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Chapter 109: Aiden Targeted
Are you kidding me?!
He was completely straight in his past life, and his orientation was as normal as it could possibly be.
Just the thought of a notoriously disgusting bisexual freak staring at him with that kind of look sent a wave of physiological nausea rippling through him. Every single cell in his body was screaming at him to draw his sword and hack something to pieces.
Almost simultaneously, the equally perceptive Robin also detected that completely unbridled stare.
When she realized exactly who the gaze was aimed at, and combined it with the infamous reputation of the Apollo Familia in Orario, an utterly absurd conclusion formed in her mind.
A rare flash of profound weirdness and bewilderment crossed Robin's usually composed and elegant emerald eyes. She didn't understand it, but she was deeply shaken.
She had originally thought her disguise had failed, or that Tifa and Hyacine's beauty had drawn unwanted attention. But never in her wildest dreams did she expect their prey to actually be... Aiden.
And to top it off, the stalker was a male god, not a goddess.
The moment they returned to the Familia headquarters and shut the door, the noise of the outside world—along with that slimy stare—was sealed away. However, the atmosphere in the living room was nowhere near as relaxed as it had been during dinner.
Robin was the first to break the silence. Looking at the curious Furina, as well as Tifa and Hyacine—who had also sensed something was wrong—she laid out exactly what she had noticed in the tavern.
"We've been targeted by the Apollo Familia."
Furina was momentarily stunned upon hearing that name.
Twirling a lock of hair around her finger, her mismatched eyes filled with confusion. "Apollo? I thought... if we were going to be targeted by anyone, it should be Freya. Why is Apollo sticking his nose in? Did he take a liking to you girls?"
Because of Aiden's idiotic stunt earlier, she had been keeping her guard up against Freya. In the end, Apollo was the one who popped up to harass them first.
However, Robin's next words froze the expressions on everyone's faces.
"No."
Robin's expression turned intensely bizarre as she carefully weighed her words, ultimately deciding to just voice her hypothesis. "Furina, based on my observations and... that blatantly undisguised stare, Apollo's target... should be..."
Her gaze slowly drifted over to Aiden, who had remained totally silent.
"...Aiden."
The air seemed to freeze in place.
Furina's mouth parted slightly into a comical "O" shape, her heterochromic eyes widening to the size of saucers. She looked at Aiden—whose face was as black as the bottom of a charred pot—and then back at the utterly certain Robin. Her entire being was plunged into profound chaos.
Tifa and Hyacine were equally flabbergasted, their jaws practically hitting the floor.
As the center of the incident, Aiden remained deadly quiet, his face as still and dark as a stagnant pool.
He silently drew the Fire Spirit Sword that Lefiya had given him, took out a complete maintenance kit, and sat down on the sofa. He began polishing the blade—stroke by stroke, focused and forceful.
The shhh-shhh sound of cloth grinding against metal rang out crystal clear in the dead-silent room. An icy, bone-piercing killing intent slowly seeped out of him, making the surrounding temperature plummet by several degrees.
"Aiden."
Feeling the almost tangible bloodlust rolling off him, Robin softly warned. "God-slaying is a cardinal sin. You'd bear a karma that can never be washed away. Unless there is absolutely no other choice, please don't do anything rash."
She knew Aiden well. If he was truly pushed into a corner, this Captain of theirs would absolutely commit deicide. Of course, that was assuming he could find a way to bypass the absolute suppression of Divine Will. With Divine Will in play, it was theoretically impossible for a mortal to harm a god.
"That's right, Aiden!"
Furina snapped out of her daze and hurriedly agreed. "Besides, gods are immortal. Even if you kill him, he'll just go back to sleep, and in ten thousand years, he'll just be another good guy... no, another annoying jerk! So killing him is pointless. All it'll do is get you permanently blacklisted by the Guild!"
Listening to his companions' pleas, Aiden finally stopped polishing his sword.
He looked up, a smile actually forming on his lips—though no matter how one looked at it, the smile was steeped in absolute frost.
"I know," he said softly. "Of course I have no intention of killing him. That would be completely meaningless."
He paused, his gaze turning dark and abyssal as he added, "Compared to a quick death, stripping away everything he holds dear and dragging him from the clouds down into the mud... wouldn't that be far more agonizing?"
"Besides... as utterly disgusting as it is, he just wants my body. He's not trying to kill me, nor is he threatening any of you."
He chuckled.
"If Apollo were a goddess, I might even be a little flattered. Catching the eye of a goddess proves my charm is top-tier. But his biggest mistake... is that he's a male god."
Seeing that Aiden hadn't lost his mind, Robin, Tifa, and Hyacine let out visible sighs of relief. Their biggest fear was that Aiden would be blinded by rage and recklessly attempt something as insane as deicide regardless of the consequences.
Since he could still think rationally, everything was fine.
However, before they could fully relax, they digested the very strange implication in Aiden's final remark. The living room fell dead silent for a split second.
An amused smile that she couldn't quite suppress flashed through Robin's emerald eyes. Hyacine helplessly pinched the bridge of her nose, her expression screaming, I can't deal with you. Tifa covered her mouth, giggling softly.
"You jerk—!"
A shriek of pure, tragic indignation shattered the peace.
Furina finally realized what he meant. So angry she was practically steaming, she shot off the sofa like a cat with its tail stepped on, pouncing at Aiden with fangs bared and claws out.
"Aiden, you massive idiot! You don't care about being targeted by a god at all, do you?! You just care that it's a guy! After I worried about you for so long, it turns out you were just hoping some goddess would come sweep you away!"
Yelling at the top of her lungs, she grabbed Aiden's neck with both of her tiny hands, shaking him back and forth with every ounce of strength she possessed.
However, despite being a goddess, with her divine power sealed, Furina was the very definition of frail and powerless.
To Aiden, whose base stats far exceeded a normal human's, her pitiful display of strength was less of an attack and more of a clumsy, uncoordinated neck massage. Having those soft little hands squeezing his neck provided absolutely zero threat of suffocation. Instead, the delicate, distinctly feminine touch was, undeniably, a rather wonderful perk.
Aiden let her unleash her tyranny on him, caught between laughing and crying. As he watched her puff out her cheeks in anger, the murderous intent and nausea born from being violated by Apollo's gaze inexplicably melted away.
Sighing helplessly, Robin stepped forward and gently pulled the flailing Furina off Aiden. She stroked her hair, soothing her like a wronged kitten.
"There, there, Furina. Aiden was just making a joke."
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