Chapter 279: Omake
(A non-canon omake that may or may not become canon. It depends if I'll read Danmachi in the future though. I got stuck on the latest chapter and didn't want to not to post anything so I wrote it. Hope it's fun.)
(3rd's pov)
The city of Orario is the only known city in the world to have a dungeon. For that reason, people from many different races gather from across the globe to explore the dungeon in pursuit of money, power, fame, or something completely different. Thanks to a large population of merchants who followed, the economy thrived.
This world was home to many different races.
Humans - They are considered the weakest of all races.
Elves - highly intelligent beings who excel at magic and usually live in forests. They have long, pointy ears and are naturally attractive in appearance. Elves are reserved by nature and are incredibly prideful. There are also a few subcategories of Elves. High Elves are members of royalty. There are also Dark Elves, but they are much rarer than their white counterpart.
Dwarfs - A race of short people who are known for their strength and aptitude for tasks that involve earth and rocks, like mining and construction.
Amazoness - A race of dark-skinned women. They only give birth to women, so they must leave their village to find men. Their instincts to breed strong descendants usually make them fall in love with men who defeat them in battle.
Pallum - A race of small people. Like humans, they tend to be called the weakest race, but they have excellent sight that allows them to see in the dark.
Beast Humans - It's a group of different races with animal characteristics. They usually possess heightened senses compared to other races. Boaz, Cat People, Chienthropes, Hume Bunnies, Raccoons, Renards, Weretigers, and Werewolves are part of this group.
There are also many half-races like Half Elves or Half Dwarfs.
Besides all these different races, Gods walked among mortals. They came down to what they call a lower world, starting 1000 years ago. They have a human appearance and lack their full power in this realm.
The Gods were bored in their home world or felt empty, so after coming down, they started giving people falna, a God's blessing that would make them part of the God's familia, an organization of sorts. Gods couldn't have children of their own, so a lot of them treated part of their Familia like their children. There were, of course, exceptions, but they only reaffirmed the rule.
There were different types of Familias. Exploration, business, smith, and so on. It depended on what members of the Familia specialized in, and that depended on who God recruited.
One of the most famous Familias in Orario was Loki Familia. They are an exploration-type Familia and one of the best. They regularly go on expeditions, and today, the leading expedition team returned to the surface after a month of being in the dungeon. They could finally have good food and drink to their content, and that's what they did.
Hostess of Fertility is well-known in Orario. Not only is the food great, but it's surprisingly safe for a place that feeds adventurers, and it's all thanks to the staff. Lately, on certain days, food has become even more delicious than it was before. There was even an advertisement that said that the food was so good you'd lose clothes, but that's a story for another day.
The group of Loki Familia was done for a night and exited the pub. They hoped to taste the rumored food that appears and vanishes as it pleases, but they weren't lucky enough tonight. Shame, but they can always return another day when they have time.
The group consisted of a Pallum and Captain of the Familia, Finn Deimne, a High Elf and Vice-Captain, Riveria Ljos Alf, a Dwarf, Gareth Landrock, a human, Ais Wallenstein who was holding a bag of Jagamarukun, a pair of Amaziness that happens to be twins, Tione and Tiona Hiryute, a Werewolf, Bete Loga and lastly an Elf, Lefiya Virdis. Accompanying them was their God, Loki, who was completely wasted and unconscious.
This group, minus the God, was the main powerhouse of Loki Familia, so their God spoiled them a little after a successful expedition.
As they were returning to their base, Twilight Manor, Finn curiously looked at a seemingly older man sitting on the ground on the side of the road. He had a long white beard and black hair long enough to cover his eyes, but even through them, Finn could see that this stranger's eyes were closed. His clothes were black and tattered and looked like they came from the Far East. He also had an additional white piece of clothing, but just like the rest, it wasn't in the best condition.
For some reason, he was drawn to that man. He had a strange air around him, but what made it even stranger was the sign next to him.
__________
Manage to hit me and win a prize.
__________
That was all the sign was saying. Finn could understand a need to earn money in any way possible, and it seemed like a fun challenge, but if someone was strong enough to be able to earn money that way in this town filled with adventurers, then that someone would be able to make more money in a dungeon. Something wasn't adding up.
"Interested?"
The old(?) man asked. His voice sounded much younger than anyone had expected. Was he even as old as the beard indicated?
Before Finn could answer, Bete, the ever so angry Werewolf, stepped in.
"What do you want, old man? Can't see we are heading home."
"Well, I saw the young man here curiously looking at my homemade sign, so I assumed he wanted to challenge me. You see, I sit here, sometimes poke fun at others to encourage them to participate in my challenge when I'm bored and make fun of overconfident bastards who think that I'm weak when they hear I'm Level 0."
Hearing that, no one knew what to say. It was too bizarre to think that Level 0 could evade hits from people with Falna, and that answer pissed off Bete to the point that a vein could be seen bulging on his face.
"Are you stupid, old man!? We are Top Executives of Loki Familia! 3 Level 6s, 4 Level 5s, and Level 3! You wouldn't be able to dodge the first strike from the weakest of us! It wouldn't be fair at all!"
Bete hated weak people, especially weak people who didn't know their places. The strong decide the rules, and the weak can only endure until they die or get stronger.
"I know. Maybe if you double your numbers, you'll stand a chance."
The Loki Familia knew that it couldn't end well, and some of them tried to stop their comrade, but they were stopped by the extended hand of the stranger.
"If you want to punch me, participate in my challenge." He pointed to the other side of a street where there was an empty square. "I'll give you 1 minute. You either hit me and win a prize, or I'm going to laugh at you."
With that said, the old man slowly got up and popped his back when he was fully standing. "Sitting in one place for a long time wasn't my finest idea, but surprisingly, not my worst either." He then walked to the 'arena' without any hurry, which infuriated Bete even more. Meanwhile, the rest of Familia were talking with each other.
"D-do you think that we should stop it?" The shy Elf asked her comrades. She was genuinely scared that Bete would kill the strange old man.
"If the captain wants me to, I'll step in and smack Bete on the back of his head and drag him back unconscious." Tione, the elder twin sister, said as she hugged Finn and stuffed him between her breasts. On the other hand, Finn was deep in his thoughts. Usually, he would free himself gently, but he was too deep in his thoughts. He had a strange feeling about it. Not necessarily bad, but strange. His thumb throbbed slightly as he looked at the man as he walked without any worry to an annoyed Werewolf. The stranger wasn't even a bit tense. Like he was about to teach a lesson to a child, and unless he lied about being falnaless, it wasn't going to happen.
Bete, with crossed arms over his chest and tapping the ground impatiently with his foot.
"Can you hurry up already!? I don't have all night!"
"Well, you can always leave with your tail between your legs. No one will blame you. Question though. Are you sure that you aren't a chicken?"
Bete narrowed his eyes even further. "I'm going to kill you."
"You can try. You wouldn't be the first, but as you can see, they didn't succeed, and not because of the lack of effort, mind you. But fine, I'll play with you, doggy."
This was said as the homeless-looking man stepped into the arena, and that was the straw that broke the camel's back as Bete rushed at the mysterious old man. His speed was equal to a Level 3, which meant that he hadn't lost it entirely just yet, but even that much is too much for people without the blessing. For that reason, members of Loki Familia were ready to interfere, but they didn't need to. Bete's opponent smiled slightly as he tilted his head just enough to dodge the punch to the face. With a fluid movement, he grabbed the Werewolf's arm and threw him over the shoulder to the ground.
The man didn't move fast. In fact, his movements were relatively slow, but they were subtle enough and lacked any intent to bypass Bete's instincts. He also moved at the last possible moment to fool the experienced warrior.
Bete was in shock as he stared at the night sky with wide eyes in disbelief. This view was disturbed by the black-haired, closed-eyed man with an annoying smirk.
"I didn't take you for one to like a starry night, but I guess I did you a favor. Do I get a reward?"
This comment reignited rage in Bete. He'll make the old man shut his mouth!
Bete tried to do a quick leg swipe, but the man jumped, again barely dodging, which was even more irritating because Bete realized that the asshole was doing it on purpose. Every time he missed, the bastard smiled at him, and the time was ticking, and he didn't plan on losing to a nameless nobody!
---
Meanwhile, the observing audience was equally shocked to see the unknown man handle Bete. The Werewolf wasn't weak by any means, and he was one of the stronger adventurers in the city, but he couldn't land a single hit on the old man.
"You know Tione, I would probably laugh at Bete, but I can't muster even a smirk. Can you pinch me to be sure I'm not dreaming?" The younger of the twins asked her older sister.
"If it is a dream, I don't want to wake up. It is hilarious. But I agree. For some reason, I can't laugh at it. Maybe it's the ridiculousness of the situation." The older twin answered.
The more experienced members of the group were also in the discussion.
"What do you think, Finn? Did he lie about being Level 0?" Riveria asked her captain, who was thinking deeply.
"I don't know. His speed and strength seem to be at that level, but something is... off."
"Then we are of the same opinion. *Sigh* For Loki to sleep when her input would be appreciated. Exactly what I would expect from our goddess." The green-haired Elf agreed.
The talk ended abruptly as Bete started transforming under the moonlight using his Beatification ability.
"Did he go insane!?"
Everyone was about to jump in to stop the raging Werewolf, but they were too slow. Bete pierced his opponent through his body, and as blood splashed around, the young man widened his eyes in disbelief. He somehow believed that the old man would dodge just like other times, but he only saw shock on his opponent's face. Then Bete blinked, and the image of an old man vanished, leaving only his white coat-like cloth pierced by him as he heard him saying 'Fucking furries' for some reason.
It was confusing, but it didn't end there. Bete heard quite loud steps behind him until the very same old man that he thought he had killed walked and took his destroyed coat.
"I really should start buying them in bulk, but Yama-jii doesn't allow me. Every time I destroy one of these, he gives me a lecture. You would think that he would run out of them, but they are different every time, and when they are not, they are just louder, and for some reason, no one can recreate them. I mean, they can, but they aren't the same. But I can't just stop making this move. It's just too cool, you know? By the way, time out. You lose. Do we have another challenger?"
But no one took the challenge. Bete lost all his will to fight, but he still had one question.
"Did you lie about your Level?"
His voice lacked its usual aggressiveness. On the other hand, the supposedly Level 0 was relaxed as he inspected his clothes and put them back on. This question didn't necessarily surprise the old man, but he was so into examining his white coat that he took longer than usual to answer.
"Hmm? No. I just had a lot more time to train. The same could be said about the old hag over there." He pointed to Riveria with a smirk, and all sound stopped. An invisible tension raised. Every single member of Loki Familia knew that this topic was off-limits. The last time someone called Riveria old was Aiz, and she got trauma of water in return because of swimming lessons. Everyone glanced at the Elf in horror. She looked relatively calm as she walked into the arena. She stopped next to Bete, grabbed him by the collar, and threw him out toward her team while glaring at the man who wronged her.
"You say old like you aren't the one looking like a fossil."
Without a word, the man ripped his beard off, massaged his beard, and fixed his hair to look nicer.
"Ow. Why can't I grow a natural beard? That's why I envy Dwarfs. Also, were you saying something? I don't see any fossils around here. Only a handsome and pretty young man and an old hag."
Riveria didn't plan on using magic. It was too destructive, but she didn't need magic to teach someone a lesson. Without any warning, almost a century-old Elf used her staff to thrust at the head of the now young-looking man who dodged it effortlessly.
"I thought that Elves were supposed to be the rational ones, but you seem more hot-headed than that boy over there. One mean comment, and you lose your cool. I wonder how you survived this long. Though it may be considered hypocritical of me to say that."
Riveria narrowed her eyes.
"Then don't say it."
And the mysterious man smiled widely.
"But where's fun in that."
And so the game of cat and mouse began anew, but even with her tactical genius and frankly smarter battle style, she couldn't hit him at all, and at the last second of the challenge with her last swing, the man dodged and landed on top of her staff. Riveria was sure that he was mocking her. At one point, she felt Jim poking her, but she couldn't see him doing it at all, but she was sure it was him since every time she felt something, he widened his smile.
What an annoying man.
"All in all, I'm impressed. For a mage, you are incredible at close combat, and I bet with your magic, you are even more formidable. Because you haven't used magic, you either are too proud to use it in a simple challenge, or it is too destructive to use outside of the dungeon, but it doesn't really matter. You get a B from me. Too easy to anger to get an A." The man then took a lollipop from a pocket. "You won a prize. Don't eat it too fast." He winked and stepped off Riveria's staff to stretch a bit. "Well, nice meeting you and all, but I got a goddess to feed. She gets grumpy when I'm not on time."
"Wait!"
The man stopped and turned to the source of the voice, which was a blonde-haired human of the Loki Familia, and raised his eyebrow.
"Yes? Do you need something?"
"Train me." Aiz said with her emotionless expression.
"No."
Aiz didn't expect an immediate answer, and a negative one at that, so she tilted her head in confusion. "Please?"
"I'm not interested in training anyone at the moment."
Aiz brainstormed to think of a solution to her predicament. Then, an idea came to fruition. She looked down at her bag, took one Jagamarakun out, and offered it to the man without saying a word.
"...I'm not hungry. Also, I have a strange feeling of Deja vu. It's not helping that you have blonde hair."
The human girl was shocked beyond belief. How could anyone refuse Jagamarakun? Wait... Maybe she just needed to offer more. It would hurt to separate from the whole bag, but if she can get stronger that way, then it's worth it.
Aiz then hesitantly offered the whole bag, but she was met with a refusal once more.
"You offering me more won't change my answer."
Aiz's brain malfunctioned, and while it was short, it was enough for her to miss the man vanishing from his place. No one knew how to react to what just happened. It was at that moment that Loki woke up.
"*Yawn* What a nap." She stretched her body. "Did I miss something?"
No one had the energy to explain everything to Loki right now, so they just started walking towards Twilight Manor, and on everyone's mind was the stranger who didn't even introduce himself.
---
END
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