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A/N: Here we go! Chapter 50. It’s honestly hard to believe I’ve made it this far and I have all you readers to thank for it. I’ll be honest, the muse has been harder to find recently and it’s all of you that have kept me going. Kept me writing. I still enjoy it, or I wouldn’t be doing it but as life gets more complicated, the motivation to write has been harder to find. You all are the reason I keep doing it so thank you all so very much for your comments and support as I write this story. I know that the chapters haven’t been as frequent as we all would like and that the story has gone in different directions than some of you wanted but you’re still here. Still reading every chapter I post and it really does mean so much to me.
I started this story with zero expectations. I’d never written anything before and fully expected this to be hated. To see it now, with just under 300,000 words and 50 chapters, is mind-blowing. The idea that my story is so popular on both FFN and Ao3 is absolutely nuts. Thank you all so very much for your support. I promise I will do everything I can to keep writing and to finish this story in a satisfying way.
Also! Shoutout to FrankTHaddock for making a Tv Tropes page for this story!!! That’s incredible! Thank you so much for doing that.
Thank you all so much for your support. I hope you will continue to leave comments and reviews on this story as I bring out more chapters for you to enjoy.
Hearthfire
Chapter 50
Torrhen
Torrhen stood to the side, eyeing the training yard with a wary gaze. To one side stood Pyrrha, Mare, Leo, Pipin, and Jaune while on the other were Roderika, Aura, and Haruhime. Though, these three were far from alone. Standing proudly in front of the young cienthrope was her summoned knight. Its ethereal blue form shimmered in the sunlight, drawing attention to the naked blades of its sword and crescent scythe.
To their left was Aura's own summon. The huge bear-like creature snarled, tensing its translucent muscles. Lastly, there was the new addition. Floating a few inches above the ground in front of Haruhime was a feminine figure comprised entirely of condensed flames and black armor. A Flame Atronach, summoned by the young renard courtesy of a conjuration spellbook.
"Charge!" The hume-bunny shouted, dashing towards his opponents, shield held out before him. Sprinting forward, he kept the shield raised defensively in front of himself. Following behind and using Jaune as cover, Leo and Pipin both charged. Leo, the werewolf, preferred a longsword while Pipin, the pallum, used a greatsword. Or, at least, what was considered a greatsword for a pallum. Mare remained behind, intending to participate in the battle from the back as ranged support while Pyrrha split off, maneuvering around the battlefield to the right.
With a heave, she hurled her spear directly at Aura's bear. The weapon glanced off the creature's ethereal armor, spinning through the air. Suddenly, the weapon stopped dead before hurtling back towards its owner thanks to the redhead's unique skill. Magnetize. Essentially, it allowed her to freely control any metal object she'd come into contact with within a set period of time. An ability she freely used to recall her weapon into her hand as she charged. With a roar, and a command from its master, the summoned creature began a lumbering charge across the field towards the redhead. Aura leapt up, landing on the back of her summon. In her hand, she held a shock enchanted whip courtesy of Welf tipped with a stinging barb. Before she could swing her whip, the dark elf was forced to duck with a yelp as a lightning bolt sailed over her head, courtesy of her own brother.
As the bear charged, Haruhime's flame atronach gestured with a hand, sending a bolt of fire directly at the charging threat in front of it. Jaune ducked his head and braced himself, letting the bolt crash and dissipate against his shield. A second blast, courtesy of the renard controlling the atronach, stopped the charging adventurer dead in his tracks for a moment. Pushing forward again, steam rising from his shield, Jaune took a swing at the atronach only to be forced to backpedal away from the spinning staff of the conjurer. Twirling her staff in her hands, Haruhime took another swipe at his legs. With a yelp, Jaune leapt over the attack, catching a second blow from the atronach on his shield.
Behind him, Leo and Pipin split off, charging towards the ethereal knight. The two clashed against it, blades sparking against its translucent armor. Behind her summon, Roderika took what shots she could, sending out blasts of cold through her Frost spell. Of the three on her team, she was the most timid when it came to participating in direct combat.
"How's it going, teach?" Daphne's voice asked from behind him. Turning, Torrhen examined the girl. Dressed in her dark armor, silver blade at her side, she carried herself with an easy confidence that was absent during their first interactions. Both she and Cassandra went through their days with lighter footsteps and easy smiles ever since Apollo was defeated and they were freed from his clutches.
Past Daphne, Torrhen could see Cassandra and the second team of Hestia Familia Level 1's. They'd spent the last few hours in the Dungeon with the two former members of the Apollo Familia having volunteered to act as their backup/chaperones. It was nice to see them stepping up and taking a mentorship role for their less experienced members.
"They're doing well." Torrhen replied, looking back to the battle. "What about your group? How did they fare inside the dungeon?"
"Pretty good, all things considered." The redhead admitted, glancing back to her group. "They made it all the way to Level 8 before we had to intervene. Though, that's partially because they went in with such a big group. If they were on their own or in a smaller team, I doubt any of them would have made it past 6."
"They are improving." Torrhen said with a smile. "That is all that matters."
Turning away from him, Daphne looked over towards the manor. "Think it's safe to go in yet?" She asked.
Torrhen scoffed. "You'll be fine. Hestia calmed down hours ago." He was speaking, of course, about the lecture of epic proportions that followed Bell's return from the dungeon the night before. While the dragonborn was proud of his protege's skills, he was less than impressed with the recklessness of his actions. Fighting a floor boss alone, even with the safety net of Ais, was not a decision to be made lightly. Especially when you didn't tell anybody in your Familia that you were even thinking of doing it!
"I still can't believe he made it to Level 4 so fast." Daphne muttered. "I mean, we're all improving faster since we started training with you, but Bell's progress is still off the charts."
Torrhen, of course, knew why Bell was improving so quickly but he wasn't about to explain it to Daphne. No, that was a secret reserved only for him and Hestia. If Torrhen had his way, Bell would never find out because the second he did, the chances of his progression skill ceasing to work went up exponentially. That's how emotion driven skills worked. The less the wielder knew about them, the better.
"Did you see any of the others in the dungeon?" He asked, diverting the subject away.
"Huh? Oh, yeah we did." Daphne replied. "Lili's trying a solo run through the middle floors and passed us on her way down a few hours ago. Ouka and his team came down with us, but they went on ahead after we hit the 5th floor. They're planning to head down to 18 now that Goliath is out of the way. I think Erza's team is doing the same thing, but I haven't seen them."
"They are." Torrhen nodded. "They left about an hour after you did so that they wouldn't have to compete with Ouka's group for monster drops."
"What about Alexios' team?"
"They're taking a day off from training. I believe the Hasegawas are off in the city somewhere and Jackie is visiting his old Familia on the upper east side. Alexios and Aisha have been locked in her room most of the day. I doubt I need to elaborate on what they have likely been doing?" Daphne shook her head with a smirk before glancing at Cassandra, who was still speaking with the younger adventurers. The romantic bond between the two was a well-established fact but it was rare for anyone to catch them being anything more than mildly affectionate in public.
Welf
"So, these rings will really let you breathe underwater?" A dark-haired sheep-man asked, peering at the display case.
"That's right, sir!" Paula replied cheerfully. "They're guaranteed to work. Even the Loki Familia's best members swear by these. I've even heard that the Sword Princess herself never even takes her's off! So long as you don't remove the ring, you'll never have to worry about drowning ever again!"
"Hmm." The customer hummed, hemming and hawing over the decision. Ever since Welf started producing and selling waterbreathing enchantments, they'd become popular with Level 3 and 4 adventurers. The ones who were most likely to be either struggling with or tackling the Water City region of the dungeon that covered the 25th-27th floors for the first time. The redhead hadn't been down there yet himself, but they were planning an expedition soon enough.
Welf leaned back, letting his gaze wander away from the interaction at the counter to the rest of his shop. While not packed, since it wasn't a particularly popular time of day, the flow of customers could only be described as steady. On an average day, the shop didn't go more than half an hour even at its slowest times without someone at the counter looking to either buy something or commission a custom piece. In other words, business was booming! Sure, it meant that Welf was super busy making stuff but by the time they'd actually reached this point, he'd gotten making the most popular items down to a science.
The waterbreathing rings, for example, were easy to make. If he really pushed himself, he could probably make around fifty or so of them in about two hours. More than enough to get them through a few weeks of sales. In fact, enchanted jewelry made up a good fifty percent of his overall sales. Wearing a simple ring or necklace that let you resist fire, breathe under water, or even just regain your stamina faster was an advantage that few adventurers could pass up.
Other things like boots, gloves, or enchanted weapons were far less uniform in their make and were what really let him stretch his skills as a smith and enchanter. It wasn't possible for two people to walk into his shop and leave again with identical weapons because Welf refused to make two pieces identical to each other unless they were going to be sold as part of a full set.
Speaking of sets, he'd been getting quite a few commissions for enchanted armor recently. Whether that be enchanting existing sets or making them from scratch himself. The ones he'd given priority to were the armor and weapons for his new Familia members but quickly following those were the sets for the Loki Familia and then, begrudgingly, the Freya Familia. Not that there were many of those just yet. Lastly on the priority list were the ones coming from his shop but no matter how high on the list they fell, the redhead gave his all in producing every single one of his pieces. He refused to let his name be associated with any weapon or suit of armor that failed its bearer. It went against everything he stood for.
Needless to say, he spent most of his time these days either in his shop or working in the forge. He still sparred with the rest of the Familia during morning training but on average, he only found time to actually dungeon dive about once a week. Hell, he hadn't been back to 18 since the first time they went down just before they recruited all the new people. Speaking of, it was a point of great pride for him that all of a sudden, an entire Familia was decked out in armor he'd made! Sure, Torrhen made stuff for Aisha and Ryuu but that was just an exception.
Plus, Torrhen was his teacher, so he wasn't exactly about to complain. Not when joining the Hestia Familia had made him so much happier than he'd been as a member of the Hephaestus Familia. Frankly, the fact that he didn't get to see the beautiful goddess of the forge every day was the only downside. Still, he got to see her enough and he knew he'd return to her one day. When he could stand beside her as a smith of equal skill and finally tell her how he felt, he'd return to her Familia.
"Yo! Boss!" Batson, the young dwarf who helped Paula look over the shop on a daily basis called out. Following along behind him was a stout dwarven woman with dirty blonde hair.
"What's up, Batson?" Welf asked, setting down the battle-axe he'd been polishing absentmindedly as he watched the shop.
"This fine lady would like to commission some armor." The dwarf boy said, gesturing to the other dwarf.
"Dis" The dwarf introduced herself, bowing her head in greeting. "It's a pleasure to meet you, sir."
"Pleasure's all mine." Welf replied, shaking the woman's hand. "Has Batson shown you the catalogue yet?"
"Hadn't got that far yet, boss." Batson cut in.
"Well then let's take a look." Welf reached over and pulled out a copy of the armor and enchantment catalogue. Once section held sketches and designs for various armor types while the other contained a list of possible enchantments for each piece of the armor set as well as the price. "Are you looking for light, medium, or heavy armor?"
"Heavy armor." The dwarf woman replied. "I serve as the frontline tank for my party so strong armor and a good shield are a must for me."
"Heavy? Alright then." Welf flipped quickly through, stopping on the heavy armor section. "These sketches are of various designs and types of heavy armor I've been tinkering with. Feel free to peruse and choose or even make suggestions. Any commissioned set I make will be done exactly to your specifications so feel free to make changes or requests."
The dwarven girl took several minutes to peruse the catalogue before finally selecting a design he'd been tinkering with based on cyrodilic steel armor. They spent the next hour or so going back and forth on the enchantments she wanted and how much they'd cost or what discounts he could swing if she provided him with the materials he needed to complete the enchantments. All in all, it was a very productive and profitable meeting.
Naaza
"Are you sure you're ready for this?" Naaza asked the disguised silver-haired girl. "We can probably handle this part without you, if you'd rather not."
"I can do this, Naaza." Airmid whispered, her face covered by her hood as the pair walked along behind Lord Miach. They were taking the back streets as they made their way towards the guild building. All the better to ensure they weren't spotted. Airmid's voice was confident, but there was still a slight shake to it as she still slipped her hand into Naaza's flesh one. The cienthrope chose not to acknowledge the contact aside from giving the hand a reassuring squeeze.
It didn't take their group long to reach the guild building. Slipping inside, they moved quickly towards the counter. It was a fairly dead time of day so there weren't many adventurers loitering around inside. Looking around, Naaza couldn't see Eina or any other receptionist she recognized. Following along, she kept pace with her lord as he approached the counter.
"Greetings, my lord." The receptionist said, recognizing the divinity in her patron even if she didn't know precisely which god he was. "What can I do for you, today?"
"I was hoping to speak with the Guild Head, if he's available." Her lord replied. "I'm afraid it's a rather… sensitive topic. Could you send him a message for me? Tell him that Miach is here to speak with him and hand him this letter." Pulling out a plain white envelope, Miach placed it on the desk in front of the girl. There wasn't much in it. Just a few words implying that the Miach Familia were involved in a sanctuary situation.
Taking the envelope, the girl bowed her head before moving away towards the stairs. The three stood there in silence. Each time someone entered the building, Airmid would shuffle just slightly further behind Naaza and Miach, using their bodies to hide her form. Just in case anybody recognized her. They couldn't afford rumors spreading about how the captain of the Dian Cecht Familia was seen talking with the god and captain of their primary rival. Not until they were ready to lay their accusations at Dian Cecht's feet.
It wasn't long before the receptionist returned and gestured for them to follow. Walking along behind her towards the stairs, Naaza kept to the back of the group, ensuring that Airmid was between herself and Miach the whole time. Soon enough, they reached the door to Royman Mardeel's office. Opening the door for them, the receptionist let them inside before bowing her head to Royman and Lord Miach and shutting the door behind her.
"Lord Miach." Royman bowed, his head in greeting to the god. "Welcome to the guild hall."
"I thank you, Master Mardeel." Her lord replied, nodding his head. "Both for your welcome and for meeting with me on such short notice. I wish I was here under less dire circumstances, but unfortunately circumstances have forced my hand."
"Ah, yes." The guild head nodded, sitting back down and gesturing for the rest of them to take their own seats in front of the desk. "Your note implied that an adventurer had come to you requesting sanctuary. I'm sure you're aware of how serious a situation that is so please, tell me all you can. What happened?"
Lord Miach didn't speak. He simply turned to look at Airmid. Naaza grimaced and put a reassuring hand on the human girl's shoulder. Hesitantly at first but then with force and confidence, the silver-haired doctor threw back her hood and revealed her face.
"Oh, bugger." The overweight elf muttered in shock.
"My name is Airmid Tesanare." She said, her voice strong but wavering. "I am here to declare that I have requested sanctuary with the Miach Familia. Furthermore, I am here to accuse my lord, Dian Cecht, of false imprisonment, blackmail, false advertising, coercion, and fraud." Royman just sat there for a few moments in silence before hanging his head in defeat.
"You are aware of how serious those accusations are, right?" His resigned voice asked. "What they'll mean once they get out?"
"We are aware that this will likely lead to a War Game and possibly a trial for Dian Cecht, Master Mardeel." Lord Miach replied. "It is our intention to reveal these accusations at tomorrow's emergency Denatus meeting. We simply thought it best to meet with you first not only to give you a heads up but also to present what evidence we have ahead of time."
The guild head sighed. "Well, I suppose a warning of chaos before it occurs is appreciated at the very least. Let's get it over with, I suppose." He pulled out a pad of paper and a pen. "Miss Tesanare, let's begin with taking your statement. Start from the beginning and tell me everything you can about what led you to making this decision."
Hestia
Hestia. Goddess of the Hearth and Home, restauranteur, businesswoman, and mistress of the Hestia Familia rubbed her tired eyes and leaned back in her seat. All around her, the gods were gathering for an emergency Denatus council. Something that did not happen often normally but had become a rather common occurrence in recent months. The meeting after Monsterphilia, after the disaster on the 18th floor, after Ishtar died, even the gathering for the War Game which didn't technically count but it was basically a Denatus meeting. It seemed as though the world kept giving them reasons to meet like this. Now it was Ares' turn to cause a commotion.
The army of Rakia was on the march, and it would only be a matter of time before they arrived. Rumors of such things were prevalent across the city, but no official statement had been made. That was the entire purpose of calling the emergency council. Normally, the Denatus council only meet once a quarter, and their primary purpose was to create aliases for adventurers who'd ranked up between meetings. It was only during emergency councils that they actually bothered with policy decisions, despite the fact that the Denatus council was technically a branch of Orario's government.
The day-to-day operations of the city were handled quite easily by the guild for bureaucratic or civil matters and by the Ganesha Familia when it came to security or policing matters. Uranus was ultimately in charge of the city, so it was rare that the council met for any substantial reason. In truth, the Denatus council could only make decisions regarding other gods. It was the branch of the Orarian government that oversaw the behavior of the gods themselves.
The gods descended to the lower world in search of entertainment but after Orario was formed it became clear that they needed more rules besides just 'don't use your godly powers' if they wanted to form a functioning society. Uranus was far too busy with his prayers and keeping the dungeon content to actively police the behavior of the gods and the gods themselves refused to allow themselves to be placed below a mortal led organization like the Guild in the governmental hierarchy. So, they created the Denatus council.
The Guild, of course, did have power over the gods in so far as they were the ones who were in charge of the Dungeon and the ones that doled out assignments, punishments, and censure of various Familia but they had little control over the actual gods themselves. No, that was entirely up to the council and since the gods didn't like being told what to do, the Denatus rarely exercised that particular power and just stuck to naming adventurers. This was one situation where they sadly had to discuss actually doing something about a fellow deity. Two, actually given what Miach had warned her about before they came in.
The Rakian invasions were little more than a joke all things considered. Every few years, Ares would lead an army towards Orario where they would be easily trounced and pushed back by the mightiest adventurers of the city and Ares himself would be sent running back to Rakia with his tail between his legs. While there was zero risk to the safety of the citizens coming from the actual invasion, having an army at your doorstep was a major problem for trade. The supply lines in and out of the city were always disrupted during these pathetic attempts at conquest, meaning that for anyone who dealt in trade, these invasions were more than just a slightly annoying distraction.
"I am Ganesha!" The voice of the flamboyant god shouted from the center of the room as he entered. Looking around, Hestia could see that almost everyone had arrived, so they'd be starting soon.
"Yo, Hestia." Loki waved, plopping down in a seat next to her. She leered a bit at Hestia's body like she usually did but the goddess of the heart didn't mind. After having spent so much time in Loki's company in recent months, she was used to it. Maybe she enjoyed it a bit and puffed out her chest by stretching her arms behind her back but if she did that on purpose, nobody would ever know.
"Hey, Loki." She replied, still stretching and still ignoring the redhead's peering eyes. "Did Miach get a chance to talk to you?"
"Miach?" The other goddess asked, distractedly. "Nah, haven't seen him yet. What's up?"
"You'll see." Hestia smirked at her, dropping her arms to her side and leaning back. "Hell, you'll probably enjoy the chaos that'll follow what he has planned."
Loki's eyes perked up, finally looking her fellow goddess in the face. "There's gonna be chaos? Aw, Hesita you give me the nicest surprises!" She cackled, eyes sparkling with mischievous delight.
"I. AM. GANESHA!" Ganesha shouted from the center stage.
"Alright, everyone! Let's settle down and get started!" Hermes too shouted, joining the other god in the middle. Technically, he was still on house arrest, but he was allowed out for godly meetings and to lead the council. Mostly because he was the only one willing to actually start and lead meetings other than Ganesha and nobody wanted Ganesha to be in charge.
"We're here today to discuss the coming invasion by Rakia and the Ares Familia! Most of our plans are already finalized, so this is just our chance to let everyone know what's happening." Hermes cleared his throat. "Firstly, as I'm sure you're all aware, these invasions tend to have a detrimental effect on our economy. In order to combat this, the Guild has asked that Hephaestus take control of the supply lines and make sure that they aren't disrupted too badly by the army that's marching towards us."
"How long is this invasion going to last?" Nanabozho asked from near the back of the seating. "Last time it took almost two weeks for Ares to give up!"
"That actually leads me to my second point." Hermes said. "The Guild has commissioned the Loki, Freya, and Hestia Familias to repel the invasion." Mutters filled the air but there wasn't much surprise to be found. Everybody knew that the Guild would ask the strongest Familias to participate. "They're just as interested as we are in keeping this a short and unobtrusive affair. To that end, they've requested that our defending forces try and end this invasion with just one decisive engagement. Push the enemy back to their camp and capture them all in one fell swoop rather than letting them run. There's just one small problem with the plan, though, and that's what the Guild has asked us to decide. What do we do with Ares once we capture him?" Even louder muttering filled the room.
"What do you mean, 'what do we do with him?'" Mielikki asked from her seat in the middle rows. "You can't seriously be suggesting that we sent him back to heaven, can you?"
"I didn't say any such thing!" Hermes shouted back. "I'm just saying, this is the perfect opportunity to take him down a peg. You can't say he doesn't deserve it."
"Hermes has a good point." Hestia spoke up. "Ares has been a pain in all our collective sides for decades, yet he's never been given anything but a slap on the wrist. To us, he's a mere annoyance, but to our children he's a tyrannical monster. How many of you have elves in your Familia?" She looked around, knowing full well that the vast majority of Familia had at least one person with elven blood in their ranks. "How many times have you heard the stories of the elven forests and what happened to them under Ares' orders? I myself have a pair of elf sisters whose grandfather was killed by Rakian soldiers. Not only that but I have two others who fled to the city specifically to escape conscription into Ares' armies!"
"Hestia's right." Loki said from beside her. "He might not have a chance in hell of winning, but Ares is still technically the leader of a foreign power invading our nation. It might be an amusing or maybe slightly annoying diversion to us but some of our kids are straight up traumatized because of his wars. Not just against us but all of the lands surrounding Rakia. The ones that don't have overpowered adventurers defending their borders."
"Perhaps you're right." Freya mused. "His actions are those of a child throwing a tantrum to us but this is a good opportunity to curb that behavior. Ares could do with being humbled." Ironic, coming from a goddess who herself was so recently given a taste of humility but Hestia couldn't exactly argue with the sentiment.
The debate over what to do with Ares raged on for nearly an hour before they ultimately agreed to table the discussion until after he was captured. The army was still a week's march away so there was plenty of time for the gods to come up with ideas on what to do with him once they had him.
"Alright." Hermes called out. "Unless anyone has anything else they need to bring up, I think we're done for the day!"
"Here it comes." Hestia whispered to Loki who giggled under her breath.
"I'm afraid I do have something I wish to address." Miach said, his voice even and calm.
"Miach?" Hermes shot him a confused glance but ultimately relented. "Of course. The floor is yours."
"My fellow deities." Miach said, "I am truly sorry to take up more of your time but I'm afraid I have no choice. You see, a few days ago a young woman came to see me. A young adventurer came to my hospital and requested the one thing I'd never hoped to hear from anyone. She requested Sanctuary."
"Oooh shit." Loki muttered lowly; eyes wide as shocked muttering filled the air. For a mortal to request sanctuary from a god other than their own was a rare and terrible thing. It meant that the child literally feared for their safety if they remained with their Familia and that was an immediate black mark against the reputation of the god in charge of said Familia.
"In accordance with her wishes," Miach continued, "I am here to explain the reason why. You see, this young adventurer came to me not only to request sanctuary but to give testimony against her god. It would seem that she petitioned him for permission to leave his Familia and even followed the guidelines he'd established for such and yet when the time came, her god chose to imprison her and only let her out when she agreed never to speak of leaving his Familia again." Some in the chamber who believed in treating their children with fairness and compassion hissed in anger while a few of the more questionable ones started to look a little nervous. "What is more, she revealed a great deal about her god's recent plans, not least of which is fact that he has been lying to the Guild and the city for months!"
"Quit pussyfooting around!" Hathor shouted. "Just tell us who you're talking about!"
"Very well." Miach bowed his head. "The adventurer in question is one Airmid Tesanare," gasps of astonishment filled the chamber, accompanied by Loki's barely successful attempts to muffle her cackling, "and it is on her behalf that I accuse Dian Cecht of blackmail, coercion, fraud, and false imprisonment. Your own captain has fled your Familia and sought sanctuary with mine." This last bit was aimed directly at Dian Cecht who'd slowly been turning an unhealthy-looking shade of purple.
"You lying sack of shit!" The pompous, overly dressed buffoon stood up and shouted. "I will not stand here and be slandered like this! Airmid has been missing for days and it's clear now that you've kidnapped her, you pathetic worm!"
"Seriously?" Hestia whispered to Loki, whose hand was covering her own mouth to try and stop the laughter. "That's the best he can come up with?"
"I'm afraid you're wrong again, Dian Cecht." Miach said. "You see, only yesterday I accompanied Airmid to the Guild where she recounted her tale to the Guild Head and his investigators. They've already been given ample evidence to prove your guilt and the young Tesanare is more than willing to testify before this council so that we might all hear the truth in her words. I urge you to stand down, Dian Cecht, and accept the judgement of the Guild and this council."
"I will do no such thing!" The oaf shouted. "I refuse to be slandered by an upstart who refuses to know his place! I will not listen to the lies of an insipid girl too stupid to understand what's actually important! I challenge you, Miach, and when I crush you, I will take everything you hold dear and burn it to the ground in front of your eyes!"
"I see." Miach sighed. "So, it's to be a War Game, then?"
"Yes! I challenge you to a War Game!" Dian Cecht replied.
A/N: Well! There we go! It’s time for Ares and for Miach vs Dian Cecht! I originally intended to have this out earlier, but I realized I’d fucked up. I wrote a good 3000 words before I realized I’d skipped over way too much time and missed a bunch of shit so that stuff will have to be included either in 51 or 52 depending. I know I didn’t address Bell and Ais getting together in this chapter and that was mostly intentional, so I’ll get back to them soon.
Also, Dis is not a reference! I took a page out of my own book with my other story and made a throwaway, one-time appearance character and just gave her a random dwarvish name. We will never see her again.
Oh! So, since I mentioned armor a lot in this chapter, I thought I’d include a visual reference guide for all the armor changes I’ve done and a few new things for the reference characters I’ve introduced. So, here is the list of what armor each character is wearing if you care to look them up!
Lili – Thieves Guild set (Skyrim)
Welf – Breton Leather Armor, no Pauldron (ESO)
Ouka – Blades Armor (Skyrim)
Mikoto – Scout Mod Armor (Skyrim)
Chigusa – Ancestral Altmer set (ESO)
Haruhime – Crimson Mystic Ensemble (Hogwarts Legacy)
Cassandra – Legendary Set, Blue (Hogwarts Legacy)
Daphne – Viper Armor (Witcher 3)
Aisha – Berserkin Set (Dragon’s Dogma)
Ryuu – Tauriel’s armor (Hobbit Movies)
Pyrrha – Spartan War Hero (AC Odyssey)
Roderika – Her set (Elden Ring)
Erza – Her basic armor, post time skip (Fairy Tale)
Ruby Rose – Spartan Renegade but covering the stomach (AC Odyssey)
Yang Xiao Long – Season 4-6 but armored (RWBY)
Blake Belladonna – Ezio’s set (AC Revelations)
Weiss Schnee – Leda’s Armor, no cape (Elden Ring)
Winter Schnee – Her set, Season 8 (RWBY)
Penny Polendina – Green and Black Xu Wu set, male. Female Gauntlets, no hood. (MH Wilds)
Jaune Arc – His set, Season 9, but in good condition (RWBY)
Alexios – Mercenary Set (AC Odyssey)
Erend – Grandmaster Bear Set (Witcher 3)
Naotsugu – His second set (Log Horizon)
Leo – Wolf Set, basic (Witcher 3)
Jackie Welles – Ardbert’s set (FFXIV)\
Roran – Steel Plate (Skyrim)
Aura – Grey Adventure Ensemble, Female (Hogwarts Legacy)
Mare – Treasure-Seeker’s Attire, Male (Hogwarts Legacy)
Pipin Tarupin – His set (FFXIV)
I am preparing for the endgame now with this story so there are things I honestly don’t think I will get to. I may choose to come back some day to cover them but ultimately, I don’t know if I will. It is currently my intention to finish the Rakia and Dian Cecht arcs, then cover some training followed by the Xenos arc of main Danmachi and then blend in the Elvilus Arc of Oratoria with a few other things to bring the story to a close. That being said, I have no idea how long those arcs will be or how many chapters it will take so while the end is in sight, it seems quite a ways off in the distance. I just hope I will be able to do the story justice and bring it to a close in a way you all will enjoy.
I’ve been fighting with writer’s block a lot lately, so I wrote a one-shot as a way to clear my head a bit. It’s set in FFXIV during Endwalker so those interested in that game/story, please go check it out and let me know what you think!
Answers to Questions
On FFN
Walkmanapprenticeworsmith: Sorry about the delay but I hope you liked this chapter! Not exactly a cliffhanger this time but I guess it counts?
VirusZyX: Glad you liked it!
Monkey D. Conan: Glad you enjoyed it! It felt right having Ais make the first move. As for Miach, we will see soon! Got any ideas for what it’ll be like?
Swiftcaliston: Here you go!
NinjaFang1331: Took him long enough!
Redburndragon: Highly possible!
Haziq Saffari: War Game definitely happening! Also, Dian is totally beyond redemption. He’s 100% a villain. Frankly, I consider him to be a villain in mainline Danmachi too, he’s just not relevant to the main story.
Frostwolf3227: Yeah, I really wanted Airmid to not do the bathhouse because I really didn’t want to write the bathhouse scenes! The Guild will probably lose it about Bell once they find out but Hestia hasn’t told them just yet. More important things to focus on.
Lucis Walker: Glad you liked the chapter!
LionLordEscanor: Thank you! Hope you like where I’m taking this for the War Game.
BauxiteGlue: Thank you very much! I did consider adding a drop item but then I’d have to figure out what Bell would do with it and that felt like it would split my focus for a bit and take me in a direction I didn’t want to go so I decided to leave it out.
Christalm: I’m very tempted to write in a second bitch slap scene. Doing it with Zanis way back when was fun but maybe we need a second one with a certain greedy god?
Sgt. Strickland: Thank you!
Monke: Thanks!
Michaelkoc1: Thank you! I do like seeing constructive criticism from time to time. It’s nice to see what I can improve on. I also like hearing that I have, in fact, improved so thank you very much!
On Ao3
FrankTHaddock: I’m glad you like the Miach Familia subplot! I never intended for it to be so prominent, but I just can’t resist coming back to it! Also, thank you so much for making that TV tropes page for me! It’s amazing!!
SlugerdErmine1: Nah, Airmid is a tough cookie. She’d never hide for long.
MagnustheRed: Medical standoff is the current idea, but we’ll see. I’m sorry I missed your birthday but happy belated birthday!
Bigtime12: Yeah, that whole bathhouse thing was a very disturbing episode once it came out.
Reinkernation: Glad you liked it!
07creeper26: The romance has been slowly building in the background, but it won’t be super prevalent so don’t worry about that. Glad you like the Dian Cecht plotline!
Alex3773: He’s always been nuts!
HapaLander: Glad you like it!! And no, I don’t intend this war game to be a normal fight.
YaBoiNate: Maybe I can add him in as a reference later but I want to avoid adding anybody new right now.