DanMachi Vol.16

CHAPTER 4: FULL PRINCESS PANIC!

"Apparently, this year is a bit of an improvement."

"Eh? How so?"

"The truth is, there were five towers last year...but Ishtar returned to the heavens before this year's festival."

"Ah."

"Ishtar was a free-spirited and beautiful goddess, and it was customary for her to declare that she was bored and abandon the altar, which always caused a fuss...Also, she held a grudge against a certain goddess, so there were all sorts of incidents because of that..."

Ishtar was a goddess of bounty in addition to being a goddess of love.

All of a sudden, I feel a little awkward, since I had been deeply involved in the incident that spelled the end of Ishtar Familia. I can't honestly pretend it had nothing to do with me.

But I quickly realize which goddess she must have held a grudge against. The northern tower where Freya is has just as many worshippers as Demeter's tower to the west. Maybe even more.

"Lady Freyaaaaa!"

"Thank you for this year's bounty!"

"Please grant thy divine blessing, Goddess!"

"Lady Freyaaaa! It's me! Please marry meeee!"

Even on the far eastern edge of the park, we can still hear the shouts coming from around her tower.

As a true goddess of beauty, her popularity is unbelievable. The tendency to never appear in public combined with her reputation as the living incarnation of beauty have drawn a great many who are willing to endure the press of the crowd simply to lay eyes on her. I can even see some male gods making a fuss...Ah, there goes one. He's getting dragged away by some people who look like members of the Guild plus his familia.

...I wonder if it gets boring being up there...?

The silver-haired goddess is gazing out across the crowd without really looking at anything in particular as she sits still on a stage the size of a small balcony. Her boaz attendant stands at her side as she stays seated in a chair that resembles a throne. She's casually resting her elbow on the armrest and propping her head up.

Even for a goddess, being stuck in Central Park all day like that is probably not all that fun...

"—Ngh."

Without any warning at all, her silver eyes that had been listlessly scanning the crowd suddenly focus on us.

This isn't a passing coincidence. She very precisely spotted us in this enormous crowd.

I remembered the day Ishtar Familia was destroyed.

As the pillar of light pierced the heavens, the goddess who had sent Ishtar back had smiled at me. And from a far-off place, she had whispered a confession.

That event engraved the silver-haired goddess's existence deep inside me. But her expression now is totally different from back then.

Where there had once been what I might even dare to call yearning in her eyes, now there's only indifference...or maybe even a cold lack of interest?

Her silver eyes are looking at me—at us—like she's seen something unpleasant.

"...Let's go, Bell."

Syr tugs my hand. I realize I had stopped moving.

Weaving our way through the crowd, I catch a glimpse of the tower one more time. The goddess is still staring at us.

"Would you please not look at other women when you're with me? And if you say you were entranced by a goddess's beauty, people with think you're being blasphemous," Syr says with a little pout once we leave Central Park.