Martial Arts Encyclopedia - Chapter 2

Falna (1)

The Guild was kind enough to lend us a room for the “adoption process” to happen, the formal designation of receiving the blessing of a god or goddess and joining their Familia.

Once we’re alone in the room I look back at my future goddess and try not to stare at her beautiful body, instead I focus on her entrancing eyes.

“What is your name, young man?”

“My name is Andrew Uehara, my lady.” I pause for a moment to let her continue, and since she remains silent, I decide to stop beating around the bush. “May I know my future goddess’ name?”

She looks surprised for a moment. “You don’t know who I am?”

Lying to her is an exercise of futility if my knowledge of canon Danmachi gods is anything. “You strongly resemble someone else I knew beforehand. If you’re willing, I can tell you more about myself before you bestow me with a Fauna.”

She stares back at me before nodding, motioning me to sit. “Go ahead Uehara-dono, I would love to hear your story.”

I’m taken aback by the traditional Japanese honorifics, but it shouldn’t surprise me. Orario’s divines were all mysterious, fourth wall breaking weebs.

So, I started talking about my previous life in another world. My parents died recently of disease, and I had to support myself as I didn’t have any close relatives to lend some help. After finishing high school and entering a good college, I was hopeful to have a more stable life once I graduated, but that all ended when some mysterious immortal entity ran me over while I was crossing the street.

As an apology he reconstructed my body, gave me a parting gift, and sent me on my way back to the mortal world, except the world I live in is different from my own.

As for my goddess resemblance, she looks like a character from a video game, one of the most popular characters if my understanding of the fandom is correct. A reliable character to have as an ally, and a balm for sore eyes.

“Hmm,” she looks at me with a teasing smile instead of her default intense, stern expression. “We will revisit that later, Uehara-dono. Why don’t you take off your shirt so I can bestow you, my blessing?”

I nod and take off my shirt, turning around for her to write on my back. I wait expectantly for a few moments until I feel her soft fingers tracing my back, her hands being warm as her Ichor traces her mark on my back and forging the Falna. Eventually the warm sensation fades and I try to suppress the disappointment I feel at the loss of her touch.

“Welcome to the Familia of Artoria Pendragon, Goddess of Rhongomyniad and current leader of the Wild Hunt.”

Wait, for real?

“Yes.”

Shit! Did I say that aloud?

She chuckles. “No, but your expression is easy to read, Andrew. I’m sure you can take a few guesses, but we can leave that for another day.”

I nod at her in a daze. She’s not a lookalike in a cosmic coincidence, but rather she’s the real deal? She also counts as a proper goddess in this world too.

Well, it’s a good thing that the Danmachi plot resumes to an endless grind on the dungeon to amass enough wealth and power to deal with people with too little common sense.

“Once we’re back home we can discuss more about our future.”

Afterwards we just had to formally register the Familia with the Guild as I’m her first child. Despite myself, I felt proud of seizing the opportunity with both hands like that.

The trip towards her house takes a while, being located near the edge of the city where ruined buildings remain scattered around us. Eventually she leads me to a large building that might once have been a training hall or even a temple, though with a distinctive design from the one where Hestia lived. The main hall was large with plenty of natural illumination, unfortunately a lot of the illumination came from holes on the roof, and the ground was full of holes and had several debris scattered around.

“Sorry about the mess,” Artoria sounds embarrassed, “I didn’t find the time to clean this place up yet.”

Looking around the place my new talent for martial arts saw several opportunities to train and improve my physical condition.

“Before enlightenment, chop wood and fetch water. After enlightenment, fetch water and chop wood.”

She turns around with a questioning glance, and I shake my head with a smile. “Just an old saying I read on the internet. Well, if one of Herakles labors was cleaning up an absolute health hazard of a stable, I can accept making my goddess temple fit for habitation.”