Ok quick update before for everyone, I did indeed do my test and failed hard, so I've been studying so that I can do well in my markup tests, and I got a comment a while back saying that I hadn't considered that more people being born means more people dying.

Which ok fair, in hindsight probably should've thought bout that. So here's my answer to that, Ereshkigal said that she has been working less in recent years, but due to gods being, you know, Immortal, recent is relative especially since it's her first time interacting with mortals. Plus they all said they wanted to take her workload so they quietly took more and more souls from her so that she wouldn't keel over.

Is it a perfect answer?

No, but it's the best I got and I'm in too deep to change it. So here it is Chapter 3, please Review it and if you think it's bad no worries just comment and I'll try to do better.

Chapter 3: Plans in Motion

"Sorry, have I met you before?"

Ritsuka was taken aback by the question, as he's pretty sure he hasn't met one of the aces of the Astraea Familia. Especially one with that last name and his first name too—where had he heard that name before?

"Um, I don't believe so. Though you kind of remind me of an old friend I had, she was a free-spirited woman that was known for her swordsmanship."

"What a coincidence; I also knew a woman like that; in fact, she was my..."

"Oi Iori, stop bothering the new guy there; we gotta get back to the Goddess before she starts worrying about us again." The voice of the pink-haired pallum had snapped both men from their conversation.

"Well, I have to return to my Familia, It was a pleasure meeting you."

"It was nice to meet you too, Miyamoto Iori."

Iori walked towards his team members as he finished his conversation with Ritsuka.

"Iori, are you feeling alright? Don't tell me you got sick down in the dungeon again."

"Hm? No, I feel fine; it's just when I saw him that my instincts kicked in all of a sudden. Ryuu's eyes suddenly were concerned, and she put her hands on her blades. But before anything could happen, he put his hand over hers. "Don't misinterpret what I said; I did say my instincts kicked in, but it's different, it's like..."

"Like that time you met with Anomaly and Moon Doll?"

"Yeah, with them, I don't know why, though my fighting spirit isn't kicking in like when I fight you guys or Ottar. But for some reason I have this weird feeling about fighting them."

"Jeez, I thought we atleast reformed you enough not to fight random strangers. I remember the first time you asked all of us to fight you, we thought you'd gone crazy, at least it wasn't a total curbstomp on our part." This time his captain had chimed in after exchanging all the magic stones that they had collected after Iori's excursion.

"Oh Alise, how much did we make this time? Our little escort mission should net us a bit of cash."

"We got a couple hundred thousand valis from the drops that Iori left behind, so we should be able to relax for a bit since that last expedition of ours."

"Nice! I'm gonna splurge a bit to look nice for my date with Finn. He should still be around when Monster Feria happens, so I need to pick one that'll knock his socks off." While the rest of the girls and Iori were chatting, Kaguya was instead looking at the dark-skinned woman near Ritsuka.

"Kaguya, let's go, quit standing around and help me keep an eye on Iori."

"What am I a child? It's not like I disappear often," To say the stare that the girls gave him was astounding would be an understatement. "You know what, I'll just stop digging my own grave."

With that, the Astraea Familia left, and with them all the tension and excitement in the guildhall.

"Well, that was something, huh, Captain? Who knew that Miyamoto Iori would talk to you. Though I do wonder why he would talk to you."

"Honestly, I dunno. But I think we hit it off pretty well. Though his name does remind me of an old friend I had. Still, unless she somehow ended up here and got a kid, nah, it must be a coincidence."

"Who are you talking about, Ritsuka?"

"Don't bother Emma, he usually says vague random things and then won't explain anything. I've given up on interpreting what he's saying and just nod along."

"I'm just gonna pretend that I didn't hear that. Anyway, there's still some time before the sun sets, so you two can do what you want for the day." Reaching into his bag, Ritsuka then gives out a copy of his marked map and gives it to Emma.

The girls seemed to agree, and the three of them decided to split the earnings 3-way, atleast as close as they could get. Taking into account the monthly rent and taxes, they could only have about 2000 valis each, which was perfectly fine for the trio.

Soon all of them split, with Concetta going towards the market area of Orario, Emma going towards the Underwater Reef, and she assured the both of them that she wasn't going to get lost.

Ritsuka, on the other hand, had different plans; he noticed that during combat he was more tired than usual, like his energy was being drained bit by bit even as he was resting. Normally he would dismiss it as it being his first time in the dungeon. However, his stomach had other plans, as the girls left, Ritsuka's stomach growled as if he hadn't eaten for a full day.

"Thankfully, those two left already. That seriously would have been embarrassing, though, why do I feel so hungry?" After leaving the guild and looking up his map once more, he decided on a restaurant that's known for their spicy food and their cheap meals, though he wondered why the broker seemed hesitant the first time he asked her about it.

As he reached the restaurant, he noticed it was full of customers, Ritsuka found an empty table nearby where the chef was cooking and sat down. Looking through the menu, he saw that most of the items that were on display were only of spicy food like 99% of it was just different variants of spicy food.

Eventually he ordered a bowl of lamb curry, though he was kind of unnerved as when the chef served his food, he saw that the chef would be weirdly happy when someone was metaphorically dying to his dishes. Though at this point he was too hungry to care about that, especially since his curry arrived, well he would be if his dish didn't look like lava.

"I-I don't think I can eat this. Why does it look like that?"

Let it be known that Fujimaru Ritsuka wasn't a coward when it came to spicy food. But even he would struggle with the immense spice that he was feeling.

"If you get past all the spice, it isn't half bad, actually."

When he was quarterway done with his meal, a brown-haired girl sat next to him, she looked quite pretty in her outfit, and it seemed that he wasn't the only one looking at her, as some of the other customers were also looking at her, though probably not for the same reason as him.

"Owner, one bowl of extra spicy mapo tofu," the girl nonchalantly said. Ritsuka wasn't sure what came over him, but when he heard those words, a sudden feeling of dread came to him. As if the world had spited him with that very sentence.

"Ah, of course, Miss Hakuno, one bowl of the usual coming right up. I also have a new batch of peppers from the Lord Patecatl and guarantee it's spicier than his last batch, would you like to try it with your meal?"

"Not this time, chef, Hermes needs me to run multiple deliveries today, and last time I tried something new from you, I had a mild stomach ache and missed a delivery."

"A shame, but understandable. I'll have your meal done in a few minutes." The owner then started to make the mapo tofu, Ritsuka also continued with his meal and began to notice something about the girl. She was wearing a long brown coat with a black shirt and what he assumed to be short pants with dark boots. But that's not what he focused on, but instead the pins that are on the upper left of her outfit,

One was of a beautiful red rose surrounded by what looked to be white marble, another was a typical yin-yang symbol but, on a closer look, had red lines within it to create a striking design; and finally, the most elaborate one for him was the one with a mirror with eight leaves and what looked to be foxtails in the background.

"Um, excuse me, you've been staring for a while, and not to assume anything, but it would be great if you didn't look at my chest, it's quite embarrassing, you know."

After hearing her voice, Ritsuka seemed to be aware of his surroundings once more. "Sorry about that, I didn't mean to stare, I actually was looking at your pins, they look really good."

"Um, do you like my pins that much? They're mementos that I custom made so I wouldn't forget my friends.

"Yeah, I do like your pins, but where are my manners? My name is Fujimaru Ritsuka, it's nice to meet you." He ended his greeting with a strikingly similar smile to a person Hakuno once saw.

"Umm, I'm Kishinami Hakuno, and it's nice to meet you too, Fujimaru." Hakuno seemed to stutter at her words when talking to Fujimaru, but the man himself was still trying to piece together why the pins on Hakuno's clothes were very similar to some servants that he knew back in Chaldea.

"Sorry for the wait, Ms. Hakuno, here you go, one bowl of extra spicy mapo tofu."

The owner had just finished making Hakuno's meal (if you can even call it that), and Ritsuka swears that for a moment he saw stars in her eyes, and she grabbed a spoon and downed the completely red mapo tofu.

As she began eating, he thought it would be impolite to her and the owner if he also didn't finish his meal, so he too started to eat his meal again.

After 20 or so minutes of eating his curry, he started sweating as the more he ate, the spicier it got. "Truly, this meal was from hell," and minutes later he finished his meal and ordered a glass of cold water.

As his taste buds were recovering, he saw Hakuno also finishing her meal and looked like she was barely struggling as she sweated way less than he did.

"So, Fujimaru, it's been nice meeting you, but I've got to make a delivery, so I'll catch you later."

Before Ritsuka had time to reply, Hakuno had already paid for her meal and rushed outside to make her delivery.

"Shoot, I forgot to ask her about the pins; well, guess I'll have to come back here if I want to keep asking her about it. This is gonna be hell, isn't it?

After paying for his meal, Ritsuka saw that the sun was coming down and decided to head back home early. And while he was walking back, he saw that another restaurant was about to open, but what sparked his interest was the maid that's in front of the store—the girl that helped him and Concetta when they first arrived in Orario.

She was wearing a green above the knee dress with long puffed sleeves and a white collar with a white apron and headband followed by a small orange bow. Finally, she also wore black leggings and short brown, ankle boots.

"Excuse me! Silver-haired maid," Ritsuka decided to call her out and waved at her.

The lovely girl looked at his way and recognised Ritsuka. "Ah, the new adventurer from the Far East, I do hope you would forgive me for leaving without saying much last time we met. I had to prepare for Monster Feria, and I don't want Mama to get mad at me for being late… again…"

"No worries, If it weren't for your help, we would've probably still been looking for a Familia so thank you. But I also didn't introduce myself, so I'll do that now. My name is Fujimaru Ritsuka. It's nice to meet you."

"My such a polite adventurer, my name is Syr, Syr Flova. I'm a waitress working in the Hostess of Fertility, and as you can see, we're about to open in an hour, so you're welcome to come by at any time. Fujimaru.

"Thanks for the offer, Ms. Flova, I'll be sure to stop by with my Familia when we have the time," but as Ritsuka was about to leave, Syr had called out to him once more.

"Sure, we'll be waiting and calling me Syr next time, Ms. Flova makes me sound old."

"I'll be sure to remember Syr" as he waved goodbye to her and arrived home soon after. He looked around the house and found that he was the only one home, eventually he found a note, presumably from Ereshkigal, "I'm meeting up with an old friend today; I'll be back home a bit late, so you can start dinner without me."

"Well, atleast I'm alone for a while; I can't believe one day of fighting made me this tired; if Leonidas or Scathach heard about this, I'm sure I wouldn't hear the end of it.'

"Maybe I should practice if I can still perform magecraft? When I assumed that I couldn't do it because I didn't have a Falna, or maybe there's limits to magecraft here?"

Ritsuka deeply sighed, "Sometimes I wish I should've stayed in Chaldea, especially since there's atleast a few servants that could help me with this."

After Ritsuka discarded those thoughts, he went towards the sink and grabbed a kitchen knife; he tested the sharpness of the blade and decided it was sharp enough for his experiment. He sat down on a chair and made a small cut on his finger and winced from the pain.

One of the downsides of reincarnating was that all his nerves were reset, so all the pain resistance that he had accumulated was also reset, and even small cuts were hard to ignore again.

After Ritsuka calmed down a bit more, he focused on all the magical energy in his magic circuits.

A familiar sense of numbness and pain came to Ritsuka when he had activated his circuits once more. He had often tried to activate them to no avail, as it was like having a computer connected to power, and cables were secure but the manual switch was still off.

However, now, due to the Falna, it finally feels like that switch has finally turned on. Ritsuka finally feels his Od is flowing throughout his body. "I got it; now all I need is to test the spell." Although Ritsuka had learnt quite a bit of spells throughout his career in the Grand Order. He always used the Mystic Codes to supplement his lack of talent in most magecraft, and even when he did eventually learn how to use proper magecraft, it was pretty much always used as a backup to the mystic codes.

That being said, Ritsuka has on occasion used different spells while using different mystic codes. The biggest problem for him right now is the commitment he has to make. Since coming to this world, he learnt from an early age that Falna-based magic can only store up to 3 spells that keep improving with the user's growth. That in itself was fine, but he himself always relied on 5 particular spells.

Instant Reinforcement, First Aid, Emergency Evasion, Gandr, and Rain of Isis. These were the spells that he had first learnt and ones that he had constantly used over the years. His theory was that the moment he used one of the spells, it would immediately be inscribed in the Falna and lock one of three slots that he had. That didn't mean he couldn't use other spells after maxing the lock, he has heard tales of elves being able to use magic without one, so he really couldn't guess what would happen.

He thought long and hard about which spell he should be able to use first and decided that First Aid should be one of the spells that he can always rely on. And after activating the spell, he felt that his small cut on his finger was beginning to heal. And in a few seconds, his skin was perfectly normal, as if he had never even cut himself.

Looking around, it seemed not much time had passed; he felt a bit of fatigue since he was pretty much trying to brute force his circuits into working. Normally this would be quite painful, but since he was experimenting before he got a Falna, all he's feeling now is a bit of nausea and discomfort that he can easily shake off.

After cleaning up the knife and the sweat off his brow, he heard the door open and saw that Concetta and Emma came back together, with Concetta having 2 full bags of groceries.

"Hey you two, what's with the bags?"

"I got them when I was walking around the market. Kohaku taught me how to negotiate prices with vendors before, so I got most of these at a discounted price. As I was walking back, I spotted Emma as she was leaving an establishment, and I asked her if she wanted to return home with me."

"We got meat, veggies, spices, and even some rice from a travelling merchant," Emma happily stated. "I also looked around town and found a few rumours inside and outside of Orario that I want to share with you guys."

As they talked, Ritsuka and Concetta started making dinner. At first Concetta insisted that it was her duty to cook all their meals, but after some convincing, he managed to get her to agree to help with the preparations.

They decided on some Far Eastern soup and fish combo that was constantly prepared at their household. With Ritsuka helping all the vegetables and seasoning the fish after Concetta prepared it, the both of them finished making dinner in half an hour or so.

Meanwhile, Emma was leaning on her chair, mumbling something that both Far Easterners couldn't hear. "Lady Ereshkigal, sure is taking her time, huh." After her captain and his aide finished preparing their meal and started to plate it, she began to think about why she came to Orario in the first place.

"Where are you, Sophia? Every place I went said that you were here before, but suddenly disappeared. I checked the guild, every popular restaurant, and all the locations that you wrote in your letters. Should I ask Ritsuka and Concetta for help? At this rate, Sis might be more in danger the longer I wait. No, don't think like that; I can't be thinking of the worst-case scenario."

"I'll ask them soon, I don't want to ruin this atmosphere right now."

"Emma, Emma, hellooo."

"Huh!" Emma was snapped back into reality as her captain was in front of her face. And due to her leaning on her chair, she was about to fall.

"Whoa, I gotcha, you ok? You seem distracted." Ritsuka had caught her hand before she could fall on her rear. Emma then brushed up her dress and said, "Thanks, guess I must have dozed off too much. Anyway, is dinner ready?"

"Yeah, the soup's ready, and Concetta is just finishing up cleaning the cooking equipment. I told her she can do it later, but she's stubborn about it, so we'll wait for her. She's been like this ever since I met her in the Far East."

"About that, how did you two meet? I always assumed that you two were always together. But with the small time I've met her, it sounds like you helped her out of a problem."

"Well, it's not my place to say; all I can say is that she was an orphan that I found one day, and I asked her if she wanted to come with me; from there, she has never really left my side. Sorry, but that's all you're getting from me." RItsuka concluded after vaguely replying to Emma's question.

After finishing their meal, Concetta put the leftovers in the refrigerator, which even to this day Ritsuka wasn't sure how a refrigerator even existed in this world; his best bet was a god or goddess involved, and if his experience from the Lostbelts were any indication, he was probably right.

Concetta then finished cleaning the table and faced Ritsuka. "Captain, may I have a word with you?" The two of them had the room to themselves as Emma had already left the room and decided to hit the hay early. Concetta then looked towards the window and continued, "Captain the woman that was with Iori, the one with the long black hair, that was Gojouno Kaguya wasn't it?"

After a moment of silence, a voice was heard from his mouth, and he looked straight at her and said, "Yeah, that's her. I'd recognise her anywhere; she grew a lot in the last 12 years. She also looks a lot more beautiful since then."

"You do know she cut herself from her family, right?"

Concetta looked away from him as if a child was caught stealing by their mother. "I know I-I just needed confirmation from you, Captain; I know in my mind that Ms. Kaguya isn't a part of them, and I should let it go. Just let me sort it tonight, and I'll be back to normal by morning."

As Concetta was leaving, Ritsuka patted her head, this sudden action by him made her stop in her tracks. "I know, just make sure your hatred doesn't consume you. I know of many who kept following that path, and most of their ends weren't pleasant. So cherish your life; at least that's what I think your sister would have wanted."

"Thank you, Ritsuka, I'll be going to my room, and… I'll see you tomorrow, Captain."

After Ritsuka heard Concetta's door shut closed, he walked towards the front door with a smile, "You can come in now, Lady Ereshkigal."

The blond goddess then entered the home and let out a nervous laugh from being caught, "When did you find out?"

"Halfway through my conversation with Concetta, but my guess is you were here much earlier, am I right?."

"Yeah, I overheard quite a bit; I'm really sorry about that."

"Don't be, Concetta and I would have told you eventually, since we are your children."

"You know I still can't get used to hearing that, me a goddess of death having a Famillia of my own." She begins to giggle and continue her banter with Ritsuka, "Did you know? The Loki Familia started outside of Orario due to heavy competition within the city, so she started everything from scratch and now is one of the strongest Familias in the world."

She then went to one of the chairs near the dining table and sat down. "When I first came down, I thought of doing the same, but I had a few favours to cash in from some of the other gods, so I decided to start here in Orario even if it was a bit foolish.

The day I saw Emma being harassed, I was truly going to save her, but when I heard she was a new adventurer without Falna, in the back of my head I had a thought, "This is my chance; I can finally start a new life here." So I selfishly tried to save her, using my position and presence as a goddess to scare the fools and hopefully recruit Emma. However, I had forgotten that I can't use my authority so easily here in the mortal world. I must have looked so stupid to those thugs."

Ereshkigal then shakes her head and continues, "But anyway, after you and Concetta saved us. I was grateful, but there was something bothering me when I saw you in particular, Ritsuka. You see, some gods that deal with people's souls can see the colour of people's souls called the Discerning Eye. However, even that's a small minority, so I don't have it. However, death gods like me have another ability pertaining to souls.

"It's called the Insightful Eye; it's similar in nature in that we can see the souls of people, but while the former can see the colour of people's souls and their emotions, the latter can see the karma of souls, and judge the sins of people, though it is more restricted here in Gekai."

"And when I saw yours, it was very odd; your soul is of those of one who's much older. One who has committed sins beyond a normal man your age should have, yet it is a kind soul, one who by all accounts should have gone cold, but still has its innocence."

"You are truly intriguing, Ritsuka; if any other god sees what I can see, then they too would probably be enchanted."

Ritsuka was on edge; he didn't think anyone would catch on, he had made sure that he wouldn't make a big slip up. However, he couldn't account for the fact that he might've unintentionally revealed himself. Especially that one time when he had met the patron goddess of death in the Far East.

"No need to worry, I won't blab about this to anyone. Afterall, you are still my precious child, whether you are an innocent monster or a man who has committed great sins, I alone shall not judge you.

Ereshkigal then went to take Ritsuka's hands to her own. "Whatever happens, I trust you, Fujimaru Ritsuka. After all, my child can't possibly be anything less than the best, right?".

"Of course, and thank you for trusting me, Ereshkigal."

"Ara, calling using my name without honorifics? What a bold child of mine, but I actually prefer that. So could you keep calling me by name only?"

Ritsuka briefly thought about it and was reminded once more of how the 2 versions are so very similar to each other, and yet so different. "Yeah, I can do that."

"Once again, it's nice working with you, Ereshkigal."

"Yep, it's nice to work with you too, Ritsuka."

As they shook on it, Ritsuka felt a bit drowsy but persevered to tell his goddess that her food was in the refrigerator and told her to get some rest afterwards. However, that was not on the goddess' mind instead–

"Ahhhhhhh, I can't believe I just did that, thankfully I kept it together long enough before he realised that I was only keeping up appearances."

"Still, thank you, Ritsuka."

Once Ritsuka hit the sack, he had another dream; he was still in the black void, but this time he was able to hear a voice coming from somewhere in this endless dark area. The muffled words he heard were completely distorted, and try as he might, the voice doesn't get clearer.

He began trying every method of translation he could think of, but unfortunately he hadn't learnt any spells that allowed simple translation, so he was kind of stumped.

During this, he began to see the black flames that nearly consumed him last time he was in the dream. On closer inspection, the flames felt familiar to him, but he couldn't pinpoint where. Instead, he used the remaining time he had left on listening once more to the strange sound, and he finally heard something. "W███ an█ ██p█."

Afterwards, the flames covered him once more, the pain of being burned lasted longer than last time, but atleast this time it didn't feel like he was dying. Once Ritsuka woke up in the morning, he didn't feel like his shirt was sweaty. "That dream again, that's twice in a row. I still feel some pain around my arms, but I think I'm alright." After putting on some fresh clothes, he went downstairs as he heard someone cooking downstairs.

As he was walking down, he noticed that it was not his maid who was making breakfast; instead, Concetta was sitting nearby and drinking tea, while Emma and Ereshkigal were the ones making breakfast. He realised soon enough that he had overslept and soon apologised to his Familia.

"Don't worry about it, captain; you seem tired from yesterday, so me and Emma agreed to let you sleep in for the day, plus we're still going to wake you up for breakfast; after all, we aren't that cruel." As he sat beside Concetta, he was offered tea by her and accepted rather quickly. He still looked a bit out of it, but it seemed like it wasn't going to be a busy morning.

His plans were shut down as he heard some rather concerning noises from the kitchen, "We probably should go help them, shouldn't we?" Concetta only shrugged, and the both of them decided to pitch in the cooking as they didn't want to eat a disaster the first day in the morning.

A few minutes go by and somehow breakfast was served, they had fresh sunny side ups, with handmade hashbrowns and some sausages that they had bought yesterday.

As breakfast was going on, Emma asked her captain on today's itinerary, "So, what's the objective today, captain? Last time we got to the 5th floor, but we stopped you from going further as we had no healing items, and it would be a dumb way for us to die."

Suddenly Ritsuka felt like someone was staring right through him, it only took a second until he identified that his goddess was giving him the most painful blank stare that he has received.

Seeing her captain thrown under the metaphorical bus, Concetta decided to chime in, "I think we should get some healing potions if we are to keep pace from last time. There's also the matter of Emma's weapons, while Captain and I can rely on our skills to make the difference, she has much less experience in fighting stronger foes."

"Then what about letting her fight the early monsters we fought on floors 1 to 5, but on the lower floors we can cover her blind spots; we also would need those potions to deal with the harder monsters in case any of us gets any major injuries."

Ereshkigal seemed to agree, judging by her expression, "That's a good idea, but before any of you leave, let me update your statuses, I'd rather not let any of you die due to my mishandling. So Ritsuka, you're up first."

"Uh, sure, Ereshkigal, do we do it on the couch or?"

"The couch, so you guys can go on your day quicker."

"Wait a minute, Ereshkigal? We're allowed to do that? Emma's jaw dropped in shock at her captain's brazenness.

Eresh fidgeted with her dress collar and replied for Ritsuka, "I asked him to do that, and I'm extending that to you two too. I like praise like any other god or goddess, but too much is crossing a line for me. So please, just call me by my name."

Emma seemed a bit confused but eventually relented. "Oh, um, ok, it'll be a bit weird, but I think I can work with that, it might take a while though, so how about you, Concetta?"

"I have no problem with this change, though I do agree with Emma that it might take a while to get used to. Though you seem hardly fazed, Captain?"

"Oh, I accidentally called her that yesterday, and I kinda like using it."

"I see…"

"Anyway, unless you two want to see Ritsuka's abs again, I suggest you two wait in the kitchen for a bit."

The two girls looked at each other again and eventually left, with Ereshkigal bringing up a vial of what Ritsuka guessed is his Goddess' blood. She uncorked the vial and applied a small amount of the liquid to his back. Although he couldn't see what she was doing, the light generated from her updating Ritsuka's Falna confirmed to him that the change was happening.

"You know, we're gonna have a talk about this later right?" Ereshkigal laughed like she had just found gold.

Fujimaru Ritsuka

Race: Human

Level 1

Strength: I20

Defense: I33

Dexterity: I25

Agility: I25

Magic: I2

Magic:

First Aid: An instant healing magic that quickly heals external wounds. Requires no chant

Skills:

Determination of Steel: Gains a near immunity to all mental interference and allows the user to block off their sense of pain.

"How do you even learn magic in just one day? Especially a no-chant healing magic, seriously, I think I got an SSR by accident here."

After a few minutes go by, she finally regained enough composure and copied the status into a parchment paper. "I still can't believe I got a cheat character. If anyone caught wind of this, you'll probably get scouted by other gods, especially Freya or Ishtar."

"Hehehe, sorry, but I'm sure that I won't leave you, Ereshkigal, plus it's not like there's an ability here that forces me to obey others, right?"

"..."

"... Right?"

Once again, it seems that silence is sometimes more deafening, and Ritsuka is starting to hate it.

"There is one, isn't there?" All Ereshkigal could do was nod at him, "Just my luck, though on the brightside, if my skill works as advertised, then I atleast have a decent resistance to it. "

"Fine, just promise me that all of you return safely today, ok?

"On it, you have my word."

As Ritsuka left the room and called the other girls to come upstairs, Ereshkigal began talking to herself, "Well, he's going to attract trouble sooner or later, and as much as I trust him to take care of himself, I think I need to cash in that favour sooner than I thought. Still, I don't think he can gain enough strength in 3 months even with all the help he's getting. Just what did you need from him and the others, Ouranos?."

After the ladies got their statuses updated, the party all went to a nearby potion store that was advertised by his broker to be a cheap place to get quality potions. From what he remembered, the store was managed by the god Miach and his assistant.

As they went close, they saw 2 customers leaving the store with a handful of potions, their gear was nothing to write home about, though to be fair, neither was theirs. But what stood out was the pure white hair and red eyes of one of them, with his companion wearing form-fitting black leather armour that barely protected him from anything, just emphasising speed over defense.

They soon went in the direction of the guild, and Ritsuka's party went inside the shop, there was nothing too noteworthy in the shop, though that's not to say it wasn't a good store. There were a variety of potions of different quality all displayed within the shop. Regular potions, some magic potions, and a few high potions—and that's the ones that he could see.

Eventually the man (god) himself, Miach, had arrived at the cash register. He looked at the Familia and brought a few potions, "Hello there, I take it you want to buy some potions for the dungeon."

"Yeah, we're thinking of going to at least the 10th floor today, so we'll need some potions just in case something bad happens."

"Ah, that makes sense, I think there's a few that's going to go bad in a couple days, so I'll give you those at a discount, and if you don't mind me asking which Familia are you from? I haven't seen your faces around here before, and I hope you'll keep shopping here."

"Oh, we're from the Ereshkigal Familia, we just started yesterday."

"My, that Ereshkigal, the gloomy girl that worked way too hard back in Tenkai? Never expected that. Tell you what, I'll lower it down even mo–"

"Oh no, you don't, we're already in the red this month; we need to start charging people properly. You already charged a low price for Bell, so we have to do this."

"Um, I don't mind paying full price for 5 potions, and please, this is already cheaper than what Dian Cecht charges."

After exchanging their leftover valis for potions, the party had gone directly to the Dungeon to once again defeat monsters.

Meanwhile, Ereshkigal had already left the home and travelled to the south-western part of Orario, specifically–

"There it is, can't believe it took me that long to find Astraea's home in Orario. You'd think one of the most powerful Familias in the city would be easy to find, but who am I to complain?"

After opening the gates and knocking on the door, she was greeted by a young man from the Far East.

"Oh, you must be Lady Ereshkigal; please come in."

And entered she did, as she was guided to one of the living rooms where many of the members would relax. "Lady Astraea should be here in a few minutes; I'll be taking my leave first," as he bowed his head and swiftly walked away.

As she looked around the room, she heard some shuffling at the door, with Astraea entering with a few members as they carried a teapot and some cups in hand. "Nice to see you again, Ereshkigal."

"You too; we last met, I think, 100 years ago, right?" Astraea's Familia members then promptly left the room as the goddesses sat down. "105, but yes, it has been awhile. I didn't think you of all people would come down here."

"Don't remind me, I keep hearing from the others that me coming here was last on their bingo card." The brown-haired goddess laughed, "Yes, that would certainly be most people's consensus of you coming to Gekai."

"Still, it's nice to see you again, Eresh, though may I ask why you called for a meeting?"

"Right, but before that, I thought you had a no guys policy, imagine my shock that you allowed a man like that to join you."

Astraea then began to look serious and replied, "That was the case, yes, but he had a rather unique case as you can tell, right?" From that question, Ereshkigal caught on to what she was asking and started to swirl her tea, "Yeah, his soul is quite different from someone from Gekai; he's quite similar to one of mine too."

"So that's what this is about, Ouranus; he sent you a letter too, didn't he?." The blonde goddess' silence was the confirmation that Astraea needed. "Can you tell me what they are like? Their souls, I mean."

After some silence, the Goddess of Death spoke once more, "It's strange, while my kid's soul looks mixed. Like his soul clearly doesn't belong here, but there's a driving force that says that he does. If I were to guess someone had altered his soul when he died, and somehow bypassed the filters of standard reincarnation. And to me, he's both an outsider and also a resident of this world."

"Yours, it seems as if someone just sent his soul here and it just didn't go to the cycle, and instead when he went here, his soul matched the environment and his body made the necessary adjustments. Think of it like a new species that has to adapt to a new environment to survive, just on a rapid scale."

"I see, that explains the sheer oddity when we first met him. We found him as he was fighting in the dungeon alone on the 15th floor. Ryuu, Kaguya, and Lyra were going on a simple mission on the middle floors and saw him fighting 2 minotaurs and 3 lygerfangs.

They were going to help dispatch the lygerfangs, but according to Ryuu, he was so fast and skilled that he proceeded to cut down all the monsters in less than 30 seconds. However, before they could question him, he passed out due to having multiple injuries and was exhausted.

Thankfully, the monsters that he had slain all dropped their items. So they safely escorted him outside of the dungeon and that here since we have our own healer, and as Lyra quoted, "The hospital is too far away from my date with Finn, so let's just dump him home and take care of it later."

"Still, you have confirmed my suspicions about Iori, still, there's such a big mystery on how they got here—was it a god? Or was it just a random chance? Either way, I've known Iori for 6 years, so I can say that Iori has my full trust, but what about you, Ereshkigal?

Can you trust your child?"

"I trust him, even if he had committed a great sin. I would trust him." Astraea saw the look on Ereshkigal's eyes and saw that her answer didn't hold a shred of hesitation.

"He really must be intriguing, for you to be like this in front of me of all people, but I'm guessing that's not all you wanted to chat about?"

"Astraea, I'm cashing in that favour you owe me 5 years ago." The Goddess of Death proclaimed her right to the Lady of Justice, "For the next 3 months, help train my Familia to be strong enough for what's to come."

P.S. If I get anything wrong please tell me as I'm more knowledgable on Nasuverse stuff then Danmachi, so please correct me. Also you might not be hearing from me in a while, cause you know the tests. So wish me luck.