30 Awakening(2/2)

After the conversation between Hestia and Haru ended, the latter wished him good luck. Even though the whole situation was still in an embryonic state, Hestia could notice an attachment between Haru and Hephaestus, which is why she wished the two good luck, hoping that everything will go well from now. Before leaving the room, however, she explained what she had forgotten to add earlier.

"... I don't know how much you care, but the people who saved you have requested to speak to you as soon as you are available, even in the next few days. I don't know the reason, but I do know their familia's God. You can trust them."

At Hestia's words, Haru lost for a moment in his thoughts. As shown in the anime, Hestia possessed some friends, and although he could not remember their names well, he remembered their appearance. He knew that if Hestia could say she knew the God with such confidence, then the latter had no bad intentions, yet he would still judge anyone who stood in front of him, ignoring their backgrounds.

"I see. Thanks for the information, I apologize once again for the trouble."

Although their relationship was somewhat improved, Haru still had to treat a Goddess with due respect. However, Hestia did not pay particular attention to the way he addressed her, as long as he was not offensive.

Saying goodbye after this last conversation ended, Haru saw Hestia leave through the door.

Now alone, he got out of bed. He could still feel a great deal of tiredness on his overall body, while his shoulders and arms were rather sore from all the blows that he forced them to withstand. For the rest of his body, The only thing he had was a bandage that covered his forehead. He collided against the ground countlessly, so it was likely Haru had opened a wound, and as evidence, he also remembered the blood spilling from his cheek to his chin.

However, as Hestia told him, the injuries wouldn't take more than a couple of days to heal completely, which was great. But Haru now had only one question in his mind, which had provoked the calm and quiet eyes he had in the latter's presence a few moments ago, to become deadly serious.

'...What caused its comrades to arrive? I performed the procedure correctly, and it shouldn't have had time to call for them, so what caused their alert? It was clear they aimed at me and no one else, which means that the culprit could only have been that Killer Ant.'

The only idea that came to his mind was that somehow, the Killer Ant felt danger before his attack could pierce the monster's weak point. He couldn't define it in another way than odd. Yet after a few minutes, Haru chose to abandon the idea of solving the mystery, not having a single clue to corroborate any theory that might have made its way into his mind.

His idea was to update the status. Having only memories of what had happened in fact, Haru did not remember whether he had done so. But just as he was about to ask his system, Haru was interrupted as the door opened once again.

'Such timing to show up...'

In front of him, there was a girl that he had known for some time. With her guild uniform snatched, and her uneven breathing. It was evident the girl ran from the Guild to the Tower of Babel, reaching this room in a hurry.

Haru wanted to start the conversation, but before he could, he saw how her pink eyes were lucid, and while it had stopped him from talking for a moment, Misha instead was quick to catch her breath.

"We have told you countless times not to be reckless in the Dungeon... explain to me why just a few days after I have to find you in this state, you don't realize how dangerous the Dungeon is in the end...!"

At her words, Haru's open lips closed almost instinctively. At this moment, Misha's broken voice seemed so angry, as if she was about to explode from the urge to scold him, yet her words still sounded formal. Often, people described her as someone who didn't take the job too seriously, yet Haru believed that was not true at all. Because she took her work seriously, Misha had trouble putting her trust in adventurers.

It was likely that someone like him would have appeared in her life. If at first, she believed that even though the danger was something she couldn't ignore, the various adventurers would come back to her for a chat; this belief shattered soon. They would always end up the same way, never coming back. However, if Misha had found someone to argue with after all the time she spent closing in herself, it was understandable that she would show her fury as Haru did something she deemed the utmost proof of recklessness...

---

"...I apologize for having misunderstood...! I thought it was weird, but all the evidence told us you were the culprit as the Killer Ants had enough time to call for their comrades..."

Seeing Misha bow respectfully and as an apology, Haru shook his head. They had no way of knowing it wasn't his fault, and Misha's attitude partly reminded him that there were still people who cared for him, which is why shattering the sword to save his life was a choice he would no longer regret.

"It was hard, but the important thing is that I left with no serious injuries. Since recovering wouldn't take more than a few days, I won't have problems at all."

At his words, Misha nodded as she looked elsewhere. The prospectus was only from a medical point of view; As the Guild would certainly take action for Haru's behaviour by extending that time to a week. The guild needed to make him understand the real value of his life and that of any other person who could be involved. However, as she could understand, Haru was telling the truth. Whatever caused that swarm to appear was not his fault, which meant punishing him would be quite unfair on the Guild's part.

'The main problem is that I could confirm it personally, but will it be enough to avoid punishment...?'

Leaving this thought for later, Misha sighed. She had left her work for the day to come and scold Haru, but she had found herself apologizing shortly after for a misunderstanding. Haru had told her he would not exaggerate. However, she heard those words too much to believe without evidence or time to do its course. Confirming whether he was sincere or not was the reason she had found to continue this relationship further.

Soon after, their conversation passed from seriousness to playfulness. Haru ironized on how Misha had run so much only to end up in a misunderstanding. However, Misha replied to his words apologizing once again. The two had a usual pleasant conversation. After about half an hour, however, Haru told her he had no trouble moving, the reason why they chose to leave this room for those who needed it.

It was with his words that the pair were now outside the tower of Babel. Given that Haru could neither train from Hephaestus nor at home, and Misha had taken the day off to be able to scold Haru to her heart's content; the two were in a situation where both had free time. As if it were natural, Haru pointed out he wanted to go shopping for armour and especially a new weapon, which caused Misha's face to bloom into a smile.

"Then it's decided. Let's go on a date!"

While Misha teased Haru as she openly stated this was no different from a date, he sighed. Even though his feelings, somewhat tangled on what Misha had just said, he knew the latter did not mean what she said, and having already had much more experiences than a simple 'date', it did not embarrass him at all.

"Is that what you call someone who goes shopping together? Then yes. In that case, this is a date."

Being able to see that Haru's poker face was there as usual, not even fazed by the way she was putting things, Misha sighed in disapproval. The fact she couldn't tease Haru when he could many times was irritating. However, also entertaining because he wasn't making any moves on her. His answers were so neutral they amazed Misha every time, other reason why she felt she could keep these feelings of friendship, even with the knowledge that one day, it might be Haru who wouldn't come back.

"Cold as usual on this kind of stuff! We call it a date, but it's not that rare when it comes to new adventurers. After all, our job is to guide an adventurer to the limit of our abilities. A date fits perfectly into one of them."

New adventurers could get lost in the Tower of Babel easily thanks to the presence of so many precious items. So it was customary for advisors to guide the adventurers on what was most favourable to them. However, Misha did not usually do this, as many people did not deserve this kind of treatment, but if it was Haru, then she had no problem spending some of her free time in this way.

Haru had a pretty high budget for an adventurer who had just started. The only problem was that he didn't have the time and the reason to collect all the Killer Ants' magic stones and drops, because if he did, he would have enough Valis by now to buy much superior armour and sword, but in the same way, it was wrong to have this kind of thought.

Having a high-ranked armour for low floors meant having greater security, but a smaller increase in parameters. The reason why Haru was betting more on a sword that could meet his expectations, as from the one the blacksmith had given him, was high.

On the way, Haru also took a quick look at the vambraces he had bought from the blacksmith. They were damaged, which is why they would not last long as well.

'Their goal was to protect me. According to this logic, what should I do with these now?'

Haru didn't find them on him when he woke up. As he went out with Misha from what was the area where small structures for the recovery of adventurers were, a guard stopped him by giving him everything they had kept in custody while he was asleep. Besides his Valis he had in the inventory, he had left all the drops and magic stones he had gotten up to that point. Which, even though worth a lot less than the loot he could have gotten from the Killer Ants, would still be a decent profit.

"..Are you listening?"

His thoughts were interrupted by Misha. Nodding as he was following what she said about finding armour in a cheaper place, Haru was lead to a shop similar to the one where a blacksmith had taught him the base technique for forging.

'..It's also thanks to him that now I'm here, I should drop by when I have some time..'

Haru snapped out of his thoughts regarding the armour as he would think about it later. To his surprise, Misha led Haru into a suspicious-looking shop, yet that at the same time had no danger located inside.

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(Wanting to make a monogamy story out of a harem preset world as danmachi isn't stupid or wrong. Only tough, remember it. In the next few days, there will be a poll in my discord server I believe y'all want to participate in since you are reading the novel. I suggest joining. discord.gg/y8VBZAp)