Pania said seriously,
"Didn't you think that Joanna was strange? Then go and find out about the god who cursed her whole family. If there's a problem, kill him. Then the whole world will know that you're on the same level as the god."
"Changing yourself is harder than changing the world. If you really want to gain confidence, hey, how can you not step on the heads of the strong?"
This girl might actually be the craziest one among everyone present.
But Hayden stroked his chin and realized that there was a grain of truth in Pania’s crazy talk (of course, it was definitely not a good idea).
250: The Wizard's Confidence
Pania's idea, though crazy and definitely not a good one, does have some merit.
Hayden, by intuition, always felt that Joanna was someone who was not quite right. After all, he was a gifted prophet, and even if he was fooled intellectually and by the evidence, his intuition still told him that Joanna was suspicious.
Interestingly, Pania actually had a similar view: "This Joanna, I don't know what she's thinking, but she's definitely acting."
Alastor became curious upon hearing her words: "What makes you say that?"
"Because I'm a god who started as a virtual idol, after all!" Pania said matter-of-factly. "That green tea smell she carries is like a gust of wind that can travel ten miles to me!"
These words left the two men present looking at each other blankly, clearly indicating that they didn't quite understand what this meant.
Abigail, standing to the side, nodded: "What the little girl said makes some sense. That woman is definitely faking it."
Only women can truly understand women. There's a certain charm that these two men beside her simply can't grasp.
"But then again, everyone's acting to some extent in this world. Her pretense doesn't necessarily mean she's up to something." The old witch said, then turned her gaze back to Hayden. "Ultimately, it depends on your judgment. Hayden, you silly boy, you're the core of our group. We all believe you're a prophet, so you should have some confidence in your judgment—otherwise, wouldn't we all be fools?"
Abigail's words, though seemingly joking, actually revealed her deep trust in Hayden. Hayden, of course, understood and felt somewhat ashamed. He pondered for a moment before finally making a decision: "I do think there's something wrong with Joanna, and it's necessary to investigate further. But this matter might involve another powerful figure, perhaps even a board member of Wotan Mystic Technology. If I were to waste everyone's resources and efforts to challenge a board member of a giant corporation simply out of jealousy, wouldn't that be inappropriate?"
Hearing this, the Demon Goddess finally sneered: "Who doesn't live for selfish reasons?"
This was, of course, somewhat extreme. However, the other two gods didn't intend to argue with her—Abigail had always been stubborn, after all. Alastor, on the contrary, chimed in: "In any case, any god who curses the innocent should be punished. There's no question of personal bias. As for the fact that the other party is a powerful god, that's a minor issue..."
He shrugged, showing no fear whatsoever: "When we were still mortals, we were mostly outlaws, daring to oppose the gods of capital. Now that we've become gods, if we're afraid to fight evil gods, wouldn't we be laughed at?"
Abigail added from the side, "A death curse that lasts for six generations of a family is something even a god would struggle with. If Joanna's story is true, it wouldn't be a mistake for you to investigate it thoroughly."
Abigail, as the second-generation Hecate, is now the authority on curses in Newbud City. However, even for her, casting a death curse on six generations is quite troublesome. Who would do such a thing without a reason? After careful consideration, everyone felt that even if Joanna wasn't behind it, there must be more to the story.
Thus, Hayden gained the full trust and support of his companions and hurriedly went to investigate.
Pania watched him leave from the tea room, and after a minute she spoke, "Witch, didn't we do something a little silly?"
Abigail took a sip of her coffee and raised an eyebrow: "What exactly are you trying to say?"
So Panya had to explain, "Uncle Hayden's current insecurity stems from Miss Karen's overwhelming strength and intimidating aura. We, on the other hand, aren't that strong or have that kind of domineering presence. In a real fight, we might not even be able to beat Hayden, so he doesn't feel inferior to us."
In terms of assets, energy, or even arena combat, Hayden certainly can't compare to a god. But in a real battle, Hayden could at least hold his own against Pania by using attribute-based strategies and trap formations. He also has a 30% chance of winning a one-on-one duel with Abigail.
Karen, however, was stronger than Hayden and had a higher level of combat skill; Hayden couldn't win against her even once in a hundred attempts. That's why he felt inferior in the face of Karen's domineering presence.
Both confidence and inferiority complex coexisted in Hayden, especially when facing different people.
"If I take the initiative and make a move on Hayden at this moment, and start with a 'Since you don't have the confidence of a man, let me give you confidence then?' and then push him down, I'll be Mrs. Hayden starting tomorrow, right?"
Pania spoke in a serious tone, leaving the other two gods speechless.
Actually, what she said wasn't entirely unreasonable. But Alastor quickly gave her a heads-up: "If you goddesses start fighting over who gets the man, our team is doomed."
"Of course I know! That's why I haven't made a fuss!" Pania said, hands on her hips, with righteous indignation. "But I'm already eighteen this year, and I have sexual needs too! But I don't like other people's penises, and the witch must be the same!"
Abigail never expected her to drag her into this, and quickly denied it, saying, "Nonsense, fallen angels don't have physical desires."
"You're talking nonsense! If fallen angels didn't have sexual needs, there wouldn't be Kallen! After being a young girl for over four hundred years, you've finally regained your adult body, how could you not be thirsty!"
Crazy girl Pania was perfectly justified.
In truth, Abigail was simply used to it. For over four hundred years, she hadn't had a sexually intimate partner because of Hecate's curse, which kept her body in a child's form most of the time, disguised by shapeshifting magic. If she slept with someone while in this transformed state and the curse was accidentally broken, her secret would be immediately exposed. Therefore, Abigail truly hadn't dared to have a partner for over four hundred years, not even a casual sex partner.
Now that her curse is lifted and her fallen angel body can freely change, it's certainly much more convenient. But having lived alone for four hundred years, Abigail hadn't considered such a thing. After all, if there was any man she might fancy... it seemed to be only their core member, the Hayden.
Guided by Pania's "crazy talk," Abigail thought and thought, and then she remembered the time she was at the bottom of the Dead Sea, and the things Hayden said when he saved her—suddenly, her face turned a little red.
"This is so stupid! I'm not playing along!"
She panicked! Abigail actually jumped up from beside the conference table and ran away!
Pania was extremely pleased with herself after winning again and again.
"So far, for the sake of greater interests and such, I've just been watching from the sidelines, not actually going to steal anything. But if Karen and Uncle Hayden really don't get along, I might as well become a NTR... wait, Karen isn't Hayden's girlfriend, she doesn't even have the NTR tag!"
She was spouting nonsense in the tea room as if she wanted things to get chaotic enough.
With the witch gone again, Alastor could only lament inwardly:
Comrade Hayden, can you please resolve this troublesome emotional entanglement quickly? If this continues, our internal affairs will descend into complete chaos first!
--------------------------------
Joanna probably never imagined that before she'd even done anything, the core coordination of the Flower Magic Company would be thrown into chaos tenfold. But that wasn't a major problem, because Hayden would be investigating her soon.
That being said, considering there might truly be a powerful being behind this, the truth about Joanna has most likely been concealed by that immense divine power. Others have investigated thoroughly but haven't found anything wrong with Joanna; what could Hayden possibly uncover with just his own two legs and two hands?
On the other hand, Hayden was never the type of person to conduct investigations in a step-by-step manner.
So he quickly returned to his magic workshop and immediately began to think of a way to cheat by drilling through copper.
When investigating something, the first thing that comes to mind is divination. Finding lost items and people is a spell that wizards and shamans have used since ancient times. However, the basic principles of these divinations are based on sympathetic magic; if there's divine power concealing information, they're completely useless. But Hayden is adept at finding creative ways to do things, and he immediately came up with an idea: Joanna claims that the god who cursed her family is a high-ranking executive at Wotan Mystic Technology Company, right?
How many directors does Wotan Mystery Technology Company actually have? Let me list them all!
Hayden had a sudden thought and retrieved the board of directors of Wotan Corporation:
First, there are the renowned chief gods Odin and Thor. They are the only two chief gods in the Wotan Corporation (equivalent to bodhisattvas in the Mithra Group), and they are also very close brothers. They certainly have the ability to set up such a cursed bomb, but it's unlikely they were the ones who did it. Because if it were truly a curse placed by chief gods, Kallen, who only recently ascended to the level of a great god, would probably have no way to lift it.
Then there's Baldr, the current CEO of Wotan Corporation. He's Odin's eldest son and the company's highest-ranking executive, naturally a god-like figure. However, he has an excellent reputation and doesn't seem like the type to do such shady things.
(Why didn't Odin become CEO himself? Actually, most of the main gods of giant corporations hold both the positions of chairman and CEO. Odin, however, didn't. It's said he spends most of his time buried in technological development known only to himself, working on secret projects known only to him. As a god of capital, daring to do this is quite a skill.)
In short, Hayden continued to flip through the remaining list of board leaders at Wotan Corporation: Heimdall, the head of security; Bragi, the head of marketing; Tyr, the head of human resources; Eden, the head of production; Njord, the head of finance; Frey, the head of sales; Freya, the head of technology... Although there were some other minor figures on the board, a quick glance revealed that there were indeed not many top-tier figures.
Wotan Mystic Technology Corporation is already the world's third-largest giant corporation. Even they only have eight Great Gods, two of whom are Chief Gods. This clearly demonstrates the immense prestige of being a Great God.
So, should we proceed by elimination one by one? That sounds a bit too silly.
So Hayden pondered for a moment and came up with another bad idea.
He first laid a white cloth on his workbench, then took out the twenty-four runestones he had carved himself, scattered them on the cloth, and mixed them clockwise like shuffling cards. After mixing them sufficiently, he stretched out his hands, drawing circles with his left hand and squares with his right, pointing at the runestones, and chanted:
"Almighty Odin, master of runes, / Beautiful Freya, goddess of magic,"
"Please guide my hand, / my thoughts,"
"Let me obtain the truth, / the true prophecy,"
It was an incredible sight, as Hayden was simultaneously drawing different symbols with both hands and chanting two spells with the same mouth, all mixed together in the same magic.
"I'm currently feeling lost,"
"I need help and knowledge."
"Please use your hands, the divine power to reveal the truth,"
"Guide me, tell me—who set that deadly trap for our employees! Give me the answer!"
As soon as he finished speaking, he felt his magic power begin to drain away, sensing an interactive energy acting between his hands and the runestone. It was a tingling, static-like sensation, yet also a continuous, cool breeze. These two energies clashed and resisted each other between the runestone, making it impossible to form a divination result; instead, the runestone shattered.
Because Hayden wasn't following the normal procedure when casting the spell. He was deliberately combining two different sources of divine energy into the same spell, creating a combination that not only annoyed the gods but also caused disharmony and conflict among the energies.
Why did he do that? Because he knew there were two factions within Wotan Corporation.
There are two gods in the Wotan Company who handle divination magic, and coincidentally, they each lead a different faction. The leader of the majority faction is, of course, the chief god Odin, while the head of the minority faction is the goddess Freya. Hayden is now deliberately using this conflicting divination spell to trace the source of the cursed bomb. Regardless of which faction's god the source belongs to, this divination spell will trigger an interesting divine reaction.
Incidentally, since Hayden is currently using copyrighted corporate magic, this reckless and opportunistic approach will cost him a lot in royalties. However, he's come to terms with it now—money? We're not really that short of money right now! Money is just a tool to achieve our goals!
And now he has succeeded.
An ordinary magician wouldn't be able to glean any conclusions from such a conflict, but Hayden was a prophet, and a wizard skilled at manipulating and utilizing the gods. He now had a way of seeing it: Odin's divine power was trying to reveal his objective, while Freya's divine power was hindering it. Although the divination spells exploded in the clash of divine power, even shattering Hayden's runestone, the origins of the opposing deity were also made equally clear.
“Okay, Freya’s faction, there are three great gods over there.”
Hayden rubbed his hands together, seemingly lost in thought.
"This really came without any effort. Indeed, everyone says Freya has some strange relationship with the dark elves (dwarves). Hey, this is interesting."
He could continue testing using the process of elimination, pondering these subtle divine reactions, to find out which great god truly was at the source—it would just cost more money and time anyway. But now, Hayden felt it was no longer necessary.
Hayden was a wizard, a man who used cunning and wisdom to manipulate the gods. His power was far inferior to that of the gods, but in terms of cunning and adaptability, no feudal or capitalist god could match a wizard. Having just won a point, his confidence was renewed, and now he devised another ingenious plan.
"Angela! We're getting ready to go out!"
So he shouted in the studio,
"We're heading to Wotan Mystery Technology Company now!"
Angela immediately peeked out from the studio doorway like a ghost: "Yes, Master. I'll get ready for you now. But what are you planning to do today?"
"We're going to their door to demand compensation."
Hayden said in a very serious tone,
"I'm demanding compensation! My fiancée was frightened by their director Freya's magic! I'm going to sue them for emotional distress!"
251: There's a pervert here!!
As is well known, Wotan Omnitechnology's core territory is located in central and northern Europe. There, they have long competed with Mars Industries for market share. In fact, giant corporations typically extend their influence and markets globally; they have companies and infrastructure all over the world, though their distribution varies depending on the region.
But since Hayden had already made up his mind to play the role of a wizard who manipulates the gods, he naturally had to play it spectacularly. So he took Angela and teleported directly to Europe, to the core city that Wotan Corporation had established and managed on Earth—the world capital of Germania.
The moment he landed, he went straight to Freya's most important company building on Earth. This unparalleled skyscraper was dominated by towering golden spires and gleaming silver. Before even entering the main entrance, Hayden saw several heroic warriors guarding the door. Their bodies were all forged from Asgardian alloy, shining brighter than steel under the sunlight. Seeing Hayden trying to enter without a word, they immediately extended their powered spears to block his way.
The so-called Heroic Spirits were all outstanding mortal employees who achieved remarkable results in various fields within the Wotan Corporation. Because of their achievements for the company, they were granted the right to have their consciousness uploaded and replaced with superior mechanical bodies, completely transforming themselves without retaining any flesh and blood.
Some might find this disgusting, but it's undeniable that they are incredibly powerful. Employees who were originally engaged in research can continue their studies after becoming Iron Spirits, and those skilled in combat naturally become even stronger warriors. Although their acquired mechanical modifications might prevent them from matching the fully specialized and innately modified combat gods, Iron Spirit warriors are still stronger than ordinary gods.
As for the cost... well, being a robot and serving the company like a slave forever, can that even be considered a cost in this day and age? On the bright side, at least the company didn't charge you a modification fee, right?
That's right, the [Hall of Heroes] transformation is free and not sold by Wotan Corporation. What Wotan Corporation trades for it is the loyalty of its outstanding employees. Once transformed into Heroic Spirits, these outstanding employees can never leave the company again. They will defend the company forever with their steely lives. They are indeed formidable corporate warriors.
However, Hayden swaggered over without showing the slightest fear of the heroic warriors and their powered spears.
One of the heroic warriors had no choice but to ask, "Sir, do you have an appointment?"
Unexpectedly, Hayden immediately glared back: "I am Hayden, the vice president of Flower Magic Company and the agent of Peacock King of the Mitra Group! Your company's director, Freya, has severely damaged our important personnel and production with her magic. I am here on their behalf! Take me to see your boss!"
The guardian spirits were stunned. Of course, they weren't stupid; in this age of advanced information, they immediately went online to verify Hayden's identity with their boss, Freya, and the other two companies. Karen and the Peacock King were equally bewildered upon receiving the news, wondering what Hayden was up to this time.
But the father and daughter were very cooperative, both immediately replying: "Yes, this person is indeed my agent."
After replying, the Peacock King, worried about his daughter's safety, called Karen: "You didn't actually go and fight Freya and get injured, and you didn't tell me, did you?"
“How could that be? He only exchanged blows with an unsigned cursed bomb. I don’t even know how Hayden tracked him down to Freya.” Karen paused, then changed her words, “I guess he just wants to use some excuse about emotional distress to take advantage of us. Freya has a lot of good stuff, so it wouldn’t be bad if he could get some benefits back.”
Despite Freya being a seasoned veteran, Karen completely trusted Hayden to swindle her out of anything. That was the extent of her trust.
A short while later, Freya also sent a message to the heroic warriors at the door, instructing them to let Hayden in and bring him upstairs to see her. Hayden was thus invited to the top floor of the building and swaggered into Freya's palace with almost no effort than eating.
Freya's palace is a golden palace. While it might sound tacky, she truly has golden floors, and most things around it are a romantic golden hue. It might seem ostentatious at first glance, but on the other hand, the palace is filled with lush flowers and plants, exuding a vibrant sense of life. And there are many cats here. These soft, fluffy little animals roam freely throughout Freya's golden palace, for they are Freya's beloved servants.
Hayden and Angela traversed the Golden Path and entered Freya's reception room. She was already there awaiting Hayden, this uninvited and troublesome guest. Despite his unexpected arrival, Freya was dressed formally. She wore a golden robe and a ruby necklace, the Brishigaman. This legendary artifact, crafted for Freya by the dark elves, was blood-red and shimmered like the aurora borealis, contrasting sharply with her flawless white skin. Her golden, curly hair cascaded over her shoulders, shimmering in the light, and was secured with golden rings, the gold as dazzling as her own. Her appearance and regal figure were like those of a beautiful doll crafted from the world's most precious materials, possessing a mesmerizing beauty.
Not only that, but she herself is like the most beautiful doll, and she is also accompanied by two ultra-high-end wind-up dolls. These bodies, designed with the golden ratio in mind, are accompanied by superhuman beauty. This is because these two dolls are Valkyries, whose cost is much higher than Angela's, and they are also Freya's handmaids.
Freya is the most beautiful goddess in the Wotan Company, and also the goddess of love. But she is never the weak and powerless kind of goddess of beauty. In fact, besides Odin, Freya is probably the most skilled in magical mysteries in the Wotan Company. That's why she is the leader of the second faction of the Wotan Company, and that's why she commands her own legion of Heroic Spirits and Valkyrie troops, and is known as the "Queen of the Valkyries."
Therefore, Freya is also the goddess of gold. The reason she displays so much gold is not because she is a nouveau riche trying to show off, but because the countless gold pieces represent her achievements in the field of alchemy and magic, and are one of the symbols of her divine authority, symbolizing why she was able to become the technical director of Wotan Mystic Technology Company.
Because she possesses magical power that is no less than Odin's.
Hayden, a mere wizard, now had to use his wits to deceive and manipulate a powerful female sorceress. He was certainly overconfident in this situation.
"I've been waiting for so long, Goddess Freya!"
He certainly didn't miss the opportunity to strike first, and immediately launched an aggressive attack.
"It's your business if you want to use magic on dark elves, but because of your magic, my important fiancée, the CEO of our Flower Magic Company, and the daughter of the Peacock King, has been hurt! Hey, how exactly do you plan to take responsibility for this?!"
Hayden's aggressive, even arrogant, attitude annoyed even the two Valkyrie handmaids who served Freya.
Freya, on the other hand, simply responded with a radiant smile: "Mr. Hayden, I welcome you to visit my company, but you need evidence to back up your claims."
Wow, evidence! Does Hayden have any evidence? Of course not. He was just guessing half by intuition and half by magic. Despite this, Hayden wasn't swayed in the slightest by his claim of having "no evidence." Instead, he sneered and said in an even more arrogant tone, "Still trying to deny it now? You and I know the situation. Who really needs evidence? If you don't give me an explanation, I'll expose everything I've found out!"