Rewritten 08/17/2020

Disclaimer: I do not own Danmachi or Kyou Kara Maou.

Chapter 1: A Whole New World

== At the Divine Bathhouse, Orario ==

== Yuri's POV ==

'And here I thought these situations are only memories…' I sighed as I stared at the high ceiling of the bathhouse. I could hear the flowing of water as it cascades down from the indoor fountains that surround the shallow pool that we had emerged from. The bathhouse is a bit dim with the light mostly blocked by the nearby high pillars.

I remembered a time when I ended up in a similar situation in Gwendal's castle. I appeared in the middle of a pool where Yozak and two other muscular men were bathing. I am sure that the other two men would have very much likely devoured my innocence – intentionally or unintentionally. Fortunately, Conrad and Gunter arrived just in time to save me. Gunter's gorgeous looks served as a decoy that let me leave from the clutches of those men.

My travel between worlds back then depended on the power of Shinou and Ulrike. When I defeated Soushu, I gained maryoku greater even than Shinou's. Anyways, that is what Murata, aka, the Great Sage, and my best friend, said when we first traveled back to Shin Makoku using my maryoku.

Back to our current predicament, I turned to my right and saw Murata sitting up and shaking off water from his eyeglasses. We are both soaked from head to toe.

"Murata…"

"Do you have any idea where we are?", I asked, moving to sit as well.

I did not get an answer from him right away as he continued to shake off water from his glasses before placing it back over his eyes. It is taking him longer than necessary to adjust the object, making me realize that he is off in his own world again, something that happens often as of late.

It is not that he does not hear what I say. He always answers back to my questions. It is just that he seems not interested in other things or what people are saying, like a robot that automatically answers but takes a while to process your questions. When I asked what is bothering him, he simply smiles and tells me that his mind is preoccupied with his advanced classes.

"Unfortunately, nope…", Murata finally answered, a small smile on his lips as he looks at me.

"Well, the good thing is that no one else seems to be here at that moment" he added.

Just then, we heard a movement of water from behind us like someone was walking towards us.

"What do you think you're doing here?" an eyepatch wearing woman with short wavy red hair asked, her voice indicating that she is not pleased with us being there.

Murata and I got to our feet and turned to the said woman.

And because I am this clumsy kid who seems to always mess up an already messed-up situation, I ended up losing my balance as I turned. I unintentionally grabbed on the woman as I fell forward.

"EH – This is not what it looks like! We don't have evil intentions!"

I exclaimed as I immediately tried to stand but slipped in the process with both hands landing on either side of her body and my face resting over her chest. The woman is in a state of undress if not for the short towel wrapped around her naked form.

"WHUAAAAH" I involuntarily screamed, surprised when I felt the soft chest of the woman against my face. I pushed myself up and thankfully did not fall again.

I can feel my face burning from embarrassment. I had been embarrassed and humiliated numerous times, but this tops the list.

'Help her up, idiot…' I told myself. But as I made a move to offer my hand, she has already gotten up.

'She's so beautiful…' I realized as I looked at her closely.

'No Yuuri. Stop. You're not supposed to ogle!' I chastised himself but still could not look away.

'What happened to her right eye though…'

I realized that I have been staring too long when I caught her eye and she glared at me, an eyebrow raised as if telling me, 'Are you finished staring?'.

'Baah! Yuri you idiot! You should apologize…'

"Ma – ma'am, I'm so-" I started to say when I felt Murata pulling me away.

"Shibuya, this is not the time to be lovestruck!", Murata smirked as he started to run towards a door.

"HEY! COME BACK HERE!" I heard the woman shouted but thankfully she did not go after us.

The relief I felt though is short-lived as we ran into several women who tried to catch us when we come out from the bathhouse. From their appearances, they looked like guards stationed at the entrances into the bathhouse. All looked surprised at first when they saw us coming out from what I could now tell, a women-only bathhouse. They remind me of the lady guards at the Shrine of Shinou who have no qualms of attacking any men who enter the shrine without permission.

== Hephaestus' office an hour ago ==

== Hephaestus' POV ==

I massaged my right shoulder with my left hand, slowly rotating to work on the stiffness due to hours of consolidating our familia's financial documents, which I am very much happy to be done with for this quarter at least. This is the part of having a big familia that I mostly dislike. Not that Tsubaki, my familia captain, is not helping with this responsibility. Unfortunately, she is busy with her recent projects. I just could not trust anyone else with this responsibility.

"Maybe I should assign a vice captain to take on this job…" I muttered to myself as I placed back my quill to its holder.

But the problem is, no one else in my familia is remotely interested in clerical or administrative responsibilities. They would rather stay all day and night in their workshops as all blacksmiths do.

I sighed as I stood up and approached the window, looking at the Tower of Babel looming in the horizon.

'It has been a hectic month. I should rest for a day or two, maybe even visit the Divine Bathhouse. I haven't been there for months', I thought.

Though the familia has its own large bathhouse, I often visit the other place if I wanted to just be by myself. The best time to go there is in the afternoon when the bathhouse is usually empty and there are no nosy goddesses to bother me.

After deciding to go to the divine bathhouse, I informed a familia member, just in case someone Tsubaki looks for me.

== Change Scene – Inside the Divine Bathhouse, few minutes before Yuri and Murata's arrival ==

== Hephaestus' POV ==

Smiling a bit, I sat down in one of the pools at the corner, my back against one of the tall pillars. As I had predicted, there is no other goddess in the bathhouse.

I closed my eyes, sighing contentedly as I feel the month's work stress be washed away. I planned to get a massage service from this place after to completely refresh myself.

"GUAAH"

I heard water splashing nearby like when a person is struggling to emerge from a deep water, which is strange because all pools in the bathhouse are not deep, just enough to merge one's body when one sit on the pool's floor.

Curious, I stood up, wrapping the towel around my naked body. I walked from behind the pillar to the large pool at the middle to find two persons on the water, breathing heavily, like they had just swum from the deeps.

They sat up as I got closer with their backs was facing me. They started talking between themselves and still did not notice me. I realized then that the two are men and are not supposed to be allowed inside or even anywhere near this place.

"What do you think you're doing here?" I said, which startled the two as they instantly stood up and turned towards me. Both are humans and by appearance, anywhere between 16 to 20 years old, with black hair and black eyes, the same as Takemikazuchi's children.

One of the two young men is wearing eyeglasses and seem to have a playful smile showing on his face as he looked at his companion who at that moment lost his balance, falling forward towards me.

The impact is not strong but enough to cause both of us to fall on the water, with the kid landing above me. I instantly tried to stand up, noticing the kid doing the same.

"EH – This is not what it looks like! We don't have evil intentions!" he exclaimed, and I detected no lies in his words.

As he was trying to stand up though, he slipped and again landed over me with his face against my chest. He tried to scramble back to his feet again, and thankfully this time, he did not fall.

As I stood up myself, I noticed him staring at me, looking at me, clearly admiring.

'Has he not seen other goddesses in Orario?' I thought. I know that gods and goddesses are superior in appearance compared with most mortals, except for elves perhaps, but there are other goddesses out there that are far more beautiful than me.

When my eyes caught his, I glared at him as I felt myself blushed from his blatant admiration and of course, from the situation. I don't sense any ill intent from this kid. But I would like to know why they would enter this restricted place.

"Ma'am, I'm so-" he started to speak again but his arm was grabbed by the kid in glasses, pulling him away as both ran towards the exit.

"HEY! COME BACK HERE!" I could only shout before I heard a commotion from outside and then the sound of feet running towards the bathhouse.

"Hephaestus-sama?" a woman who works in that place called from the door. The workers would not even venture into the bathhouse when they know that a goddess is inside.

"Are you all right?" she asked with worry evident in her voice.

"I'm fine. You should report this to the guild" I called back as I made my way into the shower rooms.

"Yes ma'am, and I'm terribly sorry…" the woman bowed, leaving at once to report to authorities what happened.

== Back to present – Yuri's POV ==

We managed to evade capture after running and finding a place to hide under thick bushes in what looked like a park. We are just waiting out to make sure that no one has followed us and are still on our trail.

"We – we… should have stayed and apologize, instead" I said, exhaling and inhaling heavily, still trying to catch my breath.

"Mmm… I don't think that's a good idea. They would surely throw us into the prison", Murata disagreed, trying to catch his breath as well.

"Did you not notice that that place is heavily guarded? And then there we were, able to sneak in", he added with another grin, seemingly enjoying the situation.

"Yeah, I guess… But still…", I started, my conscience eating me when I remembered the state we left the woman.

"Shibuya… You should stop thinking about the woman, you don't have any chance", Murata started with a knowing smile.

"Look Shibuya... First impression is always important with women. Remember how the saying goes? First impression lasts? You being inside a women bathhouse, acting like a peeping tom, definitely did not make a good first impression..." he added in his condescending manner, which is quite irritating each time he did it.

"And whatever will your fiance, our dear Lord Von Biefelt, say about this matter?" he continued, and remembering Wolfram in this situation, I could not help but get defensive.

"Hey – I just feel that it's terrible to just leave without explaining our side… And it's not because I like her" I said as I feel my face burning with mixture of indignation and embarrassment.

"You really are too cute when blushing…" Murata said, smirking.

"Shut up…"

Murata chuckled a bit before continuing. "And as I said, it's not a good idea to stay there longer. We won't know how they will react to our situation" he sighed as he looked at our surroundings, the sun is already setting.

"It's about to get dark. Lords Weller, von Biefelt, and the others would surely get worried. They're expecting us to arrive today after all" he added.

"Yeah, I know".

"You wimp! How did you manage to get lost in getting back to your kingdom! – is something that Wolfram will surely say the first thing we get back" I added as I imagine Wolfram's reaction.

Murata could only give me a sympathetic smile. "Let's get going then. I don't think anyone else is here."

After confirming that no one else is nearby, we both stood up. I looked at the horizon, only now noticing a tall tower that stands in the middle of the town or city we currently are.

"Now where are we…" my voice trailed off as I tried to remember of any place where such tower is located.

The tower reaches the clouds in the sky, easily dwarfing other structures nearby. I could not remember of any place in the Demon Kingdom or in human nations that has a tower as tall as what I am currently seeing. Something like this should have been mentioned by Gunter in one of his many lessons I was forced to attend.

"O-rar-io…" Murata muttered slowly as he too looked at the tower. He has a faint smile showing on his face like he is remembering memories both sad and happy. Before I could ask him questions though, he started to walk away towards the direction of the tower.

"Come on Shibuya. We need to find a place to stay."

"You already know where we are, right?" I asked for confirmation after I heard him mutter Orario.

"Yes… We are in Orario, also known as the Labyrinth city."

"Shouldn't we find a place where we could travel to Demon Kingdom safely? Or, you know I could even transport us back to Japan. That's more sensible…", I reasoned out as I followed Murata.

Murata continued walking, not giving any answer, and seemed to be back to his own world again, clearly deeply thinking. "I need to speak to someone I know who may still live here…"

Thank you so much for reading.