[DanMachi/Percy Jackson] Prytaneum

Chapter 29: Stove Part 2

As was apparently usual, the Hostess of Fertility was running a brisk business and was filled with adventurers. The incident with Allen and whoever couldn't keep their eyes to themselves hadn't seemed to make a lasting impression on the bar and it was back to normal the next time I saw it. As I'd promised Syr, I'd made a point to stop by and it was slowly becoming a part of my routine. In the morning, I'd stop by to pick up a lunch made by Syr and at night, I'd either dine in or pick something up to save Hestia the trouble of making anything.

It was...interesting, actually. Besides the time I spent with Welf and now Lili, I actually didn't interact with other adventurers much, besides walking by them in Babel or the Pantheon. But at night, the Hostess of Fertility was filled to the brim with adventurers of all kinds, talking and cheering and celebrating whatever they wanted to at the bar. Despite the nature of the job, when I saw them like this, they seemed normal to me, though my definition of normalcy might have been a bit warped. It helped that Syr seemed to share my interest, as she said she greatly enjoyed the opportunity to meet and speak with new people. Most of the stuff I'd heard in the bar didn't mean much to me yet, having to do with changes in the prices of certain supplies or new word on the actions of various Familia—but still, it was interesting to hear. Despite the fact that I'd been here for nearly two weeks now, Orario was still foreign to me in a lot of ways and...I guess this was becoming my way of making it less so. I'd come here at nights and wait for Syr to get a break and I'd just listen to her talk.

But even by the standards of the Hostess, the bar seemed especially lively today and I took a moment to look around, trying to figure out why. While the faces in the bar changed every day, as one might expect from from a popular restaurant, there were several regulars that I was already starting to recognize. More than that, there simply seemed to be more people than normal today, making the bar seem especially full—and near the center of the bar, a large number of tables had been gathered together, all of them filled to the brim with people I didn't recognize.

Except that wasn't quite true—I recognized a couple of faces. Aiz sat at one of the tables with Bete nearby, the two of them apparently enjoying their meal though they were eating at very different paces. That would make the rest of the new crowd...the Loki Familia? Well, if they'd just come back from an expedition to the lower floors, I guess it wasn't odd that they were celebrating, though whether it was the success of their expedition or their safe return home, I wasn't sure. I thought about going over to say hi to Aiz, but...nah, no need to interrupt. There'd be other chances and it was best not to interrupt them.

"Percy!" A voice called and I turned with a smile.

"Syr," I said. "Busy night?"

"Eheheh," She giggled quietly as she approached, a tray held in her arms. "Just a bit. Oh, but things will start calming down soon, so I might get some time off if you're willing to wait?"

"Sure," I replied, shrugging one shoulder. "Oh, by the way, these are Welf and Lili—they're my party. Lili decided to join us as our supporter today, so I thought a celebration was in order."

"Hey," Welf said with a slight wave.

"Hello, Ms. Syr," Lili greeted, tilting her hood down. Syr smiled at Welf and then let her eyes linger on Lili for a moment before nodding to herself.

"It's nice to meet you both," She said. "I guess you'll be needing a table today, Percy?"

"Please," I replied and after taking a quick look around, Syr led us to a table at the side of the room and left some menus with us. Welf and Lili ordered several dishes I didn't recognize while I gave Syr her usual free reign when it came to my own order, at which point she left.

"It's loud in here," Lili noted, apparently trying to break the silence.

"Is it?" Welf asked, blinking at her. "It seems pretty normal for a bar, at least to me."

"Do you not go to places like this much, Lili?" I asked, taking another look around. "Well, I guess there are a lot of adventurers here."

"Ah," Welf said, blinking again, this time at me. "Yeah, I guess it is."

"Lili didn't mean to imply anything—it's rare that Lili eats at places such as this," She replied, looking uncomfortable.

"Well, next time, we'll let you pick where we eat, how about that?" I suggested.

"By 'places such as this,' Lili meant restaurants," She clarified. "Lili has never had much money, you see."

"Oh," I replied, feeling a bit awkward—more because I hadn't realized that sooner than anything. I remembered what it had been like when cash was tight, back when Gabe wasn't a scared-looking rock; my mom and I hadn't exactly gone out to eat much. "Well, you don't need to worry, Lili—I'll foot the bill, since this was my idea. I come here a lot anyways."

Lili opened her mouth to reply, but Welf cut in quickly, acting fast to change the subject.

"Hey, isn't that the Loki Familia?" He asked, nodding over in their direction.

"Yeah," I replied. "You didn't notice them on the way in?"

"I wasn't really looking," He defended. "Maybe I should be surprised after the last time I was here, but I didn't expect to see their Familia here."

"Mama Mia seems to know a lot of people," I said with a shrug, looking over their way. "Actually, I don't know much about the Loki Familia. Are they a big deal?"

Lili turned my way and stared.

"Percy's actually pretty new to Orario," Welf told her. "He only got here about two weeks ago. He's a lot like me in that way—I used to belong to a Familia in Rakia before I left."

Welf was trying to save me from any questions about my background, which I appreciated—but I didn't really think it was too big of an issue to tell Lili the truth at this point, either. I mean, since she hung around me, there was no way she was ever going to think I was normal; might as well tell her upfront. But, well, I guess what Welf said was true, if kind of misleading.

"I...see," Lili said after a moment. "Then what Familia did Mr. Percy belong to? Mr. Percy is part of Hestia Familia now, correct?"

"I didn't belong to any Familia beforehand, really," I admitted before pausing, feeling bad for saying it that way. "Well, actually, I guess that's not quite true—technically speaking, I've been a member of Poseidon's family since the day I was born. But Poseidon..."

"Oh," Lili said quietly.

"You were a member of Poseidon Familia?" Welf asked me, sounding surprised.

"Wayland didn't say anything?" I wondered before shrugging. "That's nice of him. I actually came to Orario looking for my father, but...well, I didn't find him."

"...Ah," Welf said, furrowing his eyebrows slightly before shaking his head. "But right, Loki Familia—yeah, they're a big deal. It was before my time, but about fifteen years ago, a bunch of stuff happened. The Zeus and Hera Familias' suddenly fell apart and a lot of others followed shortly after; the Status Quo in Orario basically evaporated overnight and it took a long time for it to come back. The entire Evilus happened pretty much because all the people who had been in power were suddenly gone and they dragged a lot of other Familias down with them. But after all that was over, other gods began to rise to power, the biggest of whom were Freya and Loki; they're the strongest Familias in Orario now."

"Huh," I said, filing that away as I looked over my shoulder. Bete had said as much in-between a lot of other stuff I'd ignored, but I could literally feel the power in the center of the room, surround several of the tables so tightly that it simply pushed everything else aside. And at the center of it all was the table Aiz sat at. "Any idea who they are?"

Welf and Lili both looked in the direction I was nodding towards.

"Them?" Welf asked, nodding slowly. "I don't know them, but I know of them, sure. That girl beside Aiz? That's the goddess Loki; she's a friend of Hephaestus, so I've seen her a few times."

I glanced towards the girl he'd indicated, noting that her red hair and eyes. Hestia and Hephaestus had mentioned her, but thinking back, I vaguely remembered hearing about Loki back in New York. There had been a comic book, I think? I was bad at keeping continuity straight for stuff like that so I never really got into it, but I thought I remembered Loki attempting to conquer a planet and that the whole thing was based vaguely off Norse Mythology? Had she been a girl though? I actually wasn't sure; all I knew was that in one comic he was a guy, in one comic she was a girl, and in another comic he or she was fighting aliens. Frankly, I had enough trouble keeping my own mythos straight.

"Okay," I said. "And the others are adventurers? They all seem strong. Level 5 at least."

Lili glanced at me oddly at that, but Welf was used to it and just nodded.

"Yeah, they're all famous first class adventurers," He said. "I don't really keep up with all the details, but I know them well enough. That's 'Braver' Finn Deimne, the leader of Loki Familia; he's a hero among the Pallum. That's 'Nine Hell' Riveria Ljos Alf, part of the elven royal family. Gareth Landrock, who they call 'Elgarm'; he's one of the strongest men in the world. The two Amazons are 'Jormungand' Tione and 'Amazon' Tiona Hiryute. And you already know those two; Bete Loga, the Vanargand, and Aiz Wallenstein, the Sword Princess."

"What's with the names?" I asked, looking at him oddly.

"It's tradition," He told me. "Once an adventurer reaches Level 2, the gods themselves choose a nickname for them. It's called an Alias."

"Oh," I said, feeling a little concerned. Frankly, I wouldn't trust many of the gods I knew not to name me something stupid given half a chance. "That sounds...fun."

Frowning, I turned back towards the Loki Familia, contemplating them absently—and then suddenly, Aiz lifted her eyes and looked our way. Seeing her look at me, I lifted a hand to wave at her, but instead of waving back, she just nodded seriously and rose from her seat, apparently surprising everyone around her. Before I even had time to understand what she was doing, she stood up and started to make her way towards us, drawing gazes as she went.

"Aiz," I said, feeling a bit bemused as she approached. "I didn't mean to interrupt your celebration—you must want to spend time with your Familia, right?"

"Finn and Riveria said they wanted to speak to you all when you had the chance," Aiz answered slowly as if relaying details of her mission. "Is this not a good time?"

I looked past her at the table she'd come from and saw several people sighing, adding to my suspicions that this was normal for Aiz.

"No, not really," I answered awkwardly. "I just don't want to ruin your dinner or anything."

"It's no problem," She said, voice firm.

"Then...if it's just something quick, I guess," I said, standing up after send glance at my two friends. Welf and Lili followed my lead with similar uncertainty and we made our way towards the Loki Familia table. Several people looked at me in confusion and Bete seemed displeased by my very existence, but there were several smiles as well.

"Hello," The Pallum Welf told me was named Finn said, smiling compassionately. "You must be Percy—Aiz and Bete told us about you. It seems we've caused you a lot of trouble. As the captain of Loki Familia, I'd like to apologize for everything."

Somehow, I got the feeling that he was apologizing both for the Minotaurs and Aiz's persistence—though he looked young, I got a somewhat exasperated parental feeling from the way he looked at Aiz; a look I was more than a bit Familia with, due to the trouble I'd cause my mom.

"Like I told Aiz, it was no problem," I replied. "I'm just glad that nobody got hurt."

"Still, it must have been quite a shock to suddenly find Minotaurs charging towards you on the eleveneth floor," Finn said, shaking his head. "If it had been someone else...truly, I'm grateful that you were there. If there's anything I can do...?"

"You sound like Aiz," I said, giving a slightly laugh. "No, seriously, it's fine. Aiz already helped me out plenty—and besides, I don't want to bring down the mood. You must all be glad to be back on the surface, right? I don't want to get in the way."

"Polite, aren't you?" Loki asked—and I had to smile because few enough gods would call me that. Her eyes were closed, but she was smiling like she was trying not to laugh. "Come on, come on—at the very least, it's fine to eat and drink with us, right? Paying for your meal is the least we can do!"

"Ah, that...might not be a good idea," I said, scratching my cheek slightly and trying not to blush. "We already ordered and..."

Several heads tilted as I trailed off, looking confused at my words, but Welf quickly stepped in to try and help.

"What he's trying to say is that he's friends with one of the waitresses here," He said. "He always lets her order whatever she wants and they eat it together after things calm down around her. Mama Mia allows it because the bill is always huge."

I punched him in the shoulder absently, trying not to flush as people chuckled around the table.

"Don't say it like that Wellf—you'll give people the wrong impression," I said.

"Eh," He replied, rubbing his shoulder with a frown.

"Anyway, what I was actually trying to say is that I don't want to take advantage of your good will. Really, it's completely fine."

"Aw, come on," Loki pressed, gesturing wildly and, as far as I could tell, meaninglessly. "Stuff like that's no big deal. Just sit down already!"

"I..." I began before sighing and slowly taking a seat in a chair that had already been pulled up. "Just for a while, then."

"Good, good," Loki said, looking around the table before focusing on the girl to her side. "Aiz will be happy, too, since we finally get to apologize all nicely."

"...Yes," She answered softly. As if especially annoyed by the words, Bete clicked his tongue.

"Let's have some fun, then," Loki said, still smiling. "Hey, you're name is Percy, you said? Tell us about how you fought a herd of Minotaur by yourself!"

"Mm," I considered before shaking my head. "I don't think it'd be a very interesting story—and I'd feel embarrassed telling it, too, since I'm sure everyone here could do better."

"Hm," Loki seemed To mull over that for a moment, nodding to herself. "Maybe so, maybe so—but then, most of them aren't Level 1, either."