Orion's first night in Danmachi was far from peaceful.
Finding a place to stay at midnight was impossible, and even if it were, he had no idea where to go. The maze-like nature of the city surely didn't help in that regard either.
He had gotten lost more times than he cared to admit, and of course, there were also city patrols at night that he had to avoid.
He had entered the city without any permit or entrance record, so he would rather not be caught unless he registered himself—at least at the Adventurer's Guild.
After an hour of directionless roaming, he finally found a place to call it a day: a small shelter where he could sleep.
It was better than sleeping out in the open.
"I swear, first thing I get some money, I'm getting a place for myself here," he swore.
[Didst thou say thou knowest of a place wherein we might take our rest?]
Marika asked, more like she snorted. Guess she didn't like the maze-like city any more than he did…
"Well, I know a place, yes… but finding it in this maze of a city without getting lost in the middle of the night is far harder than those monsters I fought back in the dungeon," Orion sighed.
He had originally planned to go to Hestia's church. He was still unaware of the timeline, however, no matter the case, he was sure he could get a place to stay there, at least temporarily.
Hestia was a benevolent goddess, after all. And if his timeline was before Hestia came to live in that church, then he could occupy it until she came to do so.
But since when did plans start going as planned?
Marika stayed in her spiritual form all the time, so she didn't have any problem regarding a place to crash. Orion, of course, was not that lucky.
By the time he woke up, he had an extreme case of bed hair, possibly the reason he lacked a proper bed in the first place.
Not that he had planned to wake up at all, after the entire dying, reincarnating, and dying again had taken place—and, of course, the fights… how could he forget to mention them.
But to his dismay, there was a literal goddess there to wake him up. Right at the first light of day.
Gentle taps on his cheeks made him just turn around and cover his eyes to block out the light.
He didn't feel like he had slept at all; he was still very sleepy.
Did the sun really come up that soon?
Something most of us have complained about once in our life, surely. However, this time around it wasn't his fault, for the sun hadn't risen, and secondly, the light wasn't daylight.
As his eyelids separated, he saw a figure bathed in holy light, dazzling in front of him like the sun itself.
[Good morrow. It seemeth thou hast slept well.]
A melody came first to his ears. It was soothing, honestly, no matter how much that small smirk on his newly claimed goddess annoyed him.
"Great, now I won't have to pay light bills once I get a place for myself. She'll be more than enough…" he muttered, irritated at the light emitting from Marika, blinding him.
"Can you turn down the light, please?"
[Hahaha… Nay, 'tis not to be. The hour hath come—thou must needs awaken. Come now…]
"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" He shot her a betrayed, irritated look.
[Ah… must thou ever presume such notions of me? I harbour naught but fair intent toward mine chosen Tarnished. Think not that I wake thee for sport, nor with malice in my breast.]
Marika said this with dramatic posture, as if she were hurt by the words. If Orion hadn't come to know the woman was one good actor, he might have fallen for it.
His eyes then shifted to the goddess's chest as she mentioned it, and he gulped.
'Divine…'
There was nothing else he could say about the view.
The sight alone was enough to really wake him up, blood running in all the wrong directions. Before he fully woke up, something else did—and seeing his improvement in that area, it was nearly impossible to hide.
[My, oh my… such a vigorous form thou dost possess. Did my mere utterance of the word 'breast' rouse thee so swiftly? Truly, thou art a shameless degenerate, art thou not?]
Marika's lips curled up, now a proper smile on her face, predatory in nature.
Is she licking her lips…?
Orion's face flushed red.
"It's normal, okay. Every guy faces this in the morning. It shows that I'm still healthy…"
[Fufufufufufu… Aye, aye… indeed, indeed. Thou art most robust, my lord. Most robust.]
She said this, eyes still lingering on the huge bulge in his pants.
'Damn, it's a bit too much. My poor undies won't handle this monster at this rate…' Orion mentally noted to get a size larger undergarment if next time he didn't want his… situation to get crushed.
xXx
Fortunately, Orion was mindful enough to have collected the monster stones from the monsters he killed back in the dungeon. In Orario, that was practically currency.
It wasn't much, but enough to get him some much-needed breakfast.
Marika didn't eat, though, according to his common sense and Marika's own words: spirits don't need food.
Not that she couldn't eat—she could in her physical form—but it wasn't necessary.
So that out of the way, Orion simply got himself a piece of bread to chew on by exchanging his monster stones, in a quite unfair trade as he was sure the stones would have cost more if he were to take them to the Guild, but he just let it go and headed straight to the Guild.
The streets were mostly empty—only a handful of half-awake vendors setting up stalls, a few adventurers dragging their exhausted feet home, and two drunks arguing about whether kobolds could swim.
Surprisingly, now he was curious too—a kind of intel he could use in the dungeon in the future.
A normal morning in Orario, he guessed.
Those he passed gave him odd looks. Maybe it was his mismatched clothes. Maybe it was how lost he appeared. Or maybe it was because he still hadn't properly washed off every last trace of "dungeon perfume." Hard to tell.
'Could be just the effect of a new face around…'
The Guild doors slid open with a warm creak, and Orion stepped into a hall already bustling with early risers. Papers shuffled, quills scribbled, and staff members moved with the energy of people who had accepted that sleep would forever be optional.
He scanned the counters. Surprisingly, there were quite a few of them, trying to remember the story from the anime well enough not to embarrass himself.
And then his eyes fell onto a beautiful girl in glasses. An elf with green eyes, which attracted his attention more than anything.
She was an elf, for god's sake.
However, there was more. He happened to know her.
Eina Tulle. Half-elf. Bell's advisor in the original series. Big sister in glasses. You name it.
She was waifu…
'Might as well extract some useful intel while I'm at it,' he mused.
[Thou might wish to set thine hair aright ere thou goest to court a maid.]
'Hair?' Orion quickly ran his hands through his locks and found them all over the place. A bad case of bed hair, indeed.
'And I'm not courting her…'
She was organizing a stack of documents with machine-like efficiency. Perfect. A professional was exactly what he needed.
"Excuse me—" Orion started.
Eina looked up.
And immediately froze.
"Heh…!" she made the shuttle noise, unsure what happened the moment she laid eyes on him.
"Huh…?" He felt a bit self-conscious, checking his clothes and wondering what he did wrong.
Then her ears twitched. Her breath hitched. She blinked far too rapidly for any normal mortal. The papers in her hand slipped, scattering like startled birds across the counter.
"O–Oh! Um! G–Good morning! I—I mean—welcome to the Guild!" she stammered, bowing so fast he thought she might snap her spine. "How can I—how may I—um—assist you?!"
Orion stared. What… did he do?
He'd barely walked up to her.
[Ara… ara… my champion knoweth not his own allure, it seems. 'Tis simple enough: the maid hath fallen headlong for thee. A foolstruck swoon at first sight, naught less…]
She smirked, making a suggestive gesture from beside him.
Slightly leening in a way her breast was even more expose to the point Orion had to remove his eyes before his tratiously body started to react to it.
He can't handle a boner here in open, neither can his undies.
Orion was dumbfounded though.
Fall in love... with him ?
im-pausible...
Na ah...
Since when.
What did he saw waking up first in the morning...
'Oh they were divine breast...' he was speechless. Perhaps they were indeed his divine blessing in this world.
' But Really?!' he pondered only for a second before giving the matter a hard pass. He knew love at first sight doesn't just happen.
'Nope, can't be…' He sent a glare at the goddess, who was even more amused now.
"Uh… I wanted to ask how to become an adventurer here," he said carefully. "And also how to register a new Familia."
Eina's eyes, which had been dodging him until now, suddenly widened after registering the words.
"Wait… what do you mean by new?"
She was a mess. A complete, adorable, confused mess. One second blushing, the next completely out of her wits.
xXx
A/N : Ah, there is a reason behind why she acted like that. He's handsome, like really handsome, he doesn't know it yet though, but again that's not the only reason.
Here, I'll give a hint. Its something to do with her being an elf. Any guesses.