While there was still a minor odor in the area it was far more reasohan it used to be. From the guild I headed to the hostess to drop off the food tainer and to my surprise fouhere.

  "Let me guess, Syr dragged you in and tricked you into buying fht?" I asked with a smirk as I took a seat at the same table.

  "How'd you know?" he asked surprised.

  "She got me the same way after my first delve, girl seems to know when you've got money on you for some reason." I said with a chuckle and Bell paled and looked very unfortable.

  It took me a moment to realize he wasn't looking at me and awkwardly turned around to find Syr standing there with a very unfriendly smile.

  "I'm not apologizing!" was the first thing that came to mind and I said out loud.

  "Oh that's fine, hey mama Mia! Alex here ordered the special! With wine!" she called out without looking away and now it was my turn to pale.

  "Aye ing up!" the dwarven women called with a amused look.

  The meal was great and frankly way too mue to eat alo gods damn was it fug expensive as I lost all of my money and ended up having to volunteer another week of free improved ingredients to pay for it.

  'Lesson learned I guess, even Syr has a mean side to her.' I thought with a sigh as we headed home to give some of the food we had to Hestia.

  -----------------------------

  (POV Freya)

  I remember it vividly, the day Alex introduced his existeo me. I was using Horns skill to take on the form of Syr that allowed me to seary Odr without my charm ruining it. Mia had se to gather ingredients for the days meals and I was on my way back when he bumped into me. At first I was too focused on colleg the fallen ingredients that had been damaged from the impact to notice but after getting a good look at him he was a surprisingly pin looking individual.-

  her handsome nly but someone you'd blur out oreet if you weren't careful. Alex himself though left a deep impression on me for two main reasons, his soul and his force of personality. He just had this way of ag that you couldn't help but get pulled into and before you k following alongside. He was mad without a doubt as there was this strangely entig mix of impulsivity and paranoia to everything he did that was hard not to be ied in. His soul was what truly drew my i as it was like an abyss that devoured everythi was not evil somehow. I remember how my heart would race just looking at it as I felt as though one wrong move on my part and that abyss would gobble me up, it is intoxig.-

  His magic was also not as simple as he made it appear at first ghere was something about it that made me nervous for some reason and the things that could truly aplish that were few. It was a beautiful maion of blue and bck fmes that I theorized might be transmutative in nature and thus dangerous for us gods. It was something only us ods knew but with our divinities restrained in these mortal frames we were very susceptible to transmutation as while not our divine forms these bodies were tied to them.-

  What this meant was that if we were transmuted as we currently are there was a high ce those ges would appear on our divine forms as well. To be ho I was quite hopeful that Alex may be my destined Odr and worked to draw him closer to myself as Syr for that goal. At first I simply tried to make him food for his trips to the dungeon but to my surprise he was rather blunt about telling me my food wasn't all that good. But theurn around and give me advi how to improve.-

  It was an new experiene like nothing I had experienced before. A strangely entig mix of soft and hard that led to personal growth. You imagine my shock to find that I, a goddess of beauty and war, had actually started to get good at preparing meals for someone else. I was nowhere near as good as the others at the hostess but I was gettier over time. Perhaps no one had noticed it but Alex reminded me of Alfia the silen terms of talent as he was rapidly growing more powerful.-

  As if fate itself had spired to fuse me though another anomaly had appeared in the exact same familia as Alex. Bell el was best described as "cute" more than handsome as he ure, too pure. His soul was the por opposite of Alex's as it was the purest white and radiated outwards in a blinding manner. Seeing them sittio each other frankly caused me to freeze up as my mind simply couldn't uand what I was looking at. Por opposites yet in perfect harmony as if their very essences weren't poised to csh violently.-

  It was beautiful in a way I 't even find words to describe. Meeting Bell el had thrown my mind into disarray as Horn had o take my pce as Syr for a few days after that much to Ottars as he wanted nothing more than to help me but was helpless for all his power to do so. I had two didates for who might be my Odr at the same time and I was stu how I should hahis matter. If there was only one I could slowly groom them for the role they were destio fill while getting close to them as Syr but for two that simply wouldn't work.-

  Sure I could engineer events to spur their growth but as fetting close to them there was no way I could get both and the prophecy was clear that I only had one Odr. I had to figure out which it was or perhaps I had to choose? Prophecy was tricky like that so it ossible that is the case just as it is equally possible that I was wrong. Assuming I did have to choose though I would probably pick Alex as what I see of him cshes less with who I am then Bell.-

  I am a goddess of beauty and war so I was not some pure maiden filled with virtue that would pair well with Bells innoce. I days Alex has ed me greatly as I saw something i was very familiar with from Ottar himself, a strained vessel. A uate where an adventurer has pushed their vessel beyond the safe limit and as a result has strai to keep itself intact. In a way it is a bit like filling a balloon and then adding more air to it as at some point the balloon will pop if you add too much.