章 189: CHAPTER 189(Current Events)
Please read the author's notes. (Examples and explanation of moves and appearance+ Monster Sources)
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CHAPTER START---
"Is it weird that I'm more comfortable in my armor?" Thalie asks as she puts the last pieces of her gear into her box.
Beside her, both Welf and Yang are doing the exact same thing as they pack up their campsite to leave the floor-50 safe zone.
"I made it to feel like a second skin, I'd be insulted if you didn't enjoy it," Welf says with a smirk. "Any more feedback?"
"Well," Thalie starts as she secures the last of her gear and closes the box. "It'd be really nice if I could fly around like you two, jumping is fine but I can't maneuver in mid-air like you boys."
"Woowww," Yang laughs as he stores his gear away and moves to do the same with hers. "She gets over her fear of heights and suddenly wants to fly."
"Can't you use one of the magic swords on you to just knock yourself around in the air?" Welf asks.
"Yeah but that's a waste, don't wanna spend millions every time I need to double jump."
"Well I'll try to think of something, but you don't have any natural ranged magic so doesn't leave me with much to work with," Welf says as Yang stores away his equipment as well.
"Right well," Yang withdraws his blue Zinogre coat from his Inventory and puts it on, "while I'm cleaning our gear and Thalie's dealing with the kids, you can figure out how to give her some wings. But for now, how about we head back to Babel and get ready to work around these damn bugs."
---Babel Tower, Floor 50...
Walking down the hallway of Hephaestus's floor, Yang straightens out his coat as he notices a long line of adventurers along the left wall.
Not paying it much mind he continues along the path until he arrives at Hephaestus's office, only to see the line stopping at her door.
As he steps inside he's greeted with the sigh of Hephaestus, sitting atop her desk with a barstool in front of her. On the stool is a woman holding her top to her chest while Hephaestus updates her Falna. Every four months Hephaestus opens a few days of her schedule for Falna updates. Spacing it our a bit to prevent excessive blood loss.
Yang immediately realizes what's going on and moves to the couch. On the couch sat Thalie, waiting for him so they can get all caught up with Hephaestus. At her feet is one of the red cushions currently occupied by Mikoto, the girl was fiddling with a wrapper of some kind as Thalie gently brushes her hair.
"Hey what's up," Yang greets Hephaestus as he takes a seat beside Thalie.
The goddess gives him a nod of acknowledgment as she finishes updating the womans' Falna and she leaves the room, immediately prompting the next person to enter.
"So what's the plan moving forward?" Hephaestus asks.
"Rest, restock, re-arm, wait for Welf to make whatever it is he's making, then get back into the dungeon," Yang says casually.
"He didn't say what floor your team stopped at."
"Floor seventy-nine," at his words the man on the stool as well as a few people eavesdropping through the open door are stunned. To think someone would be so casual about achieving the dreams of millions.
They were welcomed to eavesdrop as much as they like of course, the fact is nobody really knew what floor the Trifecta had gotten to because they don't report anything outside of their team and Hephaestus, and they hadn't planned to discuss anything serious in this little talk so there was no need for much privacy, Hephaestus also insisted because quite frankly, they need to positive publicity. Their entire team leans toward the reclusive side, and powerful but reclusive people tend to make the public nervous.
"Mhm," Hephaestus spills a drop of blood on the man's back to begin the update ritual. "You plan to get to floor eighty next time?" she asks.
"No, there won't be a safe zone there. If we can skip The Bug Jar then I'm thinking we go straight into the next section immediately," Yang says.
"I figured as much, how'd the new armor hold up?" she asks.
"Didn't even crack...or melt, you'd know if you took a look at it and stopped avoiding Welf," Yang says.
The man on the stool is pushed forward slightly as Hephaestus's finger digs into him, "I'm not avoiding anyone," she glares at Yang.
"Mhm, sure. But anyway this expedition was boring and just ate into our supplies more than anything else, but that's what it was meant to do I guess. I'm gonna leave a cache at the safe zones on the lower floors between now and the other expeditions, just incase we're even in a pinch."
"Smart move," Hephaestus admits. "We can't exactly send a runner down to floor seventy to resupply you so a cache is the only option. What about the new drop items?"
Every smith in the room and at the doorframe immediately focus to listen in.
"Bug legs, guts, shells, and mucus," Yang says.
"Ugh, give it to Welf to appraise," Hephaestus says.
"Isn't that your job?" Thalie asks.
"Yes, but I'm not touching guts and mucus..."
As Hephaestus and Yang continue discussing the failed expedition Mikoto finishes removing the wrapper from her candy and passes a piece back to Thalie.
The woman glances at it for a moment and pushes the offer away, Mikoto turns around and looks at her, "you don't like candy?" the girl asks.
In response, Thalie taps her black, metal jaw. A soft clink sounds out, "metal jaw, can't eat gum."
"Oh..." Mikoto wordlessly turns around for the woman to continue brushing her hair.
"So what about the floors after 'The Bug Jar', that is what you call this section right?" Hephaestus asks, both she and Thalie look to Yang expecting an answer. The new person on the stool, a cat-girl glances over at Yang before quickly turning to stare a hole into the floor.
Seeing this reaction Yang shakes is head, but Hephaestus pats the girl on the shoulder, "good call, if you stare at people with demon blood they can seduce you," the goddess says. The girl immediately shuts her eyes tight as Hephaestus moves to update her Falna.
"Jesus Christ, I'm not a demon," Yang says in disbelief, "stop telling people that."
"I can't, it's convenient and you hate it, win-win," Hephaestus says. "Payback for you three giving me a mountain of paperwork."
"She's right," Thalie admits. "It does explain a lot, honestly it's the best explanation we have for...you know..."
"You could have just said that I'm the chosen one or something," Yang says. "Didn't have to jump all the way to 'Demon blood' nonsense."
"Oh, they think that too," Thalie says. "Lots of people think you're the champion of heaven or something like that, dunno where they get that one from."
"Chigusa," Mikoto says quietly.
"What?"
"Chigusa, when you were bringing us back from The Far East you jokingly said that, and well...she believed it, she asked Lord Take about you but people overheard them, and well...congratulations?"
"Ugh," Yang nudges Thalie, "your kids are spreading rumors, do something about it."
"Please," she rolls her eyes at him, "Mikoto is my only concern, I don't care for the others," she says in a cold tone.
"Wow, so very touching," Hephaestus says, her words dripping sarcasm. "But anyway what's the plan for whatever happens after The Bug Jar?"
"Dunno," Yang shrugs. "We'll prepare for the general stuff and some worst-case scenarios but outside of that the best we can do is wing it."
"You're gonna wing it? And you're fine with that?" Hephaestus asks.
"Winging it works a lot when you have a very basic set of objectives."
"Uh-huh," she shakes her head. "Well, that explains the metal hand."
"Wow, just...wow," Yang shakes his head. "Whatever just, what happened while we were gone? It's been like a month and a half right something must have gone on."
"Two and a half months," Hephaestus corrects him. "And honestly not that much. The guild put in a massive equipment order, they're gearing up the entire Ganesha familia and the mid to low-end Freya and Loki familia."
"Rakia's coming here?" Thalie asks.
"No clue, Ares hasn't sent out any declaration so every city-state is arming up. The Empire and even Telskyura sent in an order for arms."
"The nation of Amazons? I thought they were always battle-ready?" Thalie asks.
"They are, they've even got four level-fives without having a dungeon to train in, but some info got leaked recently. Ares has a few dozen Crozzo Magic Swords that he's planning to use in this war," Hephaestus says.
Yang barely thinks about it for a moment before he comes to a conclusion, "I doubt regular magic swords could make people this nervous, so I'm guessing-"
"Welf Crozzo Magic Swords, yeah," Hephaestus says sourly.
"Is he actually strong enough to take Orario?" Mikoto asks.
"Nobody is that strong, but that doesn't mean he can't kill a lot of people with artillery and numbers," Thalie explains. "Rakia has a standing army of a quarter-million adventurers. They're trained killers and soldiers, I'm sure Freya and Loki can deal with those numbers but they can't be everywhere, and they can't take the first swing because then every county in the world is gonna think Orario is a threat. We remain neutral ground as long as we only play defense after all."
"Shit," Yang rubs his forehead, "so you're saying we may have to get involved just to cover all the bases in this war, assuming they even come here."
"Unless we want them to rain fire onto the city, yes," Thalie says. "Orario was built like a cage, the dungeon in the middle of a circle, two-hundred-foot tall walls meant to keep monsters in the city. Houses and buildings neatly packed in like fish in a barrel waiting for artillery mages and siege machines to rain death down, it'll get messy. They don't need to match our levels because civilians aren't fireproof, and most adventurers can't catch arrows."
"I'm not really a soldier type, but I guess I can play defense," Yang says.
"That'll do, mitigate damage and death," Hephaestus says. "But you probably won't even need to step in, the guild doesn't want to use you for 'man vs man' conflicts."
Thalie quirks a brow at this, " they don't want him to just fly in and level a city? Pretty sure that's the fastest way to deal with it."
"And cause escalation," Hephaestus points out. "Orario has enemies and the last thing we need is them rallying to deal with a very powerful shared target."
"Ahh, they think I'll encourage more competition, makes sense."
"Exactly, and besides, on paper, we have a stronger asset, one with a power-set that won't cause people to get nervous because he can incinerate a city. Ottar is level-eight now," she says.
"Ohh, good for him," Yang says, not paying it much mind. "He get any cool magic?"
"Dunno, maybe you'll find out if you accept his offer."
Yang and Thalie share a confused look before he asks, "what offer?"
"He wants to join your team, and a spar," Hephaestus says.
"No and no, never gonna happen. Any news that won't annoy me?" Yang asks.
"Yeah, I need you to do something for me," Hephaestus says.
"Sure what is it?"
"You remember Miach?"
"The god who owns the Blue Pharmacy right?"
"Yeah, his familia suffered a serious attack, some of them died and his captain lost her arm, he got her a prosthetic but went into serious debt to do it."
"How much debt?" Thalie asks.
"For a familia that small, a mountain."
"Want Yang to do this or would you rather I just...you know..." Thalie asks.
"No," Hephaestus gives her a serious look. "He owes the money to Dian Cecht so no violence. All but one of his adventurers walked out on him because the debt bankrupted the familia, he bought her the best possible prosthetic, spared no expense, that's just the kind of person he is. But he won't accept handouts from anyone, I just need you to give him some sales, that's all."
"Sure," Yang says. "Can he make Elixirs?"
"No, the mixer he has is Naaza, she can make Hi-Potions for Magic and Health at best, she's not Airmid after all."
"Well," he considers it for a moment, "I guess I'll buy all the potions to restock our current supply and for the caches from him, that should be maybe a little over half a million if I buy a thousand for floor fifty and floor seventy, each."
"Thank you."
"No problem, always happy to throw money where it can help, not exactly like we're in danger of running out, at least after we cash in from this expedition, anything else?"
"Mmm," she thinks about it for a moment, "the Monster Phelia Gala is next week so we'll be going again, I think that's about it."
"I'm not going with you," Yang says bluntly.
"Excuse me?"
"I'm not going with you, I'm going with Freya, obviously."
"That's against the rules, you aren't in her familia," Hephaestus points out.
"Yeah I know, but she wouldn't listen to logic, you know how she can get, she's annoyingly persistent. So yeah take someone else."
"Fine, then I'll take Tsubaki."
"She's busy that night," Thalie says.
Hephaestus's eyes move over to the woman, "do you even know what night it is?"
"No," Thalie responds without even looking at the goddess, "but she's busy."
Hephaestus huffs," And I'm guessing you'll be busy too?"
"Mhm."
"And anyone else I ask will say the same thing to avoid angering you two...except Welf?"
"Pretty much," Yang says.
"You're both assholes, and you could at least try to be subtle," she glares at the duo.
"We are being subtle," Yang says. "As subtle as you two being horny for each other and dancing around it."
"We aren't- it's... it's complicated."
"No, it's not," Thalie rolls her eyes. "You're not sure how to feel because you're both dumbasses when it comes to dealing with romance, just kiss and make up already and stop avoiding him. Take it from the people who just spent two months in the dungeon with him, he really really wants to take things to the next step with you."
"Yeah pretty much," Yang says with a shrug, "I'll tell him to be ready for the gala and you can do the rest."
"That doesn't sound like a suggestion," Hephaestus points out.
"Because it's not, I'll kidnap you and tie you to his bed if that what it takes," Yang chuckles, "Freya's been trying to get me to lock you two in a small room together for weeks, you're both annoying her."
Hephaestus huffs, but relents, "fine...you know traditionally people are respectful and obedient to their god."
"We aren't a very traditional familia," Yang says. "Besides only like...maybe three of the gods I met actually aren't garbage or annoying." Hephaestus narrows her eyes at him, prompting him to confess, "relax, you're on the very short list of names."
"Good, now can I expect an official report on this expedition?"
"Are you actually gonna read it?" Yang asks.
"Probably not," Hephaestus admits.
"Then why waste the paper?"
"Mmm, what I wouldn't give for a respectful and quiet familia," Hephaestus says.
"Yeah, but then you'd be bored," Yang says.
"True," Thalie adds. "You love us too much, especially one of us..."
"Ugh, are you two ever going to stop the teasing," Hephaestus rolls her eyes at them.
"Nope," Yang says.
"Well, at least I won't have to hear it until we meet at the Gala," Hephaestus narrows her eyes at him, "you've been gone for ten weeks, I don't think Freya's gonna let you out of bed for at least a week, she's been very...irritable, since the first week actually."
"Oh..." he swallows nervously, "shit..."
END CHAPTER---
I really like writing dialogue because it just feels like it flows so well, this chapter was 2700 words of dialogue but I think I'm decent at it so hopefully it came out well, covered a lot of stuff as this volume only has like 2 more chapters :)
クリエイターの想い 
keanu_eugene
keanu_eugene Have some idea about my story? Comment it and let me know.
---Trifecta pack up their gear at floor-50 safe zone before going to the surface...
---Welf is making plans for his 'Map?'...
---Hephaestus has been avoiding seeing Welf...
---Hephaestus familia is having their Falnas updated...
---Mikoto being cute Af with Thalie...
---Rakia is on the final stretch to war and have Welf Crozzo Magic Swords, but they haven't made any declarations yet. It's possible but unlikely that The Trifecta will have to get involved...
---People actually think Yang is a Half-Demon Chosen One...
---Ottar level 8 now...
---The tragedy of Miach Familia has officially happened in my timeline and Naaza lost her hand just like in canon, Yang agrees to buy potions in bulk to help...
---They tell Hephaestus she's taking Welf to the Gala this year because they need to get their shit together...
---Yang has to go deal with Freya after being away for ten weeks...
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