Uncomfortable…
It felt as uncomfortable as a three-day, three-night hangover…
He wanted to vomit, but couldn't.
Was this the state of mental exhaustion and spiritual overdraft?
The root of all these reactions was not a physiological problem, but rather complete mental fatigue. It was not impossible for the mind to affect the body; in fact, there were many such cases in reality, and it could even lead to death.
"Hiss… my head hurts."
Takatsuki raised his heavy hand and pressed his temples. Just then, he heard a gasp from beside him.
"Lady Hestia! Lord Takatsuki is awake!"
This was followed by a series of crashing sounds, and then Hestia's somewhat flustered voice came through.
"Takatsuki-kun! Are you alright!"
Struggling to open his eyes, Takatsuki looked at the anxious Hestia and managed a difficult smile: "I'm fine."
Just uttering three words seemed to exhaust all of Takatsuki's strength, and it took him a while to continue speaking.
"Just a little tired…"
Seeing Takatsuki so weak, Hestia looked sad, but quickly composed herself. The weak Takatsuki naturally didn't notice this unnaturalness.
"Then you should rest well."
After saying that, Hestia left in a hurry. After Hestia left, Haruhime walked over.
"Lord Takatsuki, you've been unconscious for three days. I've prepared some porridge here. Let me feed you."
"Thank you, Haruhime."
Haruhime helped Takatsuki sit up against the headboard and then picked up the meat porridge that had already been prepared on the bedside table…
Meanwhile, on the other side.
"Please, Miach."
Hestia said to the male god in front of her.
"Leave it to us. I will ensure Takatsuki recovers as quickly as possible."
Miach nodded to Hestia: "It's also thanks to Takatsuki that we were able to get out of debt so quickly, and the money he deposited with me hasn't even been used up yet."
"I just didn't expect Freya to go so far this time."
Miach narrowed his eyes and looked in the direction of Babel: "I hope Takatsuki can resolve it after he recovers."
"I believe in him. Takatsuki-kun will definitely find a way… It's always been like this. He will definitely get Fu Hua and the others back!"
Although Hestia was very worried about the situation, she had complete confidence in Takatsuki.
"Lord Miach, what did you just mean?"
Naaza, who was nearby, asked with some confusion. The relationship within Miach Familia was similar to that within the Hestia Familia; there wasn't much hierarchy between the Familia members and their patron god, but rather a family-like mode of interaction, so interjecting at this point wouldn't be considered impolite.
"Naaza, you don't need to worry about this. In short, the current task is to heal Takatsuki as quickly as possible without any side effects."
Although still curious, since her own patron god told her not to worry, Naaza didn't press further and continued grinding the medicinal ingredients in her hand.
"I never thought she could go to such lengths, modifying the memories of all the citizens of Orario without using divine power."
"Yes! This is too exaggerated, is the authority of the Goddess of Beauty so overwhelming?!"
Hestia crossed her arms, a bit annoyed. If Freya hadn't used her authority as the Goddess of Beauty to tamper with the memories of her Familia and everyone in Orario except the gods, she wouldn't have been so passive.
However, Freya also didn't want to be attacked by all of Orario. After all, as long as Hestia didn't let go, she couldn't tamper with the blessings on the Hestia Familia. Her only violent method to tamper with blessings was to send Hestia back.
But if she sent back a god who had never provoked her just for the sake of competing for Familia, she would surely be attacked by all of Orario.
So she made a bet with Fu Hua and Hestia.
That is, she could not truly attack the Hestia Familia members until Takatsuki recovered. Conversely, if Takatsuki could reclaim the Hestia Familia members after he recovered, then the Hestia Familia would win. Otherwise, Hestia would have to give up the blessings on the abducted individuals and transfer them to Freya Familia.
Because they were at a disadvantage, Hestia and Fu Hua accepted this bet. Fu Hua and Bell could not be charmed, and although they moved into Freya Familia, they also served as monitors, preventing Freya from doing anything out of line to the three people whose memories had been altered.
"Hang in there, Fu Hua."
Hestia glanced in the direction of Babel, then said to Miach: "Miach, I'm going to find Hephaestus. I'll leave things here to you."
Miach could guess what Hestia was going to do and nodded: "Alright, go ahead. Do you need me to have Daphne and the others help you fully?"
After Apollo Familia disbanded, Daphne Larios and Cassandra Ilion, who were originally from Apollo Familia, joined Miach Familia.
"Yes, Miach, but just have Daphne help me."
"Okay."
Daphne, who was nearby, stepped forward.
"Daphne-kun, could you help me carry that? I'd appreciate it."
"No trouble at all, Lady Hestia."
Daphne walked to the corner, lifted a huge black door-like object onto her shoulder, and followed Hestia towards Hephaestus's workshop.
"Sigh, Hestia always has so many troubles. I hope she can get through this one successfully."
Watching Hestia leave, Miach sighed, then turned back to a pile of bottles and jars to start making medicine. Because he was coming to help, he temporarily closed the Azure Pharmacy and focused all his efforts on treating Takatsuki. After all, thanks to Takatsuki's large order, they were no longer living in poverty as before, so as a token of gratitude, when Takatsuki was in trouble, he put aside all his affairs to help.
Meanwhile, at Babel.
Fu Hua stood in front of the three girls and coldly said to Freya opposite her: "Freya, this isn't what we agreed upon."
Freya lay on the sofa, her exquisite figure fully displayed. She merely smiled slightly at Fu Hua's questioning.
"Different? How is it different? Did I actively demand anything?"
These words, which seemed to exploit loopholes, made Fu Hua's expression even more displeased, but Kiana behind her showed no appreciation, saying somewhat impolitely.
"Class Monitor, why do you always stop us? Even if you want to monopolize Lady Freya, this isn't the way, is it? I also wants to spend the night with Lady Freya."
"Stupid Kiana, no sneaking off."
"Yes, Kiana, we agreed to advance and retreat together, but Class Monitor Fu Hua, what you're doing is indeed unfair. Class Monitor Fu Hua, didn't you always say you wanted to be fair?"
Watching the three people she was protecting behind her utter such words, and then seeing Freya's smile at the scene, Fu Hua felt a headache coming on.
"Stop talking nonsense! We're going to continue training today!"
Fu Hua turned around, Kiana in her left hand, Mei in her right, and Bronya tucked under her arm, ignoring their shouts as she walked out.
Bell quickly followed behind them.
Ottar, standing by the door, did not stop them, allowing the five to go to the training ground prepared for them outside.
Freya had gone to great lengths to wear down Fu Hua and Bell's willpower. Not only were each of their rooms identical to those in the Hearth Manor, but even the training ground was exactly the same.
As long as they didn't escape, Freya let them move freely, or rather, escaping was useless. Now the three people's memories had been completely altered. What good would escaping do? They could only act as moles.
"Sister Fu Hua, are we still going to wait for Takatsuki to save us?"
After the group arrived at the training ground, Fu Hua threw them into the training ground and then slammed the door shut. Bell followed behind, asking with some concern.
He had never imagined that Freya possessed such abilities. Wasn't it said that gods couldn't use divine power? To completely alter the memories and emotions of a large group of people, could it really be done without divine power?
"Yes, in this situation, even if I could escape with you, those three wouldn't return to normal. Only when Takatsuki wakes up can I act without reservation."
Fu Hua sighed, but her words caused Kiana's dissatisfaction.
"Class Monitor! Why do you keep talking about that Takatsuki, Takatsuki? Do you like that pretty boy from the Hestia Familia? After all, he's our enemy."
Bell wanted to explain when he heard this, but Fu Hua stopped him.
"Kiana, Mei, Bronya, do you still remember where we came from?"
"And who brought us here?"
Fu Hua's words made the three of them show strange expressions.
"Class Monitor, you haven't slept yourself silly, have you?"
"Bronya thinks Class Monitor is indeed problematic. She might have been influenced by that enemy called Takatsuki."
Mei also nodded, her tone somewhat unkind: "Class Monitor Fu Hua, we don't belong here. Sooner or later, we will return with Lady Freya. Even if you fall in love with someone here, we can't take them with us."
Hearing this, Bell was a bit confused, but Fu Hua understood. Her probing over the past few days, combined with her monitoring, had given her a rough idea of the logic behind Freya's abilities.
She could tamper with people's memories, but not in minute detail; she could only issue broad commands, such as making everyone in Orario believe that the five of them had been Freya Familia members from the beginning. Such vague commands would result in inconsistencies in everyone's memories.
Then, regarding her control over emotions, one method was to directly turn people into puppets, losing their self-awareness, but Freya didn't like this; she wanted to completely subjugate all five of them.
So Freya chose to tamper with the memories of the three people in front of her, and then amplify their emotions.
After a few days of probing, Fu Hua discovered that Freya had replaced Takatsuki's position in the three people's hearts.
Then she magnified the trio's affection for Takatsuki, and now for Freya.
This was also why Mei, who usually acted the gentlest, had the worst attitude towards her; because Mei's feelings for Takatsuki were the strongest, and when these feelings were distorted and amplified, Mei came to dislike Fu Hua, who was opposing Freya.
Fu Hua had tried to use Stands or similar means to find loopholes in the three people's conflicting memories and try to awaken them, but it didn't work. The effect of Freya's charm seemed to make people automatically rationalize all inconsistencies. Every time she thought she had found a loophole, they would find a new excuse to gloss over it, or selectively forget it.
The Fenghuang Down might be able to help the three recover, by modifying the people in their memories, but now was not the time to act, because the Honkai Energy within the Fenghuang Down was insufficient, and even if they were modified back, Freya would just act again, making it a fruitless effort.
So, all Fu Hua could do now was to continuously drill the three of them every day, so they wouldn't have the energy to voluntarily offer themselves to Freya.
"Takatsuki, wake up quickly. This is all I can do to help you."
While all parties were waiting, Hestia chose to take the initiative.
"Hephaestus!"
Hestia pushed open Hephaestus's door and shouted loudly.
"Oh, it's Hestia. Is something wrong?"
The red-haired, one-eyed goddess wearing an eye patch put down the book in her hand and looked towards the door.
Hestia, with Daphne following behind her, walked aggressively to Hephaestus's desk and then… knelt down.
Hestia immediately performed a dogeza to Hephaestus.
"Hephaestus! Please! Help me!"
Daphne, who was following behind, was stunned by Hestia's actions, standing motionless in place.
Hephaestus sighed, looking at the dumbfounded Daphne. She was already used to her best friend's unreliability. She said to Daphne: "Put that down and go out for now. Hestia and I need to talk."
Daphne, as if granted a great pardon, quickly put the item down and left, closing the door behind her.
"Speak, why are you suddenly like this?"
Hestia looked up at Hephaestus and said.
"You know about the Freya Familia matter, don't you?"
Hephaestus nodded: "If you're hoping I'll help you against her, then I can only say I'm sorry."
"What exactly is that pose you're doing? Where did you learn it?"
Hestia lowered her head and said, "It's a dogeza. I learned it from Takemikazuchi. He said it's the ultimate secret for apologizing and begging."
"Sigh… that guy, he only teaches people strange things."
"Even if you do that, I can't help you. After all, my Familia…"
Hestia interrupted Hephaestus, "I hope you can help me forge a weapon for Takatsuki-kun!"
"…"
"Do you know how precious the weapons I forge are? Besides, he shouldn't be lacking weapons, should he? He shone brightly during the Dungeon Destroyer incident."
"It's not like that. I hope, Hephaestus, you can help me forge a true… Divine Artifact."