Prologue: Aschente!
The paperwork was finally complete.
The bespectacled blonde goddess glanced once more at the stamped document before her, adjusting her glasses with a delicate push.
"Name: Tet. Domain: Games, Play, and Rules."
She pushed the paper to her interlocutor, and Tet accepted it, a smile tugging at his lips as he looked down at the final signature line.
"I'll miss this place, Clio," Tet remarked with a boyish smile, his mismatched eyes perusing the document.
The Muse of History raised her eyes from the other documents, her delicate brow arching ever so slightly. "Miss it?" she repeated, voice dry, as if amused by the thought. "Considering the number of pranks you've played on half of Tenkai, you'll be the only one who does."
Tet chuckled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. "Well, I did leave things more interesting, didn't I?"
Clio gave him a flat stare, the sort that only a goddess who had experienced millennia of divine bureaucracy could muster. Then, after a moment, she allowed herself the smallest smile. "Given your personality and your domains… I'm surprised you weren't one of the first to descend."
Tet blinked at her words, tilting his head in thoughtful confusion. "…Huh." He tapped the table with the feathered pen, his golden eyes full of that familiar, playful curiosity. "You might be right. But back then, I just felt, it wasn't time. The interesting times hadn't started yet."
Clio's other brow rose in challenge, the historian unimpressed with the God of Play's intuition. "Prophecy and Foresight are not your domains, Tet. And you're wrong if you think the first descent wasn't interesting. The races of those days—without Falna—still bore strength enough to rival today's Level seven and eight adventurers."
Tet considered her words, then let out a sheepish laugh, scratching the back of his head. "I guess you're right. Still… my gut says now is the time. Something's different."
Clio gave him a look of exasperation and pity, "Don't tell me you're like one of those fools who think they can match Yu Huang, Nuwa, Hera, Zeus, and the other high rank Familias?"
"I-If i-it's Tet, he can do it!"
The sudden voice from behind made the God of Play yelp in fright. He turned, and when he saw who it was, he released a sigh of relief. A petite goddess with bright blue hair spilling over her hoodie, her skirt the same shade as her hair, eyes shining like the morning sky.
A brilliant smile curled up Tet's lips, "Thanks for the vote of confidence, Shion."
The Goddess of Misfortune flushed crimson, fidgeting with the hem of her sleeves as she stared dazedly at him.
A pointed cough from behind them broke the moment.
Clio stared at the God of Rules judgementally as her eyes flicked between him and Shion, wondering if he took advantage of her.
Tet cleared his throat awkwardly. "Ah, right. Clio, this is Shion. Shion, Clio."
"N-Nice t-to meet you," Shion stammered, shuffling closer to Tet.
"Likewise," Clio greeted with a short nod, her eyes narrowing the next instant. "But are you sure you want to descend? Your domains are… Poverty and Misfortune, no?" Her question made the goddess in question flinch.
The Muse of History continued, "There's a reason gods of such domains rarely descend. Even with Arcanum sealed, fragments of a God's nature bleed through. Beauty gods cannot conceal their charms. Death gods always see souls. Wine and blacksmith gods retain their hands. It is the same for luck and misfortune. With their Arcanum's sealed, some Gods have difficulty controlling the passive effects of their Domain, giving them unfair advantages or causing collateral damage. It is why luck gods are banned from descending unless they wear the equalizing bracelet."
Tet's brow furrowed at her first, but when he heard the complete explanation, his expression brightened. "Then it's fine, right? Shion can use the bracelet to cancel out her passive bad luck. Problem solved."
The blonde goddess reached into a drawer. She pulled out a plain white bracelet and set it down.
The Goddess of Misfortune's fingers brushed the bracelet—
"Right. If you take it off, its self-destructive function will activate, so you'll be fatally injured enough for your Arcanum to unravel and send you back."
—Shion's hand snapped back as if burnt, letting out an "Eeep!" in fright, and hiding behind Tet.
A chuckle left Tet's lips, making bluenette pout in indignation at his reaction. "Sorry~ Sorry~" He picked it up from the table, turning it over with curiosity, "This is mainly for the fortune gods, hm~?"
Clio nodded wordlessly.
Tet tilted his head thoughtfully, "And nothing for Poverty?"
The bespectacled Goddess shook her head, "Poverty is not fortune. It offers no game-breaking advantage, rather the opposite. Few gods hold such a domain at all."
Tet frowned, he shot a glance at Clio whose attention went back on the documents, and an idea creeped into his mind. But before he could act on it, a timid tug at his sleeve drew his attention.
"Shion?" His mismatched eyes worriedly looked at his long time best friend whose hands were balled into fists. He opened his mouth to speak but—
With sudden courage, she stepped forward, hugging him tightly.
"I-I don't care if I'm poor, Tet. A-As long as I-I'm with you…" Shion face flushed towards the end, her brain appeared to have short-circuited at the critical moment.
Still, the look of surprise and realisation on Tet's face indicated that it was sufficient to convey her intent.
Behind them, Clio's eyes twitched. "…Can you two move along? Some of us still have work."
"You tell 'em, Clio! While we're drowning in paperwork, they get to flirt in broad daylight!" That complaint came from the next desk over, where an Egyptian goddess—Seshat, Goddess of Wisdom, Knowledge, and Writing—scribbled furiously over her scrolls.
"Peach blossoms blooming; petals illuminating. As the bride, blushing she will bring her home thriving," sang a man in crimson Taoist robes, his brush gliding over paper. Wenchang Wang, God of Culture and Literature, smiled serenely as he looked over at Tet and Shion.
"Congratulations, Shion." Tenjin, the aged Japanese god of scholarship, stroked his white beard as he gave them a grandfatherly smile.
Before more voices could rise, Shion seized Tet's sleeve and all but dragged him away from the registry, making for Janus, the gatekeeper to Gekai.
"Thank you~!" "Thank you~!" Tet chuckled aloud, swinging his hat at his fellow Gods with a jovial smile. "Make sure to keep an ear open for the news in Gekai, the Tet Familia will flip the game board called Orario!"
"On this, I swear—
Aschente!"
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A/N: I know what you're thinking…another one?! And the answer is yes. The muse is truly evil, steering me away from my main fic.
Anyway, on to the idea of this snippet. I just had a random thought of how I would do a God SI in DanMachi and considered fictional gods who were interesting to use and I came across Tet. Also if you couldn't tell, he didn't have his Earth memories, but is influenced by his soul (the part about Zeus and Hera era being interesting times). That'll change next chapter, the instant he crash lands jogging some memories.
AU too, some new familias like Nuwa and Yu Huang (Jade Emperor). Always wondered why we didn't have a country for Chinese Mythology like Far East for Japanese.