A (Rouge) Monsterphilia

What the hell am I even doing here? I should be in the dungeon right now, killing monsters and gaining strength as I do so. Not going to some fucking show. Dammit, why the hell do they have to close down the dungeon today? So, because luck seemed to spit on me today, I'm stuck with the Loki familia. Waiting outside of the Manor for the rest of them, I groaned into my scarf. Maybe I should sneak off and do some physical training. "H-H-Hello!" I was called out of my thoughts when an orange haired elf walked up to me. She was wearing an orange cape over a white dress. Politely bowing, she continued to introduce herself. "M-My name is L-Lefiya Viridis! Pleasure to m-m-m-meet you!" Didn't think someone so shy could become an adventurer.

Letting go of my scarf, I turned to her and nodded. "Viole Keres. It's a pleasure... I suppose."

Standing back up, Lefiya and I made eye contact for no more than a microsecond before she pulled a staff from behind her back and used it to hide herself. "I-I've been instructed by L-Loki to take care of you t-t-today! Would you like to go to M-Monsterphilia with me?!" Her face was so red, I was actually afraid for a moment that she would literally explode. Okay, she is absolutely adorable. Wait, Loki asked her? Why is she keeping such a close eye on me?

"Lefiya, don't make it sound like an order. You're going to make the newbie all sad." Coming behind the elf, two Amazonian twins walked up to us. I was already familiar with them... unfortunately. I ran into them earlier this morning at the bathrooms. For some reason the two of them were hiding in the bathroom and... yeah, that's something I want to completely throw out of my mind. Tiona, the younger of the two stretched as she chastised the elf. "He's gonna think he's unpopular and get depressed!" I couldn't care less if I was popular or not.

"His name is Viole, Tiona. Call him that." Tione, the older twin, gave her sister a chop on the head as she smiled at me. Seeing a level five chop another person is an actually scary thing to see. "Sorry Viole, you didn't have any plans today, right?"

Other than go into the dungeon or do anything else remotely productive? "No. None at all." Turning away from the two of them, I pulled the blue cloth over my nose. Why is Loki keeping me from the dungeon so much? From what I heard from Dad and rumors, she's supposed to be a gung-ho kind of goddess. Encouraging her children to take risks as long as things worked out. But why is she treating me with kid gloves? I'm starting to regret joining this familia.

"But aren't you lucky? Having three beautiful maidens go on a date with you?" Tiona said with a dangerous smirk as she quickly entangled her arms around my right one. I didn't even see her move. Impressive. "Tehee! Did I make your heart skip a beat?"

Well, Tiona is an objectively cute girl. Her beautiful skin combined with the fact that she was barely wearing anything would surely make anyone nervous at the closeness. "...no." But, not me. Sure, she's extremely attractive. But I guess that's not really on my mind at the moment. "Can we get going? If we're going to a show, I'd like to enjoy it while we can." Hopefully watching it will give me useful information for my later dives.

The Amazonian pouted at my response and was about to say something, however she was interrupted when Lefiya ran past us. "L-Let's go!"

"Hey, wait for usss!" And so, I was dragged away by two high levels chasing an elf.

Today is Monsterphilia, a special festival hosted by the Ganesha Familia. They hold a special show in the Orario Arena to show off how they tame monsters in front of a crowd with vendors around the town opening up as well. It's apparently heavily endorsed by the guild, so much so that they close down the dungeon and encourage adventurers to enjoy the day. They say that it's so that no incidents with the monsters could happen, but it pisses me off nonetheless.

Tiona, Tione and Lefiya dragged me into the arena and placed me between the older Amazonian sister and the elf. Deciding that I didn't care much to see a man almost get eaten alive, I glanced over at Lefiya. From what I heard, they call her the Thousand Elf, and she's able to use an enormous library of magic. While I didn't plan on relying on my Familia very much, I did do some research on them. Mostly just asking people while I was at the Hostess and asking Loki and Aiz. From what they told me, I'm most definitely the weakest member of the familia now, and by a long shot. Not including myself, the lowest leveled adventurers in the Familia are level 3.

Shifting my gaze to Tione, a level 5. Now, the level differences in of itself aren't weird, what I find suspicious however is the rumors that Loki didn't care for newbies. That combined with her extra careful treatment of me makes me start to think that she's regretting having me join. I suppose this is what I get for joining a high level familia. How can I convince her to let me do what I want and leave me alone? In the midst of my thoughts, I noticed that my escorts shifted their attention away from the show and towards a direction away from the arena. They were staring at the God Ganesha, who was whispering to a few of his familia children. Something off?

"Something's not right." Standing up, the older amazon motioned for her familia to stand as well. "Lefiya, Tiona, let's go check it out. Viole, stay here."

"Great, I'm being treated like a child. Oh, can you get me some candy too?" My grumpy snark didn't earn me anything good. A deadly glare that sent a chill up my spine was my reward. Dammit, this is why I hate strong bastards. "Fine." Typical of high rankers to abuse their strength to get what they want.

"U-Um, actually... Loki said not to l-let him leave my side so..."

Sighing, Tione grabbed my hand and yanked me off of my seat. Squeezing my hand, she looked me straight in the eyes and warned "Don't move away from her, alright?"

F-Rank

Walking behind the familia, I barely noticed that we had stopped outside Orario's arena. Tiona and Tione were glaring at Loki who was doing notion more than stuffing her face with a candied apple. "Oh, hey. Did you guys notice the missing monsters too?" Missing monsters? Okay, maybe the guild were right about closing down the dungeon for the day. Wait... if there are monsters around here then- Pulling my scarf over my nose, I tried to calm the excited feeling that began to envelop me. Finally, I can see some action.

"Of all days, it had to be today that something happened. I wanted to meet with Captain too..." Tione crouched down in seeming despair. "Ugh, fine. We should make sure that nothing bad happens... where's Aiz?"

Wordlessly, Loki pointed in the direction of a few buildings and we could see the Sword Princess jumping between them. "It should be fine with just her, but it wouldn't help to have some help. Be careful~"

"Hehehe! Oh, this'll be fun!" Dragging her older sister with her, Tiona ran deeper into town while Lefiya trotted behind them. What happened to sticking to me? Whatever. That left Loki and I alone, in front of the arena, staring at each other. This happens a lot to us, doesn't it? Now, how am I going to sneak away from her? I don't exactly know how many monsters escaped either. No, it doesn't really matter. I'll run around the whole town if I have to and find something to fight. I need to get-

"You know I can read your mind right?"

"Huh?" Shit, can she really?

"No, I was fucking with you." The god of trickery gave me a shit eating grin for a moment before she turned deadly serious. "But I know what you're up to. You'll get yourself killed if you try to run off and get into trouble. You barely even have a day of experience in the dungeon."

Biting back my anger, I closed my eyes to try and calm myself. But, all I could see was those flames and those pools of blood. My entire world falling into RED. "Loki, I need to get stronger. I don't care what it takes." Nor if I die trying.

Cursing under her breath, my goddess looked like she was biting a lemon but nodded anyway. "...Fine. But follow Aiz and everyone else." Sure, I don't care if they take up most of the monsters. As long as I fight something. Turning to chase after the higher leveled adventurers, Loki's voice stopped me for a moment. "Don't die, okay?"

I don't plan on it being this soon. Without a word, I chased after my familia. It wasn't hard to find them, especially with the noise of a battle not too far off. Following the noise, I ended up in a large square of the town, just as Aiz cut down three monsters simultaneously. Damn, I was too slow. Before I could get too angry however, the ground beneath us began to shake. "Wha-"

Shooting out of the ground, a large green snake that reminded me more of a vine roared. It's head was surrounded by flower petals and it had disgustingly sharp teeth. Perfect! "What the hell is that?!" Tiona yelled as she twirled her giant weapon in anticipation. "Danggit! I thought we were done by now!" Letting out her anger, the Amazonian stuck at the monster along with her sister, only for their attacks to bounce off. "Oh, come ON!"

A monster that replied attacks from level 5s? This is... this quite dangerous! So why did I feel the urge to fight this monster? Why do I want to put myself in danger in the first place? Ha! Why even ask such a stupid question? If I can't even kill an oversized weed, how the hell am I going to kill a god?! "Give me the strength to devour my enemies!" Pushing past Lefiya and Aiz, I ran towards the monster, not caring about their yells or cries. "Force Eat-" Before I could finish chanting my spell however, my instinct yelled at me. From beneath the ground, a vine burst out and rushed at me. Glaring at the attack, I forced my magic to complete. "Force Eater!" The dark magic enveloped my arms and I brought them down to guard my abdomen where the vein aimed. And- "Ugack!"

"VIOLE!" A yell I couldn't recognize through the pain brought my mind back to reality. The hell?! I... I blacked out for a se- AGH! Trying to stand up, I realized that I was thrown into a wooden stall that must have been abandoned. Holy shit, I'm surprised I'm alive. That was... Forcing my body to move, I rose from the destroyed stall. Only to see the disgusting maw of the monster flying towards me. Shit!

Attempting to roll to the side, a pain coming from my chest stopped me from completing the move and I tripped over a piece of wood. No, no, no! Looking back at the monster however, just as it was about to reach me... "Get away from him!" A strong kick powered by the wind threw the monster to the side, crashing it into the other side of the square. Landing gracefully in front of me, Aiz turned to me with a strange glare. "What were you thinking?"

"I wasn't, obviously." Using the wall to help my ascent, I got back to my feet with a grunt. Dammit, that fucker definitely broke a few ribs. I'll burn him! "I didn't need the help."

"Viole you-"

"But thank you." Even if it hurts my pride. I would have died there if she didn't save me. Dammit, why the hell am I so... Turning my gaze to the monster, I watched as Tiona and Tione continued to attack the monster, only for nothing to work. However, it did have a bruise where Aiz attacked it. Oh. I get it. Turning back to her, I noticed Lefiya had run up to the two of us. And that Aiz was still glaring at me. "Sorry. That was my pride speaking earlier."

"Don't do it again." With an uncharacteristic huff, she ran to join her friends in their assault.

"I-I've never seen Lady Aiz that angry... what did you d-do to her?" I'd like to know that myself. Eh, she's probably pissed that she has to babysit me. "U-Um let me heal you..."

Shaking my head, I was about to grab her hand to stop her only to thankfully remember Elf's hatred of personal touch. Esh, that would have been bad. "Don't bother. You'll only attract the monster." With a cute noise of confusion, the Thousand elf tilted her head. "Look at it, it's not even attacking any of them, just defending itself. But, when I chanted my magic, it immediately tried to kill me. I bet it's weak to magic, and so, it attacks anything using mind." It's the only thing that made sense. Clearly, I'm not a higher priority to attack in any other sense at that moment, being a level 1 after all. Looking down at my arms, I realized the best course of action.

Lefiya's eyes widened as well, clearly she connected the same dots as I had. "N-No! You can't! You're already injured and you could die!"

"Thousand elf, you've got something in your arsenal that can obliterate that shit stain in an instant, don't you?" Gripping onto her staff, the orange haired girl hesitated. "Think about how many people here could die if we do nothing."

"Yes, I do. But... what a-about you?"

Honestly? I didn't care if I broke every bone in my body trying to take this thing down. As long as Lefiya can kill this thing, that's all that matters. As long as it ceased its existence, then I'd be happy. "I'll be fine. But here." Taking off my scarf, I handed it to the girl. "Keep that safe. I don't want it to get caught in the crossfire." Closing my eyes, I ignored the pain running through my body. I'm weak. I know that. And I blew up at Aiz because of my own weakness. Dammit, just because I want to kill that bastard doesn't mean I have to be an asshole to everyone around me. No, apologize later. "I'll distract it as much as I can. And thank you for holding my treasure."

"O-Okay! Good luck!"

Nodding at her, I boosted myself into the square. "Give me the strength to devour my enemies!" As expected, the flower monster turned it's attention to me and flew at me, totally ignoring Aiz, Tiona and Tione. "Force Eater!" Like before, vine shot out of the ground at me, but listening to my instincts and knowing that these attacks existed helped me dodge them. Jumping around and under stalls, I was wondering what was taking so long. "Any time now!"

"She's almost done!" Tione yelled at me. Shit, I don't have a lot of gas left in me. Breathing was getting increasingly difficult and I could feel my body getting slower. Shit, more. More! Don't stop!

"Viole." A monotone voice reached my ears as I felt a hand on my back. Suddenly appearing next to me, with wind surrounding her, Aiz kept me afloat. "I'm angry at you."

"Yell at me later, alright?" With the combined mana of Aiz and I, there was no way that the monster would turn its attention to Lefiya. "It's about time isn't it?"

With a silent nod, Aiz did... probably the worst thing in the entire world to me. Lifting me by my arm, she effortlessly pulled me into a bridal carry. OH COME ON! Running around the square, we were running directly towards the Thousand elf. "Hold on tight."

"Where do I- AHHH!" With immense strength, the Sword Princess pushed off the ground and basically made us fly over Lefiya. To my surprise, I ended up wrapping my arms around her neck. Our height gave us a front row seat as the elf did her magic.

"Wynn Fimbulvetr!" A quick white mist enveloped the monsters as they were slowly frozen alive and began to break into pieces. Holy hell, I need to learn that. Reaching the ground with grace, Aiz allowed me to stand back on my own. "A-Are you guys okay?"

"I'm jealous! I wish Aiz would carry me like that! Viole you're so lucky!" Bouncing up and down in jealousy, Tiona made both myself and her sister sigh in exasperation. I hate this familia.

Trickster

Wow, I don't think I've been this pissed off in months! My mood wasn't at all helped by the bitch sitting across from me. Sure she was some nice eye candy, but this cunt enjoying wine like nothing happened planned the whole monster escape! But my own compliance in the plan made me even more of one. Fucking hell. "Did you really have to do all of that just to mess with some kid you're interested in?" I'll be the first to admit that it came out far more harshly than I wanted, but no way in hell was I going to go easy on Freya now. Not when she was the perfect outlet to let out my anger.

"Now, now. No need to be so angry. Besides, you were the one who decided to play along." Fucking bitch! Squeezing my hand, I could feel my nails dig into the skin. "Besides, everything went so well because of your Familia's fast action. Truly admirable, and I thank you for that."

"That's not the point!" Kicking out my chair as I stood up, I slammed my hands on the table that sat between us. "Sure, no one got killed. But my- I mean, Viole got seriously injured! Four broken ribs, a ruptured lung and he got infected with mind down! If Aiz wasn't there he coulda-"

"Are you sure that you are not allowing your feelings for your old favorite to affect your judgment?" There was nothing more I wanted in that moment than to grab the cup she was sipping on and ram it into her face! "What? Do you expect to replace The Fool with him that quickly?"

"Don't."

Her sly smile didn't help my rising anger. Putting down the cup of wine she was sipping on, she fixed her shitty disguise of a brown cloak and raised her hands. "Apologies. I won't use that name." That's not- fucking hell. I didn't like the fact that small little consolation actually made me relax a bit. "Anyway, I'm quite surprised that some simple monsters had injured Reaper's kid in such a way."

Scoffing at her stupid words, I fixed the chair and stood back down on it. "Simple? I'd hardly call those snaky shit-logs as a simple or normal monster. Hell, the twins didn't even know what species those things were and they went all the way down to the fiftieth floor."

"Snake? There were no such monsters in Ganesha's Monster collection. I assure you, if that monster had appeared, I had nothing to do with that." Huh? Why the hell does Freya look so surprised? No, she's probably just trying to save face. But why go through that much trouble now? Ugh, I hate how I can't ever trust a word that comes out of the beautiful mouth. "Then that boy... Ottar may have been right."

"What does that mean?" The last thing I need is the King of Orario to be interested in my kid.

"No, it's nothing. Simply a theory that he had and it had nothing to do with this." I wanted to push a bit further, but knowing how she is, I doubt I'll get anything from her.

So, I thought we may as well end this, and I get the most out of this I can. "Sorry, but even if you didn't bring those monsters, whatever those were, your plan hurt my kid. You owe me- I mean him." If she's telling the truth about those monsters though... Why do I just know that this is going to become just a whole thing? Sheesh, I wish this city would relax sometimes.

Standing from the table, the goddess of beauty sighed in such a fascinating way. "Very well, I'll send you some compensation. However, don't you think that you're handling him with far too much care? He will never achieve his goal if you keep him hidden and weak. And you know he will do his very best to find a way around you."

"You don't know that's-" Freya's giggle stopped me in the middle of my sentence. One that was obviously a lie. No matter how much I wish it wasn't.

"He's capped. You know they all share the same fate." I didn't need that pointed out to me. But, having it said out loud made my blood freeze up.

"No, not him..." That bitch already left. But... "I won't let him. He won't end up like Angra..." He won't. I'll make sure of it. I'll protect him like I should have protected you, Angra. I promise!

Adventurer

Did I do something wrong? I had to have, right? Otherwise, there's no way that the Sword Princess could be glaring at me like this, right? This has to be the most emotional I've seen the girl since I've met her. But... even then her glare reminded me more of Abby glaring at me for eating her snacks. Like seriously, this wasn't really threatening. But, the fact that she was a level 6 did actually freak me out. "Um, Aiz. I said sorry, okay. I know I was out of line and kind of an asshole, so please don't be mad anymore."

But, I got nothing from the golden haired girl. She just kept standing there, menacingly. As soon as we got back to the Manor, Lefiya and Aiz brought me to my room and stuck me on my bed as Lefiya healed me. The elf was gone by now, but Aiz had stayed behind, staring at me. If she's gonna kill me, just do it already! "Viole... I want you to promise me something."

"Yes?"

Taking in a breath, Aiz let go of her glare and looked at me with that same emotionless face. However, this time there was a strange glint in her eye. "Don't throw yourself out like that again. Please, think before you act. I... I don't want you to get yourself hurt when I'm not there." Again, why do you care so much? We just met. But, not only did I not want to anger her more, but she was right. In all honesty, I should have died earlier today. If it wasn't for Aiz, I would have been a monster's meal.

Not to mention I've been kind of a dick. Especially to my familia. While I haven't said most of what I thought, that didn't change those thoughts I had were pretty rude. I'll try to not be as much of a piece of shit. "I promise. I'll do my best, alright, Aiz?

A small smile found its way to her emotionless face. One that made me feel embarrassed for some reason. "That's all I can ask for. Get some rest, okay?" Without waiting for a response, she left my room. With her gone, I was finally able to relax and fell onto my bed. As much as I want to rush towards my goal., that isn't going to work. Dad... he was amazingly strong and was an adventurer for like twenty years. And even he... I'm going to stay in Orario for a while, I know that. I'll have to get along with my familia if I want to not hate my life while here.

Even though my thoughts were rational and correct, a small part of me hated that thought. Not getting along with my familia, that's fine. It was the thought of this taking so long. A part of me just wanted to throw myself into the dungeon and kill as many monsters as I could. But, that would do nothing but put me in danger and make me gain a few small stat points. I have to be patient... no matter how much I feel like I can't. You can't kill a god overnight, after all.

AN: Good Evening everyone. How are you all doing? I'm doing... eh. Not the best, but not the worst. I think I really fell for this rewrite. I've got quite the backlog for this fic and really enjoy it. I'm a bit worried to see if you all do as well, but I know I like how it's going. If you have any feedback please let me know and please be courteous. Anyway, I hope you liked this update. Thank you.

Silver II Jhin: Took me a while to get that. Nice one