Prytaneum
New Day
I entered the Pantheon about an hour after I left Miach's place, taking a quick stroll to collect the things Miach had recommended. It had taken awhile, mostly because I just didn't know my way around the city very well yet and couldn't exactly read signs, but I'd managed eventually.
Frankly, I thought Miach's advice had been pretty good. It wouldn't keep me out of trouble, of course—Eina was going to be mad the moment I told her what I'd done no matter what I did—but hopefully it'd give me a chance to explain myself or help her calm down a little bit. That was probably a long shot, but hope springs eternal, I guess. Either way, Eina probably deserved something for having to put up with me.
I paused as I entered the lobby, taking a minute to look around. I spotted Eina fairly quickly, but still hesitated for a moment. I wasn't going to lie and say I didn't think about delaying things; I could exchange my magic stones and such first, maybe buy myself a few more minutes. But…no. Better to get this over with.
"Hello, Eina," I greeted with a smile as I approaching, lifting the hand I was carrying a bag in to wave.
Eina glanced up from her work, raising an eyebrow.
"Percy," She noted, sounding almost surprised. "You're in here late."
"Ah…yeah," I answered, trying not to sound embarrassed. "I kind of slept the day away."
Eina sighed, but at the same time seemed somewhat relieved.
"You should be more careful," She said. "As a new adventurer, time is precious. If you didn't want to go to the Dungeon, you should at least have come here to continue your lessons."
I'd prefer the Dungeon, I thought, and then felt a little bad because it was true. She was just trying to help me, I knew that, but…
"Actually, about that," I began before pausing and looking at all the other people in the room. Probably best to avoid making a scene. "Can I, uh…speak to you for a minute? In private?"
Eina raised an eyebrow at me but then nodded.
"Certainly," She said. "Just give me a moment to finish this, okay?"
"Sure," I said, watching her finish writing something down. Whatever it was, they were just scribbles to me, but she completely them fairly quickly.
"Right this way," Eina told me, nodding her head towards the same doorway as before and I followed her to one of the private rooms. "What do you have on your mind?"
"First of all," I said as she closed the door, raising the bag I was holding. "I wanted to give this to you."
"Hm?" Eina asked, blinking as she turned back towards me, her eyes tracking from me to the bag. "What's this?"
"A thank you and an apology," I said. "I know I'm not an easy student to teach, but I really appreciate your help. I didn't tell you this, but…not a lot of teachers gave me that kind of chance."
Eina looked away, abruptly seeming embarrassed.
"It's nothing," She said. "I'm your advisor, after all."
"It's not nothing," I told her seriously. "What you said helped me a lot. Really."
"Well," Eina said, brushing her hair back behind an ear. "If so, I'm glad to have helped. Still, you don't need to thank me."
"Well, I am," I replied. "So…please?"
She sighed, but didn't seem upset as she took the bag and looked inside. As she did, her eyes widened.
"This is…Alv Pure Water?" She seemed to wonder to herself.
"A friend of mine recommended it to me," I said. Miach had said it was the non-alcoholic drink of choice among elves. I wasn't certain why it was special, but it did have a nice feel to it. "Do you like it?"
"It's not really a question of whether or not I like it, but…" Eina trailed off as she looked at the bottle before shaking her head as if to clear it. "Wasn't this expensive? It's not cheap to transport things all the way from the Alv Mountains. You shouldn't waste your money on such things when you're Familia's just getting started."
"Do you like it?" I repeated.
"I…" Eina began before sighing and giving me a rueful smile. "Well, it has been awhile, I suppose."
"Then it's hardly a waste," I said. "I had a little extra money after I finished stocking up on potions. Miach—that's my friend—helped me out a lot. So I figured it was fine. It's out of my personal funds, not my Familia's."
"Well," Eina mused, still holding the bottle, which honestly looked more like it should have been carrying wine than water. "In that case, I suppose it's okay. Just don't make a habit of it, okay?"
"I'll try not to," I replied, not mentioning that it would depend on how much trouble it got me out of.
"See that you don't," She answered sternly, but she was smiling. "Well, it's still early, but I suppose that starting a Familia is worthy of celebration. I get off work soon; if you'd like, I'll treat you to dinner."
I laughed and smiled at her before shaking my head.
"I don't really mind, but…" I paused and hummed to myself. "Well, I'm pretty sure you'd change your mind after I make you mad. Still, I'm glad you like it."
All at once, Eina's good mood evaporated. She frowned, abruptly looking up from the water as if she'd forgotten it existed and piercing me with a sharp look.
"…What did you do?"
"Now, I know you're gonna be mad," I said. "But hear me out, okay?"
"What," She said before pausing to take a slow breath. "Did you do?"
"And I want you to know—it's not as bad as it sounds," I assured.
"I," She replied, repeating the process of taking a slow breath. "Want to know what you did."
"So after we finished talking yesterday, I went on a walk," I began my story. "I told you I'm new to Orario, right? I don't know where anything is; I keep getting lost. So I was trying to get a feel for the place, right? When all of a sudden, I happen to find myself on the sixth floor."
Eina's expression darkened even further.
"The sixth floor," She repeated. "As in, the sixth floor of the Dungeon. As in, the place I told you not to go."
I opened my mouth, closed it when I realized I probably shouldn't say what came to mind, nodded, and then said it anyway.
"And then the seventh floor," I admitted.
Eina clenched her teeth, carefully putting the water bottle on the table before turning away from me. Her shoulders shook for a moment and I heard her murmur something before her voice broke off in a growl—but when she turned back towards me, her expression was calm.
Too calm.
"And did you happen to encounter any monsters on the sixth and seventh floor?" She asked. Or maybe 'inquired' was a better word, because it made me think of the Inquisition. Eina inquired.
"Uh," I drew out the word, thinking. "Well, various things happened. The details really aren't important."
"Is that so," She said. With extreme prejudice. "Let me ask another question, then—why did you sleep all day?"
"I, um," I stopped and just sort of gave in. "I was out all night. I didn't get back until this morning."
"And where's your armor, Percy?" She inquired again. "You have your dagger and nothing else."
"I, uh," I paused and shrugged embarrassedly. "I broke it. Turns out, it's not meant for the seventh floor."
"Really?" She asked. "How surprising. You know what else isn't meant for the seventh floor?"
I remained silent. She was building up steam now, I could tell.
"What's wrong with you!?" She demanded. "Did nothing I said get through that thick head of yours!? First the fifth and now the seventh!? And on your second day no less—do you have a death wish!? For a moment, I thought you understood that the Dungeon was dangerous, but no, clear you have no idea. Well, I'll fix that right here and now!"
I cringed slightly as she raised her voice, reminding me of…well, a lot of people I knew, really.
But I didn't back down.
"Eina, wait," I said, shrugging off my backpack and opening it as I had for Miach. "Look! I didn't get a chance to exchange these this morning, but…I picked up a lot of drop items, see? And magic stones, too! I did fine, right?"
"Fine?" She growled, but glanced down into the backpack at me urging. Surprisingly, it didn't burst into flames. I saw her purse her lips as she counted the items and looked at the bags of magic stones I'd gathered. "…How did you get this many Killer Ant Mandibles? And this many magic stones…did you run into a swarm of Killer Ants?"
It wasn't just Ants, I thought of saying. Then I thought better and went back to staying silent.
"You went down to the seventh floor in the middle of the night," She voice starting small but growing with every word. "Lost your armor. And got into a fight. With a swarm. Of Killer. Ants. Is that what you're telling me, Percy?"
I looked her for a moment and then sighed to myself.
Miach's advice had been good and I'd have to thank him for it in the morning, but…I think this situation was pretty much unsalvageable from the beginning.
"Yeah," I said. "I'm…I'm sorry."
Her hands shook.
"You know, this is obviously a bad time. You're probably busy, tired, about to finish up work," I said. "And you know, I still need to speak to Hestia and do some stuff. Maybe I should just come back later?"
By way of reply, she came over the table. I don't mean 'she walked around the table.' I mean, Eina literally crawled over the table and slammed her hands down in front of me.
"Or I could stay for a while," I mused. "They could probably just bury me here."