Frey’s take.

Once again, I was expecting this to happen. A night visit from my patron spirit, Ms. Frey as soon as sleep took me on my bed. However, I took the initiative this time.

“You know, these interactions are getting very unilateral lately,” I told her with a groan. “You call me whenever you want but I can’t talk to you when I need to? I could’ve used your input earlier today, you know?”

Frey blinked her eyes, or the lights that suggested her eyes in her shadowy figure, and stared at me. She then sighed dramatically, slumped forward and shook her head.

“My little man is growing…” She sobbed. “Now he’s demanding things from me…”

I frowned and crossed my arms. “I don’t think asking for proper communication is demanding anything outrageous. You talk to me when you want and even make me forget things in the morning. I’m starting to get annoyed at the holes in my memory.”

“Ugh, fine! First of all, I didn’t want us to have a more direct connection because I don’t want to get in your way. I like watching you do your thing, even if it’s frustrating at times because it’s not how I’d do it. I still don’t want it, but I’ll see what I can do. You want to continue growing, right? That’d be harder if you could run away to me for advice whenever you’re faced with a problem.”

Shit. She got me there.

“I do admit that being able to talk about supernatural matters during key moments is important, though. Which is why I’m here now, see?”

“So… What do you think?”

“That you handled that as well as you could have. I had to try really hard to get a reading out of him, so I’m glad you decided to listen to it. Sorry for the headache and thanks for the recharge.”

I nodded. “Do you think we can trust Mr. Allen?”

“A Spirit of Greed… A dragon, even. It’s a tough call, since you never know with dragons. They can range from the biggest self-centered assholes you will ever meet, to wise, kind old beasts who enjoy watching humans run around. So go the stories I’ve heard, at least. I’m not familiar with any dragon named Danglars, and considering how rare dragons are, that already says something.”

“Hm?” I tilted my head.

“When you think about dragons, what comes to mind other than physical descriptions?”

“Mmm… Powerful, legendary creatures, right?”

“Correct. Dragons tend to make a name for themselves whether they want it or not. Bahamut, Fafnir, Tiamat, Vritra, Ouroboros, the red and white ones… They are forces of nature that inevitably end up stirring the world in one way or another. If I haven’t heard the name of a dragon, that means he’s either very young or weak for dragon standards, possibly both. The fact that he became a spirit and possessed a human makes me lean more towards the latter.”

“So you’re saying we might be on equal ground with him?”

“What? No! Do you think you could fight a malnourished lion even if you had a knife? That’s what we’re dealing with here. I’m nowhere near the level of a dragon, even a weak one.”

So Frey said, but I thought she gave herself very little credit. “You got through his… magic resistance to read his mind, right?”

Frey blinked again. “I… only followed his sexual desires to their source and his nature, but… Haha… Ahaha… I guess I did.” She looked surprised at herself, even a little proud. That got a smile out of me, too.

“So we’re not defenseless,” I told her.

“Not against mental interference, at least. Still, the situation itself isn’t pretty. Money, power, connections… If he wanted to extort us, he could. It’s not just a matter of magic, but of someone with resources who wants something we have. But remember, Oliver. You have powers, too. If you wanted, you could be a threat to him as well, and I think he knows that.”

“Me? A threat?”

“Yes, you’re harmless, but that’s just your nature. You still carry something capable of hurting him. You have the potential to take away something he loves.”

“...Which is?”

“That you haven’t even thought of it shows just how harmless you are…” Frey sighed. “His girls, Oliver. We know he cares about them, he loves them and wants to share pleasure with them. If you wanted, you could take them away from him, you know? You have the power to do it.”

My jaw dropped. “You mean… Oh no. Hell no! I’m not doing it!”

Frey flicked my forehead. “I’m not telling you to! I’m just reminding you that you’re also someone with power, that you have ways to defend yourself, not as retaliation, but as a deterrent. This Luke guy knows his stuff. He knows that you can’t compete with a Spirit of Lust when it comes to sex. Hell, even if he did have the potion he wants to make, he still couldn’t. I think that’s part of why he wants to deal fairly with you.”

I had a bad taste in my mouth, but I understood what Frey was saying. It… also made me relate a little more to Mr. Allen. I had power but wouldn’t be caught dead using it to take a woman from someone else. Mr. Allen had abilities to take what he wanted, too, but preferred to deal fairly.

“I do think you’re similar,” Frey agreed. “You give off a similar vibe, at least. My take on this is that we hear more of what his proposal is and work with him.”

“I thought you wanted to keep us away from more supernatural stuff.”

“I do, but if it’s gonna come find you like this instead, then I’d rather you had people to support you if things ever get bad. People with power and connections, and I suppose the money doesn’t hurt. I think it’ll pay to be on this guy’s good side.”

Frey made a sound argument I couldn’t refute, but I think I wasn’t trying very hard to refute it. “Can we even give him what he wants, though?”

“Sure, but it’ll take a bit of… let’s call it meditation on your part.”

“Ah?”

“This might creep you out a bit, but if you weaken your own mental defenses for a bit, I could take control of your body just enough to manipulate the magic and do what he wants us to do. I was a bit relieved when he asked for magical energy itself, actually. Did you know that you can extract sexual energy from blood and semen? He could’ve asked for that, but it would’ve been A LOT shadier.”

Oh fuck. It would’ve. Selling him blood and/or semen… “He could use that for anything else.”

“Yeah, but with magical energy, we can make sure it’s going directly into the potion he wants to make and nothing else.”

“Alright… I don’t know how comfortable I am with the idea of you controlling my body, but I’m not uncomfortable enough to reject it.”

“Give it some more though, see how Luke responds to the waiting time and make your decision. At the end of the day, it’s still your life. I’m going wherever you are.”

“Thanks, Frey. And… Hey, before I forget. Why DO you make me forget things when I wake up?”

Frey clicked her tongue and crossed her arms. “I guess there’s not much point to that anymore, is there? I… did it because then you would’ve been an accomplice. If you had known it was my powers helping you from the start, I bet you would’ve avoided women just to not get them involved in any potential danger. Or out of feelings of inadequacy and impostor-syndrome.”

“I…” I swallowed. Yeah, that sounded like me. If I’d known Frey was altering people’s perception of me and helping me be capable of things I knew I hadn’t earned… I wouldn’t have been able to go through with things like I had.

“It was nice seeing you work hard,” Frey said. “I mean, it still is, but that you started working out and putting yourself out there to try and earn the powers you were given… I admire that. Don’t stop, okay? It’d break my heart to see you get complacent, so I’ll give you an earful if I ever catch you slacking.”

I felt my chest warming up. I smiled at Frey. “Please do,” I told her.

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