My Daily Life as a Dungeon Crawler is More Grindy than I Expected

by With Death Comes More Death

Hikigaya Hachiman's second year of high school has come to an end, but instead of finding himself in a new classroom, he's found himself in an entirely new world! Watch as this genre-savvy teen finds outs that there's much more dungeon crawling than just killing monsters. There's strangely also weird romantic comedy elements? (Now being cross-posted on Ao3 and SpaceBattles)

3. Chapter 2: The Plot Continues On

Hey, so apparently, I fucked up while uploading this document file last time and deleted a bunch of the line breaks. That being said, here's a good key as to help distinguish what is what:

- (actual line break) = POV shift (and if no character is specified, please assume we're going back to Hachiman).

... (centered ellipses) = scene change within perspective.

---

Interlude 3 Once More, Ais Wallenstein is Eluded.

…

"I'm not your messenger boy, Wallenstein." For some reason, the inside of my mouth tasted bitter as I watched the raven-haired boy turn and leave, slinking away into the shadows that surrounded The Hostess of Fertility like a stray cat. "Orario isn't that big. I'm sure you'll run into each other again eventually."

I stood outside for several moments, contemplating the encounter I just had, before going back inside to rejoin my familia. Strangely enough, the tavern was quiet as I did so.

Partaking my previous seat, I picked up my fork and knife, and went about finishing the rest of my dinner. I got about three bites in before I felt the familiar prickling on my skin that told me that I was being watched.

Looking up, I found that the perpetrator was all of my familia. They seemed confused. I didn't know why, so I asked.

"Is something wrong?"

Suddenly, they all became more active.

"Ah, Ais…" As usual, Finn was the first to speak, but he sounded different. He sounded tentative, which was odd because he was never tentative. "Who was that boy that you were just talking to?"

Who? 'That boy'? Oh, right. The one I was just talking to, the one who reminded me of a cat.

I shrugged. "I don't know. He never told me his name."

That answer seemed unsatisfactory to my familia, because it caused them all to stagger forward. Did I accidentally say something upsetting?

"I believe that what Finn was trying to say," Riveria was now speaking to me, "is that the way you two spoke implied familiarity, might we know why that is?"

Oh. "We crossed each other's paths yesterday, as Loga and I were chasing the minotaur. I saved his familia from being killed."

"Wait, that fish-eyed bastard was with tomato kid?!" Loga, still strung up from the ceiling, began to thrash as he interjected. "Why'd you ever want to talk to a weakling like that?"

"Because there was a question I wanted to ask him."

"A question? What kind of question? What could've been so important that you needed to ask it outside so that no one could hear you?!" Loki-sama sounded panicked as she got up from her stool at the bar and rushed over to me, which confused me, even though my kami-sama was prone to overreaction. Did I say anything particularly distressing there? "What did that boy do to catch your eye? Is my Ais-chan trying to leave me?! No, you're growing up too fast! Please don't leave me, kami-sama!"

Already anticipating her to leap at me, I batted her down with little issue. She landed on the floor in front of me with a thud. "That wasn't my intention, no."

Riveria pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed at that.

"Ah, but Fish-kun must've done something to get your attention, right?" It seemed that it was now Tiona's turn to say something. Turning her way, I found that she was smiling at me as she typically did. 'Fish-kun'…? "I've never seen you go up and talk to someone like that."

"Little sis is right, y'know?" Before I could answer, Tione started speaking. She smiled at me as well, but she rested her chin resting on a platform she made with her fingers. "I've seen thousands of other adventurers come to you and compete for your attention, but all you ever do is turn them away. Something has to be special about the kid, right?"

Loki-sama groaned from her place on the ground. I glanced up at the ceiling and thought about the question.

'Special'? Was there anything special about him…? He reminded me of a stray cat I tried to feed once. He had lingered, growled at me as I offered him my hand, and then bolted away at the first opportunity. That was all that I could think of.

"Alright, alright, that's enough, everyone." Just as he always did, Gareth did his best to mediate. "If Ais doesn't want to discuss what happened, then it's her right not to. We shouldn't force her if she doesn't want to."

"Screw that!" Still bound to the ceiling, still thrashing, Loga argued from the ceiling. Ah, I forgot that he was drunk. That's why he's so riled up. "I want to know what she wanted with that nobody!"

"I second that!" Jumping back up from the ground, my hand still visible in red on her cheek, Loki-sama pointed at me in an aggressive way. "Ais-chan, as your kami, I demand to know what happened out there with that boy."

I blinked at the demand. I shrugged, not remembering when I had implied the opposite.

"I asked him a question and he answered it. After that, I asked him to fulfill a request."

"A r-r-request?" For the first time the entire conversation, Lefiya spoke up.

"Yes, a request, in which he declined." I felt myself frown when the bitter taste appeared in my mouth once more. "I was… dissatisfied by his answer."

My entire familia was left speechless for several moments. I shrugged and went back to my food. It didn't help the taste in my mouth.

---

My Daily Life as a Dungeon Crawler is More Grindy than I Expected, Chapter 2 In the End, The Plot Continues to Move Forward.

…

Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses, and when one worked closely with others, they had to play to them if they wanted a successful operation.

For example, I wasn't a people person. If someone was running an event and I was a part of their team, they'd ruin it immediately by thinking that I'd do best in customer service. A certain ice woman I know might argue that uncomfortable positions fostered change in other people. That by confronting your weaknesses, you would eventually learn to grow pass them, but the problem with that sort of thinking is that she's a crazy person who often thought crazy. Granted, the idea didn't have zero merit, but in the end, a majority of people didn't like to be set up to fail — myself included.

That's why, when we into the dungeon, I made Cranel the bait.

"Hachiman, here I come!" A few months ago, a white-haired boy yelling that on the top of his lungs would've made my heart race. It still did now, but for different reasons. Either way, I had to breath in deeply and steel myself before I performed my next actions. "Four War Shadows!"

Raising my bow, I notched an arrow and pulled it back in anticipation. The moment white flashed across my vision, I spun around the corner and… stop.

Just like Cranel said, there were four War Shadows coming down the tunnel. They looked just like how they were named. Spike covered masses of pure shadow, all with a singular red eye in their heads. There was one in front, one in the middle, and the final two were trying to push past one another to kill us. Looks like the first two are mine, then.

Shoot arrow there to head shot the lead, immediately duck down, and unsheathe dagger to slash through the second as it gets close. Spin out of the way and let Cranel take out the last two. Perfect plan. Go.

…And my targets were dead.

Spinning around the corner and slipping my bow back onto my shoulder, I did so just in time to see Cranel come to a sliding stop, drag his hand across the dirt for what I assumed were style points, and loop around to where I started. With a single slashing leap with his knife, all of the War Shadows were dead.

Damn, if only I had pockets. I was already leaning against a wall, so being able to stuff my hands in them probably would've made me look super cool. Crossing my arms over my chest just had to do, I guess.

My lone party member didn't fair as well in the coolness department unfortunately. I'm sure that in the slowed down, panned out shot of the entire sequence he probably looked fine, but all I could see was him tripping over himself and sliding along the dirt shoulder first. Granted, we've been in the dungeon for a while now, so this was probably bound to happen eventually.

"You still good to continue, Cranel?" At the mention, the albino turned over onto his back, splaying all of his limbs out in the process. He was panting heavily and sweat seemed to cover more of his face than skin did, but he still raised a hand up into the air and gave me a thumbs up. I sighed at that and pushed myself off of the wall. "Come on, let's go grab those crystals and get out of here. It's about time we head back up to the surface."

"Aw, but we're so close to seventh floor! Just a little longer and I'm sure we can make it!"

"You should try sitting up if you want to try and convince me of that." A sheepish chuckle left Cranel in response to my call out, proving my point further when he continued to lie on the ground. Look, I appreciate the enthusiasm, but you're clearly in no shape to keep going. Still, I can tell that you're determined to do so. Better pull out the big guns to make sure you comply. "Besides, Tulle still hasn't cleared us to head down that far yet, so ending things here for the day is probably for the best."

"But you've never listened to Eina-san before!" Ah, right, I did everything in my power to prove that half elf wrong. Wait, that's actually a good point! Have you been grinding up your arguing skills while I wasn't looking? Good start, but unfortunately, you're still not good enough to beat me.

"I do when it benefits me." Walking over to the grounded teen, I squatted down and offered him my hand. "Didn't you want to apologize to Flova for running out like you did? If we go down any further, we might not be able to get to The Hostess before the dinner rush starts. You wouldn't want to bother her while she's busy working, would you?"

The grounded teen pouted before taking my hand. "…That's a dirty trick, Hachiman."

"That's what you get for thinking that I'd ever play fair." Smirking, I stood up and pulled Cranel up with me. Woo, another win for me. What does that make the score? Hachiman: infinite, Cranel: negative infinite? Heh, sounds about right. "Come on, I'll take the lead."

Just like always, I felt satisfaction at hearing my familia grumble back in response. It was nice to know that, even after almost dying, Bell Cranel remained the same.

…

World building for any fictional setting was incredibly important.

If the author wanted the audience to get invested in their story, there were many things that they needed to get right and how they ranked in terms of importance depended on the genre, but for fantasy, establishing a believable and interesting setting was probably second-most important behind coming up with compelling characters.

To properly build a world/setting, one needed to build from the ground up. Think about where the setting is located and how the geography and climate could affect the culture, and even the physiology, of whatever sort of inhabitants that were supposed to live there. Then, once that was down, use all of that newly created information and come up with a form of sensible government that aligned with the values just lined out. Now, once that was all written down, comes the actual difficult part: finding a way to implement all of this in a natural and sensible way.

Just like how an author shouldn't ever have a character describe their signature weapon in complete detail, as if it was their first time ever seeing it, a character who had grown up in a certain culture shouldn't ever exposit on its finer details, because they'd typically have no reason to. They should, and would, react to it as naturally as they did breathing. That's why 'fish out of water' stories, and in that vein isekai, were popular.

It gave authors the freedom to exposit all they want, because such information is still relatively new to the protagonist and, consequently, the audience. One could frame it as the character being new to these systems and needing to remind themselves of how they worked, or ask another character who is familiar and have them explain it. Either way, no logical gaps are created.

That's why, when faced with a caravan of adventurers rolling cages containing monsters of various shapes and sizes up towards the surface, I turned to Cranel, who was walking alongside me, and asked, "Oi, Cranel, you know what's that about?"

"Huh?" Blinking, my white-haired familia turned towards what I was asking about. "Oh, that? Those are members of the Ganesha Familia. They're probably bringing monsters up to the surface for Monster Feria."

"'Monster Feria'?"

"Oh, you've never heard of it? I know you said that you were new to Orario, but even I've heard stories about it once or twice."

Damn, I slipped up there. Well, I could try and cover it up, but that would just make me seem more suspicious. It was just best to roll with the punches. "Nope." I turned my head to face in front of me once again. Keeping a straight face while saying it was easy, since I was being vague enough that it was basically the truth. "Can't say that I have."

"Ah, well, um… It's basically this event that the Ganesha Familia holds, right? They get a bunch of really strong and rare monsters, and they fight them in the Colosseum while a ton of people watch." Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Cranel scratching at the back of his head as he let out a sheepish chuckle. What are you getting all embarrassed about all of a sudden? "At least that's what I've heard, I don't really know all too much either. Sorry about that."

I hummed to assure him that it was fine. Besides, it's not like I was in any position to talk, considering I didn't know anything either.

A God holding a giant festival just to show off how big and strong his familia is to the rest of Orario, whilst also suckering them into paying to see it? Yeah, that made sense. From what I've seen, public entertainment in the city was pretty lacking, so he probably made a killing off it too! Best not think about any of the moral implications of holding such an event, if this was how the people of Orario did things then that's how they did things, even if it feels stupidly dangerous.

Still, the idea that a Familia would willingly bring monsters up from the Dungeon brought a litany of questions to my mind, all about what would happen if they got loose somehow. Who would be responsible for wrangling them up and the damages they caused? I assumed Ganesha, but how did they even determine what costs what and how much money to put towards reparations? Did they just have enough money to risk it and how could I exploit that fact for my financial gain?

I was tempted to ask the albino next to me all of them as they popped into my head, but seeing as he just admitted that he probably didn't know the answer to any of them either, I swallowed them and continued on my way.

Hopefully, I wouldn't need them answered any time soon. Although, now that I say that, me even thinking that was probably jinxing it.

---

Interlude 4 As Per Usual, Ryuu Lyon Goes About Her Day.

…

In the morning, I ate breakfast with my coworkers. I listened to them banter with one another as they ate, chimed in whenever necessary, and then did all of my chores.

We had a simple system put in place. We'd rotate responsibilities every morning; some of us did the laundry, others helped Grande-sama in the kitchen, and the rest helped get the dining room ready for the night's business. Work would usually bleed into the afternoon, but once all tasks were completed, we were given a break before we opened our doors to the public at dusk.

How one spent that free time was up to the individual. Syr liked to read, Luinoire liked to laze around, and Anya and Chloe liked to make a mess of things. I didn't like to sit still, so I made myself useful in any shape I could.

Today, I had been sent out to buy a book by Syr. More specifically, "The Kind Adventurer and The Unwitting Barmaid, vol 3." Knowing her tastes, I knew better than to ask about its contents or when she had read the two prior installments, and just went to buy it for her.

Routine was a large facet of my life and, given my history, I took no shortage of pleasure in that fact.

"I'm sorry for running out like how I did! I never meant to run off without paying." However, every once in a while, something would come along and interrupt that routine. "I know that the bill's already been paid, but please take this! It's the portion I owed!"

Bell Cranel was that interruption.

The first thing I saw as I walked back through the door of The Hostess of Fertility was that interruption. His head was bowed as he stood in front of an irritated Grande-sama and a worried Syr - the prior bent down a little to take the bag of valis that Cranel was offering her.

The novice adventurer came from out of nowhere and took up all of Syr's interest just as fast. I wasn't sure of the reason, but again, I chose not to question her. If she was fond of the boy, then she was fond of the boy and I would support her in any way I could.

"I do appreciate you going through all the trouble of doing this, but next time you try and run out without paying," Grande-sama placed the pouch down on the counter just a bit to her right, "you won't make it out of the door. Understood?"

Cranel, who had thought it a good idea to relax and straighten himself when the pouch was taken to him, let out a high-pitched squeak and returned back to a bowing position. "I really am sorry!"

"Ah, you can stop apologizing now, Bell-kun." I wasn't surprised to see Syr rush in to alleviate the boy's worries. Acts of kindness like that were in her nature. "I'm glad you stopped by. It was really nice to see you again!"

I smiled as the albino stood straight once more to gaze solely at my friend and coworker. Her hands were hidden behind her back and, having seen her dutifully make what it was earlier in the day, I had a decent idea as to what it was.

"I take it you went to the dungeon today? Take this!" With practiced ease, Syr revealed the hidden gift, a boxed lunch, to its recipient. "It's lunch! Well, it's technically more like dinner now, but I hope you enjoy it either way."

"O-Oh, really?" For a moment, Cranel's body stiffened in response to Syr's gift. The albino lifted his hands out in front of him, almost as if he was attempting to defend himself. "I can't accept something like that."

"You can't?" Syr countered by angling her head down ever so slightly and smiling at the novice adventurer with a healthy flush on her cheeks. It was the perfect response. When an opponent raised their guard, the best way to attack it was where they couldn't defend themselves. "But I want you to have it…."

The way that Cranel smiled at Syr signaled a total victory for my friend.

A snort coming from my left drew my attention from the battle going on in front of me. I turned towards it and found a raven-haired boy leaning on the wall next to the door, his arms crossed and a smirk on his face. I had known he was there from the start, but that snort was the first noise he's made since I returned, so I paid him no attention until then.

The boy was Hachiman Hikigaya. From what Syr has told me of him, he and Cranel were of the same familia and the two rarely went anywhere without the other, meaning that he would be a valuable asset in my friend's current pursuit. It would be good to get him on our side.

"Excuse me, Hikigaya-san?" The boy's entire body stiffened in response to my attempt to get his attention. I was initially confused as to the reason, but when he snapped his head over to look at me and I saw the bewilderment on his face, I settled on him not having noticed me like I did him. It seems that I was a bit too forward. "May I have a moment of your time?"

Instead of answering, Hikigaya stared at me. I assumed that he was still recovering from being taken off guard, so I allowed him to do so. "Oh, um…." He turned his head away before clearing his throat into a fist. "Fine. What do you want?"

"It concerns Syr and Cranel-san." Wary of the latter hearing me, I made sure to lower my voice so that only Hikigaya could hear. The mention of his friend made the boy meet my gaze once more. "Syr fancies him."

"Really?" Hikigaya raised an eyebrow at that, before scoffing and refocusing on the two we were speaking of. "I couldn't tell. Thanks for spelling that out for me."

I could feel my eyebrows twitch at his sarcasm. "You're welcome, but that was not all that I wanted to discuss with you."

"Go ahead," Hikigaya smirked as he replied.

"She asks for your assistance in the matter."

"And what exactly would she have me do?"

"Syr asks that you have him come here every morning before you go to the Dungeon, so she can give him a boxed lunch."

"That all?" Hikigaya gave me an incredulous look, but once again paused after he turned to look at me, before turning away. Again, I was confused as to the reasoning, but again, I chose not to question it. "Isn't she overthinking this? Couldn't she just ask him to come by herself? I mean, it would just lead to the same result."

"She wishes to not make her feelings known at this point, as she would prefer to foster a natural relationship with him—."

"—That's good and all, but you're forgetting the fact that we don't have a reason to come here everyday. Cranel is an idiot, but he isn't blind. He'll figure out that there's something going on eventually." The grip I had on my apron tightened after I was interrupted. "Also, you seem to forget that I have no incentive to help you at all. I might be his familia, but I'm not that invested in his love life."

"…" I mulled over the last of his words for a moment. I had assumed that familial ties would be enough to sway Hikigaya into assisting us, but it seems that was a miscalculation on my part. His reaction was still understandable, however. While what Syr was asking did not seem like much of a commitment to her, that did not mean others would see it in the same way. Still, my friend had asked for my help and I would do my best to have her succeed. "What would you deem proper incentive, then? As long as it's within reason, I don't mind accommodating for her sake."

Hikigaya shook his head and let out a sigh. "You weren't supposed to take that last part seriously." Ah, another miscalculation. "Look, as far as I'm concerned, you're asking me to aid in a farce. She wants a 'natural relationship' with him? What's natural about going behind his back to rig things to her favor?"

I opened my mouth to retort, but was cut off when the boy pushed himself off the wall and moved to leave. I tried to intercept, but stopped when I remembered my need to stay unassuming. He came to a halt right next to me in the doorway, so it really didn't matter.

"If Flova is serious about liking Cranel, then I won't get in her way, but she should put in more effort on her end." Hikigaya wasn't looking at me as he said that, instead choosing to focus on the road outside The Hostess. "Boys aren't complicated. You'd be surprised how far one might go for a girl once they know they tried their best."

His final words made my eyes narrow. There was a hypocrisy to them that bothered me. He refused the request for aid harshly, almost as if it insulted him, but why then add that final part? I pondered pointing this out to him, but before I could decide, he called out to his familia, "You done, Cranel? We should see Hestia-sama off before she leaves tonight."

"A-Ah, right!" From behind me, the subject of our dispute called back to him. "Sorry Syr-chan, but I have to get going. My kami-sama is going to be gone for a few days, so I have to make sure and say goodbye before she leaves. I'll come by tomorrow and give this back to you."

Hearing that, Hikigaya made his way down the steps and turned left once he stepped onto the street. His albino familia chased him soon after, leaving a bit of a breeze behind him in his rush. I watched the two join the crowds of people and get further and further away, slowly becoming more and more integrated until I saw no trace of them.

Hearing footsteps coming from behind me, I turned to face them and found Syr, her face was marred with a downtrodden look. I could see my other coworkers peeking in from the kitchen behind her, sharing her expression. Grande simply smiled at me.

"I suppose that means he didn't want to help us, then?" I thought about nodding as Syr pointed out the obvious, but then Hikigaya's final words reappeared in my head. "Well, that's alright. Bell said he would come by tomorrow, so—"

"—Not entirely."

Syr blinked at me. "…Eh?"

---

I loved to sleep.

The world was a cold and painful place that sought to hurt you, and sleep was the body's natural defense to that. All that would normally hurt people, be it physical or emotional, couldn't do any harm while under the safety blanket of sleep. Being the intelligent person I am, I did my best to avoid all damage, which naturally lead me to believe that sleep should be the default state of the human body.

"H-Hachiman…?" Naturally, I disliked it when someone or something ripped that blanket away from me. Fortunately for Cranel, he wasn't what had done it in the first place. "Are you awake?"

With my arms tucked underneath my head and me currently staring at the ceiling, a part of me was tempted to hide my state of unwanted consciousness. While sleep had eluded me to this point, it was still possible that it'd come eventually and a conversation with Cranel would most definitely ruin those chances, but considering what was keeping me up, I realized that was hopeful thinking on my part.

"What do you want, Cranel?"

"Ah, so you are awake!" I let out a sigh when I heard rustling coming from my right. You do know that we're sitting in the dark, right? Sitting up is pointless.

I let out a sigh and turned my head in his direction. Unsurprisingly, the dark made it impossible to see anything other than the vague outlines of shapes. It really didn't matter since I already had a general idea where Cranel was, but it made the entire process of finding my familia's silhouette feel rather pointless. "I'm speaking, aren't I?"

"Hehe… yeah…." Oi, how come you're getting all sheepish on me now? If you're going to be annoying then just commit to it! There's nothing worse than someone who gets cold feet.

"So, you wanted to talk about something?"

"A-Ah, right!" I watched my familia's outline move. Given how his head moved and how his shoulders were raised, I assumed that he was doing that thing where he was pressing his index fingers together embarrassed. Really, you're far too predictable, Cranel. "Um… How do I ask this?" Hah, do you not remember how to ask a question? You just asked one, so this really shouldn't be that hard— "Have you ever liked a girl before?"

"I'm going back to sleep."

"Immediate rejection?!" The sudden rise in the albino's volume made me jump. Oi, watch it with how loudly you speak! You're loud enough already, but being underground makes your voice reverberate, which makes it even worse! "Are you really going back to sleep?"

"No, but even if I was, I doubt that I'd be able to now." Hearing Cranel chuckle made me grumble. "So, what's with that question all of a sudden? You falling for Wallenstein make you curious or something?"

"Something like that, yeah…" His head lowering told me all I needed to know about how he felt having to say that out loud. "I just figured that since you knew about me liking Ais-chan, you wouldn't mind, well… y'know?"

"'Ais-chan', huh?" Pointing that out made Cranel squeak, which made me snicker. Still, despite my amusement, the question still made me stop.

This entire situation was starting to remind me of a certain night, in which I was forced to spend a night with the riajuu king and his over-talkative lackey. Totsuka was there too, but I could never be forced to spend a night with him. He was probably the only aspect of that night that was even remotely bearable, but that was beyond the point.

Back then, I remember those two riajuu having a very similar conversation. Tobe being Tobe, he didn't blink an eye about revealing what poor girl held his interests. Hayama being Hayama, he gave the vaguest answer that Tobe would allow. Either way, the fact that there was any overlap between then and now made me wonder.

They called each other friends, so what did that make Cranel and I?

Letting out a sigh, I decided to let it go and answer his question. At the very least, I didn't want to end up sounding like Hayama. "And to answer your question, yeah. A few times, actually."

"'A few times'?" For some reason, I couldn't shake the feeling that he could've said that much louder than he did. My ears were grateful for that.

"Yeah, why? Wallenstein your first or something?"

"P-Please don't say it like that!"

Cranel's panic made me smirk, but I left any mocking to that.

Teenage crushes were a strange thing, as their importance varied from person to person. Some viewed them as essential parts of youth, in which one had to experience, no matter the result; others may look back at them and see such connections as nothing more than inconsequential, hormone driven moments of a larger whole; and then, there were all of the middle variables in between.

Still being a teenager myself, I couldn't comment on how I felt about the subject yet, but I did know that my past crushes took up a lot of my head space. Not really with any regret, but they've all been an influence on my life in some way and that probably meant that they were important to me, right? The least I could do was treat Cranel with the same respect.

"W-What were they like?" It was a good thing that I was already finishing up that train of thought, because Cranel's question brought me back to reality. "If you don't mind telling me, that is! You don't have to if you don't want. I was just curious about what type of girl you were into."

Hm, what's with the sudden interest in my personal interests? I can understand the first question, but isn't this a bit of a tangent? I really hope that you're not just trying to make sure I'm not interested in Wallenstein, because if you thought that you were being subtle, then you're not.

"Well, if you just wanted to know that then, um…" That question made me stop and think deeply, as it did all growing boys. For sure, there were certain aspects a girl could have that I favored more than others - be it sugar, spice, or everything nice - but did it really matter? Did every girl that I gravitated towards romantically even fall along those lines? The answer was a resounding 'no', but that wasn't the question I was being asked. Wait, haven't I already answered this question before? "Motherly types, I guess? I don't know, I really don't have a type. It's not like I'm really not in a position to be picky anyways."

"'Not really in the position to'…" Cranel was silent for a bit, which again unnerved me. Silence often pointed to contemplation and my familia was the last person I'd expect— "Doesn't that just mean you've had zero experience with girls?"

Oi, oi, oi… What was that? Where did that come from? That was incredibly harsh! Who are you and what you have done to my idiot familia?!

"Ah, did I just say something mean?!" Yes! Yes, you did! "M-My bad! I didn't mean to! That was just the first thing that came to mind, was all!"

Yeah, that's right! You better start backpedaling, Cranel. That was downright ableist given your status as a protagonist. I'm just a normal human being. There's no way that I could ever match you when it came to women! Next time you're so blatantly discriminatory towards the differently abled, I'll report you to Hestia-sama. I know the chances of her actually doing anything are minuscule, but I know it'd make you feel bad!

"Tch…" Oi, mouth, stop being lazy and say all that nonsense that our brain just thought! Don't just bow down to the protagonist. You're making us sound really pathetic! "Who ever said anything like that…?" Goddammit, that only makes me sound more— Wait, did Cranel just snicker? Since when were you ever able to laugh at someone else's expense? "Oi, for someone who supposedly feels bad, you seem to find something awfully funny."

"S-Sorry. It's just that I've never heard you sound like that before." …Is that supposed to make me feel better? What a bad protagonist! Isn't your ilk supposed to be kind to a fault or something? Then what's with this random act of cruelty? "Wait, does that mean you do have experience with girls then?"

…Damn, he didn't back down like I anticipated he would. "I-I mean, that would have to depend on how you define 'experience'? Do you mean romantically or do you just mean in general?"

"Romantically, of course." Instant answer?! "W-Well, if it was just in general, I'd already know the answer, so there really wouldn't be a point, right?"

Cranel's answer made me let out a sigh. Not only was he arguing back somehow, but he was making decent counter points too. Granted, the basis of my own were flimsy at best, but he was faring much better than he ever has. He's never really tried before, but that fact scared me even more! Has he always been able to pry this well? And if so, why did he even care so much in the first place? It's not like knowing about my non-existent love life would help him in any way!

Whatever his reasoning, it didn't matter in the long run. All that I needed to do was to get him to give it up. However, just like earlier, I knew better than to do so outright.

Cranel was asking me for personal information and I didn't want to divulge it to him, but to just outright dismiss the prior would make the latter seem like something I wanted to hide. It was, but I didn't want him to know that since it'd only make him more curious in the long run. If I wanted to put this to bed for good, my best bet would be to tell the truth, but only the one that I wanted to tell.

Sorry (but not sorry), Cranel. That was a pretty alright attempt, but you're going to need a lot more than that to get a max-level bullshitter like me to cave to you. "I went on a few practice dates with a girl from school, does that count?"

"'Practice… date…'?" Ah, right, Isshiki made that up. Sorry. It was presumptuous of me to assume that you'd understand that madness without help. "What's that?"

"…" Crap. Another good question. "It's like a normal date, but not real?"

"But how can a date not be real?" I could practically feel Cranel tilting his head to the side as he said that. "If the two of you were dating, then wouldn't all of the practice dates just be normal dates?"

"Well, actually, we weren't dating. The girl who forced me to go on them liked someone else and wanted a guinea pig to test her ideas on, so she just lumped the responsibility on me."

"Wait, 'forced'?!"

"Yeah, she didn't force me the first time though." Suddenly, a flaxen-haired fox appeared at the forefront of my mind. In her mouth was a stack of receipts and behind her was a black hole meant specifically for my free time. The mental image was like a cold breeze that tickled my left ear. Like a possum playing dead to escape getting eaten by a predator, the sensation made me tense up like a wood board. "The times after that, however…."

"Wow, that girl sounds really scary."

I snorted and glared over at my familia, or rather, his silhouette. "Please, you only get to say that after you've had to deal with her yourself."

In response to that, Cranel laughed and I smirked at my own joke. There was only silence after that. I expected some sort of follow up question, something along the lines of 'what was she like?' or something, but it seemed that whatever curiosity cloyed at my familia, it had been satisfied for now. Or, at least, that's what the steadying in his breathing told me. That was definitely a good thing, since I wasn't sure how many more of those questions I could've answered.

Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath in and waited a few moments before letting it out, hoping to follow Cranel down the path to peaceful, satisfying slumber.

I didn't.

…

One might assume that every day of an adventurer's life would be action-packed and full of excitement. Our job was to go into a dungeon and kill monsters, so there's no way our days could ever become dull and uneventful enough to gloss over, right?

Wrong.

In the end, adventuring was just like any job. The first few days are the most noteworthy since you have no idea what you're doing and you're just trying not to die, but after a few weeks of doing the same thing over and over again, you start getting the hang of it. Then, when there's no challenge and there's nothing to improve on, your days working begin to melt into one another.

That's what the past two days have been like for me and Cranel. Both days we went into the dungeon with the goal of reaching the seventh floor and both days we failed. I could probably take solace in the fact that we were making a bit more progress each attempt, but that was more Cranel's style. We were stagnating, but at the very least, we had a good reason for it.

A few days ago, Hestia-sama had declared that she'd be going to a banquet meant for the Gods and would be gone for a couple days, and seeing as any stat increases could only be applied when she updated them, Cranel and I actually couldn't improve physically until she returned. Fortunately, as of this morning, she left three days ago, meaning that she'd probably be back soon.

That didn't stop me from disliking the stagnation, though.

Still, since nothing could be done until her return, all that Cranel and I could do was go about our usual routines and stockpile experience for our next update, hence the blurring of the past few days.

The only thing really worth noting that happened was a brief run in we had with Miach, one of Hestia-sama's god friends, outside Babel Tower, but all that came out of that was him giving us a few mind potions - something we couldn't even use yet since neither of us knew how to use magic.

Speaking of our usual routine, I leant back onto a nearby wall and crossed my arms over my chest, watching as Cranel entered The Hostess of Fertility to go about its newest part. It seemed that Syr took my advice and outright asked the boy to come by every morning, or something along those lines. Not that it was any of my business.

Still, I couldn't help but feel a tad bit irritated by having to stand out here every morning, waiting for him to come back out with a bento given to him by a girl who's clearly into him. Lucky bastard.

That being said, if not having to deal with that subplot's inherent bullshit meant mild annoyance and losing five or ten minutes in the Dungeon, then I'd consider it a worthy sacrifice.

"Ah, Hachiman, I'm really sorry, but I'm not going to be able to go into the Dungeon with you today." Ah, it seems that I spoke too soon. Never mind, the sacrifice wasn't worth it at all! "Syr-chan took the day off to Monster Feria and forgot to bring her wallet, so some of the other waitresses asked me if I could go give it to her."

Hearing that made me pinch the bridge of my nose in annoyance. Of course, I figured that something had gone wrong the moment Cranel emerged from the tavern without a bento. Maybe some sort of falling out between the two, considering that he was frowning and looking off towards Babel Tower, but in the end, this was all probably just a scheme to get the two to spend time alone. "Did you at least ask why none of them could go get it to her?"

"Well, no, but it seemed like they were all busy with work, so I thought that it'd be kinda rude." The lack of embarrassment or uncertainty in my familia's voice as he said that was far too noticeable for me to ignore. Instead, he spoke with… conviction? Excitement? Almost as if there wasn't anything in the world he'd rather do than get Syr her wallet. Oi, I know that you're supposed to be the kind of protagonist who's main flaw is his own selflessness, but why are you only this motivated when it benefits other people?

…Ugh, whatever. Cranel was his own person and he clearly already made his mind up on the matter, which in a sense, was something I should be happy to see. Might as well start off with something rather banal and innocuous like this. "Alright, alright, I'll see you later then. We probably weren't going to make much progress in the Dungeon anyways."

"Ah, thanks for understanding, Hachiman!" Oi, watch it with that expression. It's already bright and sunny out, you'll outshine the Sun if you're not careful. Fire with fire and all that jazz. "Oh, ah, if I find her fast, I'll be sure to head right to the Dungeon—"

"—Don't worry about it." Pushing off the wall I was leaning on, I started walking towards Babel Tower with no real destination in mind. I smirked to myself once I knew the albino couldn't see me do so. I appreciate you trying to be considerate, Cranel, but I'm not dumb enough to assume Syr was ever going to let that happen. "I'll go find something else to take up my time. You go enjoy Monster Feria, or whatever it's called."

"A-Alright, I'll see you at home!"

To that, I stopped, turned to face Cranel, and raised a hand back before getting back on my way. The least I could do was give a final parting message to a fallen comrade. There was nothing in the world scarier than a sly girl being interested in you. Then again, it's not like I knew anything about what that was like.

Either way, I needed to figure out a way to kill some time. I suppose that this was as good as time as any to start exploring my surroundings.

---

Interlude 5 Unexpectedly, Lefiya Viridis Stumbles Upon Inspiration.

…

I took to books quite quickly as a child. There was a magical quality to the written word that never failed to ensnare me and my imagination fully. Specifically, I loved epics.

Stories of brave heroes conquering challenges for just causes, descriptions of alien places that my mind could hardly fathom, and tales of connection borne through struggle and strife. My young mind, surrounded by none of those things, consumed such stories with greed and haste.

One might assume such a hunger would be quelled now that I lived in Orario, working as an adventurer for the famed Loki Familia, but alas, I was ashamed to admit that person would be wrong. Despite their relative frequency in my life, I'd be remiss in saying that I still didn't crave a good read every now and then.

Unfortunately, between my training and expeditions into the Dungeon with my familia, opportunities to indulge such luxuries were few and far between. An event like Monster Feria, however, provided just that.

Although, it's not that I wanted the opportunity in the first place….

Darn it, Lefiya! Now is not the time to think about what happened! Ais-sama would never want you to mope about just because you lost your opportunity to spend time with her— Ah, I'm thinking about it again! Books! Look at all the books around you! We came here to read and maybe buy some of them, didn't we?

Just as Rivera-sama once taught me, forcing my attention back onto my goal allowed me to regain my composure quickly. It simply wouldn't do if I, a level three adventurer, were to lose myself in a public setting!

It was to my fortune that I was currently surrounded by my goal then, as it made the act much easier.

Copia Libri wasn't at all a large store. One would be hard pressed to find it, given how it was wedged in between the much larger clothing stores around it, but its simple wooden shelves stood way over my head and were filled with a wide variety of books. All of these aspects made the shop preferable to me, as even though I was without any of my familia, it ensured that I would not be bothered.

I currently stood in between two of its four rows of shelves, my eyes scanning the titles of the many books that lined them, searching for anything of interest.

So far, I found myself disappointed.

Due to the books being organized in alphabetical order, finding any specific kind of book was difficult, but even after combing the first two rows in their entirety, I had yet to find anything that caught my eye.

I sighed at that. Maybe I should've accepted Tiona-chan and Tione-chan's invitation, after all. It's not that I found the idea of attending Monster Feria with two of my own familia unappealing, but after having my opportunity to attend with Ais-sama taken from me by Loki-sama, the thought became unbearable.

Fortunately, before I could delve any further into my sulking, the sound of a bell ringing caught my attention and made ears perk up. I recognized it as the same one that sounded when I first entered the store. That was the first I've heard it sound since then and I looked to be the only customer in the store at the time as well, which meant that someone new had entered the store!

Ah, I must get a hold of myself fully! I cannot allow anyone to see me acting so uncouth, for the sake of my familia and my people! It's a good thing that I wasn't anywhere near the entrance.

Depressive thoughts cast to the side once again, I returned my focus to the books in front of me. Several moments were spent scanning its contents before my eyes were stopped by a book on the topmost possible shelf. Its spine read, "The Roguish Rogue and the Prim Princess, vol. 1."

The title had an air of familiarity to it, but for some reason, the context alluded me. Yes, but I've certainly seen it before, but where? Frowning, I scoured the depths of my memories for occasions in which I could've crossed paths contact with such a book and then, I remembered suddenly. Riveria-sama! I had once seen the tome in my queen's chambers!

The revelation immediately piqued my interest in its contents. Surely, if it could hold a ruler's attention it must've been a grand and worthwhile story!

With curiosity driving me, I took a step forward and reached up to pull it from the shelf, but immediately found my reach lacking. To the point where my fingers could not even graze the shelf it was on. My first thought was to stand the tips of my feet to increase my height, but then, I remembered that my footwear was already forcing me to do so.

I tried and tried, and after managing only to graze the bottom of the book's spine with the tip of my finger once, I ceased reaching to huff and frown. My mind raced with possible solutions to my current problem. My first instinct was to go to the shopkeeper and ask them to procure the book for me, as it was the practical and sensible thing to do, but then I remembered my failings during my familia's last expedition into the Dungeon and cast the thought from my mind.

If I could not even manage my way through this simple of an issue on my own, then how could I ever expect to get better? I needed to solve this on my own!

Now determined to solve this problem on my own, I nodded to myself and immediately put my next solution into action, no matter how unbecoming of me it may be!

Taking a moment to make sure that no one was present, I placed my foot onto the bottom shelf and gripped the middle-most one, which sat at an even level to my neck. I gave it a cautionary pull to assure that it could hold my weight and then used it like a ladder to get me closer to my goal.

Once again, I was only able to get a finger tip on the book, but doing so was much easier than it had before. I was now confident that the book would be in my possession, I just needed to push myself a little—

"Oi, you're going to hurt yourself if you keep doing that." Immediately, my body froze as a quiet, masculine voice came from my left. I tried in vain to move my head towards it to affirm my worries, but I remained stiff as a board. Unfortunately, I already knew what had happened.

It seemed that, in my focus to obtain the book, I had missed someone entering the aisle I was in and allowed them to witness me climbing up on another's property like an unruly child.

….

Well, if I were to procure the book quickly, I may be able to explain my predicament and save some face—

My finger was only able to graze the spine again.

Maybe if I were to try and get myself higher—

My greater efforts lead to only failure.

Calm down, Lefiya. Maybe it was because of your panic that you were unable to get the book. Try one more time with a cool head and surely you'll be able to—

Oh, it seems that I failed once again….

Why can't I reach this damned book?! Come on, please just give yourself to me already! I beg of you! I don't want to embarrass myself any further! I'll do anything! Just keep from tarnishing my good name any—

Suddenly, the lone foot that I had been supporting myself on disappeared from under me and I found myself falling backwards. One might assume that, since I had already taken three steps towards divinity, I would be able to save myself from falling quite easily, but unfortunately, my body stiffened up. All I could do was react fast enough to know that I was falling and do nothing about it.

It made landing hurt even more, even though it didn't hurt at all.

Sniff….

I couldn't help but hang my head as I sat on the ground. All that I desired to do was get a book and I couldn't even manage that without embarrassing myself. If death could come at a whim, then I would be calling it right now. Surely, its cold embrace would be a much alternative to these dreadful flames incinerating me.

"Oi, uh… You alright?" The sound of these flames' catalyst made me flinch back, despite there being no aggression in his voice. Such a pitiful reaction only fanned the fire. "Look, I'm sorry if I was the reason you fell, alright? Please just don't cry."

"I am not—!" No longer being able to help it, I attempted to shout my frustrations at the voice. If my words were like dragon's breath, I wanted the voice's owner turnt to ash, but I smothered that desire as quickly as I could. My familia and people have already been disgraced enough for one day. "Please, I just want to be left alone."

There was silence for a few moments and then I heard a sigh. Since my eyes were closed, I couldn't be sure of the man's departure, but I assumed as much when I heard a series of footsteps travel away from me. At that, I drew my legs close to my body and breathed in as deep as I could manage.

I held that breath inside of me until my body stopped trembling and my eyes no longer threatened to spill. As pitiful an adventurer as I was, I refused to allow myself to become even more so out in the public eye. Even I had more pride than that.

The moment my body calmed itself, I got up off the ground and released the breath that strengthened me. My shoulders slumped the moment I did so, but at the very least, I was no longer sitting in such a pathetic position. I moved to dust off the portion of my clothes that I had fallen on, but before I could do so, the sound of footsteps caught my attention.

Turning towards them, I saw a sight that made me freeze.

There was a boy walking towards me, but not just any boy, it was the same one that had spoken so brazenly to Ais-sama at The Hostess of Fertility a few nights ago. It had to be! A visage as unremarkable as his was unmistakable! Unkempt black hair; ill-fitting, ragged grey long-sleeve; worn, faded black pants; and eyes that reminded me of a dead fish. No doubt, this was the same boy from that night!

"You're…"

"Hm?" The raven-haired boy stopped in his tracks and raised one of his brows when he heard me speak. It was then that I noticed that he had a small wooden crate in his hands. "Something wrong?"

"You…." Against my better judgement, my mouth spoke the words that raged deep within my chest ever since that night. "What are you to, Ais-sama?"

"Eh?" Visible confusion flickered on the stranger's features for a moment, but that just as quickly vanished. "Oh, right, you're a member of Loki's familia, aren't you? I figured that would come bite me in the ass sooner or later." He took a deep breath in and out, making it clear that he saw me as a bother. Well, if that's the case, then I don't particularly like talking to you either then! "If you're talking about what happened a few nights ago, then don't look too much into it, alright? She just wanted me to answer a question. There isn't anything going on between us or anything."

…Did this fool really believe me to be of his ilk? "Ais-sama would never go out of her way to speak to someone without a reason. She had to have a reason to speak with you."

"She did. It was to ask me a question." At that moment, I sincerely regretted my decision not to burn this person alive earlier. "If you're so curious, you should've just asked her yourself."

"I did." Well, it certainly wasn't I who had asked, but the question had been brought up by our familia! "But she would not disclose the nature of the issue for whatever reason."

"Well, she shouldn't have." The boy answered in a deadpan, which somehow managed to infuriate me further. "Look, no matter what it looked like, all that happened was that she saved me and my familia from getting killed by a minotaur, and she had a question about what happened. Does that solve your problem?"

I opened my mouth to deny the notion, but no words escaped my mouth. I couldn't argue his logic, or at least, my mind failed in finding a way of doing so. In a way, he did answer my question, but something still clawed at me. He wasn't sharing all that he knew, but how—

"Anyways, here." Before I could finish piecing together a rebuttal, the boy seemed to take my silence as me admitting defeat and began moving towards me. His discourteous-ness irritated me, but any frustration I felt was quickly replaced with confusion, as he stopped in front of me and placed the crate in his hands down at my feet.

"Huh?" I stared at the crate for a moment and then turned back to the boy, just to find him looking up and away from me.

"You were trying to get a book on one of the higher shelves, right?"

"Oh, ah, yes, but—"

"—I'll just, uh, leave you to it then." He turned his head to face me once more and gave a quick nod. "Sorry about earlier, by the way."

After that, the boy turned and trudged away, leaving me completely dumbfounded as he walked out of the aisle and out of sight.

I stood there for many moments, struggling to comprehend the conversation I just had. If I had to put words to my emotions, the best would be 'conflicted'. My heart still burned with questions I wanted to ask him, mainly the nature of his relationship with Ais-sama. Such behavior from the Sword Princess was rare, even with those in our familia, and he spoke of the event so lightly! Any other adventurer would count themselves lucky to be sought out by someone of her status in any capacity, but at best, he seemed disinterested. At worst, he seemed to loathe the fact the entire interaction happened to begin with. Any sense eluded the thought!

But, even now, I was forced into hesitation.

Would it not have been unbecoming of me to press the matter any further? It was clear that he was adamant on not discussing the matter and, while my earlier fall was clearly my own folly, he still took responsibility and apologized. Even going out of his way to try and make amends when he didn't have to. He did good by me, a stranger, and I chose to treat him poorly, all because of my feelings for Ais-sama. I hadn't even been able to thank him for—

—Ah! I never thanked him for trying to help! I would not let such a sleight fester! Despite my own feelings, I should be able to show him that common courtesy!

The sound of a bell ringing made my ears perk up! Knowing what that meant, I raced to follow it to its source and make up for my err.

I reached the front of the store just in time to see the boy leaving the store. I bid the store attendant a wordless thanks as I followed him out, but as I rushed to exit Copia Libri, I heard coming from my left. Screams and a low rumbling.

Knowing that the Coliseum was off in that direction, my first thought was that it was just noise coming from those participating in Monster Feria, but then I realized they sounded far too close for that to be the case. Turning in that direction, I saw that my worries were well founded, because all I was met with was a gust of strong wind and a black blur.

Following it in the direction it went, my eyes widened in shock as I saw it ground against the dirt to a stop. Its momentum taking it out the other end of the alley.

A Charging Wall, one of the rarest, most destructive monsters to appear on the Dungeon's middle floors. It was the size of a small shack and akin to a boulder on four, short legs - its entire body being made of jagged, uneven rock - but its most prominent feature was its tall, shield-like face. Despite having taken part in many expedition parties, I had only ever encountered it in the stories of my comrades and each time, they shared the same sentiment: only the mightiest of parties could survive an encounter with it in a narrow passage.

That meant that the alleyway where Copia Libri was located, which was sandwiched in between two larger roads, played to that strength very well. Fortunately, due to Monster Feria, the streets were relatively empty of people. Save for the few—

My mind immediately jumped to the boy who had been standing in front of me, who had disappeared from sight the moment the Charging Wall flew by. Given his gear, he seemed to be a novice adventurer, so there was a very good chance that he had been run over by it—

"Oi…" I startled when I heard his voice come from in front of me. As he wasn't anywhere in my immediate line of sight, I cast my gaze downwards and found him lying prone on the ground, a broken dagger in his right hand. His small, beady grey eyes were focused squarely in the direction of the Charging Wall. I followed them and a small trickle of crimson, and found it getting back onto its short legs. "You're an adventurer, right?"

Seeing the rock monster begin turn back towards us, I took an instinctive step backwards and swallowed hard, before answering, "Y-Yes."

"Level?" It was now facing us.

"T-Three." The living boulder scraped at the ground with one of its front legs and roared. It was going to charge! We needed to—

Before I could finish that thought, I felt my feet disappear out from under me and let out a yelp. At some point, the boy had gotten off of the ground and swept me up off my feet. The impropriety of the action made me tense up instinctively, but any protests I had were cast away the moment he began to flee in the opposite direction of the monster.

"You're a mage, right?!" Even though the boy was yelling, I could hardly hear him over the stomping that had begun behind us. Still, I found myself being shocked as to how he so easily surmised my class. I didn't even have my staff with me!

"Y-Yes, but how did you—?"

"—Do you know any magic that can kill that thing?!"

My mind raced at the question. Did I know magic that could kill a Charging Wall? Having taken three steps towards divinity, I felt it was remiss of me to imply otherwise, but just the same, I opened my mouth and words struggled to escape. "I-I do, but—"

Once again, I found myself being interrupted. This time by the alleyway around us giving way to open sky and the boy carrying suddenly throwing himself, and me with him, off to the left. Another gust of wind burst by us as he did so.

Naturally, I braced myself for a tumble, but was surprised to feel that I landed softly. The reason why became apparent the moment I glanced down and found the boy underneath me. I felt the urge to thank him, but remembering the graveness of our situation, I set that aside for later and got up and off of him as fast I could manage.

As soon as I was up and able, I made fast note of our surroundings. We were back on the main road. Being in the shopping district, it was wide to accommodate large crowds of people and were lined with stores and stands of various types as far as the eye could see. Much of the latter, however, were crushed to splinters. Surprisingly, even with Monster Feria going on, there were few bodies strewn about.

"You said that you could kill that thing, right?" In my peripheral vision, the boy got back up and slipped the bow on his shoulder off of it, focus still fixed on the Charging Wall, which was already beginning to turn to look our way.

Worry coursed through me when I noticed the materials his weapon was composed of, it was naught but a long branch and a piece of twine. Worry morphed into regret when I realized the boy's intention. He would attempt to fight a Charging Wall with such sub-par equipment? All because he believed that I could help him? I couldn't allow him to do so. I couldn't help my own familia when they counted on me, how could I possibly help him?

"I did, but—!"

"—It's alright if you can't." Once again, I found myself being interrupted. This time by the boy suddenly saying something that I never heard before. "None of this situation makes sense, so I don't think this thing isn't going to leave us alone any time soon." The boy reached behind him and pulled an arrow from his quiver. It was just a wooden stick with an end sharpened. "Stay and fight, or start running and find help; either way, I should be able to buy time."

I had been given a choice, one that could very likely lead to someone's death, yet I found myself frozen. I didn't know what to do. Would I be able to help if I were to stay? Could I run fast enough to find someone to help? Who would I even run to? My familia? Twilight Manor was closer than the Colosseum, but would I be able to make it—?

"Hurry up and make a decision." I was jostled from my indecision by a voice, calm and even. A pair of grey eyes were now looking at me and in them, I saw something in them that made me decide. "I don't plan on dying here today."

With that, the boy dashed off to his left.

"I wish upon the name of Wishe." Gathering and focusing my will, I began my chant. "Ancestors of the forest, proud brethren."

I was rife with indecision but I was going to stay.

"Answer my call and call to the plains." To put it plainly, I was afraid. "Connecting bonds, the pledge of paradise."

However, the boy in front of me was too and he chose to run into battle with nothing but a stick and thread.

"Turn the circle and dance around." If I couldn't do the same with all the magic I had in my possession… "Come, ring of faeries."

…then I would sooner cast myself off Babel Tower, than consider myself deserving of it.

"Please - give me strength! Elf ring!"

---

Current objective: buy enough time for the elf to use her magic.

Admittedly, the thought was pretty ironic considering the nature of Sokudoku, but despite its pseudo time stopping/slowing nature, it wasn't going to help me in the slightest here. My skill's main advantage was that it gave me time to compose myself and think while in the heat of battle, and while it did technically boost my reaction time, it didn't actually make me move faster in any way.

If a monster flat out outclassed me in terms of physical speed, then despite me seeing it as having slowed down, I would still be slower than it. That's what made the walking boulder in front of me so dangerous.

Stop. It's stomping and grinding its front foot again. That's definitely a tell - getting ready to charge. Start running left to get it at an angle, so it doesn't go right into the elf behind me when it does. Can't get to top speed instantly and, from this distance, I should be able to dodge out of the way without Sokudoku active. Go.

I broke left and just like I expected, it tracked me as I ran and then charged. Diving out of the way, I felt a gust of wind graze my leg as I notched the arrow in my hand. I could hear the walking boulder grind itself to a stop behind me as I rolled across my back and into a crouching position, my head snapped towards the noise and I found the monster several meters away.

It was lying in the middle of the road. Probably needed to drag itself across the ground to make sudden stops.

Stop.

It only took me a single glance to realize what it was, or rather, what it would try to do to kill me. Thank you, video game developers all over the world! Once again, your lack of creativity has proved useful to me! Just for that, when I get back home, I'll be sure to hop straight on Twitter and get everyone to think that anyone saying that your game lacks creative boss design is the asshole. That should make up the difference!

Faux gratitude aside, despite the clear similarities between those copy-and-paste bosses and the monster in front of me, there was no way I was going to be able to kill this thing by playing a matador.

Given its size and deceptive top speed, even if I were able to get it to run into one of the buildings around me, it'd probably go right through it. Even if it didn't, I doubted that it'd just randomly decide to flop onto its side so I could attack its underbelly, the only obvious chink in its rocky armor. And even if it did, I snapped my iron dagger in two trying to do so earlier, so I was pretty sure my arrows weren't going to do any damage to it.

Right now, all I could do was annoy the thing and get it in prime killing position when the elf was finished her chanting.

Go. "I wish upon the name of Wishe."

Watching the monster get back on its feet and start turning to face me, I breathed in deep and pulled my arrow back in preparation. The thing was built like a tank and moved like one too, meaning that it took a few seconds to fully turn and face me, but when it did, I let loose my arrow right at its stone face.

The monster didn't even flinch as it plunked right off the center of its head, which left me disappointed but not surprised.

"Ancestors of the forest, proud brethren."

Stop. Dammit. Expecting it to stomp like it did earlier, I moved to pull out another arrow, but it charged without warning. So, you're not that predictable, huh? Got it. It's running at me right now. Gotta dive out of the way. Go.

Being in a crouching position, I tucked my shoulder and rolled to my right, just to barely avoid getting trampled as it rushed by again. I heard it grind to a stop behind me again, but this time closer.

"Answer my call and come to the plains."

I rushed to check and I found that it did, in fact, stop closer to me than it did before. Stop. I didn't know if it meant to do that, but seeing that I wouldn't be able to get distance on it and repeat my earlier actions, I came up with another plan to attack it. Go.

Exploding back up to my feet, I circled behind the monster and notched another arrow as it got back up. The moment I reached its head, I dropped down into a baseball slide and turned to aim my bow at its face.

"Connecting the bonds, the pledge of paradise."

Stop. Use out most foot to stop slide. Pull back on drawstring and shoot it right in the eye. Not unrealistically big and glowing bright orange, but it'll have to do. Go.

Direct hit, dead center. The stone monster roared and flailed as its eyes snapped shut. I took that time to hop back up to my feet, pull out another arrow, and jump back to make distance.

"Turn the circle around and dance around."

Notching said arrow in mid-air, I drew it back the moment I touched ground and waited for the thing to open its other eye.

"Come, ring of faeries."

As soon as it did, I let loose the shot to close it permanently, which forced it to let out another anguished roar.

"Please - give me strength! Elf ring!"

Assuming that was the end of her chant, I smirked as I watched the rock monster thrash around. Haha! Get rekt, you living plot contrivance! Also, to whatever force caused you to come all the way from the Colosseum, I hope that you're watching, because you should know that I'm nowhere near dumb enough to miss the connection! I'll track you down and make you pay for my broken dagger! Wait, screw that. For nearly killing me, I'll charge you ten, no, hundred times that amount—

"Harbinger of the end, the white snow." Eh?

A sudden and intense burning spread through the front of my body as I suddenly felt my feet leave the ground. That feeling spread out into the rest of my body as I hit something hard and the world began to spin, eventually coming to a stop.

A year or two ago, before the start of my high school career, I had thrown myself in front of a moving car, got run over, and fractured a bone in my leg. Back then, the pain was so bad that I almost immediately blacked out from it. Now, I wasn't even close to reaching that point, thanks to my falna and improved pain tolerance.

That didn't stop the pain, though. At the very least, now I know what'd happen if I were to activate it after getting— Go.

My hand clutched at my chest as my burning lungs tried to claw air back inside of them. I squirmed on the ground as I gulped in the air like a thirsty man did water. Doing my best to ignore the pain going on in the rest of my body, I propped myself up on a forearm and my knees.

The flat dirt under me was spinning. There was an awful ringing in my ears that made it impossible to hear anything and despite having only had my skill activated for a moment or two in actual time, it felt like I had been drowning.

It took a few seconds, but eventually, I was confident enough in my oxygen levels to stop breathing exclusively through my mouth and when I did, I shut my eyes hard and grit my teeth together.

Stop. Dammit. Made a mistake. Paid. On ground now. Shit. Monster still alive. Still need to buy time. Need to focus. Go.

"A-Are you okay?!"

Forcing my eyes open, blurry vision and all, I looked for the monster that had most likely run me over. Conveniently, it was just then that my hearing and touch started to return to me, although all it did was tell me that the thing was slowly lumbering over in my direction.

Eyes eventually landing on the monster, I found that it was to my left, standing directly over me like some sort of spinning mountain range.

Stop. Its eyes are still closed and its nostrils are flaring. It must not know where I am. Probably only managed to hit me because I hadn't moved after I shot it. I have to take advantage of that somehow. Bow isn't in my hand anymore. My arrows won't do any damage. Dagger is broken. Attacking with my bare hands isn't an option. All visible weak points have already been attacked. Should I just get out of the way and— There!

Following a small drop of blood coming from underneath the monster, I found that the other half of my dagger's blade, still sunken into the thing's underbelly like an iron thorn. How it managed to stay lodged in there, despite all of its sliding around, plot only knows, but I decided not to count my blessings. I could only take advantage of it. Go.

Forcing my aching body into action, I rolled myself under the monster, located my target, and slammed the broken blade with my palm. It didn't go any deeper into the thing, but the act did make it tremble and let out another, pain-filled roar.

I rolled out from underneath the thing, just barely avoiding getting squished as it flopped down onto its belly. My head immediately snapped over towards where I heard the elf's voice coming from and yelled, "I'm fine! Finish the chant!"

A part of me wanted to be more succinct, as to try and sound cooler, but considering that my body felt like it was dying, I could hardly bring myself to care. Still, the look of worry on the pink-clad mage's face faded as she nodded at me. She put her hands out in front of her.

"Closing light, the freezing land." A bright, white light began to emanate around her and her palms. "Blizzard, the three severe winters — my name is Alf."

That white light trailed her hand as she pulled it back. Seeing that, I found it in my best interest to get out of the way. "Wynn Fimbulvter!"

With that final exclamation, a torrent of pure, white energy poured out of her hand like a frozen tidal wave. The air around me was so cold that I could feel it nip on my skin and I counted myself lucky that I managed to dive out of the way in time.

It didn't take long to completely engulf the now struggling creature and an instant later, the light was gone and there was nothing left but a trail of ice lining the ground and an ice statue that took its rough shape. It stood as a monument to our victory for a moment and I stared at it, filled with a combination of awe and terror, before eventually a crack split it and it collapsed into dust like all monsters did.

So, that's magic, huh? Talk about scary.

…

People often say not to judge a book by its cover and that it's not wise to make any final judgements on a person's character just from your initial perceptions of them. Of course, while I found the idea of tempering one's own expectations to be rather good in general, I couldn't bring myself to agree with the sentiment.

The notion that you'd be able to understand someone better, just because you've spent more time in close proximity with them was irresponsible and asinine. For example, I've spent almost seventeen years living with my parents and there wasn't a single thing about them that I understood. All I really knew was their general tendencies and all the 'why' of the matter was beyond me. Hell, the same thing could be said for Komachi, although I hated to admit it.

The point was that first impressions are important, because more often than not, that's the only side of the person you, or sometimes even the world, will ever get to see. They may do it consciously or unconsciously, but at the end of the day, the parts of themselves that they're comfortable with showing you are only ever shown because they don't mind doing so.

For example, my first impression of Isshiki Iroha was different from others, because she didn't care if I thought highly of her or not. I was a nobody that she wanted to use for her own gain and so, she didn't see a problem with me knowing that.

Now, what was my first impression of the golden-haired elf kneeling over me?

Well, she reminded me of Cranel. Not entirely, but the similarities were certainly there. A strange fixation on Wallenstein, crippling insecurity that leads them do dumb things, and being more powerful than the previous similarity would let on.

In terms of differences, uh….

"A-Are you gravely injured at all?" She certainly seemed more well-spoken? "You only sustained such damage because of my lack of foresight, so please don't hesitate to request my aid."

In response to such levels of concern, my first instinct as a proud, full-blooded Japanese man was to assure her that I was alright, but unfortunately, my body wouldn't cooperate. To put it bluntly, I was exhausted.

My body ached all over and taking full breaths burned like hell. I was pretty sure that if I were to try and get up right now, I'd just double over and collapse from the pain. So, on a physical level, I was far from being okay.

Mentally speaking? Not so much either. I felt like I had just spent an entire day inside the Dungeon, but worse somehow. Like, there was this weight on my shoulders that told me that I'd be best served staying on the ground, sitting against this wall and nothing else. Granted, if I hadn't been an adventurer, that hit I took probably would've killed me and I knew it, so maybe my body was just reacting to that.

That being said, if she was willing to help me, I'd be remiss to deny her offer. Also, money for health potions and healthcare didn't grow on trees, so if a rich girl from a rich familia was going to offer me assistance, who was I to pass up the opportunity? That'd be pretty disrespectful and ungrateful of me!

I opened my mouth to answer, but the moment I did so, a stabbing pain shot through my chest and forced me into silence. How much it hurt must've been visible because panic spread across the elf's face soon after.

"Ah, please don't attempt to speak if you cannot! I don't want you to injure yourself any further for my sake." Wait, was that genuine concern towards my well-being? Great, now I feel kinda bad for wanting to take advantage of your kindness. "Please try and keep still for now. With all of the commotion the Charging Wall caused, I'm sure the Guild has sent medics out to treat the injured."

Wait, the Guild does that? I knew that they had medics available for adventurers willing to pay, but I didn't know that extended out to civilians at all. Huh, the more you know. Of course, I doubted they did it out of the kindness of their heart, but that was nice to know. Oh and 'Charging Wall'? Is that what the thing we killed was called? Cool.

Also, can you please stop staring at me? I know that you're worried about me, but I'm not injured enough to outright die in front of your eyes. At least, I hoped that was the case. If I was, I'm sure I would've blacked out dramatically by now.

Being unable to tell her that without feeling like someone was stabbing me in the lung, I decided to just mitigate the issue by turning my head away from her. However, for some reason, she believed that to be the best moment to start speaking, which forced me to pay attention to her again. Oi, if you have something to say, don't hesitate until you lose their attention! Only children do that sorta thing!

"Oh, ah…. please forgive me for how I treated you earlier!" Eh? Not really knowing what she was apologizing for, I blinked at her once and raised a brow. Surprisingly, although I didn't really know how much so considering she was in the same familia as Wallenstein, she understood what I was getting at immediately. "Earlier, back in Copia Libri, I allowed myself to be caught up in my emotions and I treated you unfairly because of it." The pink and white-clad elf lowered her head as she spoke. "I can tell that you don't think much of it, but still, please accept my sincerest apologies regardless."

…

I wanted to let out a sigh in response, but considering the current state of my respiratory system, I decided against being a dumbass just to get my feelings across. You literally just admitted to knowing that I didn't really care about any of that, so why are you even bothering to apologize? Are you really observant enough to glean that much, but not how self-serving that is? Also, please stop looking down like that! You're making me feel like I just kicked a puppy!

"Eh!" Eh? Why did you 'eh'? That's usually my line— Wait, hand, what in the hell do you think you're doing? Get off from up there right now! "Ah…."

Oh no, she's beginning to short circuit…. This isn't good at all. Hand, you really need to move now. Quickly, before you somehow do more damage to—

"Ah, so that's where you've been, Lefiya-chan." Before I could finish the thought, a chirpy voice sounded from behind the elf next to me, who I now assumed was actually named Lefiya and not Alf, and made me freeze. I could picture the scene in the anime now. The two of us, caught in a position that we'd rather not be in, would both look up slowly to face our captor, who in turn would be looming over us somehow, shrouded in darkness and sporting a smile that only the truest of villains could sport. Goddammit, how could I have possibly allowed myself to get roped into a situation so cliche?! "That's no good, Lefiya-chan! I know that not being able to go to Monster Feria with Ais-chan made you really sad, but you can't just shift focus like that. You'll give people the wrong idea!"

Unfortunately, upon looking up to see just who was talking, I found that the situation playing out in my head, was playing out in real life. Except for the whole dark energy part, of course.

There, standing over Lefiya, was a tan-skinned girl with medium-length, black hair who's state of dress told me she was probably an Amazoness. Probably noticing my looking at her, the new arrival shifted her brown eyes to meet my own and flashed me a grin that brought great fear to my heart. Suddenly, I felt like I was a deer who just caught sight of a lurking predator.

A part of me wondered if I could possibly avoid getting attacked by staying perfectly still, but I doubted that her vision was based on movement.

"Ah, wait, I remember you!" Goddammit, Wallenstein…. "You're the guy Ais-chan wanted to talk to while we were at Mama Mia's place, aren't you?" How many times is that going to be brought up today? All she wanted to do was ask me a question. A pretty innocuous one too! I don't care if she's never done anything like that before, it was just a question! "Ais-chan was pretty bummed out that you said 'no' to whatever she was asking you for, y'know?" Oi, don't pout like that after saying something like that. You'll trigger my kouhai based PTSD, if you do. "And now, you're going after one of her own familia? That's, like, incredibly mean of you! What do you have to say yourself, Fish-kun?"

Eh, 'Fish-kun'? Who's that? I don't anyone by that name. Are you asking me a question? If you are, then please refer to me by my name. What's that? You don't know it? Ah, looks like you've finally stumbled upon the point. Basically, please stop talking to me.

"Aha, the look on your face!" This girl….

In an incredibly ill advised move on my part, I opened my mouth to say something to the girl who was bullying me so openly and was almost immediately reminded of why I hadn't said anything back prior to this point.

Doubling over in pain, my hands instinctively went to apply pressure on my side, hoping in vain that it would help alleviate my suffering. Goddammit, this is why I shouldn't ever engage with riajuu….

"Eh, is there something wrong, Fish-kun?"

"Ah, r-right, my apologies for forgetting!" Ah, it seems that has finally finished rebooting. Thank kami, now please go get me help! I would really appreciate it. "We were doing battle with a Charging Wall and he was run over protecting me, so I could use my magic on it. Tiona-chan, we must get him to the Guild for treatment!"

"A Charging Wall?!" Being too preoccupied with being in pain, I couldn't see how Tiona reacted, but given the brief span of silence that followed the exclamation, I assumed that she had finally noticed the destruction around us. "Why didn't you just start with that? C'mere, I'll get you help, Fish-kun."

Ah, freaking finally! Y'know, for members of one of the strongest familia in Orario, you all certainly don't act like— Eh? Just where do you think you're touching? Wait, are you planning on—

When Tiona said that she'd go get me help, I believed that she'd go run to alert one of the medics of my location and have them come to me, but instead, she hooked an arm under my legs and one behind my back and picked me up off the ground. No, absolutely not! I refuse this future! I shall not be emasculated in such a fashion! Last time I checked, my name isn't Bell Cranel! I don't like this one bit!

Being physically unable to voice these denials, I was forced to bear with it. However, that didn't stop me from wanting to die of embarrassment.

"Lefiya-chan, can you still use any magic?"

"Y-Yes!"

"A whole bunch of monsters managed to break free from Monster Feria, you should head back to the Colosseum and see if sis and Ais-chan need any help." There was a moment of silence before Tiona spoke again. "Don't you worry about Fish-kun here, I'll make sure he gets help!"

"U-Understood. Oh, and, ah…." The elf suddenly turned to look my way. "Thank you again for protecting me. If we ever meet again, please don't hesitate in asking something of me. It's the least I can do for all you did today."

With that, I heard the tell-tale sign of footsteps click-clacking away from me, which I assumed meant that Lefiya had run off like she had been told.

"Hehe, aren't you super popular, Fish-kun?" As Tiona said me, air began to hit the right side of my body. That, coupled with the slight bouncing I was feeling, told me that she had begun running me to safety like she said she would.

If I could, I would've scoffed. How could I possibly be popular when I was sure that none of you even knew my name?

"What am I going to do with you, Hikigaya?" Some days, I couldn't help but feel as though that the only reason I had been thrown into a different world was to suffer. I didn't know if the all powerful deity responsible for my inter-dimensional travel just liked to watch random people be miserable, or if they somehow found out about my 'people to murder' list and decided that I needed to be punished. Either way, I currently hated them for the position they put me in right now. "You tried to fight a Charging Wall? You haven't even gotten to the seventh floor yet, what were you thinking?"

Having been taken to the Pantheon by Tiona for treatment, I had been immediately taken to a medic and given a health potion. Unfortunately, as I sat in the Guild's medical room, which was just a long room with a lot of beds lined up in a row, and waited for the potion to slowly do its job, a certain half-elf adviser happened to slip into the room for whatever reason and found me there. Now, I was once again being lectured.

Granted, from where she was standing over me, I could see where her anger came from. The reasons in which I would fight a monster as strong as a Charging Wall should've came to close to none, but here I was. Lying in a medical cot, waiting for my injuries to finish fully healing.

Fortunately, for the sake of my own sanity, my midsection had healed enough to the point where I could actually refute her. "I'm sorry. Next time I walk out of a bookstore and get attacked from out of nowhere, I'll be sure to approach the situation like Eina Tulle would. After all, she's the most sensible and most knowledgeable adviser in the world. I'm sure she'd approach the situation perfectly every time."

In response to my obvious sarcasm, the half elf pinched the bridge of her nose and let out a sigh. "This is the farthest thing from a laughing matter, Hikigaya."

'Laughing'? Do you see me laughing, Tulle? No, I'm actually lying in a medical because I got ran over by a running boulder and probably could've died if it wasn't for the busted elf that I just happened to run into, so please stop acting as though I haven't been taking this seriously.

"I just don't understand why'd you would ever make a decision like that. With your level of equipment, the idea that you would even consider attacking a monster that powerful is baffling to me."

At that, I snorted and moved my gaze away from my adviser. "I mean, it's not like you've ever known me to be someone who makes a lot of good decisions. What is this? The tenth lecture you've given me in the last month? Clearly, I'm nothing more than a problem child. Maybe it's about time you realized that, it'd probably save you a lot of trouble."

"Do you really think I'm that shortsighted, Hikigaya?" The outright challenge made my eyes widen. "I'm your adviser and, as an adviser, it's my job to help guide people through their careers as adventurers. I wouldn't be able to do that effectively if I wasn't good at getting a grasp on people's individual personalities and, while you've made no shortage of questionable decisions in the short time we've known each other, I know better than to believe you made them without reason. If you decided to fight that Charging Wall, you did so because you believed you had to."

Her words made me ball my hands up into tight fists.

Stop.

Despite my clear attempts to get away from the subject, Tulle wouldn't take a hint and pressed on with her questions, and as a result, I could feel myself being backed into a corner.

On all accounts, she was correct to be confused by my motivations.

When it came down to fight or flight, I definitely preferred the latter. Under any other circumstances, fighting that Charging Wall would never have crossed my mind, but those were far from normal circumstances and so, I felt justified in my reasoning.

The problem was that I had no idea how the explain it without sounding insane or, more likely, overly paranoid.

A monster like that getting all the way to the shopping district from the Colosseum? I wasn't too well versed with Orario's overall layout yet, but I knew that was more than a reasonable distance for it to get if it was truly just a monster who escaped its cage. Even then, it just happened to go through the alleyway I was in at the time, when there was far more opportunity to be destructive out on the main road? I would've chalked it all up to simple plot contrivance coincidence, but I couldn't fight this gnawing feeling that it was supposed to be there and that I had to fight it.

In retrospect, it was probably more likely that someone had sent it there to kill Lefiya, considering she's a member of one of the strongest familia in all Orario and I effectively didn't even exist to the secular world, but to be fair, I wasn't aware of just how busted she was at the time!

Still, I could tell that Tulle wasn't going to let me go without disclosing some information. I don't know if it was out of care, curiosity, or duty, but if my suspicions turned out to be correct, then I wasn't going to play my full hand to anyone just yet. Not that I didn't trust Tulle. At the very least, I trusted in her feelings for Cranel enough to not do me harm, but it was better to be safe than sorry. Especially in an open setting like this.

If my suspicions were correct and this did turn out to be some sort of orchestrated attack, I wanted to be one of the only few who knew about it. Information was like anything else of value — its value was based entirely on supply and demand. Control the prior and you could manipulate the latter. It was just that simple.

Go.

So, of course, I went for the option that gave me the most control. "Do you know how the Ganesha Familia managed to let those monsters escape?"

…

One might think that, after receiving treatment for having my chest caved in by a living boulder and narrowly escaping the suspicions of a nosy advisor, the first thing I would want to do afterward was trudge all the way back home to lay in bed. That person would be right, but unfortunately, I still had business to take care of.

The last I had seen Cranel, he had run off towards Monster Feria to give Syr back her coin purse. Taking into account the fact that he was the main protagonist, there was no doubt in my mind that he managed to get caught up in all the chaos.

I hadn't seen him at the Guild with the rest of the injured and, while she didn't know too much of the overall situation, Tulle had heard reports of something called a Silverback (I assumed it was a giant gorilla monster or something) rampaging through Daedalus Street, a labyrinthe area that apparently existed near the Colosseum.

Knowing my familia and his penchant for finding trouble well enough, I assumed that he probably had something to do with it one way or another. I also figured that if he did, he probably didn't come out of it unscathed, but seeing as I didn't see him at the Pantheon, it probably wasn't serious enough to need serious medical attention. That, or he received it from one of the field medics. Either way, that meant that if I was going to find him, I was best served to think in the general direction of the Colosseum.

That's why, for the second time today, I found myself standing in front of The Hostess of Fertility, but this time with the intention to actually enter.

Breathing in and out slowly, I began dragging my aching body down the final stretch into the tavern. Unfortunately, while health potions healed wounds at unrealistic speeds, they did so in a way that led to the person being healed feeling like they just sprant an entire marathon once the adrenaline wore off. That being said, I probably wouldn't even be standing, much less dragging myself around in the first place without it, so I really didn't have any room to complain about is finer mechanics.

"Ah, Hikigaya-san!" Just like always, the moment I stepped foot inside the tavern, I found myself being beset by a certain grey-haired barmaid, who just so happened to be serving a table next to the entrance. I didn't know whether or not to be surprised to find business bustling behind her. "Bell-kun's upstairs with your kami-sama, if you came here looking for them." Despite the fact that she was holding a tray full of drinks in her hand, she bowed her head in what I assumed was apology. Oho, how diligent~. "I'm really sorry for all the trouble I caused. If I hadn't forgotten my wallet, they never would've been caught up in any of it."

"Are they injured at all?"

"No, thankfully." Flova let out a sigh as she straightened herself. "Your kami-sama passed out from exhaustion, but that's the worst of it." I couldn't help but feel a little unnerved when I noticed her eyes give me a once over as she went silent for a second. "From the looks of it, I'm guessing you got caught up in all of the chaos too?"

"That obvious, huh?" I hadn't bothered to check up on my appearance before leaving the Pantheon, so I really didn't know. Then again, the fact that I could feel passing breezes on parts of my chest and stomach probably should've been a big tip off to that. Damn, I hope the holes aren't too big.

Humming back in response, she smiled at me. "I've been working on my sowing, so I can take a look at your clothes if you want. It's the least I could do for being so much trouble."

"Thanks." Seeing as these were my only clothes and how I had already broken almost all of my current equipment, the last thing I could afford to do was decline a free service. Hell, I couldn't even afford to think about declining. "I'll be sure to send Cranel over one of these days with them."

"No, thank you! For everything." You picked up on that last part? Huh. Well, aren't you scary?

Humming back as to end our conversation, I made my way past the barmaid and up the stairs she had pointed me towards. I managed to get up about three-quarters the way up before catching sight of my white-haired familia, who was huddled under the stairs up to the floor above in fetal position, staring at a certain door in front of him.

"Oi, Cranel." The albino let out a high-pitched yelp at my sudden greeting. I waited for him to look back over his shoulder at me before continuing, "I heard that you and Hestia-sama had a run in with a Silverback."

"Ah, H-Hachiman!" Oi, you already know that it's me, there's no need to say my name like that. "What are you doing here?"

I opened my mouth to respond, but a certain deity cut me off before I could.

"Bell-kun…"

Upon hearing our kami-sama's muffled voice, Cranel's head snapped back towards the door he had been looking at a second earlier. "Ah, Hestia-sama's awake!"

I watched the albino shoot up off the ground and into the room I presumed Hestia-sama was resting in. Oi, I thought you fought a monster much stronger than yourself like I did? I know that you didn't get run over or anything, but how are you still moving around like you didn't break a sweat?

Letting out a sigh, I went up the last portions of stairs in front of me and followed my familia into our kami-sama's room.

Being lit by only a small oil lamp at her bedside, it framed Hestia and Bell in a way that I knew would look great in an illustration. The former was sitting up in her bed while the latter was kneeling at her bedside. Yep, best to just lean on the door frame and watch. I'd already been run over today, I didn't want to know what karmic justice would be enacted on me if I broke up such a picturesque scene.

"You had no idea how worried I was when I saw you collapse." Good starting line, Cranel! But now, how are you going to follow up? Remember, it doesn't matter how strong you start, but it's how you finish that really matters.

"Yeah, I guess I was more tired than I thought. I'm sorry about scaring you." Oh? It looks Hestia-sama is setting you up for a big play, how are you going to respond, dense familia of mine?

"I talked to Syr earlier and it looks like all of the monsters that escaped got taken care of." Alright, reassuring her that the danger is gone is decent, but you need to do better if you really want to capitalize on this flag— "Oh, and I heard Ais Wallenstein-san helped out too."

—Aaaand you failed. Better luck next time, Hestia-sama. You tried your hardest, but just as you can't squeeze blood from a rock, you can't get Cranel to read the mood. You have my most sincerest apologies.

"Huh? Well, how about that?" The pout on my kami-sama's face told the entire story. Yep, you've done screwed up that chance royally, Cranel. Then again, considering the look on your face, I can tell that you didn't even notice.

"Oh, by the way, I was wondering." With that exclamation, the albino boy reached down to his side and pulled out a knife-long, black sheath that I hadn't noticed when I first saw him. "This knife, does it really say Hephaestus?" Eh? "As in—?"

"—The Hephaestus?!" As if to emphasize her own excitement, Hestia-sama brought her face close to Cranel's. "The one and only!" She pulled back and donned a more reserved expression as she continued and suddenly, I couldn't shake the feeling that I wasn't supposed to be here. "Oh, come on, I've seen how you've always got your face squished up against her shop window. Now, I know it wasn't exactly what you were looking for, but Bell-kun…. It's the only one of its kind in the entire world and that's pretty neat, right?"

Yeah, I definitely wasn't supposed to be here.

"Listen, I don't want to just sit and watch. I've never liked being taken care of or fussed over."

This was a moment between the two of them.

"But how did you get this? Hephaestus weapons are insanely expensive."

I was just an intruder in it.

"It's already been handled! You want to be stronger and I want to help you! I know it's not much, but please let me do this. Okay?" I didn't belong here at all. "There's nothing I want more than to be the source of your strength. I love you with all my heart. Always."

I needed to get out of here before I caused something to go wrong.

"Kami-sama…." With tears pouring from his eyes, Cranel leapt forward and surrounded Hestia-sama in his arms, and she gladly reciprocated. "Kami-sama!"

"Please put your faith in me forever…."

I couldn't help but smile at the scene as I left it.

…

Sitting at the foot of the stairs leading out of the The Hostess of Fertility, I leaned my head back against the wall behind me and let out a sigh, waiting for Hestia-sama and Cranel to come out after they were finished with their moment.

Bored out of my mind, I thought back on all that happened today. I had been run over and nearly killed by a suspiciously placed Charging Wall, and in the process, met two members of the Loki Familia. One of which being a magic-inclined elf named Lefiya, who I assumed offered me a favor. That could definitely be taken advantage of— I mean, cashed in some day later.

Cranel had a similarly eventful day, somehow running across Hestia-sama and ending up fighting and killing a Silverback all by himself. I didn't know how he managed to do it, but it probably had something to do with that knife Hestia-sama had given him. Maybe he pulled some main character strats out of his ass and used those to kill it too. Either way, no matter how he managed, I had to give him credit. The fact that he had done it at all proved me wrong.

They boy I had met a few weeks ago couldn't have killed it.

Bell Cranel was changing, faster than I could've anticipated, and I couldn't afford to start lagging behind.

"Ah, Hachi-kun, you were here too—? Wait, what happened to you?!"

Oh, right…. Lol.

…

Chapter End.

---

A/N: Hey, so this is done. Had a fun time writing it. Came out much faster than I anticipated, but I was eager to finish this.

Anyways, in terms of the next chapter, it probably won't be the same length. As in, it'll probably be longer because I have a lot planned for it. Also, it probably won't come out this quick and will be more along the three-four mouths I lined out in chapter 1.

Mainly because I'm planning on doing some smaller, half chapters to put in between the much more serious chapters/arcs. These will consist of more personal, more romantic comedy esque stuff. They'll still be mandatory reading, though. There's just going to be a difference of tone and energy, so I'd rather separate them from the main bodies then risk ruining pacing or whatever.

That's all I had to say. Oh, and I'm cross-posting this on AO3. If you'd rather read the story there, then feel free to.