What it Means to be (Weak)
As a group, we had decided to take a break from the dungeon after the near death experience. But, we still had some business related to it to do. Which was why Bell, Lily and I were sitting in the busy Hostess of Fertility at a small table at the edge of the restaurant. "Well I must say, congratulations on your level up, Little Rookie!" I yell as I slap Bell on his back. Turns out after the fight, Bell had qualified to become level two, in only a month and a half of adventuring. That's a new record, "But, Little Rookie. That name isn't the best." If I ever get one, I hope it's better than that.
"I know...for an Alias it sure is underwhelming." My friend said as his face was stuck to the table. Whenever an adventure does something that impresses the gods, usually leveling up for the first time, they gain an alias from them. The gods even have special meetings once a month to discuss such matters. "What do you think, Lily?"
"I think it fits you well, Mister Bell. It's completely lame." Lily's smug grin only made Bell even more depressed. His face was even sinking into the table even more. "But...are you sure your alright with celebrating this, Viole? I mean..."
"Hey, I'm over it." Mostly. "We're here to celebrate our friend Bell, even if he's too depressed!" I mean sure, it sucked that I would never go through the process of leveling up, but I had more on my case. Abby... Shaking my head to get rid of that train of thought, I noticed two familiar looking waitresses coming to the table. "Good evening Miss Lyon, Miss Syr."
"Evening!" The blue haired waitress said with a smile as she came close to the table with a tray of drinks. Far more drinks than we had ordered. "And I happen to think that your Alias is quite cute, Bell!" She said as she handed out the drinks out and placed two at empty spaces. One next to me and one next to Lily. "By the way, Mister Viole..."
"Yes, I understand." Talk about a ladies man. Going after Ais when you already have a cute waitress hitting on you. I moved to sit next to Lily and watched as Syr and Lyon sat next to Bell, Syr taking my old seat and Lyon taking the one next to her. "Wait...aren't you two on the clock?"
"Mama Mia said that you three can order all that you like and that we should sit with you. She most likely wants you to spend more money." Lyon said in such a matter of fact tone it seemed obvious. I-I see. I look down at my drink and let out a sigh of relief when I notice that I wasn't alcohol. Can't handle that shit.
"*Sigh* Of course. Well, as long as Bell is paying." Lily had a greedy smile on her face as she destroyed Bell's wallet and lifted up her glass. "Cheers!"
"Cheers!" The waitresses and myself followed suit, Bell of course was reeling from the realization of what had become of his monthly budget and sighed.
"You're evil, Lily."
"Hey, I resent that."
"By the way, Bell." Syr wrapped her arms around one of Bells as she began her question. "Is it true that you three will be going into the middle floors now?"
"Well, yeah." Huh, he's far more composed when it comes to Syr's flirting than Ais' very existence. "We've practically mastered the early floors, but we still need to be more careful. I'm sure we'll be fine though. With Viole leading us, everything should go well."
"I won't be the leader anymore, Bell. You will." Bell and Lily's eyes lock onto me as I take a sip from my cider. "It's only natural, you are officially the strongest person in the group now." Plus, because of my own incompetence, we almost got killed a couple of days ago. A dark feeling fell over me for a second before fading away just as fast as it came. I can't be so hard on myself. It'll only cause more problems. "I can't wait to see what kind of leadership the Little Rookie will show me."
"Viole... how do you know that you're not stronger than me?" The Rookie completely ignored my joking tone and stayed serious. "For all we know you could be. With your situation we..." Bell's sentence trailed off as he realized the implication and cringed.
I couldn't hold in a sigh. You really are too earnest.. "I broke a hand and a leg just defending from the Minotaur that you blew up. It's pretty cut and dry. Now can we just drop this and enjoy this lovely food here?" Bell tightened his jaw but eventually nodded his head and began to converse with Syr and Lily. While I'd want to pay attention to the conversation, the green haired Elf in front of me kept staring at me, an action that sent shivers down my spine.. "Um, yes Miss Lyon?"
"You seem to be in a hurry to get yourself killed." Lyon said in just a hush enough tone that only I could hear her. Perhaps Syr had heard her but she paid it no mind. Huh? What the hell's that supposed to mean?! "I once went down the same path as you, let's just say that it wasn't worth it." Loki did mention that every capped ends up on the same path, I suppose. That's really depressing. But... that doesn't change my goal. If anything, it reinforces it.
"I don't care. It's my life so I can throw it away if I want to. Not like I have much left anyway."
"I'm sure." Lyon darted her eyes to the girl sitting next to me and my heart chilled. "Good luck, I hope you wake up sooner rather than later." Why?
"Viole?" Lily and Bell looked up at me, I had unconsciously stood up at her words. Why...It hurts.
"I'm fine, I just need to go to the bathroom is all." I could feel Lyon's cold gaze as I went into the restroom and stared at myself in the mirror. Why? Why? It's just... No one else can see the Colors.
It hurts. I spent the rest of the night enjoying my time with my friends, ignoring the crucial eye of the strange elf and the pain that it brought about.
SSS
The next morning, after a horrible night of sleep I found myself in Loki's office, staring down the goddess who was about to down an entire glass of wine. "Really? Now is when you come?! You should have been here ten minutes ago!"
"Sorry, I didn't want to wake up Lily, so I took my time to get dressed. So what's up?" I had been called here, as last night when I came home from the pub, I found a letter on my desk. Of course the profanity ridden letter told me to come here at nine am sharp. So, as a response to my tired face, Loki put down her glass of wine, moved to the couches at the center of the room and gestured for me to sit next to her.
When I did, she let out a sigh and leaned back into the seat. "You know Viole, I really missed ya. You haven't let me update your status since our conversation the other day."
"What's the point in doing so? My status is stuck at level one. No need in checking in on it every day. Nothing will change."
"You know that your stats will still go up!" I knew that what I said was just an excuse. I was scared. I don't need a reminder of how weak I am, especially now with Bell's... "Your dad went through something similar, you know. Given that he was also Capped."
"Yeah, I had a feeling. When Susanoo mentioned dad, I thought that they had some history. But knowing about what he does to everyone of his victims, I can put the pieces together." It was no wonder why my father never wanted to go into much detail of his days here other than certain adventuring stories. If he was here for the same reason as me, I guess the apple wouldn't fall too far from the tree.
"Yeah, your dad sure was something! An annoying prick he was, but a strong and nice idiot too. Bastard would boss me around and refuse to accept any of my excuses. Did you know that he forced me into a year of sobriety just because I almost got us into a war with Zeus? It wasn't that bad, damn idiot!" Huh... you're saying quite harsh things there Loki, but that smile really doesn't say that you have any negative feelings towards dad. What is my dad to you?
"Sounds like you two got along well. Dad did have some...choice words for you. But he did always seem to have fun when he told Abby and I stories about his time here. Which always made my mom pissed for some reason, wonder why?" Loki began to sweat profusely but just laughed it off. Suspicious!
"W-Well your dad sure was something, even amongst other Capped. Capped aren't known for living long enough to retire, let alone past their first year. Most are far too focused on their revenge to take care of their bodies. Most go far too deep in the dungeon and don't make it past their first month." Loki's mood dampened hard before forcing a laugh. "Sorry, I guess I screwed up the mood huh, haha."
"Dad stayed here for fifteen years right?" Loki nodded her head. "So he left here at twenty nine. That's so long to be here, what made him leave? I know he didn't meet mom until a year after he left."
"Angra...Angra's alias was The Reaper. Not just because he was so strong, nor because he was somewhat of a vigilante."
"Wait what?"
"One day. But Angra was known as the Reaper because, all of us gods thought that he had the best chance to kill Susanoo. Before him, there was not a single person, whether capped or not, who had survived even encountering Susanoo when he wanted to fight. Angra did so multiple times."
"Amazing...dad was able to stand toe to toe with that monster?! How strong could he be?!"
"Your father...when he left here twenty years ago, his stats and strength were equivalent to that of a level seven." Level seven...dad was as strong as a level seven after only fifteen years of adventuring?! "After a certain...incident that happened when he came to visit one year though, I updated his status before a big event. His strength stat was at the level of a level 8 equivalent. Amazing, isn't it?!" The amazement I felt at my fathers achievements quickly disappeared as a certain horror fell into me. Susanoo easily killed a man who had level eight strength and level seven stats across the board. "I...don't worry Viole. While your father was strong, he did have another issue. He was a shy bastard. He never let people get to close with only a few exceptions. I don't want you to go through with your revenge, but if you do, make sure you have allies. Okay?"
"Allies..." Like Lily, Bell and Ais. But I don't want them to... "I'll think about it. It's hard to let people in, but if it's them...maybe it won't be that bad."
Loki's frown turned into a gigantic grin that reminded me of one my dad gave me after he caught me playing with Abby after we had a fight. "That's all I can ask for! If ya get some friends, keep 'em close! Like that pallum girl! Or Little Rookie! Don't take 'em for granted alright?" My goddess wrapped her arm around my head and hung off of me like one would to an old friend. "Now then, take off your clothes! Time for an update."
"I feel like this is what you wanted the whole time." Her grin didn't hint at anything else.
Viole
Level 1*
Strength G 298
Endurance C 703
Dexterity G 270
Agility F 346
Magic B 834
Skill Nightmare Rage
Magic Force Eater
Rouge Bringer
"Huh...that's a jump." Though it all made sense when I thought about it. Made sense for my endurance to be so high after all the training that I've been doing with Ais and my encounter with the Minotaur. Strength was a given as I've been trying my best to not fight with Force Eater far more than I need to. Dex is dex. Agility, well running away and after Ais and Bell sure is a work out. Magic is a given. "Thank you Loki, I'll try to rely on you more often. Okay?"
"What else is a goddess for? You should buy me a drink as thanks!"
"Hell no! You're drunk enough."
"Like father like son, eh! Stingy fuckers."
And so, A day passes.
"Pleasure to meet you! The name's Welf Crozzo and I'm hoping to join your party!" We had finally decided to re-enter the dungeon today and so imagine my surprise when a red haired man in a black kimono, blue scarf and a large sword on his back walked up to Lily and I as Bell slowly followed behind him. "I'm sorry if this is a surprise to you but I had basically forced Bell to add me to your group, I hope that it's okay with you!" The man was in a deep bow the entire time. So I turned my gaze to the new level two.
Bell flinched at my gaze but slapped his face to regain his composer. "Welf's a really good blacksmith and offered to be my personal smith if we let him join us. I wanted to get your opinions. I personally would love for him to join us!"
"You would let a snail join the party if it asked with enough tears in it's eyes." Lily was clearly unimpressed. That's not even taking into account her general distrust for adventurer's in general. "But, I'll go along with it if Viole does." Oh, dropped the Sir, huh? Thank you Lily!
"Doesn't matter to me, not like I'm the leader or anything. If it's your call, it's your call."
"Viole. No." Bell immediately shot me down and hit me with a genuinely unthreatening glare. "I want to know your genuine opinion. Please."
I let out a sigh and looked at the still bowing blacksmith once more. "I don't exactly trust random adventurers but if you trust him, then that's good enough for me. But he's going to have to make me a new set of armor. This coat is starting to really suffocate me."
"Hehe! It'd be my pleasure, Sir Viole!" Crozzo said as he stood up straight with a smile on his face. "I'll make you the best damn set of armor you've ever seen!"
"Please drop the sir. I just got Lily to do it, I don't need another one doing it."
"Whatever do you mean, Sir Viole?" Lily's smirk cut me to the core.
"Yeah, Sir Viole? Whatever do you mean?"
"Ugh, shut up you two!" My two most trusted friends kept calling me by that dreaded name as the confused but happy Crozzo followed us into the dungeon.
SSS
?
A short enigma in a brown cloak stood atop of what seemed to be a pub. Staring down into the center of town, staring at a certain individual. "So, another joins your group. Very well, he will not betray you."
The world seemed to shift around her, all of reality seeming to become muddled for a second before returning to normal. The figure smiled, satisfied with whatever she had done. "But, there still is this issue." The figure looked behind them, staring at two other suspicious individuals watching over the same group that they were, seemingly unaware that the figure even existed. The enigma opened their mouth to say something before shaking their head. "No, too much risk. Other than seeing him, this was more of a waste of time than I thought." I highly doubt a Crozzo would have done anything to him, but I had to make sure. The figure thought.
With a sigh, they stared down at the young man once more before a wide smile crept onto their face. "Stay strong my Pride. Continue on and become what you are destined to. Ah...I must calm myself. Thinking of you...I wish I truly did come here, a shame I never left my home."
Once again, reality itself shifted an-
At the top a pub stood nothing more than a single chair. The owners of the pub seemed quite confused when they had found it there. However, soon everyone simply accepted the fact that a drunken adventurer somehow threw it up onto the roof last night. Nothing more, nothing less.