DanMachi Universe, Lower World, Orario.
"Ah~~~~, that was so good." Tiona said while patting her belly. "I wish I could eat like this every day."
"Indeed, if I could eat like this every day, I would be able to go into the Dungeon with maximum focus." Gareth said after putting down his wine glass.
"Then, let's find a way to poach Alfonzo over." Tione muttered under her breath. "As for that Tatsuo… Hmph! We don't need someone like him."
"You know, if I didn't know any better, I would think you didn't like me very much." Tatsuo said, the fact that he could hear her muttering surprising Tione.
"Why would you ever think I liked you at all?" Tione shot back after getting her surprise under control.
Tatsuo's only response was to smile, which made Tione snort at him.
"Alright, that's enough." Aislynn said gently. Then, she turned to Loki and continued. "Other than freeloading a meal, you came here for something else, right?"
"Oh!" Loki exclaimed as if she had completely forgotten the other reason why she showed up at the Dragon's Nest. "That's right! We're here because of the trouble that Phoebus Apollo might cause for your kids."
"Ah, yes." Aislynn said in an uninterested tone. "That. Such a foolish child. But what else could be expected from the child of such a foolish god."
"Exactly." Loki replied with a nod and a wide smile. "After Finn and the others saw the way he was looking at your kids, or more specifically, your captain, he thought you might need our help. You know… If you don't plan on just flattening the Apollo Familia outright with your power, Aislynn."
"I have no plan on doing that as long as he doesn't overstep." Aislynn said while shaking her head.
"I expected as much." Loki replied while shrugging her shoulders.
"In that case, we would like to offer escorts for your teams when they explore the Dungeon." Riveria added, inserting herself into the conversation as the vice-captain of the Loki Familia. "And before you say anything about it, we plan to have any member of our Familia who accompanies your members to take an oath on their Falna stating that they will not disclose any information about your members they may see. Not even to the members of the Loki Familia."
"Those would be rather generous terms if the higher-ups of your Familia had not already seen most of what I, Lici, Akatsuki, and Zelretch can do already." Tatsuo said with his eyes narrowed.
Hearing Tatsuo's rebuttal, both Riveria and Gareth nodded their heads in approval. Noticing that Tatsuo had cut right to the core issue impressed both of them. Ais and Tiona did not have any changes in expression, either. However, there was one person who was not happy with Tatsuo's distrust.
"Are you suggesting that we would reveal your secrets?" Tione asked in an indignant tone. "You're only Level 1. Are you worth it?"
Normally, Tione would not have been bothered by Tatsuo's retort. However, this was a plan devised by her beloved captain, Finn. So, any perceived disrespect was magnified in Tione's mind.
"Take it easy, Tione." Loki said with a smile. "Actually, Finn was hoping for a response like that. In fact, if it hadn't been mentioned, he would have been disappointed."
"That's right, Lass." Gareth said with a smile. "If the kid hadn't noticed something like that, then, we would have vastly overestimated his capabilities."
Tione immediately froze upon hearing that. She actually had no idea that Tatsuo was being tested. But that was no surprise. Although Loki, Finn, Riveria, and Gareth mentioned helping the Aislynn Familia protect themselves from Hyakinthos, they only mentioned that much. They never mentioned Finn's plan to test Tatsuo's capabilities as a captain.
"Oh…" Tione muttered while lowering her head.
"In fact, we intend to take the same oath." Riveria said while shaking her head at Tione's tendency to jump the gun whenever it came to matters involving Finn. "And that includes all of us here. As well as Finn and Bete."
"I bet that mutt won't be happy about that." James said with a grin.
"Of course he won't." Gareth said before laughing heartily.
"He won't have any choice." Riveria said sternly.
"Interesting." Aislynn said as she placed an elbow on the table and rested her chin across the back of the same hand. Then, she shifted her gaze to Tatsuo. "So, what do you think, my Captain?"
"*Sigh* I hate this job." Tatsuo muttered, making Aislynn giggle at his unwillingness. A moment later, however, his expression turned serious, and he looked at Loki and Riveria solemnly. "Although your offer is great, and I would look like a fool to decline, I'm still going to do so."
While Tione's temper almost flared up again, Tiona looked disappointed, and Ais still wore her adorably blank expression, neither Loki, Riveria, nor Gareth looked surprised to hear Tatsuo's decision. Instead, they just remained silent while gesturing for Tione to calm down, as well.
"To be honest, having a powerful Familia protecting us sounds like an amazing deal." Tatsuo said while crossing his fingers in front of his face as he continued to look at Loki and Riveria. "But it's quite the opposite. Sure, we'd definitely remain safe. But there's a saying Old Man Zelretch used to say that really stuck with me."
As Tatsuo reached that point, everyone turned towards Zelretch, who was sitting in his chair with a serene expression on his face. However, his thoughts were not quite as serene as his appearance suggested.
'Just what is Young Tatsuo getting up to?" Zelretch asked himself. 'I mean, I've said a lot of things since we met. Most of which probably isn't suitable for such an occasion. I really hope he doesn't say anything to embarrass me.'
"And what would that be?" Riveria asked in a curious tone.
"A flower raised in a greenhouse cannot survive a storm." Tatsuo replied while smiling calmly.
Hearing that, Riveria's eyes widened slightly in shock. Then, she flicked an even more interested gaze in Zelretch's direction. Zelretch, on the other hand, while maintaining his serene smile, was thinking something totally different.
'I can confidently say…' Zelretch thought to himself while reaching up to stroke his beard. '… I've never said anything even remotely similar to that since the day I met Young Tatsuo. But seeing the way Miss Riveria is looking at me, I can guess what he's trying to do. And I can't complain about it in the slightest.'
And when he saw Tatsuo shoot a discreet wink in his direction, Zelretch's thoughts were verified. Then, to show that he accepted Tatsuo's goodwill, Zelretch returned a small nod of appreciation.
"Well then, I believe you've heard my captain's stance on the matter." Aislynn cut in with a smile. "And as it happens, I also agree with this viewpoint. If my children can't deal with a clown like Apollo and his Familia, then it proves that my judgment when choosing them as members of my Familia was wrong. But I do not see that being an issue. So, this matter ends here."
"If you say so." Loki replied with a shrug of her shoulders.
"Good." Aislynn said as she gently nodded her head. "Well then, I believe it's time to move on to something more pleasant. I'd like you to experience the new musical instrument Tatsuo created only yesterday. While doing so, you are free to relax until you decide you are ready to head back to the Twilight Manor."
With that, Aislynn stood up from her seat and made her way towards the main hall with everyone following behind her shortly afterwards. Then, once they arrived in the main hall, everyone, other than Tatsuo, took seats on the couches arranged all around the hall.
As for Tatsuo, he took a seat on the bench in front of his new piano. At the same time, the members of the Loki Familia, who saw the piano earlier, yet had no idea what it was, looked over with curiosity. Then, as Tatsuo raised the keylid and began playing, they all showed expressions of shock and pleasant surprise.
{BGM: "Für Elise" – Ludwig van Beethoven}
The Loki Familia left the Dragon's Nest about an hour after Tatsuo started playing. After that, the members of the Aislynn Familia decided to turn in for the night, as they had five more days until their next day off from Dungeon diving.
The next morning, things proceeded as usual. Tatsuo and Alfonzo woke up early and started preparing breakfast. Partway through the preparations, James, Violet, Aletia, Akatsuki, Sakura, and Zelretch also woke up. And while Zelretch used the time to learn more about the Language of the Gods, the others went out to the training field to start their training.
Then, when breakfast was ready, Tatsuo went out to the backyard to call the others, while Alfonzo headed up to his bedroom to wake his wife. Then, after everyone was gathered, the Familia had breakfast together before they all left the Dragon's Nest and headed towards Babel Plaza.
{Pic}
"Didn't expect you to come with us this time, Aislynn." Elicia said with a smile. "Are you planning to visit one of your friends after we go in?"
"No, this time I came to deal with a problem." Aislynn said while walking at the front of the group. "By the time I'm done with it, it shouldn't be a problem anymore. At least not one that you'll have to deal with for the next few months."
Hearing that, everyone was curious to know what Aislynn was talking about. Though, they all had some guesses. Figuring that Aislynn saw something with her [Dream Walker] ability, they wondered what she would consider a problem with her level of strength.
"Ten Thousand Valis says it's Apollo." Tatsuo said casually.
"Yeah, no one's taking that bet." James replied while shaking his head. "There are really only two guesses. It's either Apollo or Ishtar. And only one of them is dumb enough to make a move so openly."
"Why not Freya?" Akatsuki asked curiously.
"Because she's too scared of me destroying everything she built if she acts up." Aislynn said, answering Akatsuki's question. "On top of that, I'm the reason she wasn't bullied by Hera back in Heaven. So, she kinda owes me."
"Huh?" x 10
"Don't worry about it.' Aislynn replied with a smile while waving off the curious gazes. "That's from a long time ago. Besides, it didn't help after Freya came down to the Lower World. In fact, from what I know, Hera suppressed her and her Familia even harder because I wasn't around."
"Let me guess, Zeus' ho-ass tried to make a move on Freya." Alfonzo said while rolling his eyes. "And instead of punishing her incarnation of lust and infidelity of a husband, she took it out on Freya, who probably never even did anything wrong."
"That's exactly how it went." Aislynn replied with a nod. "Those two were just as unreasonable as they were in the myths back home. I'm just glad Zeus and Hera aren't quite as bad in mine and James' world."
"Zeus is still a ho, though." James added with a shrug. "Just not as much indiscriminate sluttery as the myths would suggest. Hell, Odin might be even worse than Zeus in my world."
"Oh, there's no might." Aislynn said while shaking her head. "If you could see into that old man's dreams, you would think Hyoudou Issei was a saint. Especially after he got with Asia Argento."
"Ooh! That's pretty bad." James said while visibly wincing.
The members of the Aislynn Familia continued to banter while making their way towards Babel Tower. However, just as they stepped into Babel Plaza, they all noticed that something was wrong.
Standing in the middle of the path leading from where the Aislynn Familia had entered the plaza and Babel Tower was a group of people. On top of that, all the other Adventurers in the plaza were steering clear of the group.
However, it did not take long for Aislynn and the other members of the Aislynn Familia to recognize the identity of the group as the Apollo Familia.
"So, this is why you came with us, huh?" Akatsuki asked with a hint of disdain in her expression. "*Sigh* These people are just like Hamelin back when the Apocalypse first happened."
In the world of Elder Tales that Akatsuki came from, an MMORPG that turned into their reality. And at the beginning of her time in that world, most of the guilds were rushing to recruit new members to strengthen their forces in the familiar, yet unfamiliar, world they found themselves in.
And one of those guilds was called Hamelin. However, Hamelin was not nearly as gentle as the other guilds. Instead, they focused on recruiting new players into their guild with the promise of protection. Unfortunately, after they managed to get those unsuspecting players into their guild, none of those promises were kept.
After joining Hamelin, the new players were constantly exploited. On top of that, they were forced to hand over the items that would have helped them catch up to the more senior players, the Experience Potions that were provided daily to low-level players.
And while Apollo did not exploit his Familia in the same way, he was definitely guilty of forcing Adventurers into his Familia and taking advantage of them in other ways.
"Exactly." Aislynn replied. "And knowing what I do about him, there was no chance that Apollo wouldn't try something to get all of you into his Familia if I let you come here alone. And while I'm capable of dismantling anything that fool is capable of, the collateral damage would not be acceptable to the other gods of Orario. So, I decided to just nip it in the bud at the beginning."
"If you already have a plan, then there's no point waiting here." Tatsuo said as he stepped forward. "Let's just get this over with. I really don't wanna deal with these losers for longer than necessary."
With that, the Aislynn Familia stepped into the plaza with Tatsuo and Aislynn at the front. Before long, a member of the Apollo Familia noticed them and reported to Apollo and Hyakinthos, causing them to turn in the indicated direction.
Immediately after Apollo and Hyakinthos saw the members of the Aislynn Familia, they had completely opposite reactions. With his eyes shining, Apollo smiled widely while letting his gaze pass over each member of the Aislynn Familia. Hyakinthos, on the other hand, scowled. The members of the Aislynn Familia were too good-looking for his comfort.
"If you keep staring like that, I'll rip those eyes out of your head, Apollo." Aislynn said without a hint of warmth in her tone.
Hearing Aislynn's words, Hyakinthos's anger almost immediately boiled over. Apollo, on the other hand, seemed to be completely unbothered by Aislynn's threat. Instead, his smile widened even further as he spread his arms theatrically.
{Pic}
"Now, now, now, is there any need for that, my dear Aislynn?" Apollo asked cheerfully. "After all, we've known each other much longer than either of us has been in the Lower World."
"And you're still lacking in self-awareness, I see." Aislynn replied coldly. "Although I already know the answer, tell me, why are you stopping us here? I'll give you a chance to explain it in a way that won't result in me ripping your heart out and sending you back to the Heavens?"