Divine Luck: SSS-Rank Battle Maid Harem

Just the monikers of two gods Zach didn't know shouldn't have made him worry. It was just their areas of specialization. Zach didn't know anything about the gods of the southern continent. He should have no reason to react to their names.

But he felt something when Frida said their names. It was like the air shivered. It was faint. He doubted anyone else but him and his familiars picked up on it. Maybe Asastor did, but he was hiding his thoughts behind a blank veil.

It was like the world itself resonated with those names.

He didn't think Frida was lying. They would be in trouble if followers, priests, or Apostles of more powerful gods came instead of them.

"So, you're saying we should give you what you want. Otherwise, big, strong, and scary people are going to come and make us cry?" Zach asked. He couldn't help but mock her.

"Yes." However, Frida wasn't bothered by Zach's attitude and gave a simple answer.

"So, they're stronger and scarier than you, but you can stop them from taking over your end of the tunnel and invading us?"

"..." Frida couldn't answer quickly enough before Zach continued.

"Why would I give what you want when presumably the ones who come after you will want the same? They haven't attacked us. Maybe they can be reasoned with."

"..."

"Before you answer that, answer this first. Why should I trust anything that comes out of either of your mouths?"

"...I'll swear on the name of my Goddess." Fira's gaze was cold as she looked at Zach.

Zach's eyes widened.

"Oh? Let me do the same. Nora, my precious and beloved Goddess of Cooking, I swear to never sit down or remain seated for as long as I live," He professed with closed eyes and his hand over his heart.

"..." Frida waited for him to get up. He didn't. He stayed seated.

She frowned. She didn't understand. How could Zach have sworn on his god and then gone against his word? She hadn't heard of Nora, the Goddess of Cooking before, but she knew next ot nothing of the continent north of theirs.

It was only after looking at Zach struggling to hold back his laughter that she understood.

He hadn't sworn on the name of his god.

He had lied.

"I see. The words of a non-believer can't be trusted," She said with disdain.

Zach shrugged.

"And I can't trust the words of someone who's threatened the lives of my loved ones."

"You're just being ridiculous," Bartuk said. "If you wanted to trust our word, you would. You know we wouldn't lie with the name of our gods in our mouth. You're holding a grudge because your friend lost miserably." Bartuk had had enough of Zach's sharp words going unanswered, so he responded in kind.

"I guess that's right. If I wanted to trust you, I would. But if you wanted my trust, you would tell me what it is you want from my continent. So, it seems you don't want my trust. Thus, I am not giving it to you.

"I can sit here all day and discuss semantics with you two if you want. Or you can get a grip and realize that this isn't getting you anywhere. I'm fine with things right now. It's the two of you who want change."

Frida and Bartuk looked at Zach before glancing at each other.

Zach was hostile to them. He was stubborn. He didn't need their presence. If anything, it looked like he wanted to drive them out and close the tunnel permanently.

But he wasn't doing that.

Maybe he wasn't confident in his strength. He wasn't talking like that was a problem, but he could be bluffing. Maybe he didn't want to kill them to drive them.

Or…He was willing to negotiate. He wasn't against getting something in return. He was willing to hear them out if there was something in it for him.

He didn't look greedy, which made it all the more difficult for the Priestess and the Apostle to see through him.

But he was a mortal man, after all. Not even their gods were free from wanting more. Naturally, Zach would also have something he wanted.

"I want to convert the one who made the ice wall into one of us." Frida went first, her gaze shifting to the Yeti King and its master behind Zach and the others.

"No." Anerias' answer was firm and immediate. He was not going to watch the other side take Violina away. The people in blue hadn't attacked them or forced Violina to erect the wall. They had only shown up in the tunnel afterward.

Anerias' grudge lay with the people in white.

But seeing Frida want Violina made that grudge spill over and cover them as well.

Frida looked at Anerias with narrowed eyes.

"That is not your decision to make."

As a hot-tempered man with the power of Hellfire running through his body, Anerias was the opposite of anyone who used ice. People who worshipped the Goddess of Ice only needed one look at him to mark him an enemy. It went the other way as well. Anerias didn't like them.

"I don't care." Anerias met Frida's glare with burning eyes.

"You are needlessly worried about someone else. Do you think we want her because she's a threat or something? It's the opposite.

"She has managed to create such pure ice energy all on her own. She has a talent beyond anything I've seen. That talent deserves the right resources. Following us back to the Goddess of Ice's domain is the greatest opportunity she will ever receive in her entire life."

Frida put her hand on the table, covering it in frost.

"You can feel it, can't you? This ice isn't something she will be able to develop on her own. But with the Goddess' blessing, it won't even be an issue. She has the potential to become the Goddess' Apostle."