- (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.

My Daily Life as a Dungeon Crawler is More Grindy, Chapter 2.3 | Unfortunately, Orario is a Big Place .

…

Back in my old world, I lived a life of comfort and leisure, where the only thing I really had to worry about was finding the energy to half-ass my school work. I never really had to worry about making my own money, buying my own food, or getting all that I needed to be a functioning member of society. The most I ever really had to do was clean up after myself and occasionally pick something up from the store.

That was thanks to my corporate slave parents, who worked themselves ragged every day to provide such a lifestyle to me and Komachi. Although that same effort brought on its own issues, they didn't make me ungrateful enough to resent them. I very much appreciated them and their efforts to make my life as easy as possible, which was a sentiment I felt heavily now that I was in Orario.

Why? Because I didn't have them to lean on anymore. Granted, thanks to me being a part of a familia, I wasn't being forced to be entirely self-sufficient, but the principle remained the same.

All of the things that I always left to my parents, I had to do now.

Ever since coming to Orario, I had become well-acquainted with those first two aspects of self-sufficiency, but outside of getting the supplies I needed for work and other general toiletries (which were usually handled by my kami-sama in the first place), the third had yet to rear its ugly head.

That was all up until I got run over by a Charging Wall.

"Hm…. Yep, these clothes are ruined." Hearing that, I let out a sigh as I tried to lean as far back into the couch as possible. There goes the money I would've saved taking Syr's offer, I guess. "With how bad a shape these are in, I suppose that I should be grateful that you didn't get seriously injured or anything."

Standing in front of me, holding the tattered remains of what were my only clothing out in front of her, Hestia-sama let out her own sigh, allowed her arms to drop to her sides, and flopped down onto the open space on the couch next to me. My brow twitched when she did so because she was resting her back onto the armrest, which meant that she was lying down, which meant that her legs were currently going over my own.

Oi, get off of me. I'm not a leg rest.

I tried to glare my complaints into her, but for whatever reason, her focus remained on the clothes in her hands. Seeing that, I shrugged and rested the back of my neck on the cushion behind me.

After the day I just had, it felt nice to be back at the church and waste time staring at the ceiling. I did it a lot back in my old world and, while I wasn't one who cared much for nostalgia, I appreciated the familiarity just this once. The only thing missing was Vita-chan….

"Ah, Hachiman, I found them." Of course, such moments of tranquility could only last for so long. "Here, catch!"

Being told to do something, my exhausted brain went into auto-pilot and forced my eyes to look down towards the voice. Stop. Something black is coming towards me slightly from my left, probably the spare clothes I asked Cranel for. It's heading right for my face. Catch. Go.

Doing all that without ever moving my head, I looked at what I had just caught and found that I had guessed correctly. In my hand was a black long-sleeved shirt and a pair of similarly-colored pants. I stared at them for a moment, before turning to look at the boy who threw them.

Really? All black? Do you really not own clothes of any other color? I mean, technically your coat isn't, but even that has black on it somewhere. I get that your hair is white and all, but that doesn't mean you can get away with being this unoriginal.

"Sorry, by the way." Cranel scratched at the back of his head as he flashed me a smile. Given the context, I assumed he meant it to be apologetic. "They might be a little tight on you since you're a little taller than me."

"It's fine." Dropping the pants next to me, I slipped the shirt on and immediately felt that it was, in fact, tight. Not tight enough to consider taking it off, but certainly tighter than I was used to. "They'll do for now. Besides, it's better than sitting here in my underwear."

Hearing Cranel hum in affirmation, I tried to stand up as to slip my temporary pants on but stopped when I remembered that a certain someone had taken up the airspace over my lap with her legs.

Turning to face what was impeding me, I found that she was still solely focused on what was in her hands. I stared at her, waiting for her to notice my gaze and move on her own, but quickly realized that she was far too enraptured in whatever she was thinking about. I opened my mouth to get her attention, but Cranel cut me off before I could.

"Uh, Hestia-sama…?" For once, I didn't really mind the interruption.

The Goddess jumped at the mention. She turned to Cranel and then myself, and when her eyes met my own, I cast them down to draw attention to the issue.

"Ah, sorry!" Finally realizing her position, she pulled her legs back and turned to sit in a more conventional position, freeing me from my fleshy prison and allowing me to stand up. "I totally got lost in thought there." I shrugged and went about clothing myself. "What were you two talking about?"

"Oh, nothing really." Cranel answered as I pulled the pants up over my waist. Unlike the shirt, they actually fit pretty decently. Although, they did leave my ankles exposed, which I probably should've expected, but I felt annoyed nonetheless. "Did you have something on your mind, Hestia-sama? You had a pretty intense look on your face right there."

"Oh, that? Don't worry. I was just wondering if you two were planning on heading to the Dungeon tomorrow, is all." Turning to look at Cranel, his expression immediately told me what he thought about her answer: he wasn't buying it. "You two went through so much today, I was wondering if it might do the two of you some good to take the next few days off."

And frankly, I wasn't either. Clearly, there was something bothering her and it didn't take a genius to figure out that it had to do with what was left of my old clothes. Given the fact that I had chosen to be purposefully vague with some of the details of the whole incident, especially regarding its aftermath, that really didn't surprise me. Then again, it's not like it was my place to speculate.

Still, I assumed Hestia-sama said it for a reason, so I allowed myself to be led down whatever road she wanted us to go down.

"Considering that I'm going to have to replace most of my equipment, I can't really argue that." Turning towards my makeshift bed, I trudged over to it, ready to drop myself down onto it and put this day to an end. "I can really only speak for myself, though."

"Eh?" Cranel shot me a confused look as I passed him. Do I really have to spell this out for you?

Stopping right next to him, I met his gaze.

"You have a weapon, I don't." Turning away from him, I resumed my march towards my bed. "If you feel like heading down into the Dungeon tomorrow, don't let me stop you."

"Ah, but what are you going to do?"

Finally making it to my bed, I turned so that my back was facing the wall and collapsed down onto it. "I've got a favor I want to cash in."

"Oh, are you talking about that mage who you said killed that Charging Wall?" Cranel's face immediately brightened as he asked that. "Are you going to see if they can teach you how to use magic?"

…Huh, that was actually pretty inquisitive of you, Cranel. "Yeah. I don't really know their schedule and I figured that they wouldn't be going anywhere the day after something so big happening, so it seemed like the best opportunity."

"That's good thinking then… Ah, but what about replacing your equipment?"

I shrugged. "I don't really know how much time it's going to take to get that favor, but if worse comes to worst, I'll just push it off to the day after. By the way, when you drop by the Hostess tomorrow, tell Flova that I won't be taking her up on her offer."

"Eh, 'offer'?" Cranel blinked and tilted his head.

"It's nothing you need to worry about. She just—"

"—Hey, Hachi…" Looking up towards the Goddess who said that, I couldn't help but notice the lack of honorifics. "This mage you're talking about, do you know who their kami is? I, uh, didn't make too many enemies up in Heaven, but they still might not like the idea of helping someone else's child."

"No, as far as I remember, she never mentioned it." I blinked and kept my face straight. The Kami may have come to Earth with built-in lie detectors, but just like everything else in the world, there were ways to circumvent it. You just needed to be smart about it. "If I ever get to meet them, I'll be careful."

"Oh, alright…." Things became silent after that, which meant the conversation was over. Good. I could finally get to sleep. As one could imagine, my body was screaming at me to get to sleep.

"Alright, if you two don't mind, I'm going to head to bed." Lying down back on my pillow, I turned to face the wall almost immediately, doing so without even thinking. "I'll see you two tomorrow."

Unsurprisingly, sleep didn't come easy.

…

Surprisingly, finding out where the Loki Familia lived wasn't difficult at all.

Considering their namesake, a part of me thought that they would've been bigger fans of discretion, but all I had to do was ask the first person who looked like an adventurer and they pointed me in their direction. Then again, they were one of the most famous familia in Orario, so maybe it shouldn't have been that surprising.

That didn't stop me from feeling a bit cheated when I first saw it, though.

In all respects, the building known as Twilight Manor was a genuine article castle, which made it stand out even more given how it was surrounded by normal buildings. Tall and with several towers shooting up into the sky, the marble structure looked like something ripped right out of a gothic horror novel. Although, thanks to the fact that it was a bright and sunny day, it was a lot less intimidating.

"Hey, you there!" Having walked right up to the front gate, getting called out to by the two guards stationed at it didn't surprise me. The first thing that went through my head when I saw them was wondering if they were hired to be here or if they were members of the Familia, and if the latter was the case, how they managed to get stuck with such a mundane job. "State your business!"

"I'm here to see Lefiya. I have business with her."

Both guards seemed taken aback by the response, which in turn, took me aback. What? Is this the first time anyone's ever come here asking to see someone or something?

"Uh… My apologies, sir, but we were never informed of any visitors." Nameless guard to my right explained to me. Interestingly enough, his voice was lacking all of the bravado it had earlier, which suddenly made both men, despite being fully armed, feel like nothing more than glorified doormen. "May we have your name then?"

…Crap. I totally forgot that no one in this familia actually knew what my name was. How in the world was I going to…?

Goddammit.

Breathing in through my nose and then out through my mouth, I looked away from the two guards and replied with, "She'll know me as Fish-kun."

"Ah, I'm guessing you've met Tiona as well?" Hm? Well, at least you seem to understand my suffering, guard on the left.

…

Being an adventurer, you learned to get used to surprises.

As much of an oxymoron as that may be, it was the truth. The Dungeon and the monsters inside it operated like it would inside a video game, just not in the traditional sense.

The traditional dungeon in video games was strict and abided by certain rules, and while finishing it was absolutely meant to be a challenge, it was still meant to be completed. It was the player's job to learn and get used to playing by/exploiting those rules, as to make the process easier.

In that vein, Orario's Dungeon was a lot more fluid and life-like. It still had rules, but they were more akin to physical limitations. If I had to compare it to anything, it was a lot like playing an RTS as a child - where, in pursuit of a goal and lack of strategic sense, the only strategy it had was to send waves upon waves of its forces at opponents. That being said, an enemy like that was extremely dangerous, so learning how to adapt to and anticipate sudden change was mandatory if you wanted to be an adventurer.

"You!" That's how I was able to limit my reaction to blink when a scrawny, practically half-naked redhead came stomping out of Twilight Manor and started yelling at me from behind a pair of armed guards. Of course, I expected something like this would happen. Only an idiot would be dumb enough to walk up to a place like this and expect to just be let in. "You've got a lot of nerve showing your face here after what you did to my Ais-chan!" She pointed at me accusingly. "Now, you want to steal my Lefiya-chan away from me too? Give me one reason why I shouldn't have my guards throw you into the nearest ditch."

Ah, right. This awful misunderstanding subplot. Well, it's a good thing I can actually talk this time around. It'll make clearing this up much easier. Hopefully, if I clear this up with Loki herself, it'll keep this from spreading any further.

I opened my mouth to do so, but was almost immediately cut off by another voice coming from behind the Goddess. This one was also feminine, but just from hearing it, I could tell that the person speaking was more refined than the actual divine being glaring daggers at me. "Loki-sama, I understand your frustrations but please calm yourself. It may draw the attention of others."

"Aw, c'mon!" Like a twister, the trickster goddess turned to face the person talking. Due to the fact that I was leaning on a wall a bit aways from the front gate, I wasn't able to see who exactly it was. From what I could see, I could tell that she had long, green hair and was wearing a big white cloak. "I was only trying to scare him a little. It's the least he deserves, right?"

I blinked at that. Um… Excuse me?

Whoever was speaking to Loki let out a sigh, shook her head, and deftly stepped around the redhead and into view, allowing me to realize that I saw her the night Cranel ran out of The Hostess of Fertility. There were two elves at the table then; one was Lefiya and the other was standing right in front of me and I had to say, she was more of what I was expecting.

"My name is Riveria Ljos Alf, daughter of Larfal Ljos Alf, heir to the Elven Kingdom, and vice-captain of the Loki Familia." Green eyes trained on me, her face remained neutral as she addressed me. I felt my body tense up in ways that it hadn't done so in months. "State your name, affiliation, and your business with my pupil."

"…H-Hachiman Hikigaya from the Hestia Familia." 'Heir to the elven kingdom'? As in the princess of the entire elven race? She's your vice-captain? Kami, I knew that your familia was considered one of the strongest in Orario, but just how powerful are you, Loki? "I'm here to talk to Lefiya."

"Yes, I'm well aware of that, but what did you wish to speak with her about?"

Involuntarily, I swallowed hard at that. So far, the princess of the elves was living up to her moniker, which meant that I was going to have to watch my next words carefully. It's a good thing that I've already had plenty of practice with this sort of thing. "I wanted to know if she could teach me to use magic."

In response to that, the elf closed her eyes and nodded her head. If this were anyone else, I would see that as her contemplating what I was saying, but having known and talked to other high-status women, I knew better than to give myself hope. All she was doing was thinking about the best way to reject me.

"May I ask what your relationship with Lefiya is?" Eh, so you're actually going to pretend to give me a chance? Not that I didn't already see this coming, but I don't know whether to call you cruel or merciful, Alf-oujo-sama.

Not wanting to waste the time being rejected would take, I pushed off of the wall I was leaning on and turned back towards home. I knew how to pick my battles and this wasn't one I was going to win, at least not without—

"Excuse me, but what do you think you're doing?"

—getting her to stoop down to my level.

"Leaving." I wanted to smirk, but I kept myself from doing so as I turned to face her and Loki again. That would make what I was trying to do far too obvious. "You're just going to tell me 'no', so I figured I'd save us both some time."

"Presumptuousness on your part, child." Her facial expression remained the same, but I could tell from her words that I was beginning to get under her skin. "You claim to know my words before I say them?"

"'Presumptuousness'?" I raised a brow at her, doing my best to seem truly confused. "No, I figured I was just being pragmatic. I'm a stranger from a different familia, who's asking for a lot. It's not like I came here expecting to be welcomed with open arms."

The princess scoffed in response to my statement. "What pragmatism could there be in attempting to leave a conversation before its proper conclusion?"

"What pragmatism could there be in speaking your case when you already know how it's going to be received?"

"If you believe you have a case, then you should speak it despite the opposition." The elf's eyebrows twitched downward as she said that. "If there is any sense to it, I promise that I shall listen."

"Really?"

"Truly."

Stop.

Hearing that made me really want to grin, as it basically meant that she fell for the verbal trap that I had set for her. Really, it was all her own fault.

That fact that Riveria Ljos Alf was royalty might've meant a lot to others, but to me, all it did was make me wonder, 'Why was the heir to the Elven throne here, in Orario, heading an expeditionary-type familia when she could be back home being a princess?'

In my mind, three possible scenarios could've happened: either her family sent her here against her will, she came here against their will, or finally, some combination of the two. What she just said confirmed that it was most likely the second one, but even before that, I assumed that was more or less the case.

Logically, why would a royal family willingly sign off to have their heir risk her life every day? Power and prestige? Pft, please. She was going to become queen. She couldn't have more of either if she tried. Sure, having a kami's blessing was absolutely nothing to scoff at and coming back home with it would definitely solidify her the security of her reign, but it just seemed like too much of a risk all things considered.

That meant that she most likely came here on her own accord and probably did so while facing stiff resistance; which, even if she was actually telling the truth about listening to me from the outset, was a good thing to remind her of as I tried to do the same.

Go.

"Has Lefiya talked to you about what happened yesterday at all?" Alf nodded. "Then, you should already know that she offered me a favor."

"And you would use that as justification for your request? While I fully acknowledge my student's offer, I must contend with the idea that your actions could be considered as adequate recompense." With the political grace that I assumed could only be obtained from years in royal court, Alf tried to cut me down from the start. From the confidence in her voice, I could tell that it wasn't a move made out of desperation. Rather, it was one made in favor of decisiveness - end the battle with a single blow all that sorta stuff. "If you truly believe the contrary, then I must remind you, you are asking Lefiya to bestow upon you her time, energy, and knowledge; all of which could be better spent on training and her familia. I thank you for going to such lengths to protect her and I would be more than willing to discuss other methods of compensation with you, but unfortunately, you vastly overestimate the value of life and limb here in Orario."

Yep, that's what I figured you'd say, although I'm kinda insulted that you'd even think I'd consider saying that. Did I accidentally introduce myself as 'Bell Cranel' or something? I'm fully aware of how expendable I am in the grand scheme of things, thank you very much. "That was the plan initially, but I think I have a way to make it beneficial for both of us."

"Hm?" The elven princess crossed one arm over her chest and cupped her chin with the other. "And what do you propose?"

Next to her, Loki's brows suddenly raised, which was the most interested she looked in the conversation since it started. Yeah, of course, she'd only become interested in when it could actually benefit her.

"Lefiya has issues with her confidence, right?" For the first time the whole conversation, the princess showed emotion, although it was very minute. The edges of her lips fell ever so slightly. If I was anyone other than myself and I didn't spend absurd amounts of time reading other people's body language, I probably would've missed it completely. "Does it keep her from being able to use it in magic at all?" Alf was silent, but that told me as much as I needed to hear. "She had the same problem yesterday, but she managed to use it. You want to know what that tells me?"

"And what is that, child?"

"She doesn't think you need her." Looking off to the side, I didn't get to see her reaction, but I assumed that she was either surprised or troubled. "And really, can you even blame her? You're all so strong that I'm sure that whatever trouble you manage to get into, you can get out of without much help from her." I frowned as I went on. "And, to be honest, I don't think you making decisions for her is going to help that much."

"So, you would use my student's insecurities to further your own goals?"

The challenge made me turn back to the future ruler. From the look in her eyes, I could tell that she was no closer to backing down. "Yeah, but I just think that she should be the one telling me 'no' and not you."

"Lefiya is naught but a child and still has much to learn of the world. She—"

"—She's level 3. I've seen her kill a monster I couldn't put a scratch on with a single spell. You might think you're keeping her safe, but at some point, that just turns into coddling." All of a sudden the inside of my mouth started to feel really dry. "Look, I can't guarantee that teaching me to use magic will help Lefiya get over her problems, but I do think you trusting her to make that decision for herself will help more than you'll ever know."

Things were quiet after I said that, which I considered good because it told me that the princess was actually giving what I said some thought. That, and it let me become acutely aware of how balled up my fists were. Breathe, Hachiman.

"Eh, I say let the kid ask." Surprisingly, neither one of us broke the silence.

Turning towards the speaker, I found her smiling at me in a way that made a cold shiver go down the length of my spine - one that reminded me far too much of a certain older sister I knew, but far more potent. Admittedly, I didn't know a lot about Norse mythology, but yeah, the woman standing in front of me was without a doubt Loki.

"Loki-sama, what are you saying? What of all the possible ramifications with the other familia? Such cooperation would surely cause issues for us in the future."

The unassuming goddess turned her head towards her vice-captain and shrugged. "You gotta admit he made some alright points and if it ends up with Lefiya-chan reaching her true potential, then I don't see any harm in him throwing the idea her way. Besides, it's not like him or his shrimp of a goddess have got much of a rep going for them right now, right? Something like this can be smoothed over easily."

Seeing a perfect opportunity to interject, I ignored the jab at my kami-sama and followed up with, "I'm not asking that Lefiya be my personal tutor forever, I just need her to show me where to start. Once we're done with that, I'm done."

In response to that, Alf stared at her kami for several moments, before turning to me and asking, "And you would truly leave it at that?"

I nodded, to which, she nodded back.

"Guards, one of you show Hikigaya-san to the courtyard, I shall send Lefiya there." As she said that final bit, the elven princess turned back towards Twilight Manor. "Boy, tell her to come to my chambers once you're finished, understood?"

"Aye, aye, Alf-oujo-sama."

Seeing her vice-captain leave, Loki went to do the same, but halfway to the entrance, the goddess suddenly stopped in her tracks and looked over her shoulder at me, giving me a lackadaisical wave before getting back on her way. Another shiver ran down the length of my spine.

Um… Did I just unwittingly make a deal with the devil or something?

"Heh." Suddenly, one of the guards in front of me reminded me of their presence. "Looks like Loki-sama really likes you, Fish-kun."

I sighed. Yep, this idea is already starting to seem like more trouble than it's worth.

…

Waiting in the Twilight Manor's courtyard, leaning on one of the pillars with my arms crossed over my chest, I couldn't help but feel as though there was a mocking monologue to be had about the castle's interior; especially since all of its brightly-colored carpets, plush-looking furniture, and copious amounts of light crystals gave it a much homier feel than its gothic-horror exterior. Unfortunately, something like that would take energy and motivation that I didn't currently have.

Besides, there were more pressing matters to attend to.

"Ah, it's you?" Hearing Lefiya's voice coming from my right, I turned my head towards it and found the pink-clad elf standing to my right with a big book in her arms. Expecting her to follow that up with something, I stared and she stared back, up until the point she jumped for some reason and got all panicky for whatever reason. "S-So, if you are here, I assume that you are fully recovered?"

I blinked at the stuffiness of her tone but decided to let it slide. "Well, I'm here, aren't I?"

"Indeed, you are." Oi, you don't get to try and act all cultured and sophisticated when you just got off looking like you're about to have an emotional breakdown. "S-So, why are you here? Did you need something of me?"

"You remember that favor you offered me?" Not wanting to waste time at all, I just came right out with what I was here for. She took a moment and then nodded. "Can you teach me how to use magic?"

"E-Eh?!" That's all it took to bring you back, huh? "T-Teach you to use magic? Do you understand the magnitude of what you're asking of me? Magic is not like any other item, it cannot just be so carelessly handed out. You are from another familia, such questions are much better being brought up to—"

"—I already asked Alf and Loki, and they said it'd be alright." Somehow, my interruption only caused the elf to become more dumbfounded, which confused me. "So, can you or not?"

"…Alf-sama actually agreed to such a request?"

I shrugged. Well, 'agreed' definitely wasn't the right word for it, but seeing as Lefiya was even asking the question, then I figured that she would already know as much. "Would I have even gotten to this point if she didn't?"

"That is true…." Lefiya angled her head downwards and was quiet for a moment, before looking back up at me with a look of what I assumed was trepidation. "But what would possess you to believe me to be a suitable teacher? I am naught but a student myself, but more so than that, I'm a disgrace! I have taken three steps towards divinity and yet, if I were without your protection yesterday, I surely would have perished. Surely, there must be others who are more qualified than I."

Hearing that made me want to sag my shoulders and sigh, but seeing as that wasn't going to help my cause at all right now, I settled for doing so in my head. Stop.

Insecurity was a fickle thing to work around, mainly because of how nebulous it was in nature. It didn't take the same form in every person and its cause could range from being solely self-imposed to all exterior factors, and everything else in between. Someone could see their insecurity as an obstacle that keeps them from doing certain things or the force that pushes them towards others; either way, that just meant that all cases had to be dealt with on a per individual basis.

For example, due to his grandfather dying and leaving him all alone to fend for himself, I could rightfully assume that Cranel's insecurities are all based on his social standing with others. He wants to care for others and for others to care for him back, and so, he latches onto the idea of the mythical hero and becoming just like them to achieve that goal. Then, he comes to Orario, gets rejected by most familia on the basis of being weak-looking, and develops a power complex because he didn't fit the image that he strives to emulate.

In Lefiya's case, her insecurities lie within similar spheres but manifested themselves in different ways.

Based on her behavior up until this point, I felt pretty safe in assuming that she wanted to be someone who could be relied upon. Unfortunately, her familia is so powerful that she can't help but raise the expectations she has for herself, which leads to her putting pressure on herself to perform. However, that pressure only causes her to tense up and become indecisive when called upon and to her, not being able to act when called upon is a grave failure, so her confidence wanes significantly as a result. That lack of confidence then feeds into her self-doubt and causes her to put even more pressure on herself, and so on and so forth.

Given the fact that she reached level three, it's safe to assume that not everything she did resulted in failure, but clearly the damage to her self-image had already been done. If it's to the point of being irreparable, that's yet to be seen, but if she was ever going to break the cycle, she needed to act on her own accord.

That's why I needed to give her a good push now, no matter what direction she ended up going in.

Go.

"Maybe, but they're not the ones who owe me a favor."

"But—"

"—Were you not taught how to use magic at some point?"

"Yes, but—"

"—Then what's actually keeping you from helping me?" The elf took a step back after the question. "Is there an actual reason or is it just because you don't think you can do it? If it's the latter, then trust me, I wouldn't have wasted the time coming here if I didn't think you had anything to offer me."

Pushing off the post I was standing on, I wasn't surprised to see Lefiya's shoulders tense. I turned my head away from her as I continued, "I'm not here to force you to help me. If you want to decline, just go ahead and do it, otherwise stop wasting my time."

I waited for a response and after what felt like a small eternity, I got one.

"I… I do not know if I'll be able to help you." Having already expected to be disappointed, a part of me wanted to sigh and turn to leave at just that, but her words pointed towards her not being finished, so I fought against my own nature and stayed put. "But if you truly wish for me to be your teacher then…" The energy in her voice made me turn to face her and when I did, I found that her expression radiated the same emotion. "…Then I shall do it! I will give it my all!"

Finally being able to see the girl who saved me yesterday, I smiled.

Suddenly, before I was able to reply, Lefiya jumped and returned to her previous state. "Ah, my apologies." Eh? What's with the sudden embarrassment? "But it seems that all of this time, I never once got your name."

Hmph, of course. "Hachiman Hikigaya."

"Greetings, Hachiman Hikigaya. I am Lefiya Viridis, it will be a pleasure to work with you."

…

My time at Twilight Manor should've ended there. After that, I explained to Viridis how to get into contact with me once she worked out all of the details of our arrangement and she bid me farewell.

As my luck may have it, however, I wasn't allowed to leave the lair of the Loki Familia just yet.

"It seems that you've made quite the impression on my little Leffy-chan, Hikigaya." If I had to put a statistical value on the amount of surprise I felt upon suddenly hearing Loki talking to me, I would've given it a big, fat zero. Actually, I would've given it a number more zero than zero if I could. I mean, she basically telegraphed the move with the way she waved to me earlier, so I would've needed to have been blind to be surprised at all. "I don't think I've ever seen her look at someone like that before."

Like a snake slithering out from the shadows, the red-headed goddess revealed herself, spinning around from behind a pillar to my left. She exaggeratedly brought the back of her hand to her forehead and leaned back, pretending to be faint. "And you've managed to get my precious Ais-chan's attention too?" And, as if to accentuate the fact that she was acting, she quickly snapped to a more intimidating stance with her hands on her hips and a large smile. "Have you always been this popular, Hikigaya?"

I snorted at the question. "What are you talking about? I've never been popular a day in my life."

"Oh, really?" Tilting her head, the trickster goddess started to close the distance between us. "Then how do you explain all of the attention you're getting?"

"I don't know." Doing my best to keep composed, I shrugged. "Happenstance?"

Now standing directly to my right, she suddenly raised her right hand up and reached towards me, which forced me to take a step back to avoid it. Unfortunately, my reaction only caused her to smile even more. "One of the strongest adventurers in Orario, a once in a lifetime elven prodigy, and three goddesses," she raised her fingers as she listed off. "All of that interest just can't be 'happenstance', can it? There has to be something special about you, right?"

I narrowed my eyes at her. "'Three goddesses'?"

"Well, yeah, of course, there's that fat shrimp of a kami of yours." Her jab made my brow twitch. "And the last two? Those have to stay a secret for right now, but know that you've got more eyes on you than you think."

With that last bit of vagary, the trickster goddess (thankfully) took a step back and turned to walk away from me, which prompted me to do the same. Before she was entirely out of earshot though, I made sure to say, "Thanks for the warning, Loki."

All I got back was a hum, which made me want to laugh. All of a sudden, as I walked out of Twilight Manor and back onto the open street, the buildings around me started to feel much larger than they did when I first entered.

The thought that other kami were keeping an eye on me didn't bother me at all. Actually, I fully expected something like this to happen at some point, given the rarity of my skill, but this quickly? Why? What could've caused that much attention to go my way?

The first thing that came to mind was my fight against the Charging Wall. It did end up running me over in the end, but the common consensus seemed to be that I should be called crazy for even attempting to fight it. Plus, all things considered, I think I did pretty alright against it thanks to my skill, so that may have turned heads my way if it just so happened people were looking.

Ah, no, that doesn't make sense. If my assumptions were correct and the attack yesterday was planned, then it was possible that someone could've been meaning to kill Viridis and me foiling those plans definitely would've caught their attention, but then if that was the case, why would Loki know about it at all? The ways of the kami were strange, but they weren't strange enough to put one of their own children at risk and if another kami was behind it, then how would Loki know about their interest at all? Besides, if she were told at all, it would've needed to happen sometime yesterday night and that was an extremely short time frame.

Unless, of course, Loki knew about the attack beforehand and she just didn't think any of the monsters could harm anyone in her familia, so she did nothing to stop it, which while morally negligent was a possibility.

Either way, that could also mean that whoever was paying attention to me had done so before the Charging Wall incident and that was something to worry about. I frowned and shook my head. Man, why couldn't I have just been wrong?

"It's you." Hm? Oh, yeah. Why would I ever think that I'd be able to deal with this familia without running into her?

It seems that, no matter what I did, the sword princess was unavoidable.

Interlude 6 | Once Again, Ais Wallenstein is Avoided.

…

As I returned home from retrieving Desperate from Goibniu, there were many people I expected to meet at the gates of my familia's home, the stray cat wasn't one of them. At first, it was just his presence that confused me, but as my gaze lingered on him, I became confused as to what he was doing.

He was standing still with his head tilted upwards, staring at nothing. Was he deep in thought? Surely, there were better places to do so if he was.

"It's you." The stray cat flinched as I made myself known to him, but surprisingly, he didn't try and run away. Seeing that confused me since he had a clear route to flee in if he so wanted.

"Yeah, it's me." He answered, not even turning to look my way. "Who would I be if I were anyone else?"

Hm? "Why are you here?"

Slowly, he turned his head to face me and like he did in our last encounter, the cat-like boy glared at me before it eventually gave way to a sigh. Notably, it had taken him less time to do so than our last meeting. "I had business with Viridis."

"Lefiya?" I tilted my head at that. "Ah, you two met yesterday, correct?"

He hummed and nodded. "If you want the details, you can go and ask her, but if that's all you wanted, I'll be going now."

After he said that, the boy began to walk in my direction. Ah, so you're attempting to flee now? Oh, wait. "Wait a moment, I have a question about your familia."

Stopping right next to me, I fully expected a glare from the stray, but instead, he turned to look at me. "What about him?"

"How…" Hm, how do I ask this? "How has he grown so strong so quickly? I saw him fight and kill a Silverback on his own yesterday. Typically, such a feat shouldn't be possible for an adventurer of his experience."

For whatever reason, he didn't respond to me immediately. Instead, he waited a moment before shrugging. "You're asking the wrong person, Wallenstein. I may be his familia, but I don't know everything about him." He looked away from me after he said that. "Still, if you're going to expect anything out of him, I'd stop thinking along what's typical. Trust me, it'll help in the long run."

I tilted my head at his response. "Is there something wrong?"

"Hm?" His voice was calm, but his eyes were wide. Something was definitely wrong.

"Based on our previous meeting, I hadn't expected you to actually answer." Seeing that there was a possible issue afflicting him, I spoke my mind freely. "You've also been much less rude as well. If I'm incorrect, please forgive me, but I cannot help but feel as though there's something afflicting you."

He narrowed his eyes at me and opened his mouth, but he said nothing at first. Instead, he looked away first before doing so. "Do me a favor. Learn my name before you start acting like you know me."

With that, the stray cat scurried away once more, all without answering my question.

In almost all literature, jump cuts and scene transitions were a necessity, mainly because they were essential in helping the author control the pace of their story. This bases itself on the idea that everything presented to the audience should be important in some capacity. Not just to the plot, but to the characters, world, etc.

That being said, whatever's being shown also has to be interesting to keep the audience's attention and that's where the jump cut really shined.

By nature, people were creatures of habit and repetition, and generally, those two things were the antithesis of interesting. Even if someone lived a life that was worthy of having a story written about it, if the same general beats were repeated over and over again, the repetition would slowly make it more and more boring.

That's why characters were rarely shown during their moments of downtime - such time generally being unimportant, boring, and repetitious. Unfortunately, however, I lived in real-time and such moments couldn't be skipped over.

Letting out a sigh, I sat myself down onto the bench and did my best to sink down into it, my eyes traveling up Babel Tower as I did so.

Despite what I said a few days ago, Orario was actually a pretty big place. Nowhere as big as any modern city, but without any form of public transportation, getting from place to place could still take a while. For example, I left the abandoned church a bit after sunrise and when I got to Twilight Manor, the Sun was close to a quarter way into the sky, which probably meant that it took me an hour or two to get there. Then again, it's not like I was in any real hurry to get there, so maybe I was overestimating the time a bit….

Eh, whatever. The point was that getting around Orario took a fair amount of time, even if you were trying.

That fact, however, didn't keep me from having a full day ahead of me to waste.

A part of me thought about heading to the Pantheon, pulling some valis from my account, and replacing all of my broken equipment, but unfortunately, despite all of the work that I've put in the past month, that level of proactivity was still beyond me.

Still, in lieu of sitting all alone in a run-down church with nothing to do, I decided to drag myself all the way out to Babel Tower and sit outside it for a little to watch people as they came and went - something that I used to do back in my world when I got bored and had gotten sick of being cooped up in my room.

Not the Babel Tower part obviously, but at a park near my house, which still worked out well enough since the area right outside the tower was basically a park.

Being one of the wide brick roads that led right to the tower, large crowds of people came and went from the tower, filling the air with chatter. As naturally as I breathed, my eyes went from group to group as they passed by me, scanning each in an attempt to ascertain their purpose here just off of appearances.

Some were relatively simple to figure out, like all the groups that were heading towards the tower with armor on and weapons at the ready. It didn't take a genius to understand that they were meaning to go into the Dungeon and earn some valis.

All the people that were in casual attire? Well, they were probably adventurers too, but instead of going down into the Dungeon, they were probably here to go up into the tower to spend their hard-earned valis.

The wagons that were being pulled to and from the tower? They were probably getting supplies to the shops up in the tower, so the people could easier spend those hard-earned valis.

…Wow, the center of the world really is just a glorified mall isn't it?

"Finally!" Eh? In the sea of camaraderie and cheer going on in front of me, the sound of conflict caught my attention immediately. "There you are! Where the hell have you been, you waste of space? You do know that it's not your time you're wasting by being this late, right?"

Stop.

Using my power to slow the crowd, my eyes shot in the direction of the voice and I found the creator near instantly. It was some generic-looking guy in a red coat. Average height, unremarkable long sword strapped to his back, and long black hair that was tied up into a ponytail. Really, the most striking thing about his appearance was how clearly meant to be a nothing side antagonist.

The nothing side antagonist was looking downwards, specifically at a hooded figure with a backpack twice their size on their back. Not that the backpack itself was big, it was just that its owner was really short. My first thought was that they were a dwarf, but then I realized that they lacked the width necessary to make that distinction. Pallum, maybe? Then again, it's always possible that they were just really short.

Go.

Whatever the backpacker's deal was, it didn't seem like they were at all affected by being yelled at.

"Nothing to say for yourself? Tch, typical." They didn't even flinch when the nothing side antagonist weakly drove his fist into their skull. "Come on, let's get moving. We have a lot of time to make up for."

Ah, so you're some sort of supporter then, backpack-san?

I found myself being confused by the concept. Moreso by the fact that it had never been formally explained to me at some point, but now that I thought about it, it made sense. Of course, a job like that would exist. When an entire city's economy is based around a certain place meant for certain people, it'd be naive to think that the only people capable of making money off it would be those people.

…Great, now I'm just confused as to why the thought hadn't crossed my mind sooner. I blame Cranel.

With that, I watched the red-coated nothing turn towards Babel Tower and start walking towards it, which prompted his supporter to follow suit. Go forth, you living embodiment of class division! May you somehow find a way out of your current predicament. Hell, I even hope you also find a way to give that guy his comeuppance. Not enough to actually go do something about it, but I'll hope that for you anyways.

I was about to close my mind off to the situation entirely, but right as I was about to turn my attention away, the pair passed by the bench I was on and I noticed something about the supporter.

Under their hood, they were smiling.

I chuckled and smiled to myself at that.

…

Chapter End.

A/N: I'm going to answer your first question. Is this all that I've been doing the past month or so?

The answer is no. This was actually supposed to be a part of a bigger chapter (as of right now, it's at 15,000 plus words and counting), but upon reflection, I've realized that it would work better if I split in half and posted it in two parts. It's mainly just a tone thing. It kinda splits into two halves towards the middle, so here's the first bit.

The second part shall come out in the next few weeks or so since I've only got a few more scenes to finish.

Also, announcement, upon having been asked if this story is being posted to SpaceBattles, I have decided to post it to some sort of forum. Just some questions first for those savvy with the cultures there. If I do, would I be pulling some sort faux pas since it's inspired a story that's super popular there? And if that might be an issue, what other sites should I consider posting to? I know of Sufficient Velocity and Questionable Questing, but would my story fit there?

Also, another question of a different topic, considering my current schedule of chapters taking a few months to get posted, would that be a problem? And what would y'all suggest I do to remedy that if anything at all? Feel free to either DM or leave your responses in your review. Thanks.

Anyways, depending on your feedback, I'll have an answer on the forum question ready by the time I post the second half of this in-between chapter.