12 Chapter 12
"I'm glad that your safe," Fortuna said, pulling away and walking back to lock the store.
I watched her as she did so, not sure quite what to say right now. I decided to stay quiet as she locked the door and sighed deeply. I could tell that she obviously wanted to say something, but I didn't want to pressure her, so I waited. We began to walk back toward the apartment side by side until Fortuna sighed and spoke.
"This isn't what I thought things would be like down in the mortal realm while I was in Heaven," She said suddenly, stopping and sitting down on one of the many steps where were walking up, "Everything is so much harder and real then in Heaven, it's one thing to watch events from afar compared to actually being there,"
I sat down beside her and put an arm around her shoulder comfortingly, "To be alive is to struggle and face hardship, it's what shapes us into the people we become," I said, quoting something I had read in my past life, but felt was applicable for this moment.
"Consequences weren't really a thing in Heaven, but now..." She trailed off, so I decided to say what she hadn't.
"People you care about die," I said, feeling that I understood where she was coming from.
I felt a stronger sense of connection when looking at Fortuna because I realized that she and I weren't so different from one another. We had both been outsiders looking in at this world and its adventures and decided to come here, only to have to face the true reality of this world. I had a feeling that she had mostly descended to come to have fun in the mortal realm, but since she was one of the more empathetic and emotional gods, she became agitated by the realities of the mortal realm. The death, suffering, and strife didn't seem to sit well with her.
She took a deep shaking breath, "What brought this all on was a friend of mine lost their entire familia today in the dungeon,"
"Dang," was all I could say as my eyes widened slightly, but truthfully I wasn't surprised and didn't particularly care about this unfortunate group of adventurers, "That's just the reality of life in the dungeon,"
Fortuna seemed to sense my indifferent attitude because she looked over at me, "Do you not care?" she asked, seemingly confused by my lack of care.
"It's just that I can't bring myself to care about everyone I hear about. Sure, it's unfortunate and sad that they died, but since I don't know them personally, they are just a few more of the deaths caused by the dungeon," I said, knowing that this may sound a bit callous, but was true, "You can't care about everyone equally, or every tragedy will break you, it's better to care about those close to you,"
"So, you're saying I should spend my energy caring about the people close to me and ignore everyone else's suffering?" She asked, seemingly trying to work through the problem mentally and not quite getting what I was saying.
"Not exactly, you can care for others and try to improve their lives, but you can't stop everyone from suffering," I said, deciding to just leave it at that as I got to my feet and offered a hand to Fortuna to pull her up.
She took my hand and rose to her feet, still looking deep in thought, but she quickly shook her head and spoke, "Sorry that I haven't been a great Goddess, but from here on out, I will support you 110%," she said, confusing me slightly.
"As long as your happy, I'm happy," I said, deciding to support her in her self-improvement endeavors even if I didn't completely understand, "By the way, can you update my Falna?"
This caused her to raise an eyebrow, "It's only been one day, your stats can't have changed that much," she said.
"You never know," I said, excited to see how much I improved.
"Okay," Fortuna said, then we finished walking to the apartment and entered.
I quickly laid down on the couch and removed my shirt. I felt it when Fortuna sat on the couch beside me and began to update my Falna. I could hear a small gasp of surprise from the goddess, then I heard her voice and felt a strange sense of danger.
"What happened to just dipping your toes in? I must be mistaken but does fighting Killer Ants in a kill chamber on the seventh floor for hours on end sound like dipping your toes in," she said as a chill went down my spine.
I had a few ways to play this, but I went for the tried and true classic method, "That wasn't me," I said, my absurd confidence in my statement nearly caused Fortuna to fall off the couch.
"What do you mean it wasn't you, it's literally written right here," she said indignantly, tapping a finger on my back.
"Well, I guess it's wrong," I said, trying to suppress a laugh at this point.
"Then how did you get these stats?" Fortuna asked, trying to sound upset, but I could hear a smile in her voice due to my bullshit-no-Jutsu.
"I did a few pushups," I said casually, fully diffusing the situation, but when I turned, I could see a slightly troubled look on Fortuna's face alongside her uneasy smile.
"If you say so," she said, handing the paper to me for me to look at.
-
[Galahad
Lv. 1
STR: H-155
END: H-134
DEX: H-117
AGI: I-99
MAG: H-188
- Magic -
Magicule Manipulation
- Skills -
Tensura]
-
I nodded as I looked at my new stats. I honestly would have expected them to be a bit higher, but I guess that this world is a bit stingy with experience. I quickly crumpled up the paper and tossed it into the fireplace so that nobody could steal it. Not that I thought anyone had their eyes on me yet, but I felt it was the smart choice. I finally turned back to Fortuna and spoke what was on my mind.
"I know I ended up not being honest before with the 'dipping my toes in' statement, but I will be honest now. I will probably employ more tactics like the ones today rather than raising my stats by only a handful per day and taking years to level up," I said, watching a complicated expression cover her face.
After a moment, her face cleared, and she looked at me in acceptance, but that didn't stop her from asking a very good question, "Why are you in such a rush to get stronger?" she asked seriously.
I paused to think seriously for a moment before answering, "It's a bit cliche, but I think I'll become the strongest then clear the dungeon," I said, costing not to say the final part of my plan right now, the fact that I may be able to travel to other worlds in the future.
"Even though I don't like it, I'll trust in you and support you," she said with a small sigh.
"Thank you," I said truthfully, flashing a wide radiant smile.
"One last thing before bed," Fortuna said, catching me off guard with her next question, "As the captain of the familia, do you want to be in charge of recruiting, or should I? We should also talk about our plans for the size and scope of the familia," she said.
"Hmm... What type of familia do you want this to be?" since she was the Goddess, I would defer to her, but I was curious about what she wanted.
"I was thinking of a crafting familia, maybe with a focus on clothing and gems since those are my specialties. I was thinking we could also get involved with interior design as well," she said, "You and maybe a few others can go into the dungeon to collect high-quality supplies for us crafters in the familia,"
I nodded, "That sounds good to me," I said before wishing her goodnight and heading to my room.
When I got back to my room, I took out my spear from my storage and sat on the bed with it, "Great Sage, is it possible to change Aura Sword into Aura Spear or something similar?"
[Affirmative, it is possible]
With Great Sage's assurances, I began to work on changing the Art. I activated it again and again, slowly morphing it to cover a spear instead of a sword. I worked for about an hour since it is much harder to change an existing Art than just to create a new one. Soon enough, I watched as I activated the ability, and my aura smoothly covered the entirety of my spear. I quickly checked my status and saw that, indeed, Aura Sword had been changed to Aura Spear. With that done, I stored my spear away and crawled into bed.
I decided that tomorrow I would try to pick up a few new skills and Arts.
