To be honest I was expecting more violence. Not kicking in the wall and taking out every child of Athena we saw kind of violence -considering y'know Athena- but at least something. Instead every member of Athena's sizable Familia present took one look at the burrito Goddess herself and had promptly taken the knee.
Hell, they even offered to join up the literal second she explained herself, and that isn't even the weirdest part. The weirdest part is that one of these fuckers just straight up confessed to being involved once the Goddess made her displeasure known.
So am I the weird one?
Because even the people I grabbed for this operation were acting like a Goddess walking around in a magical bedsheet was totally normal and worthy of respect. I don't know why, and I don't know if I even want to know. All I can say is this level of gaslighting is something I've never encountered before, and I'm kind of impressed.
Either way I was keeping out of it, posted up against a wall so I could keep an eye on the records building we'd barged into. Simply watching as Athena and Skadi began their interrogation in one corner, while Skadi's Captain went through records in another. Given what almost happened to their girls, both the Goddess and her fox-eared Captain were motivated enough for all of us.
Oh and Ais and the Athena people were just kinda hanging around looking a little lost, though in Ais' case that might just be her default expression.
"I- agh, fuck it, I'm not good at this kind of crap!" And then there was Judith, posted up next to me as she struggled her way through what seemed to be an apology. Though I had no idea what she was apologising for, it seemed to be a big deal for her so I was just letting her get through it. "I'm sorry alright!"
"You're fine?" I tried, not really having much to go off of here.
"I… do you even know what I'm saying sorry for?"
"Not at all." I returned with a sunny smile, taking momentary refuge in audacity.
It took a few moments for Judith to gather herself before words started spilling from her lips. "I ignored you for like a month- I was a shitty friend- I…"
As she continued to ramble, I let out a soft sigh. It was no wonder I couldn't guess, she basically had a total misread of the situation. She was probably feeling guilty for other reasons and just looking for excuses to blame herself. I hadn't gone out of my way to see her either, so I'd be just as shitty of a friend by her standards if she was thinking straight.
All my free time was given to the god of grinding after all.
"Judith, if that's what you're worried about, then you're fine." She looked like she wanted to retort at that so I cut her off. "Look, did I go out of my way to look for you? The answer is no, so whatever you're guilty of, I'm just as guilty."
In another time, I wouldn't have admitted that for the life of me, just accepted her apology on faulty premises and taken the resulting goodwill. Unfortunately I'd resolved myself to be better to the people who called themselves my friends and I wasn't going to go back on that.
"We both had shit going on, it's fine."
"That… isn't it." She insisted. "I didn't have things going on, I just ignored you because I was jealous!" She pushed, her voice rising and lowering as she seemed to struggle to maintain control. "I was jealous of how quickly you were progressing, of your talent, even just your Skill!"
Well, alright then.
"And I ignored you because I spent every waking moment in the dungeon, worrying the shit out of everyone around me." And a little because her Familia pissed me off, but she didn't need to know that. "We all have bad habits."
"That… seriously?" She said, seemingly torn between wanting to argue and sheer befuddlement.
"How do you think I levelled this quickly?" I chuckled, casting my eyes back across the room.
"…My Captain thought you had a skill." Judith admitted, and it took everything I had not to snort. Only one skill like that seems to ever have or will exist and as fast as I was, Bell basically managed to hit level two in two weeks with it. Not only that, but he managed it with the most overlevelled stats the world has ever seen too.
I wouldn't give up my Todd Howard skill for the world, but that one would make a nice consolation prize for anyone else.
"I doubt that's even possible, but then again, I doubt he'd even believe me if I told him."
Before Judith could respond, a line from Athena's interrogation caught my attention.
"…I don't know of any connection between the group and our Goddess, no. W-Well, besides the obvious." The short bunnyman they were interrogating answered meekly, his eyes flickering to where Ais loomed next to the Goddesses, her hand resting on her rapier as she stared impassively at the proceedings.
"Oi! Were you ordered to say that?" I shouted over suddenly. His answer wouldn't confirm Athena's lack of involvement; she could have predicted his response to her presence and kept him in the dark in order to use him as a scapegoat. But that's moving from generic conspiracy to something a bit more silly.
He made a little gesture like he didn't know if I was talking to him or not. "Yes you, you child killer."
"N-No!?" The man responded, startled, before the nickname sunk in and horror bloomed across his face. Eyes shot to me from across the room, but I ignored them in favour of locking with Skadi's icy gaze. Her nod was all I needed; Athena's stink eye was just an extra treat.
"Sorry, what were you saying?"
Judith seemed to be slightly at a loss for words, but recovered quickly enough. "…So, we're good?"
"Of course."
"Just like that huh?" She trailed off.
"Would you feel better if it were some big thing?" I asked.
"No." She admitted in a small voice. "But I also wanted to ask you for a favour as well, so now I'm feeling awkward as shit."
"Awkward describes you well." I nodded sagely, chuckling and ducking as she reflexively took a swipe, the redhead's face flushing. It did kind of explain why she was being so awkward in this conversation, she doesn't seem like the type to handle owing someone well. So if she wanted to ask for a favour while thinking she'd wronged me… "But go ahead and ask, I'm feeling magnanimous."
"I don't even know what that means." She admitted, snorting in a surprisingly similar way to Sticky. "Would- could you train me in the sword? P-Please?"
"Train you?" I asked, more just to bide time to think than anything. After all, I didn't really know whether or not I could actually teach someone swordsmanship.
I haven't seen what formalised combat teaching looks like outside of fencing after all, so I don't really know where to even start. Also a lot of my knowledge in the field was more instinctual than anything else, which is fine for pointing out flaws, but not so much for explaining why you should do something differently.
Oh god, I've become one of those prodigies that can't explain why they do what they do and just kind of flounder when asked to explain themselves. Still, perhaps my attempts to explain things would solidify the knowledge in my own mind… and if all else fails I could do that tried and true method of all fighting shows.
Beat the shit out of them until they show improvement.
Judith's fidgeting only intensified as I tried to picture how that would go down. Perhaps she too could see the pain waiting for her in that potential future.
"I can." I finally stated, much to her relief. "But I don't know how effective the method will be, and well, it'd be easier if you were in my Familia to be honest." I'd resolved myself to help my friends more, but I'm still under a time crunch at the end of the day. Her being in my Familia would mean that I could get away with exposing a few secrets to her, namely stamina potions, and at that point the sky is the limit.
Forget just beating her up, I could drag her into the dungeon for endless hours at that point. All kinds of methods would open up magnificently.
As I was day dreaming about introducing other people to the grind however, Judith turned to me with an incredibly serious expression. "Would that… would that make me stronger?"
"What?" I blinked back into reality, and looked down at the suddenly very fired up tomboy currently leaning into my space.
"Joining your Familia, would it make me stronger?" She asked intently. A question which kinda took me off guard. I haven't really thought about acquiring new members outside of Bell if I were to be honest; mainly because all my focus has been on the dungeon and my own grinding.
I wasn't really against grabbing new members, more hands means more people watching over Hestia and the kids after all. But I would have to exercise some basic caution and abuse Hestia's lie detector before we signed her on.
As for her question, the answer was obviously yes; Skyrim's production skills are ridiculous even at my current level. Right this second I could hand her a sword that would be significantly sharper than anything of its level on the open market. How strong she could become with us honestly just comes down to how many of my abilities I'm willing to share at any given time, and how much she's willing to suffer to build up her base.
"Probably?" I downplayed severely. We may not have been in hearing range of the Goddesses, but Ais was staring at me like a hawk, and Skadi's Captain's ears were so large I wouldn't be surprised if she could hear everything in a three block radius. "Given where you are right now though, are you sure you should be considering this?"
"I…" She trailed off and huffed. "I grew up like those kids you're taking care of, strength was everything back then. And yeah, maybe my circumstances and shit have changed, but I still live by those rules. I want- no, I need to get stronger."
"So if joining up would help -and maybe pay you back for the training while I'm at it- then I'm all for it." She spoke with steady resolve. Strange given that she's pretty much just going off my word at this point, but fuck it, I could easily make it the best decision of her life.
She'd either love stamina potions as much as I do by the time I was done with her, or despise them with a passion.
"And I…" She continued. "I don't really fit in where I'm at. After you left, things just kinda fell apart. Fillian left for his forest and… I'm pretty sure I pissed off an executive today as well." Her nose scrunched up at the thought. "How much of a future I have left…"
Despite definitely being able to hear us, Ais surprisingly seemed content to just watch. A surprise both because I was pretty sure she should be stepping in here, and because I was almost certain the executive Judith was talking about was Bete. A guy who hates literally everyone bar Ais, so his condemnation means fuck all. If she wanted to hang on to Judith, then simply explaining that might be enough.
Of course, that's assuming she isn't blind to that kind of byplay, which might not be a guarantee. She could also just want to see what happens and then potentially approach me again in future if Judith gets stronger… wait could I steal the Sword Princess like that?
"If you can square it away with Loki, then the Hestia Familia will happily have you." I declared, resolving myself to come up with a battery of questions to ask new entries to catch plants, intentional or otherwise
"Don't you need to ask your Goddess first?" She asked.
"No." I laughed. I may have seen how Hestia looked at Judith earlier today, but if Hestia tries to pull some of the shit she did with Bell -at the expense of our Familia no less- then I'd make sure she can't sit for a week.
Judith watched me carefully before a realisation seemed to come over her. "…Gods are like children right?"
I grinned at the reference, even as my eyes were drawn to the Goddess currently walking towards me.
"Was that interruption enough to satisfy you, Captain Carne?" Athena sniped, while the member of her Familia she had been interrogating was restrained behind her by members of the Skadi Familia.
"Satisfy my suspicion of you?" At her nod, I laughed. "Not even close."
"You believe I manipulated him without his knowledge?" She huffed. "One of my own?"
"Well yeah, that's kind of your thing, Goddess of strategy." I said, before glancing over at my new -potential- subordinate. "Judith, take notes, this is what a Goddess lying to you looks like."
"You think I cannot feel you lying, you insufferable man?"
"See I would take you at your word there, but unfortunately we mortals don't have special truth powers, so we have no choice but to doubt you. A pity." I laughed, winking at Judith as the redhead started to look increasingly torn between wanting to laugh and her rather strained respect.
"So you continue to doubt me?" She asked simply, her temper seemingly disappearing.
Seeing her switch -as Goddesses seem to so often do- I too decided to answer seriously. "I'll doubt you for as long as is needed."
"Very well, then I shall provide enough evidence to remove that need." Athena stated as she stared up at us; y'know, because she's short. "Fortunately I've pieced together our next location based on some of the information my wayward child conveyed, on top of records I've already inspected."
I nodded. "Then we'll head there after Skadi's people are done." I had wound up as the shotcaller of this operation, on account of me calling everyone here and having the closest thing to a plan outside of Athena, who no one trusted.
"Our time is not unlimited." She warned.
And to an extent she was right, if one of the people we were hunting spotted our operation from afar and informed the rest, they could scatter and we'd never find them. A possibility that only grows with time. On the other hand, we couldn't and shouldn't trust her, not with the role we've collectively taken on.
"We'll wait." I repeated.
I figured Athena would turn in a huff and leave at that, instead she paused, looking up at me strangely.
"Did Hestia tell you why I descended by chance?" She suddenly asked.
At my quizzical look she just beckoned for me to get on with it, so I shrugged and played her game. "She didn't, but I can hazard a guess."
"Guess then little mortal." She sniffed imperiously, my lips twitching upwards at the little comment probably wasn't what she was hoping for reactions wise.
"Boredom, a fascination with mortals and knowing you? Probably curiosity." I answered.
"Were I motivated by curiosity, I would have remained above, where every question could be answered with a simple extension of Authority." She countered, her intense grey eyes boring into me. "While I have come to appreciate the simple thrill of seeking knowledge since my descent, it was not what drove me here."
"No, I descended because I could do nothing else." She said cryptically. "I am wisdom personified Elric Carne, do you understand what that means?"
I could certainly make some guesses, but before I could respond, she went on.
"It means I feel every moment where my domain is tested, every wrong and right decision, every desperate struggle for wit and every time a mortal fails to heed wisdom in the face of their baser instincts." The Goddess spoke passionately, almost religiously. "You seem incapable of trusting me, so I tell you this so that you can understand instead. The only thing I truly desire is to influence the scales of my domain, to make a few more mortals heed wise counsel."
That… was a bit beyond what I was expecting, or at the very least the passion behind her words. The idea of a Divine embodying their domain to the point that it becomes their purpose in life though certainly existed in the fiction of my previous world, I just wasn't really expecting it from the little curiosity machine in front of me.
Or well, to embody something other than said curiosity.
I suppose I could see it though, in hindsight. She did seem strangely fixated on getting me to trust her, originally I'd put that down as her wanting my secrets, but what if I was a potential target of her 'wise counsel'? And as amusing a thought as being harassed by a Goddess to take her advice was, I'm not sure I want to know the extent to which she'd force the issue if this is so important to her.
Which means I might need to take said advice to appease her at some point, which means I should understand the basics, namely what all this even means to her. With that in mind, I decided to ask her the question that was at the heart of our current conflict:
"Is there wisdom in the sacrifice of the few for the many?"
"A sacrifice is only truly meaningful if you give up something that is yours to give in the first place." She answered a smidge cryptically. "So no, there is no wisdom in what you are implying." In other words, a personal sacrifice has meaning, but not what I caught her people doing?
I hummed, wondering if I should start breaking out the trolley problems in order to pin down her exact lines before deciding the better of it. She could after all be lying about pretty much all of this anyway, so getting bogged down in it wasn't exactly a good idea.
Athena smiled smugly at my contemplative look. "Perhaps you'll understand tonight."
"What does that mean…?" Judith chirped up beside me, though I had no idea what part she was confused on, only that she was indeed confused.
"It means he is a stubborn, mildly infuriating man, and I enjoy leaving him hanging as he has me." She said playfully. "Alas I do not dislike a challenge. Eventually I will garner his trust, his secrets will be mine, and he will heed my advice."
With that, she nodded once, turned and then left.
Still wrapped up in her magical blankie.
"…What the fuck." Judith uttered.
"Gods." I shook my head.
"I… what did she even mean by all that?" She tried.
"Don't trust it, but she said that she was on our side, and that she won't leave me alone. Though I guess that's now us." I added. "Fortunately, you've got a fantastic Captain to handle strange Goddesses for you."
"Yeah, lucky me." She uttered. "How do your other members deal with this shit?"
"They don't, because it's just me and you." I corrected with a smile. "Oh and we live in an abandoned church in the ruined district. We are commissioning a new building soon though."
"Isn't that place cursed…?"
"I haven't seen any ghosts, but if you do come across one just fetch me, I should be good for spectral enemies."
The slight regret I saw creeping onto Judith's face only made me want to grin. If she thought this was something to feel regret over, then she was in for a rude awakening when the training would start.
We had just under a week until the Loki expedition, which was more than enough to make her truly regret her decision.
-
Looking down on the location Athena found filled me with a grim sense of deja vu. Another warehouse, another lab, the only difference was that I couldn't feel anyone that needed saving in there. Only a dim murmur of intent barely reaching over the background noise of the city.
And from the way Skadi's Captain was twitching, it seemed like she could hear that far after all.
"You look ill, Captain Carne." A frosty voice spoke up next to me. Skadi, its owner -having been carried up to the rooftops by her children- looked down on the building with the same flamboyant indifference she wore when I first met her.
"The last lab I turned over looked just like this." My answer caused a bit of a stir. With Skadi's girls tensing up and glancing at the trio I'd rescued in the past, while Skadi herself somehow became even more icy in her demeanor. As for Athena, well I couldn't see her right now, but I could feel her interest pique.
Meeting Lye's gaze -the adventurous blonde of the aforementioned trio- I gave her the most reassuring smile I could manage in these circumstances. She responded in kind, albeit a little shakily. She and her friends seemed to have been keeping their distance to maintain some sense of professionalism, but circumstances were what they were.
"Does that mean there's survivors?" Judith asked uneasily.
"No." The fox eared Captain of the Skadi Familia cut in before I could answer. "They're complaining about a lack of victims." She announced, a hint of steely anger seeping into her soft voice.
"You can hear that…?" Judith whispered incredulously.
The foxgirl nodded, impressively long ears bobbing with the motion. "I've trained my ears extensively." Her red eyes gleamed with satisfaction, but… how do you train that?
"Then these villains will be of the same make you spoke of previously?" Skadi asked, getting us back on track. "Not much of a hunt for a group of this calibre."
A bit of an understatement given that Ais was still watching over the proceedings with a vacant stare, but it was best not to underestimate things and potentially lose someone.
Glancing over at Skadi's Captain, I got her permission to take command with a bit of nonverbal communication.
"Anyone with a bow, keep your distance and surround the building, shoot to disable anyone you see fleeing. The rest will kick in the front door and drive them out with me." I ordered, drawing my sword -sheath and all- from my belt before binding the scabbard to the handle with spare bandages.
The twisting heads of the hunting Familia were met with an indifferent nod by their Captain as she mirrored my actions, similarly binding a long katana of some variety.
"Judith with me." I finished, glancing over at Ais, who nodded a touch sadly and stepped back.
The formation took shape quickly, with twenty or so animal girls flitting over rooftops and taking up positions, bows in hand. I might hate the weapon personally, but the tactical advantages of a ranged force are pretty nice.
Don't want anyone escaping after all.
Just as I thought that however, a spike of panic bloomed in the building before I could signal our assault.
"They've noticed us." My fellow Captain announced calmly.
The panic shifted, taking on an entirely more aggressive note as the occupants seemed to be readying themselves to fight to the death. Or at least most of them.
Good.
"Let's go." The tiles beneath my feet exploded and with one step I was already there, my sword swinging. Between one moment and the next, the doors of the warehouse simply ceased to exist.
A dozen adventurers were inside, eyes wide as they turned as one. One tried to flee immediately, fear and panic clinging to him like a physical stench. I let him go -the girls outside deserved at least one given everything- and focused on the rest.
"The Goddess Athena sent us, surrender." I announced loudly as I strode into the building, debris falling around me.
Almost predictably, one of them screamed something about me being a heathen and charged. The issue? He was fucking slow. The man moved like he was running through molasses, wielded his sword like it was a club and even his footwork was just riddled with openings.
I was about to put the bastard out of his misery when my fellow Captain leapt past me, dark hair swirling behind her as she landed beside the man and pulled her sheathed sword into a brutal horizontal slash.
His block was far too slow to stop him from getting folded like a lawnchair.
In response another ran forward, trying to take advantage of an opening that was entirely in his head.
And while it wasn't really needed, I stepped between them anyway, gently flicking the tip of my sword's sheath into the man's chin. I didn't really use it much, but the damage amplification from my one-handed skill applies to blunt weapons as well. Something this idiot learned as the seemingly light blow slammed into his chin like a full body uppercut, spinning his body into the air with the force.
And then the rest hesitated, so we went to them instead.
Like in the last warehouse, these people weren't fighters, weak and unskilled as they were. A single level two for them was already a vast overkill, but two? We could have ended it instantly, but Skadi's Captain -and damn do I really need to learn her name- was taking things slow intentionally. She would flicker forward in bursts of speed before slowing before the target to launch elaborate, showy strikes.
A pace I found myself subconsciously matching.
With a challenging glint in her eyes, she mimicked my prior chin strike, sending her victim screaming in my direction. Deciding to play along, I mimicked her horizontal sweep with one hand, catching the spinning woman around the midriff gently and then launching her back at speed.
To which she brought out a new move, and I responded in kind, before we mimicked each other again. It was only when Judith finally caught up that we both paused, uncertain… and maybe looking a little like kids caught with their hands in the cookie jar.
To solve this, I slapped aside the spear of one of the last victims standing, grabbed him by the collar and tossed him at my new lackey. She can't notice we're messing around if she's in a life or death fight after all.
I barely heard her squawk of indignation over all the noise the Athena lot were making.
A thumbs up from the foxgirl was the only signal I got before our game resumed, the pair of us batting around the few remaining targets. Gently though. So as to not knock them out too quickly.
Though not too gently, they did deserve this and far more after all.
Still, it didn't take long for the last to join the over nine on the floor, unconscious and beaten, my fellow Captain looking particularly satisfied.
"Good training." She nodded to herself.
"…It was fun." I agreed strangely enough given our surroundings. "Name?"
"Miyabi."
"I'll remember it." I promised, as we both turned our attention to where the nearest entry of my Familia was still duking it out with the Athena grunt. I'd kept an eye on it, ready to step in, but they were surprisingly well matched. The spearman's reach and his willingness to retreat were handy counters against Judith's aggression.
Though if he didn't have such a sturdy spear it would probably have been long since over.
As for my friend… well she wasn't bad. Her footwork was solid, though entirely too aggressive for anything but charging straight into her enemy. Her grip was fine, her arcs and even her ability to flow in between strikes -while rigid- were clearly practiced.
Basically everything that would let her charge headlong into the enemy while swinging her sword around was at a good standard, she just wasn't… reactive enough? There was a distinct lack of responsiveness on her end, like she had exactly one plan for combat and would just keep repeating it until either she or the enemy was down.
That plan being to hit them violently.
Hardly elaborate, but whoever had trained her had done a decent job in enabling this personal style. As for me teaching her, my prior worries were kinda out of the window on that front. I could see dozens of ways to improve upon her fundamentals alone, nevermind helping her branch out into a more reactive style.
"You were going to take this one on, correct?" Miyabi asked.
"I'll probably have my hands full."
She nodded. "Passion has its place, but it should be tempered with training."
And I hummed in agreement, nothing much needing to be said as we watched the fight come to a close.
In almost a mirror of the last time I'd seen the redhead, the fight ended not with skill, but a weapon breaking. The man's spear haft finally gave up the ghost and splintered under Judith's relentless strikes, leaving her sword to tear open a bloody gash along his collarbone before she could stop it.
The man screamed and that, combined with the blood, froze Judith. I could tell it was non-lethal with a glance, hell he'd already started clotting, but the initial blood spray might have convinced her that she'd killed him.
Stepping in, I smacked the man unconscious to stop his wailing and tossed half a potion on his wound, succeeding in bringing her out of her funk. "You alright?"
"Y-Yeah." She uttered, looking down at the man, before her eyes drifted to the blood on her sword.
"Relax. You didn't kill him, nor would you have even if I didn't throw a potion on him." I said softly.
"Right… right…" She muttered, seemingly relaxing, though I could see the emotions roiling in her eyes.
"If… If it had happened though, you killed guys like these before right?" She asked weakly. "They deserved to die right?"
"Judith." I dragged her attention to me. "Look around you."
She could be forgiven for having missed it in the chaos of the fight, but the reality of these fuckers' crimes was strewn around us. Adventurers carved open, dissected and studied. Corpses and preserved remains. I'd seen similar things in the biology textbooks of my previous world; the difference of course being that these were definitely not willingly donated cadavers.
Hell, given the manacles attached to the tables here, even the cadaver part was in serious question.
Surprisingly, Judith's response didn't come in any of the forms I was expecting, and I was expecting everything from stunned horror to throwing up. Instead, her intent blossomed murderously as her grip tightened around her sword, wild red eyes tearing themselves from the sights around us to leer dangerously at her defeated opponent.
I had to grip her shoulder to stop her even if I felt unexpectedly proud, as unfortunately this wasn't the time or the place.
Not when Athena was approaching with the others.
"You've been rather rough with my children." Athena announced herself into the tense moment, walking through the ruined doorway with Ais and Skadi in tow, Skadi's Familia behind them.
I felt Judith tense.
"I think even you would agree they deserved it." I snarked back, as Miyabi stepped up beside me impassively, her gaze softening as she saw her subordinates hesitate in the doorway of the building.
Athena hummed, unbothered as she stepped into the space, her gaze locked onto a stack of bound pages that she promptly claimed.
"They were studying the Falna." She remarked, leafing through the document. "With a particular focus on its effects on disease. It seems you were telling me the truth about Faust."
Her words weren't really a surprise, you only needed to glance at one of the thousands of papers strewn across the room to understand their focus. But with every clinical remark Athena made, I could feel Judith tense up more.
"I did promise him I'd tell you exactly what he was up to." I'd also promised to take his head and chuck it at her, a missed opportunity looking back on it. Throwing a head at a Goddess was exactly the kind of thing that would snap just about anyone out of their anger, if only for how absurd it would be.
In the midst of this tension however, an unexpected voice spoke up.
"My lady…" The shellshocked voice drew eyes from across the room, to where a woman I'd slapped around only minutes ago was on her knees, dumbfounded as she stared at her Goddess. "Why?"
-
Yes, I know there's a one year rule on leaving Familias, it's just stupid and contradicted by the entire Apollo arc. And besides! Elric deserves lackeys, I think.
Miyabi is Miyabi Hoshimi from ZZZ, the big fox ear meme girl and yet another sword autist.
As ever, the next three chapters on https://www.patreon.com/c/OneFallLeaf, hope you all have a good one!