Chapter 38: Chapter 38 Alt POV
A series of tapping rang out between two goddesses, Kusanali with her green eyes met Freya's purple eyes as they shared a moment of silence as their adventurers had given the two goddesses some space so they could speak in private.
"So. Any words as to what I had requested?" Freya spoke gently and Kusanali hummed in thought while she stirred some sugar into her tea.
Freya with unusual patience waited for her friend who loved their tea and once the green-eyed silver-haired goddess drank some tea she began speaking. "Hera's Empress, Albion Weststock, registered duchess of the elven lands... She was a tricky one to find the 'weaknesses' you desired." Kusanali spoke and Freya smiled at the confirmation that Kusanali had actually gotten something indeed.
Without any fanfare Kusanali began to speak and list out what could be considered weaknesses of the captain of the Hera Familia and one of the strongest adventurers in the world. "Albion is as you well know, a woman of nobility in all most all things, all of which she does outside of adventuring. Is kept strictly behind closed doors. Now as for weaknesses and things in which you could apply pressure upon." Kusanali took a breath and continued.
"The elvish king back in Deep Wood, is deeply worried that Albion may seek to usurp his rule and that is a reason why Riveria was forbidden from joining the Hera Familia as she being his heir cannot be put into a subordinate position to a duchess." Kusanali spoke and already Freya could see it.
Using her charm or other methods to start a civil war in the elvish lands and using her own high leveled elves she could further enflame the battles to draw out the Empress from Orario should her lands be attacked. If the Empress left Orario and the Hera familia to become the queen of the elves, Freya wouldn't bother her in the slightest.
She just wanted Hera's strongest supporter taken out from under her, by blood being spilled or a silver-tongue. It made no difference to her.
Kusanali coughed and Freya raised an eyebrow as Kusanali continued with a slightly discomforted expression. "As for her major weakness... Remember some twenty years ago after she reached level nine and she went on that five-year-long vacation?" Kusanali asked and Freya nodded.
"Indeed... I considered making moves during that period. But at that point, none of my adventurers were even level five so no such actions could be taken." Freya said nodding in agreement.
There was a moment of tension and Freya couldn't help but raise an eyebrow as Kusanali was obviously playing with her. To make her ever more curious as to what had happened and would become Albion's so-called true 'weakness.' So with an eye roll Freya herself took a drink of tea to let the goddess of life and knowledge get her kick in making her 'desperate' for the knowledge she held.
But Kusanali seemed to have purposefully waited for Freya to take a drink as the moment the goddess of beauty brought the drink to her lips, Kusanali announced. "The Empress has an illegitimate child with the elvish king after a meeting in which they tried to soothe tensions but other forces spiked their Soma wine with aphrodisiacs's now both the Queen of the elves and the king's other consorts also want Albion and the daughter born of that union dead as that child with the help of Albion and the backing of the Hera Familia could easily take over as a new royal bloodline."
Freya pushed hard the instinctive choke on her tea at hearing Kusanali's words and unbidden she coudnt help but wonder who in the world was the child of Albion, 'Was she in the Hera Familia already? Did Albion hide her child remotely or even in another Familia?' Freya pondered and as she stared at her friend. She realized what that smug smile Kusanali wore meant.
"You little cheat... You already know who and where she is, don't you?" Freya said with a frown as Kusanali giggled and then gave Freya a cold smile.
"Indeed, I do. I couldn't let you make the girl disappear after all. No, she is too valuable with her latent potential born of the Alf bloodline and Albion's talent which had reached level nine, and it is clear that Albion's falna is sublimating Hera's divinity within herself to make her into a new goddess." Kusanali said with a wide smile that made Freya grimace at the thought of a mini Hera running around.
"But regardless, she is indeed already a member of my own Familia after I... Coincidentally picked her up while visiting one of the nearby towns down near Melen where the secondary dungeon entrance is."
Freya eyed her friend silently for a long moment as she considered if Kusanali had overstepped and whether she should get revenge... And after a long thought, she snorted and leaned back into her chair as she knew all to well, that unless she was willing to pay dearly to have Kusanali sent back to Tenkai. She couldn't make an enemy out of the mind reader who could tell all her many rival familia's the paths her adventurers would be using during an expedition so they could be easily ambushed.
"Very well... The information, you have given me will prove to be a good use. And Zues's Familia crush event on the crafting familia's are planned to begin soon. So I will make sure that Jake survives the event, and does not suffer too much." Freya promised while mentally hoping that the level sevens of the Zues Familia didn't get involved with the crackdown that was going to happen.