Tensei Skill Shop Chapter 31

Tensei Skill Shop

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 31:

“Come join our Familia! Become a hero that everyone admires!”

“You want to be great? We can help you on that journey!”

“Did you hear about that scholar? He knows so much, and yet he’s willing to pay to know more!”

“Looking for workers! We pay a thousand two hundred valis for a day of work!”

“Get out of the road! You’re blocking the way!”

“We need more people to fight the monsters! And we’d like your help!”

“There’s a really good restaurant I know of, just off the main street.”

“Check out my new weapon, isn’t she a beauty?”

The types of conversations we could overhear were just as varied as the species we could see. Even Spira’s or Earth Land’s variety couldn’t compare; pallums, dwarves, amazons, different types of beastmen, and even the occasional elf. All mixing and interacting like a melting pot of culture, whether it was as adventurer, merchant, traveler, or some other role.

And of course, being the Danmachi setting, the gods themselves couldn’t be ignored. They weren’t just good-looking like their appearances had been airbrushed to be perfect. Just as the canon material said, they had a presence about them that was instantly recognizable as divine, making it extremely easy to pick them out of a crowd. The only reason that they were able to blend in so well was because there were just that many of them to divide the mortal attention they were getting.

“Stay close, you all,” I told the girls, reaching out to grab onto the hand of the one closest to me.

“Rick-tan’s right,” Matsu agreed, the lucky one, “We don’t want to lose each other in this crowd.”

“Where are we headed?” Irene was understandably less familiar with the setting than the rest of us.

Uzume was the one to answer, taking charge like the den mother she was. “The big tower in the center, of course!”

As we slowly followed the crowd headed for the tower, and the entrance to the dungeon beneath, the surrounding conversations also began shifting in topic.

<The culture of this early period is really quite different from what is shown in canon,> Matsu observed, using telepathy to keep us all linked.

<That’s to be expected,> I tugged her out of the way of another pedestrian, <Not only is it nearly a thousand years ago, but they’re just starting out getting set up.>

The history of Orario and the Dungeon beneath it started out as a defensive fort against the neverending source of monsters, one that many lost their lives to. The big change came after the gods descended looking for entertainment, and blessing the mortal races with the falna to help them grow. That early state of the relationship between the two was quite obvious wherever we looked.

Gods were curious and eager to experience anything that interested them, asking others intrusive questions with little care for manners, while mortals tended to be more respectful in the face of divinity, even with the actual power behind it restrained. Gods trying to recruit mortals to join their familias, motivated by their need for entertainment, and doing so based on shared common interest, like a mercantile deity wanting those who sought wealth, and so on. And that was only on the gods’ side.

The mortal races’ motivations… well, I couldn’t really tell for certain, but it appeared that the most prominent ones were the desire for power, and the inability to refuse a request made by a deity. The former was understandable, since I didn’t even need [Appraisal] to tell that those who had received the falna were on a different level compared to those who hadn’t, not to mention those who were further along in their development. As for the latter, there were some standout examples, considering the behavior of the gods making them.

<Oh my… I’d say god, but some of these guys are making me cringe with how they’re acting,> The perverted one of my Sekirei comments.

<Makes you wonder just how repressed they must have been up in the divine realm,> I responded, before my free hand flicked out.

The would-be pickpocket yelped and darted away, slipping through the gaps in the crowd in a manner that spoke of long practice. Around us, some of the crowd checked their valuables, and a few unfortunate ones cursed and started off in pursuit. I didn’t have much confidence in their chances.

“Good catch,” Irene murmured to me.

“Thanks. You all stay alert too.”

Eventually, the four of us arrived at Babel, the tower located at the center of the city. As expected of a location from where monsters could come out from, just about everyone there was armed in some way. The only ones who weren’t, were the builders who were busy with construction and excavation, transporting loads of material in and out while under guard by hired adventurers.

In terms of atmosphere, it was an odd mix of grim pessimism and optimistic joy, formed by the grizzled veterans and the hopeful aspirants.

<Yeah, I don’t think the Guild is going to be much use at this early stage,> Matsu observed, watching a hassled employee try to corral some of the new adventurers, only to be ignored.

<We’re looking for Zeus, right? What’s his emblem like?>

<It has a bunch of lightning bolts, Uzume-tan.>

“Over there,” Irene said out loud, gesturing with her staff.

There were a bunch of men gathered off to the edge of the plaza, all adventurers who were bearing weapons and armor. The subject of Irene’s attention was a particularly muscular man, who had quite a lot of exposed upper torso skin, which meant his god’s emblem was proudly displayed on his back. Several lightning bolts around a central sword-like mark.

“Alright, let’s go ask for directions then.” I altered our course to head for that group, who quickly noticed our approach.

“Yeah, whaddaya want?” One of them asked us brusquely. “Yer not from another Familia looking to party up with us, are ya?”

I shook my head. “Nah, our god asked us to pass a personal message to Zeus. He’s the god of your Familia, right?”

“Drock,” A different member stepped forward, raising a hand to make the first one step down, “I’ll handle this. So you’re looking for Zeus?”

Irene nodded, answering in my place. “That’s correct, he made a purchase of several things, and we’re here to deliver it.”

“There it is…” Another Zeus adventurer grumbled. “We’re going to go into debt like this.”

That seemed to be the general opinion of the group. Given the general hedonistic impulses driving the gods, I wasn’t surprised that some gathered familia members just to dump the debts their personal hobbies racked up.

“Anyway, he’s currently staying in the biggest mansion, just off the north-east main street.” The spokesman for the group gave us directions, and nodded farewell.

It wasn’t difficult to find the place, since it was just as big as described. Centuries from now, the Zeus Familia would probably grow big enough to need several times more space, but even now, the future potential was there. A young teen opened the door when we knocked, and showed us to a waiting room while he went to call Zeus.

“They didn’t even ask anything to check.” Matsu commented on the lack of security.

“Maybe because they think they can handle us since we don’t have the falna?”

I nodded my head in agreement with Uzume’s statement. “Probably. Anyway, looks like he was about to leave when we were brought here to wait.”

“Correct,” Irene confirmed, using her own tracking abilities alongside mine, “He appeared to be planning… to peek on another familia’s female members?”

The bit of news made the rest of us sigh.

“That answer doesn’t surprise me, Irene-tan.”

“We’re going to have to deal with that in the future, aren’t we?” Uzume unrolled a short length of cloth, stretching it out straight. “I should practice using my cloth to bind.”

While I had never seen Zeus in the canon material of Danmachi, the bearded old man that eventually appeared before us certainly lived up to the faint expectations. Boisterous and happy in character, white-haired with a well-kept beard and mustache, and an intensity to match.

“I’ll be fine! You lot just wait outside!” He scolded, slamming the door behind him, before striding over to seat his butt firmly down on the couch. “Well, you’re quite a bunch, aren’t you? Nice beauties too! Which god sent you?”

“Sano.”

“Sano? Sano…” Zeus’s eyes widened. “You mean… that Sano?”

“Yes, the one you made a deal with. Also, Hermes said to pass you his regards when we saw you.”

Being a god, he could tell the truth of my statement. “Hermes too? That means, up in the divine realm?”

We nodded. I placed a hand on my chest and extracted one of the many skills we were carrying with us, holding out the glowing box for him to examine. Even with his power sealed, he could tell that it was a divine creation.

“Ohhh!” Zeus was awed at the sight of it, before pausing. “Wait, only one?”

“There’s a lot more,” I reassured him. “Anyway, going forward, I’d like to discuss how we’ll be handling these going forward.”

“Hoh, sounds like an interesting topic~” The god leaned forward. “Alright, let’s talk.”

As we talked, I started to get a better idea of the guy’s character.

Underneath that perverted behavior was a god that really embraced the idea of heroism, along with the desire to inspire humanity to live strongly, even if it was against the threat of monsters coming from the Dungeon. However, even with the blessing of the falna, some of the monsters were far beyond the capabilities of the mortal races, requiring grievous loss of life to take down even one of them. And that wasn’t counting the Three Great Beasts.

Zeus’s plan was actually a nice way of sidestepping the rules the gods agreed upon when they descended to this world. While gods couldn’t enter the physical realm without sealing their divine power and leaving behind anything crafted with them, the skills from Sano could be said to be exceptions. And by getting the majority of those skills updated into the reincarnation system, it provided a convenient excuse for him to put those skills into his familia members. After all, once they died and passed on, the skills would go to the reincarnation system as well.

Naturally, it would be suspicious if his was the only familia to show such benefits, so the Hera Familia was to be included as well. The goddess Hera was aware of his plan, and we would be heading over to her familia’s place to include them in the distribution later.

I’m sure the Zeus and Hera Familias would have risen up to be great on their own merits, but Zeus himself was hoping that by giving them this boost, it would inspire greater acts of heroism.

On our end, we were going to be staying in this world for some time, and with the number of divinities lurking around the place, it was safe to say that if they knew of our true natures, we would be facing constant harassment. So we were going to be using the two familias to our advantage. Zeus for me, and Hera for the girls, since they were going for monogender member makeup.

Yay, nice alliteration. Go me. “Alright,” I said out loud, “So shall we go see Hera now?”

“Hold on just a moment,” Zeus stopped me, “How about telling me more about what your plans here are?”

We exchanged looks, before allowing Matsu to speak for us.

“The main objective is to test some of the new skills Boss Sano made in live combat,” She explained, “But just like you gods, we’re hoping for a bit of fun along the way.”

Zeus nodded repeatedly, and began asking for more details. Matsu’s eyes sparkled with enthusiasm as she responded.

These two are kindred spirits… I dread the trouble they’re gonna get up to. I thought to myself resignedly.

…

And thus our temporary life in Orario began.

After Zeus helped introduce our quartet to Hera and let her in on our secret, we first started off by integrating ourselves with the two familias, accepting the falna from them. Me as a member of the Zeus Familia, and the three Sekireis belonging to the Hera Familia. The inscription process was recorded for Sano, perhaps to create a version to distribute to customers in the future. And the agreement we came to was that when we left the world, the two deities would unlock them, allowing Sano to overwrite the blessing.

Receiving the falna really made quite a lot of difference. Just as the gods presented it, it made us… more. Not only were we much stronger than before, with heightened senses that were important in the darkness of the Dungeon, but a single update could turn all our efforts into a tangible and permanent boost.

The next step was to start distributing the skills to the members of the familias. The first thing we did was to carefully observe the individual members, selecting those who would sync well with the skills. Matsu was quite efficient in matching the two sides up, accomplishing most of it in a matter of days. Once that was done, we embarked on actually imparting those skills to the selected recipients.

“Alright, time to update your falna,” I heard Zeus say from the other side of the dressing screen.

I nodded to Irene, who was waiting next to me. She lifted her staff, waving it slightly to release the sleep spell to target the familia member. Once she was done, she nodded back to me, and we emerged from our hiding spot.

Double-checking the list of skills meant for this person once more, I extracted the glowing boxes from my chest, and implanted them into the sleeping man’s body. Irene kept the sleep enchantment up, ensuring that he wouldn’t wake up until we were done. This would keep our involvement a secret, to prevent any possibility of leaks. And once I was done, Zeus would finish with the rest of the update process, his finger moving over the glowing characters floating over the man’s back.

“Mm, two of them took hold, but one didn’t.” The god sounded a little disappointed.

“So what will it be?” I asked, my hand waiting to act if needed.

“Just leave it. Maybe it will take the next time I update.” He gave the same excuse he said the last time this happened.

“Alright.” I stepped back, watching as he concluded the process.

That was another interesting discovery; while the implanted skills were reflected in the falna, representing proper integration into the system running these gods’ blessings, there were exceptions. From what we observed, the skill was still present and active, just not to the degree a falna-listed one had. Zeus was of the opinion that the potential for future integration was there, and so we were taking a wait-and-see approach.

I was one of those affected, given the number of skills I carried with me. Some appeared on my falna, some didn’t. A particularly curious development was how some of the ones I held for a long time had been slightly altered while in the falna.

[Divine Call: Expends Mind to contact a God the user is connected to, with cost increasing based on distance]
[Focused Breaths: Increases all abilities with the right breathing patterns, may generate bonus effects at times]
[Imitator: Has a chance of learning a skill when it is used against you]
[Chiron: Improves the growth of those who undergo training under you, and increases the chances of gaining their own skills]

Those four came from [Call Divinity], [Full Focus Breathing], [Learning] and [Trainer]. The last one appeared to have been influenced by [Creation] and [Bestow] too. I still had [Skeleton Key] with me, but it probably didn’t appear in the falna because I didn’t have it as long as the others. Out of all those that changed in the falna, those four stood out the most.

That said, giving out the skills alone wasn’t the end of our work here.

“Timing!” I barked, “You want to use your skill, not waste it!”

“Yes, coach!” The trainee shouted back.

I turned to the next few in line. “You two, pacing! Going into the dungeon is a long effort, not a quick sprint!”

“Yes, coach!” The pair chorused.

“Go run one round around the city walls!” I stared at them as they stared back at me. “What are you waiting for?! GET, FUCKING, GOING!”

“YES, COACH!” They dashed away as fast as they could.

Yeah, they’re definitely faster than before. The question is how long they can keep it up. “Alright, next!”

“I’m in your care, coach!”

“What sort of skill are you hoping to develop?”

“Well, I-”

“Speak up! I can’t hear you!”

Acting the stern coach wasn’t exactly my character, but I had to admit, it was a bit fun to behave that way. In reality, it was just me making use of a skill gained from a certain llama god.

Shortly after I was done with this batch, I felt Matsu initiate a mental link.

<Rick-tan, can you meet me near the forges? I need your help to… ‘convince’ some stubborn people.> She sounded rather grumpy.

I was already moving. <Alright, I’m on my way.>

Arceus’s [Divine Intimidation] certainly had many applications.

It wasn’t just us two, both Uzume and Irene were quite busy as well. Being an adventurer wasn’t just about delving into the Dungeon. There were many other parts to the life to oversee, such as procuring the right gear, arranging for supplies, ensuring that the spoils were properly cashed out as rewards, and so on.

Overall, a great deal of responsibility that was quite exhausting to handle, even with the advantages we had.

“Rick-kun~” Uzume whined as she laid out on the couch. “I’m tired… please massage me~”

“Yes, yes…” I began getting to work on her shoulders, which had gotten quite stiff. “You really worked hard today.”

“Fee~” Leafeon licked her cheek, causing her to giggle and turn her face away.

The sound of the front door opening reached us. “I’m home,” Irene’s voice called out.

“We’re in the bedroom!” I called back.

The redhead soon joined us, laying her staff aside as she settled in the armchair nearby.

“Mmmph~” Uzume moaned as I worked my way down her body. “My butt’s not that sore~”

“Really? Maybe I should just do it too.”

“You tease~” She mocked me playfully.

I glanced at Irene. “Want me to do this for you too? After I’m done with her.”

Her cheeks pinked slightly. “Okay.”

Leafeon went to rest in her lap, and she watched as I resumed my slightly lewd massage of Uzume’s sexy body.

Unlike how most of the familias handled their members by having them stay together in a large common residence, the four of us had pooled together our savings, along with a small loan from our familias, and bought a house to stay together. It gave us our privacy, which we appreciated quite a bit.

“Rick-tan, Uzume-tan, Irene-tan, I’m hoooome!” Matsu came rushing into the room. “Ah, you all got started without me?!”

“Nah, it’s just a massage, that’s all,” I answered, already starting to work on Irene.

“Is that true, Leafeon?” She asked the only impartial one present.

“On.” The Pokemon barked, nodding.

“Alright, but I’m next!” She gathered Leafeon into her arms and sat down to wait her turn.

I carried on conversing with them to learn more about what they had been up to.

Apart from helping to build up the Zeus and Hera Familias, we were also contributing to the growth of Orario and its culture. Discussions with the nascent Guild about how to manage the growing number of familias within its walls, using the familias’ rising reputation to promote certain businesses, making a few ‘discoveries’ about the use of the magic crystals extracted from the monsters spawned by the Dungeon…

People followed the money, and the prosperity that came with it. Also, helping to shape history like this was a little fun, though it had its downsides.

Compared to our time in Earth Land, the lack of technology made things rougher, and more than a few times I caught myself wishing I could just return to the convenience of modern life. Since we couldn’t just pull out of the place, I rolled with what I could, and cheated to make up for the rest.

And of course, I had my girls to enjoy my time with. I was now working on Matsu’s body, all too aware of my audience.

“Hey Rick, do these too,” She twisted around to present her front to me, already shedding her clothes to reveal her nicely shaped breasts with their erect nipples.

“Rick…” Irene said huskily as she pressed herself against my side. “Let me massage you too…”

“You worked so hard for us, so let us reward you,” Uzume chimed in.

The three of them quickly stripped off the rest of my clothes, and took turns lavishing me with their affections, sinking themselves onto me, assaulting my lips and other sensitive parts with their tongues, encouraging my fondling of their sexy bodies… I gained quite a lot of LP that night.

Yes, as long as I had my Sekireis with me, I was confident we would be fine. Not just fine, we would be thriving.

And of course, there was the most important part of it all.

Traversing the Dungeon.

Just as the light novels said, the place was bloodthirsty and malicious. Stepping into the place already made it clear that it wanted all who entered to die, and its go-to method was to spawn monsters from its walls. There were also gimmicks like sudden cave-ins, either to harm us, or to cut off escape routes. But the maliciousness…

What else would you call waiting until you were in the middle of a large room to spawn a swarm of monsters, forcing you to battle while surrounded?

Thankfully, we had our counters.

“Whose turn is it this time?” I asked over the cracking sounds as an assortment of monsters began breaking out from the walls.

“It’s Irene-tan’s,” Matsu answered, her head swiveling to keep track of the numbers.

I looked at the redhead. “Then, I’ll leave it to you.”

“[Summon: Glacius]!”

Thin wisps of energy appeared, swirling around our party’s mage, and coalescing into a glowing blue sphere above her head. Even as the first few monsters began charging forward, it shattered to reveal a lithe feminine figure made out of glowing blue ice. Its features resembled a doll’s, with only chips to denote its eyes on the featureless face. That was the ice spirit summon, Glacius.

It began to dance, sending sprays of icicles shooting out as it twirled in the air above our heads. Some inflicted instant kills, others crippling wounds, and the rest forming minor barriers slowing the approaching swarm.

“General anti-horde behavior is good,” Matsu reported out loud, “Next will be to test each of the main moves.”

Glacius returned back to its floating position above Irene’s head, slowly charging up energy for the next move.

During that time, some of the monsters began reaching our position. It wasn’t just the monsters one would expect from the early floors, like goblins, kobolds, dungeon lizards, and war shadows. This was way back in the past, where the monster numbers had slowly accumulated underground before the Dungeon unleashed them onto the world above. Even now, I could see other monsters entering in from the passageways, some of them from the lower floors.

The Dungeon really wants us dead, if it’s pulling something like this. 

That was the cue for Uzume and I to act, her with her cloth, and me with my sword. Leafeon was present too, hackles raised as she glared at the enemy monsters. I felt energy course through my body, and glanced back to see Irene with her staff raised. As expected, she was the source of it, and the other two were included as well.

“Full enchant,” She informed us.

“Feon!”

“Thanks, Irene-chan!” Uzume let multiple streamers of her cloth flow out. “Let’s go, Rick-kun!”

“Yeah!”

[Full Focus Breathing: Third Water Form]...
[Flowing Water Dance!]

Murasame already had extraordinary sharpness, but with Irene’s boost, I was cutting beyond the reach of my blade, even without the water effect. I targeted limbs, vital organs, the magic crystals, moving- no, flowing in and out of the crowd, leaving only dead and dying monsters in my wake. And compared to before, the amount of water generated was much greater; an upwards slash generated a tidal wave that swept multiple monsters back, while the low swings were like water cutters, scoring deeply into the ground.

As for my brunette companion, she was a ravaging storm, her magic-imbued cloths scattering, slicing, wrecking the monster horde. The direct hits struck like heavy hammers instead of the cloth they actually were, shattering bones. One time, I even saw her kick a monster high up into the air, grab it with a single cloth, and use it as a thrown projectile that sent monsters flying like bowling pins.

Leafeon assisted where she could, flicking razor leaves to target any stray ones that managed to evade the two of us by chance, or darting in to slash the legs out from under the monsters to create openings for us to handle.

None of the monsters even got close to Irene and Matsu.

“First one’s ready!”

[Blizzard Spikes]

I glanced back, just in time to see several huge pillars of ice shooting into the horde, splattering several and tearing huge gouges into the ground.

As we continued to hold off the main bulk of the monsters to buy them time, Irene’s summon continued to run through the various skills Sano loaded it with. [Frost Armor], which was a reactive enchantment on us that sprayed freezing energy at an attacker, [Deep Chill], a wide-area ongoing effect that slowed all monsters not resistant to cold, and [Icy Pillar], a single-target spell that impaled the lone war shadow out of the many monsters around it.

“Alright, the last one’s going to take a while!”

“We’re handling things fine over here! Go ahead!” Uzume called back.

Compared to the earlier ones, this final effect took quite a while to charge up, which we spent killing more monsters. I could feel my body straining the longer we fought, which would be more food for the falna. Eventually, Irene gave the signal.

“It’s ready!”

Instantly, all of us leapt back, just as Glacius went into action.

[Icy Beams]

Multiple glowing beams of blue played around the area, encasing all they touched in thick ice. The temperature in the room dropped sharply, causing the monsters to move sluggishly as the shock affected them.

“That charge time was a bit long for just that,” I commented, still keeping my weapon drawn.

“It’s a two-part attack,” The redheaded mage informed me.

The ice spirit performed a pirouette, then clapped its hands together.

[Diamond Dust]

I recognized Shiva’s Overdrive move, as all the generated ice shattered outwards away from us, shredding the remaining monsters into bloody mist. The few remaining ones were heavily wounded, and I dispatched them quickly with a few thrown knives.

Glacius mimed a giggle, before fading away into nothingness. Uzume quickly gathered up a shivering Leafeon, wrapping her up in cloth to maintain her warmth.

I looked around at the devastation. All the monsters had been killed, but collecting the magic stones was going to take quite a bit more effort. Sighing, I sheathed Murasame in favor of a smaller knife, and got to work.

“So what did you think?” I overheard Matsu ask.

“Summoning time was fast,” Irene answered, “But the tradeoff for slower attack speed doesn’t really suit me.”

“Such a build would be better for a backline support. That [Frost Armor] was quite good.”

“Any comments about its power?”

“Well…”

…

And just like that, weeks continued to pass. Whether it was training-

“Good! GOOD! Keep that guard up, look for the opening! And… strike!”

“YES, COACH!”

“And you! What is it you want?”

“I just had my update, coach! I got a new skill! Zeus told me to come to you to get it trained!”

“Alright! Well, what is your skill!”

“[Rein Passione], coach! It…” The young adult paused, then stepped closer to speak more privately. “Raises my general ability when I’m close to someone I have affection for.”

“...who?” With the falna, most people here can still hear you.

“Elyria, she’s-”

“Hera Familia,” I guessed.

Our unique living situation had led to some of the other members of both familias admiring us, and more than a few decided to try dating each other, to Zeus’s amusement and Hera’s annoyance. One big reason was the reveal of some of our skills, particularly the ones that came from [Ashikabi] and [Sekirei], which translated into a ‘empower the holder when the target of affection is near’ skill. Given all the lore about the falna, it was practically a sign of being fated lovers. And as if spreading to others, some of these new relationships even resulted in skills getting generated, which was how I recognized this situation.

He nodded.

Sighing, I reached out telepathically. <Uzume, we’ve got another one.>

She squealed. <No way! Really? Which girl is it this time?>

<Do you know an Elyria?>

<Oh, I do! She’s a pretty cute girl, but she’s got skills with daggers. I’ll add her to the next joint expedition then!>

Focusing back on the young man, I clapped him on the shoulder. “Well, you’re going to be joining the next team up. For now… GET YOUR ASS IN TRAINING!”

“YES, COACH!” He yelped.

-making new discoveries in the various fields-

“So this way,” Irene lectured, “We can extract the energy from a monster’s magic stone more efficiently. As for their uses…”

The rapt looks of the audience were interesting to see, though there was a mix between those who admired her for her queenly temperament, the money-signed ones who saw the value of what she was proposing, and the ones who were fascinated by the advancement itself. More than a few of the latter were gods, who were impressed by what they saw as the mortal races developing in their own way.

“Next, I will allow my fellow Hera Familia member Uzume to talk about how some of those uses can be expanded upon.”

Irene stepped aside to allow Uzume to take the stage, the brunette waving excitedly. A few assistants came as well, pushing up several items on carts.

“Good day, y’all! I’ve got a lot of interesting ideas! First, let’s start with food! Here, I have a bunch of ingredients from nearby places. Notice anything?”

There was a murmur from those watching.

“That’s right, this is fish! Fresh from Melen!” She named the port town that was nearby Orario. “I’m sure some of you are wondering, how did we keep it fresh? It certainly wasn’t with salt. Yes, you have a question?”

“Was it with ice magic?”

“Close guess! But no, this wasn’t done with spells.” Uzume grinned. “The answer is… a special freezer that runs off magic stones!”

The room exploded into noise as everyone started asking questions about how it had been accomplished.

And meanwhile, our house already has air-conditioning, making it so much more comfortable to return to. I continued to observe as she continued to blow their minds with all the new stuff we introduced.

In the wake of what went down during that presentation, Zeus and Hera were insufferable for days afterwards, according to the grapevine.

-that were likewise encouraging the development of Orario-

“So these are the maps we’ve made of the first few levels,” Matsu explained to the interested Guild employee, “From the entrance here, there are several direct routes to the next floor, and each floor increases in size the deeper we go.”

“Can I make a copy of the maps?” The girl asked eagerly.

“Sure, but wait until I’m done,” She agreed.

“Sorry.”

“No worries.” Matsu waved it off. “So the monsters we encountered on each level are as follows…”

Standing nearby, I glanced over at the cleanly dressed male Guild employee. “Yes?”

“Thank you for all the help you’re giving us,” Guild Guy said gratefully, “With the information the Zeus and Hera Familias have been giving, we’re able to ensure that more fresh adventurers are able to survive, and bring back more magic crystals.”

“You’re welcome. How are the deals with the new factories going?”

“They’re making quite a lot of money with the new discoveries from that famous Hera adventurer, so just between us,” Guild Guy looked around furtively before continuing, “We’re planning to renegotiate the contract.”

“Yeah,” I nodded in understanding, “Since the Guild isn’t supposed to have falna holders, your advantage lies in money and information.”

“It’s nice to know someone understands. Some of these adventurers…” He shuddered.

“Have you thought about issuing ranks and quests?” I suggested.

“You mean like the… T-T-Three Great Q-Quests?” He stuttered as he mentioned the three great monsters who ravaged the lands of this world.

“Nothing so great right now. I’ve interacted with a few gods, and one thing I noticed is that they like to compete with each other, so if you ranked some of the familias, make them focus on trying to rise in the rankings, the competition will help keep them in line. At the same time, you want to attach responsibilities to those ranks, so those familias maintain a minimum level of performance.”

“Oh. Ohhh! Those are great ideas! I’ll discuss it with the others!” He quickly ran off.

Glancing at the table, I caught sight of Matsu giving me an approving smirk before she turned back to her own conversation.

“Ah, and by the way, these are the skills of the members in our group…”

“Is it really okay to share that information with us? All of this will go into public record.”

“Our two gods discussed it, and we got the general agreement of both familias.”

Of course, in our case, we definitely weren’t revealing everything, and not just because it would be too outrageous.

-making preparations for the next dungeon dive-

“Here, more monster drops,” I placed the bag in front of the bearded forge god, who eyed me suspiciously.

“Hrm.” He put down his hammer and took a look inside it.

I knew what it contained; while most monsters dissipated into dust and ash when their magic stones were extracted, or destroyed, some of them had the occasional drop, when a piece of their body carried more magic than usual, or bore a special material originating from the Dungeon’s walls. Such a thing was quite rare on the upper floors, of course.

“No one brings in as much as you do. What’s yer secret, boy?” He finally asked.

I shrugged. “A skill that increases the chances of drops.”

Unless you had a cheat like me. Not just the skill that I revealed the existence of, but one that was [Edited] to be much more effective.

I’d comment about how I’m just that lucky, but I think that would trigger the lie detection.

The god took another look at the bag, before closing it. “Alright, so what do you need this time?”

“The next few floors are going to have a bunch of heavy hitters, so we’ll be needing better armor first. Weapons-wise, we’ll need a few swords and spears, but those can wait until later.”

“Hrm, pushing further into the Dungeon as always, huh?”

“Yep.”

“Make sure to bring back more ores. Magic stones are nice and all, but we smiths will need material to work if y’all are trying to fight those tougher beasts deeper down.”

“Will do. Let me know when they’re ready to collect.”

“Be off with you.” The god dismissed me.

I left the smithy, heading for the next destination.

“Not very friendly, is he?” Uzume remarked as she fell into step next to me.

I shrugged. “As long as his work is good enough, a little bit of abrasiveness is tolerable.”

“So where to next?”

“Well, the alchemist said that the potions we asked for are ready, but we didn’t really agree on a set time, so…” I exchanged glances with her.

“We could make a detour,” She suggested what I was thinking.

“Then let’s go. I heard there’s a jewelry peddler near the east side with some nice pieces.”

I ended up spending some of my money to buy accessories for all of them, but it was worth it for their smiles.

-actually going into the Dungeon-

Where- over there! I altered my direction, speeding through the tunnels.

Several monsters broke through the walls ahead, as though the Dungeon was trying to delay me.

“[Summon: Bladeforme]!”

A metallic bird made up of multiple blades appeared, flying ahead of me. With a thought, it broke apart into its constituting parts, turning into a deadly metal storm that ripped through the monsters in my way. They came back together to reform the bird, which paused to give a mighty beat of its wings, sending sharp blades of air ahead of it.

The crowd of monsters at the opening ahead exploded into severed body parts, even as I charged right through.

The place was quite misty, and even after the explosion, it was beginning to creep back to cloak the area once more, but I had already spotted what I was here for. A group of adventurers were fighting for their lives against another bunch of monsters, the broken walls showing just where they had spawned from.

I recognized the signs. Another Monster House… the Dungeon sure likes to pull this trick.

The adventurers were one of the newer batches from the Zeus and Hera Familias, having come down in a joint expedition to train and earn money. I only knew about their situation because I cheated with [Event Predictor], narrowing down when they were about to face extreme danger.

Though to be honest, I wasn’t exactly going to jump in right away.

“KYAAAAH!” The feminine scream was cut off by the sound of a huge impact.

“Don’t worry! I’ve got you!”

“Y-you saved me! Thank you!”

“Don’t lose focus just yet!”

“Potion! I need potion!”

“This is the last one!”

“Look out! Be careful of those imps!”

“The almirajs are coming again!”

“Don’t give up! We’re going to survive, and make it back!” One brave soul tried to rally the rest, which proved only slightly useful.

There was an earthshaking roar, and a gigantic lizard began stomping forward out of the mist. That was an Infant Dragon, one of the heavyweights of the middle floors, and a tough opponent for a group of tired Level Ones to face.

“It’s an Infant Dragon!”

“Shit! We can’t handle it as we are now! We need to run!”

“We can’t run! There’s no place to run to!”

“Then we’ll just have to fight!”

Okay. Time to go. The ground cracked beneath my foot, and I burst forward, before kicking off to leap high into the air.

The summon’s beak opened, shooting out a long metal polearm. At the apex of my jump, I caught hold of its handle, and locked onto my target.

[Dragoon’s Leap!]

I slammed straight down onto the monster’s reptilian head, plunging the weapon deep into its brain. Drawing a deep breath, I wrenched it along the cutting edge, slashing out of the fatal wound, creating a spray of blood that shocked all those present, monsters and adventurers alike.

“It’s okay now… you know why?” I whipped the polearm out, scattering the blood off the sharp edge. “BECAUSE I AM HERE!”

The Zeus Familia adventurers immediately broke into cheers, revitalized by my entrance.

Quoting All Might sure does make things awesome. Can’t wait to use the ‘Plus Ultra’ one.

The remainder of the fight was quickly settled, especially when I had Bladeforme turn into a shredder for the other adventurers to throw their monsters into. Once all the monsters had been slain, the summon flew off into the mist, when it vanished with no sign of where it had gone.

“Coach, you’re here! Thank you!” One of them said gratefully.

“No, thank you. Thank you all for staying alive until I could get to you.” I handed out potions from my spare carry case.

I actually meant that. While I was no stranger to killing others, having been blooded in Ivalice’s Jagds and Skyrim, these young ones were going to be the ones to carry the torch of heroism to the future.

Ah, Zeus definitely has been rubbing off on me. I continued to administer first aid even as I realized that.

Nearby, some of the female adventurers from the Hera Familia were talking amongst themselves.

“Wait, so that’s the man who’s dating Irene-senpai, Matsu-senpai, and Uzume-senpai?”

“He has to be Level Two, right?”

“No, I hear he’s still Level One.”

“EHHH!?”

Yeah, with my skills, I’m performing at Level Two specs even though I’m still Level One, though my stats aren’t anything to scoff at. I just kept quiet, checking over the rest of them to make sure there were no deadly injuries.

After that, it was just a matter of escorting the group back up to the surface. I was sure quite a few of them would get the excelia they needed to level up.

Later, when I asked my Sekireis just what my reputation was like in the Hera Familia, they clammed up and refused to answer, saying it was a girl’s secret.

-interacting with others, in and outside of the Familia-

“Zeus Familia, reservation for the whole place!”

“Certainly, we’re all ready for you! Right this way, if you please.”

It took several minutes before we were all able to sit down. In the neighboring restaurant, I knew the Hera Familia was doing the same. The main purpose was just to celebrate, but Zeus also wanted to publicize things a little, hence the decision to eat outside of the large estate the familia was now staying in.

Servers quickly moved about the place, pouring drinks for the first part of the party, and our god shamelessly groped the female one on the butt when she passed by him. Thankfully, things stayed peaceful.

Finally, he picked up his cup, and the rest of the group imitated him. “First, to those who have recently gained their level ups! Herc, Dylon, Lylan…”

The list went on for quite a while.

“And to all those newcomers, hoping to rise up to become the new heroes of this age! I say to you, CHEERS!”

“CHEERS!” The entire familia chorused.

Shortly after, the same sound echoed through the walls, proving that Hera could be quite competitive.

The servers reappeared, this time to deliver the meals ordered for this occasion. I was quite pleased to see that some of them bore signs of the cooking techniques that Uzume ‘introduced’. Taste-wise, they were pretty good as well, though of course not on par with what I was used to.

Talking with the newer familia members was nice. Most of them had heroic aspirations, having been scouted by Zeus in some way, while the few exceptions had talents that made them well-suited for dungeon-diving. In any case, they would soon learn to dislike the training I imposed on them.

“Damn it, I still keep losing to the coach!” I overheard someone complain.

Heh. Knew someone would say that. I didn’t bother looking around, and just continued to listen.

“Same. I thought that once I was Level Two, I could finally beat him, but he beat me anyway.” Another one chimed in.

“What were you guys expecting? He handled that monster swarm all by himself with that magic of his. Of course he wouldn’t be easy to defeat!”

“Wait, is coach a mage, or a warrior?”

“Isn’t it both?”

The eating and mingling continued for quite some time, and when we all finally retired for the night, with the three girls escorting me away from the jealous looks of the single men in the Zeus Familia, I couldn’t help but think that life in Orario wasn’t all that bad.

Afterword: My muse continues to torment me with its flipflopping. Sometimes I can hardly write, and other times… well, the last 5k words came right out in a single day. I think part of the reason for that was because I’m coming up with my own original stuff. We could see pre-descent Orario in Memoria Freese, while the canon material shows that a thousand years later. However, there’s little material to show what early Orario is like, such as how the gods, mortals, and Dungeon might have slowly shaped the culture of Orario. Overall, I think Danmachi is an interesting world to explore, because of that.

I’ve said it before, but I quite enjoy the whole butterfly effect thing, not just in fanfiction. So can you imagine just what it might be like centuries from now, with Rick and his Sekireis introducing new knowledge that encourages the mortal races to grow further?

Do continue to support this story if you like it.