Before we start, I would like to thank everyone that went to check out my other novel and gave me their support, thank you all.
Also, Zero fate will, most likely, not be released today, meaning, we're once again at where we were 2 weeks ago with the schedule... Fuck.
I'll try to finish the chapter soon, but now I'm focusing on Danmachi and finishing up the chapters I owe my Patrons.
Anyway, that's about it.
We continue with the POVs, the last one being the Freya Familia.
I did want to make a full-blown Freya POV, especially how she reacted upon seeing her children coming back all trashed, but we'll leave that for later if at all.
Peace.
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/A few moments before.../
/Crackle…/
'Beneath the Guild, inside a dark room illuminated by a few torches…'
"No… It can't be." Ouranos exclaimed in surprise as he got up from his throne
/Tremble/
'His body trembled for a moment as he felt a wave of emotions wash over his body.'
The Dungeon… The Deep floors.
What is happening?
'Feeling the pain of the Dungeon through his prayers, Ouranos realized something serious was going on beneath his feet, but without anyone to scout things for him, he saw himself in a bind.'
'Sitting back down with great resolve, not showing it through his stoic expression, Ouranos resumed his prayers, this time in a heightened state so that the Dungeon would calm down and stop its onslaught.'
'It was the only thing he could do as he waited for his trusty agent to come back with news.'
"..."
Does this have to do with them?
Things have barely calmed down and now this…
'Having been a few days since the conclusion of the War game, a lot happened in the city ever since the fate of the Ishtar Familia was set in stone under the presence of multiple Gods.'
'In a matter of a day, the Ishtar Familia spent over a Billion Valis, handing 500 Million Valis in cash to the Hestia Familia after exchanging all sorts of materials and gems.'
'And pawning over 200 Million to the Guild so they could start paying their debts to the other Familias.'
'Even then, this isn't counting the amount they used and got during their negotiations with some Familias individually.'
'In the days following her defeat, Ishtar met with dozens of Gods in order to discuss the transference of her Children from her Familia to theirs.'
'Despite her previous statements of not letting anyone leave due to her momentary outburst of anger, she was in no position to refuse their wishes.'
'And if she were to try and pressure them into staying, it would only backfire.'
'So she started to "sell" her own children.'
'Level 1s were sold for around half a Million Valis depending on how strong they were or how close they were to Level 2.'
'It may seem extreme, but that is around the amount a Level 1 might do in a few months, it's a decent investment...'
'Though for some smaller Familias, this amount is way over their budget, so Ishtar used this opportunity to negotiate and pull as many strings as she could so she would force those Familias to make a choice, trying to reduce the amount she had to pay as much as possible if not get paid...'
'Little by little she would win back her money… Though it was nothing but a desperate struggle in the face of her endless debt.'
'Level 2s were sold for a few Million, normally between 3-10.'
'Level 3s were sold for a bit more, around 10-30 Million, as per usual, the amount an adventurer of this stature would make within a few months if they worked non-stop while also not accounting for the materials they would use in the meantime.'
'Some of those Familias would not be seeing profits for at least a few years, however, such calculations are not that simple to be accounted for.'
'An extra fighter joining a Familia could mean a lot, especially for smaller Familias that didn't possess Second Class adventurers.'
'For them, having a capable Level 3 Amazon join them could immediately raise the odds of their survival in the Dungeon while also allowing them to grow stronger in a safer environment.'
'As for the price of Aisha and the other Level 4s went by, that was exclusive to how strong each of them were and the budget of the Gods in question.'
'She could try to push their wallets, but neither could she try her luck, as her Amazons and other warriors were going to move away regardless if she wanted to or not.'
'So she had to try and reach a reasonable compromise.'
'This also included her strongest Level 3s, those that grew stronger under her extreme training regimen but were unable to grow to Level 4 status.'
'These bloated numbers, of course, were reserved for the Berbera, as Amazon's were stronger than other races and overall, were the most numerous amidst her combatant ranks.'
'Ishtar had the delusions that, if she were to sell each Berbeera for an average of 15 million, her 100 warriors would go as far as 1.5 Billion Valis.'
"Of course, that wasn't possible, it would be impressive if she got back a billion...'
"Worse, the equipment she gave them over the years was all stolen by them, adding to a massive net loss of billions.'
'However, this wasn't, by far, the total amount of members she lost.'
'If you were to add the civilian workers she lost…'
'She truly had liquified all sorts of assets so that they could pay off their debts.'
'It was rather impressive how much wealth she could pull off at once, though it was to be expected, the Ishtar Familia was an old one with several decades of growth, and if it hadn't been for the greedy people that "forcibly" took many of her assets when she was down, Ishtar might've already paid off her debt, as all of her assets combined would likely surpass the tens of Billions.'
'Just the gear utilized by her Level 2 adventurers, when combined, would likely reach half a Billion if not over that... As the prices of high-class weapons and armor can reach upwards of Millions for individual pieces.'
'Cassandra's staff was like that, it alone cost over a million, Daphne's sword from the Far East was over 2 million, and they ere both Level 2 when they received it from Apollo.'
'That isn't even counting all of the potions and items, and the ones they consumed over the years to grow stronger as well...'
'But of course, it was all stolen by them when they left, and if she were to try and account for them... Then by the time she did finish measuring her losses, all of her Amazons would've already been long gone from her grasp.'
'She had to move and make use of what she could to recover her already immense loses, hence, her idea of selling her children.'
'And with her efforts of negotiating her debts came into light, the Guild was called to make sure nothing went wrong.'
'However, due to this, the amount of paperwork each member of the Guild had to sort through was so gigantic that the Guild itself was forced to shut down.'
'To maintain operations, they closed all branches aside from the one in Babel for a few days so they could process it all, leaving the handling of commissions and the processing of materials from the Dungeon solely to it.'
'This normally wouldn't be a problem as the branch beneath Babel was made for that… If it wasn't for the fact all others had closed to process all of the paperwork.'
'Now, everyone had to go there for even the smallest of problems…'
'This led to a series of obvious problems that even now were yet to be concluded… No, they were getting worse.'
'And that was only from the Guild.'
'With so much money flowing into the market, many poor Familias saw themselves leaving poverty, as the sudden injection of money came to them like a blessing from heaven itself.'
'And to some, it meant having enough money to eat properly without the need to gather wild plants for survival…'
'Small Familias now had enough money to better equip themselves, which would lead to fewer injuries and casualties in the Dungeon…'
'The effects of this War game led to extreme economical growth in the city…'
'And with the news of such changes, a big wave of immigrants started to make its way to Orario, including those that had been hesitant before.'
'Of course, not everything was flowery.'
'With more money in circulation, inflation was a given.'
'Not everyone was part of a Familia, those that were poor continued to be.'
'Even if, in the grand scheme of things, the inflation wasn't big, considering the Guild was occupied and unable to deal with everything on their own, some merchants started making use of this as a chance to increase prices unreasonably.'
'Some out of necessity as their stocks were being depleted quickly as many Familias now had the means to buy supplies, but some did it out of pure greed.'
'Smiths were hammering day in and night, booked for entire months on end...'
'Potion shops were half empty...'
'Babel was full to the brim with adventurers, leading to an increase in the usual problems they faced everyday...'
'Chaos was brooming in the city, and this meant that it was time for those that swore to protect peace to move.'
'Just as busy as the Guild, the Ganesha Familias stepped forward to protect the common folk and warn the merchants of their boundaries.'
'Agricultural Familias such as Demeter's cooperated with them to bring down prices, they may take a loss, but the Guild promised to reimburse them in due time as they predicted these changes to not last long, at most a few months and everything will be back in place.'
'Smaller Familias such as Artemis' acted as localized elite forces, hearing the plea directly from the public, they moved to take care of smaller problems the Ganesha Familia was unable to deal with.'
'If only the Astrea Familia was still here...'
'And those were just examples of everything that had been going on in the background.'
'Everyone, everywhere, was occupied with something… From the bakery to the guard post by the walls.'
"..."
'As he thought about those changes, Ouranos closed his eyes as he rested his head on his throne.'
'Just as much as he worried about above, his way of protecting them was by paying attention below.'
'Whatever is going on, a creature of such power had once again descended on the world, and the Guild had to be ready to once again silence its existence.'
'If adventurers were to know that, something capable of rivaling even the strongest monster of a floor appeared if the Dungeon suffered enough damage, then it would only work as an extra worry for them.'
'The world was not ready to understand the abominations that the Dungeon could create at a moment's notice, they had to believe the Dungeon was weaker than it seemed, as the less they knew, the easier it was to accept it.'
'Stories such as the rise to prominence of the Pallum Hero and his conquest to conquer the Dungeon, may he shine light into everyone's heart, man or beast.'
'Though that may be an unnecessary worry, as the world already ignored the Dungeon due to fear...'
'Whatever he had to do, Ouranos remained still.'
…
/At the same time, on the northeastern District close to a large river.../
/Poof!/
"Arrrrg! Finally, I'm done with this!" A young lady said with a tired expression as she finished writing a book
'The book wasn't very thick, neither was it very elegant with its common leather cover.'
'The book's name was, Encyclopedia of Rare Monsters, Volume 1, written by... Nyctimene Lesv.'
"Forcing me to write this down out of nowhere... Humph!"
'Her face slightly red, she got up from her seat.'
'Nicc was currently within a simple but decorated room full of books of many kinds and vintage style furniture, sitting behind a simple desk next to an open window.'
'Around a week ago, Nicc was doing her usual reports within her room.'
'Her home being located somewhere on the edge of this District next to the river, Nicc grew up with her parents as she saw the boats go by with stories from afar...'
'Until their deaths at the hands of the Dungeon during Orario's Dark Age around 5 years ago.'
'Due to her desire to study and research, and the obvious influence that came from her mother, a Dungeon researcher, her parents introduced her to the Athena Familia instead of having her join theirs as in there, she would be able to bloom faster.'
'After many years of study, having graduated from the School District and also indulged in private classes within the Grand library of her Familia, she was finally given her task to graduate as an Apprentice Scholar.'
'Something she easily accomplished thanks to the help of a certain rising adventurer...'
'To this day, she still couldn't believe she had managed to get accepted into the School District, but then again, those were other times, before the Dark age, during a more peaceful era.'
'She focused all of her time on her scholarly studies and rarely fought with others, as that was what she wanted to do.'
'And when she finished her first theses, she graduated and joined the Atheena Familia for good.'
'That was how she came to be.'
'And in the months that followed her ascension to a Scholar, she managed to document and prove the existence of many monsters, gathering piles of research that weren't exactly organized from many different sources..'
'This eventually came to the ears of Athena herself, who immediately had her locked up in her room so she could organize her research in the form of a decent book.'
"..."
'Looking at her book, she frowned even more.'
"It looks a bit boring..."
'But she shook her head not so long after.'
No no, first, I need to have it reviewed, after that, I can embellish it.
I'm certain the book will succeed and I'll at least rake in something, but I didn't want to write it now... I feel it's incomplete.
"Sigh, the last thing I wanted was to write another book..."
'As a scholar, she has her pride, to write an incomplete book was a complete no to her.'
"But this will have to suffice for now... Until I gather more data..." She said with a slight smile
'Looking outside of her window she saw the sun shining above Orario, it made her realize she had spent yet another night writing.'
'She wanted to end this soon and go back to his... The place she wanted to be.'
'With a pleased expression on her face, Nicc made her way down the corridor as she thought of the future.'
"Once I'm done I'll take a good rest and then... Then..."
'As her expression grew red, frustration covered her face.'
He didn't come to visit even once, that stupid guy, I vanish and he shows no concern...
'She suddenly stopped walking.'
Scrap my previous plan.
I previously wanted to use this as an excuse for a date...
But now, it seems he doesn't really deserve it!
/Chuckles.../
"Yeah... I'll do just that." Nicc said as a sweet smile covered her face
'After being locked up for so long, she really wanted to leave this place and do anything else.'
'And despite her chaotic mood, once again due to being forced through this ordeal, she still merely wanted to enjoy some time with her greatest helper...'
/Step step.../
'So she made her way up to meet with none other than Artemis.'
/Whispers.../
"Hum?"
'But she stopped for a while, paying attention to the conversation between two Scholars.'
'Because she had been forced to finish her book, she didn't really know the most recent news of the city.'
'Aside from the few times she left to eat, her room had everything she needed.'
'Even then, sometimes, knowing how focused she was on her work, her friends would come to her to deliver food to her, but they would often remain silent about anything else.'
'And in the few times they did try to inform her, Nicc blatantly refused to hear what they had to say due to her extreme focus and commitment to her work.'
"Bla bla bla... War game... Bla bla bla..."
"War game?" She mumbled to herself as her head tilted
'But shaking her head, she moved onwards, the news could wait, for now, she had a person to meet.'
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Notes