4 4. Joining the Miach Familia

Miach was intrigued and waited for Yuki to continue

"The Miach Familia used to be a middle-ranking Familia until an accident happened in the dungeon.

This accident resulted in the injury of one of your members and you taking up a large debt to get her a prosthetic arm after begging the Dian Cecht Familia to create it.

Unfortunately, all the members of your Familia left soon after." Ren decided to go all out retelling what he knew.

He happened to hear something slamming the wall, but decided to ignore it. He could more or less figure out what caused it.

Miach was shocked as Ren continued. Although what happened wasn't really a secret, he was still surprised by the amount of information Ren had gathered in his short time in Orario.

"The fact that you were willing to incur such a large debt because a Familia member is one of the reasons I've come here. The other being the low numbers of your Familia. I figured that I wouldn't have much trouble joining your Familia considering you need all the help you can get to get rid of your debt, or at least a portion of it." Ren decided to be honest with Miach at this point.

Miach kept quiet for a while before a wry smile appeared on his face. "So, what do you want?"

"Nothing much really. I just want to join your Familia, so I expect you to update my status board whenever necessary. I also hope that you'll keep whatever shows up on my status board to yourself of course." Ren didn't have to come up with any terms to discuss. He was already happy with the fact that he would be joining a Familia soon.

"That's it?" Miach asked in confusion. Everything that Ren had asked for was considered an obvious request. He taught that someone who would do such digging on his Familia would come up with more terms and conditions.

"That's it." Ren confirmed.

'I was overthinking.' Miach shook his head.

"You know, you're young so you might have some misconceptions about the dungeon. Many men dream of gaining riches, fame, power and women. The dungeon is the quickest way to gain those. They are unaware of what the dungeon truly entails.

The dungeon is a place of death. A place where the selfish desires of men a brought to life. A place where trust between companions can lead to death. A place... where hopes and dreams are shattered under the feet of the countless monsters with it.

The dungeon isn't a game. Nobody truly knows the number of people that die within a dungeon every year, whether those deaths are caused by monsters or their teammates. Everyone that dies in the dungeon is remembered as just a statistic. A failure of a deterrence to the many men who wish to enter it.

Are you truly willing to enter such a place?"

Miach said all of this in goodwill. Although he felt worried that he might lose a potential Familia member, he truly didn't wish to see such an intelligent youth die in the dungeon.

"Of course." Ren muttered as a resolute expression appeared on his face. Even though what Miach said had reminded him that this was his new reality, he couldn't help but be drawn to it. He felt like it was his purpose for travelling to this world.

That was the only thing keeping him from breaking down in this foreign world. The dream of entering the dungeon had constantly plagued his mind over the last few days.

An obsession.

Miach stared into Ren's eyes for a long time. It had been long since he saw such an expression.

He could tell that Ren was shaking a little after what he said. Yes, the boy was scared, but his desire to enter the dungeon outweighed his fears.

Perhaps the boy would go looking for another Familia if he rejected him. After all, he was only the boy's safest bet from what he heard. Perhaps watching over him himself was the only choice he had if he wanted to see the boy grow.

Miach realised a sigh as he reached out a hand. "I welcome you to the Familia, Ren."

"Thank you for the opportunity, Miach-sama." Ren replied as he met Miach's hand with his own as the smile on his face grew.

(Any ideas for skills and what not?)