Chapter 44: Celebration

Violins and flutes played, melodiously, within the Hostess of fertility as a veritable sea of adventurers sat and enjoyed the festivities. The jolly company shared stories and drank to their heart's content, finally celebrating the fruits of their labour. Beatific waitresses meandered throughout the wide space, ferrying large trays of food to each table with perfect efficiency, beaten into them by their commander.

Our purple haired protagonist sat on the centremost table, tapping a finger on its wooden surface, impatiently. Hit made sure to keep his eyes closed, although, this time, not as an act of espionage. His surrounding colleagues had bombarded him with questions, regarding his recent level up; however, Hit had managed to bat them away via cryptic comments and half-truths. Now, he had resorted to ignoring them.

On the opposite side of the table, Bell Cranel smiled at his mentor, pleased that he had accepted the invitation. Hestia and Lili were squabbling on his left side, arguing over who got to sit next to the boy, whilst Welf sat back and enjoyed the relatively relaxing atmosphere.

Asfi Al Andromeda and her mischievous god, Hermes, sat next to the bar's counter, giving the day's heroes some space. The god Miach; the goddess Hephaestus; and Naaza, sat on a smaller table, conversing amicably.

Hephaestus wore a simple white, buttoned shirt; blue jeans; and long dark boots. Red hair snaked its way to a thin neck, which was complemented by the woman's singular red eye. The left orb was covered by a large metallic eyepatch, shielding any onlookers from its appearance. She glanced to the hostess' largest table, which had actually been hastily formed from several smaller ones and smiled at Welf. Her sharp features softened as a smile broke loose. 'I'm so proud of you.'

As more and more drinks were placed down, rounds of toasts erupted across the bar, adding to the raucous atmosphere.

"To Hit!"

"Yeah! To the new guy!"

"Good work, scary dude!"

Loki's newest high rank adventurer opened his eyes, and glanced around as he received scores of cheers and rounds of applause.

Off to the side, Tsubaki Collbrande raised her mug, and gulped the entire beverage down. "I knew ya were a good apple, kiddo! Thanks for sending him my way, Finn! Cheers for the kind words!"

Finn's smile drooped a little as he processed what the smith had said. Suddenly, the pallum seemed to realise something and turned to Hit, robotically. "Ohhhh, so that's why she was so... affectionate... during our journey back."

Hit turned away from the captain, unnerved by his eerie smile. It was the first time many people here had seen the pallum annoyed. Finn now had an explanation for the numerous, unwanted, suffocating hugs that the well-endowed woman had given him, during their lengthy trek up and down the dungeon.

Hit's attention now fell onto Tiona, who was discussing something with her sister. "Oh, oh! How about speedy, or shooting star... No, wait! Ghosty! Or officer, for catching those bad guys!" The girl switched targets and cast a dazzling smile at Hit. "What do you think, Hit? What Alias do you want?"

The boy frowned, sternly, now understanding what those ridiculous terms were referring to: him. "None. I will turn you into a ghost if you refer to me as any of those. And I failed to apprehend those felons." 'Hold on... ghost? I thought mortals were reincarnated here...'

Finn coughed from the side. "Don't dwell on it too much, Hit. It was out of your control, and it wasn't your responsibility. The Ganesha familia will handle it. For now, let's all relax and enjoy ourselves."

As the pallum finished his piece, their table became invaded by porcelain plates, filled to the brim with delicious delicacies. Dainty hands extended from agile waitresses, as the tired creatures finally distributed the final meals. The women had been rather flummoxed when the bar was suddenly invaded by the Loki familia, and knew that their relatively peaceful day was now over.

Hit leered at the plate that was placed in his position, piled with roast meats and vegetables. He peered to the side and met eyes with a familiar individual: Ryuu Lion, who now possessed green hair. "We meet again. Consider this congregation as thanks for healing me."

Ryuu Lion maintained her mask of indifference, yet could not stop her long ears from twitching. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

*Bang*

An extra-large drink plummeted next to Hit, nearly flooding the table in beer. A booming voice sounded from behind him, filled with joy.

"I've gotta hand it to ya, boyo! You did an amazing job in bringing in all these customers! And here I thought we were gonna have a quiet day..."

Hit picked the drink up and took a sip, not needing to turn around to recognise Mia Grand's annoying voice. "You can thank me with a discount."

Mia guffawed and clapped Hit on the shoulder, who was reminded that the woman was likely far stronger than Goliath. "HAHA! Nah, I hear your little group got quite the reward! Its only right to splurge after a great battle! Live a little, kid!"

ゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴHit's face darkened in a miasma of rage, as he turned to face a white rabbit on the other side of the table.

Bell became utterly mortified, and gulped at the intimidating pressure, which seemed to be far more deadly now. The boy shook his head, vehemently, trying to dissuade Hit's unspoken accusation. Ais Wallenstein, who chose to sit next to the flighty boy, followed Bell's albino eyes, causing her to become a little dizzy.

Once Bell recovered, and his head stopped spinning, Hit's gaze had still not left him. Bell smiled, a little crookedly, and attempted to start a conversation as a distraction. "S...so, Mr Hit, how do you feel after ranking up? It's unbelievable that you were so strong as a level 1...!"

The sudden shift in topic, towards Hit's new strength, drew everyone's attention.

Loki put down her mug and shouted to the opposite end of the table. "Yeah! Ya hear that, tiny! Yer rabbit's nothing compared ta my Hit! He's a record breaker too!"

"What did you say, flatty!?" Goddess Hestia growled, and stood on her seat, an action that was mirrored by the trickster goddess. Bell attempted to pull his goddess down, but his hand was repeatedly batted away.

Hit sent an unamused glare over to Loki, who deflated slightly. "It does not matter how long someone takes to gain strength. Besides, the boy took less time than me to level up. I fall short by four days."

"Ha!" Hestia stuck out her tongue, and finally complied with Bell's demand to sit down; however, she used the hand to draw closer to her child, hugging it tightly.

Loki banged the table with a fist and groaned at yet another loss against the pipsqueak. "GRRR! Whose side are you on!?"

Hit merely ignored the fiery goddess and tucked into his meal.

Bell wriggled around yet could not free himself from Hestia's loving embrace. The boy sighed and attempted to lighten Hit's apparent sombre mood at coming second. Although, it was difficult to tell how the stern boy was feeling. "You probably don't feel anything after levelling up, Mr Hit, but you'll definitely notice a change when you start fighting!"

Hit placed his knife and fork down, and crossed his arms, looking down on the boy. "On the contrary; I can already feel an immense boost in strength. Now, I have sailed a level past you, boy."

Bell's friendly smile drooped into one of nervousness, worrying for his future health. "G-great..."

Beside Hestia, Liliruca Arde was grinding her teeth away in jealous rage. It was her job to hug Bell! She decided to enter the conversation and attempted to answer a burning curiosity of hers. "Never mind that! I want to know how you have two spells already! And how can you see through magic!?"

Hit blinked at gaining yet another conversation partner. "I do not know. It is likely because of creating my own spells and engineering them on the fly."

Lili and the rest of the circle spluttered at the casual comment, describing an impossible feat. Hit ignored them and went back to his meal. However, he was interrupted by a silver haired nuisance.

Syr Flova reached across the table and placed a bowl of Jagamarukun onto it. The multitude of potato croquettes soon dwindled to one as Ais Wallenstein quickly whisked them away. Syr giggled at the sword princess, then turned to Hit, her most intriguing customer. "So, what do you plan on doing now, Mr Hit? What's your dream for Orario?"

Hit grumbled at being interrupted from his meal and answered truthfully. "I am going to become the most powerful being on this planet."

His companions gaped at the unusual comment, a little taken aback. Syr nearly dropped her serving tray, hair becoming dishevelled as she twisted to catch it. "E-eh!? S-so you want to take over the world?"

"Obviously not." Hit shook his head. "That would be an immense waste of time. I have no interest in ruling over anyone."

Syr held a finger to her lips, curious at the odd dream. "...so... why?"

All eyes were on Hit as he replied with absolute confidence. Red eyes blazed with determination as he looked on towards the future. "It is my simple desire as a warrior; my soul craves betterment. Evolution is in my nature. This is only the beginning; I swear on my name as..."

"…Hit."

Author's Notes

And that's the end of season 1! :)

Thank you for reaching the end of my story! I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

I learned a lot from writing this and have become more empathetic towards other writers here. It can be very difficult to motivate yourself to finish a piece of writing, especially when other ideas pop into your head, or the horrors of real life wrench you away from what you truly enjoy doing. At the beginning, I could not stop myself from writing. Weeks went by where I did nothing but write, and I immersed myself into this fictional world. However, as time passed by it became more difficult to keep up the pace, even though I was still enjoying myself. It was quite frustrating, and disappointing, since I also wanted to see how the story was going to end and what adventurers Hit would go on.

I'm probably pleased over nothing, since this is just a silly fanfiction; however, it was still a challenge and I believe I did a good job.

Some limitations are that I tend to repeat the subject in the sentence: "the white-haired boy", "the black-haired girl". I have tried to vary them, but it can still be somewhat repetitive. However, I hope that I breathed some life into the characters. Also, I hope I showed their slight character developments, particularly Hit's. Also, I'm sorry for lying about Hit and the Goliath's wedding chapter. :(

In case you are wondering about any future updates, I do not know if there will be any. This took me a few months to write, although the last two were filled with procrastination, and I haven't felt as inspired as during the beginning of the story. Editing took some time too. I would like to take a long break to hopefully rekindle my inspiration and do something else, like play my backlog. I have made notes for the other seasons and know what I want to write; however, it takes quite some time to research everything that is happening at each moment in time, particularly when the story is split between Danmachi and sword oratoria. This is made even more difficult when you have to consider the knock-on effects of any changes to the story. This first season is far easier to write, since it's the first one, and far more simple than later ones.

If there does come a day where I absolutely give up, I will upload my notes. However, I don't want to do that, and really hope I can finish this someday. If you feel that you want to hear more of Hit's, or any other character's, adventures, why not write your own story? It can be quite fun!