Finally, I slammed the door to my room closed and collapsed on top of the bed. I had taken the time to wash myself from all the blood and grime of the dungeon but, in truth, my body was moving on auto-pilot right now.

Falna or not, I had been awake for more than a day now —passing out didn’t count as resting— and a large part of that day had been fighting. Even when I wasn’t killing something, the sheer tension of the last hours had taken a heavy toll on me.

After getting out of the dungeon, there had been some talks about how to divide the loot and Lena had initially refused part from me without at least some reassurance we’d meet again.

Still, Aisha and Tiona had seemed to come to an arrangement, the loot would stay with the Ishtar familia, allowing them to prove what had happened to their goddess and Tiona would guarantee I’d be getting my share later.

Lena was eager to accept the deal as it forced me to meet her again and I was content on letting them sell the monster cores since I currently couldn’t… as long as Tiona agreed to act in my interest that is.

Eventually, the older Amazoness just grabbed her younger familia member by the scruff of the neck and carried her away like an unruly cat, lifting a hand to wave goodbye while walking back towards the entertainment district.

At that point, I had been beyond caring, just going along with their decision and making my way back to my room, Tiona more or less leading me since, despite all my efforts, she already knew where I lived.

My teacher had been happy to do it, pestering me to tell her about my fights but, once she saw I wasn’t really capable of paying attention to her words, she gave me a pat on the head, got me a tub filled with warm water and left to deal with familia things.

I honestly couldn’t say how I had taken a bath by myself, only that I was clean, safe and in a bed. Unfortunately, my brain wasn’t helping me fall asleep, a sense of unease at having my location known by fucking Loki filling me.

With a groan of pain, I pushed myself up and grabbed a mirror. Since I hadn’t immediately fallen asleep, I wasn’t willing to wait to update my own falna, having already made that mistake once.

Checking to make sure both the door and window were closed, I grabbed the broken spear blade and drew some blood from my thumb, smearing it on my back, the substance spreading to form letters and numbers, ones far different from those of only a few days ago.

Roland Synclair – level 1
Strength – F – 356
Endurance – E – 424
Dexterity – F – 365
Agility – F – 336
Magic – C – 641
Skills:
- Chosen of an Outer God
- Mangekyou Sharingan (shisui).
- Deadly Resolve: Allows one to ignore the limits of the body and continue fighting as if in top condition as long as you maintain your resolve.
LEVEL UP AVAILABLE!

For a second, I just stared at the final lines in my falna, drawn in large bloody letters. Damn, I think I had beaten Bell to level one; it had been a little less than a month and a half since I got in the world and that’s how long I remember it taking him.

The offer was tempting, particularly with my body hurting as it was. I just bet I’d recover much faster if I did increase my level immediately. It also wouldn’t be the worst level up in history, even if it was not ideal.

This single delving in the dungeon had nearly doubled every single one of my stats; it was a much larger increase than when fighting the Vouivre and the bandits after that.

In truth, I had barely done anything to the Vouivre, the only real contribution was casting an illusion, wasting Kotoamatsukami and surviving a second or two until the monster was killed. Compared with this time…

Really, I was kind of glad that the battle against the Vouivre and, later, the thieves hadn’t given me such a large increase. In my mind, I knew it had almost been a miracle I had survived, but it had been such a poor showing… such ugly scramble for survival…

Compared to what I had done today, it would have just felt cheap if I had gotten a large increase from the Vouivre. Today, I had stretched myself to my limits. I had used everything I had learned with Tiona, fought for hours against more monsters than I could count.

Granted, none of them were even close to the draconic woman but, against her, I hadn’t done anything, my survival more a result of luck than anything I did.

It was the same thing with the murderous adventurer. The first man I killed had simply been completely underestimating me. I had gotten lucky with a cheap shot I took on desperation and just flailed at him until he died.

The ones I killed today… I hate to say it, but I kind of felt proud about it. Not about killing them —that still left a really bad taste in my mouth and made me want to puke— but about overcoming them. I had WON those fights, ME, with skill and planning, not luck or chance. I’d even say luck was against me and I still won.

…In the end, I decided not to level up. I wanted to be strong, to be able to fight against things that would give even the protagonist trouble.

From the anime, I remember Bell killing the Black Goliath as a level two... I didn’t know if I could do that. No, I was pretty sure I couldn’t —that had to have been some bullshit protagonist thing— but heck, I REALLY wanted to try.

Forcing my falna to disappear again, I pulled myself back into the bed and laid on my back, my right hand squeezing into a fist as I thought about how strong I had to be to be able to fight something like that, how dangerous it would be, how exciting.

.
.
.
.

I woke up at night, my muscles aching from overworking them earlier. With a groan, I pushed myself to a sitting position on the bed, noting that my joints were stiff, my movement restricted to the bare minimum unless I wanted to feel a world of pain.

My head wasn’t killing me, but I still had a low level headache from abusing my eyes during fights. For a few minutes, I just stayed there, looking at my body… Now that I wasn’t exhausted, I almost couldn’t believe I was alive, I had come so close to death so many times.

Tiona had been right, despite the terror, the disgust at what I had done, how hard it had been… It had been incredibly fun, an experience unlike anything I had ever felt in my life.

Perhaps seeing the Vouivre barreling down on me, her mouth opened wide to bite off my head had been just as scary and surviving it just as relieving, but I hadn’t done it, it had lacked the sense of accomplishment I felt today.

My rational mind was telling me I should take it easy, to think about the future and really consider if I even continue in Orario. Heck, I had gotten a good haul, probably enough to pay off the witch and live comfortably for a time, even longer outside the city.

Still, the smile on my face told me I wouldn’t, I didn’t want to.

Finally, a growl from my stomach got me moving, the hunger finally forcing me out of the bed. With almost robotic movements, I pushed myself to my feet.

Drawing a breath, I tried to stretch, my body complaining the entire time until I was forced to give up. I briefly considered drinking a potion, I had some spare ones in the room, but I didn’t know if I should after ingesting so many during the fight.

Grabbing my sword, the only piece of gear that was clean since I hadn’t used it in the dungeon, I fixed it to my waist and tied the eyepatch into place over my right eye, blocking its vision and letting that sharingan continue to rest. I considered grabbing the spear shaft to use as a walking cane, but that felt like too much.

Slowly, I made my way down to the first floor, releasing little grunts with every step I took on the stairs. I was hoping I'd still be able to get some dinner despite the time and wouldn't have to go out.

I got lucky, about time really, the owner had already put away most of the food, but the soup was still on the table and there was some leftover meat I convinced her to heat up using the magic stone stove.

Pulling out a chair, I prepared to sit when it happened.

The slap reverberated through the building, the hand was small and there was very little force behind it, but it got me in the middle of the back, sending a wave of fire through every single one of my aching, stiff, overworked muscles.

Grabbing the chair for support, I glared at the damn midget that was smirking in amusement at me. She had been hiding in my blind spot and I hadn’t been alert up here in the city. "So, I heard that a certain adventurer now owes their life to one of my dear children, oh, how the tables have turned."

"Loki."

"Roland," she answered, throwing herself at the chair beside mine. "So, how are you going to pay me back?”

“What?” I asked, my eyes narrowing even further.

“Well, I did provide you a First Class adventurer to teach you as payment for saving some of my children,” Loki only smirked, stealing from my place before I could put an arm around it. “A life debt is pretty important, you know? I expect compensation! Or are you just gonna take advantage of poor Tiona? Huh?!”

Suddenly, a huge hand delivered a head chop on Loki, causing her to crouch down and lift both arms to rub her head. From behind, an extremely large dwarf appeared.

“Let the boy eat in peace,” the dwarf spoke with a tired voice. Giving me a smile, he sat on the opposite side of the table and dropped a huge jug of alcohol on top. “Come boy, I heard about what you did in the dungeon, have a drink!”

Dropping three mugs on the table, the dwarf filled them all and slid one to me. Putting a hand in front of my plate, I stopped the mug from hitting it and finally sat down.

“Hey Gareth! Where’s mine?” Loki complained and got her own mug which she promptly drank, getting a foam mustache. “Now, as for you, why’d you have to go and get in trouble like that? Ruined a perfectly good prank I tell you! I really wanted to see your face when you found out about everyone following you.”

Back on Earth there was a saying, ‘Don’t feed the trolls’, I kinda felt like I had already failed that lesson, but it was never too late to start acting smart and ignore the… goddess, at least when she was clearly baiting me.

Closing my eyes, I took a sip of the beer and felt it go down my throat, causing both my eyebrows to climb into my hairline. I wasn’t exactly a fan of beer, but this one tasted so much better than anything else I had experienced in this world.

“Good? Hah, it’s not every day you survive such a good fight boy, enjoy it!” Gareth laughed, drinking half his own mug into a single swing before wiping his mouth. “How was it? Been a long time since I last got into such a good scrap myself, I miss it.”

“It was intense, exhausting… terrifying,” I couldn’t help being truthful as I started eating, too hungry to care about the guests.

“The best ones usually are. You’ll have to tell me the entire story later,” he laughed, noting the smile on my face despite my words. “After you speak with Tiona, she wouldn’t forgive me if I heard it all before her.”

“I suppose I ca- Gah!” I screamed as a second spike of pain went through my body, this time coming from my leg where Loki was poking it with the handle of a dagger.

“Don’t ignore me!” she pouted, her eyes open and staring up at me.

“Enough already,” I complained and moved away as the damn imp tried to poke me again, only to feel even more uncomfortable as my whole body moved. Grabbing the table for support, I considered using Kotoamatsukami right here. Surely, getting rid of her was worth it? “Fine, what do you really want?”

Sitting back on her chair, Loki crossed her legs and took a larger drink from her mug. “Sooooo, tell me about those guys that attacked you.”

“Why?” I asked, narrowing my single eye at the god.

“Cuz I want to hear about them. Come on, it’s not every day I learn about adventurers pulling such things on the upper floors,” Loki finished her beer and threw the mug towards Gateth for more. “Not for what? Was it five years?”

“Four,” the dwarf corrected, filling his own mug before Loki’s, his voice far more serious than before. “Such things started slowing down five years ago, but it only stopped a year later.”

Lowering my spoon, I considered both of them with a frown on my face. I had assumed such attacks were uncommon, but not by that much. I supposed it could be that there just weren’t any survivors before, but I had a sneaking suspicion it wouldn’t be the case.

“Why do you even care? It’s not like something like this would affect your familia, you’re too strong for that.”

“Boy, Loki familia does have its share of first level recruits,” Gareth answered, crossing his arms in front of his chest. “And, well, while this kind of thing is more Ganesha familia’s job, you can say we have some personal interest in this case.”

“Yep, I don’t usually care about catching criminals, but those kinds of adventurers are like vermin, if you leave them alone for too long, they tend to breed,” Loki said in a calm voice, but her smile was unnerving, sending a shiver down my spine. “Orario is kind of my home now and nobody likes finding rats in their home.”

Damn, I had almost forgotten who I was dealing with. Loki may be playing around most of the time, but she’s still capable of making me feel cold inside.

Taking another spoonful of soup, I shook myself. Hadn’t I decided to stop acting like Loki was the devil without any proof? Looking back, I asked. “Somehow, I doubt that’s your only reason…”

“Well, it could also be that they messed with my new toy and I want to know whose greedy hand I have to slap,” she smirked, putting a finger against her mouth in feigned thought. “Either one of those.”

Right, if I had to bet, I’d definitely be picking the latter reason. With a sigh, I finished my first mug of beer as well. “Fine, it’s not like I want to protect those assholes. I’m also pretty sure we didn’t kill all of them.”

Digging my spoon on the soup again, I told them about the bastards that caused the parade pass. I didn’t talk about the fight itself —I kind of wanted to share with Tiona first— but I told Loki and the dwarf everything I had seen about the suicide bombers, from their clothes and stile of fighting, to their build, hair color and even a few scars.

In the middle of the dungeon, I hadn’t thought much about such things but, with my eyes, I couldn’t forget the details even if I wanted to.

While their large, baggy clothes did a good job of hiding many things, small details on the parts of the skin that were uncovered or even faint shades below their clothes were as clear to me as if the bastards were decorating them with glitter.

Finally, I released my spoon on the empty plate and bit into the last piece of meat, realizing that I was also done reporting every single adventurer I had seen on that floor, including the dead ones.

“So, was that the only reason you came?” I asked, draining a second mug of beer and trying to push myself up, but my legs had cooled down from staying still too long and stiffened up again.

“Nope,” Loki cheerfully replied and then poked me in the thigh again, right where I had gotten hit by a landform weapon and there was a huge purple spot.

“Goddamnit!” I yelled, reacting on instinct to move away from her and almost falling when the leg started to cramp.

“Why would I?” Loki laughed and I saw Gareth palming his face. “Anyways, it seems like you got your Falna updated but decided not to level up. Good.”

“What?”

“Yeah, there was no way you weren’t getting a level up after what happened and, from what Tiona reported of your training, you wouldn’t be awake yet if you hadn’t increased your stats drastically, but you also wouldn’t be so stiff and hurting if you had leveled up.”

I just… had she been poking me just to find out about my stats and level?

With a groan, I grabbed my plate and took it back to the owner who was giving me a pitying look. Did Loki even have to poke me three times or had she found out on the first slap?

“Say, Gareth, can I kill your god, just a little bit?”

“Hey!”

“Sorry, can’t have that,” the dwarf laughed, putting a cork on his jar of alcohol. “Here, keep the rest as an apology.”

“Really?”

“You can also consider it an early gift for the achievement,” Gareth nodded. “Surviving that kind of thing does deserve praise. I’d give you a tap on the back but…”

“Yeah, thanks for not doing that,” I snorted. Snatching the jar from the table and keeping it by my side.

Loki too got out of her chair, throwing her empty mug at Gareth and a small vial at me. “Here, this should help relax your muscles, since you owe us so much now, don’t you dare skip training tomorrow.”

Looking down at the potion, I didn’t recognize the color. “Just how expensive was this?”

“Not as much as you’re expecting, don’t worry. It’s just not as useful inside the dungeon, so most people don’t make or sell them, but we have a cache for training,” Gareth tied all three mugs to his waist while saying.

I watched as the two of them started leaving the building but, just as Loki was about to walk out, she stopped.

“You know, my kids weren’t the only ones watching you, but the others didn’t appear again after you left the dungeon earlier today,” the little imp looked back at me, an amused look on her face. “I knew you’d be interesting when I first picked you up.”

Well, fuck. Looking down at the small vial, I considered not drinking it, but it wasn’t as if I hadn’t taken a lot from the goddess before. Popping off the cork, I chugged it and felt a terrible taste in my mouth, the potion burning worse than whiskey as it went down my throat.

There wasn’t an immediate effect but, as I washed away the terrible feeling with another drink of the beer, I felt my muscles relaxing a little bit.

Before, I had been considering going out a little tonight, even if only for a slow walk to pass the time until I got sleepy again, take some air and enjoy being alive outside the dungeon, but, with her warning…

I had once read something about ‘Once being happenstance, twice coincidence and three times enemy action’ but, if there had been strangers watching me for a while now and they disappeared after my return, I don’t think I was willing to wait for a third attack.

Who the hell did I piss off? Or was this some kind of amusement for my ROB?

Everyone told me bandits were rare in the dungeon, but I got attacked by a team the second time I left the safe zone. Gareth said organized Parade Passes hadn’t happened in more than four years and yet, only a little over a month had passed and I got targeted by one.

Going back to my room, I put the sword beside my bed, close at hand in case I needed it and lay down. I really couldn’t think of anyone that wanted me dead, I hadn’t pissed off anyone and I no longer thought it was Loki.

The entire thing was made even worse because of how stupid it was. I was a level one, there were hundreds, even thousands of level twos in Orario that could beat me in a fight.

Even easier, as a level one, numbers still worked on me, they could just have a dozen level ones attack me and, while I would take a few with me, I was realistic enough to know I wouldn’t survive.

This was some god with too much time in his hands wasn’t it? Things just didn’t make sense otherwise. But who? I had barely met anyone in the city.

Laying my head against the pillow, I groaned as my body fully relaxed. It seems like I’d have to hurry up with finding a familia and party if I wanted to stay alive. Thankfully, I think I have a plan for how to test illusions on gods, it wasn’t a guarantee but, if it worked…