Goddess Academy— 4

Title: Eye of the Troll♪

"Can I ask you something?" Bhram inquired.

"Anything. To clear your doubts is my duty and serve you is my honor," she smiled, making Bhram feel his blood being monopolized by his cheeks and nethers.

Any other person would have asked why he was the lucky one to be chosen. This question range true in Bhram's mind, too. He was lazy, somewhat selfish, and totally unqualified to be a teacher, much less a Dean. But after countless post nut enlightenment that would give way to depression, he had long stopped poking against this mental door that contained all questions of similar nature.

Enlightenment came at a price Bhram wasn't ready to pay.

"How did you survive in here?" He inquired. He still hadn't seen any form of electronics to pass the time and with the way Vera spoke of the outside world, she must have some form of connection with the outside world.

Hearing his question, Vera blushed.

Harder, this time.

"That-" she stammered before looking down and eyeing Bhram coyly.

"Jeez, Dean. You really put me in a spot here," she muttered with her lips puckering up.

'I thought only age was the forbidden question when it came to women,' He recalled but sensing Vera's apparent displeasure, he hurriedly raised his hand to in a show of surrender.

"You don't have to answer—" as he spoke, Bhram witnessed the flicker of disappointment in Vera's eyes once again, making him stop in his tracks while she continued to gaze at him intently.

'What does she want? If you don't want me asking about it, then why that look? Is there something else she wants to talk about? Or...'

Gulping, Bhram silently opened two of his unused functions of the legacy in hopes of finding a clue.

Employee Status.

Affection Meter.

[Name: Vera Gold

Position: Secretary to Dean

Status: Satiated, Disappointed.]

[Affection of Current target is: 12

Target is curious about the host.]

Gazing at the two reports, Bhram recalled his previous interactions with Vera.

While Bhram's lower mind just wanted to see the woman in front of her naked, his upper, slightly smarter mind decided to not risk any lasting impression due to impatience and coughed.

"I'm... really curious," he spoke up, unable to find better words to convey his demands.

'Demands. That's it!'

With a flash of inspiration, Bhram returned a keen look to Vera.

"Yes, I want you to describe how you survived till now," sensing a bit of resistance in Vera's eyes despite her earlier actions, Bhram quickly added, "It's for the first mission. Please don't leave any detail."

"If... you insist," biting her lower lip, Vera presented a slightly vulnerable posture but to affirm his decision, Bhram opened both the meters once again.

[Name: Vera Gold

Position: Secretary to Dean

Status: Satiated, Content.]

[Affection of Current target is: 12→ 13

Target is curious about the host.]

"As per your insistence, I won't leave any detail out but to understand how I survived till now, I must briefly discuss my origin..."

A somber look flashed across her face.

"I'm one of the younger generation deities remaining on Earth. I'm..." with a furious blush, she whispered, "I'm the Idol Goddess— Vera Gold."

'Idle goddess? Who knew humanity worshipped laziness.'

"Because of my stream of divinity, I'm constantly worshipped and get to know more about the outside world without actually going out. And that is why I also know many horrors that the world has suffered and the injustice that infests the society..."

Averting her gaze, Vera continued.

"But being a goddess does not make me immortal... or even strong," her shoulders slumped, "I'm just an ordinary woman waiting for an owner to arrive. However, to sustain, I could use my authorities to... to..."

Her tone softened.

"I used my authority to steal from the clothes and food and a few other utilities from the charitable drive organized by idol groups around the globe."

Tears formed in the corner of her eyes while Bhram felt a little stunned.

Why would lazy individuals work hard to organize charitable drives? It made sense that a lazy goddess would opt to steal things for her convenience but...

'Is there a misunderstanding? Does the word idle no longer means the same thing?' Bhram furrowed but he couldn't say anything to comfort the slightly sobbing goddess in front of him. He simply lacked experience.

[Name: Vera Gold

Position: Secretary to Dean

Status: Satiated, Relieved, Content.]

[Affection of Current target is: 13→ 14

Target is curious about the host.]

'Is she relieved because she told the truth? Stealing from charitable drives is still pretty evil... Wait, she mentioned even stealing the clothes,' Bhram glanced towards her dress and felt astounded. Who would give away such a nice dress and who is the goddess that filled the dress before it reached Vera?

"Ehm, please excuse my outburst. I just felt a little light over my shoulders now that I can share things with you," she smiled while rubbing her eyes.

"Ah... you can use this... although, it's not much," Bhram took out a handkerchief and presented it to Vera.

Looking down at the piece of clothing, Vera gulped but didn't brush the Dean's palms away. Picking the article of clothing, Vera smiled politely.

"Thank you, Sir."

'Ah... if you do that...' Bhram slouched slightly, nodding without saying a word but by the time she cleaned her face, Vera had regained her usual demeanor.

"Even I was surprised when I could see and feel everything the idol groups around the globe are experiencing and even bring stuff from the real world into Heaven. But many items like mobile phones and such are pretty unusable here because of the lack of internet and electricity so I didn't... st— borrow them."

Showing his extremely little experience with women thanks to his mom and a few classmates he used to chat with back in the day, Bhram decided against his extreme curiosity about how, well, Vera conducted her 'business.' This was simply too personal of a topic.

"Do you have any special abilities?" Bhram inquired. What could a lazy, idle goddess do? Get stronger the lazier she becomes?

Vera smiled, her eyes brightened at the inquiry.

"I can sing and dance very well. And, whenever my picture is clicked, despite the situation I'm in, the photograph would always turn out dignified. I'm a goddess loved and worshiped by every device capable of recording images and videos!"

'Idle... she meant IdOl... what a lost opportunity,' Bhram smiled while feeling a little dismayed. Meeting an actual lazy goddess is the dream of every... well, lazy man. It would have been nice to meet a like-minded Deity.

Being an excellent reader of expression despite her lack of human contact, Vera was extremely clear that Bhram was less than impressed by her declaration.

"Sir, if you have a cellphone, I can even demonstrate my abilities!" She leaned forward suddenly, making Bhram look over her cleavage once again.

However, this time, Bhram found a soft pink boundary riding up the low cut of her dress.

"Eh?"

Bhram's vision swam while his nostrils suddenly ached.

"Sir!"

Vera's anxious shout broke him out of his reverie as he looked towards her in confusion. Pain still filled his nose, inducing him to touch it only to find warm blood dripping on his fingers.

"I'm very sorry! I didn't mention my other... abilities and caused this. Please lie down quickly. I'll bring tissues!"

Vera showed an impressive speed despite her restraining dress and entered the surrounding forest without a shred of fear while Bhram sat down, still confused.

'When did my world turn into a fucking anime?' He questioned himself. Had he not trained enough by watching porn and hentai? Had he not mastered the art of not busting a vessel with the sole exception on the rare sunny days when the heat is simply too much?

'Her ability... what kind of woman is she? If she walks around naked, would she cause the entire humanity to bust a vessel and fill the streets with their depraved blood?'

Bhram shivered.

'Scary.'

'Let's try exploring the employee status...' rubbing his nose with his sleeve and then stopping immediately once he felt more pain, Bhram opened Vera's status, trying to find more details but it didn't work like that. Aside from the usual details— Name, Position, and emotional status— the legacy did not reveal anything else.

'I... still need to find a job.'

Bhram recalled while looking towards the direction Vera left in. "That's probably the direction where Vera hid her stash."

While waiting, Bhram even tried to find more about the lotto function but was unable to do anything since the legacy quoted his lack of lotto tickets, making him sigh.

"Sir," Vera finally returned, her cheeks rosy with slight physical exertion and her hands holding a bundle of tissues.

"We could have just used my handkerchief," Bhram pointed out with a smile, a little sorry that Vera had to go through so much trouble for him.

"It's quite alright," Vera smiled, a little deceit flickering in her eyes as she no longer held the handkerchief. Instead, she handed the tissue papers to Bhram who quickly rolled them and plugged his nose.

"Once again, I'm very sorry," Vera bowed, but this time, Bhram had the motivation to look away. His stares had already been noted by Vera for quite a few moments already but she didn't say anything. However, unlike her emotions, her body felt offended by such blatant gaze and decided to smite Bhram with a good 'ol pop of nose.

"Sir, I think this is also the time to describe how special Heaven is," Vera smiled.

"The quality of supernatural energy present in Heaven is 69 times better than what could be found on the planet. Although, I'm unsure why this intensity wasn't rounded to 70, or a 100, I can assure you that any injury sustained in here can be healed at a greater pace."

'I can think of a few reasons,' Bhram nodded. However, he failed to feel anything different even now.

"Thank you," Bhram nodded before standing up, "How can I leave this place?"

"It's simple. Now that you are the Dean of the Academy meant to cover the entire Heaven, this location has become your property. To enter or exit this place, you just have to pray."

"Pray?" Bhram turned towards Vera with a slightly widened gaze as she smiled and nodded.

"Yes. The script is— O' lord, thou art in heaven—"

*Pop*

Bhram suddenly vanished, making Vera squeak in surprise but he returned as quickly as he left, and with a certain annoying *pop* sound.

"S-sir?" Vera gasped as Bhram looked at her, unable to hold a shrug.

'Isn't this kind of prayer a gag plot in most of the web novels? All I needed to do was concentrate on the *pop* sound and...' his gaze sneaked a glance towards Vera's voluptuous physique.

"I just had to think hard," Bhram smiled.

"So the instructions were a lie?" Vera looked dumbstruck but didn't know what to make of it. As a goddess of idols, she certainly didn't like looking at the 'other' side of the show business too often, and even with her regular view, Vera had never come across any troll. After all, Idols and public influencers are known to farm simps, unlike the nuclear powerhouse of gamer influencers that manufacturers troll explosives.

[Title Achieved: Eye of the Troll (Uncommon)

Requirement: To sneak past one of the many gags left behind the gods and demons to leave their inheritor in awe and disbelief.

Specialty: Low chances of identifying trolls and similar traps.]

[Uncommon title received.

Gained 10 Development Points.]

[Equip the title?

Unequipped space: 1]

'Equip,' Bhram smiled happily.

He was still in the learning phase of the legacy. Vera had already described this Legacy to have quite a number of branches and to unlock all of them, or most of them, he would need to perform many actions. For instance, the affection meter unlocked after his interaction with Vera. The requirement was quite low but it still showed that Bhram was needed to be more active.

By now, the surroundings felt a little dim. Noticing the change, Bhram looked around in wonder, and instead of asking Vera about this, he tried to pull answers from the System. After all, he was the owner of... heaven. much to his dismay, the answers stated that he needed to unlock a specific function for the ability to identify the status of heaven.

"Vera, um... are we supposed to stay here the entire time?"

Despite what others may believe, ogling Vera, imagining her naked, and having his vessel popped still wasn't enough for Bhram to feel comfortable around her.

Roused by his inquiry, Vera's eyes twinkled and she grinned.

"No, we can leave this place and you can take out the tissue from your nostrils. You look a little silly."

Slowly touching the edges of the tissue to prod the situation of his nostrils, Bhram was surprised that he wasn't hurting any longer and it didn't even feel any different while he was supposedly healing.

Crumbling the bloodied tissues in his balled fist, Bhram inhaled from his nose and felt a little better.

"But sir... where am I going to stay?" Vera inquired with a coy tone once again. A tone Bhram was familiar by now.

"Ehm... with me..." Bhram looked away as Vera smiled.

"Then when you leave, please hold my arm so that I can exit alongside."

"Oh... okay," Bhram nodded, his glimmering, slightly greedy eyes betraying his stoic expression as the contrast made Vera giggle.

Smoothly stretching her left hand towards Bhram, she waited for Bhram to grasp her palm while she gazed at him with focus.

***

Vera Gold