[DanMachi/Percy Jackson] Prytaneum

Chapter 26: Waterside Part 2

"There seem to be more monsters than usual," Aiz noted as we finished our ascent and the way she mentioned it made it sound like this was her alternative to talking about the weather.

"This is why I told you not to worry too much about the Minotaurs," I told her. "I have horrible luck anyway."

"Tch," Bete growled, appearing to have grown increasingly annoyed the further we went. "Did you bathe in monster bait, you bastard?"

He was just looking for something to complain about so I paid him little heed. As trips up to the surface went, this was one of the easier ones I've had, largely because I was pretty sure the combined forces of every single one of the upper floors wouldn't have been anything but an inconvenience to either of them. Monsters were cut down as quickly as they appeared, unable to even try and do anything; the difference between Level 1s and Level...4s? 5s?

"Nah, they're just drawn by my charm, good looks, and animal magnetism," I replied anyway. I made a brief show of looking Bete over before focusing back on the front. "You don't need to worry about it, though."

"Percy!" A voice shouted and between it and my complete and utter apathy, I was drawn away from whatever Bete said next to glance towards the source.

"Ah, Welf," I greeted, raising a hand. "You came back down to help? You're a bit late though—it's already over."

"Ah," He said, flushing slightly as he came over to me. We were on the first floor of the Dungeon so he must have only just started on his way down. "I guess I was worried for nothing, then...sorry, Percy. I had to stop by home to pick up something to help."

Blinking slightly, I tilted my head at Welf and noticed that he had an extra sword strapped to his back; one I didn't recognize. Looking at him, though, I noticed that he was more than a bit disheveled and couldn't help but frown at him slightly. Right now he just sounded disheveled, relieved, and maybe a bit self-depreciating, but remembering how far the Hephaestus Familia home was from here and how long it would have taken to rush there and back...he must have been in a hurry.

Then that sword must have been...

"Ah," I said, understanding. "Sorry Welf—I made you worry and it seems I caused you at lot of trouble."

Welf reached back to touch the sword and flushed, looking even more embarrassed then before.

"Oh, this?" He asked. "It's, uh...it's nothing—just something I put in storage a lot time ago. This seemed like a good time to take it out, considering, and I just had to go ask Hephaestus, so..."

"I appreciate it," I told him honestly. "And I'm sorry—that probably wasn't an easy thing to ask for."

"Like I said, it's nothing," He repeated, looking away. As a result, he ended up looking at Aiz and Bete, who'd decided to escort me to the top of the Dungeon and meet the rest of their Familia in the tower above. Or, well, it's more like Aiz decided and Bete complained about it at length. "These are...?"

"Ah," I said, turning to make introductions. "This is Aiz—she was nice enough to help me out in the Dungeon. Aiz, this is my friend Welf."

"Hello," Aiz said politely, bowing towards him. "I would like to apologize; you and your party came into danger because of me. My Familia and I encountered a large group of Minotaurs on the seventeenth floor and they fled to the upper floors. I am deeply sorry for any trouble I have caused you."

"They fled?" Welf asked, blinking even as he scratched his head. "Ah, well, I guess it can't be helped if it's Loki Familia. Don't worry about it, then—instead, let me thank you for helping my friend."

"And this is Bete," I continued as Welf bowed towards Aiz in turn. "He's...here, too, I guess. But frankly, he's not a very nice guy. In fact, he's kind of an asshole. Just try and ignore him."

Bete's lip curled at that and I could all be hear his teeth grind, but I purposefully paid no attention to what he said next. It's kind of amazing how quickly you learn to tune him out, honestly; after eleven floors, he was just background noise to me now. Whatever he said though, it made Welf purse his lips and furrow his eyebrow.

"Uh...okay," He said before looking at me. "So everything's okay?"

"Yeah," I said, jostling the small bag Aiz had provided me with. "I collected a lot of magic stones and drop items today, too, so you don't have to worry. Speaking of which, though, is Lili okay? Is she with you or did she...?"

"She's upstairs," He replied, glancing at the two members of Loki Familia as he spoke. "She was a bit...startled by the trip back up and was a little panicked at first, but I talked to her a bit and we came up with a plan. I didn't want to risk her getting caught in the crossfire, though, so I asked her to remain behind on this one."

"Okay," I mused, nodding slowly. "I'll talk to her about things later. Should we head back up and meet her, then? She's probably worried about us."

"Are you..." Aiz interrupted with her usual slow and careful words. "Are you both...with the Hephaestus Familia then?"

I blinked at the question and it took me a moment to understand it, but thinking about it, Familia was probably a pretty basic thing to ask about among adventurers. I didn't hang out with many other adventurers, so basic stuff like that still caught me a bit off-guard sometimes, but I guess there wasn't much point in hiding it. Or rather, I couldn't hide it, since they could just ask the Guild.

"Ah, no—we're not in the same Familia," I told her, shaking my head. "But Welf's my smith so we're partying together. I'm from Hestia Familia."

"Never heard of it," Bete said, the words sounding like there were somewhere between insult and accusation and making me glance his way.

"Mm," I acknowledged before going back to ignoring him and focusing on Aiz again. "Our friend Lili is from Soma Familia, but she's working with us as a supporter for the time being. Come on, I'll introduce you."

I brushed passed Bete and made my way towards the way back to the surface, Welf falling into place beside me quickly.

"Percy," He whispered to me, voice low. "That's Bete Loga from the Loki Familia—Level 5. Even if he's an ass, you probably shouldn't piss him off."

I opened my mouth, hesitated, closed it with a wince, and shook my head.

"It's a little later to stop you now, Welf, but there's no point in whispering," I told him and, indeed, didn't bother doing so myself. "Literally everyone here can hear you."

Welf blinked at me, hesitating.

"Really?" He asked, looking back at them. Aiz nodded slightly while Bete just glared.

"Improving your Status boosts your senses, too," I said. "You haven't noticed?"

He frowned and slowly shook his head.

"It's been so gradual, I guess it never stood out," He murmured. "It's pretty obvious in hindsight, though."

I guess that made sense. It had been pretty noticeable for me, but my Status rose more quickly than his; it was probably like how something might not notice water slowly getting hotter but would react if they were thrown immediately into a scalding bath tub. I'd just taken it for granted when I noticed it and put it out of my mind, chalking it up to my improvements, but it hadn't occurred to me that it might be somethings others wouldn't see. Interesting.

"Huh," Welf said after a minute, sighing. "Never mind, then. I guess that ship has sailed."

"If it makes you feel better, it wouldn't have made much of a difference one way or another," I told him. "He's also a werewolf and, more importantly, I don't need friends who insult my other friends. Besides, neither of us are particularly willing to play nice. It's a good thing that Aiz is here to be the mature one because we're just not."

Welf looked over his shoulder again, Aiz nodded slightly again, and Bete continued to glare.

"Anyway, did you tell anyone what happened?" I asked him.

"Uh...just Hephaestus," He replied, looking back at me and seeming started by the abrupt turn in the conversation. "But she probably told your goddess, or will soon, since they're so close."

"Ah," I said with a sigh, scratching my head. "I should probably go speak to her before she gets too worried."

I tossed the bag to Welf who caught it and drew it open, blinking quickly at what was inside.

"These are..."

"Like I said, we picked up some stuff," I told him, shrugging. "You can take your pick of the drop items, of course, but I figured we'd split things three ways. You mind exchanging everything for me, after we speak to Lili?"

"I don't mind, but..." Welf paused for a moment to look embarrassed and ashamed. "I didn't do anything..."

"Eh. Things escalated unexpectedly," I said with a shrug. "Don't worry about it too much—just think of it as compensation for the trouble. Aiz wanted to give you the stones, too, right?"

"Yes," Aiz said, looked at Welf solemnly.

"See?" I asked. "Do it for Aiz, so she can stop apologizing for stuff. Besides, you went through a lot of trouble to try and rescue me, right? You were like my safety net. So just take it."

Bete scoffed, but I ignored him, nodding towards the sword Welf had brought. Welf didn't reply immediate, but probably more because Aiz and Bete were there than anything; there was a lot he probably wanted to say, just not in front of strangers who could hear him.

"Mr. Percy!" Lili said once we reached the top of the stairs, sounding honestly surprised to see me again. But hey, I crashed my own funeral; I'm used to it.

"Lili," I replied, smiling at her. "Are you okay?"

"Lili is fine, but..." She stopped when she saw who was with me, bowing her head and shrinking in on herself.

"Lili, these are Aiz and Bete from the Loki Familia," I told her. "Aiz ended up helping me out with the Minotaur problem. I think you might like her, but I know you won't like Bete, so just try and ignore him."

"Mr. Percy..." She murmured to herself. Even so, I understood.

"We'll talk later, okay?" I told her. "I have to make sure my goddess knows I'm not dead. I already gave Welf the stones and such from the Minotaurs and you can go with him to exchange everything. Is splitting things three ways, okay? You can just think of the Minotaur stones as hazard pay."

"Hazard pay?" Lili asked and I had to wonder if hazard pay was a thing for adventurers. Since the whole job was hazardous, probably not.

"Don't worry about it," I told her. "Welf or Aiz will explain what happened and I'll be back after I make sure Hestia doesn't panic. If you still want to work with us after that mess, we can talk then, but I'll understand if we gave you a scare."

Lili looked from me to Welf, eyes lingering on him for a moment before she bowed her head. She didn't answer right away.

"Thanks again for the help, Aiz," I said turning towards her again. "Sorry to run out on you, but—"

"I understand," She replied. "My goddess also worries. I'm only sad that the rest of my Familia hasn't arrived yet. Finn would likely want to apologize as well."

"They're probably still searching for any signs of the Minotaurs," I told her. "Because nobody was around who could have just told them the problem was resolved—looking at you, Bete. But I don't need to hear any more apologies, anyway. Although..."

I considered it for a moment before shrugging.

"Have you ever heard of the Hostess of Fertility?" I asked. "On West Main."

"Yes," Aiz replied.

"You can probably find me there, if you need to," I told her. "I eat dinner there now, apparently. If you guys are around some time, we can eat together."

Aiz seemed to consider that for a moment before nodding again.

"I will inform them," She said, as if I'd entrusted her with a world-saving mission.

Aiz took things really seriously, but she was a good person. Waving at her, my friends, and Bete one last time I turned away and left.

...I really hoped Hephaestus hadn't gotten to Hestia yet. I mean, I wasn't gone that long, right...?