This is a dream.

  I don’t why I know that; I just know.

  I am standing in a wastend in the middle of a massive sandstorm swirling around me.

  In the sand beneath my feet are people, corpses of warriors of various kinds buried under the harsh sands; all in various forms of dismemberment from as minor as missing limbs to having rge portions of their torso bitten off.

  This is, was a battlefield.

  Alone in this graveyard of warriors, stood one such warrior; his armor mostly shattered as he held onto his broken sword.

  He looked up into the skies, past the sandstorm and at the rge imposing figure towering over him. As he did so, his feelings flowed through me; anger, frustration, guilt, it all surged through my veins like hot magma.

  This man's identity is made clear to me, he is the st man of this mercenary band that had dared fight against the world destroying monster in front of us, and its only survivor.

  Looking at the monster that had decimated his comrades in arms, his dear friends, he screamed out at the heavens; he demanded to know why the gods forsaken him and his comrades, why they allowed such a beast to exist.

  As tears rolled down his cheeks, he cried out in agony, wanting to know why they have to suffer against the monsters, why they let them kill his family.

  The monster, no, the Dragon looked down at us, one eye scarred from the mercenary’s leader’s final attack; its dark scales are clear even behind the sandstorm veil as it blocked out even the sun.

  The warrior this time shouted at the dragon, demanding for it to fight him; to allow him to die an honorable death.

  Instead, it decided to turn around and disappear into the sandstorm, leaving the warrior alone in the wastend.

  “Albert… I’m sorry…”

  His whispers were unheard by no one but me, all drowned away by the harsh gusts of the sandstorm.

  “Hm…”

  Opening my eyes, I was greeted by the ever-familiar sight of my room’s ceiling; the sun rays peeking through behind the curtain.

  “Ah…”

  As I got up, I felt a slight wetness on my cheeks. Did I cry in my sleep st night?

  That made me remember the dream I had, though it was way too vivid for one. I could still feel the intense feelings of that forsaken warrior, the pain of being left alone, the guilt of being the only survivor.

  It still echoed deep within my heart, like it was mine to begin with.

  What was that dream? Or was it more than just a dream?

  *Knock**Knock*

  “Dae, you awake?”

  “Ah, yes.”

  The door opened and Garos walked in, “You feeling okay? You had drunk quite a–WAH!?”

  “What is it?”

  “Wh-Why are you naked!?”

  “Eh?”

  At his words, I looked down at myself to see that I was indeed not wearing any of my clothes, not even my nightwear.

  Come to think of it, I seem to recall feeling very hot when I returned to my room; I must have stripped them off before tucking in.

  “Huh, no wonder it felt a little chilly.”

  “Could you be a little more self-conscious…?”

  After dressing more appropriately, I descended down the stairs after him and entered the dining room for breakfast; what awaited me was our youngest member with her face down on the dining table not touching her pte at all, no doubt suffering from her first ever hangover.

  “Tetra’s not feeling well?”

  “Is it not obvious?” Garos snickered as he handed me a pte of toast, “At least now she knows the dangers of over drinking.”

  “Urgh… my head hurts…” Tetra let out a pained groan, “Why do Jirou drink so much if it always hurt this much afterwards?”

  “It always hurt the first time.” Drake told her as he pced a cup of mysterious liquid in front of her.

  “What’s this?”

  “Special hangover medicine. It will help with the headache.”

  She gave it a sniff and recoiled at the scent, “Uwah, it smells horrible.”

  “All good medicine does; so unless you want your head to hurt for the rest of the day, bottoms up.”

  With great reluctance, the amazoness pinched her nose and chugged it all down in one go; and nearly threw it back up before forcing it down.

  “Never again.” She firmly stated, “I’m sticking to my juice.”

  “I sure hope you do.” Drake then turned to me, “How about you, Dae? Need a cup of this?”

  “No, I’m good.” I raised a gss of juice I had just poured, “I have my juice.”

  “You sure? I’m pretty sure you drank quite a lot st night; though you didn’t seem to look that way.”

  “Yeah, I’m fine.”

  I did recall having drank quite a few mugs of ale st night, though my memory became hazy after the sixth mug; but I honestly feel perfectly fine.

  “Got to say, you are one of the quietest drunks I have ever seen.” Garos noted, “Though you were quite out of it for the rest of the night; i kind of worried me for a moment.”

  “Yeah, you better not drink alone; you are just asking to get taken advantage of.” Drake added.

  “Got it. Speaking of which, what’s wrong with Lisa?”

  “Urgh…”

  The pallum in question was sitting at the corner of the dining table with her face buried in her arms; like Tetra, she seemed to be in agony but didn’t seem to be from a hangover.

  “Oh, she’s fine.” Garos stated, “She just remembered what drunk Lisa did st night.”

  “What drunk Lisa–Ah.”

  That was quite a shocker st night; when Lisa was red-faced and fully intoxicated, she just started bawling her eyes out about being lonely and without any romance.

  “Why isn’t there any good man that want me!?” and “How am I not attractive enough!?” were a couple of many different outcries of simir context that night; thankfully, she passed out before things went too far.

  “I wanna die… I wanna die so bad…”

  “Eh, it’ll be… fine?” I tried to assure her; it didn’t do any good as she just gred at me before returning to sulking.

  “Just leave her be. She’ll be fine after a few hours of that.” Garos told me, “Not the first time this happened to her.”

  The fact this wasn’t the first time Lisa got so drunk and bawled about her ck of romance made me rethink my initial impression of Lisa a bit; maybe that’s why she tried to act so mature?

  “Morning.”

  “Morning, Jirou.” Garos greeted the swordsman as he entered the dining room, “You looking surprisingly not hangover; quite the first for you.”

  “Hey, I know how to drink moderately too, you know.” Jirou rolled his eyes in annoyance before looking around, “Are Jeanne and Kyumaru not awake yet?”

  “Jeanne is still sleeping the alcohol away, and Kyumaru had left for the Dungeon earlier this morning.”

  “Ah, I see; and she scolds me for drinking so much… Good morning, Dae.” Jirou greeted me he sat down opposite of me, “Are you feeling okay?”

  “…I’m fine.”

  Seriously, why was everyone asking me the same thing? I don’t look hungover, do I?

  “That’s good to hear; drinking for the first time can be rough anyone not used to the consumption excessive alcohol.” He stated.

  “Morning, Dae!”

  “Morning, Tris.”

  Tris skipped into the dining hall with a smile as she sat next to me, “I hope you are ready for today’s shopping trip~!”

  “Ah, right…”

  That much I definitely still remember clearly.

  “How are you not in pain, Tris?” Tetra asked.

  “Rule 1 of drinking, always know your limit.” She grinned.

  “Couldn’t say it better myself.” Jirou noted with a ugh, “Though you do remember that clothes shopping comes after a visit to Otto; protective gear comes first for any Adventurer.”

  “I-I know that!”

  “Morning, everyone…”

  Our patron goddess entered the dining room looking a bit worst from wear, her hangover extremely obvious with how much agony she was in compared to Tetra; considering that she had drunk way more than any of us st night.

  I was honestly shocked at how much of it she was able to put away.

  What was surprising was her attire; instead of the witch-like dress and hat that she usually wear, she was wearing a wide colr dress that outlined her figure with a slit that exposed one of her legs.

  “Drake; hangover cure, please.”

  “Got it.”

  “Oh? Not going to sleep it away as usual?” Jirou asked.

  “Nope, I have something much more important to do ter today.” Hecate took the gss of nasty liquid and downed it all without as much as flinch, “A battle that I must win, no matter what.”

  “A… battle?”

  “Yes; a fierce battle where only the strong willed of the gods will triumph! Where the weak willed are trampled on without mercy!”

  “Uh huh…”

  “Oh, I see. That was today, huh?” Jirou nodded in understanding, “Good luck out there.”

  Hecate gave him a firm nod before exiting the room with a determined gait uncharacteristic of her.

  “What got into Lady Hecate?” Tris asked, “Her dress looked amazing, but it’s definitely not something she would wear.”

  “Ah, right. You two don’t know about it.” Drake noted, “Today’s the date of Denatus.”

  “Denatus?”

  “Urgh… never again…”

  The goddess Hecate rubbed her forehead in an attempt to curb the headache from her hangover as she mentally swore not to drink so heavily again; a futile promise in retrospect as she always made it after a night of binge drinking.

  In her defense, it wasn’t everyday one of her Familia members managed to break the record for the fastest Level Up in Orario.

  ‘By about a month; it’s a small difference but the fact of the matter still remains true.’

  Thankfully, the miracle hangover cure Drake made seemed to work wonders as the headache was now at least someone bearable to st the rest of the day.

  Normally, she would stay at home and sleep the hangover away; and also bug her vice-captain to make her breakfast in bed.

  But unfortunately, today had an event that required her attendance.

  Every three months, the gods and goddess of Orario all gathered at Babel for Denatus, the meeting of the gods. It was an event that only those whose Familia had at least one High-Css Adventurer were permitted to attend.

  Officially, it was a meeting to share and review the events of the city while promoting cooperation between Familias; in actuality, it was merely a meet-and-greet where gossip and rumors were shared between the divine.

  Normally, Hecate would not have bothered to attend it; she wasn’t exactly keen on interacting with the rest of her divine kin more than she needed to, with only a few rare exceptions.

  However, the Denatus this time was a bit different.

  For it wasn’t just gossip and city events that were discussed in these meetings; it was also where the aliases of Adventurers were decided upon.

  Though the mortals considered them as a badge of honor for all they had done to reach this far, the ones decided for them were often used as a way for the stronger Familias to bully the weaker Familias by giving them the most cringy aliases possible.

  Seeing as Dae had recently become a High-Css Adventurer, she would be due to get an alias; and there was no way Hecate would let her get anything cringe worthy.

  ‘As her patron goddess, it is my duty to make sure she had a proper alias befitting her stature.’

  For that reason alone, the goddess of witchcraft entered the meeting room adorned in a somewhat formal dress; she still kept the eye patch on, though.

  It had basically become part of her identity to have it on outside of her room.

  “Hey, is that Hecate?”

  “Oh, it is. I never thought she would attend the Denatus this time.”

  “That’s the goddess of that infamous Familia?”

  The murmurs of gods and goddesses alike filled the room as she passed them by and sat down at her seat; their stares of curiosity and envy wasn’t something she was foreign to.

  She had long gotten used to it all by now; after all, she was the only goddess in attendance whose small Familia of ten adventurers consisted almost entirely of High Css Adventurers, with two of them on the verge of breaking into the First Css anytime now.

  Only those of the higher ranked Familias gave her wary gnces, no doubt curious about why she was here at all.

  “Oh, Hecate! Long time no see!”

  “Haahh…”

  “That’s quite the long sigh, you did there! Ever the sleepy one, huh?”

  Resisting the urge to shout at the god for avograting her already head splitting headache, she turned to the god with a controlled smile, “It’s been a while, Hermes.”

  “Indeed, it has!” He chuckled, “Quite a rare sight seeing you attending Denatus at all!”

  The god Hermes was one of the few friends the goddess had among the divine in Orario; though acquaintance with a better word to describe their retionship.

  Due to their domains in Tenkai being retively close to each other, she had the displeasure of being at the end of the god’s numerous pervy escapades; she could still count how many times he had peeped on her.

  If she had a choice, she would rather not interact with him or any of his Familia members if possible.

  “Though seeing as you are here, it is true?”

  “What do you think?”

  Hecate was well aware of what the god was referring to; the Hermes Familia was known for their massive global information network, after all. Almost no secret would be able to get past them in any shape or form.

  “That adds up to eight out of nine; man, how do you keep getting all the good ones?”

  “Who knows? Maybe it’s fate that I picked them up.”

  “Hah… You and your cryptic words…”

  Realizing that he probably wouldn’t get a straight answer out of her, Hermes left for his seat; not without giving her a mock salute and a flirtatious wink which she response with a gre that got a chuckle out of him.

  ‘That guy is as nosy as ever…’

  While not the malicious sort, she knew that beneath that carefree nature of his was a cunning schemer with goals; the god had collected condemning information on almost every Familia in Orario that he no doubt would use as leverage to any that dare opposed him.

  Giving him any information about her Familia members was just giving him ways to screw with her.

  “Everyone in your seats? Alright then! Then I, Ganesha, decre the Denatus officially open!”

  “Wait, Ganesha chairing this meeting?”

  “Welp, there goes my ear drums.”

  The elephant mask wearing god flexed his biceps in a muscleman pose as he continued on, “Now, anyone have any news to share with us all?”

  News and rumors were shared and ughed at as per usual at the start of these meetings; the compints about the shit the Soma Familia had done had been constant since the st time she attended.

  ‘That guy really needs to handle his Familia better.’

  Her Familia had encountered them many times in the past, though it hadn’t been an issue since Jirou became a Level 4.

  They had been an issue since Soma descended; and it didn’t seem to be getting solved anytime soon.

  “Alright! Looks like we have discussed quite a lot today!” Ganesha grinned, “I, Ganesha, gratefully thank you all!”

  “Oh, just shut it and move on with it!!”

  “Yeah! We don’t want to see your ugly mug anymore than we have to!”

  “Hahaha! Quite the tough crowd, today!” He happily ughed, “Very well! Let us commence our main event; the Naming Ceremony!”

  The moment that was said, the gods whose Familias that had multiple High-Css Adventurers began to snicker with a sadistic glee in their eyes; while the newer gods in attendance began to pale at the sight.

  “Let’s see; the first one is…”

  “P-Please have mercy—”

  “““Nope.”””

  “NOOOOO!!!!”

  Moments ter, the god was bawling at the cringy alias given to his Adventurer.

  Hecate clenched her fist in determination as she saw god after god crying at the painful aliases being issued out one after another; all the while the ones giving them reveled at the sight.

  She knew full well that there were many gods here that held some distain towards her, and they would no doubt go out of their way to make sure her Fami would get some of the most cringe worthy aliases possible.

  ‘I had been very lucky that Jirou and Jeanne managed to get proper aliases when they did.’

  The fact that Tetra’s alias was Magical Amazon Gril was one that she would not let happen again.

  “Next one on the list is… oh, from the Hecate Familia.”

  “Oh, and quite the cute one too.”

  “No wonder that loner attended the Denatus this time.”

  “And she… wait, is this right!?”

  “Eleven months… she broke the record!!”

  “Looks like we get another super rookie.”

  “Damn that Hecate!! She always gets the good ones!”

  A grin made its way onto her face as her newest recruit got praised; but that was quickly covered up with a stern grimace at the gres she was getting.

  She was sure that they would definitely try to give the half-elf a bad alias just for getting her; they were just that petty.

  Well, the goddess of witchcraft would not let it go that way, not without a fight!!

  ‘Just you wait, Dae! You will be getting the alias you truly deserved!’

  And with that, her battle with the gods officially begins.

  “Achoo!”

  “You caught a cold?”

  “No; just my nose itches for some reason.”

  I let out a sniffle as me and Tris followed Jirou down the road.

  When it came to the bcksmiths Familia in Orario, two names stood out among all of them. One was the Hephaestus Familia, while the other was the Goibinu Familia.

  Compared to the Hephaestus Familia, the Goibinu Familia wasn’t as big or had as many members as them; despite that, the quality of their works could be considered just as good if not better.

  Our Familia had a contract with one of their smiths; that smith being the one named Otto. I’ve never met the guy myself, but I’ve heard that most if not all of the weapons and armor our Familia used were forged by him.

  “We’re here; Three Hammers Forge.”

  The workshop of the Goibinu Familia was a retively average sized one, one that would be confused to be a normal smithy if it weren't for the sigil of three hammers overpping each other hanging proudly on the shop’s sign.

  “Next time if you want to commission another weapon, come here.” Jirou told us entering the workshop, “Pardon the intrusion!”

  The inside of the workshop was hot, sounds of hammer banging on metal could be heard echoing off the walls as the smiths were all busy focusing on hammering away at their work in front of their respective furnaces.

  “Welcome! Oh, Jirou.” One of the men greeted us, “Here to see Otto?”

  “That’s right. Is he around?”

  “Yeah; but he’s taking a break right now.”

  “A break? That workaholic?”

  “Lord Goibinu pretty much forced him to.”

  “Ah, go figure.” Jirou let out a sigh, “Mind calling him out for me? I have a commission for him.”

  “Got it. Hey, Marco!”

  “…”

  “MARCO POWELL!!”

  “Y-Yes, sir—whoa!?”

  A young girl shot up from her seat, her red hair tied in a tail and rather unsmith-like attire that showed her stomach stood out among the many sweaty men in overalls.

  Her sudden movement, however, have accidentally triggered whatever she was making and made a bde shot out into the air; the sharp projectile embedding deep into the stone ceiling.

  “…tehehe, oopsie?”

  The smith let out a groan at the sight of the girl trying to look cute, “Mind waking Otto up? Jirou here got a commission for him.”

  “On it!”

  “That damn girl…”

  The only female smith among them left her station and headed to the back of the workshop; the other smiths gave out a combined sigh before returning back to their work.

  “Who’s that?” I asked.

  “Marco Powell.” Jirou expined, “One of the few female smiths in the Goibinu Familia. She’s a pretty good smith, though her works were often more complex than they needed to be.”

  Marco Powell… I think I’d heard her name somewhere before.

  As I was pondering on it, the girl returned with a man in tow; messy blonde hair with silver eyes dressed in a bck sleeveless top with matching dark pants and boots, he too stood out among the other smiths.

  What also stood out was how deep the bags under his eyes were; it’s like he hadn’t slept in days.

  “What do you want, Jirou?” The man yawned.

  “What, not even a hello? I’m hurt, Otto.” Jirou chuckled, “In all seriousness, though, I have a commission for you.”

  “A commission, huh? It’s been a while since you had one for me… why don’t we discuss this at the back?”

  We followed the smith to the back of the workshop away from the busy smiths, to where an inactive furnace was at; he sat down at the workbench and turned to us.

  “What do you want me to make for you now?”

  “It’s not for me; it’s for her.” Jirou pushed me forward, “This is Dae, our test rookie. She is the one the commission is for.”

  “Oh? I’ve heard rumors about her.” Otto noted, “She’s the one that broke the Sword Princess’s record, right?”

  “That’s right.” He nodded as he showed the bcksmith the Drop Item he had been holding, “And we have materials for it.”

  Otto inspected the monster hide for a moment, “Quite the material you got for me here; a rare drop?”

  “From an Enchanced Irregur.”

  “Damn. Your Fami sure is pulling out all the stops for her. Must be some rare talent.” The smith turned to me, “I’m Otto; bcksmith of the Goibinu Familia.”

  “Nice to meet you, Otto. I’m Dae.” I greeted back.

  “So, I take it you want me to make you some armor out of this? What kind are you looking for?”

  “A pair of gauntlets.”

  “…Just gauntlets?”

  “I mostly use my fists to kill monsters; so I need protection for my hands.”

  “With just your fists? That’s a pretty bold choice of combat.” Otto noted, “I’ve never made armor for a brawler before, but I think I can manage. Any specifications you want for them?”

  “If possible, have the armor on the fingers cover only the knuckles and first joints.” I told him.

  “You got it; ah, just in case, you do have the money for it, right?”

  “Yeah, I do.”

  The money earned from selling that Irregur monster’s magic crystal was way more than any amount I could earn in a single dive into the Dungeons; it should hopefully be enough to pay for it.

  “That’s great; I hate making tabs.”

  After taking measurements of my hands, he told us that the gauntlets should be finished within the next couple of days or so; looks like I wouldn’t be dungeon diving any time soon.

  “Now that is done, time to go clothes shopping!” Tris cheered, “Time to give Dae a new look!!”

  With that said, she quite literally dragged me towards the shopping district.

  “No, no. That’s not good either…”

  A tired groan escaped my lips as I pulled the curtain back and took off yet another set of clothing.

  Tris was adamant about making sure my new outfit was perfect for my debut as a High-Css Adventurer; so much so that we had been through at least ten different clothing combinations in over three different stores.

  A bck vest over a white tank top with bck shorts.

  A red long-sleeved oriental top with bck loose pants.

  A green short sleeved top with brown shorts.

  A white sleeveless oriental top that covers the groin with bck shorts.

  Those were a few of the outfits I was forced to wear by Tris and were in the end rejected by her for not suiting me ever the slightest.

  All this changing of clothes was starting to get exhausting; why I couldn’t just wear the same outfit as before?

  Damn that Jirou for ditching and leaving me to deal with Tris alone!!

  “Oh! Oh! This! This is the outfit! I’m sure of it!”

  Tris handed me another bundle, looking rather excited and proud of it; I went through the motions of changing into it almost by instinct, already mentally exhausted from wearing so many clothes.

  Though when I looked at the mirror, I was quite surprised with how much this outfit actually spoke to me.

  A blue cropped long-sleeved jacket buttoned at the top over white strapless top that shows my stomach with light grey shorts.

  “Oh, yes! Yes! This is it!” Tris stated happily when I showed it to her, “That’s perfect! You definitely look like a High-Css Adventurer!”

  “Uh-huh…”

  While I wasn’t sure what she meant by that, I do agree that this outfit did give off a different vibe than my usual attire.

  Whether or not I looked like a High-Css Adventurer, I did not know; though I hope it made me look like a hero.

  “We’ll take this.”

  “Thank you for your patronage.”

  After paying for the outfit, along with a few others that Tris bought for herself, we left the clothing store; the evening sun shining out from the somewhat cloudy skies and painting it in a red hue.

  “It’s this te already?” Tris noted in surprise, “Time really flies when we’re having fun.”

  “Yeah…”

  I was just gd the hell that was this shopping trip was over.

  “Shall we head back home?” I asked.

  “Yeah, let’s–”

  *GROOOWWLL*

  The loud sounds of a growling stomach came out of Tris; she blushing up a storm as she covered her stomach.

  *GROOOWWLL*

  My stomach also let out a loud growl in response; we both looked at each other, before burst into ughter at the absurdness of the situation.

  Come to think of it, we did skip lunch from all the shop hopping; the emptiness of my stomach was made apparent almost immediately after I realised that fact.

  “M-Maybe we could stop by a stall for a quick snack?” She suggested.

  “Y-Yeah; let’s go.”

  Thankfully, that was a Jagamaru stall not too far from here; those fried potato fritters were perfect for a quick snack.

  “Mm~! This taste so good!” Tris said as she happily chews on her cheese filled Jagamaru.

  “Yup.” I nodded as I bit into my azuki cream filled one.

  We leaned against the wall, taking a break and watching the various people passing by the street; some were Adventurers and some were not.

  Standing here, looking at them, it really hits home how many people actually lived in Orario.

  “…Hey, Dae.”

  “Yes, Tris?”

  “I want to thank you for saving me that day.”

  “…Tris?”

  “If it weren’t for you stalling that Irregur monster, I wouldn’t have made it out of that floor alive.” She stated, “So, thank you, Dae.”

  “Y-You don’t have to thank me, Tris.” I told her.

  “And… I promise that I’ll get stronger.”

  The sudden procmation took me by surprise as she continued, “I’ll get so strong that you wouldn’t have to do that again; so that when another Irregur appear, I wouldn’t hold you back.”

  “Tris…”

  “And who knows? Maybe next time, it would be me that’s saving you from it.”

  As she told me that, she gave me a smile; her eyes alit with a resolve I know all too well.

  “…I see. Then I’ll hold you to that promise.” I told her.

  “I know you will.” She nodded, “Well, it’s getting really te, so let’s head back. Garos is on dinner duty today.”

  “Oh, nice!”

  We walked back to our Familia’s Home, the resolve to get stronger burning within our hearts.

  …To be continued…

  Whew, this chapter is a doozy to make; I am never good at these slice-of-life parts.

  Sorry, for not being active on this fic; I was busy with my Shield Hero fic due to the current on-going season. I will update this fic once in a while, so stay tuned!

  With that, I thank you all for reading this!