Chapter 706

"However, Ryuu, you'd better not tell Anya about this."

"Eh, why?"

"That child has always believed she was abandoned by her Familia."

"What do you mean?"

The female elf lowered her voice and asked.

Her close friend was Syr, but the other colleagues at the tavern were also friends she acknowledged.

Two years of getting along had long since reached the degree where they would risk their lives for each other.

Naturally, Ryuu also cared about the lively and cute cat-girl Anya.

"Anya was driven out of her Familia by her older brother, the reason being that her brother disliked her for being too weak, and continuing to stay in the Familia might hold him back..."

Helen spoke in a small voice; previously the Goddess hadn't allowed exposing the Freya Familia, so naturally she couldn't say anything, but now that Freya-sama had permitted exposure, she would naturally spill the beans on some inside Familia matters for Ryuu, who was Syr's friend, at this very moment.

"But Anya is Level 4, does that count as holding him back too?"

"Her older brother is Allen, the Allen of the Goddess Chariot, Level 6."

Hearing this, Ryuu understood, but still felt some confusion: "Level 4 is weaker than Level 6, but that's compared to a Level 6 adventurer; compared to other adventurers, she's still among the strong ones, is there really a need to drive her out just because her strength is weak?"

"Well, that's just the surface reason; I've heard from my older sister about that Allen person, he's just a tsundere cat; his reason for driving away his little sister is weakness, but actually he just doesn't want Anya to continue participating in the Battle Wilderness training; hmm, have you heard of the Freya Familia's Battle Wilderness, Ryuu?"

"Mm, I've heard a little; they say it's a place where they fight from sunrise to sunset, and participating Freya members kill each other in a free-for-all, but I don't know if that's exaggerated."

"Not exaggerated at all; the situation is exactly that; participating Freya Familia members, regardless of gender or Level, receive no distinction or preferential treatment, and must slaughter each other in a grand melee for a whole day.

Although healers are on standby at all times to heal fatal wounds, the number of people who die from it each year is not small.

Even Level 4 members have died; now, Ryuu, can you understand the reason why that Goddess Chariot drove his little sister out of the Familia?"

"He did it for Anya's life safety?!"

"Yes, but Anya thinks her older brother doesn't want her anymore; bringing it up again might make her feel sad."

"Then why don't you tell her, Syr?"

"That... well, of course, this is a result I inferred after hearing it secondhand, but I can't actually confirm what the real truth is; what if it really is just because he dislikes the weak and there's no other reason? Even if it's truly as I inferred, I still can't bring myself to tell Anya; after all, it's their business as siblings."

Helen answered thus, but as someone who frequently transformed into the Goddess, she naturally knew Allen's true thoughts; not telling Anya was only because the Goddess believed that Allen's posture of wanting to protect his little sister was a sufficiently dazzling situation.

At the same time, she also believed that Anya dying in the Battle Wilderness was not an impossibility; although Freya could change the Battle Wilderness and prohibit the continuation of such barbaric slaughter, she fundamentally would not take the initiative to change it.

Only because the Battle Wilderness itself was the manifestation of the efforts made by the Familia children to strengthen themselves for the sake of this Goddess, stemming from Freya's desire to become the Goddess possessing the Strongest Familia, an expression of love and loyalty; the Beauty Goddess Freya would never deny the children's will, nor refuse the children's love for her.

"Uh, I got it, I won't say anything more."

Ryuu nodded.

Night fell, mealtime arrived, many customers entered the tavern, and as waitresses they also became busy.

However, after Broly came over, he still received priority treatment from Syr and the others; and whether it was Broly's illusion, he always felt that Syr-san tonight seemed even more enthusiastic toward him, reflected in the Happiness Value — the daily Happiness Value increase tonight was a bit more than on previous days.

Even the elf lady wasn't like before, where she was enthusiastic on the surface but actually just polite; her demeanor now carried a hint of sincerity; one wondered if this was because of the morning handshake confirming their friendship, or because she had her body seen completely in the afternoon.

In short, without the abnormally seasoned cooking, Broly ate quite happily tonight, the cost being that his wallet was lighter by ten-odd thousand Valis.

Returning to the Hestia Familia Headquarters, during the daily pre-sleep update of his personal status by Hestia-sama, Broly mentioned the situation where he thought the elf lady might have had an accident bathing in the evening, so he rushed back to the Familia headquarters, and what happened on the road.

"Eh, Broly, you're saying you used the Sword Princess's magic?"

Hestia was somewhat surprised.

"Mm."

The boy, shirtless and lying prone on the bed, currently being sat upon by the Loli Goddess who was updating his status panel, nodded.

"But no new magic has appeared on your status panel."

Hestia checked carefully, and after confirming the situation of the first status panel, she spoke.

"Did you make a mistake?"

"No, I'm certain I should have used it."

Broly thought for a moment, then shook his head and said with certainty.

"That's simple; as long as Broly-san tries again, we'll know."

Liliruca said from the side; currently, when Broly updated his status panel, he didn't avoid the small Pallum girl who slept with him every night.

"You're right, let's try then."

"Okay."

Under the curious gazes of one person and one god, Broly climbed up and stood in the center of the room, thinking about how he had used Gale Wind in the evening, and recited the ultra-short chant of 【Tempest】 once more.

As the short chant finished, blue-green magical wind suddenly swirled around his surroundings, forming faintly visible wing patterns encircling him.

"Eh, it's really true."

The Loli Goddess widened her eyes.

"But how was this done? Wait, the Sword Princess and them have 【Invisible Wings】; could it be that this is the hidden skill effect of 【You Are All My Wings】, allowing you to share each other's magic and skills, just that this skill effect cannot be directly displayed on the status panel?"

Hestia speculated; she felt the possibility of this situation was very high.

"We'll know if we try; Broly-san, you try using my transformation magic too."

Liliruca said directly.

"Uh, I don't remember the chant for your magic."

Broly scratched his head; the Sword Princess girl's magic had a short chant, easy to remember, but the Pallum girl's was a whole paragraph of a chant, he hadn't really memorized it.

"Doesn't matter, you chant along with me; your falna belongs to me, my falna still belongs to me."

The Pallum girl began reciting the chant for her 【Cinder Ella】; Broly chanted along once, but nothing happened.

"Looks like it doesn't work."

Broly chanted once more, still no use.

"Uu..."

Liliruca thought for a moment, then said whatever came to mind: "Broly-san, when you were reciting the chant, were you not picturing the form you wanted to transform into?"

"Huh, do I need to think about that?"

"Of course, this is a usage condition of my Transformation Magic; not only must you recite the chant, you must also have a clear understanding of the form you're transforming into, at least in terms of external appearance — for example, if Lili wants to transform into a cat person, she must understand the characteristics of a cat person……"

As Liliruca spoke, she demonstrated; a pair of cat ears quickly appeared on her head, and Broly curiously reached out and touched them.

The Pallum girl's body gave a start, and she hurriedly grabbed his hand: "Ah, don't touch randomly, a cat person's ears are very sensitive."

"Uh, sorry."

Broly wanted to pull his hand back, but discovered Liliruca was still holding his hand.

"Of course, not too hard; touching gently is still fine."

When he looked over in puzzlement, the Pallum girl said.

"Hey, talk proper business with me, don't seek petting just because you're pent up!"

The Loli Goddess was very displeased, and said a line from the side.

"Uh, then I'll continue explaining."

Under Liliruca's explanation, Broly learned that Transformation Magic requires one to have a general idea in one's mind of one's own post-transformation appearance.

The clearer the idea, the better the transformation effect, to the point where even the organs produced can be functional — like when Liliruca transforms into a catgirl, her hearing and smell both get a certain boost; but conversely, if it's not clear, you'll likely just get a pair of superficial cat ears.

"Need it to be clear, huh? Then I'll try again."

Broly attempted to recite the chant again; many familiar images flashed through his mind.

"Your crest belongs to me, my crest still belongs to me, Stove Ash Girl."

The instant the chant finished, the image in Broly's mind fixated on the Pallum girl.

"Eh?!"

With two cries of surprise, he discovered Hestia and Liliruca were both staring at him.

"What's wrong?"

He made a sound, but the voice/tone was Lili's.

"Broly, you turned into Lili."

Hestia said.

"So, the skill 【You Are All My Wings】 really lets me use the Encounter Target's skills and magic?"

Broly looked at his slender hands, subconsciously clenched his fist; this was still the first time he had experienced Transformation Magic.

"Hah—"

Suddenly, Broly threw a punch at the empty air beside him, and his fist produced some fist-wind sounds in the air.

"Just looks slender, but my Second Status Board's s Stats haven't been lowered, have they?"

Broly muttered to himself.

"However, there are still effects from the transformation……"

Broly lowered his head and looked at his current chest, perfect replication of the Pallum girl's situation

"Ah, Broly-san, what are you doing now?"

Liliruca watched the scene of the boy-turned-her intending to reach down and touch, couldn't hold back and cried out again.

"Uh, I've never been a girl, somewhat curious, wanted to touch and see."

Broly spoke the truth.

Because of having many wives, he was relatively familiar with the opposite sex's body.

But turning into a girl himself, this was still a first.

"Even if curious, you still can't touch randomly."

"Eh, why? Lili, don't you like it when I touch you?"

"Touching me is fine, but self-touching is not allowed."

"Uh, alright then."

Broly didn't quite understand Lili's rejection of self-touching, but still nodded.

"Twelve o'clock's Dawn Voice, restore original form."

As the release chant was recited, Broly transformed back.

"You Are All My Wings, the hidden skill effect of sharing each other's magic and skills confirmed; now, Lili, I have something I want to ask you."

"What?"

Liliruca's face was still a bit red, she couldn't help but look over curiously.

"Tomorrow's Divine Wine Banquet, do you want me to help you?"

Broly asked.

"Hm?"

The Pallum girl was somewhat confused.

"I mean help you by substitute fighting; the previously envisioned substitute fighting, I could only go a step ahead and strike at the person you want to deal with, but now with substitute fighting, I can completely transform into your likeness and directly go beat people in your place."

Liliruca's 【Stove Ash Girl】 Transformation Magic, Broly was willing to call it the strongest 【Acting Stand-in】 magic.

And his Second Panel's s Stats are absolutely stronger than the Pallum girl who's only accepted his training for a week or so.

Having him substitute for the Pallum girl to debut and perform tomorrow, guaranteed to bring the Soma Familia members attending the Divine Wine Banquet a true tyrannical visage, leaving a deep strongman impression.

"Ah, this……"

Liliruca's expression was somewhat subtle; just when Broly thought the Pallum girl would directly agree, he saw her shake her head.

"No thanks, Broly-san, I want to do it myself."

"Eh, why?"

Broly was somewhat confused; he still remembered how the Pallum girl had not been good at battle before she accepted his training.

"Because I've trained hard for so long; if it can't be put to use, wouldn't that mean all the effort was wasted?"

Liliruca explained.

"But, more importantly, I also want to personally take revenge for my own miserable childhood experiences."

The cause of the Pallum girl's miserable childhood lay in the overall degeneration of the Soma Familia, and what truly catalyzed her childhood becoming truly awful was when Chanisi was promoted to Familia Captain and began employing the strategy of using Divine Wine to control all Familia members.

"Alright then."

Broly did not insist; since the Pallum girl wanted to do it herself.

"Divine Wine Banquet, free participation — is this news true?"

In an old tavern, a drunkard of the Soma Familia asked.

"Whether it's true or not, we'll know if we go to the base tomorrow night; if it's not true, it's just a wasted trip, but if it is true, wouldn't we get to drink Divine Wine?"

Thinking of the Divine Wine he had once drunk, the old drunkard of the Soma Familia's outer members swallowed his saliva.

After fermenting for two nights, this news had already spread through the lower levels of the Soma Familia.

Everyone awaited the arrival of the Divine Wine Banquet...

(Chapter End)