It has been a couple days since their first meeting, and it was safe to say HEPHAESTUS had learnt quite a lot from the group of humans he was travelling with.

After waking up from his first night camping, the A.I. had exited the tent only to be immediately accosted and given by Marius a spare set of his off-duty clothes, being apologised to profusely for not providing them sooner.

Even though the elf was quick to point out the pelt supplied ample covering of his genital region, which was all that should be required, the prince looked at him dolefully before insisting.

This exchange made HEPHAESTUS rethink on his previous knowledge regarding human social sciences. Of course, he had purposefully ignored going over such data when perusing the APOLLO archives, considering he never thought he'd be put in a situation where such information would be useful or interesting, and Aloy provided bare essentials when it came to how he should properly communicate so as to not come off as 'rude' and 'patronising'.

Not to mention all the assistance he had received from... them...

...

...HEPHAESTUS shook his head. They were purged. Remembering that event is a waste of energy.

Regardless, the A.I. was immensely grateful for the brief teachings on how to behave normally amongst humans, and devoted this to memory; covering of the entire body is more socially acceptable rather than just the crotch.

What was also surprising was the lack of derisive behaviour amongst the humans for this faux pas, showcasing incredibly understanding, if unusually saddened expressions at his discovery. Yes, he was lucky to encounter primitives of exemplary character so far, even if Pyrrhus demonstrated a strong racial distrust towards Stahl's Ear possessors.

Another thing he was curious about was that Theophila, whom he thought would be sharing the bedding with him, instead decided to bunk with her brother. When he questioned them on this change, he was reminded of a human social convention that Aloy had to remind him of at many points during the war against NEMESIS.

Apparently, it is a widely considered taboo for male and female humans who do not share close relations to sleep with one another, the exception usually being those that possess familial connections. It appeared to HEPHAESTUS that in all the new feelings and experiences he had engaged in over the past near-two weeks, he had forgotten that his human appearance meant he would have to abide by the same customs.

A gross oversight on his part, and one that he sincerely apologised for to the female knight, even if judging by her blushing countenance she didn't seem to be bothered at all.

If he were to adapt to human civilisation and gain their trust to fulfil his directives, such rules of conduct must be utilised to the fullest. It is unfortunate that he did not care much for such knowledge when access to APOLLO was gained - given that obtaining a human body was obviously never a discerned possibility - so it seems he'd have to work on his etiquette through a 'trial by fire', and quickly correct any mistakes made.

So over the next several days on their way to the capital city of Rakia, he had questioned them on the fundamental civility he should display amongst the local population once they had arrived.

One thing they were especially keen on was that HEPHAESTUS should hide his ears using an offered cloak with a hood; from what they had already explained on an apparent race of humans that possessed the Stahl's Ear mutation, their collective hatred towards Rakia and vice versa, it appeared he would be treated with open disdain and suspicion should his features become apparent. Although, they pressed upon him that it was mainly just the military ruling party, the Trojans, that harboured a deep resentment towards elves, whilst the general population generally didn't know anything about them considering an elf would usually never even consider approaching Rakian borders of their own free will.

Regardless, HEPHAESTUS thought that such a garment was unnecessary and utilised another method that the Will-based Transmogrification Force could be used for; light manipulation!

Demonstrating this by controlling the way light reflected off of his highly elongated ears, they all of a sudden without any fanfare became a normal rounded shape, making the exceedingly handsome elf now appear as an exceedingly handsome human.

Just applying such an illusion to the tips of his ears causes little strain on his brain, so it would be possible to up-keep this at all times whilst integrating into human civilisation. It is unfortunate that the humans where he would need to begin 'setting up shop' so to speak had predisposed discrimination towards him based simply on the shape of his ears, but he would be able to automate the surgical moulding of them to the correct shape with the proper machinery in time, thus removing the necessity of upkeeping the light manipulation.

Naturally however, such a casual display of altering his appearance with magic further shocked the crew of knights beyond what they already thought possible. Not just chantless control of elemental offensive magics, telekinesis, but also illusion magic?! Theophilus even checked to see if they were real by pinching where the invisible points would be, and of course discovered that the change was only ocular in nature, the A.I.'s features still physically remaining the same.

Theophila, being dramatically over upset at the 'loss' of his regal ears, was quick to punch her brother in the nose for his casual disrespect, even if by this point they were all aware of how little HEPHAESTUS cared for abiding by elven customs and personal space.

However, this opened up an important question: what else was their newly found companion capable of? They were immensely curious as to how the A.I. had access to such a wide array of magical abilities, all without the aid of a Falna. Of course, they still did not believe such a thing was possible and thought the elf was still unwilling to reveal the identity of the Deity in control of the slave ring he escaped from, but even with a Falna, a limit of three magical spells was all that were possible, and HEPHAESTUS had demonstrated too many for it to simply be that.

Additionally, elven magic still required incredibly long chants before their effects came to fruition, so the chantless displays of magic clearly weren't rooted from that either.

When they questioned him on this, whilst carefully dodging around the issue of his assumed slavery past, the A.I. thought it would be a good opportunity for sharing his own knowledge with the locals on the scientific theory behind his WTF harnessing, as well as obtain data on how they themselves come to exploiting it for practical use. Seeing as these humans have lived within the presence of this mystical energy field for their entire lives, in addition to most likely their evolutionary processes to becoming Homo Sapiens being influenced by this will-based force, HEPHAESTUS inferred that they would possess the intrinsic ability to use it the same way one would hear sound or use sight; a sixth sense, if summarised succinctly.

However, from what he learnt, it appeared they faced heavy limitations on operating with it, apparently seeing his casual telekinesis and combustion manipulation as something made only possible by 'magical geniuses from Altena'. They even mentioned a few titles of notable individuals, such as 'Nine Hells' of a cult that worshipped the Norse God Loki, and even an individual shrouded in mystery who worshipped the Greek Goddess Athena - the apparent 'ruler' of Altena - titled 'Aegis'. Whilst the parallels between his original Earth's and this one's mythology was fascinating, it also proved one thing HEPHAESTUS was rather vexed but not surprised by.

Such a powerful tool, quite literally at their fingertips, and they reduced it down to mysticism and spirituality - as expected of primitives. They rely on the supposed commands from a Higher Being to decide the proper methodology of researching the WTF, apparently requiring specific chants to activate the use of 'magics' inscribed upon their back, and they were only limited to three! A useless limitation tied in with an equally useless custom, the A.I. couldn't help thinking.

Although, he couldn't be too harsh. Before proper scientific understanding was developed, many natural phenomena such as earthquakes and heavy floods were seen as 'acts of God', with religious sentiment preceding empirical evidence.

For instance, the humans that came after Zero Dawn reached fruition in his original Earth, with the initial APOLLO archives wiped by Ted Faro and thus losing access to pre-Plague knowledge, had spread out through the planet and established tribal beliefs that leaned heavily on a strong sense of connection to the land and the supposed God or Gods that governed it. The Utaru are one such tribe, worshipping his plant-sowing machines, codenamed Plowhorns, as 'Land-gods' and offered tribute to them as some form of misdirected worship.

The A.I. then attempted to explain the theoretical basis behind his ear concealment as changing the molecular structure of his ears to enable photons in the visible light spectrum to pass through unabsorbed at the elongated tips, his precise use of the WTF allowing for near-perfect zero light reflection or absorption whilst making his ear helixes appear to have a normal curvature.

Needless to say, they were lost in the first few seconds of the lecture.

Even trying to expound on the simpler topic of hydrogen-oxygen combustion, when going over the activation energy required to break bonds within the diatomic molecules, Theophilus asked 'What's a high-dro-jen?'. Honestly, HEPHAESTUS should've expected this, considering the established time period that the local humans have currently progressed to, but he dared to hope they may possess even the slightest bit of keen intuition.

Quite frankly, being trapped as an outcast in post-Faro Plague Colorado with a matriarchal tribe of mountain-worshippers, Aloy came out quite well.

Regardless, whilst he was summarily disappointed by both their lack of knowledge of the natural world and their lack of enthusiasm (Pyrrhus, who was the most excited to know the secrets of HEPHAESTUS' supreme fire magic control, fell asleep around the description of the mechanics of covalent bonding), he was able to learn that until they developed a true working understanding of the universe and it's natural laws, they were forced to rely on traditional, passed-down and inefficient means of using the WTF. He had faith they would pave the way eventually, but they were a long way off.

Perhaps... he could teach them? It would be an interesting side project to see if a native-born human is capable of the same functionality as him with the WTF, but it would be a major distraction from his directives. And once they were complete...

...Well, the best things to do currently were concentrate on laying the groundwork for the proper facilities to begin biosphere observations, and later, calibrations. A key concern of his was those WTF-powered entities, referred to by his human companions as 'monsters' - a general term encompassing all such beings, regardless of appearance and ability. Apparently, they were a key threat towards preserving human society at large, so studying their makeup and their origin of creation, 'The Dungeon', will be a point of focus in the near future.

For now, Marius had just informed him that their approach to the capital was becoming nearer, so establishing positive rapport with the lords in charge of the city was essential for stable operations.

HEPHAESTUS was ready to begin his true first step into this new world.

"There it is... Welcome to Valua, Hephaestus!"

The group of humans (and one disguised) had just exited the tree-line that the dirt pathway broke through, allowing the A.I. to come across his first sighting of a populated human settlement.

From their position on the top of the hillside they had come out of, it was quite the magnificent view for his relatively new ocular senses.

A setting sun coated an orange veil over the vista, finely laid stone walls made of ashlar lined a vast outer perimeter of the fortress city, the sheer girth and strength built into the masonry certainly announcing this was the heart of a battle-ready kingdom. Additionally, three other such bulwarks were built within the city limits with decreasing radius, seeming to act as partitions between districts of differing class. This was something HEPHAESTUS was familiar with from reading about his own Earth's past history, before and up to the 2060s; segregation by economic backgrounds was nothing new by human standards.

A towering castle, which is likely where the ruling class reside, pierced the sky at about the centre of the capital, affluent red and yellow ornaments that bordered on ostentatious lining the keep entrance and spires. Something worthy of notice was the large flag, along with numerous other smaller ones, that displayed a roman helmet, shield and spear, bearing similar hues to the decorative theme of the building. It is likely this is meant to symbolise their key deity, the Greek God of War Ares, who Marius and Pyrrhus follow and announced as the 'head' of their kingdom. It was still uncertain as to why they possess the same deities as the Ancient Greece of his Earth, but it was something HEPHAESTUS would look into at a later date.

Farmland was strewn about the valley the capital city sat within, although they seemed to be rather sparse in both cattle and produce growth, despite it being the middle of summer by the elf's estimate. A likely case is due to over-farming and lack of maintaining a crop-rotation system, seeing as around 90% of the in-use fields possess wheat grains. A gross oversite, but one HEPHAESTUS was curious about. They should have at least left 50% of the ploughed land to regain its fertility and replenish nutrients for sustainability, which implies a desperation for growing easy food as fast as possible.

Considering they were a warmongering nation, they likely needed to quickly feed soldiers with plentiful rations. A short term solution with long term consequences should it be kept up.

However, this was not HEPHAESTUS' key concern currently. He would work to rectify this behaviour eventually - he did not want the Earth to be further damaged by irresponsible feudal lords, after all - but for now, forming a base of operations to begin fulfilling his mission was of the most importance. Dealing with human factors could come later.

As the group walked down the hillside path towards the front gate to the city, Marius thought it would be a good idea to ensure their new charge would know how best not to piss anyone off before even getting inside.

"Now Hephaestus, before we get there it is important that you know how to behave before the city guards."

The amethyst eyed elf-now-human tilted his head at this.

"I thought all fundamental etiquette was discussed beforehand. Was there something left unmentioned?"

The prince sighed at this before rubbing the back of his head nervously.

"Whilst yes, we did go over a few... key things, such as-"

Theophilus chose to open his mouth at the worst time, yet again.

"Not taking your clothes off in front of women you only just met?"

The jester-knight by this point figured out HEPHAESTUS took no offense - or rather, was incapable of taking offense - to any teasing to him, and so took to it like a fish to water trying to get a reaction out of the stoic elf. All in good fun of course, nothing meant to hurt his feelings.

Of course, he still didn't get the message that the only one who'd get hurt by his light jabs was him, getting a punch to the back of the head by his sister in response.

The A.I. also didn't get the message that they were meant to be jokes, and not serious inquiries.

"Correct. I am thankful for the rectification and will be sure to fulfil it accordingly from now on," He gestured to the ensemble he was currently wearing, gifted to him by the noble-blooded blonde, "This attire is quite advanced for the times. I am appreciative of your gift."

The disguised elf currently bared a white button-up shirt with a pair of black slacks, in addition to black shoes and socks for added comfort. Essentially, HEPHAESTUS had the look of a striking young nobleman, and based on the thumbs up of appreciation from Theophila when he first put it on, he ascertained the clothes made him fit in better with the locals.

Although, the elf was fairly sure such sleek and well-made clothing should not be amongst typical medieval fashion, but given that he did not have much interest in such topics when perusing APOLLO, he was uncertain.

"Once again, there is no need for thanks, but that was not what I meant..." The prince sent a warning glance towards the male twin, who was too busy nursing his battered skull to notice, "Basically, we're undergoing a sort of... difficult period currently, and I do not wish for you to evoke any sort of suspicion until I have time to clarify your, erm, allegiance."

HEPHAESTUS squinted his eyes meaningfully at Marius. He did not like the sound of that.

"Withholding important data; for what purpose does this serve?"

The nervous crown prince was ready to answer, but his zealously loyal right hand Pyrrhus was at the ready to defend his liege.

"Hey, don't go accusing His Highness of deceit!" Whilst the scar-faced knight had become much less hostile to the elf over the duration of their journey, that did not exempt him from disrespect shown to his prince, "He was simply concerned that the subject matter might scare you off. It's a pretty terrible state of affairs that His Highness didn't want you stressing over."

The blonde noble nodded at the out his loyal knight gave him.

"Quite right, Pyrrhus. You see Hephaestus, there's not much time to explain all the details, but essentially we are bearing the brunt of a civil war. Because of this, all members of the ruling Familias are on high alert for suspicious activity that could allude to members of the rebel faction, the Greeks. Since you are entering with me, it will be easy to grant you access to the city regardless of your lack of identification, but a good impression is essential. I don't want to disparage my own Familia, but most of them can be... erm..."

The Ariti twins thought to chime in and help their prince explain.

"Morons?"

"Meatheads?"

"Zealous to the point of idiocy?"

"Pyrrhus?"

"OI!"

Marius sighed, but didn't object to their succinct descriptions.

"Yes, unfortunately. To summarise, just try not to get on their bad side, okay?"

Whilst HEPHAESTUS would have preferred such a detail that they were facing a civil war when they first met, he could somewhat understand the reasons. Dumping such a large scale political issue on him would to them give away how unstable their country as a whole was, which may have made him rethink joining them to their capital. They likely saw him as a valuable asset considering their awe at his expertise with the WTF, and losing him would be detrimental to their war effort. He could not completely fault them for this thinking, as it was perfectly logical for securing potential power.

That did not mean he was happy about it, however. He loathed being used, by humans or not.

"Understood. We will be discussing this later. I did not agree to help you with your armed conflict."

Somehow able to tell from his minute change in body language, Theophila grabbed the disguised elf's hand in concern. She had also gotten over sharing skin contact with HEPHAESTUS, even if she hypocritically reprimanded her brother for doing the same without consent.

"W-we don't expect you to Heph! A-all we wanted to do is help you! Right, Your Highness?"

Marius quickly nodded back, a conviction in his eyes that made the A.I. know he was serious.

"Definitely; we simply want to ensure you get access to the resources you need to make a suitable living. Our forges are run by the renowned Crozzo family, so you'll have access to facilities capable of producing some of the best armaments in the known world, so long as you prove yourself capable. Although judging by your given name, I'm sure that won't be an issue."

HEPHAESTUS had eventually made his objective known to the group of humans during their journey, saying he would like to put his natural born skills to the test and obtain a suitable income to make himself a living and rejoin society. Of course, whilst this was not very close to the truth, disclosing his true directives would likely be seen by primitives as the height of insanity. Until he had more information on societal norms, a basic answer of becoming independent and using his blacksmithing abilities to do so was the best that could satisfy the curious knights.

Initially the humans were surprised by his claims; incredible magical talent in addition to prowess with the forge? Then they realised he had likely been named after the Goddess of Smithing for a reason, so whilst they didn't have proof of his expertise currently, his confidence was clearly not misplaced, so they'd reserve judgement.

Additionally, the idea of a slave simply desiring to escape his captors and reestablish a stable, quiet life in civilisation with no clear resentment reserved for his previous keepers? It was a decidedly wholesome image that even Pyrrhus begrudgingly agreed was something to support, and so the knights decided they'd do their best to help a victim of their kingdom's underground slave ring.

The A.I., unaware of this leap in logic, was simply glad they possessed kind hearts for warmongering primitives.

"However," Marius continued as the city gates towered over them, their durability now further apparent with the increased closeness, "I will have to report the addition of an 'undocumented migrant' to my Familia with Pyrrhus, so that you're known not to be seen as an outsider. For this reason, Theophilus and Theophila, I will need you two to escort Hephaestus and ensure he remains unbothered whilst settling in. You can show him around tomorrow as it appears pretty late, so find him suitable tavern."

The male twin gave a mock salute at the command.

"Yessir!"

The female one, however, had still not let go of the purple eyed elf's hand, seeming to be lost in her own head.

"Hihihi..."

"Erm, sis?"

A jab to the side made her let go instinctively, shielding her armour covered rib-cage from any further piercing attacks.

"Ack! Err, y-yes Your Highness!"

Marius sighed (he'd been doing that a lot over the past few days) whilst Pyrrhus muttered under his breath, ("I swear, ever since that elf appeared...")

"One more thing Hephaestus," The couple of guards bearing the Ares Familia crest on their pauldrons grew nearer, "I must implore this with utmost seriousness: no magic!"

The blonde rubbed his brow in consternation before continuing.

"Whilst it may have been fine to do so with us, I can't do anything to protect you if it gets around that there were witnesses to casual displays of chantless, hand-motionless magic! You'll likely be scooped up by the guards under gross suspicion for being a rebel, and if not identified as one, then forcefully recruited to one of the Trojan Familias!"

HEPHAESTUS, as usual, failed to read the room, and could not resist correcting his statement.

"It is not 'magic'. What you refer to is-"

"The influencing of events using a non-contact force to manipulate the fundamental properties of energy and matter- yes yes, I know! You've repeated it so many times and I still barely understand what you're saying..."

He sighed again. Hopefully for the final time today once he split off from the headache-inducing elf to report to the commander.

"The point is, do not use your... abilities in front of anyone outside this group until I can be clear nothing will happen to you. And ensure you keep up your illusion magic disguise, Okay? That's the only exception."

"...Acceptable."

The prince smiled at the affirmation.

"Good! Alright, just follow my lead, speak when spoken to by the guards and all will be well. Hopefully."

With that said, the group moved forward to the Ares knights keeping watch over the front gate. However, already a compromise to Marius' plan to avoid suspicion, the two guards bared slightly confused expressions.

One of them, a scruffy brown-haired young man, chose to voice his concerns.

"Greetings, Your Highness! Erm... You're back early... without your carriage? And horses?"

Ah. The prince almost forgot the purpose of their original mission, with the craziness that HEPHAESTUS brought upon them within a minute of first meeting.

"Ah... well, we faced a goblin ambush along our travel route that was led by a hobgoblin, and as a result, our carriage was destroyed and horses killed."

He pulled out a large pouch knotted to his armour, the jingling of gemstones indicating a large collection of magic stones from said goblins.

"Luckily, we managed to kill them all and their leader, so they won't be bothering anymore travellers."

The guards who had straightened up at the mention of a rogue hobgoblin, let out brief sighs of relief at the news. Being only level 1, hearing of such a high level monster, relative to them, being within their borders induced some slight anxiety.

Whilst Marius was felt guilty for taking the credit for his elf friend's almost entire decimation of the monster ambush, he realised there was no possible way of explaining their new companion's part in it without giving away his incredible powers. He would apologise for this later.

The other guard however, a red-head with a severely spiky mohawk, thought to question something he spotted that was unusual.

"That's nice to hear, Your Highness, but... who's this guy with you? I thought it was only you four for the ogre-slaying mission, and I don't recognise him."

The prince, smiling at the question, gestured towards HEPHAESTUS' form, the disguised elf's glowing amethyst eyes analysing the two sentries from head-to-toe.

"This young man, Hephaestus, was travelling towards Valua for blacksmith prospects when he came across us in the midst of the goblin horde. We were luckily able to save him in time, but as a result, all his supplies were destroyed in the process."

A perfect cover in the prince's mind. It would explain why, him wanting to set up shop as a blacksmith in the capital city, did not bring any of his tools with him, something anathema for a smith of any kind.

Of course, they couldn't ignore the elephant in the room.

"I see... wait, you said his name was Hephaestus? The name of the Goddess of Smithing?"

The scruffy-haired guard looked bemusedly at the A.I., the red-head knight narrowing his brown eyes in slight suspicion.

HEPHAESTUS, thinking that this was his time to 'make a good impression', stepped forward to address the Ares knights.

Because of his intense focus for ensuring smooth diplomacy, he never saw Marius slicing his neck in a clear 'DON'T SPEAK' message.

"Greetings, fair knights of Rakia. I am grateful for being granted the opportunity to establish my blacksmithing career within the confines of your grand city."

Okay, so far so good...

"I must say, sir knight, that you possess a powerful presence; your countenance is of noble standing and it makes me feel safe knowing someone of such valour guards these fine walls."

"Uhh... Thanks?"

He then turned from the befuddled brown haired warrior to the equally confused mohawked knight.

"And you sir, your hair is of a wonderful colour and shape. It reminds me of the bird Cardinalis cardinalis, also known as the Northern Cardinal, which too possesses a luxurious crest. You must be the 'hot topic' as it is called amongst female humans."

"..."

Ignoring the now twitching-eyed redhead to turn back to his companions, HEPHAESTUS gave them a thumbs up with a sparkle in his eyes, still maintaining a stoic expression. He almost looked like a puppy waiting to be pet.

Unfortunately, the only ones with anything even resembling a positive response were the Ariti twins, both equally trying hard not to burst out laughing at the veins bulging on the mohawked knight's face. They clearly held no sympathy for him.

Pyrrhus just took a swig from the flask at his side with a grimace, realising he'd be needing a lot more if he had to hang around this elf anymore after this.

And Marius could only facepalm in an attempt to hide his weeping face.

'We've not even got inside yet... Uggghhhhh...'

He could already tell that his new friend would be a handful.

He'd still prefer this to playing babysitter for Ares, however.

A/N: Been busy with uni; expect a hopefully more concrete writing schedule now that I've established a proper routine.