
Why’s she looking at me like that…? Got a bad feeling about this.
“Um… Goddess?”
“… Just like that adviser, you really have no clue.”
“Eh…? What do you mean?”
“Who knows.”
At least she’s not staring at me, but she’s pouting…
I swear her ponytails are alive, and they’re flexing. Like they want to choke me…
What did I do? Why is she like this…?
We walk in silence for a small eternity.
“—?”
“… What is it, Bell?”
I feel something in the air and stop walking. The goddess still looks as angry as before when she looks over her shoulder at me.
Just now, something…
Something reaches my ears.
It’s not the din of the festival; it’s sharper, tenser.
“… A scream?”
Just as the words leave my mouth, a tidal wave of sound overtakes us.
“MONSTERRRRRRRRR!!!!!!”
The peaceful street erupts into an explosion of panic at that one word.
There it is.
A monster is at the end of the street, coming from the stadium.
It’s charging down the stone road, all of its white fur standing on end.
The monster, the silverback, was enraged.
A storm within, muscles firing off at full strength, it breathed with enough force to blow everything out of its way. It wanted her, and it wanted her now.
It was looking for a goddess.
The last it saw of her silver hair was outside the stadium, disappearing into a crowd. The completely charmed monster rushed after her with more strength and power than it had ever had before, almost as though it was being pulled by an invisible chain.
Her love!
The goddess’s affection!
The monster’s purest, most basic instincts had taken over its body and driven it forward.