Author's Note
Welcome. This is the first fanfiction story I am writing. I wanted to go back to Orario and search for some more of the mysteries in the Dungeon, so here we are. Expect a story about the Dungeon and its secrets. How the Mc learns to best different monsters, how he writes a journal about them and even finds secrets and traps that others never noticed. He will begin as a renard but quickly get traits and even change his race from renard to kitsune.
The story will be about Sly's journey as a member of the Takemikazuchi familia. Starting 3 years before Bell Cranel even enters Orario. The focus is mainly on the Takemikazuchi familia at the beginning and by the time Bell joins Hestia the Takemikazuchi familia will probably have some level 3 members, as they entered Orario far earlier than in canon. After the Takemikazuchi familia is set up the focus will shift to the Xenos. From there the story will be mainly around the dungeon and Sly with his party consisting of both humans and Xenos exploring the dungeon. Probably also some village building in the dungeon and cultural development for the Xenos.
I do my best to keep the characters true to their original personality, but they will change as a result of Sly joining the Takemikazuchi familia. Mikoto has not matured yet, but the rest of the familia kept their core principles while being expanded upon due to this Orarios influence.
This creates a more interesting and diverse reading experience. They also branch out from their original moveset by studying alchemy and magic. They have as much magic as the Hestia familia in canon.
As a new writer, I hope you will give me feedback should there be any big problems so that I can correct them early on. English isn't my native language, so please excuse it if I switch between British and American styles. Spelling should hopefully not be a problem as I write in Grammarly, but it won't prevent me from overcomplicating sentences, most of all in the first few chapters. Also as I learnt mostly formal English, so most characters will primarily be speaking in formal tones, but with character development, I will try to improve upon it and use more casual tones. If you have any advice, please send them through reviews and I will try to include them if they are interesting additions to this story.
Chapters will usually release every 2-3 weeks, as I am studying and only write as a hobby. I hope you all enjoy my first overly ambitious story about Sleipnir in the Danmachi universe.
Summary: Sleipnir is a young Kitsune mage in the Takemikazuchi familia. He arrives in Orario three years before Bell. At first, he believes that he is a normal Renard with a high talent for magic, until one day he learns about his true race, which disappeared in the age of heroes. He will also meet the Xenos far earlier than in the main story, which will forever change his view of Orario. He will work alongside them to improve their living conditions and help them find a place for themselves.
Disclaimer: I do not own Danmachi or anything created by the author Fujino Omori; all rights go to him. I only own my original character Sleipnir and ~~~~~~ (Xenos OC).
Speech: "This way, a normal conversation is held."
Thoughts: 'This is a thought from the current perspective.'
Magic: "This is a spell or spell-like ability."
Screaming/Demonic Speech: "Screaming."
Chapter 1 Takemikazuchi familia enters Orario
In front of the Labyrinth City, Orario
The gates of Orario loomed before them. They could see the walls surrounding the city, which had a height of around 100 metres. Even more imposing was the giant tower of Babel, which stands in the centre of Orario and is at least ten times bigger than the outer walls.
Oraio stands in the middle of the fields of Demeter that go on for multiple miles in every direction. The city has a diameter of around 50 miles and is tightly packed with buildings of many different styles. Most buildings are built out of sturdy stone bricks, sometimes reaching up to three stories tall.
Sleipnir is a member of the Takemikazuchi familia. For the last two months, he has been travelling alongside his god Takemikazuchi and his familia captain Ouka. Sly was a member of their younger adventurers like Mikoto, Chigusa, and Asuka.
His familia mostly refers to him by his nickname, Sly. He earned the nickname by being the only one in the familia interested in the more shady techniques of Takemikazuchi that are most often used by shinobi. A common point of conflict between Sly and Mikoto's honour.
Sly is part of the Renard race. In other words, a fox demi-human. He is 15 years old and has silvery light blue fur, resulting in him having light blue fox ears and a foxtail with a length of only a little less than 60 cm. He has short, spiky hair the same colour as his ears and emerald green eyes. With his ears, he barely reaches 165 cm (5'7 feet) in height, without them, he stands at about 160 cm (5'3 feet).
Sly wears a white travelling cloak with blue square adornments at the bottom. Below his cloak, he wears a light-blue Far Eastern kimono alongside blue pants. Last, he carries a 1.5-metre-long naginata as his weapon of choice. His backup weapons are two daggers he hides below his robe.
While walking along the streets and looking around Sly glances at their group and is lost in thought. 'Orario the city of adventurers. The city where everything is possible. Finally, a place where I can stay in peace and finally learn more about magic. And if I'm lucky I may even find some mysteries here.' ('Sly's thoughts')
Leading the familia is their god Takemikazuchi, he is a god of war and martial arts. He wears the white garb of a traditional eastern monk. Additionally, he has black eyes and shoulder-length hair with two additional buns on both sides of his face.
He is one of the gods that descended from Tenkai (heaven) to live like mortals. Most gods only care about themselves and ignore the consequences of their actions so long as their curiosity is satisfied.
Takemikazuchi is an exception to that rule and tries to actively help people. His goals are twosome. He wishes to teach those affected by war how to defend themselves and also to better himself until he masters every fighting style on Genkai (mortal world).
'Takemikazuchi. My saviour and mentor. He is doing his best at acting like a parental figure to me and Chigusa. However, he has trouble understanding mortal emotions and is sometimes awkward, but what really matters is that he has been there for me since he found me. I want to ... no need to prove to him that I do not depend on him as a father figure and one day stand beside him like Ouka.'
Takemikazuchi is respected by the entire familia, but most of them call him Take, but only when they are not in public. They would never wish to disrespect him or tarnish his reputation by using an informal nickname for their god. 'At least all but our captain. Ouka-san truly has no sense of formality. He even calls him Take in public.'
Alongside Take is the familia captain. Ouka is a 140-cm-tall, lightly tanned male dwarf with a sturdy build. As the captain he looks after all the younger members and is usually very open, giving his best to teach with Take when possible. He has black hair and eyes and is wearing a lavender, red, gold, and black kamishimo top, along with brown pants tucked underneath long white bandages in black boots.
Ouka is the oldest in the familia at 65. His armour consists simply of matching-coloured lower arm guards. His weapon of choice is either a double-handed axe or a spear, but his most prominent piece of equipment is his big tower shield.
'Ouka our captain. He traveled around the world for years before he joined Takemikazuchi as his first familia member. They even decided to help orphans like me together. All I know about him is that he likes to enjoy himself and has been trying to teach me how to live. At least he helped me ... to improve my illusions.'
Next up would be Mikoto, who has bluish-purple eyes and long black hair tied into a ponytail. She is a little older than Sly and Chigusa at 17 years and holds herself to a high standard and tries her best to follow the old Bushido code of honour, but she still needs to learn much before she grows into a real samurai.
Mikoto wears a purple kimono with a satoshi underneath, along with a dark red sash and thigh-length boots. She also wears a red shoulder guard on her non-weapon arm, arm guards, and keeps her katana in the sash at her waist.
Sly's ears twitch slightly in agitation when looking at Mikoto. 'Mikoto. I do not understand her ... at all. She likes to argue with me about almost anything. But it always returns to her definition of honour and the worst is that most of the time she doesn't even listen to my arguments. It is infuriating. For her honour is all about open conflict between skilled opponents. It is honorable to be counted among the mighty. She misses quite a few core points of the Bushido philosophy, but won't listen to me.
She doesn't get that honour is something personal that only you yourself are accountable for. For me the most important principle is loyalty. First and foremost to those I consider family, then familia, and lastly comrades or party members. I won't break the trust others have in me, but as everything is there is a balance. If a random merchant extorts his customers and broke their trust, I just might break my side of it by taking more than he bargained for.'
Followed by the quiet Chigusa. At 14 years old, she is the youngest member that came with Takemikazuchi. She is almost a head smaller than Sly at less than 150 cm in height and joined Take about a month before Sly. Since Sly joined has spent a lot of her free time working on her archery when Sly trains his magic.
Chigusa has black medium-length hair that usually covers her face when parted, and she has dark green eyes. She wears bandages around her neck and left upper leg, as well as a lavender kimono with red cloth wrapped around her waist. Her only piece of armour would be a red thigh piece on her left leg.
'Chigusa-chan. She is very shy and lacks confidence in her own abilities. The only exception were she is confident in her abilities is with archery. That's also where her drive to train and improve herself stems from. She plans to become the greatest archer of our age. And if you ask me she makes bowman-ship almost look like an art form.'
Last, there is Asuka. She is 19 years old, which is rather young as she is a half-elf they mature a little slower than the more short-lived races. She acts as their primary supporter and alchemist. Her weapon of choice is a bow similar to Chigusa, but she is just as skilled with a blade. Her outfit would make even amazons proud and can only be described as a yellow cloth. On her head, she wears a white desert scarf. On her back, she carries a large backpack, weighing very little thanks to a skill of hers.
Sly tries his best to avoid directly looking at Asuka. 'Asuka is still as unabashed as always. We ought to get her more climate-friendly clothes now that we are in Orario. At least if we can drag the objective and efficient woman from her alchemy set for long enough.'
Takemikazuchi only took the oldest orphans of his familia to Orario. They had to at least have high stats for level 1 adventurers and the drive to push towards level 2. He wanted to not only earn valis (local currency) to send back to his orphanage in the Far East but also to gather enough strength within his familia to possibly resolve the conflicts back home.
Sly is the newest of the high-level 1 members of the familia, as he only joined Take a little over a year ago when he was still 14 years old. Before Take saved him, he was forced to survive alone in the wild. Sly then spent the rest of the year hunting the monsters in the far east, while always staying out of sight and hiding within the familia. Stealth was his highest priority during his training, and he also spent a considerable time teaching the younger orphans in their familia how to hide their tracks and surprise monsters.
Right now all that was missing for the highest familia members to reach level two was to experience an adventure. If what Takemikazuchi explained to them about adventures is true, then it has to be something challenging, where even the gods would see the development or hardship a mortal has overcome. Because there are few strong monsters outside of Orario, Take told his strongest students to accompany him on a journey to Orario and have their adventure.
Streets of Orario
They entered through the main gates of Orario after the guards from Ganesha familia checked their identification papers. They then followed the main road towards the city plaza.
It is a wide open space where adventurers can gather before dungeon delving, and at the edge of the main square are most of the important buildings.
The most important building would be the guild hall, where the entire administration of Orario takes place, including adventurer and commercial administrative work. The building was a nice-looking stone building with a second wooden floor adorned with many banners from different familia. There was a banner for Ganesha, Hephaestus, Freya, Loki, Demeter, Goibniu, and many more minor familia.
There were also many different shops and even a few blacksmiths from the Hephaestus familia selling their goods. Otherwise, there were a few different inns, a stoneworker from Goibniu familia, and even a runner from Hermes familia passing messages to a recipient.
In front of the guildhall, Take then turned towards his familia and looked into the eyes of every member of his familia with his common serious demeanour.
"This is the guild building. We will now have to fill out the proper paperwork for all of you. Afterwards, you will be allowed to enter the dungeon. I will also officially create our familia in Orario. Be on your best behaviour and do not needlessly antagonise local adventurers. Understood?" He looked at Sly in particular during his last word.
"Take don't be too harsh on the Sly-kun. He isn't stupid enough to play tricks on adventurers that could defeat him with a single finger. Right, Sly-kun?" Ouka replied with a grin.
Sly's ears stand high as he indignantly replies. "Why should I. The people here have done me no wrong. I will use this chance to learn as much as I can and reach level two."
Mikoto frowns at his words. "I do not trust your word Sleipnir. I will keep an eye on you before you do something dishonourable. You know we shouldn't tarnish Takemikazuchi-sama's honour by even implying such actions. You'd better follow your words Sleipnir."
"Please don't be too hard on Sly." Whispers Chigusa, while quietly standing beside Sly in support.
Sly pats Chigusa's head and brushes her hand with his tail. "Thank you Chigusa-chan."
Asuka watches the discussion with a disinterested look. "You speak as if Sleipnir-kun didn't have the ability to escape from weaker level two adventurers. He did it often enough in the east and was never personally implicated."
Take coughs. "Anyway. I think that finishes that particular discussion. We should register our familia."
The group then entered the mostly empty guild hall. The inside had many desks with advisors behind them. They all went to the one free human advisor, who had pink shoulder-length hair and eyes.
"Welcome to the guild. I am Misha Flott, an advisor for adventurers. With what may you require assistance?"
Takemikazuchi responded, "I would like to sign up my familia and finish the necessary adventurer identifications for them."
"Ah. A new familia. From your clothing style, I assume you are a deity originally from the Far East, correct?"
"Correct. My name is Takemikazuchi. You might remember Amaterasu. She is a close friend of mine and lived with her familia inside this city 15 years ago."
"I'm sorry, I wasn't even a guild employee 15 years ago, but it's nice to know. I will bring you all the necessary paperwork. Please wait a moment." Misha then retreated and, with the aid of a half-elven woman, brought them all the necessary papers.
After receiving the form, Ouka assisted Take in filling out the familia papers. Sly began filling out his papers, but when he saw the name section, he let out a deep sigh and both his ears dropped slightly before entering his name.
Chigusa, who sat next to him, noticed that something was wrong and whispered. "What has made you so sad Sly?" She then looked at his papers and, with a grimace, continued, "At least you will not see your family in Orario. They are all back in the Far East. As far as I have seen, there aren't even any renards in Orario."
"I know. It's just very painful to be constantly reminded of them," Sly whispered back before finishing his form. Keeping the family name section empty.
Once they returned their forms to advisor Misha, they received a starter bag. In there, Sly found three minor health potions and even a minor mind potion. His tail even began to sway in contentment at the sight of the last one.
'I have never before held a real mind potion, and here they just give them to us. The closest I ever had to one were Asuka's plant based potions that restored a tiny bit of mana. In the far east, even the weakest mind potions are considered luxury goods, and here they just give us one to begin with. Comes to show just how wealthy Orario truly is.'
They also had the option of getting some starter gear, but they already had equipment that would suffice for their current level. After finishing their first objective, Misha turned to the adventurer part of the familia.
"Very well, now that you all have identified yourselves, you could, in theory, enter the dungeon, but you all still need to learn the dungeon basics first before I can, in good conscience, allow you to enter the dungeon.
So I will be keeping all of you for another hour at least." Turning to Take, she quickly bows before continuing, "Takemikazuchi-sama, you may already leave for your lodging. Or should you still require accommodation for tonight? Then I can only recommend the Hostess of Fertility. Best of luck with your stay in Orario."
"That sounds adequate." Take replies, "Very well, I shall leave my familia in your care, Flott-san. I will be awaiting you all at the Hostess of Fertility after looking around the main square."
Ouka replied. "We will learn all we can before catching up to you. Take. I will make certain all of us pay attention and learn what we can from advisor Misha."
Take then left the guild hall at a steady pace in search of the Hostess of Fertility. Meanwhile, Misha dragged all of them into a private room. The room looks like a study room inside a library, with countless bookcases symmetrically positioned around the room.
'There is even a monster compendium. I will have to read all of it. After all, knowledge is power, and knowing how to approach monsters I have never seen before will be invaluable.'
Misha then takes out two books that have seen a lot of use. She opens by describing the first twelve floors of the dungeon, the so-called upper floors. She also opens the monster compendium for the appropriate floors.
"Before I begin with the lecture, I want all of you to understand that the guild is here to support new adventurers. If you have any questions, you can come to one of our advisors, and we will help you as much as we can.
This library is also open to any citizen of Orario. As long as you keep to the ground floor, there are no restrictions on the books you may look into. The only rules are that you return the books undamaged and that you do not leave the building with them.
So now let's begin. First of all, you should know that the dungeon is always unpredictable. You should never feel safe, even when you are over-levelled for the upper floors, because the dungeon is always plotting how to get rid of you.
The dungeon will kill you if you give it the chance. You shouldn't be overconfident, even with your stronger stats compared to most adventurers. You can be slain by a goblin just as easily as by a monster rex, all it ever takes is a moment of carelessness."
'If that's the case, the reverse should also apply. When I know their weaknesses and abuse them with a surprise attack with my illusions, I should, in theory, be capable of defeating stronger monsters.'
"The first twelve floors of the dungeon are the beginner floors. They are ideal for level-one adventurers. The deeper you go, the higher your stats should be. I would recommend that you take a few days to slowly progress down these floors and get accustomed to the atmosphere of the dungeon. Afterwards, you can use a map to find the fastest and least dangerous route for each floor.
Below the upper floors would be the middle floors. They are recommended for level-two parties and are far more dangerous than the upper floors. They should never be entered alone because the enemies there appear in far greater numbers and can easily overwhelm a single opponent. There are also very strong monsters like the minotaur on the lower middle floors, which can even defeat low-level 2 adventurers."
'Should not be entered solo? Hmm, I'm not so certain about that. With a high enough level, it should be possible, or, in my case, if the opponents can't even see me, then numerical advantages are obsolete. But they might also sense me with their other senses, I will need to experiment.'
"There are also sometimes unusual monsters called irregulars that are unusually strong or that have traveled to another floor. In these cases, I would advise you to avoid them if at all possible.
Lastly, I would advise you against entering floor 18. There is the first monster rex. He is considered a level 4 monster and should only be challenged by specific raid parties. For now, you should not go any farther than the tenth floor at the maximum.
Misha then continues her session to look into the monsters they will face on the first twelve floors. She tells them about their abilities and what to expect. Before their farewell, she then reminds them that overconfidence is a slow and insidious killer when it comes to adventurers.
'It was surprising that she did not know anything substantial about the weaknesses of these monsters. I mean she mentioned the obvious weak spots anything has, but nothing more substantial. I can't believe that this is all the guild knows about monsters. They must hide some knowledge, but for what reason? It might be a good choice to make my own notes detailing the monsters we encounter.'
Thinking about it, he asks Misha. "Advisor Flott-san, is there a way to borrow one of the monster manuals for the upper floors? And are these the only books about monsters?"
"I am very sorry, Sleipnir-san, but our books may not leave the guild, as I mentioned before. In the past, we sometimes gave them to new adventurers, but they always took them into the dungeon, and many past versions were lost. Nowadays, it is forbidden to take these books outside of the guild because it is very time-consuming to replace them. If you want to read them, you can always do so at the guild.
As for your second question, Indeed, we have some more in-depth books about monsters, but most of them are for the lower to deeper floors. On the upper floors, most adventurers spend comparatively little time, as the monsters are very weak to the more experienced adventurers."
"Thank you for the help, Flott-san. I will do so once I have the time." 'I will also start my own notes. I won't always have access to the guild notes and it's a bad habit to underestimate opponents because you haven't prepared enough.'
Misha coughs lightly. "Ahem. One more thing. I would recommend that you return here before entering the middle floors and individually with your status sheet without skills, once any of you get a level up. With that, I only have to thank all of you for your attention and wish you the best of luck in the dungeon," Misha said while waving goodbye.
When leaving the guild building, the group noticed that there were noticeably more adventurers going around. It would appear that most adventurers return from their daily escapades in the evening at around 7 PM.
Back on the streets, Mikoto looked at all the different vendors. Most were already packing up, but some were still showing off their wares. She spent the most time looking at a wonderfully crafted katana from a young smith. Unfortunately, she lacked the funds to buy it for the time being.
Meanwhile, Ouka guided the rest back towards the inns they saw before entering the guild hall. After looking around for a few minutes, they found the Hostess of Fertility.
The Hostess of Fertility is one of Orario's most popular inns. The front is a simple wooden building with a balcony overlooking the central plaza. The inside is a simple bar with many tables for smaller parties and room for at least 50 adventurers.
Once inside, they look around until they spot Take, who has taken a few seats at a table next to the bar. He was currently speaking to Mia Grand, the owner of the Hostess of Fertility.
Mia Grand is an ex-first-class adventurer. Mia is a dwarf, but her size has more in common with that of a giant because she has a height of 180 cm, which is almost unheard of for dwarfs. She has brown eyes and long brown hair made into a bun with two strands of hair on both sides of her face.
All employees wear the same uniform. All of them wear green above-the-knee dresses, but Mia Grand wears blue. Everyone also wears an apron, a small orange bow under the collar, black leggings, and brown ankle boots. The waitresses also wear white headbands.
Once Mia saw them, she guided Take's gaze in our direction, whereupon he waved them over and introduced them to Mia Grande, who then gave them the menu and called Ryuu, who was to be their waitress. Ryuu is an elven woman with blond hair and light blue eyes.
"Welcome to the Hostess of Fertility. I see that you are new here, so let me introduce myself. I am your waitress, Ryuu Lion. What do you wish to order? Ryuu introduced herself with a calm tone."
Take was the first to order. "I would like to try the roasted chicken, Lion-san. With a little bit of sake if you have some."
"Of course, but we do not have too much sake because it has to be imported from the east and most customers prefer the wine from the Soma familia."
"Of course. Then I think it would be best to just order one flask of sake for our group," finished Take.
"I will take the dwarfen special. The spaghetti," Ouka added.
Sly then continued. "I would like the roasted rice with vegetables. With some tea. What kinds of tea would you recommend Lion-san?"
"I forest tea is my favourite of the common ones. Our forest tea uses a mint from the forests ouside of Orario, or there are also a few special dungeon herbs that can be used for tea, but they are rather expensive. There are a few more, I can bring you our tea menu if you'd like."
Sly nods and focuses his ears on Ryuu. "That won't be necessary. For today I will take the forest mint tea. The next time I will order another flavor."
Ryuu nods and notes down his order before looking at Mikoto.
Mikoto smirked at Sly and commented with a sparkle in her eyes. "You still are a glutton for rice, aren't you Sleipnir? But for today, I will also take the same."
'And Mikoto is still criticizing me. I should really be angry at her constant teasing, but at least this time it isn't about honour. Sometimes her constant nagging really brings me down. At least this time I can counter her argument.' Sly thought before smirking and swishing his tail at her face. "You know I prefer less intensive smells because of my sensitive nose. And I am surprised you didn't follow up on Takemikazuchi-sama's order?"
Mikoto just glares at Sly as an answer, while whispering back. "You know as well as me that Takemikazuchi-sama has a very bad sense of taste. He still thinks his cooking is good. Fortunately for us, Asuka took it upon herself to help him whenever it was his turn to cook."
Sly counters. "So you are implying that his order is bad. What bad maners to speak so badly about a dish without trying it Mikoto-san."
Chigusa chuckles at her comment, and Ouka laughs. Take, as always gives nothing away with his expression. Chigusa quickly glances at Ryuu before quietly adding before the argument can continue. "I would also like the roasted rice."
Lastly, Asuka looks at the menu. "I'm going to try the forest salad."
"Very well, your orders should arrive shortly," Ryuu says before leaving for the next customer.
After finishing their meal, they praise the cook May, for the great meal. Then retire for the night. Take joined Sly and Ouka in a room, while the girls took another room for 5000 valis per room, excluding the meals, for one week.
Hostess of Fertility, Sly's guest room - Morning
The night passed quickly. Take was the first to wake up at around 6 am and then shortly decided to go downstairs. Sly awoke because of Take's footsteps, but upon noticing how dark it was, he went right back to sleep. Afterwards, Ouka and Sly awoke at around 7 AM and both prepared for their day.
While they were preparing to leave, Ouka decided to start a conversation.
"Sly-kun, how are you feeling now that we've reached Orario? I wish to learn more about you now that I am no longer in charge of all the orphans. I spent very little time with you as Take took you as his personal charge."
"You know, I'm not certain how I should feel. Ouka-san and Mikoto-san have it easy. Both are so direct and very distinct in what you want to achieve. I just want to learn more about magic, now that I do not have to hide. "
"You are right about me, Sly-kun, but you must understand that I have been working towards finally improving the east for many years. Even before the other orphans even entered the familia, I was already at Take's side as his captain.
You spent barely one year with us. In this short period, you broke all our expectations with your fast progress. You even managed to get Take to teach you the way of the ninja. And he generally dislikes the cunning use of traps and manipulation, when he can just use his perfected fighting styles. It isn't surprising that you haven't found your goal yet, but starting with magic isn't a bad idea. After all, you already helped me and Chigusa-chan with our magic training. Now let's go and eat a healthy breakfast." Ouka finished the subject before looking back at Sly. "Are you coming?"
Sly's tail twitched while listening before he took a wooden brush to brush it. "Yes, let's go,"
'Ouka. I am uncertain how to interact with you. We are barely comrades at arms even after a year, we mostly saw each other during training. I do not see why you try to get closer to me. It would be wonderful if he truly meant his words, but they could also just be him appealing to my ego and getting on my good side. At least he can fight, but I can't really predict his intentions outside of a battle.'
Hostess of Fertility
They all went downstairs and drank some tea while ordering breakfast. This time, they were served by Syr Flora. She has bluish-grey hair that she keeps tied in a small knot in a ponytail style. Her eyes are the same colour as her hair, and she has light, peachy-coloured, smooth skin. Her clothing is the standard Hostess of Fertility garment.
After Syr removed our dishes, she remarked. "I hope you will have a safe first dungeon run. It can be dangerous even for experienced adventurers to enter Orario's dungeon for the first time. Please be cautious."
Syr then smiled teasingly at Sly. "But with your strength it shouldn't be too much of a problem, right? Before you leave might I get your name renard-kun?"
Sly glances at Syr with surprise as he mostly kept to their small group and didn't speak to the other adventurers during breakfast. "Ah, yes. My name is Sleipnir. Just Sleipnir, Flora-san."
"Interesting. You may call me by my first name Sleipnir-kun, and you shouldn't be so tense. Even if it is your first time in a large city like Orario you look as if you expect a monster to jump out of your shadow." She then turned around with a small smile and twinkling eyes. 'Why did Flora-san single me out? It makes no sense. All of us are tense in a city we never visited before, right?'
Ouka then clapped Sly on the back while quietly smiling at his confused expression. Chigusa, on the other hand, looked after Syr with a sight glare.
While the others were still smiling at Sly's expense, Take took the word. "Well, the Hostess of Fertility certainly honours its reputation. The food was exquisite, and they even served tea and sake.
As I mentioned yesterday, I will go back to the guild and inquire about the dojo Amaterasu-san used fifteen years ago. For the rest of you, today will be your first day in the dungeon. I can only advise all of you to take your time and be on full alert once you enter the dungeon."
"We will do our best to return Takemikazuchi-sama/Take." The familia and one captain replied.
"As long as you all return at the end of the day, I consider it a success.
I can only pray that my lessons are enough to let you all return. I will take my leave, and I hope you will once again make me proud." With that, Takemikazuchi paid our bill and left for the guild.
Once Takemikazuchi left, the familia began their preparation. Ouka looked at all of them before using his deep familia captain voice. "Well, now that Take has left, it's time for us to prepare. It is currently half past seven, so I will get my gear ready and meet you in front of Babel in 30 minutes."
Sly then went upstairs and put on his chain mail below his robe, took his backpack, and hid his twin daggers before taking his naginata into his hands.
'I really need to figure out how to strap this somewhere without always having to carry it. I could also use some more armour. After all, the dungeon is far more dangerous than surface monsters. I will have to look into that once I have a free day. For today, I can at least use the reach of my naginata to engage in close combat.'
Sly then left the Hostess of Fertility to buy more equipment on the plaza. While looking around, he calculated how much he could prepare with his remaining 5000 valis.
'Let's see. I currently have three health potions and one mind potion. I also still have 30 meters of rope and a first aid set.
I still need some throwing knives or kunai, and although they will probably do negligible damage, they should work as distractions without wasting too much mind.
When I'm already on my limited resources, I will need at least one stamina potion, as I currently have none of them. I could also use some explosives, but they should be on the very expensive side, so I will need higher funds to get them. Flash bombs fall under the same category, and I will probably have to ask around where to even get them. Perhaps Asuka could prepare some.'
While looking around, he found throwing knives that had a similar weight distribution to kunai from one of the blacksmith shops, with the signature of a novice blacksmith. Three of them were available and cost 3000 valis together.
"May I test how these throwing knives behave when thrown before buying them?" Sly asked the vendor. "Ah, yes, of course, just throw one of them at the target dummy, and if you damage them, you will have to buy them."
Sly tried throwing them at different angles. 'They seem to have a good sense of balance. They are also sturdy enough to not immediately break and, lastly, to fly in the correct direction. They should suffice until I can find somebody to craft me actual kunai.'
Sly then bought them before searching for an alchemist. He then spots the Blue Pharmacy, which looks like an ideal candidate.
The Blue Pharmacy is a small building at the edge of the plaza that seems to have gone through a rough time, as the building looked like it hadn't been renovated for years.
Once he enters, he spots a chienthrope (a dog demi-human) with long brown hair and purple eyes. She wears a skirt from which her tail sticks out and a peculiar shirt with asymmetric sleeves, with the left short and the right long enough to cover her entire arm, in addition to a glove on her right hand.
She is currently stirring a potion while slowly adding condensed droplets of mana from a shrinking magic stone inside. Sly also senses that she is compressing the potion with magic pressure into the cauldron to stabilize the potion. Behind her are many dried herbs, a few monster drops, and a frighteningly complex-looking glass distiller.
The glow from her pot slowly starts glowing dark blue, and then she adds another ingredient before the potion begins to oscillate between a red and blue glow. She adds a few more ingredients, but the potion keeps oscillating faster and faster, and the chienthrope keeps stirring faster and compressing it further with her magic until the potion just caves in upon itself.
"Sigh. Why can't I just succeed in creating a stable dual potion?" The chienthrope mumbles to herself, crestfallen, when she notices the young Renard. His tail is swaying in interest while he is looking at her failed potion. "What may I do for you, Renard?" I am Naaza Erisuis of the Miach familia."
"Am I correct in the assumption that you are a member of an alchemist familia? Wait, that is a redundant question, seeing as you were just brewing a potion."
Naaza, after laughing, quietly replies in a sleepy and slightly depressed tone. "Yes, I am. Do you wish to buy some potions? We have all the basic ones. Our current rate is 1000 valis for health, 5000 for mind, and 2000 for a stamina potion. Unfortunately, we currently don't have the capacity to mass produce higher-tier potions."
"2000 valis—isn't that a little high for a single stamina potion?" Sly asks with a grimace. "Can't you give me a small discount? I will even give you a hint of what you could lack with that dual potion of yours."
"Hmm, that depends on what advice you can give me." She responds with a focused sparkle in her eyes.
'I don't know why, but since I saw her mixing that potion, I have had a headache. I probably just inhaled some of the fumes. Anyway, telling her might prove valuable in the future. Also the information isn't really valuable to me as it was an idea I got from a book during one of my nightly library excursions. Thus, I have no reason to withhold my idea.'
Sly thinks while answering. "As far as I could see, the mana you extracted from the magic stone was able to stably bind to the potion at first, but once you added the ingredient that induced the colour change, it became unstable, and even your magical pressure couldn't force it to merge Erisuis-san.
I guess that the second ingredient was the main ingredient used for health potions, and previously you had the basis for a mind potion." Naaza nods at his assumption.
"I think you could potentially stabilize the base potion by adding a grounding agent before it grows too unstable. There should be an herb that doesn't act aggressively with either ingredient that you can use as a bridge between them to balance the violent clash between the magical energies. Or perhaps slowly fuse two completed potions with a grounding agent."
Naaza begins to contemplate after hearing Sly's words. 'So that was the missing piece, but I will still need to research a possible stabilizer. He must be a mage to have such an acute magic sense.'
"That could actually work. Okay, how about we go with 1000 valis this time because you helped me with a new idea for my dual potion?"
"Deal. By the way, I am Sleipnir from the Takemikazuchi familia. I would also ask if you could potentially create flash bombs or explosives.
"Well, I could, but it would just endanger our business. I am the only member of the Miach familia and have very limited time. So unless you make Miach-sama a good proposal, I will have to pass."
"I see. I will probably return once I need more potions. A member of my familia has an interest in alchemy and might even help you out. If your god is available, I'd like to hear his opinion towards my idea the next time. Until then good luck with the dual potion Erisuis-san." Sly replies with a slight smile and a slight ear twitch.
Naaza smiles and says with a waving tail while handing him the potion. "You will be a welcome guest. If possible, I will introduce you to my god the next time. He will be pleased to meet a fellow potioneer."
Now that Sly has all he needs, he went towards Babel to meet up with his team members. 'I still need a good belt to strap all my tools to. For now, I will have to use my pack.'
Author's Note
Well, that was the first chapter of the introduction to Orario.
First of all, I want to make it clear that I built upon the basic abilities we saw in the Anime, but I will also add my ideas to it. For example, both Ouka and Chigusa now have magic similar to how everyone in the Hestia familia has some unique magic. I also changed the race of both Ouka and Asuka, as I think it will give their personalities another facet to work with and fit them well.
I changed the chapter makeup a little. The average length of my chapters has decreased to around 7'000 words and the first three chapters all are around 12'000. So I came back and split the first 3 chapters at the most appropriate point. Please bear with the inconsistencies in chapter length for the first 6 chapters.