CHAPTER 116(A Day With Freya)

Please read the author's notes. (Examples and explanation of moves and appearance+ Monster Sources)

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CHAPTER START---

Beneath his blankets, Yang's eyes remain closed as he stirs awake. Rolling over slightly he shifts to wrap his arm around the body in his bed.

He and Freya fit perfectly together, as if they were made for each other.

Both naked after their night of 'catching up' after his seven weeks in the dungeon.

"Mmm," the goddess groans as she pulls his arms that much tighter around her, "what time is it?" she barely manages to ask, her voice heavy and exhausted.

Peeking out from the blanket, Yang sees the clock before diving back in, "8 AM."

"I'm skipping work today..." she says as they both quietly fall back into a peaceful sleep. Yang not missing that this goddess apparently has a job.

---1 PM, Yang's Apartment...

"So gods work, what kind of job do you even have... model?" Yang asks as he gets out of the bed, his bare feet walking across the hardwood floor while he gets dressed.

"It's complicated, and I shouldn't have even said that so please forget it, now...about what you said this morning..." she rolls over to look at him, still tightly wrapped in his blanket.

"Uh-huh, as I said, when we wake up from...our fun night, we need to have a serious talk about...expectations, Hephaestus told me what you basically think this will be," he gives her an unsure look.

"Right, you know if you weren't in my sister's familia I'd just kill everyone and steal you away," Freya says casually as she sits up to look at him.

"Excuse me, sister?"

"Hephaestus, Loki and myself, not in the way humans are related obviously, we... formed... yes that's the word, we formed in heaven at the same time in the same spot essentially. The joke was Hephaestus got the brains Loki got the spirit and I got the looks, we've been close ever since," Freya says.

"Huh, so is any of the lore we have about the gods real?"

"I doubt it, gods tend to just descend and create whatever myths they feel like, unless another god descends they can include whoever they want into a fake story."

"So, Zeus wasn't a serial rapist?"

"Oh no that parts true, thankfully the pact we made to descend while giving Falna sealed away his entire charm effect."

"Gross, well not like I can expect decency from gods anyway..."

"HEY!" Freya cries defensively.

"You literally said you would kill my familia to get me if I was in another familia," Yang gives her a bored look.

"Love is a good reason, my actions are justified," she pouts, folding her arms and looking away from him.

"Uh-huh," he wasn't convinced at all," get dressed and let's get some food," Yang says as he begins to walk downstairs, leaving her to get dressed.

Only a few minutes later, Yang is making a small pot of Oats for him and Freya when he hears her racing down the stairs.

Looking to her he sees the goddess still wrapped in his blanket, shivering slightly.

"You ok?" he asks, only to receive an exasperated look from her.

"Why isn't your heating turned on? It's winter," her question earns a confused look from him as she walks into the kitchen and opens a panel in the wall, pointing toward a dial inside to get his attention, "did you not know where it was?"

"Uh no, and what is it?" he asks, not sure what she was getting at.

"This connects you to the central heating in Babel, it's off, you'd rather freeze than spend some Valis on the magic crystals?" she asks.

"Uh... didn't realize it was off, Elementalist remember, I don't really feel hot or cold," he says with a small shrug, turning back to pour out their meals," set it to whatever normal people use during winter."

As the magic heating system begins to do its job, Freya walks over to the couch and takes a seat, putting her feet up and hugging her knees as she shivers slightly.

After a cold minute Yang sits beside her, his presence literally bringing warmth with it much like it did when they were in bed as he takes a bite of literally steaming Oats as if it were the most normal thing in the world.

"So... you really don't feel hot and cold, even food?" She asks.

"Yeah, ice cream is just wet sugar now, but hey heatwaves and winter can't bother me now so I think it's worth it."

"And people close to you get some of your heat too," she scoots closer to him, resting her head against his shoulder, enjoying the warmth he was providing.

"Yeah, but if I drink then things get bad and you might wake up frozen or on fire," he jokes.

"Please," her voice becomes a bit softer as she continues," you'd never hurt me, even accidentally," there was a certainty in her voice that he didn't expect, sincerity. He doesn't like hurting people, he'd especially never hurt his partner. But the trust in her voice made him feel...happy.

"Never," he reassures her.

With a soft sigh, Freya sits up properly to meet his eyes as she begins to eat her bowl of food.

"Is this the part where you try to break up with me Yang?"

"We aren't together Freya."

"You really still think that, I thought we were past that," she gives him a playful pout.

"Hephaestus told me you think this is your happily ever after fairytale ending, it's not," he says bluntly.

Freya felt hurt, but she'd never show it, she couldn't show it. One small crack and she'd never be able to put up her facade with him again.

"Why do you say that, we could be happy together, we'll be happy together Yang," she pleads.

"Because..." he takes a deep breath," my adventure comes first...always, it's too important."

"And why can't you have both?" her voice raised slightly, anger seeping in to cover the sadness in her heart.

"Because I just can't, I have to choose one or the other, and it's really no choice, so this isn't gonna work out."

"I disagree."

"You disagree? That's not how this works, I'm breaking up with you," he tries to explain as plainly as possible.

"Aha, so you admit we are together..."

"No, just..." he runs a hand down his face," we can't see each other anymore."

"No."

"No?" he was taken aback by her nonchalant attitude as she began eating her breakfast.

"No."

"What do you mean no?"

"We're staying together and you WILL love me more than your adventure in the end, so NO," she says with a light shrug.

"That's not how this works!" frustration was clear in his voice as he tries to make sense of this woman.

"I promise I will never stop bothering you," her eyes were all business as she spoke to him with finality," I will pester you till the end of time if needed, Yang Shen..." her attitude immediately calms down with a happy smile as she continues, "now finish your food and warm me up," she presses herself into his side while eating her food.

Yang was completely frozen by what he just experienced from the woman.

"Are you...like all right in the head, that was really really creepy, you understand that right?" he asks, very cautiously.

"Love tends to have that effect on people," she jokes while stretching out on the couch.

"That's just an excuse psychos use after a killing spree..." Yang says as he finishes his meal.

A few minutes of what Yang would never admit to being pleasant and peaceful silence later Freya was laying on the couch facing the ceiling with her head on his lap, he was holding his adventuring journal in his left hand while his right traced small circles on her bare stomach.

"Why here?" Freya asks, breaking the silence and shifting slightly in his lap.

"What?" he was completely lost.

"Why live here, in this apartment, why here?"

"You knocked on my door at 3 AM and now you insult my home," he gives her a bored look.

"That's not what I meant... why settle, you could buy a mansion if my assumptions are correct, why settle for a nice apartment with a bookshelf, don't think I didn't notice the Grimoires by the way, standing between all those boring research books of yours..."

"Those are in case of emergency, doubt I'll ever need them, and that research is what keeps us alive in the dungeon," he points out.

"Mhm, the master ecologist, most adventurers prefer to simply walk into the dungeon and learn in more hands-on ways," she reminds him, her tone playful as she sits up to look at him properly, his book now closed to give her his full attention.

"Because this is all I need, is that so wrong?"

"Hmm, so much for the extravagant life of an adventurer, but I suppose that was always a myth..."

"How so, adventurers make lots of money, it's hard to believe they aren't all living it up," Yang was curious, he hadn't been around any adventurers but his team in their downtime really.

"That's what everyone wants you to think, but if you want to keep making money you need to keep pushing deeper floors, weapons get expensive just as fast as the drop items you collect and you constantly have to pay for repairs and new items. The only way to really be rich from the dungeon is to say... be strong enough to get past, let's say floor 50 for example, then you only harvest items from floors just before that, that way it costs you less and items are still worth a lot," her explanation stunned Yang for a while as he thought it over.

"And money regulates everything, because prices get stupid the higher quality they are, swords for a hundred million, or in Thalie's case a spear costing a billion Valis," he says, thinking aloud.

"Exactly, but you have Orario's best smith in your party and collect most of the items you need with your own hands, you also have storage magic that you fill up before coming back, carrying more than other parties can... you're living the actual fantasy that the guild sells about adventurers," she moves over and casually drops herself into his lap," rich, powerful, an executive in one of the top familias, and a beautiful woman in your lap...so why are you so adamant on giving it all up?" her voice was low as she asked the questions.

"Hmm," Yang receded deep into his mind as her words resonated with him, was it really worth it to go home, he really did have everything her, a perfect life... he could just, stay.

Looking down at Freya as she leaned against him, he felt, happy. This was ideal, he was happy. He was happy, right?

As he warmed up to this idea, he suddenly felt a yearning in his chest, he could hear his family calling out.

"Yang," his mother called out for him.

"Son," his father tried to hail him.

"Yng," his little sister still couldn't even say his name...

A burning passion filled his chest, his hand quickly came to rest above his heart as he remembered what he was fighting for.

"Because, I'd give it all away in a moment for what I'm fighting for," his answer was firm, his conviction reinforced.

Freya felt sadness at his words, weakly reaching up to move his hand from his bare chest, pulling it away she could see a small white scar on his left pec, "seems I'm not the only one fighting for love, is that why?" her shaky voice asked.

"Sorry, but I'd do anything for my family, that's all I'm comfortable saying about it..." he looks down at her, seeing her face contorted as if she were trying not to cry.

"How'd you get this," she points at the scar on his chest, ignoring her own watery eyes.

Deciding to follow her lead and change the topic, Yang looks down to see the small scar almost an inch wide on his chest, "dunno, it just showed up one day," he shrugs.

"It's weird, none of your other injuries left scars," she points out.

"Had it before I got a Falna, got it when I...when I started my journey to Orario, could be a lot worse honestly, when the gold dragon basically melted my armor into me I lost way more skin than I was comfortable with, thank the gods Airmid could fix it," he cringes at the memory.

"Was it that bad?" Freya asks.

"Thalie pulled off a piece of metal and circumcized me..." he visibly shudders at the memory, only to see Freya looking confused, that practice wasn't a thing here apparently he realizes, "let's just say your favorite part of me lost a piece," he explains.

"Oh...OH!" she catches onto exactly what he meant and shudders at the thought.

"Yeah, so what're you planning to do today?" Yang asks, "and does it involve clothes?" he gestures to her still naked body wrapped in his blanket.

"Mmm, depends, I'm just gonna keep bothering you today, do I need clothes for that?" she sits up in his lap, leaning that much closer toward him.

"I thought you had to play princess and stay in your tower? I've got dinner plans later with some friends..."

"I don't HAVE to do anything. The guild just prefers I stay away from the citizens, and it sounds like WE have dinner plans with your friends," she corrects him.

"So you're just gonna tag along whenever I'm not in the dungeon?" he asks in a defeated tone.

"Awe you finally got it," she teases him.

"Ya know, I've met three gods, I think my antics are making Hephaestus an alcoholic, Loki is just an annoying pervert and you're a... clingy girlfriend... are any of the gods normal?" he asks.

"Hmmm," Freya puts a finger on her chin as she thinks about her answer.

"The fact that you need to think speaks volumes about this, you know that right..."

"Miach is probably the most 'normal' god, Takemikazuchi and Athena too but neither of them are in Orario... Take is in the far east and she disappeared but hasn't returned to heaven so she's somewhere," Freya shrugs.

"So three of the thousands of gods... well could be worse I suppose..."

"You speak as if there isn't a goddess of beauty in your lap, ungrateful mortal," she feigns in a hurt tone.

"I don't see a goddess of beauty, just a persistent woman," he leans down and gives her a soft kiss on the lips before pulling back, "now go get dressed we need to get going..."

---4 PM...

Walking through Dian Cecht's floor, Yang strolls toward Airmids store, the most high-end medicine shop in the world.

Wearing a gray T-shirt and matching long pants with his battlemage boots on and a black jacket, he ignores to shameless stares sent in his direction.

Freya walks beside him holding onto his arm as if she was scared he'd try to run away, wearing black winter pants that fit her like a glove and her top hidden beneath the grey hoodie that Yang first arrived in this world with. Repaired and cleaned long ago, now used to keep her outfit a bit more modest.

"Most men would be glad to show me off to the masses... but this," she picks at the hoodie that fits her very loosely, completely drowning her features beneath.

"Uh-huh, and most women wear things that cover most of their chest in the winter, but here we are. Plus you draw enough eyes as is," he rolls his eyes at her whining.

"It's annoying but I'm used to it by now, so why are we here first, I thought you were going to dinner with friends," she says as they enter Airmids store, her eyes roaming about to observe all the glass containers of elixirs and other medicines lining the shelves.

"I emptied all my medical supplies to help Finn's team on the expedition so I need to restock," Yang says as he leads her directly over to Airmid, the girl was currently standing on her tiptoes on a stool desperately trying to reach the top shelf produces behind her counter, he back facing the couple.

"Need some help medb----" Yang cuts himself off immediately, thinking it best not to use such a nickname with Freya here," Airmid, need a hand?" he asks.

"Ngh, I...Got...It," she strains, barely managing to grab the box from the top shelf before stepping off the stool and turning to the counter.

"How can I help y..." she freezes after turning around to lock eyes with Freya, instantly recognizing the goddess, "Goddess Freya?" she looks down, seeing the woman's arm wrapped possessively around Yang's arm, "and...Yang...what?"

"Help, she's holding me hostage," Yang jokes, earning an eye roll from Freya as she playfully pats his arm.

"Don't make jokes like that, she might think you're serious," the goddess gives him a disapproving look before turning to Airmid, "it's a pleasure to see you again Ms. Teasanare," Freya gives her a polite nod.

"Uh, the pleasure is mine Lady Freya, please just call me Airmid," the girl bows respectfully.

"Alright so now that you're all caught up," Yang cuts off their greetings, already tired of the formalities, "I'm here to place another order, a bigger order, I'll need things to treat potential Frostbite and maybe low air environmental things..." he earns a concerned look from the doctor.

"Low air... underwater?" she asks, already taking notes on his order.

"No, more like mountains, high above the sea level and very very cold so it's hard to breathe, that kinda stuff, floor 59 was all snow so it probably gets colder and harder to breath the deeper we go," he casually explains.

Airmid's pen stops as she looks up at him with wide eyes.

"So...the announcement was true then, lady Hephaestus wasn't exaggerating?" she asks.

"Announcement?" Yang was lost, so was Freya since they spent all day inside.

"How don't you know.... the guild made the announcement this morning and the entire city's been in an uproar, you went to floor 59 and hit level 6 yesterday," Airmid was completely taken aback at the surprise on Yang and Freya's face.

"Oh, that..." was all he said, as if it were the most normal thing in the world.

"Why didn't you tell me about this?" Freya asks.

"It never really came up, plus we got back yesterday evening and you knocked on my door at 3 o'clock this morning, you would've known if you could wait a few more hours before seeing me..." he teases.

Deciding to look away from him and pout, Freya had no response.

"Anyway," Yang turns back to Airmid, "add more salamander wool to that order too, like a lot, enough to make a nice tent for at least four people, also some more ration bars...I burn a lot more energy than I accounted for with training and my entire team is using them to be more efficient," he says as she writes everything down.

"Alright, this is your total," she writes down a number on her notepad and pushes it over to him.

Barely glancing at it, Yang just slides it back over to her, "alright, when can I come collect this stuff?"

"As usual give me one week, I can have the wool sent to Welf's forge before the medical items are ready if you'd like."

"Yeah, that's perfect, and how did the surgery go yesterday if you don't mind me asking?"

"Oh, she'll make a full recovery, the... evidence, of the ordeal won't be going away, however," she bit her lip at the memory of Riveria's condition.

"Ahh, that's unfortunate," Yang looked behind Airmid to see a large container of small crystals priced at a little over one hundred thousand, "what's that?"

Both women followed his eyes to see a large jar of Crystal Drops, a rare dungeon candy found at safe zones, one of the more expensive edible items in the dungeon.

"Crystal drops, very rare and sweet, would you like to buy some?" Airmid asks.

"Eh, I don't really do well with sweets, do kids like them?" Yang asks.

"They're candy, of course kids like them," Airmid gives him a bored look.

"Cool, I'll take that big jar now then..." he feels something touch his side, only to look down to notice Freya nodding toward a smaller jar of the same Crystal Drops, "sigh, and the smaller jar for Freya..." he shakes his head at her antics.

Exiting the shop under the gaze of everyone in the area, either because of the recent announcement about him or the lady on his arm, Yang and Freya race over to an elevator and ride all the way to the base of Babel.

"So you like candy?" Yang asks as they arrive outside, seeing the woman holding the small glass jar of Crystal Drops, happily munching away.

"Everyone likes candy... almost everyone, why don't you?" she asks as he begins leading them toward the guild, she holds onto him a bit tighter, using his natural heat to stave off the biting winds.

"Simple, family was poor for a while, couldn't really get sweets and I'd feel guilty whenever my parents surprised me with them, so... I kinda conditioned myself not to like them, not to like anything that isn't really basic actually," he says with no real emotion, stating simple facts.

"I expected you to say that they just aren't your thing, but that's much sadder... so what no sweets and?"

"Sweet, spicy, hot or cold...not that those two bother me any more thanks to my magic, honestly now Ice-cream is just sugar sauce, meat and potatoes are usually my go-to meal even when in a nice restaurant, but I always ask for the sauce on the side and they always forget so there's that," he shrugs, not noticing her staring up at him.

She hadn't expected any real reason for his answer, but now she knew that much more about him. His family struggled and he's adamant about helping them...but how does clearing the dungeon help them?

On their way over to the guild, Freya couldn't help but notice the looks some of the adventurers were giving Yang, she could barely hear some of the things they were saying, petty jealous people, their souls tainted in her eyes, when she looks toward Yang he seemed oblivious....no, he was ignoring them, this didn't sit well with her at all.

"Must have lied..."

"That kid? Level 6? That's bullshit..."

"Yeah right, he's just a faker..."

"Guess the guild can get fooled huh, how'd he do it anyway?"

Her brows furrowed slightly as she didn't see any reaction from him at their words.

"Are you really going to allow this... people can't respect a King that will turn the other cheek when someone spits in his face you know," her tone was angry, people often forgot that she was one of the many gods of war, she didn't take disrespect lightly.

"They don't matter, only things that help me get further in the dungeon matter," that was all he bothered to say as they kept walking to the guild.

"Didn't you hear me?" she was definitely mad now, "kings that allow disrespect get no respect..."

With a deep sigh, Yang stops walking and turns to her, "I don't care about being 'King' Freya, I only care about my adventure, they can talk all they want, as long as they don't get in my way I don't care, I'm used to people talking shit about me," he says before they continue walking.

"Even if you don't care, you're well on your way to being the strongest adventurer...even if you don't care you will be the King. If you let people talk about you now they won't respect you in the future..." she was persistent.

"What do you want from me, expect me to go picking fights with everyone who talks bad about me?"

"You only need to make one example and they'll never disrespect you again, a simple solution."

"Sigh... you petty gods are bad influences, look, a wise man once said 'A lion doesn't concern himself with the opinion of sheep', so let them talk all they want, it doesn't affect me," Yang says as he quickens his pace slightly.

"Hmm, you're too mature for 17 years old," Freya says as she quickens her pace to match him.

"Hard times make you grow up faster, if I wasn't like this would you still be here?"

"Well, good point, I still don't like people talking like that about you... actually, I don't like that you aren't doing anything about it, that's what I've got a problem with," Freya says as she eats another Crystal Drop.

"Yeah well, I don't really care what people say about ME," he gives her a devious smile, "but my friends and family are all off-limits," he says as they arrive at the guild.

As they enter the guild, the entire lobby becomes completely silent as all eyes fall onto the duo.

It was difficult to discern who had more people staring at them. Where they more people openly ogling the goddess of beauty, or envious stares at Orarios's newest level 6...

"Yang," Varissa greets him as she walks over, giving him a polite wave, he hasn't seen her since she first gave him an adventuring license, he hadn't stepped into the guild since that very first day after all, Hephaestus prefers it that way so she handles all the trading for him.

The woman was just as he remembered, human, a hair shorter than Freya and on the thinner side.

"Haven't seen you in a while Varissa," he gives her a small nod.

"Mhm, you haven't been here since your familia has people do all the item trading with us, what brings you here now," her eyes drift over to Freya, seeing the woman in Yang's hoodie that he first entered Orario in, the relation was clear as day with the way she was holding onto his arm, "and whose your girlfriend," she tries to tease the young man only for him to brush off her comment.

"This is Freya," he nods to the goddess on his arm.

As if a cold wind passed through the lobby, everyone froze. Varissa's eyes flickered between the two as she tries to make sense of what she was seeing.

"Uh, but she... and you're in Hephaestus familia... but you're..." they could almost see her brain overheating as she tried to make sense of this.

"Hephaestus is fine with our relationship," Freya says, resting her head on his arm to make her point clear.

"Uh... right, it's an honor to meet you, Lady Freya," Varissa immediately gives the goddess a deep bow, "how may I help you both today?" she asks.

"I'm here to request information on the frontier floors," Yang says, getting right to the point.

"Guildmaster Royman assumed you'd show up for that, he should be free right now if you'd like to go see him," Varissa says.

"No, I've got plans today, tell him I'll be back same time tomorrow..." Yang says

"The guild master is easily offended, I don't think he'll be happy with that," Varissa warns him.

"His job is dealing with adventurers, he should be used to it, give him this," he withdraws a fang from his storage, the tooth was as long as her forearm.

"What is this?" she's never seen this item before, nobody in the room had, aside from Freya.

"A frost bear fang from floor 59," the goddess looks at the item before giving Yang a knowing smile, "he gave you proof," she says.

"Oh," Varissa says as she holds the item tightly.

"We'll be going now, I'll be back tomorrow to see him," Yang says as they leave the lobby, everyone staring at them in silence, all the nearby people had been listening intently to the conversation, not that Yang would ever care.

As they walk down the streets toward the shopping district, Freya had a pleased smile on her face, happy with the way Yang handled himself in the guild.

"You know Royman can be quite arrogant, that little swine has a chip on his shoulder, managing the guild for over a century now could cause that," she tells him.

"So, he'll show up, it's his job and I'm head of the only team that can get to the frontier zone, unless Ottar decides to get off the throne and actually care about exploring the dungeon."

"It's not that simple, I made a deal with the guild, my familia can't leave Orario for too long, when Loki and I pushed the Zeus and Hera familias out of the city it wasn't just to seize power," Freya says.

"You had another reason for killing a hundred adventurers at their weakest point?"

"Yes actually, people lost faith in them, to stop the public from descending into chaos we had to knock them off the throne and give people a new pillar to cling to, they couldn't recover from what the dragon did, their members were mostly dead or dying so we used the chance to keep the flame of hope going," Freya says as they arrive outside one of the most high-end restaurants in the city.

"Hmm, when you say it like that it actually makes sense, still kinda fucked up..." Yang says quietly as he thinks it over.

"Why are we here?" Freya asks, looking up at the three-story-tall restaurant, used by only the wealthiest of merchants and gods in the city, the street they stood on only had finely dressed people perusing the nearby shops for well-made jewelry and other items.

Standing before it all was Yang in his casual clothes and Freya, normal dressed not dissimilar to royalty, now she was hidden within his baggy grey hoodie, not fitting the appearance of the establishment he was now pulling her toward.

"We can't go in there, at least let me change, Folkvangr isn't far from here," she points far down the street where her mansion was.

"Lions don't care about the opinion of sheep Freya," he says as they enter the lobby of the restaurant.

"I have an image to uphold Yang," she says through clenched teeth.

"That makes one of us," he says before taking her over to the restaurants' host and requesting a table.

Fine establishment or not, they knew better than to deny such high-value customers as Freya and Yang.

As they walk all the way up to the third floor, the first floor is a lounge area with a bar and the upper floors being the dining areas, Freya looks around at the glass trimming and gold finish on the marble interior of the building.

The entire restaurant was for Orario's 1%... and here she was walking around dressed for what she thought was going to be dinner at a small restaurant of some kind.

"This is embarrassing," she mutters as their waiter leads them to a round table with 6 seats prepared in a more private area of the floor, large windows nearby for them to see the shadow of the restaurant grow as the sun sets.

Taking the seats opposite the window, Yang couldn't help but chuckle as he saw Freya looking across the few people eating on their level of the building.

"Stop worrying about clothes and relax, they let us in so what's the big deal anyway..." he shrugs and leans back into his chair.

"This place is used mostly for formal meetings and dinners, I'm very underdressed, see," she directs his attention to a pair of men in fine suits looking over some documents.

"People are too busy staring at your pretty face to even bother with your clothes anyway, isn't that what your charm does?"

"That doesn't mean I don't feel underdressed..."

"What can be so important in Orario to need a place like this anyway, aside from Familia stuff, those guys don't seem like adventurers," Yang says.

"They look like they run some of the international businesses, maybe a casino," Freya guesses.

"Orario has casinos?"

"It's one of the businesses managed by people outside the city and not as heavily regulated by the guild since technically it doesn't use anything from the dungeon. It's also a good place to change currency from Valis to Rakian or Emperial coins when traveling, but most people just convert their money to gems or solid gold," Freya explains.

"Well I don't really plan on doing any traveling, but we should hit up the casino sometime, how about it?"

"You a betting man?"

"No idea, never tried it before, but why not. Plus it could be fun," Yang shrugs.

"Hmm, it does sound fun..."

As their conversation flows naturally, Freya notices the sun completely set as the stars begin coming out.

Taking another sip of the drink she ordered, feeling the alcohol tickling her tongue as the sweet taste fills her mouth, she finally realizes that she was missing some information.

"Wait, are we waiting for your team?" She hadn't bothered to ask what exactly he planned, too caught up in just enjoying his company.

"Nope, waiting for Tibor and his family, he found me knocked out on the road and saved me before I came to Orario," Yang says.

"Oh... so the Crystal Drops?"

"He has two kids, that's also why we aren't at the window seats, kids love window seats."

"You sound...experienced?" Freya was a bit hesitant to ask about his family.

"I have a little sister, that's all..." he takes a sip of his juice, trying not to dwell on that topic.

"Hmm, so you treat this man and his family to dinner sometimes?"

"After every big expedition really, I don't really do much aside from training and then some more training so it's nice to just relax a bit."

"That's not very healthy you know..."

"Well, any ideas?"

"Hmm," she thinks about it for a minute before giving him a soft smile," why not collect something, like books. You love reading so it would be good, and Orario doesn't actually have an official library so you can make one," she suggests.

"How the hell doesn't Orario have a library?" Yang was completely blindsided by this.

"Education of that kind isn't a priority here, adventuring is the main draw for Orario, remember?"

"Then where do kids get books... wait... does Orario even have schools?" he was almost scared to ask.

"Formally no, I'm guessing you're from the Empire if this is so strange to you," Freya says as she takes another sip.

"Uh, right..." in his surprise he'd revealed too much," so what happens when adventurers have kids?"

"Then it's up to the parents or familia to take care of them, if they can't or don't want to then thats just another child on the streets, Orario has just under a dozen orphanages after all..." her voice was lower as she spoke of the children, she had a soft spot for them, most children were pure and innocent after all.

"Does the guild support those places or just the familias?"

"Neither, they work on donations and volunteer service mostly, they aren't in a good state right now."

"Because adventurers literally can't afford to focus on people outside of their familia, right..." he leans back into his chair as the pieces come together.

"Exactly, adventuring is just as costly as it is profitable, even Loki is constantly in and out of debt."

"What about my familia?" he asks.

"Hephaestus has much more space to work with but she can't exactly go around funding hundreds of kids when her familia is just one big union. All the adventurers use their money as they see fit and the high smiths get the privilege of renting space in Babel, she collects the annual level tax to give to the guild from each person and other small fees but that's it, and considering all the trade she does with businesses outside of Orario, even her hands are a bit tied," Freya explains.

"Right, because she cares more about seeing what her smiths can create than profits," Yang looks over to Freya, noticing she's poised and waiting for him to ask the question that's been on his mind, "and how much do you think it would cost to run all the orphanages?" he finally asks, earning a wide smile from the goddess.

"Considering what I know about it, which is a lot," as Syr she volunteers at one of these orphanages," for all of them I'd estimate, 20 million maybe every month for the kind of condition I know you want those kids to have."

Yang was surprised at the figure she came up with, "you realize that one run in the dungeon and a single level 6 could make that in like a week right?" he points out, some heat in his words.

"Yes, but they have no obligation to those places, adventurers only responsibility is to their familia, everything else is up to them," she reminds him, placing a hand on his arm to calm him down a bit.

Taking a deep breath, Yang closes his eyes for a moment to relax, "right, sorry just, I've got a real soft spot for kids..."

"I think it's cute, and if you want to help them I'm sure you could do it, so the only question now is, will you help them?"

"Hmm, I think I'll just fund one, mine," he gives her a small smile only to be met with confusion from the goddess.

"You... you're planning to start your own?"

"Yeah, and I'll just bring everyone from the others into it, you said I need a hobby right, guess I found one after all," he takes a sip of his drink, grateful she brought this to his attention.

Eventually, after a few more minutes of hashing out some plans, Tibor and his family entered. Dressed in their best clothes, still rather modest for the establishment, but they immediately felt at ease seeing Yang and who they assume was a friend of his dressed even more casual than them.

Freya gives him a knowing look, realizing how uncomfortable they might have felt had her and Yang dressed formally.

"Tibor, Norryn, good to see you two and your family again," Yang greets them as they all get seated, the children eagerly sitting at the window just as he expected, just as he would have done at that age.

"Good to see you again, glad you made it back in one piece from that big expedition you went on," the man says before turning to Yang's companion, "and who might this be?" Tibor couldn't help but smile, blushing blatantly as he looks at Freya.

Earning a hard nudge from his wife, Yang couldn't help but chuckle at this before explaining, "it's not his fault, people are naturally drawn to a goddess of beauty, this is Freya."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Freya nods politely to the now petrified couple.

"The pleasure is all ours Lady Freya," Norryn wasn't sure what was going on exactly, her husband was now staring at his lap, embarrassed by his staring earlier, "are you and Yang... Friends?" she was hesitant to ask.

"No, I'm devilishly handsome and she couldn't resist me," Yang jokes.

"You're good-looking but not 'devilishly handsome', but yes we are an item so to speak," Freya says.

"Ouch, so mean," he feints offense at her remark.

"A goddess of beauty, while your in another familia...wow," was all Tibor could say.

"Yeah I'm still trying to make sense of it too," Yang admits.

A few minutes of catching up later they order their meals and not even fifteen minutes later the fresh and still hot meals were on plates in front of them.

Freya couldn't help but looks over at Yang to see him scraping the sauce off his steak, just as he said. She noticed he ate with no extra add-ons to his food, barely any sauce, and no condiments of any kind.

"Your sense of taste really is terrible," she takes a jab at him before taking a sip of her drink.

"Yeah, that's why I'm dating you."

"ACH!" she chokes on her drink, quickly moving her napkin to clean herself up.

"Hahahaha!" even now hearing his laugh made her somewhat happy...

The married couple at the table froze at their antics, they rarely spoke to any gods, much less see someone be this casual with one.

As their night continued, eventually a difficult topic would come up.

"Since I'm 14 now can I be an adventurer too?" Tobin, the young boy at the table asked, a tense silence immediately took over the conversation.

"We talked about this," his mother said taking a deep breath to steady her never before she continued, "adventuring is dangerous and you aren't ready for that yet. When you're older if you want you can be an adventurer," she was clearly apprehensive at the thought of her son in the dungeon.

"But the princess started when she was 8, I'm 14 now, I can be an adventurer, right?" at the tail end of his argument he turned the question to Yang, all eyes fell onto the young man.

"Why do you want to be an adventurer so badly?" Yang decided to take a less strict approach, still not sure how to handle this as the boy's parents were staring at him.

"To get strong and fight dragons and get pretty girls!" the boy was brimming with energy as he spoke, clearly a fan of storybooks.

This was a hard situation for any decent person really, but Yang especially didn't want to step on any toes here.

"Fight dragons and impress girls, but you know those kinds of adventurers never really get anywhere..." he said.

"Huh?" the boy was surprised at the answer, all but Freya were surprised, his 5-year-old sister ignored everyone and simply kept eating her dessert.

"Yeah, most adventurers aren't good, but do you know what lots of the good ones have in common?" the boy shook his head excited to learn this secret," they have nothing."

Everyone including Freya was surprised by this answer, "they all have nothing. That's the only time people can gain something by walking into hell, because the dungeon is hell. They join a Familia because they want a family, they adventure because they need something to make themselves feel whole, but look around you," Yang gestures to the boy's parents and his little sister.

"Family?" the boy asked.

"Yeah, you've got everything they wish they had, so why would you want to go into a dangerous place like the dungeon, when you have everything they want right here..."

"I...I dunno," the boy said, not sure why he wants to be an adventurer anymore when his family was right here.

As the night went on, it was finally time for the lovely family to leave.

"Don't forget this," Yang says as he hands Norryn the large jar of crystal drops in a cloth.

"Oh no, we can't, this must of cost---"

He cuts her off, "a friend gifted it to me, but you know I don't like sweets," a simple lie.

"Oh, uh...thank you, for everything," she gives him a small hug before turning to Freya, "it truly was a pleasure to meet you, Lady Freya," she gives the goddess a deep bow.

"The pleasure was all mine, your family is lovely," Freya gives her a small nod in return.

Sitting at the table and watching the family leave, Freya leans back in her chair and finishes her newest drink.

"You really don't like the idea of young people becoming adventurers..." she says.

"Keeping kids away from monsters seems like a reasonable thing to want, why?"

"Ottar began when I found him, he was only seven years old but wanted so badly to make me proud," Freya says, surprising Yang a bit by the news.

"So everyone else wants to hump your leg and he's a mommas boy, that's some army," he jokes.

"Devotion comes in many forms, even a man fighting for his family," this comment earns a frown from him as he looks away from her.

"I just think kids shouldn't have to grow up so fast, let them enjoy life," Yang's voice was gentle as he thought about his childhood.

"Like you had to grow up quickly, but you know, tough times make tough people, tough people make easy times and easy times make soft people, then soft people make tough times and the cycle continues," Freya says, placing a hand on his that was resting on the table to get his attention.

"What's your point?"

"The dungeon existing means this world is always in tough times, death is always as close as you are to Babel. Just remember that, tough people tend to survive when things go bad..." she downs the rest of her drink.

"That's why adventurers exist," Yang gently holds her hand, "whatever comes out of the dungeon has to get past every adventure to hurt the people, that's why familias like yours and Loki's exist...but I get it, this world is dangerous, and eventually the dungeon is gonna throw something at it that we just can't handle without some sacrifices," he looks her in the eyes to make his next point clear, "but that doesn't mean I need to like the thought of kids in the dungeon."

"What about our baby?" she asks, completely blindsiding him.

"Our...what?" his face contorted in confusion.

"From our first night together," she leans back a bit and rests a hand over her midsection gently for him to see.

"Gods can't have kids...Hephaestus said gods can't have kids. You can't be pregnant. Right?" he was beginning to panic.

"The rules are different for a goddess of beauty," as her words formed, she could almost see the color drain from his face, the entire room suddenly became cold as if winter had entered the well-heated restaurant. All the pores on her skin rose as she reaches forward and cupped his petrified face, "I was joking calm down!" she says in a panic, trying to get his attention.

"That...is not funny," he eventually says, taking some deep breaths as the room warms up all while giving her an angry look.

"I was curious about how you'd react, I didn't expect... that," she gestures to the damp interior of the restaurant.

"What the hell were you hoping for?"

"Pleasantly surprised? I don't know it just came to me in the moment," she says with a sigh.

"One, I'm 17, so definitely not ready to have kids. Two, adventurers having kids is a tragedy waiting to happen, either I die and they get sad, I don't die and outlive them because I'm level 6 and they aren't, or the worst one...and you know what that is," he gives her a serious look.

"Right right, I'm sorry, that was a bit cruel of me bu---" Freya suddenly stops and turns around, feeling a familiar presence across the street. Looking out the window she sees a few familiar souls watching over them.

"What's wrong?" Yang asks, noticing she's suddenly spooked.

"Nothing, I just need to have a talk with someone, let's get out of here..."

After paying for their table...and the damages his magic caused to the furniture on their floor, Yang and Freya walked onto the mostly empty street.

Being the very last people to leave the restaurant before it closed meant the cold winter air had most people rushing to get inside, leaving the streets baron.

Freya stood that much closer to Yang to keep warm as she looks up at the roof of the building opposite their restaurant, the window at their table just behind her and Yang right now.

"Get down here and explain yourself," her words with disgruntled as she glared at the roof.

A moment later five figures casually jumped off the three-story building and landed barely 15 feet from Freya and Yang, all of them taking a knee before their goddess.

Allen Fromel, her familia vice-captain as well as the four Bringar brothers had appeared.

"Hmm," Yang wasn't sure what was going on, making the wise decision to quietly observe.

"Lady Freya, you've been without security all day, I thought it best to check on your safety," Allen said, confident in his decision.

"And they agreed?" her eyes shifted between the four Pallum brothers.

"For-"

"Your-"

"Safety-"

"Goddess."

The Pallums said.

"I told you I'd be safe, why was my word not good enough for you?" Freya asked Allen, the man's gaze dropped from looking at his goddess to the cobblestone road at his feet.

"That man isn't part of our familia, he cannot be trusted, forgive me my lady but your safety is my only concern."

"Really? But I spent half the day in his bed and I feel better than ever," her sultry voice rang out, Allen clenched his jaw at the thought, the Bringar were angry beneath their helmets.

Taking a deep breath, Allen begins to make his case once more, "my lady pl--"

"Silence," she never raised her voice, keeping the icy demeanor of a composed queen as always with her familia, "I intended to return to Folkvangr seeing as it happens to be on this street, but you've convinced me I need another night with my lover," Allen felt a rage in his heart at her word, his head snapping up to glare at Yang as the man only gave him a bored look.

Bringar's armor was almost making noise with how angrily they were shaking beneath it.

"My lady---"

"Return to Folkvangr, all of you, don't ever question me again if you know what's good for you, I will be well take care of, I trust Yang not to hurt what's HIS," she emphasized her words, making sure they could make no mistake in understanding her as she pulled Yang by the arm toward Babel.

"Way to put a target on my back," he chuckles lightly, wrapping an arm around her as they walk through to street toward the tower.

"You don't seem that worried about it," she points out, leaning into him as they walk.

"Eh... if it's not Ottar I'm really not, I'm kind of a freak when it comes to fighting."

"Mhm, I don't think I'd be here if you weren't, my familia symbol is a valkyrie, and I am a god of war," she reminds him.

"So that's what the guy in the helmet on your emblem is... you need a better artist," Yang chuckles.

"I'll have you know I drew that myself," she turns away from him and puffs her cheeks, "and it took me a while too..."

"And now we know why you're the god of things that aren't art," he laughs at the thought of her trying to draw.

"Sigh, why do I like you again?"

"I've been trying to figure that out all day, but you know... this isn't bad, but you do remember what I said this morning right?" Yang asks, bringing down her cheerful mood for a moment.

"Yeah, that it doesn't have a happy ending for us," she sighs before wrapping her arms around him in a hug as they keep walking, "but betting on love is always worth it..."

As they make their way toward Babel, the first snowfall of winter descends upon Orario, the new season begins on this night...

END CHAPTER---

8700 Words... the last Freya X Yang chapter was 4200, does this mean the next one will be 16000?

If this doesn't take your power stones I dunno what would XD