authors note:
hey guys I got a lot more people looking at my fanfic then I ever thought even though it isn't many just wanted to say thanks and hope you're enjoying it. and just a reminder I am making this for fun and because I could not find anything to interest me. so, there will not be a set date for releases or anything, but I do not plan on dropping it. thank you to those that found the story good enough to added to your collections. oh, and power stones don't waste any on me it won't change anything save it for people how actually wants and needs them. thank you.
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Day One:After the touching moment with the lady I had just met, I composed myself and asked directly, "Do you really mean that?" I questioned, confused why people I had just met would offer me a home without any good reason.Cecile got up and looked at Hatchet with pleading puppy eyes. Hatchet let out a breath and shrugged. Looking at me, he said, "Sure, why not. Me and Cecile tried for a kid once, but it never worked out, and you seem like a decent kid with a decent head on your shoulders. But it is not a free ride—you will have to do chores and help out like any other child."Thinking over their offer, I started asking questions. "Is it fine that I'm very ignorant of the world and, well, everything?""Yes, as long as you are willing to learn," he said."Is it okay that I will be very weird and stupidly straightforward?"This time Cecile was the one to talk. "I think I'd prefer it that way. Isn't being weird just being you and giving you a different perspective? And me and Hatchet are more of the kind of people that prefer the straight truth." She said that last part as if there was a long story behind it, but deciding not to pry, I moved on and asked, "Where is this place?" I was slightly surprised to see them not too confused about that question, but they probably thought I lost some memories or just ran away from a less than ideal situation based on the talk we had before."We are in a small village on the east end of the Asbenia Forest," he answered."Are there any larger settlements near us?""There are two small towns in the Ryumilua Forest on the other side of the river, and then there is Santorio Vgga down the river a ways, but there are no major cities near us. The closest would be in the Alfs' Royal Forest, but no one can go there without permission. Then it would next be Orario, but both of those are quite a long ways," Cecile said.
Orario. That one word pulled up some memories from an anime I watched once. Memories of a white-haired boy and a short, busty goddess, an elf, werewolves, and many more races, of a tower, of obsessive goddesses, and of a dungeon where you face great danger but in return can gain power.Snapping back to reality, I instantly made up my mind and followed my gut."I'm fine with staying with you, and I will pull my weight. As for being a family, I think that will just have to happen naturally if it's going to happen. But when I get old enough, I will go to Orario."Surprised by the suddenness of my answer, they just looked at each other and smiled and agreed. After the conversation, Cecile said it was getting late and time to eat dinner, and I was finally able to eat the bread whose smell was torturing me throughout our conversation.
Day 2
If you can meet with triumph and disasterAnd treat those two impostors just the same;If you can bear to hear the truth you've spokenTwisted by knaves to make a trap for foolsOr watch the things you gave your life to, brokenAnd stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:—Rudyard Kipling
Waking up, my first thought was if I was a guy that just liked to read random poems in my free time—why else would I randomly remember poems every time I wake up? But putting my wandering thoughts to the side, I got up from the bed and opened the door to my room to see both Hatchet and Cecile already up and about.Cecile looked over from the kitchen area and said, "Good morning… well, I guess we need to decide on a name to call you by," she said with a smile. "Do you have a name you would like to be called by?"I guessed I didn't, but probably something short and relatively decent-sounding—maybe Ajax, or Carter, or Cain. Yeah, I think I like Cain. It's not long, it's easy, and not that uncommon while keeping some uniqueness to it."Okay then, good morning, Cain," Cecile said."Hey kid, get over here," Hatchet said. Walking over to Hatchet, I saw him sitting with a few daggers and a bow and arrows laid out in front of him. Before I could ask, he said it was time for my first lesson."Lesson?" I asked, a bit confused."Well, you said yesterday that you'd help pull your weight, and you also mentioned that you know nothing, so I will be teaching you about hunting and forest survival and all that useful stuff."Nodding in understanding, I quickly sat down and tried to absorb as much information as I could. For the next hour or so, Hatchet showed me how to properly take care of weapons and every detail about their maintenance, all while giving wise old-man quotes like, "If you don't take care of your weapon, it won't take care of you."But besides that, Hatchet was surprisingly good at teaching. He even showed me the correct ways to hold each type of weapon he had available and talked about the types of fighting styles each weapon pairs well with. Before I knew it, Cecile was dragging us to the table to eat breakfast. Eating with a smile, I felt something that I hadn't felt in a while—a slight pressure and warmth in my chest.
After eating, Hatchet led me outside into their closed backyard. He showed me around and pointed out details like the woodpile and where the axe was to chop wood—one of the tasks I will have to do every so often now—and other tasks that will need doing. But he also pointed out the building in the back and mentioned it was Cecile's workshop.This is where I learned that Cecile was a crafter, and not just a crafter but a blacksmith—and whatever else deals with crafting, she can do it. It was odd picturing Cecile as a blacksmith with her graceful features, but now knowing this is the world of Danmachi, it wasn't too shocking.One thing still confused me."Why is an elf a blacksmith? I thought elves were more magically focused, and their natural physics aren't really suited for blacksmithing?" I asked, remembering her pointed ears I saw yesterday.Hatchet just smiled and said, "Cecile is a half-elf, and why she's a blacksmith is her story to tell."Before I could ask another question, we arrived at an area of land near the wall of the yard where a couple of targets were resting, and the land was flat and devoid of greenery—just hard-packed dirt.Turning to me, Hatchet said, "This is where we will train.""Train?" I asked."Yes, train. You said you wanted to go to Orario, did you not? Usually the only reasons to go to Orario are if you are a merchant or wanting to become an adventurer. And something tells me you are not someone who will settle down as a merchant," he said with a grin.Grinning back, I said, "You're right about that. Where do we start?""Well, I saw that you have good fighting instincts back in the forest. But your body is still small and weak, so first we will work on body-strengthening exercises, and then I will teach you the basics of the weapons I know how to use. From there, you can choose which weapon or weapons to focus on. We will do this every morning to afternoon starting tomorrow. After that, Cecile will teach you more of the common stuff every person needs to know, and then after that the time is yours. But for the rest of today, you can look around the village and get more familiar with the place. When you get back, Cecile will give you an ointment to put on your wounds, and though it's not as good as a potion, it will fix your leg up to be ready for tomorrow."
After making my way back to the house and talking with both Hatchet and Cecile, I left to look around the village I found myself in. Walking out of my new home, the first thing that struck me was the calm tranquility of the place. All around me was one giant wheat field with around six smaller houses scattered in the fields, each of them a little less than half a mile apart, with small little paths running throughout the field coming from each house. Following these paths led my eyes to an area in the center of the wheat field where there was a circular plaza with some houses and some shops surrounding it.Letting my eyes drift back to the wheat field, the wind flowed through the trees that surrounded this clearing of serenity on all sides, the wind's gentle yet commanding pressure making each and every grain of wheat sway and bend, allowing the sun to shimmer and reflect a soft golden glow. It all passed over me, bringing the sweet, fruity smell of ripe wheat along in its wake, along with undertones of earthy and herbal notes.Lost in the scenery, I almost didn't register the people tending to the fields. And before I even looked closer at them, I realized I was just outside the plaza area, even though their house was the farthest away from the main collection of homes, around a mile out.Shaking myself out of my daze, I walked into the plaza. Looking around, I quickly noticed that on one side of the plaza the buildings were more houses for the inhabitants, while the other side was made up of shops. Deciding not to snoop around people's homes, I walked to the side with the shops.Looking around, I saw a few people, the majority of them humans, but I did see a few cat beastfolk and a few that had sheep features, guessing some kind of sheepfolk. Trying to be polite and not stare—although I was extremely curious about how soft their ears were—I walked around the shops to get a lay of the land.The first thing was the little market stands scattered around, mostly small little handcrafts and fruits, and the one stand that really stood out was the single potato croquette stand. If I had any money, I would immediately get a croquette just to try the legendary potato croquettes of this world.After passing the stands, I found that the plaza had four main buildings. The first was a bakery run by an older couple, which smelled heavenly. The second was a general-wares type of shop; from my walk-through, I found tools ranging from ropes, farm tools, and even swords—though nothing compared to the quality of the weapons Hatchet showed me today, which made me wonder if Cecile was the one who made his weapons.The next building was the town's butcher, while the last building was a tavern, like any good medieval town should have.After a while of walking, my leg started to flare with pain, so I decided to head back to my new home and start patching up my leg and getting ready for tomorrow's training.
Day 3
Waking up the next morning, I sighed in relief due to not having a random poem that I had no idea what it meant running through my head. Getting out of my bed, I put on some new training clothes that Cecile had given me yesterday and left my room to see that Cecile was already up and preparing breakfast, which honestly surprised me due to overhearing some nighttime activities that lasted longer than I ever thought possible. But here she was, happily skipping about the kitchen. I suddenly shivered and felt a lot of sympathy—and a feeling of jealousy—towards Hatchet.Sure enough, Hatchet only came out of his room after breakfast was fully prepared, looking a bit worse for wear but also looking unreasonably happy.After a meal of toast, eggs, and some fruits, Hatchet and I went outside."Hey Cain, go to the woodpile and start chopping some logs to warm up your body while I get things set up by the training area," Hatchet said, looking over his shoulder at me. Nodding in response, I went over to the crate that held the axe to protect it from the elements and started chopping logs.After around ten minutes of chopping firewood, Hatchet came back and got me."Like I said yesterday, we will start you off with strength-building exercises to help you build muscles and have a proper physique for fighting. For today, I will show you all the exercises you will be doing for the time being and the proper forms for each. After today, there will be rotations so it won't be a full-body workout every day."Nodding in understanding, it sounded like my normal way to work out like I did before coming to this world. I was so very wrong. When he said full-body workout, he meant it.It took over an hour just for him to teach me the exercises and for me to get the proper forms down for my arms—which honestly surprised us both. He taught me multiple exercises with multiple variations for each and every muscle. He showed me exercises for the deltoid, coracobrachialis, latissimus, the long, medial, and lateral heads of the triceps, and for both biceps—because apparently there is more than one muscle called a bicep in your arm. Then the brachialis and bicipital, going down the arm, which included three muscles all named flexor carpi, all the way to the palmar aponeurosis, which is the giant vein-looking thing you can sometimes see in the middle of your wrist when making a tight fist.And this pattern repeated for the legs, the chest, abs, and back, until there was at least one exercise with different variations for each muscle.It took over five hours to learn them all, which was stupidly fast because I had to show the proper forms for each before we moved on. But I felt like I had an infinite void in my head sucking up all the information and retaining it somehow, allowing me to bring it up anytime. This allowed me to almost perfectly mimic Hatchet, and with just a few adjustments, I was able to perform the exercises perfectly every time."Well darn, kid, you're a monster. I thought it would take much longer. I thought it would take at least twice as long to teach you everything," said Hatchet with a stunned expression.Just grunting in response, I was lying on the ground half-dead, trying to catch my breath. Although he was just teaching me the exercises, I went through them all at least a couple times to get the form down. It was one of the hardest physical things I ever remember doing—which sadly is not saying much, since I don't remember much.The only reasons I was able to keep going were the knowledge that, for me to achieve my dream and be the man I want to be, I will need absolute and overwhelming strength. And second, during the training, I felt a small but noticeable flow of strength and energy. I had an idea where this energy came from, but before I could check—"Hey Cain, we finished earlier than expected. I will teach you some basics of a weapon or two if you keep that insane learning speed up."Grinning while getting up, I looked at Hatchet with a slightly pained smile and said, "Where do we start?"
After another hour of learning both the sword and short sword, Cecile came out to get us for lunch. I felt immense gratitude towards Cecile but also a bit of regret.I rushed to get cleaned up and into a new pair of clothes. We had a lunch of stew with some kind of red meat and vegetables, with a side of bread that looked like ordinary bread but somehow tasted like cornbread coated in sweet honey—which already tasted heavenly, but dipping it into the stew made it taste divine.After praising Cecile's cooking and helping clean up, Cecile led me to a study room of sorts. There was a big table with a few rolled-up papers and books covering the tabletop, but what really caught my eye was the giant bookshelf full of books—more books than I would ever think a small village in the woods would ever have. And not for the first time, I wondered who my new parents really were, for they seemed way too learned to have just lived in a small village.
After a while of talking and looking through different subjects with Cecile, we found—to Cecile's surprise—that I was very good at subjects like math, chemistry, physics, and pretty much any scientific field. But this was balanced out with me being horrible at cultural studies, history, and geography, which makes sense because those are all drastically different in a new world.So after we discovered that, we spent half the afternoon just catching up on some of the things I asked about. From that, I learned that all the main races like the Boaz, Chienthropes, werewolves, cat people, and more. But the one that drew my interest was the Renards, due to a certain hero-loving fox girl that makes my instincts to protect run hot.Depending on the timeline, I made it a goal to help Haruhime, but I will only know the timeline when I get to Orario and find out what is happening in the story arc.After all my questions, Cecile told me a little part of the history of Gekai."Long ago the gods descended into the world of their children—us—in hopes of finding entertainment, excitement, and more. And so the gods descended to live in the lower world, doing so sealing away their godly powers to live a life surrounded by everyday discomforts. But they kept one thing: the ability to give blessings to fight and grow stronger, and those who receive this gift become Familia," Cecile explained while laying out a map of the known world."Most of the gods currently live here," said Cecile, pointing at the point marked Orario on the map. "Orario—it is often called the center of the world, even though the map doesn't make it look so," she said with a small laugh.This went on for the rest of the time. Cecile pointed out different regions and gave details about them like the Alfs' Royal Forest, the Empire, Rakia, and the Abandoned World.Hearing about places I had never heard of before, even in the story of Danmachi, I was filled with the lust for adventure. And in that moment I made another decision—when I get powerful enough, and when I fulfill my goals and make a new family filled with people I care about, we will travel west, to places no one has ever visited before.
Later that day, after supper and when we all went to bed, I finally did something that I probably should have done before—I checked my status.
Status:Strength – 4Dexterity – 4.5Control – 3.5Intelligence – 5Vitality – 4.5
Remembering that my stats are half as effective before the age of adulthood, I felt happy to see Strength rise by two points from 3 to 4, while Dexterity, Control, and Vitality rose by one point. Strength, Dexterity, and Vitality made sense to me due to the training and the healing of my wounds and eating well.But what confused me was Control. I thought Control was something about magic control, and I think it still is, but it is also something else, because it was raised by one and I don't have any magic. Control might be related to control over your body, but that would be more of a Dexterity area. It also could be some kind of mental or emotional control.Before I could think more, a surge of tiredness washed over me. Thinking I would figure it out later, I fell asleep.