Power Corrupts: Small Surprises (ch.17) (Patreon)

“How’s the sword looking?” I asked, stepping into Welf’s workshop. The place looked about the same as the last time I saw it -- organized chaos, soot stains everywhere except for polished weapons that gleamed in the low light that his forge offered. Welf himself was the same as well with his short red hair drenched with sweat, soot stains on his face and hands and looking like he hadn’t slept in a week. 

“I hammered out the edge and gave it a good sharpening,” Welf answered as he handed me my weapon, not so much as a hint of the damage it had suffered. It looked as it did when I first bought it. 

“Thanks, it looks great,” I told him honestly, surprised just how reassuring the weight of my weapon felt. I hadn’t realized how much I had missed it until it was back in my hands, and it was only a day without it. 

“I didn’t want to ask since you looked pretty rough yesterday,” Welf started, watching me with a satisfied smile, “but what did you hit with it? I about started crying when you bought it in, it looked like you were basking it against a rock or something.”

I gave a shrug, “did you hear about the minotaurs that managed to get to the upper floors?” 

“Oh,” Welf uttered, wincing as I nodded. Yeah, that pretty much summed up everyone’s reactions so far. “Well...in that case, I’m surprised it held up so well,” he muttered with a grimace as he gaze roamed me. “Are you okay?” He asked after a moment, getting a nod from me as I fished a hand into my pocket and pulled out my second reason for coming here. 

“Yeah, I’m good after a bunch of health potions. Seriously, there’s nothing those things can’t cure,” I said, pulling out the minotaur horn. “As for what I was hitting it with, this is the culprit,” I informed, making Wel’s eyes go wide as he stared down at the drop item. It wasn’t all red like Bell’s had been, which I suspected was because the minotaur he killed was a lot stronger than the ones I had. Even still, it was a level 2 drop item. 

“Oh, man,” Welf said, taking the horn from my hand after getting a nod of permission. He inspected the horn for a moment, turning it over in his hands as he nodded at something only he could see. “I thought it was going to be years before I saw one of these -- minotaur horns are a pretty rare drop item, you know? They only get really common when you reach the lower floors, and by then there’s literal armies of them and they’re all level 4.”

Huh. Now that he mentioned it, I recalled something like that in Ais’ series. I never read it much, I didn’t have money for the light novels and the updates for the manga updated about as frequently as Berserk, or so it felt at times. Well...I guess I had that to look forward to eventually. 

“Do you think you could do anything with it?” I asked, making him pause, an excited gleam in his eyes. My lips twitched upwards at the sight. Welf looked like a kid told that Christmas had come early this year, and he got every present on his wishlist. 

“Are you sure?” He asked, giving me a look that told me the correct answer was I was absolutely sure. “I’m just a level 1 blacksmith, so I can’t do any kind of serious enhancements to it,” he reminded, and I nodded, pretending that I hadn’t absolutely been considering going to a level 2 blacksmith a few hours earlier. 

I nodded, “yeah, I’m sure. Better the blacksmith that you know than the one you don’t,” I figured with a shrug of my shoulders. Though admittedly, a pretty big influencer for that decision was the knowledge that Welf was fairly close to leveling up and even among level 2 blacksmiths, he was something special. 

Welf looked relieved, holding onto the horn like he was afraid I would suddenly change my mind, “Thanks.” He said with a surprisingly genuine smile on his face. Then his expression became a bit more serious, “do you have any ideas what you’d like to do with it?”

I did, actually. “I was wondering if you had started on my armor yet?” I questioned and it only took Welf a moment to figure out what I was getting at. 

“There’s not enough to make any plate armor, especially for a guy your size,” Welf said more to himself than to me as he turned the horn over. To be honest, I think he might have forgotten I was here altogether. “But, I can reinforce the armor with it if I distill the adamantine from it...or, I could make one thin plate out of it…”

“Actually,” I corrected after a moment, “I was wondering if you could make some light armor out of it for a pallum? My supporter doesn't wear any, and after getting wrecked by minotaurs, that makes me a little nervous.” Lili didn’t have Gamer Body to fall back on, or any of my advantages. 

Welf considered that before nodding, “I can do that. I’ll need measurements and stuff like that -- there isn't much here, but if it's for a pallum, then it should be enough to make a chestplate out of it. Like I said before, it’s going to take me about a week to make your armor. Maybe longer now since I’m going to lose a day with this guy,” Welf informed, turning over the horn again as if he could barely believe it was in his hands. At the very least, it seemed that I made his day. 

“That’s fine,” I said with a shrug of my shoulders, “I wasn’t planning on going any deeper into the Dungeon for the next couple of days, so no rush.” Again, that decision was made a few short hours earlier when Eina resumed our lessons like she hadn’t just been choking on my dick. And without being so backed up semen was practically leaking out my ears, I was in a much better disposition to actually listen. 

Turns out that the eleventh floor is where things start to get crazy. There were those giant monkey things that Bell fought on that floor, and armored armadillo-like things too, so the giant monsters got a lot more dangerous on top of higher spawn rates. Not to mention that infant dragons could spawn on that floor, and they were a level 2 monster. 

Maybe if I had my armor, I might have risked it anyway, but I didn’t. Between the training lessons I was going to get with Ais and Tiona, my stats were going to shoot up, not to mention that I was making a rather nice amount of exp on the tenth floor. In short, I was well on track to keep my promise with Lilly and Hestia. 

Welf gave me a look, nodding at that but his lips tugged down into a slight frown. “I heard about the minotaur incident through the grapevine, so correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t it happen on the tenth floor?” He questioned, his tone friendly but suspicious. Right. Because a week ago, I was on the seventh floor. 

“Yeah,” I confirmed, knowing exactly where this was going. Welf stared at me for a moment and I basked in it. It was so much fun being a bullshit character. The anime hadn’t really covered it, but Bells, and mine, progress was balls off the walls incredible. The tenth and eleventh floors were for veteran adventurers and I reached the tenth in a couple of weeks. 

“Huh,” Welf summarized his thoughts as he scratched the back of his head in thought. He looked away, considering if he wanted to ask, but I knew he didn't have much of a choice but to. A small sigh escaped him as he came to that same conclusion before he looked back at me. "Jericho...please let me join your party," he said, bowing his head to me. 

"Sure," I agreed so readily that Welf faltered. My grin grew at his disbelieving expression, giving him a shrug. "After my run-in with the minotaurs, I figured that I should listen to my supporter about getting a third member. To be honest, if you hadn't asked I would have eventually." 

Welf grinned at me, straightening up, "you have no idea what a relief that is." He admitted, completely unaware I knew exactly how big of a deal this was for him. "I've been stuck on the tenth floor for the past year as a solo adventurer. I'd probably be stuck there for another year if I didn't find a party. Thank you." And he couldn't find one up until now because of his refusal to make magic swords -- basically medieval fantasy nukes. 

His familia looked down on him for refusing to use his talents to their absolute fullest because of his pride and everyone else lost interest when they learned that he refused to make them. 

"No need to thank me," I brushed off the issue easily enough. “But, we won’t be moving on to the eleventh floor until I have some armor to make sure I don’t get myself killed,” I explained since the eleventh floor was his goal. He was trying to level up, just like I was, but because he didn’t have a safety net, he couldn’t afford to take the risks that I could. 

The leveling up system was weird -- all I knew that once you got enough ‘high-quality exlia,’ or something like that you could level up. The amount you could get was entirely dependent on the adventurer. Most leveled up after years of grinding against foes like Goliath, a level four monster and helping taking it down. Then you have cases like lefiya, who leveled up by graduating university. Not to mention Bell, who killed a minotaur that was classified as a low level 3 as a level 1. 

As stupidly high as my exp requirement was, I was pretty glad that I had a far more clear cut system. 

“You’re already planning to go to the eleventh floor?” Welf questioned, sounding surprised and...pained. Ah, right. It sounded like I was humble bragging, didn’t it? He was stuck on the tenth for a year, and I planned on moving on in a few days. 

“We are,” I confirmed, “it’s mostly because of my size -- are only like a foot taller than me rather than three or four like everyone else, so that’s a big part of it,” I admitted shamelessly, glad to see that Welf nodded, thinking that made sense. The other explanation would be I went from a newbie to near veatern stats in a few weeks. And, once my training started later today, then my stats should shoot up. 

“Ah, well, I wasn’t going to say anything about it,” Welf said with a lopsided grin before his expression became a tad more serious. “But, I’ll make sure you get your armor as soon as I can make it. I’m a blacksmith first and an adventurer second, so your armor is my priority,” he clarified a little stiffly. A reminder that we were customer and provider, rather than the bro that he and Bell had been. 

“I understand,” I nodded, “so long as I get it by the delivery date, then it’s all good. Would you be up for going with us now or…?” I trailed off, gesturing to his devilished appearance. Now that I think about it, I don’t think I’ve ever met Welf when he hadn’t pulled an allnighter. Seems like I wasn’t the only one that was nocturnal. 

Welf started to nod his head, only to realize that he shouldn’t. A small sigh escaped him before he shook his head, “no, I have to smelt this down and forage a plate of it. It’ll take all day to do it, so I have to pass today. Tomorrow, though?”

“Tomorrow, same time,” I confirmed with a nod, “I’ll see you then.” with that, I waved goodbye to Welf, feeling satisfied with my progress with him. If only my gamer system had some kind of relationship tracker, or any kind of tutorial at all, but it seemed that we were on track to becoming friends. Maybe once I reach level 2, and after he leveled up, he would eventually consider making a few magic swords if only because of practicality. 

I walked down the familiar roads, shoving my sword into my inventory when no one was looking. My gaze landed on the tower of Babel, thinking about what had happened only a few short hours ago. I could still feel Eina's soft lips wrapped around my cock as she took me all the way down. I hadn't asked, mostly because it would have been pretty rude, but if she was able to deep throat a bitch breaker, then I'm guessing she had more than a little experience sucking dick. She certainly felt like she had a lot of experience. 

Even now, after she sucked two loads out of me like a succubus, I still had trouble comparing the straight laced guild advisor that I knew to the girl that placed herself between my legs and went to work on my dick. Especially after she reverted to the same girl that I had known before once her lunch break was up, all but kicking me out of the room while she made herself presentable. 

My dick twitched at the sight of the tower, but I tore my gaze away as a sigh escaped me. I wonder if I should head back there? We didn’t exactly have any time to actually talk about what just happened, and given how fast she pushed me out the room, I was worried that she might regret it. But, if I go there now...not only would it look desperate, but Eina worked the night shift. She would be exhausted. And her throat would probably be sore, so it would be a bad time to talk in the first place. 

I would give her some space, I decided, my feet carrying me home to check in on Hestia before I went Dungeon diving for the day. I knew she was going to feel absolutely awful, but I needed to make sure she wasn’t the ‘I’m actually dying’ level of feeling awful. I walked through the city, idly noting just how much it had changed over the course of the night. 

Before, it was a non stop party. Now, looking at group of adventurers puke their guts up into a garden, it seems that Hestia wouldn’t be alone in her misery. There were more than a few drunks milling about in place of the normal citizens, but more were either hungover or sobering up. Not to mention, there was a literal parade of walks of shame, from girls and guys alike. 

I guess it was no wonder with this wasn’t included in the anime, I mused, stepping off the mainstreet before my nose caught the scent of something other that sweat and puke that seemed to linger in the air. Glancing over at the source, I saw some kind of food stand with a line standing in front of it. The employee behind the counter handed over what must have been the biggest, meanest, sloppiest breakfast burrito that I had ever seen in my life. Before I knew it, I found myself walking towards it. I didn’t need to eat anymore, and I still wanted one. 

Taking my place in line, idly listening to the quiet grumbling and moans of those waiting for a hit greasy food to help them with their hangovers. It took a few minutes but I neared the front of the line. It was then that I saw a familiar face turn down the street, walking towards the stand. Since I towered over anyone, it only took her a moment to glance at me. 

“Hey,” I greeted, glancing behind me to find that the line had grown considerably, looking back at her, I offered up a grin. “Saved you a spot.”

Ais looked up at me questioningly, her golden eyes turning towards the line those suffering a hangover or those that soon would be, before she nodded her thanks. She took her place next to me, forced to crane her head back to meet my gaze. “Thank you,” she said softly.

“Eh, don’t worry about it,” I dismissed, shugging. “I’m guessing your familia has you doing a food run since the rest of them are down for the count?” I asked, Ais’ brow furrowing at the unfamiliar term but, as much as she was an airhead, she wasn’t stupid. She gave a small nod in response. 

“Yes,” she answered simply before she fell silent. After a few moments, she seemed to realize that the ball was in her court to continue the conversation. “Is your goddess…?” She asked, trailing off in a soft voice. 

“She’s either dead asleep, or wishing that she was,” I answered, taking a step forward when a sloppy drunk group of girls waddled away from the stand with arms full of greasy food. “Figured I would get her something to help since she has work today.” If she didn’t skip, but given who her boss was, I’m doubting that was a good idea. 

Ais nodded and fell silent again. It really was tough to keep a conversation going with her. At the very least, the silence didn’t feel uncomfortable as we waited for our turn. I gestured for Ais to go first, which she did and it was only after that she started ordering that I realized that might have been a mistake. 

"I need thirty-two breakfast wraps, a hundred orders of pancakes…" I stopped listening, recognizing the hundred yard stare of the girl behind the counter. I felt that. I felt that all the way down to my soul -- there were few things worse in this world that customers who came in with stupidly big orders with absolutely no warning. And that stare of hers became more devoid of life every time Ais added something to her order… "with extra red bean paste. Extra red bean paste," Ais repeated, just to make sure that it wasn't forgotten. 

"Coming right up," the woman behind the food stand said as she relayed the order to three other women who started cooking like their lives depended on it. They all had smiles on their faces but I knew better. When a waitress or a cook said 'no problem' or ‘its fine’ when getting an order like that dropped into their laps, what they really meant was 'I hope you die in a fire.'

Ais watched them work like a well oiled machine, blissfully unaware of their internal grumbling. I glanced behind me and saw that the line grew even more, and they weren't grumbling internally. Ais didn't react to it, but if I could hear it then she certainly could. 

"What's taking so long?" Someone grumble loudly, announcing their displeasure. I couldn't hear who answered him, but I could guess what was said. "A bitch ordered what?!" He explained, and the people in line shuffled, bringing my attention to who said it. It was an adventurer, but rather than the flushed face of a drunk, he seemed to have sobered up at some point and regretted the decision. 

Other than that, he looked like the most generic adventure that had ever existed. Were this an anime, he would be one of the characters in the background that was so unimportant that the artists wouldn’t bother giving the guy eyes. His grumbling seemed to spread to others -- everyone here already felt terrible, and now they would probably have to wait forever for their fix of food. 

Ais looked over, her face displaying some confusion, but largely unconcerned as...whoa, the ladies in the back might be master chefs because piles of food were already starting to form on the window. Then I heard the grumbling get louder as someone loudly sighed before stepping out of the line. For a moment, I thought they were going to walk over to confront Ais, but it never happened. 

The adventurer walked out way, took one look at who had order the insane amount of food on such short notice, and promptly kept walking. Well, that was one thing I wouldn’t have to deal with today because there was nothing more stereotypical than dealing with a belligerent drunk. However, Ais looked troubled. I could only tell because her usually blank face hinted at it -- her lips were pressed together into a thin line and her eyes were sad.

“Don’t mind them,” I reassured her, pretending like I hadn’t been thinking awful things about her as well. “You could have paid for their meal and they’d still find something to moan about,” I said, but it was clear that my words didn’t help. Ais simply let out a small sigh that made her shoulders droop ever so slightly as she nodded. 

“They’re…” she trailed off, thinking about it. “Scared of me,” she spoke after a small silence. Well...she wasn’t wrong. 

“Eh, it’s only because they know you by your level,” I answered, making her frown in thought before she craned her head up to look at me. 

“Are you not scared?” She questioned, tilting her head. Maybe if I didn’t know what I did about her, then that question would have caught me off guard. Or, maybe, I would be scared of her -- Ais was a first class adventurer, and if things went the way as canon, then she was a few weeks away from hitting level 6. It was kinda like going up to a celebrity, except the celebrity is famous because of how well they can kill things. 

I shrugged, deciding to be honest. “Not really. I mean, you don’t strike me as the kind of person that enjoys lording their power over everyone else.” I knew that solely because her series made it very clear that she didn’t. From what I saw of her series, Ais was more of a socially awkward airhead when she wasn’t fighting to become stronger. 

That seemed to cheer her up, her small frown turning into a gentle smile. The moment was ruined by the lady behind the counter coughing to get our attentions and...what…

“How did you make that so fast,” I couldn’t stop myself from asking, staring at a mountain of food fit to feed a small army. Which, I guess the Loki familia was. 

The tired woman behind the counter gave me a cheeky grin, “trade secret. Now, what can I do for you big guy?``she asked and, to be honest, I was expecting her to tell me that they had run out of ingredients. I glanced at the mountain of food, then to Ais, who was staring at it as well. A small laugh escaped me I caught her attention. 

“If you’re willing to wait a bit, then I can help you carry that,” I offered. Hestia was probably dead asleep anyway, and would be until the last minute. There shouldn’t be any problem. Ais looked relieved, her slight smile growing as she nodded. 

“Thank you,” she said before I ordered. I ordered two mothers of all breakfast wrapps, and they had actual weight when the woman handed them to me. And, as agreed, I loaded up on food crates while Ais got the other half. 

The Loki familia lived some distance away, outside of the city proper. I could tell I entered in the rich neighborhood when we walked past mansion after mansion, each one better than the last. The Loki familia’s...well, there was no mistaking it. It looked oddly out of place -- the rich decorations on the exterior to the point that it became gaudy. White marble walkways that lead to a fountain of Loki blowing a horn that poured water, beyond that the walkway lead to a central plaza. While all the others were tasteful, Loki’s home was a mess of decorations, like someone went down a checklist rather than trying to make the place look nice. 

Finn was waiting for us, though he seemed unsuprised to see me as we approached. “We’ve been seeing a lot of you lately, Jericho,” he commented, one eye closed as he watched me step by the iron gates. There was a smile on his face, but there was something about his tone that sounded a lot like a warning to me. 

“We ran into each other in line,” I supplied a reason, not exactly sure what he was hinting at. Or if he meant anything at all, and I was just reading too much into it. 

Ais nodded, “he let me skip. And carried food,” she added, holding up her arms as if to bring attention to the mountains of food stacked in them. 

Finn’s gaze lingered on me for a moment before he opened his other eye and gave a small shrug. “Sorry about sending you out alone. Loki’s been unreasonable since she woke up,” he explained, an exasperated grin appearing on his face while Ais simply nodded, as if she expected that. 

Finn walked up to me, his hands out reached, “thanks you for your help, Jericho, but I can take it from here.” He said, and if it wasn’t for the fact that I saw Lili carrying a massive bag all the time and he was a level 6 adventurer, I would have hesitated before handing over the food. Leaving me with my much more reasonable smaller order. 

I caught Ais looking at me as Finn began to head inside. She looked like she wanted to say something, but couldn’t find the words or know how to say it. In the end, I broke the silence, “I’ll see you later today?” I asked, making her blink. I think she might have forgotten about the training because she looked surprised.

Ais nodded, and it seemed that the surprise wasn’t a bad one. “I’ll see you then.”

With that, Ais walked inside while I left the property. I idly glanced around the mansions, replaying that encounter in my head before I pursed my lips in thought. “Well...that happened,” I muttered as I dug into my order and pulled out my food. I didn’t really know what I expected with that sidequest, but getting the stink eye from Finn wasn’t it. 

Taking a bite of the most delicious greasy, egg, bacon, sausage and cheese I started to make my way home. At the very least, I got a good meal out of it. 

My feet carried me home as I ate my meal, wishing that I had some coffee to wash it down with. Huh. I should look into if coffee was a thing here -- they had modern plumbing, clothing and magic stone based electricity, then surely this world had coffee as well? I didn't have time to check it out now, but I was putting a pin in that thought for later. I didn't need three cups of coffee in me at any point to keep me going, but that didn't mean I didn't want that much coffee in me. 

Unfortunately, the Loki familia lived in the exact opposite direction as my familia did. Now that I think about it, that was probably intentional to put as much difference between the poor and the rich as possible. It took me a little while to make my way back, walking down familiar broken stone roads. Looking at the rundown building, especially have just come from a much nicer neighborhood, I couldn't help but notice just how shabby they were. 

Now that we weren't pinching every valis, we really should look into getting a better place. If only because squeezing in another person into that hovel would actually make it unlivable. A mansion was still out of our price range, but I'm sure that we could get a nice apartment or rent out a small house outside the city. I never pictured myself living in anything but an apartment before, but there was the appeal of living in a small house with Hestia. 

Though, that meant I would have to do crap like cut the grass. And that wasn’t happening. I guess I could just hire someone to cut the grass for me...yeah, that’s what I would do. Hire gardeners, maids and shit to take care of the house for me. It was a nice mental picture. I would have to  bring it up with Hestia once I was done training with the Loki familia-

As I walked down the broken cobblestone towards the broken down church, my gaze landed on something outside of the building. A red pool that suspiciously looked like blood. No, it was definitely blood, I saw enough of it in the Dungeon, and there was no mistaking that dark red liquid for anything else. 

“Holy shit,” I muttered, my gaze spotting droplets of blood that lead down the street. There was a fair amount of blood in the pool that looked like it was still wet. Did someone get stabbed or something in front of my home? I knew I lived in a rough neighborhood, but that was something else. 

Then my gaze narrowed as I realized the pool had smears around it. No, it wasn’t that someone got stabbed in front of my house. Someone was stabbed, then they rounded the corner before collapsing in front of my home. I looked around me for any obvious evidence of a trail because whoever got stabbed lost a dangerous amount of blood. I didn’t spot a trail behind me, but when my gaze landed on a drop of blood on the stone path towards the front of the church. 

My feet started moving before my brain realized it -- whoever got stabbed was in the church. Possibly dying. I ran through the collapsed doors, noticing that the door to our room was left open. I nearly slammed my head on the top of the door I raced down the steps, “Hestia?!” I yelled, going down ten steps with two. 

“Jericho!” Hestia yelled back as I descended, and for a moment, my heart went still in my chest. Before I turned the corner, I had a horrible thought that...maybe Hestia didn’t find the stab victim, but rather...she...I turned towards the bed and I nearly sagged with relief when I saw that wasn’t the case. Hestia looked at me with panic in her eyes, red blood staining her white dress and her gloves. “It’s Lili!”

That didn’t compute as I crossed the short distance between us, looking down at the small form on the bed. Blood plastered air to her face, but I could barely recognize her. What skin wasn’t deathly pale was bruised and covered in blood -- her nose was broken, her eyes were swelling shut while her lip was badly split. However, that paled in comparison to the dark stain on her beige coat where she was stabbed, her blood soaking into the fabric of the bed. 

Even looking at her, it still didn’t make sense. This couldn’t be Lili. There was no way. 

But, impossibly, her eyes opened as much as she could manage and I saw familiar light brown eyes. “Mr...Jeric...ho?” Lili muttered quietly, my heart dropping like a stone to my boots. Her head fell limply to the side, reaching out with a hand and my stomach started doing flips because her fingers were dislocated. Like someone had stomped on her hand. 

“Lili…” My  mind was blank, struggling to understand what was happening. It was easier to accept my death and my new life than what I was seeing before me. “What happened?!” I half shouted, looking at Hestia, who looked to be on the verge of tears.

Lili swallowed thickly, tears welling in her swollen eyes, “Lili...tried to leave...Soma familia…” She gasped out, her voice pained. 

“I…” No, this was not the time to ask what in the hell she had been thinking. That didn’t matter. I could get my answers when she wasn’t about to die. An empty vial rested on the bed, prompting me to reach into my inventory and pull out whatever health potions that I had left. My heart clenched painfully in my chest when I felt only pulled a few vials out. 

“Hestia, what…?” I trailed off, uncorking the vials as Hestia kept pressure on the wound, briefly moving her hands so I could pour the vials over it. Like my arm, the wound didn’t magically disappear, but it looked better. It just wasn’t enough, the stab wound was about a half a foot away from being dead center, but Lili was so small that there was no way that something vital wasn’t hit. Worse, the exit wound was just as big. 

“I don’t know!” Hestia shouted, wiping her eyes of stray tears. “I just woke up and went to check the laundry and…! I just found her like this!” She looked just as lost that I felt. Right. I had to step the fuck up right now. Take charge. Be a man. Whatever the fuck it took to make sure that Lili didn’t die. 

“We need more health potions,” I said, knowing that normal potions wouldn’t cut it for a wound like this. “High potions. A lot of them,” I reached into my inventory and pulled out a sack of coins, I didn’t even know how much it was. I went to hand them over to Hestia, but my legs were a lot longer and I was an adventurer. No matter how much I wanted to stay here right now, me being the one to run to Miach’s shop was the smarter option. 

“I’ll be right back with the potions,” I forced myself to say, looking down at Lili, still unable to believe what had happened to her. I...fuck, I should have been here. If I hadn’t walked Ais home with her food, or decided to get breakfast...fuck. Fucking fuck. Hestia looked at me with wide eyes and In forced myself to swallow a lump in my throat, “stay here, keep pressure one the wound and don’t let her fall asleep. Talk to her,” I said, having absolutely no idea if the advice would actually help. 

Hestia still looked up at me with clear panic, at a complete loss on what to do even with my directions. I opened my mouth to say something, but I paused. A sound echoed down the steps, an echo that I would know anywhere after being an adventurer for a few weeks. The sound of chainmail rustling, of metal on stone. Of someone taking a fucking step down our fucking steps into my fucking home. 

I turned to the door, moving on instinct. As soon as the adventure took the final step, I moved and time seemed to slow to a crawl. I didn’t see his face. I didn’t even know if he was a he because I didn’t see the gender either. All I saw was an emblem emblazoned on a shoulder pauldron of some medium armor of a wine cup in a moon. The Soma familia. 

In my house. After assaulting Lili. 

Murderous rage didn’t feel like I thought it would. I thought it would be so intense that I would completely lose control, or black out and only realize what I had done after the fact. That’s how I always pictured it in my head, but that wasn’t the case. It was almost like I was calm as I lashed out with a hand, catching the adventurer unaware, gripping their face in my hand. I knew exactly what I was doing when I slammed their head into the wall hard enough that it cracked open. 

There were no thoughts of what the story was -- perhaps the adventurer was trying to help Lili. Or maybe he was here to finish her off. None of it mattered. At all. Hot blood erupted, coating my hands and the wall as my face twisted into a snarl. The corpse collapsed into a heap and I was faintly aware that Hestia was screaming behind me. I didn’t look at her. 

Instead, I looked up the stairs to make eye contact with another adventurer. Her eyes were so wide that they could have fallen out of her head, her jaw slack but there was still a sword in her hands. And a moon and wine glass on her stupid looking boobarmor. 

I didn’t think to get the story from her as I raced up the steps, my blood boiling in my veins. She stumbled back, her sword going into a defensive position but I didn’t care. I batted it away with my hand, slicing it open, but that was okay because I grabbed her neck at the same time and squeezed. I never realized just how strong I was before. Her neck snapped with a deafening crack, killing her. 

“Oh, fuck, you live here?” I heard a voice ask. A voice that was faintly familiar, though I had only heard it once before. With blood on my face, with a corpse of a young woman in my hand, I slowly looked over to my left to see who was speaking. My gaze roamed over the three men standing behind the man who spoke. A man that I had seen twice before. 

Canoe. 

“You’re dead.” After all, I made a promise, even if it was only to myself.