(General POV)
Lyze and Ais managed to meet up with Raul and Aki just outside Babel. They'd managed to complete most of the work done so far, but they still had to do shopping for some necessities such as food items for the chef, tools for general household maintenance and whatnot.
Lyze acting as the sort-of official leader of this tiny little excursion sent away the girls to pick up the food items as Aki knew the market place better than he did. He didn't feel like getting lost there just yet, so he'd sent her and he'd also sent Ais because he suspected that the girl was not satisfied with her snack and still wanted something to eat.
He'd rather have the cat-girl deal with that so he paired them together. He and Raul meanwhile set off to another district that didn't have food stalls all over the place but instead actual workshops and the like.
The boys had to go and by tools such a planes to make planks that would replace the ones holding up the roof in the Manor. They also had to find oil to polish weapons and such with meaning they would have to go to some specific places to get it. They also had to go to the tanners to by some leather because one of the senior adventurers needed to to repair the leather skin which held his armour plates together.
Things like that and a whole lot more which they needed to keep buying and walking to other shops and buying again. Luckily, Raul knew this place quite well by this point so he was guiding Lyze around, pointing out which shops the Familia frequented and where to go whenever he needed the same things.
One the way, they stopped at a clothes store where Lyze bought a few new pairs of clothing. Raul wondered a bit at why he didn't wear things a tad bit more comfortable and fancy. It was something Lyze had noticed in the Familia. As a group of relatively successful adventurers, they were able to afford good clothing with bright colours.
Lyze had never been fond of bright colours. The only time in his past life where he would wear bright colours was when he had to wear his Lames for his fencing tournaments. Other than that, dark green was the brightest he'd ever go. And nothing had really changed in this life either. It wasn't like he'd bought anything the normal people wore either, at least not on a regular basis.
He still bought himself clothes that were of a better quality than normal but not something that would set him too far apart from the citizens. Work life split away from personal life was they way he always went forward about things. He would dress as and adventurer when he needed to and dress as a civilian when he wasn't adventuring.
He didn't really think it was quite a good idea to actively announce your adventurer status with your clothes either, especially when Evilus was around. For Lyze it was unfortunate as the blindfold stayed with him whether he was in his adventurer persona or not, and sooner or later it would pretty much become his symbol, so that was a shame.
He used this time to communicate with Raul a little more though. The boy had never really been given much screen time in the anime, so he was keen on finding out about him what was not said on screen.
"So Nord, why exactly did you join the Loki Familia?" Lyze sked him.
The timid older boy looked stumped at this question and thought for an answer.
"Well to be honest, I'm not really sure."
"What does that mean?"
"Well, all I knew was that I wanted to be an adventurer, and to become strong as well. I've never really had a reason to become an adventurer though, no end goals here for me."
"You mean you chose a life of throwing yourself in a pit of monsters at the risk of dying any second, just for the sake of it?" Lyze asked him with a deadpan.
"Uhm...yes?" Raul replied, a little taken back at how blunt that was. Lyze sighed.
"Well it's not a good attitude to approach the adventurer's life with you know? You could have done anything else in your life but you chose this one where you're actively in danger but you have no idea why you would want to do it."
"Well to be honest I was never really good at anything else either." Raul nervously chuckled. "All I was ever good at was fighting with a sword. I suppose that was what led me to the adventurer's life."
"Debatable." Lyze muttered.
"Hey, that's not very kind."
"Nord, I've seen your swordsmanship. I have to say it's quite average at best. Suitable for fighting people but in no way a match for monsters, large ones at least."
"You have to give me some credit. I was being trained by the captain at the time, and he is on a level above even you."
Lyze shrugged his shoulders.
"Well would it not make sense? You forget that the captain is a lot older than we are. He's been at this for over twenty years if I'm right. Of course he would have a lot more skill than me. My point is that you've not really bothered to learn anything more yourself before the captain stepped into help you out."
"Well then how did you learn you sword work?" Raul challenged.
"By getting my head kicked in and my skin peeled off by another sword like a knife to a carrot before being shoved into a horde of monsters where I had to fight to survive until I learned how to fight violently but fluidly so that my rage did not overcome my senses. The worst thing you can do when fighting a monster is lose your mind."
Raul pursed his lips.
"That's kind of hard to believe."
"You've seen me shirtless Nord. The scars are the proof."
They both walked in silence back towards the town square which they agreed was the rendezvous point to meet up with the girls before returning to Babel to retrieve the executives' weapons and their own stuff before heading back home.
"So why did you join Lyze?" Raul asked quietly.
"I have a goal in mind, one that requires me to become as strong as possible. I'm not against receiving help on that journey from older adventurers, plus having good protections doesn't hurt. So I joined the Loki Familia. Believe it or not, I intend to surpass the Zeus and Hera Familia someday as well."
"That's a lofty goal." Raul commented, his eyes a little wide. "In fact, its close to impossible."
"Close to it, but it is not impossible itself. There are always greater heights that can be reached. Those two Familias were decimated by the Black Dragon, which proves that there are levels even beyond that. Not to mention that nobody in recorded history at least has reached level ten."
"I doubt that's even a level that exists itself."
"Well as impossible as anything seems Nord, you have to remember that the heroes of old accomplished all they did without Falna. Especially the legendary one whose name is almost forgotten, the one that damaged the winged bastard's eye. When you look at it that way, we're getting the easy path to power."
"The spirits helped along though."
"The spirits are pretty much extinct at this point. One has not been seen in generations. Plus, you cannot compare spirits to gods. Afterall, they were merely their children, conduits of their power from the way I see it."
"Well what goal is so important that you place such bizarre expectations on yourself?"
Lyze looked at him.
"What if I told you that I aimed to ascend my mortal coil, and join the gods in heaven?"
Raul looked at him before laughing.
"Yeah right! And I thought I couldn't hear anything else more ambitious from you! Next thing you'll be telling me is that you want to kill the black dragon, hahahahah...haha...ha" Raul trailed off as he saw the expression on Lyze's face.
"Wait, you actually-?"
"If that's what it takes." Lyze replied. Raul was stunned at how simply he said it, like it was a matter of fact and not the hopes of a child.
"Well you do have some rather lofty ambitions." Raul sighed. "And you appear to already have a head start, becoming level two in a day and whatnot. How did you do that anyway?"
"I'm still trying to figure that out myself." Lyze said as he looked to the sky. "I can only speculate why at this point, but I'm sure I'll find the answer some time in the future."
"Right. Now onto other topics, what's with you and Ais?" Raul asked, grinning a little insidiously.
"What about her?"
"Come on, I've seen the way she acts around you. She's practically glued to your side all day. She hasn't left you at all since the day you arrived."
"She's just a little girl Nord."
"You two are the same age Lyze."
"Which is precisely why we are not ready for anything that's going on in your head at the moment. We're too young for anything to happen between us now. I haven't been here long but it's obvious to anyone that Ais is attracted to power, so she probably wants to hang around me for a bit before she just lets go and moves on to her own things. Making herself familiar with the newcomer and all."
"Key word being 'attracted'." Raul raised his brows suggestively.
"...You asking for another wedgie?" Lyze said darkly as he flexed his hands.
"NO!" Raul shouted loud in the street causing people to look at him. Timidness took over again and he shrunk back at the sudden attention.
"Then don't ask anything further on this subject."
"Understood sir." Raul replied meekly as he subtly cupped his genitals, not able to forget the squishy, slimy sensations of the slug from the previous night.
---
The children managed to get together again and collected the weapons from the blacksmith after their servicing. Lyze chose this moment to put on the armour to get used to the sensation of it. It was more or less a perfect fit.
Making small talk with each other, they set back down the long walk down the main road towards the Twilight Manor. On the way, a few people stared and whispered to each other while whispering and pointing at them. Or more specifically Ais and Lyze. Children their age looked at them in awe and wonder. Personally Lyze couldn't understand why they would be so amazed as they were. He and Ais were lower level adventurers after all.
"It's because seeing others their age doing well in adventurer's life gives them hope as well that they can do it too." Aki explained. "Ais is already quite famous, and your fame is steadily growing with that new record of yours too. For kids that age, you two would be more of a hero and role model to them than someone like Ottar from the Freya Familia. Its just basically them seeing other kids do the adult stuff and be good at it."
They eventually made it back home ahead of Finn's expectations and they pulled the cart up alongside the Manor's entrance. There Lyze found the captain talking rather happily with three people. There was an old looking man, a dwarf and a fairly tall Amazon.
Finn looked towards the group as they approached and smiled happily.
"There you are. You're quite early aren't you?"
"We are captain, but with the power of delegation, we were able to get the jobs done a lot quicker." Lyze said as he stepped forwards.
"And you encountered no trouble along the way I hope?" Finn asked.
"None whatsoever." Lyze said, not bothering to mention the guild incident.
"Good. You are new Lyze, so you haven't met these three here. They are my seniors, and they have been in the Loki Familia even longer than me. They are the other members of the executive group. Introduce yourself."
Lyze nodded and looked towards the three veterans, bowing as he did so.
"My name is Lyzof Keele. I am a level two adventurer right now, but I joined a couple of days ago. It's a pleasure to meet you."
The old man spoke first.
"So you are the new record breaker. And Loki's new favourite it seems." He said with a smile as he observed the young boy up and down. "What is the world coming to? I go into the dungeon for a small expedition and when I come to the surface, I find that youngsters are breaking records like they're nothing more than toys." He sighed. "I suppose I will have to congratulate you though for such a monumental achievement you've brought to our Familia. My name is Noir."
"Nice to meet you Noir sir." Lyze said. Noir smiled again.
"At least you're a polite one. That's a good sign."
The dwarf spoke up next.
"Aye lad, my names Dain. I hear you killed old Goliath by yourself? With no help from Riveria no less?"
"Yes sir." Lyze said as he noted something about Dain. It was faintly Scottish somehow, and ironically enough, the hairy dwarf's voice reminded him a lot of Dain Ironfoot of the Iron hills from the Hobbit.
"Well isn't that exciting. I'll be sure to test you out myself soon enough, see that strength of yours for myself."
"I look forwards to it sir." Lyze said, and then turned to the Amazon who was yet to introduce herself. But instead of saying anything, she remained silent only looking at him.
"Cat got your tongue Bara? Want him to ask first?" Dain said to her flatly.
She ignored the dwarf and continued to stand there observing Lyze with deep scrutiny. This lasted for about a few more moments before Lyze found her fist flying towards his face before he even knew it.
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