Chapter 627: Goddesses Squad?
In the largest room of the Snow Clan mansion used for meetings with foreign diplomats sat Victor, Scathach, Morgana, Jeanne, Ruby, Violet, Agnes, Sasha, Natalia, and Haruna [who just arrived with Natalia's help.]
That group [specifically Victor] was looking at the Goddesses with a dead look in their eyes.
Aphrodite, who was at the front as a representative of the Goddess group, was squirming under Victor's gaze. She could clearly feel his feelings thanks to their connection, which Victor's Wives also felt.
Victor looked at Aphrodite, and then he looked at the Goddesses, who looked at him with explicit shock on their faces, and then he looked at Aphrodite again; he repeated this process a few times, and suddenly he felt a headache coming on.
"Haah…" He took a long breath as he placed his hand on his brow, 'No wonder Vlad was worried. This is too many Goddesses!'
Victor didn't have time to check on the Goddess when they arrived. As soon as he heard that Aphrodite had returned with the Gods, he knew he would get into trouble with Vlad, and because of that, he went straight to the King's Castle.
In total, Aphrodite brought up 50 Goddesses.
After a brief introduction, Victor could separate the prominent Goddesses from the group, which were:
Hestia, the Goddess of the Hearth and Sacred Fire. [Finally, they'd found each other. Victor held her in high regard.]
Tyche, the Goddess of Luck. [He had caught a glimpse of her before leaving.]
Nike, the Goddess of Victory. [She would look like a very serious secretary in the correct clothes.]
Demeter, the Goddess of Agriculture. [Mommy.]
The Panacea sisters, Goddesses of Healing.
Iaso, Goddess of Medicine.
Hygea, Goddess of Health Preservation
Rhea, the Mother Goddess. [A Titan and the strongest Mommy.]
Thetis, a Sea Nymph and the Goddess of The Sea. [Who is also a Titan like Rhea and Aphrodite. She is a Mommy like Demeter.]
Those were the only Goddesses with Major Divinities in a 'Concept'. The others were just Minor Goddesses without fully developed Divinities. Even though they didn't have a Major Divinity, they weren't useless.
Since they were Goddesses with a Concept that still needed work to grow, they had opportunities to be more 'free' and not be bound by their Divinity.
Greater Goddesses like Hestia, for example, were limited in what they could do due to their Divinity, but this restriction did not apply to the other Lesser Goddesses. They could do anything, learn anything, and even specialize in different crafts.
And that's what most Lesser Goddesses did. They were masters of various crafts, like blacksmithing, agriculture, etc.
Although they were not as good as the 'Divinely Specialized' Gods in this matter, such as Demeter or Hephaestus, they were far better than humans and other Mortal Races.
"Sasha, did you count the items they brought?" Victor asked.
When he spoke those words, it was as if a trance had been lifted from the Goddesses, and they snapped back to reality.
"He's beautiful!"
"No wonder you're Aphrodite's mate."
"Lucky woman! So jealous!"
They began to whisper in a low voice, but since everyone had heightened senses, everyone could hear them.
"Hmm." Sasha nodded her head as she glared at the Goddesses who were commenting on this, a look that Violet and Agnes shared:
"I couldn't touch some Divine Artifacts, but I accounted for everything; here is the report." She handed a sheet to Victor.
When Victor looked at the report, his eyes grew wide.
Curious about Victor's reaction, Scathach, Morgana, Jeanne, and Haruna walked up behind him and looked at the paper.
And just like him, the women also opened their eyes in shock.
"How the hell did you get those items, Aphrodite? There's tons of Ambrosia here, even Divine Weapons built by Hephaestus." Victor asked in shock.
"Uhmm." Aphrodite snorted proudly and said, "No Mortal or God can escape my call."
"... That's true, but how did you bring it all here?" Haruna asked curiously.
"I bought her the latest storage bag as a gift," Victor said.
"Storage bag?" Haruna asked, confused, "Oh, those bags you always use when you go to my territory? I always wondered what it was, but I thought asking about it was rude."
'...So polite!' They all thought at the same time.
"Oh… You haven't received one yet, huh." Victor spoke.
"Well, this item is not being marketed yet, Master. Only select people have access to this item." Natalia explained.
"The King wants to monopolize it, huh?" Victor spoke.
"It's a good source of income, and if you sell to specific people, we can get political support and charge those individuals more... But because you helped us discover this method, we sell to you with just the material costs in mind." Natalia explained.
"Recently, my dad has been getting proficient at making these storage bags, and they've been getting more compact." Natalia took a white cloth from her pocket and unfolded the fabric carefully, and soon everyone saw a white bag.
"If necessary, we can also stretch the opening so that Beings can enter the space..." Natalia said as she stretched the bag's opening to the size of a simple door.
"Although it's something we don't recommend doing too often. Only my dad can do it because if trouble happens, he can use his powers to escape relatively easily."
"I see… Haruna, I'll get you a bag later."
"Mm, I will send the necessary money later."
"..." Victor nodded his head.
"Believe it or not, Victor, I didn't get all the items in the Treasury of Olympus; I would need 50 more bags to get them all." Aphrodite started to speak.
"The Gods have accumulated a lot over the years, huh," Ruby said.
"Indeed." Aphrodite nodded and continued:
"Because of that, I only chose those that would be useful to us."
"Ambrosia are fruits that extend the life of a Mortal, and if empowered by a God's Magic, we can make a human who will stay alive until someone kills him."
"Does that mean he'll have 'immortality' like Vampires?" Sasha asked.
"No, the 'immortality' of Vampires is due to their high regeneration, a basic characteristic of Vampires. The Human who eats this fruit will have physical immortality, but he won't gain any special Powers or anything like that; oh, he won't have Spiritual Longevity either."
"Spiritual Longevity?" Ruby asked.
"Some Beings are not meant to have a long life. Humans are an example. Even if their physical body is fine, their Soul would not be. And over time, symptoms like madness, mental imbalance, and spiritual death can ensue." Jeanne explained.
"I see... This is very informative... Is there a way to prevent these problems from happening?" Victor asked.
"Of course, the Soul can be refined through unyielding willpower, but… The mental imbalance will always remain. After all, a Human living a life greater than planned would create an imbalance, an abnormality in nature, which is not tolerated by existence." Jeanne spoke.
'Imbalance, huh...' Ruby thought: 'That particular word comes up a lot when discussions about existence occur. I wonder why these Beings want to maintain balance so much.' She thought there must be a reason for that, and not just maintain 'existence'.
Aphrodite continued, "Because of this, when we want to turn a Human into a God, the God-King basically has to make the Human reborn in a process similar to what you did with the Maids, Vic."
"Similar...? Does he touch their Soul?" Victor asked.
"Only Gods of Death have that ability, Vic, and I said, similar, not equal. The process of making a Human become a God takes a lot longer because the Human needs to work on a Concept to gain Godhood. The God-King merely places a spark of Divinity in the Human's body to help them ascend to Godhood, and with that spark, their Soul is refined to contain that Power." Aphrodite spoke.
"What you do is more like a complete Soul overhaul, a skill unique to Progenitors. Not even Gods of Death can do that."
Aphrodite didn't comment on the most crucial aspect of the Progenitor of Vampires, which is 'storing' Souls in their own Soul, something no being but the Progenitors of Vampires could do.
"What about the Demigods? In history, many of them became Gods." Violet asked.
"Hercules, etc.," Sasha spoke.
"You just remember him, huh," Ruby said.
"Well, I saw a drawing of him when I was a kid." Sasha shrugged.
"In the case of Demigods, this doesn't happen because they already have their parent's 'Divinity' in their body, and they can ascend to a Lesser Godhood faster," Aphrodite explained.
"Oh… parentage speaks louder even in these matters, huh," Sasha muttered.
"That's the way life is. Sometimes very unfair, and sometimes very beautiful." Morgana spoke while looking at Victor.
"…I feel like you are judging me for something, Morgana," Victor spoke.
"And I am. The word 'unfair' defines your very existence." She was brutally honest.
"..." Victor's smile twitched a little.
Aphrodite coughed to get everyone's attention, "Back to the subject of Ambrosia. Suppose the fruit is used on a Supernatural Being with the same method, for example, Noble Vampires, who already have high vitality. In that case, you can negate the weakness of needing to drink blood regularly."
The girls and Victor opened their eyes wide. Even Scathach was no exception. She'd lived a long time and never knew that.
"How long can we remain in that state?" Scathach quickly asked.
"Hmm, I haven't done the math, but if a Vampire Noble eats the fruit… I think they'll be fine for three to five years, of course, it depends on how much Energy is used. If a good amount of Energy is used, that time will increase."
"For that reason, I recommend having at least 10 or more fruits in your bag. This is for emergency cases when Victor is not around."
"Remember, it's for emergencies! We only have so many fruits. This is not Mount Olympus, where the soil is fertile enough to produce these fruits. Even with the help of Demeter, it will not be possible to grow them here. Therefore, we only have a limited supply."
"…That's… Amazing, Aphrodite. You are amazing, Aphrodite!" Victor chuckled as he hugged Aphrodite.
"Fufufu~, praise me more! Realize how amazing I am!" Aphrodite returned Victor's embrace.
"Whoa, she's getting cockier," Morgana spoke.
"It's okay for now. She's just done a lot of beneficial things for the group; she deserves this treat." Violet spoke.
"..." The Vampires looked at Violet suspiciously, like they were looking at an imposter or something.
"What? What's with that look?"
"Who are you, and what have you done to my friend?! Give her back!" Sasha was prepared to make any move if necessary.
"H-Huh!?"
"Violet is too possessive to speak coherent words." Ruby spoke in a cold tone, "Who are you?"
"My daughter wouldn't make such a comment; I raised her! She's more… Aggressive!"
Veins began bulging in Violet's head.
"Mah, Mah, no need for all this drama. It's obvious Violet did it because she's a proper 'Queen'." Jeanne defended Violet.
"What do you mean?" Ruby and Sasha looked at Jeanne.
"Confidence, ladies. Violet knows that no matter what happens, she has all of Victor's firsts and is his First Wife."
"Because of that, she is working with me to be a proper 'Queen'."
"..." A silence descended on the group. They were too shocked to want to feel jealousy or envy. They just looked at Violet as if she were a very rare animal.
"Humpf, no matter how many bitches come to my Husband, I will always be the most important! Bow down, half-breeds!" She spoke with an arrogance similar to a certain Golden King.
"..." The girls looked at Jeanne with blank stares.
"Did you teach her that?" Sasha asked.
"… That was Morgana." Jeanne sold out her friend.
"Oyy! Don't rat me out so easy!"
"Anyway, why is she learning from you? Aren't there more qualified people?"
"Who?" Jeanne asked.
"...." Ruby had no answers.
"It might not seem like it, but Jeanne was a very decent Queen. She was quite a match for Vlad's First Wife before the poor thing fell into the endless abyss because of bloodlust."
That was why Victor was cuddling and spoiling Aphrodite so much right now. The bloodlust problem was manageable, but at times when Victor wasn't around, it became a weakness for the girls who were used to feeding on his blood.
"Was the First Queen a decent woman?" Sasha asked curiously.
"Yeah, she was a good Queen. She always treated everyone with respect, and she was very wise, too. Vlad was really lucky to have her as his First Wife." Agnes spoke while remembering the past when she was a child and visited the Queen with her mother.
"Hmm… Girls?" Haruna's emotionless voice was heard.
"..." The women looked at Haruna.
"Did you forget them?" She pointed to the group of Goddesses who were watching everything with amused looks. One even had a warm look that came from a red-haired Goddess.
"Oh."
Yes, they forgot.
"Do we really have trouble focusing on something? Are we kids?" Sasha spoke.
"Maybe… I'm still a kid at heart!" Morgana laughed as Jeanne nodded several times with a:
"Umu, Umu."
Sasha, Ruby, and Violet rolled their eyes at this scene.
'What are these old women talking about? Children? Bitch, have you ever heard of shame?' The three of them thought at the same time.
"I don't think this is a problem…." A woman's gentle voice was heard, and the red-haired Goddess soon approached the group.
"Losing focus because you are in a Family environment is something valuable. You are very harmonious with each other. It is as if I was seeing a group of sisters."
"… Well, you're not wrong." Violet was the one to speak, which sent yet another shock wave through the group; they weren't used to seeing a mature Violet.
'Wait, isn't she more mature than I, her mother?' Agnes thought in disbelief.
"Because we keep an eye on which 'scavengers' try to exploit our Husband. I don't want anything to destroy this Family environment."
Once again, another wave of shock ensued for all the girls who knew Violet. They were really wondering if the girl was switched or something.
"A valid concern and an admirable one. But I can tell you that you won't need to worry about it...Aphrodite is very possessive of her 'belongings' regarding other Goddesses. She made that very clear a few moments ago, and because of that, everyone is very quiet." The Goddess spoke while looking at her fellow Goddesses, who shuddered a little and turned their faces away as if the landscape had something interesting to see.
And there definitely was an interesting sight: a very handsome man and a Goddess whose beauty didn't lose to his in the slightest were sitting on the floor while said Goddess was in his lap being pampered.
"Well, she is a woman with pink hair," Violet said as if that explained everything.
Sasha and Ruby both smiled when they understood the reference Violet was making.
A reference the Goddess of The Home didn't understand.
"Pink hair?"
"Don't worry; it's an inside joke."
"Oh... Fair enough."
"Anyway, your name is... You're Hestia, correct?"
"Mm, it's a surprise that you remembered our presentation since there are so many of us."
"We will never forget the Goddess who Blessed us."
"Oh…" Hestia displayed a small smile:
"I just did a favor for a Goddess who, despite being troublesome, is still my friend. It's no big deal."
Violet shook her head, "You have no idea just how much what you did has deeply touched my Husband. He values Home and Family so much."
Hestia's smile grew into gentler tones, "That's good... A close family is always better." The last part was commented on with a pained tone.
A tone that Violet and Rhea, who was nearby, also noticed.
Deciding not to comment on it now, she spoke:
"You have a place in everyone's hearts here, Hestia. Because of that, feel free to always visit us whenever you want."
"...." Hestia smiled gently, and the pain on her face disappeared as if it didn't exist. It was always nice to be in a place where one was appreciated.
.....
