Tensei Skill Shop Chapter 30

Tensei Skill Shop

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 30:

“What news do you have to report?”

“Dragons continue to reappear across the land,” The agent recited the information from memory, “Most of them keep to themselves unless provoked by prey entering their territory, but others have taken to attacking villagers, outposts, and the occasional trade wagons.”

“How has this affected our assets?”

“We have had a few losses, but we are now taking measures against further incidents.”

The listener inclined his head, an acknowledgment without showing approval or disapproval. “Continue.”

“The Breton we have identified as the Dragonborn continues to wander around the east, though we have lost his trail after he left the College of Winterhold.”

“I am aware.” 

The agent nodded, then hesitated, indicating that the next bit of information was not favorable.

“Our attempts to capture the suspected member of the Blades continue to end in failure. From our investigations, he has served as the leader of the Thieves Guild for years, and is widely experienced in evading our pursuers.”

A finger tapped the table, signifying dissatisfaction.

“We are devoting more manpower to it,” The agent continued hastily, “And we believe we will finally corner him for capture, or kill him if capture is not possible.”

“What of the one we were initially looking for?”

“No news or clues have been found.”

The finger tapped again, this time more impatiently.

The agent quickly changed the subject. “Tensions between both sides of the civil war remain the same, though the Empire’s troops currently hold the advantage with the new Phantasm spells.”

“I am aware.” This time, those words were said in a more severe tone.

“Regarding that, we have received a report. The mage suspected to be the creator of Phantasm spells has reappeared at the College once more. He has been seen in the company of a woman with red hair.”

The finger stopped. “Who did you receive this information from?”

“From one of our contacts in the nearby city.”

“Notify Ancano of this development immediately, and ensure he returns to the College. Such a person must be monitored.”

“I will see to it right away!”

The agent saluted and quickly left the room, leaving the sole person to ponder things.

The mage named Rick was an unknown piece on the board, and that was not ideal for the Aldmeri Dominion’s plans for Skyrim. The dragons brought enough chaos already. If this mage posed any obstruction, he would be removed.

…

“I see, so it really is as you say,” Irene told me as we sat in the library, under the watchful gaze of the orc librarian. “Have you tried using this to your advantage?”

“Yeah, a few times.” I thought back to my activities in Riften before Lernen showed up. “So when do you think we should go?”

“I’m almost done with this set of books, so we can leave after that.” A small gurgle came from her stomach. “Maybe lunch first.”

With the special glasses she had on, it didn’t even take another ten minutes. It wasn’t the actual Gale Force Reading Glasses that appeared in Fairy Tail, but a self-made version of it as the actual glasses had yet to be invented. I suspected there was some relationship between Archive and the actual glasses, since it involved the speedy absorption of information. 

Instead of joining the rest of the student mages in the expedition, we decided to stay back in the College instead, with me using [Event Predictor] to monitor the situation. As expected, the plot wouldn’t progress without the presence of the plot device, so even if they continued to excavate the place without us, the uncovering of the Eye of Magnus would only occur once either Irene or Lernen arrived there.

So we took the opportunity to let Irene immerse herself in Skyrim magic without having to rush. As expected, her brand of magic fell under the Alteration school, which the absent Tolfdir was in charge of, but Irene showed novel ways to apply it in combination with spells from other schools. Short-term enchantments on weapons with Destruction spells without the need for soul gems, a quick-deploying Ward spell that was attached to a simple stone, a Restoration-Illusion cross to empower warriors into berserkers, and several others. In just three days, she had Mirabelle and Savos Aren pleading with her to stay at the College full-time, possibly taking over Tolfdir’s position in the future.

Unfortunately, she was adamant about moving on, so once again, we left the College with a few books containing information of her newly created spells, though this time without a mage chasing us hungering to know more. Drevin was a little amused by that.

“No dragons in the vicinity, so we’re fine,” I reported as we continued to make our way towards Saarthal.

“That’s good. I don’t doubt we can handle dragons of this world. From the way you describe them, they’re simply flying lizards with a few specialized spells. But,” Irene paused, “I don’t want to test whether I can absorb a dragon soul just yet.”

I nodded. “That’s okay, we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. That said, we have another way to check.”

She mirrored my nod. “The Word Wall.”

One of the things I had told her about with regards to this world’s setting, the Dragonborn could gain knowledge of Dragon Shouts from visiting those walls, though he or she could only use said Shout after using one of the absorbed dragon souls to truly comprehend its effect. If Irene’s [Draconic Soul] qualified her as Dragonborn, then she should be able to get the same benefit. It was… well, can’t say it was safer, just less riskier than absorbing a dragon soul.

Tolfdir beamed at us when we finally arrived, not the least bit put off by our delay. “Ah, you’re finally here. Your fellow students have found quite a lot already. Come, let us enter. Make sure to stay close.”

Chattering on about the significance of the place in Nordic history, the old mage led us into the musty depths. 

I nudged Irene lightly in the side, drawing her attention. “Interested in archaeology?”

She blinked, surprised, then smiled. “It does have some attraction. Especially when it comes to magic. Ea- my homeland,” She corrected herself, noting the presence of others nearby, “Did have ancient magics, some of which were lost to time.”

“Well said,” Tolfdir added his two septims to the conversation, “There are many accounts of mages made famous by the spells they could cast, or artifacts of great power that they created, but all records of how to do the same have been lost.”

“Nothing to stop us from making our own path,” I replied. Though there’s some irony in me saying that, considering all the skills I’m stealing from other worlds.

He nodded patronizingly. “Indeed, indeed.”

After he was done giving the rest of the admittedly short tour, Tolfdir turned us loose to go search for stuff. With the map skill I had, it was a simple matter to find the amulet leading to the hidden space. A quick Muffle spell helped conceal the sound of the lowering bars that would attract Tolfdir, and the two of us advanced by ourselves.

Sure enough, after we entered the small chamber with a lectern, there was a sudden shift in the world, and Irene looked slightly annoyed.

“Did you just see a guy?” I asked her.

She nodded. “He said he was from the Psijic Order, and that they were watching.”

Maybe I should look for something to counter time stop effects in the future. “Yeah, this was going to happen. Anyway, I’m fine, so let’s continue.”

As if on cue, the nearby stone walls slid down to reveal draugrs, armed with ancient weapons. Before I could do anything, Irene tapped the butt of her staff on the floor, sending out a brief pulse of magic. 

I glanced at her, ignoring the enemies as they toppled over. “Anti-undead enchantment?”

“What do you think?”

“I’m thinking… good job.” Specialized anti-enemy effects at a whim is just too broken.

Before Irene could reply, I pulled her into a hug and kiss. It could have been in more romantic settings, but she returned my affections eagerly while surrounded by the unmoving corpses of long dead Nords.

We continued to advance onwards, clearing out more draugrs, magical and physical traps, and solving the puzzles along the way. Saarthal sure lived up to what Tolfdir said about it being the largest settlement for ancient Nords, given how expansive it was. Eventually, we arrived at a large chamber where an orb was floating in a ring surrounded by four pillars, with a magical barrier swirling around it. Sitting in a throne in front of it was another draugr, this one wearing a horned helm and giving off more magic than any of the others before had. 

Even then, it paled in comparison compared to the power being put out by the floating orb, the so-called Eye of Magnus. And it wasn’t even in its activated state.

As expected, Irene analyzed the situation instantly. “A barrier, powered by the orb behind him. As long as the connection is up, I doubt we can do anything to harm him.”

“Oh wow, that sounds like an impossible fight,” I responded with joking sarcasm.

“It does, doesn’t it?” She went along with it. 

I slowly drew Murasame, settling into [Full Focus Breathing]. “Ready when you are.”

“Deus Zero. Deus Equus.”

I leapt off the edge of the raised platform we were on once I felt her magic settle over me.

The draugr reacted the moment the barrier was dispelled, pushing itself up from its seat and drawing the axe at its side-

Or it tried to. I landed on the table in front of the throne, my blade sliding down through its wrist without any pause. Even as it raised its arm, not yet realizing it had been literally disarmed at the wrist, Murasame continued its cutting path, slashing through thigh, throat, belly, before ending in a pierce through one glowing eye.

Then I backflipped off the table, clearing a good distance away as the body exploded in flames, one last ditch attempt to take its killer with it. I quickly put out the fire with the water from Murasame, then sheathed my sword and went to inspect the corpse. Sure enough, it had a small amulet fragment on it.

“What did you find?” Irene asked, descending the log wooden ramp in a more sedate manner.

“You know how we were talking about ancient mages who were known for making magical stuff?” Seeing her nod, I continued, “This is a piece of one of them.”

Even a basic magicka growth could become an important passive skill for someone in the future.

“Let me see.” Her examination was quick, and she returned it to me. “So even when broken, it’s still this powerful? How interesting. But more interesting is this orb here.”

The magical barrier was no longer present, but the large orb continued to float and spin, with magical characters and lines fading in and out of its surface. This was the Eye of Magnus, an ancient magical artifact, older than anything else in known history, and sought by many for its immense magical power. 

“Hmm, this is going to be a bit difficult to seal. But I think I can do it.”

“We’ve had quite a bit of experience handling dangerous artifacts in Earth Land,” I agreed.

Magical circles appeared around Irene’s hands, and she began gesturing at the orb, weaving an enchantment over it. Recognizing the method she was using, I assisted her, earning myself a grateful smile as we sealed it away from being used by anyone with the knowledge of how to do so.

My senses picked up an approaching presence. “Ah, we’re going to have a guest soon.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be done soon.” The enchantress finished up casting her spell, using Sealing magic to add a little ‘gift’ to the orb.

When Tolfdir finally arrived in the chamber, he had no idea about the magical trap Irene had woven into the Eye of Magnus. In the future, when Ancano showed up to try and take advantage of it for his own use, he was going to get a very nasty surprise. 

Possibly fatal, even.

“What is this, how did you find your way down here?” He inquired curiously, only sparing the dismembered corpse a glance before focusing on the orb. “Oh my, this is amazing, absolutely amazing.”

“Any idea what it is?” I asked innocently.

“I have no idea,” The old mage confessed, “But the archmage needs to be informed immediately. He needs to see this for himself.”

As expected, Tolfdir asked us to do him the favor of passing on the message, but we were already prepared for that. Irene pulled out one of the devices she had made from a soul gem and a few other jewels, resembling a compact mirror. Clicking it open, she channeled her magic into it, causing a small image of Mirabelle to appear.

“-ow does this work? Oh, I think this was- Ah, Irene. Rick. And… Tolfdir?” She looked around, naming each of us as she caught sight of us.

“Mirabelle? How are you- No, that can wait until later. Could you tell the archmage that we found something amazing in Saarthal? I think it’s a very important discovery that he needs to see for himself.”

“What did you find?” The female mage asked.

“You can’t see it behind me?”

“No, Irene’s creation only shows the image of the mages nearby.”

Tolfdir gave my Sekirei a look of wonder upon hearing that it was her invention, but decided not to ask for the time being. After Mirabelle agreed to pass on the message, he turned his attention back to the orb, allowing us to take our leave. We left the communication device with him, both as a distraction, and an excuse to not be available in case the others tried to call us.

The small chamber behind the orb had a treasure chest containing a fancy suit of glass armor, as well as the Word Wall we were looking for. Once again, I couldn’t see anything, but Irene reported feeling and seeing energy pour out from the carved characters and into her.

“Guess we know now for sure that you count as a Dragonborn,” I said as I used [Appraisal] on her, “How do you feel?”

“Nothing different, other than knowing the meaning of the word in that dragon language.” Irene turned her head to look away from me. “Iiz.”

Nothing happened, and she turned back to me. 

“It’s supposed to mean ‘ice’.”

“Ah, so it was the freezing breath one.” Seeing her look at me, I shrugged. “Hey, at three words per Shout, and one wall for each word, I can’t recall off the top of my head which location contains which word for which shout, not without looking it up.”

Irene nodded. “Understandable.”

“So what now?”

She sighed, stepping closer to me and leaning into my side. “I think I’ve had my fill of this place. Maybe next time I might try facing a dragon, but for now, I just want to be back at home. With you, Matsu, Uzume, and Leafeon.”

I hugged her close to me. “Then let’s go back.” 

We shared a kiss, and vanished from Skyrim once more.

…

“So it’s the conversion process to fit that world that made her like the Dragonborn?” I summarized Sano’s explanation of Irene’s current state.

The god nodded. “With the data you’ve collected from the original Dragonborn, I can confidently say that absorbing any dragon souls while Irene-san is in that world will not cause her to change back into a dragon.”

Next to me, Irene let out a sigh of relief. “I still have some reluctance to revisit that world again.”

Somehow, this scene makes me feel like we’re getting the results of a medical checkup. Except it kind of is, isn’t it?

“That’s alright. There are always other worlds to visit if you wish to collect skills.”

“Which reminds me,” I spoke up, pulling out the skills I had collected in my brief time there, “I’ve picked up a few more skills. I know it’s quite a lot of repeats, but…”

“That’s fine. I can rework them into new skills, provided you help bring me more inspiration. Like spheretech.” As if pre-empting my next question, he handed over the catalog to me. “Take a look.”

Leaning over to let Irene take a look as well, I examined the new additions.

Thanks to our combined efforts, we had now saved enough DP to purchase two high-level skills, or eight mid-level ones. Such a huge difference from when I first started out, scrabbling to gather enough just to buy a simple [Cold Resistance]. 

Though I can’t say I’m that interested in any of these, other than just taking them for a spin in another world. My finger ran down the list of skills and their descriptions.

Sano’s take on spheretech was to make them more modifiable, with different active skills available depending on the choice of weapon. That reminded me of the Elementalist’s attack skills in Guild Wars 2. Similarly, the passives that could be manually adjusted, just like FF7’s materia slots. And there was even an option to make swapping between job classes like the sphere grid. There was so much possibility my mind couldn’t focus on which to pick.

“Oh, what are these?” Irene asked, pointing at the next page.

“Summoning skills,” I stated, looking up at Sano. “Are these-?”

“Made from the data you collected on the Aeons, yes,” He confirmed.

She tilted her head. “Aeons? Oh, the world you went to before Earth Land?”

“Yes, that’s the one. The descriptions for these seem a bit… lacking?” I directed the question at Sano.

There were elemental-types, similar to the original Shiva and Ifrit, and physical-types armed with weapons, like Yojimbo. They didn’t have Overdrives, per se, but had a selection of skills to pick from as their trump card. I could see how they could be customized for certain roles, such as defense, offense, or even support by buffing or debuffing. And even the functions of upgrading their stats and abilities through the old Summoner’s Soul and Aeon’s Soul items had also been included. But the level of customization offered made it seem like Sano was just throwing a build-it-yourself kit to those who bought one of them.

The god nodded. “I knew you would notice. That does tie in to the request I mentioned earlier”

Oh yeah, he did say that, but I was so concerned for Irene I almost forgot it entirely. I passed the catalog over to Irene to let her continue perusing it first. “Alright, what is it?” 

He started pulling skills out of his desk and stacking them up, shooting me a glance out of the corner of his eye. Clearly, my face betrayed my thoughts, because the god nodded.

“Yes, another delivery dispatch.”

The pile continued to grow, already bigger than the one I had sent to the Pokemon world.

“And it won’t just be a simple delivery.”

“Testing summoning skills?” I guessed, not taking my eyes off the continuously growing stack. Just how many is he planning to send? 

Sano nodded, laying out another six more in a row in front of him, separately from the small hill. “That is one part of it. So you will be going to the divine realm over there first, and then to the physical realm afterwards. However, you need to be discreet with the second half.”

“Huh?” I thought it over for a moment, before making a guess. “This isn’t for transmigrators, is it?”

Sano smirked. “You’re right. It’s not. Anyway, you won’t be able to carry all these by yourself, so the others will be accompanying you.”

“What about the shop?”

He gave me a sardonic look. “Given how many skills I’m sending out here, I’m going to have to close up for a while until I’m done replenishing my stock. What did you think?”

I exchanged looks with Irene, who was no longer paying attention to the catalog. A quick Archive mental link allowed me to communicate with her telepathically. 

<Yeah, he might act professional most of the time, but he has joking moments like this.>

Her expression of doubt would have been funny if the topic wasn’t so serious.

Sano launched into an explanation. “This other world that I gained access to thanks to your woman friend Sage, there is a dangerous place where lots of monsters come from.”

<I’ll explain later,> I told Irene when Sage’s name came up.

“Their world has a lot of ambient magic, but its system, not much technique in making use of it, so summoning a transmigrator is not likely to work, not to mention the number of divinities there monitor the cycle of souls quite closely.”

Sounds oddly familiar… I continued to listen.

“After some negotiation, I managed to convince them into accepting an update of their system with some of my skills. Perhaps some might get distributed directly, or granted to those after they get reincarnated…” Sano shrugged, “But that’s up to the gods in that world. Your task has little to do with that.”

“When you say little… that means there’s some relation to it,” Irene pointed out.

“Correct,” Sano agreed, leaning his head on one hand as he talked, “But I’ll get to that later. Rick-kun, after the delivery of the skills in the first part is done, you and the others will be given permission to enter the physical world there, on the pretext of live testing.”

I nodded, waiting for him to share the real reason.

“There, you will have to find a god that has descended to the world, and deliver the second batch of skills to him.”

Descended…? Okay, it has to be that world, right?

I finally recognized the face Sano was making. It was when he stopped me from talking about bringing the girls back into this world. This topic was something against the rules, so to speak. 

Well, I knew how to keep a secret.

“Alright, just give me the details of what to do when the time comes. You said you need time to prepare the skills to give?” I asked once again for confirmation.

“Yes, this pile is only the start of it.”

“Wait, there’s still more!?” I blurted out.

The explanation went on for a while longer, as there were other minor things to handle along the way, as Sano had hinted at. Whatever reincarnation system that was in place in that world, it occasionally had a person’s past life manifest as a skill in his current one. And occasionally, the skill might manifest differently. So Sano wanted me to try monitoring some of these, in the hopes of expanding his repertoire.

So it’s a ‘would be nice to have, but not mandatory’. 

I classified it as such in my head, before turning to Irene. “How about it, are you interested in going to this new world too?”

She flashed me a smile. “I’ll go anywhere, as long as it’s with you.”

“Alright.” Turning back to Sano, I nodded to him. “I’ll ask the other two as well.”

Sano straightened up. “Yes. I will message you once I’m done with the preparations. Any other questions?”

Neither Irene nor I had any, so we left the office to return back to our rooms. 

“Welcome back, you two,” Matsu greeted us from the couch, petting a dozing Leafeon on her lap, “Given the delay, you went to talk to Boss Sano?”

“Yeah. Something happened while we were in Skyrim, and we wanted to check with him. Meet Irene the Dragonborn,” I introduced with a wave of my hand, and got a smack to the head for it.

“Stop that.” Irene scolded, though without any heat.

Matsu paused in her petting, and leaned forward interestedly. “That’s a story you’re going to have to share with me.”

After taking a quick shower, we joined her on the couch to continue the conversation, so everyone was up to date on things. The work on the outfits was going smoothly, and Matsu was just waiting for Uzume to progress to the point where her skill tuning would be needed. On my part, I informed her of Sano’s work request, and she quickly arrived at the same conclusion as I did about which world it was.

The short remainder of the day passed by awfully slowly. I went to refresh my memory of the suggested world, played a little with Leafeon, watched some videos on Youtube, but my thoughts always went back to Uzume, who was busy toiling away on her current task. It got to the point that Matsu plopped Leafeon on my chest and told her to keep me still, while she went to handle the tuning.

I was only freed from my leafy captor when Irene deemed it time for dinner.

Sano’s message came after we finished Uzume’s curry for dinner, signaled by the vibrating of my phone.

‘Everything is ready. You can come and pick them up now.’

‘Haven’t asked Uzume yet. I’ll let you know if she’s coming or not.’ I quickly replied.

There was a momentary delay, before I saw the dots indicating a response was being typed.

‘I checked. She just finished.’

I had only just put my phone down when the door to Uzume’s room opened, revealing my other two Sekireis. Just as Sano said. 

“It’s done!” Uzume cheered tiredly, holding two silver boxes in one hand. “Now I just have to hand it over to Sano.”

“Congrats on the good job!”

“Ehehehe~ Praise me more~”

Gah, this cuteness is overpowering!

I lavished her with attention, giving Uzume her ‘Rick Recharge’, as she described it. Head petting, cuddling, spoon feeding… the other two were a little jealous at the end, but they relented since we unanimously agreed that she earned it.

After she had her recharge, we filled her in as well. As expected, she agreed to come along instantly. I messaged Sano about it, along with questions about how we ought to dress for that world. Once he responded, the four of us changed into the indicated clothing style, and met him in his office, with Leafeon tagging along. I wasn’t surprised to see the pile of skills was now divided into two, with one larger than the other.

Sano spun around in his chair to greet us. “Good to see all of you arrive promptly. Now, before I explain the details and distribute the skills for delivery, I believe there’s something you have to hand to me.”

Uzume stepped forward and placed the silver boxes on the desk. “Here you go! Two outfits, one for combat, one for survival, made to the customer’s specifications!” 

“One moment while I inspect them.” Half a minute passed before he finally nodded. “Good, I’m satisfied with this level of quality. I have no objections to letting you handle other similar requests in the future.”

“Congrats, Uzume-tan!” Matsu was the first to say, and the rest of us followed.

“Now, moving on… I expect you all to be in that world for months at least, but of course, you will only be gone from this world for a few days.”

He went on to give the rest of the information regarding this delivery task, before we were each loaded up with batches of skills. One to deliver to the gods in the divine realm to update their world’s system with, one to deliver to a certain god lurking in the physical realm for whatever secretive purpose they had, and a summoning skill for each of us to test out in that world. On top of each of us having the analysis skill to record data with, Matsu would handle their tuning and adjustments as required.

And yes, he confirmed our suspicions about which world it was that we were going to.

“Any questions?”

“Is it okay for Leafeon to come along with us this time too?”

“There shouldn’t be any problem, but make sure to look after her closely.”

“Fee~” Leafeon agreed, hopping back into her Pokeball.

With one last confirmation of our roles, Sano waved a hand, and sent us over to the other world.

The first thing I thought when we landed in the divine realm was how white everything was. It was the total opposite of the holding space in the Pokemon world. It didn’t even have the rainbow hues of my first delivery job. The next thing was how empty it all appeared…

Though that thought was interrupted as I felt a divine presence approaching.

The god had orange-blond hair, slightly long and framing his handsome face. His attire was that of a Grecian-style robe, which made him look nice despite its simplicity. Not muscular, not overweight, his body was slender and elegant.

“Well, well, are you the guests we were expecting?” His tone was jovial.

Casual, sociable, friendly… those were the impressions I was getting from the god.

And thus, rather suspicious.

“Yes. I’m here to deliver the skills that were requested,” I answered politely.

“Wonderful! Come right this way, and we can get it settled right away!” He beckoned to us.

I nodded to the others, and we followed him as he walked off. I wasn’t surprised when he started asking questions about who we were and where we came from, though we kept the details of our job private, and only answered the casual ones.

Partway through, the god sidled up next to me and threw a friendly arm over my shoulders. “Say, can I ask you about the girls you have with you?”

I nodded. “Sure, what is it?”

“Are you courting any of them?”

“...yes.”

His arm tightened slightly. “All of them?”

Rather than answer, I just nodded.

“...a harem?”

“No.” I lied.

As expected, he frowned slightly, clearly seeing through my lie, but he didn’t call me out on it. We eventually arrived in a large space, where several other gods and goddesses were. 

“Oh, it’s Hermes!”
“Who are those people with him?”
“Wait, are they humans?”
“Why are humans here?”
“I know about this!”

“Everyone!” Hermes called out, “As some of you already know, an outer god has reached out to us with an offer for help, and these are his apostles! Now, without further ado, let’s have them do what they came here for!”

Way to put pressure on us. I tensed up as multiple sources of divinity focused on us, and even had to reach out to support Irene, who wasn’t as used to it. “Alright, here I go.”

The reactions of shock as I began pulling out strings of glowing boxes from within our bodies was quite familiar, and several deities began crowding forward to take them away, either for closer examination or to put them to use. Others… came with not-so-noble intentions.

“Such beauties, would you please be mine?”
“If I could have one such as you as my worshipper, I would never want for any other!”
“What’s the world you came from like? Can I spend eternity there with you?”

“Sorry!” Uzume apologized, “But I’m taken. We’re all taken.” 

Next to her, Matsu  nodded in agreement, a smug look on her face as she adjusted her glasses.

“What?!”
“Say it isn’t so!”
“Is it that guy!? This reality is unfair!”

“Now, now, that’s being rather rude, wouldn’t you say?” Hermes came to their rescue.

“Shut up, Hermes!”
“Just because you have a pretty face!”
“Seriously, I want to bury my face in those breasts! Demeter won’t let me do it to hers!”

“...can we leave quickly?” Irene muttered to me.

I nodded to her. “And that’s the last of it! Now, we’ll be off!”

“Ahhh! Don’t leave so soon!”
“I want to descend too!”
“No cutting in line!”
“My lovely beauty, please at least tell me your name!”

Hermes was quick to get us away from all those thirsty gods who hardly behaved like one would expect gods to do, and only with the assistance of some goddesses who ran interference, were we finally able to escape them entirely.

“Alright, that should be enough for now,” Hermes wiped his brow, though not actually needing to given the lack of sweat, “But it’s best you leave soon. There’s still another task you have to see to, right?”

“You know about it?” Uzume asked in surprise.

He nodded, winking. “I’m the god of commerce, travelers and messengers, so I’m pretty well connected. I know.”

“Will we be seeing you down there in the future?” I asked.

“Probably. My turn to descend will be coming up soon. Anyway, give my regards to Zeus when you see him.”

“We will.” I promised.

A huge glowing light engulfed our area, and the four of us found ourselves standing in a grassy field. The wind, the sunlight, and the surrounding atmosphere, made it clear that we were no longer in the divine realm.

“Look, over there!” Matsu pointed in the distance.

Far off from where we were, there was a city surrounded by a ring of stone walls, and in the center of it was a tall tower stretching higher than anything other structure.

“So we’re in the past of Danmachi…” I murmured, more to myself than anything.

Afterword: Yet another chapter that came out quickly thanks to my muse suddenly kicking into gear once again, so I’m putting this as another patreon advance. I’m amazed by how much of a difference there is compared to when I was facing writer’s block.

Anyway, I decided that it was time to pay a visit to Danmachi! I don’t really know much about how it was like in the early stages of the rise of the Zeus and Hera Familias, so I’m just going to make it up as I go!