Chapter 6

Just like that, 17 days passed like nothing. My dear companions and I didn't stay all the time in the Dungeon and toured the city quite often. We had a daily routine that was mainly composed of sleeping until lunch time, waking up, cashing in our drops, tour the city or just laze around until dinner, grab some food, head to the Dungeon, clear at least 50 floors, go back in the morning, and sleep until lunch time.

There were almost zero Adventurers in the Dungeon during the night, so we could go wild with Noble Phantasms and destructive spells. Well, that was until we realized that every single hit of ours shook the entire city and caused an evacuation more than once. We had to tone it down a little at that point.

Yesterday, meaning the day before the Denatus, there was that one unfortunate Adventurer that did catch sight of us. He reported us to the Guild, that fucker. I will make sure to find him and plant a bullet between his eyebrows. Well, at that point Athena quickly sent our updated statuses to Davan. An announcement was immediately posted, saying that we were the fastest Adventurers to have reached Levels 2, 3, 4, and 5.

Indeed! Ishtar, Jalter, and Salter all reached Level 4 in these past few days, while I reached Level 5 after soloing the Udaeus Monster Rex on the 37th Floor. That scrub couldn't even handle a single spell of mine. Well, Being of Magic did basically boost my magic to world-ending levels, if we consider my strongest spell. Plus, I have infinite Mana, so I can literally spam those bitches for days!

Anyway, back to the announcement. We were basically considered monsters at this point since people realized that the cause of those occasional 'earthquakes' was us. We were basically the only ones that dived during the night, so it was kinda obvious that people would realize. Plus, it was all within Athena's predictions after seeing our Statuses.

My dear Goddess took the chance to seal an alliance with the Loki Familia, so we actually have an expedition planned in a week. For now, she was concentrating on getting us some cool aliases. I didn't really care, but Ishtar, Jalter, and Salter were taking this really seriously.

That leads us to the discussion currently happening in the living room.

"My Alias can't be anything other than 'Mistress of Heaven'! It's literally my name: Ishtar!"

"And I won't accept anything other than 'Dragon Witch'. That is literally what I am."

"While I will execute you if my Alias is anything other than 'Queen of Knights'. Finally I don't have to call myself a 'King', so I won't budge on that."

"Well, they all have valid points, so either you work hard, Athena, or I will have to visit a few Familias. And I will actually visit with Ishtar's Noble Phantasm, so they better act nice." At that moment, all the Gods and Goddesses that were preparing for the Denatus got a shiver down their spines.

"I will make sure that they give you all the Aliases you would like. What about you? Any particular request?" the Goddess asked me.

"Well… I have no idea."

"How about 'Master'?" said Ishtar.

"Hell no. Maybe 'Shady Guy'?" proposed Jalter.

"Nah, let's go with 'Monster'!" said Salter.

"If I get any of those three Aliases, I'll fucking punish you all. Athena, any brilliant idea?"

"Mm. 'Hunter'. When you presented yourself, you said that you were a hunter, so it's fitting for me." Ugh… It's still shitty, but better than what Ishtar, Jalter, and Salter proposed. Plus, it's not like I will use it for that many years… Yeah, it's fine either way.

"Good enough. Today we won't dive in the Dungeon and escort you to the Denatus. Oh, call for a War Game with the Apollo Familia. The stakes should be us and all of their properties, be it money, equipment, potions, anything Oh, they should also get ousted from Orario, just to add some face-slapping element."

"That's easier said than done. You know that Apollo only has beautiful Children-"

"What? We're not handsome/beautiful enough? Just do it, I can assure you that Apollo will fall for the 'bait'. I hate that guy and his Children. At least most of them."

"Fine, I'll see what I can come up with. What a needy Child you are…"

Change of POV: Athena

Ugh… Where should I start? I am Athena, Goddess of battle strategy, and wisdom. I descended to the Lower World hoping to show that asshole of a father who's the best leader, and also to do something other than work. Hera isn't exactly all too friendly with me, but I still respect her as a great leader. Just look at her Familia's achievements. Well, the thing is that she decided to give me a 'headstart' compared to other Gods and Goddesses by leaving me with her 'inheritance'.

Upon descending, I had to get my Arcanum sealed and search for Hera's inheritance. Luckily, it was hidden just around Orario, so there weren't many problems and I managed to get my hands on the money within two days from my arrival. I am not the Goddess of strategy for nothing.

I managed to also buy an unassuming building about halfway between the Guild and the Dungeon as an HQ for my Familia, so I just need Children now. I wish to create what is basically a 'mercenary' Familia that will cooperate with the pre-established Familias. It will be much easier for me to gain influence that way.

There is only a little problem: I have never started a Familia. I mean, I have some ideas to attract new Adventurers, but that would involve making my inheritance public. That's a risky gamble that I would like to not take.

Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, I didn't have to take the gamble. Less than a week after my descent, a man called Davan contacted me from the Guild. An Adventurer wants to join my Familia and he appears to be quite a curious one. He specified that there had to be no one else in the Familia, so I think he has some sort of plan. I'll see what he amounts to.

I quickly went to the Guild and met with Davan. The man is experienced, I can tell that much with a look. He presented me to the Adventurer interested in my Familia and… I was honestly confused. The boy looks like some sort of noble or something, but surely not an Adventurer. However… I can also feel that he's dangerous. I can't say how or why, it's just a gut feeling. He also has some sort of weapon that I have never seen before.

Davan led us to a meeting room where we could talk in private. The first thing I said was the most obvious to say for a Goddess like me.

"Why should I let you into my Familia?" A fair question. I can't let just anyone into my Familia. His response however stunned me, to a degree.

"No, it's why should I join your Familia." How amusing, I thought, but his reasoning is sound. He represents a party of 'powerful' people. If what he says is true, then it explains the dangerous feeling he gives off. But still, I can't help but get a strange feeling. He says that he and his party can make my Familia an S-rank one within three years. If that is true, then I can rework my plans and accelerate everything.

Plus, he wants someone with a backbone. If there's anyone that fits the bill, that would be me. I am sure that he also has some plans of his own. A cunning person, to a degree, like me, ambitious, I can tell, and also perfectly sure about his strength. He's the perfect candidate for my Captain.

I gave him Falna and checked his Status. Saying that I was surprised would be quite an understatement. His stats are maxed from the start and he has an enormous amount of skills that I have never heard of. I can't help but feel like I hit a jackpot or maybe I just set off a massive ticking time-bomb. I am honestly willing to take the gamble.

We had a little celebration at the Hostess of Fertility, where he told me about his party. A tank, a damage dealer, an archer, and him. He called himself a hunter, pretty much an assassin, so I decided to test him. I asked him to take out Ottar, the King of Orario. He accepted, saying that it would be easy, but he asked about the Loki Familia.

I honestly like Loki. We were friends back home, so she is my prime candidate for an alliance and I also don't want to hurt her, if possible. He asked if it was wise to antagonize the Freya Familia. A question quite normal for a new Adventurer. The answer to his question was: "If you can take down Ottar, there is no need to fear them."

Ottar, that damn boar, is the main pillar of the Freya Familia. While she still has plenty of strong Adventurers, they are not as much of a problem and can easily be dealt with by using subterfuge and other such methods.

He, my Child, smiled and I could see that he was holding back his laughter. He was testing me, something I didn't even realize, and it seems that I passed his standards. Of course, who does he think I am?! I am the great Athena, future greatest Goddess of the Lower World!

He had promised to serve me the boar's head on a silver platter the very next morning, but I just attributed it to being overconfident. Well, I will either have to start again from zero or I will get rid of a massive obstacle and gain a powerful ally. Little did I know that I would find him sleeping on the couch like nothing happened.

He actually defeated Ottar, cleared eleven floors solo, and returned in time for a late breakfast. What a monstrous Adventurer: a Level 1 defeating a Level 7 should be, quite honestly, impossible, but he did it. And he even Leveled Up twice, reaching Level 3 within a few hours from gaining Falna. He's a monster, there is no other explanation. And that's a good thing. Furthermore, three more of these monsters will join my Familia. I am all set.

Precisely a week after accepting the Adventurer, Jules, into my Familia, he disappeared for about an hour. He came back with three absolutely stunning women. Did he take some prostitutes or something? No, their armor is very high-class, not something a normal person would have. Well, there is that girl, Ishtar, with a very skimpy outfit, but it's not worse than an Amazoness' usual clothing.

From that day on, earthquakes started occurring during the night. How could I not relate them to my new additions. Those guys always dive during the night 'to maximize their hunt'. Just what even are they? Within two weeks, they all reached Level 4 while Jules reached Level 5. And he didn't even look satisfied.

Well, today is the Denatus, so I need to get them some nice Aliases. The girls, Ishtar, Jeanne, and Artoria, all have very specific Aliases they desire. Jules seems extremely protective of them and declared that he would 'visit' the other Familias if the Aliases were any different from the ones requested. I am sure that it means he will slaughter almost everyone in this city. That would be disastrous for me, so I will make sure nothing too bad happens. I will also get him a simple but meaningful Alias: 'Hunter'.

Jules also wants a War Game with the Apollo Familia. To be honest, I also want to get rid of them, so I am in full support of his request. Just as I was about to ask for an escort, Jules said that the four of them would accompany me to the Denatus. They can't enter, but I will surely be safe. The massive 'talent' of my Children will surely elicit different responses from my fellow Gods and Goddesses, so it's possible that someone will try to assassinate me or maybe kidnap me. Heh, I pity anyone who is foolish enough to try while I am even remotely close to these four monsters.