The Matter of Freya IV

"My question is . . . I can do what you ask, regardless of the danger it might pose . . . But why should I?" Nox questioned.

Needless to say, his way of putting things gave pause to everyone in the room as they went over his exact words once more.

The sheer dismissal in Nox's tone when the word "danger" left his lips was so plainly obvious it was all but a divine right for the Freya Familia to be insulted.

He was basically saying that even if he walked right into their core territory and they all surrounded and attacked him, it would still pose no veritable threat to him.

Still, insulting as it might be, it also meant they did not have to worry to much about ensuring his safety on the requested meeting since Nox so clearly stated he couldn't care much less about it.

The issue was . . . What exactly could they do to convince him to go?

After all, even if it was an easy matter, the Freya Familia openly moved against him well, their vice captain did anyway.

That being the case, even if Nox could easily help, he really had no motivation to do so. The Freya Familia should be happy he was not attempting to fan the flames further already rather than helping.

In fact, were they not worried he would pretend to accept and instead just make an even bigger mess?

Did they really think a magical contract would be able to bind the guy who was quite possibly the greatest mage and item maker excluding the gods themselves?

Even if the gods claimed to be better than him, without using their Divine Power which they were forbidden to do so, Nox was confident they would not be able to make something better than his finest creations.

But even putting all of that aside, what could they use as payment? Nox was the richest man in the World right now, his wealth did not only amount to raw currency but countless powerful magic items, treasures and favors from various authority figures.

What did the Freya Familia had that he could want enough to let bygones be bygones and help out his enemy.

"This is a matter involving out goddess, we will of course, not skimp on recompense, just name your price." Horn declared with great seriousness, though in reality, she just wanted to scream in Nox's face that helping Freya was his honor and he should be thanking fate for even having the opportunity to do so.

Nox just chuckled in response.

"Find something amusing about what I said?" Horn said chillingly, filled with barely concealed rage.

"Indeed. I find it amusing that you would think such a declaration has any measure of weight coming from you." Nox mocked.

"And why is that?" Ottar interjected with a question before Horn could blow up and make an already critically bad situation even worse.

"It's simply really, your entire familia already owes me a very large favor from the Panacea I supplied yet, not only have you made no effort, which I admit, I never really needed to call it in but still . . ." Nox paused.

"Finding trouble with the benefactor you owe such a huge debt to . . . It was a move that did not inspire much confidence in you integrity. I wonder if you have anything to say about that?" He declared and questioned.

Everyone fell silent and even Loki got a new view on the situation at hand.

Most people actually forgot that the grand majority of the World's top powers owed Nox some big, big favors, the Freya Familia being one of them. This was all due to one very simple reason, Nox never felt the need to call in those favors.

At the most, he used his authority and influence to gain access to greater amounts of limited or restricted resources without having to resort to paying colossal prices in the black market.

But still, he was very measured when it came to calling in these favors in the sense that he never actually let them run out. Never asking for more than what he needed and always offering a bit more when he had a surplus so that others perpetually owed him something, just in case.

In the Freya Familia's case, being wary of their goddess' shenanigans, Nox did not call in any favors or promises as they were valuable and unlikely to be earned again.

Of course, seeing that Freya's simps went ahead and picked a fight with him, all but certainly with her approval, despite the fact that they owed him, such promises were now utterly worthless in his eyes.

If the cost did not so radically outweigh the benefit of doing so, Nox would seriously consider going to Folkvangr just to take back what he offered and some extra for his trouble, simply as a matter of principle.

He didn't feel like rocking the boat though as Freya was a loose cannon no one would benefit going out of control, except maybe for those crazies that just want to see the world burn.

"One of our members might have gone a little too far with his actions but it was just him and it was not like he directly moved against you." Horn tried to argue.

Loki only grimaced.

'Trying to dodge responsibility is never a good move when trying to get help from the injured party. When said party has a lot to lose and little to win by helpin' and is as petty and vengeful as Noxy is . . . Then it's a terrible move liable to get ya into even more trouble than what ya started with . . .' The red haired goddess thought to herself.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

P.a.t.r.e.o.n is officially up!

The link is: https://www.p.a.t.r.e.o.n.com/lusoba  without the extra dots of course.

You'll get to read up to FOUR weeks ahead, a full month, but I'll still post here.

There's also my other novels Kage of Kages and FATE of DxD, do check them out!

I would greatly appreciate any support since this is going to be my breadwinner.