Chapter 114

"Eh...," Hephaestus stood silently in shock. I would have liked to ask her at a more favourable time, but my date with Rose was also coming up, along with Tsubaki and Bahamut who wanted more dates.

Suddenly, Bahamut smacked Hephaestus on her ass, making her flustered and turning red as it appeared she was lost in thought.

"Say something," Bahamut said to Hephaestus.

"Yes, tomorrow is fine," Hephaestus finally hastily replied.

"That's great! Tsubaki, we can have ours two days after my date with your goddess," I said, feeling ecstatic.

This was my chance to make major progress in my relationship with Hephaestus.

"I am fine with all that, but we are seriously late for Denatus," Tsubaki announced.

"Ah, we need to hurry," Bahamut responded.

Looking at how things were, I knew that even if Bahamut and I made it in time, Hephaestus wasn't going to make it.

I was sure that Bahamut was the one who delayed Hephaestus from leaving before I arrived.

Sighing, I realized there was no other choice. "Bahamut, you carry Tsubaki while I carry Hephaestus. We should make it in time like that," I said.

"Hnnn, why can't you carry me too?" Bahamut protested.

"Ugh, only you and I can fly," I replied.

"Fine, but you will carry me back," Bahamut compromised.

Sighing again, I replied, "Fine."

"I would like that too," Tsubaki interjected. I was expecting this from Bahamut, but not Tsubaki.

"Sure, some other time," I replied.

"I guess that's fine," Tsubaki agreed.

We went outside, and I immediately brought out my wings and swept Hephaestus off her feet. She was fidgeting around, even when we were in such a hurry.

Swish!

Soon, we took off into the sky, with Hephaestus holding tightly onto me. In just a few minutes, we arrived at the location of Denatus.

I then left Hephaestus with Tsubaki and escorted Bahamut to the front of the Tower of Babel.

"Get me a cool alias, Black Hunter feels weird now," I said to Bahamut.

"Leave it to me," Bahamut replied, puffing her non-existent chest to assure me.

Okay, now I was sure that I would be getting a weird name. I thought to myself while watching both Hephaestus and Bahamut leave.

Now, it was just Tsubaki and me, and I could spend some time with her until the meeting was over.

"Do you want to hang out somewhere until the meeting is over?" I asked Tsubaki.

Tsubaki laughed and replied, "Sure."

Just as we were about to leave, I saw a lot of adventurers moving around hastily. It was unusual, especially at this time.

"What do you think is going on?" I said to Tsubaki.

"I don't know, but something definitely happened," Tsubaki replied, clearly of the same mind as me.

"What is happening?" I asked after stopping an adventurer.

"T-there's something happening on the 27th floor," the adventurer replied, stuttering and clearly frightened.

"Dead, everyone," the adventurer said before shaking me off and running.

"What's happening?" I muttered. I had been on the 25th floor earlier today and hadn't noticed anything.

The situation was becoming more alarming, and I couldn't help but feel a sense of urgency.

Deep in thought, I realized that I hadn't seen any adventurers from the 22nd or 24th floor. Tsubaki's voice broke through, calling my name, bringing me back to reality.

"Draco," Tsubaki called out, snapping me out of my reverie.

"Sorry, Its just that, I was on the 25th floor earlier before I rushed to the surface for the meeting," I replied.

"Did you notice anything strange?" Tsubaki inquired.

"Yeah, there weren't any adventurers around, which struck me as odd at the time. But I didn't think too much about it since I had to hurry to the surface," I explained.

Sighing, Tsubaki gestured towards the Loki familia, indicating that they were somehow involved in what had transpired.

As someone who once immersed myself in anime's and manga's, even almost becoming an otaku, I didn't have knowledge of every incident that occurred in the danmachi series.

I only showed attention to things that piqued my interest in my past life. Like I never showed interest in magical girls or idols and even the ones I was interested in, I didn't really focus on details. Hence gaps in my knowledge.

'Ugh, if only I had some memory skill' I thought. But now, occurrences were happening that were completely unknown to me.

I reminded myself to stop dwelling on my lack of knowledge. After all, my very existence was already an anomaly. Certain events might occur without my awareness.

What I needed to focus on was ensuring the safety of the people I cared about.

'Now, think. What incidents do I remember happening on the 27th floor before the Astraea familia calamity? Wait, where is the Astraea familia?' I pondered within myself.

"Are they out on patrol? No, there should be at least one of them here with their goddess," I muttered, scanning the area for any sign of the Astraea familia.

"Tsk, I should have asked Bahamut," I grumbled, recalling that Alise, Kaguya, and Lyra had been at my familia manor earlier that morning.

...............

While I mulled over various scenarios, the Denatus was already underway.

"You're late, chibi," Loki remarked upon Bahamut's arrival.

"And is there a prize for being early, washboard?" Bahamut retorted.

"Hmmf," Loki huffed, turning away in annoyance.

"Ahem, may we begin?" Ganesha intervened, eager to start the meeting before Bahamut and Loki's banter escalated any further.

The meeting proceeded as usual, with the gods and goddesses discussing various issues and proposing solutions. Eventually, it was time to select aliases.

"How about 'Dragon King' for my Draco?" Bahamut suggested, starting off the alias selection process.

"Pfff," Loki stifled her laughter, finding the suggestion amusing.

"What's so funny?" Bahamut asked, clearly displeased.

"Nothing, it's just that I would propose 'Lizard Emperor' as his alias," Loki replied, unable to contain her amusement.

"Alright, enough with the jokes. Let's take this seriously, everyone. We don't intend to waste time," Demeter interjected, diffusing the tension. They all knew where the playful banter was headed.

"Your child has levelled up again in such a short time, no less. You must be proud," Freya chimed in, breaking her silence during the meeting.

"Yes, I'm very proud of him," Bahamut responded, fully aware that Freya had a keen interest in Draco.

"He even managed to surpass certain persons record again, Ais was she called," Bahamut added, clearly trying to provoke Loki.