[Loki, Goddess of Trickery]
"Come'on, Aiz-tan! Walk faster! Walk faster!" Loki prodded Aiz verbally since trying to molest her precious Sword Princess into moving faster was a lost cause; the swelling and bruising the blonde had early in the day had just finally faded away. "We gotta go grab Tanya-chan and see if she Leveled Up or not!"
That got Aiz to perk up. She was just too cute!
The pair strode down the corridors of the Twilight Manor, and it was incredibly difficult to not contain her glee. The Emergency Meeting was something of a shit show, with various no-names trying to fling blame, but that fact of the matter was that no one was truly to blame for the events of the day. It wasn't like Orario was a united entity with a dedicated intelligence apparatus; no Divine trusted their fellows with managing such a thing, so for the most part it didn't exist.
With Astrea gone from the city, the majority of Orario's security fell to Ganesha and a handful of retirees looking to still contribute... and to be fair to Ganesha, it was mainly a self-imposed duty to begin with.
No one in the city outside of herself and Freya offered the elephant-masked "God of the People" any financial or material support, so the burden fell Ganesha himself to provide the Adventurers needed to police the city's gates, walls, and streets. However, Finn-kun was on top of it- though he was likely spurred to act by Tanya's proclamations of friendship with the City Guard- so the Loki familia would generously provide direct aid to the Ganesha familia in the form of coin and manpower until they recovered.
While it irked her to see some of her kiddies hard-earned valis get siphoned away to help with reconstruction efforts, she did know that her familia would be getting a huge reputation boost for it; if Finn-kun saw it as a net positive, then why would she argue? It wasn't like they wouldn't make back the coin lost within the week; hell, she might even get the City Administration to cut her property taxes for the year!
Oh yeah, saving two or three points would be more than enough!
"Huhu. Huhuhuhu. Ufufufufufufu!"
"Loki-sama, you are being gross." Her Aiz-tan complained as they walked up the staircase towards the Executive floor. "You better not be trying to look up my skirt again."
"Pppfffffttt!!! What!? Aiz-taaaaaaaaaaaaan~, give me some credit! I'm just thinking about all of the money we'll save on our property taxes this year!" Loki moaned as she wiggled and jiggled up the steps behind her precious Sword Princess.
The blonde-haired girl looked behind her, the young woman's lips pressed into a tight line. "It is still quite gross."
"Ghck!" Loki flailed dramatically as she tripped and toppled onto the plush red carpet at the top of the steps. It was a shame that Loki had used this trick earlier to try and see what panties Aiz was wearing today, the girl was already holding her skirt to the backs of her thighs as she walked away towards Tanya-chan's room.
Aiz-tan didn't even look back to see if Loki was okay!? How cruel!
Loki managed to scramble to her feet as her Aiz-tan knocked on Tanya-chan's door. The door opened up after a few moments to reveal the slightly shorter blonde wearing a sheer, silk nightgown that stopped just above her knees; the dark red contrasted beautifully with her smooth, pale skin. Ah! The wonders of young, feminine flesh! What great taste!
Tanya-chan's eyes met Loki's and the young woman frowned. Deeply. No doubt remembering her molestation at the hands of the Goddess when she prayed. "Aiz-san, Loki-sama. I believe you wish to perform a Status Update to see if I Ranked Up, yes?"
Well, Loki didn't technically molest her body- only her soul! So she was well within the bounds of the "Do NOT molest my body" clause of her contract! She was safe!
"Yup! Now, come'on, come'on! I've been waiting for this alllllllllll ddddaaaaayyyyyyyyyy!" Loki power-walked past the pair of beautiful-sexy-cute blondes and practically kicked her office door open. She grabbed the "Update Chair" and patted it enthusiastically. "Come'on. Come'on. Quickly, Tanya-chan! Your Loki-sama is about to burst!"
The blonde stepped into the room and looked around before nodding with a sigh. She had to slip the nightgown down her shoulders to bare enough of her back. While the padding of the chair hid her breasts, the Goddess of Mischief was treated to the creamy expanse of the young teen's thighs as her nightgown rode up to her hips.
Loki also got to see one part of the Heavenly Trifecta of Boobage: The mythical Side-Boob! It was almost equal to the mystical Under-boob, and almost on par with the unearthly Nip-Slip!
The lecherous Goddess took a moment to properly appreciate the way Tanya-chan's breasts bulged as they were pressed against the chair cushion. Truly, this was a most beautiful sight to behold!
A displease grunt came from her Aiz-tan and Loki coughed into her hand before she pricked her finger and let a single droplet of her ichor fall onto the diminutive teen's back. The falna blazed with brilliant light, and Loki saw.
She saw the struggles of a young woman who eschewed fun and games with her peers; she instead dedicated herself to learning new skills that would serve her in the Dungeon.
She saw the pain her Child endured as the bowstring cut her flesh, and Finn-kun's quarterstaff bruised her body and fractured her bones.
She felt the adrenaline pump into her Child's veins as an explosion rocked the city; flickers of bombs bursting over a burning city flashed across her mind.
She watched as her Child ordered her other Children to prepare for combat while she retrieved her arrows and scouted ahead.
She watched her Child cut monsters down without problem thanks to the help of her spells, and when Tanya fell into a battle trance- draw, aim, release- so did she.
She watched as her Children battled unknown monsters, fighting with all of their strength and skill to bring them down before they slew Orario's citizens and damaged their property.
She felt the trepidation as Tanya-chan lifted her 'Thousand Elf' slowly into the air, trusting her fellows to protect them so that Leyfia-chan could be relocated to a place where her spell wouldn't deal nearly as much damage.
The battle raged around them, and she felt the moment when Tanya came to the decision to have Lefiya-chan unleash her Wynn Fimbvulter spell on a hoard of charging Violas.
The celebration was cut short as a gigantic beast surfaced just outside the city, and she felt the undercurrents of terror and fear try to claw at the former soldier's mind as she took in the sight of the monster. However, Tanya's will was iron-clad: she would tear down this beast because she believed that she was the only one capable- Riveria's spells could slay it, but they would also demolish entire blocks of the city along with it.
To Tanya, such an outcome was unacceptable.
She charged, with spear-stave in hand, it was a beautiful thing. A gallant thing. A heroic thing.
Loki would feel the wind whipping through her hair as the young teen threaded the needle, somehow finding that infinitesimally small gap in the monster's screen of tentacle-vines to strike the beast with an incredible blow. She could feel the air escape her lungs as the beast's hearty flesh warred with the destructive nature of Tanya-chan's Mage Blade.
The strain was immense; every muscle was deadlocked in an attempt to provide the platform needed to complete the strike. Even Tanya-chan's immense magical might was focused on three things and three things only- the Mage Blade, the Reinforcement holding her body together, and the Flight spell that powered her forward.
The spear-stave flexed, but it was the beast who gave way first.
Loki experienced the mounting frustration as the monster began to heal every wound she gave it in search of the monster's core... and that was when she looked inwards and turned to Loki herself for help.
The prayer was unlike anything Tanya-chan(Loki) had ever experienced before- the intimacy was astounding. Loki had felt Tanya-chan's sincerity in her plea to find the Viola Rex's weakpoint, and if her cute little Child was going to be so earnest then who was Loki to deny her?
Loki's Divine senses knew that something was going to happen this day; it was ominous, but never let it be said that the Divine Trickster didn't follow her instincts. The girl's Refracted Beams had thoroughly scoured the monster's upper body, so when the spell fired she guided it down the beast's body towards the only place Tanya-chan hadn't yet tried: the body beneath the surface.
Rock and stone melted under the ferocity of the beam, and then flesh gave way beneath that, and the monster's core was struck.
The beast dissolved into ash, and thus the day was won.
Loki let out a sigh as she pulled herself back and began guiding the free-floating Excelia to where they would best serve to strengthen her cute little Tanya-chan. With the "Low Quality" excelia handled, she turned towards the "High Quality" excelia that drifted around. She seized it in her hands, focusing it and willing it to take shape; the framework that would support Tanya-chan's next Step Towards Divinity. A base was built, blocks were placed upon that base, and then posts were erected to support the floor of the next Level.
Loki blinked as she held the last "brick" in her hand. She looked over and saw that she had over two-dozen bricks leftover.
She grinned.
Her child had done it! Tanya-chan had done it! All she needed to do was place this last little bit of "High Quality" excelia and she would become a Level 2! The story was there- the foundation-, and the excelia was there; all Tanya needed to do was assent and she would be known throughout the world as the fastest Level 1 in World History!
It took all of her willpower to pull back.
Loki placed that "brick" back onto the pile with trembling hands.
As much as she wanted it, and oh how she wanted it, this wasn't her decision to make.
With a tight smile, Loki pulled herself out of Tanya's soul and pressed the falna back into place.
"Well, you've done it, Tanya-chan. You qualified for Level 2."
Aiz-tan's eyes widened, but no other shock was present.
The girl herself merely hummed as she rocked her head from side to side in consideration. "Are my stats where I want them to be?"
Loki chuckled as she placed the parchment on Tanya-chan's back and transferred the numbers onto the paper. "Probably not. Here, take a look."
Tanya von Degurechaff
Level 1 -> (Eligible) Level 2
Strength: 624 C -> 750 B
Endurance: 627 C -> 759 B
Dexterity: 603 C -> 741 B
Agility: 662 C -> 777 B
Magic: 778 B -> 1013 SS
"Hmmm... I think I'll hold off for now, Loki-sama. I know that I can improve. After all, even raising my stats now would be easier than trying to raise them as a Level 2, yes?" The blonde murmured as she read over the paper a few more times.
"Level 2 in three weeks is pretty damn good, Tanya-chan. However, seeing your Unique Skill actually working is a very nice sight to see; I've never seen anyone bypass the 'S-Rank' cap before." Loki threw back her head and laughed raucously, "Regardless, I'll be able to put your name into the upcoming Denatus! All those idiots are going to be so damn jealous!"
It was true, Level Ups had to be noted- whether the Adventurer actually took the Rank Up or not was irrelevant; when they were eligible was what truly mattered. At least in Loki's eyes. Regardless, her Tanya-chan's feats were going to be put into Orario's Record Books of sure!
Oh, she needed to fill out the "Rank Up" paperwork and have it submitted to the Guild, STAT!
The Goddess hummed a jaunty tune as she skipped over to her desk and began rifling through the drawers. Come on, Finn-kun! Wasn't it your job to keep her desk organized!? It shouldn't be this hard to find- ah! There they were!
She spared a glance up at the stock-still form of her Aiz-tan as she closely watched the younger blonde adjust her nightgown and stand up. "How are you so strong?"
Loki's pen stopped scribbling.
"How do you mean? I am not strong, I am merely a Level 1, Aiz-san." Her Tanya-chan replied.
Ah.
She didn't understand.
Loki spoke up as her hand resumed filling out the Guild's paperwork. "She's asking how you advanced so quickly, Tanya-chan. My Aiz-tan is the previous World Record holder for the fastest Rank Up at just under 12 months- 11 months, 23 days to be exact. The average time to Rank Up for fresh Level 1s is in the realm of 24-36 months, so to see you Rank Up in just over three weeks is quite unheard of."
The young teen blinked and then stepped forward to grasp Aiz's hands within her own. She gave her a sad smile. "Words cannot properly describe the depths of my rage, Aiz-san. The God that marked me... he is someone that I want to kill. More than anything."
She stepped forward and embraced the slightly taller girl, adjusting her chin to rest on Aiz's shoulder. "That is my driving force. While it appears as though I am... well adjusted... I am anything but."
She gave Aiz one good squeeze before she leaned back to cup the girl's cheeks and force the girl to look into her eyes. Gold met Blue. "I wouldn't wish this rage on anyone, Aiz. If I could let this anger and pain go, I would; maybe I could be happy without this roiling cloud of rage hanging over me... but I can't. Not yet. Not when the possibility exists that I could claim my revenge against the being who wronged me."
Tanya's thumb ran along Aiz's cheek once before she released her. "Don't let my path to strength determine your own, Aiz. You need to search for your own reason to fight; following mine will only cause you a lot of pain and misery."
With that, the girl stepped away and walked towards the door. "I will be asleep in my room, Loki-sama. If you would please, have someone come wake me in five hours; I have to delve the Dungeon, train the Hard Stucks, and then report to Finn-dono at the City Guard's Headquarters."
Wait, Loki barely had any time to appreciate the sight of two beautiful blonde girls hugging in thin clothing!
Wait, Tanya-chan!
Come back!
Do it again, this time give her a smooch! Better yet, let Loki-sama do the smooching!
Taaaaannnnnnnnyyyyyyyaaaaaaaa-cccccchhhhhhaaaaaannnnnnnn!
A/N: Not quite the Level Up scene I was intending to write, but it sort of fell into place a little bit better than I had anticipated. Tanya has quite a bit of "High Quality" excelia from slaughtering hundreds of Minotaurs, so even if she dispatched them with relative ease, because they were technically a higher level than her, and stronger than her, they counted. The Violas were definitely a higher level, and thus offered the High Quality excelia needed to push her over the top; that was even without the Violas Rex showing up; the "story" was good enough in Loki's eyes to warrant the Level up.
Training and training, eschewing fun for work. Then the city is under attack! Caught unprepared she makes her way to the fighting, doing her uptmost to save lives using the skills she has been getting trained on. She saves the lives of dozens of civilians in the process, and then working in concert with her allies, dispatches the monsters while doing her best to keep casualties as low as possible. She then gives up on doing things the "right" way, and unleashes her full magical abilities; choosing to keep her familia safe over earning excelia "properly". Then she fights a giant monster way above her level and saves the day to the roars of adulation from all who witnessed it.
A Rank Up story if Loki ever experienced one.
I was himming and hawing on whether or not to actually rank her up this chapter, as I felt that her Prayer to Loki seemed to reduce the difficulty of slaying the monster quite a bit, but what mattered was what Loki felt in those moments when she was observing Tanya's struggles.
I was going to have Tanya fight a beefed up Infant Dragon on the 10th floor for her Rank Up following Bell's Rank Up- an ID who had been force fed monster cores by Ottar and Freya of course- but felt that it was a little heavy handed. Ottar had trained a Minotaur, yes, but to my knowledge neither he nor Freya have actually broken the rules by forcibly creating an Enhanced Species. That would cause problems, especially if such one-in-a-million circumstances kept popping up around Tanya and Bell.
A minotaur surviving multiple fights and carrying an Adventurer's weapon could be written off, but any shennanigins like that involving Tanya would bring Loki's eye towards Freya, especially now that she knows the Goddess is scheming to "steal another man" from another familia.
So I decided to sidestep that whole mess by just ranking Tanya up here. Her previous experiences in the Great War obviously helped her Level Up faster, combined with her Mentor skill and near fanatical adherence to her work schedule, caused her to Rank Up.
Last edited: Feb 4, 2022
[Tanya von Degurechaff]
"Thank you very much for your hard work, Degurechaff-dono," Shakti Varma of the Ganesha familia bowed her head slightly as Tanya pushed her chair back and moved to her feet. "When Finn-dono mentioned that he had an Executive member experienced in administrative matters I admit that I was a bit surprised when he sent you. However, I am glad to see that my concerns about your ability were unfounded."
Spoiler: Shakti Varma
"Please, Varma-dono, it wasn't really too difficult; I am only responsible for the guard post rotations- you have the more difficult job of seeing to the repairs of the city," Tanya replied with a small shrug. Setting up a modified rotation of the guardhouses and the city gates was far too easy when compared to the effort needed to adhere to the Empire's strict standards. "This much is simple enough."
The only change that she made to Finn's initial guard rotation was she added on a two-hour rotation- when one sat in place for too long their attentiveness slackened, so to fix that she had the guard posts switch with the guard post next to them. That little walk along the wall from one position to the next was more than enough to get the blood flowing and rejuvenate the minds of her familia members who weren't used to static defensive details. It certainly helped that Tanya made surprise inspections every few hours to ensure that her underlings were alert and aware; not that she had too many issues.
After catching one person asleep, despite the warnings from her partner and Ganesha advisor, word spread quickly; if you couldn't stay awake then maybe some light exercise might help?
Heh, "light exercise".
"In any case, your professionalism and adherence to your standards have been quite a boon; in particular, your lecture to your subordinates about proper hygiene and appearance got some of my less disciplined juniors to take notice. I do believe that it got Ephram-san to take a bath every day since this joint venture began." Shakti Varma chuckled behind her hand as she escorted Tanya towards the entrance of the City Guard's headquarters.
"Well, it's just common courtesy. No one likes dealing with smelly people, and one's appearance is important; if you don't look official, then how is anyone supposed to take you seriously?" Tanya grumbled, "If you look like you just rolled out of bed and slapped some armor on-"
The diminutive teen stopped herself from going on a rant. She already said her piece and disseminated it amongst her underlings- even if she wasn't going to be on duty here for a few more days; if someone slipped she'd know about it.
"Be that as it may," The Ganesha familia Captain stopped at the entrance, "Every little bit the Loki has offered has been of great help. Do be sure to give your Goddess my thanks when you see her."
Tanya nodded her head and gave the taller woman a short bow. "Of course, Varma-dono. While the Loki familia doesn't function as the city's first line of defense, this is our city, and we will do what we can to help it get back on its feet in these uncertain times."
With that, Tanya took off into the sky and towards the Witch's Secret Shop, which apparently couldn't be that much of a secret if everyone knew where it was.
The sound of her belly grumbling caught her attention. Maybe after a quick meal? She did have to drink her potion after all. With that in mind, Tanya adjusted her flight path and headed towards the Hostess.
The Hostess of Fertility was booming, even in this odd hour; most restaurants had their operating hours tailored to correspond with the morning and afternoon shift that the Adventurers- they opened up in the morning, closed down until noon to restock, and then opened right back up as the morning Adventurers were leaving the Dungeon with their hauls. Then they would close back down at three and wouldn't open again until seven when the afternoon shift of Adventurers would be leaving.
The Hostess of Fertility was one of the few that ran from seven in the morning until eleven in the evening. It made Tanya's scalp itch- where did that leave the owner and employees any time to do anything other than work!?
As Tanya walked up the short staircase to get inside she supposed that with the establishment hiring only Adventurers as servers they didn't need that much sleep; Tanya felt like she could get along just fine with four hours, but she still slept the recommended 6-8 hours each night on account of the fact that she was still a growing girl.
"Ah! Ta-nya-chan! Welcome!" The brown-furred cat maid called out as Tanya strode through the door.
The diminutive teen gave the older woman a slight nod as she waited at the door to be seated. "Waiter-san, it is pleasant to see you again."
"Funya~!? 'Waiter-san'!? Please, just call me Anya, like everyone else." The woman pouted and placed the tray on her hands against her hip, "Besides, after seeing you handle that big 'ol monster I think we can be friends~."
"Well, well, well! If it isn't Loki's Little Conquerer!" A voice boomed out from behind the countertop near the back of the dining area. Tanya's eyes were dragged over to the imposing figure of Mia Grande, the Hostess of Fertility's owner and a retired Level 6 Adventurer of the Freya familia. "Come'on in and pick a seat, ain't no need to just wait there. We always have room for one of Orario's Finest!"
Tanya felt her cheeks speckle with pink at the praise; damnit, this was why she had a hotel room she stayed at in Berun! She was totally weak to genuine praise- heap false praise on her all day; that she could at least handle!
Tanya let herself be directed over to sit at the bar where Mama Mia sat a beer in front of her. With unclipped her bow from her flight harness and dropped it next to her quiver on the floor in front of the bar. "Ah, just water, please. I finished up my shift at the City Guard Headquarters and will be going into the Dungeon here soon enough."
The woman smirked and replaced the tall mug of beer with water. "One of those responsible types, eh? I can respect that, especially seeing how you handled those monsters; thanks for dragging them away from us here on 4th Avenue, we managed to make it through that whole ordeal without any damage to my shop or my girls."
Tanya nodded as she sipped at her water. "The lunch special, if you would please, and there is no need to thank me for doing what every citizen should do. I just happened to be very well equipped for monsters that were attracted to the magical outputs of mages and yet were distinctly weak to magical attacks."
The proprietress snorted and shook her head. "N' modest too. Well, I'll let it rest; your type of people just don't know how to respond to praise."
The diminutive teen hummed gratefully. Just as she was about to dig into a dish that looked like roast beef with potatoes and carrots, she caught sight of the silver-haired waitress gazing at her with frightening intensity. When their eyes met the girl had the decency to blush and look away, but at Tanya's brief nod the waitress took that as an invitation to approach. The girl sat down and gave her a sheepish grin. "I saw you fight that Monster Rex, that was... beautiful, and very brave."
Tanya felt her throat tighten up and it took some willpower to swallow it down; she felt her cheeks warm as she tried very hard to tear her eyes away from the girl's silver gaze. She coughed into her fist. "It was merely the best possible choice given the situation; I had the spells and the power necessary to put the monster down before it caused any more damage. I am quite familiar with the wide-area destructive magics most mages use, and using them would have done more damage to the area. If someone of a higher Level had been present I would have naturally deferred to their experience, but there was no one else around, so I stepped up."
The girl blushed as she tucked a lock of silver hair behind her ear. "And step up you did... that last spell? It was so brilliant that it had me blinking my eyes for five minutes afterward. It was just so powerful! No wonder you're the fasted Level 2 in Orario's history!"
The way she said, "powerful" did funny things to Tanya's belly. The blushing cheeks, the hair tuck behind the ear, all she was missing was the- ah! There it is, the biting of the lower lip! Tokyo Men's Magazine ran an article on all of the common signs that a woman was flirting with you, and this girl checked every box.
Was this girl flirting with her? Her? Tanya?
That was when the waitress took one of her hands and kissed her knuckles firmly. Oh, her lips were the softest things Tanya has ever felt in her life! "I wanted to thank you, from the bottom of my heart, Tanya-chan. The orphanage that I go to was near where the monster collapsed and they'd all been trapped inside. If some mage had used their wide-area destruction magic as you said- I... I don't want to think about what might have happened."
Tanya felt her eyes prickle at the girl's sincerity and she cleared her throat. "Well then, you... are welcome...?"
The girl blinked and released Tanya's hand. "Oh! I never introduced myself, did I? My name is Syr! Syr Flova at your service!"
The girl gave a brief curtsey from her seat on the stool next to Tanya and gave her a winning smile. "I'll let you enjoy your meal, Tanya-chan. However, so make sure to stop by and visit me sometime- heroes should be rewarded."
Tanya couldn't help but arch her eyebrow. "I should reward myself by spending more money at your establishment? That sounds more like a standard business transaction than a reward, Flova-san."
The girl pouted cutely. "No, just call me Syr-chan, Tanya-chan! Also, the reward isn't to just spend money, it's to spend time with me!"
"Ha! Syr-chan's right you know? We're hot commodities in Orario- every Adventurer wants to chat with us, nya~." Anya called out from the backroom as she dragged a mop and a bucket filled with sudsy water.
"Mmmhmm! So do be sure to come by and see me, okay?" The young woman hopped to her feet and fixed Tanya with a look. Her eyes were half-lidded at that smile was pure, distilled sex.
It made Tanya's mouth dry. The diminutive teen shook her head. At Tanya's silence, the girl's shoulders drooped and she looked away, her sultry smile fading away to something more vulnerable.
Spoiler: Syr Pout
"You can't?"
Tanya took a slow, deep breath as she closed her eyes. "Unfortunately, Syr-san, my duties keep me quite busy, so I cannot make any promises; I will simply eat here when I have the time."
"Oh? What's this? A customer has successfully deflected Syr-chan's charm? My, how unexpected." The smirk on the dark-haired cat maid was vicious. "Besides, how are you going to invite Tanya-chan here to spend time on you when you're already roping Usagi-kun into visiting you almost every day?"
Spoiler: Chloe Rollo
Admittedly, the warm, fuzzy feelings that had been building in Tanya's gut fizzled out. "Ah, is that so?"
Tanya fixed the girl with a stare. "I don't know who this Usagi-kun is, but it sounds like you're trying to have your cake and eat it too. I'm not going to be involved in such drama; I know my worth, and it isn't to play second fiddle to someone else."
The girl's lips parted as her cheeks flushed red, a visible tremble wracking her body.
"I might not be experienced in things like romance, but I'll give you some advice anyway: Pick a side of the fence and then stay on it. If you wish to woo me then be honest and earnest about it, but know this, I am not the type to share."
With that, Tanya turned back to her meal, a furious blush on her face as she did her best to drown her embarrassment in wonderfully flakey meat.
Where the hell had that come from!?
Lenoa the Witch had her "Secret" shop on 7th and 42nd, although it was far closer to 8th Avenue than it was to 7th avenue. The issue was the damn place was so non-descript that Tanya had to ask a passerby where the shop was. The cheinthrope woman chuckled behind her hand and pointed to the door Tanya was floating in front of.
The former Colonel flushed in embarrassment but thanked the woman before she turned and gazed critically at the unassuming door. The only thing that differentiated it from every other door on this street was a symbol in the middle of it- a "TM" with a circle around the letters. This was probably the symbol of "The Magic Circle"; a collection of mortal mages and Magic Gods who did business inside and outside of Orario.
Tanya knocked on the door three times, then two times, then one time before she spoke out just as Riveria had taught her. "Excuse me, Lenoa-san, I am coming in."
With that, she pushed the door in and stepped inside, shutting the door behind her. The interior was... painfully stereotypical in Tanya's opinion- plain stone walls with various wooden shelves displaying all sorts of fragile-looking bits and bobs. On the back wall sat a wide wooden countertop, and behind that counter stood an elevated cauldron that bubbled and popped as a woman with "Wicked Witch of the West" vibes stirred its contents.
Spoiler: Lenoa the Witch
The woman was surprisingly unattractive, especially given the standards of this world, which made her wonder just how old the woman actually was; a human Level 5 could live as long as 300 years. Leona the Witch was widely regarded as one of the most powerful mages to have ever lived- for her to look like a crone who used the bonemeal of children to make her bread she must be very old indeed. The woman regarded Tanya with a keen eye from underneath the brim of her wide, black pointed hat.
"Ahhhh... you must be Tanya-chan, yes?" She crooned with a light chuckle, "Riveria told me you would be stopping by; I can't say that I'm not disappointed either- you are incredibly strong for such a young mage. I could feel you radiating mana from the other side of the city."
Tanya nodded as she stepped further into the woman's business and likely domicile. "Yes, Riveria-dono did recommend me to come here, if only to see if there might be some spells that would interest me."
The old crone gave her a crooked grin as she tapped the wooden spoon against the edge of the cauldron. "Well, if you are seeking spells, then you've come to the right place, my dear. However, I do believe that the magics I have available to purchase are quite a bit different than what you are used to; truth be told, I'm surprised to see that someone as young as yourself has learned Calculative Magics to such a degree- that is more the wheelhouse of old fogies like myself who're interested in testing their mind since our youth has left us."
Tanya's eyebrows raised. "You know I use Calculative Magic?"
The old woman's grin became a smirk as she waved her hand and a small mirror floated above the cauldron- a moving image of Tanya's final Refracted Beam skewering the Violas Rex played on a loop. "Quite an ingenious bit of spell work- I had to dig into quite a few old tomes to figure out a suitable formula to match it; but, I did it! My flesh might be sallow, but this mind is still as sharp as ever! Haha!"
"That is quite a feat, Leona-san, and I mean that sincerely; it took me weeks to learn the formula you saw, and many years of constant practice to refine it to the degree you witnessed a few days ago." She gave the woman a rueful smile as her gloved fingers slide over the spines of several different books, "Riveria-dono almost copied one of my spells after the first time she saw it; I figure it's time I start to learn some of the local spells before any more of my secrets are ferreted out."
The old woman cackled as Tanya's eyes slid over a display case in which an unassuming tome sat. The title was simply "Magic", with a five-pointed star sitting prominently in the middle of the cover. The current price was 130.4 Million valis. "What spellbook is this?"
"Oh, that?" The old woman murmured, "That, my dear, is a Grimoire. I trust that Riveria gave you the basics?"
Tanya nodded. Riveria told her all about the spellbooks that were designed to easily give any mortal a personalized magic that they could use. Apparently, a Divine with 'Magic' as one of their domains sealed a portion of their divinity inside them, and when the Grimoire was read a spell activated that searched your soul and formulated a magic spell that was unique to the reader. They were usually Short Chant, or Super Short Chant spells, which gave them a fair amount of utility and power for minimal cost.
"Well, that one is up for auction- a contact of mine had a spare so he sent it over. If you would like, I can ask Hecate-sama to give me a firm price on a Grimoire if you wish, but it won't be cheap- 100 Million valis is the bare minimum for items like these; even then, if she agreed I'd have to wait until the auction on that Grimoire was complete first." The old Witch chuckled, "It's considered risky business to keep more than a few Grimoires in any one location, so for the most part they're made to order."
The Aerial Mage hummed. "That seems a bit out of my price range for now, as I still have this bow left to pay off."
Tanya gestured to the Alfheim bow secured to the back of her flight harness. "How about a healing spell that could heal moderate injuries? Something akin to a healing potion? A short chant would be preferable."
Lenoa smiled and gestured with the spoon towards a bookshelf on the opposite wall. "I have three healing spellbooks available for purchase- 'Healing Touch', 'Breath of Life', and 'Spring Vitality'."
Tanya moved over to the bookshelf in question as her eyes roamed over the titles on the spines. While Tanya searched the woman ran through a brief description of each spell. "Healing Touch is just as advertised- place your hand on an injured person or yourself, chant the spell, and it can mend wounds equal to that of a mid-grade healing potion; it's a Short Chant spell at 6 lines. Breath of Life is a Medium Chant magic, 11 lines in length, but its draw is that it is able to heal yourself and others around you if they're within a few paces of yourself. It isn't picked up very frequently, however, due to how finicky the spell it; you'll need some excellent Mind Shaping and Control if you're to use it properly."
"The final spell is Spring Vitality, and that one heals wounds on par with a High-Grade healing potion in addition to mitigating the effects of fatigue on the body. It's a long chant spell, however, at 15-lines... but if you're clever enough I think that you'll be able to empower it to heal far more grievous injuries with it. The main draw for that particular spell is that it is rather light on Mind usage, so it's typically picked up by Mages whose Mind Pools are smaller than most."
Tanya mulled the options around in her head. "How much are they?"
The old woman pursed her lips for a moment. "Eh, for you, dearie? Let's say 2 Million valis; I haven't seen such a good show in a long time, and that spell you showed off really got my creative juices flowing."
The diminutive blonde nodded before she reached into her coin pouch and produced two 1 Million valis gold coins as she grabbed the "Spring Vitality" spellbook off the shelf. Memorizing the Long Chant was going to be a pain, but Riveria assured her that the longer the chant the less volatility there was in the spell; it would take her longer to learn properly, but the low Mind cost would assure that even if she messed up then her stave wouldn't suffer too much blowback. "That is acceptable."
The old woman smiled and took Tanya's coin, and just as the blonde was about to pull away the woman's clawed hand reached out and grasped her wrist. "You're a relative newcomer to the magic scene, Tanya-chan, but you should be aware that Altena and Magic Town will hear of your feats sooner rather than later. So it would be wise to keep that in mind."
Tanya arched an eyebrow. "Is that... a bad thing?"
The old biddy's lips quirked as she released Tanya's wrist. "Well, they're Mages. A curious and mysterious lot, that's for damn sure, ha! However, if you have more spells like that beam spell you used to fell that Monster Rex, you can be damn sure that someone will show up to hound you. You and that Thousand Elf girl. While I wouldn't tell you to suffer any foolishness, it just might pay to be polite; after all, the spellbook you're holding in your hand was printed in Magic City."
Tanya considered the woman's words and nodded. "Thank you for the information, Lenoa-san."
A wide grin displayed grey teeth. "Don't thank me just yet, Tanya-chan. After all, who do you think is the one that sent the messages to them?"
The young teen raised her eyebrow. "You sold information on me?"
The old Witch shrugged. "Eh, it's a living. Anytime I get juicy information those sheltered louts pay top valis for it! Now, off with you, I need to get back to work."
[One Week Later]
[Tanya von Degurechaff]
Tanya wasn't livid, but she was incredibly annoyed.
Her Dungeon runs had been cut down to a mere six hours, which meant that she had to focus on the 5th through 9th floors to farm for Hephaestus. Granted, the more she did it the more she figured out neat little tricks and chokepoints- the Monster Pantry on the 7th Floor was an excellent place to gather the golden nectar that the Dungeon produced from a Quartz Pillar was just perfect for luring large Monster Parties to her location. All she needed to do was slather an errant sock she found while walking around the mansion, wrap the soaked sock in a handkerchief and tie it to her harness and the monsters would come to her in huge numbers.
It made farming the 9th floor, which was far more spread out than the others, quite a breeze- Kobolds and Goblins came to her in droves, and she was more than happy to cut them all down.
More than once a party of Adventurers came through and complained that she was taking all of the monsters, but when they saw her surrounded by dozens and dozens of corpses they realized that she was far above their Level; not that they didn't recognize the Valkiyre of Orario- Tanya quickly found herself becoming a household name. Granted, an Executive from one of the Top Ten familias in Orario- a Level 1 capable of defeating a Monster Rex- was someone most Adventurers with a lick of common sense made sure to know about.
The fact that she was the Fastest Level 2 in Orario's history was also something they should be aware of.
She made sure to keep Hephaestus' shelves in that small storehouse completely stocked, to the point where they were now just tossing all of the drop items she was acquiring into appropriately marked sacks because she had filled all the shelves to the point where they were almost overflowing.
Hephaestus honestly didn't have enough smiths to utilize everything Tanya was bringing in- even the Minotaur Horns were now gathering in a large pile in the corner of one of the rooms. At the rate Tanya was going, the Goddess of the Forge mentioned that she just might have to move everything over to one of her lesser-used but larger storehouses because she was quickly running out of space.
A most wonderful problem to have, Hephaestus assured her.
No, that wasn't what annoyed her- what did annoy Tanya was the fact that Finn, Riveria, Aiz, Tiona, Tione, and Leyfia went into the Dungeon for a quick "day trip" to gather some stones and drop items to pay for their weapon repairs... and have been gone for 6 whole days. They didn't even have the decency to send a runner to let them know they would be delayed!
If Tanya hadn't had Gareth there to assist her, she would have been overwhelmed for sure. It didn't help that Loki had snagged Bete to do some "investigative snooping".
So because of all that, she was struggling with practicing with her bow and spear on her own, diving into the Dungeon to farm, handling the City's defense rotations, sometimes doing double shifts because almost all of her familia's Executives were missing, on top of training the Hard-Stucks!
Thankfully the Ganesha familia was recovering quite nicely, and the reconstructions efforts were in full swing and should be finished in a matter of days, but that still left the majority of the Familia's paperwork to fall on her's and Gareth's shoulders. In order to stem the tide, she put a moratorium on Status Updates for all members because that was just extra paperwork to file, and it took Loki's attention away from what really mattered- the goddamn paperwork!
She had to rope in the Level 4's, all five of them, into coming into the office where she spent three days teaching them the filing system the familia used, brushing them up on their intermediate arithmetic skills, and just, in general, getting them ready to take up more responsibility within the familia.
While Finn might have been comfortable with resting the paperwork on the shoulders of the Level 6 members and a small handful of clerks within the Logistics and Admin sections of the familia, Tanya was not.
They were to be future Officers, Leaders, they should know how this shit works!
Throughout the whole process, Loki didn't say a damn word; she just giggled and smiled. That was until Tanya murdered the large table in the middle of the office.
The main office saw some changes- the massive table was repurposed; there was no need for a table that seats 50 to exist when there were less than 10 Executives. So, with Loki's begrudging permission, Tanya had a couple of carpenters turn half of the table into six desks for the Level 4's to work at.
Each was given a liberal amount of paperwork that pertained to a section that they at least had some enthusiasm for; Anakitty and her friend Alicia Frostlight were going to be under Riveria and in charge of maintaining the familia's Junior Adventurer's paperwork. Raul Nord and Narvi Roll were under Gareth and aided him with the Familia's Logistics and Acquisitions. Leyfia Viridis and Cruz Bussell would serve under Finn as his aids with the familia's Finances and General Administration as they both had the most amount of formal schooling and were proficient with math.
Once the others returned she would have those desks moved into one of the 19 empty Executive bedrooms and turn that into a "Pre-Executive" office space, which would free up that space for Tanya to have more elaborate desks made for the other Level 5 Executives; like hell she would let Aiz, Tiona, Tione, and Bete skimp out on paperwork while she was suffering from cramping fingers and papercuts!
How the hell the parchment managed to pierce her Adventurer Endurance, she would never know.
"Tanya-sama, I believe I have all of the paperwork properly reorganized for Junior Adventurers with the last name starting with 'T' organized." A slightly frazzled-looking Anakitty spoke up from her desk.
Spoiler: Anakitty
Tanya looked up from her paperwork and gave the woman a curt nod. "Good. Set it off to the side for now and take your lunch break. Come back after an hour and give it a look over once more. Once you've done that, continue on with the next letter."
Her partner, Alicia, was currently going around and gathering up all of the Adventurers who didn't have a surname and was having them choose one.
There was no way in hell Tanya was going to have paperwork look like the mess it was; there were seven Level 1 Adventurers with the name "Thomas" in the familia, and she refused to call them by their monikers- "Thomas with the Red Hair" and "Thomas with the Scar (on his cheek)".
They didn't have surnames before, but they were going to have one now!
That and the paperwork for them was disorganized at best: a proper binder should have a cover sheet, a familia portrait, the Guild's information sheet, the familia's information sheet, a form detailing their current equipment, all of their Status Update sheets, and finally, all of their receipts from their Dungeon dives going back three years.
While Riveria was able to keep the Level 6's, Level 5's, Level 4's, Level 3's, and Level 2's paperwork squared away, the over two hundred and fifty-seven Level 1's needed a lot of help on that front. It was Anakitty and Alicia's job to go through and get their binders organized properly, and that often included going through those binders with the Adventurers one at a time.
Tanya would have to schedule a "class" for Riveria to run through and teach all of the Level 1's on how to maintain their own binders properly.
"Tanya-sama," Raul strode into the room and handed her a stack of paperwork, "I've completed the inventory of our weapons with the familia armorers."
Spoiler: Raul
She tilted her head. "And what, pray tell, do you want me to do with that, Raul-kun?"
He flushed and walked over and put it on Gareth's desk, as he was out at the City Guard Headquarters pulling his shift. "Ah ah ah, write a cover sheet out, let Gareth-dono know what it is, and any discrepancies you and the armors found, Raul-kun. Don't just make him guess as to what the paperwork is."
"O-of course!" The human straightened his back and strode over to his desk and began writing out a cover sheet, his ink pen scratching away.
Tanya nodded. Good. They could be taught!
The door opened up again, this time to admit a young-looking elf who carried with him a staff made from black Chant Wood- the stronger, sturdier cousin of Song Wood- with a black mace-like weapon made from Mithril on the end of it that cradled a fairly sizeable magic stone. This was... Keith Windsworn, was he not? The elf stopped before her desk and gave her a shallow, polite bow. "Tanya-sama, the Hephaestus familia has arrived with the training equipment you purchased."
That made Tanya perk up and she smiled at him. "Thank you very much, Windsworn-san, I will meet them at the gate."
The man bowed once more and turned on his heel to stride out.
This was what she had been waiting on for almost two weeks!
She turned her head to Loki, who gave her a pout before waving her off with her hand. The Goddess had been rather sulky since Tanya dropped 400 Million valis on an overhaul of a section of land in the rear training area; a portion of the forest had been cleared with the help of the Hard Stucks, and with the aid of the earth mages the land was properly leveled out.
She wasn't an engineer by any stretch, but with her basic knowledge of construction, along with a small team of actual engineers, she was able to get a plan finished for a "High-Rank" training facility. Her illusions and ability to project to-scale images onto paper made the process relatively painless.
Stonemasons from the Asase Ya and Geb familias were hired to lay down tons and tons of crushed gravel into a dug-out foundation, with numerous Loki familia Level 1's and earth-aligned mages assisting with the manual labor.
They did an excellent job in ensuring that there would be proper drainage, and the Level 1's were quite enthusiastic in helping out their "senpais and sama's" by building something for them with their own two hands.
The gravel was covered over with hundreds of 10cm thick Pooli Stone slabs, an incredibly durable stone that was often mined with the region's marble deposits. With Tanya's Mage blade, they were able to quickly and efficiently carve out the slabs to get an exact fit with just enough room for thermal expansion and contraction.
The stonemasons from both familias guaranteed their work for at least 25 years, and when offered to extend that warranty out to 50 years for a mere five million valis, Tanya accepted it.