Capítulo 17: Ruckus in the Twilight
Okay so an announcement before we begin.
From next week when Easter holidays start for me, I will be posting a chapter on this story every other day. This is because I seriously want to work on my other fic, Chaos has come to Orario.
I ask that if you have the time to go and read that and give support as well as that is an MC who actually starts out more normally than Garth, and the story focuses on his actual struggle and rise to power, regardless of how broken he will become.
So please go read that as well and join my P@treon for unreleased chapters on it if you like it. I will admit it is off to a shaky start. But I am improving it.
With that out of the way...
Enjoy!
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(Twilight Manor)
"Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" the scream echoed throughout the entire manor. every member of the Loki Familia were mildly startled by the scream but did not jump to alert.
They were used to Loki's antics at this point, and they could tell by the nature of her outbursts whether or not she was in danger of she was overreacting.
The scream originated in Loki's bedroom as Loki herself was gaping at something that had appeared on Ais's Falna. Riveria was half annoyed because of her goddess's childish behaviour, and partly concerned and intrigued about this new development in Ais.
Loki sat on her bed clutching tightly at a piece of parchment with a large bump on her head courtesy of Ais's fist after Loki tried to grope her when she was lying face down on the bed to get a status update.
Ais was strapping her armour plate back on and looked inquisitively at Loki, trying to understand the reason behind this outburst. Loki's eyes watered before she jumped at Ais and dangled from her shoulders.
"Aisy poooo~ How could you betray me like that?!~"
"Betray?" Ais asked confusedly.
"Who captured your heart huh? After all these years of taking care of you, and loving you like my own child, you choose somebody else over me.~"
Ais tilted her head in confusion at Loki's words while placing her palm on Loki's face pushing her away as Loki kept trying to come nearer.
Riveria, seeming having had enough of the dramatics used her Magna Alfs to hook onto the back of Loki's shirt and pulled her off of the emotionless girl. Loki felt to the floor with a thump having the wind knocked out of her.
"Cut it out Loki. What's got you acting more stupid than your usual self?"
"Hey!"
Riveria lifted her staff threateningly before Loki coiled back and sheepishly held out the stats sheet. Riveria took it from her and read through its contents. She raised a brow at what she was seeing.
"Your agility has gone up from C to A Ais. Your strength has also increased from D to B. Your endurance hasn't gone up by much and there doesn't seem to be any change in your dexterity either."
She read further down past the developmental abilities to the skills section. Her eyes widened.
"Well it seems like you've got a new skill Ais. But I've never seen this one before." She looked over at Loki. "What does it do?"
Loki sighed forlornly.
"It's a skill that exponentially boosts stats growth, at crazy pace as well. It's one of the highest class skills you can achieve." Loki shook her fists about and kicked her feet in the air. "But it doesn't make sense for Ais to get a skill like that at this point! She already has enough skills in her arsenal to become plenty strong. And she doesn't even have the correct personality to go with it either!"
Riveria shook her head at the last parts and looked back at Ais.
"You were only gone for one day and yet you've brought home the biggest growth in some of your stats than we've seen in a long time. There's no way you could've gone down to the lower floors and come back in that short a time. What exactly were you doing down there?"
"We met a friend at the entrance and spent the day farming monster cores in the entirety of the upper floors." Finn suddenly said coming into Loki's bedroom and shutting the door behind him.
Riveria narrowed her eyes.
"Captain..."
"Hehe." Finn said sheepishly. Riveria huffed out a huge sigh. She'd had her hands full all day with Loki and just didn't have the energy to grill Finn over the paperwork shenanigans.
"Who did you meet?" She asked.
"Our friend from the Hostess last night. You know, Garth, the boy whose magic you've harping on about all night."
Riveria's eyes gleamed at the mention of him.
"YOU DID! Why didn't you tell me?!"
"How could I have told you when we were down there and we were up here?"
"Never mind that! Did you ask him about his magic? How he summons those strange circles without a chant, and why there is so much magical energy surrounding him?"
Finn shook his head and Riveria's shoulders sank.
"Why?"
Finn rubbed his forehead and sighed.
"Because he kept on breaking common sense every step of the way with his abilities to the point I couldn't really ask much about his magic."
"How was he doing that?" Loki asked interested in this topic. Beneath her childish persona, lay a cunning trickster and opportunist.
That young man intrigued her in ways she'd never even been interested through before. His aura, his demeanour, the very air around him was strange. There was something about him that felt...different, but not in a bad way. Her intuition told her that he was hiding something worth knowing.
Of course the fact he was just absurdly strong without a blessing was big bonus. There had been instances in the past when outsiders came to the Labyrinth city and had strength equivalent to a level two and even rarer, a level 3 due to the lives they led outside the walls.
But to incapacitate a level five with no more effort than a menial task like snapping a stick of spaghetti was unheard of. Even Bete was so shaken up by the experience that he did not go to the dungeon today with his fellow executives.
He was in his room boggling over the fact that a rookie with no previous blessing or experience could hurt him so badly. More depressing to him was the fact that a full powered punch of his was not even registered by the barbarian.
Indeed, when Bete had done that, it felt to him like he was punching a wall of Orichalcum refined a thousand times. And getting gripped like that by the skull felt like his head was being squished by the weight of two mountains.
So naturally, Loki had tried recruiting such an invaluable investment. It came to no one as more of a shock than it did to her when he turned her down immediately. He had guts beyond a doubt, and while to most it would seem like hubris, Loki knew better.
Loki sensed no arrogance on his part, and she had also felt a little bit o a desire to accept her offer. But he had suppressed it quickly in a way that signaled to her he had set his eyes on somebody else's Familia.
Hundreds upon millions of years of life gave her an idea of exactly who he was turning to. Ans she couldn't say she was happy by that feeling
She was brought out of her thoughts by Finn explaining how Garth had been killing everything with little love-taps all the way throughout the upper floors and how he'd killed an infant dragon with a supposedly 'weak' lightning spell. Riveria was becoming more and more interested in the stranger.
"Still though..." Riveria continued looking down at the stats sheet in her hands. "Liaris Freese, a supposedly powerful stat boosting skill and an exponential burst in vital stat growth could not have come from farming the entire upper floors."
"No it didn't." Ais spoke up finally. "I challenged him to a spar. That was what made me stronger."
"A spar with a Falna-less freelancer gave you this much improvement?" Riveria raised her eyebrows.
"He beat her, even with all her power and skills focused into a finishing blow, it did not tire him at all. He wasn't even fazed and just grabbed her sword." Finn said bluntly with Ais nodding, oddly with a small smile on her face at the mention of him.. The other two's jaws fell open but Loki caught onto that little smile.
'So it was him huh?' She thought darkly. Her eyes suddenly caught sight of the new weapon sheathed at Ais's left hip. She lunged and snatched it out of the sheath. Riveria's attention was also caught by the beautiful weapon as well.
"Where did you get this Ais?" Loki asked quietly.
"Garth gave it to me because he broke mine. He tried to give it to me to 'reimburse' me." Ais struggled with the word. " But when I refused, he gifted it to me."
"It looks like a magic sword." Riveria said.
"Because it is. It called the Winged Rapier apparently, and it's a wind magic sword."
Riveria narrowed her eyes in suspicion.
"A freelancer who's powerful enough to compete with the highest level adventurers we have, wields strange foreign magic and possesses treasures like this as well as a greatsword made from adamantite. Something isn't right about this whole thing."
Loki's face darkened and she gripped the weapon harder.
"So, he's trying to impress MY Ais further and tighten his grip on her heart by giving her expensive gifts huh? The nerve..." Loki whispered dangerously. The other occupants in the room rolled their eyes.
Loki saw this and became irritated as she looked towards Ais.
"Aisy pooo~ You don't like that boy do you?"
Ais looked genuinely surprised, well if opening your mouth slightly wider than normal counts as a surprised reaction.
"Like him...?" Ais pondered while looking upwards. She couldn't tell the feelings that were running through her at the moment. When she thought back to him, she was certainly filled with awe and admiration of his strength.
And she was set on becoming as strong as him now, hopefully with his help. With that kind of might, her chances against the black dragon were certainly increased in her favour.
But as for Garth himself as a person, it wasn't like she disliked him. He didn't seem like somebody overly prideful of his strength. He was certainly confident of it, but he fought against weaker opponents with the same amount of spirit they themselves excluded.
And he was willing to admit flaws of his, such as admitting his amateurish approach to swordplay. She could definitely tell that she was better skilled at it than him but he matched her with superior speed and strength.
On the whole, she guessed that she did liked him as he was enjoyable to be around.
Unbeknownst to her, her face took on a slightly red hue. It was subtle that it was almost unnoticeable but any change at all on the face of Ais Wallenstein was recognized by all who knew her.
Loki fumed silently in indignation, muttering curses and something about 'divine judgement'.
"It's all just too strange." Riveria said. "He doesn't look like somebody who could afford something like this."
"What do you mean?" Finn asked.
"The way he dresses, the way he carries himself is the complete opposite of everything he should be considering all these revelations about him. He dresses like some tribal barbarian of the north, and while he does carry an aura o power he's far too relaxed a person.
Surely somebody who has managed to accumulate such power suffered hard under the difficulty of getting there without being in a Familia. Yet he just gives away priceless 'treasures' like these away with no thought or fear of consequence. Did he say where he got it from?"
"A secret to the grave apparently."
Riveria's brow furrowed. "It just doesn't make sense, any of it. Who the hell is he? Only in Orario two days but he's already turning things on their head."
Finn rubbed his chin inquisitively, in deep thought with a suspicious look on his face.
"What is it?" Riveria asked, having known her captain long enough to see he'd stumbled on some sort of realization.
"Its just that...I went to Lord Miach's store today to ask for potions to use in our upcoming expedition. When I did get there however, he refused to see me."
"That's out of the ordinary. He never refuses to see anybody when they want to discuss a potion deal."
"Exactly. I thought it was weird as well. When I asked Naaza, she said he was locked away in his room, obsessing over an apparently revolutionary potion of indescribable quality and worth that some stranger gave him the night before last.
Bit of a funny coincidence that such an event happens on the night Garth supposedly arrived in Orario, seemingly after he left us in the Hostess. Don't you think?"
Riveria squeezed her forehead before stopping immediately upon realizing that it could create creases on there.
"Too many questions, no apparent answers." she muttered.
Suddenly they heard footsteps rushing up to their direction in the hallway and the door swung open.
"GET A LOAD OF THIS!" Tiona shouted breathlessly. They were too startled by her appearance to comment and she took advantage of this by lifting a sheet of paper in her hand.
Onn it was a drawing of the subject of their conversation. But what caught their attention was a particular numerical figure under his name. Their jaws dropped open in disbelief at what they were seeing.
"Guess who's become Orario's hottest controversy yet!"
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(Garth POV)
I climbed down the stairs of my tower garbed in the only outfit I had. Freya had left earlier on in the day for 'work'. I lazed around for a bit. Ideally I would have liked to go on another dungeon run but Freya had ordered me to go out and by a suit.
So I was on the way to some shop she'd recommended.
I opened the door to my tower and found an infuriated Allen Fromel blocking my way. I stared at him for a moment, or rather down at him since I was taller. I closed the door.
"Yes?" I asked.
"You have some nerve just walking in here and throwi-"
He got cut off as I grabbed him by the shoulder and threw him up in the air somewhere, I didn't even bother looking.
"I'll throw whatever I want to throw around here."
I saw Ottar standing some way away with his arms folded. He gestured with a nod for me to come forward. I obliged an approached him.
"Yes Ottar?"
"The Lady has told me you will be escorting her to the party tonight in my place."
"Yes, She told me that too."
Ottar narrowed his eyes.
"You will promise to behave yourself over there, do you understand? Lady Freya has an image to uphold, and we cannot afford for you to sully it."
"I understand Ottar." I said. My eyes were still a bit droop having not fully woken up yet.
"One more thing." He said.
"What?"
"I want you to fight me here and now?"
"Huh?" My eyes opened wide at his proclamation. "Why?"
"Regardless of what your status sheet says, I must determine if you have the skills necessary to protect our Lady in the event of an emergency. And the best way to do that is to fight you head on here and now so I can determine the extent of your abilities."
I nodded in understanding.
"I get you. So how we doing this?"
Ottar drew his swords and got into a stance.
"If you want to draw a weapon, the do it here and now. However you want to fight, I want to witness it here and now."
"Okay." I walked backwards a little. "Is this a good enough distance?"
Ottar grunted.
"One more thin, you don't mind if I finish this with one attack right? I've got stuff to do soooo..."
"Hmph. If you can do that, then show me. Accomplishing something like that would mean there is nobody in Orario who could harm our Lady while you are there."
"Is that so? Well then, you give the go ahead big man."
"Very well." Ottar gripped his swords tighter. "BEGIN!"
From his perspective I suddenly disappeared from my spot and re-appeared in front of him.
"What!" he yelled as he tried to back away.
But before he did that, I socked him in the stomach with a relatively lazy punch. He shot across the ground of Folkvangr like a bullet before sailing through the walls of the manner, his body stopping somewhere inside.
He slid down a cluster of walls that he'd taken with him and piled up behind him when he'd stopped. His outfit was torn where I'd hit him, and there appeared to be something of an indent there.
His eyes had rolled back and there was drool and a slight bit of blood dribbling down his chin. People inside the manor began stepping into the new circular corridor made by his body from the rooms that it had broken parts off.
They stared over at his limp form, eyes widening as they saw the state he was in. They then turned the other way to see me standing there with an unbothered expression on my face and steam rising from my clenched fist.
"Well that was over quick. Kinda got my hopes up there." I said aloud to myself.
They gawped at me like they were staring at some freak. I just turned away from them and exited the grounds. I'm sure they had plenty in their coffers to repair that.
---
Things went okay in the market. I managed to find the shop and quickly got fitted out with a simple black tuxedo. I carried it in a bag and walked off to the food stalls to get more of that beef I found the other day.
I noticed quite a lot of people staring at me and pointing while whispering amongst themselves. In my drowsy state I couldn't bother to listen to what they were talking about.
What I did notice was some people who were clearly adventurers giving me the stink eye and spitting on the ground. Strangely none of them seemed to do it in my path.
Which was good for them I suppose, otherwise I'd have been forced to rip their tongues out.
Unknown to me at the time was that there was a bright light in the sky beside the sun. If one were to look at it they'd have described as a second smaller sun in the sky that seemed to be getting bigger as time went on.
Had I been paying attention to SOME of the conversation around me, I would have heard it and upon looking up at the sky immediately recognized what was coming. But that story comes a bit later.
For at that moment, I made other plans.
'Oh yeah, I was supposed to go see Misha today about exchanging the monster cores and discuss my first dungeon run.' I thought to myself.
The party wouldn't be until much later in the evening. I had plenty of time to make a quick visit to the guild. With that in mind, I headed towards the guild.
All the while, the bright spot in the sky continued to grow bigger and bigger.
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