1 The Labyrinth City Of Orario

The life of a God is much older than that of any creature but this cause their lifestyle to be repetitive which make them bored and empty, so after discovering a very particular world. A special meeting was held and an unanimous decision was reached.

The Gods and Goddesses decided to left the higher realm one after another. Choosing to descend to this lower realm while sealing their divine power in the process.

By selecting the human beings, elves, sub-humans and other creatures they liked, they formed a familia, they also grant their blessing tk make living beings have the ability to become stronger, so as to survive in this harsh environment.

With the descend of the Gods. The Labyrinth City, Orario who is known as the center of the whole world was built but it has a huge labyrinth underneath, hence it's name.

It also became the residence of the gods after descending to the lower realm. 

As a city jointly created by humans and gods, countless intelligent creatures yearn to come here, dreaming to become a well-known hero, looking for love, spreading fame, gaining great power, and earning a lot of money.

In short, Orario is a place where dreams come true!

However, it is not that simple to realize their dream. First of all, you must successfully reach Orario, and many monsters on the way will become terrible existences that hinder your progress.

Even if you are lucky enough to come to this place, you must successfully join familia to obtain blessing from the gods, then enter the dungeon to explore and become stronger through self-experience. Every step is difficult, all adventurers have to experience life and death.

So even though the gods have been in the lower realm for so long, there are still very few heroes that can appear.

...

"So this is the Labyrinth City, Orario? It really is a magical city!"

Standing on a solid tree branch, Akira looked at the huge and magnificent city in the distance and couldn't help but sigh in his heart.

In particular, the white tower that rises straight into the sky is even more fascinating.

It is hard to imagine how such a wonderful structure was built.

Not staying any longer, he jumped from the tree, and his vigorous skills were not what he should have at this age.

Akira was born as a half-elf in the elf village, far away from Orario. When he was 2 years old, his parents died fighting due to a conflict between the two kingdom which is Rakia and the Elves.

Fortunately, the elves in the village where he was born were all kind elves, they didn't utterly dislike half-elves. So after Akira's parents passed away, those elves took good care of him and raised him together.

In his previous life, Akira probably wouldn't have been able to go up and down in a tree so easily, but after figuring out what world he came to, he started training while being surprised

Of course, the word "Orario" spoken by those elves, is the reason Akira understand that he is in the world of Danmachi. So after some careful consideration and communication with elves who raised Akira in the village, he received their support. Then came Orario.

...

The two kilometers passed by in a flash.

Akira gradually approached the huge city that was constantly enlarged in sight.

Even if you can't see the scene inside the city, you can hear the shouts coming inside the city just by standing outside, and the lively scene has already appeared in your mind.

The construction style of the city wall itself is similar to that of the Middle Ages. It is entirely made of stone bricks. According to preliminary estimates, it is at least tens of meters high. Standing below it, you can completely feel how small you are.

Outside the city gate, there was a long queue of people in line for inspection.

Some are sitting in carriages, some are carrying goods and dressed as businessmen, some are farmers with hoes in their hands and various green vegetables on their shoulders, and some are wearing cloaks with sophisticated weapons on their waists...

In addition, there are many different race also mixed in the crowd.

A dwarf with a short stature of about one meter, an orc with hair all over his body, and an elf with fair skin and a beautiful appearance with a pair of pointed ears.

This kind of atmosphere is really great.

Waiting patiently, the people at the front decrease quickly. After a while, Akira came to the gate. The warrior in charge of guarding the gate briefly checked his belongings, questioned him casually, and after confirming that there was no problem, he allowed him to enter the gate and his name was registered.

During the whole process, the soldier did not show any expression.

For them, a large number of living beings from all corners of the world would enter Orario every day, wanting to become heroes or live a good life.

It's a pity that there are very few people who can succeed, and most of them died in the dungeon.

In this kind of situation, they have long been used to it, and it cannot cause the slightest disturbance.

Big waves wash the sand. If you don't have the ability and potential to match your ambition, then you are doomed to not have a good ending.

Not caring about the attitude of the guards, Akira simply thanked him and walked into the city with his simple belongings.

...

"Finally arrived"

Entering Orario's interior, Akira stretched his body lazily.

Calculating carefully, it has been months since he left the village.

Although some time was wasted on resting and hunting food, it only took more than one month on the road which is fast enough.

"The next step is to confirm the time and select Familia."

"And the best location for this kind of thing is the guild."

After entering through the East gate of the city, Akira began to inquire as he walked along the street

Soon after some inquiry about the location of the guild, he follow the direction pointed out by those locals and quickly arrived at Northwest Street and found the very conspicuous Adventurer's Guild.

The Adventurer's Guild is an organization controlled by the great god Uranus.

The guild is responsible for managing all adventurers, and at the same time guides new adventurers and provides relevant information. It can be regarded as the maintainer of order in the labyrinth city Orario.

But in many cases, the Adventurer's Guild also accepts other businesses.

For example, those top familia members are entrusted to seek talents, and occasionally they will issued such a thing like recruitment order to the adventurer's guild, and then the guild staff recommends candidates to that familia, but whether they can join them depends on the thoughts of the familia god or the leader of the familia.

This method undoubtedly increases the possibility of new and talented adventurers joining their familia.

He pushed open the guild door and walked in. After briefly scanning the surrounding layout, he walked towards the rightmost window.

"Hello, may I help you with anything?"

Sensing someone approaching, An elf who was sorting out information, raised her head and looked over.

The girl has pointed ears and clear emerald eyes.

Her medium-length brown hair is spread behind her, and her slender, plump figure is wearing a union uniform, exuding the dignity of a professional woman.

Akira recognized the other party's identity at first glance.

She is the advisor of the main protagonist, Eina Tulle. Which also why he chose this direction.

"I just come here in orario today, so I'd like to inquire if there are any Familia who are recruiting members that are suitable for me, I also like to register as adventurers"

Stopping in front of the window, Akira said.

Upon hearing Akira's request, Eina's expression became a little strange.

She came to the Guild for an internship at the age of fourteen and has been working as a receptionist here for several years.

Although it cannot be compared with those seniors, the number of adventurers it has received is definitely not that few.

Generally speaking, when a new adventurer comes to ask about familia, they will just ask some recommendations to employee.

The requirements for members of this kind of family are not too high, and most of them have one or more level 2 adventurers.

Someone can lead the team. It can be said that it is a very suitable place for newcomers to develop.

As long as the basic requirements are met, there will be no problem in settling down and living in Orario in the future, which is in line with what those newcomers wish.

Compared with that kind of request, the request that Akira asked is undoubtedly much more difficult than them.

Because most familia recruitment came from top level familia.

As for those low and middle level familia, they will not issue such an order since those guild's staff will be the one that will recommend it to adventurer.

Beside that's not all, he even wants to be an adventurer before having falna, With just simple logic, she knows what he's up to.

"Sir, do you really want to venture into the dungeon before having falna?"

"I'm not saying it's not good, the main thing is that the risk is too high."

"Let's not talk about anything else. Without a falna, it would be very dangerous to explore the dungeon alone."

For the sake of Akira's safety, Eina persuaded him in a professional manner.

"As for your request about those familia recruiting, only top-level familia can issue this kind of thing, you must think carefully.

"I can recommend several Familia here that are more suitable for you."

"One of them is even the Ganesha Familia who announced recruitment training not long ago."

"As long as you can pass the other party's test, you will basically be able to break through to a level 2 adventurer in the future."

"Don't worry, I just want to see if there is familia that are suitable for my development."

Waving his hand casually, Akira replied with a smile on his face.

"And I'm just asking, I may not actually join."

"All right..."

Seeing that Akira didn't seem ready to give up this idea, Eina also sighed helplessly.

After flipping through the filing cabinet on the side for a while, she pulled out one of the newly added files and handed it over.

"If you really want to join those familia, then here is the list of familia recruitment."

...

According to the map given by Eina, Akira soon arrived at the destination.

"Is it here?!"

Slightly raising his head, looking at the plaque hanging on the door.

The '?Ἥφαιστος?' written out of the sacred text in the plaque obviously means Hephaestus. Akira also know that this so-called sacred text is Ancient Greek Language in his previous life.

This is the familia that Eina recommended to Akira after her persuasion failed.

Creek~

"Um?"

Just as Akira was observing at this strange-looking building, the door was opened from the inside.

A tall woman with black hair tied back and an eyepatch over her left eye walked out.

Looking at Akira standing in front of the door, a look of surprise flashed through her exposed right eye.

"Hey, are you here for a commission?"

"no."

Akira replied.

"I'm here to join the Familia."

"Join the Familia?"

Tsubaki touched her chin with a thoughtful look on her face.

As the leader and the only first class adventurer of the Hephaestus Familia, Tsubaki is naturally quite capable.

But just before she opened the door and walked out, she was completely unaware of someone standing outside the door.

Just relying on this, she could be sure this man is not an ordinary person.

"If I remember correctly, it seems that the Lord God has recently issued a request to recruit new employees

"Since you want to join, then..."

she turned around and walked back into the house.

"Come with me."

"If nothing else, the goddess should still be working in her office now."

"Aren't you in a hurry?"

Akira asked, recalling that the other party had just walked out.

"It doesn't matter since it won't take more than a few minutes."

After waving her hand nonchalantly, Tsubaki replied along the way.

"By the way, My name is Tsubaki Collbrande. You can just call me by my name.

"Hmm.. My name is Akira Nagumo, Aki for short.

...

Hephaestus Familia, Workplace of the main goddess.

Akira, who followed Tsubaki into it, saw a woman with short red hair, who was concentrating on measuring something with a ruler.

When I carefully glance, I found out that it was measuring some kind of drawing.

"My lord, I brought a person in who want to join our familia."

It wasn't until Hephaestus, who was wearing a white shirt, slowly put down the measuring tool in her hand, that Tsubaki began to report.

During the period, Akira stood silently behind Tsubaki.

Slowly walking out from behind the table, Hephaestus crossed her arms and sat on the table with her hips raised. Her left eye, which was not covered by the blindfold, looked at the young man opposite him

"Goddess?"

Looking at the goddess in front of him, Akira asked.

"There is something wrong...I can't see your nature or even characteristics clearly."

Hephaestus had a puzzled look on her face.

This is a very strange thing.

As a goddess, she can roughly see the nature of every child in the lower world with just a glance.

If you just chat a few words, you can even almost grasp the characteristics of that person.

But this point failed on Akira.

Not only can't you see through the other person, but you can't even detect whether the other person is lying during a conversation.

"You can't be an old guy who has restrained his power and come here to trick me on purpose."

Hephaestus jokingly said as she didn't detect anything.

"I'm not that crazy yet."

Akira hastily replied.

"It's really weird."

Rubbing her temple in confusion, Hephaestus eye moved to Tsubaki not far away.

There is no abnormality.

She could still see clearly the nature of Tsubaki.

Why did it fail as soon as I gaze at Akira?

Hephaestus looked at Akira with interest.

"I never thought there would be such an interesting person as you."

"Now, can you tell me why you want to join my family?"

"The reason is simple."

Glancing at Hephaestus in his front, Akira gave his reason.

"I have secrets that I don't want to reveal."

"Compared to joining other top familia, joining such familia like yours is more reassuring to keep my secret."

"As for the problems that will be encountered like diving in dungeon alone, In my opinion they are not a problem."

"I see. It seem like you aren't lying."

Hephaestus, who crossed her arms, spoke quietly.

"And It also seems that you are very confident in yourself?"

For this problem, Akira had thought about it beforehand. But he knows that adding another sentence will only make his word lack credibility.

Hephaestus tilted her head, finally choosing to trust her intuition.

"I have understood your thoughts, but as a member of the Hephaestus familia, forging is an indispensable skill."

"So in the next month, I will inspect your forging technology. If you fail to meet the standard, you will be punished."

Hearing that Hephaestus allowed him to join the family, Akira smile and quickly said.

"Thank you very much, Goddess Hephaestus, for giving me this opportunity!"

Seeing Akira bent his head down to express his gratitude, Hephaestus quickly stepped forward to help him up with a smile on her face, and said in a very soft tone: "You've joined my familia so you don't have to be so reserved in front of me."

"Hmm... where do you live now?"

"I just arrive at Orario in this morning and directly went to guild to inquire then I'm here."

"Oh, so it is"

"But since you've just arrive, you may be tired, so you should go to guestroom and rest for a bit. Later, I will give you my blessing."

Naturally, Akira would not have any dissatisfaction with this arrangement, and even feels grateful to his choice.

"Then I will go now Goddess Hephaestus."

Akira walked out of the room and was guided by someone to the guestroom.

Tsubaki, who was at the side of the door look at her Goddess with a questioning tone.

"My lord, How did you feel?"

Tsubaki's attitude towards Hephaestus is obviously more serious than when facing the family members.

"Although I can't see through him, but his words and idea of ​​joining the family didn't seem fake."