It was a sunny day as the bright sun slowly made its way into the sky.
A salesman was on his way to work, with a mission in mind.
"To get more with less!" He said into an empty spaces, an attempt to raise up his spirit.
And confidence.
Out he went as he ventured out into the morning market in Orario.
As he was on his way, he noticed that there was a commotion at the morning market.
Curious, he tried to move closer and closer as the crowd started to get more and more crowded.
And there he saw it, a pitiful figure being tied with a rope, while the surrounding people were in a heated discussion.
"Well, did he commit a crime or something?"
"Nah... just sleeping in the open. It's just that... It's a first for me to see someone sleeping here, so we just took some precaution."
In the meantime, the boy was in a sitting position, his face was pale as he didn't seem to eat anything for the past few hours.
"So, what are you doing sleeping here?" A guy asked the boy.
Slowly, the boy told them how he needed to find a familia to go to the Dungeon.
A looks of understanding were shared by the crowds.
With that, the boy was release from his binding.
It was a given as the crowd had already seen many people struggling to get into a familia, unless they had some kind of an attraction that might gained the interest of the gods.
Such was the competition in Orario.
Quality was the main attraction.
--New Scene--
The boy was sitting with a couple of people that were trying to help him.
They looked like civilians that were having a nice chat while talking about their daily life.
"Well, you can go and become a merchant, a chef, a blacksmith and other profession other than adventurer but... not in this city. The competition are very fierce here. If you have the god's blessing, you might make a living here depending on your skill but, if you don't have any blessing, it's hard for me to say." A merchant said to the boy.
Then someone spoke out, "Well, you can be a chef if you have good cooking skills, just like me, or you can be a merchant, travelling around the world. There are many jobs that you can pick."
The boy was thinking about the course of action that he wanted to take as he needed to get some kind of ways to live in this fantasy world.
To have a clear direction was a must.
Suddenly, he was curious about something.
"I want to ask... the outside of this city... are they any monster, like in the dungeon?" He looked at the surrounding people.
"Well, there are only wolves and other wild animals outside the city. And a few monsters, but they are scarce. Hm, you know? You seem to be new here. Where did you come from?" A male adventurer asked the boy.
"I-I don't know... It's just like that I was already here to begin with, but I remember my name."
"(Although I remember that I'm not from this world... I guess I should keep it a secret until I found someone that I could trust.)" The boy thought in his mind.
"Amnesia huh... guess something might had happened to you when you were travelling here. Beside, I've never seen that kind of clothing before. Hey, here! I will give you this knife." A fifteen celch knife with a sharp edge was given to the boy.
"Oh... thank you very much!" Bowing his head as to show his appreciation to the adventurer.
"It's not a big deal, I was just thinking of replacing this knife. Think of it as a give from me, ok?" The adventurer smiled at him.
Then, as if he thought of something, the boy asked the people around him, hoping that it wouldn't be a burden to them, since they were nice.
"Can I request something?" The boy asked, garnering the others attention.
"What is it?" One of them replied.
"Can someone give me an axe. The one that's for cutting wood." He displayed an imitation of cutting wood, trying to convey the axe that he hoped to get.
The boy saw one of the people rummaging through his things, and slowly, an axe was shown.
"Well, here. It's an old axe of mine but it can still cut wood, but could I ask you? For what use is the axe?"
Someone joined in, "Yeah, why the axe? If you want some valis, we could spare some? Or maybe a sword for your travel."
"Na... I'm staying." The boy answered.
"Then, goodluck finding a familia." An adventurer said to him.
"Ok... and thanks for the food!" Said the boy.
He stood up as he thanked the nice group of people that were willing to help him out.
"Well then... I guess I'll be going. Thanks everyone." The boy said.
"Don't worry kid. We're glad to help you out."
A few nodded their heads as they looked at the boy.
"By the way. What's your name?" A male adventurer inquired.
"Shouji. Shouji Tatsuya."
--New Scene--
"(Well, to start with, I guess I should go out of the city.)"
He had already heard that the monsters were scarce outside the city of Orario, so it should be fine for him to make his base outside.
Walking on the paved road, the crowd of people were getting thinner and thinner as he walked further and further, away from the centre of the city.
It was natural as the main attraction of the city was the Dungeon, which was situated in the centre of Orario.
Many adventurers tried to dive in the Dungeon so people would definitely set up their business close to the Dungeon, where the flow of people were never ending.
With that said, he could see the wall that marked the end of the city of Orario.
"There's not a single guard here..."
Shouji was looking at the tall wall without any presence of people on top of the wall.
From left to right, the only thing that he could see was the flag of the Guild flowing with the wind.
"(Of course there is no guard! Because they are adventurers! If I recall, the anime didn't show any guards. In fact, mostly all of them are adventurers. I guess... or did they have guards?)"
Step by step, he was leaving the city of Orario and what greeted him was a landscape filled with greens, trees were abundant as some animals could be seen in their own herds.
He could feel the freshness of the air as he inhaled the oxygen from nature.
He felt the scenes were quite similar to how his previous world looked like.
He took the liberty to indulge in his nostalgia for a few minutes.
"(Time to get to work!)"
--New Scene--
Meanwhile, on top of one of Orario's wall...
"Hooo..."
"What is it Hermes." The female asked.
She looked at the direction Hermes was looking at.
Currently, they were on top of the wall, walking by.
In the distance, she could see a figure approaching a nearby bushes.
She was thinking that it was pretty rare to see people outside of the city, except for the merchants.
Even outsiders would go directly into the city to become adventurers.
With that said, it was a pretty rare sight indeed, but she still could not think about anything that was gaining Hermes's attention.
With her eyesight, Asfi could see that something was plastered on the boy's face, which seems to be a camouflage.
"(What is he doing?)"
She was wondering what the boy was doing when he immediately charged into the bush.
Suddenly, he came out from the otherside of the bush with a dead rabbit at the end of a wooden weapon.
She understood that the boy was hunting.
But she was confused why Hermes was showing interest at the boy.
Unless, he saw something she did not.
She gave an inquiring gaze upon Hermes, as she herself couldn't see the boy's potential, or anything unusual about the boy.
And this had made her all the more curious.
But, Hermes averted her by walking passed her, leaving her in the dark.
Back to Shouji...
"One rabbit, one boar and two birds... I guess I can call it a good hunt? I should be thankful being brought up in a village." He said to himself.
Shouji hauled the dead rabbit and proceeded to go back to his camp.
He guessed he had made the right choice as he didn't meet any monsters in the area, only mother nature at its purest.
Soon, he saw his base.
A triangular hut could be seen, its roof were made up of many large leaves, one meder long and twenty celch wide.
Three wooden sticks were position in a way that it looked like a triangular pyramid.
The top part of the hut was tied up together, with a small hole that allowed smokes to pass through.
Connected to the hole, a tilted square design made of leaves prevented rain from entering the hole while allowing the smoke to come out.
In front of the hut, a cooking pot could be seen, surrounded by many firewoods in the centre and stones arranged in a circular formation.
The cooking pot was from a trade that he had made with a travelling merchant on the road, while the woods were obtained from cutting the trees in the area.
Although the hut was not that sturdy, but it played its function as a safe haven from the rain and wind.
With that said, Shouji proceeded to drain the rabbit and boar's blood out at a distance away from his camp.
Doing this will remove the dangers of wild animals coming close towards his hut since wild animals have a keen sense of smell.
He looked from the distance, at the fire that was close to his camp.
"Guess this world is almost the same as my world, except for the gods and monsters in physical form... " Shouji muttered.
He looked at the hanging boar and rabbit, "Guess what I learned with grandpa helps me out... always trying to hunt boars with the dogs and with dad..."
A scene flashed in his mind of someone tall holding a spear in one hand, others went to surround the boar, dogs were barking.
But, all the people around him didn't have any faces.
He tried focussing onto his memories, but to no avail.
The dark patched would always be covering the faces of the people in his memories.
"Eh... I can't remember their faces... and what is my grandfather's name?... and father and... what's going on?"
Confusion sets in as Shouji tried to recalled his past memories.
He could remember his past memories but the fine details such as their faces, names, places were all blank.
"What is this?..."
It felt like it was there, but he couldn't access it.
"Did something lock my memories?..." He concluded.
He took several minutes to calm himself and decided he should cast aside his worries, and focus more on his well being in this world.
With the rabbid and boar drained, he proceeded to skin the animals.
Slowly, the dead animals became a piece of meat as he cut the meat into small pieces.
Putting all the meat on a large leaf, he proceeded to make a fire for cooking.
With a dry shrubs and twigs, a flint and a knife, he managed to make a fire.
The heat from the fire could be felt as he was happy that tonight he will be kept warm.
With all the seasonings that he got from the wild and from trades, he decided that he should make a simple soup vegetables with meat.
Easy to digest and enticing to eat.
While waiting for the soup to be finished, he plucked out all the feathers of the dead birds and proceeded to roast them directly on the fire.
Then, the roasted birds were mixed with salt and were wrapped with many large leaves to serve as backup food.
While eating, he thought about what should he do now as he knew that he could survive out here.
With all the animals around the area, food will not be a problem.
There was also a nearby lake which was a good place to obtain water and fish.
He could also took a shower there without getting worried of people passing by because from the way he saw it, the people of this world were focusing on becoming adventurers.
It was at that time, he spotted an old man walking around a forest, with a backpack and a bow, Shouji knew that he was a hunter.
He thought that he should learn a couple of tricks from the old man as he could maybe improve his hunting skills and also learned about this world.
Finishing his lunch, he proceeded to go towards the old man, with knife ready at his side.
It was just for safety measure.
Old, woman, animals... 'always be ready for anything unexpected.'
Just like what his grandfather always told him.
Arriving at the old man, Shouji spoke with a polite tone.
"Good afternoon sir. What are you doing here?"
The old man looked at Shouji and smiled at him.
His eyes were evaluating him as it moves from top to bottom, and it made Shouji nervous.
"I guess there are still young ones who still hold on to their root." The old man said with an excited voice, which eased the tension Shouji was having.
"Root? May I know what you're talking about sir?" Shouji inquired, already lowering his guard.
"Call me old man Suez."
Shouji and the old man proceeded to find a dead fallen tree as a chair for them to sit.
"Ok old man Suez... so-"
"Do you know how was the old days when the gods didn't descend down to the mortal realm?"
The question was quite a random one, and one that shouji was definitely had no knowledge about.
Shouji shook his head.
"Well, it was a very harsh environment indeed, with the monsters pouring non stop out of the Dungeon. Humanity did their best to contain the monsters from roaming into the surface... Even with all the efforts, humanity was in a stalemate. For every monster that they killed, two will take its place. With the constant war between 'monsters' and 'humans', people began to evolve to be more versatile in their skills."
"With the perilous situation, an opportunity were given to the humans. Chefs were abundant to provide foods for the army, fisherman and hunters seek for animals to provide materials for cooking and many other jobs... people of the old days were quite versatile and knowledgable in this... but then... the descend of the gods changed everything... the monster were pushed back into the Dungeon with the help of the god's blessing to the mortals."
Shouji thought of the words that Suez had spoken, "But... isn't it an opportunity for you as a hunter? I mean there would be less rival for you and the demand for it is high. I guess you would make a decent income right?"
"Indeed I have... but... don't you feel it's a pity? People this day are acting arrogant with their power."
Shouji nodded his head, "I guess there's some truth in that... but not all adventurers are like that right?" He looked at the old man.
Then, something caught his attention as he looked at the old man intently.
If he wasn't sitting close to the old man, he wouldn't have notice it.
"(This old man... he seems to resemble someone... someone... wait... if I look closely, doesn't his eyes seem similar to Bell! Don't tell me!)"
Although he shouldn't judge a book by its cover, he was sure that red pupils were a dead giveaway of who he was.
"Hm? What is it?" Suez asked, feeling the unnatural gaze from Shouji.
"Umm... are you perhaps... Zeus?"
There... he had said it, but he didn't expect what would happen next.
The atmosphere became somewhat heavy as an awkward silence filled the air.
The gentle looking old man had a serious expression on his face, and Shouji knew that he had messed up.
Pretty bad...
"You... Who are you..." The old man's voice went low.
Immediately, Shouji was unable to move his body as he felt the atmosphere seems to be pressing him.
He didn't know what was happening to him.
Soon, his body fell down to the ground as he was in a kneeling position.
He tried to get up but he couldn't.
He tried to move his head to look at the old man.
His curiosity led him here, to this mess.
He could see that their surrounding was covered with thick fog as the old man had released his divine power, which was evident from how his figure was glowing.
"Who are you..."
As if he was a puppet, his mouth moved on its own, "My name is Shouji Tatsuya, 18 years old..."
Zeus waited for him to say more but the boy didn't continue his words.
He felt it was really weird since the person in front of him was giving so little information.
Too little for his own comfort.
Not only he knew, but the boy had decided to approach him.
"(I guess I should just look into his memories...)" Zeus decided.
He moved closer to Shouji and moved his hand towards his head.
He tried to use his power and looked into his memories.
As he was looking into his memories, he was shocked to find out that the boy was actually not from this world.
In fact, he was surprised that there was another world other than this.
There was also a type of a box that monitored his grandson and the people around him.
He was startled that the box seems to be looking into the future.
He spent a couple of minutes looking into the boy's memories.
Feeling curious, he tried to look in a little bit deeper but unknowingly, there seemed to be a complex lock that was halting him from looking further into the boy's memories.
He exerted his power to break the complex lock when suddenly, the complex lock forced him out of the boy's mind.
Zeus was flung ten meders away from the boy, his divine power disappeared.
Feeling that the pressure had turned back to normal, Shouji tried to stand up to see that Zeus was far away from him, lying on the ground.
He was having a complicated feeling as Zeus was being hostile with him just before so he stood there, not moving an inch of his body.
"(Run away? Too risky.)" Shouji decided.
Zeus stood up and removed the dirt from his clothes, "(Now that is a first... being fling away like that. This is intriguing... if only we are in heaven, I would definitely be able to open the lock.)"
Zeus looked at the boy, "(I guess he is just as clueless as I am, seeing that his first memories here so little.)"
"I'm sorry for being hostile to you." Zeus said to him.
Shouji was still wary of him since he was literally pushed down on the ground.
Who doesn't anyway?
"Guess you don't know why you are here right?" Zeus asked.
Shouji nodded his head.
"Like what you were saying, I am Zeus, Bell's grandfather, although not related by blood."
Shouji kept that in mind... if he remembered.
Then Zeus told Shouji about the lock in his memories, which he already guessed.
"I had my suspicion..." Shouji answered.
Then, Shouji could see Zeus standing there thinking about something.
"I wanted to ask you, boy... how did you know I am Zeus. The future box didn't seem to tell you about me?"
"(The future box?... Ah! He must meant the laptop I guess... I mean I was watching Danmachi's twelve episode in one day. Future heh... from the looks of it, referencing this world to the anime will only help me a little. I mean, with my presence here, I might disrupt the natural course of how Danmachi suppose to be. I guess they called it the butterfly effect? Hmm...)"
"Well, your eyes were the same, and in fact, Suez? Isn't that just spelling your name backwards?"
"Hahaha I guess so." Said Zeus.
Zeus approached Shouji and bow down to seek his forgiveness which Shouji had accepted.
"Well, I guess something big is going to happen." Said Zeus suddenly.
Shouji had a confused expression on his face as he looked at Zeus.
"I mean, there must be a reason that you were in this world. There is no such thing as something happening without a reason."
Shouji felt that what Zeus said had some truth in it and nodded.
Zeus approached him and put his hand on his head.
He felt his head getting hotter as divine power converged on Zeus's hand.
Shouji asked, "Umm what are you doing?" Still wary of what had just happened.
"I'm just taking some preventive measure. It will be brief. There, done." He moved his hand away.
"How about you join my grandson. Maybe the Dungeon had the answer to your locked memories. Even we, the Gods still don't know how it function. Well, that is my suggestion, you can ignore it." Said Zeus as he turned his back at him.
Shouji felt that it might be a good idea to join with Bell as he knew how Bell's personality was.
In fact, it was a great idea that he had avoided in the first place as he thought that he might disturbed how 'Danmachi' was suppose to be happening, but right now, with his sudden encounter with Zeus and received indirect hostility, who knows when he might died.
As Zeus was walking away, Shouji looked at his back that slowly moved into the fog and disappeared.
Then, the thick fog slowly dissipated into nothingness and the forest had returned into his sight.
"(Well, I guess I should go back. I got to cook some food... hopefully this teach me not to blabber anymore...)"
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