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.

Speech: "Please wait with the questions till after the diner."

Thoughts: 'When I start over-preparing the results even frighten myself.'

Magic: "Futsunomitama."

Screaming/Demonic Voice: "I am Ganesha!"

Chapter 4 Daunting Dreams

?

All was dark. Then slowly it got brighter.

A pile of stones. A lonely pebble. Accelerates catching others. Return knocking over the pile.

Walls made out of greyish-blue bedrock appear. Eyes open from below and above. Slumber.

A complex maze, stretching over many floors. A quick descent into the heart of darkness. Hopelessness.

Water, a pool in an empty room. In the depths two glowing eyes. Fear. Loneliness.

Descending further. Past wall of terror. Past peaceful forest. Learning.

Lights disappear. The key. A hidden entrance. An endless growing secret. Understanding.

Cages. Accursed eyes. Buried flames unleashed.

Inn Room

Sly awakens. He is covered in cold sweat, and his heart is beating frantically. 'What was that a dream? Or rather a nightmare. It was filled with darkness. And one feeling persisted during the whole dream. It always felt just like the atmosphere in the dungeon.'

After a few deep breaths, Sly removes his blue bed sheet and quietly leaves for the bathroom without waking neither Take nor Ouka. After quietly closing the door, he then looks around in the darkness of night. Then he looks at the mirror, where he sees a dim teal glow. Following the light in the mirror, Sly notices that the light originates from his eyes and is slowly dimming.

'What is this? Why were my eyes glowing? What was that dream?

Should I tell Takemikazuchi-sama about it? He would probably believe me, but he would also think that the stress of the dungeon got to me. Would he tell the others? No, I can't risk it. I must just figure this out myself.

Okay. What do I know about this dream?

To begin with, it's not unusual for me to dream but most of the time I forget about them quickly. However, this is the first time that I remember a dream that was this vivid. At least it wasn't a nightmare about that night.
...

It began with pure darkness. The images and concepts rushed through my mind. They were strange and not quite tangible. More like the fragmented pieces of a broken mirror. Then there was the constant feeling of being observed. First from above the fragments and then the deeper it went from below. Aside from being observed, the fragments also felt as if they contained different feelings from different angles. Strange.

Additionally, I doubt it was a dream as I can still remember everything vividly. The only thing I am certain about is that this has something to do with the dungeon. The oppressive feeling is the same. But why was it observing? Furthermore, from above and below?

There is also a key. I don't know if it is a metaphorical or literal key, but somewhere there is a key to understanding this ... this prophecy in the dungeon.

I am getting to the bottom of this mystery. Even if I might have to search for it alone.

...

I should return.'

After one last glance at his normal mirror image, Sly left the bathroom. Once Sly returned to their room, he noticed that Take was still asleep. Seeing as he had far too much adrenaline pumping through him to go back to sleep, he made his bed before going into the main room of the inn and sitting down at a quiet spot to meditate.

'Might as well focus on my breathing while I try to meditate and calm down. Might even play around with my illusion magic. I am still a beginner at multitasking while maintaining illusions.

Now that I'm thinking about it. I should find a better way to refer to the area I can manipulate. It always forms a sphere with me at its center. I can change its volume by spending more mana and need mana proportional to its surface to remain in effect.

I've got it. It is my illusion, and I can control the perception within the area. Thus, I will call it the illusion domain.'

2 hours later - Takemikazuchi-POV

Takemikazuchi slowly stirs and then opens his eyes before scanning the room for any changes. 'Strange, I awoke earlier than usual. My intuition tells me something is wrong. Perhaps one of my children did something in their drunken state. No, Ouka is still in his bed and Sleipnir-kun's bed is perfectly made without him in sight.'

Take then slowly stood up, made his bed, and changed into his typical monk attire. He then went in search of his wayward child.'Where might he be? It isn't like him to disappear without a word. If it was Mikoto-san, I would fear that she headed into the dungeon on her own to test her new strength, but Sleipnir-kun is too cautious for such rash actions.

The next most likely situation is that something awoke him in the night, which caused him to pursue it. After all, he can hear far more than the rest of us. But in that case, his bed wouldn't be made. This leads me back to my question of, why he would stand up even earlier than me. He normally awakens 1-2 hours after me and even later when Ouka gets him to drink. At least I can still feel his presence close to me.'

Downstairs, Take then spotted Sly in front of the fireplace that only has a few embers remaining. He observed him for a few minutes and saw how Sly was trying to meditate. But every few seconds, he also trembled slightly. The embers stirred whenever Sly trembled. He also tried to maintain an illusion that resembled a second pair of arms that moved in sync with his normal arms. 'Sleipnir is trembling slightly. He seems to be meditating, and for him to still tremble when he obviously tries to be calm is worrisome.'

"So this is where you went to. What caused you enough distress to meditate this early in the morning Sleipnir-kun?" Sly then awakens from his trance and slowly stands, while maintaining his illusion and bowing slightly.

Sly looks around the room before looking back at him with uncertainty. He then uses a name only a few of the younger familia members use and even then exclusively in private.

"Takemikazuchi-otousan ... This morning I awoke and noticed something strange that I had to investigate."

"And what was it Sleipnir-kun?" Sly slowly looked at him before looking to the side while twitching with his illusory arms. Take thinks to himself. 'Whatever it is it must be serious for him to refer to me as a father figure. I took him as one my own a year ago, but he only ever referred to me as a father for the first few days after I rescued him. Other than that he only used it on two other occasions.'

"I noticed something in the mirror. But after looking for it couldn't find it anymore. I had already spent some time awake by then and couldn't go back to sleep, so I thought of what I could do and thought back to the mirror image, where I got the idea of creating false duplicates of my arms with illusions."

I looked at him sternly. 'Avoiding the problem. Not the best idea. Still, I need to comfort him.' When he looked back at me, he even began twitching his ears and tail. "Sleipnir-kun come here." Sly took a few steps towards Take, who then broke his otherwise strict expression to show concern. He then lightly hugged Sly and somewhat awkwardly stroked his ears to help him relax. Sly returned it after a moment.

'It seems whatever he saw is not something he is ready to share yet. But, strangely, I didn't even feel the slightest hint of him lying. I will do my best to help him nonetheless. After all, he and Chigusa-chan are the only two her in Orario I still view as children, instead of students, as they were the only orphans that were traumatized by the loss of their families when I found them.'

"It seems that whatever happened is uncomfortable for you to talk about, so I will let it slide. If you want to talk about it, I will be awaiting you, whenever you are ready. You know that you should stop bottling up your problems. I and Chigusa-chan are ready to help you when you need it..."

Take then slowly stops his hug but still played with his ears.

"On another note, you should practice lying. As I thought you the basics of acting like a shinobi, you should also improve in other disciplines of the same origin. Your ears, tail and illusion alongside your lack of eye contact make it obvious you only told me a partial truth. The only reason I ignored this lesson thus far was because of Mikoto-san. She would have never accepted such lessons she deems dishonorable, but now I see it might be necessary for you to at least know the basics for interactions with other familia. Even if only to hide your abilities from enemies."

"Thank you for your understanding. Takemikazuchi-otousan. Are there really enemies inside Orario? Isn't the only danger in the dungeon?" Sly tries to take on a more rigid stance but relaxes again when Take plays with his ears. 'Once again, Take shows me how kind he can be. He is always helping as much as he can even now when I hid something from him. He even encouraged me with tips. I need to improve and make him proud.'

With a small smile, Take takes his hands from Sly's head and knees down with Sly. "Not necessarily Sleipnir-kun. But who tells us that we can trust all the other adventurers? Every adventurer has other goals in this city. While some just hope to grow stronger, improve their craft or earn money, others might have more nefarious purposes. The same is also true of us gods. Sleipnir-kun there are many gods and not all of them like each other, so it can easily come to conflicts between them. This is the main reason I urged you to be cautious. Remember the phrase I thought you from one of my teachers. A shinobi must see underneath the underneath. There are many hidden intentions behind the most inconsequential actions.

I am of the firm belief that you can survive the dungeon with the right preparation, but the different familia in the city are far more dangerous to our small familia. Offending the wrong familia could endanger our entire familia."

Sly is listening with rapt attention with his tail swinging at a leisurely pace. "In that case from whom should we be vary Takemikazuchi-otousan?"

"There are many. In most cases, do not go out alone into the darker parts of the city. The ones you can trust in most cases would be the Ganesha familia. Ganesha and I are old acquaintances, so they won't cause us unnecessary trouble. They are also the ones keeping peace in the city, so the problem should be relayed to them first.

But you should look out for the Freya familia. She is the only other war god in the city and has the most influence. She might see my appearance as an intrusion into her domain and try to sabotage us. Freya and Ishtar are also goddesses of beauty, which means that their divine charm can affect mortals and gods alike. Without utmost focus, they could even manipulate me. If you ever meet them, avoid direct eye contact and be as polite as possible, while keeping the interchange short.

But enough of that particular lesson. I will continue once all of you are present. What I am more interested in at the moment is your illusions. Why do you maintain two additional illusory arms that are in sync with your main arms?" Take asks once he gets reminded of their existence when Sly repositions himself.

"Oh, that. I am trying to keep my concentration on my illusion domain for an extended period. I hope that with enough practice I might be able to keep concentrating even when I have to fight. The mana cost needed to sustain my arms is minimal for such a small illusion domain, so I can maintain them for at least a few hours.

I got the idea from my mirror image this morning. I got the brilliant idea to feed my opponent's false information. The primary sense we utilize in combat is our sight, so what would happen if the opponent thought he was defending against my overhead strike, but in truth, my real weapon and arms are invisible and only an illusory copy is visible?

My goal in keeping the arms conjured is to learn how to make them as lifelike as possible. At the same time, I passively improve my focus by maintaining them for prolonged periods. It should also slightly strengthen my magic stat over time."

"Hiding your actions from the opponent's senses. That could be a valuable trick, but only if you can keep your concentration even in a melee fight. Additionally, experienced opponents might perceive your intentions after a few exchanges and then use their other senses to perceive your actions.

Sleipnir-kun, do you wish to join me in my morning training? I could help you to practice keeping your illusion while fighting. We can also continue with your dagger training. You still have not seen some of their applications. Afterwards, we will have to create a new schedule to continue your martial training. I will also have to get the others back on track once we move into Amaterasu's dojo."

"Of course, Takemikazuchi-sensei." They both then left the Hostess of Fertility to train in the backyard, while leaving a note for their familia about their whereabouts.

1 hour later Hostess of Fertility backyard - Sleipnir POV

Sleipnir was going through hell. Takemikazuchi is many things, but most of all he is a god of war and warriors. While he does not seek war, that does not stop him from being possibly the most warrior on Tenkai.

Take does not hold back when teaching his students. Although he only has the physique of a mortal without any falna, his pure skill and experience more than make up for that. Ouka once told them of Take teaching an arrogant second-class adventurer that caused trouble in the far east a lesson.

He thought himself invincible because there are only a handful of level three adventurers in the far east and none were in the capital during his visit. He then looked down on Ouka, who traveled alongside Take and even belittled their family for not even being capable of defending Take from street thugs. Take did not take lightly the insult thrown at Ouka and by extension him. He then calmly requested a small spar between their groups to prove him wrong. But instead of Ouka, Take himself took his stance and then proceeded to give the second-class adventurer the beating of his life.

He then calmly explained that one's strength might be inferior, but if one is skilled enough then they may even bridge the gap between levels. While teaching, he also applies the same principle and purposefully battles with slightly more skill than the student to push them forward. This directly leads to one of his core principles that it is better to make mistakes in a protected environment, rather than the field or, even worse, in the dungeon, which leads to his infamous teaching methods.

Takemikazuchi began teaching Sly one year ago. Back then Sly only had a bit of experience with a spear, but Take noticed very early that through his very strong senses, Sly could anticipate and react far easier to attacks, while his power was lacking. Through much testing, Take began to teach Sly a style of karate that heavily focused on either deflecting or dodging attacks, to then counterattack according to any flaw in the opponent's posture.

This style also leads to Take introducing Sly to the naginata as an additional tool to further his reach and deflect blades. It also translated very well to increase his spearman-ship.

But right now, he has neither his staff nor spear. He only has his twin training daggers and magic. 'Why did I have to agree to fight with my illusion active? I can't move my illusionary arms other than mirroring the movement of my main arms, because it would detract from my focus. It's even worse because with daggers I have to focus on speed and need impeccable timing if I want to get close to hitting Take, additionally fighting with a dagger takes place very close to your opponent, which further increases the chance of me being hit.

At least this is far better practice than just keeping a permanent illusion. One hour ago, any hit from Take would have caused Ignis Fatuus. Where all the mana under my control would explode upon itself, but now that I went through more than two dozen tiny cases of Ignis Fatuus, I slowly start to learn how to prevent my mana from losing control.'

Rushing in once again, Sly used his stronger right dagger to strike while defending with his left. But Take easily deflected his attack with his simple tanto. When he went to strike with his off-hand while keeping the tanto occupied with his first dagger. Take took the opening in his guard and hit him with the flat of his hand on his right elbow, which caused him to drop his primary dagger.

At that moment, his mana once again began to spiral out of control, but by focusing his mind on calming his mana and keeping the mana flow stable while retreating and returning his remaining dagger to the guard position. After a few breaths where Take observed him, Sly then began laughing. "Finally. I managed to control my illusion even when you hit me. I controlled my mana and prevented Ignis Fatuus."

"Indeed you did it once Sleipnir-kun. Now you have to memorize the feeling and try to repeat it the next time your mana goes out of control. Then we will have to train until you can manage more mana without causing Ignis Fatuus. But this should suffice as your magic training for today. You made great progress and you should be almost out of mana after recasting your illusion so often."

Sly took a moment to consider his own state, then stopped his illusion. "You are correct Takemikazuchi-sensei. Nonetheless, I will work more on it as soon as I regain more mana. It's also good to know that constantly recasting my small illusions also uses up so much mana."

"Well then, for the last hour we have to train, I will also improve your lying capacity. I will sometimes ask you a question and you will have to answer with a lie so that my divine sense can detect your intention, but learn to hide all your bodily signs of lying."

Take picked up the second dagger and returned it to Sly while taking out a pair of his own. "It is about time I showed you a few more tricks with those daggers of yours, now that you got the basic stances down. For today, I will show you a few more advanced guard positions, which require higher flexibility. I will also introduce a few more hidden positions for your throwing knives that you can still get out anytime."

And so it continued for another hour with Take demonstrating a position before Sly had to copy it. Then Take corrected any mistakes Sly made before repeating the positions with simple transitions between them. While sometimes asking silly questions about their familia or the dungeon.

After another short spar, Sly was beyond exhausted from Take's brutal training.

8 AM Hostess of Fertility - Sleipnir POV

After a, for Takemikazuchi, normal training session, Sly and Take met up with their familia. Ouka, who waited for them patiently, took one look at the battered Sly sporting countless bruises before grinning.

"So seems Take went a little harder on you this time. Any specific reason why you trained with him this early, Sly-kun? You aren't angry about not leveling, are you?"

Sly lied with only a slight twitch of his ears and tail that could be mistaken as a reaction to Ouka's jab at him. Then looked Ouka in the eyes. "Not that's not it. I couldn't sleep and awoke early. Takemikazuchi-sama saw this as an ideal chance to help with my illusions and continue my basic dagger training. All these bruises are because I have to learn how to prevent Ignis Fatuus when fighting with my illusions. At least my control improved considerably."

"Well, that's good to hear. Come, the food won't eat itself, before there is nothing left." Ouka finished, while Take sat down next to him and Sly took the space at the edge of the table next to Chigusa before Mikoto took the word.

"Takemikazuchi-sama. In the festivities yesterday I forgot to inquire when we could potentially move into Amaterasu-sama's old dojo." Mikoto inquired with interest while pointedly ignoring Sly.

"Yes, about that. It will require a total of 100'000 valis. This is a very good price for the dojo, but will still require a few more dungeon delves before we can move in. So I would advise that you go into the dungeon every day until we can move in.

We should also continue your training. Now that we have basic accommodation, we can finally all train again. I will also have to inform you of the dangers inside Orario. I already had a lengthy discussion about this topic with Sleipnir-kun."

Ouka listens to Take's words while continuously eating, before replying with a half-full mouth, "Hmm. Yes. That sounds great. I can finally get back to whipping the lasses into shape. Sly-kun has spent far too much time on his magic shenanigans during our way here and the little Chigusa-chan needs to learn how to properly defend herself in close range."

Chigusa is startled by his last words. "I'm sorry. I just get easily overwhelmed when somebody gets too close to me."

Mikoto rolls her eyes. "Giving you a melee weapon has been long overdue with your subpar physique. Although I would like to see you with a katana, I doubt you will like the idea. Perhaps something that can be used in close to medium range and can create distance would be better. A staff should do the trick. Perhaps a spear for the stab potential.

When something gets too close, you can whack it away or use blunt force against enemies that are resistant to your bow and arrow. Perhaps a spiked shield could also work. It would combine offense and defense in close range. But more importantly, I will also learn about Takemikazuchi-sensei's quick-draw technique. Like he promised me."

Take, who is inwardly despairing about his promise from the previous day, changes the subject back to the original discussion. "In any case, I think you will all advance nicely. With Mikoto-san's level 2 stats, she should also change the training dynamic a little. She should be capable of battling two of you during sparring matches, teaching you to fight stronger opponents and defend against them.

At the same time, you should be able to delve deeper into the dungeon. I will spend my time meeting up with a few other gods and learning more about the current situation in Orario. Mikoto-san, I will also announce your level-up at the guild as I have some business there."

With that, they finished their meal and while the party went into the dungeon, Take went to the guild to learn more about the other gods and the political landscape of Orario.

A few hours later on floor 7- Sleipnir's POV

After the explorations on their first day, today the party went through the first four floors in record time. On the fifth and sixth floors, they took their time and completed Sly's map to find the best paths. They even noted down the position of a pantry. A position where large groups of monsters congregate to feed. They could have challenged the pantry but saw no reason to endanger themselves against 8 war shadows and 15 frog shooters.

Sly's Dungeon Study

Upper Floor: 7-9 First Entry

Structure: Rooms grow in size and the ceiling height increases to 10 meters. Hallways become shorter and rooms are more common. The walls are brown and dirt-like and the floor is covered in grass, perfect for the killer ants to burrow through and strike from any angle. The ceiling is covered in phosphorescent plants that give almost day-like light. The monsters appear in swarms and call for backup and the monsters from the first four floors reappear in stronger variations.

Monsters:

Killer Ant: A red ant monster with four legs and two arms. It has a hard shell and has a high attack and uses pheromones to attract backup when pushed back.

Weak points: Blunt damage, piercing damage, magic stone in the first segment behind the head

Value: 75 valis

The first few ants weren't a big problem for the group as they had the power to defeat the ants quickly, although Sly had to wield his naginata like a spear and Mikoto had to cut the weaker parts of the carapace, but with her level two stats that was easy in comparison to the first dungeon delve.

Their problems began when a blue butterfly monster with four translucent blue wings appeared and all the remaining five ants in their room called for backup.

Ouka saw this and called Sly. "What is that butterfly back there, Sly-kun?"

Sly looked at the Butterfly and called back. "Thats a Blue Papilio. It's unable to fight, but constantly releases a blue powder with a healing effect that heals both us and the ants."

Mikoto took a step back and asked. "Should I kill it before it heals too many ants?"

"No, that a very rare monster. We should try to clear all ants and then extract as much of the powder from the butterfly as possible before killing it."

They then started a marathon where they killed as many ants as possible by striking directly at their magic stones, all while keeping the butterfly alive to heal themselves and any non-lethal injury from the ants. This continued for around two hours before they finally managed to beat the last ant before they could call for even more backup. They had to fight a total of around 100 ants and the archers had to recycle their used arrows mid-fight. Mikoto even used her new skill to locate the reinforcing ants before they could surprise them.

Sly then used an illusion on the butterfly before speaking to the others. "That was exhausting. I had to redirect the Blue Papilio multiple times with spells to keep it in this room. But now that we have it, we should collect its dust and let it heal us before continuing."

Done as spoken. They used the three empty potion bottles from the previous day to collect 3 bottles of dust from the wings. Sly then used a rope to bind the butterfly to Asuka as a way to continuously heal the group against the weaker monsters. Afterwards, they fought on while Chigusa and Asuka remained 30 meters behind the group to prevent the monsters from healing, while they finished mapping floors 7 and 8.

On the ninth floor, they then had to kill the butterfly, because it healed the kobolds and goblins that went around their front line and Sly had to use most of his mana to prevent them from being overwhelmed. Afterwards, they returned with a halfway-mapped ninth floor.

They then continuously battled on the ninth floor for the next three days to complete the map and even encountered the other variation of butterfly monsters, the Purple Moth. Luckily, they kept the three bottles of blue dust and covered their exposed limbs with a fine dust layer as protection from the harmful poisonous dust. After using one bottle of the blue powder they then collected another three bottles of purple dust. This time Sly had to immobilise the moth with rope before extracting it.

Sly's Dungeon Study

Upper Floor: 7-9 Second Entry

Monsters:

Blue Papillio: A half-meter big butterfly monster with four blue translucent wings. It is unable to fight, but constantly secretes bright blue powder. This powder has a healing effect that can heal minor injuries from monsters and adventurers. The effective healing range is around 20 meters. When the group is strong enough to defeat the ants with precise strikes at their magic stones, keeping the Blue Papillio alive is a useful strategy to heal the party.

Weak points: Wings

Value: 500 valis

Drop Items: Blue dust is used as a healing potion ingredient

Purple Moth: A quarter-meter big moth monster with deep purple wings. Similar to the Blue Papilio, it secretes purple powder from its wings. Range ~20 meters. This powder can cause poison without abnormal resistance in high enough doses. It only affects the party, as the killer ants are almost immune to the powder due to their carapace. Highest priority target when it appears.

Weak points: Wings, bright light, the powder is flammable

Value: 500 valis

Drop Items: Purple dust is used as an ingredient in antidotes and can be refined into stronger poisons

Meanwhile - Takemikazuchi's POV

After announcing Mikoto's level-up and giving Misha a basic overview of Mikoto's stats and her development ability. Take spent the afternoon researching the political situation of Orario. Afterwards, he decides to visit his old acquaintance Ganesha. He asked the guards of the Ganesha familia on the previous day if he needed to make an appointment, but they told him that their god was almost always available as their captain was responsible for coordinating their duties. They would nonetheless inform Ganesha that Takemikazuchi would visit him today. They then told him where he could find "I am Ganesha".

'Has Ganesha or another god used his divine power to affect how people have to loudly call his name, or is it the name of his home?'

Late Afternoon - Takemikazuchi's POV

Takemikazuchi was walking in the direction the Ganesha familia guards told him their familia home was. He looked around the city and noticed that it was far quieter during the afternoon, as most adventurers were only just returning from the dungeon.

Then he noticed the at least 8 stories tall "I am Ganesha" building. And Takemikazuchi was left speechless. He knew Ganesha was an eccentric god, but from their conversations, he also knew that Ganesha was very intelligent. But this building was a giant statue of Ganesha in a meditating pose and the entrance was its crotch. "Why is the entrance the crotch? Just why! I do not understand. Every other point would have been acceptable and even more accessible."

The guards in front of the "door" were looking at him with pity. "Greeting Kami-sama. Do not be surprised. This is the usual reaction when somebody sees I am Ganesha for the first time. You will grow accustomed to it in time."

"Why are you visiting I am Ganesha Kami-sama?"

Take still takes a few looking at "it" before answering. "I am an old acquaintance of Ganesha. Takemikazuchi. I asked the pair from your familia yesterday and they told me I could visit Ganesha today."

The guards look at each other for a moment before turning back to Take. "You may enter Takemikazuchi-sama. I will lead you to Ganesha's office. Before encountering him, I will warn you that his particular behavior. Do not take it as an offense, but his behavior might not be too serious."

Take looked around the floor and even saw another library. He would have to visit it another time. They then ascended the stairs until they reached Ganesha's office on the 9th floor.

There the guard knocked on a very fancy door, depicting the head of an elephant. Shortly thereafter, the door was pushed open by Ganesha in person. "I AM GANESHA. My friend Takemikazuchi. It is wonderful to finally meet you again. It has been decades since we last met."

Ganesha is a muscular man, who wears a red and yellow elephant mask over his face. He has long, shaggy, ash-brown hair. He wears an orange sash over his right shoulder that is wrapped around his waist. A gold-rimmed leather plate sits on his stomach, holding the garb together and his white pants. His brown boots are further accentuated with gold and he wears multiple thick gold necklaces and golden armguards to grab even more attention.

Ganesha poses in a few different ways to show his muscles before I recover from his entry and answer. "It seems time has affected you far more than me, old friend. Shall we take this inside?"

"Of course. I am Ganesha. Come on in my friend." Ganesha says before stepping behind Take and putting an arm over his shoulder and pushing him into the room. 'This is strange. Ganesha should know that I do not allow anyone to grab me without a good reason. I hope he has an answer for this. Most gods would have been incited my wraith, but he is good natured enough that I will let it slide this once.'

Then Ganesha loudly closes the door and then visibly puts his ear to the door to hear his guard leaving. He then visibly relaxes and calls out. "I am terribly sorry, my friend. But as you probably have already noticed from my new reputation and flamboyant style that I am now known as the most accessible from all the gods. Because I am Ganesha, the god of the people."

Take looks at him for but a moment. "That's good ... You actually unbalanced me for a moment with your introduction. But if I read the signs correctly, nowadays you usually act as casual and direct as possible to attract attention. This allows your familia to be the one most accessible and well known to the civilians. Am I correct in such an assumption, my friend?"

Ganesha smiles widely. "Of course, my friend. But some of my new persona has bled over even when I am serious. Although you already knew my more serious side from our past interactions.

But enough about me. I see that you have finally started a familia of your own, my friend. No longer wandering the world on your own to live the life of a mortal, or traveling martial artist perfecting his art and learning evermore?"

Take looks back at him and agrees while Ganesha takes a tea set for the two of them, while Take sits down on a couch in the shape of an elephant head. "Not really. I only settled down around 5 years ago. Before then I still traveled the world, but for the last two decades I had my trustworthy captain Ouka with me."

While Take looks around the office with the many decorations of the different Asura's and the golden desk to the big bean bag Ganesha is dragging over to their table. Before flopping down and sinking almost to the bottom of it in a relaxed position.

"In that case, my friend. Wanna tell me why you settled down? As far as our previous conversations went, you always argued that you have to improve further as a god of war and a god among warriors. You and the feathered serpent were always of the same mind when it came to improving yourselves. What changed to allow you to settle down with a familia?"

Take looks far away out of the two eyes of I am Ganesha. "A good question. To tell the truth, it was never my intention to settle down, but in the Far East, I learnt something new. I learnt that even we gods can be changed with time. Like you, I learnt a new viewpoint of my divine aspect. I saw the results of war.

After I and Ouka aided Amaterasu against the rebellion. I saw the pain and suffering such a war caused. And most of all, I saw the children that were now orphaned. I learnt that even they were part of the war. Since then I opened an orphanage for all the children, I could help that were affected by war."

Ganesha looks at Take for a long moment before calmly taking his tea. "I see. You have truly grown, my friend. I am happy for you. If you or your children require help, you may always come to me and if it is within my power, I shall aid you."

"Many thanks, my friend. I am certain you will love some of my children. Most of all, a young renard of mine. He will cause us gods a lot of problems. I can already feel it."

After Take finished with a fond smile, Ganesha went on. "Oh, do tell what makes this one so special. This conversation will remain between the two of us, so no fear of me telling anyone. And how special can he be? At least you don't have to look more than a thousand adventurers that are mostly level 2s and schedule their status updates."

"Oh, he is special indeed. He seems capable of lying to us gods without us being any the wiser and doesn't even notice it. Then there is his ..."