In a little er just outside the Babel tower, Nikoos and Vasileios sat in the carriage, waiting patiently for the Denatus meeting to clude.

  The two had been tasked with esc their goddess Bahamut to the gathering, but the young boys couldn't help but feel a tinge of boredom as the hours ticked by.

  "Sigh, I shouldn't have volunteered for this," Nikoos muttered, his voice tinged with pint.

  "I feel you, bro," Vasileios replied, exhaling deeply in exasperation.

  "This is not how I envisioned my day off," Nikoos mented, his tail swishing with distent.

  "Me her. It's great that this only happens once every three months, but you imagine if we had to do this every week or even every day?" Vasileios responded, shuddering at the thought.

  The two had been waiting for what felt like ay, the monotony of their task slowly wearing them down.

  Nikoos leaned ba his seat, his brow furrowing in frustration.

  "This is madness. Bahamut-sama said the meeting would only take a few hours, but she didn't specify how many," he grumbled.

  "A few hours could mean two, three, maybe even five – we have no way of knowing!" he added.

  Vasileios just chuckled lightly, shaking his head ihy.

  Soon they both settled into a ptive silence, each lost in their own thoughts.

  After some time, Vasileios spoke up, a mischievous glint in his eye.

  "Niko," he called out.

  "Hmm?" Nikoos responded, barely lifting his head.

  "Are you really into redheads?" Vasileios asked, his tone ced with a teasing lilt.

  Coughing!!! Coughing!!!

  Caught off guard, Nikoos burst into a coughing fit, nearly choking on his own saliva.

  "Where in the name of the gods did that e from?" he sputtered, his cheeks flushing with embarrassment and brows furrowed in bewilderment.

  "Well, Michalis said something about it, and I couldn't help but notice the weird thing you do with your eyes, whenever you see a pretty redhead," Vasileios expined, his grin widening.

  Nikoos scowled, his ear and tail swishing in irritation.

  "Don't take whatever Michalis says seriously," Nikoos responded, his tone slightly defensive.

  "And what 'eye thing' are you talking about?" he asked, his curiosity piqued.

  "Now, telling you that wouldn't be any fun," Vasileios teased, relishing the opportunity to rile up his brother.

  Nikoos clicked his tongue in annoyance. "I swear, you're slowly being a sed Vasiliki," he grumbled.

  "I'll take that as a pliment," Vasileios replied with a light chuckle.

  Nikoos remained silent for a bit, formuting his thoughts before speaking.

  "Hypothetically speaking, if I did have a pent for redheads, what exactly is wrong with that?" he asked.

  Vasileios shrugged, a mischievous glint in his eye.

  "Oh, nothing really," he said, a teasing lilt to his voibsp;

  "I just find your taste to be a bit... narcissistic, sidering you're a redhead yourself." he added.

  Nikoos' face immediately sched up in displeasure, his tail drooping in a dispy of irritation.

  "You little rascal," he growled, lunging at Vasileios and initiating a pyful tussle that startled the horses a bit.

  Their roughhousing tly interrupted by a feminine voice.

  "What are you boys doing?" the voice asked, cutting through the otion.

  Nikoos and Vasileios froze, turning to face the source of the voibsp;

  There, standing before them, was the goddess Demeter, her vibrant honey coloured hair and maze reizable, staring as if reprimanding them.

  "Ah, Demeter-sama," they greeted in unison, immediately reizing her, adopting a more formal tone.

  They were a bit embarrassed at being caught in such a childish dispy, but they did their best to py it cool.

  "Nikoos and Vasileios, if I remember correctly," Demeter said, her brow furrowing slightly as she sed the carriage interior.

  "Yes, that's right," Nikoos firmed.

  "Hmm, it seems Draco is not here yet," Demeter mused.

  "Draii should be returning home from the dungeon around now," Nikoos informed her.

  "I see," Demeter replied, her expression thoughtful.

  Vasileios leaned in, l his voibsp;

  "Uh, how should we refer to the goddess behind you?" he whispered to Demeter.

  “Ah, this here is Hephaestus, goddess of the Hephaestus familia," Demeter introduced, her voice carrying a sense of warmth.

  Demeter had entered Nikoos and Vasileios after exiting the Babel Tower, and she had assumed that Draco, the captain of the Bahamut familia, was also present.

  She had inteo introduce him to Hephaestus, but he wasn’t around.

  Hephaestus was quite a busy goddess, so there were only a few instances when Draco would have the opportunity to meet her.

  "Hephaestus-sama," Nikoos and Vasileios both greeted.

  "You both are a bit too formal, not something I was expeg from a familia that Bahamut made," Hephaestus replied, her tone carrying a hint of amusement.

  "Ah, I don't mean that in a bad way," she quickly added, realizing that her earlier statement could be interpreted differently.

  "By the way, is the meeting over? I don't see Bahamut-sama anywhere," Vasileios inquired, his eyes sing the area for their goddess.

  "She should be down in a bit. She had something to discuss with Ouranos," Demeter replied, her words carrying a sense of reassurance.

  "Ouranus?!" Vasileios excimed, his eyes widening in surprise, as he was unfamiliar with this god.

  "Just think of him as the guild owner," Demeter crified.

  "That aside, I couldn't help but pick up on your versation about redheads. How about her, doesn’t she qualify?, isn’t she pretty?" Demeter asked, deftly ging the subjed gesturing towards Hephaestus.

  Vasileios was stunned by the question, while Nikoos currently wished that he could find a space to crawl into and disappear.

  "What nonsense are you sayier?" Hephaestus interjected, her voice ced with a hint of embarrassment as she tried to deflect the attention.

  "And why are the two of y to seduce my children?" Bahamut suddenly interjected, having finished her brief meeting with Ouranos.

  She had quickly made her way out of the tower, aware that she had kept Nikoos and Michalis waiting for quite some time.

  "How was the meeting?" Demeter inquired, her tone inquisitive.

  "It went okay, so hopefully the Denatus will ght," Bahamut replied, her expressioral.

  "I see," Demeter responded, her curiosity satisfied for the moment.

  "What an iing gathering I see," a soft, suct voiterrupted.

  Turning towards the source, Bahamut could see Freya, the goddess of beauty, approag them, apanied by a tall, muscur man – Ottar, the stro child in her familia and her escort.

  'Tsk, what does she want?' Bahamut wondered, her lips curving into a slight frown.

  Vasileios and Nikoos were immediately captivated by Freya's enting preseheir mouths agape and drooling, overwhelmed by her irresistible charm.

  This was their first enter with a charm type goddess.

  Without hesitation, Bahamut quickly jumped onto the carriage, knog the two out before unceremoniously tossing them behind the carriage.

  "A brute as always, but those are quite the iing children," Freya ented, her gaze lingering on Vasileios and Nikoos' souls.

  "What do you want, Freya? I don't believe we are that close," Bahamut replied, her tone guarded and her expression stoic.

  "Nothing much, I was just curious about what you and Ouranos talked about," Freya replied, her smiling face irritating to Bahamut.

  "That is between me and him. I don't see how that is your ," Bahamut retorted, her words carrying a hint of disdain.

  "o be hostile, I was just curious," Freya responded, her voice maintaining its alluring quality.

  "Well, curiosity killed the cat," Bahamut quipped, a big grin spreading across her face as wisps of her draic aura began to leak out.

  Ottar, Freya's escort, instinctively grasped the hilt of his sword, a chill running down his spine as he felt the iy of Bahamut's presence.

  “Is that a threat” Freya asked.

  “Take it how you will” Bahamut replied.

  "I will keep that in mind," Freya replied, her smile growing even more radiant and captivating, attrag the attention.

  The tension in the air alpable, the two goddesses engaging in a subtle yet charged exge.

  Demeter and Hephaestus decided to only observe for now and would only act if thied.

  Bahamut's gaze remained fixed on Freya, her draic aura swirling and pulsing, a silent warning to the goddess of beauty.

  Freya, in turn, maintained her alluring smile, her own passive divine presence exuding an aura of fidend grace.