AN: Early update today, about to get into a plane for a long while so better now than never I guess.
Chapter 4
The Adventurers Guild.
Or as Drake would come to call it, the Den of Greed.
Tsubaki had brought him to the Guild in order to exchange all of the crystals Drake had collected, including the one that he got from the abnormal Goliath.
Bors had been nice enough to let him keep 80% of it, seeing as he did most of the job and was instrumental in its defeat.
So, here he was inside a private room waiting for Tsubaki to return. And even though he was sitting in complete silence on his own, he felt annoyed.
He wasn't using the shadows like he did on the Dungeon with the Adventurers or Tsubaki, and yet he could see a sin planted on the faces of almost every Adventurer the moment he crossed the Guild's entrance.
Greed.
How did he know?
Because the blonde had been dealing with people like that for most of his life. But going into further detail, it was because he developed a good eye to understand people's emotions without the need of the Darkness.
It was for these very reasons he was grateful for choosing Tsubaki. She was on it because she wanted to be the best at something, being an Adventurer was just a stepping stone, not a way to get rich.
'Even though apparently, she was already rich.'
Although there were cases in which he couldn't control the aspect of reading emotions of the Darkness, such as when there was a high concentration of negative emotions at close range.
Which is the case right now.
"You look constipated."
His focus returned to reality as he looked at Tsubaki closing the door with her foot, seeing as she was holding several bags of money.
"I hate this place, that's all." He muttered as he stood up. "So, how was it?"
"They didn't give me much trouble since it was me who took care of it. Although they were a little suspicion of me when I said 'I went back and forth to fifties floors on a single day.'" She shrugged. "But they bought in the end."
"And the other thing?"
Her demeanor became serious.
"The investigation on the Dungeon is still ongoing, but it looks like it's not gonna drop any results. Just like before."
Drake raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, I had completely forgotten about it. Apparently, the state of alert had been created in the first place because the Gods felt something similar in the Dungeon one and a half years ago."
Drake put on a thinking pose. "Did monsters spawn like crazy like this time?"
She shook her head. "That's the weirdest thing. Even though they felt something, nothing out of place happened that time… although I remember the spawn of monsters was significantly… lower than normal, in fact."
Tsubaki's eyes narrowed as she said those words. And by the looks of it, Drake was reaching the same conclusion.
When he appeared, all of the Dungeon's resources had been set to dispose of him. Meaning that for anyone else on a different location inside the Dungeon would notice lower spawn rates. Which meant-
"Another 'Outsider' besides me made it into this world during that time." He narrowed his eyes.
"Anyone you can think of? You know, like someone that…died?"
He shook his head at Tsubaki. He had told her he was pretty sure he had died before arriving here, so they reached the same conclusion that whoever made it before him must have died around that time.
But no one came to mind.
"It doesn't necessarily have to be someone from my world, for all we know this has happened many times before from different ones… what?" he asked, seeing Tsubaki in deep thought.
"It's worrying. We could have at least figured who it was, had it been from your world. Because the reason this whole event alarmed the Gods so much before and even now was because they felt a shift of authority in the Dungeon the last time and I am sure they felt it again recently."
Now that was worrying indeed.
Tsubaki could explain why Drake would cause such a reaction since he was technically divinity. But what about the other?
She sighed.
"Dwarven vow #108."
Drake agreed. "Let sleeping dogs lie." He replied as he looked at the money.
"How much is this anyway?" he grabbed one of the bags to check its size as Tsubaki answered.
"240 million Valis."
The blonde remained stuck watching the bag before moving his eyes up to think.
"Is that a lot?" He asked, somehow in an even more monotone tone than usual.
"Bitch, you are rich." Tsubaki deadpanned, which Drake answered with the same expression.
"No, bitch, you are rich." He replied as he dropped the bag and crossed his arms. "I don't know how much things are worth here."
He elaborated, which Tsubaki understood as she started to rub her chin.
"You said your brother was also a blacksmith, right?" he nodded. "And his weapons were out of the ordinary, correct? Did he ever have them valued?"
He never went into full detail on the weapons Lloyd Aurion forged for him and his brothers. But he did mention they were the best with pride. So, thinking that he adopted a position similar to Tsubaki and recalled the second set of weapons he forged.
"Ether and Myrthil. A sword and shield respectively, the latter with the ability of absorbing the Aura and energy of whatever the front touched; be it people or energy attacks and then feed that energy to the user. Ether on the other hand was an axed blade that would absorb the user's energy so its shape would change into an energy beam that could grow exponentially… what?"
Tsubaki stared at him with the same blank stare he would have most of the time as she replied back. "Keep going, I will tell you later."
"… about 200000 Lien." Drake replied as he explained that the wilder of the weapons had them evaluated out of curiosity.
"… I would say to multiple that value a thousand times from its original price." She said with closed eyes. "The reason for this is because weapons with that kind of skill, not to mention of that caliber are nonexistent here unless you are a damn Crozzo or an Adventurer with a high level in 'Mistery'. And even then, the former can only make destructive weapons with a certain amount of durability which ultimately break while the latter doesn't tend to be as good with weapons as with Items." She replied with a tone of wisdom behind her words, only to be replaced by the blank stare and tone as before.
"Your brother's weapons are bullshit."
They were. They honestly were, even by Remnant's standards. That's why the only thing he could do with her was sigh in agreement.
"Also, was the user trying to overcompensate with something with that sword of his?" Tsubaki snorted, making Drake look groan as he recalled the wilder of said weapons.
"Remind me to tell you about my best friend at another time."
Tsubaki looked dumbfounded. Even with his scarf in place to cover half of his face she could tell how bad the scowl was he was making; That expression and having the audacity of calling this person his best friend…
"Boy, I really do want to hear what you think about anyone that doesn't make it into your friend circle."
He was about to answer back but decided not to and instead focused on the next subject in line.
"So, what now?" he asked as he made a motion with his hands to make every bag of money sink into the shadows.
"Again, your skill set is still bullshit." She groaned. "First I am gonna talk with my Goddess… no doubt everyone that was with me in the expedition already told her what they think… including the idea of us sleeping together."
Both groaned lowly.
"I am gonna have to deal with that first… and then," she gave him her serious eye. "You will speak to her tomorrow. Luckily, I can soften her up before your meeting in the morning."
The image Tsubaki had of her Goddess was one of someone to be proud of. She wasn't being biased to her own deity, seeing that she had described all of the faults of the other Gods, because she truly respected and admired her Goddess… most of the time. Regardless, Drake knew all of this, so he decided to give Hephaestus a chance.
"Looking forward to it." He sighed. Only because he agreed to this it didn't mean he liked the situation. " As for the topic… where will I be staying meanwhile?"
The captain didn't need to ask why he would want to stay in another place in the meanwhile.
It was in order not to raise attention.
Things might have calmed down a little bit, but the situation was still a little bit tense. Not to mention they were sure rumors of some kind would spread, eventually.
So, him staying with her Familia could cause some trouble to Hephaestus herself if someone decided to point a finger at him.
'There's also the matter of the Goddess in the tower. ' he thought to himself.
He already knew who said Goddess was thanks to Tsubaki's list of 'Deities to watch out for'. Even now he could feel her stare, but he had managed to keep her outside of the door at the moment.
The Goddess probably already knew about him having some kind of relation with Tsubaki, so keeping his distance was probably his best option.
"Well…" she tapped the side of her head. "I heard a lot of positive feedback from this place called-"
The Hostess of Fertility.
'Origin fucking damn it Tsubaki.'
Usually, that phrase was used with the name of his brothers. And most of the time it was either Zelos, or Luke.
But now, he had a new name to add to that list.
Both knew Drake had to keep a low profile. That meant staying away from trouble or people that might cause said thing, mainly Adventurers.
And where was he now?
At an Adventurer's bar.
But that was just the tip of the iceberg.
The reason as to why Drake was so much in alert was because of one single… thing.
"Have you already decided what you are going to order?"
The blonde, whose eyes had been looking at the menu with narrowed eyes, nodded slowly as he eyed the waitress standing awfully close to him.
Syr Flova.
Truth to be told; Drake wasn't gonna enter the bar the moment he noticed it was full of Adventurers. But the moment he turned around, there she was, standing before him with such a sweet smile and beautiful face that would make every normal person blush.
Having said that, Drake Aurion froze the moment his eyes landed on her. Not because of her appearance, as a matter of fact his eyes stared a little above her head as several words appeared.
This was the way he saw what the Darkness interpreted from people's shadows.
This had been activated out of pure instinct in this case, and that put him on high alert.
But that was only the start.
Because never has he seen this kind of reaction out of the Darkness.
Her words were noisy. But the weirdest thing was her name, it seemed like it was trying to overlap with something else, which he could not read further into.
Although he could tell that it was a word of five letters.
Not even Ozpin's case was like this. Remnant's local soul parasite move from one body to another every time the current one dies. After finding a new host, Ozpin's soul would merge slowly with the new one until there was nothing left of the soul of the body's owner.
In his case, the Darkness would tell him that 'Ozma', which was Ozpin's true name, was accompanied by the name of the body's original owner until it started to disappear little by little.
"Welcome to the Hostess of Fertility." His train of thought stopped as he noticed he was no longer outside, but rather sitting on the counter. "My name's Syr, Syr Flova." She extended the menu to him. "I will be taking your order."
Drake Aurion considered himself a logical person. So overthinking things was normal for him. But even so, he had never been taken advantage of while doing it.
'Beware of nice girls, Drakey. Those are probably one of the most dangerous beings to be aware of.'
The words of Zelos R. Wilder popped up in his head.
'The bastard's right for the wrong reasons, as always.' Drake thought as he had taken the menu to barely read it while said waitress walked away to attend other tables.
His eyes started to glow as he focused on her to see her Aura.
It was normal. No high level, pressure, or density, nor any hidden colors, just a gray colored light covering her like a transparent blanket.
By all the facts, she was completely normal. Unfortunately, as much as he hated to admit it; his instincts had yet to fail him up to this date.
He looked at the menu and closed his eyes. The darkness was soon replaced with the Auras of all the people surrounding him, and then it expanded until it covered a larger portion of the city.
The bad feeling he got made him wary of his surroundings. That's why he decided to check if something out of the ordinary was going on, and it was.
Besides all of the people in the bar, and those walking outside; there was a lightning blue colored Aura generating small sparks of electricity around it standing on top of the building in front of the Hostess.
'Huh?'
The blonde kept seeing the person's soul as he managed to notice a small symbol he couldn't make out.
It was the same thing with Tsubaki before initially crossing paths with her. But leaving that aside, he could tell this individual was stronger than her.
'It looks like sensing with closed eyes has its limitations.'
He concluded that his eyes needed to get used to it. But what he could tell was there was a little part of the soul trying to extend in his direction. That only usually happened when there was someone related to said person in his establishment.
So, that meant that said person wasn't here for Drake.
'In the perfect world, that would be the best-case scenario.' Drake snorted at the thought as he tried to distract himself by looking at the menu after opening his eyes, but he still kept his guard up.
Thankfully, it looked like the language in this world was like the one in Remnant, so he would be able to avoid any uncomfortable scenarios.
'The letters look kind of weird though.'
"Have you already decided what you are going to order?"
Which brings us back to the present.
'Goodbye tranquility, my dearest friend.'
"Two specials, and one glass of orange juice." He handed her the menu without looking, he could still feel her stare as she walked away. It gave him the same feeling as the Goddess in the tower, whose stare was also still on him at this very moment.
But he had noticed she had taken small breaks from time to time.
He chuckled.
'Zelos would call her an obsessive bitch no doubt.' He thought to himself as he rested his elbows on the counter with his intertwined fingers resting over the bridge between his eyes.
'I wonder what every single one of you assholes are doing right now?' he thought to himself as his thoughts moved to the rest of his family. His mother, his father, his uncle, every single person who has ever mattered to him. Hell, even his Godfather.
Right now, he truly wished he was dead as it had been planned.
Because at the moment he was worrying beyond belief.
Some of his brothers would laugh at him no doubt. The thought enough made him rub the back of his head as he held a laugh of his own.
"Two honey roasted fowls and one orange juice!" The two incoming plates planted on the table broke him out of his thoughts. "New in town?"
He looked up to see to which he probably was the tallest dwarf he would ever see in his life.
"Not by choice." He replied as he took the glass of juice from her hand while she grinned.
Dwarfs were by definition the race that expressed themselves the most. Be it anger, joy, sadness, etc. they were pretty straight forward, which meant they were already really talkative when they wanted to.
"Not the first-time hearing that."
The blonde raised an eyebrow as he took the fork and knife to his sides.
"Many come to this city to become Adventurers as a last resort, or to fulfill some kind of dream." She replied. "But usually, it all goes to nothing if they can't find a Familia… or a decent one at that. Although." She made a pause as he ate, focusing on his abnormal eyes. "You don't seem like the type."
He continued eating, knowing she still wasn't finished. "You already seem strong enough. Came from a Familia outside Orario?"
"I am not. As a matter of fact, I am not an Adventurer." He took the glass and took a sip after continuing. "Nor do I plan to be one."
The owner seemed to be taken back by the comment, but chuckled soon after. "Could have fool-"
"You aren't an Adventurer?"
He fought the urge to wince and curse out loud.
To his left was the thing that made him wary, giving him a clear surprised expression as he eyed her for a second.
"I am sorry, it's just you give such an intimidating air that strong Adventurers usually give."
He didn't reply.
Instead, he focused on the food.
"I think you should reconsider; I am sure you would reach great heights if you joined a Familia."
Once again, ignored.
"Uhm… are you-"
"Syr." The owner got her attention, a neutral face planted on her face. "He clearly doesn't want to be bothered. Get back to work."
It was intimidating, he wasn't gonna deny it. Any normal person would stutter at her voice. And yet, somehow-
"Yes, Mama."
She managed to reply back as if it was nothing before bowing to both and leaving.
'She's either used to it, or just doesn't care.'
"Antisocial?"
He chuckled before looking at who he now guessed was the owner. "I was told to stay away from 'nice' girls."
She laughed at the little hint of sarcasm in his voice. "Tell me if you need anything."
"Actually," he said before she turned around. "I was told this place also served as an inn. I was hoping I could stay a few nights."
He was already here.
He might as well settle in for now.
"How long?"
"Three nights at best… hopefully."
"The more I talk to you, the more it looks like you don't have a plan." She chuckled. "8000 the night, breakfast included."
The good thing about jackets, it's that no one knew what someone could pull out of it when going for the inner pockets. In this case, no one ever saw Drake's hand going into the shadows to retrieve something.
"What? Don't you carry any bags?" her question was due to the blonde placing several valis in orderly fashion out on the table in front of her.
He could tell she really didn't mind though, but it was still something to have in mind for the next time.
He really missed lien cards.
"Lunor, would you mind?"
A brown-haired waitress soon walked to his side with a bag in hand.
"People call me Mama Mia, but many call me Mama."
He was never gonna call her that.
"I will give you your room key later. Please enjoy your meal and don't be afraid to tell me any complaints you have." She turned around and only gave a few steps away before hearing his voice.
"Not sweet enough." He replied in a heartbeat.
"Excuse me?" he couldn't see it, but he knew her eyebrow was twitching.
"The chicken, it wasn't marinated long enough in honey."
Every single waitress seemed to freeze as they saw a vein start to make itself present in her forehead. "Anything else?"
"… At least It isn't dry." He took a sip of juice. "Also, could I please have another glass of juice?"
Her neck moved around almost robotically with a forced smile on her face. "Gladly."
It wasn't until she was out of sight that his lips twitched a little upward.
"You have guts. Nya~" A cat girl muttered as she walked past him.
"No, just being brutally honest."
He could hear her cat ears twitch as she walked away… and that was the only thing he could hear at all.
'Silent steps… an assassin.' He thought as he recalled the brown-haired waitress that stood next to him not a few minutes ago. Her knuckles were developed, way too developed.
There was also the other cat girl who worked in the restaurant but-
*KSSSHHHL*
Too clumsy.
'But…' he closed his eyes and focused once more. He quickly ignored the same person that was watching him from the other side of the street and focused on the girl. She was strong, about the same level as the others apparently.
The most interesting thing was her Aura was trying to extend itself in the same direction his watcher was.
They were related. And not by the same symbol that he still couldn't see well.
And now that he was on it. He quickly checked the other two to see they were around the same strength. Mia was also in the watch list, so far the strongest person he has met yet. And finally…
He opened his eyes and moved the almost empty glass of juice to focus on it's reflection. From afar he could see a pair of sky-blue eyes staring at his direction with a cold expression.
What did he do to anger the short haired elf?
No idea.
But he couldn't help but stare at them back as if looking at a mirror. After all, he could recognize the eyes of an avenger better than anyone.
Both of them were kindred spirits.
'Cringe.' He snorted as he drank the last of his juice.
"… I really hope Mia doesn't spit on my juice." He thought out loud while wondering where his second glass was.
"Loki Familia's here for their reservation!"
He ignored the commotion and he continued eating.
"Remind me again, what are we celebrating this time?" a refined elf asked as she held her composure even with all the collective noise of her surroundings. Her green eyes darted to the person responsible for this sudden outing, only to sigh noticing her Goddess already going at her seventh glass.
"We haven't even been here for twenty minutes for crying out loud."
The dwarf to her right laughed at the elf's disdain while being in the same state as her goddess, as if it was a drinking contest. "Everyone wants some R&R after a long day of work, let her have it."
"Why can't you be a cute girl, Gareth. You always get me in these types of situations." The Goddess earned a snort from the Dwarf as if discarding the idea out of his mind.
"We know you must have been drained thanks to that emergency Denatus. So, we thought it would be nice to let you have some stress relief."
The eyes of the Goddess opened slightly in a narrowed fashion. "My dear sweet Finn." The Pallum forced a smile at the accusing tone he was hearing. "You didn't allow me to drag all of you here so you could soften me up and I would talk about the meeting, right?"
The blonde Pallum laughed.
"You have such a twisted image of me, Loki."
The Goddess of Mischief snorted at such a clear misdirection, only to sigh in resignation in the end.
"Captain," a strong arm wrapped itself around his own. "Do we really have to speak about such a serious matter now?"
"I know, I know. But this already happened once before." He replied to a long haired Amazon before focusing on Loki. "And you know how it is; once is a happenstance, twice is a coincidence and-"
"Third time's pattern," she waved her hand at him in an annoyed manner. "Quit with the preaching, I will talk." Loki emptied her glass and made a motion with her hand to get another refill.
'Who knows who I don't want this shit to happen a third time.'
"Let's see…" Finn Deinme learned at the table, ignoring the extra weight of the Amazon clinging to him. "Ganesha shouted his name sixty-seven times."
Everyone sweat dropped and Finn almost lost his balance from the table at her response.
"Ishtar kept throwing underhanded insults at Freya, nothing new there."
Finn's smile twitched as he clearly noticed what her Goddess was doing. "When I said 'tell me the details'-"
She continued. "Freya didn't seem to care, also nothing new there."
Finn internally sighed. "I didn't mean this."
Nothing.
"Demeter offered some cereal… so nice of her."
Finn closed her eyes and sighed. "I get it. It was stressful, but can you please-"
"Soma just slept. Drunk bastard, wish I could think of nothing but alcohol at every single meeting instead of work." She replied with a snort as she dived into her drink while the Elf made her thoughts known with a disapproving look.
"Making us listen to you ranting can hardly be called responsible."
To her surprise, the Goddess stared at the High Elf; with her own opened eyes. "Get hitch and give your kingdom an heir and then we talk about responsibility."
The full table fell silent for a full half a minute before the resident werewolf snorted and then continued cracking. And the fact that a vein started to become visible didn't help things at all.
It was official, Loki was in a bad mood. And had no sense of self-preservation by the looks of it.
It had happened a few times in the past, but it was still a weird occurrence.
"Lady Riveria, please. You shouldn't be making that kind of face!" An orange haired elf tried to calm her mentor as the elf in question seemed to mouth a great number of words at a very fast pace. Only to suddenly stop midway before sighing a calming down.
"Oi, oi, oi." The werewolf raised his voice between hiccups. "Were you chanting?"
His question flew over everyone's head.
"My apologies." Replied the regal elf as she felt someone clinging to her.
"I am so sorry Mama. Your sweet Goddess just got a really…" she raised her fingers to count. "Tiring two and a half days."
The elf looked at her side to stare at the Dwarf with a sly smirk on his face. He no doubt gave her several glasses of alcohol to mellow her out in such a short time.
"It was the same old ballad as last year. Everyone felt a shift of power in the Dungeon, so an emergency meeting was called and we got… " she took a deep breath while Finn had started leaning on the table once more. "Nowhere! And it even got extended more because there was another sudden shift yesterday!"
And was disappointed as well once more.
"Almost three days and every single one of you couldn't reach a conclusion?"
"Give her a break, Riveria." The elf in question rubbed the bridge between her eyes. "They are Gods, remember they tend to act like…" Gareth stopped midway as Loki rubbed her face against Riveria's arm as she embraced her. "Gods."
"Very subtle gramps." Riveria bonked her Goddess with her staff as Bete Loga continued. "But what about the spawn of an abnormal Goliath right after killing a normal one?"
That got the Braver's attention. "That's… unheard of."
Every Adventurer knew it took weeks for Monster Rex to spawn, but one right after another?
"Huh. Why didn't I know that?"
"Because you spent days locked in a room with other Gods." Riveria stated calmly as she took a sip of her juice. "It's only natural you wouldn't hear about this."
"Right. I heard about that rumor too. Apparently the abnormal took a big chunk out of the crystal of the first Goliath."
The words of the youngest Amazon seemed to act as verbal slap as focused on her. "Tell me everything you know, Tiona."
"So… Hephaestus's captain killed it. Crisis averted. Will look at the exact detail-" Loki took another glass. "later."
"Not so fast." Finn put a hand between Loki's lips and her drink. "I still need you 30% sober."
Loki groaned.
"Something doesn't add up. A normal Goliath is ranked as a Level 4 monster, so an abnormal could be considered a Level 5."
"And he ate the crystal dropped by the first one." Riveria replied knowing where Finn was going. "The Abnormal would have the strength of a Level 6 monster."
"Tsubaki's strong. I will give her that." The Dwarf said. "But she would have a hard time dealing with that alone."
"Well…" every executive looked at Tiona. "There was also this one rumor, about another person. Do you remember, Tione?"
The older Hyrute didn't have to think hard about it. "Riiiiight. Apparently, there was another person helping the Cyclops, I heard he even managed to fend off the Abnormal on his own while the rest rushed back to Rivira."
Bete Loga snorted. "The words of some weaklings aren't worth much. As far as we know, they mistook it for someone running for his life while the rest ran."
"It's a possibility." Finn replied, but the werewolf kept pressing as he laughed. "Hahahaha! Do you really think some nobody no one has ever heard from would be able to beat that Monster? Ha!"
Finn pondered at the werewolf's words. As rude as his statement was, Bete was right.
'And that's the problem.'
An unnatural event in the Dungeon, a sudden spawn of an Abnormal right after killing a Monster Rex, and someone who can go toe to toe with it.
The problem was that unless your name was Ottarl, dealing with it was impossible. And as a party, it would take some Level 6's to do it.
'Three of them are sitting on this very table.'
It was a small connection, but it was something.
"Do any of you happen to hear what he looked like?"
Both Amazon sisters looked at each other before the youngest one crossed her arms.
"Wears mostly black… white scarf… weird footwear."
Tione meanwhile was doing some thought of his own.
"Blonde, green eyes… aaaaand, I think I heard he had a pair of dragons circling each other on the back of their clothes, one white and one black… "
"Sooooo… nobody we fuckling heard of." Bete concluded.
Finn sighed. "Maybe we should focus on this tomorrow."
Loki rolled her eyes and sighed in relief. "Finally!" she exclaimed as she looked for the right person to comfort her. "Ais! You have been awfully quiet. More than usual." The red head didn't wait to press her cheek with the ones of the young blonde girl's.
"Ais? Is something the matter?" Riveria asked with concern as she noticed that the girl had not only not touched her food at all, but she had an expression on her face that reminded her of her first year in the Dungeon.
Straight focused intent, ignoring everything and everyone around her in the process.
'That's no good.' She thought to herself as Riveria prepared to approach the girl, only to stop as she noticed the girl had been staring at a single spot this whole time.
The elf slowly turned around to look at what could have gotten Ais's attention…
"Oh."
Everyone looked at Riveria and then at the direction she was now.
And there they saw him.
Blonde, wearing mostly black, weird footwear, white scarf on the side of the counters and finally-
"Twin dragons circling each other on the back of his jacket." Finn finished everyone's thoughts as he prepared to stand up after looking at his Familia members. "I will approach him…"
"Too late." The Dwarf replied as Finn looked back at the counter and saw Loki already standing next to the person of interest.
"… Damn it, Loki."
"This is definitely not gonna end well." Mia Grande thought out loud from the other side of the counter while looking at the blonde she had previously served, who now had a drinking partner beside him.
A very undesirable drinking partner.
"Hey, wanna join my Familia?"
"We have a lot of cute girls as well."
"Where are you from?"
"Why the weird looking eyes?"
"Such nice clothes."
"What are thooooose!?"
"Never seen you around these parts, cutie?"
Mia groaned. At this point she couldn't if Loki was trying to recruit him or if she was hitting on him.
'I can't even tell, if she still sees him as a male with how much she's been drinking.' She thought while recalled Loki has had a lot of refills in the span of thirty minutes.
"Hey, are you listening?" Loki asked as she wrapped her arm around his neck while holding her glass with said hand while the other approached his face.
'And now she's poking him.' The Dwarf deadpanned as the red headed Goddess repeated the same question as before over and over with each poke… and yet the green-eyed blonde was completely still.
If Mia didn't know any better, she would have thought the blonde had died while remaining in that position. But it was more as if he was in a complete zen state… She was honestly impressed.
"Heeeeeey~…" Loki's eyes opened slightly; her face awfully close to the side of his face. "You wouldn't happen to have been in the Dungeon in these past few days, huuuuuh~?"
Mia raised an eyebrow. But she shook her head, it looked like she hadn't approached randomly. That meant this was an important matter for the Goddess, which was not something she wanted to be involved with.
The owner of the bar had originally thought of intervening if Loki took things too far, but since it was an important manner, she had no reason to do so… unless things escalated… and they were about to see there was a certain someone from Loki's table approaching the counter.
'Gods damn it.' Mia felt a migraine coming. 'Why did it have to be him?'
"What? Never talked to a girl before? Don't worry, I don't bite,"
That was a lie.
"You just have to answer my previous question." She was being serious, not only because she was salty at being stuck in a Denatus for so long. But also, because a probable cause for all of this was sitting here eating two fowls.
Even if the lead was small, she would follow it.
Was she being petty? Absolutely.
'Look Finn! I can be responsible.' She mentally patted her own back as the mad grin she was most known for between her most trusted children started to form on her lips. But it was very short lived as she felt someone grabbing her shoulder and pushing her back.
Not that she was succeeding as the blonde still seemed immune to all her antics, but what did get his attention-
"Hey! Don't you dare to-" Mia didn't get to finish her sentence as Bete Loga emptied his glass on the stoic blonde's head.
Inner peace.
An state of mind in which every thought and emotion was wiped off, rendering the mind clean of everything unnecessary.
Yeah, Drake couldn't pull that shit.
Every single one of his abilities were tied to emotions. And since he was also somehow of an empath thanks to them as well, it was near impossible.
That was one of the reasons he acted so stoic most of the time, to keep everything in check.
And as for the thoughts, that was even harder. He was someone that was constantly thinking stuff, someone even made a comment of how his mind was made out of a complete system of cogs.
And sadly, he didn't deny it.
But even he wanted to seclude himself from all of that from time to time.
So, the best he could do was consciously mute everything around him and imagine a different sound to replace it, like the wind.
Music could also do the job. But since every single one of his belongings was gone, so that was a big no.
Why would he 'close himself' now?
Because he felt an incredible amount of hate and killing intent some minutes ago the group known as 'Loki Familia' walked in.
It was so intense that whoever was emitting such a feeling was drilling a hole in his head. Suffice to say, it was annoying.
So, he decided to seclude himself while still keeping a guard up and just focus on finishing the food.
And apparently it was the right choice since some sort of annoyance had approached him. He acted like a literal tomb, no talking, no listening, no moving.
Sadly, he couldn't do anything about his sense of smell. Whoever it was reeking of alcohol so hard that it almost brought him back to reality, but he still maintained it.
Too bad even tombs can get wet. But he was sure as hell it wasn't alcohol that rained on them.
"Hey, she asked you a question." Drake's eyes moved to the news source of annoyance, a silver haired werewolf by the looks of it. "or you deaf or stupid?"
'Low profile.'
He didn't answer as he looked at Mia, who simply nodded as if understanding what he wanted.
"Hey, hey, hey." The werewolf slightly pushed the blonde on the shoulder before resting on the counter, right over his scarf. "Don't you fucking ignore me, weakling."
'Low. Profile.'
"Bete-"
The red head tried to speak, but it was easily ignored.
"Who the fuck do you think you are to come here looking all fancy and important to ignore your betters, huh!?" people here apparently didn't have respect for personal space. Because Bete's face was now only a few centimeters from Drake's. "Come on, do something. Or are those weird eyes the only thing noticeable of you?" Bete finished with a snort before burping on the blonde's face, to his credit, he didn't flinch.
'LOW. PROFILE'
"Weakling." The werewolf moved his hand to pick up his scarf-
'Don't you fucking dare.' His thoughts were in vain, because the werewolf used his scarf as a tissue to clean his mouth.
'Fuck-'
"Don't bother Loki," he tossed the scarf on the ground and made sure to step on it as he looked over at her Goddess. "He's not worth anything."
'Low Profile.'
Killing him would have been so damn easy right now. The grip on the wooden knife he was holding tightened a little. Enhancing it with his Aura would pierce his skin easily, he could even make it look like an accident by making him trip on it.
But the werewolf was strong by Orario's standards. Dying by a wooden utensil would look suspicious no matter how he looked at it .
Suffice to say, in the span of a single second 183 ways of killing the annoyance known as Bete Loga came to mind. Sadly, none of them would be used.
But this little act of offense would not go unpunished.
"Here." The blonde looked at Mia, who was extending her hand with a wet towel to dry himself of the Alcohol on his hair. The blonde grunted in appreciation as their eyes looked.
His eyes were slit, a little more than before. And there was also a cold look that Mia would recognize anywhere.
She sighed in resignation. "Just take it outside."
The blonde unfolded the wet towel and brushed on his head. "There won't be any need for that."
He stood up as he continued drying his head.
"Hey Mutt, how many drinks have you had so far?" Everyone on the bar had already been paying attention to the commotion the moment Bete had dumped his drink on Drake. But now, they were looking as if their processing had stopped for a second before reaching a similar conclusion.
'Does he have a dead wish!?'
He could even hear some of them making bets already.
"…" Bete Loga had been walking back to his seat as he heard the question, his Goddess following close by scolding him as it happened. Both stopped as he slowly looked over his shoulder with a deadly glare. "The fuck did you just call me?"
He fully turned around to glare at the blonde, whose face was covered by the towel. No one saw his eyes glowering for instance.
Drake now had all he needed.
"Huh, it looks like you can-"
"Did I fucking stutter? Or are you just plain stupid?" Bete gritted his teeth at the clear disrespect towards him. "Or is it that you just don't know how to count?" Drake finally let the towel rest around his neck and shoved his hands inside the pockets of his jacket, all while showing an uninterested impression on his face. "Did mommy and daddy never teach you how to 1, 2, 3" his gaze lowered himself a little as the temperature of the room dropped. "How sad."
The werewolf was a few seconds away from breaking his own teeth by how hard he was gritting. "Come here and say it to my face y-"
"I am telling you in your face, Fido." Some low laughs could be heard around the bar, but Bete could only focus on the blonde bastard in front of him. "But you stink so damn much I can smell your reek all the way here. Seriously, when was the last time your owners gave you a bath?"
The laughs increased as someone couldn't hold it in while Drake made a motion to the werewolf's table, not caring what kind of expression there was on their face.
"Besides, all this time you have been all bark and no bite like a damn alley dog." He clapped his hands as if trying to call an actual pet. "Come on, buddy. Show me a new trick."
That was the straw that broke the camel's back as Bete gave a step forward.
And that was all there was to it.
The good thing about all the laughs, it was that the distinctive sound of chains was hard to hear.
Bete's face turned to one of confusion as he was suddenly falling as he stared at the ceiling, with a noticeable feeling of having chains tightening firmly on his ankle.
'What the fu-'
He never got to finish the thought. He was still looking at the ceiling, and there was nothing on sight. And yet, the last thing he felt before losing consciousness was as if someone stomped on his face with enough strength that it felt like he had been hit by a Goliath.
Silence took over one more, but it didn't last long as Drake placed the final nail to close.
"Bitch can't even walk."
The good thing about drunks, was that making them laugh wasn't hard. And this just made crackling harder.
"Hey-"
"Enough, boy." The blonde didn't seem to care in eyeing the owner of the voice. It had been the same obnoxious red head that had been bothering him not even five minutes ago.
"Bo-Boy!?" Loki explained indignated as she became the center of laughs. "I am a woman!"
Drake turned around and eyed her, only to then have the audacity of sizing her up from head to toe. "Well… I never expected to meet a true level?"
"True level?" some random Adventurer asked, to which Drake gladly explained.
"You know, like the floor. 100% plain, 0-degree angle, not a single bulge. Absolutely nothing on the front… or the back."
At this point, many Adventurers were on the floor by the cheerful amount of pain they had by laughing so hard.
And Loki, she was truly at the verge of tears as her whole body trembled in embarrassment. "Yo- You!" she pointed her finger at him. "I will get you back for this!" and then she rushed to the table to embrace a green haired elf to get comfort.
"Didn't take you as someone who could change the mood."
He walked to the counter as Mia Grande handed him his room key. "My uncle used to work as a bartender as a kind of hobby. So, this kind of situation was somehow normal from where I come from."
"I suggest you take a shower to get rid of the smell of alcohol in your hair ." Drake listened as he picked his scarf from the floor and patted it to get rid of the print of Bete's shoes. "Give me that as well, I will have it cleaned and be ready tomorrow morning."
"Thank you, I really-" his words died in his mouth the moment he noticed Mia staring to his side.
"A little late for you to step up, don't you think?" Drake looked behind him to see a blonde Pallum approaching them. "Braver."
"Now, now." He raised his hand in a sign of peace. "Nothing bad happened in the end, besides Bete's little accident due to being drunk."
Mia scowled as she looked at Drake, who simply nodded as he handed her his scarf. She turned around and walked away, to which the blonde prepared to do the same.
"Please, wait a moment."
Drake sighed in clear frustration. "Beat it, Kid. I am not in the mood." He could see the smile on the Pallum twitch as he turned around.
"I am a Pallum. I may not look like it, but I am over 40 years old."
He knew.
"And yet you and everyone sitting around that table let your mutt come to bother me?" he narrowed his eyes at Finn's awkward laugh.
"He tends to act on his own from time to-"
"So, it's not the first time he pulls this kind of scene?" he wasn't gonna leave an over minded brat to have any room to argue at all. "You really shouldn't have a pet if you are not gonna teach him how not to behave like a damn animal."
That kind of comment would be racist in Remnant, but now was not that case.
"I know he can be a handful, but I would appreciate it if you stopped labeling him as an animal." His smile was gone, now replaced by a neutral face. "Besides, you also antagonized him."
'Oh, you wanna go that route.'
"Calling out his parents was-"
"Dead sister." Drake replied, once again leaving no room for argument as Finn simply raised an eyebrow. "The scarf your mutt used as a tissue and then stepped on was made by my dead sister. Funny enough, it is the last memento I have of her."
'Loki damn it, Bete.' Finn thought as he recalled the person in front of him had only acted once his Familia member had messed with the scarf.
"Anyway, what were you saying before I interrupted you, brat?"
The captain sighed as he gave him a smile while extending his right hand.
"I think we started this the wrong way-"
"No shit."
His smile twitched but still continued. "My name is Finn Deinme, it's a pleasure to make to acquaintance."
FAKE
He initially didn't need the Darkness to know the person he had been speaking to was a fake. Everything about him, his demeanor, his smile, his body language, even his name which Drake could read clearly wasn't 'Finn Deinme.'.
'Even his greetings are fake'
It was as if he was dealing with a version of Ozpin, a man hiding behind the mask of a good Samaritan.
That's how he also knew that the real person behind that mask was an opportunistic piece of shit.
Bete had been drunk, but not that drunk to pick a fight for no reason. He had probably moved to rile Drake up and make him act against the werewolf with the intention of testing him.
Finn knew this and allowed it, not expecting that surprising outcome.
And so here he was, trying to salvage the situation.
"You disgust me." That was all Drake whispered as he turned around to walk away, leaving a perplexed Pallum taken back while his hand hung in the air.
"Wait, You are clearly new in Orario." he persisted. "My Familia member did you a wrong, let us make it-"
"Don't want it, don't need it, and go fuck yourself." He stopped after answering back. "Also," he turned around and pointed at a certain someone sitting around the Loki Familia table.
Ais Wallenstein.
Said girl was being held back by the green haired girl as she stared hatefully at Drake.
"Teach her it's bad manners to stare at someone from the back with the intention to kill, it ruined my appetite."
"Please-"
"Take a hint already, brat. I don't hang around clowns." That was his final statement as he went on the stairs while the rest of the bar remained silent until some random Adventurer decided to break it.
"That guy really has a dead wish."
Suffice to say; everything went to hell.
The rumors about him were hard to believe already. And even if Drake didn't directly fight what he thought people considered a 'First Class Adventurer', there would be rumors about him and his subsequent conversation with Finn.
Luckily, even if many more people figured out that the rumors of him in the Dungeon were true, Tsubaki was still seen as the main star in taking down the Abnormal. Which meant Drake would be considered someone that helped at least.
As for the events of today with Loki Familia, he honestly didn't care.
'At least I was able to figure something out.'
In the short moment he used his eyes to see what made Bete Loga tick, he also gauged his Aura. And unlike the two previous times, he was able to see the symbol around his Aura perfectly.
'Turns out you can see better if you use your eyes. Who would have thought?' Drake thought in sarcasm as he recalled the symbol of a clown or a jester hovering over Bete Loga's Aura. As a matter of fact, a quick glance told him everyone around his table had the same symbol.
He scowled as he recalled the blonde girl throwing glares at him. Whatever her problem was aside, her Aura wasn't natural. If anything, it reminded him of Sylph, the Spirit of Wind back home. Of course, comparing the two would be like looking at an iceberg and an ice cube placed next to each other and saying they were the same. They were not.
So, the only question that came to him was, what was she?
'Is she like Milla?' he recalled Milla Maxwell, the human created by the Great Spirit of the same last name with the intention of fulfilling a task. Milla's Aura was completely of the spirit kind, but the girl's only had a portion of what he thought was the divinity in this world.
He discarded the idea, had she been artificially created then her levels of divinity on her Aura would be purer.
Which brought him to his next hypothesis.
What if she was like him? Someone naturally born from a deity.
'… Nope. Better stay away from that whole circus of issues.' He thought as he recalled the other people on the table, he didn't analyze them like he did Bete. But he did manage to eye some of the words above them.
'From runaway princess to kinslayer. That's a whole lot of drama I don't want to tangle myself with.'
And finally; the Goddess… he felt absolutely nothing from her. Drake didn't eye her while really using his eyes, he didn't want to risk anything staring at her not knowing what they were capable of.
Tsubaki had told him that God's Arcanum were sealed and were only allowed to do something like granting their Falna. But he was honestly surprised when he felt nothing at all, as he would usually feel crumbs of people standing close to him.
He shook his head as he walked through the hall of the second floor of the inn after getting the smell of alcohol out of his hair, ignoring the silent steps that were close behind him until he reached his room.
"If you want to say something, please say it. Otherwise, I will have to feel another unpleasant stare on the back of my head while I stay here." He didn't look, but someone came walking from the corner at the end of the hall behind him.
"I am surprised," he eyed in her direction, it was dark. But he could make out the pointy ears, green hair, and blue eyes perfectly. "You can be polite."
"Treat others the way you want to be treated."
She made a sound of clear understanding. "Is that why you treat Syr with so much indifference?"
"Yes." Not the truth, but not completely far from it either.
"I see." She made a small bow and turned out to go the way she came from. "Have a good night."
She did mean her words, but out of pure courtesy of the establishment. Because he could clearly see the scowl on her face.
"Elves, bitching about everything." Her ears twitched from afar, she had heard him clearly despite him whispering his reply. And he knew this, because he whispered something else soon after before hearing the sound of a door opening and then closing. "Have a good night as well."
Honestly, in situations like this, he was gonna do the most natural thing a person going through a tough time would do; put the blame on someone.
"I blame Tsubaki for this." He replied as he tossed the towel on a nearby chair and then laid back on the bed. "…No. I should have left this bar in the first place." He closed his eyes to check his surroundings once more, the person stalking him was gone for now. But there was no doubt that it would not be the last of him.
He kept his eyes closed, trying to finally put an end to the day. But he slowly opened them as he felt energy envelop him kindly, and it felt familiar.
'Huh.' The blonde sat up and looked at the almost closed window. Drake stood up from the bed and walked to the window, only to finally stop at the leaking light that was managing to get in the room.
'I had completely forgotten about it.' He moved his arm in front of the light as a sense of calmness and empowerment surrounded him. He finally moved to the window and opened it without hesitation, letting all the light get in as the feeling augmented.
Despite the difference of culture, races, and technology; the thing that Drake considered the biggest change was the Moon.
'So that's how you look.'
Remnant's moon had been partially destroyed by two self-proclaimed Gods a thousand years before his birth. And up to the date he left, it had remained in that state.
Hopefully, with the way things planned before he left, the Spirit of the Moon would finally be able to repair it.
'Shame I might never get the chance to see it.' The thought depressed him. He felt comfortable as he was showered by the Moon's energy, as if it was consenting him as it would its own child .
Make no mistake, he already knew this. But this served as a reminder and the definite truth that this was not his home as he could only recall the broken one in the sky.
'But even so.' He sat on the window and rested his back on the corner of it. He didn't want to reject this act of amiability.
So, Drake Aurion closed his eyes with a smile on his face, without care of the Goddess staring at him from afar. Soon after, little sparks of electricity surrounded his body the moment he fell asleep.
Somewhere in the city of Orario…
A certain God found himself staring at the Moon while ignoring the call of his children the moment he stepped out on the balcony.
He knew he should be working on his brew, but it was probably already ruined by not paying attention to it.
He couldn't put his finger on it. He might have slept through the whole Denatus, but he knew what it was about.
And now, the Moon's weird behavior. Never in all his existence had he seen it shine so brightly.
It was as if an unimaginable event was happening in front of his eyes. And to be honest, it didn't feel bad.
Shamefully, it looked like even now he could not be happy for long, the knock on his door and the call of his name broke him out of his moon gazing.
"The Moon looks beautiful today, my lady." A female Adventurer muttered next to her Goddess as both stared at the Moon in awe.
But despite how beautiful it was, the Goddess looked at it with narrowed eyes.
There were a lot of Moon deities. Some stronger than others, and that was proportional to how much authority one had over it.
And even if she had her Arcanum sealed, she could still feel her connection as strong as ever… Until now.
Someone was overpowering her, someone with far more Authority over the Moon than her.
But who?
"Let's return back to camp."
The Goddess turned around and walked back, not really hearing her child's reply as she pondered more on the matter.
"I doubt those idiots in Tenkai will notice this." She sighed.
Only time will tell.
It wasn't what she was looking for.
Far from it.
It was pure, gentle even.
'I wonder…' a black-haired Goddess thought as she ignored the crying of the monsters from afar.
She didn't have to worry. The city was protected, the same way it had been for thousands of years.
'But for how long?' she pondered.
Nothing was eternal, sooner or later the consequences of her mistakes would catch up to all of them.
'But now… maybe, just maybe.'
There was something about the event that was transpiring right now with the moon that gave her Hope for some reason.
"Ilia!"
The Goddess sighed as she ran her hand through her head in a forward fashion. "Coming!"
She discarded whatever thoughts she had as she replied with a cheery voice.
All the hope she really had was waiting for that one Goddess to herself… and then ask her the impossible.
