31 Chapter 30

I woke up in my bed slowly after a long night of working on, then finally completing [Holy Armor]. I sat silently in bed for a moment before jolting up suddenly, realizing that today was the day that Denatius would be held. During the meeting, my leveling speed would be revealed and my alias would also be decided. I wasn't worried about either thing in particular, but I was interested to see what my alias would be.

I quickly used [Dress Change] and [Clean Wash] before heading up into the shop. I saw Miach dressed casually with Naaza holding up two dress outfits next to him. Naaza herself had three dresses piled next to her as she stood in front of the mirror. After helping Miach choose his suit she began to pick out what she was going to wear, her tail wagging ever so slightly.

"Good morning, what's up with the dress clothes?" I asked as I walked up to the pair, who had been in deep conversation until interrupted by my question.

"There's going to be a party tonight, after Denatus, courtesy of Genesha," Miach said with a sigh, clearly not too pleased about the prospect.

Naaza looked at me as Miach spoke, then back down to herself "I'm sorry Augustus, I am just so used to being the one that has to go to the parties, even before the incident, that I didn't even ask if you wanted to go,"

I watched Naaza's tail stop wagging when she offered for me to take her place at the party, so I replied casually, "Nah, I'm not one for the party lifestyle,"

It was true that I have no interest in parties, but I mostly wanted Naaza to go have fun with Miach without me third wheeling. I didn't want to force her to stay home when I would have been miserable at the party, that was unless Ais was there of course, but it was a gamble if she was going to be there or not. I wasn't going to risk Naaza's happiness on the small chance that I would get to see Ais.

"Are you sure?" Naaza asked, trying not to sound excited but her wagging tail gave away her true feelings.

"Yeah, I'm sure," I said, causing her to grin.

"By the way, what alias do you want? I can't promise anything, but I will fight for a good one," Miach said with a look of determination as he gave me a resolute thumbs up, causing me to chuckle slightly.

"I appreciate the sentiment but don't worry about it too much. If you can, something sword or magic related would be cool though, but as I said before, it's no big deal if I don't get a good one," I said with a shrug, already certain that I would be getting a joke one.

Miach nodded seriously at my words and waved goodbye as he began to walk toward Babel. Naaza and I stood at the front of the shop, watching him go. As he disappeared into the crowd, Naaza spoke without looking at me.

"I wouldn't get my hopes up if I were you," she said, finally turning back and heading to the shop counter.

"Don't worry, I have literally no expectations for this," I said, throwing myself down in the seat next to her.

We sat in comfortable silence for a moment, not needing either of us to speak to ward away any awkwardness. Despite our outward appearances differing greatly, Naaza and I are alike in many ways. We are both on the quiet side and have a deep respect for Miach, which would lead us to do as much as we possibly can for him. Things were admittedly a bit awkward between us at first, but now I was proud to call her one of my friends. Truthfully, she was pretty much my only friend in this world.

'Dang, do I not have friends?' I thought to myself. I quickly though of everyone that I would consider a friend in this world, namely Naaza, Miach, and maybe Tsubaki as well, but she was more of a friendly acquaintance that I had met once. Before I could get depressed by my lack of friends, Naaza broke me from my thoughts with a question.

"What have you been working on? It's rare for you to stay so long without a single trip to the dungeon," she asked casually, but I could see the interest in her eyes.

"Well, you see..." I began to explain to Naaza, with her getting more and more interested in my skills and magic with every word that left my mouth.

- (POV: Denatus) -

In a room of polished stone high up in the tower of Babel, a grand meeting of divine beings was occurring, at least that was the official story. I reality, the meeting was mostly just a place for the gods of Orario to gossip and compare the power of their children and familias against one another. It was also an opportunity to embarrass the children of their fellow gods with particularly unflattering aliases. That was usually what the majority of the meeting consisted of.

The rows of seating filled as gods and goddesses trickled into the room and found their seats new to their fellow gods. They chatted amongst themselves as they all waited for the meeting to begin. Eventually, the room was full and every god and goddess had found their place, prompting a particular god to rise from his seat and announce the start of the meeting.

"I am Hermes, the mediator for this Denatus!" the god said with a deep bow and a flip of his feathered hat.

Hermes looked down at the paper containing the items that they would need to discuss during the meeting, whistling as he read one of the entries, "It seems like this is shaping up to be an exciting meeting after all," Hermes announced loudly, drawing the attention of many of the less interested gods and goddesses, "It seems that the Sword Princess's record of ranking up from level 1 --> 2 within a year has been broken by a large margin."

That god many of the gods chattering excitedly among themselves, wondering who this mystery adventurer was due to none of them having heard anything about this in advance. In the crowd, Freya raised an eyebrow at the news, already knowing the boy that this would be about. Right now, he wasn't necessarily in her sights for poaching, but the more she learned about him, the more her mere curiosity turned to desire.

Hermes himself also had a grin, though it was blocked from the view of his fellow gods by the paper he held up. He was really starting to consider that this boy may be able to become a hero in the future, he was already off to a good start. There would be more obstacles and trials in his way, but Hermes had a good feeling about this boy. 'Zeus, we may not need to wait for your grandson after all,' the god thought to himself as he cleared his throat loudly.

"The record set by the Sword Princess, of the Loki Familia," Hermes said whilst gesturing toward Loki, "Was previously a little less than a year. However, this new record has completely shattered the old one. The new record currently stands at a month and a half to get from level 1 --> 2, and it is held by Augustus Zahard from the Miach familia,"

The gods were in an uproar once they heard the news, many had to confirm with their neighbors that they had actually heard the right amount due to their disbelief. Then, they turned to look at Miach with a mixture of jealousy and envy, with only a few gods and goddesses showing genuine happiness for their friend. Suddenly, a voice cut through the din of the room, silencing every other voice.

"That's a talented adventurer you've picked up there Miach, mind telling us where you got him?" a seductive voice questioned, causing Miach to be aroused and concerned in equal measure.

"All you need to do is help out a random boy that gets hit by a stray carriage on the street," Miach replied with a forced chuckle, deeply uncomfortable with Freya's attention locked onto his child.

Luckily Miach was saved from having to field more questions due to Hermes, "How about we skip all the boring stuff for now and go straight to deciding the boy's alias?" the god said, hyping up the crowd of gods.

Miach cringed as names such as 'Super Rookie', 'Little Rockstar', and 'Miach's Will' were thrown out as obvious attempts to embarrass him and Augustus. Just as the barrage of stupid names began to wear him down, a new voice chimed in, it too was able to silence all the chatter from the gods. It was a certain red-haired goddess of the forge who spoke, surprising many of the gods present into silence.

"My captain, Tsubaki, has spoken favorably of this boy. I think the name 'Sword Saint' fits well with the stories that I have been told about the boy. Apparently, his skill with a blade may even surpass the Sword Princess's," Hephaestus said clearly, her voice alone enough to give the name credibility.

Miach immediately agreed, sending desperate looks to his friends amongst the other participants of the meeting to try and sway them to vote in the favor of this alias over the others. However, the surprises were not over yet.

"I agree with the name. While I doubt the bit about his sword skills surpassing my precious Ais's, I will agree that the name is fitting for the new rising star in Orario," The goddess Loki chimed in with an unreadable expression, her vote of favor alongside Hephaestus's practically sealing the vote already.

After a few more votes in favor of the name, namely from Miach's friends and allies in the meeting, the name was finalized, "From here on out, Augustus Zahard's alias will be the 'Sword Saint'," Hermes yelled to the excited crowd.