Chapter 71: Brandish

Brandish stepped out from behind the pillar, revealing her face to me for the first time. She was a beautiful petite girl with orange hair tied into a long single braid.

From that distance, I thought that Freya was about my height, something close to 1.70m (5’7’’), while Brandish was around 1.60 meters tall (5’3″) and had a slender body with few curves, covered by a modest white dress.

A few freckles dotted her cheeks, and she had beautiful green eyes. I thought she was just as cute as Alicia.

She looked very nervous in my presence. Her hands were clutching the front of her dress, avoiding eye contact as much as possible. I could have sworn there was a light sheen of sweat on her forehead.

“Nice to meet you in person, Brandish,” I said politely.

“I-It’s a-a p-pleasure t-to m-meet y-you,” Brandish greeted me, her voice trembling with nervousness.

The cute girl in front of me looked like a complete nervous wreck. Even so, I tried to start a conversation with her.

“You’ve been a great help to me. Thank you for everything you’ve done.”

“Y-You d-don’t hav-ve to th-thank m-me…” she said, her face turning even redder with embarrassment.

“Ah, this is going to take forever,” Freya said with an annoyed look. In a flash, her body shifted to where Brandish and I were standing.

My eyes widened in surprise. Whatever she had done was as natural to her as breathing. I didn’t know whether it was teleportation or if she had simply moved faster than I could perceive.

Freya didn’t pay any attention to my reaction. She stood beside her servant and took over the conversation.

“Brandish is always like this. She has a lot of trouble talking to others. She’s really shy, so she always gets nervous when speaking to anyone except me,” Freya said to me. “Though perhaps another exception would be when she’s sending messages to her hero.”

“Hero?” I asked, pointing at my own face in disbelief.

“L-Lady Freya, please don’t…” Brandish pleaded with her mistress, but her efforts weren’t enough to make the goddess keep quiet.

“That’s right. Brandish never stops praising you, saying how amazing you are. She’s a big fan of yours,” Freya said with a mischievous smile, shamelessly exposing her servant. “She told me she really wanted to meet you, and since I also wanted to have a conversation with you, I thought, ’Why not?’ And here we are.”

“Is that true, Brandish?” I asked the orange-haired girl.

She stiffened. The ease with which she spoke to Freya vanished from her lips. She couldn’t bring herself to say a single word to me, and only nodded nervously in confirmation.

It became clear to me that Brandish was the socially awkward type, a girl so shy that she could barely hold a proper conversation with others. But I hadn’t expected her to look at me with admiration.

I felt happy knowing that she was cheering for me, beyond just doing her job as my assistant.

“Brandish watches all of your fights, of course, since she’s your operator. And she’s always talking about you to me, even about moments I don’t watch myself.”

“L-Lady Freya, p-please don’t tell him.”

“The only exception to that rule is the sex scenes. She’s far too shy even for those,” Freya let out a sigh. “Brandish, how are you going to work for the goddess of love if you can’t even handle that?”

Brandish looked flustered by what Freya said, but she still forced herself to respond, “I… I’ll do my best!”

“Effort has nothing to do with it. As my servant, it is your duty to follow the growth of the hero I chose. How can you do that if you don’t watch the sex scenes?” Freya asked.

Brandish was about to say something, but she held herself back. She lowered her gaze to the floor of the hall, a sad expression crossing her face. I didn’t like seeing her like that, so I turned to Freya and asked, “Is it really necessary for her to watch me having sex?”

“It’s a must!” Freya replied without a second of delay. “She is a servant of the goddess of love. Watching a mere foursome shouldn’t be a problem for her.”

I gave up trying to argue with Freya. It felt like a waste of time, since she would only listen to what she wanted to hear. My eyes turned to the petite woman standing near me.

“Is it true that you enjoy watching my fights, Brandish?” I asked in a calm voice, trying not to make her nervous again.

“Y-Yes, I really enjoy watching you!” Brandish said, for the first time without her voice trembling. “You looked so brave and courageous when you were fighting. I was worried about whether you could defeat the Wolf Lord, but then you fought with everything you had. It was truly amazing!”

She was speaking so enthusiastically that she didn’t even realize how fluid her voice had become. It wasn’t trembling at all, and she didn’t notice that she was slowly stepping closer to me.

“Ugh!” Brandish let out a startled sound.

By the time she realized how close she was, her face was already inches from mine. Her cheeks flushed a deep red, and she quickly turned her head away, stepping back in embarrassment.

“Fufu, that’s a first. She must really like you, Richard. But I have to admit, I didn’t expect you to have the talent to fight the way you did. You even defeated a Fenrir Descendant. Truly impressive,” Freya said, a hint of respect in her voice.

“Speaking of that, I’d like to ask you for a favor, Freya,” I said to the goddess.

“And what kind of favor would that be?”

“I’m short on Valkyrie slots. I have two girls ready to become Valkyries, and Diane is very close as well, but I can only transform one of them.”

“And what’s the problem?” she asked, as if what I had just said wasn’t already the problem itself.

I sighed, deciding to get straight to the point so she would understand. “I want more Valkyrie slots.”

“I refuse,” she said bluntly, without hesitation.

“Why not?” I asked Freya, not bothering to hide my dissatisfaction.

“Because there is no reason for me to grant you that advantage,” she replied frankly, though there was no coldness in her sharp words. “If I am to give you something, you must offer something in return. Isn’t that how games work in your world?”

“I defeated a Wolf Lord. Can’t you cut me some slack for that?” I asked, trying to sound persuasive.

“You already received a cheat skill for that. You’ve been more than fairly rewarded for your achievement,” she said, crossing her arms.

“If that’s the case, then tell me what I have to do, Freya. What would be worthy of the reward I’m seeking?”

Freya placed her index finger on her chin, thinking about what she could ask of me, something equivalent to the reward I wanted. “You’re heading to Ironburgh, am I right?”

“Yes,” I replied without enthusiasm.

“Hm, then I suppose what I have in mind will be enough. A dungeon formed not long ago in Ironburgh Town. Your mission is to clear that dungeon,” she declared.

“That’s it?” I asked.

“I believe that mission will suffice. It should be entertaining enough for me,” Freya said with a mischievous smile. “But you may only clear this dungeon alongside your Valkyries, no one else.”

A drop of sweat ran down my face. A mission that would entertain Freya probably wouldn’t be very entertaining for me.

“But I only have two Valkyries…” I said hesitantly.

“Then transform one of the girls at your disposal into a Valkyrie.” Freya stepped closer to me, her bust pressing lightly against my body. “I’ll give you a hint. Transform the one who uses magic.”

She pulled away as easily as she had approached. The goddess of love was smiling from ear to ear, while her subordinate carefully avoided looking at the scene she had just created.

“Well, I suppose that’s all for today. You’d better return to your body now,” she said, waving at me.

“All right. Thank you, Freya.” I should have said thanks for nothing, since in the end I had only gained more work. But it was better than nothing, and I didn’t want to end up on Freya’s bad side either.

“I’ll be counting on you as always, Brandish,” I said to her, and she responded with a deep bow.

“See you later. Huh—” Freya began to say, but she suddenly paused for a moment. A blue screen suddenly appeared in front of Freya, catching her off guard. When her eyes settled on it, a smug smile spread across her face. “Ooh! You’ll have a big surprise when you return to your body.”

And then, with a snap of the goddess of love’s fingers, Freya and Brandish vanished from before me, my vision swallowed by darkness. I opened my eyes, feeling a familiar sensation along my shaft.

I looked down and discovered what Freya meant about having a surprise when I returned. And indeed, I hadn’t expected that one of the girls would be sucking my cock while I slept.

“Eh? Justine…”

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