Discussion and Plans
"Now then, let's go. Leo, I'm sorry but statuses are private information, so would you mind staying here for a moment?" Hecate asked the other girl in the room.
"No, of course not, please go ahead." Leo was already feeling a bit awkward intruding in this situation, she didn't want to inconvenience them more. Although, the slight sadness did not go unnoticed by two of the occupants of the room.
Moving into Hecate's room and closing the door behind, Nico took off his shirt first. Cassian decided to speak with Hecate, as she sat down on Nico's back and started updating his status.
"So, what do you think about Leo?" Cassian decided to get the easy topic out of the way first.
"Hoh, so that's why you brought her here eh? You're quite cheeky. I haven't even said I was planning on recruiting anyone but you two." She spoke with a twinkle of amusement, surprising Cassian at having figured out his motive with barely any information.
'I guess, that's to be expected of her. Her wisdom should be immense.' Cassian thought with a slight shake of his head.
"Wait what? What do you mean 'her', Leo is a guy, and you're planning on recruiting him in the familia?!" Nico spoke from the couch with his face buried in a pillow.
Hecate furrowed her brows at that and shot a glance at Cassian. Seeing the shit-eating grin on his face, she understood the situation and couldn't help a mischievous grin rising on her face as well.
"Oh, excuse me, it was a slip of the tongue, and yes I believe that is why your brother brought him here." Hecate had peered into Leo's soul when she first heard who she was, as such she found out a lot about her right away, including her real gender.
"Yeah, I wanted to consult you, whether you were willing to accept more members into your familia." Cassian continued without a fuss.
"Hmm, if this was before, I would have refused, but since I already have a familia, might as well grow it. As for what direction my familia will take, well, I will leave that up to my captain." She said with an upbeat smile as she peered at Cassian.
He was momentarily surprised but soon became glad that she trusted him so much and even officially named him captain. However, that was kinda to be expected considering the situation.
Cassian quickly pondered about what future he wanted for the Hecate Familia and came to a conclusion.
"I want to grow our familia to stand amongst the strongest in Orario, but I don't want it to become like Freya or Loki familias. Rather than a huge familia with a wide variety of members, a small familia of elites is a much more attractive option for me." Cassian concluded. He was convinced this was the best path they could take.
"Somehow, I had a feeling you would prefer that." Hecate said with a smile and a nod, showing she had no problem with it.
"Yeah, that would be much better in my opinion too." Nico also interjected, feeling a bit left out of the conversation.
"Good. Now that that's over, what do you think about him?" Cassian asked Hecate and she understood what he was asking about.
"I'm actually quite surprised, he has potential, great potential. Nowhere near as much as you two, but still, if he works hard, he has the makings to become a first-class adventurer at least." Just like Freya, Hecate as the goddess of souls could discern a great deal about a mortal by peering into their soul, including their potential.
"Good, from what I've seen he seems quite trustworthy and with a good character, it would have been unfortunate if he didn't have potential. So, you don't mind recruiting her, right?" Cassian was glad. Eventually, he would have had to part ways with Leo when she became incapable of keeping up with them on the lower floors, but now that became irrelevant.
"Not at all, I'll extend her an invitation when we go out for a meal." With that, Leo's matter was settled.
"Uhh, guys? How long will I have to lay here?" Nico asked awkwardly, having been waiting for a good while.
"Oh, sorry, it slipped my mind." Hecate replied with an embarrassed giggle and went on to finish his update.
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Nikolaos Suncrest
Strength ~ I - 21 -> H - 131
Endurance ~ I - 32 -> H - 122
Dexterity ~ I - 38 -> H - 158
Agility ~ I - 52 -> H - 112
Magic ~ G - 232 -> E - 443
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The increase was as expected, incredible. Nico slaughtering hundreds upon hundreds of monsters from the horde, covering Cassian with sniping, and dealing a lot of damage to a monster like an Infant Dragon, which was greatly higher than him in power, ensured that Nico's stats improved by a lot. Even with not being very physically active during the whole debacle, his other stats still received a big boost.
Nico was happy with his growth, but he was under no delusion that this was anywhere enough to become as strong as he wanted to.
Now it was Cassian's turn. He laid down shirtless, while their goddess started working on his Falna.
"Now Cassian, do you want to explain your stalker?" Hecate asked while dropping a bit of her blood on his back.
"So, you noticed huh?"
"Hard not to, considering the intensity I feel coming from that gaze."
"And considering I can no longer feel it, I assume you're somehow blocking it?"
"Yes, like I'd let some meddlesome bitch spy on us in our home. I'm using my magic and domain to obscure us from scrying."
"Wait wait, what the hell are you guys talking about?" Nico was incredibly confused. What stalker? What gaze?
Cassian released an annoyed sigh, though not directed at his brother.
"Freya noticed me." It was a simple statement, but incredibly stupefying nonetheless.
"What?!" Nico exclaimed in shock.
"When we were walking back from the guild, I felt someone's gaze land on me. My senses and the Witcher medallion both started screaming at me, and I realized it was her. She's been practically boring holes in me with her eyes throughout the entire walk here, only stopping when we entered the inn."
"Tha- that's bad. Ridiculously bad, right?" He asked with fear in his voice. They barely defeated an infant dragon. A level 7 Boaz is most certainly not something they can handle right now.
"Hmm, it is bad, but not quite as bad as you think. Freya may be a rancid witch, but she's a collector. Trust me when I say this, she will go completely crazy over your soul, Cassian. I know since I've seen it… and am a bit guilty to admit, that I'd be the same." Hecate said with some embarrassment and a nervous chuckle, before continuing.
"She won't risk making a hasty move and somehow ruin this for herself. She'll want to study you for now and find out everything about you, figure out what makes you tick. That's why you should be relatively safe for now. But… I have a suggestion. A way to make her even more cautious and hesitant to do anything drastic." She said with a bit of hesitation but quickly drowning it out with resolve.
The brothers became curious at that and nodded at her to continue.
"Cassian, if I may ask when I first peered into your soul, I saw that you had a strong mind, but after putting my Falna on you, I realized it goes beyond that. Your mind and soul seem like an impenetrable fortress as if no outside mental or spiritual influence would be capable of affecting you. Certainly nothing in the mortal world."
Cassian realized that she was referring to his immunity to mind control through the perk of Trial of the Dreams and nodded, wondering where she was going with this.
"I believe that, due to that mental fortitude, you are immune to Freya's charm. Of course, I'm not referring to her Arcanum charged charm. That would be far beyond even your ability to resist, but without her access to Arcanum, her charm will be incapable of affecting you." Hecate was very pleasantly surprised when she discovered this. That she could relax knowing Freya would not be able to brainwash her captain no matter how much she wanted.
"If Freya finds out about that, it may serve to act as additional protection for all of us. Normally she always has the fallback option of her charm. If anything, ever goes wrong with her persons of interest, she can always rely on that ace and accomplish whatever she wants. However, with you… Once she finds out that the tool she relies on the most is useless against you, she will be much more cautious." Taking a breath to gather her thoughts, Hecate continued explaining her plan.
"Once she knows that she has no insurance against you, and her actions could very well permanently damage any future prospects with you, she will be much more hesitant to carry out any drastic actions and will be much less reckless. Doing her best to not mess things up. That will do a lot to restrict her and ensure your safety." She concluded with a serious expression.
Cassian went into deep thought, analyzing her words and figuring out her plan. It had merit, a lot of it in fact. And it aligned perfectly with what he knew of Freya from watching Danmachi. If this went well, it would work massively in their favor.
"I see where you're going with this. But, if as you claim, she will go crazy over my soul, isn't there a risk that she may disregard everything and decide to claim my soul in heaven instead?" He distinctly remembered hearing something about Freya claiming she would instantly go back to heaven and claim Bell's soul if he ever died.
"There is, Freya is the type to do that if you grab her interest enough, but in this case, she won't since that backup plan may not work with you."
"Oh? Why?"
"Because of me. As the goddess of souls, I have as much dominion over the souls of mortals as she does as the goddess of death. If you die, I can lay claim to your soul and prevent you from going to heaven for an indeterminate amount of time. Normally this may not have worked, if I did hold your soul, she would have done her best to kill me and that would send your soul where it belongs, however…" Hecate had a cruel smile on her face, clearly enjoying holding something over Freya's head.
"With Nico's Guardian Child making me invincible, I have nothing to worry about." She concluded her plan with a triumphant smile.
Cassian was now wearing the same grin on his face as her. He liked this plan, very much so.
"But how would we make her know that Cass is immune to her charm?" Nico interjected, missing this part of the plan.
"Oh, I know a place she frequents quite a lot. We just have to pay her a visit. We'll even get some good food out of it, now let's finish your status and get ready. I believe we've kept our guest waiting for long enough."
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Cassian Suncrest
Strength ~ H – 114 -> F – 322
Endurance ~ H – 131 -> F – 354
Dexterity ~ I – 56 -> G – 214
Agility ~ H – 102 -> F – 378
Magic ~ I – 85 -> G – 236
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A truly massive growth. All of Cassian's stats increased by 200 points each. It spoke volumes of just how strong of a monster the infant dragon was. But he knew it would only get harder to grow them, the more they increased.
"Impressive, very impressive. Cassian you already have the feat necessary for a level up." Hecate remarked, fascinated by his growth.
"What?" Cassian asked dumbfounded.
"Yes, your feat of battling and killing the infant dragon, was enough to fill up and overflow your container with high-quality Excelia. You've satisfied one of two conditions for a level-up. Now you just need to raise one of your stats to rank D, but something tells me you won't be satisfied with just that, will you?" She spoke with a knowing smile.
"Heh, you know me too well then. I'm planning on going a lot higher than just a D rank. Now let's get going, I'm starving and want a celebration for what we just pulled and survived." Earning eager nods from the other two.
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Take note that the massive increase in their status is the result of confronting a monster that greatly outmatched them and their stats still being relatively low, and as such have a fast growth rate.