I awoke to the sound of Great Sage in my ear? Wait ear? Where exactly am I hearing Great Sage from? My mind? My soul?
Meh who cares, the point was that I was awake and it was time to go back dungeon crawling. My body felt surprisingly good despite yesterday's extensive fighting, the high potion had done its job well or maybe it was just the effect of Falna.
I stretched, working out the kinks from sleeping on the relatively soft mattress. It was still strange, waking up in this child's body, but I was getting used to it. The anticipation of another day in the dungeon filled me with something that might have been excitement.
I opened my door just in time to meet the gaze of the 14-year-old girl that stood beside our familia captain yesterday. She was leaning against the wall opposite my room.
She had short slate blue hair and cerulean eyes that seemed to hold an intensity beyond her years. She wore a pure blue top over a kind of short dress that was black in the center and dark gray on the sides, as well as a pair of black gloves that reached above the elbow. The outfit looked both pretty stylish.
She wore two light blue straps around her waist and a smaller one with which she held a piece of pure blue cloth that she carried on her side. She also wore a pair of metal and leather shoes, with the right one reaching higher than the other, and a pair of black stockings that reached above the knee.
[Level 3 detected]
[Detailed analysis:]
[Strength: G 205]
[Endurance: G 177]
[Dexterity: E 482]
[Agility: F 357]
[Magic: D 529]
[Abnormal Resistance: H]
[Healing: I]
Damn, she was pretty strong. Those stats were impressive for someone her age, especially the magic stat. If she were any other level 3 they would probably be wanting to level up to level four soon, but it didn't really feel like she was that type of person.
Her eyes lit up when she saw me, a bright smile spreading across her face.
Oh no. Don't tell me she wants to talk with me?
[It appears so]
Great Sage said in my mind even though I hadn't asked it.
"Good morning!" she said cheerfully, now standing fully in front of me. She was pretty short even though she was still a full head and a half taller than me, plights of an 8-year-old, I guess.
"Good morning, uhm." I paused, realizing I hadn't caught her name yesterday night.
"My name's Adi," she said, her smile widening. "Adi Varma. I'm a healer and the little sis of Shakti."
"Well then, good morning Adi, I'm Atreus." I tried to keep my voice neutral, but something about her energy was making me feel slightly uncomfortable. It was too... bright.
"Yeah, Raza told us about you," she said, bouncing slightly on her toes. "Said you had a great skill too. I'm sure you'll be a great holder of justice in the future, fighting alongside us against the forces of evil!" Her voice took on an almost theatrical quality, like she was reciting lines from some heroic epic.
"Though how old are you exactly?" she asked, tilting her head to the side like a curious puppy.
"I'm eight."
She nodded enthusiastically, as if this was the most fascinating piece of information she'd heard all morning and given how early it was, it's very likely to have been.
We fell into silence, but she continued staring intently at me, those cerulean eyes studying my face with an intensity that was frankly unnerving.
Her hands then reached out toward my face, which made me recoil instinctively.
She looked disappointed, her expression falling like a deflated balloon.
"Can I pinch your cheeks?" she asked with puppy dog eyes, clasping her hands together in front of her chest.
THE FUCK!!
My mental voice probably reached a pitch that would have shattered glass if it had been audible. What kind of person just asks to pinch a stranger's cheeks? Even if I was technically a child, this was bizarre behavior.
"No," I replied firmly. "What kind of question even is that?"
"But... but they are so chubby," she said, her voice taking on a whining quality. "And you look so serious all the time! I bet if I pinched them, you'd make the cutest expression!"
This girl was clearly not operating on the same wavelength as normal people.
"Still no," I said, pushing past her while muttering under my breath. "Is she mentally handicapped?"
I could hear her gasp behind me, but I didn't turn around. The last thing I needed was to get involved with someone who seemed to think I was some kind of living doll.
I walked down the corridors, the multitude statues of Ganesha, almost following me with their gazes. I still found the familia's aesthetic choices questionable, but I was getting used to it. At least it was memorable.
I passed by the dining hall and caught the scent of fresh bread and what might have been bacon. My stomach rumbled, I had eaten a lot yesterday night when I came to I am Ganesha.
'I should probably grab something.'
But as I approached the dining hall, I realized I didn't have any money. Raza had taken my earnings from yesterday along with my weapons. I'd have to rely on whatever meal plan came with familia membership.
Inside the dining hall, several familia members were seated at long wooden tables, eating and chatting quietly. The room was decorated with, surprise, surprise, wouldn't you have guessed, more elephant motifs, though these seemed to be carved into the walls rather than standing as separate statues.
I grabbed a plate and loaded it with bread, what appeared to be scrambled eggs, and some kind of meat that might have been sausage.
I found an empty table and sat down, eating in silence while observing the other familia members. They seemed to be a diverse group humans, amazons, elves, dwarves, and a few other races I couldn't immediately identify. The atmosphere was pretty relaxed all things considered.
"Mind if I sit?"
I looked up to see Adi standing beside my table, holding her own plate of food. She'd apparently decided to follow me. I shrugged my shoulders, while I wolfed down the last of my eggs, before her ass could even touch the bench. I wasn't going to spend a minute with someone who not a second ago wanted to pinch my cheeks
"I'm done, have to go the labyrinth."
With that I rose from my bench and began walking away, though I was able to hear Adi muttering something under her breath. I couldn't tell exactly what it was so I asked Great Sage.
'What did she say?"
[She said: Raza was right, he really is a little sociopath]
I dismissed those words, making my way to the main entrance.
There, waiting with her halberd strapped to her back and staff in hand, was Raza. She looked a bit tired, with bags under her eyes that matched my own perpetual dark circles.
She smiled as she saw me approach, though it seemed more forced than usual.
"You good?" I asked, noting her obvious fatigue.
She waved her hand dismissively, releasing a yawn that seemed to come from her toes.
"Perfectly fine, just a bit tired. How about you? Ready for another day of profitable monster murder?"
"I was fine, just had a weird encounter with that Adi girl."
"Weirder than you already are?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Look who's talking."
"What's that supposed to mean, huh, you little sociopath?"
"I'm not a sociopath and don't go around saying that I am for Ganesha's sake, I don't want that kind of rumor following me along," I protested, though with less conviction than usual.
"Whatever you say, little sociopath," she said as she waddled out of the house with me following behind her.
We walked across the streets of Orario, which were mostly empty, which made sense given what time it was.
"So what happened yesterday?" I asked as we made our way toward the dungeon. "You said you were gonna explain this whole Evilus thing."
She sighed, running a hand through her red hair. "There isn't much more I need to explain to you as you are now, but they attacked a factory and stole some stuff."
"What kind of stuff?"
"Stuff which you have no business knowing," she said, giving me a look that suggested I shouldn't push the topic further. "But until you're level 2, try to go out as little as possible when I'm not with you, and everything will be fine."
I looked at her as she yawned again, her exhaustion clearly affecting her more than she wanted to admit.
"Sure I won't go out alone, but how about for today you just try not to fall asleep while I'm fighting? Imagine if that were to happe, level 4 dead because she fell asleep and a pack of kobolds found her."
Then two voices spoke the same exact thing at the same exact time:
[A level 4's skin should be impenetrable by goblins or kobolds.]
"A level 4's skin should be impenetrable by goblins or kobolds."
With those final words, we were standing once more in front of the dungeon.
A/N: Chapters are gonna slow down now, since I don't have any more stacked, expect one a day, you will get an extra chap if we reach 300 powerstones though soooo....