*I do not own DanMachi or You-Zitsu

"And that's a wrap for tonight. Girls, I want all of ya cleaning the kitchen. It better be spotless by tomorrow. Ayanokoji, come with me."

My first day working at the establishment known as the 'Hostess of Fertility' has drawn to a close. All customers, including Loki Familia, exited the bar a few hours later. It was nearing 1:30 AM and I still had some duties to take care of. I still needed to figure out my shelter issue as well as my nutrition. The paychecks are given at the end of each week. That was 6 days without money, 6 days of malnutrition. While this wasn't an immediate issue, the more strenuous activities I have to commit to, the more energy I expend. And without an influx of calories and carbohydrates, the more tired I'll become. If more than one person were to come at me, with strength exceeding that of a level 3, things will be much more difficult. Precaution needs to be taken.

Since Falna improves one's natural body, I can assume this isn't a pressing issue for adventures. At least maybe not as much as me. The more I think it over, the more benefits I receive from a Falna. But there's no escaping the downsides. That's something I need to get around.

My life here won't be uneventful unless I force it too through force. But in this world, I'm not someone special. I'm an ordinary human being whos involved with unnatural forces.

To get around this, increasing my strength is a viable option. No, it's necessary. While I don't doubt my technique, my natural strength is lacking compared to the top-class adventures. These people are the ones who will chase me down. A major liability in a fight is when one's strength is unbalanced.

Should I become one? An adventurer without a-

As I was thinking over things, Mia called for my presence, cutting my thoughts short. Since I couldn't ignore her commands, I dropped the rag I was using to clean the dark-colored, wooden tables and went to the back room.

Once inside, I was greeted with the light of devices called magic stone lamps. There were more lamps placed in this room than the main dining area for a reason I do not know.

"That was spectacular work there. Honestly, I didn't want you working here but keep up what you're doing and I might change my mind."

I don't have the care for her worthless opinions, what does she really want.

I gave her a look indicating for her to get to the point.

"You don't got a place to kick back and relax, right? Take the rest of the night off and handle that. Though I'm sure they'll be some girl on the street inviting you home so you don't got to worry about finding a place."

Not what I expected her to say, but...her advice doesn't sound too bad.

"Ha! I'm joking, don't take it seriously. Anyways, leave. And come back at 8 tomorrow with those clothes on. That'll be your uniform from now on."

Seems she gave up on finding a suitable uniform for me to wear. Does she not know that clothes get dirty the more you wear them. The odor that will come from my jacket in the days to come will most likely drive away customers than attract them. I'll have to find a way to wash them.

"And before you leave, take this," Mia threw a brown punch at me. I can hear the metallic sounds coming from inside as it was launched in the air and into my hands.

"About 4000 valis in there, take it and get something for yourself. I'm only doing this since. Oh and I'm taking this out of your pay at the end of the week. Now scram," she said as she donned a grin.

"Alright, See you tomorrow, Mia," I left the room after leaving those words behind. As I opened the thick, wooden doors in front of me, I can hear the chattering of several people. When I passed through them, the chattering came to an abrupt stop. Walking back toward the dining area, I can see the other staff, including the cooks, clean up the surrounding area. I might as well finish what I was doing before.

I go back to the table and pick up the rag. Finishing what is tarted down, I scrubbed down the spilled food and drinks. The people of this world eat much too carelessly. Must be due to the barbaric nature people acquire once they acquire strength.

Done with that chore, I go back to the kitchen, place the rag in the bucket of soap and wash my hands. Once I was done with that, I headed toward the dining area until I once again heard the chattering of many people, the staff. And like before, the subtle noise ceased the moment I stepped foot into the dining area.

"I'll be off then," I say to no one in particular. Not expecting, nor caring for any reply.

"Good night, Mr. Ayanokoji."

"Thanks for your hard work. See you tomorrow."

Both Syr and Ryu responded with great vigor, well, mostly Syr.

I crossed through the double doors of the bar and left the establishment. While walking under the alluring moonlight of the Orario night sky, a certain thought crossed my mind.

Freya, it seems you've infringed on our terms.

My privacy has been breached by that woman once again.

Ignoring this just won't do.

After all, one cannot live a peaceful life if they're under constant supervision.

Third Person pov:

Back in the bar, the employees were having a discussion about the actions of a certain someone during his day at work.

They're are engaging in a conversation with Ayanokoji Kiyotaka at the center of it. Throughout cleaning, they whispered their thoughts. This did not go unnoticed by Ayanokoji. But, as he deemed it irrelevant, Ayanokoji ignored their conversation.

Once he left the bar, the chatting once again started up.

"Explain. I want details, why exactly did this fight start," said May, the head chef.

"I don't know, it's weird nya. Just some petty adventurer picking a fight nya."

"Yeah, that bozo meow was just jealous he didn't have an ass like Ayanokoji meow."

"For some reason, I find that had to believe," replied May.

"If I may, the reason was most likely because they were jealous. Jealous of Mr. Ayanokoji," Ryu delivers her logical explanation.

"So what exactly happened?"

"Ayanokoji made the plate in his hands slip so when the man came to kick him, he bent down to pick it up. Possibly to make it look like a coincidence," added Lunoire.

"That could have been true if it wasn't for what he said afterward."

"Yeah, I heard it loud and clear meow."

"'That won't be enough to stop me.' That was a badass line," said Lunoire.

Syr, who wasn't involved in the conversation till now interjected.

"Yeah, that was really cool."

"Well, that was arrogant of him. That was the level 3 adventurer 'Tyrannical Axe'," added a cook from the kitchen.

"Mr. Ayanokoji seemed more annoyed than arrogant. Though it's hard to tell when his facial expression or tone of voice never changes," said Ryu.

"You're one to talk, 'Ms. Stoic Elf'," teased Syr as she donned a toothy grin.

"H-Hey, what you mean by that, replied a flustered Ryu.

And with that, the conversation on Ayanokoji drifted into a multitude of different topics. Once everyone was done with work, they all went to their respective homes.

All but one.

Syr was standing at the doors of the empty bar. The darkness of the night coming in through the windows crawled up to her and coated her in a black shine, making it impossible to see her face. Thus, no one would be able to see the mischievous and lust-filled smile rapidly growing on it.

"Fufufu Ayanokoji. That was quite a show you put on. An irresistible performance. I can't wait to get you and my dear Bell in my hands."

I've got the geography of this city memorized in my head. The Hostess of Fertility is on West Main Street so I think it is best that I find a place near there. If not, I'll have to settle somewhere else.

Now, taxes are paid in this city and it's already been settled that I cannot afford to pay such taxes, so, If I can find a shed of sorts, that'd work.

The streets were dark but still boisterous. It makes you wonder how the civilian can sleep at night with all this noise. As I went down a path, I noticed an adventurer beside me. He was in a grim condition. His armor was cracked near the collar bone, the breastplate was shatered beyond repair with the millions of cracks on it shaped like a puzzle, and the spear in his hands was looking nothing more than a stick found in mud.

While analyzing the various injuries on him, it came to me. A place where I might be able to find shelter.

Taking out the map of Orario from my back pocket, I traced the drawings on it till I found the place I was looking for.

'Sirens Graveyard.'

This was a location that contained the graves of fallen adventurers. The adventurer that passed by me triggered me to remember such a place. There was also a graveyard that was named 'Adventurers Graveyeard', but I had a feeling that it wasn't the place I was looking for.

Following the route laid out on the map, I passed several streets and sections of the city till I came across a building. It was pure white, colored as if it were made of marble. And on that building was a ball of light, surrounded by a herb. It was an emblem of sorts.

As I passed this specific building, I eventually reached my destination. The grave wasn't far from the building. Before you can see anything beyond that, there was a black gate in the way. This gate had the name 'Sirens Grave' ingrained on it.

I wasn't particularly interested in the grave itself. Its location was much more crucial. Graves such as these would most likely be abandoned. That also meant that the grave keeper did one of two things.

1. He carried out his duties.

2. He grew tired of attending to a grave when not a single soul bothered to visit.

When coming here, these two things were in my head. If by any chance the grave keepers chose option 2, then that would prove to be beneficial to my situation.

I walked around the entrance of the graveyard. After circling it around, I found a cabin at the back, in the opposite direction of the entrance. I made my way toward that cabin. This was the place in which the grave keeper would keep their tools and equipment.

As I approached the cabin, I kept my sense on high alert. If by any chance the grave keeper was still around, then there would be a problem. Once I finally got to the door, I determined that the place was empty.

Twisting the knob to the left, I pushed it open. The door made a creaky sound, indicating its age. Once the door was pushed all the way in, I stepped inside.

It was dark as you would expect. I had to be extra careful as I navigated inside. Placing my hands to the nearest walls, I moved across the room in a diagonal pattern until I felt a rope. Its texture indicated that It was made of straw. I pulled that straw, hoping for the best. As I pulled it down, the room once again made a noise that would only be made in places as uncanny as this. But with that noise came light. The room was now shrouded in dim light but still bright enough for me to get a general depiction of where things were.

Looking up, I was now able to tell that the rope was connected to a magic stone lamp on one of the many shelves.

The room itself was fairly spacious, as most of the tools were placed or hanged on the sides instead of the center floor. Though, the cabin was dusty. So much so that even I couldn't help but scratch my nose in irritation.

The condition of this shed told me that it wasn't used in a long time. If the tools weren't used for that amount of time, then the grave keeper abandoned his work, meaning he most likely hasn't been here for a while. This was good news to me, as now I wouldn't have to worry about invading the property. But I still had to be on high alert at all times. Not just for the grave keeper, but for any assassins or bandits such as Anselm.

Now that I've found a place to live, it needed to be renovated. For one, the place looks like it could collapse on me at any moment. And the lack of sanitation in this room was unsettling. Those issues would need to be settled now. Work starts in less than 4 hours and I won't have any time to work on these issues during the day.

I made my way outside the shed and walked around the graveyard, back to the entrance. After making my way around, I went back onto the streets.

I needed to buy tools to fix up the shed. To get them, I would need to travel to the shopping district. As the name suggests, it's an area in which I can buy such materials.

This graveyard was in Northwest Main street, the shops I was looking for were on Northeast Main street. So, I had to cors directly north.

As I made my way to the area, the amount of noise and light on the streets increased until finally, the streets were bustling with energy.

This was a regular night during Orario. I was in the shopping districts, meaning that there would be various stalls and shops that sell items.

What I needed were building and cleaning materials. Unfortunately, I have no clue as to where these specific shops reside. To save time, it would be best to ask around.

Coming near me was a person with a paper bag in her hands. In that bag were bottles of liquid. This person was relatively short, standing at about 5 feet or shorter. Because of their height, the paper bag covered their face. I stopped that person before they could get past me.

"Excuse me, but would you know where they sell cleaning materials?" I asked the person. They stopped walking when they heard me. They then lowered the bag, revealing that person's face. It was a girl.

"Down the road, to the right of the intersection," was all she said before moving to her next destination.

The girl herself had silver hair with a very slight hint of purple. She wore a blue and white uniform of sorts with a hat resting on her head

I followed her instructions to the letter and made my way to the many shops that sold cleaning supplies. One shop, in particular, had their items on display. I went inside that one.

It was a wooden building, inside and out. There were many aisles of shelves. Most of these selves contained several types of liquids. These were cleaning liquids that used materials found in the dungeon. But those weren't what I was looking for. What I needed was a simple broom and cloth.

The back of this shop had all I needed. I walked to the back, near the left, and went inside one of the many lanes of shelves. Once I picked out what I needed, I made my way to the counter with two items in my hands. While doing so, I stumbled upon something. Under a shelf on my right, was a book.

Normally, one would expect it to be a catalog or a manual to describe one of the items, but this book was covered in leather. I walked over to that shelf and picked it up. The book itself was a brown, no, rust color. There were 4 golden points on each corner of the book, a 5 leaf clover in the center, and 2 straps closing the book shut.

But the oddest part of this book was its title.

"Fantastic Spells And How To Make Them," I recited its title out loud.

Interesting. I took the book with me and got to the counter. Once I purchased both the broom and the cloth, I asked the cashier about the book.

"Would this be for sale?" I asked as I handed the cashier the book. He took it and inspected it right after.

"The hell you find this thing."

"On the floor near the back."

"Tchh I thought I threw it out," he muttered under his breath. Then he continued.

"Some guy from Hermes Familia gave it to me. Said he didn't need it or something. lazy ass couldn't even give it to the flea market. This is a cleaning store for god sakes."

So someone from Hermes Familia left it here.

"Take it. Smells like bullshit anyways."

He passed the book over to me. I took it from his hands and quickly left the shop. He gave it to me for free. I didn't want him changing his mind just to make me pay for it.

As I got back into the shopping district, I purchased a few tools and made my way back to the shed.

While going back to the graveyard, I noticed the silver-haired girl from before walk into that white building. Since I'll be passing by this building every day, I might as well find out what building that is in the future.

Once I got back into the shed, I took out a few magic stone lamps I purchased and placed them on empty areas on the shelves. The room was instantly illuminated as the bright light replaced the dim one.

I took out each item I bought today from the bags and put them on the shelves.

Then there was the book. I bought it for a reason.

This would be the second time I've had a chance encounter with a book on the ground. I wonder if anything interesting will happen if I open it?

To create spells. That's what the title implied.

For a while now, I've been thinking about something.

If I wanted to avoid any bothersome encounters, I needed to have the strength to do so. Strategizing can only do so much without the strength to carry these plans out.

A Familia, a status. I wanted to avoid those options as much as possible. But I still needed power.

And creating spells? That's certainly interesting. If I were able to gain strength in a different way from others, I would gain an advantage. Then again, this is a book. there's not much a book can do. But, if there was ever a chance...

For now, I think I'll keep the book on a shelf and read it tomorrow.

I then used the cloth I bought to wipe the ground, closed the lamps, and sat down on the cleaned area.

I stared into the darkness, thinking about all the insane things I've seen in this new world.

And also about what I'll be doing next.

PART 2 END

A/N- There was no action in this chapter, so it may seem boring, but I want to build up the story without rushing.

The last chapter concluded the first 'arc', If you want to call it that, of the story.

The next 'arc' starts now. So I guess this chapter and the next can be called the prologue.