I raised the stick I had drawn, holding it upright.
The room fell silent.
Dozens of eyes locked on that tiny piece of wood.
Whisper began to spread across the courtroom.
Because written on it, clear as day, was a single word.
Loki.
A low whistle escaped, followed by that annoying laugh.
"Kuhahaha! Aren't you love me too much, kid? Don't tell me Lima Syndrome?"
Sigh... Can someone please shut this useless goddess up?!
My head is still in crisis right now!
I cleared my throat and raised my right palm like I was taking an oath. "Ahem. So, that's the result. I swear I did this drawing fairly, no cheating, no manipulation, no schemes."
Then I turned to Freya, and bowed, trying my best not to make eye contact for too long.
Reason? I'm scared as hell.
"I'm sorry, Freya-sama."
The room remained quiet.
Judging.
Waiting.
Some of the deities looked at me suspiciously.
At time like this, I'm really glad about the fact that deities are a walking 'lie detector.'
They knew I'm not lying, they can doubt me all they want but can do nothing about it.
Yeah, maybe they will doubt their own abilities or think that I may have abilities to bypass their 'lie detection', but at the end, they still can do nothing about it, at the very least not here, not today.
But to be fair, their suspicious is understandable.
Can't blame them. Really.
Freya had about 60% chance to win, maybe more?
Probably more.
I wouldn't be surprised if she used underhanded tricks.
And yet... she lost.
Honestly even if Freya has about 90% of victory I could still win as long as she is not count as my 'luck.'
That just how broken my luck stat is.
Why need cheating if your luck could overcome it?
Now that I think about it, maybe Aqua wasn't entirely wrong about I was born with 'cheat.'
Luck might just be the most overpowered ability ever exist.
Not that I'd explain this out loud.
No way.
That would just hit Freya's pride and probably make her want to crush me under her heel in more literal, painful ways.
And, I'm not a fan of that.
"Alright, let's go home, kid." Loki wrapped her arm around my neck and started dragging me toward the door. "Gonna slap that falna on ya in my place."
She cuckled. "You all saw that, right? Totally fair and square. And we know he didn't lie. Maybe all the money I lost at the casino was fate leading me to this very moment!"
"You can accept this outcome right, Freya?"
Her tone was casual, playful. But I could feel it. That subtle tension in the air. The cold war between two goddesses of terrifying influence.
She wasn't trying to provoke Freya. That much was obvious. Both of them knew that if they clashed head-on, Orario itself might not survive the aftermath.
Still, from the look on Freya's face, somehow I could tell, she wasn't that upset?
Maybe I wasn't someone she truly desired.
Maybe she didn't see me as worth going full yandere mode.
Which, if I'm being honest, is a huge relief.
I got the feeling she will to do anything if it's to get someone she really desired even if it's mean Orario will be destroyed.
"A bit unfortunate," Freya finally said with a sigh. "But... I'll accept it."
Good. Great. That's fantastic.
Loki, still hanging on my neck like an annoying older sister as we exited the courtroom. Her familia followed close behind.
I let out a long breath.
That was... way too close.
***
Later that night, at Twilight Manor.
"W-What do you want to do, Loki?!"
I instinctively took a step back, covering my chest.
"Tsk. You're so noisy." Loki clicked her tongue and casually stretched her arms. "Just take off your clothes so we can start the ritual."
"Wh-What kind of ritual requires me to take off my clothes?!"
Scary. My purity is in danger!
"D-don't tell me you deities are all like this? The way you do the ritual is thorugh that?! Then I demand a change! Change goddess!"
"I know you always have that wild thought, but isn't this too much? Yeah, I might actually likes it if your thoughts is true. Just imagine Ais-tan... Muehehehe..."
"Look, you also admitted it!"
"You missed the point, brat."
What kind of world is this? No matter how bad and useless Aqua is at least she is not creep.
Don't tell me… this is her plan?! To make me appreciate her more by throwing me into a world filled with worse gods?! Is this some kind of divine prank?
Aqua, if this is your doing, I get it now! You're not that bad! Please bring me back! I'll buy you wines! I'll even let you take the credit for our party's wins!
Loki sighed dramatically, dragging me back to reality. "Relax. I just need to see your back, kid. That's how we deities give falna here."
"Oh."
…Now I feel stupid.
After some question, I decided to do as she said.
I took of my clothes and showed my back to her.
Loki stepped closer and placed her palm gently on my back. I felt a strange warmth spreading through my skin like healing magic, but… different.
Calmer.
She didn't say anything at first. Just quietly analyzed whatever godly menu she had access to.
"Huh. You sure you're not part of any Familia?"
"Pretty sure. I've only heard about Familia thing when I got here."
"Hmm…" She went silent again.
"…Then how the hell do you already have a falna? Not from one goddess, but three?"
Eh?
Wait, three?
I could understand two. Aqua and Eris. That makes sense. I've spent enough time with both of them to imagine they might gave me something when I'm not aware.
But three?
"Huh? but none of them seem to have officially claimed you. This is different from what we usually do. It's like they… gave you some of their power without binding you into anything." Loki sounded baffled. And considering how smug she usually was, that meant something.
I scratched my head. "Does that kind of thing… happen?"
"I don't know about gods in your world but we usually don't do that here."
I winced.
"Can you at least tell me what kind of powers they gave me?" I asked.
"I want to, but there's this damn seal around everything. Hiding it. Normally I could break through with enough effort, but…" She groaned in frustration, grinding her palm into my back like she was trying to scrub a stain off.
I'm not sure that necessary, but let's just ignore it.
"Argh! This stupid purification! Every time I try to peek deeper, the power just purifies my magic. Wipes it clean." She muttered.
After some time Loki finally collapsed dramatically onto the sofa. "Haahh… I give up."
I pulled my shirt back on and turned around, feeling slightly cold.
"So, what does that mean?" I asked.
"It means…" she gave me a tired look, "one of your goddesses gave you a divine grade purification power. It's so strong it passively protects you from magical interference. I bet it also makes you immune to any poison and any negative effects."
"I'm not really sure since I can't read it directly it but that's probably the power she gave you... Aish, what is this? Is she some kind of obsessive goddess that don't want to share you?"
Not like that.
I don't even need to think just to guess whose power is that.
I'm pretty sure that useless goddess just too dumb to control her power.
Definitely that what's happened.
As for the second... probably Eris.
Anyway, who is the third goddess?
"Do you know these three goddesses?" Loki asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I think so." I gave a small nod. No point hiding it. "The purification one? That's Aqua. Goddess of Water. Her purification is so good that she could purify a dirty lake just by swimming there. She was the one who sent me to another world after I died— Ah, just to clarify it, this world is my third world. I died in my first world then Aqua sent me to the world where I have to defeat demon lord before I somehow ended in this world."
"You mean like reincarnation? Does that mean you actually some kind of perverted old man inside?"
"It's more like otherwordly resurrection, I guess." I waved my hand. "Anyway, the second one is probably Eris. Goddess of Fortune. I don't really know what power she gave me though. I highly doubt it was luck. I mean, if she boosted my Luck stat, the entire concept of probability would collapse."
Loki gave a dry snort.
"And the third?" she asked.
I frowned. "No idea. That's the part that bothers me."
There was a long pause as I processed everything.
Three divine blessing.
One divine grade purification, which works passively.
Two unknown powers.
One mysterious divine being.
This whole thing was getting way too complicated.
'Fukou da... (such misfortune)'