"Hi Mr. Dagda!" I lightly called out to the man as our Familia entered his establishment. He was sitting at a table reading a book, but his attention pivoted over to us at my call.
The man brought up his gaze, giving a smile to the three of us and a small chuckle.
"Welcome back you two, it seems you've brought a new one this time." His hearty Irish accent filled the room with warmth, and I couldn't help but smile.
"It's great to see you again, this is my Goddess: Hestia!" I gestured at her while she stood stock still, staring at the man in front of us. "This is Mr. Dagda, he's someone I stayed with a while back."
"I'm certain that's the case lad." His grin grew, making his beard seem to form a smile itself as he leaned in slightly. "Been a while Hestia, how've ya' been?"
"Y-you're in Orario!?" Hestia's chest pressed against the desk as she rocketed forward and leaned on the desk, nearly face planting due to her speed.
"You two know each other?" My voice picked up, and I leaned down slightly in order to put my head next to Hestia's. Introductions were already progressing smoothly, a past relationship would certainly make this easier.
Well, sometimes it made it harder, but I had a good feeling about this one.
"Just old friends, didn't know these little tyke's were yours." He put the book he was reading into his desk and leaned back, a soft smile on his face. Hestia seemed to fold in herself slightly at his prodding, a warm expression forming on her face.
"You're a God, aren't you?" Belle decided to speak up with a casual tone, as though she had just mentioned a secret!
"Smart little lass, you've figured me out." The man helplessly shrugged in response to her assertion.
"Well, that doesn't change anything between us, I'm happy that you are on good terms with Hestia though."
"Bah." He casually waved me off, "Hestia's a good one, you're a bunch of lucky kids to be a part of her Familia."
"Everyday I'm grateful she's the first person I encountered in this city. She really is amazing!"
"Jeez, you're going to make my heart explode if you keep saying stuff like this!" Hestia lightly punched me in the side, causing me to let out a laugh. Turning in her direction I spotted Belle and gave her a smile. "The same goes for you."
Belle, her expression flat for a moment as she stared into my eyes, slowly curled up her thin lips into a smirk.
"You're cute when you're trying to include someone." Her voice was a whisper on the air, caressing my ear as I heard it.
I couldn't help but blush when a girl called me cute! Especially when it was her!
"Well, I think you're really cute as well!" I held up a finger, this was a fact I needed to make sure the world was aware of!
"Bahahahahaha!" Dagda let out a hearty laugh, only causing me to blush more. "To think you two kids would be brewing young love in this place? Not bad!"
Hestia let out a small sigh, choosing to fully ignore Dagda in place of getting down to business.
"Dagda, we need some rooms for a few days. We've got the Valis if you have the space."
He rolled his shoulders slightly, leaning back in his chair with a smug smirk.
"Very well, though it would seem we've only got two rooms left so two of you will have to share." Belle's hand gently grabbed my own as Dagda spoke, and I responded with a casual smile.
"Don't worry, we can all just share one room."
"Bahahahaha! Hestia! Not bad! Not bad to you brat either!" His hearty laugh boomed out, and Hestia landed a critical blow on his large stomach with her small fist! "Ahaha-ack."
The man coughed slightly for a moment, and I looked at Hestia with worry in my eyes.
"Is everything alright?"
"Dagda is just being annoying." Her eyebrow was twitching as she spoke, cracking her knuckles as she prepared to give the beatdown of the century! Hestia seemed to glow slightly as she did so, truly my Goddess was not a force to be messed so easily.
This rush of battle, even if so heavily restrained . . . It makes me want to go into the Dungeon!
"Hesta, once we finish up here I think I'm going to go into the Dungeon-" Wait. I'm forgetting something important. I brought up a closed fist and put it on my open hand. "I just remembered!"
Pulling out the letter Rose gave me earlier, I looked at it once again with a nod.
"I totally forgot! Rose wants me to meet with her!"
"You two go on then, I'll handle things here." Hestia spoke through gritted teeth, and Dagda's eyes stared at me with an exhaustion reserved only for the greatest of warriors.
As our eyes locked, his message was clear. I could picture it now, I could see him bleeding out on the battlefield knowing he was going to pass on. Yet, he still fought in order to buy me time to escape. His eyes held the aura of a warrior who was exhausted, but still had a drop of fight left in him.
For a moment I felt like I had to salute a fallen soldier, before chuckling slightly and shaking my head. He'd be fine, I was pretty sure Hestia wouldn't obliterate him! Though that was a weird feeling, it sort of felt like the feeling I got from Syr?
"Andrew, we shouldn't keep our Familia's advisor waiting any longer." I snapped out of my illusory haze, and turned back up to my fellow Fool.
"You're absolutely right. This feels important!"
"We'll be back in a while Hestia, but if we take a bit longer don't worry!" I flashed a thumbs up as my voice got a bit excited, I could feel like things were looking up in my swordplay, as though I was approaching something awesome! "We're probably just doing a bit of Dungeon diving!" As we turned to leave I heard a bit of chatter from the two divinities behind Belle and I.
"Hah. What a bunch of crazy brats. You've got your work cut out for you Hestia."
"Don't think I forgot about your transgressions so easily."
Belle trailed close behind as I gently shut the door. For an instant I swore I could have saw a house fire burning down an old oak tree, but I quickly shook my head and turned to Belle.
"Wanna race?"
. . .
"Whew! You almost got me!" Belle had gotten a lot faster, but I still managed to scrape out a win. "You've really been working hard."
"It still wasn't enough to catch up to you." She had a small frown as she spoke, her scarlet red eyes staring back at my own as she muttered out a response.
"I'll always wait for you when I get to the finish line Belle. So you don't have to worry too much!"
"I don't want you to have to wait for me."
"Well, one of us is going to have to wait. Nobody is perfectly equal in speed! That would just be weird. I'll still wait for you though, and I know you'd do the same for me." I let out a small hum, before giving her a sideward glance and a smile as we approached the Guild entrance. Her dissatisfied expression still locked in place. "If that isn't enough, I'll help you get faster, and once you're faster than me, you can do the same!"
I put a hand on her shoulder, staring into her eyes and giving her a few pats causing her to turn a faint red and squirm slightly.
"That's what people who care about each other do. It's not about the finish line for us, it's about helping each other stand on their own!"
"If I ever get faster than you, I'll wait for you and help you as long as it takes."
"Then I'll do the same!"
We stared at each other for a moment outside of the Guild, a perfect tension building as we held that position-
"Get out of the damn way! Stop blocking the exit!" A large man with an axe over his shoulder barked out as I realized we were standing in front of the door!
"Eh? My apologies!" The two of us shuffled inside as the man left the building with a snort. I should really be more aware of my surroundings!
Belle's face took on an apathetic candor as her eyes followed the man who walked off, before turning back to myself and regaining the light that had seemed to have vanished in an instant.
"After this meeting, let's go into the Dungeon together. Just you and I."
"Sounds fun!" I would miss Welf, but an Andrew and Belle adventure didn't sound so bad.
We continued into the guild, the light chatter of the building was a bit of a contrast to the normal loud and belligerent atmosphere of the occupants, but it wasn't unwelcome. It was still a bit early in the day, so the adventurers and Guild itself were definitely waking up too!
I approached a middle aged fellow in the standard Guild uniform, and pulled out the letter I had folded up earlier.
"Hi! I got this letter, I think it's important?"
"Hm? Oh." The man seemed a bit sleepy, but opened the letter and gave it a quick once over before nodding. "Ms. Rose is in the back, you can go ahead." He'd mostly brushed me off, his expression only growing more exhausted as he stared at my face. "Try not to die."
"Thank you!"
The man tore the letter in half, before putting it in a trash can under his station as we walked away. A guard waved us through while the previous man gave them a casual wave.
Making our way to Rose's office was as easy as retracing our steps. I'd been in that room enough to know where it was, but even if I didn't I was sure I could find Rose somehow!
Knocking gently on her door, I heard a small grumble and a muffled 'come in' from the other side. Peeking my head inside I gave the red head an excited expression.
"You called?"
The ears on the top of her head twitched slightly, her eyes pivoting over to myself as she beckoned our pairing inside. I took a seat across from her, but Belle chose to stand instead of taking one of the three chairs angled across from Rose.
"How was everything with the contractors?" She continued shuffling some papers on her desk, scanning over them as she absent mindedly spoke.
"It went great! You've helped us out a lot again."
She didn't respond and I could feel Belle glaring over my shoulder as her shuffling got a bit faster.
". . . Rose? Is everything alright?"
The shuffling stopped, and with a shaky breath she set down the papers on her desk. Her eyes peeling up to me with a flat expression.
"You are one of the unluckiest people I've ever met in my life. In this meeting I intend to inform you of the critical dangers residing in the first layer of the Dungeon." She locked eyes with myself, and felt Belle beside me shift as she took a seat.
"You believe we are going to encounter the first layer Boss." Belle's statement caused Rose to let out a weary nod.
"I do. You'll need to be prepared, or you are both going to die."
I raised my hand, just like I'd done with my Master whenever I had a question. I was definitely missing something!
"What's the first layer?"
"The First Layer of the Dungeon is the segment of floors one through ten. To my knowledge you've stayed above the fifth layer, correct?"
"Well, yes. You told me to take it slow so I did."
"Good. There is a reason for that." She bit her lip as she stared down at the papers again, before muttering under her breath. "I'd expected you to give up at this point, but you have the skills to back up your insanity."
Foolish Rose! Nothing can escape my ears! To think she would compliment me in such a way? Master always said that being crazy was critical to breaking your limits!
"Due to the unique circumstances of the Dungeon, floors one through four are considered 'safe' obviously you know that's a gross understatement of their actual danger." She let out a sigh as she kept going. "This classification is only used as within the First Layer of the Dungeon the First Layer Boss can only spawn on floor six through ten. Additionally the First Layer Boss can not move onto the fourth layer, though it can ascend to the fifth."
"You keep mentioning a boss, is that like the Hunter we defeated? If so, I think we can take them down!"
Belle put a hand on my shoulder leaning in slightly as she gently spoke.
"A Boss doesn't behave like a Hunter, their existence is completely different in nature."
"You are absolutely right. While a Hunter is designed to kill one person, and its stats scale with its target, a Boss is completely different." She interlocked her fingers as she leaned forwards. "While they rarely spawn, Bosses are unique. They are immensely powerful for where they are placed in the Dungeon, and require a ban on entry until it is cleared."
"A full ban? Is it really that bad?"
"The first layer boss requires you to be level four, or above to enter without special permission. Even then special permission is only granted to large groups of level threes intent on killing it." She let out a small growl, something that took me aback as she hissed out the last part. "Some higher level familia's use these circumstances to cull weaker Familia or monopolize the Dungeon, but that's not what's currently relevant."
She steadied herself, sitting up straight again as she did so. I couldn't help but look at her with worry, i'd never seen Rose this stressed out before. It was a little bit scary!
"I'll briefly review the lesser threats, as knowing your luck you'll most likely end up encountering the boss immediately rather than anything else. I'll only be covering the sixth floor and below, so do not go any deeper than that without further consultation."
"Of course! I trust your judgement."
". . . Frog shooters. Medium sized frog monsters with long tongues that bludgeon you to death. Their saliva is an adhesive so avoid prolonged contact with their tongues and avoid any percussive weapons. They love ambushes almost as much as War Shadows, the other monster you may encounter. War Shadows have the ability to fuse into darkness, but this doesn't make them immune to physical attacks, it only makes them resistant to them."
She flipped through some of her notes, turning to the next page where a drawing of one resided.
https://i.postimg.cc/9QvcqTR1/images-(2).jpg
"They can't morph their face plate into the shadows they slink in, so be on the look out for any white disks like this one here and you'll be mostly safe against them. War Shadows prefer prey that doesn't know they exist and have a modicum of intelligence so if you notice them, they tend to flee. If they don't, create as much light as you can and try to escape. If a War Shadow is noticed and not fleeing upon being spotted, one of two things have happened."
I could only nod my head as I took in the information like a sponge. Rose had a voice that made it feel right to listen to her, sort of like my Master, but less angry!
"Either it has you completely surrounded with a massive ambush, or the First Boss is preparing to fight you. Mutated Warshadows don't exist in the Guild's archives, instead, the First Boss is what we consider a Mutated Warshadow."
"Considering you can take out a Hunter, the main threat you will be encountering will be The Duelist. Also known as the First Layer boss. That doesn't mean you should ignore the other monsters, instead take their behavior as a clue as to if The Duelist is getting ready to approach you."
"The Duelioso."(1) Belle muttered to Rose's surprise as she turned the page to reveal what I could only assume was the Boss everyone kept mentioning.
https://i.postimg.cc/BvQRbnN8/duelist.jpg
"Some call it that, yes. The Duelist only has stats of a level two adventurer but fights on par with a level four. Its at the level of a master swordsman according to our research, and has something called 'Intent' which we have little information on-"
I felt a ringing in my ears as my eyes widened. Intent? That Intent? The one my master always mentioned? The level that always escaped me? The level I didn't believe existed? My breath quickened, and Rose's words faded away as the ringing in my ears turned to the thumping of my heart.
My memories flashed back to that day upon the water, one I'd dreamed of in recent memory. Just over three months ago where my Master, my beloved Master, made it blatantly clear that I was not someone who would be able to cut through the darkness as my own light blinded my way.
A conversation where she reminisced on her failure to teach me what she'd truly intended to do. How she failed to teach me Intent. Her biggest failure, and my biggest regret.
Three Months Ago
"Master, even if you can't teach me about that, I still think you're amazing."
She didn't respond, looking out over the water from the boat she sat in. The sun was setting, the water glistening, faint tears trickling down her face with the falling star. It was beautiful, but in a way that made my gut spin.
"Master?"
"I've failed you Andrew Ariti. I am so, so, sorry." She held a wrinkled hand over her face, not able to meet my eyes.
". . . Master- No. Guan Yin. You didn't fail me. I got to meet a lot of amazing people because of you. Go on tons of cool adventures with my friends. Please don't cry those tears of sorrow." I still didn't fully understand, but I didn't want to see Master cry. She was a strong woman, but I could see despair carved into her face.
"I am a teacher, and yet I failed to teach you how to live. How can I not crack even a little bit?"
"I don't really get it, but even if I'm going to die because of fate or whatever, I still did live." I didn't believe in fate anyways. Though if it did exist, I would just cut right through it!
". . . One last time then." I silently stared at her, as she began to speak. She'd tried to explain it to me over and over again, but I just didn't really get it. It was some kind of special technique, but magic wasn't real and it didn't really make sense to act like you could see something that wasn't there without going crazy!
"Intent. You have it, you just can't see it. It's the shape of your soul, the shape of your will. Your heart and spirit slamming into reality and showing the world that you have overcome the darkness and ascended your technique beyond the veil of black. That is Intent. The ability to overcome the truth of the world with the truth of your own."
Her voice was weak, her explanation weak as well. She'd explained it in much more detail before, but now all she could present me with was the bones of an answer.
"I . . . don't understand? My philosophy on life is strong, but is it not strong enough?" Of course I had 'humored' her in the beginning, but I still tried to learn what she taught. All of the swordplay, all of this 'Intent', I'd only over gleaned half of it but I trusted her and hoped that one day maybe I could see what she really meant.
I never did.
"You are too bright, Andrew Ariti. You have never seen soul crushing despair, even though you have lived through it. Your own light blinds you, and because of that you can't even see your own potential."
"What do I do, Master?"
"I don't know."
I twiddled my thumbs on the small boat. Seeing her like this hurt my heart, but I knew that somehow, someway, I'd overcome this! I always did!
The Present
"-rew? Andrew?"
"Huh?" I snapped out of my thoughts as Belle shook me a bit.
"Are you alright?" Rose's voice was soft, her previous exhaustion fading away for concern as the two of them stared at me. "You're crying."
"Ah. I just need to fight that Boss." This is it. This is the awakening I can feel blazing inside of my soul. This passion. This overture. This darkness is no longer eclipsed by light. These feelings are what my master must have been talking about.
They have to be.
"Andrew, you have to understand that the Duelist is extremely dangerous-"
I don't like cutting people off. I really don't.
"My Master spent the ending years of her life trying to teach me something again and again. Now that I have the opportunity to finally achieve my Master's dream for me, I can't run away. I'm going to fight the Duelist and reach the future she envisioned for me."
My hands slammed down on the desk, standing as I stared past Rose and at an echo of someone who I owed so much.
"I'm sorry!" That might have looked a bit scary! "I just got a bit excited! My Master kept trying to teach me Intent but I just couldn't do it, now that the chance is right in front of me I can't let it out of my grasp!" I tried to scramble out an explanation for my weird behavior, but I don't know if it worked!
Rose leaned back, her expression as flat as when I first met her.
"Andrew. You know most people would consider this suicide. You shouldn't do this so hastily."
"I've already died once, now that I've got a second chance in this city, I'm not going to squander it." I clenched my fist as I sat back down. "I've worked my whole life for this Rose, with so many hoping for me to achieve this. I'm sorry, but I can't take your advice this time."
Belle raised an eyebrow, but Rose only sighed.
"Very well then. I know I can't stop you, so let's discuss The Duelist and how to beat them."
I wonder, were all the adventurers I'd gone to in my previous life filled with Intent? Or were they all just crazy? Is this even the same intent my Master spoke of, or just false hope?
So many questions, but the way to get my answer is clear.
To all of those who fought alongside me for all this time. I'm sorry we were on different levels, but I thank you for staying by my side. To all those friends I've made along the way, your dear friend Andrew Ariti, is going to finally catch up to you.
___
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