[DanMachi/Percy Jackson] Prytaneum

Chapter 28: Tentative Light part 1

As I left the Church, I glanced up at the sky and then decided to head towards the Pantheon on Adventurer's Street. We'd been in the Dungeon for hours, but we'd still cut things short thanks to the incident on the eleventh floor, so it was still early yet. At this time of day, the Exchange in Babel would still be packed and if Welf and Lili were smart, they'd have gone to the Pantheon and spared themselves the wait. If they hadn't...well, they weren't going anywhere; I could probably talk to Eina, go get something to eat, walk around time, and still get back to Babel before they were done. Either way, I might as well get this out of the way now.

Entering the grand building, I looked around carefully, scanning the crowds of other adventurers as I did—and sure enough, I found them there, apparently finishing up in front of one of the counters. Since their back were to me and the room was noisy, I didn't bother trying to shout out to them and instead just made my way over.

"Everything going okay?" I asked when I was standing right behind them, making both of them jump slightly in surprise.

"Percy!" Welf exclaimed in surprise while Lili simply seemed to draw in on herself. "Did you already meet with your goddess?"

"Mhm," I said with a nod. "Yours was there, too."

Welf grimaced, face turning apologetic.

"Ah," He said. "Sorry, Percy..."

"It's no problem," I assured. "You did the right thing telling her the truth and she did the right thing by telling her friend. Everything got cleared up pretty quickly so it's nothing to worry about. Hephaestus seems nice though. I can see why you like her."

"Um," Welf said, flushing slightly even as he scratched his cheek. "Well, you see..."

I clapped him on the shoulder with a slight laugh and a smile before glancing past him at the counter.

"Like I was asking, though," I began. "Is everything going okay?"

"Yeah," Welf said, nodding quickly. "We're just finishing the exchange of the magic stones. I'm not certain what it's all going to come out to, yet, but...I think it might be seven or eight hundred thousand valis."

I blinked at him, startled.

"That much?" I asked, amazed.

"I know, right?" Welf replied. "But I guess that's the difference between Level 1 and Level 2 monsters—and Minotaurs are some of the strongest Level 2 monsters besides. Each of the ones you killed seems to be worth about twenty-five to thirty thousand and then there's everything we picked up on the tenth and eleventh. When you add it all together, you could probably buy a house."

"Huh," I said, blinking. "Not a bad day's work, I guess. Split three ways, that's..."

I paused for a moment to try and brush off my math skills, at which point Welf looked behind himself at the counter. The Guild worker there was busying himself with the magic stones in front of him, politely ignoring our conversation, but Welf still stepped closer and lowered his voice.

"About that, Percy," He started. "I didn't want to argue in front of the guys from Loki Familia, but...I can't accept that. Not only did I not do anything to help, I didn't even help you carry it back up to the surface. Giving me a third is too much, especially when it's this much."

I shrugged.

"And like I said, its fine," I told him, honestly kind of bored with this topic. No offense to Welf, but it came up so often and I didn't care all that much the first time. "You know I don't have much use for money, besides for supplies and what I'm saving up for Hestia—and even that I can build up over time. It's nothing urgent, really, and when we start talking hundreds of thousands...well, frankly, you probably have more use for it than I do. If it really bothers you that much, then just call it a payment for the next set of armor you make me. I broke the shield again and the rest was kind of beat up."

"Percy..." He said.

"Lili," I avoided. "You don't have any problems getting paid, right?"

"Ah, no, I, um," Lili seemed startled by the question and stumbled over her answer. I wasn't sure what she was trying to say, so I took it as consent.

"Great," I said, settling a hand on her hood once. "Anyway, we can continue this talk later; I have someone else I have to meet with now."

That said, I promptly turned and walked away, zeroing in on the person I came here to meet. Eina was in front of a counter herself, looking at me idle, and she tilted her head to the side as I approached.

"Percy," She greeted, a wary edge to her tone. "It's been a few days."

"Yeah, sorry about that," I replied, smiling sheepishly. "I've been busy in the Dungeon."

"Of course," She said, glancing past me again. "I take it that's your party?"

I looked back at Welf and Lili and nodded.

"Sure is," I said. "The tall one is Welf, who I already told you about. The short one is Lili. She's a new addition to our group, more or less—she volunteered her services as a supporter earlier today. And what a day it was."

Eina sighed, shoulders sagging heavily.

"What did you do?" She asked.

"Listen," I said, raising a hand. "It wasn't my fault this time."

She closed her eyes for a moment at that, shook her head, and then opened them at me again.

"What did you do?" She asked again.

I worked my jaw from side to side for a moment before pursing my lips and glancing at the doorway to the side of the room.

"Can we?" I asked her.

"Of course," She replied, doing a pretty good job of not sounding exhausted already. I followed her away from her desk and into one of the meeting rooms, at which point she looked at me again. "Well?"

"Quick question," I said. "Can you read the Sacred Text? Or do you have anyone in the Guild you can trust that can? I need to confirm something."

"Confirm something?" She repeated. "You mean with your Status?"

"Yeah," I said.

She frowned at that and for a moment I thought she'd lecture me on the important of keeping that information a secret again, but instead she pursed her lips and seemed to consider something. Slowly, she nodded at me.

"I can read it somewhat," She stated. "Enough to understand the Status, at least."

"Cool," I replied, shucking off my shirt. The Undine Silk one I'd worn with my armor had taken a beating along with it and I'd left both of them behind at the Church. I'd need to mend the shirt tonight, but for now I was wearing one of the normal ones I'd bought for when walking around in full gear wasn't an option. It was, by my standards, a dress shirt, since the most likely place for me to go without armor these days was the Hostess of Fertility, but it still felt rough and uncomfortable in comparison to Undine Silk.

"Gah!" Eina exclaimed, apparently startled by the fact that I'd just taken it off without warning. I think it might have been due to culture differences, either between humans and elves or between my time and this one; either way, I was guessing Eina hadn't played any shirts vs. skins games in her childhood. "What are you doing!?"

"My shirt has to be off for you to read my Status, right?" I asked, more embarrassed by the fact that she was embarrassed then I was about not having a shirt on. Hoping to dispel her discomfort, I quickly took a seat on the table and turned my back to her. "Here."

"Right," Eina said forcefully, moving to the other side of the table. When she did, she fell silent for a long moment before speaking. "This is...?"

"Hestia didn't want me telling people about my Status because it's pretty weird," I said. "But after what happened today, Hephaestus said it'd probably be a good idea to have someone at the Guild take a looksee. You can tell I'm a Level 1, right?"

"Yes..." She said distractedly. "But...what? Why are you...?"

"Have you heard about the Minotaurs on the eleventh floor?" I asked.

"There were...what?" She asked, voice trailing off and then growing startled. "There were Minotaurs on the eleventh floor!? Wait...were you on the eleventh floor!?"

"Yes, there were Minotaurs on the eleventh floor," I told her, ignoring the second question. It wouldn't save me, but I wasn't walking into such an obvious trap. "The Loki Familia was coming back from an expedition and they accidently scared a group of Minotaurs into the Upper Floors. About thirty of them got to the eleventh and I had to stop them before they could reach the stairs and endanger anyone else. After I told my goddess what happened, Hephaestus said some people might be suspicious about me having understated my level, so I need you to confirm it for the Guild so Hestia doesn't get in trouble."

Eina clapped her hands down on my shoulders, gripping them tight.

"I think you might be mistaken about what's important here, Percy," She whispered dangerously and I could have sworn my back felt colder. "Let's start from the beginning. You were on the eleventh floor?"

"Yes," I said.

"And you encountered a horde of Minotaurs on the eleventh floor?" She asked.

"I'm not sure, but I think they might have been a herd, not a horde," I answered, to which she tightened her grip, digging her nails into my shoulders. "But yes. I did do that."

"I have many questions that I will now boil down to this," She answered with faux-calm, leaning forward until her lips were near my ear. "Why!?"

"I couldn't just let them go up to the top floors, Eina," I replied in what definitely wasn't a whine. "People could have gotten hurt! Or died!"

"You could have gotten hurt, you idiot!" She yelled. "It's a miracle you didn't die! Proving that you're a Level 1 isn't what matters here—the fact that you are a Level 1 is the issue."

"Eina," I said firmly, making sure I got her attention. "I can't stand back when people could get hurt. I won't. And since you can see my Status, you should know I'm not a normal adventurer. I fought a herd of Minotaurs and I walked away. I won that fight, Eina."

She was silent for a long moment before leaning her head against my back.

"I don't care if you win, Percy," She said, voice abruptly falling to a whisper again. "I just don't want you to lose."

"I didn't lose, either," I said.

"Today," She said. "But don't you get it? This is not a game, Percy, and it's certainly not one you can win. The Dungeon doesn't run out of monsters or give up on trying to kill you; you fight until you give up or else you lose—and most adventurers don't retire, Percy. They die. There is a graveyard for adventurers full of coffins that are empty. There are thousands and thousands and thousands of graves with nothing beneath them. I'm not questioning your bravery, Percy, and from what you've survived, you must be strong. I just question your sense. You take these risks again and again, pushing yourself as fast as you can, fighting battles that someone like you shouldn't be able to survive, but what's going to happen when you get into a fight that you can't win."

"I know when to run," I told her.

"Do you?" She asked. "Do you really?"

I fell silent at that. I thought I did—but then, there were a lot of fights I probably should have run from but didn't. Maybe she had a point.

Eina took a long, slow breath, finally releasing my shoulders.

"How did you stop a herd of Minotaurs, anyway?" She finally asked.

"I used magic," I said. "I have magic, by the way."

"...So I see," She said. "Your goddess did a good job of obfuscating your Status, by the way."

I nodded in agreement, not mentioning that Hestia just had bad hand writing. I'd looked at my Status as best I could in the bathroom mirror, but it was hard even for me to read it was so awful. Whether that was intentional or not was the real question; as ways of hiding information went, it worked pretty well either way.

"About my Level and my Status..."

"I'll handle it," She said tiredly, shaking her head. "Just...just try and stay out of trouble. Please?"

"I'll try," I replied, not sure if that was a promise I could keep.