บท 20: Chapter 20 First Kill

Tsubaki woke me up on the first day I would be entering the Dungeon. She lived right next to me, though I had hardly seen her after the day I had shown her my Stellar Sheen. She was already known for spending days at a time in the Forge, often forgetting to show up for important meetings.

My Enchantment Magic had given her an idea that she could use when making magic swords apparently.

"Kova! Come on wake up, the Goddess wants to see you and the rest of the team before you go," she called happily.

Looking at her with bleary eyes I saw a woman covered in soot and dried sweat. She had bags under her eyes but she burst with energy.

My parents had visited me the day before us having a family dinner, they had been visibly nervous. Da had checked over my armor and weapons and Ma had handed me some potions.

"Tsubaki, go take a bath please."

"I'll do it later, I want to see my little Kova off on his first big day."

She was talking like I was starting my first day at school, not about to risk my life killing monsters.

I got geared up, Tsubaki helping me out while cooing about how cute I was and the big bad monsters would be slain.

I pulled out my blades. Like the sword I had first made I used Stellar Sheen when making them. So they were good quality, for my current skill at least. It took me a few days to finish because I didn't have magic potions and didn't want to waste money on them.

I made sure that I was able to pull the gladius'... gladi? Whatever, I made sure I was able to pull them easily from the sheaths around my waist, same with my various throwing knives.

I was going to be taking the role of supporter for the first time, meaning I wore a ridiculously large backpack, holding the rest or the party's weapons and potions as well as the drop items we'll get.

Hephaestus was standing outside the North West Main shop with the team I would be going in with. Leading the team was John, and in background character fasion he had dull grey armor with a classic sword and shield.

The rest of the party also leaned towards close combat, not unexpected from a Familia of Smiths.

The Goddess had been busy as well, the Evilus attacks had increased so some Familia members were tasked with patrolling areas of the city. Though I had been able to see her a few times. She was still only the second Deity I had met, whenever I would see one in the city I would go the other way.

Compared to the selfish Bast, Hephaestus was kind but stern. She didn't just hand out compliments preferring to tell you areas to improve than just the good parts.

Then there were times where you could catch her off guard and she would act like a nervous kitten.

Hephaestus is love, we protec Hephaestus.

"Good Kova you're here," Hephaestus said. "Ok, listen up. Its Kova heres first time going down into the Dungeon, I want you guys to make sure to be as careful as possible, but I also want to make sure you are harsh and realistic. Don't hold back if he makes any mistakes."

John and the others nodded. Hephaestus turned to me and kneeled down. I could see a bit of worry in her eye.

"Ok Kova, remember to listen to John and don't go off on your own. We'll update your Status when you get back as a reward."

The usual procedure was that you could request an Update twice a month, but you need to have at least gone in the Dungeon once and have consistently contributed to the Familia in whatever way.

"Also don't forget to take off the coat, we don't want it to get damaged."

I nodded.

"Lady Hephaestus what's up with the coat?" John asked, overhearing our conversation.

Before she could say anything I answered.

"She made it for me as a sign of our undying love. Even now I can still smell her on it."

If I had been a few years older I wouldn't say something so embarrassing, but it was worth it to see Hephaestus hide her face with a blush.

Spending all day at the forge made her weak to these things.

Getting ahold of herself she once again had the air of a concerned parent.

"Be careful and come back ok?" She turned to the other four members. "All of you. It doesn't matter if it's only the first few levels, don't get careless."

"If Kova gets maimed down there I'll make you four my gofers for a year," Tsubaki said from behind me.

"Tsubaki, you're the captain, you can't show favoritism," Hephaestus said.

"If they were as adorable as Kova then I wouldn't. They can only blame themselves."

That was… harsh, I actually felt bad for the four background characters.

They had flat stares and slumped shoulders so I guessed they were used to her frank attitude.

After that we left towards the Dungeons entrance. It was in Babel the tower that dominated the center of the city. While there was no place to check-in there were guards and Guild employees that watched everyone entering and exiting, making sure that there was nobody attempting to do anything too shady like sneak a monster to the surface.

I was a bit disappointed that Rose wasn't there, I knew she was working today but it would have been nice. That was until something bright red caught my eye at the edge of my vision. Barely visible behind a corner was a tail that I recognized easily. I had spent enough time glancing at her ass- I mean examining her tail, to recognize the floofy red hair.

I decided not to go up to her, instead I'll let her think I hadn't noticed then surprise her on a later day.

Inside the tower was a spiral staircase that winded around a large hole that went straight down. No Gods were nearby so I took off my coat and put it in a side pocket of my backpack. Seeing my well made armor the other members of my Familia nodded in approval. It was nice to be around people with good taste.

"So Jojo, what's the plan for today?" I asked John.

The three other members looked confused and John sighed in resignation.

"We're going to spend today on the first and maybe the second floor. These guys have been down to the ninth together and a bit further when in a bigger group, so it will be a bit boring for them. The first dozen or so encounters we're going to show you a few of the ways we handle them, both individually and together. After that you'll join us in fighting as a group, and if you seem like you can handle it you can try against a goblin or kobold solo. You will also be responsible for taking the magic stones from the monster's corpses as well as any drop items."

We reached the bottom of the stairs and were now on the first level. It had an odd feeling to it. I could hear distant echoes of metal and snarls. The air was still, but instead of a dead stagnant smell it smelled fresh like a garden.

John looked at me seriously.

"Remember monsters can spawn from anywhere at any time, even from above and below. I've had a goblin fall on me twice from above after being birthed by the dungeon."

"Nah John, goblins don't spawn from above. Maybe Dungeon Lizards and Purple Moths, but it makes no sense for the Dungeon to-"

A body plopped onto the ground from above. The goblin looked around in confusion and pain for a second then snarled at us and swung at one of the three other party members with its fist. Then turned to me ready to punch again, but my sword had entered its chest right above where it's magic stone should be.

It fell to the ground dead and I pulled my sword out, wiping it on the monster's corpse to clean it.

"Well that was a… anticlimactic first kill," I said to the four members of my party who just stood there with weapons drawn.