Chapter 8 - Chapter 8

A/N:

Lordielord.

Chapter eight, finally.

It took a while, but here we are. And no one's more surprised than me. No, really. As much as I love this story, its characters, and the foundation I managed to build... coming up with ways to continue the plot past rescuing the Astraea Familia... was actually quite difficult.

Even so, here we are. 

And with that, let's begin. Please enjoy what I came up with.

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...

...

"Oh, you're up early. Sleep well I hope?"

Minutely stumbling down the stairs the next morning, Alex half-glanced at the woman that spoke to him. At first quizzically, because why the hell was someone he didn't know trying to talk to him?

Of course, that was until he properly placed the blonde hair, uniform with the flowing skirt, and the frozen in place service smile, and he was able to recognize her as the one who had given him his room last night. Just now with a broom in her hand, sweeping the floor.

Still.

She had asked him a question. 

Alex just regarded her silently for a few solid seconds before responding.

"I dreamt I got transported to another world, where this floating interface appeared and threatened to kill me if I didn't save some girls from a monster. Girls who could snap me like a twig, and a monster that could empty my insides with a swipe. I got stabbed. A tree exploded, sending bark with the consistency of metal up my side like a pincushion, and one or more of my ribs were punctured and realigned."

The room went quiet.

It went so quiet that one could hear the indistinct conversations and footfalls of those passing by outside. 

"But yeah, I slept well. Thanks for asking," Alex told her shortly after. 

The woman... didn't respond. 

Not immediately.

And it was in no small part due to the fact that she was just slowly blinking at him, her flawless service smile nowhere to be seen. "...That, um, sounds quite frightening sir," she eventually said, and the bewildered frown on her face said she didn't know what else to say. 

"Yeah, I thought so too..." Alex said mechanically. "Anyway, just you here? Where's the other staff?" 

Abruptly switching tracks, he looked out over the rest of the establishment, finding it to be pretty much empty. Well, save for the few gentlemen conked out at the bar, snuggling into wood like pillows.

"Oh, um, it's just me in the mornings," the woman informed him, slowly trying to regain her composure.

"Hm. You serve breakfast?"

Pausing the broom, the woman nodded, her smile swiftly returning to her. "Of course. What would you like?"

Hell if I know.

"Surprise me," Alex said lazily, pulling out a seat and dropping into it with all the grace of someone who just woke up. Hence, why he immediately slumped into the backrest, snugly crossed his arms, closing his eyes in wait.

"Oh? And if I pick the spiciest thing on the menu?" he heard her ask, along with the tiniest bit of mischief.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure to react appropriately when I take a bite," Alex replied, eyes still closed. 

With what sounded like a huff or a snort, the woman's footsteps receded further into the building. Alex just slipped into a more comfortable position, enjoying the silence. 

A minute went by. 

Maybe even several. 

At one point, he opened his eyes, starting to lazily watch the entrance, where people out on the street began to drift on by, places to be.

"Alright. All done."

Eventually, the woman returned, tray in hand, and Alex regarded what she placed down in front of him. It looked to be some kind of omelet dish with some vegetables. But the egg was doused with a heavy serving of some sauce. 

A very red, dark looking sauce that drew his gaze without his say-so.

Jesus Christ, she was serious.

Alex glanced at the woman. 

She smiled encouragingly.

With a sigh, Alex partitioned a bit in his fork, and along with the milky egg white, the red sauce began to dye the utensil red. He stuck it in his mouth and started chewing. And chewing. Then he chewed some more. And eventually, "...I can't feel my tongue."

A bell-like laugh reverberated.

"Heehee—that would be our quote unquote 'famous' hot sauce," the woman explained, grinning from ear to ear. "What do you think?"

"Sadist."

"What?"

"I said I would like some water, please."

Anyway.

Alex still ended up scarfing down the rest of the meal and paying for it. 

Even if the woman got her kicks testing experimental torture techniques on unsuspecting customers... it was still a pretty good omelette. Though, at the same time, Alex was reasonably certain anything would taste good with how little he's eaten in the past twenty-four hours.

There was the meat skewer yesterday evening, and then, what? Half a granola bar in the hours leading to his highrise date with that contract killer, and then getting smited?

Still, with the food finished, Alex didn't do much of anything for a bit. In fact, he just idly closed his eyes again. But this time, it was just because he was beginning to silently map something out in his head.

That is, his priorities.

See, his future prospects in this world were—quite frankly—kinda shitty. Always being under risk of being dragged off somewhere under threat of a floating screen? If that was going to be his life going forward... he couldn't exactly stumble around at his leisure, wasting time. 

Hence, waking early. 

Although technically, Alex had his on and off insomnia to thank for that.

Anyway.

Money and shelter are okay enough, for now. Employment, legal or otherwise, can wait a little bit. For now, the more immediate problem would be... yeah, lack of knowledge. Geographical, financial, political, historical, etc. In other words, all the boring stuff. But... useful.

With eyes still closed, Alex reached such a conclusion, idly feeling the morning breeze from the nearby door. Still, he began making a list, and he started ranking them based on immediate importance. 

Of course... that lasted only until he heard the dual sound of the chairs next to him skidding backwards, and two people sitting down. 

Alex lazily opened his eyes.

And he was met with the sight of two unknown women now sitting at his table. 

A stern looking one with blue hair and cream colored skin; and another with a wild mane of red hair and wheat-skin. What's more, both of which were decked out in weapons and combat gear. 

Alex craned his head. 

Blue hair opened her mouth. "Excuse me sir, might we ask you a few questions? We're here on reports of—"

Alex didn't let her finish. 

Because he bolted. 

Straight towards the door.

That said, he didn't even make it two steps before he felt a hand reaching for him. Whoa. Fast, Alex thought. Still, he didn't hesitate. He instantly dropped to his feet and curled into a ball. "Wha—?" A surprised noise behind him couldn't stop in time, their foot crashing into his ribs. 

It hurt. 

It hurt quite a bit actually. 

But—it also sent him flying. 

Hard and fast out the doorway. 

Alex flew (spun?) several meters in an instant; one moment in the carefully lit establishment, and the next, outside, in the morning's calm but bright sky.

He bounced along the cobblestones for a fraction of a second before loudly crashing into the nearby wall clear across the street. "Felt that..." he groaned on impact, idly hearing startled yells all around. 

Still, Alex didn't stop. 

Without even taking a breath, he was already freeing the wire from his belt and backhanding it skywards. 

The heavy excess hit the roof's awning directly above him, wrapped around it tightly, and suddenly he was launched upwards several feet. It wasn't enough to clear the roof, but it was enough to reach its topmost edge with two hands, and clamber on top of it with a roll. 

That was when he finally heard the shouting. Their shouting, that is. And then footsteps too, already closing in on his position. He didn't bother turning to check. Finally inhaling, Alex leapt to his feet and immediately began speeding across the slanted stretch of tiled roof before him.

Yet upon making it to its end, ready to jump to the next one, a figure suddenly leapt from below, landing exactly where he planned to go, and what's more, in what looked to be a single, remarkably effortless bound. 

It was the wheat skinned girl. 

Alex half let out a laugh.

How utterly annoying it was to face off against people with superpowers.

Still. 

Alex didn't change direction. 

He kept running towards the gap. And yet, he didn't jump across. No, instead, he feinted a throw of his wire to the right, drew the woman's gaze, and then... unhesitantly fell straight down. Right down into an open manhole surrounded by workers in green tunics. 

A sewer's manhole. 

One he had seen yesterday.

Now, Alex thought he might have heard a violent curse from above on his way down, but it could have very well been the workers he had no doubt scared the shit out of. 

But that view was scarce, because soon the bright light of the looming day was replaced with darkness, and the feeling of freefall ended with him hitting a solid surface.

Hard.

Alex couldn't quite manage to land with a tuck and a roll, but he also didn't land with the sound of any sickening cracks, so he would count that as a plus. 

Still; he was already pushing himself up and moving, feeling his right side for a wall, which he found. He couldn't see too well yet, but he kept shuffling forward regardless.

Meanwhile, his other senses went off like crazy—and ignoring the delightful ache of his ribs for a moment...

It was the sewer stench that was the strongest. But at the same time, it wasn't as bad as he thought it would be. And as for sounds, he heard water sloshing to his left, and then hollow shouts... above? Behind? 

He couldn't tell. Alex just kept covering ground, not once stopping, traveling along what were likely canal-like pathways. He took frequent patternless turns, systematically memorizing each one. 

The shouting soon faded.

Mindlessly, Alex reached into the lines of his coat for a light source. Not another flare. Too noisy. Too bright. Besides, he only had one left. No, he fished out something else. A small pump LED flashlight. An absurdly cheap buy on Earth. 

Practical though.

Anyway, now he could see, and his mental image of what this world's sewers looked like hadn't been too far off. 

But...? 

Blinking, Alex felt like tilting his head. Because whether it was the smoothly tiled ground, the spotless walls, or lack of litter in between, it was all too, well... clean.

Clean.

The place for sewage.

That's a parallel world for you, I guess, Alex thought, taking a few more turns before pulling himself up the next steel ladder he saw and climbing. 

Naturally, it led up to another manhole, but one no doubt far, far away from those women. Idly, he only then began to wonder what they even wanted. 

Hm.

Welp, no point worrying about it now, he thought chipperly. Probably would have been a pain in the ass any— Hand on the last rung of the ladder, Alex didn't even have the time to react before he was abruptly and without warning grabbed by the arm and yanked upwards. 

That said, he was now on the surface, in a different alley, but being held two inches off the ground by a certain blue haired woman, much like a woodland critter caught in the mouth of a predator.

Apt, because as it happened, the woman in front of him was staring him down with quite the resting bitch face. "Why did you run?" she asked without missing a beat. Not forcefully. Not angrily. Composed.

Hm.

"Would you believe me if I said I've developed a very select fear of women? On and off. Hits me when I least expect it. I'm working on it. Hey, how did you know which manhole I'd come out of?"

Blue Hair stared at him. 

He smiled, tilting his head.

She sighed, before tossing him away, and he landed in a not so gentle heap along the new alley he was in. But more specifically, right in front of the bare legs of Miss Crimson Hair and Wheat-Skin. "We're bringing him in for questioning. Iita. Take him," he heard.

"Sure thing, boss lady."

It was quite the odd experience, Alex decided, to be once again yanked upwards like he weighed nothing. Especially when he was summarily tossed over a light chocolate shoulder and off they went. 

I seem to be getting kidnapped. 

And—he might add—with the kind of unparalleled efficiency that would make even the most seasoned criminals feel their craft was inferior. 

Alex was really taking it all in. 

"Hey, lady... you do realize the only thing to look at is your ass, right?" 

"Seems fair, Mr. Runner. I'm looking at yours."

Oh my.

Regardless, Alex did eventually try to tilt his head up higher. Naturally, this had him spotting the streams of people they were passing, their faces looking at the scene, baffled. 

He idly waved at them. 

Of course, then his gaze ended up drifting towards Miss Blue Hair, currently walking behind them at an even pace. She still looked calm and composed.

Alex regarded her.

"The manhole," he asked again, further inclining his almost upside down head. "How did you know?"

She looked at him, brow raising. Like, she was finally placing his casual, slightly chipper behavior as odd. "...One of my skills," she eventually answered simply. 

"What?"

The woman paused at that, giving him a proper look. His appearance. His clothes. "...Oh. Are you perhaps a civilian? Interesting..." 

Regardless, her low mutter promptly changed to an explanation. 

"Skills. Active and passive abilities granted by our deity's blessing. One of which allows me to track people. Granted, I touch them."

Alex hummed.

So the kick, huh? How unlucky.

"In other words, more superpowers. Sorry I asked," he sighed, propping his chin on one hand, arm resting on the closest solid surface. Crimson-Haired-Girl's sculpted back. 

The walk to who knows where continued. 

...

...

...

The week hadn't been a particularly pleasant one for Shakti Varma.

As captain of the Ganesha Familia, the duties she was in charge of seemed endless at times, so it had already been a hectic one to be sure. 

That said... Evilus' sudden attempt to murder the Astraea Familia put everything else to shame.

And that they had so nearly succeeded, and via the use of an irregular monster of all things... that alone was enough to fill Shakti's heart with ice. Ice, then fury. 

Still.

To her great relief, they failed.

And as a result, that group of Evilus—the Rudra Familia—had been successfully apprehended, and even now were being questioned en masse. 

Now, hopefully, they would start ratting each other out for leniency in their crimes. That way, Shakti would have information on where even more of them were hiding. Still... she didn't count on it. 

Evilus... the lot of them were little more than a group of thugs, yes... but they were also insidiously cunning. 

Otherwise, they wouldn't have survived as long as they had. Her familia—Ganesha, Astraea Familia, Loki and Freya too... even Zeus and Hera's way back when... for years, decades even, so many powerful forces had been hunting Evilus down. 

And yet they still persisted.

There had to be something everyone was missing. A vital piece of intelligence on how Evilus operated. Where they hid. How they're able to pop up, but then disappear just as easily. But what was it...?

Well, only time would tell. 

Hopefully, some much needed light could be shed on such questions. And, if things went well, Orario as a whole could finally be one step closer to ridding itself of such a disgusting darkness. 

I'll purge this great evil... Ardi. I'll avenge you. Even if you wouldn't want me to. Shakti swore that to that earnest little sister of hers, who despite already being long gone from this world... erased without even a body to bury... had fiercely wished to protect it more than anyone else. 

In any case, Shakti sighed in the room she was in. Now wasn't the time to go reopening old wounds. Not when there was still much to do. 

For example...

Dealing with... this person.

Yes; Shakti glanced over.

Reclined on the plush sofa opposite her going on several minutes now, a blond boy had a listless look about him as he stared idly at the ceiling, hands lazily in his lap.

Now, he was someone who Shakti had initially known nothing of. 

Really, approaching him in that inn at all had been a complete coincidence. 

Basically, there had been reports of someone going around extorting small-businesses in the area, and she was sent to ask around. 

So Shakti asked. 

Correction: she tried to. 

Because he instantly ran. 

And one 'surprisingly' competent escape attempt later, and from someone without a falna... that led to the here and now. And yes, he did not possess one. Shakti had confirmed it. Also, because she had seen this boy before. Just yesterday even. 

Admittedly, it was still a bit vague, but... that blond hair, those dress clothes... Shakti could place his presence with the same familia she had just been thinking about. Astraea's. He was the straggler that had been with them on the 30th. But... 

How could he have come to be there? Alise wouldn't have brought a falna-less civilian with them to somewhere as dangerous as the 30th floor. But... neither was it possible for him to have made it there on his own. 

Questions, questions.

But that was why she was here.

To ask them.

There was just one problem.

Before, on that day, the boy had been unconscious. Mute. Now, however... 

"Alright Officer," he suddenly breathed out, craning his head to turn dark golden eyes her way. "How we doing this? A smidge of violence? Full on torture? Or are we doing words of praise and affirmation? At least tell me you're planning on some good cop, bitch cop."

Shakti lightly sighed.

They were in the Guild. 

More specifically, they were making use of one of the well-furnished advisor meeting rooms. Hence, the sofas. Three three-seater ones that faced each other. To reiterate, in one was Shakti, with her legs crossed, hands stapled together. 

And in the other was the boy, who after unloading those very strange expectations her way, reached over and snagged a pillow, placing it in his lap like a well-loved pet. No, the fact that he did this without any change in expression...

Shakti had to forcibly tear her eyes away from that. "...You're not going to be tortured," she clarified instead. 

"Oh, of course not," the blond agreed, the sarcasm in his voice evident. 

The wrists behind the pillow came out, and when he shook them, the metal attached clattered mockingly. 

"I must have been tenderly kicked in the ribs, brought here against my will, handcuffed, and barred from leaving because you were just dying to have a chat with me."

Shakti regarded him flatly. 

"...You were given medical treatment for the rough conduct. You were brought here and barred from leaving because you ran away from two members of the Ganesha Familia. And you're handcuffed because you tried to escape four times."

"Huh? Four? Not five?"

"...You yelling 'surprise attack', throwing an extremely telegraphed punch in my direction, and then making a spectacular show of tripping over your feet when I simply moved out of the way... I did not see fit to count as an escape attempt."

"And now she's bragging," the blond boy sighed, before crossing his arms and nestling right back into the couch's backrest, golden eyes sliding upward to the ceiling once more.

Shakti stared at him. 

Because she genuinely couldn't tell if he was upset or not. I know... I don't interact with ordinary civilians as much as the other members, but... surely they can't all be like... this. Brows furrowed, Shakti wanted to tilt her head.

The door chose that moment to suddenly open. 

"S-Sorry, we're late! Uhh, I-I mean, apologies for arriving late Miss Varma, er—ma'am, Miss Varma ma'am." 

"Fufu. Yes, apologies for the delay. This cutie and I just got turned around on our way over. Heehee."

Two people entered the room. 

The first was a very nervous looking Guild employee. She had short pink hair, wearing the standard Guild uniform. She also seemed rigidly frozen at the door frame. 

That left the second person to step past her, someone who could be the girl's opposite, and in many ways.

It was a tall, buxom, and older woman with distracting tawny orange curls, framing an arguably even more distracting face and body. 

That being said, technically, a comparison was horribly unfair. After all, Guildswoman Misha Flott was, at the end of the day, only a mortal. 

The other woman was not.

Shakti stood up. "There's no need for apologies, Miss Flott, Goddess Demeter. You are right on time. And once again, thank you for coming on such short notice, Goddess."

"Oh, I needed to make a trip to the Guild anyway," Demeter answered with a pleasant chuckle. "Now, you need me to sit in on a meeting, yes? Make sure a person of interest isn't—?"

"...Asleep?" someone asked.

Shakti and Demeter both looked at Misha. 

She had a blank stare on her face as she pointed at one of the sofas. 

They followed her finger.

And.

It was strange, Shakti realized. Because she felt a budding annoyance even before she looked over to find a blond head now lazily strewn about the top part of the sofa, eyes closed and barely moving.

So.

Shakti kicked the side of the sofa. 

Hard. 

Her level 4 strength sent it into a full one eighty before it roughly careened into a wall, and with a small noise of surprise, its occupant flew out like a puppet with its strings cut. The handcuffed boy unceremoniously flopped onto the floor. 

"B-Bitch..." he groaned.

Both Misha Flott and Demeter blinked. With a sigh, Shakti just pinched the bridge of her nose in the time it took for everyone to get settled in. 

A couple minutes later saw three people seated in chairs, and one near a wall, with a writing utensil and pad. 

But in the latter's case, Flott seemed unable to stop shooting strange glances at the blond; the boy who was now just sitting in silence, but looking about as annoyed as someone could be after being woken up via high powered kick. 

And, oddly...

Still with a pillow in their lap... 

Regardless, Demeter was also quiet, and Shakti wasn't sure if that was because the women thought it wasn't her place to speak, or just didn't want to. Though she too was giving the boy on and off curious glances.

Shakti cleared her throat. 

"...Now, Miss Flott here will be our representative from the Guild. She is here to take notes, and to ensure the meeting doesn't break regulations. As for Goddess Demeter—"

"...What," someone said, voice so incredibly flat it could have seeped into the room as thick sludge. 

It was ignored.

"She was kind enough to preside as our mediator. She will also ensure that some people..." Her eyes drifted over, meeting golden ones. "Remain as truthful as possible."

The blond scoffed.

Shakti's stare persisted. "...Right, well, let's begin. First. Boy. Please state your name for the record. According to Alise and the others, upon their return to the surface, it didn't appear that they knew it."

"Ben," he said mechanically.

Almost immediately, Demeter's head shot towards the boy. 

"And your last name?" Not immediately noticing, Shakti continued.

"Dover."

"Understood. Ben Dover then—..." 

It didn't even take a second. 

Shakti's face froze, blinking. It wasn't just her. The scratching of Flott's feathered pen stopped. Demeter's smile suddenly took on a strange quality.

Silently, the boy just grinned.

You can't hit him. You can't. He's just a civilian, Shakti told herself, eyes closing with a sharp inhale. 

Of course, in the back of her mind, she knew she already had hit him... and the fact that her kick hadn't dislodged his ribs by mistake was nothing short of a miracle. 

 But that failed to calm her down, and she could only assume that was because the possibility of breaking him, even by accident, wasn't really doing a good job cementing itself as a worst case scenario.

"Alex. Alex Hunnigan," the boy eventually introduced himself, chuckling.

Shakti made a deliberate show of glancing at Demeter this time, who just nodded, smile a bit strained. Also, Flott dutifully wrote it down.

"Well... Mr. Hunnigan," Shakti found herself pronouncing with a bit of force. "If you're quite done being immature, we can do what we came here to do. Now, let's start with the most pressing point. The medical practitioners that looked after you just now shared with me their findings—"

"Feels a little invasive, no?"

"And with such information..." Shakti continued without stopping. "We were able to reasonably conclude you indeed do not possess a falna."

One of his brows shot up. 

"...A what?"

Demeter spoke up, smiling, orange curls bouncing his way. "Falna. It's what we can give to you children of the mortal world, which is but a fraction of the power we sealed away before descending to live with you all."

The boy named Alex just stared at her.

Several seconds passed.

Understandably, Demeter couldn't help but start to look a little uncertain.

But the boy suddenly looked away, muttering. "...Is it a mental illness? ...Dissociative Identity disorder? Psychological grooming, maybe?"

"Um?"

"Nothing, ignore me," Alex threw out with a dismissive sigh. "And no, I most certainly don't have one of those... falna. Unremarkably powerless I'm afraid."

Shakti soon hummed. 

"...Quite. Which is why it's curious, isn't it? That is, how and why you found yourself in the dungeon yesterday, an incredibly dangerous place. And so far down as well. ...It's a miracle you're not dead." 

Her suspicion was plain to see. Rather, she didn't even bother hiding it. 

Also, out of the corner of Shakti's eye, Flott tried and failed to hide how intently she was now listening to the current conversation. Goddess Demeter too for that matter, even if she was subtler.

However...

"I know, right?" Alex replied, tone light. No, he even sounded vaguely cheerful. "Everyone was out for blood. Juggerbitch, the pedophile, that elf girl, even Terrence the Tree. Fucking Terrence..." 

...What?

Counting people with his fingers, and then... cursing a tree? Shakti struggled to follow along. Everything about this boy screamed unserious and immature. Her probing insinuation seemed to go completely over his head, too. Or, had he intentionally glossed over it?

With a furrowed brow, Shakti came across the very rare thought that she was currently a little out of her depth. 

"The dungeon..." she repeated intently, bringing things back on track. "What were the circumstances that led you to being there?"

"Huh? Oh, I was kidnapped."

The room as a whole paused, going deathly silent. Shakti just stared at him, eyes blinking in confusion.

"...What?"

"Oh, I said I was kidnapped. As in I was displaced. As in I was physically moved from one place to another," Alex said slowly, expressionlessly, pantomiming the explanation with his (handcuffed) hands, as one might do for a toddler. 

...It vaguely annoyed her. 

But her confusion must have overpowered it, because just as Shakti went to open her mouth, she just as quickly closed it. Instead, she looked at Demeter. The orange haired goddess, who looked just as visibly confused, belatedly met her gaze and nodded, if a little uncertainly.

Shakti frowned. 

"...Someone kidnapped you. And then left you there? In the dungeon?" she reiterated, glancing back at the boy, her tone bordering on incredulousness. No, bewilderment.

"Yup," he said. 

Again, Demeter made no comment. 

"Who—?" Shakti tried to ask.

"Dunno. Didn't see who it was. One moment I was on a roof, chilling, and the next thing I know, I'm passed out and waking up looking like a tasty snack to every monster in the vicinity... was literally just like the time with that female gang..."

That's... Pointedly ignoring that last part, Shakti's brain whirred, not knowing what to think. And yet... if none of what he's saying is untrue... could it have actually happened? 

Well, no... there was also another option. There was the possibility that this boy's memories... weren't all there, and what he said was, in a stressed mind, just what he understood to be true. 

Shakti eyed the eccentric blond, that is, the young civilian boy. 

Someone who had just told them of an experience any falna-less person would have been confused, scared, and even traumatised from, but now and before, only wore idle interest on that face of his... as if his circumstances didn't bother him in the least. 

As such, Shakti regarded him silently for a moment, before asking her next question. "...And after which, Alise and the others rescued you?"

Alex stared at her. 

Then... he tilted his head.

Shakti frowned, confused. 

But then the boy opened his mouth to ask a question, and her confusion was replaced with stupefaction. 

"...Who's Alise?"

Demeter and Flott both openly stared at him. 

"...What," Shakti asked. 

No, she stated it. 

She was that dumbfounded. 

Alex just raised an eyebrow at her. "Well, you just brought up someone I don't know out of nowhere."

Shakti's brow dipped so low she felt it along her forehead. "...Alise. Alise Lovell," she repeated. "The captain of the familia who rescued you from certain death?"

Alex continued to stare. 

And, not one bit.

There was not the slightest bit of understanding in those stupid golden eyes.

"The girl... with the red hair... pony-tail...and green eyes?" Shakti tried, with painstaking slowness, now desperate for any kind of reaction. 

Any kind of reaction to disprove the hypothesis that this person—this awfully strange person—didn't know about one of the most famous girls in Orario, least of all after he was saved by her.

Alex blinked one final time.

Then his features lit up.

"Oh, her...!"

Shakti had been saved.

"Little Miss Big Sister. Yeah, I remember. They helped a bunch. I'm usually not one to give out compliments, but they were surprisingly competent? I mean, sure—there may have been an awkward but otherwise expected moment of friendly fire in the beginning. But they healed me right after, so it was cool beans. You know?"

Shakti stared at him. 

That's... all she did.

She had questions. 

So... so... many questions.

No, rationally, she wanted to file away that whole excerpt of information as paradoxically concerning, absurd after that... but then she saw the unbothered look on the boy's face and promptly decided it really wasn't worth delving into. 

Not in the slightest.

...Idly, she even found herself pitying Flott; the guildswoman who had been forced to listen to this awfully strange conversation this whole time, and was dutybound to impart judgement on all of what was worth reporting and what wasn't. 

Yes; that... was likely why the pink haired girl looked like she could burst into tears at any moment.

...Moving on.

There was Goddess Demeter, who at some point just started listening in silence, hands primly on her knees... and with the face of someone who just realized their cheery sociable demeanor didn't quite prepare them for situations like these. 

Also, it was plain to see the woman didn't seem to know how to grapple with the fact that all of what she just heard had been the truth...

"...I see," Shakti eventually said, somehow keeping her composure. 

But, well, that's that? I suppose we just have to be on the lookout for... those kidnapping others and leaving them in the dungeon. Yes; upon revisiting that fact, she was frowning.

Really, with all that was going wrong in Orario currently, there being dangers yet unseen made her heart heavy. 

Shaki let out a breath.

Still, she continued.

"Well then, Mr. Hunnigan... it appears you've had quite the rough time of it. You have my sympathies. Even so, there is one last matter. One regarding today's... incident."

Alex's flat gaze fell on her, and his response came without missing a beat.

"You mean when you punted me across the street into a wall like a soccer ball, and then had me thrown over your scantily clad partner's shoulder like a sack of potatoes? Are we talking about that incident?"

Subtly, Misha and Demeter ever so slowly shifted their gazes to Shakti.

"No, I'm talking about what happened before that, when you were approached by myself, a Ganesha Familia executive, and somehow immediately took that as your cue to take off running, climb up a roof, and even drop into a sewer manhole, all but screaming that you had something to hide. 'That incident'."

Even more subtly, Misha and Demeter shifted their gazes right back to Alex.

He stared at her. 

Shakti stared back. 

"...You're pretty good at this."

"Thank you," Shakti said smoothly.

"But it's not all that complicated," Alex suddenly said. "Took one look at you and decided I was better off not looking at you. I ran because I thought you were going to cause a headache. And..." Expressionless, he jingled his handcuffs at her. "Seems like I was right."

Shakti glanced at Demeter.

The goddess blinked, perhaps caught off guard. "A-Ah, sorry. Rather, yes. He is still telling the truth."

Shakti sighed deeply, before reaffixing the blond boy with a stare. "If you had only waited, we were only going to ask you questions about an act of extortion in the area. One being perpetuated by an adventurer. Your actions were illogical and meaningless."

Alex finally smiled. 

"Ah. But now I know I could have escaped if I hadn't let you touch me."

Shakti blinked. Still, she just as quickly raised an eyebrow and spoke. Her tone came out even. "You believe you could have escaped me? As you are? Without a god's blessing?"

"Always next time, right?"

Shakti eyed the boy. 

He was still faintly smiling.

As if, he found the prospect of Shakti "Anakusha" Varma attacking him again, as a challenging yet fun way to pass the time. Him. A Level-less civilian. And her. A level 4, and with stats that have already reached their max.

Seconds passed. 

Then, before she could stop herself, Shakti made a strange noise. A... short laugh. No, it was a chuckle. A single, low, breathy chuckle. 

Alex blinked.

No, so did Demeter and Misha.

"Yes. I suppose there is," Shakti said, and with a ghost of a smile. 

The boy's face summarily shifted. No, brow furrowing, he now even looked vaguely bothered. And the mutter she caught with her enhanced hearing had her raising a brow. "...As I thought, it's not the same when they're actually amused."

But then he was sighing, and something completely different left his mouth. "So? We done here, lady?"

Shakti thought about it for a moment, then nodded. "Yes. That will be all. For now. Follow Miss Flott. She will escort you out, as well as relieve you of your handcuffs." 

"H-Huh?"

 Now, out of the corner of her eye, the pink haired girl in question suddenly looked up, wide-eyed, and as if she had just been passed a bomb. 

"No need." 

But then Shakti heard Alex say that, and he was standing up, lightly tossing something her way. Which she caught, eyes wide. "Wait," Shakti muttered, "how did you—"

"Bye, officer," the boy drawled over her with a lazy voice and wave, and he walked past the equally stunned forms of Demeter then Misha Flott, who was at the door. And blinking, Shakti just watched as in no time at all, the blond haired boy in smart clothes was gone. 

Still... she eventually looked back down at what was in her hands. 

Handcuffs. 

His extremely durable, impossible to pry open handcuffs, meant to contain and restrict the strength of even Level 4 adventurers like herself. But... with both sides open.

No... unlocked.

Shakti suddenly heard a giggle.

Her eyes soon found Demeter. The goddess was staring out the door, head cocked with faint amusement. "What a unique child, no?"

Eyes trailing back to the handcuffs, silently, Shakti just nodded.

...

...

...

Out in Orario's open streets, more and more sunlight was beginning to peek out from the tops of rooftops. 

It warmed the day, but there was also a brisk chill accompanying it that kept people moving. 

It was still morning, after all.

Alex had promptly seen himself out of the building—the Guild?—and immediately after, was put right in front of the massive pavilion he had seen on arrival. 

In it, countless pockets of people mulled about. Some chatted in groups, others by themselves, doing all sorts of things. 

Past them, down wide modest streets, some people were even opening shops and stalls, taking care of last minute errands and chores, or hurrying down the cobblestone pathways to do the same. 

Basically, all of them were early risers tackling the day in earnest. 

Nine-to-five wage slaves, as I live and breathe... it's like I never left, Alex thought, mindlessly observing.

Well, he had no room to talk. 

He also had some work to do.

From the Guild, Alex set out, pace casual. 

If he was going to be spending the foreseeable future in this place, what came next was obvious. And it was something he had already decided on. 

Geographical knowledge. 

Parallel world or not, acquired maps from mute catgirls or not, committing his surroundings to memory was a must. 

Orario was large, unfairly so. 

But that was exactly why it was in his best interest to familiarize himself with as much of the city as possible, as quickly as possible. The holographic map that quest gave him in the dungeon was absent, after all. 

Which meant he couldn't—and shouldn't—rely on it. 

Though, not that it mattered. 

Alex was perfectly fine with not over-indulging in the bullshit powers given to him by entities unknown.

Besides, he didn't need some omniscient interface to help him keep track of where back alleys were, largely populated areas, militant zones to watch out for, shortcuts, possible escape routes, etc. You know, normal stuff to memorize.

Alex certainly had enough practice, what with his days and nights spent playing cops and robbers. Well. Dodging cops and robbers.

Noting down the largest locations and their distance from each other would come first. Then, he could form a mental circle with just those landmarks in mind. To which he could branch out and take in more. And then more and more and more. 

It would be monotonous. 

Boring.

But... Alex knew it worked. 

He let out a breath. 

Yeah. 

It was like he never left.

Unconsciously readjusting the fit of his ebony gloves, Alex maintained his walking pace; still, he stuck to the main streets. Taking shortcuts now wouldn't help him memorize.

Luckily, the early morning traffic, or rather, the lack of it, helped. If he was stuck in between mid-day's streams of people going about their business, that would make it harder to gauge his surroundings. 

Alex glanced at one of the signs overhead. Still written in blocky symbols, yes, but also still magically translated in real time when he concentrated. Yeah, he didn't see himself getting used to that anytime soon. 

"Might as well try to learn the language too," he muttered idly. "Just in case."

The sign read:

Hephaestus' Northwest Shops. 

Hephaestus...

The name had a big, burly, bearded man coming to mind. Which Greek god was that again? The god of fire? The forge? Well, it was apt, because the shops along the streets were all weapon and armor shops. 

So... Miss Justice and Virtue sets herself as the city's police, and then we have a Mr. Blacksmith here capitalizing on a world that favors combat, and starting a profitable business.

Alex half-smiled.

More evidence that these so-called gods and goddesses were just ordinary people. 

And even if—for argument's sake—that they weren't. Even if they actually did turn out to be the real deal... it would change nothing. Absolutely nothing. Because they thought and acted like humans. They got flustered. They got confused. They were susceptible to emotion.

What else mattered?

He eventually reached the end of the district. According to the map, that made this next one the clothing district. Kind of curious, Alex instantly started perusing through some of the windows. And, what he found was about as expected. 

Hm. Yeah. No jeans or zippers, of course. Mostly just dress clothes and casual wear. And—wait, what? Freezing, Alex blinked, and he suddenly had to backpedal to the front of a shop he nearly passed. He went inside even, just to prove he wasn't hallucinating. 

He picked up a pair of underwear. Men's underwear. But then, just to be sure, a woman's pair too. 

"Oh thank god." 

They were both elastic.

No, really, he was dead serious about this. The very last thing he wanted was to be stuck in a world where the entire population was rocking loincloths like they were out of style.

"I take it all back," Alex murmured, looking at the underwear like they were the love of his life. "This fantasy world is awesome."

Someone coughed.

Pausing, Alex looked to the left, and he found a woman behind a counter. She was looking at him strangely. No, there was a little disgust mixed in there as well. Oh. Right. Because he had been absentmindedly stretching out a pair of men and women's underwear for the past minute or so.

"Oh, no, I was just testing what both felt like," he told her, waving his hand. "You know, just in case."

The woman blushed. 

Ah... 

Alex left with haste.

He visited three more places after that, and it took the good part of the day. 

First, the city's large-ass coliseum, second, a maze of streets called Daedalus Street... yes, he got lost... and yes, after fifteen more minutes of getting more lost, he completely abandoned decorum and started scaling rooftops to find a way out. 

And, that landed him here.

So it really was what I thought it was. 

The Red Light District... also called the Pleasure Quarter... as expected, was full of all kinds of seedy establishments. Chief among them being...

Brothels. 

"Hey cutie... that nice face of yours will go to waste looking so bored. Wanna play with me and change that?" 

Smiling in an admittedly seductive way, a scantily clad woman with blonde hair and smooth white skin approached, bunching her chest together for him. 

Blinking, Alex stopped midstride, pausing right in front of her. 

Then he kept walking.

"I'm good. Thanks though."

"H-... Huh?"

Now, incidentally, he wasn't completely unfamiliar with prostitutes. 

Oh, not like that. 

No, they just made for unexpectedly competent informants. He ended up finding that out by complete accident though. 

After all, during his 'extra-curricular activities' back home, Alex, or rather, as he was better known: the psychopath who went around terrorizing criminals with a smiley-mask... he had apparently gotten a reputation for brutalizing the men who brutalized the girls. 

But, that had less to do with any heroics on his part, and more to do with the fact that said abusers were pieces of shit who regularly waved guns around and thought that's all it took to be the king of a couple of blocks. 

So Alex beat them up. 

Quite a bit. 

He quite enjoyed it actually.

Anyway.

What I was actually doing was regularly ridding those girls of their potential customers... but somehow that turned into me doing them a favor? 

They even started enthusiastically giving him names and information on some real human garbage. Gang heads. Career criminals. The worst of the worst. 

Sure, the girls were a little off about his moral compass, but free information was still free information. He couldn't not appreciate that.

Regardless, passing by many more barely dressed women making catcalls, Alex continued to make his way through the, unsurprisingly, heavily populated streets. 

Most of them were adventurers by the looks of it, still in their armor, as opposed to the casually dressed ones like him. But there were likely just as many adventurers who came to a place like this out of armor, so it was hard to differentiate.

 On a somewhat unrelated note... Alex didn't actually see many male prostitutes, but what he did notice was quite a few female adventurers also hungrily eyeing the working girls.

Alex whistled to himself.

Love knows no gender.

Oh, and there was another difference between his world and this one. 

The prostitutes; it did vary, but most of them looked to be of a singular descent, with dark, copper and wheat colored skin tones. More than that, while most of the girls were already dressed with very little clothing, this specific group somehow managed to have even less on. 

Bright, flashy, and... quite assertive, it seems, Alex idly noted, glancing at one dark skinned girl. She was wearing very small amounts of vibrant blue. That said, with a predatorial grin on her face, she slapped an unsuspecting male adventurer on the ass as he passed by.

Yes.

Quite assertive, indeed.

Oh. Right. That girl who had bulldozed her way into his ribs with her elbow... she had also been of the same race, hadn't she? Actually, come to think of it, while he had seen girls of that skin tone all over so far... why hadn't he seen any males yet?

Strange. 

Regardless, after several minutes of walking, Alex finally spotted the district's exit. Too late though—ugh, this thick smell's not going to stick is it? Unsurprisingly, the air was strained with a musky scent. 

He wondered if his inn had a shower—he hadn't checked. Actually, probably not. That would be too modern. At least a singular bathhouse, right? He'd take communally bathing with naked dudes over this sex-filled stench any day. 

"Hey, l-...look at her."

"W-Wha... Whazzat? Someone... Someone catch your eye?"

"Ah, he's t-talking about the busty one on the balcony, right? Hehe. I see her."

"No, no. Not her. ...Her. There. T-The cute little, hic, thing washing dishes."

"Hm? Ooh."

Listlessly, Alex found himself glancing where he heard the disjointed chatter. 

It was from a two story establishment nearby. Its ground floor was filled with working girls serving drinks to men at tables, some of the females dark skinned and some not. 

And yet, the ones talking were a group of three men on the street, behind Alex several paces. They weren't looking at the establishment's main room nor its occupants, though. No, they were looking at an entrance off to the side. It looked like it led into a kitchen. 

And in it...

A lone girl was washing dishes. 

No, she was also cooking food, and quite clumsily. She had dark hair that ended at the nape of her neck, and peach colored skin. So not of the surrounding descent. And unlike the heaps of other girls as far as the eye could see, she was wearing a modest little server's uniform. 

But of course she was. 

She was just a kid. 

She was probably about twelve years old, even.

Raising a brow, Alex tilted his head, then gave his surroundings a sweep.

Most of the girls flaunting their stuff were very clearly adults or close enough. Well... not that terms like 'underage' and 'age of consent' probably even applied in a backwards world like this... still... he didn't see much kids about. Certainly not the ones working the streets.

Guess she's just doing chores, Alex thought, before quickly losing interest. It had nothing to do with him, after all. He finally reached the district gate crowded with people. 

One of the three men suddenly spoke with a hiccup. "Hey, Sekka... heehee, d-didn't you say you brought an aphrodisiac...? G-Give it to me."

Alex's feet slowed. 

As a result, people immediately had to swerve out of the way, giving him annoyed glances. He did just pause in front of the gate, after all. Still, he barely noticed. He just continued to silently stand there, not doing much of anything. 

At first. 

Because, after cocking his head to the side in consideration for a bit...

Ah, what the hell.

He started moving again.

Just.

In the complete other direction.

Yes; ignoring the exit, Alex turned on his heel and headed towards a certain kitchen. Or rather, towards the three men with rosy cheeks now inside... staggering towards the oblivious girl innocently washing and drying plates.

...

...

...

God fucking dammit. 

Aisha Belka had a scowl on her face as she stormed through the streets of the Entertainment District. And, even at sixteen years old, it was more than enough to have people completely steering clear of her. She was already Level 3, after all. 

Now, Aisha was already in a rather pissy mood. Of course, this was due in no small part to her running around for the last few hours, handling odd jobs. Which, with how much traffic these red-lit streets got, were seemingly never-ending. 

And then there was patrol. 

Mitigating incidents once they happen, preventing incidents before they happen, simple disputes, heated arguments, blood-filled brawls; you name it. This den of sin she lived in had it all. There was always usually some kind of issue to resolve. 

Like right this very moment.

Reports flooded in of a fight breaking out inside one of the parlours... a bloody one, as it turned out. Naturally, Aisha had to come rushing over, and each one of her powerful strides contained nothing but annoyance. 

I swear, if this is another case of some cocksure fuckwits playing rough with our girls... I'm cutting it off. No, I'm cutting it off and making them eat it. 

This wasn't an overreaction.

As young as Aisha was... and even if most of her time spent out of the dungeon was spent on random tasks... she was still a recently appointed Berbera. She was still one of Ishtar Familia's swords.

She took great pride in that. 

And, what was the position for if not to shut down the upstarts who thought they could come into their home and do whatever the hell they wanted?

Nonetheless, Aisha finally reached the area in question, and she pushed past the large crowd that had gathered outside a building. 

As she did... prostitutes, adventurers, even some other Berbera... their gazes made it obvious where the problem was. Rather, they were all affixed in one place. 

Aisha followed them, and the first thing she noticed was that it didn't even look like the incident took place inside the building proper... but instead just outside its adjacent alley, near one of the side entrances. 

And the reason was evident. 

Three men—no... three gods, Aisha realized with a perplexed blink... were on the side of the street, clutching various parts of their body in visible pain, all bloodied, battered, and barely conscious. 

And...

A quick glance told her that no one else, least of all any of their girls, were in similar states and looking injured. 

Still; Aisha didn't relax. 

Because... there was a fourth.

Not a fourth god. 

But a mortal. 

A mortal human boy.

Aisha took in the sight; that is, the male youth, around her age even, very much conscious, but being firmly held on the ground, and... by someone she knew. A very pissed off seventeen-year old Samira. 

No, wait.... a very, very, pissed off Samira, with a slightly bloody nose.

Aisha stared for a bit.

"Samira... what happened?"

The girl with the short silver hair and brown eyes took in her arrival almost instantly, recognition appearing. Still, it only lasted a moment before anger came flooding back.

"Hell if I know!" Samira snapped, returning her gaze to the one she was holding down. "Apparently, this crazy bastard attacked those three and made a big mess of it. Then, when I got involved, the sneaky little fuck got a hit in...!" 

...Right.

Emphasis on the state of her only slightly battered, slightly bloodied nose, it having dried but still noticeable. Which again, Aisha had to stare at. Because, Samira was a Level 3, same as her. Hm... Aisha's gaze returned to the boy on his stomach. 

And with a closer look, she was forced to admit he did have a rather striking face. Not handsome. Not cute. Just... striking. The dark golden eyes sitting below messy flaxen-blond hair contributed to that. 

But the bulk of Aisha's attention wasn't on that. No; it was on the fact that despite being roughly pressed into the ground, arm tightly restrained behind his back, his face was quite... inexpressive.

Bored, even.

"...Didn't mean to hit you, lady," the blond said, his voice as dry as could be. "It was a knee jerk response."

"You feigned surrender then slammed a bottle over my face, you little shit!"

"Yeah. Like I said. A kneejerk response."

Aisha deadpanned at the byplay before giving her surroundings another cursory sweep. 

She spotted someone. 

A small girl was looking at the scene from nearby, wide eyed. Barely a teenager, but she looked like one of the help. In other words, neither prostitute nor a combatant. "...You, girl," Aisha called out. "Come here." 

The small bodied girl with the short hair and server's uniform flinched at being addressed. Still, her head shot down as she nervously approached. When she did, she looked up at Aisha just once, before meekly shooting her gaze back down. 

"...Y-Yes, Miss Aisha?"

Aisha sighed briefly.

Still, she didn't waste words. "You... you're from Sofia's block, right? Did you see what happened?"

The young girl's brown eyes jumped back to her, before nodding. 

"Y-Yes. I was doing chores. Like I was 'sposed to. Then, um..." Her gaze briefly fell on the three gods conked out. "...Those people asked me if I wanted to take a break. Asked me if I was thirsty. Then they, um, offered me one of those red d-drinks..."

"They did what?!" 

"B-B-B-But before they could, that boy appeared a-and, um, well..." The black haired girl glanced at the blond for the briefest of moments, before looking away, and her face was the oddest mix of awkward and frightened. "H-He, um, started beating them up, w-... with a frying pan."

Aisha blinked slowly. 

...What?

Someone coughed.

"Ahem. I'd, uh, not cook any food out of that frying pan if I were you." 

That was what the boy said, still being unyieldingly pressed into the ground by Samira, cheek riding the street, not even properly facing them... but still somehow managing to give advice. 

"It got a little, um, red and sticky."

The young girl turned a little white in the face. 

Aisha nursed her temples. 

"Also," the blond continued offhandedly. "Quick little message to the lady on top of me. Yeah. I'm talking to you Miss Soft and Gentle. I don't think the people in the back can hear my spine being pushed into my fucking stomach. Add some more pressure, why don't you?"

A vein on Samira's head throbbed. "Listen here you mouthy fuck—"

"Samira, ease off," Aisha said. 

Samira looked up at her, incredulous. 

Aisha rose a challenging brow.

A beat passed.

"...Fine," she eventually muttered. "But this guy's crafty. Watch out."

Samira got off of him, and after the dry "love you too" it got her, the boy rolled away from her with a groan that sounded less like a groan and more like a dying frog. But soon he was pushing himself to his feet and rhythmically stretching. 

Except, midway through, he paused. 

No, his face did. 

"Oh, the kink in my back is gone." He turned to Samira. "Thanks..."

Samira visibly started shaking.

"...Boy." Aisha had to cut in before he was punched and sent flying. 

And just in time too; those golden eyes switched targets before disaster struck. 

She gestured at the black haired girl. "This one," Aisha said. "...It seems your actions spared her quite the unpleasant experience. As someone who's part of her familia, I suppose I should start by thanking you." It was more polite than emphatic, but Aisha gave him a small nod.

The boy the same age as her stared at her in complete silence for several seconds.

Aisha stared back, waiting.

Then—

"Cool," he said, with the most ordinary of expressions on his face. And with that he walked right past her. 

Aisha's eyes blinked. 

No, her brain briefly stalled. 

Because; in the many hypothetical ways she imagined this likely trivial conversation going, a one-word answer and an instant departure was not one of them. "W-...Wait, that's it?" Aisha stammered—she actually stammered.

And what was more, before she knew it, she was grabbing his arm, stopping him from leaving. "...No bragging? No flirting? No demand for something in return? A reward?"

"Leaving this place sounds nice..." he mentioned idly, staring quite intently at her hand gripping his arm. 

Aisha was slightly at a loss.

Still, she composed herself.

"I see," she eventually said, staring at him more seriously now. "You're interesting, I'll admit." Then she made a show of looking him up and down; noting the sharp looking dress-coat and gloves she hadn't really placed previously. "Nicely-dressed too."

"Thanks? I'd say the same... but you're not really wearing much of anything?"

"And, with an answer to everything," Aisha remarked, curiously gauging his—still—flat expression. She then got in front of him, and after a moment of consideration, took a step closer. The swell of her bust immediately pressed into his chest, her face inches from his. 

But...

Nothing. 

There was no reaction. 

Or rather, with a face that only minutely changed, the boy just arched one eyebrow at her and that was it. 

"...You really don't feel the slightest bit aroused by me, do you?" Aisha asked, and rather than say she was offended, she was curious. Thoughtful. Maybe even interested.

"If I say yes, can I go?"

"Hm."

Aisha's lips twitched as she stared at the blond boy who, in contrast, didn't really have any kind of look on his face as he looked at not just her, but Samira too, as if he thought doing so would allocate him free help.

"You know..." Aisha said, smiling lightly. "Usually, people aren't in a hurry to leave my presence. What I mean is, I've never been ignored so blatantly before. I'm not sure how I feel about it."

"Kay, well... you take your time figuring that out, and I'll be on my way."

"But..." With an inviting smile, Aisha ignored the blithe remark entirely, and she even went as far as to wrap an arm tight around his neck, pushing their bodies even flusher together. "Who says I need your consent? I could just take you by force. What would you say to that?"

He stared at her.

"...I like men."

"I don't believe you."

"I'm into little kids?"

"You haven't so much as glanced that brat's way this entire time."

The boy went silent, then with a rather serious face, said, "I'm on my period."

Still mere inches from each other, Aisha cocked an eyebrow. "Is that supposed to be slang for something?"

One of his golden eyes twitched, and he started muttering to himself. "Language barrier. Every time."

Regardless, inwardly, Aisha was becoming more and more amused, if only because it was now increasingly apparent that this boy didn't have any interest in her. At all. And even despite practically every bit of her body pressing against his. 

Really. 

How strange...

"Heh. Well... that's enough for now," Aisha eventually said, releasing her hold on him and backing away. "Playing the long game might be more worthwhile anyway."

"...I literally have no idea what you're talking about," the boy replied.

"Aisha."

"What."

"My name," Aisha chuckled. "It's Aisha. Now hurry up and tell me yours."

He stared at her. 

No, he now looked perplexed.

Genuinely perplexed.

Still.

"Alex," he said mechanically.

Aisha grinned. "Alright, Alex, you can go. Good deeds shouldn't be ignored after all, and you did help one of our girls. That said... don't be a stranger next time we see each other, yes?"

Golden eyes lingered on her for a moment before he just wordlessly walked past her and towards the gate.

"Um, t-... thank you!" 

And not even a second later, with a small step forward, the young girl suddenly squeaked that out towards his retreating back. In response, the blond hummed noncommittally but didn't glance her way. He just kept walking, and soon he was out the gate and out of sight.

Samira, who had been quiet until that point, scoffed with her arms crossed. "What a weirdo," she said. 

"He was interesting."

The look Samira gave her was flat. "I had never questioned your taste in men, Aisha. ...That changed today."

Aisha didn't say anything; she just continued to watch the blond boy go. And, whether he was responsible for it or not... Hm. Guess I'll go make sure that crybaby fox has some dinner. She turned on her heel.

As she moved, however, her eyes accidentally caught sight of the gods, still barely moving on the ground. 

As for them...

Aisha scoffed.

Who fucking cared.

Let them wake up on the dirty street with their injuries, the perverted bastards. 

...

...

...

Alex's informative jaunt through the city, finally, continued once more. 

Sure, it was a bit touch and go for a while there... and he thought for sure he was going to get molested by a neighboring tribe of scantily clad ladies... but he managed to escape relatively unscathed. 

Always a plus.

On an altogether different note though, it was now completely dark out, evening having bled into night. This had been obvious enough during his trek through the mythical land of Prostitutia, but less so given that lights easily appeared every several meters back there. 

That wasn't the case now. Street lamps were few in number. And beyond the occasional building glow bleeding into the street, it was the pale moon that guided him just as much as his map did. 

And, well...

It was strange, Alex decided. That is, being out at night, but not surrounded by the massive neon skyscrapers he was used to. The endlessly bright blurs and noises of cars too. Even the chatter of the nighttime passerby around him—in this world—felt quieter.

It wasn't unpleasant.

Or even bothersome.

Just strange. 

Different.

But, speaking of skyscrapers...

Suppose those can count. Mindlessly stepping out of the way of a mother holding a toddler, Alex's gaze shifted upwards, catching two impressively large structures. The first, according to the map, was the one in the very center of the city.

Babel.

And... he actually didn't know what the structure was for. The term itself sounded vaguely familiar, but he couldn't really remember any concrete details about it. 

Still, it was quite the premiere sight. In other words, it would be the first thing the sheeple would see upon arriving in this place. It had to be chalk full of societal amenities, commercial stores, maybe even housing. Anything to bleed people dry.

Capitalism. 

There truly was no escape.

Anyway; Alex looked at a different structure, half Babel's size but still just as looming, if only as a dark shape in the sky that was nearly black. Glancing at the map, his brow furrowed a moment with the name. 

Folkvangr?

Regardless, Alex kept moving. 

That said... 

He quickly noticed the modest buildings that had been endlessly stretching the wide street were... little by little... starting to wane in number. And he quickly figured out why. Because he had reached a stone bridge. And once he got closer...

Oh.

Now standing at the center of the bridge, he realized it overlooked a small blanket of water, but also... mounds upon mounds of stone slabs. And there had to be thousands. No, probably more. It was obvious where he was. Still, he read a sign near the middle of the bridge. 

Adventurer's Graveyard.

A cemetery. 

One that, even despite the late hour, had the odd group of people scattered about, idling and paying respects.

Hm.

Without really giving it much thought, Alex crossed the remainder of the bridge, and began passing the first of the headstones. Names, phrases, and years were neatly written on them. Naturally, they meant nothing to him. Why would they?

Still, he kept walking. 

There was no real reason.

It wasn't to honor the lives of people he didn't even know. It wasn't even to respect them. No, if anything, maybe it was silent acknowledgement. Acknowledgement that in this world, in this new beginning of his, this place could just as easily be his end too.

.

. .

. . .

Alex's lips twitched. 

Yeah, just kidding.

Who cared about that?

He wasn't even half so sentimental. 

Alex just found it kinda cool to be looking at graves under the moonlight.

It was a boy thing. 

Maybe.

Hm?

In the midst of these thoughts, something suddenly grabbed at his attention. More specifically, something small flew past his face. His eyes followed it by reflex, feet coming to a curious stop. But when he placed it, he wanted to tilt his head. 

...A blue petal? 

He gave a brief but wide glance at his surroundings. As if to suit the melancholy graveyard atmosphere, the dirt trodden mounds were bare of flowers, trees, anything.

Idly thinking it was strange, Alex's focus idly returned to where petal had been, and it was just in time to see it fly through the air once more, guided by winds unseen, before landing perfectly on top of a grave stone further down the line. 

But not just any grave.

A styled one with blue accents.

Raising an eyebrow, Alex trudged forward, now vaguely interested.

...Isn't this kind of poetic moment usually reserved for the loved ones of the deceased? Not some random guy? Alex thought, approaching the slab proper, and after some thought, plucking the petal off it.

He stared at it. 

Yeah, it was just a flower petal. 

"Hm, strange," Alex murmured. "Well... fine. Guess I'll say something since I'm here? Sure is frightening how nice I am sometimes..." He finally squinted down at the grave, reading out the name inscribed. "I'm sure the world misses you lots and lots, um, Ardi Varma—"

The very second he said it.

Light.

Light flashed from nowhere.

///

VIEW QUEST

[YES] [NO]

///

Alex's hand moved without any hesitation, unfeelingly and immediately pressing no; the painfully familiar orange holographic screen disappeared from sight. 

And after, silence. 

Just silence. 

Kay, we're just going to pretend that didn't happen, Alex summarily decided, turning around and walking in the complete other direction, that is, back towards the bridge. 

He made it two steps.

///

VIEW QUEST

[YES] [NO]

///

"Fuck," Alex said swiftly, tonelessly, stopping in place, his face twitching in mild irritation at the orange screen that appeared once more.

Still.

He pushed no again.

And again. 

And again. 

And again. 

After the tenth unsuccessful attempt... Alex was forced to accept the reality. 

He sighed. 

It was a very long, very pointed, and very emotionally defeated sigh. 

"I hate you," Alex said as he pushed yes. "Like, I actually hate you."

The screen changed. 

Because of course it did.

///

The tragic loss of Ardi Varma was felt by all who loved her. Two years ago, in a base raid against the criminal faction known as Evilus, the young woman was killed in an enemy explosion, leaving not even a body to recover.

Her tale ended there. 

Or.

So people surmised. 

Reality unfolded differently.

Rather than killing her, the decisive explosion instead capsized the entirety of the base's ground floor, sending her severely injured body falling underneath the city, and then, even farther still, deep below Orario's sewer network.

This was when, in a strange twist of fate, she was happened across by the most unexpected of beings. A species of highly intelligent monsters known as Xenos. Having already been scouting near the surface at this time, they had heard the sound of the explosion and came to investigate.

Now, although distrustful towards humans... this particular group of Xenos even more so... they still ended up taking the at-death's-door Ardi back with them, to their hidden village on the Floor 24, accessed at the time via the alternate Dungeon entrance, Knossos.

As a result, for two long years, she's been hidden from the world, somehow staving off death via her incredibly potent, falna-gifted healing abilities, as well as the Xenos' small but indispensable aid.

But, with her body in no state to make a return trip to the surface herself, and with the Xenos faced with their own struggles of constantly evading humans and monsters alike... what was at first a miracle now draws closer to a looming tragedy. 

Ardi Varma's death nears.

It is only a question of what gives in first, her spirit, or her body. 

OBJECTIVE(S):

Steal a Knossos key.

Arrive and gain entry into Knossos. 

Arrive and gain entry into the secret Xenos village on Floor 24. 

Protect Ardi Varma until she safely makes it back to the surface.

*Warning*

Failing a quest might cause severe penalties to be enacted on self. 

///

Alex read. 

He read until his eyes glazed over. Thirty seconds might have passed. A full minute even. At somewhere around two minutes, he even started considering the immediate ramifications of committing a very, very, disrespectful action to the grave in front of him. 

With his boot.

But ignoring that for a moment...

"And, hypothetically, if I hadn't randomly decided to read a name off of a random grave?" Alex asked, and with the kind of apathy that belonged to an underpaid social worker. 

Predictably, but to his increasing annoyance, there was no response. 

Alex sighed deeply, covering the length of face with one hand. He didn't speak for several moments. 

"So let me get this straight..." 

Past his black gloved digits, he opened just one of his twitching eyes. 

"Steal a key, location unknown. Use it to open a secret passageway into the Dungeon, location also unknown. All to find a girl, who is no doubt surrounded by monsters that can kill me instantly. But also, intelligent ones that can most assuredly do the same. And their location? Unknown too, because why not. And, on the slim chance I even get that far. That is, without dying some unspeakably violent, bloody, gruesome death. You're telling me I have to somehow, someway, bring her all the way back up... before she kicks the bucket... which she could... at any time... for any reason."

Alex dropped his hand like a marionette with its strings cut, and he fixed the screen with a cold stare. "Please. Tell me if I missed anything. You sadistic piece of shit."

Naturally, there was no response. 

Until... there was.

Alex stared; because suddenly the screen changed, and it showed him something helpful... but only in the way a scalpel, an unconscious patient, and short hand on how to do a double gastric bypass surgery... was helpful to someone with an art degree.

It was another map.

An incredibly huge, incredibly detailed interactable map, with four blinking dots. 

One somewhere in the city named 'Knossos Key'. One in a massive underground area below the city sewers labeled 'Knossos'. One located a ways past it, connecting into a separate maze of pathways, the dungeon no doubt, labeled 'Xenos Village'. And then finally...

The girl herself, 'Ardi Varma', with her own dot inside of it.

Alex stared at it for a bit. 

It didn't seem to be moving.

In any case...

To reiterate: four objectives, spread amidst three different locations, but, all in all shaping to be another long and arduous search and rescue... 

A search and rescue... in areas teeming with sharp claws and grisly fangs... all more than lethal enough to cleave and skewer his body with ease, and with just one wrong swipe.

Yeah. 

He was so fucking dead.

With a sigh, Alex turned on his heel and headed back the way he came. "See if you ever catch me visiting a graveyard after this," he muttered to himself, almost petulantly. "This fantasy world fucking sucks."

...

...

...

Ryuu ran a towel through her damp long blonde hair as she walked into the lamp-lit living room of Stardust Garden. 

That said, she was also now clad in her usual set of sleepwear. A loose fitting but modest green sweater and leggings. There was no skin exposed. Of course, this differed from the majority of the familia, opting for short shorts and loose-tunics.

Guess everyone's already turned in, Ryuu thought, giving the room a sweeping glance. It was empty. Well, it was already quite late, so it made sense. Besides, she had ended up being the last one to bathe.

Ryuu continued forward, giving her hair one last ruffle before draping the small towel around her shoulders. Next, she wordlessly began switching off each of the room's lamps, and it was something she had to have done several hundreds of times by now. 

That said... when she reached the last lamp, that is, the one next to the bookshelf, her hand stopped midair. 

It was a small thing. 

One of the books; they had been pushed too far in, leaving a somewhat unappealing empty space. The room's now faint darkness was even obscuring it from view. Without really giving it much thought, Ryuu's lamp-driven hand switched course, reaching for it. 

And in doing so...

Oh.

—"What?! You haven't read it, Ryuu?! For real?! You gotta read it! It's the best story ever written! Promise!"

The Argonaut.

The all-time favorite story of that always smiling, always bursting with energy, blue haired, blue eyed girl. 

A... friend.

A dear, dear friend who no longer lived in the same world as them. 

Ardi Varma.

Ryuu hesitated. 

But only for a second. 

She pulled out the book from the shelf. Its chocolate brown cover instantly became lit up with the surrounding light, and so too did its symmetrical stylish border. Ryuu glided to a sofa, and soon she had the book in her lap.

And, it was a book she had read but hadn't looked at in years. She couldn't. The pain had been too fresh. No, even now, her heart silently quivered in her chest, and a dull lingering ache accompanied it. Continuing might only make it worse. No... it most assuredly would. 

Still... Ryuu opened it. 

Maybe recent events made her braver. 

Maybe she was confident the bad memories no longer outweighed the good ones. 

Or maybe... the thought of putting it right back on that lonely shelf, walking away, and then staring at the quiet darkness of her bedroom... made her feel cold and empty inside.

Ryuu read the first few lines. 

The forward... she remembered:

This is the story of a certain ridiculous man. The story of a clown who had inappropriate aspirations, was at the mercy of numerous schemes, and still persisted as a fool.

So, let the comedy begin.

That was right...

It was a comedy.

Ryuu almost smiled. 

Because Ardi vehemently refused to let them believe that's all it was. She was always, always, telling them about her deeper insights. 

About the serious themes hidden between the lines. That even amidst the silly situations, or the protagonist's jokes and jester-like behavior, the story was showing something more. 

It was a world divided by tragedy, but even so, the main character always made sure he was having fun. 

Ryuu... hadn't liked him. 

Not really.

And that was something she had never told Ardi. Because his behavior went against everything she knew about justice. A hero incapable of taking things seriously? Turning everything into a joke? A performance? Even in the most dire of moments? 

That had always rubbed her the wrong way.

Or at least... 

She... used to think that way.

Up until very, very, recently, even.

Ryuu paused on one page of the story. 

It was a picture.

An illustration. 

It depicted the male protagonist covered in wounds, facing off against a minotaur of all things. Not a threat to a Level 4 like herself. But him? An ordinary human living in a world untouched by the gods? Unblessed by falna, skills, and magic?

It was almost certain death.

And yet... he was smiling. 

He was barely standing, breathing heavily, and even looked halfway through the motion of wiping blood from his mouth. But. He was smiling. ...Kind of like him, I suppose, Ryuu thought out of nowhere, absentmindedly staring at the picture.

Then she froze, blinking. 

She... hadn't meant to think that.

But it was too late; the picture suddenly changed. No, it overlapped, but with someone else. Someone with blond hair and dark golden eyes. Someone who wore a grin that bled upwards, the wrong side of merry, and with or without that mask of his.

Ryuu stiffened, and suddenly she was hurriedly closing the book. G-... Gods, here I am, thinking ridiculous things because I'm tired. Shaking the thoughts away, Ryuu abruptly stood up, finally returning the book to its proper place and turning off the lamp. She exited the room.

With that, she headed to bed.

And yet. 

Even after reaching her room, and even after climbing into bed, in the privacy of a head getting closer and closer to sleep, Ryuu kept thinking about it. 

About that falna-less boy they had met. How he had helped them. Saved them. And, maybe, just maybe, in some far off perfect world... he could have saved Ardi too, had he even known. Alex... she... would have liked him... I think, Ryuu thought. 

Her eyes grew heavier. 

Her thoughts, murky.

A hero... who plays the fool... comedy amidst... tragedy. Just like... the story. 

Ryuu soon fell asleep. 

And... when she did... she found herself having the most pleasant dream.

...

...

...

...Coughs. 

...Loud, wretched coughs.

That was the uncomfortable sequence of events that caused her tired eyes to open, taking in the low hanging cavernous ceiling above her. Not with the gaze of someone still listless with sleep, not knowing where they were, but someone who did... and it came with crushing resignation.

Yes... she need only look up. 

The unremarkable outcrop of rock was merely part of the scenery and nothing more; that was true. But, after hundreds upon hundreds of hours staring at it, unable to do little else but stare at it... it drained her. 

It drained her to the point where it actually felt as though something inexplicable was reaching out and squeezing her heart... 

Each and every time. 

Still, she stared. 

There was simply nothing else to do as she waited for the especially painful coughs and wheezes straining her chest to subside. 

Ow... Ardi thought, weakly, chest soon returning to its rhythmic rise and fall. But because even that sounded like faulty machinery roughly grinding against one another, both the aversion and pain she felt didn't abate. 

She just laid there for a bit. 

And even though she just woke up, her eyelids, her body too, they felt tired. 

They always did. 

But, she didn't want to go back to sleep. It felt like all she did was sleep. Instead, slowly, very slowly, she pushed her weak and aching bones into a sitting position, up against the nearby wall of her mossy surroundings, dimly lit by glowing organic plants. 

"Kh..."

It took so much effort. 

It took so much effort she wanted to cry. 

Next, with a motion that felt more mechanical than human, Ardi half scooted, half-dragged herself a few short meders. Just that much. Just that much was enough to leave her breathless. 

Still, she reached a puddle of water, a medium amount collected in an uneven outcrop of the floor, dropped from the ceiling overhead. It was dirty. But it was steady, continuous. 

She drank. 

She drank until her throat became dry instead of painfully sore.

And when she was done...

Gods... Ardi thought numbly. 

Because, reflected off the water's rippling surface, was a girl who only barely looked like one anymore.

Along skin that used to be smooth and cream colored... black and red splotches were spread every which way. Across her legs, her arms, her hands, even up her neck; the burns had reached everywhere. 

And, her face...

Ardi's stomach churned, self-disgust and loathing rolling into one. 

The left side of it, below blue hair so dirty with dirt and blood it barely retained its color... existed a nasty burn mark. A sizeable ugly dark red mark on a face that no sane person could look at and say was pretty.

Not anymore.

Her left eye was even worse. 

What used to be a vibrant blue orb was now replaced with a hideous looking white. The entirety of it... burned. Seared. The pain... Ardi still remembered. She still remembered those excruciating seconds before reaching her limit and passing out. 

And after that, well...

Regardless, somehow, the eyelid wasn't damaged, which meant she could open and close it just fine. 

But that just made it all the more disorienting. Because even though Ardi felt the change... even though she felt her eyelid move... it didn't actually do anything for her visually. It felt wrong. So wrong it gave her a shortness of breath that had nothing to do with her breathing.

As for Ardi's right eye... 

It was much better in comparison. But even so, the absence of the former caused her no shortage of issues. Her depth perception, reaction speed, farsightedness... they were all so atrociously bad now. 

Even if she ignored the state the rest of her body was in, fighting a monster, a person, even if they stayed rooted in place... it would still be putting her life up to chance.

Still staring at her reflection... 

Although hesitant, Ardi reached out and traced one more spot. Her neck. More specifically, the cruel red line stretched across its width. Sometimes... she could still hear it. The sound the blade made when it seamlessly glided along her flesh.

Still... 

She hummed. 

...The noise that came out was so broken and distorted that one would think it came from a monster. 

Her hand dropped lifelessly, and she turned to face the other way.

And.

Came face to face with a creature with a skull for its head, its two soulless black pits for eyes looming over her like death. Ardi's stomach dropped like an anvil as she internally screamed and her heart-rate skyrocketed. She scrambled backwards, desperate for distance.

It shouldn't have been enough.

The creature would close in.

Its desire to kill assured that.

But...

The deep floor monster known as the Skull Sheep, with its curved horns set above a white skull and tattered cloak, just continued to stare at her. No, in action that vaguely resembled confusion, it even tilted its head.

But... that was it. 

It didn't lunge at her. It didn't viciously bite down into her flesh. It didn't move to attack her in any way. 

It just stared. 

And Ardi stared back.

Right, of course, she thought to herself, belatedly, remembering. This one... and the others... it's not... they're not... It was a monster. But. It wasn't the monster she knew. The proof—well, it was Ardi herself. That is, it was the fact she was still breathing. 

This monster and others like it...

They had saved her. 

No, they had chosen to save her.

What's more...

The Skull Sheep's elongated head suddenly lowered on the spot, its mouth opening. The reason became obvious when something compact and chunky unceremoniously dropped onto the floor. 

Ardi knew what it was.

For this... was the strange little ritual that had been performed ever since that day she had failed to die. Sometimes this creature. Sometimes others. They would painstakingly acquire this for her, no doubt hunted each time with deliberate care.

Put simply... it was meat. 

Monster meat. 

Monster meat that had to have been killed with precision, leaving the monster stones inside them intact, so the corpse wouldn't disappear. 

With it, she had managed to keep herself from starving all this time. 

But...

Just like always, the meat looked rotted and fleshy. And from experience, she knew the taste to be even worse. 

That first time...

It had been so horrible she emptied her entire stomach. And even when there was nothing left to empty... she threw up some more. Even now, the memory made her nauseous. 

But. 

Even in spite of that.

Ardi reached over, picking it up. "Thank you..." she told the Skull Sheep, making eye contact, smiling weakly. 

Saying such a thing...

Maybe there was no reason for it. Maybe it didn't make much sense.

Most of all since her voice came out hoarse and rough. Raspy. Like a knife scratching against armor, horribly unpleasant to the ears. And the words themselves, they pricked at her throat so painfully it felt like she swallowed glass.

Still. 

Ardi repeated this action. 

Time after time.

Without fail.

Because the moment she didn't... the moment she stopped... the moment when she couldn't even say the words "thank you," when something kind was done to her... when that basic human decency left her... that was when the girl known as Ardi Varma would truly die. 

Faced with her words, the Skull Sheep just looked at her, either intentionally not reacting or simply not understanding. In either case... that probably meant this one couldn't speak. 

Not like the others, anyway.

Regardless; it turned around, and its shadowy body seemed to glide back the way it came with the kind of stealth that was frightening. And, up until it disappeared behind the glowing cavern's bend, neither its footsteps nor its fluttery cloak made a single sound. 

Her stare lingered a bit before returning to the mass of flesh in her hands. 

Ardi sighed briefly. 

Still, she bit into it. 

Again, there really wasn't a word for how revolting it was. And the consistency, it was so tough and hard that even the simple act of chewing felt so extraordinarily difficult. 

Still, she ate. 

She ate so that she could live.

That's all there was to it.

Of course, it was only after swallowing a chunky portion of flesh did her thoughts slow to a crawl.

Live...

Live?

Am I...? Am I living...?

Ardi's gaze drifted once more to the rocky ceiling above her, no, the dungeon itself, which had become her prison for so long that it was no longer possible to keep track of the days. 

She didn't say anything.

She didn't plan to say anything. 

But, as she continued to stare at the ceiling, that horrible, frightening, emotionally draining ceiling...

"...Hey Big Sis, Ryuu," Ardi croaked, that scratchy unrecognizable voice of hers mercilessly stabbing into her throat, just like the sudden tears did to her one remaining eye. "If I said... I didn't think I could do this for much longer... would you be disappointed?"

Naturally.

There was no answer. 

...

...

...

A/N:

And there we have it. 

The new arc begins. 

I always felt Astraea Familia's death was just used as character development for Ryuu Lyon. 

Ardi's on the other hand... 

It felt even less than that. 

It was a cliffnote tragedy. A statistic, even. Just to convince readers of the dangers of Orario. Of Evilus.

And whether that was right or wrong of the author doesn't matter. 

I'll be exploring this alternate route either way; and spoiler, there's always room for happy endings.

Anyway, took a while for me to figure out the logistics for the whole thing, and let me tell you, THERE WERE LOGISTICS. Anything involving Knossos, Knossos Keys, Evilus members, the Xenos, and Astraea Record characters, and all their respective locations in the five years before canon...

Was and is a major headache.

Still, I 'think' I have it all figured out. I mean, there's still one teensy tiny plothole. Buuut, I'll keep that a secret until it's flat out told me to me via someone's 'lovely' message. And I know it's coming. 

And if it doesn't?

I guess that means I did a good job gasligh—... I guess that means I did a good job explaining plot. 

Anyway, hope you enjoyed. 

I'm really excited for these next few chapters, once again saving a character who should have been saved, but most importantly, in the most Alex way possible. 

Review if it pleases you. 

Have a wonderful day. 

—EPSILON