Dragon Ball: Saiyan's Gourmet Journey

Chapter 691 Reciprocity, Mutual Guidance, and Mutual Progress

"I apologize, Lady Freya, it was my oversight."

Ota lowered his head.

"Lady Freya, Broly is not a dwarf, but a Saiyan."

Beside her, Helen corrected the goddess's statement.

"Um?!"

Freya looked over in confusion. After the maid explained, she realized that the boy she saw was not at his most alluring yet, but rather someone who would continue to grow and was not yet fully mature.

"No, I must protect that child's virginity from Hestia!"

A sense of mission, or perhaps a stronger possessiveness, prompted Freya to say those words.

It's easy to say slogans, but how do you actually do them?

"Lady Freya..."

Just as the goddess was pondering, the maidservant spoke up again, and Helen told her about Hestia's invitation to become a cook in Hestia's clan.

This includes the fact that she discovered others might be after the boy the goddess had her eye on, so she personally cooked to solidify the boy's attraction to the identity of "Seele".

"Helen, you did a great job!"

After hearing the reason, Freya couldn't help but praise her maidservant.

"So, should we take this cook job or not?"

Helen asked.

"Of course I'll do it! With the job of a cook, [Seele] can have more contact with that child!"

Freya also understood the principle of proximity; if they couldn't even see each other on a regular basis, how could they possibly have an encounter?

"If I were to work as a cook, [Seele] would have to be in close proximity to the goddess Hestia frequently. When Lady Freya sees you as [Seele], will the goddess Hestia see through your disguise?"

Helen offered a reminder.

"Oh, I really forgot if you hadn't mentioned it."

Freya was a little troubled, but she quickly came up with an idea.

"In that case, Helen, you'll have to do this!"

So said the beautiful goddess.

"Hey, shall I do it?"

Helen's eyes widened slightly, as if she were somewhat surprised.

"Only if you go will Seele's true identity remain undiscovered."

After all, my cooking skills aren't as good as yours.

Freya said with a sigh.

"Uh……"

That point is undeniable. Helen recalled the food made by Lady Freya that she had eaten before. It was something that even a powerful figure like Ota might be moved by, and it might even stimulate the development of abilities such as [abnormal resistance].

"But, Lady Freya, if I become a cook, who will take care of your daily affairs?"

Helen asked the question, and the "you" she referred to was Freya, the goddess's attendant girl, who would usually transform into the goddess's appearance to help with the goddess's daily affairs when Freya went out to play role-playing games.

If we don't do this, and people find out that our goddess has disappeared, it would be a huge problem for every member of the Freya Familia who admires her.

It's possible that a riot could break out in Orario, sparked by the goddess's admirers, just like what almost happened two months ago when Lady Freya sneaked out of Orario.

"This is indeed a problem."

Freya nodded; she didn't want to be trapped by complicated daily affairs and lose her divine freedom.

"In that case, Helen, you should use the excuse that you don't want to quit your job at the tavern and leave your familiar friends, and only accept part-time work as a cook for the Hestia Familia. Instead of working at the Hestia Familia's residence, you should have the boys of the Hestia Familia go to the Lady of Abundance's place at a fixed time every day to get their three meals a day from you."

Freya thought for a moment and came up with a good idea. However, she was unaware that the Saiyan boy would go to the tavern owned by the wealthy hostess every day after discovering that he had a target in the tavern, and before being explicitly rejected by the target.

“That way, as long as Hestia doesn’t come to get the food, I can use the food you made to spend more time with that kid Broly!”

Freya smiled expectantly as she thought about chatting and laughing with the boy every day, and she didn't really care about the somewhat cheating act of having meals prepared for her.

"So, besides having to play the role of Lady Freya every day, I also have the tedious task of preparing three meals a day for the members of the Hestia Familia?"

Helen's tone remained calm and unchanged, but Freya could tell that her maidservant was somewhat dissatisfied and aggrieved.

Helen, as her personal maid, was supposed to serve her, but now she has to serve others because of her somewhat willful ideas.

"That's not quite right, my Helen. You can have the cooks in the clan do the cooking."

Freya cupped the girl's face in her hands and stroked it as she spoke.

"Thank you for your understanding, Lady Freya~"

The girl, who had been looking rather dull-eyed, blushed slightly as the goddess touched her cheeks and quickly replied.

"Don't worry about me, child. I'll only let you take my place when Hestia comes to get the food."

The girl was gently embraced by the goddess, who whispered in her ear, "I can't bear to let you, my child, suffer too much."

“Lady Freya, the boy has a sword princess on his side, so it might be a bit difficult to keep an eye on him. The sword princess is level 5, and if we want to keep her from being discovered, we’ll probably have to send someone stronger who is good at concealing their presence, but our clan doesn’t have that kind of talent.”

The fierce Ota reminded his goddess.

"I'll figure something out about Broly; we won't need to have anyone watching him anymore."

"Send someone to keep an eye on Hestia for me, lest they suddenly rush over and launch a surprise attack on the tavern."

Freya already has a plan.

But as the saying goes, plans can't keep up with changes.

. . . .

"How could things have turned out like this?!"

The next morning, when Lefia looked at the other members of her fellow clan who had gone out with them, a look of deep regret appeared on her lovely face.

"If you have any complaints, go complain to Loki."

Bert the werewolf has been unhappy ever since he learned last night that he would be working as a babysitter today; his face is always sour.

"Well, this is also for Lefia and Ais."

Beside him, Finn spoke up. Unlike the others who didn't know why they were mobilized today, Finn, as the leader of the Loki Familia, was aware of the temporary skill [Invisibility Wings].

"After all, it involves that child's privacy, and the ability to grant others temporary skills is too precious. If too many people know about it, it will easily expose that child's situation. Although I want you all to have the effect of that skill, we still need to keep things confidential for each other."

These are Loki's exact words.

Aside from him, Grace, and Riveria, who knew the real reason for today's deployment.

The other Loki Familia members who came out with him were completely unaware of the situation.

Of course, Ais and Lefia are exceptions.

The first wave of Loki's Familia set off, attracting attention on the way.

When an acquaintance asked the werewolf Bert if the Loki Familia was going on another expedition, the werewolf youth replied somewhat impatiently, "They're not going on an expedition, but rather to be teachers and babysitters for some Lv.1 imps."

. . . .

"That's how it is, Mr. Broly. You helped guide Ais and Lefia, and we, the Loki Familia, cannot fail to show our appreciation. Therefore, we will also do our best to guide your companions in their fighting style. At the same time, we will take care of Lefia's desensitization training to avoid stress, so that you can better guide Ais."

After meeting in the central square, the hero Finn smiled and told the Saiyan boy the reason why their large group had come along.

"Hey, you Loki Familia are really too polite!"

Broly had no suspicions, but teaming up with this group of Loki Familia adventurers at level 3 and above to raid the upper levels of the dungeon felt like using a cannon to kill a mosquito.

"It's only right to reciprocate. Our two families guide and help each other improve. So, please take good care of me today!"

Broly and Finn shook hands, and to the astonishment of the other adventurers, Broly entered the dungeon with the Loki Familia.

With a large group of safety instructors around him, Broly chose to go down to the middle level to train Lily and Belle.

This was no problem for the Loki Familia, whose members were all at level 3 or higher, but for Bell and Lily, facing a level 2 monster was a huge challenge.

Even knowing that a group of high-level adventurers are watching over them and that their safety is guaranteed, they still have to fight on their own before encountering real danger.

"Steps, steps, you white-haired brat, can't you hear me? Your footsteps are making a mess..."

Although Bert the werewolf had a sour face the whole way, he was very thorough in giving instructions. However, his tone was unfriendly, and Bert was scolded as a clumsy and incompetent chicken.

“Miss Erd, please pay attention to your breathing rhythm. We little people are at a disadvantage in terms of physical strength, so we need to manage our physical strength well.”

Finn and the others may not be as skilled in combat as Broly, but as adventurers they have accumulated some useful techniques that are not based on numerical values.

Each person sharing a bit of their useful experience and skills was invaluable knowledge that Bell and Lily Luca, who were only level 1, could humbly learn.

"Lefia, it's time for us to let go."

The Amazon sisters were helping the elf girl with desensitization training to avoid sticks, but Tiona was a bit mischievous, holding the stick in her hand and not actually putting it down.

The elf girl, whose vision was obscured by a black cloth strip, began to shake her head and dodge in place after the girl shouted "start".

It has to be said that after being hit on the forehead and back of the head all day yesterday, Lefia had already mastered the dodging technique, but she just had some bad luck with who she met.

While the elven girl was feeling proud of how many times she had dodged the sticks, the Amazon sisters gave her sister a meaningful look.

Tiona understood and immediately released the wooden stick that was bound by vines. With a cry of pain, Lefia was hit on the forehead.

"Lefia, you dodged very well, it's just a bit of a shame that you weren't able to completely dodge it."

Tiona suppressed a laugh and said with some regret.

"It's okay, it doesn't hurt, let's do it again."

The elven girl encouraged them to keep up the good work.

Broly watched the whole thing from the sidelines and felt that this kind of training was more unpredictable and would be good for correcting the elf girl's bad habit of being easily nervous.

Since the two were only playing a prank on their companion and hadn't actually harmed the elf girl, he didn't say anything more.

"Yesterday I taught you the training method of the Sword God style. Today I will teach you the training method of the Water God style. Take your sword and defend or dodge all my attacks!"

Broly said this to the swordswoman, then grabbed a pile of pebbles he had picked up nearby and started throwing them at the swordswoman who was in a defensive stance.

"Don't try to block my pebbles head-on. Feel their trajectory, imagine yourself as a floating weed in the water, swaying your body with the current..."

Riveria and Grace watched from the sidelines, seemingly quite interested in this kind of agile dodging and blocking training.

"Mr. Broly, can this kind of training really improve Ais's strength?"

Riveria, whom Loki often jokingly calls Ais's guardian mother, looked at her for a while and then asked the question.

"Of course, once she gets used to the various attack rhythms, she can reduce the flaws in her own movements and improve her ability to predict the enemy's attacks."

Although Broly was throwing pebbles, he wasn't throwing them randomly; he was throwing them rhythmically, which represented the rhythm of most battles one could encounter in a normal fight.

It's like a mathematical formula; once you understand and master its secrets, you can easily handle any problem (a mathematical word problem that can be solved with a formula).

The moment you see the enemy make a move (the problem), you can generate a corresponding response formula in your mind and have a general idea of ​​how to defuse the enemy's offensive (the problem-solving approach).

Of course, to achieve this, the Sword Maiden will need long-term, targeted practice with numerous questions.

Fortunately, Broly was an expert in this area. He could tell which attack methods (question types) the girl was good at and which attack methods she was lacking, and he could design training (question types) for the girl to address the deficiencies.

"Although I focus on defense and don't dodge enemy attacks much, I can see that Ais is getting stronger."

After watching for a while, Jegris, the first tank of the Loki Familia, shared his thoughts with Kumahime beside him.

The young man from Hestia over there truly possesses genuine skills; at least as a combat skills instructor, Grace has never seen anyone so good.

Riveria, the Nine Demon Princess, nodded in agreement. Although she was a defensive mage, which was different from melee classes, she could still sense some of the intricacies of the combat rhythm training the boy was giving the girl.

For low-level adventurers, it might not seem like much, but for high-level adventurers, Broly's training of the girl's combat rhythm could give them a subtle insight.

This led to the other members of the Loki Familia gradually becoming more interested in the Saiyan boy's special training of the swordswoman, with many of them wondering, "If I were Miss Ais being trained, how would I deal with that kind of rhythmic attack?"

The day passed quickly. Bell and Lily Luca underwent intensive combat training, as did Ais. The other members of the Loki Familia gained some insights into the rhythm of battle while observing Ais's training. Broly, on the other hand, witnessed the girls' happiness level gradually increasing on the Crystal Palace panel due to their own progress.

"Thank you, Mr. Broly."

Among them, Lefia was the most unfortunate. She was the only one injured in the group, and her forehead was hit by a wooden stick multiple times, leaving it red and swollen. When the boy healed her with healing magic, she had to thank him properly, completely unaware of the Amazon sisters' teasing of her, as well as the tacit approval of everyone else, including Ais.

Fortunately, she did not come away empty-handed. On her way back to the Twilight Mansion, the home of her clan, she was attacked again by the rogue goddess. The elven girl took a step back and jumped, dodging Loki's attack and avoiding being groped by the goddess again.

"Oh dear, after only two days of training, Lefia, you've already managed to dodge my loving hug?!"

The God of Clowns was somewhat taken aback.

"What do you mean by a loving hug? That's clearly harassment!"

Lefia was somewhat dissatisfied, but she was still happy that she had dodged the attack of the main god, because it proved that she had made progress and was not stagnant.

"Sigh, Lefia has all grown up. Who will comfort my restless hands now?!"

As Loki spoke, his hand, which was about to touch the swordswoman's body, was nimbly avoided by the girl's graceful steps.

"Alright, you all seem to have forgotten how good I, the supreme god, have been to you~"

The God of Clowns began to complain.

"Loki, if you don't mind, you can touch my chest."

Loki: "..."

"Grace, forget it. I like the soft, smooth body of a beautiful young girl, not the hard, stiff body of a dwarf old man."

Grace shrugged at this.

"Finn, come to my room later."

"Hey, Lord Loki, even if you are a god, you can't lay a hand on the captain."

Upon hearing this, Tione immediately became alert and protectively stood in front of the dwarf leader.

"What are you thinking? I have no interest in the bodies of Lilliputian males. I just need to update Finn's stats panel, and you guys will need to update yours later too."

"Oh, is that so?"

"But we're only exploring the middle level of the dungeon today, is it really necessary to upgrade our stats?"

Tiona was a little puzzled. Adventurers of their level usually had to go deep into dungeons to fight monsters in order to improve their skills.

"Well, you'll find out when it's updated."

Loki said with a smile that she couldn't wait to see the new temporary abilities that would appear on everyone.

(End of this chapter)