Good day ladies and gentlemen! A fine one in'nit? Sorry that I took a while to update the story, I kinda got a liiiiiittle bit too much into digital drawing and have thus been quite preoccupied for the majority of my time just drawing, drawing and some more drawing, still shit but I'm getting better each day... so that's something. Also, I'd like to tell y'all that I might cut out some of the plot that I originally had for the story since I don't want to drag it on too long since it's just my first story hehe, I honestly think I got a bit too ambitious for my first story, like I had an overly-convoluted plot that I wanted to unfold, but I'm struggling to connect them in an elegant way and without any plot-holes, so I think that the last chapter might be something in the 30s chapters idk. Again, I'd really like to thank everybody who've thus far given my story a read, I've gotten quite the audience, heh. So, that's all for now and now we shall proceed...
I do not own Danmachi
Chapter XI: Investigation
A little bit after the monster raid on Orario was decisively squelched by the Freya Familia, the remaining able-bodied adventurers contributed to the rebuilding and relief effort, conflagrations were extinguished before they spread too much, ruined buildings were excavated thoroughly for any trapped persons, and the evacuated and beleaguered populace as being tended to and assuaged by the Ganesha Familia, the Freya Familia had already left the vicinity to report the success of the mission to their goddess as the remaining adventurers did their part in the relief response.
The dark smoke bellowing earlier due to the conflagrations were slowly clearing, along with the soot thrown up, from the extinguishment of the flames that generated them, the sky was now clear once more
Many civilians that were trapped underneath the rubble were rescued thanks to the hasty response time of the adventurers present, there were very few casualties counted, not counting the casualties incurred from the altercation between the adventurers and the monsters, which were unexpectedly numerous, the monsters had roved themselves to be quite resilient against the combined efforts and strength of around a few dozen adventurers
Those who had fallen in battle were carried towards an open area by the side, blankets covering their gravely wounded, or mutilated rather, cadavers, these brave men and women were to be given a proper interment alongside the fallen heroes who had defended Orario against Evilus during the dark period
Fellow adventurers lay beside the lifeless bodies of their dear friends, brothers, sisters, or even their children, weeping profusely as they caressed the cold bodies of their departed fellow adventurers
"N-Noe... I'm so sorry for everything!"
A male adventurer from the Ganesha Familia clasped the cold, rigid hand of his deceased brother as he cried bitter tears, everything they've been through came back to him in quick successions, the moments they shared, the fights they've been through, the fights between the two, any countless more memories of significant importance...
"Hey!!! There's a woman and an infant underneath the rubble here!!!"
A male adventurer from the Thor Familia shouted out as he furiously dug at the rubble, exposing two bodies covered in dust and wreckage
The larger body of the woman was bloodied and bruised as the wails of a frightened infant could be heard underneath her, it was apparent to all who witnessed the sight that the mother had used her own body to shield the brittle and vulnerable infant from the collapsing debris, her breath was shaky and her body threatened to buckle underneath her own body weight, but she held on for fear of crushing the infant below her
"H...hush... now... little one... mommy wi... will... protect you..."
"Make haste damn you lot!"
An adventurer shouted as more adventurers rushed to the site
Clawing at the rubble, once cleared, they carried and rushed the two figures away to the medical tent some distance away
"Make way!!!"
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Away from all the destruction and human suffering, we now pan towards the interior of a large building some distance away, civilians were situated as they waited out the storm, now the captain of the Ganesha Familia addressed the dejected population
"Everybody! The monsters have been dealt with, thanks to the efforts of many adventurers. Unfortunately, the monsters have caused widespread damage and thus, the majority of the residential houses were either badly damaged or completely destroyed, because of this, we shall be recruiting all able-bodied civilians to assist in the renovation and restoration efforts! Please come forward if you think that you're able to work..."
Many men and women stepped forward, eager to assist in the reparations
"Alright, I'm assuming around three hundred pairs of hands..."
Shakti murmured to a fellow Ganesha Familia member beside her, who took note of the estimation, that number of workers would require a large number of resources
"Noted, I'll have the others gather the necessary materials immediately..."
The man said as he walked away, leaving the Ganesha Familia captain to her lonesome as she observed the clamoring population
"Shakti-san! You may want to head over to where Perseus-sama is! A growing number of adventurers are getting restless about the Loki Familia expedition force's return..."
Needing no more word to be said, she nodded at the fellow female Ganesha Familia member and sped towards where Asfi was
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"We demand the Loki Familia be investigated Perseus!"
An adventurer cried out, it was well known that the Hermes Familia was adept at investigations and reconnaissance, so there was no better Familia suited for the job
"The lack of tangible evidence presented to me is enough proof for us to do such a thing"
The captain of the Hermes Familia fought back, she genuinely believe that the Loki Familia and its allies played no part in this, her intuition decided it and it very rarely led her astray, she nursed her temples, a massive headache now incoming
"They're responsible for this! I tell you!"
Another adventurer shouted out from the middle of the crowd as murmurs and nods of agreement arose
"The timing of their arrival was suspicious as hell!"
One adventurer exclaimed as others agreed
"They said something about some unexpected circumstances arising that forced them to turn back, but they dodged our questions every damn time we demanded them to spill the beans!"
Another indignant adventurer said, which most agreed to
"Well, nothing shall be done unless we're presented with sufficient and legitimate evidence!"
Her voice was decisive as her opinion was unwavering and final
"Alright, that's quite enough you noisy lot! There's much to be done so get to it!"
The loud voice of Shakti suddenly bellowed out as the adventurers acquiesced and dispersed to busy themselves
"Quite the morning isn't it?"
The captain of the Ganesha Familia sighed as she walked closer to the blue-haired woman
"Indeed, I'm already nursing a headache from these lively lot"
To emphasize her point, Asfi pushed her index and middle fingers into her eyes, it was the only thing that slowly stopped the ache, which annoyed her (A.N.: hehe~)
Shakti nodded at her
"Do you believe that the Loki Familia had something to do with this?"
Asfi then asked the indigo-haired woman a question out of the blue, which surprised her
"I personally don't believe a single word of it, as the Loki Familia has too much at stake to pull such a stunt like that, and I personally know that they're good people, even if some of them are a bit misguided..."
Her thoughts drifted to a certain elf that caused a bit of a ruckus with their little sparring session with the captain of the Hestia Familia more than a week ago...
"... but they're good people"
She finished, which left the blue-haired woman deep in thought
"I'll ask the Loki Familia a few questions when I get the chance... they were actually asking our Familia investigate them clandestinely, can you believe that?"
The captain of the Ganesha Familia sighed
"Not the craziest thing I've heard today..."
Within the walls of the Hearth Manor, a loud screech could be heard, or two... they were aimed towards a certain white haired adventurer, who sweat dropped at the scene
"I knew that joining the expedition was a bad idea! My poor Bell got hurt again!"
Hestia exclaimed with (fake?) tears in her eyes
Bell honestly wanted to counter her point, to say that it wasn't the worst thing that's happened to him, but that would probably just add fuel to the flame so he decided against it in the end, deciding to receive their scolding in full
"Bell-sama! I think you should reconsider joining their next expedition!"
Lili vehemently protested, which made the white haired boy sigh
"Come on you two... being an adventurer is inherently a dangerous job, there's no guarantee that things will go swimmingly every time... there's bound to be some wrong turns, bad decisions, and sacrifices to be made..."
Spoken like a true sage, Welf gave him a reassuring smile, which he reciprocated
"A... As long as Bell-sama is even more careful next time..."
Haruhime acquiesced, having little sway on Bell's resolve to become a true hero, even though he was already so much more than a hero in her eyes
'As long as you come back safe Master Bell...'
The renard thought to herself
Mikoto sighed, as if sensing what the renard wanted to voice out, she spoke out for her
"Bell-dono is unwavering in his decision... that is admirable, so as far as I can see it, the only thing we can do is to cheer him on and support him along his journey"
Welf and Haruhime nodded at her words while Hestia and Lili begrudgingly accepted their powerlessness over the boy's resolve
"Thank you everyone... I just want you all to know that no matter what happens... I'll always be there for you all..."
This caused their spirits to liven up significantly
"Yeah! We'll always be there for you too buddy!"
Welf gave him a thumbs up accompanied with a smile as Mikoto nodded with a smile of her own
Instead of resorting to words, Hestia and Lili simply decided on hugging him from either side
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After talking a bit more with his Familia about what's new since he was away, he gently nudged Hestia to the side and asked her if she could update his status
She was expecting Bell to nearly give her a heart-attack again with his crazy status leaps, but nothing could have prepared her enough for this...
Hestia nearly fell out of her seating position from Bell's lower back as she proceeded to administer a status update on Bell after the rescheduled Loki Familia expedition, to say that Bell's status were jumping by leaps and bounds would be doing it little justice
"G-Goddess?! Are you alright?!"
Bell asked after hearing the choking sounds of his Goddess, she was speechless at what she was witnessing (A.N.: ( ͡ ͜ʖ ͡))
"G-Goddess?!"
He was growing even more panicked after she didn't respond, silently looking at his new status
"Bell?"
She finally spoke with a soft voice, almost in disbelief
"Y-yes? What is it?"
He was panicked and confused with her behavior, one would think he was used to this by now since he was already a walking cheat code, but this instance was different, he could tell
"Tell me, your dear goddess... what in the name of the gods exactly happened down there?!"
"Wha-?"
Before he could ask her further, she shoved the status sheet into his face, he took it and, after a quick look, his eyes nearly popped out of their eye sockets...
Name: Bell Cranel
Age: 15
(A.N.: I decided to age him up a bit here hehe)
Race: Human
Familia: Hestia Familia
Level: 6
Stats:
Strength: I-64 (20) = I-84
Defense: I-96 (20) = H-116
Dexterity: I-48 (20) = I-68
Agility: H-105 (20) = H-125
Magic: I-49 (20) = I-69
Luck: F
Immunity: F
Escape: I
Magic:
Firebolt: Swift-Strike Magic
Skill:
Liaris Freese: Rapid Growth, continued desire results in continued growth, stronger desire results in stronger growth (Sealed)
Argonaut: Charges automatically with active action
Ox Slayer: All abilities are drastically enhanced when fighting minotaurs
Herald of Chivalry: The desire to protect, all stats are added to an amount that will steadily increase along with the holder's level and abilities, also increases the limit for each of holder's stats
He couldn't believe it, his stats had increased by around three-hundred and fifty points since he had that sparring session with Ais, Lefiya and Bete, which was meager compared to his previous, less significant, but still befuddling status jumps of around one hundred or so points every status update.
This new information shocked the poor boy down to his core, now he was also as speechless as his goddess, who was patiently waiting for a response from her child
"Well? I'm waiting..."
Hestia tapped her foot expectedly, while her features seemed distressed
"I... ahm...!"
The boy stammered out, struggling to form a comprehensive sentence, he was too shell-shocked to reply
"I... may have nearly died in there..."
He knew it was coming
"WHAAAAAT?!?!?!"
Hestia shrieked out in horror, she then proceeded to meticulously inspect the boy for any injuries of signs of previous injuries, which made him sigh
"I-I'm fine now goddess, really!"
He tried to assuage her anxiety
She was like a mother checking to see if her child got hurt after a mishap during playtime
"Was it during the encounter with Evilus as you said?!"
She pressed her child for confirmation, which he timidly nodded to
"The fight was... quite violent..."
Hestia shook him back and forth with strength that the boy never thought she had
"You really need to learn how to pick your battles young man!"
She stopped shaking him nauseatingly and resorted to pinching his ear quite painfully
"Ow! ow! ow! ow! I get it goddess! Please stop pinching my ear!"
The boy pleaded amidst moist eyes from the pain
She kept at it for a few more seconds before she let go of his now red and throbbing ear
With a sigh, she began with a soft voice
"Bell... I know that being an adventurer is inherently a dangerous job... but please, try to avoid unnecessarily putting yourself in danger like that... why didn't you ask for help before going there?"
She inquired, the boy genuinely didn't know how to answer, his rationality finally catching up to him
"I... I didn't think of asking for help, I thought I would just be able to swoop in undetected... but things went south"
It wasn't that the boy was an idiot, in fact, he had great battle intuition, but the boy was still just a boy and was thus still as naive as he was at level one
"I sincerely hope that you'd think before you act Bell-kun..."
Hestia began again
"Y-yes... I promise that I'll be more careful and less headstrong in the dungeon"
Hestia knew the boy too well to know that whenever he promises something, he does his damndest to uphold it regardless
With that said, she regained her smile
"Well... now that's settled, onto other matters..."
She held up the sheet containing his newly updated status and pointed towards the nascent skill he acquired
"Another developmental skill?!"
She shrieked again, which made the boy smile nervously at the small Goddess
His very first skill, Liaris Freese was sealed by Hestia in order to conceal it from the boy, but this one she won't be able to hide due to the figures being shown on each of his stats
"And one that will significantly boost your stats to boot... seriously Bell-kun, what is up with these abnormal stats of yours? You're pretty much a walking cheat skill!"
Well, to be honest, he is a walking cheat skill...
She sighed into the palm of her hand, if such a development were to become public, every god and goddess would narrow down and cajole the boy into joining their familia, some might even resort to... more forceful and unethical measures, she wouldn't have that, now while she's still within the lower realm
"Ahaha... I truly have no idea where that came from..."
He scratched the back of his head in an awkward fashion
"Bell-kun... you must never let word of this get out, got it?"
She urged the boy, poking a dainty finger onto his muscled chest, he nodded at her
"I understand... every deity will surely go crazy after finding out..."
He trailed off, she smiled at the boy, he can also be surprisingly astute every now and then, but those are rare
"I'm glad that you understand Bell-kun"
Another day had come to pass, the sun peeked over the horizon and embraced the land with its warmth. There was already bustling activity within Orario despite it being very early in the morning, people were already moving about, doing as much as they can to assist in the reconstruction efforts of the southern part of Orario. Despite being reduced to mere rubble and ruins the previous day, the volunteers had done a spectacular job of reconstruction, a few buildings were even already finished with so many workers pitching in an effort. With the soot and dust cleared away, many were now focused on clearing up any debris present and salvaging any materials they could use for construction.
But instead of focusing on the renovation efforts, we will focus on a certain trickster goddess' Familia, who had left for the streets of Orario at first light to gather information pertaining to the mysterious appearance of the unfamiliar monsters the previous day
Said trickster goddess was being accompanied by Bete under the sewers, the red-haired goddess thought it was a good idea to check the sewers again for any clues, since they had gotten lucky last time they went down there
While the red-haired goddess and the werewolf were trudging miserably down there, Lefiya, Ais, Tiona and Tione were roaming about and asking around with less than success, with many people simply glaring or even scoffing at them, rumors sure do travel quickly, the few who did cooperate were empty-handed, yet they persevered, hoping to at least get a lead that'll eventually unravel the truth
"Well... I guess we won't be finding about it anytime soon..."
Tione sighed, all this asking around was killing her since they just mostly get scoffs and sneers as their response, how does one gather information when even the populace refuses to cooperate
To make their work faster and more thorough, the four of them decided to further split up into two groups, the amazon sisters naturally paired up, leaving Lefiya and Ais to pair up and check the alleyways for any clues
After looking around in the fetid and unpleasantly narrow alleyways, they still had not found any leads
"Hah... I'm getting tired with all this walking, and we're still empty-handed..."
Lefiya complained as Ais shot a quick glance of concern at her
"Do you want to take a rest for now? I think we can afford that much..."
She suggested, which Lefiya beamed at
"Y-yes!"
Both of them exited the claustrophobia-inducing alleyways and had decided to visit a certain jagamarukun stall than a certain chibi goddess manned
After buying a few too many pieces of jagamarukun, both of them had sat down by the fountain in front of the Tower of Babel, content with the overwhelmingly yummy flavor of the potato snack as they chewed
"You're right Ais-san! This is really delicious!"
Lefiya mouthed in between bites as she chewed the potato flavored goodness
Ais simply hummed and nodded in agreement
"Go on... "
To both of their confusion, they had seen a nervous little girl nearby, being coaxed by her grandfather to approach the two Loki Familia members, she had a piece of paper in her hands
Taking a deep sigh to muster up the courage, the girl walked towards the Sword Princess and Thousand Elf, timidly fidgeting as both girls stared at her in curiosity
"Ahm... hello miss sword princess... and miss thousand elf..."
The girl greeted them, both had looked at each other, unsure of how to react
"H-hello to you too little girl, anything we can do for you?"
Lefiya asked the girl, who shyly held out the piece of paper she had been holding, to the elf, whose eyes widened at the sight
Engraved on the piece of paper was a big red heart with the writing 'I love the Loki Familia' written on it, even Ais was too stunned to speak
"Ahm... you see... Loki Familia saved my dad a few months back in the dungeon..."
The girl sniffled, a cute sight to behold
Lefiya and Ais could only silently listen to the girl
"...that's why, no matter what they say... I'll always believe in you guys!"
That did it
Lefiya suddenly crouched down and hugged the girl, Ais displayed a genuine smile, which was rare
"Thank you... it means so much to us that you believe in us..."
Lefiya continued to hold the little girl, who reciprocated the hug from the elf
"Bete, put those ears of yer's to work will ya?"
The voice of Loki reverberated within the dank and fetid confines of the rat-infested sewers
"Tch! You don't think I am?"
The werewolf of the Familia snarled at his goddess
"Just making sure hehe~"
They had been walking around the dreaded sewers of Orario for around half an hour, so far, nothing has been out of the ordinary, it wasn't like they had all day to look around, and it wasn't like they wanted to remain down there for any longer than necessary, every second was torture for Bete due to his incredibly sensitive olfactory sense.
"Are we gonna walk around here all day Loki? Why'd you even pick me for this again?! You enjoy torturing me or something?"
The werewolf nagged at the red-headed goddess, who smirked at him
"Not like we can ask one of my girls to go down here with me now would it? That's not very gentleman-like of you"
She teased, which he scoffed at
"Whatever, let's just hurry and get this over with..."
And with that, the conversation between them died down...
Deciding to strike another round of small-talk, the red-haired goddess suddenly began
"Bete, do you think that Evilus is planning something bigger than last time?"
She inquired, which caught Bete off-guard with the sudden change in topic
"I doubt it... rabbit boy kinda foiled their attempted surprise attack on us down there, so I don't think they'll be trying anything again so soon..."
He pointed out his observations to the goddess, who nodded along in agreement of the points he made
"That's why... I think the monster attack on the city yesterday was by a third party"
He suggested, which caught the red-haired goddess' interest
"Oh? Is this based on any evidence? or just full speculation?"
Bete shook his head
"It's just my two cents on the matter, no evidence to support it so far..."
Both of them continued along the long and dark pathway of the sewers underneath Orario, by now they had walked until they were underneath the eastern side of Orario, which was quite the distance
"Hey Loki... doesn't that pathway over there seem a little off to you?"
He pointed towards a vestibule that branched out, but what was interesting was the dead end that it directly led to, it seemed to be a false wall, covering up something
"Hmm... you don't say now?"
Loki opened her eyes slightly to scrutinize the dead-end, and indeed found it to be kind of off
Just before they were about to head towards it to check it out, faint sounds of footsteps were heard by Bete
"Loki! Hide!"
They both quickly clamored towards the far edge, where it was nearly pitch black, a few seconds later, a lone figure came into view, a male wearing a black robe decorated with masks of dichotomy expressions, mainly happiness and sadness, all over the torso, the robed man spent a few seconds looking around, seemingly for any unwelcome guests, before sighing and walking away into the darkness
Both Loki and Bete had been holding their breaths, and Loki had to suppress her divinity as much as she could, lest they had made their presence known, now that the robed man was out of sight and hearing, and waiting a bit more to confirm that the robed man was alone, they slowly and surreptitiously made their way towards where the man had come from, walking towards the end of the vestibule, they had confirmed their suspicions, it was a false dead-end, in fact, when Bete went to inspect the wall with his hand... it passed right through it as if the wall was never there to begin with
"What the?"
Bete exclaimed out in surprise, but this seemed to send alarm bells off in Loki's mind
'Dimension Warping?! Isn't that only possible with arcanum?"
There's no doubt about it, either there was a magical item that kept it open that was powered by arcanum, or it was still kept open by the residual effects of that person's arcanum
"Oy, Loki! Come check this out!"
Bete's disembodied head poked out of the wall, urging the red-haired goddess
Snapping out of her thoughts for now, she passed through the dimensional warp
-Fin-
SPOILER AHEAD!!!!
If you're alright with getting spoiled, then by all mean proceed...
Are you sure?
Are you super sure?
Okay, last chance bub
Fine.
This chapter was rather rushed and bland in my opinion, but I'll try to make the following chapters more engaging, also, I'd like to clarify now that in this story, all gods are able to conceal their divinity because why not, and the reason Bete was unable to recognize Enyo as Dionysus because his cloak can also conceal his scent, he decided to get it augmented since Bete had previously pointed out that he had smelled Dionysus in the sewers, I decided to explain right here and right now so I'm not accused of pulling a fast-one on y'all hehe, anyway, now with that out of the way... I'mma go draw now or something, see y'all soon!
