Chapter 20 – Haruhime and Armour
Arriving at the Stardust Garden, Alise opens the door with her usual boldness.
"Mother! We're home!"
Finding our way into the common room, we see that both Kaguya and Mother Astraea are each reading, perking their heads up at our introduction.
"Welcome back girls, and Sirius. Is it not a little early?"
"Yep! It has something to do with our little guest here!"
Hesitantly stepping out of my shadow, Haruhime, as I learned the girl's name was, looked towards Mother Astraea with an expression of wonder overtaking her usual shy and hesitant face.
Yup, our Mother Goddess' aura will do that to you.
She seems to have warmed up a bit on our walk here, giving us more of her trust, particularly me.
"Nice to meet you, young one. Would you tell me your name?"
"H-Haruhime. O-originally Sanjouno Haruhime."
I give her another head pat for her good work.
I've come to learn that the little Renard loves head pats and that they are particularly good at calming her down.
"Sanjouno!?"
Surprisingly, it's Kaguya who speaks up, with shock clearly showing on her face.
It seems my earlier assumption is true, Haruhime must be from the Far East.
I mean with a name like that, she had to have Far East origins at the very least.
Seeing Haruhime recoil from the outburst and return to hiding behind me, Kaguya takes a deep breath to calm down.
"My apologies for scaring you, it was simply quite a shock to hear of that name."
Seeing Haruhime relax once more and return a small nod, we all give Kaguya a questioning gaze.
"The Sanjouno clan is a powerful clan from my homeland, known for their ancestors having once contracted a spirit before the Gods descended. Although now they are known for being the guardians of the Sanjouno Shrine. Only the direct descendants of the family are allowed to bear the Sanjouno name, how is one of their heirs so far from home?"
We then recount the story to the two, from the initial suspicion, to the fight, and lastly, my intuition telling me to let her join the Familia.
The last point seemingly piquing Mother Astraea's interest.
She then pats the couch next to her, where Haruhime then sits, guiding me along by my hand to sit on the opposite side.
"Now, Haruhime, would you be able to tell us your story?"
"O-ok."
Tightening her grip on my hand, she then tells us her story and how she got to Orario.
As Kaguya said, she was a young lady of the Sanjouno noble family of the Far East.
Someone had framed her for eating an offering for the shrine, angering her father who disowned her and gave her to a guest to be taken away.
On the way to wherever the guest was taking her, they were attacked by monsters, and the guest ran away to leave the young Haruhime behind to die.
She survived the encounter but was then captured by bandits who then sold her to a brothel in Orario.
The four people who we fought being her escort to take her to the brothel.
After recounting her story Haruhime burst into tears, finding relief in Astraea's consoling embrace while I patted the girl's head softly.
The faces around the room wore various expressions of anger and sympathy, but none of our anger could be compared to Kaguya's.
Even from across the room, I could feel a cold sweat run down my face at the pure fury that was radiating from the fellow Far Easterner.
An expression colder than ice with her hands pale white from being clenched.
"Giving up their daughter like that for a damn fruit. They are exceptionally lucky that they live so far away from me and my blade."
With Haruhime eventually calming down, Astraea decided to ask her the ever-important question.
"Haruhime, sweet child, would you like to join my Familia?"
"Umm, w-what's a Familia?"
We then spend the next few minutes clearly explaining what a Familia is, particularly what the Astraea Familia is, everything from the falna down to our daily patrols.
At the end of the explanation, most of the confusion was gone from Haruhime's face, leaving only hope and excitement.
"I-I could have a family again?"
And like that, our hearts melted a little.
"Of course, child. So, do you wish to become my child and hold up justice along with my other children?"
"Y-Yes! I-I want to h-help others like how you helped me!"
This thing is too adorable.
Astraea then kicked me out of the room so she could give the young girl her status.
After a minute of waiting, I could hear a collection of gasps and a couple of 'What!'s coming from inside.
Thinking the worst, I ran inside to investigate.
Only to find all the girls looking at a status sheet, including a, thankfully, clothed Haruhime.
"What's wrong? What was the outburst for?"
"L-look at this!"
I then peek my head over Alise's shoulder to view the status page.
========================================================
Name: Haruhime
Level: 1
Strength: I0
Endurance: I0
Dexterity: I0
Agility: I0
Magic: I0
Skills:
Mikuzumenohou - Increases effects of magic and improves mind usage.
Magic:
Uchide no Kozuchi - Increases target's level by 1, can only be used on one target at a time and requires a cooldown depending on the time in use, targets earn half the normal excelia when under magic's effect.
========================================================
A similar gasp leaves my mouth.
Level-boosting magic.
Unheard of.
The difference between levels is nothing to scoff at.
In fact, this magic may be the singularly most powerful support magic in existence when used on the correct target.
And that would put a target on the young Renard's back if it ever got out.
She would quickly become the most sought-after person in Orario for every Familia.
"I-It seems that my intuition helped me once again, huh?"
"Y-Yeah, Sirius, t-this is-!"
"Something that can absolutely not leave the Familia, isn't that right Mother Astraea?"
I then look up to see Mother Astraea with her rare serious expression, staring hard at the status sheet before meeting my gaze.
"Absolutely. We will tell the rest of the Familia about this tonight, but until then it does not leave this room, understood?"
We all return a nod to indicate our acceptance.
"I-Is there something wrong?"
I bend down to look up at her, finding the correct words to explain the situation.
"No, Haru- can I call you Haru?"
Receiving a light nod and a smile, I then continue.
"Ok, Haru. You have an amazing magic, a special magic that would make a lot of people want you, many of them being bad people. While we would still protect you from them, it would be incredibly dangerous. Do you understand?"
I receive another nod, with a slightly worried expression.
"So for now, only the people in our Familia will know of this magic. Once we get stronger as a Familia and you learn how to protect yourself, then we can show off your amazing magic. But until then, you have to promise us that you won't tell anyone or use it without our permission, ok?"
"Y-Yes, I understand."
"Good girl."
I stand up and give her a head pat for being, as I said, a good girl.
Her eyes squinting and her tail wagging, I slowly start to get lost in the feeling of giving her head pats, lightly scratching her insanely fluffy ears every so often.
I quickly remove my hand after noticing my trance-like state, leaving Haru to frown slightly.
Those ears, that face.
Dangerous. Very dangerous.
Turning back to the girls, I see they all have warm smiles on their faces, particularly Mother Astraea is looking at me with pride.
I also notice that Ryuu has a blush forming on her cheeks.
What are you thinking about Ryuu?
Astraea then breaks the silence.
"Well, how about me and Kaguya here take you up to your room, ok Haruhime?"
The rest of the night passes quickly, with Haru getting settled into her room, the rest of the Familia learning of their newest member, sharing similar states of shock at her magic, and then the promise to not share said magic.
After I had finished my nightly sword training, I was called into the office where I was met by Mother Astraea, Kaguya, Alise, Lyra, and Ryuu.
There we discussed the plan for Haru, essentially boiling down to training her to defend herself and allowing her into the dungeon if she wishes.
Kaguya would be in charge of her training as she was with me, doing the same regime of learning basic combat, what weapon fits best, and then training with said weapon.
She would use her magic once after every training session to grow her magic stat and get her practice with it.
After all, if her magic ever came out, we'd need that level boost to fight off anyone trying to take her.
Overall, quite an exciting day for my first city patrol.
As pleasant as it was to save such a nice girl like Haru, I hope the next few days aren't as eventful.
----- 3 Days Later -----
After getting up, washing, dressing, and eating, I began making my way toward Babel early in the morning.
It has been a week since making my armour order, and I doubt that Dvalin is the type of guy to say unnecessary things, so here I am, ready to get my new armour and return to exploring the dungeon.
As nice as the past three days have been, patrolling, training, socializing, and spending time on my hobbies, I have been longing for the thrill, excitement, and growth that comes from the dungeon.
On another note, after Haru's first night with us, she was thrown into training the next day.
From what Kaguya has said, although her progress is nothing like mine, she can be considered to be talented in combat.
Haru also warmed up to the Familia quickly, just as we all warmed up to her.
Such a nice, cute, and pure girl.
It would be worrisome if anyone hated her, hell even Kaguya was showing big sister vibes!
Eventually reaching the correct floor of Babel, I greet the receptionist, although it's a different girl from last time.
"Hello, I'm here to pick up an order from Dvalin."
"I see, Familia?"
"Astraea Familia."
"Alright, follow me."
She then leads me to Dvalin's forge, knocking on the door before returning to her desk.
Instead of having to wait like last time, the door opens almost as soon as the receptionist leaves.
"Welcome back kid, it's done. Good on ya for coming so early, lots of folks wait until the afternoon, making me sit around here."
He then walks back into the forge and picks up what I presume to be my new armour.
"This thing is quite a beauty, even by my standards, it qualifies as a first-class armour. The plating is made with mithril to allow for your enchantment to flow freely while also providing good protection. The padding is made from a Blue Crab shell wrapped in leather to distribute the force, and finally Minotaur skin as the base to now impede movement while also being cut-resistant. The whole thing is enchanted with a simple temperature regulating spell, so while you aren't freeze or fire resistant, it'll warm you up or cool you down when you need."
Putting on the armour while listening to his explanation, I'm amazed by how well it fits, it feels like I'm wearing nothing with how comfortable it is.
"It's amazing, good work."
"Yep, while the protection doesn't match up to other first-class armours, the flexibility and lightness more than make up for it. You can also upgrade it later once you get better, richer, and able to bring me some materials from the deeper floors."
"I understand, thank you, Dvalin. Does it have a name like Alise and Ryuu's?"
"Yep, her name is Stellar Spirit Liberation Armour."
"O-oh."
Thank god that he only names armours and not aliases.
"Anyways, thanks again for the great work. Here's the rest of the payment."
I then hand him over the rest of the payment.
"Good, if you need any adjustments you know where to find me. Have a good one."
I decided to take my leave and started towards home, picking up a belt that fits with my armour with my remaining valis.
Passing a few looks, likely recognizing me as the new level-up record holder, I eventually found myself back at the Stardust Garden.
Noticing two presences on the training grounds, I decide to make a quick detour to see how Haru is doing.
"Do you think your enemy is just going to fucking wait for you to get ready? Again!"
"Yes, Sensei!"
"Less talking, more running, scum!"
Know what? I'm just gonna let them do their own thing.
Entering the common room, I'm greeted by the pleasant sight of Mother Astraea carefully combing Ryuu's hair while a few of the girls are doing their own thing.
I take a moment to bask in the touching scene before, healing my soul that had been damaged by what had happened on the training ground.
"Sirius, you're back already."
"Yes, Mother Astraea. I got my armour, he said that it's a first-class set of armour."
This causes a few glances from the girls to head my way.
Could they be jealous?
Answering a few of their questions on how it feels, what it's made of, and what it does, the dreaded question eventually comes up.
"So what's the piece's name? If it's a first-class armour he definitely named it."
Lowering my head in slight embarrassment, I decided to just get this over with.
"S-Stellar Spirit Liberation Armour."
A collection of laughs resounds around the room, causing me to become even more embarrassed.
Why did he choose such a damn cringy name?
Just call it something simple! Please!
"Ahh, don't worry Sirius, he names all his first-class armours like that. You should hear Ryuu's! What was it again? Ah! Star Limit Stellar Dress! That was it. So don't feel too bad, you're not gonna be saying its name unless you're talking to Dvalin about it anyways."
"I-I guess, thanks, Alise."
"No problem! So? You gonna get back to the dungeon?"
"Yeah. I have to get back into it, practice with this new armour, and finally try using my new strength in combat."
"Makes sense. All right, have fun but don't die! And no new floors until you feel one hundred percent."
"I'll be sure, I'm always careful. I'll see you all tonight."
Parting with the girls, I then head upstairs to my room.
Fastening my sword, potions, spare dagger, and notepad to my belt.
I then don my new bag, mostly empty to fit dungeon loot, but containing food, water, and first aid equipment.
Doing a few spins and kicks to make sure everything fits and is fastened correctly, I then make my way toward Babel, eager to get back to the dungeon and regain my lost wealth.