"So, what is the reason you specifically were looking for me?" Akira asked Ais after she had eaten her fill.
"I want the secret of your rank up."
Ais's words shocked the people at the table. They turned to look at him as if he had blabbed his rank up to the world.
Akira was sure they were absolutely wrong. "Hey-hey, it's not what you think. Sword Princess, can you explain more about what you mean by 'secret'? I'm sure you know what the requirement for a rank up is."
"Your fight against the minotaur," Ais replied, making the misunderstanding worse.
"Ah, that's what you're talking about." Akira understood the situation. "That wasn't a rank up, but a buff given by a magic item. Too bad it fell into the hole with me and crashed directly on the seventeenth floor. And you know what happens to things that fall from that height."
Ais was let down. "Finn said you have many magic items. Do you have anything that can make me stronger?"
"Well, I don't like that type of stuff, so I don't have any on me," Akira replied, ending the chat with her.
Ais thanked him for the food and left, failing her mission. The only consolation was that her stomach was full.
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Akira explained to them about his first dungeon dive and how yesterday was the first time he updated his falna—so he became Level 2 just yesterday.
"You have it on you, right?" Syr asked.
"What?"
"The item that you used in the dungeon."
"What are you talking about? Akira-kun already told you it was destroyed," Hestia defended, feeling that this woman was the most dangerous.
"No, Akira-san lied." Akira had expected the Goddess of War to see through it, but not Ryuu to catch on too.
"Yes, I lied." Since Ryuu had said it, he wouldn't argue.
"Impossible, I didn't detect any lie." Hestia was shocked.
"My goddess is such a simpleton. That is why I like her the most." Akira rubbed her cheeks.
Hestia pushed his hands away and puffed her cheeks. "Akira-kun, you can't make fun of your goddess."
"Okay, okay, sorry, my goddess. I won't call you the word 'simpleton' in the future. As a sign of my apology—a dessert from my hometown." Akira placed an ice cream sundae in front of her.
"Don't think this will make me forgive you." Hestia took a spoonful of the sugary goodness, and her anger melted away.
"And that is how you fool a god's lie detector. I promised not to call her a simpleton, but words like foolish and gullible are still valid," Akira said.
"You… You… Akira-kun, you are making fun of me. I am very angry now." Hestia pointed at him angrily.
"Hestia-sama, that was just a joke between family members. It's said that when people make fun of each other, they get closer," Akira pointed out.
Hestia thought about it, her face supported a grin and pointing at him. "Everyone, Akira proposed to his sensei ten times and has been rejected ten times."
Feeling everyone's gaze—especially Ryuu's—Akira went on the defensive.
"Wooo, low blow, Hestia-sama. Before you all think I'm trash for proposing to more women while having a harem—harem is not the reason I got rejected. So that's that…"
"Wow, tell us more about her," Syr asked, her gaze intensifying on him.
He looked around. Everybody was staring at him, eager for his answer.
'Not Ryuu, too.' Akira thought. Knowing women, he knew he wasn't getting out without giving them info.
"Well, her name is Scáthach. She is queen of a small kingdom. She taught me spearmanship and an ancient magic called runes. She is just like an elder sister next door when not training, but a devil incarnate when she is. She says she doesn't like getting involved in fights, but always makes one excuse or another to get into one to satisfy her warlust. She is very old—but don't tell her that, she gets really mad. One time I asked why she cares about her people, and she said, 'I'm better than them, of course I should help them.'..." Akira unconsciously smiled while describing her. Looking at him, they could feel Akira deeply loved her.
"Why did you get rejected?" Syr felt Akira knew the reason.
"I broke a promise. No, that's not the right word. I had the ability to grant her wish, but due to my selfishness I wouldn't grant it." Akira's eyes were filled with sadness. "After I told her that, she threw me out of her castle, and we have never spoken since then."
Seeing the mood drop, he forced a smile. "Don't worry about it, I'm sure I'll get a yes. After all, I am her most handsome disciple."
With that, it was time for them to get back to work, while Akira thanked them again and left with Hestia in tow.
"Come again, Aniki. Bring some desserts next time, nya," Anya shouted as he was leaving.
"I understand, Ototo." Akira waved them goodbye.
"I don't know, but I couldn't help but feel a little sad for Akira. Do you think he will marry his sensei?" Syr asked Ryuu.
"I don't know. Akira-san was proficient in all weapons, but when he used his spear I could feel his love and devotion to its mastery. I'm sure his sensei also knows this, but I'm not sure if it's enough to overcome her obsession," Ryuu replied.
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Back at their church, Hestia got ready for her job while her jobless family member worked on completing the manga.
'I should think about how to print this. Now that I have Mystery, I can make a printing press, but I might have to reverse-engineer for the Mystery to take effect,' he thought while working on the second chapter.
In the evening, Hestia returned from work to find two chapters of [Dungeon Meshi] on the table as Akira prepared dinner.
"Hestia-sama, can you read them and tell me what you think?" Akira wanted to know if people would find it enjoyable—and, most importantly, who he was offending.
After a few laughs and giggles, Hestia finished reading. She had a few worries. "First, this revive system in the dungeon—it isn't possible in the real dungeon. I bet someone will complain that it's spreading false information."
"I'll add a front page that says it's purely fictitious," Akira suggested.
Hestia nodded. "That might work. Then you have this: why are elves' ears so long? And why do dwarves look like this?"
"Well, that's intentional. There will be a lot of bad things about different races, so it's made so different that no one would be able to relate themselves to the characters," Akira explained.
"That's true, elves can be stuck-up." Hestia thought about it. "So how are you going to make more copies? Do you have a magic item?"
"No, but with Mystery I'm sure I can make something to help with that." Akira placed the food on the table. "Now let's eat and leave the remaining work to the Akira of tomorrow."
During dinner, Hestia asked about his previous world. She told him he should make a manga about that.
"Simple. My story is full of selfishness and greed. I'm sure nobody would want to read that. And more importantly, I'm not sure I'd be able to flesh out my opponents, as their powers would require a whole manga to be explained."
Still, Akira considered publishing the original [Naruto] manga. He thought of adding some easter eggs and polishing the fights to make it more interesting.
After watching six episodes of [Umamusume: Pretty Derby], they went to sleep.
'Another calm day. I hope tomorrow will be like this too.' Akira couldn't wait for the morning to work on his [Mystery] ability.
-----------------------------------
NEXT MORNING
The universe heard his thoughts and laughed at them.
Thunder!!!
Looking outside the church, he saw dark clouds covering the sky. The flashes of lightning lit up the sky, and the howling winds made him cover his eyes.
'At least it's not raining,' Akira thought.
Pitter! Patter!
The light rain turned into a full downpour. Seeing the rain travel horizontally due to the wind, Akira closed the gates to the church.
'It couldn't be worse.'
Tring Tring
Akira knew this tune—it was the alarm tone of Natsuki Subaru when he fought the White Whale. He took out his smartphone, which came with the chat group. He had received a message.
'What type of shitty phone rings with an alarm tune for a message?' Opening it, he knew things were going to get worse.
The message read:
[Dear Akira-kun,
I am sure you must be enjoying your vacation, but I have sad news—your holiday is over. Now get back to work my slav-Cough!--hero. A new incursion will happen in your world. I am sending you the approx. location. As always, you should either kill it, defeat it, or sacrifice it using a ritual to send it back to its own world. The ritual procedure is written in the PDF attached.
See you soon,
Your Lovely Goddess,
Goddess of Reincarnation.
Name: &#&(@^#]
..........................
(A/N: Now slice-of-life is over it's action time.)