Chapter 2
AUTHOR NOTES:
Hey there! I was planning the overall arcs of the fic and I realized that if I really want to show how the butterfly effect of the firsts chapters' actions are gonna change things, then I am gonna need more characters because the ones that are canon are or too less defined or too focused on their goals and be difficult to show drastic changes.
So what I am gonna use is the characters from DanMachi Orario Rhapsodia, which while non-canon, at the beginning of the story, aren't in any familia and their goals are more general, so they are easier to use as a writer.
My idea is not to involve Orario Rhapsodia's protagonist Emma Flowers, the bad guys, and their plot, just the characters around them.
Just to be clear, they will not be a big focus of the fic but to better show how the SI actions go around modifying and impacting things.
I will be adding the relevant things about them so you don't need to go to the wiki to understand them but I will recommend that you check their relationship chart, let me translate it for you, here: i.imgur.com/e8cpCrc.png
o-O-o
Shalltear was leaving Babel with a pained look on her face…
Ugh!
I made things a mess!
Dammit!
And I needed to concede to train Ais tomorrow otherwise she would not leave me alone…
*sigh*
It's still okay, it's still okay, it's still okay
I have a plan to fix all this…
We agreed to meet at the Abandoned church between Northwest Main Street and West Main Street… That's where Hestia's church is located from what I remember…
So… I only need to make a situation where Ais shines in front of Bell right?
And then make Ais interested in Bell…
And since we are going early in the morning Bell sure is gonna find us if we train near the church…
No… better be safe than sorry and I am gonna wait directly in front of the church… just in case...
She looks around Babel and sees a clear area with trees surrounding it and then white houses with red roofs illuminated by the bright light of the afternoon sun.
People going and coming doing their things… Dwarves, Gnomes, Humans, Prums... Some looked like normal townsfolk, and some looked like adventurers.
So… this is Orario huh?
'The most passionate city in the world'
And this should be the Main Street Plaza…
Then she looked behind her and there it was, the Babel tower in all its splendor.
From the ground, it looked tall enough to pierce the clouds.
Babel, the tallest tower in the city, its imposing shadow strikes awe into the citizenry.
Whoa!
I wonder how many floors it has…
….
….
Anyway! Let's focus on my goals…
The Dungeon and Orario...
I think it is better to take as much control as I can of the dungeon first, but that doesn't mean I can't work on taking over Orario and changing it meanwhile…
Hmmm… I think this is something that I need to prepare to do over time.
Going around killing all the scum on the same day will only create chaos and the city will collapse.
Yeah, no… I want to take over Orario, not destroy it
Then she unconsciously started walking and moved to the side of the tower and rest on a wall under Babel's shadow
Then… What about changing Orario?...
Hmmm… I could start working on increasing the influence of the small familias that have a positive effect in Orario…
Top of my mind are Hestia, Miach and Takemikazuchi Familias…
Actually… Now that I think of Miach, I am curious about the effect the potions are gonna have on me…
Ok! The Miach familia first then…To the Blue Pharmacy!
Then she looked around to find an area with bushes and trees
So that's the South Main Street… then West Main Street is this way
And then she started walking and started noticing that something was wrong.
Wh-What is this… why do I feel more sluggish… kind of feels like when moving underwater but much weaker…
Then she looks around, notices her shadow, and then looks at the sun.
Ah! right… I am a vampire and vampires in Yggdrasil are weakened by sunlight, which would diminish their abilities and suffer a penalty for all actions under sunlight…
Well… it doesn't feel really bad… I doubt this is gonna be much of a problem… But since I already have a parasol on hand…
Then she opens her parasol and keeps walking by West Main.
o-O-o
After a while, she is distracted by a building made of stone. It's two stories tall like the rest, but it looks very deep. The biggest bar in the area.
Huh?! So this is how the Hostess of Fertility looks… I gotta say it is more impressive than I thought…
Anyway, not getting distracted, I am on the right track to the Blue Pharmacy…
o-O-o
After going around more deep into West Main Street and going through a lot of backstreets back and forth, she finally found it: the Blue Pharmacy.
A small stone house that was built in a dark, damp place, with a sign with the Miach Familia's emblem, a completely healthy human body, above the front door.
"So this is it…"
The Blue Pharmacy… not really the best place to live…
*sigh*
Some day in the future you will have a much better place to live… A cool store on one of the main streets of Orario, you will see!
She closes her parasol and carries it pointing downwards with her left hand.
And she takes a few steps to get closer to entering the store, but before she can open it.. she hears the door crack and a girl appears
The first thing that caught Shalltear's attention was the long black hair, fox ears, and her tail, she is a Renard.
The girl has yellow eyes with red markings at the edges.
She wears a shrine maiden outfit, a maple leaf-shaped hair accessory, and red leggings.
She recognized her…
Shinonome Momiji, one of the trio from the Soma familia… If I remember correctly… she was born into a family of shrine maidens in the Far East… and while normally calm, she can be a beast when she becomes angry…
"Oh! My apologies, I didn't see you" she says
"It is not a problem"
And then Shalltear moves to allow her to pass by and exit the store.
When another girl comes from inside the store.
The girl, a Hume Bunny, has white hair along with rabbit ears and yellow eyes.
She wears a yellow headband, a black choker, a loose kimono with a leaf design that exposes her chest which she covers with a sarashi, a lavender obi, and a katana that she keeps at her waist.
Tsukinokami Kaede, the childhood friend of Momiji, and the leader of the trio.
I remember she was born in the same small village in the Far East. As per her hometown's custom, she left on a training trip around the world when she came of age, and her childhood friend Momiji tagged along because she was worried.
And they had the bad luck of joining the Soma familia when they came to Orario.
"Come on Coco! Or we are gonna leave you behind!" the new girl says
"Wa-wait for me!" is heard from the inside
And another girl appears, a short Pallum, she has blue eyes and short hair that curls inward, with two petal-like hairs at the top and one hair on each side sticking down at the bottom.
She wears a black top with yellow near the collar, brown shorts with yellow lines, an orange jacket with yellow edges, black gloves with yellow edges along with orange cuffs with the same design, a belt, and a silver breastplate.
And in her back, a large stuffed brown and yellow bear with a zipper halfway close and some potions hastily put inside could be seen.
Coco Collins, despite being older than Momiji and Kaede, isn't seen as such due to her short height and withdrawn and shy personality, instead, she is treated like a younger sister
"Don't leave me be–" She stops in her tracks when she sees Shalltear, a stranger to her, and quickly moves closer to her friends.
They first take a glance at Shalltear and then quickly leave the place disappearing into the backstreets of West Main Street.
So the trio buys from Blue Pharmacy huh?... Oh! Right, those 3 have a previous relationship with Miach when he helped them.
Then Shalltear opens the wooden double doors and enters the store.
Inside she could see rows of shelves with different concoctions, potions, and small pouches in the dim shop.
On the counter, she could see a stack of books and behind it an animal-person girl with long brown hair, purple eyes, dog ears, and a tail: a Chienthrope.
She is Naaza Erisuis, the only member left of the Miach Familia.
Her tail is sticking through her skirt, and her left sleeve comes down to her elbow, but her right sleeve goes to her wrist. She has a glove on her right hand only.
Only Naaza is here? Good this will make things easier then, no need to worry about Miach detecting or not if I lie
"Good afternoon, how could I help you? What're you going to buy?" she says, with a slow voice and drowsy-looking eyes, you'd think she'd just woken up, but that's just how she is.
Directly to business and selling things eh? That's Naaza for you.
"Good afternoon, I am looking for healing potions and an antidote. And perhaps a Magic potion~"
Naaza's eyes open slightly for a moment and her tail starts mildly waving from side to side
Hooo.. that caught her attention… well… magic potions are almost 20 times more expensive than normal healing potions for sure…
She quickly rustles through a box under the counter and brings out a few tubes, the potions. The healing ones are blue, the yellow one is the magic potion and the green one is the antidote.
"Here…14000 Valis"
Shalltear gets closer to examine them
Curious that it doesn't follow the standard RPG red equals health and blue equals mana trend… actually… Didn't in the New World with Yggdrasil ingredients alchemists discovered purple-colored healing potions?… I suppose it shouldn't be that weird then
"Hmhm, everything seems to be in order"
And now Shalltear freezes when she thinks of paying for them
Ah! I cannot just pull things out of my inventory in front of Naaza… it will be too weird…
And the Valis I got from the bandits is too little to pay for all of this…
I am gonna need to pay with the drops… and take them out of my inventory…
And I don't even know the value of each drop…
Shit!
What should I do now?!
What should I do?!
Wait… I have an idea…
"Oh.. right! I forgot to go to the exchange before coming here… well I suppose I can pay with the drops directly since you can use them as ingredients, right? Here, you can check them of course"
Just disregard that I am taking the drops out of a parasol!
Nothing to see here!
Then she proceeds to untie the lace on the bulky parasol and stick her hand inside to start pulling the drops out of her inventory inside the parasol, where Naaza couldn't see.
She took out many Needle Rabbit's Tusks, a few War Shadow's Finger Blades, many Goblin Fangs, and Kobold Nails, then she put them on the counter.
And now that I set the nail... I am gonna hammer it down!
"You can choose among those which you prefer~!"
Naaza quickly looked at Shalltear surprised, the dog ears on top of her head twitched happily, and then she focused on the drops and started touching and examining them.
Now Naaza's tail was wagging more strongly than before.
Hehehe… just imagine, you are an alchemist that normally needs to buy ingredients in the guild or markets…
Then a new client appears, wants to buy a larger than normal order of potions, and not only pays in useful ingredients but lets you choose which ones you need!
No middlemen and their commissions involved!
Normally you will need to issue a quest to get the specific ingredients you need!
Her mind should be racing with the possibilities of what she can make and which ones should be a better opportunity.
She has no time to focus on where I am taking them from… and will probably soon be forgotten...
…I still need to get a backpack or something in the future though...
After a little while, Naaza picked up the drops to pay for the potions and left the rest for Shalltear to pack them again.
Shalltear quickly packed them with the potions into her inventory while Naaza was distracted tucking away the drops.
"My name is Shalltear, what is yours~?"
"Naaza… thank you for doing business with us… please visit us again soon"
"Hahaha… Sure! I will! Goodbye! It was worth exploring the backstreets for stores…"
At her response, Naaza's ears twitched happily again.
Then Shalltear left the store while waving her hand.
….
All right, now I want to make contact with an information dealer…
This should be useful to get information on my targets and to evaluate the impact of my actions in Orario over time…
The first that came to my mind is the bar in Northwest Main Street where Lili goes for information: Adventurers Way
But it is filled with thieves, not the most trustworthy place…
….
I know a trustworthy information dealer…
The problem is I don´t know where she is…
But…
I know where her definitely-not-girlfriend frequents….
And she probably meets with her on a daily basis…
All right!
To the clothing shops on North Main Street!
o-O-o
North Main Street, this area was inhabited by many Guild employees and wealthy merchants. Each house was well decorated and luxurious, while each store was bright and colorful.
North Main Street was wide enough that several young merchants set up kiosks in the middle of the road.
And North Main Street was known as a fashion district.
Many races that called Orario home had a variety of tastes and needs when it came to clothes. Short and thin prums couldn't shop at the same places that short yet robust dwarves would go. Each race had its favorite types of fabric and designs as well. In fact, their preferences were so different that clothing stores had to be careful to tailor to only their target customers.
Otherwise, squabbles between races would never end, especially if elves were involved.
That's where the merchants came in.
They built their shops to cater to one specific race and then built up a relationship of trust with individual customers. Several deities had taken note of this and built their familias around the industry. So much so that many people considered Orario to be the trendsetter of the fashion world.
And it was here, on North Main Street, that fashion giants catering to all races had shops running up and down both sides of the street.
But! There are also a couple of smaller very high-quality stores that are also setting trends, among them the Ramirez one, a small handicraft shop where Lucia Ramirez works, a store that while being a human family focuses on targeting the proud elves with elegant clothes.
Her skill is so great that she once worked as a stylist for an actor at a theater in the Entertainment District.
And the most important thing: Lucia is a friend and ancient acquaintance of Love Silva, the girl Shalltear is looking for.
And since Lucia enjoys creating clothes and has her friends wear them to test them, Love will surely come here to test them being the social butterfly she is.
Finally found it! The Ramirez handicraft store!
Ok…. So now I only need to become invisible and wait for her to come… so I can follow her around to Gita, the information dealer I am looking for.
Then Shalltear went into the backstreets and checked that nobody was seeing her
"Perfect Unknowable"
Now she was invisible, and all traces of scent, body warmth, vibrations, prints, and various other stimuli that could trigger the enemy's detection were eliminated.
All right… now back to the shop to wait…
And when she got back to the store, there she saw her, Love Silva
She has red eyes and long pale pink hair along with cat ears and a tail of the same color, she is a catgirl.
She wears a red elegant dress with gold edges, purple gloves, and black leggings with gold edges
Also, she has cute ribbons on her neck and her ears.
Anybody looking at her would say she is a fashion model.
"Bye-bye Lucy, meow!!" she cutesy said while waving up and down her right hand, mimicking a cat paw.
And then she left to start walking away
There she is! I almost miss her!
After the social butterfly! Well.. more like the social cat but whatever!
After her!
And so Love started to walk and wander around while Shalltear followed her.
o-O-o
Many hours later… Shalltear was currently following Love through narrow paths near SouthWest Main Street…
This fucking cat!
She gets distracted wherever there's something interesting or flashy!
And furthermore, she attracts attention every-fucking-where she walks and often receives gifts from people!
How many people are you gonna visit?!
Just take me to Gita already!
Love was wandering around having fun and humming to herself while carrying bags with gifts, then she stopped, checked her clothes, and fixed her ribbons before entering a cafe called Wish.
The cafe had a very modern design and everything was nice and clean inside and out.
Looking through the windows, we can see it's completely full of young couples.
Cafe Wish? The one that Hermes frequents?
An elf hostess wearing thin-rimmed glasses meets Love at the front door and guides her to a seat at the back of the cafe.
There she was, Gita Meyers, on a table with 2 milkshakes.
Gita had yellow eyes and dark brown hair with a tail of the same color.
She wears a brown and white tube top and short pants along with a yellow and brown jacket that has cat ears.
While you may think that she is a Catgirl because of the jacket with cat ears, she is actually a Chienthrope, a dog person, she just enjoys being a cat maniac and taking care of Love, her definitely-not-girlfriend.
When she sees Love her tail starts to furiously wag left and right and a happy expression appears on her face.
There she is!
My future information dealer!
*sigh*
She was in the cafe Wish, the place for secret meetings and young couples…
I feel stupid for not realizing where Gita could be…
I could probably have guessed it…
Whatever…
Then Shalltear finds the opportunity to leave the cafe to dispel the spells in a backstreet, prepare all the Valis that she had in a pouch with a couple of drops, and then come back to the cafe and go directly to Gita and Love's table.
And found Gita with a happy expression petting Love.
"Sorry for interrupting but I have business with Gita"
Love took a quick look and immediately understood the situation.
"Oh! A client, meow! I am gonna go to buy something at the counter then, meow"
And Love stood up and walked away while Gita looked dejected, then she looked grumpy.
"What do you want?"
"So… a little kitty has recommended you to me and said that you are well-informed isn't that right~?" Shalltear said while putting the pouch with the money on the table and moving it to Gita
"Hmph!" she said while checking the money
"Fine! What do you want to know?"
Since it is the first time I am talking with her and I want to make a future relationship…
Maybe I can ask about the upcoming Monster Feria and compare her response to what I know is gonna happen…
"Why don't you tell me what you know about the monsters that will be presented at the Monster Feria?"
Then Gita got closer to Shalltear at the table and started talking while counting with her fingers
"From what I heard, they have prepared Battle Boars, Silverbacks, Hard Armored, Sword Stags, Trolls, even a big long-necked dragon, seven meters tall, from outside Orario"
Impressive! That's all the monsters that participated in the Monster Feria that I remember.
I was planning to give her the information about the remaining monster for free if it was incomplete to give her a good impression in the first deal…
Let's see…what info I can give her instead then…
Something that nobody has at this point in time perhaps…
"What about plant monsters?"
"Plant monsters…?" she said tilting her head
"So you don't know… I have heard from a good friend that I should expect to plant monsters on the Monster Feria, plant monsters that seek magic"
"Hmmm… plant monsters that seek magic… I haven't heard about that type of monster before…"
"They come from the deeper floors. If you have friends that will go to the monster feria I will recommend that you tell them that they don't carry magic stones, or items or use magic during it or it will attract their attention. You can have this information for free"
"Oh! Generous of you…miss?"
"Shall. You can call me Shall"
"Gita Meyers, though you probably already know that if you came to me"
"Correct. I will be going so I don't take much of your time with your friend. Have fun~!"
Then Shalltear left the table and the cafe.
It was getting dark and the sun was hiding on the horizon.
All right, now what I want to do is to reach Rivira in the dungeon, if I want to set a base, it should be there instead of Orario…
Then she moved deeper into the backstreets
"Invisibility. Perfect Unknowable"
Now, to the dungeon
o-O-o
Now Shalltear was on the 18th floor, a big forest could be seen, she currently was on the southern edge of the forest.
I should have done this in the beginning, it was much easier to travel the dungeon in this way.
She took a look and could see the town of Rivira in the distance.
The town was built on the main rocky island in the middle of the big lake on the west of the floor, with a big tree connecting the island to the rest of the Dungeon floor.
The tree bridge has been stripped of all leaves and branches and is basically just a giant log.
There it is… my future base… the top part of the tree.
While most things on this floor are part of the dungeon and regrown over time, it is not the case for the giant tree.
And no matter how many times Rivira has been rebuilt, it is still standing here.
If I make a base inside the tree with a hidden door at the top nobody will ever know and it is far away from all the gods in Orario.
The best part is that it is so high that no adventurer has any motivation to scale it up.
But for me…
"Gate"
And Shalltear moved to the top of the log
"Summon Undead 10th. Summon Undead 10th. Summon Undead 5th"
First, 2 Elemental Skulls appeared, floating skulls, surrounded by a magical aura that constantly changes its color between red, blue, green, and yellow.
They were level 68 undead who has control over the four main elements
Then a Death Warrior appeared, roughly two meters tall, and the leather armor he wore was comparatively light. His body was clad in leather armor made from the hide of some unknown beast. His tattered armor, both arms and parts of his face were covered in spell strips, strips of cloth covered in arcane runes
He carried a long-bladed sword and other various kinds of weapons hung on their waists.
Death Warriors could use hand axes, maces, crossbows, whips, short spears, pikes, and many other similar-looking weapons.
…
What is this… Why do I feel a certain attraction to them?
Like they are more pretty to me than they should be?
Is this because they are undead like me?
Do I detect them as "kin"?
Anyway…
"I want you to start building a hidden base inside the tree without being seen from the outside, start with a hidden trapdoor at the top, then some stairs to an open living room that connects to a bedroom and a storage area. If you can, shape the tree when you are cutting it to make basic furniture like the bed and shelves in the storage area"
With that taken care of… Now let's go to some remote place in the forest to test the potions
"Gate"
And now she was in the middle of the forest on the southern part of the floor
Hmm… no monster in the proximity… good then let's check this…
Shalltear takes out the blue healing potion she has bought
"All Appraisal Magic Item" she casts over it
And then she received the information about the potion:
Improved Diluted Healing potion. No attribute. Positive energy. Restores health. Very low regeneration effect for a limited time. 20% increase in effect due to improved quality. Watered down, 50% less effective. Mixed with spices. Sweet flavor. Creator: Naaza Erisuis
That's a lot of information!…
I suppose I should thank Naaza that it is watered down since this makes it much safer to test…
Then she extends her hand, takes the cork off, and moves the tube over her extended hand.
A drop falls off into her hand and nothing happens.
Huh… I don't feel anything.. let's put more of the potion then...
And she then puts more of the potion in her hand
…Still no effect huh… So since it has positive energy but doesn't damage me it should be low tier compared to Ygdrassil then…
It will probably not heal me though…
Then she puts the cork back and puts it in her inventory and takes out the yellow Magic potion
"All Appraisal Magic Item"
Improved Diluted Magic potion. No attribute. Restores a low amount of mana. Improved mana regeneration for a limited time. 20% increase in effect due to improved quality. Watered down, 50% less effective. Mixed with spices. Sweet flavor. Creator: Naaza Erisuis
"Naaza!! What the hell?! You also watered down the potion that counts 20 times more than a normal healing potion?"
*sigh*
…at least it says that it should restore mana…
That is interesting… is that because Danmachi Mind Down and Overlord Mana Exhaustion effects are so similar?
…
I don't see any harmful effects
Let's try to be a little bolder with this one…
Then she took off the cork, gulped a little down, and concentrated inside herself
Hmmm…
Yeah, it does feel that it is restoring my mana...
Though not by much… very little really…
I should have imagined that since I am so high level… and the potion is watered down…
Ohh?
I still feel it is increasing…
And it feels that it increases a little more than before!
So the regeneration effect is stronger than the initial effect for me?
Interesting~!
I cannot heal myself with a Healing potion but I can use Magic potions to restore my mana
Since I can heal myself with the Greater Lethal spell, Magic potions are something I could use to heal through that spell but I need to wait for the regeneration then...
Something to consider in the future...
Then she takes out the green antidote
"All Appraisal Magic Item"
Improved Diluted Antidote. No attribute. Cures the poison status alignment. Resistance against poison for a limited time. 20% increase in effect due to improved quality. Watered down, 50% less effective. Mixed with spices. Sweet flavor. Creator: Naaza Erisuis
*sigh*
Naaza!
You sell me all watered-down potions…
Well… I should have expected this…
I don't think I am gonna need it since I am immune to poisons though…
….
….
Okay, since tomorrow I have a training session with Ais, I should prepare myself and learn some fighting techniques since I don't know any…
I should train with a Doom Lord or even better with a Death Cavalier since they can talk and instruct me…
All right… I only need to find a quiet place inside the dungeon then…
o-O-o
After training all night and taking a bath in Rivira's lake she changed her dress.
Now she had an elegant yet more comfortable beige dress with a much shorter skirt, over it an elegant crimson jacket whose center emulated a corset.
She also had soft black gloves and leggings with crimson boots.
A black lace embellished ribbon tied her hair into a flowing ponytail.
She was currently waiting in front of an abandoned church between Northwest Main Street and West Main Street, near the Blue pharmacy… Hestia Familia's church…
There were ruins around, mostly columns of Greek temples, which made the church stand out a lot even if it was smaller than the rest of the ruins.
She was currently resting against a Greek column in front of the church.
It was definitely beyond the early morning hours.
*clicking tongue in displeasure*
After this, I need to get a clock and probably set the meeting time better…
I have probably waited like 3 hours by now…
….
I am bored!!
….
*sigh*
….
…I need to be early to make sure I don't miss Bell…
So he can see Ais in all her splendor while I train with her…
Hopefully, this will fix things, right?
He will develop feelings for Ais and get his cheat skill…
And I would have fixed the mess I did…
….
….
….
Bzzzzzzzz
….
Bzzzzzzz
A mosquito is flying around and gets near Shalltear
She looks at it and waves her hand in the air without much care
"Shoo shoo… go away to bother someone else"
Bzzzzzzz
*clicking tongue in displeasure*
Then the mosquito lands on Shalltear's left thigh, in the exposed skin between her black leggings and her beige skirt, the area many would label as 'absolute territory'.
Shalltear's pupils dilated, and her instincts flared and took over her for a moment
You want to suck my blood!
MY BLOOD?!
Don't even fucking think about it!
I am a true vampire and you think I am gonna let a mosquito suck my blood?
I am the one that sucks blood!
Don't you fucking dare to think you can suck MY BLOOD!
Then she slaps the mosquito in a supersonic movement
*slap*
And now the mosquito's body is splattered over her thigh.
Tch!
Now I am dirty
Then she lifts her short skirt with her left hand and uses her right hand to elegantly clean her left thigh.
*gasp*
She heard the sound of someone gasping, she lifted her head to look, and there it was, the boy, Bell Cranell looking right at her, his face red as a tomato.
o-O-o
BELL POV, A FEW MOMENTS EARLY:
".... nn."
Hestia Familia's base, the hidden room under an old church.
The room is underground, so naturally, there are no morning sunbeams or crowing roosters to wake him up. It's just a force of habit for him to get up at a certain time.
The goddess and Bell had a small party last night. When they got sleepy, He left the bed for her and went to sleep on the sofa as usual.
He blinks a few times to get the sleep out of his eyes.
I should get up and wash my face and get ready to...Huh?
There's something on top of me. Not the sheets, and it's round and extremely light. I'm breathing just fine, otherwise, I would have noticed sooner.
Just what is this thing? Maybe if I touched it...
No way!
It's the goddess!
She's asleep with her face buried in my chest. Ha-ha, imagine that.
Did she sleepwalk...?
I guess there's a first time for everything, but now I have to figure out how to get out of this predicament…
I'm sure I could get out from under her without waking her up, but she's so soft and cuddly, that I don't want to move. She's an extremely good body pillow, a godlike one!
This is bad. I really won't be able to get up at this rate.
She even smells nice... Aww, a tiny yawn and now she's snuggling her face into my chest like a little baby.
She's so damn cute!!!
Wait a second, what are these soft melons on my chest? Don't tell me, it's them?
He moves fast.
This goddess pillow has turned into a death trap.
He slides out a little and flips her onto the sofa, trading places with her.
She almost killed me...!
It's the first time she's sent a chill down my spine...
They were touching me! I couldn't breathe! What if I didn't get out of there?
He puts the sheet over her and gets ready to go.
I shouldn't be here when she wakes up.
Now that I think about it, wow, I'm an idiot!
What have I done?!
She's a goddess! And I felt her... on me...
He sneaks through the room and out the door without a sound.
"... zzz... Bell, you're so stupid... zzzz..." Hestia murmurs while sleeping
He climbs a stairway and gets into the storage room lined with empty shelves behind the altar in the church.
He gets out of the room.
The inside of the church looks half destroyed. As he steps inside, his foot lands on a weed growing out of the broken tile floor.
Pieces of the ceiling are either gone or about to fall.
On the bright side, this lets in a bit of sunlight, the first sun rays of the morning.
The sunbeams light up what's left of an altar at the back of the church and the outside.
Well, that was an eventful way to wake up…
He moves to the outside of the church, and then he sees her.
A young girl, no... a goddess emerges between the first rays of the morning, waiting for him in front of the church, resting on a pure white column.
Her thin graceful frame radiates feminine beauty in her elegant crimson dress.
No way!
It's her!!
I just escaped from a goddess and there's another one in front of the church!!
He lowers his sight and sees her in a much shorter skirt than yesterday.
And in a shorter skirt!
This is bad!
This is very bad!!
I didn't even get into the dungeon and I am already receiving killing strikes to my heart!!!
His heart was pumping blood faster each second.
His face was turning red up to his ears.
And then the girl lifted up her skirt and started to softly caress her left thigh, like inviting him.
*gasp*
He suddenly inhales with his mouth hanging open…
!!!!!!
No way this is happening!
This must be a dream!
If this is a dream.. then...
I never want to wake up again!!
o-O-o
BACK TO SHALLTEAR POV:
There he was, Bell Cranel, looking at her with his face like a tomato and with his mouth hanging wide open.
"Emm… Hi!" she says
"H-Hi-Hiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!!!" the boy screams while running back inside the church until he disappears from sight.
… what just happened?....
"What… just… happened?"
"Um...I don't know" a voice to her right says in a confused tone
Shalltear quickly looked to the right and Ais was there.
"Wh-When did you get here?" she asks confused
"... Right …now"
…Okay…
Well… Ais is here but Bell is now inside the church…
Actually… this works for my plan to fix canon
Now I just need Ais to shine in front of Bell…
Let's focus on training Ais then…
"Ais, are you ready for training?"
"Yes"
"Well… We are gonna train around here in the middle of the road since it is empty and very few people come around here"
"..Umm …how?"
I have been thinking about that, and as far as I learned yesterday, I still need a lot to learn to be able to teach any type of technique...
In that case, I should focus on her gaining Excelia…
What I remember is that when an adventurer opponent is at their level or stronger, Excelia came in bunches and the adventurer would grow quickly
For example, an adventurer received Defense Excelia every time they survived a hit
But I also want Ais to shine, then…
The best option is for her to attack me and I tank or parry the hits while adjusting my speed to be faster but not by much.
"I am thinking that first, you show me what can you do attacking me and then we reverse the roles later"
"..Okay"
Then Ais draws her sword and puts it to rest against a white column, she turns to Shalltear, brandishing her sheath as a weapon.
…makes sense to spar without bladed weapons… It should be much safer…
And so Shalltear reversed the parasol with the handle pointing outwards instead of the dangerous pointed tip.
Ais then charged at Shalltear at a fast speed.
Or should be… since for Shalltear that speed was very slow…
She sees Ais coming for a frontal blow to her midsection and she simply parries it with the parasol moving the blow to the right while moving herself to her left.
Then Ais advances forward and repositioned herself to do a side kick
Shalltear simply uses her Parasol to block it.
Ais then kicks to jump back and take distance, now jumps to the side to try to flank Shalltear, but she is too slow, Shalltear is already taking a combat stance.
Ais first crouches, then jump like a spring with the sheat pointing forwards like a rapier, but Shalltear simply blocks it and redirects the force upwards, then with Ais guard too high, Shalltear takes advantage of her lower stature to side sweeps Ais' legs and punches her in the stomach which sends her flying into a column.
Ais shifts her weight in midair like an acrobat and lands in a crouching position in the column, which she uses to jump and attack, but Shalltear blocks the attack again
Ais uses the momentum to try to sweep her feet, but Shalltear simply jumps slightly backward, separating them
Ais now comes running and does a vertical swing from below but is easily evaded.
o-O-o
They continued sparring for a few hours until they heard a female voice shouting while running
"I'm late! I'm late! I'M LATE!!"
Shalltear looks to where that voice is coming from and notices them…
Two big soft melons going up and down while a blue ribbon tries its best but fails to keep them in place…
Two big melons attached to a running goddess that is coming late to work at a certain Jagamarukun stand…
Two big divine melons are attached to a white mini dress and a person's black hair is tied into two twin tails that reach down to her mid-thighs….
*bonk*
Shalltear is shaken out of her trance after a hit on the head, she felt it even if it didn't do any damage
"....Distracted" Ains says in a slow voice
"Eh?! Oh yes… sorry"
"...Training" Ais says with a slightly pouting face
"Right…"
And so they continue their training while a certain goddess keeps running with everything she has to get to a certain stand on North Main Street.
Meanwhile, a little red-eyed rabbit keeps looking at the girls fighting…
o-O-o
A few hours later…
Ais is taking a break and panting a little.
"Ais, you know…my impression of facing you is to be attacked by a rapier attached to a spring… you attack fast and come over and over again fast but I think that against an opponent that is faster than you or that can read your movements and focuses on defense is going to be difficult for you"
"...."
"Don't take it the wrong way but maybe you are too focused on overwhelming your opponents with fast attacks on their weak points, a style too focused on killing monsters. Have you had experience fighting against other adventurers in your familia?"
".... …. A little"
"You may need to train more in that aspect…"
"P-PLEASE TRAIN ME!" a red-eyed little rabbit shouts
"Huh?!" Shalltear moves her head to where the voice is coming from
Bell Cranel got close to Shalltear and was focused on her, his eyes shining like rubies that reflected the light of the sun
"PLEASE TRAIN ME!" the rabbit shouts again with all the strength in his lungs
Then Ais gets close to Shalltear and interposes between Bell.
"...."
She looks at the rabbit with a determined face
".... I asked first" she says in a slow voice
"B-But!" the rabbit retorts
"...First"
The rabbit takes courage and presses further
"N-no, I can't accept this!"
Ais stands tall like an immobile wall
"... Training…to grow stronger"
Wh-What is with this situation?
I wanted them to get together, not start fighting!
Instead of fixing things, it's making them worse!
This isn't going how I planned it!
Dammit!
Then Shalltear intercedes and puts herself in the middle very fast
"Stop! Let's calm down ok?"
"B-but!"
"...Get stronger"
Oh for fuck's sake!
"Stop! Both of you! You both are adventurers and need to go to the dungeon for your familia right? Then I am gonna train one of you in the morning and the other in the afternoon"
Tch
This is gonna take most of my time…
"YES!" Bell celebrates
"...Okay" Ais says
"But Ais did ask first so today I am going to train her until the evening. Okay?"
"Eh...Ah, okay… What is your name?! What is your familia?!" Bell asks
I was expecting this sooner or later…
I am gonna tell him exactly what I told Ais…
"You can call me Shalltear Bloodfallen. I have received the blessing of the god Cainabel"
All that I said is true…
If they misinterpret it that I am part of a familia and spread it around to make my cover it is not my fault~
You can never be too careful with the gods, living lie detectors walking around…
After that, Shalltear keep training Ais until it was the evening and Ais needed to go to the Hostess of Fertility with her familia.
o-O-o
Now Shalltear was inside the dungeon, on the 9th floor
Since I am passing as a tamer, then I should experience how that works, just in case somebody asks…
From what I remember, It's about making them realize and submit to the superior strength of the tamer—in other words, taming is a skill of submission
So it is less of a special skill and more of a show of strength…
That makes things easier~
Let's try this!
Her crimson pupils stirred.
She was going to have fun.
She quickly found a Kobold, a dog-headed monster with dark grey fur.
First, she let herself know and be targeted.
The Kobold roared and came to attack her.
Then she swiped the monster's feet and pinned it to the ground.
The Kobold tried to resist and growled angrily
"No no~ You are going to be my doggie~"
The Kobold continued to resist and tried to get up from the floor where she had pinned him down with her feet against its back.
"You can struggle at whatever you want~ But it is not gonna do anything~"
This is more fun than I thought!
I wonder how much time it would take before you realize it is futile~~
o-O-o
It took an hour before the Kobold finally gave up and was tired of resisting
That was fun!
Strange… It was more fun than I expected watching it resist and struggle…
Hmmm... I think the Ganesha familia's tamers take a lot less time…
So maybe the Tamer ability does really make things easier…
Still…Now I have a doggie to collar and train~
Perhaps I should make it fight against other Monsters to see how that works
Or other Kobolds~
o-O-o
Now two Kobolds lay dead at Shalltear's feet, one of them without its head.
I should have expected that…
It is one thing for them to not rebel, but it is extremely difficult to teach them commands.
Using the Charm Species spell does make things easier, but it will not work to make them perform actions that they will not normally do…
*tongue clicking in displeasure*
I will not be able to use tamed monsters to train Bell tomorrow like I was planning then…
I need something that I have more control over…
What are my other options?
I could use Animate Dead… which could create Zombies and Undead Beasts
While that could work for Undead Beasts, especially since I kill them with Greater Lethal, without any external injuries to preserve their body, the problem is humanoid zombies…
They are gonna be sluggish and slow, which will not be a good challenge for Bell compared to normal monsters
I am gonna need to use my Create Spawn through Blood Drain ability to make them vampires then… But then they are gonna look mummified…
I suppose I could pass as a rare taming skill in front of Bell…
It is not like he will tell anybody…
I believe what Bell needs right now that is starting in the dungeon is not higher Status Abilities like AIs, but instead techniques and tactics.
Like Takemikazuchi said:
"Status can't be improved overnight. But— Techniques and tactics are a different matter"
"Of course, Techniques are not easy to acquire, either. But if you put in enough effort and you have a strong desire to succeed...then it's possible"
"f you use your techniques at the right time with the right breathing, you can defeat even the largest enemy, crack even the hardest shell"
And he was able to overpower two LV2 at the same time in a fight with pure martial techniques… That is no joke…
Though what Bell needs is not techniques against humans but against monsters…
The ability to read the monsters' attacks and patterns, since he is a fighter based on speed, is the strongest force multiplier that he can learn right now.
And for that, he needs to experience prolonged fights against different monsters…
Fights that I will provide.