"Twenty thousand?! For this ratty old bag?! A scam! Robbery! What kind of idiot do you think Lili is to buy something this outrageous?!"
"And twelve grand for a whetstone? This isn't even good quality!" Welf added.
The shopkeep snorted. "If you don't want to buy it, shop somewhere else," he answered smuggly.
And wasn't that the problem. There was nowhere else. They were eighteen floors below the surface with no supplies, and no other options. Parting with so many Valis for such poor equipment was painful, but ultimately necessary.
"Ouch. Glad I've nothing to buy; I don't think I can even afford to browse." Zagreus' comment earnt a snort of amusement from Tiona.
"When the only alternative is going back into the dungeon to face death, most adventurers will cave," Tione explained.
He hummed in understanding. It was a rather predatory practice, but he supposed it made sense. After all, the adventurers who called Rivira their home had to be strong enough to cart their wares all the way down here.
"You got a problem?!"
A shout caught his attention. He turned to the noise, and found Bell in a face off with three larger men. Bell looked apologetic, but not quite frightened. There was a glint of steel in his gaze as the men glared at him.
"It's that brat from the bar, Mord!" the one on the left shouted.
The scarred one in front, Mord, snarled down at Bell. "The hell are you doin' here?" The man reached down to grasp the front of Bell's shirt.
Or he would have, had Zagreus not wedged himself between them.
"Problem?" he asked, glaring at them down his nose.
Now, these men were tall. Up in Orario, they'd easily be able to see over the heads of the majority of the citizens that crowded the city. However, they were only tall by Orario's standards, meanwhile, they just barely came up to his nose.
At very nearly two meders tall, he towered over them.
Mord suppressed a flinch at the heterochromatic eyed glare. The slight tilt of Zagreus' head casting shadow over his black and red eye that almost seemed to glow; an ominous crimson suspended in an inky black void.
The scarred man clicked his tongue in annoyance, but backed off, sending a parting glare at Bell as he and his followers departed.
Zagreus watched them go as Bell huffed a breath of relief.
"You alright, mate?"
"Y-yes Mister Zagreus! Th-thanks to you!"
Zagreus rolled his eyes. "None of that 'mister' stuff, mate. We're Familia now, remember? Besides," he gave the boy a smirk, "I think you could take 'em. All bark and no bite, those lot were."
"Bell!" Hestia called, cutting off his spluttering denials. "You're not picking fights with adventurers, are you?"
"N-no Goddess! U-um, how do I explain?"
Zagreus watched on in amusement as the white haired boy attempted to explain the situation to their goddess, arms folded. He felt a nudge against his side, and turned to find Tiona grinning up at him.
"That was pretty cool, you know?" Her grin shifted into a pout, and she huffed in mock irritation. "I wish I had a cute junior to look after like the Little Argonaut. All our juniors are bo-oring," she finished in a sing-song tone.
He snorted. "Why is it that you're so smitten by a random Level 2 anyway?"
She scoffed. "Smitten? No, I'm interested."
"And what's got you interested, then?"
Tiona smiled whimsically. "When you get to my Level, things kinda become stale. The Lower Floors are a death sentence solo, no matter how strong you are, and our gods' have put so much of an investment in us, that even losing one person is a huge deal. Sooo, to make sure we all come back, we have to be really cautious, and well, when we came across Bell, he was fighting a minotaur, and it was a fight for his life."
Zagreus raised an eyebrow. "A minotaur? As a Level 1?"
"Mhm. And this wasn't any minotaur either. It was an Irregular. It'd found some dead adventurer's battle axe, and it'd learnt how to use it."
Memories of Asterius bubbled to the surface, and he grimaced.
She eyed him suspiciously. "Hmm, you've fought something like that, haven't you? Those eyes say you remember it."
"You're perceptive, that's for certain," he conceded, and the girl grinned. "So is that why? You don't really experience life or death scenarios, so you felt some of the thrill that comes with it?"
She huffed. "You make me sound like a weirdo. Kinda, yeah. But that's only part of the reason. After he defeated it, I got to see some of his Status, and all of his basic abilities were S. That just doesn't happen, especially not as the new Record Holder! I don't know what the numbers were exactly, your goddess must have encrypted it somehow. Oh! You should really get her to hide it, you know? It's dangerous to let others see your Status."
He suppressed a surprised laugh. The Status' weren't encrypted, nor anything as clever. The reality was that Lady Hestia just had terrible handwriting. "I'll keep that in mind. And I don't think you're weird. I think I get it."
As a god, he couldn't truly have everything on the line, not when he'd always eventually regenerate, but he did understand the feeling. The rush of combat, of triumphing over impossible odds and finally earning your reward. It was a powerful feeling, of blood pumping, heavy breathing, almost tangible sensation of success. It was something you could get hooked on.
"You really spent so much money on perfume?!" a voice cut in.
"Of course! A girl has needs! I'm sure Bell would prefer if I wasn't all stinky!"
Hestia and Lili, the arguing pair, turned to the boy in question, awaiting his opinion.
"Huh? O-oh, um, it hadn't really crossed my mind."
"Lady Hestia," Tione called from beside Ais, "we'll be heading out to bathe soon, if you'd like to join us?"
Zagreus hummed in thought, glancing down at his arm. The blood had dried, covering a large part of his arm. And plus, the fight against the Goliath had him build up a sweat. It would be worthwhile to clean himself.
"I should bathe as well," he murmured.
"Ohoh?" Tiona grinned at him mischievously. "Trying to catch a look-see are you?"
He looked the scantily clad amazonia up and down, then rolled his eyes. "Quite," he answered, voice thick with droll sarcasm.
She snickered. "C'mon, I'll show you to one of the good spots so you can have a bit of privacy."
"Oh? I figured you'd want me as exposed as possible so you can 'catch a look-see'."
"Quite." She threw his words back at him with a smug smirk firmly in place.
He couldn't help but laugh.
The blood came away from his skin slowly as he rubbed it with the cool water of the river.
His bathing passed without incident, excluding when he heard a loud splash, startled shouts, followed shortly by an astonishingly red-faced Bell dashing through the forest.
After redressing, he made his way to where the women had been bathing, careful to keep his distance so as to not invade their privacy.
It was then that he found an irate Asfi standing beside an very thoroughly tied Hermes, suspended upside-down from a tree.
He raised an eyebrow at the sight.
"Asfi. Lord Hermes."
"Zagreus." Asfi returned the greeting. "How was your bath?"
"Fine thank you. I'm going to assume that yours had some complications?"
Hermes chuckled, but quickly shut up as Asfi thwacked him in the chest with the back of her fist. "You could say that. He dragged poor Bell along without saying anything and tried to peep, then pushed him into the water."
"I didn't push him! He slipped!"
Asfi rolled her eyes. "Of course. The Agility-Primary Level 2 slipped."
Hermes let out a low whine. "It's true though!"
"Anyway, the other women are done and we were planning to go back to town."
"Hmm, I think I'll go after Bell, then I'll take him back to town with me. I saw which way he ran off."
Asfi nodded. "I wish you luck then. Come, Pervert God, let's go."
"Um? I'm still tied up?" Asfi gave the god a raised eyebrow, and nothing more.
Hermes sighed dramatically, before the ropes spontaneously loosened, and in a surprising display of dexterity, Hermes flipped over and landed on his feet. "Fine, fine. I'm coming."
Zagreus watched them collect the rope and walk away, bewildered, before ultimately deciding that it wasn't worth questioning.
He returned to where he'd seen Bell dash past and began to track his path.
Or, well, try to track him. Achilles had taught him many things, but tracking wasn't one of them. Fortunately, he'd picked up a little from accepting so many Boons from Lady Artemis. While he no longer had any Boons, the Goddess of the Hunt had imparted a little wisdom in him.
It also helped that Bell wasn't trying to be subtle. Scuffs in the dirt, broken branches, disturbed bushes; they all made it rather easy to follow the boy's path.
His journey took him to a secluded pool with a small waterfall, through the forest, and eventually to a mound of sand, embedded with rusted and broken weapons, and at the top, a ripped white flag. Scattered across the sand were a number of white flowers.
A grave.
The Shades had passed on long ago, but the lingering echoes of pain and despair still remained. Whoever still remained mourned them deeply, even after the years it must have been. He prayed that those buried had good fortune in whatever afterlife existed now.
After a moment to pay his respects, he resumed his tracking, and eventually determined Bell's destination.
The town.
Zagreus groaned. It'd essentially been a waste of time. No matter, he at least knew the boy was fine.
Hestia was putting a lot on the line to have him in her Familia. He was, after all, a god. Neither of them knew how other gods would react if they knew of his divinity, especially when working as an Adventurer. The least he could do was look after her other Familia member.
By the time Zagreus made it back to town, Loki Familia had already left. He asked Lili if she'd seen Bell, and she pointed him towards Hestia's tent.
What he found when he stepped inside was neither Bell, nor Hestia, but instead a discarded note.
Zagreus bent down to take hold of the parchment, and brought it up to his eyes. He scanned through the document, and then, he ran.
The note fluttered to the floor, forgotten, now face up and displaying the message written upon it.
We have taken your goddess.
If you ever want to see her again, come to the large crystal to the east of town.
Come alone, or else.
Bell was knocked to the floor as an invisible fist connected with his cheek once again.
He gasped, battling against pain and exhaustion as he pushed himself to his feet.
The crowd jeered at him, making it almost impossible to listen out for the scuff of his enemy's shoes that would give his position away.
There!
A slight shift in the air, the brushing of boots on dirt, and that niggling feeling of eyes on his back. He dodged to the side, and wind brushed his face as a fist skimmed past his ear. Bell spun around and kicked forward, satisfaction rushing through him when his boot connected with the man's chest and knocked him back.
He heard the other man gasp, before he turned back. Bell felt the glare, like fire against his skin.
His blood ran cold when he heard the metallic shriek of a blade being drawn.
That buzz at the back of his head grew, as a desire to harm transformed into a desire to kill. He leant back desperately as instinct screamed at him, a sword passing through where his neck had just been, still scoring a narrow gash on his cheek.
But then, he slipped. Fighting an invisible foe, injured and exhausted on loose gravel wasn't particularly a good idea, but then bending backwards was an even worse one. Bell lost his balance, and tumbled to the floor.
His foe let out a triumphant huff, and the buzzing in his head grew to a crescendo as the sword lifted. His hand tightened in the dirt, taking a handful and readying himself for a desperate leap to the side.
That was when Zagreus appeared.
He lay his hand down, presumably on the shoulder of Bell's foe, and ripped it back viciously. The sounds of impact, and bursts of dust and gravel showed where the man had been thrown away, coming to a scraping halt ten meders back.
Bell tore his eyes away from the cloud of dust and back to Zagreus, who had bent down over him, and offered a hand. He looked up at those piercing green and red eyes, eyes that normally sent a shiver down his spine, but this time filled him with relief.
Bell clasped his hand, and let himself be pulled to his feet.
There was Bell, alone on a cliffed outcropping. His clothes and armour were scuffed, marked with signs of combat.
Suddenly, the boy was knocked to the floor, no perpetrator in sight.
It was then that Zagreus recognised the source of unease that had plagued him as he had approached. It was a dark, sinister magic, one that brought the feeling of hatred and pain. It was a magic he was very familiar with.
The Helm of Hades.
Zagreus snarled, and Dashed through the crowd. He quickly deduced that it must be some kind of replica of the Helm. The real thing rendered the wearer almost utterly imperceptible, while this one let off wave after wave of poorly utilised magic power, which made its wearer (for him at least), incredibly easy to find.
The jeering of the adventurers shifted to gasps of surprise as he suddenly appeared, scorched earth beneath his feet as his burning heels carved tracks behind him.
Bell was on the floor, his attacker stood above him with sword raised. He grabbed the wearer of the fake Helm and tossed him away, then offered his hand to a relieved Bell.
As he pulled the boy to his feet, the Helm wearer gave an angry shout, and charged at them, sword held high, ready to cut them down.
He stopped suddenly, sword clattering loudly to the ground as Zagreus Dashed forward and lifted him from the ground, hand around his throat. He ripped the Helm from his head, and the man returned to visibility. A familiar, scarred face came into view, hands grasping at his wrist in a feeble attempt to get free. It was the man that had been bothering Bell in town, Mord.
The sounds of battle drew his eye, where he found Takemikazuchi's Familia, along with Welf, and behind them, Ryuu, entering combat with the previously spectating adventurers, fighting their way through the crowd.
Hestia, he noted, was not with them, and that made her a priority.
He turned back to Mord, sneering at the man. He lifted the Helm before him, crushing it in his grip, before driving Mord down viciously into the ground and knocking him out cold.
"Do you know where Hestia is?" he asked Bell over his shoulder.
"N-no, but it has to be close."
Some of the adventurers turned back to them, and began advancing. He could take them down easily, but it would be a waste of precious time.
"Do you trust me Bell?"
"Y-yes."
"Good." He took hold of the back of Bell's shirt and started running, pulling the boy along with him. "Just run, don't jump!" he ordered, as he steered them to the edge of the plateau, on a diagonal course towards where their allies were fighting. The only problem was the large gap between the two points, and the rather long fall should they not make it across.
"O-okay!"
They ran at the edge, and on the last step, Zagreus Dashed, dragging Bell with him.
They cleared the gap, a trail of flame in his wake.
"Bell!" Welf was the first to notice their escape. "You're okay!"
"Yes, I'm okay! Where's Hesita?"
"Cease."
A wave of divine energy rolled over the battlefield, and all combat stopped.
The goddess Hestia stepped out of the forest, literally glowing with Arcanum bubbling just beneath the skin and leaking out into the air, creating an oppressive atmosphere of absolute authority. She glanced around at the hostile adventurers, eyes hard in a glare.
"Begone."
They ran.
Each and every one of them left at full speed as if their lives depended on it.
Hestia let her Arcanum fade away, before dashing forward and embracing Bell, hugging him tightly and sharing words of concern and relief.
It'd been some time since Zagreus had been exposed so properly to the aura a Divine exuded, he almost forgot the feeling. It was in this remembrance of it that he recalled another presence that had been nearby the entire time.
"I'll be back in a moment."
"See Asfi? I told you everything would be fine." He turned as she gasped in surprise. "Asfi?"
Hermes found himself at the end of a sword.
"Hermes," Zagreus growled, one hand on his sword, and the other holding Asfi off the ground by her throat. Despite being stronger than her, without the element of surprise, it would have been very difficult to get Asfi in such a position. "Mind telling me how that fellow got his hands on a shoddy replica of the Helm of Hades?"
Despite her position, Asfi managed to look offended. "Shoddy?!"
"What makes you think I had anything to do with it?" The god asked carefully.
"Very few possess the knowledge of it, let alone its function. Fewer still have the skills to create it. I have a feeling that the God of Thieves and his little Child, the master craftswoman Perseus, had something to do with it."
Hermes sighed. "Fine. Yes, that was me."
"Why?"
"I needed to see if Bell had potential."
Zagreus sneered at the god. He hadn't known Bell for long at all, but he was earnest and kind, and he didn't deserve to be a plaything of gods, like he had for so long.
"You could have gotten Hestia hurt."
Hermes scoffed. "Unlike you, it's incredibly difficult for mortals to harm a Divine. There's a mental barrier that's extremely challenging to overcome. They couldn't have touched her."
"But they could have hurt Bell, which would have hurt her." He lifted the blade a little higher, a little closer to Hermes' neck. "I won't allow you to play your little games with Bell. This is-"
He was cut off by a cacophonous rumble, and the ground shaking beneath his feet.
"What was that?"
Hermes grimaced. "Hestia's little display earlier wasn't exactly subtle. Even if old Tartarus isn't around anymore, the Dungeon is not happy to have Divines within. I'd guess it's sent out a little something to deal with the problem."
Zagreus looked up at the darkening sky as cracks began to appear. Then, the roof shattered, and down tumbled a truly massive monster.
It was a goliath, like the one he'd fought at the entrance to this floor, but with dark, dark skin, and much, much bigger.
The Goliath crashed into the floor at the base of the central tree, towering over the forest, many times the size of even the tallest of the regular plantlife. A moment later, the ground shook again as the impact reached them, and a second later, the ear splitting crash followed.
Zagreus cursed, and dashed back to Bell.
This was not something he could deal with on his own.
And we have our first signs of trouble between Zagreus and the other gods, and also how above regular Adventurers Zagreus is.
Because this fic follows Zagreus' perspective, we miss quite a bit of stuff that's in the anime and LNs, but who knows, maybe that stuff will circle back in the future ;)
Anyway, in case you're interested, I made a Discord server specifically for my fics. I'll be using it to announce new chapters, post teasers, and a bunch more stuff, so if you're interested, link is on my profile. Another thing to note is that I probably won't be doing much writing for the rest of this year. I went over it in my Konosuba fic (which I've officially discontinued), but basically I'm just gonna be studying a lot to get a job.
That's all for this chapter, I'll see if I can finish off Chapter 5 for next week.