Danmachi - Eldritch Apostle

I quickly made my way towards the source of the clashing weapons. At first, I thought it was most likely a clash between families, but my thoughts betrayed me.

"Hurry up, you two, we're starting to cause a lot of commotion here," a manly voice of a dwarf spoke in the middle of the clash.

It was Gareth, a level 6 executive of the Loki Familia in all his might. A powerful dwarf who's also known as a pretty chill dude despite his high level. I don't know much about him, only that he's a father figure inside Loki Familia.

The two figures clashing ahead of me were Tiona and Ais. Tiona used her large double-edged sword named Urga, while Ais battled with her usual light sword.

I could only see the blurs as they clashed, which proved that I was leagues below them. Despite my obvious cheats, I still had much more to go before I could become their match. Even my Hastur's Cloak ability wouldn't do jack shit against these monsters.

The clash continued as Tiona tried to pressure Ais, not allowing her to counterattack. Tiona jumped at the blonde doll girl and swung her heavy double-edged sword onto Ais's light sword.

The blonde quickly blocked it and successfully attempted to counterattack, resulting in Tiona getting kicked into the air.

If my memory serves me right, then Ais must be a level 5 while the sisters are level 4, which means that Tiona is weaker than Ais.

"That's enough, girls, for today. We don't want to cause any more commotion before someone reports us to the guild for whatever reason," the dwarf man named Gareth spoke as he scratched his long beard.

The two girls nodded, and then they noticed me. Our eyes met yet again, and Tiona suddenly got very excited.

"OH, IT'S YOU!" she sprinted towards me and suddenly stopped one meter in front of me. I could swear that I saw her eyes sparkle the moment her eyes directly gazed into mine.

"I fail to see the reason why I am so interesting to you. I am just a mere low-level adventurer without a name." I wanted to kill Tiona's interest by introducing myself as some average Joe, and that didn't work well.

"Don't lie to me now. I've seen your cool glowing ability that made you look like some sort of shiny hero ready to defeat the evil guy! Listen, why don't we go somewhere to learn more about each other more privately?"

Tiona smirked at her words while Ais and Gareth just stared at us like deer in headlights. Gareth was most likely thinking, who the fuck am I.

I sighed, thinking about what my response should be, but thankfully the higher executive saved me from my fate. Gareth faked a cough and approached us along with Ais, who too was staring at me for some reason.

"Well, sorry to disturb you two, but Tiona, may you tell me who this young lad is? Surely he mustn't be your boyfriend?" Gareth raised an eyebrow at that last sentence, teasing Tiona but being generally curious at the same time.

Tiona blushed for a moment before her Amazoness genes got the better of her and she instantly gained confidence, unlike most young girls in this situation would.

"Don't you remember him, Gareth? He was the one with the glowing light around him back on the Goliath's floor during the expedition. I thought he'd be more in the mood to chat this time, unlike previously."

Tiona cheerily smiled while Gareth listened and nodded, "I see, I see... well, care to tell us your name, young man? It's not every day that Tiona takes a liking to someone this much, especially a stranger."

They were friendly, so I decided to play along too. Gareth was my favorite executive out of the trio that ruled over the familia. That was because he's chill and because I couldn't afford to become even more suspicious as of now.

"My name is Niall. Weirdly, you guys from the most popular and powerful familia take so much interest in me," my sentence made Tiona realize how odd her entire ordeal with me was for two strangers.

Tiona was one of my favorite girls back in the show, and I never could mean harm to her, but she could be annoying sometimes, especially that time in front of her entire familia.

I mean, I don't have anything much to hide since Hermes backed me up after my previous carnage, but the troublesome thing would be if they were to find out that I don't belong to any familia.

"So, young man, would you tell me to which familia you belong? You aren't in trouble or anything; I'm just curious." Gareth asked me as he held onto his long beard while the two girls focused on me.

I paused for a moment to think about the best course of action, and I decided to just say the truth and nothing else.

"I am not part of any familia as of now. I used to be, but I had to leave them to continue my journey towards Orario. I have yet to settle a bit in this city to conclude what familia is best for me."

Tiona's eyes sparkled upon hearing that I do not belong to any familia. She jumped with happiness before yelling.

"THAT IS NICE! You could join our familia and explore the dungeon along with me!" she was happy as ever while the other two stared at her like she was a fool.

"No, thanks. For now, I will just focus on going to the dungeon before making an important decision such as that. And... you never asked your superior if he's okay with that. Surely you couldn't just accept a stranger like that, could you?"

I looked toward Gareth, and he understood the assignment, "That is right, Tiona. It seems like Niall isn't interested in joining any familia right now. You have to respect other people's interests and not immediately jump at them like you just did before. Oh, and Niall, don't mind me if I ask what's with your eyes and their cat-like shape?"

The girls focused their eyes on mine and noticed it. Tiona seemed to be curious about my odd shape of eyes while Ais just tilted her head to the side.

"It's a weird mutation that I've been born with. Healers didn't know exactly why I was born with it, but they said that it isn't anything dangerous for my well-being."

My answer satisfied their hunger for knowledge, and Gareth nodded, "Well, it looks pretty darn cool if you ask me, hahaha! It was a pleasure to chat with you, young Niall, but I have to return these two to the manor, or my goddess will make a fuss about it, hahaha."

Gareth laughed and prepared to leave until Tiona approached closer to me. She was both sad and excited at the same time.

"It sucks that we have to depart now, but if you ever wish to do some sparring or go on a date, you can find me back in Twilight Manor! See ya!"

Tiona sprinted toward the upper floors, and both Gareth and Ais hurriedly followed her. It seemed like Gareth was used to Tiona's energy by now.

I watched their figures disappear into the distance until I made sure that I was completely alone, just me and the dungeon that was aiming to devour me whole.

"Well... that was something..." I spoke quietly and moved further into the deeper floors of the dungeon.