Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? V

Episode 5

Freya's tried playing nice. It didn't work. Now, she's determined to play foul, which will have some major repercussions for Orario as a whole. While we don't know exactly what she did towards the end of this episode – one of her children remarks that she didn't use divine power, although that seems highly unlikely – we do see the results: everyone, apart from Bell and Hestia, now firmly believes that when Bell first came to the city, he joined Freya Familia.

In some sense, this could be not just Freya making a dirty play for the boy she's fallen in love with, but also her trying to right a wrong she feels she committed. Had her familia initially accepted Bell when he arrived in Orario, things would have played out very differently. Whether or not she's aware that his growth is largely due to his relationships with Hestia and Ais is up for debate; what she now finds so appealing about him may not have surfaced had he initially joined her group. But at this point, Freya simply may not care. She's been pushed to the point of no return, arguably because of her inability to accept that she can't have who she wants. And when we're in that state, making good decisions isn't something that often follows.

All of this makes Freya look very bad, and that may not be an entirely fair view. Reading Familia Chronicle: Episode Freya provides perspective, because she's been searching for her oðr for a long time with increasing desperation. Are her actions this week selfish? Yes, absolutely – she's like a child on the playground who shoves another kid off the swing she wants without thinking or caring about the consequences. As long as she gets that swing, she's satisfied. Even though Bell didn't fall for her Syr persona, she's sure that if everyone believes him to be her child and lover, he'll follow suit. It may not even occur to her that he'll be hurt and confused long before that ever happens and that those feelings, as well as his emotions about Hestia, Ais, Ryu, and the others, may keep his heart from ever belonging to Freya. Her actions may be wrong, but they're also immature, which may be the more salient point.

The fact that Hermes knows that Hestia will be spared Freya's brainwashing if she boosts her divinity and that he sends Asfi and Ryu out of the city means that the trickster god is fully aware of what Freya is about to do. That raises some interesting possibilities, especially since Hermes knows he will be affected just like everyone else. First, it says that Freya's spell or influence has a limited range, meaning those outside the city won't be affected. Second, Hestia's domain in the Heavens makes her immune to Freya's spellwork in a way other gods are not. This opens a couple of possibilities. One is, of course, that Hestia is a virgin goddess, while Freya is a goddess of love, including its sexual aspects. It's unlikely that simply not having been sexually active is enough to offset Freya's influence (although in a different story, I'd wonder about asexual and aromantic people being immune), so it must be because Hestia is a goddess, specifically. While we don't know if other virgin goddesses are present in Orario, it may also be important that Hestia is the goddess of the hearth. Hearths are often framed as the center of the home, making it significant that adventurers cannot officially convert to a different familia until a year has passed – and a familia is a home. Freya's theft of Bell is illegal in a few ways, but Hestia's dominion over the hearth may help to give her more protection against a spell that forcibly attempts to tamper in that realm.

As for why Bell is immune, it could be as simple as him being unconscious at the time of Freya's spellcasting. But I think it may have more to do with Freya's will. She wants Bell, yes, but she also wants him to choose her. That's why she played the whole Syr game in the first place – she didn't want to force him to love her; she just wanted him to love her all on his own. Making him falsely believe that he was always a part of her familia would defeat that purpose; if she can show him a life with her that will make him want to be a part of it, she will have won his heart. She may be playing foul, but a piece of her is Syr, a girl who wants the boy she likes to like her back.

Syr never existed and has always existed. She and Freya are one and the same, and it is that fact that will either help to set everyone free or doom them all to life inside Freya's bubble.

Rating:

Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? V is currently streaming on HIDIVE.