I sat opposite someone that I never thought I would see again. Perhaps one day I would have seeked them out, but for them to come to me is unthinkable.
“Hello you little shit,” John said. “Tsubaki told me that you told her and Lady Hephaestus about the bribe.”
We were in one of the back rooms of the North-West Main Shop. John had been selected as the one that was going to teach me about the Familias Policies as well as show me around the shop.
He was a Level One, but according to Tsubaki was in the upperparts and had a chance of Leveling Up soon.
“Hey Joseph-”
“Not my name.”
“Sorry Jaquella.”
He threw a pen at me.
“Let’s just get started ok?” he sighed.
He began to teach me about the Hephaestus Familia. It was a place full of competition, that was one of the reasons that each smith was given their own smithy, so that they could keep their techniques and formulas secret. At the same time many Familia members often banded together to form parties that delved into the Dungeon. For the smiths that had yet to get the Development Ability Forge they had to sell their wares at shops and compete with one another. Once you became a High Smith with said Development Ability you could put the Hephaestus signature on your work and it would sell a lot easier and for more.
As an unknown from outside Orario I would apparently have a tough time getting by, especially if people found out how young I was. Which made sense, I couldn’t imagine a thirty year old adventurer wanting to buy equipment from a seven year old. Luckily I had asked mom to go to some shops and buy me some of the seeds I would need to start my garden. So even if it took a while for me to get some reliable customers I could fall back on my Liquid Viagra money.
Speaking of, I needed to find out where the Entertainment District was so I could find a shop nearby that would agree to sell the potion.
A portion of my profits would go to the Familia, but it was only ten percent, five if I bought the materials from the Famila for the item. I was sure that included any sales I would make with alchemy even if the Familia didn’t specialize in it.
After that I asked about my Status, not my Skills or Magic, but the base stats. I already knew that they went from I-0 to S-999, each letter going up per 100 increase, but I wanted a more detailed explanation on how it rose.
What John told me was that if I used strength then strength would increase, same for endurance, dexterity, agility and magic, but that wasn't all. Just weight lifting wouldn’t give the same exalia as using an axe to cleave my enemies, though it wasn't like games, I didn’t get Exalia from finishing off an injured foe with little effort. He told me it had something to do with the strain the soul went through when using those base stats.
An example that he gave me was that his parents were killed by Killer Ants when he was young, so John had both a hatred and fear of the creatures. When he fought and killed them he gained more Exalia in comparison to his party, because for him it was both a trial where his life was on the line, his body was being exerted, and his former trauma with the monsters.
According to him Development Abilities were similar, but you both needed to use the attribute, such as Forge, but also gaining a deeper understanding of smithing helped boost the stat as well.
Simplified, the more Exalia was gained the more difficult and exerting something was both physically and mentally, and once overcome it would give higher quality Exalia.
“Anyone ever told you that you’d be a great teacher?” I asked John.
He grimaced a little, but an embarrassed blush was on his forgettable face. “Yes actually, Lady Hephaestus often has me help out the newbies because of it. I’ll probably be told to guide you through the dungeons for a little while once you start off.”
“I don’t know if I can trust you. What if you want to take revenge?”
“What the? Boy I’m not some prideful shit that would abandon a kid just because he was being a brat.”
“I got my eye on you Jeremias.”
“You know what? Maybe I will take some revenge.”
…
Three days had passed, my parents would visit once every day, making sure everyone was treating me right and I was eating. They still hadn’t found any work, but had a place to stay nearby.
Ma had bought me the seeds I needed as well as some good fertilizer and two sets of Alchemy equipment. She still didn’t know about my plans with the seeds, and hopefully would never know. I think Da would be proud though.
John had worked me to the bone, making sure I was the one to carry any heavy loads and often dumped Karens on me to deal with. It did show me that even without a single point in my stats I was still stronger than before the Blessing.
The best part was the fact that I got free reign on one of the Smithies in the back when I wasn't working. It let me get back into shape when it came to smithing.
The whole slave thing made my skills a bit dull.
John even helped me out, back in Altena we never had enough materials to make armor, so I only really knew the method, but had no practical experience. I also learned that most people didn’t wear full body armor, instead the armor both covered vitals and boosted the Endurance Stat. Which I’m sure was just because a bunch of hot girls in full plate isn't as appealing as girls in skirts. Thank you author for that.
Maybe John was secretly an important character in Danmachi, he was definitely being extremely helpful.
After my shift I was called into Hephaestus’ office once again. She had spent most of her time either doing paperwork or working on my cloaks, Tsubaki apparently wasn’t the best captain when it came to sitting at a desk.
I vowed then that no matter how powerful I became I wouldn’t take the captain or vice-captain slot. I’m sure it came with a bunch of benefits, but… nah too much work. With smithing alchemy and adventuring it would eat too much into my time.
“Hey Kova, how are you fitting in?”
“Pretty good, John’s a pretty cool guy and has helped me quite a bit.”
Her one visible eye widened. “He told me that you didn’t know his name. Apparently you call him something else every time.”
“Oh I’m just messing with him. It’s getting hard to find new names that start with J.”
She shook her head smiling.
“Well you don’t need to worry about being cooped up any longer.”
She motioned to her desk where two cloaks were neatly folded. They were midnight blue with red trim.
“You’re a growing boy so I’ll need to adjust them when you get a bit bigger.”
I tried one on and it was surprisingly comfortable. The hood was large but didn’t obstruct much of my view and there were several pockets.
“To think you like me so much as to give me such an amazing gift,” I said.
“I’m just making sure that you are safe, you are a member of my Familia now. I make sure to judge based on merit.”
I took her hand and looked into her eye.
“Then I will do my best to dazzle you with my accomplishments, My Lady.”
A little blush appeared on her face again as she pulled her hand away. Then she pinched my cheek.
“You’re going to ruin a young woman's life like that.”
“Then will you teach me how to properly charm a lady? I wouldn’t want my future me to hurt you when we fall in love.”
Her blush deepened, and she roughly ruffled my hair.
“Stop it, Tsubaki will be here soon to take you to the Guild to register.”
“Alright, but I have one last question.”
“Yes Kova?”
This was something I had been wondering since my first day in this world. Perhaps it was a secret code or had a deeper meaning.
“Is it wrong to pick up girls in a dungeon?”
“Wat? Uh- I- I guess not? As long as you don't mean kidnapping.”
So the author was just a pervert.
-A/N-
It'd be awesome if you guys left some good reviews/rating or leave a comment, I read through them all.
Did you know that the average person crosses paths with more people on their way to work than most people in the Medieval ages saw their entire lives?
With the MC being both a blacksmith and an alchemist, I think it would be interesting if he made weapons unique or reinforced armor by mixing the 2 arts.
Shhh, you're giving away my plans.
I disagree girls in full plate are very hot, thanks for the chapter
If the full plate armour is a streamlined form fitting custom made type of armour then I agree with you.
I hope if there is a godess on the harem list that there is only the one that makes the cut regardless of how many try for it even for a charming character I just can't see any godess in danmchi being interested in sharing with another godess other than that blurb inspired by another fanfic I've been reading thanks for the chapter and don't let the mc's friend circle consist of only family and potential love interests
A please belongs in that last bit somewhere
@aggroniast He's already got Jaquella my dude, and I don't plan on having a bunch of the Goddess' join the harem (Of course I could change my mind later) and I do plan on him having other friends even ones that are female that won't be love interests.
@IronOwl that's good it's just something I've noticed is a problem for a lot of harem story writers especially those who don't put a cap of some kind on the number of harem members
Also kind of looking forward to mom somehow finding out about his side business along with the introduction of his first party member
@IronOwl Being friendly and having a lot of acquaintances is fine. But I don't know and I couldn't trust someone who can stand in front of a crowd and claim they're all his friends.
@Chouzenfox Oh I agree for sure, there will definitely be levels of friendship/acquaintances and its not like he will get along with everyone. (I myself don't have more than six real friends.)
@aggroniast I still don't know the cap for the harem members, but I know there are some characters I won't have join either because I don't like them or they aren't fleshed out in the story and would bring nothing to the table. (Aki is one example, she's a level 4 from the Loki Familia, but would bring nothing to the story if she joined the harem.)
@IronOwl don't think of those characters as useless or can't be used because they're not too fleshed out/incomplete, think of them as blank slates where you can write a whole history. They can be anything with the only limit being their current selves in the story, or you can give the some secret backgrounds in other words.
They can sometimes be the solution to the plotholes of the canon timeline or your solution to not having enough people in the world of the story as a whole.
Don't try to think up a background for every incomplete character though, you can ask other people or readers/authors in this case.
PS: I'm talking about Aki if you're a bit confused.