I Can't Even Beat a Little Girl... (Please Vote, Please Follow~)

Meanwhile, elsewhere.

Afternoon.

Deep inside the Soma Familia compound.

The air was saturated with the cloying smell of wine, so thick it seemed impossible to dispel. Beneath its sweetness lurked a hint of decay, making anyone who breathed it feel faint.

A figure clad in a black robe and wearing a featureless mask silently made her way through the heavily guarded corridors.

Without a moment's hesitation, she headed straight for the chamber at the heart of the compound, where the patron god Soma resided.

At the entrance, two guards slumped against the wall, their eyes vacant.

Their breathing was ragged, and an unnatural pink glow lingered deep in their pupils. They had fallen under the [Charm] and lost consciousness completely.

Syr didn't even glance at them. She simply pushed open the heavy wooden door.

Creak—

The rough scrape of the hinges sounded especially jarring in the silence.

The room was dim. Inside an enormous vat was the raw divine wine that could intoxicate even the gods.

A thin figure mechanically stirred the wine within.

The wine god, Soma.

His black hair was dry and disheveled, hiding his eyes. Though she couldn't see his gaze, his soul had closed itself off completely.

Through the colors of souls, Syr could sense that Soma had long since lost interest in everything around him.

His world seemed to consist of nothing but the divine wine in that vat.

He was nothing more than a shell ruled by the instinct to brew wine.

Still, none of that mattered to her. All she needed was Soma's wine, potent enough to get a god drunk.

"Long time no see, Soma."

Syr offered a simple greeting.

Soma's stirring slowed for a moment.

He slowly, bit by bit, raised his head.

Who...?

A god's presence... but so faint... as if hidden behind a thick fog...

This feeling... it's somewhat familiar...

Soma's thoughts moved sluggishly, like rusted gears.

He stared at the black robe and mask for a long while before a fragment of memory finally surfaced like sediment rising from the depths.

"...Freya?" His voice was dry and hoarse, as though he hadn't spoken in a long time.

Syr neither nodded nor shook her head.

She simply stood there, as if that were answer enough.

She pulled a heavy purse from her robes and dropped it onto the dusty empty table in the corner with a thud.

The sound rang out sharply in the deathly silent wine cellar.

"Please sell me the kind..." she began, her voice muffled by the mask and utterly flat, "of divine wine that can knock a god out with a single sip."

Soma fell silent.

His hand tightened around the wooden paddle as he stirred the wine.

After a long while, he said, "There's no wine like that... in the Lower World. If you want it, you'll have to go back to Heaven."

"Oh? You don't have any?"

Syr let out a small, curious sound. Gods could tell whether one another were lying, and Soma hadn't lied just now. He really didn't have any divine wine that potent.

But that was strange...

Syr murmured in confusion.

"But I heard... someone brewed 'divine wine' potent enough to get even a god completely drunk. If it wasn't you... was it Dionysus? Or was my information... wrong?"

Soma shook his head and repeated, "I... anyway, I don't have any! Besides..." He worked up the courage to refuse. "I never said I would sell you any..."

He had barely gotten half the words out when a soft laugh cut him off.

"Hehe~"

Even through the mask, the laugh sent a chill down Soma's ears.

"Do you really have a choice?"

There was laughter in Syr's voice, but not a trace of warmth.

Soma shuddered violently. His heart pounded against his chest, and fear began to rise within him.

His voice grew quieter and quieter. "I... really don't have the wine you want..."

Soma still seemed to think he had room to negotiate.

"You don't have the right to refuse. If you won't sell it to me, I'll challenge you to a War Game. Don't doubt my abilities. I have a thousand ways to force you to take part."

Syr deliberately stressed the word "force," and her voice turned abruptly cold.

"If I win, everything in your Familia—including all this divine wine—will belong to me. And you'll be sent straight back to Heaven, never to return to the Lower World. You don't really think... your hopelessly drunk 'children' can beat mine, do you?"

Soma felt an overwhelming pressure. The invisible weight nearly suffocated him.

Silence spread through the wine-scented air.

Suddenly—

"Heh..." A soft laugh broke the stillness.

Syr's masked face turned toward Soma. Her laugh was as bright as a young girl's delight at finding her favorite candy, utterly unlike the cold threat she'd made moments earlier.

She tilted her head slightly. Her voice instantly turned sweet and gentle, as if coated in the finest honey. She spread her hands.

"So please~ give me the kind of divine wine that can get even a god drunk~"

A chill shot from Soma's feet to the crown of his head.

Terrifying... utterly terrifying!

What kind of demon was this woman?!

That sudden change in mood sent a greater shiver down his spine than the threat itself.

He felt that if he fought the woman before him, he wouldn't have the slightest chance of winning.

At the thought, Soma couldn't help sighing to himself.

I'm so weak, even a little girl can beat me...

I'd better not provoke this crazy goddess...

If she really got angry and pushed me off a balcony, I wouldn't even be able to fight back...

Finally giving in, Soma lowered the wooden paddle he'd still been using to stir the wine.

He turned stiffly.

With heavy steps, he shuffled toward a dusty cabinet in the corner of the room.

His fingertips traced the rough surface of the wooden cabinet before stopping at an earthenware jar that looked utterly ordinary, even a little battered.

He carefully took it down.

Then, as if making an offering, he gingerly handed the jar of wine to Syr.

His voice was barely audible...

"This is the work I'm most pleased with since coming to the Lower World. Loki wanted to marry me before, and she wanted this jar of wine too... but I turned her down."

Even the flawed batches of Soma's divine wine that made it onto the market could fetch 60,000 Valis for a jar the size of a pomegranate.

The earthenware jar before them was as big as a watermelon, and it was Soma's finest work. No one could say how much it was worth.

But to get this crazy woman out of his home as quickly as possible, Soma was willing to lose an arm to save his life, like a gecko shedding its tail...

Wasn't that a kind of survival wisdom?

Syr took the jar and brought it closer to smell.

There was no scent of wine at all from the outside, but that only showed how fine the wine inside was.

Soma kindly warned her, "This wine is very strong. It can't get a god drunk with one sip, but a third of the jar should be enough to get one completely drunk... You'd better dilute it..."

Before Soma could finish speaking,

Syr smiled happily and thanked him. "Thank you, Soma~ If my plan succeeds, I'll owe you a huge favor. If you ever need my Familia's help, I'll help you once, no questions asked!"

With that,

Syr turned and left Soma's room.

At last, she had gotten wine potent enough to get even a god drunk!

Dilute it?

There was no need to dilute it at all!

If only she could get Lord Thor to drink this wine, then...

Hehe~