Seicho

Chapter Thirteen: Seichō

"Hmmm… bold choice, Ouranos, but I can't say I'd have done any differently" Hermes muttered over a cup of coffee, looking over the report one of his children had gotten him concerning the Guild announcements for that day, "Given how things are, anyway…"

It seems that- unable to put things off- the Guild had made a decision concerning the recent Denatus. Alfia's involvement was wisely kept mum, and it would fall to Hestia Familia to deal with any fallout related to her themselves. For Aedan's case, they pretty much had to make an announcement; especially considering that Sobek and Set actually remembered him; took them long enough to recognize him, though. For reasons known to him, Ouranos had decided that they would choose a new alias for the man, announcing him as a level 7 through the Guild, it seems. Sobek and Set had lobbied for his new title to be Haroeris; apparently, it was honorary of his existing one.

Asfi and Laurier- who had made the report he was reading- stood in the room as he perused the announced details.

"The newest member of Hestia Familia- Aedan ail DonhUid- has reached level 7 and been hereby granted a new title befitting his high status: Haroeris…" he smirked, swirling his coffee.

"Lord, Hermes, I'm guessing the Denatus…" Asfi left her question hanging before he nodded with a sigh.

"That's right my dear Asfi; Hestia has wrangled herself quite the big fish; however, Ouranos is playing his cards closer to his chest still. The announcement is doctored, of course; he is not level 7, but rather level 10" he nearly laughed at his children's uncharacteristic expressions of shock; though he couldn't blame them in this case.

"H-he is… is that really possible? If it's true then~"

"I believe Ouranos seeks to avoid an upset both with the people of Orario and across the world. If the truth were to get out about this before he is prepared, there's no telling what could happen"

"Um… Lord Hermes, if he is a level 10, what could possibly happen though? Even if the world turned against Orario, it seems like it would be a futile challenge" Laurier asked, confused as to why this would matter.

"You're part right, but that's why he is announcing him at all, and as a level 7. He wants to see if anyone will be willing to overplay their hand early, knowing himself that there would be nothing to worry about so long as he has Haroeris' cooperation. All of the Deusdea of Orario know the truth, and some may tell their trusted children, but outside of the city… it will be interesting to see how the news moves the world"

"Do you think he hopes to catch the Empire off their guard?" Asfi asked, slightly hopeful that this was truly Ouranos' aim.

"That is likely the case. Ares won't try a thing after such a recent defeat, and Altena likely has no motive to do much. That leaves Telskyura and the Empire. Thanks to the hard work of you girls and all of my children, Ouranos is well-aware that the ace of the Empire is not level 7, but a level 8. This may be seen as an opportunity to bring a challenge to them; to face our King and Haroeris at once, and rise to level 9; if this were to happen, the Empire would rise to the dominating power of the world, even with Orario having the Dungeon. Luckily, they wouldn't succeed if they tried"

"What if they made a coalition first? They could strong arm Rakia into their fold, and negotiate with the Amazons to attack together; instead of a simple duel, they could manufacture a war for their aims" Asfi countered.

"… From what I've known, and recently come to know, it is possible that this could happen, and Haroeris could be sent out alone to handle it"

"That is… very difficult to believe; him being level 10 notwithstanding; I mean, the Empire alone has numerous first-class individuals, not to mention the captains of Kali Familia"

"Maybe so, but it doesn't matter for the moment; I will just share with you two that Ouranos and Haroeris seem to be on the same page, and their goal is singular: they wish to complete the last of the three Grand Quests that foiled Zeus and Hera"

"Then… is he trying to setup a situation where a massive war will forge a handful of powerful people to face the One-Eyed Black Dragon?" Asfi's expression had hardened, likely finding the revelation unappealing.

"It's possible, but I don't think so; Ouranos, perhaps, but Haroeris doesn't seem the type to go for that sort of thing… in any case, the rest is up in the air, at the moment. We shall continue as were are, except for one more thing: before I leave on an errand Laurier, I have quite the important mission for you to prepare for, and for once I know you're gonna love it" the charming god gave the elf a wink, prompting her to raise her brow as Asfi sighed, slumping nearly into a full bow.

Hestia had decided to wait until the next morning to confer her blessing onto the girls; thankfully there were no major shocks like last time. Aside from Oriana- who was a level 2- they were all at level 1, with varying stats evidence of their different experiences. They had a handful of skills and magic among them, but nothing new from the last time they had an update, so she left the details to Bell and the others. After the process of inducting ten children into her Familia, she barely had time for a quick breakfast before she ran out on her way to work for the day.

"Alright! Given what's happened, I think we should swap information before some training. We'll need to decide how to handle things going forward as a Familia, since we have the goal of figuring out what happened to your Goddess, and our work in the Dungeon" Bell said as they gathered in the den. He and Lili had collected their files and some paper to add their new members into their records; for the sake of knowing what to expect, they went over everyone's status, position, experience, and so on exhaustively. Though they saved the details for their skills and magic, since that could be effectively demonstrated later.

The biggest thing was that they had a pretty good range in the Dungeon, especially considering their five-month long run in their previous Familia. They had reached floor 14 comfortably, which meant that the only monsters they hadn't overcome before the 18th floor were Minotaurs, Ligerfangs, and the Goliath itself. They weren't fresh recruits that didn't know anything; that had shown talent in rapidly confronting and adapting to the Dungeon, diving all the way to the middle levels in a near-record pace. They had been in-line with the likes of Loki Familia when they got their start, even. Once they were done, they headed outside for a quicker training session.

Truly, it would be more of a demonstration for the moment, before they went back to finish their new plans. First, Bell had everyone show their own abilities, magic, and skills in short spars and demonstrations. The new members were thoroughly impressed all around; Primo particularly was fascinated by the magic they were able to wield, and volunteered to be the first of the girls to show her own stuff.

Primo, being very young- especially for an elf- was quite small, particularly next to the magic staff she wielded. Still, her magic was no joke.

"Dazzling stars crossing the jet-black sky,

Listen my immature prayer,

Guide the flash - Come, shine of tears, defeat the filthy!

-Lumine Pleiades!"

Her chant finished as ten beams of bright light flew in unique arcs from her staff, all impacting on or close to the distant target, destroying it in an explosion. She basked in the applause she received, and cheered as Gina went up next, pulling Iris along with her. Neither had any magic or skills, but Gina wielded twin swords with surprising skill for a ten-year old Amazon, and Iris put her own ability on display with her sword, fencing capably against the aggressive style Gina used.

Love and Gita follow them, demonstrating their work with a mace and axe respectively. All the while Bell is taking note of their style and how he might train with them, while Horus did the same. After those two, Karen and Oriana agree to go next, given they could show their skills as well.

Karen had two skills: Never Retreat and Noblesse Oblige. The first boosted her overall status if she was fighting one-on-one, and the other boosted her strength and agility when facing her opponent head-on. Oriana had her own skill- Knight Wall- which helped her protect others as long as she had a weapon. The more people she protected, the higher it boosted her endurance. The two clashed, Karen's rapier against Oriana's spear, with both of their skills pushing their abilities. Truly, Karen fought on a level higher than most level 1 adventurers could manage, able to push Oriana despite her status. Still, she wasn't pushed back, given that she used her skill to "defend" the rest of the Familia, making her own endurance exceed her level. The display was met with applause as Welf congratulated the two.

"Actually, if you're level 2, I'm curious about what your alias is" he commented after they walked back. Oriana blushed quite a bit, and some of the others had their own reactions, with Primo suppressing her laughter while most shot her sympathetic glances.

"I was named… the Pure-Hearted Princess" Welf blinked before shaking her hand.

"Well, I'm Ignis, then" prompting the others to do the same, though Lili- being a fresh level 2- did not have an alias, yet.

They continued on, with Leo, Lucia, and Emma deciding to finish together. Emma beckoned the other two to attack her at once, using her own skill: True Rein Amur. It was simple but potent, allowing her to borrow the status of her allies, so long as they shared the same falna. She used it to borrow power from Iris and Oriana before easily fending off Lucia's rapier strikes and Leo's great-sword. At the end, she released her power, and the pink aura that surrounded her dissipated, leaving her noticeably exhausted. Iris and Oriana were also more tired, but not as much as Emma obviously was. Once everyone was finished, they returned to decide their next move while they rested.

"Do you all want to get started immediately with the investigation?"

"I'm sure we would all like to, but… I just don't think we're strong enough; so the right move would be to wait until the Guild either gets some information or lets the case get put off their focus" Emma muttered.

"That isn't unwise" Aedan said, "though I would ask how strong you think you need to be? With your skills, I think that Sekhmet must have sent some level 3 assassins to carry out her order, and perhaps some lower level ones. However, I don't think you will have to worry about dealing with them directly. So, how far do you think you need to go?"

Most of them seemed unsure, but Emma had an answer right away, "We all need to get to level 2; that, plus our skills and Primo's magic should put us in a good position. By then, our teamwork will be even better than it is now, too. Even if we did have to deal with those assassins, we could overcome them if we were that prepared" her words inspired her friends, but some still seemed unsure; after all, a level up was already a daunting task, and something that almost half of those given a falna never experience.

"Well what do you think, captain?" Aedan asked Bell, prompting them to shift their attention to him.

"If that's what you want, then our goals are pretty similar right now. We are also focusing on getting stronger. Oriana can tell you, but there's only one thing to do: gather excellia until you can take on a challenge, then perform a great feat to overload it" they considered his words as Iris turned to Oriana.

"How did you level up, Oriana?"

"Well, I had highly developed my endurance and strength, then there was a pass-parade in the familia I was in before I joined you guys. We were already in a rough spot, and I was the only one able to fight, so I did. I fought off the whole mass of monsters and found out later that it let me level up"

"Th-that sounds kinda tough… and really scary" Primo mumbled, unsure.

"It can be, but the real key to levelling up is to fight above what should be possible to accomplish for your level; this can be done with skills, magic, and tactics. You can fight in a party, or go solo, and the challenge you take on can be almost anything, but it usually comes down to combat for most" Aedan picked back up, "As Oriana said, you want to collect all the excellia you can, and boost your stats as much as possible; once one of your stats hits the fifth rank of D, you become able to level up if you complete a grand feat"

"That's right!" Bell smiled, "So with that, I think I have an idea on how to change up our formation. If we concentrate a group our size in the middle levels, the excellia will be too low, so I propose we go in two groups" Lili nodded along in approval as he continued, "We are currently working on mapping the middle floors of the Dungeon all the way to the 18th floor; until we get to floor 17- and the Goliath- I would like to ask Mr. Aedan to guide you all to get as much excellia as you can"

They looked at the man again, and he nodded in acceptance, "I can do that, captain; if we work as hard as possible, they may be ready to attempt their adventure by the time you all make your way to the monster rex" he brought a hand to his chin, "How about… I take them down to floor 14 before you all go down to continue mapping; we'll work and train that way. If you keep the same pace as yesterday, I would guess that you will be mapped down to floor seventeen in a month or so" They agreed on the idea before preparing to head to the Dungeon for the day; they had a late start, but still enough time to do a great deal of work, so they went off to Babel.

As the Hestia Familia drew closer to the Dungeon- and the Guild by extension- they noticed an increasing amount of stares and chatter, much more than usual. At first, it seemed to Bell that people were just taking notice of their much greater numbers; they had more than doubled the size of their Familia, after all. However, as they neared the Guild, he noticed that Aedan was the cause of most of the attention. Curious- and a bit worried- he decided to stop by the Guild first. He would have done so anyway to look for any convenient quests they could take, but now he wanted to know what else might be going on.

Eina saw him coming and he nearly did a double-take at her unusual pale expression; he hadn't seen her like this since that whole stalking mess.

"Miss Eina, is something wrong?" He had come in alone, leaving the rest to head on and prepare to enter the Dungeon.

"B-Bell! Don't tell me you haven't heard yet?" he could only shrug and tilt his head at her question, so she sighed, "After the Denatus the other day, we got word from the top to make an announcement about one of your new members who apparently levelled up! Now I know why Royman demanded to have that paperwork sent straight to him when you turned it in; that Aedan fellow is a level 7 Bell! Even you have to know how huge that news is; don't tell me you didn't know about it"

Bell blinked, and almost corrected the information before he caught himself, "Ah, now I see… I just wasn't thinking about that, I guess; sorry Ms. Eina"

"Well, it's alright; I will say though, the gods apparently decided to go ahead and grant him a new title earlier than the others, so you may want to let him know"

"R-right!" Well, he wasn't sure how Mr. Aedan would take that, but he would tell him, at least, "What is it?"

Hermes was doing one of his favorite activities in the lower world: gallivanting. Unlike Tenkai, Gekai changed quite a lot, so he enjoyed moving about as much as possible to see it all; Orario was great- don't get him wrong- but it was actually pretty stale as far as the lower world went. Well, until recently, anyways. Still, he was actually out on business as usual, but that didn't mean he didn't enjoy it as he went, and enjoy it he did, with his destination being Meilstora. Not a powerhouse like Orario, the Empire, or Telskyura, Meilstora was still the capital and most powerful city of the country of the same name in the region of Dedine, and one of his most visited destinations.

Dedine was a region which flourished from its resources, and having attracted many Deusdea of agriculture: Ukko, Oko, Esus, Dagda, Attis, and Hainuwele all made their home here, and the realm benefited greatly from the abundance and quality of their harvest. Nowhere in the world could a soul find better or greater variety in cuisine, not even in the center of the world. Of course, there were many others, too; the region was well-known for both arts and technology. If Santorio Vega was the entertainment city- located more centrally on the continent- then Meilstora was the city of the "high arts". Theatre, music, all manner of gadgets and gizmos being churned out, a new gala every day to exhibit troves of masterworks, and all of it always so new.

Ah, but back to business, he reminded himself, munching away on one of his favorite sweets: a cream and fruit crepe. Asfi even enjoyed them, too! That was probably why she didn't mind the trips to this city so much. By the time they arrived at their destination, they were presentable, though.

"Hm? Ah, Lord Hermes"

"Hello there Nessa, it's good to see you as always" he tipped his hat to the older human. Not that it was easy to tell; it was always hard to guess the age of a mortal with a high-level falna. The woman smiled, the motion causing some scars on her face to stretch with the skin; she wore a simple linen toga, modified to cover her missing right arm, and her hair was pulled back in an intricate braid, decorated with gleaming pearls, "Would they happen to be home? We can always come back later"

"Oh no, they are home; fine timing on your part, too, they may even be in a pleasant mood" she gestured with her hand for them to follow into the grand mansion she had been strolling around before they had hailed her. Constructed in the old oikos style, visiting the home of his friends never ceased to make him smile with a bit of nostalgic homesickness, "Lord Zeus, Lady Hera, Lord Hermes and Miss Asfi are here to visit" Nessa led them to a pair in the middle of an argument. The man and woman were both dressed simply, as Nessa was, with the former standing tall and broad. The man turned to the pair smiling, already dismissing the argument he had been in a moment before.

"Hermes, you dog! 'Bout time for ya to come see us again"

"Of course! My schedule is full, but I'm never too busy to see friends"

The other woman sighed, "Right, right, so what're you here for this time, huh? If you ain't got anything to say about why we felt a change in our blessings, I don't care right now"

"That is precisely what I came to speak to you two about, as well as your grandson…"

The woman grimaced a bit, "Please don't remind me of how my dear Meteria was led astray by this fool's… troglodyte. I hold no ill will for the boy himself, but~"

"Then you would do well to watch how you speak of him" Zeus cut his wife off, "Just how do you want Meteria to treat you when you eventually return to heaven?" Hera responded with a frown and silence as Hermes cleared his throat.

"Anyway… the disturbance that you felt in your blessings; that's quite simple: Alfia and Horus returned to Orario and transferred to a new Familia"

"Horus!? Hahaha, I knew that slick bastard was still alive" Zeus guffawed loudly, holding his hands on his sides and throwing his head back as he did.

"Alfia transferred? I had wondered… I never felt her pass; care to explain the details instead of leaving us hanging?"

"Naturally, but it's quite simple. Alfia seems to have fallen deep into the Dungeon in the course of their little plot with Erebus; Zald was killed in Orario as you both know, but she was saved by your other boy, Zeus. The man took her with him to the 100th floor of the Dungeon and returned only recently. As adventurers, they practically had to change to a new familia, and what better one to go with that Hestia Familia, with Alfia's little nephew as captain; the boy who has become a level 4 in half a year" The pair felt their eyes bulge nearly out of their sockets, and even Nessa stumbled on nothing.

"Level 4!?" Zeus exclaimed, "Last time you said he has grown to 3 after whooping Apollo's scrawny ass! What the Hell's been happening in Orario?" Even Hera was drawn in, hearing the absurd claim about the boy; not that the other news hadn't been absurd when Hermes told them, but this took the cake, "Now ya say that Horus and Alfia are with him, too, eh?" Zeus rubbed his beard, "Well, it's both good and bad; the guidance will be tremendous, but Alfia could get in the way of him pulling ladies for his harem…" the god wondered aloud about the obvious point of most importance, earning nothing but dark looks from the three women in the room, "Although, now there's a chance at scoring with a hot aunt~" in a flash, Nessa smacked the grinning, drooling deity hard enough to knock him into the floor.

"Thank you Nessa, dear; I was afraid that fool would foul the air if he continued" Hera sniffed, "Idiocy aside, perhaps you might relay your news with a bit of detail, hm? I think we can at least sit down to tea like civilized beings"