What up what uuuuppppp! I'm sorry! I know I said that I'll now be posting more frequently than the previous five-six days intervals, but I failed to keep my word of posting within three days, I've been busy with some other things hehe. Also, huge shout out to my guy @Agunimo who told me that I should use the Japanese Romaji name of the Danmachi series rather than the English title as it'll give my story more exposure, and lo and behold, within just two days my story pretty much got double the amount of exposure than the previous few weeks combined! Another also, thanks for the review @loneknight1012 , I do admit that some parts seem hella rushed, and I apologize, there's only so much creative juice I can expend all at once, but don't fret, I'll try to make the story more focused instead of jumping all over the place, I highly appreciate your constructive criticism! Once again, thank you to everybody who decided to give my little fever dream of a story the time of their day, I highly appreciate you guys and I look forward to see where this journey takes us! Now... on with the show!
I do not own Danmachi
Chapter VIII: Convalescence and Testimony
Along the meadows intermediate of the forest and the location of the Loki Familia Expedition encampment, the bloodied figure of a wounded and lethargic Bell Cranel was sprinting with all the speed that his legs would allow him to go, in his arms, was an unconscious Lefiya, bloodied from the fight and finally knocked unconscious by a mind down by expending herself too much. Bell cradled her head so as to not disturb her too much by the swaying as he ran as if the devil himself was after them
'I need to hurry!'
Gritting his teeth, he pressed on. He ignored the burning sensation on his legs that were tired from all the exertion, he ignored how every little movement exacerbated the pain he felt from his opened abdominal wound, he ignored his own limits for the sake of the girl that was so vulnerable in his arms, he hated it when people got hurt, especially those that he cared about
'Keep going! Mind over body!'
His legs were ready to fall off of his trunk, his knees buckled with every step he took, he was struggling greatly to breathe, yet he kept going, limping like a broken machine on the brink of giving in
He looked down at the face of the elf he was cradling in his arms, her eyebrows were furrowed in pain as she took in shallow breaths, a dry stain of blood stretched from the edge of her lips down to her delicate chin, his eyes burned with rage as he remembered the beating she took from the red-haired woman
'How dare she hurt her like this! I won't allow such a cute girl such as her to get hurt again!'
Then he stopped himself mid thought, slightly blushing
'Ah! Stop thinking weird thoughts and run faster you dolt!'
Shaking his head, he sped up, the encampment was slowly getting closer
After an agonizing while of continuous sprinting, he arrived at the encampment, breathless and reduced to a panting mess as Loki Familia members surrounded both wounded adventurers, kicking up a frenzy
"P-Please... help... her...!"
After handing the unconscious elf to a fellow elf of the Familia, he promptly collapsed onto his knees and passed out, severely exhausted from the preceding battle and all the sprinting
"What is this all about?!"
Raul appeared amidst the crowd to investigate the commotion, genuinely surprised when he found his fellow Familia members nursing both a severely wounded Bell Cranel and a less injured Lefiya, both were clocked out for the time being
"What happened here?!"
Raul displayed his front befitting of a leader and attempted to shed light on the situation
"We found Rabbit's Foot sprinting like mad towards the camp carrying an unconscious Lefiya, both were wounded badly"
The mages of the Familia were using healing spells on both wounded adventurer, but Bell had more focus since he was battered worse
Raul shot both of them a glance and his eyebrows furrowed
"Gods... what the hell happened to these two...?"
He would ask them once they woke up, for now they needed emergency treatment, acting as a leader should, he sent some idle Loki Familia adventurers to go fetch the executives and for the remaining to make way for the two to be brought to a more comfortable, less crowded area
"Make way you lot!"
"So that's what happened..."
Raul relayed the message to the executives present within the tent that accommodated Lefiya, Bell was brought into his tent and was being tented to by multiple healers, Gareth and Ais had volunteered to keep a watch over the boy
"I see... what could've happened to the two..."
Finn bit his thumb, which was throbbing with dull pain, which served as a sort of tangible intuition for the prum captain, usually a portent of a calamitous situation
"What do you think Riveria?"
The prum captain addressed the high elf, causing her to ponder her thoughts as well
"Could it be an irregular we failed to notice?"
The high elf sighed
"The boy is a magnet for irregulars... specifically Minotaurs"
She added, which elicited a small round of chuckles from those present
"Perhaps, but it doesn't seem like it... there have been no reports of any irregulars roaming about..."
The prum captain countered the high elf's hypothesis, his eyebrows furrowed in frustration
"Could it have been a set-up?"
Tione brought up to the table, causing the others to fall into silence and thought
"I'm not claiming that our Familia is in the good graces of everybody, but I don't think anybody would willingly pick a fight with us..."
Braver shared his two cents on the amazoness' opinion, dismissing it as it was brought up
"Well... we aren't getting getting anywhere with this discussion, the best thing to do now is to wait for either Lefiya or Bell Cranel to wake up and directly tell us what occurred, adjourned"
Finn dismissed everybody present, most had left the tent of the young elf, but a few decided to stay and keep watch, which were Tiona, Tione and Alicia
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Some hours later...
"Mhm..."
Lefiya stirred, alerting the three Loki Familia members presently keeping a watch on her, her eyes fluttered open gently as she slowly got up to a sitting position, clutching her forehead due to slight vertigo
"W-where...?"
She spoke out to nobody in particular, until the three made their presence known to the girl
"LEFIYA!!!"
All three crowded the bed, shocking the young elf
"Ah! Tiona-san! Tione-san! Alicia-san!"
She acknowledged the three fellow Loki Familia members with a smile, while they all returned it
"How long was I out?"
The elf shyly asked
"Around six hours or so... it's dusk now"
Tione responded, causing the elf's mouth to open in shock and disbelief
"Don't worry us like that!"
Tiona sniffed, her sisterly side had presented itself
"What happened...?"
Alicia took the opportunity to speak up
"Some of our fellow Familia members saw Bell Cranel rushing towards the camp, or limping, to be more precise, bloodied and beaten up, he was carrying your unconscious figure in his arms, he didn't touch you inappropriately did he?!"
Alicia got off topic, Tione sighed and decided to butt in
"I don't think he's the kind of guy that would do that, Alicia... anyway, after arriving and handing your unconscious body to somebody else, he promptly passed out... literally"
Lefiya couldn't believe her ears
'Bell Cranel... he carried me all the way back here?'
Before her thoughts began to race, Tione spoke
"Lefiya, if you don't mind, just what the hell happened to you two?"
Lefiya's expression suddenly turned dark as they all tensed at the elf's reaction
"I... before I do, would you guys go get Ais-san and the others? I feel like they need to hear this as well..."
At her request, Tiona nodded and rushed out of the tent to go fetch the executives of the Loki Familia
Leaving the three inside the tent, Alicia changed the subject
"How are you feeling Lefiya? Hungry?"
The elf nodded
"Thirsty too..."
The older elf nodded and went to fetch something to eat, and a glass of water for the elf to drink
After a little while, she came back with a wooden bowl filled with hot chicken soup and a large glass of water, setting it aside on the nightstand beside the bed
Lefiya thanked the older elf as she wolfed the soup down
A little while later, Tiona came back closely followed by the executives of the Loki Familia, intent on hearing Lefiya's testimony
"Good afternoon, Lefiya"
The prum captain of the Loki Familia greeted her warmly as she managed a weak smile and returned his greeting
"How are you feeling?"
Riveria walked up to the side of the bed as she gazed at the recuperating elf with soft eyes, like that of a concerned mother for her child
"A little woozy from the mind down, but I'm alright"
The high elf's eyebrows furrowed at the mentioning of her suffering a mind down
"Lass... what in the gods exactly happened?"
Gareth butted in, deeply concerned that a fellow familia member was involved in a fight
The small tent had become silent for a few seconds as the elf in question pondered on how to best explain the situation to all present
"Ais-san..."
She finally spoke up, the blonde sword princess tilted her head at Lefiya
"Yes? What is it?"
Seeing that she got the blonde haired woman's full attention, she continued
"Do you remember that red-haired woman we fought some expeditions ago?"
As soon as Lefiya's words left her mouth, the atmosphere suddenly became heavy as a few faces darkened
"The one who called me 'Aria?'"
The blonde haired woman went to confirm, the elf solemnly nodded as she gulped, furthering the blonde haired woman's scowl
"She was responsible for this?"
Riveria asked her student, her voice was low and threatening
"Well... I found her fighting Bell Cranel"
Many looks of surprise could now be found, momentarily erasing the tense atmosphere earlier
"Bell... was fighting her...?"
Ais droned out, unable to believe that the white haired boy got roped into this entire mess, she received a nod from the elf
"I found them deeply engaged in battle, but Bell Cranel was at a disadvantage against her, when he was able to get a few blows through, she retaliated by puncturing his abdomen with her arm, before I knew it, I was already aiming my Arc's ray at her, and I was able to intercept before she dealt a killing blow..."
As she talked, the Loki Familia members present had mixed reactions
"Argonaut-kun fought the red-haired lady?! Isn't she super strong?!"
Tiona interjected, as Lefiya nodded at her, heaving out a sigh
"Tch! The brat bit off more than he could chew"
Bete scoffed, but listened intently
"After momentarily taking her out of the fight with my Arc's Ray; which I may have put as much mind into it as I could, I rushed to the heavily bleeding out Bell Cranel, I helped him intake a healing potion and aided the recovery with a healing spell... but the woman got up and caught me off guard with a powerful fist to my face, which knocked me into a tree and sent me rolling back towards the woman, then she proceeded to push her heel down on my abdomen, using more and more force as I flailed helplessly under her"
Lefiya continued talking, albeit becoming more ashamed as she continued, her fellow familia members sending sympathetic looks towards her
"Then it all stopped... "
She suspenseful droned off as the others eagerly listened for her next words
"Her heel was suddenly lifted off, I opened my eyes and witnessed a most unbelievable sight"
The others were now positively on the edge of their seats, now restless at the elf's words
"Bell Cranel was now lifting the woman by her throat as she was struggling to breathe"
Ais' and Rivera's eyes went wide at this, while Finn stayed silent and seemed deep in thought
"Then what happened next?!"
Tiona interjected rudely, receiving a blow to the head courtesy of her annoyed sister
"What happened next was simply unbelievable... the red haired woman was utterly (rekt) beaten by Bell Cranel... he was unrelenting and merciless"
The tent was eerily silent...
"So he was holding back that much"
Bete muttered quietly, but audible enough for them to hear
Ais gave the werewolf a hesitant nod
Riveria was confused by this, and went to prod them
"What do you mean? Bete?"
The werewolf in question looked back at the high elf and sighed
"When we were sparring with the white haired brat last week, I went for a round with him, then he managed to catch me off guard and almost took me out with a single punch, I just knew that I wouldn't stand a chance against him..."
He still shuddered at the thought of just how much power that punch held, never mind had he actually went all-out
The others were utterly surprised by his revelation, but the werewolf continued
"Apparently, he was also able to defeat Ais, even with her wind..."
Now this, this caused an uproar
"WHAT?! ARGONAUT-KUN'S CRAZY STRONG NOW?!?!"
Tiona shouted in surprise, as she was quickly dealt with by Tione, which was getting tired of her sister's antics, but she also couldn't deny just how big of a feat that was
Ais was easily the fastest in the entirety of the Loki Familia, she was faster than even the three veterans of the Loki Familia, despite them being level six longer
To think that Bell Cranel, an adventurer that started just around half a year ago, would be able to best her top speed is just unfathomable
"You serious about this lad?"
Gareth asked the werewolf, getting a slight growl as a response
"I'm not blind old man! I saw it clear as day!"
The werewolf shot back
"We've gotten off topic... do you remember anything else Lefiya?"
Riveria steered the conversation back into its original course, Lefiya stammered a bit before she replied
"Ahm... no, I'm sorry, mind down got me"
She admitted, as Alicia filled in the next part
"And then the others found you being carried by a heavily wounded Bell Cranel towards the camp, after handing you to a fellow familia member, he promptly passed out from exhaustion"
Lefiya nodded at her as the others were silent, digesting all the information they've received...
"Did you know why Bell Cranel and the woman were even fighting in the first place?"
Finn questioned her, but wasn't really expecting a reply, his thumb was acting up again... a bad omen
As he expected, Lefiya shook her head in the negative
"I'm sorry Captain, I unfortunately don't"
She slumped, as the prum captain nodded at her
"Don't worry... I understand..."
Deciding that they will discuss this further another time, he addressed all present
"Well, we now know that Evilus was behind this... but we're still in the dark about a few more things, thus we shall wait for Bell Cranel to wake up before continuing this discussion... now let's leave young Lefiya to rest, she's had a long day"
Everyone agreed at the prum captain's suggestion and slowly exited the tent, leaving both the lying figure of Lefiya and Ais
"Ais-san?"
Lefiya was surprised that she decided to stay back, did she perhaps want something?
"Lefiya... I'm sorry you had to go through all of that... both of you..."
The blonde haired sword princess started, which confused the elf
"Ais-san..."
She shook her head at the elf
"No... had I just taken care of her sooner, none of this would've happened..."
She was unable to look the elf in the eye as she told her that
"Ais-san... please don't blame yourself!"
The sudden forcefulness of Lefiya's voice caught her off guard
"It wasn't your fault in any way, you couldn't have seen this coming by a long shot"
She reassured her, which was little solace for the blonde woman
"But still..."
She started again, but the elf wouldn't let her
"Then we'll finish what we started the next chance we get..."
Ais perked up at her words, intrigued at the elf's statement, then on her face appeared a gentle smile
"Mhm"
The following morning...
Inside the tent of a certain white haired adventurer, a figure stirred in his sleep, the brightness of the warm morning, which was somehow present deep within the dungeon, had caused him to wake up from his slumber, feeling lethargic from all the exertion the previous day
He unceremoniously yawned and rubbed his bed hair, sighing a deep sigh he didn't know he held in
The rustling of the flaps of his tent caught the boy's attention
"Good morning Bell Cranel"
The prum captain of the Loki Familia, accompanied by both Riveria and Gareth, made their way into the sizable tent
"Oh! Finn-san! Riveria-san! Gareth-san! Good morning!"
The two beside the Loki Familia captain nodded in acknowledgement
"How are ya' holding up lad? You got roughed up pretty bad there..."
Gareth started, which made the boy's back straighten as he looked at the three high executives of the Loki Familia
"Ah... where do I even..."
The rushing of his memories of the previous day made him clutch his head as a sudden vertigo assaulted him
"I would normally ask you if you want to talk about it... but a fellow familia member got dragged into whatever happened, so it's imperative we know what happened"
Riveria stepped up and told the boy
"I concur, I hope you understand Bell Cranel..."
Finn added, as the boy nodded, his vertigo subsiding
"Well... I'll begin where I came to talk to Finn-san and Riveria-san yesterday..."
Both addressed Loki Familia members nodded, as they all listened intently at the boy's recollection
"After taking my leave, I went for a walk around Rivira to kill time"
He paused to add suspense shortly before continuing
"I went to visit a pub to grab a bite to eat, while waiting for my order... a robed man next to me strikes up a conversation, he asked if I was Rabbit's Foot, which I confirmed, he then introduced himself as Brio Mue..."
He paused to see if they had any reaction to that name, after only receiving silence in reply, he pressed on
"Brio-san told me that he had a job for me..."
He trailed off, as Finn was quick to fill in the silence
"What did the job entail?"
The prum asked, as Bell continued his storytelling
"He said that Evilus was spotted poking around the forest west of Rivira, burying some sort of orbs into the ground..."
The present trio's eyes widened at his revalation
"Your story aligns with Lefiya's so far..."
Finn pointed out, his thumb and index finger pressed onto his chin, deep in thought as he processed the information
Bell's eyes widened at his words
"Lefiya-san's awake? Is she alright?"
His minor outburst caused the trio to chuckle, as they ultimately nodded at the boy
"Don't worry, Lefiya is up and about thanks to you"
Riveria nodded at the white haired boy, causing him to blushing embarrassment
"B-but! I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for her!"
The boy attempted to counter, but Riveria would have none of it
"You both saved each other, to be fair"
Finn interjected, cutting the boy's complaint short
The tent was silent for a few seconds before Bell decided to resume his story
"Back to the story... I went to investigate after I finished my meal, sprinting as fast as I can towards the location of sighting, and after making sure that there were no nearby enemies, or so I thought, I went looking around..."
The three high executives of the Loki Familia remained silent, giving each other a few looks of uncertainties as the boy continued with his story
"After a few minutes of snooping around, I came across a clear pathway, followed it and found something glinting buried haphazardly in the ground..."
They were on the edge of their seats
"Digging it out and taking a look at the object, I found a strange creature being incubated inside an orb..."
As soon as the words left his mouth, the surrounding temperature suddenly dropped
"Finn... didn't Ais say something similar about the Demi-Spirit?"
Riveria brought up, which made both Gareth and the prum's eyes widen in realization
"Indeed... if this is true, we might have walked into a trap..."
Braver outwardly appeared to be calm and collected, but was severely mentally distressed
'Is Evilus planning on taking out the entire Loki Familia?!'
Such a strong reaction from the prum was exceedingly rare, signifying that the situation was incredibly dire
Bell, seeing the high executives of the Loki Familia in such distress, remained silent
'They're all so panicked... Did Ais-san also have an encounter with the woman? They fought that creature before?'
Despite the uneasiness he felt, he wanted to know just how dire the situation was, so he couldn't help but ask
"Ahm... if I may... just how powerful was that creature?"
Bell asked, getting all three Loki Familia members' attention
"It was incredibly powerful... we were pushed to our utter limit just to take one down..."
His eyes widened in shock at the revelation
"That's not all... not only is it incredibly durable... it can also use high-grade magic, chanting at an extremely quick speed"
Riveria added, furthering the white haired-adventurer's distress
"H-how?"
The boy couldn't help but ask nobody in particular
"The creature was intelligent, able to recognize Ais and also able to set up traps"
Bell was shocked at this
'It's just like that irregular Moss Huge we fought before...'
Bell knew it was a stupid question, but he wanted to ask it anyway
"Was that monster naturally found within the deeper floors?"
His question caught all three off guard, but they all quickly realized that he's not acquainted with Evilus' little pet projects
"No... it's an artificial monster created by Evilus"
His eyes nearly popped out of their sockets
'I've seen Evilus capture and sell off the Xenos, but to think they're also making their own monsters?'
The ramifications of the thought unnerved him greatly, Evilus now became an even more dangerous foe to the white haired adventurer
"Finn... what do you suggest we do about this?"
Gareth addressed the prum, who was deep in thought
"Bell Cranel..."
He snapped straight as the Loki Familia Captain's mention of his name
"Y-yes?"
He muttered out, feeling three pairs of eyes on him
"Are you feeling well enough to move about now?"
He asked the boy, who replied almost instantaneously
"Yes! What will you have me do?"
Bell could predict what he wanted to ask of him next
"Well then... will you take us to the location where you found those orbs?"
Braver asked the boy, who firmly nodded
"Follow me"
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Bell, along with the high-ranking members of the Loki Familia were now walking around the dense forest that served as a battlefield the previous day, a clearing could now be seen where countless trees were uprooted and craters littered the area
"Tch! The place is a mess, you both really went at it"
The werewolf of the Loki Familia spoke up, assessing the widespread damage
Riveria, who took in the surroundings, noticed one thing
"Based on what I'm seeing, the fight was mostly physical, very little or no magic was used..."
She looked to the white haired boy some distance away, who nodded in confirmation at her words
"Yea... we kept it a purely physical brawl"
Bell told them
"Alright... let's have a look around for the orbs, look for anything reflecting sunlight on the ground"
Finn commanded the squad, who dispersed to look around
"I wonder why they would haphazardly bury the Demi-Spirit orbs and risk it being found instead of completely burying them underground..."
The prum droned off
"Perhaps those creatures keep track of day and night cycles and therefore require a certain amount of exposure to sunlight?"
Riveria provided her hypothesis, which the prum nodded at
"That seems plausible..."
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Ais, Tione and Tiona formed a group and were having a look around the area, after a while of searching, they ultimately came up empty handed, but they did notice a peculiar sight
"Over here you two..."
Tione gestured for both Ais and her sister to come closer, which they did
"This seems like a hole in the ground that was recently covered back up with earth doesn't it?"
And indeed, after further inspection, it was indeed what the amazonness described, a hole in the ground that was filled back up
"Hoh? Did they perhaps come back for them?"
Tiona asked, which made them raise their guard
"I suggest we keep our guards up..."
The three women tensed as they scanned their surroundings for anything out of the ordinary, finding none, they decided to rendezvous with the group to announce their findings
"Hey you three... found anything?"
The prum captain asked them, to which they immediately nodded affirmatively
"We found multiple holes in the earth that seemed to be recently filled up... they must've predicted that we'd come and investigate so they came back and covered up any traces..."
Tione spoke, releasing a deep sigh she unknowingly held in
Both Bell and Ais looked troubled by her words
'Those things are dangerous... I can feel it!'
'This can't be happening again...!'
Deep within Knossos...
"I told you we should've struck when we had the chance!!!"
A certain pink haired woman growled at both the God of Death and a severely injured red-haired monster tamer
"Calm yourself Valletta, this was unforeseen, yes?"
Thanatos attempted to reason with the livid young woman, which served to add fuel to the fire
"Unforeseen he says... We knew he'd be more trouble than he's worth for a good damn while!!! Yet we still didn't do shit!!!"
Valletta raised her voice with each word, her furious golden irises locked onto her God, which sternly looked back at her, as if warning her to back off
"Think about it... had we disposed of him early on, we'd draw attention to ourselves, thus ruining our plans, capiche?"
He shot back at the angry woman, only to receive a heated glare in return
"Because of this little shortcoming of ours, I had to go clean up after dear Revis here!"
The woman in question locked eyes with her
She was in a much better condition than the previous day, having receiving such a thorough beating by the enraged white haired adventurer, she was forced to retreat and reconsider their plans on ambushing the Loki Familia
Her right arm, which everything from the elbow up was all that remained, had been reconstructed with metal, and her left arm which was fractured in the battle, was now slung in a sling, more than a single potion was required for her more serious injuries to be healed.
"We might have to ask for help from them..."
This shut up the pink haired woman mid-rant as the god of death raised an eyebrow at the woman
"Damn... was he really that much of a handful?"
Valletta asked, but already knew the answer after thinking about how Revis suddenly burst through the entrance of Knossos the previous day, limping and near-death
Thanatos kept silent as he looked at Revis intently
"Are you sure? It's problematic if we become indebted to them..."
Revis looked back at the god
"We'll just ask them for a few more prototypes, nothing too bad..."
Her gaze fell upon the collected orbs containing incubated Demi-Spirits
Following her gaze, Thanatos inquired
"What do you suggest we do with them?"
He asked, Revis thought for a moment before she spoke
"I've experienced the true power of Rabbit's Foot first hand... even though the Loki Familia struggled with the Demi-Spirit, I know that Rabbit's Foot is far stronger than they are now currently and thus will make quick work of the Demi-Spirit, even if we decided to release many of them, like originally planned..."
Valletta could sense where this was going, but wanted to confirm
"And you're thinking...?"
She asked, which was immediately addressed by the red-haired woman
"Why don't we merge them all into a single entity... a powerful Super-Spirit akin to a Demi-God"
Both mortal and god pondered her decision for a bit
"The main disadvantage of such a decision would be providing them with a single powerful target as opposed to multiple, more troublesome targets should be decide to keep them all separate..."
Thanatos began
"I understand that well Thanatos-sama, but it'll dramatically scale the power and abilities of such a monster..."
Revis added, which made the god sigh
"Also... it'll take time... around a few months at least"
This revelation did nothing to deter Revis from her decision
"It is an acceptable span of time to wait... "
The god of death sighed as he buried his face into the palm of his hand
"With Rabbit's Foot and Revis' little playdate, the Loki Familia will be on high alert, and I wouldn't even be surprised if they decided to turn back now and head back towards the surface..."
Revis nodded at this
"That is indeed likely... I apologize that I complicated things Thanatos-sama..."
The god simply gazed upon the injured woman, giving her a warm smile
"Not to worry Revis, I knew this would happen so I prepared some countermeasures..."
A sadistic smile betrayed the god of death's face
"In the meantime, we'll play the waiting game and see if Enyo can clean up after our little mess..."
-Fin-
Whad'ya think? Kinda crappy filler chapter? Me too! But I promise the subsequent chapters will be more interesting, I guarantee that it'll be action packed and more mysteries and also revelations will arise, so stay tuned for the next chapter, might be released in the 20th of April, 2069, idk, I'm not a wizard that can predict the future... anyways, peace!